Emily Piggot was more than used to her job as a Director of the PRT being such a gigantic pain in the ass she just wanted to shoot herself. It was practically in the job description, especially when the posting was in Brockton Bay. But right now she was tempted to go to Panacea to finally be healed just so she'd be able to drink herself into a stupor without dying.
What was already being internally referred to as the CF Report, at least (very) unofficially, had been delivered to the Chief Director and Regional Directors by Dragon on behalf of a 'concerned citizen' that Piggot was tempted to have found and shot, if only for the headache they had helpfully provided. Only a few hours had passed since it was brought to light and to say that it had made their lives difficult was an extreme understatement.
The report was essentially a list of various security, administration and PR problems with the Protectorate and PRT, from the relatively minor, such as the fact that a member of the Phoenix branch of the Protectorate tended to confuse his wife for his punching bag a bit too often, to the massive, such as the fact that Deputy Director Tagg had been using influence, connections and bribes to unfairly prosecute capes he was biased against, those primarily being ones that could in some way manipulate the human mind. Emily thought he had only gone after Canary due to the feathers in her hair making him think of her as Simurg 1.5 or something equally moronic, but apparently he'd done it multiple times before, with pretty much any cape not a contracted member of the Protectorate being fair game to him.
Truly, the ClusterFuck Report had earned its name.
Dragon had been speaking to each of the Directors about the specific details in the report pertaining to their jurisdictions since she'd delivered it, starting with the Chief Director, and it was Piggot's turn, which just made her want to down a bottle of scotch after the first five minutes.
First on the agenda was the fact that fucking Coil had infiltrated the Brockton Bay PRT headquarters so thoroughly he likely had reports on exactly how many times each person there took a fucking leak. All their files had been compromised, and a far too large portion of their staff was on his payroll.
The electronic leaks had been plugged and control of them handed to Dragon by the same 'concerned citizen' behind the report, so that was one aspect of this disaster dealt with, but that didn't keep Piggot from fuming as she glared balefully at Armsmaster, who was attending the meeting alongside Miss Militia and Deputy Director Renick.
"Care to explain to me exactly how Coil infiltrated our systems so thoroughly?" She practically growled like an animal.
To his credit the frown that showed on Armsmaster's face was more due to the data he was reviewing than anything else. He was obviously very unhappy about the situation as well, his pride no doubt taking a hit at a professional level due to having had this happen under his watch. "As far as we can tell most of the backdoors and redirects were slipped in during one of the last refits we did to the system a few years ago. Several technicians were bribed to include the programs, and some physical systems were slipped in among the updates we added."
Piggot closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. The fact that Coil had infiltrated them so thoroughly explained a lot. The gangs had been getting too much information on PRT operations even if one assumed they had placed people inside the organization itself. Things such as the various Birdcage transports that had been transporting Hookwolf and other capes and almost always got attacked. Patrol routes, absences, even potential blackmail… So many things ended up in the gangs' hands. It all finally made sense if Coil had been leaking it all for his own ends.
"You said the holes have been plugged and control of them transferred to you?" Emily asked once she opened her eyes and turned to look at Dragon's screen.
Dragon nodded. "Yes, they have. I also have the names of all known moles in the organization. They have been sent to your inbox so you can decide what measures to take."
"Do you know how whoever this 'concerned citizen' is managed to obtain this information?" Miss Militia asked, her arms crossed under her breasts as her brows knit in concern.
"If I had to guess, they infiltrated Coil's systems and got the information straight from his own databases." Dragon explained.
"Does that mean they know Coil's civilian identity?" Renick asked, Piggot becoming very interested in the answer as well.
"I would assume so, though it wasn't included in the report. At a guess they intend to do something to neutralize him before revealing that information." Dragon said. "Especially as we now know he's the one that tried to kidnap the mayor's niece."
