“I don’t mind starting,” Handshake said. “At least, I can go over the history I’ve uncovered, then you can fill in what you can. And then we’ll wrap it up with the latest information?”

“That sounds perfectly fair,” the voice over the laptop said. The three men behind it were listening, and they were quiet, but they didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves.

Handshake leaned back into his seat and rubbed a knuckle over his still-smiling lips. “Very well, then. The earliest signs that the Cabal exist actually come from Merica. That’s not terribly surprising—their entire Heroic system is a bit more of a mess than here. The Cabal shows up in a few searches on some forums from Ew Ork, and E-Troit.”

“North, then,” the voice said.

Handshake made a meaningless gesture. “Mostly, yes. The posts generally talked about them as a group that showed up and asked people of a more . . . Villainous persuasion if they’d be willing to serve a greater cause. Recruitment, essentially.”

“Anything from actual members?” Cement asked.

“One moment, I’m going over things chronologically,” Handshake said.

“Ah, I see. Forgive my interruptions then. Go on.”

Handshake’s smile quivered. “The majority of the forum posts go nowhere. Lots of speculation and little else. Though some of those original posters can be linked back to local Villains, all minor, who were eventually captured and arrested. It’s a little later that it gets interesting.”

Handshake leaned his elbows on the table.

“See, that’s mostly from ten to eleven years ago. There are two other sources that came out of the woodwork a little later. One a Rascal who had a sort of online journal. He detailed being approached by the Cabal, being offered some assistance, and eventually joining them. He stopped mentioning them, but his crimes spiked in intensity, and he suddenly found himself with a lot more equipment than before. He’d post images of it. New costume, some gear. He became a real local terror.”

“And then?” Cement asked.

“Brought down by a local Hero. Captured. Died while behind bars. The other interesting lead from that same period never mentioned the Cabal before her arrest. Once she was behind bars, though, she squealed.”

Cement hummed. “I imagine that didn’t last long?”

“She recanted the next day. But some of what she said went on record and stayed there. She claimed that her robberies were made under the instructions of a group called the Cabal, that she had met with a Villain from the group and was acting on their behalf.”

“I imagine she died?” Cement asked.