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Chapter 13

=MK=

Part 5

=MK=

14 January 2011
PRT HQ
Brockton Bay
United States
Earth Bet

She hadn't felt this good and alive since before that faithful and cursed day at Ellisburg. Part of her regretted she didn't take the offered opportunity years ago, yet at the same time, Emily Piggot couldn't help herself and shudder at the idea of anyone modifying and changing her body, even just to heal her. Nillborg was bad enough, the "heroes" who ran were in some regards, worse.

Cowardice, insubordination, being inherently broken, the list of capes' issues was long and sordid and many of those could be attached to most Heroes she had to work with.

Emily knew that Armsmaster had his issues and baggage, however, he was among the last PRT members she would have expected to show dereliction of duty, especially at times like these. Especially when this distasteful affair with Dragon was concerned; it was no secret that the two of them were friends, which immediately disqualified Armsmaster as an active participant in any operation against the Dragonslayers unless they had the temerity to visit Brockton Bay or another location under the PRT ENE's jurisdiction.

Sending Armsmaster to Canada to participate in potential, and certainly very bloody assault upon Dragon's base of operations? Needless to say, something like that was out of the question and if Piggot authorized it, she would prove herself unfit for her job. Perhaps she should have been more tactful, yet tact and subtle language were usually wasted on Armsmaster.

And here they were – the PRT helicopter that brought one of her squads for training with alien supplied gear returned empty, without Armsmaster, despite clear orders that he should be coming back, now. As if that wasn't bad enough, just a few minutes ago, Emily got a call from the National Guard base informing her that a Mandalorian shuttle had visited, picked up the Assassin Droid left as their trainer along with Armsmaster. He had gone willingly and Piggot's own resident Sith had been on board too.

This spelled trouble, obviously, and Emily didn't need to be a precog or thinker to figure out what Armsmaster was planning to do alongside the Mandalorians. She could imagine what they would want in exchange – his services, and at this point, it didn't matter whose idea this new disaster was.

As a consequence, Director Piggot made two calls as soon as she got an idea what fresh disaster was on the horizon – the first one was up the chain of command giving them a head's up, and the second, to the Mandalorian Knight's FOB in her city, hoping beyond hope, to stave off the train-crash she could see coming.

A third call to the Guild might not be amiss either, Emily mussed – depending on how fast the Mandalorians moved, there might not be time to inform the Canadians through official channels and professional courtesy wasn't quite dead yet. While Piggot waited for her call to the Mandalorians to go through, she summoned Miss Militia, who was now in charge of the Protectorate ENE, to inform the heroine of her field promotion and make damn sure that no one else would be repeating Armsmaster's stunt anytime soon if ever.

To Emily's surprise, the call not only went through, but she got connected to Sith herself.

"Director Piggot, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The alien woman asked in a cool, pleasant voice.

"You're going to do something I consider particularly foolish and have one of my people along for the ride." Piggot wasted no time on niceties.

"Armsmaster, the Dragonslayers." The Chiss confirmed Emily's fears.

"An attack on them, successful or not, risks compromising either the Birdcage, various quarantine zones Dragon used to oversee or anything she has been collaborating on. At this time, unless we get an indication that the Dragonslayers would deliberately or accidentally compromise such a site, an assault is out of the question, no matter how richly they deserve to end in a deep dark cell for a very long time. Armsmaster, if you can hear me, whatever you intend to do, you must know it won't bring Dragon back, right? We'll get them, however, this is not the way, neither the time!" Emily implored.

"That's where you're wrong, Director. While distant, there might be a chance to bring Dragon back. She is an AI. If we can secure the servers that contained her before they're physically destroyed, either the right tinkers and thinkers or our new… acquaintances might be able to put her back together. I know it's a long shot and not the brightest of ideas, however, I have to try. As far as the Birdcage go, I have it on good authority, that if the Mandalorians receive its location, they would ensure that there won't be a successful breach, no matter what Saint does."

