I said on the bus, hand clutching the handle of my hidden knife with a white-knuckle grip. I’d taken a seat at the back, and the whole while I rode my eyes scanned every person that boarded. Yesterday, I’d been afraid because I had no idea who could have been giving my info to my mom’s lawyer. Today I was terrified because I knew.

  It hadn’t taken that much thought to figure out it was Tattletale. The name, the smug know-it-all aura of the message, even the timing; barely an hour after I met Samuel. The fact that she knew my identity was awful, but at least there me and Miss Lisa Wilbourn were on even ground. She wasn’t stupid enough to try and out me, probably. And if she was, I had a few tools in my pockets to convince her otherwise.

  I was a little pissed I hadn’t expected an Undersider plot. The tentative truce we’d made before Leviathan had held long past its expiry date, and despite experience to the contrary I figured maybe Tattletale actually meant what she said for once. But here it was, the ambush that they’d waited long enough for me to forget about.

  They weren’t getting away unscathed, if this turned ugly. It didn’t matter how blind Grue made me, or how many dogs Bitch had, or what cutting remarks Tattletale could come up with; not one of them was a Brute, not one of them could handle the damage I could do. It wasn’t much of a heartening thought, but it was nice to know I could do enough damage to make them think twice about fucking with me.

  My heart was pounding as I got off the bus. It was only a block to Prescott Memorial Park, a large park with a ton of trees. The leaves were beginning to change from their brilliant emerald to the fiery colours of autumn. It wasn’t quite time for them to fall yet, but before long I was sure the park would be swamped with them.

  The entrance to the park was clear, fortunately, and after making sure the street was as well I pulled my red scarf over the lower half of my face. I tied it so it stayed up, then zipped up my jacket and stepped onto the gravel path leading in. My hands stayed in my pockets, one on my knife, the other on my pepperspray. Did I look like a thug? No doubt, but I was more keen on being alive than looking legal.

  Walking through I found it was...nice, despite the fact that I could have any number of guns trained on me right now. For the many, many issues Brockton Bay had, its parks were beautiful. But unfortunately crowded with shit, I found as I rounded a corner and saw a girl with blonde, braided hair sitting at a picnic table with a black guy; also wearing braids.

  My foot caught a rock and I nearly fell over. They came unmasked? What the fuck was this supposed to be? Tattletale had her back to me, and Grue hadn’t seemed to notice yet, so I took a second to scan the small clearing the table was in. Besides the single, large oak tree dominating the space, there was just them and the table. No sign of dogs hiding in the trees around it, no soldiers with rifles at the ready.

  “You can join us anytime,” Tattletale called, not even turning her head. “Promise we won’t bite.” God fucking dammit. I bit my lip and slowly approached the table, eyeing the two of them warily. Tattletale, or Lisa, turned her head, wearing a smug grin as I sat on Grue’s side of the table. “You know, red’s really not your colour.”

  “Pardon if I don’t join the friendly banter,” I growled, glaring at her. “What the fuck do you want, Lisa?” Her smile grew as Brian sighed and slid a wad of hundreds across the table.

  “One of these days you’ll learn,” she said lightly as she took the money. Lisa grabbed another stack and I jumped as a black girl with bright green streaks through her curly hair sat down with a huff next to her. “And you too.”

  “This is bullshit,” Imp, Aisha, muttered throwing a glare my way. “And you better not be saying shit.”

  “I haven’t yet,” I bit back.

  “How long you known?” Brian asked, his voice low.

  “What, haven’t asked Lippy?” I said sarcastically.

  “Said she didn’t know.” His gaze flicked over to Lisa, then back to me. “Not sure how much I buy it.”

  “It’s true,” Lisa complained. “Because our dear Amelia here is nothing if not inconsistent.” I rolled my eyes, pulling down my scarf since she wanted to bandy my name around.

  “Since I got powers,” I said, getting a collective sharp inhale at that. “I didn’t ask for it before you get too bitchy, and didn’t tell anyone else.”

  “Then how did Taylor get—”

  “Wasn’t her,” Lisa cut Brian off, staring at me. Her smile shrank as she spoke. “Probably Dragon, possibly Dinah; could have convinced herself with one prophecy or another.”

  “I know Dinah was behind the bullshit at Arcadia,” I said bitterly, remembering being thrown off the roof. “That where you figured out who I was? The video?”

  “Between the lawyer’s ad and your Nazi connections, it wasn’t hard,” Lisa replied, rolling her eyes. “Honestly what were you thinking getting tattoos as a Ward? Little bit of damage to your costume and suddenly the news is all in a tizzy about the little Nazi hero in Brockton Bay.”

  “I was thinking ‘I’m a Nine nominee and don’t want to die’, mostly,” I muttered. I didn’t need the bitchiest girl in the universe telling me what I already knew. “So what, this stunt is just a warning then? That you can fuck me over ten times harder than I can do myself?”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Well, jury’s out on that one,” she snipped. “But no, despite your completely insane, one-sided grudge, we don’t want shit getting out of hand like it used to.”

  “‘Insane’?” I said incredulously. “You fucking bitch you shot me twice.”

  “Never happened,” Lisa retorted, then her eyes widened slightly and her grin returned. “Not to me at least. How exactly does your precog power work? C’mon, I think I’ve paid enough for an answer.”

  “Magic,” I said dryly, licking my lips.

  “Like Coil’s?” she asked, smile growing as she speculated. “Not quite, but close enough isn’t it? Well as much as I’ve fantasized, I haven’t actually done it so—”

  “Lisa,” I snapped, cutting her off. I took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “The point of this, please. We’re not in each others’ good books and you sure haven’t helped with this bullshit.”

