Thursday— April 14th, 2011.
THOMAS CALVERT.
9:00 AM.
“The boy was definitely a Tinker,” Thomas Calvert had set aside the reported Threat Assessment about the two new capes of Brockton Bay. “And Armsmaster seems to be highly convinced with the boy being a Tinker, so that’s conclusive.”
If it was him two days ago, he’d say the boy was mainly a brute with access to novel tinker tech, but now: he had decided the boy was most likely a Tinker like what Armsmaster said.
However, Armsmaster’s numbers were wrong… If it was Calvert’s assessment, he’d put the Iron Spider with a Tinker/Thinker power classification with one point higher for each confirmed category.
Thomas Calvert knew the importance of staying ahead of the game. His power gave him an edge that few could match. He possessed an extraordinary ability to manipulate information and perceptions by splitting the timeline into two, allowing him to choose which reality should persevere.
Through his ability, he could hoard information again and again from numerous iterations. Albeit limited to two iterations in a single instance, it was yet to fail him as retrials were made infinitely possible as long as he was careful and paranoid enough. He could even go so far as emotionally and tactically manipulating people into his bidding by knowing which buttons to push.
This made him quite the criminal mastermind.
In one reality, he was at his office, writing up a report in part of his work as a consultant for PRT. This was his safe space, a place where he could retreat to if his plans failed.
Thomas Calvert was a man in his mid-40s. He possessed an air of calculated composure commonly seen in those in his line of work. His neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper hair framed a sharp, angular face, accented by piercing blue eyes that seemed to miss nothing. While in his office, he wore his button-up shirts and ties very formally. He had dark skin and an amiable façade you couldn’t hope to connect to his supervillain persona.
Meanwhile, in another reality, he sat at the dimly lit room where various monitors were displayed in front of him. In this reality, he assumed the identity of Coil. He wore a skintight black body suit with a stencil of a white snake around it, its head on his forehead, extending down the back of his head, looping and winding over his entire body with its tail at one ankle
Today was a very important day since he had decided to acquire Dinah Alcott for himself.
The preparations had been made, and the pawns had been set up. He felt bad for the Undersiders, but he’d be happy enough if Tattletale managed to escape after this. Not that he’d throw them away so easily, since it was hard to acquire so much capes under your thumb.
In the long term, losing a cape now wouldn’t hurt him as long as he could acquire Dinah Alcott. It would be nice if he had acquired the Iron Spider and the Entomancer beforehand to help Tattletale with her bank robbery. It was easy for Calvert to track the bug girl, but the Iron Spider was a problematic affair.
He recalled various attempts from two days ago to force the bug girl into the table. The concept of the ‘table’ was fairly simple: it was to torture people in an alternate reality in order to force information from them as much as possible. This way, he could hoard information and know the right buttons to make the others comply with ease.
Unfortunately, he was unable to force Taylor Hebert AKA the bug girl into the table, especially with the Iron Spider who even now eluded Calvert of his true identity. He had nothing on the Iron Spider: name, face, or anything… but that wasn’t the real problem.
The real problem was, every time he’d try to force Hebert into the table, the Iron Spider would come swinging and save her which was annoying. No matter what angle he played, the Iron Spider would become aware of the danger that would come at Hebert.
The problem only got worse as every time, the Iron Spider would become more and more aware of the sudden dangers that would fall on Hebert in slowly specifying Calvert’s presence with trial and error. The result was: that Iron Spider felt Calvert splitting the timelines and that scared Calvert. This was the reason why he thought the Iron Spider might have a Thinker classification.
Initially, he thought the bug girl had the Iron Spider on the speed dial, thus allowing him to save her on time, but that was unlikely since no relevant technology had been found with Taylor Hebert that could be connected to the Iron Spider. This brought another theory, that perhaps it was Hebert’s powers that had the Spider on speed-dial.
In the end, Calvert decided to give up the Entomancer and the Iron Spider.
While the Undersiders were busy on being a distraction for Brockton Bay, his goons were doing splendid job on cornering Dinah Alcott with his instructions.
Dinah Alcott was a young girl on the cusp of adolescence, her face marked with the innocence of youth yet shadowed by the weight of her powers. Her dark brown hair was a tangled mess, cascading around her shoulders as she ran through the streets of Brockton Bay.
For a 12-year-old, this was quite a harrowing experience but it would only get worse if she got caught.
Currently in his Coil-persona, Calvert was watching Dinah Alcott run away with all she got while consulting her Thinker powers. It amused Coil how hard the little girl was trying. The little girl must be asking her powers if running in that direction would improve her chances of survival. And where is she heading? Well, to the outskirts of the docks of all things…
Dinah Alcott's powers were powerful. She possessed an extraordinary precognitive ability, a potent form of clairvoyance that allowed her to ascertain the success of an action or the truth of information by asking ‘what-are-the-odds’ kind of questions. Her powers would provide answers in the form of percentages, which was crucial for Coil’s plans.
With Dinah’s powers, Coil’s powers would become exponentially more potent.
