Seizure 18.6

Walking the paths of possibility in each vial wasn't physically hard, but it was mentally draining. The entire thing was a balancing act, trying to maximize power while minimizing harm. Theoretically, I could focus solely on the power gained, force it on someone I'd normally just kill, copy the power while they struggled to come to terms with the drawbacks, and eliminate them, leaving me with the new, optimized, power, but. . . that would be a step too far. If someone had done something bad enough for me to kill them, I killed them. I didn't play with them, didn't torture them, they were eliminated and I moved on.

To harvest them like that. . . it was too close to what Cauldron would do. No, it was more than that, it was what the Entities did, even if I was being more moral than they, as I would only do so to the guilty, instead of the traumatized, and I had no plans on destroying Earth. If things went to hell and Golden Mourning was kicked off, then. . . I would do it, but while I had no problems taking the powers of the so called 'heroes' of this world, that was a step too far with things going as well as they were.

As such it was a balancing act, some Vials more innately powerful than others, but all required some kind of drawback to function at anything close to peak potential. Technically I could make powers without drawbacks, but they were inevitable weaker, lacking the stronger expressions that slight mutations could grant, even if it was something as simple as a change of eye color, a restructured circulatory system, tweaked vocal chords, or slight changes in skin texture. Heck, half of the drawbacks were additional benefits to better use the powers, the circulatory system helping offset the real drawback of a power that chilled the users body as they used their ice abilities, or the vocal chords letting someone use their sonic scream for longer without damage.

There was also the fact that I outright refused to walk down any path that would result in any kind of mental contamination. It would be much easier to make powers that way, I was sure, but these weren't fire-and-forget items, my only goal gaining experimental data, or powers of my own. No, these would eventually go to someone, hopefully someone I could trust, and someone that'd work with me. Would giving nyctophobia to the person who's power could create fire get them to use it more? Absolutely! Would I do so to increase the yields of their blasts by twenty percent? Absolutely not!

And the fact that the ability to change a person's mind like that, or give them megalomania, or the inability to feel boredom, or multiple personalities, were options at my fingertips was terrifying, and made me move carefully, lest I accidentally gave someone somniphobia or something.

Though, it was getting easier to attune the Vials with every one completed, every path walked giving me a greater sense of how the entire system worked, though I couldn't put it into words. I finished up a Shaker/Thinker vial that let one know the odds of an action happening around them, while also able to change the probability by seventeen percent in either direction. . . somehow. However, in turn it also changed their eyes to crystal icosahedrons, though they could still see normally. Without the mutation, they could only get a general sense of the odds, and the inflow of information would almost be overwhelming, but with it the power would help categorize everything for them, and, most of all, would let them stop the feed by closing their eyes, though they could still access it with their eyes closed if they wished.

The fact that I had to specify things like that, things that, if they weren't present, might drive someone mad, was telling.

As always, the base mechanisms of the power escaped me, only giving a top-down view of the ability, unsure of the specifics, only that it 'worked'. If I was able to have the power used against me, I'd probably be able to copy it, in the same way I'd copied Regent's 'invisible' power.

What ever happened to Alec? I wondered. From my brother's lackluster report, it seemed like he and Rachel had been moved by Coil before he tried to 'liquidate' Tattletale, Grue, and possibly Lady Bug, the last of whom had been trying, with some success, to flip the first two onto my side.

Aisha, now living with her brother in my brother's base, had been happy to give me as full a report as she could, but her extreme ADHD, memory problems, and other lingering effects of her mother's drug use combined with her lack of training made her reports vague, at best.

Coil was in Boston. He was working with Accord. He knew how to get around her power with cameras. And he said he owned the apartment building Alec was staying in. That was it. Honestly, while I would like nothing more to set up a plan and cut the head off of that snake, not only was I stuck in Brockton Bay, but he just wasn't that much of a threat right now.

From the fact that Alexandria hadn't broke down my door, it was obvious that Cauldron couldn't track my leaving New Brockton Bay to save them all, something I didn't know when I'd left for Washington DC, but to take down Coil I couldn't just put on a silly hat and kick his door in with a new powerset, I'd need a large portion of the Penumbral Defenders to help cover all angles, and that would bring Cauldron down on our heads like the IRS on Al Capone.

