“What are you watching?”
Alec was staring at the TV with a surprising amount of attention for someone visibly approaching critical levels of boredom.
“Taylor, thank god. Save me.” Alec waved at the TV. “I have no idea what’s happening but at this point I’m too invested to look away. I just know I’m close to figuring out the plot.”
“Why’s the sound off?” Brian leaned over and picked up the discarded remote, ignoring Alec’s lazy sound of protest– in fairness, Alec gave up almost immediately, a kind of -ahh-eh.
“It was distracting me. I can’t understand what’s going on either way but at least without the sound I can focus entirely on the visuals.”
“Distracting you– oh, it’s in Spanish.” Brian had thumbed up the volume in the middle of a telenova’s dramatic conflict scene. Which was several times an episode, from Taylor’s understanding.
“Don’t you speak French?” Brian asked, which was news to Taylor.
“Yeah, so?” Alec pawed at their leader’s arm trying to get the remote back. “What are you doing in my lair?”
“We’re having team lunch, it’s good for morale.” Brian dropped his bag of groceries onto the lanky boy, not quite earning the oof he wanted. Alec simply accepted the slight weight without moving.
“Lisa and Rachel, too? Nevermind, I can feel them coming up the steps. Assholes.” Alec sighed forlornly. “And I guess you’re going to talk over my show?”
“Is this what you do? Watch Spanish telenovas in the dark?” Brian was unimpressed.
It surprised Taylor too, she would have figured he was more a video game person. Then again, many of his game systems had been damaged and he was working on sourcing replacements– he bitched about it often enough.
Cable had just come back on a few days ago and he was clearly milking it.
“Well, smartass, what I do in my free time is none of your business.”
Rachel and Lisa came in, not bothering to knock. Taylor had waved them on with a cheerful swirl of flying insects.
The dog Master was without her canine companions, to some surprise. Then Taylor registered her hair, a dramatic undercut and dyed red. Without her normal outfit she was almost unrecognizable– and she was definitely not wearing her normal outfit.
“Nice fit.” Alec said with an appraising eye. “The dress, combat boots, fishnets– it’s punk as fuck.”
“Lisa said nobody would recognize me.” Rachel snorted, dropping onto the couch next to him.
“Lisa was right!” Lisa said, leaning her elbows on the back of the couch. “We passed two PRT troops on the way here, neither even looked at us.”
“It helps that you’re also dressed like that, I guess.” Brian chuckled a little weakly. Lisa was also dressed ‘goth’ in a complete opposite of the way she usually presented.
She normally stuck to aww-shucks levels of typical teenage attire, denim skirts and cute little tops. Strappy sandals.
Taylor stared at her leather skirt and the collar on her neck.
“You look like Misa from Death Note.” Alec said, nonsensically, but Brian snorted.
“Don’t look at me, Aisha’s into that shit. That was one of the shows I caught a few episodes of, now she thinks it’s a good way to explain Coil and Lisa.”
“Huh, Thinker bullshit. I can see it.” Alec rolled his shoulders. “Brian, turn the sound back off, I’m trying to guess based on body language.”
“I thought you spoke French or some shit. Isn’t that like Spanish?” Rachel looked over.
“French is not Spanish!” Alec laughed. “Fuck, I did not miss you assholes.”
“Both romance languages, though.” Taylor found herself contributing, a small smile at his outrage. “Related language families and all.”
“And yet it didn’t help me figure out what was going on. Well, not really. I have a whole made up narrative in my head. That’s Fiona, she’s secretly married to all three of these guys.”
“Aw, so bored you have to make up little stories in your head. How cute.” Lisa teased, then glanced at the TV. She winced. “Oh, your ‘Fiona’ is talking about… she got sexually assaulted in the last episode. Husabnd one doesn’t believe her. Husband two was the guy that did it. Husband three is going to fight husband two. None of these people are married, by the way.”
“Ah, I thought that sex scene last ep was especially suckish.” Alec sighed. “Mind you, all the sex scenes suck, they keep fading to black right as the kissing gets heavy.”
‘Suckish’ seemed particularly euphemistic for a rape scene. Taylor frowned. He hadn’t noticed? Maybe the acting really was that bad, it certainly seemed awful enough from what was on the screen currently.
But something told her it was more fucked up than that.
“Hopefully you’re not watching this for the pornographic value.” Brian said. “Anyway, come on, cook with us. Lisa told you the thing.”
“No, shh, it’s just getting good! Especially now that I know what’s happening. Ugh, I can’t believe she told them, that was so stupid.”
Hair prickeld on the back of Taylor’s neck.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
It took her a moment to realize the words were hers, flatter than normal. All her teammates turned to look at her except Alec.
“Well, what’d she expect?” The pretty boy in question said absently. “Even if they believe her, it’s not going to make anything better.”
Taylor’s fist clenched.
Lisa made… a little noise.
“Huh. The guy that did it is her uncle– her father’s twin brother. That’s why they look the same, ‘husband three’ is actually her father.”
“Yikes.” Brian said. “Seriously, turn this trash off.”
“What, you don’t want to find out what happens?” Alec teased, before sighing and rolling up to a sitting position. “Fine, fine, we can already guess anyway.”
Taylor’s fist clenched. Sometimes she really couldn’t stand this guy. Brian turned the TV off and Alec grinned at him, conversation forgotten.
But Taylor couldn’t let it go.
“What would you guess happened?” She asked, knowing it was stupid. She didn’t want to start this fight, and it was a fight. She bit her tongue before she could say something she’d regret.
“Hmm?” Alec looked her way, smile fading a bit. “I don’t know, probably gave her shit for it. Hold it against her or whatever. Doubt the ‘uncle’ has anything bad happen to him. Maybe catch a black eye off the dad, if he cares. Surprised he wasn’t right there helping.”
Alec laughed and Taylor saw absolute red.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Brian shoved him a little, and Alec’s face fell, honest confusion taking over.
“What?”
“That’s fucked up.” Brian said. “Shit, who thinks like that?”
“Uh, time out for five seconds.” Lisa said, making a little T like her name. It was so cute Taylor almost got distracted. Almost. “That wasn’t what it sounded like.”
“Really?” Taylor said. “Because it sounded like he thought it would be funnier if her dad helped rape her. And I don’t think it’s particularly funny.”
Silence hung in the air.
“I– it’s not funnier.” Alec ran a hand through his hair. “Jeeze, chill. It’s just more realistic.”
