Complications arise

We didn't get far.

Somebody (probably Armsmaster) had called ahead to the police. We'd barely made it down the street before the blare of sirens and the roar of police cars **** the Undersiders to change course. The dogs were strong and fast, easily bounding up single story buildings without losing stride. I have no idea how any of them stayed on the damn things when they did, but thankfully Tattletale didn't just let me go flying off as the dogs leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

"Tattletale!" yelled the one in all black, Grue if my memory served me.

She seemed to get what he was asking and said, "Office building, abandoned for months, three roofs to the east!"

Hellhound whistled and the dogs course corrected. The pavement cracked beneath their weight as we landed in an alleyway next to what had once been an old real-estate office. Obviously that was no longer the case, as the inside was abandoned and only the advertisement remained as an echo of what it had been.

We found a side door that was unlocked and I was **** in at gunpoint. Hellhound's dogs regressed to smaller more normal sizes while Grue approached the buildings windows. He raised both hands and a fog of darkness covered them, blocking what little light filtered in through the dirty glass. Once he was done with that, Tattletale took me to a corner and shoved me into that.

"Stay here. Don't get any funny ideas." she said.

I **** a smile and said, "The only funny one so far is you four."

Her lip twitched, "Brutal. But honest."

Then she turned and walked up to the rest of the Undersiders, talking harshly. I rattled off their names and abilities in my heads as they talked. Grue seemed to take charge most of the time, and his power let him erect walls of impenetrable darkness that only he seemed able to see through. He was skilled in martial arts and seemed cool under pressure.

Hellhound could mutate dogs into those oversized monstrosities I had seen, that were strong enough to plow through cars without any real trouble. Whether she had any other abilities or genuine control over them besides standard dog training, no one knew.

Regent, overly dressed in his foppy white getup, could mess with peoples nervous systems. Make them twitchy and unable to control certain limbs. He wasn't seen as a high threat on his own, but standard operating procedure recommended taking him out first in a fight. Having your leg suddenly jerk out from under you in a fight wasn't good.

And then there was Tattletale. Obviously a Thinker cape of some kind, she seemed to specialize in reading people, a sort of psuedo telepathy that let her pick up on facts and details about people that she used to throw them off balance. It wasn't uncommon to hear Grue refer to her for information in a fight. General procedure for her was to just ignore what she said and take her out as quick as possible.

As far as criminals went, the Undersiders were... D-list, at best. Petty thieves and vandals mostly. But they were still dangerous, which was why I was happy to wait in my corner until the Protectorate showed up. So there I stood, arms folded and straining to listen to the Undersiders argument.