Emily Piggot
As the head of the Brockton Bay PRT I had faced quite a few challenges and headaches in my time, enough to put a lesser person into an early grave. Three different large scale criminal organizations and countless lesser groups were allowed to do as they pleased with minimal ability to retaliate. A collapsing city economy that drove people who could have been valuable resources to the fight into a state of waste. Most people might have just sat back and let things fall to chaos, maybe try and accept some of the numerous bribes that had been floated to me over a number of years.
For all of my flaws as a person I was not so weak willed to let an impossible situation be the end of me. I hadn't crawled out of the hell that was Ellisburg so that I could lay down and die behind a desk with my own legacy being one of defeat. With what limited power I had in the area I had managed to carve out sections of the city and mark the limited numbers under my command as being able to stand against the worst this shithole of a city had to offer and throw it back.
But watching the Boat Graveyard being juggled through the air like they were balls at a carnival managed to disquiet me more than I felt comfortable showing. The recording of the meeting with this new Parahuman, Thread, did little to relieve my nerves. Yet despite that I managed an iron mask as I brought in every member of the Protectorate for a meeting. They filled in one after the other, starting with Assault and Battery who lead in the recently promoted Triumph.
While having someone who had graduated so recently at a meeting this important irked me, keeping him out just for that wouldn't be responsible. I offered a nod to the three and motioned for them to take a seat. Triumph and Battery looked serious enough given the situation, but Assault was surprisingly relaxed, which seemed strange given he had been as grim as the rest of them when the Boat Graveyard had begun to fly about. Before long Armsmaster and Miss Militia joined in, and with that I activated the meeting rooms blast proof doors and set up a secure connection. At a screen sitting at one side of the table the face of my direct superior, Rebecca Costa-Brown, the chief of the PRT at large appeared.
"Is this everyone who will be appearing today?" the chief asked, glancing toward me.
"This is everyone we can afford to not have out there helping move civilians away from the Dock's before any of the local gangs start getting any ideas." The last thing I needed to add to today was for the Merchants or remnants of the ABB to start getting any ideas about showing that they were strong by attacking civilians. "Dauntless and Velocity along with all of the active Ward's are handling that situation."
She gave a nod to that before looking down at something on her desk. "Okay then, give me the details of the incident and the meeting with the new Parahuman," papers being shuffled could be heard through the microphone for a moment. "Thread."
I sent a nod toward Miss Militia, as she had been the closest to the area her report would be better than anything that a report could give.
For her part Miss Militia closed her eyes for a moment, as if pulling every detail of the memory from her mind before starting her report. "I had been out on a patol of the Dock's to ensure that remnants of the ABB and still active Archer's Bridge Merchants. After two hours I had decided to park my bike so that I could rehydrate and check in with the base to see if I had missed anything. Around this time I noticed the ships starting to disappear from the Bay."
"From the recordings that were sent to me you managed to keep a cool head despite the situation, that is something few capes would be able to manage under the situation." the director offered a rare smile toward Miss Militia before motioning for her to continue.
"Thank you Ma'am," she took a breath before continuing. "The event itself lasted for a combined fifteen minutes from start to end, after which people began to enter the area to observe the now empty Boat Graveyard. A blockade was created to keep civilians back while we set up equipment to study and scan the event before Thread appeared."
"Reports from the equipment we set up in the area and observations by PRT agents show that there wasn't anything set up beforehand hand in order to project the portals, meaning either the technology has a longer range then our equipment has ability to detect or this was done by direct result of a Parahuman power," Armsmaster added.
In other words Miss Militia hadn't missed something or been at fault, and Armsmaster had a history of being the first to point out those who did end up making mistakes. So unless two of the Bay's most decorated Parahumans made a mistake we were dealing with a new Parahuman whose first public action had been to show just how powerful they were by throwing around enough metal to flatten a city.
"I see, after that we have the video footage of the encounter with Thread, so there is no reason to have you recount the entire incident." The director returned her focus to the group. "So, what do we have on this new Parahuman?"
"You mean beyond the fact that apparently she learned how to juggle using fishing boats and wanted to try her hand at a bigger ship?" Assault offered a joke that drew all eyes in the room to him, none more exasperated than his partner Battery who could only let out a silent sigh. "Well first of all, she is probably a kid. If I had to guess probably somewhere between fourteen to seventeen.
That drew up eyebrows across the room, and I wasn't ashamed to admit that my own were just as high as most. "Do you have a basis for that assumption?" I asked, keeping any shock from my voice.
