Chapter Fifty-Seven - Inattention

“Do you want to begin?” Cement asked.

Emily shifted her weight from foot to foot, but she did so slowly. The last thing she wanted was for people to start staring at her, especially not the three punks across the room. They were exactly the sort of people her mother had warned her about. Bad boys who no doubt tried to use their charms to turn proper young women into too-young single-mothers.

Or something like that. Her mother’s warnings had always been a little disjointed.

In fact, Emily imagined that her mother would be pretty... emotional about Emily essentially having two kids of her own.

She shook her head, set all those kinds of thoughts aside, then refocused.

“I don’t mind starting,” Handshake said. “At least, I can go over the history I’ve uncovered, then you can fill in what you can. And then we’ll wrap it up with the latest information?”

“That sounds perfectly fair,” the voice over the laptop said. The three men behind it were listening, and they were quiet, but they didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves.

Handshake leaned back into his seat and rubbed a knuckle over his still-smiling lips. “Very well then. The earliest signs that the Cabal exist actually come from Merica. That’s not terribly surprising, their entire heroic system is a bit more of a mess than here. The Cabal shows up in a few searches on some forums from Ew Ork, and E-Troit.”

“North, then,” Cement said.

Handshake made a meaningless gesture. “Mostly, yes. The posts generally talked about them as a group that showed up and asked for people of a more... villainous persuasion if they'd be willing to serve a greater cause. Recruitment, essentially.”

“Anything from actual members?” Cement asked.

“One moment, I’m going over things chronologically,” Handshake said.

“Ah, I see. Forgive my interruptions then. Go on.”

Handshake’s smile twitched wider for a moment. “The majority of the forum posts go nowhere. Lots of speculation and little else. Though some of those original posters can be linked back to local villains, minor all, who were eventually captured and arrested. It’s a little later that it gets interesting.”

Handshake leaned his elbows on the table.

“See, that’s mostly from ten to eleven years ago. There are two other sources that came out of the woodwork a little later. One a Rascal who had a sort of online journal. He detailed being approached by the Cabal, being offered some assistance, and eventually joining them. He doesn’t mention them anymore, but his crimes did spike up in intensity, and he suddenly found himself with a lot more equipment than before. He’d post images of it. New costume, some gear. He became a real local terror.”

“And then?” Cement asked.

“Brought down by a local hero. Captured. Died while behind bars. The other interesting lead from that same period never mentioned the Cabal before her arrest. Once she was behind bars, though, she squealed.”

Cement hummed. “I imagine that didn’t last long?”

“She recanted the next day. But some of what she said went on-record and stayed there. She claimed that her robberies were made under the instructions of a group called the Cabal, that she had met with a Villain from the group and was acting on their behalf.”

“I imagine she died?” Cement asked.

“She volunteered for an Endgame. Shortened prison term. Didn’t make it out,” Handshake said. “After that, we have sporadic mentions of the Cabal over the years, but they're infrequent. Their MO seems fairly simple. They target low-level, bad-morality beginners, offer them deals they can’t refuse, then use them to commit some crimes. I can’t find links between those. They seem almost random.”

“Strange. Why get a villain working for you if they won’t use them for anything useful.”

“I thought as much. I have a few hypotheses. Perhaps there’s a sort of initiation phase, or some sort of hands off training? They seemed to be the ones behind a few somewhat high-profile villains, but those almost always end up captured or killed at the hands of some hero.”

Cement was quiet for a while. “Is that all you have?”

“For the Cabal’s past? Just about. I have a lot of circumstantial information. The costumes they hand out might be from the same place and person, they may have been using the same payment system for a while before they switch to dead-drops. I suspect they have at least one teleporter in their ranks. And, of course, I have more recent news, but you first.”

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“Very well. I was not approached by the Cabal. I think I might have been too successful at keeping my identity to myself, or perhaps I’m merely not interesting enough. They do seem to employ more... flamboyant sorts.”

“That does seem to be their MO,” Handshake said. “That, or the more subtle powered individuals they hired don’t make as much noise.”

“That’s a possibility, yes. Either way, they never came to me. They did come to Homie.”

Emily twitched. That was the man her and Teddy had knocked out and basically handed to the cops. The one that had the drive she’d gone through so much trouble to protect. Was he part of the Cabal?

“They approached him some weeks ago. Just a simple offer to talk, discuss his future and so on. Nothing threatening, not at first glance. We discussed it and decided to fish for more information. When that came back with nothing but vague allusions I decided to deny their offer.”

“Did they continue to pressure him?” Handshake asked.

“They did just that, yes. A small threat, but a threat nonetheless. We continued stalling, of course. Hemming and hawing. They seemed intent on making Homie more of a... household name.”

Handshake leaned forwards. “What do you mean by that?”

“Public stunts, robberies in broad daylight. More violent attacks against the few unpowered local gangs. They wanted him out in costume setting up protection rackets on every business in the city.”

“I see,” Handshake said. “They would provide some assistance, I imagine?”

“Location of police, windows of opportunity, lists of potential recruits to Homie’s gang. Safehouses. The works,” Cement said.

Handshake crossed his arms on the tabletop and nodded. “I see. That fits in with what I know. I’ve recently discovered that people on... our side of the fence aren’t the only ones approached by the Cabal.”

“Oh?”

“Indeed. Though they don’t name themselves as such, an organization very similar to the Cabal tends to approach heroes. Nearly all of them are approached by the Cabal at one time or another, though I think they’re a bit more subtle with heroes, especially those with governmental ties.”

“And what do they offer the stalwart heroes?” Cement asked.

“Villains. They offer them villains. The locations of robberies in progress, along with footage of the villain in question in action and plenty more information. In exchange, they steer the hero towards accepting certain contracts. Product placements, ads, different patrol routes.”

Cement sighed loud enough that it was picked up by whatever mic he was using. “They’re running both sides of the game.”

“Or they’re trying to,” Handshake said.

The room was silent for a while. “This has been enlightening. Thank you, Handshake. I appreciate you coming here.”

“And I appreciate the information I’ve gleaned. May I ask what you plan on doing now?”

Cement chuckled. “You could certainly ask, but it would cost you to know. Not that I’ve made a choice yet. I think this is the end of our meeting.”

Handshake nodded and stood up. “Well then. It was enjoyable conversing so peacefully. I do hope you keep me in mind for any future questions.”

“Naturally.”

Handshake gestured to the door, and Teddy stomped over and opened it up.

They were about to leave when Cement spoke up. “Miss Boss.”

Emily froze. “Um. Yes?” she asked.

“I haven't forgotten what you did to my subordinate.”

“Pfft,” Athena said as she took her feet off the table. “Big talk from a guy who’s hiding behind a screen. You couldn’t touch a hair on the Boss’ head if you tried, you fake-villain.”

“Your own subordinates certainly have a high opinion of you. Perhaps we will see if it's well-earned one day. Until then. Goodbye.”

The screen flickered and the image was replaced by a grey square where Cement’s S had been before.

Emily swallowed, looked to the three guys at the end of the room who were just then getting up, then she scurried out after the others.

***