Growing the label in raised metal, I put it away, next to the others, and leaned back, taking a break before starting the next one, when the phone chimed and Overwatch's voice asked, "Vejovis?"

"Yeah?" I asked right back. "There a problem?"

A burst of static erupted mid-air, forming into Quinn, in his Overwatch costume, really just a themed business suit and facemask. "Not now, however your debrief after the last endbringer attack was. . . brief, and events have progressed such that they warrant an update."

I blinked, having already moved on from the fight. It'd happened, I'd gained some intel, and now it was back to normal. "They're still talking about that?"

From the lawyer's expression, what I said was so stupid that it momentarily took him aback. "Yes. You could say that."

Holding out a hand, a screen appeared in mid-air, projected by something in his circuitry-covered glove. News story after news story flashed by, talking about 'The Angel', who it was, what it might be, why it hadn't shown up before, etc. That was replaced by clips of various news anchors, all discussing the same thing.

As they were playing, the door opened, Taylor peeking her head in, and walking inside as I watched more and more people talking about last night, about what the 'defeating of the Hopekiller' meant, and so on. It was amusing to see the PRT being grilled about how woefully underprepared they were, something that hadn't happened after Leviathan, and about their decision to hold back after the shield went up. Alexandria, in her civilian disguise, lied like a rug to justify 'her' decision, rather than admit it was a mistake, or that the Simurgh had somehow hacked their communication network.

As they wrapped up, Quinn looked at me flatly, as he commented drolly, "Yes. They're still talking about it. In fact it seems that the discussion is only intensifying. I invited Ms. Bug here to talk about what your next move will be. She should provide a perspective on how others will take your actions." Since you have no clue went unsaid, but not unheard, but wasn't exactly incorrect.

"The Simurgh's been driven off before," I argued. "Losses were higher than normal, though much less if you count civilian deaths." With the way the Simurgh's presence was treated as a 'you're already dead' field if you stayed in it long enough, civilian 'losses', either through death or quarantine, were always high when she arrived. Ironically, after the wave of deaths when Behemoth first broke the surface, the 'Herokiller' was the one of the three that killed the smallest number of people.

"Yes," Quinn admitted, "But it is normally forced away through the combined efforts of everyone involved. Not by an Angel of the LORD coming down from on high. That has been causing some. . . rather extreme actions on the parts of others."

That got my attention. "Anything involving the Bay?" I demanded, sitting up. I hadn't expected it to blow-back on us, but trying to predict the world was difficult, and, lacking the kind of advanced predictive modeling that powers gave, nearly impossible. If anything was going to happen in the next twenty-four hours I'd be warned, but Quinn, not being reliant on powers to make his predictions, had a much longer view.

However, the man shook his head. "Not specifically. If anything, people have forgotten about us, with the enormity of what's happened. You must understand-"

He paused as the door opened again, revealing Herb, carrying two cups of coffee. The man stopping in surprise as he looked at the three of us, and the holographic screen. "I brought coffee!" he offered, walking in and closing the door behind himself. "You were busy with," his eyes darted to Quinn and Taylor, "Stuff, so I thought you'd like some."

He walked over to me, handing me the drink, and, dropping himself into the other chair, looked at the paused newscast. "Oh, we talkin' bout you slappin' 'round Simmy?"

"We are," Quinn nodded. "The most obvious effect is Haven rising to prominence on the national scale. They're a Christian team that operates throughout the South, about one-tenth the size of the Protectorate, though that's likely to change soon," he warned.

"I've heard of them," Taylor added, "But isn't more heroes joining up a good thing?"

Herb winced. "If the Protect' were heroes, yeah, but they ain't. They're," he nodded to me, "Just the biggest gang, and gang's don't like it when other gangs show up on their turf."

"They have to look like they're good, but that's true of a lot of gangs. There's a reason they mostly start as neighborhood protection groups, usually from other gangs, or just because Law Enforcement refuses to do their jobs," I added. "They can go bad, and usually do, but a lot of them do help out the people in their territory even after that point, and so the people cover for them, not just out of fear of retaliation, if they don't."

