Tattletale was concerned. Worried, even. Stressed too. As much as she would like to deny it, she was scared. Her eyes flickered between Brian’s broad back, the laid-out form of Brutus, and the nonchalant looking cape that seemed to be the source of all her headaches today.

Brian turned to look at her and, even without using power, she could hear the unasked question. What do we do? He may officially be their leader, but only a fool discounted the voice of the team’s Thinker.

She bit her lip and glanced back towards the unknown cape. He was just standing there, casually spinning his glowing sword as though he hadn’t just knocked one of Rachel’s dogs out with a single blow.

He was dressed like a total newbie––jeans, a hoodie, and a dollar-store domino mask that did almost nothing to disguise his features. It was almost insulting, but something told her he wasn’t nearly as green as he appeared. There was an easy confidence in his stance and cool certainty in his sea-green eyes that spoke of experience.

Despite already knowing what she’d find, Tattletale dropped the walls around her power and focused on the cape in front of them. She was going to pay for it later––was already paying for overusing her power today––but she had to know. She had to make sure.

Instead of the usual flood of information, the roar of a raging sea filled her ears. Waves crashed inside her mind, pounding against her skull like it was a breakwater, and the unmistakable briny smell of fish and saltwater filled her nose. Behind it all was an almost panicked, confused buzzing that set her teeth on edge and made her left eye throb.

She slammed the floodgates shut before she could be overwhelmed. Well, not really overwhelmed per se, but hopefully this way the headache would only last for two days and not three or four.

She didn’t like this. She didn’t like it one bit. This was unmistakably that same boy from this morning. Her power had never reacted to anyone else the way it was acting now and she refused to believe that there were multiple capes in the Bay who could completely no-sell her powers.

Who was he? Was he following her? Did he know who she was? Did he work for Coil? She had no idea, and that terrified her. She’d gotten so used to seeing all the cards that not knowing was driving her insane. Worse, he was not only completely opaque to her power, but he was also an A-list Brute and more on top of that. Someone had certainly won the power-lottery here, and it certainly wasn’t her.

“I guess we talk,” she quietly told Brian. “I don’t think we’re going to get away the old fashioned way and I’d really rather not wake up in a PRT holding cell. We can always make a break for it later.”

Brian considered her words, then nodded minutely. He turned back towards the strange cape, new trails of black smoke leaking out from behind his motorcycle helmet as he used his power to disguise his voice.

“Perhaps we can,” he called out, “but I’d like some assurances first. If we answer your questions, will you let us be on our way?”

Tattletale felt an itch to interject, but for once managed to avoid living up to her cape name and stayed silent. Normally she’d be able to answer a question like that for Brian without him having to ask it, but today was proving to be anything but normal.

The cape spun his sword around one more time then stabbed it into the ground, concrete parting around the blade like butter. Tilting his head to the side, he seemed to consider Brian’s words for several seconds. Then he shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll think about it.” He smiled broadly at them, showing two rows of pearly-white teeth. “That’s the best you’re going to get from me, I’m afraid.”

Brian’s shoulders were tense, but she trusted that he wasn’t going to do anything stupid. She glanced down at her phone where she was holding it out of sight between her and Brian’s bodies. There was no response from Coil. She’d messaged him that they were fleeing from an unknown cape, but he hadn’t gotten back to her yet. As much as she didn’t like her boss, sometimes the devil you knew was the safer bet. You could never know what a new cape might do.

“I guess that’s true enough,” Brian called out grudgingly, “but don’t be surprised when we don’t go spilling all our secrets.

“That’s fine, I wouldn’t expect you to anyway.”

Tattletale wasn’t really sure what she was expecting next. This certainly wasn’t it.

“So you guys are supervillains, right? We already covered that. But like, what do you actually do? I don’t think I’ve heard of the four teenage musketeers and their giant monsters, so what? Planning to steal the moon? Kidnap the mayor maybe? World domination?”

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

Brian seemed just as lost as she felt and Alec laughed, though it sounded slightly forced. Anxious. Worried. Afraid of capture. Power isn’t working right. Afraid of––She cut her power off before she could waste any more of her already very limited remaining usage. Damn it, that complicated things even more.

She squeezed her eyes shut, the glare from her still silent phone stabbing into her brain like shards of broken glass. Keeping a tight hold on her power, she refocused on Brian’s words.

“Uh, no, no, nothing like that. We’re the Undersiders, not Lab Rat or the Elite. We just do heists, quick in and out. No muss, no fuss, no injuries if we can avoid it. We keep a low profile because it's safer that way. When you live in the same city as Lung and the Empire, it’s best to stay out of the way.”

