Prologue

"Dear god. What kind of bomb could do this?"

"Heard it was some sort of tinkertech."

"But to vaporize the people on this floor only? That would take some serious calibrations."

"You know what they say, fucking Tinkers. Wait. I think I heard something."

"Over there! That's the commander's coat. Come on!"

I woke up with a groan and the sight of blue covering my eyesight. My whole body felt numb. I could hear voices and footsteps coming closer."

"Commander! Wait, it's not him. Miss Costa-Brown? God, look at that blood. Control, this is search team Gamma. We've found one survivor…. No there's no sign of the commander. Looks like he shielded her with from the blast with his coat. We're bringing her down now.

As my thoughts faded into unconsciousness, my last thoughts were about him, and how he had protected me at the cost of his own life…. I wonder, if I had told him about who I was, what I could do, would the both of us survived? If I had just told him…. That I was Alex….andria…..

The attack on the Protectorate Headquarters this afternoon has shocked the nation. The attacke is believed to be the product of an unknown tinker who may have had a grudge towards the foundation of the Parahuman Response Team, an organization formed with the purpose of apprehending rogue parahumans and bringing them to justice. Apparently the explosion that took out an entire floor of the building vaporized all personal, leaving one survivor, a Rebecca Costa-Brown, the personal aide to the PRT's forward response team's commander Jack Morrison. The death toll is estimated to 76, with more to be expected as employees are trapped on the floors above the target. With any luck, thanks to the speedy backup provided by Legend and Eidolon, we will have no more casualties. This is CNN News.

In a dark room

"Was it really necessary to blow up the Protectorate? Just a simple attack from a rogue Blaster would have done."

"Maybe, but this way the world can see how dangerous parahumans can be, and will push for a method of control over them. Rebecca's objective may have in line with our goals, but her plan would have taken much too long. This was the quickest way to Victory."

"But Jack? Even if he wasn't a cape he was still one of us, a member of Cauldron."

"Look at it this way. With his death, Rebecca Costa-Brown will have a strong motive for reigning in capes."

"Very well. But if she ever finds out that we were behind this. I will be taking a one-man Door to Earth Aleph and leave the rest of you to fend off wrath."

"Then we just have to make sure she never finds out."