Eidolon

We watched the news and saw Lung be hauled off.

"How many steps."

"315, it wasn't easy."

I nodded and let Contessa smile, let her have this moment.

"So how?"

She sighed.

"It took a lot of work, a lot of very subtle work over a period of years."

He was gone.

"Can we hold up our side of the bargain?"

"12 steps."

The news cameras were on the leaders of the Enclave, all which were in cuffs.

"Attempted murder of an Imam and... wow, they're screwed."

"3 steps down, we're currently in the process of getting the community leaders talking to each other, guided tours of the Enclave, guided tours of the area outside the Enclave. Things are still tense but 90% of the problems were being caused by a really small portion of the community."

"And?"

"In three years time things will be down to normal levels, if we last that long."

"And Lung is worth it?"

She shrugged.

"Yes, at the very least it makes holding Endbringers in place easier, which means it will be easier to get a win. It's still going to be hard but with the advanced warning, the new tinkertech and our current advantages, the war will be over in less then three years."

"And then Scion."

Contessa collapsed into her chair.

"That's not an easy problem to solve, but with the Endbringers gone, stability up and our numbers growing and our intelligence, our odds are still terrible but they are getting better."

We continued to watch the news.

"I still don't get why this tiny shithole of a city keeps developing these freaks of nature. I mean Lung, the Empire, Panacea, Dragon, the Butcher, Coil. It's literally just a kaleidoscope of chaos in what, a city with around 200 thousand tops."

Contessa shrugged.

"It's somewhat our fault, as we stabilized the country and the world people started to look for easier targets. Brockton Bay is simply the place where it was big enough to be useful, and corrupt and poor enough to be weak enough to influence."

"And we can't fix it?"

She sighed.

"It's literally going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and honestly it's really not worth my energy and attention."

I stared at the television screen.

"You're only interested because it's in the news, because it's in front of you. Brockton bay has a few useful assets ,but in the grand scheme of things? It's nothing, it's a foot note. There are a host of cities around the world that are more important. There are offworld colony cities that right now are contributing more."

Her voice was cold and tired.

"You can't save everyone, if we try that we will end up saving no one, for the sake of the survival of the human race, for untold trillion of people, let it go."

"It still feels wrong."

Contessa leaned against me.

"It's always going to feel that way, but it's a war and we have to play smart if we want to win."