Emily closed her eyes, and slowly counted back from ten, before answering.

"You're talking about orbital strikes on US territory, orbital strikes that could be considered WMDs."

"We both suspect what kinds of undisclosed fail-safes that place has, Director," Armsmaster spoke in a painfully familiar, stubborn tone. "At any rate, what is about to happen will be out of the PRT and Protectorate's jurisdiction."
For what it was worth, that was technically true. Technically. Practically, it wasn't quite that way given the close ties between the PRT, Protectorate and Guild, and most importantly, the even closer ties between the US and Canadian governments.

Either way, Emily suspected that the military wouldn't even try to stop the Mandalorians from going after the Dragonslayers.

"Just so we're clear, this isn't an operation ran by the Mandalorian Knights PMC." Aria Astra returned to the conversation. "My Master is displeased over this Saint character removing an asset of great potential value to the Mandalorian Freehold and he wishes to make his displeasure felt. You can consider this an official warning, Director Piggot, we won't look lightly at any attempt of local Planetary Defense Forces or Law Enforcement to intervene in Freehold Military operations."

With that ominous warning, the Sith cut off the connection from her side. Emily swore and scrambled to pass on the warning. At that moment she felt only two things – a profound sense of foreboding and relief that she could once again drink. She was going to need more than a few drinks to get through the coming days, she was certain of it.

Miss Militia arrived just in time to catch the tail end of Piggot's second terse conversation with the Chief-Director.

=MK=

Otawa
Canada
Earth Bet

As far as military-related briefings went, this one was no different, and particularly useless, because all that had to be said was said and covered in-depth during the previous meeting, two hours ago. As far as Narwhal was concerned, this was nothing more than a way for people to show how hard they were at work or trying to find out some silver bullet that would make the problem go away.

Unfortunately, as possibly the one person available who knew most about both Dragon and her base, the Heroine could tell anyone interested that if there was such a solution, she didn't know it. Dragon's base was proof against everything she could think of, save for a direct combined military/cape assault, preferably one spearheaded by the Triumvirate, because anything short of that would both end in a bloodbath and potential failure.

Some people in those meetings didn't want to believe it, after all, political careers were at stake as if those mattered with her friend dead. Didn't they get it? If Narwhal knew of a way in, she would be clamoring to lead an assault so she could personally dig out Saint and impress upon him her feelings. Repeatedly. She was ready to lead an assault anyway when the time came. Unfortunately, she could agree, at least intellectually, with the politician's fears. If Saint had control of Dragon's systems, that meant that all defenses were online and he could potentially compromise either the Birdcage or one of the quarantine zones. While an all-out assault launched as soon as possible might prevent such an outcome, the odds were great that before all was said and done, the bastard would have enough time to cause tremendous damage before they could get him.

She hated that she had to wait, she hated that she wasn't already heading to deal with the bastard herself, however, the alternative was worse. The Birdcage and multiple critical locations had to be secured first, then they could deal with Saint and his fools at leisure.

At least Narwhal didn't have to like the situation.

It was then and there – on a terrace high up on the Defense Ministry building that a ball-shaped drone found her. She looked at it curiously, covering herself fully with her force-fields, just in case. It blinked at her with its single red eye and Armsmaster's voice came out of it.

"Narwhal, we need to talk, privately. You know about what."

Yeah, there was nothing else Armsy would be calling about.

"Tell me you aren't about to do something stupid…"

"Like something you want to do?"

"You know the score. If Saint has full control of Dragon's systems…"

"Under the present circumstances, that isn't particularly relevant."

That gruff answer took Narwhal aback.

"This doesn't sound like you. What do you plan to do?"

"I'm about to have words with Saint along with some new friends. If at all possible, we're going to bring her back."

Now, that got Narwhal's undivided attention.

"Say again?" She demanded, falling back fully into her military mindset.

"You heard me. We don't have much time if we're to have any chance to get Dragon back. Can I count on you, Narwhal?"

"Talk, fast, Armsmaster."

