Love Lost tech

"How did you know that Tattletale wouldn't pick up on us?" Sidepiece asked.

Love Lost looked over one shoulder, peering through red hair at Sidepiece. The hair had been dyed at one point, when Love Lost had been doing covert missions and had sought something more subtle, and it still lacked its brighter tones as some of the dye was still there. Blood red, if anything.

Love Lost's claw moved, tapping out something in the air. She slashed it to one side, as if it was a kind of punctuation.

Sidepiece's phone blared with the refrain from an angst pop song as the message came in, "Follow you, follow you, into the rage…"

Other phones went off simultaneously, throughout the group.

Love Lost (is the muthafuckin baws):
SURVEILLANCE. HER HEAD IS BOWED AND POSTURE STOOPED IF HER POWER IS EXHAUSTED

"Thinker headaches," Nailbiter said.

Love Lost nodded, slightly shrugging one shoulder, still walking at the head of the pack, still without looking back.

"What's that?" Sidepiece asked.

"If a person with brainy powers uses her powers too much…" Nailbiter hissed the words, lisping the 's's. "Suffers for it. Saw it in the Birdcage. Thinkers can't get the privacy to hide when they're hurting, and can't not use their powers, when they need to hold their own."

"A weak point," D.J. said.

Love Lost's claw moved.

"Follow you, follow you, into the rage…" The phones rang.

Love Lost (is the muthafuckin baws):
SHE WILL FAKE IT TO FEINT WHEN SHE REALIZES WE KNOW
FOR NOW WE TIME OUR MOVES

"We weren't in that much danger, then, surveilling?"

Love Lost made a so-so gesture. Her claws tapped at the air, poking at an invisible keyboard.

"Follow you, follow you, into the rage…" the phone's ring tone sounded.

"Put that on vibrate," Disjoint said.

Sidepiece snorted.

Love Lost (is the muthafuckin baws):
CAMERA TINKER A DANGER
WHAT IS NEW INTEL?

"Camera tinker wasn't moving around much, or using much tech," Sidepiece said.

Disjoint elaborated, "Half of what they were talking about was smoothing things over between some of the kids. Either fighting or getting along too well. Chicken Little and Lookout."

"Look out, the sky is falling," Sidepiece said.

Love Lost's expression had changed. It always did when kids were involved. She even changed her attitude when it came to Colt.

"They talked about where the major players are, and who's involved. They have a good guess about the attacks that took the Navigators and some of the Advance Globs out, thanks to Tattletale."

Love Lost nodded, very cavalier about that fact.

"Matter of time, huh?" Sidepiece asked.

Love Lost nodded again.

Love Lost didn't like using the phones to communicate, which meant that half the time she was leaving things up for others to infer or guess. If someone could fill in the blanks, then Love Lost allowed it. Screw up too many times or put the wrong words in her mouth, and that someone would get sent to do a shit errand and kept out of the way.

The inner circle mostly had it figured out, now. Disjoint stayed quiet rather than guess. Nailbiter only guessed in the middle of a fight. She worked well with Love Lost in an all-out fight.

"They've been working out who's who. Shin's quiet, Teacher overreached and some of his mercs from Chiet are rebelling, doing their own thing. Apparently, Bitter Pill isn't leading the thinkers from the Point," Disjoint said.

Love Lost typed in the air.

"Follow you, follow you, into the rage…"

Nailbiter's fingers extended into points, perilously close to Sidepiece's throat.

The scene remained utterly still for a few seconds.

The phone started up its ringtone again. "Follow you, Foll-"

The points of Nailbiter's fingers touched skin. Sidepiece set her phone to vibrate.

"Yeah," Disjoint said, looking at his phone. "That's their best guess. Pill is the face, or a partner in leadership."

Sidepiece looked at the phone to see what the guess was.

Love Lost (is the muthafuckin baws):
BLUESTOCKING

Love Lost nodded. She drew to a stop, then looked around.

"Trouble?" Disjoint asked.

"No, not trouble," Nailbiter said.

Love Lost pressed a claw to the fanged mouth that was molded to her lower face, covering nose, mouth, and cheeks. A single finger to mime 'silence'. Her other claw went up in a 'stop' position.

The group was quiet and still as Love Lost extended a claw point skyward. Love Lost tilted her head.

The hand came down, pointing, then motioned again, quick.

Hurry, was the intent.

The group hurried. Sidepiece's legs hurt from all the walking, especially the uneven walking through the forest, their shortcut to avoid being seen as they made their way to their vantage point at the edge of the mall parking lot.

"New security measures. Extending her sensory ranges, and feeling out for tech. It takes a minute," Nailbiter hissed.

They entered the hideout. Love Lost activated the door's locks, both mechanical and mundane.

"Breakthrough knows you won't deal with them, so they asked the Undersiders to. Undersiders know March is prepared for them, so they're asking Breakthrough to alleviate the pressure."

Love Lost typed at the air. Sidepiece couldn't look at her phone, as she was busy taking off her winter clothes.

Love Lost (is the muthafuckin baws):
WHAT ARE THE UNDERSIDERS GOING TO SAY TO ME?

"Nothing useful, since we know what they're doing and who they're working with," Sidepiece quipped.

Love Lost shrugged slightly, her head moving in acknowledgement of that simple truth. Even distant friends of the Fallen kid were off limits for alliances.

"They're supposed to tell you that Cradle is dangerous, he wants to kill you and take your power, and-"

Love Lost moved her hand.

"I know. They said it before. They'll be more insistent, try deals. They said the worst case scenario is that Cradle allies with March and then takes you out of commission. Second worst case scenario is you ally with March, Tattletale seemed pretty sure you wouldn't go after Cradle."

Love Lost stepped into the living room, claws clicking against the floor- three at the toes, one stabbing down from the heel, her feet encased in thermal stockings that extended up her legs. The moisture didn't seem to stick to any of it, wicking off immediately.

Colt was lying on the couch, and sprung to her feet as Love Lost entered. Love Lost gently pushed her back into her seat.

A knife-finger pointed at Colt, a warning.

"Sorry," Colt said. "I tried."

Disjoint continued, "There was other stuff, Cheit's mercenaries and some follow-up to the portal or something that they're planning, but they didn't talk much about that. Mostly their focus was on teaming up and trading enemies. Making sure March doesn't get in contact with any member of your cluster, and making sure Cradle-"

"-Doesn't steal the powers of another member of the cluster," was the response.

Cradle stepped out of the kitchen.

Sidepiece met Disjoint's eyes. Her hand moved closer to her midsection. Shit. Shitty shit shit shit.

- Interlude 11a