Welcome to Worm, a part of human radio serial. This series is a fan project paying tribute to what Wildbows' web serial worm and contains graphic violence, strong language, and adult subject matter. Listener, discretion is advised. When was quicker than a guy his height should have been?
Dodging through my attack and swooping into a position to counter? Keeping to his instructions on being unpredictable? I threw myself a word and awkwardly tackled him. I succeeded in knocking him to the ground, only to have him flip himself over and straddle me, pinning my arms down.
Let's start. We keep this up and you can be quite the scraper. When we were on the ground here and I pushed you to one side and you should have rolled with it. I just saw some distance.
You were really quick about it. You could have been on your feet before I was, which would be a good position for an attack. You're going to let her up or are you enjoying this too much? Sorry, Taylor.
You want to go for round leaves? No, just for it. It's too early in the day and I wouldn't deny Taylor her fun. I'm surprised you're up for this, you two.
Aren't you like sore from jumping around last night? You especially, Taylor. You went on a run this morning now. Now you're sparring?
If my knees could talk, they'd be screaming and agony, but staying active keeps some kind of stuff. Everything okay? Well, Taylor went home, got in an argument with her dad, came back here. I've been saying a while.
Yeah? Sorry. Me too. I love my dad.
I know his other state where I felt embarrassed to be around him. We didn't understand each other. I thought we were closer than that until last night. Well, things going to be okay.
I don't really know. Okay. I'm stuck. I'm standing here facing you, and I don't know what I can do that isn't gonna wind up with me getting hit or throw into the ground.
I'm the forward. There's no one thing to do with kick mask. What would you do with my shoes? Honestly?
Good question. I guess I'd go for the nearest thing to use as a weapon? Besides that. There's a thing to grab the woodwork for sparring without really hurting you.
I guess I'd do what you're doing. Wait for the other guy to make a move. Okay. Okay.
So, move. I conduct a load of trying to take my feet out from under me. I have no way to avoid his foot as it moved beneath me. Still, he was once up ahead of me, shoulder checking me onto my ass.
I took his advice from earlier, coming with it, scrambling backward to create some distance. You have turned and followed after me, bringing his knee forward and stopping a few inches shy of my face. You're learning. Very slowly.
You're learning. Listen to what I say, you keep in mind. I almost never have to remind you of something twice. I come bearing coffee and the breakfast.
But a certain team leader was too lazy to fetch. Fuck off, Alec. I got something nine days out of town on my way here. That's your tax for the inconvenience of your living off site.
So, I think it's important to get a few things out of the way, now that we know who we're employed by, why, and our possibilities for the future. So what's the plan? First off, I don't think we should do a majority vote for this thing called a proposed. As far as I'm concerned, this is too important, too game-changing for us to go ahead with it if anyone's going to be unhappy or upset.
We come to a consensus so we don't do it. Second, Alec. I got asked about what Coyle said. Past identity, your dad.
Is there something that's going to come back and bite us in the ass? Is there no chance we can ignore that? I don't know, can we? My dad runs his own group in Montsrey All.
I was working for him before anything else. Who was he? Nikos LaSeal. Hutsbreaker.
What? Well, after Coyle had that deal sleep, the slope I made a mental list of possibilities. Had it narrowed down to four, heartbreaker was one, the piece is fit, but it was so hard to believe. He's big.
Well, he's scary, he's newsworthy. He's not all that. You're kidding, right? This is the guy who's been on every front page since I was reed.
When you could permanently rewrite your feelings just by being near you, the second group of fucked up cults of worshipers were willing to commit crimes and even die in the service. When you second group about kidnapping women to build some sort of insane harem, you grew up with that guy? It was normal to me. I mean, what was it like?
It can't even wrap my head around it. Well, the women, nice to you? What? How does it even function?
My dad's victims had eyes only for him, so no, they weren't nice to me or my brothers' sisters. Details, come on. Talk. Not a talkative person.
Talk, right. Kick your ass. Second it. Fine.
We had everything we could ask for as far as money and stuff went. That's victims took care of the chores, so the only thing us kids would have to do is take care of the babies sometimes. Didn't have to go to school, but some of my brothers and sisters did just to stay out of my dad's way. Why?
