Tattletale grinned as she watched Grue sit at the table with the big boys. Her eyes slid towards the boss and she squinted, relaxing the grip she had on her power for a few seconds.

Slight movement of hand, small shake of leg: wants to fidget, uncomfortable.

Change in timbre of voice, nearly imperceptible, affected confidence: Acting. Not real Coil, doppelganger.

Coil not present, Coil sent a doppelganger: Uncertain about the result of the meeting. Unwilling to attend. Expects violence, danger.

That gave her pause. She had been expecting this to be a safe meeting, one held on neutral ground. Was Lung crazy enough to target them all at the same time?

Turning away, she cut off her power, the smirk disappearing from her face. Giving Skitter a nervous glance, she leaned back into the chair, moving it slightly towards the back exit, preparing to grab the girl and run.

She was a Thinker. Helping out a single one of her companions was all she could do and, really, Grue, Regent and Bitch could take care of themselves.

For a second, she caught Regent giving her a look, a single eyebrow raised in question.

Noticed her worry: Sensed her muscles tensing.

Meeting his eyes, she just looked towards the exit she was aiming for and the cape gave her a lazy smile, a finger tapping against the table.

“… There’s one more,” she heard Trickster say, refocusing on the main table. “Another newcomer in the city.”

She thought about releasing her power again, trying to find anything else from the main table, but she still had limits. Her use of her power was getting easier with every day, but it still gave her terrible headaches if she pushed it too much.

When the aforementioned cape arrived and it was like a wave of dread washed over the entire room, even the Merchants adjusted themselves into their seats. This new cape didn’t walk into the room, he marched, a little girl at his side

“Who the fuck are you?” Skidmark asked, trying to get into the man’s face and being completely ignored.

Somehow, Tattletale was able to sense the man’s eyes passing over her even through the mirrored lenses of the mask. She shivered. She had heard of the new Master Cape in the city, but she had imagined him to look more like Regent, not… this.

Stiff movements, robotic, decisive steps: military training, used to moving differently, still adjusting to current limbs.

Disinterest towards capes. Disregard, Disappointment: Doesn’t consider anyone a threat, doesn’t respect anyone in the room.

Large, well defined muscles, tall frame, precise control: Brute/Master power? No, training, better than Grue.

“Be quiet. Don’t make me waste my time.”

His voice wasn’t loud but it effectively boomed, filling the entire room with more authority than any of the previous capes, even Kaiser didn’t have his presence. At her side, Skitter fully focused on the Cape.

Polaris sat at the main table, leaving the kid by Faultline’s crew. Subconsciously, nobody dared even question his presence anymore, then Grue gathered himself and frowned, daring to ask about the new cape.

In her seat, Tattletale suddenly lost the tight grip she kept on her power, it almost seemed to come alive, desperately grasping for more information about the new cape.

Lack of body movement, body almost doesn’t have tells, limbs don’t move, anomalous breathing: unused to having limbs, unused to breathing.

Disinterested in the conversation, doesn’t care about the city, unhappy with the status quo: ABB’s actions personally offend him, doesn’t like the chaos.

Lie, doesn’t know about the rules, can guess, doesn’t care: believes he doesn’t have to care. Doesn’t fear retaliation.

Doesn’t fear the capes here, believes he can survive against all of them, believes he’d win a fight: Considering starting one.

Snatching her control back, Tattletale put a hand on her head and turned away from the table. Fuck, was he insane? Did Coil know about this?

Damnit, what did she know about him? PRT had him pegged as a Master/Tinker with magnetic specialty. A grab bag then, with his Tinker power the strongest one. The fact he managed to destroy an entire street and kill 11 people before the police even got there meant he was a heavy hitter.

Still, Tinkers were supposed to need time, not just show up and be unafraid of a room filled with capes, capes with years of experience.

“So, that’s your type, huh?” Regent said. “No wonder you’re so close to Skitter.”

“What?” Tattletale said, looking away from the cape.

“Hey, I’m not judging, he’s fitter than Grue. Although I think he’s a little old for you, no?”

She was gonna hit him, if he wasn’t too far away she’d have done it too. Closing her eyes, Tattletale gathered herself, trying to refocus her power. “Shut up, I’m trying to keep us alive here.”

“What?” Skitter asked, her eyes narrowing at her.

“The new cape, he’s not exactly all there,” she said. “Now, can you be quiet and let me concentrate?”

Turning back towards the discussion, she released her power once again, trying to direct it towards anything useful. It seemed to almost jump at the opportunity.

Not looking at the parts involved, reacted to what the kid did without looking: Doesn’t need to see, has improved senses or a Thinker power, confirmed grab bag.

Not wearing power armor, single cylindrical device too small to be have too many functionalities, mask doesn’t hold any tinkertech, didn’t have enough time to build anything complicated: Not a Tinker? No, Tinker power is not the main one, considering the damage he’s capable of, likely Shaker.

