Keep Calm and Respawn

A Worm Fanfiction

By: Konsaki

23 Apr - Morning

"You've reached the Hebert residence. We can't answer the phone right now, so please leave a message after the beep."

I waited for the answering machine message to finish, a small knot growing in my stomach at Dad not answering the phone for the second time this morning.

"Hey, Dad, it's me again. I guess you're still out, so…" I paused, unsure what exactly to say. I'd already told him I was fine and where I was in the first message. "Just call me, okay?"

I hung up and sighed, tucking the phone back into the navy blue gym bag I was carrying. Adjusting the strap on my shoulder, I took a moment to appreciate the training I'd put myself through as I barely felt the weight of my costume and equipment inside.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it." Lisa commented from beside me as we both walked down the street in civilian clothes. "If Coil has your dad, he'd already be holding it over you."

"If you say so." I replied, not completely sure but willing to go with her experience on this.

Glancing over, I checked out her outfit once more and sighed. She'd chosen to wear a strappy hot pink tanktop and dark shorts, drawing anyone's eyes to her and her assets.

I guess that was kind of the point, to keep anyone's eyes occupied so they wouldn't really pay attention to our faces.

I was still wearing the plain red blouse and cream skirt outfit she'd set out for me last night. Looking down at my own bumps, I knew there was no way I could pull that look off. Still, they seemed to look a little bigger… was it the top I was borrowing or just my imagination?

Letting out a sigh, I tried to push my inferiority complex out of my head.

Don't think of pink elephants.

A flash of hot pink drew my eyes again.

"Like the view?"

God dammit. I felt my face go flare with heat as I turned my head forward once more. It didn't stop Lisa's laughter. "How can you wear that?!"

"Very well, I'd like to think." Lisa reached over and poked my cheek with a grin. "And considering your face, you agree."

I just groaned, palming my face with both hands. This was just another example of an aspect of Lisa I'd come to the conclusion to after our conversation last night.

Lisa loved messing with people and that included me. Once I pegged that down, all the teasing and suggestive comments made sense.

It also explained why she said 'I can't 'see' you' instead of saying 'My Thinker powers can't read you but I can learn about you from other sources'. Of course, even that wouldn't be the full explanation.

Eventually, as far as I understood it, it looked like my powers made me a personal walking blank spot in the world to Thinker powers… or at least Lisa's. But that was only me. My clothes and equipment could be read, if not for the fact that when they respawned with me, they lost their 'history' before the respawn.

So it was almost impossible to just 'look' at me and find out my life's history or something. That didn't stop her from finding that information through Dad, in a roundabout way.

It went something like this: She saw his PHO post and her powers told her 'this guy is looking for his daughter' and he's 'Danny Hebert'. Some searches on the internet later and she found an old news article Dad was in about the Dockworkers Union that also mentioned Mom and me.

Or at least that was the 'Thinkers for Dummies' version of the explanation. Lisa said a lot more had gone into it but she didn't want to spend all night explaining it. Basically, it was sort of like those brain teasers that were impossible to solve unless you looked at them from a specific frame of mind.

But that did call into question just how the quirk of my respawn powers would affect Coil. Without knowing exactly how his powers worked, other than a vague 'he always gets a second chance', it was just a bunch of guesswork. That led to the roadblock of how exactly could we develop a plan to defeat him.

Of course, it wasn't exactly just how his powers worked, it was also the fact that we didn't know just how powerful he was as a Villain.

We knew he had enough money to hire Faultline's Crew and the Travelers, or had something to offer each group worth hiring them, but exactly how many resources did he have to throw around? If what Lisa had said was true about the attack on the temple being Coil's work, he also had to have at least some normal mercenaries on hand.

That didn't even cover the fact that Lisa believed Coil had moles or something in the PRT.

It pretty much meant that once we brought the PRT into the plan, the odds of Coil finding out we were actively working against him was a given. The real question of how long did we have before he found out and pieced it together.

With that in mind, we didn't waste time, enacting the first step of the plan.

"Here we are." Lisa broke me out of my thoughts, walking into a nondescript alleyway.

Looking around, I found myself at the same warehouse we'd met at for the Othala raid. It looked quite a bit different in the morning light or it could be the fact that we were approaching from the ground. Either way, Lisa opened up a nondescript metal door and waved me inside.