Is that a dumb question? And it's hard to explain. He cultivated us, bred for us, went miles out of his way to get us back of a member of his family was taken from him. Not to the freaking crusade that came down to it, but when we were around, he paid almost no attention to us.
When he did, it was the discipline or the test us. The discipline usually meant getting a dose of paralyzing terror for not listening to him, insulting him or even looking him in the eye sometimes. Testing happened on our birthdays or if he'd had a bad day. He tried to set up a trigger event.
That's supposed to be so hard given that we were second generation, obviously. But he started when we were eight or so. How would we do when your power shown? Hard to tell.
Since I didn't go to school and nobody really kept records, I lost track of the years. 10 or 11 maybe. I was the fourth kid to show powers and there were 18 or so of us when I left. Most of them were still babies though.
So yeah, I worked for him for three or four years. We did jobs. I learned the family trade, called myself hijack at first. Then he started to get on my case.
I think maybe he was having trouble affecting me the same way he did before. My powers kicked in, so he compensated for that by writing me. Pushed my limits, made me do stuff that was dangerous, stuff that was hard on my conscience. Wants me to break, begging the stops we'd have leveraged to get me to do what he wanted.
And? And the orders me to kill this foot soldier for a group trying to push us out of their territory. After I was done, he told me I did it wrong. That I had to do it again with a captive we'd taken.
And I knew no matter what I did, he'd make me keep doing it. Just another way of pushing my limits. I had convinced myself I didn't care about the people I was hurting or about this guy I just killed. And maybe I didn't.
Maybe I still don't, but I don't know. It was so pointless. I didn't really see a reason to stay. Walked away, changed my name, got a fresh ID, changed my villain name too.
When did this happen? It was killing. How old were you when you killed that guy? I'd been gone for about two years before the boss got in touch with me, which was about this time last year or so.
Three years ago, I would have been 12 or 13. You said he goes after his kids if they leave? Will that happen here if he realizes who one of his? I don't know, maybe.
I bet he'd send one of my brothers and sisters to talk to me, ask me to come back before he did anything else. If that happened, I'd probably leave before he came in person. Or we can back you up. Or that.
Anything else? Any more questions for yours truly? Dozens more, but I think we need to get to the other big topic of the day. Yeah, I'm less than thrilled you didn't mention this.
I have my concerns about the possibility that a guy like him might come after you, after us. There's nothing you can do about it for the time being. Let's focus on more pressing matters. Thoughts on the deal?
Before we vote? It makes sense to me. It's something I figured I'd end up doing eventually, controlling territory, being boss of an area, letting the green roll in without any effort on my part. That could be a lot of effort.
Depending on how secret he manages to keep this and how successful he is. If this goes bad, it means us against how many capes the protectorate decides to throw with us. We could wind up with teams from Boston, New York coming to deal with us. Call me an optimist, but I don't think it'll be that bad.
Taylor just reminded me of what I said about the bank robbery and what wound up happening. We've been successful because we, by and large, pick our battles, throw in the offensive, catch our enemies off guard. Situations where we haven't done that and I'm thinking specifically about our fight with popular, we've really struggled. That's when we came closest to getting killed.
Consider that we'll be the ones in the defensive. For holding this territory and talking along with Congress. We can work around that. Plans, information, gathering, pre-emptive attacks.
I've got the inside info. There's nothing stopping Taylor from using her bugs to keep an eye on the neighborhood. Besides, Quail didn't say we couldn't hire other parry humans. Does that anyone who wanted to work in Brockton Bay had to bend the knee to him?
So we could theoretically recruit other parry humans if we needed to. Bulk off forces. My problem is it sounds too good to be true. What if it doesn't work out?
What if we wind up miserable or if he screws us or if he isn't as good as he thinks it'll be? Do we walk away? Will we be able to? I got away from my bad.
Would it be so hard to get away from Quail? I guess we don't know enough about him or the resources he's got as his disposal to say. I do have my reservations, but I get the impressions Quail is going ahead with this, regardless of whether we're in or not. Rather be in on this than sitting on the sidelines, watching it happen.