Piggot grunted but nodded in understanding. She had a good guess as to who was involved in the report, being the most recent, most disruptive element to make a splash lately, but with no proof she decided that there was no point in bringing it up. Instead she decided to move on. "In that case we will focus on dealing with the moles we currently have and leave Coil to whoever this was till we have something more concrete to work off of." The words left a bad taste in her mouth, as she really, really wanted to bring the hammer down on the asshole, but she had other fish to fry. Speaking of… "Now, can someone explain to me exactly how Shadow Stalker got away with, among other things, attempted fucking murder, without any of us hearing about it?" By the time that sentence was done the glare on her face was sharp enough to rip through Behemoth and her voice dripped with anger.
Miss Militia's head dropped in shame while Armsmaster seemed to somehow become more rigid. "As far as we have been able to determine, both through the information in the report and Dragon's own verification since, it was due to a coverup by both the school and her handler."
Piggot slammed a fist onto her desk. "She was a person of interest in an attempted murder case involving toxic waste you yourself said was severe enough from the reports to consider a potential biohazard and terrorist threat if a prosecutor was creative enough!" The woman hissed venomously. "Even if the Hebert girl hadn't pointed the finger at her, we should have still been made aware that such a severe event occurred to someone she was associated with, even peripherally. The fact that the victim didn't fucking die is solely down to luck! As it is, we're going to have to get creative if we want to handle the situation in a way that won't have us looking worse than we already will if it gets out. Step one: I want Sophia Hess in a cell yesterday." She practically snarled.
Down in the Wards' common room in the PRT headquarters, Sophia was glaring at the computers in front of her as she ignored Vista and Clockblocker playing a video game nearby on one of the new Excelsior systems.
She was on console duty today, keeping an eye on Gallant and Aegis as they patrolled. Otherwise she would have left to avoid dealing with her teammates. Hearing them play a game made by that damned company just kept pissing her off further and further.
The events in the Empyrean store a few days before were still gnawing at her. Seeing Hebert smile as she was kicked out alongside Emma made her blood boil. The bitch was nothing, a fucking weakling of a bug she coould stomp on easily, and yet she'd had the gall to laugh at Sophia.
She'd been beyond pissed in the moment, ranting and raving even as Emma still seemed to be in shock, and at the time she'd considered doing something to get back at Hebert for the humiliation. Sneaking into the bitch's house and shaving her fucking head should work nicely. Everybody was well aware that her hair was the only thing Hebert had any pride in when it came to her physical appearance, and even Sophia had to admit she had good reason to be. So shaving that off should work nicely to teach her a lesson.
Of course, Sophia had calmed down enough that day to decide not to go through with it, simply deciding to get back at her when they were back at Winslow, in Sophia's territory. In fact, she would have done that today if the PRT hadn't made the Wards come in to work all day at the last moment, some sort of situation apparently prompting them to keep them relatively close at hand. Still, she trusted Emma to put Hebert in her place in her stead till she could get involved as well.
Then she got a message from Madison, one of the other girls that hung around her at Winslow, linking a few news articles that had just been posted. Opening them Sophia found they were about the Empyrean opening, and after some quick skimming she found that Madison had brought them to her attention due to the fact that those specific articles mentioned the confrontation with Hebert, even if in passing, as a way to sing the praises of Hebert's boss.
So now here she sat, in front of the console, fuming and stewing and plotting. She already had some chloroform in some of her hidden stashes, so all she'd need was an electric razor. Then she'd make Hebert regret even thinking of trying to be more than the damn bug she was.
The door to the Wards area slid open, but Sophia didn't pay attention, focused as she was on her vengeful thoughts. She absently heard Vista call to Armsmaster questioningly before she felt something pointy and humming with electricity press against the back of her neck, making her stiffen. "Wha-?"
"Sophia, stand up slowly and come with me." Armsmaster's voice said seriously.
Sophia slowly did as told, turning to try to figure out what was going on. Not only was Armsmaster holding her at halberd point, but Miss Militia also had what looked like a tazer aimed at her.
What the hell was going on?