The transition from sunlight to dimly lit warehouse took a few seconds to adjust but when it did, I saw the rest of the Undersiders standing around a table.

It felt really odd to meet them without my costume on, but Lisa had explained how this would fast track some level of trust in me and make this a whole lot easier. It wasn't easy for her but she finally convinced me.

I still wasn't fully convinced this was going to work.

"I didn't come here to meet your new toy. Who is she and why is she here?" Bitch demanded, a normal sized labrador and rottweiler at her feet.

"Don't get your panties into a twist, Bitch." Lisa said as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me up to the table. "I'd like to introduce our new teammate."

The three villains just turned their gaze from Lisa to me. The silence was like a weight crushing down on my shoulders.

"Uh… hi?" I gave a weak wave, before lamely dropping the hand.

"Did you finally have an aneurysm or something, Tats?" Regent mocked, using his powers to have Lisa tap her own head.

"No, I haven't and don't do that." The blonde growled, releasing me to something something on her phone. A final press of a button had Regent's phone ping.

I blinked as he checked it and grimaced. I was curious as to what she sent him but was fine with the distraction.

Too bad Grue had to bring it back to me. "Tattletale, what's going on here?"

"Like I said, meet our new teammate, Taylor." She waved a hand towards me. "Though you might know her better as Respawn."

That had the three other Undersiders looking to me once more, only differently.

"But she looks nothing like Respawn." Regent complained. "And Respawn's as flat as a board."

I didn't know whether or not I should be insulted by that.

"That's the point of costumes, genius." Lisa rolled her eyes before putting her hands on the table. "But let's get down to business, shall we? What would you guys say if I had a plan to set us for life with one last job."

"Bullshit." Bitch replied but leaned forward in interest.

"I've got to agree with her, Tattletale." Grue chipped in but sat ready to listen.

"Well, thanks to our friend here, we've got the perfect opportunity to kill three birds with one stone." Lisa stated, tapping the table for emphasis. "And when I say 'set for life', I mean millions for each of us after the split."

"So where does she come into this?" Regent asked, pointing towards me.

"I'm going to 'reform' you guys and get rid of your Villain status." I replied, playing the part Lisa had coached me to earlier.

"I'm not seeing how that makes us rich." Regent commented, looking from me to Lisa.

"That's cause it's once we become 'Rogues' or 'Heroes', take down Coil and steal his money, we're free to do whatever we want afterwards." Lisa explained.

That got a few seconds of silence before Grue spoke. "Tattletale, Coil's the one who's paying us for these jobs."

"He's also the one that tried to kill us by telling Lung we were stealing from him." Lisa countered, tapping the table again. "Think about it. Lung was supposed to be at a meeting with his lieutenants at the docks, not breathing fire down our necks. We got into that place without setting off any alarms and I've gone over all the 'coincidences' and ruled them out. The only thing left is Coil double crossing us."

"But why would he keep paying us if he wanted us dead." Regent asked.

"Because she happened." Lisa put an arm around my shoulder. "And whatever plan he had with us becoming dragon food got scrapped. But if he's tried to off us once, what's going to stop him the next time it works into his plans."

She let that settle over the rest of her team before continuing on. "Why not make a clean break and pad our bank accounts at the same time? It's win/win!"

"Let's say this is real. What's your plan for this, Lisa?" Grue placed his hands on the table to lean more into the light.

She favored the black costumed Cape with a wide grin. "I'm glad you asked."

oO0Oo

23 Apr - Noon

"You know, when we talked about me joining the Undersiders, I kinda figured we'd work together, not split into two groups again." I commented, loading the last E88 goon onto Bitch's monster dog.

"Blame it on your powers." Tattletale replied as she tied the good in place from the other side of the dog. "You're too effective working by yourself taking these guys down."

"Yeah, I get that, but aren't we supposed to be showing me working with you guys?" I asked, stepping back as the purple costumed teen moved around to my side of the beast.

Tattletale just waved to the air, showing the news drone with its camera scoped on the three girls and the two monster dogs. "This'll be good until either of us encounter a Cape. Then we'll dogpile 'em and that'll be that."

"What if it's Lung again?" I asked, my mouth quirking up under my mask.