Lisa winced and Taylor jerked with a full-body wave of anger. Everything that bothered her about the other Master was drug out from the dark places, everything she tried to smooth over.
“Of course you would know–” Her biting words were cut off, a sharp hand smacking hers.
“Stupid.” Rachel tugged Taylor’s sleeve, forcing her back. “He’s the only one here that’s been raped by his dad, don’t be a dick about it.”
The words didn’t register at first.
Raped by his dad.
“I’m not special.” Alec said, something weird in his voice that was trying to be dry humor and failing. “Being raped by my dad is not a unique experience, PHO has a few threads dedicated to counting the numbers.”
“That’s not funny.” Brian said weakly.
“Well, how else do you talk about it?” Alec said, dismissive. “Besides ‘not’, which, by the way, is my preferred method. I wasn’t even his favorite for that, but it’s not like you can live under fucking Heartbreaker and get away without it. You’ll notice I left.”
Somehow, in all their talk about his past identity– about Hijack– it had never occured to Taylor that he was being raped. She was mostly stuck on the ‘rapist’ parts.
That now felt woefully short-sighted.
Brian reached out, hesitantly put a hand on Alec’s shoulder.
“It’s what he does!” Alec jerked away. “Everyone knows that’s what he does. It’s his whole thing. It should not be surprising in any way.”
Getting caught by Heartbreaker was a nightmare. Anytime someone mentioned it, Taylor had flinched away, like talking about the Nine. But even then she’d imagined singular scenes.
Alec was breathing hard.
“Why are we talking about this, what the hell. Talk about literally anything else.” He swallowed roughly.
Objectively, she knew it wasn’t someone held down and screaming, not with Heartbreaker. It wasn’t one offs. He kept the, the women he found, the women he took. The whole point was that they loved him, would die for him, wanted it in a sick way from his Master power– and yet that’s what she’d imagined.
Not the morning after. Not a week of living there, let alone months– or years.
And Master powers didn’t really work on Alec.
“Jesus, fuck, you’re barely sixteen.” Lisa said, sounding ill.
“Congrats, Tats, you’re capable of basic math. Shit this is depressing, if I promise not to watch anymore telenova can we drop it?” Alec prickled. “I thought y’all were going to feed me.”
“All of us are going to cook together.” Brian corrected, but he was looking at Lisa. “We’ve been on a team for over a year.”
“Alright? Good for you, you’ve got a sense of time. Taylor’s been on the team for a few months now, we can all count. Huzzah.”
Taylor was also starting to realize where this was going.
“You were maybe fourteen when you joined the team.” Brian said slowly. “I remember, because you were a little asshole, and Lisa was barely any better.”
“Hey!” Lisa protested, but it was weak, no real laughter. Alec finally caught on.
“Don’t.” He said, face dropping entirely flat. “Come on, there’s no point to this.”
“How long were you on the run before you joined the Undersiders? A year, two?” Brian asked, ignoring him. “Shit, you were– you said when you ran away–”
“C’mon, man.” Alec shrugged out from under Brian’s touch, ran a hand through his curls with agitation. “This is a stupid game with stupid prizes. It doesn’t change anything. I already told you all this.”
“He’s like me.” Rachel said, looking at them with something a little dark. “Triggered early. Young. I was twelve, I think. He was younger.”
Taylor had spent so long trying not to think of all the rape and Mastering, not wanting to believe that their teammate had committed any of those crimes–sick to think he had–that she’d never done the math, even when he’d spelled it out.
Why hadn’t she done the math?
If it happened now, it’d be sick, sixteen was still young, but it hadn’t– it had happened years ago.
She’d been so focused on whether or not it was absolvable, that one murder he committed under Heartbreaker, whether being on a team with killers was moral, whether she could justify being Rachel or Alec’s friend.
“You said you killed that guy when you were twelve, thirteen max.” Lisa squinted at the very flat-faced boy. “You were active long enough that the PRT has files on you.”
It was one thing to think he’d been a villain at that age. Her thoughts had gone to ‘is that old enough to know better?’ ‘Is that young enough he couldn’t be held responsible?’
“And?” Alec asked, almost a challenge. He was trying to look as bored as he had during the first exchange of this information, when Taylor had been reeling fron the initial reveal. It wasn’t working.
How much had she overlooked at the time, due to the tone of voice he’d used? The whole charade of I don’t care, this isn’t interesting, let’s move on.
Nevermind if he’d been mastered. Nevermind that he left at twelve, an age where Taylor still had her mom, was still tucked in at night and read bedtime stories, was still too young to use the stove, much less go out by herself.
One thing to consider his crimes, at that age. Quite another to think of how young he was, of his own father reaching for him with that kind of horrific want.
Or maybe not even that. A dark suspicion curled in her cut, so monstrous that her throat went dry.
We were tested. If he’d had a bad day, he’d try to set up…
The Thinker on their team seemed to have reached the same conclusion, words echoing Taylor’s horrified thoughts.
“You said you triggered at ten. You never said how you triggered.” Lisa spoke quietly, like a knife through the room.
Taylor went very, very still.
Her head felt too full, too dizzy with new information, with rewritten conclusions. Alec, witty and handsome and acerbic, casual with affection and his words.
Raped by his father. Raped by Heartbreaker, who had done with sexual assault what the Slaughterhouse Nine had done with murder. Treated it like an art form and ‘perfected’ it with sick, twisted practice.
If that wasn’t a trigger event, she didn’t know what could be.
Not the boy her age in front of her, not the confident cape who wore Regent with so much pageantry. Not at sixteen, or fifteen as Taylor had been.
At ten. Ten.
Her mind flinched away from it. On her tenth birthday, she’d lost another baby tooth, running to her mom with bare feet and naked excitement, climbing into her parents bed at the crack of dawn.
Alec had been in his father’s bed, too, but not for the sweet innocence of childhood. A much worse horror.
On purpose.
No wonder he was the least concerned about Dinah.
He’d lived that– escaped that– and poking too hard might send him right back to it, a child cape kept under control of a villain who made Coil look like an amateur.
And Coil was holding Heartbreaker over his head.
“Does it matter?” Alec finally snapped. “I don’t harass you about your trigger shit. Leave it alone. I’m sorry I made a stupid joke about the stupid TV show, I’m sure her daddy wouldn’t rape her and he’ll be righteously outraged that uncle-bad-touch fucked his precious little girl. Jesus Christ.”
Alec stood angrily and pushed back Brian, shoving the bag of groceries into his arms.