But the unexpected happened. Coil was on the cusp of success when the Iron Spider suddenly appeared out of nowhere: he swung at his mercenaries and disabled them faster than his mercenaries could react.
The sight of Dinah running to the Spider elicited a frown from Coil. The current Iron Spider was different from how he looked two days ago. He had recovered from the damages he suffered from his fight against Lung… The nano-tech armor was displayed in all of its glory with arachnid legs sprouting from its back.
“So this is where the little girl had been running to?” Coil felt the pit of his stomach twisting. He admitted that he might have looked down on the girl too much… This was inexcusable.
Coil watched with a mix of frustration and concern as the Iron Spider effortlessly dispatched his mercenaries. He quickly shifted his focus, recalculating his strategy on the fly. His meticulously laid plans were unraveling before his eyes, and he couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip away.
“Use incendiary charges,” he communicated to his mercs via the mic. “Stick together, watch out for your six, don’t let him come at you from behind.”
He decisively gave instructions to his remaining forces on how to engage the Spider, hoping to overwhelm him with sheer numbers. But the armored vigilante proved to be more than a match for them, his swift movements and advanced technology giving him a distinct advantage on the battlefield.
“Hey, watch out, that burns…” The Spider remarked as he caught an incendiary charge with his webs and threw them at the sky. “Fire in the hole,” shouted the Iron Spider as he launched a web grenade that caught three mercenaries at once.
‘That’s new,’ Coil thought.
As the skirmish unfolded, Coil seized the opportunity to assess the situation. He needed to find a way to gain the upper hand, to regain control of the chaos that threatened to derail his plans. His mind raced, considering every possible angle and contingency.
In the end, Coil decided to give up this timeline as each one of his goons was rounded up by the Spider.
Thomas Calvert was back in his office writing up reports and suggestions… he looked at the files about the Iron Spider and the Entomancer besides him. Despite being annoyed to the core and wanting to lash out, he forced down his emotions. He wouldn’t want to meltdown now. He wouldn’t want any of his staff to see him lose control.
“What happened? Did the Spider become more aware of me?” he asked himself. “No, that’s impossible. He shows hints of knowing when I am attacking the Entomancer and levels of awareness I am watching him, but it was only because he was saving Entomancer. Did he know of Alcott too? But again, that’s impossible, since Alcott was a new trigger… I think Piggot’s assumption that the Spider was a new trigger was wrong too, but the Armsmaster was thinking the same.”
He looked at the files about the Spider.
In a petty act of vengeance, Thomas Calvert decided to leak the Iron Spider’s and Entomancer’s information to PHO. Of course, he did it via one of his pawns— Tattletale, he decided she should do it. If he was going to focus the spotlight on the new capes, then he might as well not hold back so he also sent various video evidence with the PRT Assessment that should have been kept as private information of PRT. He was confident the leak wouldn’t be traced to him; he had scapegoats for this.
Looking at the words ‘Spider/Male’ and ‘Spider/Female’ was jarring though. It appeared Armsmaster wasn’t so great with names, but it was good for him in thinking of Iron Spider and Entomancer, maybe he used some word generator to think for the name.
Being a sensible person, Calvert edited the names to Spiderman and Spiderwoman, “I cannot believe I am being bothered by this trivial stuff.”
Despite his calculated demeanor, a simmering frustration fueled his actions. He couldn't shake off the sting of defeat, especially at the hands of someone who seemed to be growing increasingly aware of his maneuvers. Though the Iron Spider had vague reactions, he knew he was being targeted every time Calvert used his powers, so that meant something.
There were already hushed whispers about the spider-duo since the Lung subjugation and the earlier rumors within ABB about how the Iron Spider had fought Oni Lee and Lung consecutively.
Calvert's favorite pawn, Tattletale, discreetly disseminated the information.
The details of the Iron Spider's exploits and the Entomancer began to circulate within the online community of Parahumans Online (PHO). It was a subtle move, but one that carried the weight of his ire.
“Fame is a kind of poison in itself,” Coil murmured. “This should distract PRT and the Spider in the meantime.”
Discussions and speculations ignited among PHO users as the leaked information made its rounds. The identities of these new capes quickly became subjects of intense scrutiny and debate. Threads were filled with theories, conjectures, and attempts to connect the dots about the relationship of the insect-themed capes.
Calvert observed the ripple effect of his actions with a sense of satisfaction. It was a small victory, a way to reclaim a modicum of control in the face of adversity. Despite his setback in the field, he found solace in the knowledge that he still held the power to influence events from the shadows.
Not that it truly helped him with the Alcott matter… He sent multiple text messages to his contacts: the mission was canceled, retreat. The bank robbery and the kidnapping were shelved for the meantime.
For now, Dinah Alcott was yet to be spooked so she should be still on her rote activities from school and then back to her home.
With a calculated calm, Calvert continued to strategize and plan his next move. The game was far from over, and he was determined to stay ahead of the curve. He’d need to deal with the Spider, and then he’d get Dinah Alcott for himself.
...
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#Coil causing Trouble #Spidey thwarting Villains unaware #I Hate Coil #Naming sense, seriously?