"Then we'll run as fast as we can. Take him on again? No, thank you. But before I go..." She smirked at me before wrapping me in a hug and leaning in under my hood.

"W-what are you doing?!" I panicked. I mean, why would I expect her to be a breath's width away from kissing me?!

"Just playing to the cameras." She whispered before backing away with a small smokey smile.

"Are you two done wasting my time?" Bitch cut in, her annoyance as blunt as the rest of her body language.

Tattletale just laughed and pulled herself up behind the larger teen before blowing me a kiss. "Give us a call when you need us."

As they leaped away, I just stood there in shock, watching as they vanished around a corner down the road.

Shaking my head clear, I let out a sigh. Conflicting emotions churned in my chest but my brain won out in the end. I had a job to do and a burst of wild gunfire just hammered it home.

Darting into the alleyway to the north, I charged towards the fighting, vaulting over ramshackle barricades and turned over dumpsters. The trek took me around a dozen blocks, but once I arrived, I blanched at what I saw.

The entire street was bathed in blood.

The brutality of it all had me staring in shock, taking in the shredded vehicles and piles of meat left behind in the carnage.

Belatedly, I noticed the sole ABB ganger in one piece, only he was made of colored glass. Like a stained glass sculpture made to look like a gang member throwing something. Considering the area around him was also glassed, I could only guess that the Bakuda bomb went off too early or he cooked it too long or something.

It was a little surreal, if I had to put words to it, I just sort of… treated it like an interactive movie or something. Walking into the aftermath, I could hear my boots tapping on the asphalt but didn't care that my left foot splashed in a small pool of drying blood. It just seemed… fake but more real than anything I'd experienced at the same time.

"Guys, Hookwolf is in the area." I guess I activated my earpiece.

"How do you know?" Grue questioned.

Looking around me once more, I sighed. "I'm standing in pureed ABB."

Tattletale's voice broke in. "Do you see any trails or anything?"

Looking around, I saw an easily visible trail of blood heading away from the area. "He was headed east from here. I'm on St. Arnold Street."

"Try to track him down. We'll catch up!" Tattletale said over the earpiece.

"We're at Grayson and-" Grue's voice cut off as I disconnected the call.

I took one last look of the dead around me. Maybe the one goon could've been saved if he was just frozen instead of glassed but it was a fool's errand to worry about him now.

Turning so I had the sun to my back, I started moving, kicking off in long charging leaps.

Another wild burst of fire and an explosion drew my attention, a few streets north of where I was. I took a shortcut over the rooftops but I needed to shoot myself a few times with the revolver to recharge.

Leaping off the final roof, I was welcomed with the sight of Hookwolf biting down on an ABB ganger. Thankfully, the screams were silenced quickly but blood drained from the metal construct's mouth like rivers.

My boots barely touched the ground before I shot forward my fist cocked back for a charged punch. I didn't bother with any battlecries or yells, I just let my fist do the talking.

Hookwolf's metal body flew sideways into the warehouse, blowing through the thin metal wall.

With the E88 Cape off the street, I heard running and saw two ABB goons tossing their guns to the ground in their flight.

I just let them leave as I found my target. Looking around, I found the information I also needed. "I found Hookwolf. I'm on MacArthur around the 2200s."

"We're on the way!" Grue responded as Hookwolf tore out of the building.

"Come on, you son of a bitch!" I challenged the Nazi Villain, the hooks on his wolf form slowly churning in anticipation. He lunged at me with a howl, the metal spikes that his form had for teeth still glazed with crimson.

I ducked under his charge, knees bent and fist cocked in preparation. The next instant, I launched upwards, burning my last two charges to plow my fist into Hookwolf's gut and send his mass skyward. I'd pulled out my revolver and replenished a few charges before his body'd even crashed to the ground.

Everything Tattletale could tell us about him made it seem like his body was protected somewhere in that mass of metal. Well I hoped the fucked could feel that hit.

Seeing the wolf push up off the asphalt, I couldn't see any indication he did.

With that, I charged one more into battle.

He dodged to the left and swatted me away with a clawed paw. I slammed up wide down into a wall, bricks raining down around me. Then his body freaking slammed down on me, angry snarling tons of shredding metal hooks gouging into the concrete.

