Interlude: Various
Ethan woke up from his (minor) coma with a hacking cough. Panacea gave him a flat look and a short nod before leaving. Colin, the uptight ass, immediately began to poke and prod with questions, but Ethan ignored all of that.
"Is Battery ok?" He demanded to know.
Colin paused in his monologue, then sighed as if being put out that Ethan needed to know if his wife was ok. "Yes, she's fine. Her injuries were in fact, easier to heal than yours. You're incredibly lucky that we were able to get Panacea to you in time. Your heart stopped twice before she arrived."
"Good." Ethan heaved a sigh. "And what about the civilian? Taylor Hebert? The one whose potential trigger event I was looking into."
Colin sighed again. "We fucked up Ethan. We believe we know what Hebert's ability is, but she's not stupid, she pieced together who Stalker is behind the mask and now she refuses to work with us."
"Yeah, no shit." Ethan began to strip off the hospital gown and throw on a change of real clothes. "So what's her power?"
"Your theory was correct: Legacy was a projection she can summon. But he isn't the only one."
Ethan paused and turned to Colin. "Excuse me?"
"She summoned another parahuman, this one with incredibly strong and precise telekinesis. The projection was able to be independent of Ms. Hebert for several hours and didn't seem to be under her direct control, hell, he even showed up under thermal scanners and left behind skin and hair particles, indicating that he was practically real." Colin began to go off on his tangent, something about weird energy waves and other stuff, but Ethan tuned it out.
"So how exactly do we know she's summoning these parahumans and it's not just a coincidence?" Ethan asked once Colin ran out of steam.
"Ah, because we have video footage. While we were investigating the site, a drone dropped out of the sky, a high end model. Probably belonged to Coil. Once I hacked its systems we found footage of not just this telekinetic parahuman, but two other parahumans who fought to defend Hebert, but vanished upon taking killing blows. Then after you went down, Hebert seemed to lose it and the telekinetic appeared. She's like a Master version of Eidolon!" Colin sounded equally smug and frustrated. Probably thought that if he brought in Taylor as a new Ward, he'd get a promotion, but that didn't seem to be an option at the moment. "I wanted to try to get her into Wards ASAP, even tried to have Hannah bring down Master/ Stranger Protocols on them-"
"But she realized that was an absolute dumbass idea?" Ethan interrupted glibly.
"It was a poorly thought out idea, yes." Colin admitted with a shrug. "I figured if we could hold them longer, perhaps get some more of the Shadow Stalker things dealt with, then maybe she'd be more amiable to joining the Wards, it was only after Hannah and Dragon pointed out to me that doing so would cause a lot of outrage and potential lose of life if her projection went wild that I realized it was not an ideal plan. Hannah made the right call, my idea was stupid, end of story, can we leave it at that?"
"Yeah, sure. What's the plan going forward then?"
"The Director wants to play softball, for now at least. She's offering Hebert a lot of leeway, considering she just suffered her trigger, was attacked in her own home, and the one who caused her trigger is under our authority." Colin explained. "As far as we're concerned, she's just a citizen caught up in a series of unfortunate circumstances, the wrong place and the wrong time." He scowled again. "But if we get the chance, we need her in the Wards. Her power is too strong and depending on the distance of her projections, she could be a vital asset to Endbringer fights."
"Goddamnit Colin, we're talking about a fifteen year old!" Ethan threw up his hands in exasperation. "We should be focusing on helping her after our screw up caused her to trigger, not plotting how to use her!"
Colin got that look in his eye, the one that said he was purposefully ignoring his conscience. "What's done is done, all we can do is use the resources available and Hebert has the potential to change this city forever. We can't afford to ignore her or worse, let the gangs get her."
Ethan snorted and shook his head. "I pity the gang that tries to go after her."
Daylen Rhynd, also called the supervillain Archmage, floated above the city of Brockton Bay and examined it with a critical eye. He wasn't impressed. Oh sure, it was a decent sized city, the downtown area boasting several decent sized buildings and skyscrapers, but the Docks and the surrounding neighborhoods were in shambles, the port was in incredibly terrible shape, not to mention the trainyard and shantytown. It was a dying city, gasping its last breaths and trying to hang on. Daylen knew from Taylor's memories and knowledge that most of the city's revenue came from the Medhall Corporation that called it home, as well as the large amount of medical tourism that Panacea and Medhall itself brought. The Boardwalk was the only higher end part of the Docks area, but it too concealed a rot hidden beneath a veneer of class. The whole town was that way. He eyed the Boat Graveyard critically. No one could do anything about the mass of sunken and beached ships because of various thought about Daniel Hebert's dream to restore the Dockworker's Association and revitalize the city and it's economy. A fool's dream… but one Daylen could respect.
And Daylen had never been one to be held back by something as contrarian and foolish as law.
