AN: Small snack on its way! (Meaning another Interlude). The next chapter is also on track!
This post is a bit of an experiment. Since the beginning of the Year (Late Happy New Year by the way!) trying to see stats and stuff for this story only spits out an error message, which I have messaged to the support. So I have no idea how things are going and stuff, which isn't that big of a deal of course (should it get fixed sometime in the future). But that also means I have no idea if uploading this here even works. So if you are reading this - congratz, it worked! :D

Time for some Fedora-Lady!


Interlude 2Contessa

Contessa was a woman that asked a lot of questions.

Not because she was an overly curious person – she considered herself to be quite unremarkable in that aspect, really – no, asking questions was simply her job.

Well, not her job per se, but something close to it.

Contessa was a Parahuman, a Thinker to be exact.

Thinkers had powers that interacted with information in some way, shape or form. Usually that meant something related to knowledge, to special skills or some sort of enhanced perception, sensory or otherwise.

The different power classifications had been created to make a quick overview over Parahuman threats possible. The higher the number, the bigger the threat.

A good idea, at first glance.

But their use was limited, regretfully, because it was not unusual for Parahumans to have multiple values, in multiple categories to boot.

And that made it necessary to be very specific about the Parahuman threat in question anyway.

One Brute 5 was not the identical to another Brute 5 after all, so comparing Parahumans with multiple different ratings was even less helpful.

It was a flawed system – one that Contessa had a hand in creating, not that her existence was known by more than a handful of people – but they had no intention of changing it.

For now at least.

So who exactly was Contessa, that she had helped create one of the globally used scales about Parahumans?

Well she was a Thinker, true, but it would be more appropriate to call her the Thinker.

She was the Bogeyman.

She was a monster.

Those that knew even one of her aliases were terrified to even speak them, no matter their alignment.

Villains, Heroes, Independents, if they knew about her, they feared her.

For good reason.

She, and her associates, had done horrible things, all in the name of saving humanity from certain doom.

But how was somebody with a power related to thinking more dangerous than, for example, the undying monster-villain made of metal and knives, Hookwolf? Or the Ash Beast, which simply burned down anything close to its path?

It depended of course, but in Contessa's case the answer was quite simple:

Her power allowed her to win.

Always.

She was the most powerful Thinker alive, the only Thinker 12+ in existence, because she could simply win.

Yes, winning in the literal sense.

If there was a way, a path, for her to win and succeed, no matter how unlikely or how tiny the chance, she could walk it.

Successfully.

And win.

Every time.

Her power was called Path to Victory for a reason.

It had limitations of course, but those were quite manageable.

If another Parahuman was too powerful themselves, then it was hard (or impossible) to correctly path them.

It was a bit like an ungodly supercomputer, one that simulated all possible outcomes and then decided on the best way to succeed.

So if her 'computer' lacked the necessary data – which was rare – or if the power of her target countered her own, then there was no Path.

Also, the Path to Victory was an inhuman, cold thing. It did not care about collateral damage or consequences, unless she specifically asked it to. The easiest way was rarely the best way, after all. Path to kill a certain person? Just contaminate this water source at this time. Oh, that wiped out a whole City? Doesn't matter, because the Path itself still reached the desired goal. Being careful was important, human error was one of the biggest dangers.

So Contessa carefully asked questions and demanded answers multiple times per day, to protect herself and others from discovery and assassination, to further her goals, to bluff her way through conversations, to make herself a sandwich and so on.

It had become more than a habit, it had become as natural as breathing.

She rarely acted by herself anymore, simply using her power to control her body, her facial expressions, reflexes, what she ate, how she ate.

She used it for everything.

She had no physical enhancements, her body was weaker than that of most other Capes. And yet she could ask for a Path, and kill nearly ninety percent of all Parahumans, if she wished to.

By herself.

So Contessa was a powerful monster, trying to protect the human race from a looming danger.

She was, at the moment, also walking a Path that she never expected to exist, or work at all.

It was not unusual for her to try and Path something without getting any results.

A "Path to make me almighty" for example would have been a quick solution to nearly every problem humanity was facing.

But that was no possible path, so she had gotten only something resembling mental 'static' as an answer. (She had been young and naïve still, hopeful for a better world.) Either she would be able to see the possible ways to succeed, or the instinctual knowledge that there was no way to succeed.

Contessa had never before gotten a Path that had been delayed.

Until now, that is.


She had requested a Path, before going to sleep. She did that a lot, constantly searching for mistakes and ways to get ahead. Her last question had been more wishful thinking than cold realism, being already quite sleepy, and instead of the static 'no' that was her power giving out, or getting the path in question so she could proceed, well...

She had gotten nothing.

Until after she woke up the next day, and was fixing herself a small breakfast.

The Path had slammed into her like a wave of iced water, sudden and without warning.

Without her power in the drivers seat, so to speak, she probably would have dropped her food and fallen of her chair.

Instead she was left mentally reeling, quickly scribbling down a note reminding her to once again go to further power testing. In all her years, something sudden like this had never happened.

The Path was short too, not even two dozen steps, none of them truly time intensive.

Not really giving it more than a quick mental glance, Contessa instead walked off to summon the rest of Cauldrons leadership.

If her power was changing now, after decades, then they may be in even more trouble.

Also, giving Alexandria some metal sheets so she could use her strength to carve out specific symbols, was not one of the most bizarre things she had ever done under the influence.

It was still strange though.


After a hasty meeting, and even more hasty once over by multiple other Thinkers, they all came to the same conclusion.

Her power did not seem to have changed in any noticeable way.

Most of Cauldrons resources would still be keeping an eye on her and future developments, just to be sure, but the results were more or less an 'all-clear'.

Which was good, because she was in a way the most powerful asset Cauldron owned.

Contessa had not scrutinized the path that had created the commotion further, for fear that she would lose it.

If it worked, then the answer to her question was too important to even risk losing it. She had asked it in the way she asked every question, making sure that Cauldron would survive the Path and that it would not weaken them in a way that made them powerless to defend humankind.

This could be a breakthrough.

Doormaker and Clairvoyant had been briefed and were ready. Alexandria had been confused why she had to form some metal like clay with her fingertips, but of course she still did it.

With that, only a few steps remained.

Taking a deep breath was not necessary, but Contessa momentarily overruled her powers control over her body and did just that. She was feeling apprehensive.

"Door to Taylor Hebert's locker."


AN: Surprise! Well, a Surprise that was (probably) not surprising at all for those that know Worm, but who cares!
Until next time!