Overwatch nodded. "While an unfortunate comparison, given some of their actions I have been made aware of, that is not inaccurate. It might be closer to say that the Protectorate are ultimately a governmental organization, and those tend to dislike non-governmental bodies infringing their area of responsibility, their 'territory' if you will. Following the law, they would be constrained, but this is a case of 'who watches the watchman?'" He sighed, "Not something I expected in America, but, at least in the short term, that will take pressure off of us."

My vizier turned to me. "However, there have been some concerns among the Penumbral Defenders." I shot him a questioning look, as Herb nodded in agreement. "To them, you seemed to walk out, make a few calls, and brought in an Endbringer class threat to stop an Endbringer class threat. They are worried about who else you have access to, and why you have not brought them in earlier. The restriction on fighters from Brockton Bay wouldn't apply to. . ."

"Raguel," I supplied. "Tell them I did him a favor, and to push his power that far severely screwed him up. Or don't say anything at all. Actually, point out that my standing policy of not ordering people to do things they don't want to means that, while I've made powerful contacts, I can't order them to act."

"But how'd ya do it?" Herb asked eagerly, leaning forward, as if I'd whisper the secret.

I took a minute to See the Aura's of everyone involved. Looking for the distinctive cracks, everyone was who they appeared to be. Satisfied, I grew out a pair of metallic orichalcum wings, infusing them with Light, and increasing my density to achieve the effect. Holding it for a moment, I let the Light dissipate, returned my density to normal, and retracted the metal. "Anything else?"

"Church attendance has spiked," Quinn explained, without comment on my display. "New Rome has declared that, while they believe the Angel is a servant of God, the Catholic Church did not call him, nor could they in the future, only pray to God for guidance. They have maintained that the reason that their country has been untouched is the protection of God, though Arabia claims the same thing."

"New Rome?" I echoed.

That got me a confused look. "Yes, New Rome. After Naples was attacked, the newest Pope, Metatron the first, led a theocratic revolution, dissolving the Italian government within a year and founding 'New Rome'. He is almost certainly a Master, but after the destruction of North Korea, national matters are national."

I held up a hand, "Assume I've been living under a rock. North Korea's gone?"

Quinn frowned, then looked to Herb, who was equally as confused, and brought up several news stories. "North Korea attacked South Korea two weeks after Leviathan attacked Busan in nineteen ninety-seven, gaining territory before a new demilitarized zone was established. They were told not to do so again. They did so again in nineteen ninety-nine, when Leviathan attacked Japan and the world was distracted. No one is sure what happened, but the entire country of North Korea disappeared, to about two thousand feet below the ground, as if dug out of the ground and taken somewhere. The North Korean soldiers who had invaded South Korea surrendered, but they had no idea what happened. Given the nature of North Korean society, this was not unexpected."

The man paused, turning to look to Herb. "It was a mystery, however, given your part time employers, Break, could it have been them?"

"Could be," the black man shrugged. "They don't tell me that much. Seems kinda big for 'em, though. If they had somethin' that could do that, they prolly woulda used it on an Endbringer by now."

"So we've got a Para-Pope, but he's not claiming to have done it. Okay," I stated, getting us back on track. "And Herb's right, if Cauldron had a trump card like that, they would've used it." If only to stop Khonsu. "What else?"

"The issue of why you didn't call this 'Raguel' sooner," Quinn stated, starting to say something else but Taylor interrupted.

"Why did you wait? To let those people die, when you could've. . ." she trailed off.

"When I could've what, Taylor?" I asked archly, having made my point about this issue, at length, but it seemed to not have stuck.

"When you could've saved those heroes!" the teenage girl demanded.

My expression settled into unamused annoyance. "One. Not heroes. Two. I was told not to fight on pain of death. Three. I didn't know it would go that well. And four? I only stepped in when everyone would've died, loosing half their number like they did? That's on them. What part of this have I not already told you?"

"Just because you said it before doesn't make it right-" she started to argue, but stopped, as Herb held up a hand.

He looked to Taylor, then at me. "You did this dance before?"

"Yes," I stressed. "As I said then, Legend himself told me not to come, so I didn't. To her, that puts me on the level of my brother, who refused to come when I asked for his help, and Cauldron, because we both 'kill people to get what we want', or something equally stupid," I informed him, trying not to sneer.

