Stealing My Way To Power

Cole dragged the various unconscious villains and put them on the couch. Initially, he wanted to mess with them more but he kind of fucked with Alec pretty hard. The dude got mauled by some dogs and then got tased not exactly the most pleasant experience.

That would leave Rachel and Brian to mess with but it just did not feel right. So he just settled them and started packing up the things Lisa wanted. There was not a lot she wanted here as she did not leave any of her more personal items here but there were little trinkets she left behind. There was also an abundance of clothing including her costume.

Beyond that, there was more money but again that was not really his business. Cole went through the rest of the rooms here looking for things that might be worth some energy but sadly came up short.

Brian appeared to be rather paranoid about bringing this lifestyle back to his civilian life as he had very little here. It made sense with his sister being his main priority. Alec simply did not care for things due to his emotional instability so while he had the most things they were just things. Rachel only cared about her dogs and while that was an opportunity stealing her dogs seemed a bit cruel.

If Cole ever wanted to win her to his side for that big energy rush pissing her off massively was not the way to go. That kind of stood for all of the Undersider but Alec would roll with the person providing the best benefits while Brian would follow if he could get his sister out of their mother's hands. Rachel on the other hand was someone ruled by a more feral sense. So making her an ally was the easiest but making her an enemy was also the easy.

That did not mean he left their little hideout unlooted. They had a store of cash that was going to go to his own coffers. Alec also had a variety of entertainment devices but he kind of already had more than enough of those things. That Buy More really did have everything that could possibly be entertaining.

The amount of aerial drones he received was astounding. 

Sure, taking those electronics would offer him some energy but it was not really that large. So he was going to leave it alone for the most part. Honestly, he came here with the expectation that he would loot the Undersiders massively to boost his energy and he left with scraps and crumbs.

Ironically whenever he plotted a theft he earned next to nothing in energy. Instead, all the thefts that were unplanned or on the spot earned him massive pools. Taylor's flute, Tammi's Shard, and Lisa's freedom every single time he acted on the spot he ended up better. 

To be fair it was less the on the spot thefts being valuable and more the things stolen being that rare and world-changing. 

Seeing next to nothing that he wanted here Cole let out a sigh before looking over at the slumbering teens. He didn't want to rock the boat too much but he might as well leave a note to mess with them. He took out a card and scribbled out a message for them. He then placed the thing on the table right in front of them.

You have been visited by your not so friendly neighbourhood thief. I thought that a group of your size would have more interesting things but really you disappointed. What is with all the dog treats? I get you raise them but after the seventh box, it seemed excessive. Whatever do try to gather some more interesting loot so I'm not disappointed the next time I visit.

Xoxo Phantom Thief

Not exactly the most mocking letter but he was just ribbing them lightly. Coil might hear about this but the Undersiders should be out for hours considering the drugs he used on them. He was not planning on leaving Coil to run about by the time they woke up.

He swapped positions with the Clone that was watching Lisa and Tammi. Thankfully his read on Lisa was accurate enough, she followed in line with his thought process. Joking and endearing herself to Tammi with everything she had. Beyond that, she found a nice little house in the suburbs that needed to be vacated quickly.

Apparently, the family that lived there had lost one of their children and they wanted no part in this city any longer. They have been searching for them for years but they made no progress so they have given up in the face of Lisa's targeted words. Judging from the fact that the child was a teenage girl who was fairly attractive the ABB likely captured her.

A common story and one that had his blood boiling. God, this place was awful and he was going to do everything in his power to change that. Now that his safety and ability have been enhanced he was willing to mess with the gangs far more often. The ABB was going to be on the top of his list.

After they started to settle down in the small home Lisa and Tammi bonded surprisingly quickly. Well, that would be the case if you did not know how useful Lisa's powers were. She specialized in tearing people apart but knowing all the right words to say really helped out in the social game.

Currently, Tammi is sleeping in her own room. The past couple of days have taken a toll on her with worrying about Cole and worrying about being dragged back to prison. Maybe the fact that there was someone else here caused her to relax or maybe it was the bond that Lisa was forging. Either way, the end result was that the past couple of days lack of sleep caught up to her.