Name choice: Polaris, not chosen by him, doesn’t care, wrong: Shaker power not related to magnetism, Telekinesis?

Shit, that complicated things. It meant he didn’t need any equipment to cause the same level of damage he did on 6th Street, and they were all happily sitting here inside his likely range. Was he even Manton limited or could he just… squeeze them all into paste right now?

Grabbing Skitter’s cup, she took a large swig and wiped her forehead. For some reason, her power wasn’t giving her a headache yet, but the tension was making her equally tired, her body constantly ready to make a run for it.

Doesn’t care about cape name, doesn’t care about the truce: unlikely to care about the unwritten rules.

Not interested in what’s being discussed, Interested in how it’s being discussed, dislikes the status quo: Considering starting a fight, considering if he should kill them all.

Doesn’t value their lives, wouldn’t be affected if he killed them all, considers himself evil, thinks killing everyone would be easy, fully desensitized to it: Has killed dozens before, so many the numbers lose meaning.

Too experienced, too confident: Not a new cape, has fought parahumans before, far stronger than everyone present.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, what the hell? This was supposed to be an easy meeting! There wasn’t supposed to be a Slaughterhouse candidate here, damn it!

Tattletale almost made a run for it, her body starting to get up from the chair before Regent made her leg twitch causing her to slip back into the chair, banging her arm against the table.

Giving him a glare, she saw his smirking face and small shake of the head.

Taking a second to calm down, Tattletale swallowed again, her leg starting to tap against the floor until she grabbed her knee and made it stop.

“Who controls the resulting territory?” Polaris asked. “When the ABB are gone, who will be left in control of the resulting unaligned Asian population?”

Tattletale whipped her head towards him, a hand grabbing Skitter’s wrist and preparing to run. This was it, Polaris was deciding if he should start things or not.

Crap, had he just been buying time? Did his Shaker power require time to saturate an area before he could act?

For a few seconds, everything grew quiet, every cape present somehow knowing how important the answer was. Finally, it was Kaiser that broke the awkward silence.

“I take it you have a suggestion?”

For a second, Tattletale thought he’d do it, she didn’t need her power to see the thought going through his head.

“This alliance is unnecessary; I will deal with the ABB myself. From tomorrow on, its territory will be beyond your grasp.”

Word choice, ‘your’: Assumes they will be alive, decided not to kill them all.

Utter confidence, exasperation: Doesn’t see Lung as a threat, frustrated with own decision, may change opinion.

Tattletale almost collapsed, most of the tension leaving her body as she released a breath she had been holding. Holy shit, they’d just dodged a bullet. Not fully, but she doubted Polaris would change his decision that fast.

Yeah, she had no intention of being anywhere near him when that happened. It wasn’t impossible that the guy was simply insane and would get killed before doing any damage, but it was VERY unlikely.

Somehow, she lost what was said for a few seconds, regaining her wits when Polaris started walking towards his companion. For a moment, she caught him looking at her.

Focused on you, noticed your attention, reading you, knows you’re afraid: can sense emotions, doesn’t care you’re afraid, thinks you should be.

Flinching, Tattletale avoided his eyes. Great, the mass murderer liked to sense her fear, just great! At least she’d have nothing to do with him after this. Worse, her power finally started giving her problems.

Really, she kinda liked her team —for all the trouble they caused her— but, if Coil didn’t have a gun to her head, she’d be fleeing the city so fast Velocity wouldn’t be able to catch up with her.

“What are the chances you’ll remain safe on your own today?” Polaris asked the girl.

“Twelve point seven, seven, nine, two percent chance. Why?” the kid answered, triggering Tattletale’s power again.

Answer too clear, complete confidence, exact numbers: Thinker power, Precog, extremely powerful.

Girl Kidnapped on April 14th, Bank Robbery executed on April 14th, bank Robbery didn’t make sense, Precog powers interfere with each other: Distraction, true goal always the girl, Coil unlikely to give up.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

.

.

.

An hour later, huddled against the wall in her house, Tattletale stared at her phone, letting it ring for a full minute. Finally, her hand flashed forward, she snatched the phone and answered.

“Tattletale, I have a…”

“No.”

.

.

.

Lisa woke up with a groan, her head still hurting and her heart beating hard on her chest. In desperation, her eyes flew everywhere and she only relaxed when she was sure she was still in her room.

Right, she wasn’t dead… or kidnapped, right?…

Stretching, she took a few minutes to calm herself down, her furiously beating heart slowing with every breath. Finally, she looked at her phone on the floor.

She had thrown it at the wall after hanging up on Coil’s face… turns out she wasn’t strong enough to smash it entirely, not through the protective casing, only causing a small crack in the screen.

Huh, she only cared a little about that.

Walking out of the room, she massaged her temples and glared at Alec already playing his damn game. “Can you turn the volume down?”

“Nope.”

“Little shit.”

Shaking her head, she grabbed herself a cup of coffee and went back to her room, slamming the door and sitting on the bed, her knees to her chest, the cracked phone back in her hand.

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