"Door me." Rebecca Costa-Brown, Chief Director of the PRT, better known by the public of Alexandria, one of the most powerful heroes in the world, said as she did her best to keep her composure, stepping through the opening that appeared in the middle of her office after she'd enabled the immense amount of security systems in it. She emerged in an Earth barren of life where Cauldron had made their base of operations.
Cauldron was essentially the kind of organization a conspiracy theorist imagined when thinking of a group that manipulated the world from the shadows. They knew what awaited humanity, that being extinction, and did everything they could to prevent it, even though it meant they had dirtied their hands and souls so much in service to that goal that most would have summarily executed them by this point.
Which made the latest development to come across Rebecca's desk truly infuriating.
The woman dropped a thick stack of papers containing the CF Report on the meeting table of the room she'd been Doored to, a glare on her face as she turned to face Doctor Mother and Contessa, the two women that created and led Cauldron, as they entered the room. "This. Is. A. Clusterfuck." She growled at the two women.
Doctor Mother picked up the papers and began looking them over while Contessa calmly sat down, absently playing with the fedora in her hands. "It is an unexpected development." Doctor Mother admitted, the unpowered human continuing to skim through the report. "Some of the things detailed in this report are overall beneficial to our goals if dealt with, but I expect you are upset about the things we had set up and which are now out in the open? I admit there are some setbacks, however…"
"These are more than setbacks." Rebecca said with a scowl. "The people we've made sure were placed in high positions are under increased scrutiny, threats we were leaving be in order to increase the number of triggers are being eliminated, and some of our experiments and clients are likely to be brought in, which would expose Cauldron and destroy our anonymity."
"Even if Cauldron is brought to the light, the Triumverate's connection to it won't be revealed." Doctor Mother reassured her absently as she continued going through the report, even though she'd already read a copy when it was first delivered to Rebecca by Dragon. "And Cauldron's exposure wouldn't do much to reveal what and why it is."
"Not the fucking point!" Rebecca snapped before her gaze snapped to Contessa. "What does the Path say about this?"
Contessa's parahuman power was possibly the most potent in existence, being called Path To Victory and doing exactly what it said on the tin. It allowed Contessa to know exactly how to accomplish her objectives. If she set a goal for herself, her power would give her a step by step path to achieve it, from something as mundane as making herself an excellent cup of coffee to the one that had consumed pretty much her entire life since she obtained it as a child: making sure at least some of humanity on the myriad alternate Earths would survive the coming apocalypse. Which made the current situation somewhat… odd, to her.
For decades she'd become nearly a drone, simply going along the path her power directed without really needing to actually think. She just said what her power directed her to say, moved as her power told her to, and basically acted on autopilot. So now… "The Path is gone." She said, a mingled sense of joy and despair in her voice. "It started becoming more and more unclear several months ago, but by now none of it remains." She continued, explaining as Rebecca began to look more and more apoplectic. "I can still Path other things, smaller things, but the Path we were on is no longer visible. I… I don't know what to do…" She said, a sense of wonder in her voice at that last admission.
The fury in Rebecca's face suddenly fled as she slumped into a seat, her gaze hollow as despair began to take over her features. "So it's over. We've lost." She said bleakly. "After everything we've done, the atrocities we've committed, we no no longer have a way to win. I sold my soul, and for what…"
Doctor Mother set the report back down on the table and looked down at the woman sternly. "We do not know that we've lost." She said. "We've lost Contessa's visions, but that doesn't mean all roads lead to doom. We've known that certain entities are blank spots to her powers that she has to model around, such as Zion and the Endbringers. I believe whatever is causing this is similar, perhaps a recent trigger. We just have to find out what it is and go from there." She gave Rebecca a hard stare. "I have damned my soul as well, Rebecca, and I refuse to let it be for nothing. Till such a time as we are defeated, I will continue working on the assumption we can still succeed."
Rebecca gazed at the table for a few moments before taking a deep breath and nodding. "Right. We've gone this far, we might as well continue." She got back up and began to leave. "I need to go contain this. We'll discuss things further afterwards. Door to my office." She said, prompting another opening in space to appear and stepping through.