“Now either cook or get out, I’m tired of all of you already.”
Gone were the languid smiles and casual jokes. Alec looked exhausted and irritated, yet his face was so neutral and empty it hurt to look at.
“We… planned to have pasta.” Taylor said quietly, a peace-offering. She felt weirdly numb.
“Fantastic.” Alec took a breath. “I’m going to wash my hands.”
He disappeared into the hallway, bathroom door snapping shut behind him.
Taylor looked around guiltily.
“I fucked up.” She said, squaring her shoulders. “Fuck. That was…”
“It was pretty bad.” Brian said in his calm-down-team voice. “We need to back off. He’s clearly not… I mean, Jesus, you’re not supposed to make someone talk about that kind of thing.”
Rape victim. Rape survivor. Taylor had seen a few brochures. She’d spent half her freshman year at Winslow hiding in the nurse’s office to escape the trio, before the nurse kicked her out and forbade her from coming back.
The pamphlets weren’t the worst reading material ever.
She felt sick thinking about it. Literally, her stomach clenched into knots.
Even now her brain was rebelling against the idea. Just as it had refused to think about Alec holding someone down, being the monster, it now flinched away from the idea of him being held down.
Of course, Alec was only resistant to Mastering from his power. Before he’d had that, it might have been…
The worst part about Heartbreaker, the cape community and PHO agreed, was that he made them want it. That his victims fell in love with him, real love, that they’d fight if they were rescued, that they wanted him more than anything else, like a husband or a lover or their very best friend.
Had Alec wanted it?
The thought made her want to throw up.
“God, that’s sick.” Her knees hit the couch. She had to get control of herself before Alec came back out here.
Alec, full of jokes and hedonism and boredom, making the worst jokes possible. Obviously, he’d been raised to be an asshole, but for the first time Taylor really considered what he could be like, instead.
By the time Alec returned, several minutes later, Taylor and Brian had set up in the kitchen. He looked suitably wary.
“It doesn’t take five people to make a pasta dish.” He said, going for humor. “Are the rest of us supposed to sit around and look pretty?”
Taylor almost dropped her knife.
He was pretty. It was one of the first things she’d noticed about him. More pretty than handsome, a bit of a triangular jaw, just soft enough to not be harsh or angular. Not her type, but certainly good looking. And even that was doing him a bit of disservice, she could admit that now.
She’d been biased against them being villains. It hadn’t seemed fair that Lisa was so gorgeous, that Alec would turn heads walking dwon the street.
Was it fucked up to call him pretty, now?
Had Nikos Vasil thought the same?
She swallowed harshly and focused on skinning and trimming the end off her onions and garlic.
“Here.” She told Alec, handing over the entire ensemble, cutting board and all. “I know you guys can’t cook, so make yourself useful.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He said with a limp-wrist salute, taking the handful with a rolled eyes. “You know these are going to be so uneven, right?”
“We’re not cowed by your strategic incompetence.” Brian said. “Rachel, can you put a pot of water to boil on the stove? Just fill it up a little over half-way.”
“Sure.” She grunted. “What kinda pasta we havin, anyway?”
“Chicken alfredo. Might as well.” Taylor said. “I got some fresh chicken recently, figured we’d make a big meal out of it.”
“Nice.” Lisa leaned forward, leery of being put to work. “I see Brian’s got the chicken, Alec’s got the veg. I guess there’s nothing for me to do?”
Innocent green eyes swimming out of her heart-shaped face.
“Nice try.” Taylor said. “You’re going to shred some cheese for the sauce.”
“Wow, real fancy.” Alec remarked. “We’re going all out for this, I see.”
“The hard cheeses are actually more shelf-stable than shredded.” Brian said conversationally. “Most of the imports are still dried and canned goods, but when they do go for dairy products it’s not the bag shredded stuff that barely lasts.”
“Fascinating.” Alec said dryly, squinting as he tried to carefully cut the onion as evenly as possible. Taylor was relieved to notice his shoulders relaxing slowly.
She didn’t even care if it was an affected calm, at least he’d put on his usual air of gracefully unbothered.
What did it say about her that she would rather him pretend to be comfortable? How much of how he usually acted was just that, an act?
Had she misjudged him so deeply?
Then again, it couldn’t all be a lie. He didn’t care enough to put on a constant farce.
Taylor was trimming the chicken. Brian was making a spice mix. Her knifework got choppier, more violent.
Was even that a baseless assumption? ‘Alec doesn’t care’? Why, because he said careless things? Because his face was often blank? Lisa had told them that was a Mastered thing, that Heartbreaker had pulled on Alec’s emotions in every which way until it fundamentally broke his ability to feel and express them.
So had she built up this version of him in her head? One that didn’t give a fuck? Sure, he was casual about some things, but most of that was his face.
If you couldn’t take someone’s measure by their words, what did that leave? Their actions?
Stupidly, the first thing that came to mind was that he was there. Always present. The first to complain but also the first on board. The way he’d hurt himself with power backlash more often than not.
Shit.
Taylor’d been an asshole to Alec, and she didn’t even know if it was deserved.
Even with all the rush and distractions, Armsmaster dropping everything in their lap, Jack running around, she’d been more focused on what was acceptable. On what she could forgive. Was Alec a good person for his choices?
Were his choices justifiable?
Taylor hadn’t thought of what it’d been like. For him. Of how miserable it was. Which was stupid, he’d triggered off it. Second generation or not, a trigger was a trigger.
My dad’s victims had eyes only for him,” Alec said, “So no, they weren’t nice to me or my brothers and sisters.”
Alone, with a bunch of psychopaths– most of them were babies, and the oldest were capes– and I wasn’t even his favorite for that, but it’s not like you can live under fucking Heartbreaker and get away without it.
Rachel’s remark, a sharp rebuke, expecting Alec to deny it. Because of course that would be too horrible, even at the age he was now, much less as a child– he’d been a kid—
“I’m not special. Being raped by my dad is not a unique experience.”
She’d thought of him as Heartbreaker-light. God, she’d compared them.
How could she have been so wrong?
It was daunting. If she was wrong about him, what else was she wrong about?
They had to get Dinah away from Coil.
She still wanted– somewhere, somehow– to be a hero.
The thought of betraying the Undersiders made her sick like she hadn’t been since the locker, so alone it had cracked her open and her humanity spilled out.
What had Lisa said? Masters trigger from isolation, alienation, exile, or betrayal.
Three Masters on the team.
