"That is so cool. Oh, shit you are not from, oh wow, that can't be right. Can you take me into space? I want to see Pluto."
"Tattletale really?"
"Really that is a spaceship, no, a fighter."
"It is a modified Aurek fighter designed for long range scouting missions in support of an Explorer Corps team. It was constructed in one of the Corellian factories."
"Okay that just gave me a headache."
"So, Tattletale I didn't hear what you said to Purity." Grue wondered as he looked everywhere but the fighter.
"I told her what her name was. Then I named off her daughter, the twins' names and Fog and Night's real name. She then called for a retreat after I told her Coil was going to release the names."
"Could you have not done that sooner?" Regent had a scornful sound to his tone.
"Not really. If she knew, we knew, her names earlier she would have ignored Glamour as much as she could and just tried to kill us, but seeing that fighter meant that they failed to take Saber and the others out. I do hope, okay wow blinded. I didn't think that was possible. Crusader escaped okay."
"Who got blinded." Skitter asked.
"Hookwolf. Call Coil have him deposit the other four with the PRT. Stormtiger, Alabaster are also at the compound."
"That is only half their team." Bitch spit on the ground as she continues to shrink her dogs.
"No Purity is not going to risk her daughter. She will go back to Boston with her daughter maybe her stepson and Night and Fog probably Crusader too." Tattletale countered.
"So, what does that leave?" Skitter asked as she puts her glove back on. Foliage moves on to Grue.
"That will leave Kaiser, Fenja, and Menja. They could possibly free some of the others, but I doubt the PRT will hold these guys here long enough to allow them to be freed." Glamour explained.
"How are we going to keep out of jail?" Imp asked causing several to jump as they were startled. Saber frowned as it was hard to keep her in focus even with the Force actively searching.
"I plan on taking the bounty for Hookwolf."
"They only usually pay if the cape is dead."
"He has a kill order on him. You could go back and kill him."
"I will return as I need to help with the round up but let me help here first."
"No need. I have them all attached to my vines. The few that died are gone to help those that needed healing."
"Ewe, gross." Skitter complained as Regent and Tattletale lost their lunch.
"Oh my Gawd. Never thought I could be taken by surprise ever again." She heaved again losing the rest of her lunch. Skitter suddenly flipped around as she violently removed her mask. Her brown hair concealed her face from any possible long ranged camera's.
"Dog's will do that." Bitch calmly said and this was the last straw for Grue and Glamour. Foliage just shrugged, but she was looking as pale as she was appearing guilty.
"It had to be done and the living gained a part of them. There is Death, yet they have rejoined the Force. Anyone needed their heads fixed?"
"No, I found that I am no longer haunted about what I can do. Your meditations, and the mental practice has help. What I really think it is because I am now fighting, my sister is my sister not my crush." Regent started to dry heave again. "I am way happier."
"So, you no longer feel that you are a monster?"
"No way I can do so much with life, and you said the Force giggles when I heal."
"It giggles when you create your vines or change the plants. I feel contentment when you are healing someone. I must go."
"Call me?"
"I will Ami'ka." Saber got back into the fighter and lifted off before the canopy could close.
"That is not her name?" Glamour stated.
"No, it was a term of endearment." Tattletale surmised and then grinned as Foliage could be seen blushing under her mask as sirens started to get closer.
"Undersiders probably better we got out of here."
"Crash at your house, Skitter."
"Sure, just the girls."
"Grue got me a room, so peace out." Grue, Regent and Imp went one way as Skitter and Tattletale went another followed by Bitch and her dogs.
Aggressive Negotiations
The after math of the PRT going through your base was unnerving. We had most of the more critical items hidden behind the stone wheel that only Skye could move. However, with having Ayfour and Hast move to the old warehouse to stay out of sight the three of them could not keep an eye on all the agents moving around collected the incapacitated E88 members. Things were seen, rooms invaded, and agents yelled at.
Jeff was very effective as he rattled off rules and regulations and even criminal violations. It was enough to keep them mostly under control but not enough. With the last member carted off the reporters were the next to invade, but they were kept out of the buildings at least as the battle was mostly on the outside. Not that there was much to be seen.