Contessa got up as well, prompting Doctor Mother to turn to her. "Where are you going?"
Contessa considered that. "I don't know…" She said, still sounding awed at the words leaving her mouth. "Maybe… I'll get some ice cream. I don't think I've ever had any just for pleasure…" She said before leaving through her own door, leaving Doctor Mother to sigh and rub her face before picking up the report and retreating to her office.
"So why exactly are we in Cincinnati?" Ruby asked as she walked through the streets of said city with her teammates, doing her best not to pay any mind to the people pulling out their phones to take pictures and video of them. Thankfully she had some decent experience at that by now.
Alice, who was leading the group in her cape persona of Doctor Wonder, smiled as she spoke. "We're here because Dragon says there is a company here she knows that might be interested in buying spider silk from Imperatrix, especially now that we've gotten her some Darwin's Bark Spiders. We thought it would be a good revenue stream for her, and it would boost the Unbound's profile."
"And what does this company specialize in?" Taylor asked as she walked with them, not having as much success at ignoring the public as the others.
"Self defense items for the civilian sector." Alice said reassuringly. "We don't plan to get into military contracts or anything of the like due to the fact that even if you worked on production nonstop you wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand, but a smaller provider that sells to security companies and the like should be much more doable."
"I thought Parian was planning on buying some." Taylor said in response.
"And we will still sell to her, but I highly doubt she'd need all that much even with high demand amongst her client base, being a single designer working on custom orders." Alice said with a smile, making Taylor nod in understanding.
"Ok, that answers why she's here, but what am I doing here? For that matter, I'd expect Nevermore or Relic to be the ones taking point on this, not you. This doesn't seem like your kind of thing." Ruby said.
Alice hummed. "You're here because Nevermore has indicated that he wants you to start learning to take up more leadership duties, since both you and Paladin have good potential in that field." She said, prompting Ruby to blush. " And Relic has some things to do in her day job, and despite the front she puts on during said job, she isn't actually comfortable with this kind of work. She's only really been doing it because she's the best option as far as optics are concerned. She's the type that would much rather be out playing Indiana Jones than what we have her doing. Cortana takes care of most of the actual work. So we don't force her to do it if she doesn't have to." She said, speaking obliquely since they were in public. "And I have Nevermore doing some relaxation therapy to help him deal with recent events and the unique thought process he has due to his powers."
"What kind of therapy?" A new arrival asked cheerfully as she fell into step with the three girls, prompting people to take even more pictures of the group.
Alice eyed the newcomer before responding. "After certain comments Rose made during a conversation they had a few nights ago, I sent him to a specially vetted facility in Europe." She said simply, not giving any actual details.
"Hello, Mouse Protector. We didn't expect to run into you." Ruby said with a wave, slightly wary. The woman's psyche profile in the file Alice had had Ruby and Taylor read in case they did come across her said that she liked to cause drama for the sake of it, and she really didn't want to give the Independent a reason to cause a scene on a crowded sidewalk.
"Social media is all a chatter about three of the Unbound in Cincinnati." The older heroine said from behind the facemask that hid most of her face, a hood with mouse ears on it making sure everything but her lower face was obscured, her sword and shield strapped to her side, which thankfully indicated she wasn't planning to start a fight. "I poked out of my hole to see if you were hunting anyone in particular. Been a while since I had a good scrap."
"We're not here for a fight." Alice said absently, her empathy picking up something that said they were about to get one anyway. Aggression, amusement, malice, contempt, self loathing… All of them approaching from various directions. One of them was right in front of them, and she froze when one of the main sources of malicious amusement stepped in front of her.
"Well that's no fun." Jack Slash, leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine, said with a smile, his hands in his pockets, looking supremely relaxed. "I mean, we weren't expecting to find some of the newest symbols of hope when we came looking for the Mouse, but it was a nice bonus. Are you sure you wouldn't like to sit down and have a nice conver-"
"Imperatrix!" Alice barked, a biblical swarm of insects immediately descending to swarm Jack, the serial killer not seeming surprised, stepping back as the insects tried to bite and sting him ineffectually, with even attacks at the eyes not doing much damage, the bugs that approached them actually dying.
