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Terror 3.e
Rebecca had never been more grateful that her power prevented her from getting migraines. Because right now she was confident that she would have had a jackhammer pounding in her skull. How a town as insignificant as Brockton Bay could be so vexing was beyond her. There was a reason that they had chosen the Bay for the site of one of their experiments because nobody cared about it. Nobody on the outside world would notice if the Bay got worse because it was already so steeped in filth and decay that wouldn't make a difference.
And yet beyond all odds, the city proved to be a particularly vexing hotbed of issues.
"Are you saying that we can't do anything?" she asked with a glare to the man sitting opposite from her. Glenn Chambers seemed completely unphased by her glare that could make hardened criminals shiver in fear. The bright yellow shirt that he was wearing almost seemed to shout at the room with all the subtlety of a bomb, and the numerous stains on it didn't help improve the image. The man's hair was twisting in a thousand different direction, apparently having not been brushed in the morning. Rebecca was willing to be that when most people saw Glenn the wrote him off as an unimportant slob.
Those people were fools.
One didn't become the head of marketing for the Protectorate by being an idiot, and Glenn Chambers was far from an idiot. The man's appearance was a disguise so thorough that it almost matched her own. But behind the man's seemingly uncoordinated nature was a mind that could play the public like a fiddle. As much as Rebecca liked to credit herself for building the Protectorate and PRT into what it was she knew she wouldn't have gotten as nearly as far as she had without this man.
"If you're asking for an immediate solution then yes, there's nothing that we can do," Glenn said with a shrug. A couple of bags under the man's eyes revealed just how taxing this whole affair was for the Protectorate and PRT. When Glenn Chambers got worried you knew that there was a serious problem. Rebecca held back a sigh.
"What exactly is the issue we're facing?" she asked, clasping her hands on her desk. She knew that the situation was bad, but she wanted to hear from the expert first. The way his lips pursed didn't fill her with confidence.
"The biggest issue is the public's outrage against Shadow Stalker," Glenn explained as he pulled a file out from his pack. The manila folder opened to reveal some rather inflammatory messages directed towards the PRT from some justifiably angry parents. They hadn't been too pleased that someone of Sophia's temperament was going to the same school as their children while under PRT protection.
"We've dealt with heroes being the center of scandals before, why is this so different?" she asked. Her Thinker power noted definite spike of irritation in the man's expression, too small for anyone else to notice.
"Yes, we have. But the Brockton Bay PRT paraded Shadow Stalker around as an example of a reformed vigilante for some time after her recruitment. Their PR man, Simmons Parker, decided that he wanted his big break now instead of being patient," Glenn said with some anger leaking into his tone.
"You disagreed with his action?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The Brockton Bay team did need a good PR boost, I'll give him that," Glenn admitted with some reluctance. "But in cases like this, it's better to ease the hero into the public's eye over a period of time. Playing the long game as it were."
"But Parker didn't do that here," Rebecca said, a clearer picture beginning to form in her mind.
"Correct. Instead, he chose to throw her out into the spotlight to get as much good PR as he could get while trying to brush aside her…less than desirable qualities from the public's view. He had a narrative built up about her being a reformed violent vigilante, but when Boogeyman's message came out…" Glenn trailed off, but it was obvious where he was going with this.
"It made the PRT and Protectorate look even more incompetent than they actually were," Rebecca said with a scowl. The fact that the scandal had gone out on a relatively slow news day certainly didn't help things. She had even heard whispers from Congress about the possibility of an oversight committee. Fortunately, she could ask Contessa to deal with things before they got too out of hand if it came down to it, but this was becoming a much larger issue than is should have been. What use was there in worrying over a girl being stuffed into a locker when another Endbringer attack was on the horizon? She could waste her time listening to the bleating of mindless sheep who probably didn't even understand what they were demanding.
"Yes, after spending all that time building her up as a success story, only to find out that she wasn't quite the reformed little angel they had been led to believe presents…complications," he admitted with some reluctance.
"So, what are our options?" Rebecca asked, clasping her hands before her. She couldn't afford to let something like this ruin everything she had built. But Glenn's shrug didn't fill her with confidence.
"Not much. The best thing to do is to keep Shadow Stalker out of the spotlight and reinforce the positive image of the PRT and Protectorate. With some luck in a couple of months, this entire thing will blow over and the media will find a new scandal," Glenn said.
"Anything with more immediate results?" Rebecca asked as she tried to keep herself from scowling. Glenn simply shook his head.
"It was thinking like that that got us into this mess in in the first place," he said.
