Orb Weaver: Plague chapter 15

I wondered if there should be a western stand-off music track as the Wards wandered over to us along with Vicky and Amy.

Amy looked… Grumpy.

“This is a great place to find a date, Ames!” Vicky said.

Ah, Vicky is trying to find another date for Amy. I didn’t spend a tremendous amount of time examining the high school social environment, since few Arcadia students had much to do with my mission…

But yeah. You’d have to be deaf and dumb to miss stories of Vicky’s crusade to get her sister to “come out of her shell.”

Evidently, this was another attempt.

Glancing at Lisa I could see she also saw it.

“Remember, think first.”

She smirked. “What, I shouldn’t use any of the juicy—“

“No.” Brian stared at her. “No. Don’t fuck up.”

“Fine.”

“Hey Taylor,” Chris said. “I didn’t think you ever left school!”

“Chris,” Missy said. “Don’t be a jerk.”

“I’m not! It’s just that between tutoring and her own stuff… Hey Brian.”

I shook my head. If I’d needed any other confirmation…

Anyone could find out their identity, let alone people like Kaiser or Lung. They didn’t use it because of the danger of overwhelming retaliation. The “unwritten rules” in this case included an unspoken promise to ignore the rules if the wrong people were attacked.

In a way, the same thing that protected off duty police officers— someone who went after an officer’s family might find himself… shot while resisting arrest.

“Ah, Wacky John’s, come for the burnt pizza, stay for the money-eaters,” Dennis said.

“You’re just jealous I beat you last time,” Carlos said.

There was an easy camaraderie with them. Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to be part of a team.

Well, those thoughts were for later. “So, where is your adult supervision?”

“Hiding.” Missy gestured at the mass of kids in the arcade section. “Dennis told him he had the dad look down and he panicked that he couldn’t pass as a teen any more.”

“That’s terrible,” Aisha said.

“Yeah, it’s worse.” Carlos looked at me and then shook his head. “Never mind.”

“Oh, working with someone who… oh…” Lisa said.

Her power. Lovely, now everyone was looking at her, and Brian looked like he wanted to scream, while Chariot looked like he wanted to faint.

“So!” I said, “Food first, or miniature golf first!”

“Well, since you’ve already eaten,” Chris gestured at the pizzas. “It’s only fair we take advantage of your food induced lethargy in order to defeat you at miniature golf.”

“Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?” Aisha asked.

“Sure!” Chris said. “I will beat you—but none of your friends can show up.”

In this case, Aisha’s open identity helped. Nobody even looked surprised that someone knew who she was.

“What? No fair!’ Aisha said. “Bro, tell ‘em, this is like being prejudiced against powers!”

“Leave me out of it.”

“But first,” Vicky said. “Who are your friends?”

“I’m Lisa, this is John!” Lisa said. “I’m actually Brian’s friend from way back, but I just wanted to catch up with Taylor—you know, all the adventures she’s had.”

Carlos glanced at Lisa and frowned. “So you…”

“She is fully aware,” I put in. “Lisa’s very perceptive, but she thinks before she talks.”

Lisa’s eyes narrowed, then she nodded. “Yeah.”

“But first, I’d like to find the adult chaperone. After all, it would be unfortunate to not help him embrace his new found maturity.”

“Can we come?” Missy asked.

Brian shook his head. “You want him to run into the night? Then we don’t get credit for this.”

“I’ll go!” Aisha said. “I’ll like make certain we get credit for our school trip.”

“You’re certain I can’t get a video of this?”

“Nah,” I said, the ‘nah’ sounding strange. “Why don’t you all get the tickets and we can join you. Brian can talk about his friends.”

Oh, from Brian’s look I was going to pay for that…

****

Assault was in a far corner of the arcade, hands in his pockets, looking at some displays.

I got the feeling he wasn’t hiding from the Wards as much as he figured that as long as he was in sight, they’d be on Wards’ behavior and not having fun.

So, out of sight, out of mind.

“Oh, hi, Aisha!” he said. “Here to help a lowly clerk waste the time?” He glanced at me. “And… are you… Taylor, I heard something about you.”

“Yeah…” Aisha said. “Sorry boss, but you sort of got made.”

“What?”