A blood red eye blew apart as a bullet ripped through it.

I'd respawned just two yards away. How could I miss?

The false organ reformed a few seconds later as his head jerked to snap my gun arm off.

I shot him in the face with it a moment later as I lept away to gain some breathing room.

"Get him into an alley or building!"

Trusting that meant Grue was ready, I charged at the big bad wolf once more before hopping to the side as his teeth snapped at air. A dive forward kept me free of his back legs, which shot over me as he spun against my movements.

Finding myself in a runner's starting position, I pushed off, my shoulder slamming into Hookwolf's stomach and into a large grocery store.

Before I had time to think, darkness flooded the building, an inky viscous substance that made me feel unclean.

Somewhere in the dark chaos, Hookwolf shredded me as he panicked, forcing a respawn.

"Jump!" A voice whispered into my ear.

I looked around but it was as if light had no meaning and the world was nothing but tar. I could feel the substance as I waved a hand before me but couldn't see my own arm.

But I did know the floor was right beneath my feet.

Coiling my legs beneath me, I shot upwards, crashing through the ceiling and roof above to emerge once more into the land of light.

"Now!" I heard someone yell as something collided into me, throwing me to the side as wisps of dark substance streamed off the arms covering my face.

After coming to a stop, washing away the broken ribs and road rash with a thought, I saw Bitch astride her dog. Beyond her beast, I saw Tattletale and Regent tossing in what looked like grenades but I couldn't hear any explosions.

Shaking my head, I finally remembered about the gas grenades she'd saved from an earlier heist or so she said. Tattletale said they were for knocking out rooms of normal people if shit hit the fan but it might work against Hookwolf, too.

"Think that's enough?" Regent asked, as I slowly stood up and shook off the last of the darkness clinging to me.

"I sure hope so." The purple clad blonde replied, touching her ear. "What's happening in there, Grue?"

A crash somehow made its way out of the sound absorbing shadows. "He's slowing down, but he's-"

A crash of bricks crumbling into the alley below sounded into the air.

"Shit. They weren't enough." Tattletale cursed, mounting back onto the waiting monster mutt.

Running over to the edge of the building, I looked down to see Hookwolf shaking the shadows from his construct's face before stumbling slightly.

"Do you have any more?!" I yelled back, only to have Regent throw a grenade to me.

Catching it, I leapt from the roof to fall onto the enemy Cape, relatively safe from the barely moving hooks that covered the metal wolf. Raising from my crouch, I lifted my right boot and power stomped right along the spine, a glorious crack filling the air.

At first, I wondered if I'd actually killed him as the wolf collapsed to the ground but, like his eye repairing, Hookwolf started moving after a moment.

Wasting no more time, I ran to his wolf face, pulled the pin on the grenade and shoved it into his dagger filled maw.

I barely had enough time to jump away before I hearing a loud hiss. Landing in a backwards slide, I witnessed the effect of the point blank gas grenade.

If Hookwolf was stumbling before, he was acting like someone shoved an entire bar's worth of booze down his gullet.

I think we all just watched the event, as the Neo-Nazi cape stumbled into walls and dumpsters, in morbid curiosity. Eventually, he just slumped over, his wolf form melting away to leave a shirtless, tattooed man laying on his side.

"Fuck yeah!" Regent cheered from above me.

"Nice one, Respawn." Tattletale complimented me from my earpiece. "Let's bag this creep and turn him in."

"On it." I answered as I started pulling zip ties out of my coat.

I had barely taken a step before Hookwolf became Grue.

"What the hell?!" The teen yelled in confusion, turning around to face me before pointing beyond me. "The fuck you think you're doing?!"

"Thanking you for doing our work for us." Trickster replied, giving a sarcastic half bow while holding his top hat over his conductor's outfit. The air shimmered behind the mercenary villain as he took a step backwards. "Couldn't have done it without you!"

Then he was gone.

"Find that bastard!" Regent yelled at Bitch, who was already directing her mount to the mouth of the alley.

"They can't be too far!" Tattletale called over my earpiece, looking around from her rooftop vantage point.

"The scent doesn't go anywhere!" Bitch informed us as her dog let out a frustrated growl.

