(PROFESSOR UZUMAKI) AN ODE TO VENGEANCE

The room was quiet in the way Coil preferred, sealed off from the rest of his underground base by thick walls, muted lighting, and layers of security that ensured nothing occurred here without his approval. One entire wall was given over to multiple screens, each paused on a different moment of the same event Coil found particularly instructive.

He reclined slightly in his chair, gloved fingers steepled beneath his chin, and watched a girl fall from the ceiling.

Again.

The footage was poor, as expected. The bank’s security cameras had never been meant to capture cape fights, and the civilian recordings taken in secret were even worse, shaky and unfocused. Even so, they formed a sufficiently comprehensible picture. The girl dropped from above without warning, her descent sudden and brutal enough that Tattletale did not even have time to react.

Coil let the play through to its end, watching Tattletale hit the floor and remain there, her gun skidding out of view as shouting filled the audio and Grue’s darkness appeared seconds later. Then, he paused the feed once more.

Natalie McKenzie.

The name had already spread throughout Brockton Bay, appearing on news broadcasts, circulating through whispered conversations, and igniting the usual chaos on PHO with its mix of admiration, skepticism, and poorly concealed envy. A civilian intervening in a cape fight, trained by the foreign man who had recently taken an interest in the city’s neglected youth.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Coil’s fingers tightened, the leather of his gloves creasing slightly.

He had watched the Undersiders’ defeat unfold from the safety of his own monitors, irritation mounting as each development tipped further against him. The dogs had gone down faster than expected. Regent had been pinned almost absentmindedly. Tattletale had been taken out in a single, humiliating attack. Grue’s escape had been clean, but that was little comfort, particularly given how limited his long-term usefulness had always been.

The loss was admittedly costly, but not catastrophic. Resources could be replenished, plans revised, and minions replaced. What could not be ignored was the variable that had tipped the engagement so decisively against them.

A civilian, trained just well enough to matter, and a Ward operating at a level noticeably beyond her peers.

That was the problem.

Naruto remained, despite everything, a potential asset if handled correctly. He was an outsider to Brockton Bay’s entrenched power structures, unfamiliar with its unspoken rules, but his influence over a small but growing circle of youths gave him reach without the burden of formal allegiance, and his apparent disinterest in politics or territory made him unusually flexible. 

More importantly, his methods produced results without relying on fear or coercion, which meant that, with the right leverage applied at the right moment, that loyalty could be redirected.

Coil had tolerated his presence and interference initially, content to observe and catalog, even accounting for the disruption surrounding Dinah Alcott’s abduction. But the bank robbery had made one thing painfully clear.

Naruto was producing useful assets, and Coil had lost several of his own in the process.

Coil reached out and tapped a control, freezing Natalie McKenzie mid-motion as she staggered back from her landing. Fear and shock were written plainly across her face, visible even through the distortion.

He studied her carefully.

She was neither composed nor confident. Her movements lacked the polish of a seasoned cape, and her hesitation afterward spoke volumes. This was not someone who had sought out the spotlight or planned to insert herself into a cape fight. She had acted simply because circumstances had forced her hand.

Which made her far more interesting.

Another feed replaced the first. McKenzie again, this time being escorted out of the bank by PRT officers, wrapped in a blanket she did not seem to notice. Cameras flashed, reporters shouted questions, and she flinched at every sudden movement and noise, eyes darting as she struggled to process the attention.

She was publicly known.

Which meant she was exposed.

Coil smiled thinly beneath his mask, his irritation cooling into something more useful. Anger was a tool, not an indulgence, and Coil had long ago learned how to redirect it. Naruto might have cost him resources, credibility, and time, and yes, the Undersiders’ loss would need to be mitigated and compensated for.

Fortunately, Brockton Bay was full of opportunities for those willing to seize them.

Natalie McKenzie’s sudden visibility was one such opportunity.

The girl herself was not especially important, at least not yet. Her raw potential was middling at best, and her training was still incomplete. What mattered was what she represented. Proof that Naruto’s methods were effective. Proof that his students could be pushed into action under sufficient pressure.

Which meant they could be pushed again.

Coil leaned forward slightly, the glow of the screens reflecting across the smooth surface of his mask. There was no need to rush. Observation would come first, followed by subtle testing. He would see how Natalie adapted to attention, how she handled the ensuing pressure, and where the cracks began to form.

A civilian girl, suddenly thrust into the public eye, tied to Naruto and now incidentally to Coil himself. Watched by the PRT, scrutinized by the media, and discussed by just about everyone in the city. For most people, that alone was enough to break them.

And if it was not, Coil had ways of ensuring it did.

He reached for his communicator, already drafting instructions in his head. Background checks would come first, followed by surveillance. The smallest, most mundane details often proved the most valuable once you knew how to use them.

His smile grew beneath the mask.

Naruto had removed pieces from the board without permission and disrupted plans that had taken months to lay out. That kind of interference demanded a response. It was only fair, after all, that losses be repaid in kind.

If Naruto insisted on playing teacher, then Coil would ensure the lesson was appropriately costly.

Everything in Brockton Bay was, eventually.