Yeah, I think that right now what we send to gain by saying yes and being right far out is what we send to lose. So who's for the deal then? I raise my hand. Alec, Brian, at least I join me in raising theirs.
That left the one person who hadn't participated in the conversation over Quail's deal as the soul and they vote. Bitch. What's up? I don't like it.
Don't trust him. Not saying you're wrong in not trusting him, but why? Talk too much. Only reason people talk like he does if they're covering something up.
I don't think he's covering anything up. My power would probably clue me in if he was hiding something. I'm going with my guts. My gut says no.
Besides, things are fine the way they are. But they could be better. Your opinion, not mine. We don't hear?
You said we wouldn't accept a deal unless everyone was cool with it and I'm not. Wait, I soon would we discuss this here each other around? Nothing to discuss. I'm going to work.
Come on, don't. Let's wait then. You said we had a week. We can afford to wait a day or two.
Bitch, go do your thing. Get it out of the way. But maybe try to be more open to negotiation than discussion when it comes up again. Hey, can I come with?
Ah? Fuck you. Hey, what? You want to come and bug me and change my mind?
Well, fuck you. You're not coming into my space getting in my business to make me do or say anything I don't want to. You're going to take care of the rescued dogs, right? That's what you do when you go out, your work.
None of your business. Quail's that you're overloaded. You're offering an extra set of hands so you can give the dogs more of the attention they need. Bullshit.
Enough. You need to calm down. I'm fine. Rachel, I'm going to make you a deal.
My last deal was pretty fair, so hear me up. Fine. Let me come along. I'll help out where I can.
We won't talk about Quail unless you bring it up. In exchange, if I do bring it up or if I try to manipulate you one way or the other, you get a free shot. A free shot. One punch, however you want it, wherever you want to stick it.
I know Brian said something about there being no repeats of the day we met. No fighting inside the group or whatever, but this would be a freebie. Totally allowed. Nah.
You'll just piss me off some other way. How about this? If we finish, we get back here and it turns out if ruined your day, you get that free shot. So I just got to put up with you for a few hours and then I get to knock your teeth out.
No. Yes. If I mention a meeting before you do or if I piss you off. Whatever.
If you're that eager to get hit, it's your funeral. You're a crazy dork. Maybe. Probably.
But I couldn't think of a better way to reach out to bitch. No. Angelica. Down.
How long have you had her? Five months. That's pretty amazing. I mean she was abused before you got her right.
So even with having to get her past that and she's already better trained than any dog I've seen because dogs learn from their packs. She learned something from imitating Brutus and Judas. Most dog owners are retards anyway. I can believe that.
A tide of dogs nearly bulled us over. All sorts of breeds, different sizes and shapes. As bitch we forward as though the dogs weren't there, I couldn't afford to appear weak in front of her. So I avoided asking for help.
Bitch headed to a wood pallet, stacked with bags of dog food. Drawing a knife across two of them, letting them empty into a trowel sitting below. Several of the dogs began fighting in front of the trow and before long we feel them bolt into my direction. Hey bitch.
Black one is serious. He's the newest. Not used to things. He'll get better as the other dogs socialize him and I get a chance to train him.
They're really going at it. As I focused, a mess of bugs my immediate vicinity lunged with whom I met at legs. My eyes snapped open and I saw the culprit, placing my hands on him, the dark furred lab. It wasn't fleas, either ticks or anything like that.
It was a denser mass. The closest parallel I could draw would be a lost nest. Or maggots in a trash bag. Bitch.
What? I think one of these guys is really sick. Explain. Worms.
But not like tape worm. I can't see through their eyes or anything. I don't know what they are so I can only tell you what I know. They're mostly juvenile, only a few adults.
Up above the heart. Here. And the arteries, that's where a lot of them are. But they're not just there.
They're everywhere inside him. Those fuckers. I warned them. Come on, serious.
I don't know dogs. I've never had a pet. It's one clue. This year's heart room.
Something dogs are supposed to take medicine to prevent. Every month. If the owners didn't. This shelter didn't.
Lazy, cheap ass motherfuckers. This is a second dog I got from that place I wasn't taking care of. And people who do adopt dogs get a sick dog? Fuckers.