Isolation.
It was least obvious with Rachel. She had her dogs to make up for it, though. The way she had no one, family or anything, and shied away from most people. All the work Taylor had to do to earn her respect.
Alec, so quick to laugh things off, to make the joke, to shy away from his past– and to kill for them when it came right down to it.
And Taylor herself, bending over backward to hold onto this one, fucked-up thing she had for herself, a team that barely even liked her.
They were all so fucking lonely.
Worse, for all his faults, Taylor had her dad– who did Alec or Rachel have? Was she the better off among them?
That was ludicrous. That was– impossible.
Now that she looked, she could see it. The same aching emptiness she felt, reflected back. Holding on to the team like there was nothing left. So alone it hurt? So alone they could trigger?
Taylor could see it surprsingly well.
“Are all Masters fucked up?” She asked, finishing the last dice of the chicken rudely. “I mean, of us three.”
“You already know my thoughts on this,” Lisa said. The girl had a whole set of theories on what made different powers.
“Is this more Hearbreaker shit? Because I will leave.” Alec set down his cutting with jerky movements. The tension was back in his shoulders. Fuck.
“No!” Taylor said, too loudly. “Shit. Sorry. I’m just thinking… of myself mostly.”
“Thin ice.” Alec muttered. He moved on to the garlic.
“I think we might be touch-starved.” And didn’t that hurt to say? Like looking in a mirror, painful self-reflection. “Masters trigger from isolation. Do we ever get better?”
“If you want a hug…” Alec trailed off, snorting. “By that logic, all capes are fucked up. Traumatized and all that.”
“You can be touch-starved without being a Master.” Brian said slowly. “I mean… shit, I try to be better about this, for Aisha, so I should be able to admit it. I’m…”
“You too, huh?” Lisa considered it, giving him the out. “It’s not like our lifestyle choices keep us with anything like healthy social contact. Especially lately. This is the first time we’ve gotten together in, what, weeks?”
“We were just together yesterday. Celebrating and shit.” Rachel pointed out, frowning.
“Together not for work.” Lisa huffed impatiently.
A tense beat.
“Alright, I’ll say it.” Alec waved the knife. “I didn’t think y’all wanted there to be an ‘outside of work’ together.”
Brian’s face fell.
Taylor watched him, wondering if they were thinking the same thing. Opening up helped. Being together helped.
He’d slept better with her, that one time. And last night again.
Just talking had helped so much.
…. And maybe the other thing.
Taylor refused to blush but pushing embarrassment into her swarm was a step too far. They tended to start fucking when she offloaded those sort of emotions, and bug orgies were no fun for anyone.
“… I do.” Rachel said quietly, but intently. She stabbed at the pasta with a wooden spoon, breaking up clumps. “You’re my friends. I want to spend time with you. All of you. Don’t laugh.”
Her shoulders were hunched, as though waiting for them to laugh anyway. Brian made a little noise.
“Of course we’re your friends.” He said, expression softer than Taylor had seen it. “We should spend more time together. Taylor and I–”
Taylor inhaled roughly, trying to keep her mind off it. Come on, there was a Thinker 7 in the room, they couldn’t give any clues–
“Wait a fucking second.” Alec looked up, squinting. Taylor was embarrassed but she couldn’t even be mad, for a moment it was like none of the fucked-up things had never happened and they were all at the loft.
“Wait a fucking second indeed.” Lisa said, giggling to herself.
Brian cut off abruptly and looked away. Then had to walk over to Taylor anyway as he handed over the spice rub for the meat. Taylor left him to it in favor of putting a skillet on the stove, spreading vegetable oil as it heated up.
“Very mature.” She praised sarcastically, heart beating fast.
Shit, she hadn’t thought about this aspect. Things had gone to shit, it never occured to her their friends would react. And maybe if they’d split ways they wouldn’t have, but what better to do when prohibited from supervillain activities than recuperate together? They were so spread out these days, so spread thin.
“Wait, you two fucked?” Rachel said bluntly, eyeing Taylor and Brian. “Since when?”
“Last night, apparently.” Lisa shamelessly used her power.
“Damn, are you two nesting? Is that what this is? You had a little heart-to-heart and cock-to-cunt and we’re all singing Kumbaya?” Alec sounded amused. “Lisa, do you feel left out? I feel left out.”
“How could I feel left out when they invited us all to the afterglow?” She smiled teasingly. “I didn’t realize this was a celebratory meal.”
Alec made tsking noises. “And after all that talk about being touch-starved. For shame.”
“We fucked because we were touch-starved.” Taylor blurted. “Um. I mean. It was… part of it?”
She looked over at Brian.
He took a breath.
“Don’t make it weird.” He told Alec and Lisa especially. “So much has happened, it was… a comfort. A much-needed…”
“Ooh, full of need— gah, kidding, kidding.” Brian threatened Alec with a kitchen utensil. “For real, I’m happy for you. Like, legitimately happy. Things have sucked wide and you deserve at least five minutes of fun.”
“Me, too.” Lisa said, eyes soft. “God, this week has been such a long year.”
Alec snorted and Taylor found herself laughing along. It was strange but she was more relaxed than she had been. Well, sex was supposed to be good for that, but it’s not like she’d…
Taylor hastily looked at the ceiling, blanking the thought.
Too late.
Lisa, who had just taken a sip of water, choked badly.
“Guh!” She coughed a bit. “What do you mean, you didn’t cum?”
Alec dropped his knife.
“Brian! For shame.” He chuckled. “Just kidding, don’t hurt me. Sometimes it really doesn’t happen.”
“You didn’t–?” Brian looked at her and Taylor turned the heat down before the oil could burn.
“Do we have to talk about this?” She asked, a little desperate. “It was… nice. I had a good time.”
A few weeks ago this conversation would have killed her, and now it felt… embarassing, but not even that bad. It helped that they’d all been so greviously injured and basically walked through hell for each other, as horrible as that situation was.
It had somewhat inured her to the social aspects of things.
Brian smiled for her, the lopsided one she loved. Her heart beat fast.
“I’m glad you had a good time. Still… you could have told me.”
“Awww.” Lisa said.
Brian and Taylor both turned to look at her. She put her hands up defensively.
“Is this enough cheese? I’ve grated, like, half the block.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Taylor relaxed. “Brian, pan’s ready for the chicken.”
“Sure, just swap me….places… there we go.” He picked her up and bodily moved her across the kitchen, and Taylor squeaked. Alec laughed, loud and carefree.
