Turning Point 2

The kids were awoken, one by one. The Fallen's assault on several cities across the country forced the PRT and Protectorate to play all their cards as quickly as possible. Emily even got to be on a direct call with the Chief Director after she awoke from her own injuries.

Costa-Brown didn't fail to comment on Emily's loss of weight. Emily didn't need the reminder that she not only had almost died as one of Bakuda's collaterals, but that Panacea had erased all traces of Elisburg in her body. She had a lot in her mind, but sanity prevailed and she didn't. Explaining this to the Chief Director was simple enough, and the subject was dropped altogether.

She felt like her boss understood, but Emily wouldn't admit it out loud. These things never were spoken in their organization, and she wouldn't be the first to do so.

Instead, they focused on accounting the damage done to the city and all Emily had picked up from her capes when the war came to a closure. Talking about the dead as mere statistics, calculating how much people had lost to the conflict in terms of money, and other fun ways to keep people awake and wondering if working for the PRT really is worth the paycheck. It wasn't, but someone had to do it and no one was volunteering.

Toybox was contacted and a deal was made. Cranial was in Brocton Bay within two weeks and went to work. The Tinker was having a blast working with the Wards, even if it wasn't evident. Emily just knew. They presented a challenge, as their minds resisted the Tinker's technology to the point it became personal in a matter of hours.

Panacea kept them alive, but Emily wanted nothing to do with her so they rarely interacted. She also did not want to deal with the sociopathic murder machine slash dimension traveler, still within her headquarters, so she mostly got reports from Miss Militia about all three of them.

With Cranial's services paid directly by the higher ups, Emily wasted no time ordering the procedure to teach the Chainsaw english. She did not want to keep dealing with him through a translator, and even when Cranial made a point of wanting Dragon really far away from their tech, Emily persisted.

Did she have authority to vanish someone like Dragon from the base? No, probably not. Did she stop because of this? The answer was still no.

Armsmaster helped get Dragon away from the technology, not that she resisted a whole lot. Emily could count on one hand the number of parahumans that did not immediately answer orders with a 'but', and she had a lot of time working with them. So she didn't oppose the idea of Armsmaster staying by Dragon's side. She tried to get used to the thought of losing her Protectorate head since he was enlisted to help with the main poster team, so there wasn't much to lose on that front.

Besides, Emily didn't want to hear the Tinkers argue about the Chainsaw's warnings. She had been vocal about tying the guy and getting him in shape in accordance to all regulations and parameters the Wards program had, because they were there for a reason. She did not care if he came from a world that had Blasphemies-like powers running rampant, or if they were presented with a new Machine Army-like threat.

That was that, and the guy himself was another. Emily did not want another potential mass-murderer within her halls, and that was before Hellhound was confined along the Undersiders. It was good Calvert's protests to her way of handling things came in such a dire moment, or else she would have probably given in and quit on the spot. Let him have the big command seat for all she cared. Except, their little chainsaw 'cat' brought back home a dead bird at the wrong time.

"Panacea lost her arm trying to reach it, and it seems she couldn't reach it with her power in any case." Armsmaster had explained while Emily stared at two identical corpses lying on the largest medical table she had ever seen "Chainsaw Man killed it for the first time and insisted it was, and I quote, 'the devil that embodies the fear of crocodiles'. One of the agents volunteered to try and perform a 'contract' with it, which brought forth the second one. Chainsaw Man killed it too when the thing interpreted loosely the definition of 'target'."

Yes, it seemed the super-Nilbog theory had something going for it. And if Emily knew better (she really didn't), she would have washed her hands of the whole thing and bailed before the information spread across the PRT. But she didn't.

Calvert didn't volunteer any insight either. The dead bird had landed on her lap, and everyone wanted Emily to be the one to dispose of it. Not like the other Directors could just sit idly and do nothing anyway.

If nothing else, the higher ups were quick to react. Not two day had gone by after Emily reported the findings and the newest interview with the Chainsaw, and the evening sun was eclipsed by the Triumvirate bombarding Elisburg with all they got.

Lasers, esoteric powers, and tinker-made weapons that only Alexandria could work with rained and pummeled the lost city for hours. The public was made aware a week later about what the hell those three were doing, and that 'even with Eidolon's best effort, Nilbog's power couldn't be stopped from propagating, though these will be remnants and nothing world ending'.

Before the Simurgh died, no one would have believed them. The world knew better than to hope these problems could be dealt with and forgotten, yet hope was rekindled, and the Protectorate knew really well how to claw their way through mere threads of it. Even in the worst case scenario, the PRT and Protectorate would live on.

Emily wasn't sure this was such a great thing, but no one else was doing their work. So it at least had its upsides.

Besides, things were looking up for once in the city. If one ignored the dead and injured, as well as the material losses of those days. The Empire was crippled beyond recovery, and people seemed to stop backing it up brazenly after half their parahumans were gone. They got reinforcements soon enough, but the ABB and Coil's organization were edging to take control of Empire territory, so they were scared away. Or so the reports went. Emily didn't know what happened to the newcomers, only that old members had resurfaced after Purity got taken in.

The woman herself was a pain to deal with, but a short lived one. Cranial expressed interest in a 'rehabilitation program' for the woman's nazi tendencies if allowed to study the effects Valefor's power had in her mind. She was sedated, studied like a lab rat, and shipped off Emily's jurisdiction before they could start missing her. Her children went into custody, locked under PRT watch alongside the identities of the surviving Empire parahumans.

Just in case.

