“So do you like, own this place or something?” I asked, looking around the empty coffee shop. “A front, or shell, or whatever?”

  “Not quite,” Lisa replied, grinning. “Was actually Taylor who got these people on board, provided for them when they had nothing. They let me hold meetings here every so often, a debt of gratitude.”

  “That so,” I mused. Made some sense, with the location and all. “You said you had something?”

  “Sorry, no liquor on me,” she said, getting a roll of my eyes. “What were you thinking anyway? Pretty stupid to get drunk in the ‘hood.”

  “Lisa, we’re here for business, not therapy,” I said sharply. “You want to know so bad, you can pay me.”

  “That hangover’s still pretty bad huh?” she said snidely.

  “Yes, it is,” I snapped, eye twitching. “So let’s get this over with. This about a plan to fix your failure?” Her smile, fortunately, vanished.

  “It wasn’t a failure, just not the win it could have been.” Lisa tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We found a place where they’re keeping the older weapons, things that would have been some of the good stuff before. Think semi-auto military rifles, old or shitty sub-machine guns, who knows what else.”

  “You do, probably,” I said dryly, considering it. “No way this stuff isn’t being guarded around the clock, especially with how we’ve been hitting them.”

  “You’re right,” she nodded. “It’s got a cape living in the neighbourhood, Thurisaz.”

  “You mentioned him before,” I replied. “He’s new, at least to Brockton Bay. Powers?”

  “A Brute, not dissimilar to Fenja or Menja in that he can grow about two or three times his regular size,” Lisa explained. “Except instead of reducing the impact to himself, he multiplies the effect on whoever he hits.”

  “So instead of getting hit by a car, it’s like getting hit by a semi?”

  “A good enough description,” she said. “He takes damage like a regular person, albeit a giant one. Quick regeneration too.”

  “Oh he sounds like a fucking treat,” I groaned. “That’s a job for Bitch, not me.”

  “She’s doing something more important,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “Besides, what are you scared of? Not like he can do anything against your projection.”

  “No, but it also sounds like Nadir’s gravity might not hold him down,” I said, rubbing my temple. “And if he’s that big, and regenerates quick enough, it won’t matter how much I get my hands on if you get what I’m saying.”

  “A real pickle,” she said with a shrug. “You’re a smart kid, you’ll figure something out.”

  “You’re setting me up,” I said coldly as the realization hit. “Like with Stormtiger, because you know when I’m backed into a corner I play for keeps. You want someone taking pieces off the board without getting your own hands dirty. That’s your fucking play, isn’t it?”

  “Paranoia’s a bad look on you, Lia,” Lisa said gently. “I’m giving this to you because your team is effective, and right now we won’t be. You don’t have to kill him, in fact things might go better if you don’t. Just get those guns, however you do it.” Was I paranoid? No, fucking of course not, this was Tattletale. Just because she wasn’t in spandex didn’t mean she was powerless.

  “No, full disclosure, where the fuck is your team?” I demanded, slapping my hands down on the table. “You’ve cost me a hell of a lot for sweet fuck all, least you could do is give me a full picture.”

  “Yeah, I’ll just let the little hero with a grudge against me and a penchant for arson in on my full operations.” Lisa rolled her eyes. “Let’s change topics just a little, promise you’ll puzzle it out. What does she remember about the portal?”

  “You mean what do I—”

  “No, Lia, you know exactly what I mean.” My cheeks burned as I turned to look out the window. “Someone knows where it goes, right?”

  “Gimel,” I muttered, the name coming to mind unbidden. I shut my eyes and pressed my palms against them. “Come on, I don’t want to—”

  “Earth Gimel, right?” she cut me off.

  “An escape route,” I mumbled, shaking my head. Just get this over with. “But there’s nothing there...yet. So Bitch is…” It clicked. “You don’t know where she is.”

  “Not precisely,” Lisa said with a nod.

  “And Brian, he’s, what?” I leaned back in my chair and sighed. What tiny, stupid minutiae did the other Amy remember? “Oh, fucking Cozen.” Lisa choked her mouthful of coffee.

  “You really have no tact,” she coughed.

  “So that leaves you, Alec, and Aisha; since Flechette and Parian didn’t join you,” I counted off. “Fuck, you’re not even lying.”

  “Oh I want to hear about those two,” Lisa said, eyes sparkling as she leaned it.

  “Yeah, pay me some other time and I’ll tell you whatever,” I retorted. “Fucking unbelievable you’re not bullshitting me. God, whatever, I’ll see what I can do. Give me the address so I can go home and take eighty tylenol and lay down for the next eight to ten hours.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Something your mom used to say?”

  “You really like seeing how far you can push me, huh?” I drew my pistol and set it down on the table, flicking the safety off. Her eyes flicked down to it, just for a split second. “A murder-suicide is awfully tempting, if only to relieve this headache.”

  “Seems like a bit of an overreaction,” she said, licking her lips. “Unless of course, it doesn’t stick. Oh fuck you.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Seventh time lucky, right? Can’t fucking believe I didn’t pick up on that sooner. So it’s not like Coil’s, it’s way better. And you haven’t been using it?” I glowered at her and pulled down my scarf, showing off the ugly, still healing cut on my neck. “Ah. So—”

  “Shut up,” I snapped, hiding the wound again. “And if you ever ask me to use it, I’ll kill you.”

  “I wouldn’t.”

  “I don’t believe you.” We glowered at each other silently for a moment before she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

  “Sorry,” Lisa apologized, shocking me like a blast of freezing water.

  “What?”

  “I said sorry,” she repeated herself. “Don’t get all uppity about it.” I stared at her quietly for a minute, then nodded.

  “Fine,” I said tersely. “The info?”