Burning myself dry again, I leapt up to grab hold of the roof edge and pull myself over. Looking down the street to the east, I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "I don't see anything!"

"They have to be close by. At least within line of sight." Tattletale said, frustration evident in her voice. "At least Trickster has to but that portal thing is new!"

"Wait! I think I see something!" Regent got our attention from the same rooftop as Tattletale but pointing to the south. "The next street over!"

"Everyone, mount up!" Bitch commanded, the dog she was riding moving towards the already running Grue.

Letting out a breath, I pulled out my revolver and fired a few bullets through my skull. It'd have to do, because the Undersiders were already on the move. Even with the boosted jumps, by the time I caught up, the Undersiders were in search mode instead of chasing anything. "Where are they?!"

"I don't know!" Tattletale was a few seconds shy of pulling her hair out. I couldn't blame her, I felt the same way. Having all your hard work sniped out from underneath was infuriating.

"They were here but there's no trail to follow!" Bitch growled, her dogs sniffing at the air to find the lost scent.

"It had to be that portal Trickster went through." Grue reasoned, looking around while clenching a fist. "Did they get a new member?"

"I don't know but we need more vision." The purple clad Cape responded before pointing towards an five or six story apartment complex a few buildings over that had an antenna on the roof. "Respawn, get up there and look around. Maybe you can spot them."

Even with the improved view from the raised elevation, I wouldn't see any sign of the Travelers or our target. We searched the area for a while longer but finally had accept the bitter reality before us.

They'd escaped with our prey.

oO0Oo

23 Apr - Early Afternoon

I entered the back room of Fugly Bob's, finding Glory Girl, Gallant and Clockblocker seated with drinks before them. Seeing a fourth seat, I sat down across from Gallant and let out a sigh, pulling down my mask to take a drink of the ice water before me.

Glory Girl waved to me. "I already ordered for you."

"Thanks." I let out a tired sigh.

"Tough day at the office?"

"You could say that." I looked at Clock out of the corner of my eye. "The Travelers stole Hookwolf right out from under us."

"We saw." Gallant said, with a nod. "Not them taking him but your fight and then all of you rushing off."

"How'd they do it?" Glory Girl asked, leaning forward with her elbows on the table.

"Trickster swapped Hookwolf with Grue and then they used a portal or something." I rubbed my tired eyes.

"Either way, you did a good job. Hookwolf's in a holding cell for transport to the Birdcage right now." Gallant told me, I guess hoping to make me feel better or something.

"Just wish we were the ones to turn him in. It's going to make things tougher now." I mused, looking up the to ceiling in thought.

"Actually, why are you still working with the Undersiders? I thought you were done after the Othala thing." Glory Girl asked, leaning towards me.

I cringed at the question. "It's kinda complicated, so don't jump to conclusions. Okay?"

"You mean like you and Tattletale being a 'thing'?" Clock asked, the grin visible thanks to him currently wearing a half mask.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. "No, we are not a 'thing'. She did it to mess with everybody, me included."

"So she kissed you to troll everyone?"

"She didn't even kiss me, Clock! It just looked like it!" I told him, my voice raising with each word.

"Clockblocker, back off." Gallant ordered before turning back to me. To the side, the white suited time Cape held his hands up in surrender. "You were saying it was complicated. How so?"

"Long story short, I'm one of the Undersiders now but- BUT, that's because I'm trying to reform them." I had to hold my hand up to stop Glory Girl's outburst. "Part of the reason we were going after Hookwolf was to try and show them 'changing their ways'."

"You're working with the Undersiders."

My best friend's words were more a statement than a question but I nodded anyways. "Yes."

"Please tell me Tattletale's blackmailing you or something so I can punch her lights out!" She begged me.

"Actually, she's the one being blackmailed." That brought the room to a shocked silence. "It's a long story but she didn't join the Undersiders willingly. She asked me to help her take down the villain doing the blackmailing to free her and the others. I said yes but the Undersiders had to go Rogue at least."

"How sure are you? That's a pretty crazy situation." Gallant asked.

I just shrugged. "As much as I can be. There's more info I can't tell you yet but she's trusting me too."

"So, what are you guys going to do now?" Clock inquired, crossing his arms over the large clock insignia on his chest.

That was the big question, wasn't it?