"Not over the comm. Is there a good position nearby to pick you up?"

Narwhal silently cursed the stubborn man, and looked around, trying to figure out what he got involved in. Anything she could think of wasn't good at all.

A few minutes later, the Canadian heroine was in a nearby park, where a shuttle familiar from pictures and videos coming from Brockton Bay came in fast, low and quiet, causing a lot of furor. The ramp opened, revealing Armsy in all his glory, two armored soldiers, and a genuine alien, one whose face was familiar to everyone paying attention by now.

Yeah, so this was the kind of mess Armsy had gotten himself into. A shark-like grin appeared on Narwhal's face. If the aliens were ready to take care of any quarantine breaches and pay the price for breaching Dragon's defenses, who was she to say no?

Narwhal got onboard moments before her phone rang and the current officer of the watch in the Guild informed her that according to the Protectorate and PRT, Armsmaster has gone rogue.

"If the Dragonslayers have full control of Dragon's systems, they'll know we'll be coming for them soon if they don't already," Narwhal warned.

"In that case, I recommend you tell us everything you know about the defenses. An assault ship is on the way and we're going in as soon as we brief the strike force." The Chiss said in a professional, no-nonsense tone.

Narwhal's answering smile was all teeth a no mirth whatsoever. "First I need to know you're ready to deal with any fallout, like, you know, the Birdcage getting breached."

"If that happens, we'll replace your prison with a deep lake of molten rock."

"That's good enough for me. First, you should be aware that I don't know about all defenses, Dragon was a big girl after all…"

"Anti-air and orbital capabilities, shield generator locations, those are most vital." The Droid interrupted her.

"Well, if that's what suits your fancy…"

=MK=

Part 6

=MK=

14 January 2011
White House
Washington
United States
Earth Bet

There were times when her double-life made her very existence very difficult. That was never truer than the times when the various political animals in Washington got certain ideas in their heads about handling Parahumans, ideas that were not put there by Cauldron. One way or another, most such ideas would lead to disaster either in the short or long term.

If anything, the past few weeks were much worse. Whatever scrambled world-wide precognition and many thinker powers still had its effects felt, making predictions unreliable at best, outright disastrous at worst. That was a fact underlined by Contessa returning half-dead after following her Path to Victory flawlessly and getting stabbed for her troubles. Thus, with some of their most valuable assets neutralized, Cauldron had to scramble to keep the world from falling to shambles around them, and that was before everyone knew about their alien neighbors.

Only Doctor Mother had her job more or less uninterrupted, though she now had to investigate what exactly happened to almost all tinkers and find a counter-measure. Find out how whatever it was, was related to the Mandalorians, Imperials, or anything else from the distant, almost impossible reality they were connected to.

The Number's Man was busier than ever and it would be a miracle if he could keep the economy from imploding because of their new reality.

Legend had to do the work of ten men to keep people calm and morale up, especially with the Sith related hysteria breaking out almost regularly as of late.

And Eidolon, the most powerful among the Triumvirate and Cauldron? He had to be constantly on standby in case of either alien invasion or someone trying to test their alien visitors again, which could prove disastrous. As if that wasn't bad enough, David was fascinated with what they knew about Mandalorian culture, especially the part that a lot of them were supposed to be almost obsessed with searching worthy opponents or so some sources he liked, claimed.

Of course, all that was on top of their regular jobs as heroes, and Chief-Director in Rebecca's case. The lack of credible thinker support bit them for a third major time now. First was the Merchants provoking the Mandalorians, which should have been an obvious outcome, yet one that no one knew to look for or saw coming at the time. Then there was Coil's stunt, which had Cauldron on high alert – they knew he had been taken alive and it was almost certain that he would have spilled his guts by now, and if not, he would soon.

Ideally, Cauldron would make contact with the aliens, explain the situation, and ask for help. In practice, without firm reassurance from various thinkers, something they couldn't currently rely on, doing so might mean losing access to precious resources and potential fall-back positions that might be a tough nut to crack even for the Entities.