He drifted down closer to the water and beach, then stretched out his power. It began to encompass the wrecked boats and with a force of effort and will, every single wreck began to float up and into the air. Straining his psychic might, he then smashed them all together into one great ball of scrap. Focusing upon his staff, he allowed the artifact to bolster his already formidable telekinetic might… and then hurled the entire ball up and into orbit. He nodded, satisfied, and then began his journey toward Taylor's house.
"Hey you!"
Daylen paused in his flight and looked back. Flying to greet him was a young blonde girl wearing a white and gold dress with a cape flung over one shoulder. Unlike most sup- parahumans, she wore no mask, just a tiara atop her head.
"Pretty sure what you just did was illegal, so I'd surrender before I beat your ass into the ground!" The cocky young woman declared.
Archmage felt a bit of incredulous outrage… and then he began to laugh deeply. "Child, did you not just see what I did? And you would seek to fight me still? You must be the most audacious young woman I've met in a long while."
The parahuman (Glory Girl, his borrowed memories whispered), struck a dramatic pose. "I'm invincible, you're probably exhausted, and there isn't much you can do with your telekinesis mid-air. Manton is a cruel sonnuva bitch."
"You're assuming I subscribe to your Manton limit." Archmage mused. "And no one is truly invincible." With a flex of his power, he very briefly put pressure on Glory Girl's stomach, causing the heroine to suddenly double over and vomit. When she recovered, she fixed a look of horror on Archmage, wide eyed and utterly terrified.
"Hey uh… so I'm going home now." She said slowly.
"You do that kiddo." Archmage chuckled. "Let this be a lesson though. I hate seeing bright young kids lose their lives to arrogance and assumptions. You didn't even bother to check if I was friendly or not, just saw me breaking an arbitrary law and automatically tried to attack. What I was doing will help the city in the long run, those shipwrecks were stuck in a strange gray legal area and would cost a fortune to remove ordinarily. I saved people a lot of time and money. This will also help bolster the city's economy, maybe bring in some more shipping and therefore, jobs. I'm no villain." Not anymore. He thought to himself. "Go on, get to bed. It's a school night."
Glory Girl let out a brief snort. "What's your name, old man?"
Daylen did a double take. "Old?"
"Yeah, you talk all refined and stuff, like an old guy."
"My name is Archmage." He said seriously, doing his best to keep a dignified posture in the air.
"You don't think your powers are magic like Myrddin, do you?" Glory Girl asked with a skeptical look.
"No, my brother was a magician. I chose my name to honor him." Archmage explained, albeit very simply. How do you tell someone that your brother was the most powerful supervillain in history when he didn't even exist in the current dimension?
"Huh… neat. Well sorry for uh… y'know. Just coming over and trying to arrest you." Glory Girl apologized with a sheepish grin. "See ya around. Nice to see a new hero out and about." She flew off with a backwards wave.
Archmage smiled fondly, reminded of his niece. "Me a hero… oh if only Titan could see me now."
Looking around at his night's work, Archmage finally allowed himself to dissolve back into darkness, until he was needed again.
Death came slowly for Lisa as she lay beneath the rubble of Taylor Hebert's home, wooden beams and heavy drywall slowly pinning her down and squeezing the life from her. What had set Coil off? He was usually so much more discreet than this, smarter. This was just asking for Legend to come flying down from New York and lay the smack down.
Coil attempting to murder Taylor Hebert. Coil deems any losses acceptable. Taylor Hebert interferes with Coil's power.
Yes, she knew that already, thanks power. Not so much help here and now. Oh God, she wasn't ready to die, she wasn't ready. Then salvation arrived. She could feel a huge amount of weight being pulled off of her, easing her breathing. Taylor had summoned a new cape then, hadn't she?
Taylor Hebert has summoned [Error, unknown Entity] powerful telekinetic.
Lisa winced. She hadn't had anyone give her as many 'error' messages as Taylor Hebert. Even that girl that had been with her originally had given Lisa a major headache. Why was she such an odd parahuman?
Taylor Hebert is not a parahuman. Taylor Hebert is a [Error] tied to alternative energy source.
Oh fuck that was huge. Different power source? Did that mean the common theory that all capes derived their power from the same place was bogus?
Taylor Hebert is unique. Taylor Hebert exhibits similar energy as [Error].
Useless damn power! Lisa struggled and managed to push away some of the debris, wiggling to pull her legs free at least. Even if she was trapped, she didn't want to be pinned. Ok, what to do now? The sounds of gunfire had stopped. Was it safe to call for help?
"Well hello there young lady!" Lisa flinched and looked up. Peering down through a crack in the debris was a single green eye. "Suit, over here you incompetent! I thought you said she'd be more injured!"
Another voice spoke softly from nearby. "I predicted she'd be badly injured, but we both know there is no such thing as a 100% guarantee. Hold a moment, Ms. Wilbourn. We'll get you out of there."
He knows my name. Who are these people?