We'd already taken down Othala and Hookwolf, the Travelers stealing our target at the last second notwithstanding. Of the other Empire Capes, Rune, Victor and Purity hadn't been seen in… a while, actually. There was some speculation that they were either in hiding or maybe hit by Bakuda's bombs in the early part of the gang war.

Of course, that left the ABB with all three of their Capes. The most dangerous was Lung himself, if you thought about it on a personal level. The guy fought an Endbringer to a standstill back in Okinawa, so the thought of him showing his face was almost on the scale of bringing a nuke to a knife fight.

Bakuda was almost as dangerous, if not more on a wider scale. She was making more of her tinkertech bombs and handing them to the normal everyday goons fighting in the streets.

"I'm thinking we should take on Oni Lee but we're taking the night off to let the dust settle." I finally responded after a few seconds.

"Taking the night off with Tattletale, right?" Clock grinned at me. "I don't blame you, she's hot!"

Glory Girl looked conflicted, Gallant palmed his face and I was in shock. Then my face went nuclear. "I'm not sleeping with her!"

"Well, you're real close from what I saw in the video." He gave me a thumbs up.

I wanted to strangle him so hard, I had go force my hands to try and crush the table edge instead. "It was fake!"

"No, I'm pretty sure the recording was real."

"I meant the kiss!" I cried out, covering my face with my hands as I let out a keening groan of embarrassment. "She didn't even kiss me!"

"Oh… well, that sucks. Maybe next time, I guess."

"Clock, shut up." Gallant finally told his fellow Ward, after palming his face with a sigh.

"Well, that's a relief." Glory Girl let out a breath and relaxed a little. "I mean, I've got no problem if you swing that way but with Tattletale?"

"We're not together!" I declared, not whined, from behind my hands.

"I wasn't saying you were!" The blonde beauty held her hands up. "I'm just saying, if you were, you could do better than Tattletale."

"I'm not having this conversation!" I declared, just in time for someone to knock at the door. Any distraction was a good distraction. "Come in!"

The waitress came in and set out our food and set another round of drinks before us before exiting and leaving us to ourselves.

Of course Vicky ordered me a slice of greasy meatlover's pizza. I pulled out a few napkins and started soaking up the oils and grease as the others started eating. Tossing away the soaked napkins into a nearby bin, I started eating as well.

"So, how are the Wards handling things?" I asked between bites, trying to force the conversation away from my supposed 'love life'.

"They've had us patrolling the Boardwalk and Downtown areas." Clockblocker responded after swallowing. "We wanted to help you guys out but Piggy wouldn't let us."

"They already explained it to us, Clock. It'd be a PR nightmare if one of us got injured in the fighting." Gallant told his partner with a sigh. "I'm not happy either but we have our orders."

"Come on, man! She wouldn't even let us go after Uber and Leet!" The time based teen complained, talking angrily with a hand.

"Wait. Uber and Leet?" I broke in. I hadn't heard about them in a while, the two minor Villains going to ground after their last heist.

"Yeah, we caught them busting out of a Councilman's office and they wouldn't let us take them down!" Clock bit into his hamburger angrily.

"They were using jetpacks or something, Clock. We weren't going to catch them." Gallant tried to reason.

"They still got away!" Clockblocker sniped back in annoyance.

"What were they doing in there?" I asked.

Gallant just shrugged. "We don't know. From what we've been told, it looks like they just trashed the place. No one's reported anything was stolen yet."

"When did this happen?"

"Around the same time you and Tattletale were making out." Clock replied with a grin as I flipped him off.

I decided that when I got the chance, I'd work with Vista to pay the jokester back somehow. I didn't know how yet, but it would happen.

As for the timing, it could have been coincidence or it might not of but I couldn't tell. I wasn't a Thinker like Lisa was.

"Maybe you should spend some time watching the news instead of making it." Glory Girl joked at me, lightly punching my shoulder.

I cringed as a thought went through my head. "Yeah, the last time I sat down to watch the news, Dad and I had a fight and then I told Piggot she sucked at her job. I think I'm good." I looked to the two Wards. "Actually, I'm surprised you two haven't tried to arrest me."

The two males looked at each other in confusion. "Arrest you? What're you talking about?" Clock asked for the both of them.