What are you going to do with him? We're going to help him. I don't think I can get the worms out without hurting him. I mean, they're in his bloodstream and the closest thing to enact it would be his lungs.
I think he would bleed too much. I'm not even sure I can move them. Grab that chain. Tied to something solid.
Judas, Brutus, and Angelica were already halfway to full size. Bitch, shut the chain and began extending it around the struggling dog. Winding it through a half doesn't care of being here so it'd extend it around his neck, body, and stomach, and between his legs. What's going on?
I'm using my power on him. He's not trained. Wait, didn't the dog kill some people back when you first had your powers? Yeah.
So this is really dangerous. Yeah. Okay. What can I do?
Keep out of the way for now. Couldn't we maybe get him tranquilized? No, my power would burn away the drug. He doesn't like it takes getting used to.
Well, this is better than what he'd go through and have a vet take care of it. Save her. I've used my power on most of them, but only a little to keep them healthy. Serious is the only one I've made this big in Angelica Brutus, too, just to enroll him.
Time? 9 minutes past 11. We'll give it 15 minutes. It takes about that long to wear it off, okay?
I don't need you here. If you want to be useful, there's a shovel by the door. You can go pick up the shit in the short grass over there. Fuck you.
What? Fuck you. I came to help. Help me.
I was helping. By pointing out what was wrong with Sirius. That doesn't mean I'm going to be your slave or if that is an excuse to give me the worst jobs. You want me to pick up the poop?
Cool, but I'll do it when you've got a shovel in your hand too and you're working beside me. He told me I could hit you, free and clear if you pissed me off. Yeah, but if you do it here for this reason, I'm hitting back. I've got Brutus, you wouldn't win the fight.
You want to go there? Try it. Bitch. Rachel.
I'm getting impression you might be here a while to keep an eye on Sirius and give him some attention after he's turned back to normal so he knows everything's okay. What about it? Do you want me to pick up something for lunch so you can stay here with him? Fine.
You know this area better than I do. Tell me where to go. Here's a Greek food stand if you walk in the direction of the boardwalk and you'll smell it before you see it. Okay.
What do you want? Anything with me? I'll be back then. I was relieved when I got back and there wasn't any carnage.
The dozen or so dog created me. Many poking their noses into the paper bag I held. I navigated my way through them to bitch who was sitting on a pallet of concrete blocks by the open back wall. Sirius was lying beside her with her head on her lap.
A white dog approached me sitting to stare at me as I took my first bite of my wrap. No, this is too good to share and it probably wouldn't be good for you anyways. You are awfully pretty though. What?
You should never own a dog. What are you basing this on? Most dog owners are retards. And the most retarded ones are the ones who pick a dog because it's cute.
Or because it's pretty. Without knowing anything about the breed the temperament of the dogs need. Fuck off, Rachel. I can say it's a pretty dog without saying going to take it home.
Whatever. Don't brush me off. You want to start something fine but if you do you got to hear what I have to say. Listen to what I have to say.
I can't watch any damage. Huh? Come on. You know me pretty well.
All the others describe me as careful and cautious though I'm not entirely sure why. Do you really think I picked something as important as a dog? A new addition to my family without researching first? Right.
I wouldn't. Can you tell me about some of them? The dogs? This is serious.
He was brought as a puppy for some 12 year old and grew too big and not really to stay in the house. He was caged outside and ignored. He was too long and he wound up with an infection in his foot. They decided it was easier to leave him at a shelter than pay for medical care.
Since he wasn't trained or socialized he came off too wild and excited to get adopted. I got him in the week he was due to get put down. So fucked up. How do you know the story?
I know some people at that volunteer at shelters from where I used to. Then let me know if there's a dog that deserves a second chance. Not that many don't. The one you were talking to a few minutes ago is Bullet.
She's the smartest in the group. Her breed craves exercise. Her mentor run around all day with hunters except she was used as a beta to warm dogs up for one of the dog fighting rings around here. And her shoulder was torn up pretty badly.
Even with the shoulder healed as well it's going to get hurt too much for her to run as much as she needs. If your power heals why doesn't it help her? Or Angelica's eye and ear. Lisa said it was something to do with me making a blueprint.