"Because you are," the teen insisted, as Quinn sighed.

Herb gave me an indecipherable look, before he turned to Taylor. "He's being a dick, but he's not wrong, and you're bein' kind of a bitch."

"I'm what?" she demanded, offended.

"You're bein' kind of a bitch," he repeated. "LB, I'm on this team 'cause I believe in Lee, but I work for Cauldron. They ain't the same. Not savin' someone from their own dumbassery ain't killin' 'em because they're blockin' Contessa's view. Or kidnappin' people to experiment on. Or because they'll do something later on and it's easier to kill 'em than talk to 'em. Or killing people because they've figured out too much and are gonna go public. Hell, they'd probably have tried to hire me to kill you guys if they could see what we're doing. What was I sayin'? Oh, right, yeah, lots of killin', and not like Lee at all, which is why, as soon as we can get away with it I'll be killin' them too!"

"And you work for them?" Taylor demanded, scandalized.

"Until we can kill 'em, yeah," Herb nodded in agreement, happy she understood.

"Why?"

It was Quinn who interceded. "Because, and correct me if I'm wrong, they would do what they were doing regardless, and this way we can position ourselves in a way to stop them."

"Yeah, what he said," the Cauldron double-agent smiled. "Everytime I drop by their Thinker, I out Thinker her so she's Thinkering the way I want her to Thinker 'cept she thinks she's Thinkering me to think she's not Thinkering me at all, or for me to think to let her think for me 'cause she's a Thinker and she thinks I'm not a Thinker, cause I've out Thinkered her so much!"

I followed that, but the other two weren't quite so used to Herb-speak, so it took them a moment, the lawyer getting through it first, which made sense. "You are referring to their Precog? The one who is a Thinker 12, if she were assigned a rating?"

"Yep!" Her grinned. "'Cept 'round her I'm lucky thirteen!"

"Thirteen is an unlucky number, Herb," I had to point out, which just caused him to smile wider.

"It is for them!" he crowed, before his smile slowly dropped. "So, yeah. You sayin' he's like them? Kinda bitch move, LB. Like, I know he messes up a lot, but Lee means well. He's just kind of a dick 'bout it if you don't talk all fancy-like. Or yell at him. Or call him evil."

"I," Taylor paused, glancing my way. "I wasn't calling you evil!"

"Yes, you were," I disagreed, not angrily, but also not willing to budge on this. "You said I was as bad as Cauldron. Cauldron is evil, in a 'road to hell' kind of way. Therefore, you called me evil. Lying about it now isn't going to help."

"I, I didn't mean to call you that. Just. . ." she trailed off.

I lifted an eyebrow, "What you meant doesn't matter, just as what I meant doesn't seem to. What matters is-"

Herb held up a forestalling hand, and I considered continuing, but if she wouldn't listen to me, maybe she'd listen to him.

"Like I said, bit of a dick when you call him shit he ain't," Herb shrugged. "Can't really blame him, but it's the same reason I trust 'em. Dude's got no give on the shit that matters. Your pissed that he let heroes die, right?"

Taylor opened her mouth to respond, but closed it, nodding instead.

"You think he ain't? And don't say somethin' like 'then he shoulda stopped it', cause that's not how this works. If he could bitch-slap everyone to hell and back, sure, but while his pimp hand be strong, it ain't that strong, and he doesn't want to lose anyone if he can, right?" Herb asked, looking to me, and I nodded.

"If I may?" Quinn requested, and Taylor turned to face him. "Not stepping in until the losses were catastrophic is something that you will find that both Break and I, as well as many others, would support Vejovis on, if they knew the full context. Most of those who would back your statement that, regardless of the consequences, you must do the right thing, have likely never suffered consequences. In law, I might know that a person has committed a crime, and should, by the law, be charged with it, but if I cannot prove it, nothing is done, and justice is not served. It is often better to charge one with a lesser crime, one that can be proven, instead. The punishment will be lesser, but they will still be punished."

"And what does that have to do with this? We can't punish Cauldron so we're punishing heroes?" she demanded, but without anger, just frustration.