“Huh. Fair enough, I guess. Then why all… this?” he waved in their general direction, “Why be villains at all?”

“It’s personal,” Brian said gruffly. “It pays the bills and that’s all I’ll say.”

The cape’s eyes turned to her and Tattletale shrugged. Without her powers, she didn’t have any particular advantages in reading people, but hopefully she was interpreting the cues she was picking up correctly. “About the same. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but a girl’s gotta eat!”

He turned towards Rachel and Alec, but Rachel was too busy staring at the down form of Brutus. “Bitch!” she called out loudly and Alec poked Rachel from behind.

It took her a moment to understand the cue, but when she did she turned briefly towards the still-smiling cape. “Need to take care of my dogs. Money for food, kennels, shelter. I’m going to check on Brutus.”

Without another word, she slid out of the saddle and marched across the street towards both Brutus and the unknown cape. Tattletale frowned, but the boy didn’t look particularly worried or like he was going to attack her. Hopefully this wasn’t going to screw things up for them.

He watched Rachel for a few seconds as she began to fuss over Brutus, then turned towards Alec, the last member of their team who hadn’t answered yet. He raised his arms at his sides and shrugged casually. “What they said basically. It pays the bills and means I can order all the pizza and Chinese food I want while I’m gaming.”

Tattletale waited with bated breath as the other cape studied them intently for several long seconds. He had one hand still firmly around the handle of his sword, but the other bounced erratically up and down on the pommel, something small clenched tightly in his fist.

“I… guess that makes sense,” he said finally. “So what are you guys out doing tonight?”

“We were robbing a casino,” Brian answered frankly. “Ruby Dreams, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it. They have decent cash reserves and good insurance. We went in, got the money, and got out. No one got hurt, not even the security guards. Like the others said, we have to make a living somehow, and this is as close as we can get to a victimless crime. The cash we got will keep us taken care of for a few weeks, maybe longer if we’re careful. It's not a huge haul, but it’s something. Now we’re just trying to get away without attracting too much attention. We can fight if we have to, but we would rather just go about our business in peace.”

Tattletale approved. If this guy really was a hero, focusing on the lack of victims might help their case. If he was another villain scoping out the competition, focusing on the low-profile nature of their operation and the small scale of their gathered loot could only be a good thing as well. Usually she would have preferred to do the bulk of the talking, but she really wasn’t feeling very up to it right now.

“Wow, that is much tamer than what I was expecting. The darkness must be great for crowd control and covering your escape and those monsters of yours are pretty fast.”

“Something like that.”

He clicked his tongue loudly. “Okay. Tell me a bit about yourselves. What you can do, your cape names, how long you’ve been around, that sort of thing. I promise I won’t spread it around, I’m just curious. Do that, and maybe answer some questions about a few of the capes around here, and I think I’ll get out of your hair for tonight. Sounds like a deal?”

Brian glanced over at Alec, who waggled his hand, then nodded. “I think we have to,” Tattletale whispered, “but keep it short.”

“I don’t like it, but we have a deal. You can probably find most of this online anyway.”

“I like this way more,” he interjected, then waved for Brian to continue.

Brian soldiered on. “I’m Grue, this is Tattletale, Regent, and the girl over there is Bitch, though in the interests of being PG, the good guys and media decided to call her Hellhound instead. Together we’re the Undersiders and we’ve been doing this for almost a year now.

“Like you’ve probably already noticed, I can generate this darkness. It blocks sound, sight, and a bunch of other things. Bitch has her dogs,” he patted Angelica’s back, “Regent can make people trip up and drop things, and Tattletale is our brains. I’d rather not say anything else.”

He nodded.“That's fine, I’ve heard enough.” Tattletale relaxed slightly. As much as she loved showing off, one powerful cape knowing too much about what she could do was more than enough.

He was silent for nearly a minute then, his hand continuing to bounce up and down and his foot tapping rhythmically against the street. Then he sighed. “Well, I guess there’s no real harm in letting you guys go. You’re not really the sort of supervillains I was looking for anyway. First though, I’m pretty new around here and I’d like to hear your thoughts about the… cape scene around here. I imagine people like you keep a close eye on the competition.”

Okay, that was a much better direction for this conversation to take. Maybe if she played her cards right she could even point this powerful newcomer’s interests towards Coil. Something told her they hadn’t seen the limits of his abilities yet.

“I think I can help with that,” she called out before Brian could answer. “What would you like to know?”