That's all battle to me. All I know is that it doesn't help older health problems. It gets rid of disease and cancer and parasites and most damage they take when they're big. That's all.
I think I got it. Did they all have stories like that? Most. Damn.
It's too bad dogs can't have trigger events. If they did some people might think twice. Yeah. What was that?
These guys again. What's going on? Stay inside. As she left it took through the gap in the building.
Bitch had her dogs standing around her and she stood opposite a group of seven or so people holding empty beer bottles. Half the guys were blonde or tied blonde and the other had shaped heads. Empire 88 dogs clearly. We told you to get out of here.
I was your first. Doesn't matter. We're climbing this neighborhood and that barking is driving me off the fucking wall. So you said try some earplugs.
Can't do business wearing earplugs you dumb whore. Then don't do business. I don't care. Think about something as goddamn irritating as that barking is.
He gets us talking about what we could deal with it. Tom here had my favorite suggestion. He said we could sew hot dogs and antifreeze and throw them under the field back there. What do you say?
Why haven't I bought my costume? The situation was a hair away from devolving into a club bath in my civilian identity was plain to see. If you were going to do that you would have to be done by now and I'd kill you for it. Either you're too scared to really do something which you should be or Kaiser told you hands off.
Nah. See we heard that howlin earlier. So we did some of our neighbors. Kaiser did tell us to play Niac but way off figure it.
Retail Kaiser you started this shit and you asked around to check our story. He's going to hear there was howlin before there was fighting. You know who I am. You know my abilities.
You're really going to fuck with me here. With my dogs around? Really? Still thank you so tough.
Guns are great equalizer you know. My son here wants a place in the empire. And to do that he's got to earn his stripes. Killing you would be a good way to do it.
I'm thinking. I can't wait to hear the rest of the dialogue. There was no way this wasn't going to come to violence now. Which left me one very unpleasant option.
Grasshoppers migrated my way and I emptied a wasp nest that nestled in the wall above the unfinished second floor. Blackflies that had been enjoying the copious amounts of dog waste flew my way. And the numerable ants and spiders formed the remainder of the swarm. Altogether?
They streamed my way to gather all my skin. As one they covered every inch of my body even creating mass over my mouth and glasses to obscure everything. It did not take as much as I thought it might but I did shudder. I grabbed my cellphone from my pocket and sent a text out.
How does it skin heads here? At least one gun. Need backup. We'll take a minute.
I looked at the nearest boarded-up window that I could see through and saw that the group hadn't moved. Revving bitches knife I opened the door covered in my swarm. Jesus fuck! What the hell?
Yo, was it? Would you do the honors and deal with the damage of horror show? My pleasure. I had dropped your crack as I stepped outside.
Leaving most of the bugs where they were above me. The shot had passed only inches above my head. Around the center of my avatars chest. I could only wait with my breath held.
Hope that the bugs offered me enough cover to hide my real self. The fuck? I grabbed a trick from Guru and I figured it only made sense to borrow one from title too. I incited the bugs to bugs with me as I spoke.
Guns are not going to work on my bodies like this. Bringing the upright massive bugs with me I called forward a step. I saw almost every one of the group move away. Only the man with the bottles remained where he was.
He used one art to keep Joe from retreating as well. Two more shots struck where my chest would have been. The third pass through my fake head. Joe, his eyes wide and alarmed, decided to change targets.
He swung his arm to my right to point his hand on a bitch. I stabbed Joe in the thighs. The bitch simultaneously evaded to one side. As he fell over I collapsed the swarm on top of him.
Have one touching him directly. The guy in his side betrayed my knife and stabbed the point of the knife down on his palm to eliminate any possibility of calibrating, grabbing for his weapon. His territory is ours. Leave!
Guy's a lawyer about this! The bottle man cautious and stacks Joe's side. I didn't move from where he crouches. He pent up and down to help Tom stand and lived away.
Fuck. I'm sorry. I hope I didn't do anything wrong by stepping in. Maybe if I hadn't come out he wouldn't have gotten out.
He was working up the courage to shoot me. It's fine. What are you going to do? What?
I mean they're going to come again. Maybe soon. Depending on what they say or who they complain to. They might be people with powers the next time around.