  “What, getting your mom’s blood-money wasn’t enough?” she retorted. “No strings, by the way.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Believe it or not,” she said with a shrug. I eyed her but she met my gaze without flinching. I looked at Aisha and Brian, neither of them looked happy either. Was this…

  “There’s an angle,” I said slowly. “I don’t believe you’d do this out of the goodness of your heart.”

  “Now that’s a little closer to the truth,” Lisa said. “See, we heard about your little falling out with the PRT and—”

  “I’m not joining the Undersiders,” I barked.

  “Fuck no you’re not,” Brian agreed instantly.

  “You sort of killed our leader, dumbass,” Aisha commented. My eye twitched.

  “Fuck you,” I spat with enough venom to make her flinch. “Fuck you, with every fiber of my fucking being. I. Didn’t. Kill. Taylor. I never wanted her dead because that meant all of us would be, but apparently she made enough enemies that what I want doesn’t fucking matter. But you get it through your head that for all the blood on my hands, hers isn’t.”

  “Sore spot huh?” Lisa drawled. “Anyway, that was never on the cards, you said it yourself you weren’t looking for a team right? No, but much as I hate to say it we have had a good thing going lately. First with Hannibal, then you and Bitch at that dog fight.”

  “She told you about that?”

  “Of course she did,” she said. “Except I think she told me you helped the person who killed all the dogs. I pieced the rest together. So you wanna be a hero? Well good news, your brand of it lines up with how I want want this city to be.”

  “Under your thumb?” I snorted.

  “Nazi free.” Lisa countered, shaking her head. “We’re not as bad as you think, definitely not as bad as anyone else trying to muscle onto our turf. Come on, we’ve worked together against common enemies before.”

  “You weren’t profiting before,” I retorted, then sighed. “But you’re right that that’s part of it.”

  “We can give you a hand undoing your mom’s legacy,” she said. “It’s in everyone’s best interest, wouldn’t you say?” She sounded genuine and I hated it.

  “And what about when they’re gone?” I asked. “When every Nazi’s dead or fled, what then?”

  “We talk,” Lisa said simply. “Renegotiate our agreement, or maybe you go crazy and firebomb one of our places like that tattoo shop.” I suppressed a wince. “Ideally the former, but we should focus on more immediate problems.” I fiddled with the handle of the knife in my pocket, staring at the wood of the table.

  “For the record, bitch that you are, I think you’ve been dealing with them the right way,” Aisha piped up, raising her arm with a kerchief on the end, the same colour as that in her hair. She didn’t have a— oh right. “Only right someone else feels the pain.”

  “Sorry,” I apologized, even though I didn’t do anything wrong.

  “Hey you didn’t lop it off,” she said. “Just let me go along to the guy who did it.” I sighed.

  “You did help when it counted though,” Lisa added. “It’s why we can have this conversation, because when the cards are down I know you can see the bigger picture in a way a lot of idiots can’t. Give us a chance, you’ll figure out we’re only a little worse than the heroes.”

  “I’m not going to be your friend,” I said firmly.

  “And I don’t wanna be yours,” she retorted. “But, when our interests align, I’m willing to put that aside and make nice. So, what do you say?”

  I stared at her as she stuck out her hand, then took a deep breath.

  “So what did you say?” Amy asked tensely.

  “I…” I bit my lip. “It’s just a truce, really. We do our own things and just don’t go after each other, at least not til the worst of the worst are gone.” Amy sighed.

  “So you said yes,” she said bitterly.

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” she said, her tone saying the opposite. “Just not sure how happy I am you’re working with her.”

  “I told you, I’m going to do my own thing,” I countered. “It’s just, you know, if I see them while they’re punching Nazis or whatever I let them be.” Or join in, maybe.

  “I still don’t like it,” Amy said, running her fingers through her hair. “You’re not joining them, right?”

  “Never,” I said quickly. “Literally nobody wants me joining the Undersiders, including the Undersiders. We just...agree there are worse things in this city than them.”

  “I can’t agree,” she said. “I...Tattletale ruined my life, she started the downward spiral that destroyed everything I cared about.”

  “I wonder how many Nazis have done the same to others,” I replied. “Not saying you’re wrong to feel that way, I told you I don’t like her one bit. The less I have to deal with her the better, and this way I don’t have to at all if I don’t want. Besides, I’m only one girl, I can’t handle every gang in the city you know?”

  “I know,” Amy sighed. “Just...sometimes wish you would go after them. I get why you’re not, I’m just selfish.”

  “Not selfish,” I argued, wrapping my arms around her. “You’ve got a good reason to hold a grudge, but I don’t; not good enough to ignore the other problems the bay has.” My reason hadn’t happened, as Tattletale reminded me.

  “You still need to tell me what you do,” she said firmly. “When you, you know, go back out. Even if they’re involved, especially if they’re involved.”

  “Of course,” I agreed.

  “Then...I guess I’m not that mad,” Amy said after a moment. “When are you going to start again?”

  “Dunno,” I said, shaking my head. “Still um, figuring stuff out. Soon though.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Don’t wait too long.”

  “Oh trust me,” I said, pulling away and offering a smile. “I don’t want to wait a second longer than I have to. But I can’t be stupid, rushing into it. Trust me?”

  “I…” Amy chewed her lower lip, then nodded. “Okay, I trust you.”

  “Thanks,” I said, kissing her cheek. “Just you wait, soon you’ll be complaining I’m not here enough.”