Quinn shook his head. "No, only that what you want to do isn't possible, so it is often best to prioritize what you can do. Vejovis, if you could destroy the Endbringers today, without risking the lives of others, would you?"

"If it was the only way to stop them from killing people, yes," I replied without hesitation. "I'd prefer if I could find some way to make them stop, as I'm fairly certain they're intelligent but controlled by Scion, but if I had to, I would." Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy as killing Eidolon, Mastering him, or maybe just getting him into some goddamn therapy. I'd Seen his power, and Scion's words to him, about Eidolon being responsible for the Endbringers because 'he needed worthy opponents' hadn't been a revelation of truth.

No, the Warrior, the Entity with over a Billion powers, had found an obstacle he couldn't just golden beam to death, so he'd used a Thinker power, like Tattletale's, and destroyed his opponent psychologically instead. And it worked. I didn't remember the last few arcs clearly, but I was fairly certain he was killed shortly after, then collected by Glaistig Uaine.

No, from what I could tell something else was controlling the Endbringers. Maybe it was the Warrior. Maybe they were following orders from the Thinker, before she got killed by Fortuna. Maybe it was an internal mechanism. Maybe they just were brainwashed, or the equivalent.

In the end, it didn't matter.

"And if half the heroes in the world have to die to make that happen?" Quinn inquired.

"If they volunteered to fight, then yes. It's better than everyone dying, and they knew that going in. If I forced them to fight?" I glanced towards Taylor. "I'd do everything I could to avoid it, and I'd look like hell for an alternate option, but yes. Because if we don't then everyone dies. In that, Cauldron and I agree, the only difference is they've found an option and stopped looking for better ones. And because of that they will fail."

"Whether they will this time, or not, is not the point," the lawyer redirected. "The point is that not saving someone does not mean you are responsible for their deaths, unless it was your duty to protect them. Duty, to be clear, does not mean it is the right thing to do, it means that you are responsible for their protection," he clarified, as the teen started to object. "It means that you are receiving something in return for taking on that responsibility. What did Vejovis receive in return for protecting every hero in an Endbringer confrontation?" Quinn asked, sounding honestly interested in her answer.

Taylor, looking at him, worked her lip, finally answering, "It's not about being paid."

"Legally it is, and my specialty is Parahuman Law," he replied. "Otherwise every member of the Protectorate, if they saw a crime being committed when they were out of costume, would be held responsible for not stopping it. Furthermore, they are paid to stop crime. It would be equivalent of you being held responsible for every crime that happens within the radius of your power. That by, not doing anything, you could be sent to jail."

"But then people would know who I was!" Taylor argued. "They'd be able to figure it out by. . . this is different!" she stated, realizing the problem in her argument, but not willing to admit it.

"In scale, yes, in law, no," Quinn disagreed. "The Endbringer Truce does exist, but unofficially. There is no formal law preventing wanted villains from being arrested the second the fighting ends, or even during the fighting. Furthermore, resisting arrest is unlawful, so the PRT could come and arrest you, right now, if they had a warrant, no matter how fraudulently issued. From there, you would be taken into holding, as Vejovis was, and who knows what would happen to you there. Legally, they should be punished if they break the law, but, unfortunately, we have seen how that turns out with Vejovis."

Herb nodded gravely, "If you were a small timer, or playin' by the rules, nuthin'd prolly happen. But you're with the high-rollers now. Shit's different, and not in a good way. That's why they come for us, we come for them. That's why Legend came to talk to Lee 'bout not coming personally, 'stead of some mook."

"And to bring us back to our original point, we are now powerful enough that our actions are enough to shake the foundations of society. New Brockton Bay was doing so already, but 'Raguel' was a shock to the system, and the system very much does not like shocks." Quinn turned to me. "Are you planning any more?"

I nodded. "Yes. Tonight."

That got all three to turn and look at me. "Dude, the question was rhetorical," Herb prompted.

"It's something that I've been putting off, but I'm running out of time," I told them. "Overwatch, are my suns well known?" I questioned, holding out a hand and creating a blood-red star. He shook his head. "Good. Hopefully this won't make more than a few news stories, compared to Angelic Intervention."

"Can you at least give me a warning?" Quinn sighed.

I nodded. "It's quite simple. Regicide."