“We were having a meeting, and Aisha… neglected to tell Brian that Tattletale and another member of the Undersiders would be here.”

“Hey, you know it’s important to keep secrets…” Aisha said.

“Wait—Tattletale? The Thinker?”

“Yeah, she was here for the first meeting of the Secret Legion of Fuck Coil.” Aisha grinned.

Then Assault put his hand over his eyes for a moment. “Coil, of course you’d be involved. You do know we think he’s tried to kill you once, already.”

“Yep! The SLFC figured that out!”

“Aisha…” she paused at my words and I looked at Assault. “Coil has extensive penetration of the PRT and Protectorate. We were here to meet with Tattletale and another member, Brian is here because they know him, and if they wished to join the Wards…”

“Hokay, this is a catastrophe.” He looked over at the table and I saw that Lisa was talking with Chris and I didn’t need to be a mind reader to understand why Assault was worried about what a Thinker might ferret out. “See, the thing is, when Brian said he was coming down, and set this up, I volunteered for… another reason other than paperwork.”

“Which would be?”

“To induct you into the Protectorate branch of the SLFC.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh c’mon, not surprised that the old folks aren’t stupid?”

“You know you’re subverted?” I asked.

“Oh, like you wouldn’t believe,” Assault said. “This is going on off branch—nobody even talks about this shit in the PRT or to anyone who isn’t specifically read in, right Krewe?”

“You got bad guys at HQ?” Aisha asked.

“Yeah, and in the BBPD and just about anywhere you want to ask.” Assault looked around. “Can’t talk long, but here’s the thing. This job is happening off-premises, and the only one writing anything down is Dragon.”

“Dragon isn’t based in the Bay…” I said.

“Got it in one.”

“So…how are we gonna do this?” Aisha said. “Tats is smart, I mean, most of the time.”

“Tattletale joining up would be suspicious. Thinker, after all.” I glanced back at the table. “Fortunately, she’s brought a friend, who is quite unhappy with Coil, and who might be convinced to join the Wards.”

“You think Coil’d let him go?” Assault asked.

“Coil seems to be quite interested in the Protectorate and PRT. If clever Tattletale can get him another source in the Wards…” I frowned. “Coil is smart and subtle. I doubt he’d be obvious, but he might try to control Chariot, or at least bug him, especially since he knows he’d be able to detect any attempt to observe Chariot on the part of the Protectorate. It would also put Tattletale into his good books.”

And I doubt Chariot is subtle enough to fool us if he tries to play double agent.

“Because he doesn’t know about the Protectorate SLFC?” Aisha said.

“Yes, and how better to prepare him for my decision to seek out his services…” Normally a foolish stunt, but now that I have back up… And even if Coil knows from Chariot... well, Aisha's already known for having a mouth... yes, this might work.

“Sounds… not terrible,” Assault said. “But go and have fun, and I’m not gonna talk to Tattletale. Just in case. We’ll set up a dead drop to talk to you later.”

“Don’t worry,” Aisha said. “We’ll just tell ‘em your here freaking at your gray hair.”

“Great,” Assault said.

I tilted my head. “If you want to reinforce your cover, you should make some dad-jokes, later.”

He stared at me, and put one hand up to his chest. “Are you sure you’re just a Thinker? Because that was Striker: ow, right there.”

I just smiled.

But now it was time to get back to the party.

*****

Going out to the miniature golf course, I found myself teamed up with Brian, Vista and Amy, who had apparently fled Vicky’s invitation for her to play along with her sister and his boyfriend. Lisa and John joined us, evidently deciding they were less likely to be outed and dragged away if they were among those who mostly knew who they were.

Missy was trying to play like an older girl. It didn’t take much in the way of analysis to notice how she was patterning off of Brian.

A crush? No. It didn’t feel like that. More like a very respected big brother.

Amy was… grumpy.

Well. No surprise there in fact—

“So, having fun?” Lisa said. “Gotta admit, this must be a nice break.”

Amy grunted.

And I noticed how Lisa’s eyes narrowed, then a very slight wince went over her face.

She’s definitely going to have to work on a poker face.

“Better than some of our aftershool stuff,” Missy said. “Thanks for inviting us, Brian.” She didn’t say anything else, and Missy was unaware of who Lisa was. Good. So far the Wards just knew that Lisa knew who I was.