  Mercifully, she was all business. I got a file folder with everything she had on Thurisaz and the armoury, then headed out into the cold without so much as a ‘goodbye’. Wasn’t in the mood to be any kind of polite. Tattletale knew now, something I’d been so desperate to avoid for so long.

  With any luck, it wouldn’t be the end of my world.

  “Are you sure about this, Amaranth?” Nadir asked as we drove towards the armoury. “Not that I’m saying we shouldn’t be doing this but…”

  “I get it,” I said, checking my pistol. “Believe me, I do. I...I don’t want this to go like last time. I’m sure that we need to do this though.”

  “Okay,” she said, grabbing my shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Let me handle Thurisaz, alright? I can hold him down, I know it.”

  “There’s a real possibility you can’t,” I said, shaking my head. “We’ll figure something out though. Worst case is we retreat.”

  “Think there’s some other worst cases, boss,” Zeke commented, making a turn. “Like our ride getting scrapped, or more of those villains showing up, or you guys...you know?”

  “If that happens…” I sighed and stared at my pistol.

  “Hey, Lia, no,” Nadir said, her arms wrapping around the seat and squeezing my chest tightly. “It won’t come to that, okay?”

  “If it does, I won’t…” I swallowed and slipped my pistol into my belt. “I won’t hesitate. We all make it through this, no matter what happens.” I sighed and gripped Nadir’s hands tightly, staring out at the dark street ahead.

  “We’ll be okay,” she reassured me.

  The ride didn’t take half as long as I wished, and soon enough Zeke was pulling the car to a halt on the side of the road. We got out and made our final preparations, the others putting their body armour on while I kept a lookout. We were a block into the South End, a little ways away from the armoury we’d be targeting tonight. Hopefully far enough we wouldn’t be spotted by any lookouts Werwolf might have.

  I was still a little tired from my drinking a couple nights back, but nothing that would impair me tonight. Crazy that alcohol was so easy to get, when it was so damn strong. Just had to avoid making it a habit, shouldn’t be too hard if I wasn’t an idiot about it.

  We got moving as soon as Nadir and Z were ready, jogging at a quick pace towards our target. It was just past two, we had agreed on a much later time than usual since we didn’t have to coordinate with another team or worry about bed time or shit.

  As we ran, fluffy flakes of snow began drifting down from the sky. How late in the season were we, how close to Christmas? I had no clue, having practically lost track of time. Whatever, not like it mattered to me, I had nothing to fucking celebrate. Maybe after tonight though…

  We turned onto the target street, clear as the others had been. The place we were hitting looked like a pretty normal store, a toy shop of all things. If Tattletale was right though, they kept a lot of stuff here that certainly wasn’t child friendly.

  When we found it, I had to look twice to make sure it was the correct address. It really just looked like a toy store, with colourful window displays and promises of fun to be had for all ages. Looking closer though, they had an awful lot of cameras for a bunch of stuffed animals and Tonka trucks.

  I led my team down the narrow alley between the store and the neighbouring restaurant, a place specializing in the only ‘genuine wurst’ dishes in Brockton Bay; how they misspelled ‘worst’ and why they’d advertise it that way remained unanswered as we came around the back.

  I frowned, looking at the door to the toy shop. It seemed a lot heavier built than it needed to be, with a number pad beside the handle. The restaurant, by comparison, looked practically unlocked. None of these little details meant Tattletale wasn’t full of shit and trying to get us taken out, but it definitely pointed in the right direction.

  Nadir and Z turned to keep a lookout as I approached the door. I didn’t waste time with the number pad, Tattletale hadn’t given me a code. Instead, knowing we were on camera and the door was probably alarmed, I drew my pistol decided to go in fast and loud.

  The lock and latch disintegrated as I fired two shots into each. The alarm screeched as we tore into a dimly lit hall, my team crouching behind me as we charged. Even though I had my gun raised, I wasn’t planning to actually use it; not unless there was no other option.

  A figure appeared ahead of us, coming out of a door. Nadir yanked on my shoulder to get me to slow, and the guy dropped with a grunt of pain. She and I went inside the door he’d come from while Z knelt and restrained him. There was another just inside the door, who Nadir secured while I swept into the room beyond.

  A security room. Two chairs, two mugs of steaming coffee, and a ton of monitors showing various views of the outside and inside of the store; including two pictures of a well-stocked armoury. No other doors, so I returned to Nadir and Z then got moving further down the hall. We came to a heavy, steel door marked up with warning signs about dangerous chemicals. I raised my pistol to the latch, but paused when Nadir grabbed my shoulder.

  “Got the key,” she yelled over the blaring alarm, raising a key ring. After trying a few different ones, she pulled the door open and we stepped inside.

  “Shit damn,” Z swore, looking around. “Ain’t seen this much artillery...ever.”

  I had, but only inside the PRT’s own armoury. There were a lot of hunting rifles and shotguns, stuff regular people would have. But there were just as many rifles that looked like something the National Guard or PRT tactical units would carry. Alongside those was a rack of blocky SMGs and pistols. Rounding out the armoury was a pair of huge rifles hanging on the wall, bigger than any I’d fired before.

  “Call the cops Z,” I said, leading them out of the room and down the hall. Nadir and I dragged the two suspects out and into the alley out back while Z made the call.

  “So we’re just waiting for the cops to take these?” Nadir asked, cocking her head.

  “Basically.” I sighed and scratched my neck. “Not a lot of options, besides either taking them ourselves or just setting it all on fire.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” she agreed. “So what are we—” A tremendous ‘crash’ cut Nadir off and we flinched back as a giant rose up in front of us, glowering down with a grim looking mask.

  “Who the fuck are you?”