It was the same at the loft, but unlike here they had just grabbed their personal stuff and left. This let the PRT crawl all over the area for the next few days. Several reports of Black Widow bites were what drove them away. Once Skye got a hold of a construction company, she would get them to fix the roof of the warehouse and make it into a new loft. It was closer to the compound which needed to be repaired and reinforced in places.
A blind Hookwolf was sent to the Birdcage the news had reported. Alabaster, Stormtiger and Victor would face a maximum-security prison once convicted. Cricket was sent back to Rikers Island to serve out a sentence she had escaped prison from. As far as Othala and Rune were concerned they were set for medium security prisons that specialized in Parahumans, Tattletale figured they would just rebrand with a Ward group in another city after heavy counseling.
"Are you sure this is a good idea." Mike asked
"Of course not. Going into Medhall to see Max Anders who is suspected of being Kaiser after you took most of his team is a very bad idea." Jeff declared. Sara just looks first to Mike and then to Jeff. She adjusted her formal robes a bit before replying.
"The Force is very clear in what I need to do. A Jedi is to defend and protect. To seek justice. To train the weak to be strong enough to not need our help, but to also act wisely. We teach and a person cannot be taught if they are not given the chance. Kaiser underestimated our communication and our abilities. Allowing for four of his members to leave him, seven of them to get arrested."
"But the ones he has are heavy hitters." Jeff countered.
"Yes, and I am sure that Kaiser would be able to hurt me even in armor. Krieg we would be about equal if I do not use Force lightning, and I have only ever used it twice."
"What was the other time?"
"I was weaponless in a chamber that had no loose debris. A Force push would have done nothing, and they were all Sith. I used it and one of them did not defend so they dropped their lightsaber. I took it and killed the other three."
"You just killed them?"
"Had I not they would have enslaved over a thousand beings or killed them. When a Jedi defends, they are hesitant to kill. In war we must weight their lives against others."
"For the many."
"For the many." Sara looked at both of them, puzzled that they would say something that strangely even if the phrase fit. It was their presence in the Force that told her it was something else.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, it was a show we streamed the other night."
"I understand now." She opened the door and got out. She adjusted her robes and pulled her hood up from her cloak.
"Be very careful."
"We'll be in the parking garage ready to go. With the rocket packs we can be there in a minute at most."
"That is good, but I am sure it will not be necessary."
"Better safe than sorry."
"Such a quaint phrase." Sara turned and walked away as someone hooked behind them. She covered the distance to the entrance of Medhall and used the Force to open the door before getting to it. She expected resistance, but though the guards put their hands on their weapons.
"Can I help you?"
"Good morning, I am Sara Sherwood or to some Knight Skye. I am here to see Max Anders."
"This is not a good time. Do you have an appointment?"
"I had one yesterday, but I could not make it and it was not a request." The guard shifted but still had not reacted more then to whisper int their microphones. A few more guards came into the foyer with several others appearing on the balcony above.
"I am not allowed to let you in to see him without his consent."
"Then call him." The girl held her face ridged.
"He is currently in another meeting and his secretary is not answering and neither is his PA." Skye felt her in the Force and the girl valued her job and she was diligent. However, Skye did not want to fight the twelve guards if she just blew by the front desk. She needed permission from Anders to maintain the peace.
"Call him." Skye added the Force, and the woman dialed a number.
"I am sorry to disturb you but there is a Sara Sherwood here to see you."
"I understand." She held firm.
"I understand." her face dropped a bit.
"She insisted sir." She then sounds a hair indignant while defending her position. It did not matter, and her head dropped for a second in defeat.
"You can go to the first elevator tenth floor."
"Thank you and I am sorry, but I will tell him I insisted." The girl blinked as she could not hold back her tears. That she would get fired was a possibility.
"Thank you, no." Sara moved to the elevators and spread her awareness out in the Force. She then bubbled herself using a technique to conserve her air space. Gas was a possibility in such a confined space, and she felt for the brakes in case they had some way to cut the cables. Neither happened as she came out on the same floor, she had met Kayden Anders. They had moved everything to the sides. James Fleischer was off to the side and the one most likely to have moved everything so quickly. Jessica and Nessa Bierman were to either side of Max Anders.
"Redecorating."
"Do not think to toy with me, Jedi."
