… note to self, crown guy isn't actually in charge?

"I'm Elan, but it sounds like I should get a mask and maybe a codename?"

He's competent to keep pace with them, wherever they're heading off to.

If they're running from the PRT... and they're the ones Lung was planning to kill...

"Wait, are you guys villains?"

Both think they are heroes. Want to be heroes. 

"Eh," she wiggles her hand. "Only if you ask the PRT? We don't kill or kidnap or torture people or sell drugs or anything bad like that, we're more of a - mutual support group."

Want validation as heroes. Lacking validation. Not acknowledged. Expecting to be acknowledged. 

"The PRT really isn't as shiny as they pretend. You can turn in Lung but -"

Expect PRT to accept them as heroes.

"- you shouldn't believe everything they tell you, and I don't mean just about us."

"Tattletale, do we have time for this?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She mounts behind Bitch.

"And yeah, definitely get a mask and a cape name. Don't tell the PRT who you are without serious thought, you can always do it later but you can't undo it. We won't tell anyone who you are, we owe you.

"What's your cape name?"

"I, uh. Haven't picked one yet."

Elan listens seriously to all the complicated politics stuff. It sounds… complicated. Still, if there isn't any killing or kidnapping or torturing people involved, whatever stuff they're doing probably can't be that bad. Elan isn't sure that he's the best person to help clear up whatever misunderstanding is going on, but the Spirit chose here for a reason!

"We can probably think of stuff together, then! And I can figure out a mask style. I really like your outfit, it makes you look like a badass bug person!"

"Um. Thank you?"

"Wait, is Lung -"

"Alive but down for a bit. We wouldn't want to make the PRT think you killed him!"

"Bitch, we're leaving."

She whistles and points.

The monstrosities leap back down to street level and run away. Their footsteps are loud but they seem to be very fast. Their claws leave holes in the building walls and the road as they go.

The key to keeping up with the beasts using Lightfoot is: not thinking about it. Which means Elan can think about other things. He's glad that Lung didn't die, even if he is a pretty scary and probably mean dude. He wonders if these guys know what he was trying to accomplish, since they had been planning on fighting him earlier, or at least maybe fighting him before Elan gave them an opportunity.

He should probably workshop some sort of theme for how he presents here. That seems to be the way of things: Lung the dragon guy, Regent with the crown, Bitch with the dog mask and… are they really puppies? Maybe the name is ironic. And then there's the obvious bug theme for unnicknamed bug girl. He's not sure what themes Tattletale or Grue have (maybe the latter has darkness powers, since he's in all black?) but maybe it'll become obvious later. Or maybe they're odd ones out?

Still, themes are memorable and fun, even if they aren't mandatory…

This thinking is interrupted after about a minute when Elan realizes:

"Wait, did we leave the bug girl behind?"

"Why didn't we leave you behind?"

A Mover - makes sense, it must be how he dodged Lung. They can lose the tail but it pays to be nice and like Tattletale said, they do owe him a bit.

"Let's go somewhere we can keep talking. Tattletale?"

"Bitch, take the next right towards the docks, then two more blocks."

They stop at the end of the residential area, next to a large metal-looking building. The place is dark and silent at this time of night.

"You wanted to talk to us?"

Weirdly, Elan feels kind of better knowing that they were trying to ditch him too.

"Well, I thought we were all going to wherever you wanted to go and we could talk there about cape names and stuff. Was she gonna… meet up later?"

"He's not pretending or anything," Tattletale confirms.

"We don't know her and she didn't ask how to contact us, so I doubt it."

Huh! Elan kind of assumed they were all friends or working together…

"Well… I probably shouldn't go back there, right? Because the PRT might be there already and I haven't decided on a fake name or anything yet."

He feels bad about leaving her behind, though. Especially because she hasn't decided on a fake name and he can change his face at will. And also make masks at will.

Grue cocks his head. "Why were you fighting Lung if you don't have a mask or a cape name yet?"

"'Cause the first thing I heard him say was telling his minion to kill kids!"

It occurs to him that it may be good to provide some more context.

"Also, I had just barely showed up here at random from a totally different world so I didn't know that masked capes were the thing people did here."

"Tattletale, oh great denier of bullshit, we beseech you -"