~Immediately after Alfred and Piggot left the briefing room~

  Lisa walked up to Armsmaster with as much dignity and authority as she could manage. A task made difficult by her still-shaking limbs. However, she was able to scrape together enough willpower to do so, and her approach was noticed by the Tinker.

  “We need to secure a private room to discuss some matters for our group,” she said without preamble.

  Even with his eyes hidden, the furrowed brow went unmissed by Lisa.

  “I’m afraid we can’t allow anyone to leave until either the Director or Legend returns,” he said.

  “Bullshit,” she spat. “I know for a fact that you can allow us a private area to confer, and there’s one two doors down that’s unoccupied. Place guards outside, if it makes you feel better. You know there’s no other exit in that room.”

  “Tats, what –” Brian started to ask as the rest of their group approached, but she gestured for silence.

  “What we need to discuss is our business,” she told Armsmaster, “and I know for a fact that this room is being recorded. You don’t want me making a fuss, right now, Armsmaster. Not when there’s an Endbringer attack to discuss.”

  The local Protectorate leader and nearby heroes and PRT agents paused. After a beat, the Tinker nodded and led them out of the room. Once they arrived at the door, he opened it and gestured for them to enter.

  It was tiny. Closer to an office rather than a meeting room, with a single desk, two wooden chairs, and a shelf at the other end. The bare, white walls gave it a claustrophobic air.

  “The cameras and sensors in this room will be disabled for the duration of your conference,” he said gruffly. “Two guards will be placed outside the door. Once you are done, they will escort you back to the briefing room.”

  His piece said, Armsmaster left and closed the door. Once the five of them were alone, Brian rounded on Lisa.

  “What the hell is going on?” he growled, but Lisa ignored him.

  Instead, she surveyed the small space, making sure that nobody was watching or listening to them. Several seconds passed before she was finally sure that they had complete privacy.

  “Okay, listen up, we don’t have a lot of time.” Out of sight of potential enemies, Lisa finally crumbled onto a nearby chair.

  “But –”

  “I said shush, Grue!” she hissed. “I need to tell you how absolutely fucked we are, and I can’t do that if you keep interrupting me!” She waited for anyone else to speak, and when no one did, she continued. “We’re in a worse spot than I thought, so we’ll have to make some adjustments, or we’re all going to die. First, Seraph has an Everest-sized personality disorder. And I’m not just talking about his powers, apparently having wills of their own.

  “Right when that fear aura he was putting out vanished, my power started working on overdrive, and I was able to read him for the first time. He’s got other personalities inside him that might be affecting how he thinks. I think I actually spoke to one of them.”

  “Exsqueeze me?” Alec asked. “Like the Butcher?”

  “No!” Lisa hastily corrected in the face of the entire group tensing. “Not like the Butcher. Well, not exactly like the Butcher. They’re not driving him insane, for one. He’s already crazy, but not in the frothing-at-the-mouth kind of way.”

  “What do you mean, he’s crazy?” Taylor demanded.

  “What do you mean, what do I mean?!” Lisa shot back. “Do you think it’s normal for anyone to worship the floor you walk on, Imago? He just threatened to kill every hero in that room if they so much as breathed wrong in your direction! That’s a pretty fucking insane thing to do!”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “I agree,” Brian said shakily.

  “Me too,” Alec put in.

  “Yeah.” Even Rachel was compelled to add her two cents.

  “I get that!” Taylor acknowledged. “It’s almost creepy how protective he can be. But what I’m asking about is what type of crazy he is. He’s clearly not a murder hobo like the Nine or the Butcher, as you said. So, what kind of crazy are we talking about? Most of the time, he’s pretty normal.”

  “There’s something broken in his head,” Lisa declared. “I’m not sure how to explain it, but when my power managed to break through his defenses, I saw a shit-ton of cracks in his psyche. Not only that, he apparently has no idea just how to use his powers, so that’s already fucked. To top it all off, either one of his personalities is a power expression or something else because what I saw looked nothing like him.”

  “What did you see?” Brian asked.

  Lisa described the manifestation that overlapped Alfred’s form, from her looks to her outfit. She also told them about the warning she gave, which caused Taylor to gasp.

  “The echo of my mother,” she explained when asked about her reaction. “She said something about a woman who told her about what’s going on and about Al – uh, I mean, Seraph.”

  “What’d she say?” Lisa latched on to a possible clue like a lamprey.

  Taylor visibly hesitated, even through the near-complete cover of her costume. “She said he was a broken soul. That he needs guidance and support.”

  The Undersiders froze and stared at her with incredulity.