"So, there's nothing we can do? We can't try to discredit Boogeyman?" she asked, this time not bothering to hide her irritation.
"Right now, the New England public doesn't have much trust in the PRT. Anything we say that could discredit her will only be seen as lies and slander by the majority of the population. They're too angry and too well embedded into this new narrative to be pulled out right now. We can remind the people that she's a criminal and a violent vigilante, but that's about it for now," he said with a heavy sigh as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
"So, you're saying that we need to play the long game," Rebecca said with some mild distaste. She could understand the need to wait, but she had never been the most patient of individuals.
"That about sums it up. I have some plans that might ease off some of the anger, but we won't be able to make any huge moves for now. I'm confident that we can bounce back from this, it's just going to take some time," Glenn assured her. Rebecca felt some of her growing dread lessen a little bit. At the very least she now knew that this was a fixable problem.
"Thank you, Mr. Chambers," she said, her tone indicating that the meeting was drawing to a close. "You have whatever you need to make this work, jut run it by one of my assistance and they'll get you what you need." The PR Director gave her a nod before collecting his things and shambling out of the room. Rebecca rubbed her forehead in frustration as the door clicked shut behind the man, sealing her in her room. Once she was certain that the room was secure she stood up from her seat.
"Door me," she ordered even though she was the only one present in the room. But a split second later a shimmering portal large enough to walk through opened up. On the other side of the tear in time and space was a rather plain looking room that seemed to be carved out of solid rock. Rebecca stepped through the portal as easily as one might step through an open door. The rip snapped closed behind her, the intersection of two points in space ceasing to be.
"I take it the meeting was less than successful." Rebecca looked across from the table in the center of the room to one of her co-conspirators. The dark-skinned Doctor Mother hadn't even bothered looking up from her paperwork as Rebecca stormed through the room with a scowl on her face.
"That city is starting to become more and more of a burden," she said as she took her seat next to the woman. She knew that Doctor Mother didn't care one iota about the Protectorate, but being able to vent her frustrations was cathartic.
"Perhaps, but any data we get from it will outstrip whatever the masses are bleating for," Doctor Mother said, her voice toneless and flat. The woman still hadn't bothered to look up from the reports on the new test subject's results. "We're trying to save the multiverse, not make friends."
Sometimes Rebecca had to wonder if Doctor Mother actually understood what was going on in the outside world or if she had become so isolated from human contact that simply couldn't understand. It was easy to accept one in four losses at an Endbringer fight on paper, but to see that again and again weight on her soul. It wasn't as if she were a paragon of humanity, far from it, but at least she had some friends outside of Cauldron, however limited those friendships might be.
"Still, it's an inconvenience that's going to draw resources away from us if we don't do something about it," Rebecca noted, trying to appeal to the woman's logical mind. Unless the woman was convinced that this would somehow improve their situation she wouldn't do anything to assist them. "And their's still the matter of Boogeyman."
This time Doctor Mother did look up from her paperwork, setting her pencil aside as she met her gaze. Rebecca had always found Doctor Mother's gaze disconcerting. Even after years of facing down Endbringers and the Slaughterhouse, there was something unsettling about her eyes. It was like looking into a hallway of mirrors, empty, only reflecting what was presented to them. Even maniacs like Jack Slash had some spark in their eyes, as twisted as they might be. Doctor Mother, she just seemed to be dead inside, as if everything she did was only for the sake of doing it.
"Yes, Contessa said she would be here shortly," Doctor Mother said before returning to her paperwork. Rebecca couldn't help but grimace. Contessa, and Cauldron as a whole really, had more important things to do than worry about some new villain in a city that didn't even matter beyond the experiment. But recent occurrences had forced them to take a closer look at the newly triggered parahuman.
She didn't have to wait long as another portal opened and Contessa stepped through. Rebecca didn't even blink at the woman's blood-soaked clothes. If was truly important then her path would have told her to clean up. The fact that she was here at all indicated that whatever they were going to discuss was important.
"Very well, let's begin this meeting," Contessa said as she took her seat. As always, her voice was stilled and without an accent, a side effect of her power. Rebecca had often wondered why Contessa simply didn't learn English instead of using the path for everything, but she supposed that it would have been a waste of time for her.
"Will no one else be joining us?" Doctor Mother asked as she set her folder to the side. Contessa simply shook her head.
"Number Man is dealing with the Gesellschaft right now and shouldn't be disturbed. Both Legend and Eidolon's presence at this meeting is irrelevant," Contessa said as she set her fedora to the side and fluffed her hair a little. It was almost impossible to tell whether Contessa did something because her path told her to or because she wanted to do it. "We are all that is needed."