"Ah finally someone who realizes I am not a cape. I will still introduce myself. You know me as Sara Sherwood. I am Skye Zassi Riflus, Knight of the Galactic Republic and a member of the Jedi Order. Founder of the Jedi Praxeum on Earth I have come to offer terms for your surrender."
"If you think..."
"Silence! I think she has that right, and I will listen. She showed us that this is not a game to her, and we did not take her seriously. What are your terms?"
"I think they are fair as half of your parahuman members are in custody, four of them have left the city. This leaves just the ones in this room as most of your normal human gang members are either arrested, in the hospital, or have fled the city. The Empire you created is no more and though you could rebuild it I and my associates will stop you."
"Not if we kill you first."
"That is a possibility Krieg, but know this, I was moving things around in the air with the Force by the age of three. I learned how to kinetically fight with my lightsaber by the age of ten. With one push I could shove you out the window and you would most likely not survive the fall."
"Stop threatening my friends and name your terms."
"Gladly. You will as Kaiser in public declare that the Empire Eighty-Eight is disbanded. That you will go after anyone that tries to reestablish the gang. You will also declare that its time that all Nazis, Neo-Nazis, and the Aryan Brotherhood denounce their superiority over other ethnic groups. That it is time for the human species to grow up and only then can you face the threats to you all." Skye paused as he thought about it.
"And if I disband, but I do not denounce my beliefs then what?"
"Then most likely Coil or another will reveal your names to the public. I will make sure that will not happen, but I need to get close to Coil to do so. Your world this world is under alien attack. Your powers are not because of some change in your genetics. That much the Force is certain of. The Endbringers I do not know and until I see one and can feel it through the Force, I cannot say."
"Alien attack?"
"Are you crazy?"
"James not the time. How sure are you of this?"
"The Force is positive that the Endbringers do not come from this planet. This is just from seeing a few pictures and videos. After meditating and reading reports of what they have done."
"Do we have to turn ourselves in?"
"I would prefer that you do, but I cannot ask you to. If you force my hand and we have to fight the end result will be at a minimum arrest."
"You think you can fight us without all your tinkertech toys."
"As I said to another, I use futuretech not tinkertech. Each device, machine, or tool can be built by anyone with the knowledge and skill to do so. That is except for my lightsaber. That you need the Force to construct it without it killing you. The offer to make Medhall a competitive company a step above the rest is still there. There will be further concessions if you agree."
"So, the Empire is no more, and I have to say I was wrong in my beliefs. We get to stay out of jail so long as you can convince Coil to keep his mouth shut. What does Medhall have to do?"
"Medhall as a company needs to have a new board of directors. Two must be Asian and two of any other ethnic group based on merit. They could be doctors or scientist with specialties in pharmaceuticals or even other successful business peers. You will need skilled chemical engineers and biologists to understand the chemicals needed to create the drugs that I will offer you. You must hire within a year's time frame enough different ethnic groups to match national averages."
"So, everything. You want us to give up everything?"
"You can walk away. Move out of the city and all that, but Medhall will not survive as it is without those changes. I went after your members, then we went after your leaders and lieutenants. It is the obvious step to go after the businesses that keep you funded. It is that or take out the leadership. However, it would do more harm to Brockton Bay then good."
"You're doing this for the good of the Bay?"
"Society must continue to function. Sowing chaos would only promote a quicker demise."
"How does one so young know so much?"
"Again, I was trained since I was an infant, schooled as fast as my mind could absorb it and once, I return I will continue to learn until my last breath hopefully hundreds of years from now."
"Hundreds?" Jessica wondered.
"A Jedi does not age normally. The Force keeps us fit and healthy, and free of disease and sickness. More you do not need to know."
"I will think about it. No guarantees."
"That is fine. I will contact Coil to tell him the war is over. Either way you decide. As a conciliation here is the data on curing Hepatitis A, B, and C along with the cure for the HPV virus. Either of those could make you a lot of money. In general, they are genetic cures which will prevent the diseases from working."
She tossed it to Max, and he caught it before she turned around on her heels and walked right up to the elevator as the door opened. It closed before any of them even moved. Once she was back on the ground floor, she had her phone out. With a touch she sent a prearranged text out before she dialed a number. It went to voice mail.