  “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us about this?” the blonde Thinker demanded.

  “Because it was incredibly personal!” Taylor shot back. “Would you want me telling everyone your personal business?”

  “It’s not about that!”

  “Then, what is it about?!”

  “That we attached ourselves to a fucking time bomb!” Lisa’s shout caused Taylor to flinch back. “He’s not just a powerful cape! He’s a fucking Jenga tower with most pieces missing and in danger of collapsing, where the prize is an explosion to the face!”

  “So, it’s all about you, in the end,” Taylor accused, voice going cold. “You were happy enough to ride his coattails, enjoying his protection. But now that you find out he has a flaw, you want to bail? I should’ve expected as much.”

  “Oh, that’s rich, coming from you!” Lisa shrieked. “At least, I have never tried to kill him. You can’t say the same, can you? Poor Seraph keeps trying to keep your bony ass alive, and all you’ve ever done is set your minions on him. What exactly have you done for him in exchange except be a useless waste of space?!”

  Immediately, the space around Taylor began to warp. An alien, indescribable chill began to fill the room, causing all its occupants to shiver, with the bug mistress being the only exception.

  “I’ve been a shitty person to him, that’s true.” The admission was said in a distorted, echoey voice. “I’ve been ungrateful and unappreciative and angry. But, unlike some people, I don’t intend to run at the first sign of trouble. You say he’s crazy? How’s he different from you? From me?”

  She looked around the room’s occupants, the distortion fading as she did so. “All of us have our own issues. Regent acts like a sociopath, Bitch has trouble understanding humans, Grue always needs to prove himself, and you, Tattletale? You seem to have a compulsive need to be a cunt.”

  Said cunt grimaced. “Says the control freak.”

  “Yeah, I am.” The admittance came far more easily than Lisa expected from Taylor. At this point, the room’s dimensions and temperature have fully returned to normal, as well. “I’ve been working on that with my dad. Something I wouldn’t have had the chance to do if it weren’t for Seraph. So, whatever mental issues he’s dealing with, as long as he’s not massacring people in the streets, I’ll stick with him. Will you?”

  “That depends,” Lisa said.

  “On what?” Taylor asked.

  “I still have two things to talk about, and one of them is about you.” The curly-haired girl’s shoulders went rigid at the pronouncement, but she kept silent. “First, the woman who spoke to me talked about Seraph having a Patron.”

  “Wait, what?” Brian boomed.

  “It gets worse,” the blonde replied. “Her words were garbled the first few times I used my power to understand what she was trying to say. When I finally succeeded, her exact words were ‘Beware his Patron’.”

  “So, does that mean he’s Mastered, after all?” This question came from Alec.

  “Patron could mean a lot of things,” Taylor argued. “It could be someone who raised him. A current backer he hasn’t told us about. The word ‘Patron’ has been used in religion, business, politics, and so on. Jumping to Master is a bit of a stretch.”

  “But, why would this, err, personality warn Tattletale about this Patron?” Grue pressed.

  “I don’t know, and that’s the point!” she ground out. “We don’t know. We’re just guessing. Or, more specifically, Tattletale is just guessing.”

  “Well, while we’re on the topic of my guesses,” the Thinker cut in. “Let’s talk about what my power told me about you.”

  “Take your shot,” Taylor challenged.

  “It said that you were the Abyss and Annihilation,” Lisa dropped smugly. “Care to tell us about that?”

  She expected the Master to stammer, make excuses, or shrink back at the revelation. She was severely disappointed.

  “Oh, that?” the girl said casually. “Yeah, apparently I can tap into other dimensions.”

  “Remember, my boy. Taylor is the hero of this story. You must let her shine.”

  “Gonna teach your grandma to suck eggs, too?”

  The reply was an enigmatic smile.

  “Relax, would you? I know my place. She’ll see a better ending than she got, you have my word.”

  A gentle, encouraging smile graced the being’s lips.

  “I truly have made the right choice with you. Not many would resist the allure of power, riches, and carnal pleasure that such opportunities present. Indeed, virtually none of them do. Instead, they revel in their second chances and focus on fulfilling their basest, most self-serving desires. You are a rare breed, my boy.”

  “All I want is the chance to make a difference in someone’s life. This’ll let me do that.”

  “Even if it costs you your life?”

  “Especially if it costs me my life. This girl sacrificed everything for an ungrateful world. With me there, she won’t need to.”

  “Then, I wish you luck, my boy.”

  A snort of derision.

  “I don’t need luck. I’m a freakin’ Dragoon.”