(LIMITLESS) INTERLUDE: COIL

The average man would have panicked. Would have called it quits the moment the girl slipped through his fingers and into the PRT’s open arms.

But Thomas Calvert was not the average man.

To the public, he was a respectable figure: a former PRT special forces operative turned private consultant for the same organization. A face of law and order, increasingly visible in city halls and back rooms where policy decisions were made, always offering soundbites on cape regulation, city infrastructure, or disaster readiness. 

To the right people, he was more. A patron of subtle change, someone who knew how to manipulate a system from the inside. And to even fewer—men and women more dangerous than he was—he was Coil, the man with the patience and vision to take over Brockton Bay.

And if that plan had to change? If his path to dominance required a shift in tactics? So be it. 

He’d survived Ellisburg, not just because he was lucky, but because he knew when to act, when to run, and when to let others die while he walked away intact. He’d learned something essential that day: the value of misdirection. Let them think they know your angle. Let them see the obvious play. Then pivot.

Adaptation was key to victory.

When he had instructed his men to fire a warning shot at Taylor Hebert—back during her encounter with the Undersiders—his men had called it premature. Some said he’d overplayed his hand, spooking the girl into the PRT’s arms. Others wondered why he hadn’t let Tattletale work on her longer, or broken her down before swooping in with a carefully tailored pitch.

They didn’t understand. They couldn't.

That move hadn’t been a failure. It had been a feint.

Let Taylor Hebert believe she saw all there was to see. Let her think he was just another cape with delusions of grandeur. She’d dismissed him, and that was perfect. Even Tattletale—the closest thing to a threat among the Undersiders—had likely written him off as too eager, and written off his action as an ill-conceived plan. It wouldn't surprise him if she were already making plans to take advantage of his perceived blunder.  

Let them underestimate him. The more convinced they were of his incompetence, the easier it would be when his real plan took shape.

After all, this was all part of his plan. 

Taylor Hebert was with the PRT, and that meant predictable movement and known variables he could work with. He could plant people near her, feed her half-truths, and see how she responded to the events he nudged into her path. Every mission she took, every report she filed, and every breath she drew within the Wards program could be monitored. Until he felt she was ready to meet him.

Sometimes, rather than being forceful in your attempt or grandiose, it was better to lay the right trap and let them walk into it on their own.

Bakuda, however, was an unforeseen complication.

That bomb—her bomb—hadn’t been part of the plan. Coil had thought Bakuda wanted to escalate gradually, to increase ABB visibility through small, calculated acts of violence. Something theatrical, not catastrophic. But instead, she’d taken it upon herself to do something so idiotic, so stupid, it was a surprise she wasn't booked into an adult daycare and assigned a handler. 

She had leapt from calculated escalation to outright terrorism without warning, and nearly killed his most valuable long-term asset in the process.

But… complications could be useful, if properly directed.

He exhaled, fingers steepled in front of him as he watched one of the twin timelines diverge.

In one, a PRT contact forwarded him the latest on Hebert’s condition. It seemed Bakuda had been able to breach through Hebert’s forcefield, a feat previously thought to be impossible, and the damage had been extensive. As such, she was still unconscious, though Panacea’s intervention had all but guaranteed her recovery.

In the other, his recently repositioned internal asset—someone placed close enough to monitor the Wards without raising alarm—received new instructions: begin compiling detailed psychological profiles post-injury. They should watch, especially, for signs that the girl’s loyalty to the PRT was anything less than absolute.

Stress fractures revealed deeper weaknesses, and weaknesses could be exploited. Coil didn’t just need to defeat his enemies; he needed to own them, and owning someone required patience.

Soon, Taylor Hebert would see just how compromised her house of glass truly was. She would see cracks in the foundation. And when the time came, when the Director and PRT disappointed her, when her teammates failed her, when the public turned or the pressure mounted too high…

Coil would be there with an offer she wouldn’t be able to refuse.

He collapsed the first timeline, kept the second, and smiled faintly in the half-dark of his office. It was time to get involved personally.