Lisa on the other hand was still up. She was clacking away on a laptop that she asked for earlier. She seemed to be researching things but he could not make heads or tails of what that was. The small little tidbits that told her so much were just small tidbits to him. 

Cole slipped into the room like a ghost. Oddly enough Lisa stopped working on the laptop the instant he entered the room. She tilted her head and looked around the room soon catching sight of him dressed as Kaito Kid. It was not like he was trying to hide. He expected some sort of panic from her but she just let out a sigh of relief.

"Never thought to use my powers like this before but it worked. Did you know the moment you entered the room I suddenly got a lack of answers for a lot of things that were being fed to me?" She asked with a smug smile. She really looked like she was overtly proud of figuring out what she did.

He blinked at her words but let out a light chuckle at it. Cole never really thought about it that way but a lack of information was just as telling in some cases. This was also something she figured out all by herself so she was feeling particularly smug at her discovery.

"That is a flaw, I'll make sure to account for it when dealing with Thinkers," Cole admitted with a small shrug as he leaned against the window he had entered in. Lisa's smile again became more smug but she looked over Cole's current outfit with a critical look.

"Hmmmm did you know the PRT has dubbed you Stagehand?" She asked as she brought up something on her laptop and shifted it to let him see. Cole felt his lips twitch at her lack of shock at his current outfit.

Figures that Lisa would put together the fact that she was not able to read the new Cape and that she was not able to read Cole and combine them. Then again that was just common sense. 

The report she had brought up was a threat assessment from the PRT. He kind of felt insulted with how low his numbers were but they were running off of limited information. It was not like what he showed off was that impressive either.

He also felt conflicted about the name they gave him. The Kaito side of him was ecstatic that he was recognized as a magician even if he did not announce it. On the other hand, Cole found the name Stagehand to be…. well not cool.

As he read over the report and Lisa's comments hit him so he frowned and let out a sigh.

"Really? You that upset about the name? I figured it fit you well." Lisa spoke out with an intrigued look on her face. Cole let out a chortle that broke his mood but he recovered quickly.

"No, this has nothing to do with the report itself. It's just that my Cape persona is going to be known as unreadable by Thinkers and that is a trait that was going to be shared by my civilian identity. My real name is really going to become nothing more than polite fiction." Cole explained as he let out a sigh. Lisa blinked and a calculating glint appeared in her eyes as she looked over Cole.

That was going to be an issue….but he did have a solution. He could run with the plot that he had concocted when he got RCT. If he gave the PRT what they wanted in regards to Cole Diamant they were not going to look deeper into it.

At least they would not look deeper into Cole.

"That is a rather big problem. I don't suppose you would be willing to take down your Thinker protections when you go civi?" She asked with a smile that told him she already knew the answer. The flat look on his face only made that smile more clear.

Taking down Blank was not an option. The moment he took it all the way down was the moment some very bad things happened. He may be confident about surviving most things but Cauldron was tricky and setting off the Depressed Space Whale was not in his game plan.

"Whatever, I'll deal with that later. For now, there was an issue that I was not thinking about until you came into my life." Cole spoke out seriously as he looked over at Lisa with an intense focus.

Lisa froze at his words and looked over at him like a startled cat. She licked her lips nervously as her gaze locked with his and her pupils dilated.

"That problem being?" She asked quietly. Her gaze boring into his own causing a tension to build massively in the air. He was the one who broke the odd mood building by looking away.

"Coil." Cole spat out, which seemed to bring the tension back in a completely different manner. Anger flashed across her face at the mention of that particular bomb. She looked moments away from cursing up a storm but she collected herself and locked her gaze back on him with intensity.

"He is….certainly a problem but in what way do you mean?" She asked with steel. There was a tense moment as that steel clashed with his own will. The both of them locked gazes but again Cole broke first as he smiled wrly.

"Nothing like you imagine Lisa, The more I thought about that jackass the more I figured taking care of him quickly was for the best. So I came here to gather some information. I want to capture him today completely blindside him. That way you have a nice little present for joining up to the winning side." Cole explained with that wry smile on his face. The tense mood coming off of Lisa faded like a dream.

Instead, she faced him with a vulpine smile that was almost blinding with how bright it was.