“So Taylor’s into manhandling then, noted. I too like being handled by men. For the record.”
“That’s not what manhandling means.” Lisa said dryly. Then, to Rachel: “It’s when you’re picked up and moved around. By anyone.”
“Makes you feel small, yeah?” Rachel nodded. “I can see it. Wouldn’t let just anyone do it, though.”
Taylor wasn’t the only one in the kitchen to take a breath at that.
Makes you feel small, indeed.
“What’s the point of fucking if you don’t cum?” The red-head continued, blithely unaware of the bomb she’d dropped.
Alec hummed, seemingly the only one not floored by the question, or blushing.
“Well– and take this with a grain of salt, mind you, I haven’t had consensual sex before– sometimes it’s just the closeness or because it feels good. What?”
The entire kitchen was staring at him.
He backtracked his last few words and groaned.
“Okay, let’s not–”
“Taylor, mind the chicken?” Numbly, she nodded, and Brian crossed the kitchen. Alec looked faintly apprehensive and then his eyes widened a second before the bigger man forcefully scooped him up.
“You make me crazy.” Brian said, kicking out a chair by the leg and depositing himself into it, Alec still a hostage. The bewildered Master blinked from his new lap position.
“Uh, sorry?” he tried. “What the hell, dude?”
“Stop saying the world’s saddest things. Be hugged.” Brian wrapped arms around him and squeezed, which did nothing to lessen Alec’s confusion.
“Oh. Okay.” Alec blinked. “This is kinda nice, Taylor, I see why you fucked him.”
“Oh my god.” Taylor busied herself with the food, cheeks pink.
“I’m surprised you’re secure enough to give hugs like this, though.” Alec said, easing into it. “No offense.”
“Fuck off, man, I second triggered like a week ago.” Brian said gruffly. “Almost literally a week ago. Do you know how fucked our lives are that you can trigger twice? I can hug.”
“Yikes, well, when you put it that way.” Alec patted Brian’s arms around him. “Hug away, bossman.”
“Speaking of bossman, I think Coil’s going to do something big.” Lisa bit her nail. “The pasta’s done, by the way.”
Taylor moved to drain it.
“Fuck Coil.” Rachel said. “Let’s go back to the other thing. What do you mean?” She looked directly at Alec.
“I mean that he can hug me whenever he wants. It’s his thing now– hug the ‘touch-starved Masters’ on the team.”
“No, the sex thing. You’ve never had ‘consensual sex’. What’s that mean.”
“Consent is–”
“Don’t be stupid.” Rachel walked over, getting in his face. “So you’ve never fucked for fun? It was all weird Heartbreaker and powers shit?”
“Some of it was–”
“Don’t.” Rachel repeated, grabbing his jaw. “Be stupid.”
He swallowed hard.
“Jesus.” Alec muttered, half swallowed by her hand. “No, then. I haven’t fucked for fun. The concept was kind of ruined for me after…”
“All the rape, yeah, I gotcha.” Rachel let go, leaned forward, pressed her forehead to his. “Sucks.”
“Yeah.” Alec agreed weakly.
“Wait, at all?” Taylor found herself asking, then blushed when they stared at her. She pretended it was steam from the drained pasta. “Sorry, I don’t mean anything by it, I just figured…”
“What, that I was having back-to-back orgies at the loft?” Alec laughed, leaning back into Brian, seeming genuinely amused instead of upset. “Lisa would have carved my eyes out.”
“Rude.” Lisa said. “I would not have. I’d have made you clean up afteryourself, put a sock on the door, or please have hook-ups at someone else’s place.”
“Like I’d bring strangers into our home.” Alec said, unaware of the softening looks he got for that. “Nah, fucking strangers has lost all appeal, trust me.”
“Not strangers, then. You could have tried to, uh, meet someone.” Brian buried his face in Alec’s shoulder.
“I guess.” Alec’s nose scrunched up. “Fuck, that seems so unpleasant. It is bad to say…”
“What?” Rachel turned her body until she was half-cuddling with them, laying her cheek on his shoulder standing up.
“Well, I could fuck someone my age, but it feels– like they’re so young. Capes are one thing but high schoolers? And then if I go for older than me, what the hell do they want to fuck a teenager for?”
“That’s… surprisingly insightful.” Lisa said, chewing on it.
“Although note that I meant romance, not hook-ups.” Brian clarified.
“I just thought of something.” Lisa said, making a face. “I can’t decide if I should say it or not, though.”
“That’s a first. Lay it on me.” Alec made a welcoming gesture. “I mean, I assume it has to do with me, given the context.”
“It does.” Lisa took a breath. “You said fucking strangers has lost all appeal. Do you think, maybe, that all your fuck experience being as a tween might have skewed things there?”
Alec’s face went blank.
“What, you think it was bad because I was twelvish?”
The room collectively winced.
“Okay, that does sound stupid when I say it out loud.”
“Fuck, I… could you even get hard yet?” Brian almost immediately groaned as he realized he’d asked out loud. “Nevermind, that’s so inappropriate and sad.”
Alec cackled a little, caught off guard.
“Fuck you very much, yes, I could get it up. I wasn’t that young.”
“You really were.” Rachel growled. “Imagine it was me.”
Alec’s face went completely blank, almost bored, in a way Taylor knew was actually murderous. He’d looked at members of the Nine that way.
“No.” Alec said flatly, reaching out and curling pale fingers around her wrist.
“Imagine it was Lisa. Taylor. Brian.”
“Fuck off, are you trying to make me homicidal?” Alec demanded, still with that eerily unaffected look. He took a heavy breath. “Okay, I get it, it was fucked up.”
“I think we should kill Coil.” Taylor said. The words rang through the kitchen. She thought she’d have to explain, that it was quite sudden, that the build-up needed a play-by-play.
Instead, Brian leaned back from Alec, tucking his chin over the boy’s shoulder to face the room.
“No, yeah, I agree.” He said seriously.
Lisa’s mouth dropped open.
“Now you want to turn on him?” She demanded.
“Explain.” Rachel demanded. “What– he pays us. It’s been shit, lately, but the money’s good. Buys supplies for the shelters.”
Alec was frowning as well.
“He’s threatening to send Alec back there.” Taylor hissed, insects hidden all over the lair crackling with anger. “Or threatening to bring his dad here, whatever it is. The rest of us are here for the money and the rewards, but he’s holding that over Alec’s head.”
Rachel’s face went stormy with anger.