And now, this. If Saint hadn't been so useful in disrupting Dragon's work and thus contributing to not only more people triggering but serving as a convenient explanation on how Cauldron's affiliates could have access to Dragon tech among other things, he would have been removed already. Until recently he hasn't been of any real concern – Contessa and other tinkers affiliated with Cauldron did check on him regularly to make sure he wouldn't do something unfortunate.

Of course, he had to go one and do it, somehow provoking the aliens as well.

Rebecca fought to keep her face calm and expressionless, while she keenly desired to go out, fly to Canada and rip Saint's spine out, then beat him to death with it. Thanks to her memory, she could perfectly recall every moment of the two conversations she had with Piggot earlier today, first the woman's insightful concerns, then the outright confirmation from the Sith's and Armsmaster's own lips. As a consequence, Costa-Brown now had an armed time-bomb in her lap, and instead of doing something particularly productive about it, like trying to figure out how to defuse it if at all possible before the Mandalorians did something everyone else might regret, she had to answer the President's summons for briefing and consultation about the unfolding situation in person.

That doing something like this was supposed to be her real and primary job barely registered to Rebecca's turmoiled mind. She knew Cauldron had gotten too attached to precognition supplied aid and warnings, however, there was simply no substitution that came even close to being efficient enough and accurate enough, especially if they kept their organization small enough to be manageable and kind of secret, an urban myth at worst.

Without Contessa and their other thinkers, herself included, Cauldron wouldn't have been able to achieve even a fraction of their current success, or what passed for it anyway, without being orders of magnitude larger with all the dangers it entailed.

After a scan by the Secret Service using PRT supplied and approved tinkertech, which meant it would register her as a regular human and herself, Rebecca entered the Oval Office, where President Hayes and General Grissom – the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs waited for her, along with the rarely seen and heard Science Adviser, Ms. Chen.

"Mr. President, General, Ms. Chen," Costa-Brown greeted coolly.

"Chief-Director, take a seat and get to it. I understand that we're facing another disaster. How bad it is?" Hayes didn't even bother with a hint of pleasantries, never a good sign.

"Bad, could be worse, sir." Rebecca began. "While considering the still crippled state of our thinkers, especially precogs, we can't be hundred percent sure, the various think-tanks are highly confident that Dragon was indeed an Artificial Intelligence and that Saint managed to neutralize her. He likely used a kill-switch recovered from her creator's laboratory at Newfoundland's undersea ruins."

"That much I'm aware of. Does he have access to the Birdcage and the containment zones?" Hayes demanded. "I haven't received a firm answer one way or another no matter who I ask!"

"Because we don't have such an answer to give, Mr. President. We know that the Dragonslayers have control of Dragon's base and it appears that all defenses there are fully active. We don't know if he has control over the Birdcage or the containment zones, if he is trying to gain such, or if he is trying to sabotage any of them. That's why our recommendation was to stall for time while implementing any and all contingencies to contain outbreaks at those locations before moving against Saint and his people in force."

"Mr. President, this assessment is in line with what my people are telling me." For once, General Grissom supported Costa-Brown's position. In other words, it might very well snow in hell. "At any rate, if either we, the Canadians or all of us together attempt to take the place, it's going to be a major operation and that isn't something we can launch at the drop of a hat. And ideally, we will have substantial Protectorate and PRT support, including Triumvirate members."

"That's bad enough. AI or not, Dragon was good people. I want Saint's hide for this and we'll have it, make no mistake!" For a moment, Hayes lost his composure, before gathering himself and appearing like a stern granite statue. "How did the Mandalorians get involved in this?" He asked tiredly in his usual tone.