Meanwhile, Cranial kept piecing her Wards' minds together. Slowly so they wouldn't come back wrong (which Emily was almost certain would happen one way or another), but steadily so as to not lose progression. They even got to see the Chainsaw's memories in the meantime… Which was almost exactly what Emily would have expected.

The guy was basically a war veteran at 13, let alone the time he spent alongside 'Makima'. With his world being as dystopian as the Chainsaw's power would suggest: A fitting place to birth and let someone with functional immortality thrive.

"You thought of reforming Purity, but not about trying to get Cranial to correct this person's… Deficits?" The Chief Director had asked during the call. Emily should have felt insulted by the assumption that she had no common sense, but honestly the world seemed to make less and less sense as days went by.

"Yes, but… This one is trickier. Chainsaw Man, a.k.a. Case 81, a.k.a. Denji Hayakawa, seems to be immune to anything detrimental to his person." Emily suppressed a sigh "As in, the person he is today. Cranial was capable of teaching him anything, but couldn't condition him through the tinkertech. Memories from being taught skills were forgotten as well, but only those that were not his. Attempts to make him forget were futile, as every time he 'revived' he came back as he had before the sessions."

Even skills taught by Cranial would be kept, even if the Tinker tried to 'take them back'. Emily had almost written a document with the proposal of just shooting the guy and keeping his body under lock and key, without a way of revival. Maybe even sealing him under tons of concrete while they were at that. But once again, saner thoughts persevered.

"No wonder she's looking for him."

It hadn't taken Dragon a lot to get footage of 'her'. The woman described by the Chainsaw and the one highlighted in his memories. Makima had arrived at Brockton Bay during the Fallen's assault and all but kidnapped Valefor and Stormtiger, letting Amaymon bleed out after having drank his blood.

Some time later, there was news about an uprising corporate team of capes with a weapon theme. Emily wasted no time cutting off all information about them from the Chainsaw. She allowed the guy to guard and fight these 'devils' when they appeared within the Protectorate ENE's umbrella of influence. Which was maybe once or twice. But it kept the guy happy. Coil's agents had a contract with a strange one, but the Chainsaw killed it without even stopping to think about it.

Emily was almost certain he was Nine material, and expressed her worries whenever she could. However, the bird was still on her lap so she wasn't allowed to make the guy someone else's problem. The Wards that hadn't been lost kept him company, but it was only when Weaver woke up that the Chainsaw finally calmed down.

The downside was that Weaver was up again, and had her own baggage to be dealt with. She captured the Undersiders, which were out of Emily's hair soon enough, and after a month of not having them around Emily had no idea what had happened to them. They would probably be rebranded in another city, which Weaver didn't take lightly. But that was outside of both her and Emily's ability to prevent. So that was that.

Shadow Stalker… Well, if there was one thing the Chainsaw was good at was keeping Shadow Stalker at bay.

The girl had been problematic, sure. And letting her deal with the Chainsaw was objectively cruel, but hey. No one was correcting her behavior. If nothing else, it eased Emily's worries somewhat. As the Chainsaw never crossed any lines with her. So when he expressed a desire to go to school Emily got him on Weaver's and Shadow Stalker's. It was a disaster waiting to happen, but asking Dinah Alcott if it was alright was the closest to a safe bet she got.

Oh, by the way. They had another precognitive Thinker. Although she was under Faultline's care most of the time. Her family did not like that, but a deal was struck and everyone was mostly alright for the time being.

It was kind of funny how a child was the second most sensate person Emily knew, unwilling to even go near the Chainsaw from the get go, but common sense had crashed out the window when he was dropped from that door in the sky. What did she know about anything anymore?

"We worry about your health, Director." Costa-Brown mentioned, as if they had company in the call. They didn't, not as far as Emily knew.

She was concerned too. She had probably gone crazy, even with the screening and doctors saying she was fine. Better than ever, even. Panacea probably did something to her when she didn't let Emily die.

Or had something died that day? There was no way to know, and Emily was sure as hell not getting close to any brain-altering powers even if her life depended on it. She said as much to the Chief Director.

"Alright, one last thing." The woman had relented. She too looked tired, and Emily took morbid solace in the fact her boss was probably going through much worse than Emily herself "The weapons team, they killed Mannequin, Shatterbird and two relatively new Nine members… We think they'll try to expand."

Emily checked her heart. It was neither racing nor slowing down, as if it had expected the damning news from the beginning. It didn't strike her as surprising, at least.

"I can't keep the Chainsaw in the dark forever." Was all she had to say. Just the truth.

"You don't have to." Costa-Brown replied clearly. She had taken a decision before the call, Emily could tell "Just enough to confirm whether the Simurgh's death means something or it's just an isolated case. We'll look deeper into it, and will give an alternate plan when the time is right."

In other words, they wanted to know if the Endbringers would keep attacking or not. A rather optimistic hope for the way the world was slowly going to hell nowadays.

"I see." Emily simply nodded "Thank you."

"Thank me when it's settled." The woman replied dryly "You look better, Director. No offense."

She felt deader too. Maybe there was a connection there.

"None taken." Emily cut the call when the Chief Director nodded.

She joined her fingers and rested her chin on the bridge made with her hands. Just… Contemplating things.

Brockton Bay was more silent than usual, so she called it a day early for the first time in… Years. She went straight home and to bed. She didn't sleep. Just stared at the ceiling without doing anything else.

The city was quieter than usual, but Emily felt like she was holding a live hand grenade without the pin. Just… Waiting for it all to blow up.

There was a phone call, another of those 'devils' appearing close to Boston and a very angry Accord ordering the PRT to tell him what the hell that was before he personally went to their headquarters and figured it out himself.

She should have put Calvert in the chair before Cranial arrived. She never doubted it.