8.1

Cauldron

"Leviathan is dead."

The words made the people in front of her freeze. A mixture of incredulity, disbelief, and sheer dumfounded stupefaction meet her eyes.

"What did you say?"

It was Doctor Mother that spoke, staring at Alexandria as if the woman had just declared that Scion would be her one true love from this moment forward.

"Leviathan…" She repeated, as though she herself were equally dazed.

Frankly. She was.

"She killed him."

"I…" The Number Man swallowed. "I need a drink. Start from the beginning."

So she did…

She told them of Ashburn, the explosion of power, the dark fog that had spread like a living miasma, the capes that had come to life again, the fire and the rain and the sheer destruction. The song of the idols, the whispers through her mind, the hundreds of capes that had run, screaming in sheer agony, babbling on about the voices in their heads.

And at the end of it all… Leviathan was dead.

It had been… so long.

She'd given it up long ago. She wasn't sure when. When she learned the nature of Scion? When Behemoth was born? When Hero was killed?

But for the first time in all the years she could recall…

Hope. Like a tiny flame in her chest, sparking to life from the embers…

"What of Ashburn herself?" The Number Man asked.

"As of ten minutes ago waiting for all of you to arrive… We don't know." She answered before offering Contessa a pointed look.

The most powerful Thinker in the world looked skyward.

"I can find her." She answered. "But…"

"But?" Doctor Mother ventured.

"She… The path it's… acting strange."

"Strange how?" Number Man asked, interested in this sudden anomaly.

"It keeps...changing. Small things, fluctuations in the numbers, as if every second there are more or less steps... "

"That's…"

"Never happened before." Doctor Mother finished on Alexandria's behalf.

A pause, the four of them considering the implications of this.

"Can you still see a way to kill her in the path?"

Alexandria's eyes snapped towards Doctor Mother. "What!?"

The woman ignored her, staring at Contessa.

The Cape's eyes widened. Answering the question before the words had left her lips. "No… She's… when I try to find the path to killing her… I can't see anything. There is no path to eliminate her."

"Then it's best that she remain lost." Doctor mother said with a flat finality.

"Are you insane?"

The words were out of Alexandria's mouth before she'd even realized she'd spoken.

Doctor Mother looked at her, glaring. "You of all people must see the danger she now poses above everything else, Alexandria."

"She killed Leviathan." The superheroine shot back. "If she killed him she can kill the others. Can't you see what that means? What that could mean against Scion?!"

Doctor Mother's lips curled downward in a severe expression. "This young woman's power is one that continues to escalate ceaselessly, Alexandria. All the while she's not mentally stable. She nearly killed a city full of Capes, by your description she had the power to reanimate their corpses on a massive scale. She is practically a combination of Nilbog and Glaistig, with the very real possibility that we haven't seen the limits of her power. And unlike those two, she's not content in staying in her own would-be 'Kingdom.' The path already can't see a means of killing her, where before, it could. How much further can she immunize herself given time? Next time she might not limit herself to a city, or even a state and we will have no sure way of stopping her. Killing the Endbringers will mean nothing if she eliminates more capes than what she can make up for. Or do I need I remind you of Grey-Boy. "

"No. You don't." She bit out "I was there for his first victims. Just the same as I have been there for nearly every battle against the Endbringers since the moment each of them arrived. I have been there Doctor. Fighting alongside all of you every step of the way on a fight that we couldn't win until twenty minutes ago and you want to eliminate the only means we have of changing that."

"What I want is to make certain this ticking time bomb that you would so gleefully take hold of does not explode in your face and destroy everything we have worked for. Because if you find her, and choose to utilize her she may very well become far worse and do Scion's job for him."

"You've seen the projections. You've written them." Rebecca answered. "You know our losses under the Endbringer assaults are unsustainable. That this… status quo is untenable" She answered. "Even if Jack Slash forces Scion's attack, our numbers will still be too few. Our losses too great. We need more time. She is the means of achieving that if she can eliminate Behemoh and the Simurgh."

"Might. She might be. Which is a rather big might given the Simurgh's track record with those we've deemed 'important'. As it stands, the one you gathered from under Coil's base is a weapon in and of itself we can utilize, control, and eliminate. With that, and one destroyed Endbringer, quit while you're ahead Alexandria! Or you might just end up replacing Leviathan with something far worse."

"We have a chance!" She hissed. "A chance to win which is more than what we ever had before! We have resigned ourselves, you above all, to die fighting Scion. You think I don't see that?"

Doctor Mother stood, leaning on the conference table. "What I see, is an unstable child with the power to flatten a city, possibly a state, or more. What I see, is the fact that this is a power, an agent, that is known to be sentient. What I see is that she is dangerous beyond almost any cape we know of! What I see is that just the same as you wish to use her, so could others. Not the least of which is both her agent, the Simurgh, and even Jack Slash, who exists at our sufferance and by necessity."