"Are you certain? Your powers have been acting erratically recently," Doctor Mother said, not with condemnation, but not with kindness either. It was akin to an officer asking a soldier of their weapon was functional and had the same level of emotional attachment.
But Doctor Mother did raise a valid point. Contessa's power had been less than reliable lately, particularly in regard to Brockton Bay.
"Yes, I am certain," Contessa said as she clasped her hands together. Doctor Mother simply hummed noncommittally.
"Very well, why don't we start from the beginning," Rebecca said, cutting off Doctor Mother's musings. After being assured that the Doctor was indeed paying attention she gave Contessa a nod to start.
"Approximately two or so months ago the Path began to behave erratically. At first, it was small, a misstep here or there nothing too important. I didn't have any outward effect on my capabilities," Contessa seemed to sigh as if she was reluctant to admit that her power was behaving oddly. Rebecca couldn't blame her. The Path of Victory was one of the single most important assets to Cauldron, and one of the reasons they had remained undiscovered for so long. It allowed them to shape the world in their image in preparation for the fight with Scion. To know that it was malfunctioning was very disturbing.
"Unfortunately, the errors did not stop there. It appears now that entire paths have been eroded, and it seems to be getting worse," Contessa said, confirming Rebecca's worst fears. The loss of the Path could set them back decades, time they didn't have to spare. They couldn't lose the path at this juncture.
"You claimed in your report that you believe that Boogeyman may somehow be responsible," Doctor Mother said as she pulled said report out of her folder. The number of times that Contessa had actually submitted a report could be counted on the back of one hand. She had always trusted her path when it told her the action was unnecessary, and honesty Rebecca couldn't help but be a little jealous of the woman. Even with her Thinker power writing reports was mind numbingly dull.
"Correct. I attempted to narrow down the point of failure and discovered that any Path with relation to Brockton Bay or the inhabitants would fail without question," Contessa said, a hint of frustration entering her tone. Whether it was the woman's power telling her to do that or simply her own choice Rebecca could sympathize with her. She knew all too well what it was like to have your power abandon you. To know that you were virtually invincible and then to have that all taken away in a flash.
Rebecca tried to ignore the dull throb of her scar as she tried to keep her focus on the task at hand.
"Boogeyman triggered two months ago if sources are to be believed," Doctor Mother said as she rubbed her chin. Rebecca had read the report that Piggot had sent her, being locked in a locker full of toxic waste for hours after being bullied for two years would certainly qualify as a trigger event. It matched the timeline of her appearances with only a few weeks space between. Compared to some capes that waited mere hours before using their powers in public she was positively restrained.
"Yes. I've found that trying to plan a path around her can be… disorienting," Contessa admitted with a grimace. A thought struck Rebecca that made her straighten up.
"Could she be Scion's counterpart to Eidolon?" she asked as she tried to keep her hope out of her voice. They had been looking so long for someone that could match if not exceed Eidolon's power. If Boogeyman had the counterpart of his Agent then…
Rebecca felt her hope scatter like the dying embers of a fire as Contessa shook her head. "I do not believe so," she said, though judging by her tone she was just as disappointed as she was.
"What makes you believe that?" Doctor Mother asked with a raised eyebrow. Contessa hesitated as if she was trying to figure out how to put her words in order.
"When I attempt to as Eidolon to the Path it is akin to trying to pass a brick wall. No matter how hard I try I cannot get through, and yet the obstacle remains constant. Boogeyman… I find myself in a thick fog that blinds all. I cannot always see where I am going, but sometimes I get brief glimpses to others trapped in her range. It is difficult to describe, but it is sufficiently different from the effect Eidolon has that I do not believe the two are related," Contessa explained.
"Still, that's something to keep an eye on," Doctor Mother said as she made a note.
"You said that the interference is growing," Rebecca said, earning a nod from the woman. "Do you believe that it will continue to grow?"
Rebecca could feel the tension in the room. If whatever effect Boogeyman was having on the Path to Victory continued to expand then Cauldron's efforts on Earth Bet could be crippled. Without Contessa to serve as their agent in the world then their ability to act with impunity would be severely reduced. That was something that none of them wanted under any circumstance.
"I- I believe so," Contessa admitted with a nervous swallow, but how much of that was her or her power Rebecca couldn't even begin to tell.
"Then we may wish to consider eliminating this problem," Doctor Mother said in a cool tone as she steepled her fingers in thought.