[ERRRRROOOOOORRRRRRRR]
FUCK!
The debris moved and shifted as a perfectly fit man (Genetically engineered) moved aside the worst of the debris. The large blond laughed as he picked up Lisa and set her down on a patch of free ground, a discount looking accountant guy standing nearby. She froze as she glanced around. The world was gray. Lifeless. She could see birds suspended mid-flight, bullets paused in the air, and Taylor standing alongside a black robed man throwing out massive waves of telekinetic force. With the world stopped as it was, she could see the ripples in the air that it was causing.
Localized time stop caused by [Error]. No, not localized. Global. Entire time of the world has stopped.
The office worker man stepped forward and pulled a handkerchief out of a pocket and began to fussily wipe at the blood and dirt on her face.
Unknown parahu- [Error] is a father. Misses daughter. Wishes to help Lisa Wilbourn as he could not help her.
Lisa paused as she digested that information. She knew what it was like, having the power to potentially save a loved one, but not the right time or opportunity. "Who are you guys exactly?" She asked politely, pointedly ignoring the tremor in her voice. She wasn't scared by her near brush with death, no sir.
"I am Mr. Suit. This is my associate, Janus." Suit introduced himself while taking a step back.
The engineered man stepped into her personal space, green eyes manic. "So what kind of Thinker are you then? Are you like Coil? Oh please tell me you're like Coil."
Unknown [Error] responsible for Coil's attack. Shut down Coil's power. Coil a dual timeline precognitive.
Oh that explained so much.
"Her power is closer to mine than Coil's." Suit informed Janus while pulling him away from Lisa.
Close friends. Enemies. Used to dealing with each other. Suit is accustomed to the chaotic nature of Janus. Janus enjoys chaos and irritating Suit.
Oh now she could think of them without the Error messages? Was it because they'd told her about themselves?
"Yes." Suit said blandly, as if answering her question, his eyes rapidly scanning her (checking for further injuries) before he nodded slightly to himself. "You'll do. We wish to recruit you, Ms. Wilbourn. Or do you prefer Livsey?"
A cold knot formed in Lisa's chest. "No. I left that name behind. How do you…?"
"An educated guess based on your appearance and local knowledge." Suit explained. "Have you read Frank Herbert's Dune? An excellent science fiction novel. Think of me as a mentat, but one who has the potential for infinite growth."
Suit is a cognivore. Suit devours intelligence. Suit is a threat to everyone and everything.
A dry smile appears on Suit's face. "Oh my dear, neither you nor your power have anything to fear from me. I'm out of the mind eating business. Unless you're a cold blooded murderer or a rapist. You are neither, so you are safe."
Suit lying. Suit has consumed the minds of innocents. Suit-
"Shut up, parasite." Suit snapped suddenly, as if he was talking directly to Lisa's power, not her. "You have no idea what I had to do to keep my world safe. You and your kind invalidated decades of suffering. I offer this pact: I shall do no harm to Lisa Wilbourn so long as she does not threaten the Plan." His voice reverberated with the last sentence and his hand glowed brightly with power. He offered the hand to Lisa expectantly.
Deal is honest. Deal is in good faith. Suit being genuine. Recommend that Lisa Wilbourn accept.
Lisa slowly took the hand and she felt a metaphysical binding fall over her. She would be safe from Suit, so long as she didn't threaten whatever this 'Plan' was.
"Geeze man, I thought I was supposed to be the crazy one!" Janus laughed from the side (enjoys seeing friend/enemy/brother uncomfortable. Has driven Suit to insanity before.) "Now give the girl our pitch, I can't hold this forever."
"Right, right. As I was saying Ms. Wilbourn, my friend Janus and I are in the business of saving the world. A powerful Thinker such as yourself would be a great boon. We offer amazing pay and benefits." Suit informed her.
"Let me guess, the benefits are 'no bullet to the head'?" Lisa asked dryly. Trading Coil for someone even worse… fantastic.
"Ah, I don't like to threaten potential employees. I don't use the 'carrot and stick' method, I'm all carrot." He frowned. "That didn't sound right. Point is, no, if you refuse this offer, we'll take you to a location of your choosing where you can restart your life. Coil will never be an issue again. You can rebuild. Or…" Suit grinned and behind that smile Lisa saw the utter madness of a man with nothing to lose, but everything to gain. "You can listen to my Plan, listen to the truth of this world and then make a decision for yourself."
Suit being honest. Suit bound to oath.
Lisa swallowed dryly and looked at the paused world around her. "I'm game. Maybe we move somewhere else though?"
"Indeed, indeed. Janus, the body?"
Janus snapped his fingers, then flickered (teleported) and dropped a dead body that looked and was dressed just like Lisa (flash grown clone) into the hole they'd just pulled her from.
"Now the world will believe you to be dead and we can begin our work. Welcome to HADES, Ms. Wilbourn. We have much to discuss."