Thomas Calvert was a patient man.

He had a near infinite number of attempts that he could make at his fingertips, so he could damn well afford to be.

He stared down at the moniter before him, watching the live feed on one of his mercenaries helmet cams. Thinkers were truly a pain to deal with, and this Dinah Alcott was proving to be no different. A precocious child to be sure, but a surprisingly resourceful one at that. To think, she had only escaped originally due to Marcus not wearing face protection.

Thomas sighed, pinching his nose in frustration. At the very least, this timeline had supplied him with knowledge of the existence of yet another cape that had managed to crawl out of the woodwork. How very annoying. Some sort of green midget with breaker or tinker powers. He made a mental note to send another group to apprehend the cape after he split the timeline again, if the childlike appearance was anything to go by she could very well be trained like any other.

Tattletale was such an example, if a roundabout one. Thomas knew she was reluctant, always slinking around behind his back and scheming her way to a prospective freedom. In that way she was actually trained far better than any dog. Her power saw to it, actually. It could see that he was willing to kill her within the span of any breath if she so much as sneezed wrong at him. This in turn led to a delicious seesaw effect on her part, sending her teetering from arrogant dismissal to hurried platitudes from one second to the next.

It was through one of their near daily meetings that had led to the discovery of his soon to be newest acquisition. She had started off just as proud, as defiant as any time before. With the first finger separated from her hand, she had quickly spat out every little bit of information she thought he might find important. Of course by the time she was out of fingers she was a sobbing wreck, unable to amount any form of subtle resistance.

When he violated her further, she had gone catatonic. Or it might have been the blood loss. Regardless, it was as Thomas preffered. When his partners moved around too much beneath him or made too much unnessasary noise, he found it to be a horrendous put off.

Of course he had collapsed that timeline directly after, it wouldn't do to let all that blood seep into the carpet. That mess would be almost impossible to get out after it dried.

Also it would be a waste to just be rid of Tattletale at this time. She still had a level of usefulness, and was truly a godsend for stress relief.

It had brought with it its own spat of useful information, chiefly that of a new parahuman that Tattletale had happened upon in the middle of the local mall. The young strumpet had been blithely using her power out among the masses, invisible to any normal mud raking human going about their business, but a radiant beacon of light to the sight of Tattletale power.

Served her right. Mumbling under one's breath out in public was just plain rude. Thomas let himself have a slight smile, he would teach her a measure of manners soon enough.

Not as Thomas Calvert, but as his true identity. Coil. It was truly astounding, how free the simple act of putting on an ornate mask liberated him so. How truly confined and chained he became every time he slipped back into his disguise of Thomas Calvert, average PRT office worker.

It was at back near the start of this whole debacle, the moment that Coil ordered his men to fire upon the cape that he felt a twinge of disappointment flutter in his chest. It really wasn't cost efficient, and he could better handle the situation the next-

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The cape didn't die.

The bolt of energy was absorbed into the capes visor, prompting her to grab young Alcott and take off running.

"What are you doing?!" Coil snapped, flipping the switch on his intercom. It wouldn't do to have him fumbling with a common hand radio, after all. He could have gotten a model that was activated via button, but he found that having a switch to flip was just oh so much more satisfying. "Am I paying you all to stand around, or are you going to get the damned girl?"

"On it, boss," came the curt reply.

Coil sighed, pawing away at the flesh of his chin.

Minutes later and they still hadn't caught the girl, Coil was leaning towards just closing the timeline and calling it a loss. Still, no other capes had been attracted to the duos mad flight from his men as of yet. So it could very well be salvaged.

"Sir!" Marcus barked out, his voice coming across in a strained tone over the intercom. "The targets are fleeing in a pickup, should we continue pursuit?"

Coil watched the screen in a mixture of disbelief and begrudging amusement. The little green girls hair could be sticking out from the top of the drivers seat, as the truck haphazardly weaved its way out of the parking lot. Coil wouldn't admit it out loud, but he... honestly wanted to see where this scenario was heading.

In the other timeline the families order of food arrived, the young girl having predictably neglected partaking of even a sip of her drink as she poked daintily at the food on her plate. So she had only ordered the coffee in order to escape the mercenaries. Coil wanted her even more than ever.

"No capes inbound, but be on guard," Coil told him. He could have simply ordered him once more to get on with it, but it was surprising how much the most obedient pawn would rebel if they thought they were being railroaded. "Pursue and take them down. I don't care if the package has a couple broken bones, feel free to run them off the road or whatever else takes your fancy."

"Understood," Marcus acknowledged. The group quickly reconvened with the two drivers, continuing the chase and quickly closing the distance that the green cape had managed to secure. One of the men in the lead car leaned out the passenger side window, taking potshots at the fleeing trucks rear wheels in between shots at the driver.

"Holy shit! Tobias!" Marcus belted out with equal parts surprise and horror. Coil was simply confused, the hell did the man just do?

"Marcus, report," Coil ordered.

"It's... Tobias, sir! He just jumped out of the window! Just jumped right out, got ran over by a eighteen wheeler!"

Coil kneeded at his brow, a headache forming at the incompitance of his hired help. Couldn't even have a proper car chase, had to go flinging themselves headfirst out of car windows. Like goddamned teenagers. Or college students. Both were equally stupid in his eyes.

He flipped the switch on the intercom, allowing himself a measure of respite from their idiocy. "Okay. Mental note. Apparently Tobias has a death wish. I'll have to remember that. His suicidal tendencies have to be useful in some regard."

Looking back down at the screen only compounded his mental pain, a report that his lumbering goons had drawn the attention of the Protectorate, specifically that a green skinned cape driving a truck was being shot at with tinkertech rifles. Miss Militia and Assault inbound.

Time to cut his losses.

Coil reached out, intent on collapsing the timeline.

Blackness permeated his existence, stretching on to infinity. Coil gasped, a turgid sound that was swallowed up by the inky abyss. The pressure was immense, a chastising hand that none too gently grasped at his power and gave what he could only describe as a 'waggling finger'. All was black. All but the eyes.

They stared down at him, cowing him with their majesty. The blood red eye watched on, fury dwelling deep within its churning depths. The violet gazed on with a measured patience, labeling him as nothing more than a mere annoyance.

It was the last, the Azure tinged globe of sapphire that demanded his attention. It peered down at him, disapproving and disappointed. It was then that Coil felt the reaching icy fingers of... something grasping, clawing at him. It took hold of his power and twisted.

The timeline where the family sat outside the restaurant, 'happily' chowing away at their chosen meals collapsed, leaving Coil sitting and staring at the screen before him in disbelief.

It.. That was... How? She was supposed to be just a normal, run of the mill precog. She wasn't supposed to have this sort of power...

Coil flipped the switch on his intercom with wild abandon, snarling with his haste.

"Your pay is tripled, kill the girl! Use whatever methods you have to, just kill the fucking girl!"