Bonesaw must have given him some improvements.
Alice turned and ran without hesitation, grateful that the civilians had run like mad when Taylor called down the swarm. She led the retreat as quickly as she could, using her empathy sense to locate and avoid the other members of the Nine. Thankfully the others were following close, even Mouse Protector running without a hesitation or a quip. She obviously wasn't stupid enough to take the godsdamned Slaughterhouse Nine lightly. Even more thankfully, Shatterbird hadn't decided to scream yet.
They need to find an area where they'd be safe long enough for Harry to lock on and create a portal for them to retreat and get reinforcements. Cortana had been keeping an eye on them through their mask mounted cameras and was already sounding the alert.
Alice was abruptly pulled back by Ruby as a wall in front of them exploded outwards, revealing the Siberian there, grinning at them. The white and black striped, fully nude, cannibalistic woman made a show of reaching for them when a bang sounded out, Ruby shooting her without hesitation. There was a moment of shock when the monster that had maimed some of the greatest and most powerful capes to ever live popped like a balloon and disappeared before the group of heroes began to run again.
"What the fuck did you hit her with!?" Mouse Protector yelled in mild shock.
"Nevermore's special 'That Thing Needs To Die At All Cost' round!" Ruby yelled back, ejecting the spent clip that held that single overpowered shot. "He's only made a few because of cost, and I only had one on me!"
"I don't care how much they cost, he's making you a couple million more!" Taylor said loudly and slightly hysterically.
"Imperatrix, are we safe?" Alice asked as they paused in the middle of a parking garage which should hopefully let them see anyone approaching with plenty of warning.
"Just a kid nearby." Taylor said, her mind parsing what she just said before her eyes widened as she turned to look down a row of cars. "Oh fuck."
"Good girls don't curse." Bonesaw said chidingly, the blonde twelve year old looking rather unassuming if not for the bloodstained dress with pockets full of surgical tools. She skipped towards them as horrible mechanical spiders apparently made of human skulls appeared from among the cars and charged them, all the heroes beginning to fight as Alice reached for her earpiece. "Cortana, we need extraction now."
"Portal deployed." Cortana reported as the swirling darkness began to appear.
"Hey, no fair. You can't just leave in the middle of playing. Especially after you made such a mess of my toys. It's not nice." Bonesaw said with a pout as Taylor led Mouse Protector through the portal.
Alice hesitated to follow as Ruby sliced the last spider-skull in half with her scythe before giving an order she hoped wouldn't come back to bite them later. "Rose, stunner on Bonesaw!"
Ruby's face obviously said that she didn't understand, but she didn't hesitate, flipping a switch on Crescent Rose before firing at the preteen, who yelped and tried to dodge before being hit and dropping bonelessly to the floor of the parking garage.
Alice rushed for the villain and picked her up, grateful that her aura boosted her strength enough to make it easy, and began running for the portal as Ruby covered her.
When Ruby started firing at something behind her Alice felt her heart sink and turned her head to see Crawler, Mannequin and Siberian charging at them, the monstrous woman having pure murder on her face.
"Gogogogo!" Alice yelled, Ruby doing as told by leaping back, still firing.
"Close the portal!" Alice screamed as she leapt for it, Bonesaw still over her shoulder, feeling something rake against her back and scratch shallow wounds on her skin, ignoring her aura completely, right before she emerged through the inky blackness and into the Unbound's emergency arrival point, falling to the floor and rolling along it.
John, Chief, Harry, Lara, and every Remnant with a firearm began to pour fire into the portal to buy the second or two needed for it to close. It almost wasn't enough as the arm and snarling head of Siberian appeared through the portal before Harry performed a punching motion at her that forced her back through, allowing the portal to finally close completely.
There was a moment of stillness as everybody registered that the danger was past for the moment before everyone there collectively collapsed with relief.