Alexandria shook her head. "She is too valuable. What she can do outweighs the risk! And I know Duncan and David would be right here next to me in agreement."

Doctor Mother glared. "This is unlike you, Rebecca. You more easily than most can see the bigger picture of things."

"I am. It's you that isn't seeing the bigger picture!"

"We can't control her. We have no guarantee-"

"You don't have one for me either." David spoke, marching in through an actual door. Yes, they do exist in this place. "Should I assume you discuss killing me during those weekly card nights I don't show up for?"

Doctor Mother shook her head. "You're a known factor. Your loyalty and more importantly, your stability is beyond question. Hers isn't. As I said, in your desperation for this shiny new gun you aren't realizing that what you're holding might very well have a timer set to explode."

Eidolon crossed his arms, the green robes of his costume all but hiding his hands entirely. "You're dictating your action on a possibility. Its-"

"Exactly what we've been doing!" She snarled "We stopped you and Eidolon from killing Manton after Hero's death because he might prove useful against Scion. We've given people powers because they might help in the final battle. We allowed the situation in the Bay to escalate because it might have given us useful data. Just as I am acting on the possibility she might be a threat, you two are making your own assumptions! She might be capable of fighting Scion. We might be able to control her. We might be able to help her, the Simurgh might not take control of her. We are all utilizing the same size of brushes to paint these might's and maybe's! So let us cease pretending that any of us are any less blind than the other party! We're all fumbling like fools in the dark."

She took a deep breath, shaking her head. "It's too risky given what we are planning for! You're right. We can't continue with the status quo. But whilst you two are ready to throw aside the plans we have worked on and tried to buoy despite all the problems facing it for the last decade on a Maybe I am not quite so convinced of your little one-girl-Messiah."

"Her agent is sentient…" The Number Man calmly put in. "For all we know it could be an entirely new Entity in and of itself being born. Something to replace Eden. We could very well be dealing with two Entities rather than just Scion given how quickly her powers are escalating. We are the 'foremost experts' on the entities and we still know virtually nothing about them. Given that… It… might genuinely be best to eliminate her before that possibility manifests. " He finished hesitantly, no doubt running the numbers through his head.

"If that's true, then we're all dead anyway. Because that means that, for all our effort, Scion would just jump back after a decade or two from a new agent. Might as well gamble with the future that gives us a shot." David shot back. "All or nothing."

"That's not how we do things." Doctor Mother said, rubbing at her temples.

"Enough." Number Man spoke, shaking his head, as though trying to gather his thoughts. "This isn't something we can decide right now! We all need to think on the pros and cons."

"There's nothing to think about." David spoke. "I've already made my decision. With or without you." The world's most powerful cape looked to Contessa. "I know you don't agree with us. But I'm asking you, as a friend, Contessa. Tell me one thing that can set me on the right track to getting her back faster."

Contessa took a breath, looking at the two of them. "I'll do you one better"

Finally, she stood up. Looking to Doctor Mother and Number Man.

"Think of your pros and cons. Before we reach the last steps… that's when we'll decide, whatever it is."

She looked back to Alexandria and Eidolon, a temporary truce between them and Doctor Mother now established with a few simple words.

"Come with me." She finally offered.

(X)

When she, David, and Contessa left the portal it was a mile above the ground, her arm around Contessa's waist, holding her aloft before they descended at the speed that was slightly slower than a free-fall so as not to suffocate the thinker with the combination of high speed and thin air.

The complication they found, half-way down… was the ash cloud.

Still thick with the carbonated fibres, the skies above Brockton Bay looked sick and brown. David covered them in a paper-thin hard light force field to protect Contessa as they reached the grit.

The sun wasn't strong above the ash layer. The clouds were black, heavy with rain. The sun could barely shine through. But the place beneath the ash cloud seemed to be trapped in perpetual night, massive floodlights and emergency strips, even some of Dragon's Tinkertech drones were retrofitted with lights to give people some kind of illumination in the city. All of them were gathering on the hillside rally-point. She could spy movement in the city itself, people slogging through the muck and the quagmire to get to the one place that had light in the dark. Calling to them like a light-house.

When she touched down, it was at the edge of the camp, she could already hear the chaos of... everything. The wounded, the mourning, the analysis. She felt the smallest twinge of guilt at having left Legend alone to deal with all of this but she smothered it quickly. He understood, she knew.

As she made her way through the camp, Contessa's hand brushed over her arm, drawing her attention.

"That one." She pointed. "Bring him."