“Fuck him. Let’s kill him.”
Lisa stared. She looked between her resolved teammates, at Alec’s surprise.
“He recruited me at gunpoint.” She blurted. “He still… he kills me, over and over again in his other timelines. Tortures information out of me and shoots me in the head, knowing I’ll know. That I’ll see it on him. That he’ll kill me if I run.”
Alec went very still.
“Well, fuck. Let me go, Bri, I’m going to go kill him myself. I’d like to see him tell dear-old Dad where I am when he’s got a gun in his mouth.” Alec paused when Brian made no move to unhand him, slumped a little. “Of course, the PRT’s probably already spilled that much. Their security is kind of shit.”
“That’s mostly Coil, too.” Lisa said absently.
Taylor wasn’t even a little bit on the fence. It should have scared her, how ready she was to commit murder. It really didn’t.
Alec’s surprise as Brian hugged him. The tremble in Lisa’s voice as she described her own, repeated murders by the man who pulled their strings.
Forget giving the information to the heroes, Taylor wanted to use it. To make the world better, even if she had to do it as a villain. Even if she had to do it covered in blood.
The Nine had wiped out a lot of her naitivity.
The post-Leviathan world where villains held everything together, and the heroes were basically useless.
Her hands were already bloody. Why not take out Coil?
If it saved her friends?
She’d do so much worse.
That wasn’t a new conviction, nothing had really changed. It was just she wasn’t flinching away from it, now. She could look at the truth and see.
No denial. No lies. The naked honesty, that she’d do whatever it takes.
That was who she was. Standing with her father, a supervillain, taking care of her territory and her people, grappling with the new self he didn’t know; it wasn’t the changes that bothered her. It was the clear-sight to the girl she’d always been, this whole time.
No more lies.
“I’m really sorry I thought about selling you out.” She said, familiar burns of humiliation panging through. They’d forgiven her, they’d handled the Nine together, but she didn’t feel like she deserved any of it.
Even Brian going from awkwardly handling her crush to last night was far more than she deserved. It felt like a lifetime had passed since then, since Alec’s unexpected defense, Lisa’s loyalty, Rachel’s mistrust.
“Huh. Lisa, I just remembered, you owe me three hundred dollars.” Alec said, breaking her out of it.
Lisa hissed.
“Wait, you bet on that?” Rachel demanded. “Come on, that’s fucked up. She was going to sell us out.”
“I bet on her staying with the team longterm, that we’d get over it in less than a month. What’s there to be mad about? She didn’t know us yet when she made that plan.” Alec shrugged. “We meant fuck-all to her back at the beginning. She wouldn’t do it now.”
He sounded so certain.
Lisa looked at Rachel.
“When we first met, you’d have sold us out. Maybe not outright betrayed us but definitely left us for a higher bidder. Your dogs were more important. You’re loyal, yes, but not to people. Not unless they earn it.” She paused. “I bet that it would take six weeks for us to really forgive her and gel as a team again. Couldn’t have predicted Jack and his merry band of psychopaths.”
“Nobody could.” Brian muttered acidiclaly, before taking a breath.
They looked to the dog controller who was still struggling with the reminder of Taylor’s plan.
“I wouldn’t have broken the agreement.” Rachel frowned. “Would have told Coil myself that I was out. Left on a clean slate. No betrayal.”
“But you’d have left.” Brian said reasonably. “Would you now?”
She bared her teeth at him, snarling. Ripped her hand away from Alec’s.
“No! What is wrong with you?”
“He’s just proving a point.” Alec said, petting her shoulders. “It’s like that for the dork, too. She didn’t know us at first, would have walked away, but now she…”
“Not now.” Taylor said, voice hoarse. “Not without a really good reason. The whole city dies if I don’t leave, or something.”
“Fuck the whole city. You’re ours.” Rachel said, face still twisted up, and Alec yanked her close all at once.
It should have been strange, Alec in Brian’s lap, holding Rachel close, but it just looked right. A puzzle put together correctly.
Taylor turned away, eyes burning.
“Someone bring me those vegetables, I’m going to get the sauce going.” She mumbled. “We’ve got to eat at some point.”
“I got it.” Lisa dumped them over, a hiss and a crackle as they steamed in the pan the chicken had previously occupied. “More oil?”
“It would be better with butter.” Taylor sighed. But they would make do.
“No butter, I’m afraid.” Brian said. “I feel bad, I should get back to helping. I just…”
“I’m irresistible like that.” Alec said smugly, looking imminently comfortable. “Maybe you were right about the touch thing, dork, this is… Well I was going to say it’s surprisingly nice, but that’s kind of embarrassing.”
“You said it anyway.” Rachel huffed a laugh. Alec shrugged.
“I’ve already been sitting in Brian’s lap this long, the shame has evaporated.” He claimed boldly. “Rach, you get hugged, too, apparently this is a Master problem.”
“I get lots of puppy cuddles.” Rachel countered, almost dry, and Brian huffed a laugh.
“She’s got you there, b–” A strange expression came over the Shaker’s face.
“I promise I didn’t hijack him.” Alec said blandly. “He just froze.”
“Recalibrating, it looks like.” Lisa giggled. “He was about to call you a pet name.”
“Oh?” Alec animated at once. “A nickname? For me, really? What was it?”
“It was dumb, I don’t know why I thought that.” Brian sighed. “Forget it?”
“Not on your life.” Alec was gleeful. “Do you want a nickname? It’s… I’ve kind of always wanted to use them, you know? A super French thing I missed out on, except when I was flirting with someone or, like, undercover. Les petits noms d’amour, and all that.”
“You went undercover?” Rachel asked, amused.
Alec pulled a face.
“The amount of political assassinations or threats I’ve run is not zero, and we’ll leave it at that. Also, putting on a show with your sister is not fun. I usually got paired with Cherie and she bites.”
“What kind of show?” Rachel tilted her head. “You had to fuck her?”
“Only a few times, thank god.” Alec shuddered theatrically, making it a little joke, but no one was laughing.
“Jesus.” Brian said. “Let’s kill Coil tomorrow.”
“It’s not that big of a deal.” Alec muttered. “We even had fun sometimes. High-society parties, like the Gala here. Well, the murder was… I don’t want to call it fun, but at the time it was at least interesting, at worst a distraction from what was waiting for us at home.”
“Why stop at Coil?” Brian asked the room. “Once our territories are a little bit more stable, let’s go on a field trip to Canada.”
