Interlude

Director Rebecca Costa-Brown stares into the monitor as if she could burn Emily Piggot with just her gaze while the other east coast directors chatter excitedly.

"Emily," she says slowly, "why are we only hearing about the formation of a new Watchdog ENE in the end of month meeting?"

Emily looks up at her camera, "Because it was a purely administrative task that only needed doing through Washington DC, and the Federal Government."

"What about the thinkers?"

"We have those."

"Who are they?"

"Classified."

"What are their code names?"

"Classified."

"Everyone on this call has the security levels to know this information."

"That only helps when it's not Eyes Only."

Rebecca grinds her teeth, Emily knows that she can't just hop on a plane to look at some documents, and Alexandria doesn't have the right clearances.

Director Kamil Armstrong hmms, "Emily, why did you choose to make those records Eyes Only?"

"One of the new thinker assets discovered that there were visual and audio bugs spread throughout the HQ. In a follow up search we found at least one data tap. SOP in this situation is to assume the network is completely compromised, so I ordered the newly discovered parahuman and their abilities to be classified as Eyes Only. If you don't mind bringing forward agenda item 8, it has become germane to this discussion."

Rebecca frowns as she recalls that item, Case 61 and 62.

"Quick vote, all in favour say aye."

"We're agreed, Case 61."

Emily nods, "We have the first ever confirmed Case 61. Because of that we have had to invent a new case number, Case 62. You should have all received a letter by secure mail. This will give the details of the new case number, and it's classification level."

Rebecca has to nod along as the secure letter arrived just before the meeting, and it requires a thumbprint or it will incinerate the contents. And of course, it's her doubles prints that are registered in the PRT so that Alexandria can hand over secure packages.

James Tagg explodes, "Why are you sitting on the case 61 given this? Surely, we should be ensuring that they're under our control and using…"

"Because we can't control them, if you want to see their file, pop by and you'll understand. Suffice to say, the saying that you get more flies with Honey than Vinegar is very appropriate for this situation."

Armstrong nods, "I understand, I may actually take you up on that one afternoon."

The director for PRT ESE shakes her head, "You'll have to wait for the summer before I venture up to Maine, far too cold."

Rebecca screws up the ball bearing that she keeps as a stressball, "Moving onto Agenda item 5, large scale changes in parahuman deployments."

Emily smiles, "Lung was beaten 3 weeks ago, and is currently presumed dead."

Rebecca sighs as everyone starts talking at once yet again.

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Thomas (Coil) Calvert curses as he closes yet another timeline. All of his eyes in the PRT have been compromised leaving only his moles. His pet thinker has gone missing, and the new Brute, Changer, Mover rescued his second pet thinker. At least his moles still think he only calls them about inconsequential things. Opening a new timeline he calls his mercenary team, "Bravo team, are you in position?"

"Affirmative, ready to move on your order."

"Ensure your body cameras are transmitting."

Thomas smiles as 6 images appear on his monitor from his team, "You are a go."

Quickly and efficiently his men drive up to the Hebert's house and pile out of the van, each one taking aim at a PRT vehicle or trooper. At T-40 seconds the perimeter is secure and they've pulled out a ram. T-70 seconds they're in the house and he can see the sealed basement door.

"Breaching in 3…2…1…go!"

The men pull the door of it's hinges and push it to one side before throwing an LED flare down the stairs. Carefully making their way down the stairs, Thomas sees the outline of several eggs.

"Bravo Team, Grab an egg and torch the rest."

While one of the team throws a phosphorous grenade, one of the eggs is bundled up and carried back to the van. The grenade goes of and the entire house is engulfed in flames. Then all six cameras go statically before clearing up again. That's when the first man screams and something comes out of his front before retreating with a slorp. One by one his men are taken out to the percussion of gunfire. As the last man falls, he sees the silhouette of whatever caused this, and he closes the timeline.

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Kaiser walks confidently into his board room where the other parahuman members of the E88 are all sat, waiting.

"It is a good evening to be E88. Lung is dead, as is the creature that killed him. Victor?"

"This is the footage from Uber and Leets Snitch stolen from their private servers while they licked their wounds. As you can see, Bakuda created some sort of singularity. Unfortunately, we can't confirm a body, however as you can see, the creature is pulled into the singularity while the snitch is straining against the pull. When the singularity collapses in a burst of fire, there are a couple of frames to show that only a few parts of the creature were left. We assume this is simply due to the singularity collapsing before the creature's tail had been consumed completely. Additionally, during this conflict the ABB lost 40 of their regular recruits, and an unknown number of pressganged civilians."

"Krieg, what's the word on the streets?"

"Bakuda is still consolidating her hold on the ABB, recruitment is at an all time low because of her use of civilians. We have gained ¼ mile of ground that used to be ABB territory, though we are butting heads with the Merchants who are also moving in like the vultures they are."

"Brad?"

"Dog fighting profits are up since someone collared Hellhound, they're now a nice starter for the cage fighters. Somethings happened in the docks, and recruitment is up from that angle."

"StormTiger?"

"PRT was seen in the Market district, nobody knows why, and the niggers ain't talking."

"Keep an eye on that, anyone else?"

Rune speaks up, "Sophia Hess and Taylor Hebert have dropped out of school."

"Could be linked to the dockworkers, well done."

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"Yes Sally."

"Mayor Christner, there is a lawyer from the state department along with some state police and a box truck."

"What do they want?"

"They have a subpoena for records sir."

"Send them in."

The door to his office opens and in comes a smartly dressed Lawyer, "Good Morning Mr Mayor."

Christner gets up and walks around his desk to shake hands, "Good Morning, to what do we owe the pleasure of a visit?"

"We have a subpoena for your social services department, however I was directed here when I tried to serve it."

"Whatever for, this should just be a routine matter."

"They claimed that it was outside the scope of our remit."

"Well, what records do you want?"

"All of them?"

"What? You can't be serious?"

"I'm afraid I am, a social services rep from another city was called in to deal with a case recently, and the child's file said that the living situation was healthy and satisfactory."

"Why would someone need to be brought in from another city?"

"They were black."

"Surely we have black social services workers here."

"Apparently not."

"What did they find when they visited then?"

"I'm afraid I can't discuss an ongoing case involving a minor."

"Well, when are we going to get the files back?"

"Once they have been reviewed by an independent body from out of state."

"But what about the active cases?"

"New case files will be opened for them in other nearby cities."

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In the Hebert's basement, a glowing white portal opens underneath two eggs, which fall through and land in a mud hut on a pre-industrial earth, where they open and release their cargo.