Alexandria looked, finding Weld, holding down another Brute rated cape as the man thrashed in pain while the doctor's worked on him.

She looked. "Weld."

The metal Case 53 looked up, looking for all intents and purposes as though he was ready to stand at attention and snap a salute before he realized he still had to hold down the cape.

"Yes Ma'am!?"

"As soon as you're done come find me. We have work to do."

"Yes Ma'am."

She kept walking, turning to look at Contessa. "How many more will you need?"

"Frankly, I could do this on my own, but considering how strange the path is acting, I am utilizing the 'fastest' path. Just to make certain she doesn't develop a full immunity half way through. For this we'll need a few people. There is another that can help, she's out of the state." She turned to Eidolon. "Go to Philadelphia. On the street corner of fifth and Roosevelt across the street from a police station. There'll be two parahumans there, we just need the younger girl. Convince her to help. It won't be hard." She smirked. "Even for you."

"Suppose I needed to work on my charm..." David answered before he turned and began walking, already charging a teleportation power.

Contessa turned, going somewhere else.

"Where are you going?"

"To find Legend." She answered. "He is better at calling for volunteers than you. Go and find Militia. We'll need her ability to remember."

She was confused by that, but she'd long since learned not to question the power of the Path. Contessa managed to escape Grey Boy once with nothing more than a hair-pin and a tin tea-cup.

She kept walking, moving now towards the command tent.

When she got there, it was to the sight of all the Thinkers with their faces buried into data streams and monitor wombs. All trying to do what they did best. Think.

Militia was there, standing on shaking legs, in an unbelievable amount of pain. The only reason she was keeping herself on her own two feet is because she feared another crisis would break out any second now.

Alexandria walked up to her side.

"Ma'am." Hannah breathed, fingers clenched so hard on the desk her knuckles were white, she could see the veins throbbing along her temple.

Inexperience always made it so much worse.

"Come on" She said. "Let's get you to Panacea or Othala."

"I have to-"

"It wasn't a request, Militia. The world won't end while you go and get an aspirin."

"You sure?"

The sad part was, she wasn't joking.

Alexandria nodded at the one time Ward. "Yes, come."

She turned and came face to face with a little blond girl that looked just as haggard, just as irritated and stressed.

As of an hour ago, her latest and by far most irritating inductee into the Wards Program...

Insight.

"Alright…" She bit out, hissing in a voice low enough as to give them some semblance of privacy by the sheer amount of noise in the camp. "You know a lot more than you're letting on. So unless you want me telling everyone that'll listen that you're holding out on us and breaking the Truce, we are going to talk. Now."

Alexandria's lip curled upward in a sneer.

As if this day needed to get anymore complicated...

(X)

She was in one place.

All of her, each piece, fragment, shards, were in one place. One place for each. The million voices had become quiet, a hundred thousand eyes had gone blind, the raging storm of anger had sputtered and died with a whimper.

One was drowned in mist, cradled in forest of trees and ghosts. Another lay succumbed to peaceful dark, held in the arms of a false angel. Still another dwelled above the clouds, peering into antediluvian eyes, hearing the whispers of an unfathomably ancient speech.

Here, this one, right now was by the sea. A beacon in the fog, a place where souls came, flocking for a place to rest their ailing minds.

A warrior from a faraway land with a sword he called an heirloom. A woman afflicted by the Curse. A callous magician. An old wandering merchant who had lived to see the giants. An apprentice who could not count on her master. A woman who had an eye for stones. A fugitive who built ladders. A map maker. A crestfallen. A fraud. A blacksmith. A merchant. And a cat.

And still there were more. She could see their footsteps. See the traces of souls that were there, but not there all the same. Like her.

A Masterless Knight. A woman with a will of iron. A Drifting Swordsman. The one with a heart of steel.

But there was something else. Someone else.

The woman. The one in green robes.

She looked out to sea, looking down at the coming and going of the tides, leaning over the edge like a playful toddler who didn't know the danger. As though she was contemplating jumping in.

Taylor opened her mouth, but her voice was barely audible, a thin, keening little sound that was swallowed by the crash of the waves above.

"Are you lost, little shard?" The green woman asked, not bothering to turn her eyes from the sea. "Do not be frightened. Once more you will be whole in time."

She didn't understand.

But there was so much she didn't understand anymore… so much she couldn't remember.

"And you will return home once it's done. For one's soul to survive a shattering... your's must have been a most resilient soul indeed."

She finally turned, green robes caught in the ocean wind. She looked to the soul of this young girl. One that was nearly transparent, even to her eyes. The eyes that could peer through the fog of life.

The soul was timid under her eyes. Frightened.

"Do not be frightened little shard. " She repeated, holding out her hand. "Come. I will guide you home…"