“Absolutely not.” Alec snapped, blood draining from his face.
Brian flinched at the sudden ferocity.
“Do you think you’re immune to being Mastered? Into loving Him? He could make you kill Aisha with a smile. Make you beg to suck Him off, eagerly rip your skin off for the privlege.”
Brian froze, not because of the horror of all that, but because the boy in his arms was shaking.
“Shh.” Lisa said, having come over. She ran her hands through Alec’s curls. “Hey, he was just mad for you, we won’t, look at me– we wouldn’t ever try to kill him without you, without you running point, fully informed, okay? No plan that you hadn’t personally approved.”
“But you still want to kill Him.” Alec said, voice so fucking dead. “That’s– you can’t– why do you think I ran away? You think I wouldn’t have taken the chance to finish it, if I had one? All my little brothers and sisters are still there, more fucked up by the day, and I should probably care about that, right? Cherie joined the Nine to get away from Him.”
“You got out.” Lisa stroked his hair, his face. “You did good, you’re allowed to save yourself first. You couldn’t help anybody while you were drowning. You did so good.”
Alec made a hurt noise and then sucked in air, reeling it back. He shuddered through an inhale. “Fuck.”
“Sorry.” Brian said, voice weak. “I wouldn’t ever… I mean, I want to, but it would absolutely be your call.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Alec murmured weakly. “God. You people are the worst. You come here, start all this shit, and don’t even feed me.”
Brian laughed, the sound shaky.
“Taylor?”
“Food’ll be ready soon.” She promised. “Just finishing the sauce.”
“Deep breaths, everyone.” Lisa said. “It’s all okay. Food will make things better.”
“Although, for the record…” Taylor moved a spoon across the alfredo.
“Taylor, I swear to god.” The blonde said tiredly.
“Heartbreaker’s line of sight. I could drown him with wasps, beetles and roaches from six blocks away.” She stirred methodically. “If you put me in a safe like Shatterbird, he wouldn’t have a chance.”
“That’s… terrifying.” Brian opened and closed his mouth a little. “We’ll call that plan A, alright? But if we ever tried it, it would be after a lot of discussion, after we kill Coil, and far into the future when things settle in the Bay.”
“If things ever settle in the Bay.” Alec muttered, only to huff as Lisa elbowed him.
“What? I’m right. This is the worst city I could have possibly chosen.” He leaned back into Brian. “Although, somehow I don’t even regret it. Which is stupid. Leviathan. The Nine.”
“Aw, you like us that much?” Lisa leaned in, pressing a kiss to his temple.
“I guess so.” Alec sighed. “Pathetic, right?”
Something small in his voice that they might have missed if they weren’t paying attention to it.
“No, not really.” Brian said, equally soft. “I like you guys, too. Don’t make fun of me for it, or I won’t open up for another three to five business months.”
Alec snorted unexpectedly and even Lisa grinned.
“Honestly, this is more ‘open’ than I would have ever expected.” Alec said, gesturing at the arms around him. “I almost feel magnanimous about it. Rach, Lis, you want in on this?”
“On what?” Rachel asked, even as Lisa looked surprisingly tempted. Alec shimmied over to one side, Brian’s face going blank for a moment, and then the lanky boy patted Brian’s other knee.
“Oh. Sure. That’s cool?” Rachel checked, and at Brian’s tiny, hesitant nod, threw an arm around his neck and sat on his other knee.
“Now you can lean in and tell him what you want for Christmas.” Lisa observed dryly.
Rachel shrugged and pressed close, murmuring in his ear.
“Christmas is like six months away. Bold of you to assume the city will be standing by that time.” Alec leaned into Brian’s other shoulder. “Also, this is ridiculous, this should not work. How do we fit.”
“Big team leader go brrrr.” Lisa said sagely.
“Brian’s lap can fit many Undersiders.” Alec said, snorting under his breath. “Lisa, you can have next dibs.”
“Not Taylor?”
“Hasn’t she got enough?” Alec asked airly. “Congrats, by the way, I know you wanted to hit for the longest time.”
Taylor choked by the stove.
“It wasn’t like that.” She finally said, eyes darting over and back again.
“Then how was it– ow, don’t pinch me, Jesus.” He turned back to Brian.
“Don’t ask inappropriate questions, then. It was fine. Nice,” He amended, before he could get grilled for damning with faint praise. “I just… honestly just sleeping with her was so much better than sleeping alone, the sex was…”
“No, yeah, I agree.” Taylor said, seeing he was clearly trying not to offend. “I’d do it again, it wasn’t– shit, this is so awkward– it wasn’t bad but the sleeping part was the best.”
“Damn, how good was the ‘sleeping part’? Or I guess, how bad was the sex that co-sleeping was the highlight? Not trying to be a dick, genuinely curious.”
“You’ve been sleeping great this week, then?” Brian rose a brow and Alec immediately frowned. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Sleeping alone sucks but waking up from a nightmare next to someone, especially someone you trust…”
“Huh.” Alec said quietly, rolling the word around in his mouth. “Rach, you want to sleep here tonight?”
“Sure.” She said. “I’ve been sleeping under a bunch of dogs and that helps but it’s not… the same, I don’t think.”
Taylor’s cheeks flushed thinking of it. Of her lonely bed back at her lair. Brian probably wouldn’t stay over again tonight.
“Can I come, too?” She found herself asking, only to immediately kick herself. Fuck, how desperate could she be? And it was Alec, he’d definitely give her shit for it–
“Sure.” The nerve Master said, surprising her. Constantly surprising her. “The more the merrier, or whatever.”
The food was done shortly after his acceptance and they moved on to other topics, both Rachel and Alec finding it funny to keep Brian pinned down during the meal.
Alec bemoaned that he missed garlic bread, Taylor started talking about the logistics of making bread, and Lisa told them all to be grateful to even have fresh, home-cooked food.
“Thanks.” Alec eventually said. “For doing this, I guess. You didn’t have to. And I appreciate it.” He ducked his chin, avoiding their eyes in an uncharacterisitc show of shyness.
“No problem. We should do this more often.” Brian said easily, before his voice grew thoughtful, more serious. “Things have felt… shaky, lately. Almost fragile. Like it’s one thing after another, and we’re all worried the next one might be the thing that shatters us.”
“Well, isn’t it?” Lisa said, biting her lip. “It’s all just so… fucking batshit crazy. We’re holding on by the skin of our teeth, here. I don’t. I don’t know what I’m doing, and it feels like it’s all going to fall apart.”