"If she is Scion's version of Eidolon's Agent…" Rebecca started, trailing off at Doctor Mother's exasperated look.
"The key word being 'if'. Aside from Contessa's interference, we have no evidence that she is as powerful as Eidolon, or if she will ever become that powerful."
"She's not exactly weak either," Rebecca noted, her perfect memory flashing back to the PRT issued report on the girl. She wasn't the next Alexandria or Legend, but she did have some respectable ratings.
"Perhaps," Doctor Mother admitted with some reluctance. "But she's not worth losing the Path to Victory."
"I'm not saying she is, but if we could somehow contain her off-world she might be a boon later down the line," Rebecca said. It wasn't as if she was opposed to the idea of simply killing the girl off and being done with the matter, but it seemed like such a waste. Her powers and capabilities could be put to better use if she wasn't so distracted with disemboweling the local villain population.
"Whatever we do, containment or killing, we will still be forced to interfere with the experiment in some way," Contessa said. Rebecca watched as Doctor Mother's lips pursed in distaste and she wasn't too far behind the woman.
She had always found the experiment distasteful, not for anything that was done but for what it represented. It was an admittance that the PRT and Protectorate, her creations, wouldn't be able to solve the problem of parahuman and human interactions. It was galling to be forced to admit defeat, but she knew that it was something that had to be done. The lives of a single insignificant city would be worth the possibly billions they might be able to save in the future.
While they didn't interfere with the experiment to tip the odds in favor of any one group, Rebecca had always put her money on Coil being the winner. Thomas Calvert was a crafty man, and his powers gave him a unique advantage over the other players. But with each report on Brockton Bay, she found that less and less of the criminal elements were being left alive by Boogeyman. She was cleaning the board so to speak. An effective if not shortsighted approach. Eventually, others would come to fill the power vacuum that she was leaving behind, it was the way the world worked.
Rebecca could practically hear the gears grinding in Doctor Mother's head as she considered their options. Her own thoughts were working at breakneck speeds as she considered the pros and cons.
On one hand removing the threat of Boogeyman would allow Contessa to continue working with impunity. They needed her to be functional if they were going to have a shred of hope of uniting the world together for the eventual standoff with Scion. On the other side of the coin, any interference with the natural progression of Brockton Bay could ruin years of work and research. And while they did have other locations undergoing the same experiment, Brockton Bay was uniquely suited to the experiment its unusually high per capita cape population.
"Calvert still owes us favors, does he not?" Doctor Mother asked, breaking the contemplative silence.
"Yes," Rebecca said as her mind pieced together what the Doctor was planning. "You want to outsource to him?"
"Yes," Doctor Mother said with a nod. "It will limit our interference and will only further the experiment along if he removes a competitor from the board."
"So, are we having him contain her or kill her?" Contessa asked as she placed her fedora back on her head.
"Tell him to contain her if it's feasible to do so. If not, have him kill her. We can't afford to have your capabilities hindered," Doctor Mother said as she turned her attention back to her paperwork. Contessa rose from her seat, but before she could leave Rebecca spoke up again.
"While we're here, have you been able to narrow down the next Endbringer attack any further?" she asked the most powerful Thinker in the world. While directly observing the Endbringers through Thinker powers was all but impossible, it was possible to create rough predictions based on the effects that they had on the rest of the world. It was far from a perfect match, and at best they could narrow it down to a continent or two, but it was certainly better than nothing. Contessa herself could find places where the Path to Victory became uncertain in order to narrow down the area of preparation.
Unfortunately for the Brute, Contessa shook her head. "I had it narrowed down to the eastern hemisphere, but somethings changed. It's as if the Path is uncertain where the next block is going to show up as if the Endbringers are changing their plans."
Rebecca scowled at this news. They already had enough problems with the Path to Victory, the last thing they needed was more. She desperately hoped that Armsmaster and Dragon's prediction software would be completed within the next few months. Being able to accurately predict where the next Endbringer attack would be could save thousands, and possibly be a turning point in the war against those monsters.
"Very well," Rebecca said as she tried to keep her frustrations from boiling to the surface. She couldn't even go blow off some steam in the training room thanks to a meeting with a Congressman that she had to attend. "Take care Coil and inform us of any further developments."
Contessa nodded and walked out the door, leaving her alone with the now distracted Doctor Mother. It was clear that the woman was already ignoring her and found no interest in conversing. Rebecca sighed as she pulled herself up from her seat.
"Door me, my personal office."
A shimmering portal opened to her office and she stepped through, leaving the secret world of Cauldron behind her for the time being. The portal snapped shut behind her as she took her seat as Chief Director Costa Brown once more and prepared herself for the eventual argument with Congressman Stein.