I went and explained my conversation with their boss yesterday and her threat.

"We hadn't heard anything about it." Gallant stated, leaning back with a frown on his lips. "Aegis and I were patrolling yesterday, so they'd tell us to be on the lookout for you at the very least."

She still sent Assault and Battery after me, though. Actually… "Is Battery okay?"

"She's fine." Glory Girl answered me, surprisingly. "Amy healed her up but she'd lost a lot of blood, so they put her on bed rest."

"That's good… that she's okay, I mean." I replied a little distractedly. I needed to change the topic. "How's your sister doing?"

"Amy? She's working herself ragged, as usual." The blonde replied with a sigh. "It'd almost be easier to beat Alexandria in arm wrestling than it is trying to convince her she needs to sleep!"

I almost wanted to say she didn't need to work herself to death but realised how hypocritical it was. "What have you been up to, other than looking out for her?"

Glory Girl just shrugged. "Nothing much. Helping with my powers when they'll let me and watching the news, since that's all they'll put on the televisions. It's boring. Really, real-"

Twin beeping from the two Wards cut Glory Girl off, Gallant touching his ear. "Gallant here."

Glory Girl and I looked to each other as the two boys heard something that we didn't.

"Understood. We're returning to the tower." Gallant stated before letting out a sigh.

"What's going on?" Glory Girl asked as all four of us stood up.

"There's a protest or something brewing and they're pulling everyone back to deal with it." Clock replied with a shrug. "Probably keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't go crazy or something."

"Shit… I should head out too." She let out a sigh, tossing some money onto the table.

I did the same, though I didn't pull mine out of my cleavage or lack thereof. "You headed back to the hospital?"

"Yeah. With this happening, on top of everything else, it's going to be impossible to pull her away from there." Glory Girl said with some irritation. "I love her, I really do, but I'm really considering dragging her home by the collar of her costume, kicking and screaming if I have to."

"Want me to walk with you? It's not that out of the way for me."

"I was going to fly there. Maybe get her to go home before shit hits the fan." She replied with an apologetic smile.

"Ah. No problem. Good luck with that and tell her I said hi." I told her.

"Thanks and will do!" Victoria Dallon replied back to me before blowing a kiss towards the two boys. Clock feigned swooning for her but we all knew who it was really for. With that, she kicked off and flew away.

That left me with the two Wards outside Fuggly Bob's. "Welp, I guess we should head out, too." Clockblocker said, his mask fully covering his face again and looking like it wasn't made of two pieces.

"Yeah. I guess so." I replied, not really sure what to say. "Good luck."

"Thanks. You too." Gallant nodded to me, his own tinkertech mask looking like a closed knights helmet once more.

With that, we started walking in opposite directions.

oO0Oo

23 Apr - Early Evening

When I came home to an empty house, I was uneasy but forced myself not to panic. There were many reasons Dad could be out, so I shouldn't jump to Coil as the answer.

At least that's what I kept telling myself.

A quick shower and change of clothes later, the warmth and clean feeling helping me relax some, I was watching the news covering the protest.

Seemed a bunch of people had gathered up and were protesting the Protectorate and city government for their lack of response to the gang crisis. The news anchor was reading off a statement sent in by one of the organizers.

It basically blamed the government for all the deaths that the Empire-88 and ABB had caused, saying the nearly thousand dead were on their hands. Criticising the lack of PRT response and demanding they do something.

After the protest reached the PRT tower, with its blast shields closed and looking more like a fortress than an office building, the Deputy Director had addressed the crowd. Even I could tell he was sent out as a sacrifice, the crowd having none of his empty words and excuses.

It didn't become violent, though. Just a lot of yelling and chanting. Really, it just seemed like a lot of people who were fed up and wanted to vent in a simi-productive way.

The newscaster did point out that there was some vandalism on the fringes but the watching Heroes put a stop to it.

The fact that Assault could literally handcuff four vandals together within as many seconds was a showstopper and the fringe violence died down quickly after that.

That didn't stop the crowd from yelling at the red clad Hero, demanding why he wasn't doing the same thing to the gangs.

Seeing the news cycle starting over again, I muted the television and sat back with a sigh.