“I’ve never known what I’m doing.” Alec said, with a little self-mocking smirk. “So I haven’t really noticed anything different, on that front. Just making it up as we go along. That’s not the worst part. This whole– the warlord thing? It’s so isolating. We’re doing good, or whatever, keeping areas of the city afloat, but it keeps us far apart with no support.”
“He’s doing it on purpose.” Lisa said. “I guess since we’re openly plotting against him now, I can say it. Keeping us weak, separated, with no idea what’s going on. You felt it, too, when he said not to go out in costume for a few days. We’re being puppetted along for his stupid agenda and I don’t even know what it is.“
“But you don’t think it serves us.” Brian worked out slowly. “You don’t trust his motives. This whole thing– our territory, divide and conquer, the whole thing with the Travelers. You think it’s a set-up? Not just for the PRT but for us as well?”
“I know it is.” Lisa scowled. “Coil doesn’t do things for just one reason. If we’re feeling cut off from each other, dancing to his tune, it’s on purpose. He’s using us– he’s always using us. I can usually tell what for, though. Try to work around it, to salvage something within the bonds of his leash.”
She spat the last part.
“Of course, I’m no better than Dina Alcott. Just another pet Thinker, the only difference being he just opens up a new timeline and tortures it out of me, instead of keeping me close. I’m a liability because my other self can’t keep anything from him, apparently.”
“Well…” Alec said slowly. “And this is dark as fuck, so don’t judge me. But if you know he’s pumping you for information and then closing the timeline, you know that’s not the timeline he’s keeping. So anytime he starts to torture you for intel, just… go full Taylor, tell him to go to hell, and kill yourself first.”
“Jesus fuck.” Taylor said. “I’m not like that, am I?”
“You kind of are.” Brian said apologetically. “But damn, Lisa couldn’t just– what, assume it wasn’t real? That’s some bullshit. Even in those timelines, she has to know we’re coming for her.”
“He kills me first.” Lisa says. “From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t ever give you a chance. So at least it’s, huh, at least it’s quick. Also, he probably relies on you not caring right away if he takes me. None of it’s sticking, so he could just grab me off the street and have me in his lair in less than an hour. What are the odds you go in guns blazing after an hour of not hearing from me?” She shook her head.
“No, by the time you notice I’m missing, it’s too late. He opens and then closes those timelines too fast, a little recreational murder of his pet Tattletale for stress relief.”
“That’s sick.” Alec said casually, moving pasta around his plate. “What if you never get separated from us?”
“What?” Lisa looked up at him.
He shrugged.
“Well, we’re going full ‘betray that asshole’, right? So there’s no need to risk it. Stay with one of us, the moment you’re not with us anymore we sound the alarm, and we kick his door in. He’ll have no choice but to collapse the timeline. We make kidnapping Lisa an instant-lose for him.”
“Then he’ll know we’re not listening to him anymore.” She pointed out, frowning. “But, he won’t know the details if I hold out. Deny him information….”
“Can you manage your territory remotely?” Taylor asked. “I know your set up is more electronic. We’re not meant to be seen in costume anyway. It’s the perfect time to lay low, off the radar so to speak.”
“Yes…” Lisa worked through slowly. “For a few days, yes. It helps that we don’t have as reliable of communication. You’re serious? You want to do this, right away?”
“My carrot and stick combo vanished.” Brian said. “Aisha’s already living with me, and she triggered. The city’s gone to shit. It’ll be months if not a year before social services even notices, and then they’ll just be happy she’s got family to stay with.”
“I was always planning to double-cross Coil.” Taylor admitted. “Not you guys, anymore, but him? He’s just another gang leader as far as I’m concerned. Bleeding the city dry for power and money.”
“I guess… I don’t really need him anymore, either.” Rachel said. “We run the city right now, not the cops or the heroes. As long as we can get shipments in, food and dog food and water, it’s not like it matters if we’re getting paid by that asshole.”
“And you all know my thoughts.” Alec said. “He paid me, I was happy. Then he started pulling on my strings, threatening to let father dearest know where I was. Of course, the PRT pulling out my old identity means it’s not going to stay quiet, long.”
“Only if they announce it.” Lisa said. “Wait, why haven’t they?”
“Aside from the general news black hole the city is right now?” Taylor asked, cynical as always. “I think they’re waiting to see which way the cards fall. Right now we’ve taken the city but they really hoped their gambit wouldn’t work, that they could report us quashed before they ever had to admit we’ve done what we have.”
“Son of a bitch.” Alec said sharply. “They’re waiting to see if I drop Shatterbird. No, listen, it makes sense. They want to see if I’ll keep playing Regent or if I handle things as Hijack from now on.”
“That… makes a lot of sense.” Lisa frowned. “Too much sense, actually. Shit. And Coil controls your access to her. Won’t let you do anything with her right now during this downtime.”
“How much do you need her to keep your territory?” Brian asked. “Look, I get it, she’s a murderer– she put the Nine’s kill-count personally in the five or six digits anytime they hit a city, has killed more than the others combined.” He trailed off.
“I don’t.” Alec finally admitted. “It’s easier, but we claimed our territories before I took her. With her, I can spread out, take more ground, stand on my own against the white hats. Without her, I’ll need… help.”
“You’re not alone.” Rachel said. “Fuck, we were never trying to do this on our own, right? It just got… twisted or something. In the past couple weeks.”
“We should turn her in.” Taylor decided. “All the Nine had kill orders, right? We could get that bounty.”
“What about me? That makes me the weakest member of the team again.” Alec frowned. “I don’t like being useless.”
“You won’t be useless.” Taylor looked at him. “None of us are useless. And we work better together. Being solo warlords is stupid. The whole point of the Undersiders is we’re a team. We cover each other’s weaknesses.”
“Alright.” Lisa said. “Alright, okay. We kill Coil, turn Shatterbird in for her kill order bounty, rescue Dinah Alcott–” A glance at Taylor, who nodded. “–clamp down on any kill-switches Coil may have that alert Heartbreaker that Alec’s here–“
“Please.” Alec said, looking pained.
“– and then we keep up the territories thing until the Bay is back on it’s feet, not as individual Warlords but as one team. Sound about right?”
“Sure. Just one thing. How are we meant to merk the paranoid guy that can make different timelines?” Alec asked.
“I’m glad you asked.” Lisa smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. Taylor abruptly remembered Lisa had been thinking about this for months.
–