Even so, I would lie if I said I wasn’t tense. That was probably why Brian, I, and Chariot… didn’t do very well at the game.

Granted, it wasn’t as bad as Chris’ team, which got sidetracked by a debate over the “Tinkertech” gravity blasters, which he took as a personal insult. Dennis’ comment floated over the air. “Well, maybe we could hire Leet to add some real tinkertech.”

“You wanna blow the park up!?”

Then Carlos cleared his throat. “We probably shouldn’t talk about what any kind of Tinkers might do here…”

The only way someone doesn’t know the identity of the Wards is if they’re deliberately trying not to. I hit a ball into the hole as I wrestled with some disappointment. Young Taylor had images of secret transports, brain washing tech, and even some special power that nobody knew about.

Now I had to accept it was just that nobody wanted to risk the chance of Alexandria or Eidolon dropping by.

But towards the end of the day, as we were returning our golf clubs and heading back for some pizza (or drinks on my part), I murmured to Tattletale. “I think Chariot might like to join the Wards. Unless he’s a murderer I think he’d make a good addition…and might make your boss happy.”

“I’ll talk about it.” She glanced ahead. “One thing. I can’t talk to you much. This is about as much as I can risk, because Coil isn’t stupid, but…Amy?”

“Yes?”

“She’s stressed, and not in a good way, and I’m keeping that little bit of info really fucking secret from my boss.”

I couldn’t be 100 percent certain Lisa was telling the truth, or even not wrong. Keeping my face neutral, I nodded. “I will look into it.”

Then there was only chatter, with the Wards talking before it was time to leave. I shook hands with Assault, or rather the adult chaperone. And he passed me a bit of paper.

I waited until I was leaving to look at it.

An anonymous email address. Under it, a cartoony drawing of a dragon.

Ah. My link. I memorized it and destroyed it.

I was lost in thought, and I almost didn’t notice the figure following me on the roofs.

Almost.

I paused, and looked around. The evening was growing deep, and nobody else was at the bus stop. Perhaps I should have gotten a ride—

And then there was a flicker of white and scarlet, a figure leaping up, paper swirling around her, forming into wings before she gracefully landed on top of the bus stop shelter, looking down at me.

“Kanshi, I take it?” I said. I hadn’t seen her, or heard much of the ABB’s newest cape, just that she was getting a reputation for being a heroic villain on PHO.

“Hello Taylor,” The girl said, her voice young. Strips of paper orbited around her, a sign of her power. Rumor had it she could make those strips steel-hard.

Display, threat, and protection all at the same time.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m not certain what I’ve done to merit the attention of the ABB…”

“Nothing, but you know one who the ABB needs, as does the city.”

“Really?”

“Yes. For there is a murder and I would like to obtain the services of The Investigator.”

I tilted my head. “Presuming I knew her…” Kanshi laughed softly at my words, but I forged on. “I am not an ally of the ABB. Why should I get involved?”

“The woman was not a member of the ABB. But there are signs the E88 ordered the crime… If that is the case, Lung will retaliate.”

“But you don’t believe so.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“The Empire is on the back foot. Why launch an attack now?”

“To remind the Bay why they need the Empire?”

“That has been said, but I do not believe so, and yet, unless the crime can be conclusively proven to not be their doing, there will be pressure on Lung to respond. Not all who get caught in the crossfire deserve it.”

I dropped the pretense. “I will. Under a few terms.”

“Yes?”

“The guilty party will be delivered to the BBPD. I am not a hired gun to commit murder on others’ behalf.”

“Agreed.”

“And it is said that women walk the street, paying off their… Debt to Lung. If I solve this crime, one will be released from their debt, completely.” I couldn’t demand any more. But I’d be damned if I’d take the ABB’s money.

“Agreed. And if you find out information during your investigation that could hurt the ABB you will not use it.”

“Unless it is to protect the lives of those who are not involved in criminal acts, I agree.”

“Agreed. Let us hurry. The ABB member who found you didn’t wish to enter Wacky John’s for fear of breaking the truce, but the body grows cold.”

Moments later, a car drove around the corner.

I was definitely going to be late getting home.