Hearing a vehicle door slam closed out front, I jumped from the couch and grabbed my sheathed knife, ready to draw it in an instant. As a key entered the lock, I positioned myself away from the couch, so I could move without tripping.

Then the door opened and Dad walked in to jerk to a shocked hault.

"D-dad!" The knife bounce off my foot. "Ow!"

I heard Dad snicker as I rubbed my poor foot. "Hey, kiddo."

I felt his arms wrap around me a moment later and I hugged him back. "Hey, Dad." As he broke free to close the door I actually noticed the signs on the floor he must have dropped. "What are these?"

I picked one up and read 'Protectorate Really Terrible'.

"They're signs we used at the protest." Dad replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "We didn't have much time to make good slogans, so they're kinda bad."

"You were at the protest?" The thoughts of my dad marching with the crowd didn't compute in my brain. "That's what your boss wanted you for?"

"Not quite." He said, picking up the pickets and standing them up in the coat closet. "He needed me to go over the funding and materials purchasing. After that, I helped out with the sign making until it kicked off."

"So you weren't at the protest?" I was a little confused but a little relieved.

"No, I was in it, right next to Jackson, Charlie and Mitch."

"What?!"

Dad actually laughed at me. "You make it sound like your old man hasn't done this kind of thing before. I actually met your mother at a protest."

"I thought you met Mom at college." I handed the sign over to him so he could put it away.

"Where do you think the protest was?" He grinned at me as he closed the closet door.

I shook my head at that, trying to reconcile my mom and dad at a protest. Dad just didn't look like it and Mom was… Mom. "So, what? You and Mom marched with each other and then started going out?"

Dad barked out another laugh, pulling off his glasses to wipe at his eyes. "If only! We were on opposite sides of the issue."

"What was it?" I asked, getting a curious look from Dad. "The issue, I mean."

"Oh." He sobered some as he thought about it. "I thought anyone with powers should have to register themselves and she thought it would violate their human rights." He rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. "You have to remember that this was around twenty years ago. People with superpowers were scary things to think about."

"Wow." That was totally not what I was expecting.

"Anyways, we got tired of yelling at each other with everyone else and basically agreed to have our own private debate about it. I brought my points, she brought hers and when it didn't go anywhere, we decided to talk about it some more over coffee." He shrugged. "One thing let to another and then we were meeting up just because."

"'That's' how you started dating Mom?!" It was crazy!

"Pretty much." Dad affirmed with a nod and a grin.

I shook my head and let out a breath. "So, who won?"

"Won what?" He quirked an eyebrow at me.

"The debate! Who won, you or Mom?" I demanded, holding up my left and right hands to mimic the two of them.

"Oh. Well, neither of us, I suppose." Dad scratched at his cheek with a chuckle. "We just, well, let the matter drop. Confused the hell out of our friends when we stopped showing up to the protests until they caught us together at the bar."

"Okay, you can stop there. I don't need to know anymore about you dating Mom." I turned and walked into the kitchen to get a soda.

"I guess not. You seem to already be a little lady killer yourself." Dad commented causing me to choke on my drink with a sputtered coughing fit.

Turning around, I found him looking at me with a quirked eyebrow, gesturing towards the television that showed a slightly pixelated close-up of Tattletale sticking her head under my hood.

"I'm not going to judge but is there something you want to tell me?"

oO0Oo

End of Chapter - 9

oO0Oo

A/N -

This chapter was pretty difficult to write. I basically deleted and rewrote the first two sections a couple times, losing around 5k words of work due to it not working right. While this isn't perfect, I think I need to move onward and use what I have.

I basically wanted to get across the information without getting mired in the details. As this is all based off Taylor's point of view, it could go wrong really quick. Eventually, I decided to skip the rest of the conversation started at the end of the previous chapter and go with what you read here, a remembrance.

As for the 'blind to Thinkers' thing, it's not perfect by a long stretch. It's just a byproduct of constant her respawning and even then, Taylor only knows Lisa says her powers don't work on her. Even still, Lisa was able to work around that issue, so who says other Thinkers can't do the same?

They also aren't even sure if it works on Coil or not, but Tattletale is willing to take the risk and Taylor has too much to lose to not try.

Anyways, if you have any more questions or spot a plot hole I might have missed in the story so far, send me a PM. I've already responded to a few people.