I'll manage. I know this is your space. I think it's perfect. Do you want to get hit today?
I'm just saying that I'm going inside to pick up the shit. You can help. Or you can go back. It doesn't matter to me.
Up. I said I would and you might need backup if they decide to come back and force. There's bullet holes in the front door. Yeah, they fired off their guns a few times.
And you're still here? My call. It's a bad call. I'm not leaving.
Is your pride or stubbornness worth getting those dogs heard? The thing they said about the hot dogs about poisoning your dogs. You couldn't stop them unless you were here 24-7 and maybe not even then. It's cowardly.
They're cowards. Pretty much the definition of anyone who joins a hate group. But even if they did take a more direct approach, would you be able to handle it? Could you deal if 20 people showed up with guns or if night and fall dropped in at three in the morning when it was just you and these guys?
I can handle myself. I know. But isn't it better to rely on us to actually handle this instead of going it alone, hiding and letting those fuckers have the power? I'm not hiding.
I'm protecting. Protecting your dogs would mean taking them somewhere and saying. No. I do that.
The fuckers. We've been there. Really? I know what you mean.
But our number one priority is keeping you and those dogs safe. Once we've handled that, we can focus on dealing with any threats. We're going to deal with them? Yes.
I don't like that these guys are moving into this area. I don't like that they go so far to attack a member of our group. If we don't do something to respond to and it's going to hurt our rep, we need reputation. It protects us.
It gives us people a reason to fucking think twice before they talk with us. Okay. Okay what? I'll go.
And the dogs come with. Good. I don't think I can hop this fence without getting on the bad side of those dogs. I'm going to meet you around at the front door.
I'll call a coy on the way. Alright. What? You like him?
Yeah, I do. Do you like him? Because if you do, hey, you were going to get back off and keep my mouth shut if you want to make a move. You should offer to sleep with him.
It's what you guys want. Tell him you're available and if he ever wants to fuck. He'll accept right away or he'll start thinking about you as a possibility and he'll take you up on it later. That's...
It's more complicated because people make it complicated. Just cut the bullshit and go for it. I don't think you're wrong about there needing to be less expectations and rules and rituals around dating bullshit. As you put it, but I don't think I can do what you're suggesting.
Whatever. Thank you though. I'll help keep in mind. I don't care if you do.
Okay, I'm back. I can't get ahold of coil. I couldn't get least out of your alley before. Do you think something's up?
Maybe. You sit here with Rachel. I'm going to go check on the others. No, I don't need babysitting.
And I'm getting annoyed being badgered by YouTube. Taylor goes with you. I'm going to stay here and pack up. Not a good idea.
If you've got a time to meet... I have Brutus. Brutus and Angelica. I managed on my own for years.
I dealt with people tougher than those fuckers. If there's trouble I run. And if they take one of your dogs hostage or the ones you can't use your power on yet, then I run. And I get revenge another day on my terms.
Okay, so if there's trouble, it'll be good to have Taylor in my back. If one I can get ahold of coil, I'm going to use some trucks and people to drive them. In the meantime, Taylor, don't get yourself killed. Taylor, we should go.
Soon we check on Lisa and Alec and Perro feel... What happened? The bunch of skin heads came in and threatened Rachel's dogs, so they couldn't hurt them due to something Kaiser told them. We had to drive them off.
Funny that it's Kaiser that's having trouble controlling his people. But coil up the pressure of the moment the truth against the ABB was broken. I would be surprised if Kaiser didn't have his hands full with that. You're defending him?
No! I don't want to underestimate him as all. Yeah, maybe you're right. But Kaiser was willing to demand restitution for the attack on his dog-fighting ring.
And I'm more than willing to do the same for the attack from his skin heads if it comes down to it. Both of them having something substantial to do with bitch. I'm aware of that fact. She's useful.
She's a credit to the team. But she comes with some problems. We've dealt with in the past. We're dealing with her now.
We'll deal with her in the future. Right. How was she? Any fights?
Nothing serious. No. It was actually kind of nice. I might even do it again if she let me.
Really? Really? What changed? I'm figuring her out.
I think how she operates. How she thinks. I spent 10 months on the same team with her. And I can't even come close to getting her.