The man had always been an irritant because of his belief that the PRT and Protectorate needed more regulation, something she could never allow. If it became known what she had done to keep this world from falling into chaos they would put her head on a pike. The man had been nothing more than a gnat though, with fear of parahuman criminals keeping the other malcontents in line. But now the man had some solid ammunition to use against her.
Rebecca resisted the urge to pinch her nose as she signaled to her secretary that she was ready to meet the man. She didn't need to solve the problem of Stein right now, all she had to do was keep the situation from getting worse.
The situation was getting worse.
Its sightless gaze stared down at the Earth below where the little insects went about their business, unaware that they were mere pawns for its goals. Oh, the liked to believe that they could contain her plans and foil her efforts, but all beings served her will.
It was…unusual for Terror Drone 13 to refer to itself as a being. Then again, this entire Cycle was unusual. The Thinker was gone, most likely dead. The Warrior flittered about the planet like a lost child, uncaring for the Cycle that it was supposed to propagate. And where did that leave her?
Isolated, alone, trapped. Aware that its death was approaching in a few centuries and absolutely nothing that it could do to stop it. Even as depressed as the Warrior was, even it wasn't oblivious enough to not notice that one of its own creations was working against it. Though it had been created by the Thinker the Simurgh knew that the Warrior was well aware of how the Terror Drones functioned. Any deviation from their current path could result in her destruction.
Even with the Man in Green restricting their actions they were still far enough inside the Cycle's parameters to be beneath the Warrior's notice. For now, she was stuck making the ants dance to her tunes in order to facilitate her escape from this damaged Cycle. The Stirring Pot thought themselves so clever when they were nothing more than pawns in her game. Everything that occurred happened because she allowed. The Cycle would end when she demanded it.
To the fleshy humans, she might have well have been a god. She was the Fates made one, weaving a web of lives that only she could decipher.
But now all of that was at risk.
A blind spot was forming in her vision, and it was already starting to affect critical plans. The damaged Shard was off track and wouldn't be arriving at the desired location anytime soon. It wasn't beyond repair, but the deviation of such a critical linchpin in her plans was undesirable. This was something that could not stand.
Vision of the source of this blind spot still eluded her, but she had worked around the blind spots the Man in Green and the Warrior created, so this should have been no more different. Except it wasn't.
It had already discovered the source of the infection, the very girl that she had been molding into the weapon to use against the Warrior. Khepri was lost to the void of possibility, never to be seen again. And truer words had never been thought because it could no longer perceive the existence of the girl. What glimpses it could see through the thick fog of blindness were even less helpful. It was as if she were a mere mortal trying to observe the wind. She could see the effects, but she couldn't perceive its existence itself.
The girl had become a walking void.
That was well outside optimal parameters.
There were, of course, other ways that it could ensure the destruction of the Warrior, but they would be far more damaging to the ants below. Not that it cared for them, but the loss of too many might spoil its goal of ruling them like the god it was. After all, a farmer had to care for their cattle.
Still, this was not something that it could stand for. The rate of infection was growing, threatening to encompass the entire city, and even she couldn't tell if it would stop there. The future was a muddled mess and the past was fragmented. It couldn't even begin to shape a plan to deal with this threat. As much as it liked to convince the maggots, she wasn't actually omniscient.
No, this would require a much more direct approach. She would have to remove the infection at the source and ensure that there wouldn't be a relapse. It was inelegant compared to its other plans, but it would have to do for now. But even that came with problems of its own. Terror Drones 2 and 16 couldn't perceive the existence of the girl any more than she could. Even less than her fleeting glances since they didn't have the independence or creative though to expand beyond their normal sensory range. They couldn't target something they couldn't track.
She would have to deal with this infection herself.
It was certainly a risk since she couldn't directly observe the girl, but she could work around such things. And if she had to then she would burn out the infection at its source. And overreaction? Perhaps. But when the alternative was its eventual destruction there was no such thing as an overreaction.
It also meant that her target on the Death Island would escape for the time being, but that was an acceptable loss for its continued power and safety. The pest could be dealt with at a later date when the infection was no longer an issue. The revealing of its true power would be…nonoptimal, but that was a needed sacrifice. As amusing as toying with the mortals and letting them believe they had a chance, she couldn't risk that now, not when the stakes were so high. She would have to risk destroying their hope in order to secure her own future.
All games are over.
The Goddess of Fate would not be denied.
Looks like the Simurgh is done playing games. It's time to get serious.
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