"Too close." Taylor panted. "Too damn close…"
"I think you're going to have to reschedule that meeting." Ruby said, sounding tired. "Hope we got something worth it out of this mess."
Alice turned to look over at where Bonesaw was laying, still unconscious. "So do I…"
When the Unbound went back through to Cincinnati ten minutes later on a search and destroy mission, the Nine were gone, and they all knew this was only going to get worse.
Hey all! Welcome to the latest chapter, the one that was meant to come out on the anniversary but didn't. Hope you all enjoyed it.
Originally it was supposed to be longer and lead into Leviathan showing up, but it was already long enough and it took me longer to write than I expected, so I cut it in half. I wanted to get another chapter out before the end of the month, since this is still the anniversary month. And I also have to get the patron chosen story updated by the 31st as well, so there is that as well.
Speaking of, thank you all for your kind words regarding this story. It's nice to know it's appreciated, and the amount of you that stuck around since the early days is surprising and gratifying. Thank you all for your support.
In other topics, I have had people tell me that Piggot moving against Sophia as she did in this chapter isn't something she'd do in canon. I was under the impression I'd made this clear earlier, but let me reiterate: I am only following canon if it is convenient for me, and am changing what I want to fit my story better. If you see me doing something that doesn't conform to canon, assume either a) I am well aware of how it contradicts and don't care, or b) I don't know about that specific detail of canon but would do it my way anyway if I did.
I appreciate the feedback but seriously, this is fanfiction. Canonicity is practically never adhered to completely, otherwise it wouldn't be fanfiction.
I hope you all look forward to the next chapter, because I have some surprises in store. The way I plan to end it is likely going to get a reaction. I can't wait.
Now then, time for my usual reminders.
As stated previously, my best friend and their roommate have begun a podcast. Yes, I know, everybody and their mother has a podcast these days, but I beg you to hear me out. It's called 'Two Idiots and a Dog', and they talk about pop culture in general with different shows for different topics. So far they've primarily done 'Idiots on Film', talking about classic or important movies, but they recently started another one called 'Idiots Unleashed', where they just take a topic their Discord members vote on and talk/argue/rant about it without a filter. The latest episode of 'Idiots on Film' was on The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) and their next 'Idiots Unleashed' is actually one I convinced them to do, which is them just discussing/ranting about Warhammer 40K. I'm looking forward to it. So if you're interested, that's 'Two Idiots and a Dog' on most podcasting apps. Please check it out. For me? *puppy dog eyes*
Secondly, I am, as always, truly grateful for those of you who are willing to send a buck or two my way out of the kindness of your heart. It really helped my transition till I started working. I've got a steady income now, and am getting my feet underneath myself, but that doesn't mean your support isn't appreciated. Thanks to you I have more of a cushion to get things I still need or pay essential bills. Like Final Fantasy XIV. (Speaking of, Ryuma Hyurinmaru on the Coeurl Server, Crystal Datacenter, North America)
Of course, let us not forget that you do get something out of it. For each dollar that you donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a vote in my monthly update poll stating what you want to see updated next month. And if what you vote for doesn't win immediately, no worries! Non-winning votes roll over to the next poll, so a fic that only gets a vote a month will eventually win (though it might take a bit, to be brutally honest). Ballad of Heroes and Villains was finally updated not too long ago thanks to turtling the others, after all.
That said, if a fic hasn't won in a long time, I will take it off the poll and update it anyway, like I recently did for No Good Deed, which is now getting some votes since people seem to remember it exists.
So yes, donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a say in what I update. Everybody wins! So that's Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll ends on June 7th.
However, as something new, I have set up a Ko-Fi for those of you who don't want to use Pat A Ron to support me. The only caveat is that it won't count towards any voting, so I honestly don't see it getting much use. That said, it's there for those of you that prefer it. Seeing as I only created it a few weeks ago, please give me any feedback on it so I can make improvements. That's ko-fi dotcom /athanmortis78653 .
I believe that's it. Thank you all again for reading and reviewing. Hope you have a good one. Till next time!