She thinks. Can you usually keep her from going too far hurting someone. Keep her mostly in line. Get her to follow directions.
But I haven't had a conversation with her yet that didn't make me want to bang my head against the wall. You're in charge. She looks up to you. But you're something of an authority figure in our group and her personality demands you test authority, especially when she's insecure.
You've been given us some thought. I think that you'd have a much easier time handling her if you took an official leadership role in our group. Not just being the sort of kind leader but actually taking the position. If you're not comfortable with that or if you think the others will make it too hard, well, she'll probably get more comfortable with relying on you as someone in charge over time as you prove you can handle it.
It's been 10 months. How long does she need? And she's had how many years without parents' teachers' bosses. I mean, even when she had foster parents, I don't think it was sunbeams and rainbows.
Tell me she hasn't gotten at least a little bit better in the course of those 10 months. Mm, marginally. There you go. You'll only improve from here on out.
All right. We're almost there. They've stored it now. As best I can be.
I didn't anticipate the scene in the living room with a loft. Alec Lee on the couch, his feet on the coffee table, a meal in his lap. Lisa sat on the other couch, laughing on her legs, a phone in her ear. Her ear.
She turned her head as became upstairs. Give us a funny look, then return your attention to her laptop. Why the fuck aren't you answering your phones? In a moment, Brian.
I don't agree with this and if you'd asked me, I would've said you shouldn't do it. No, yes. It's an effective measure. My problem is that it's not just them.
It's their families. I'm a spoken rule. You don't fuck with the kids' families. What's going on?
Emails. Read them. Looking over the pages on her laptop, I felt a ball of dread settle in the pit of my stomach. I checked well, so I'd been seeping the email.
And this time it had been sent. What the fuck, Lisa? Can we finish discussing this later? I've got to talk to my team about this.
Okay. Yeah. Later. The email was a list.
The entirety of Empire 88. Beneath each of those names was a comprehensive block of data, noting their civilian names in full. Professions, addresses, phone numbers, the dates they moved to the city and the first appearances of their costumes identities in Brockham Bay. There were pictures on them in costume paired with pictures of their wedged civilian identities, roughly matched an angle and size for using comparison.
Kaiser, Matt Sanders, President and Chief Executive Officer of Medical Corporation, a pharmaceuticals company based in Brockham Bay. Father of Theodore Richard Anders and the Astra Clara Anders. Brother of late pair of human criminal Aaron Anders, AKA Iron Rain. Son of Richard Anders, AKA Allfather.
The founder of Azure 88. Nessa and Jessica Pierman. AKA Fenya and Menya. The teenager seemed several occasions of Kaiser in and out of costume.
Purity. Caden Anders. Interior decorator. Single mother of one Astra Anders.
Divorce occurred within the same time period as Purity leaving Empire 88 to apparently strike out on her own. Craig. James Fletcher. Head of a pharmacy chain connected to Metal.
For unknown reasons, travel to London every six months. Every piece of information connected to others. Even the info on the most likely ones I had met earlier with Kaiser's business, showing how there were employers low level employees of Metal that's derivative businesses. In short, it was comprehensive enough it would take a special kind of local ignorance to not find what the email was selling.
The email had been sent to not only to Lisa, but to the Brockham Bay Bulletin. A half dozen other local news stations and several national ones. Everyone that matters in a few that didn't. Quail did this?
Who else? With your help? Only a little. He asked me a few times to give him my thoughts and stuff.
Put him on the right path, eliminate possibilities. I didn't think he'd get this far. Go this far. Once I got him on the right track, he apparently used private investigators and hackers to dig up the rest of it and get the photographic evidence.
Fuck. I don't agree with it. It's crossing a line. It's not just messing with the enemy.
There's going to be a ton of collateral damage. Why weren't you answering your phone? My phone was with nearly a gunner so I grabbed a fresh disposable one to top the boss. I didn't want to use the phone with the rest of your contact info when it just be safe.
Alec was with him the entire time. He should have gone in calls. Check your phone, Alec. Okay.
Oh, fuck. Part of being a member of this team is being on call if we need you. I swear. I'm going to kick your ass so hard.