"We're unsure at this point. What we know is that when Saint took Dragon down, she had a remote-piloted suit at the National Guard Training Center where we have the alien's gift, the trainer they supplied, and the personnel who is training with it. The incident happened in full view of the said trainer, an Assassin Droid." Costa-Brown explained carefully. "We're currently investigating what happened afterward. What we know is that Armsmaster, the former leader of the Protectorate ENE division was present, he was a known friend of Dragon. He disobeyed direct orders from Director Emily Piggot, who is in charge of both the Protectorate and PRT-ENE division to return to Brockton Bay immediately. He was last seen boarding Mandalorian shuttle in the company of the Assassin Droid. Aria Astra, our resident Sith was on board as well. We have confirmation that said shuttle left from Brockton Bay. We aren't aware of its current location."

When Rebecca finished, he looked pointedly at General Grissom.

"As you know, sir, unless they allow us to, we can't track their ships with anything but cameras and Mark I eyeballs. That shuttle sneaked under the radar, then left faster than anything we have could get even close to it. One of Dragon's few satellites might be able to track them, however, given the circumstances…"

"We're as good as blind and dumb. That's how they know about it, why do they care? I know this is a great loss for the whole world, however, how does it affect the Mandalorians?"

"That's the reason why I'm here, sir. Director Piggot managed to contact Aria Astra and had a short conversation with her and Armsmaster. I have a recording of it right here." Costa-Brown removed a USB drive from a pocket on her suit and offered it to the President, who took it and plugged it in his laptop.

The three of them listened to the brief conversation, which caused Hayes to groan and rub his forehead.

"I don't need to tell you how much of a disaster this could turn into! To think that things were going so well…" Hayes shook his head in grim exasperation. "Options, contingencies, ways to contain the fallout. Can we dissuade the Mandalorians from acting?"

"If the Sith wants to make an example? We can try,

we will likely fail and burn any good-will we have with the aliens." General Grissom said quietly. His thunderous expression made it clear how he felt. "Do we want to try and intervene beyond either open or tactic support? If they could bring Dragon back, she could be invaluable in containing the fallout of this."

The General did raise a good point, one that Rebecca has been struggling with. One of the best possible outcomes might be for the Mandalorians to clean up this particular mess and suffer any necessary casualties in the process. That would be a nice test of their capabilities and serve as a very public and compelling reason for the US government to clean up house. Of course, that by itself wasn't a good thing as far as Cauldron was concerned, yet at the same time, Costa-Brown should be very happy at such turn of events.

In theory, anyway. Anything that made the PRT and Protectorate look inefficient, weak, or obsolete would be something she should fight against as a matter of course.

"What I'm more concerned about is hearing one of our Heroes being so uncaring about the possibility of alien power conducting orbital strikes on our territory," Hayes grumbled.

"Something like that might be the cleanest way to contain a breach in the Birdcage or certain quarantine zones." General Grissom grudgingly pointed out.

"That's not what I want to hear." The President said quietly. "Not at all, however, reality won't change if we deny it, will it? I need options. Can we talk with the Mandalorians?"

"No one is picking up after Director Piggot's conversation. As far as we know, they're preparing an assault as we speak and might strike Dragon's base soon." Costa-Brown admitted.

"Splendid. After this, we will find it hard to pretend that we're aren't running our own damn continent, perhaps our own country only by the grace of the aliens." Hayes slammed an open palm on his desk, the sharp crack echoing in the suddenly deadly silent office.

The President closes his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and took a few deep breaths.

"I apologize for this outburst, it was unseemly of me." He eventually said. He opened his mouth to continue when three phones rang almost simultaneously.

General Grissom was the first to get his own out, and he blanched.

"NORAD detects a huge object coming towards Earth from the dark side of the Moon at high speed. The profile suggests a Star Destroyer, we'll know more soon." The General reported.

"I'm getting the same from various tinkertech monitoring stations and thinker-think tanks that are more or less reliable," Costa-Brown confirmed.

So much for being in control of anything. She loathed moments like these when she was as helpless as any mundane human.

"There's nothing to it, then. Get to your people and brace for the fallout." Hayes ordered quietly and picked up the old fashioned phone on his desk, to call his secretary. He needed his staff inside and ready to face the unfolding disaster.

=MK=

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