Assault gave a casual shrug and leaned back a bit in his chair. "She apologized before explaining herself," he paused for a moment as if that was supposed to answer things, but when noticing that he was only getting blank stares he sighed before continuing. "Most adult capes will justify their actions first and foremost before getting to an apology, or more likely just end with the explaining part. Kids are more used to having to give apologies even if they are in the right. Beyond that the way she spoke seemed like she was borrowing someone else's words rather than making her own. If she is a full grown adult I'll eat my foot."
That was a surprisingly well thought out argument, and having been forced to work with the children that were part of the Ward's I found that I couldn't directly argue. Well at least before they let their powers get to their heads and became another headache for me at least.
"Well that makes it a bit better right?" Triumph chimed in. "I mean maybe we can talk about bringing her into the Ward's, I know she didn't go for it right away but Armsmaster can be pretty intimidating and it was a pretty tense situation."
Miss Militia sent a look that caused Triumph to lower his head, but he wasn't exactly wrong all things considered. I had worked with Armsmaster for a few years now and while no one would accuse me of being warm and nurturing, the man had the ability to create an awkward environment out of almost any situation with his intense demeanor. "Do you think that is a possibility?" I turned to Assault. While I found the cape annoying as hell to work with and trusted the former villain about as far as I could throw him, he was the one to come up with the theory.
Assault considered for a moment before giving a so-so gesture. "We could probably float the idea for cooperation, but the only reason a kid probably wouldn't jump at a chance to join the superheroes when they already planned to help out is either arrogance, and with her power I wouldn't exactly say that was impossible. Or…" he paused for a moment as if considering.
Battery turned to him and let out a small sigh. "It's possible she has already been burned before by trusting the people in charge in her life."
That made a bit of sense, every Parahuman had a sob story about where they came from, after all powers triggered from high stress points and without proper intervention the amount of people who bounced back and decided to help others were few and in between. It was why the PRT kept an ear to the ground in relation to abuse cases in minors that might have been linked to possible triggers. Things still fell through the cracks but it was better than nothing.
"Regardless of the how and whys we have a powerful parahuman running around the city without any supervision, if she is a kid that only makes things more difficult," I cut off any further discussion of the matter before anyone at the table decided to put themselves in the girls shoes. We didn't have time to feel sorry about a possible tragic story when people could be in danger. "What is the official response for this?"
The director considered for a moment before shaking her head. "The removal of the Boat Graveyard is being heralded as a necessary action, and the fact that said removal caused no damage and made a flashy display there is no one willing to argue the fact. There might be some companies that haven't fully defaulted yet that can have some claim over the ships, but I doubt any of them will step forward. Beyond that the water of the Bay seems to be cleared as well with whatever ability she has, the place should be a wasteland of leaked chemicals and fuel but from initial reports there aren't even traces of chemicals."
I couldn't help but curse in my mind, Thread hadn't just managed to pull off an impressive display of power but had managed to cover her bases in such a way that we couldn't even use negligence as a bargaining tool. Before I could speak again the director suddenly looked away, a flash of something crossing over her normally stoney expression.
"I have to go, send me transcripts regarding the rest of the meeting and keep me informed." with that the image cut out.
"Well she was in a hurry to go," Assault said casually, earning an elbow to the ribs from his long suffering partner. "Fine, fine."
This day just kept getting better, still they needed to hit the important bit of this meeting. "Let's get back on topic, we've talked about personality now let's talk about possible threats." with the director goine I linked to the screen and brought up an image of each known or suspected 'doll' that had been used in relation to Thread.
The small homeless looking puppet with metal teeth, taken from security cameras that showed it biting into one of Squealer's vehicles, the black nun doll fighting against Hookwolf, and finally the angelic doll that had floated her down in front of the Dock.
"These are the known tools at her display, for now we will follow the name scheme she provided and call them 'Doll's'," there wasn't much of a better name for them and it didn't really matter to me a lick. "Thoughts on them?"
The assembled heroes went quiet for a moment, occasionally a whispered word spoken to one another as they got their thoughts in order.
"How about we start with the small one," Triumph pointed toward the smallest Doll of the bunch. "It managed to hold onto Squealer's vehicle even when they tried to throw it off, so low ranking Brute, its teeth managed to bite through solid metal and then ejected it as a liquid slurry hot enough to mess with other parts of the Tank. Striker or Blaster?"
"Let's say Striker for now, low Brute mid-Striker," Miss Militia moved over to the angelic Doll. "We don't have any information regarding that one, but it might have a Master power."
"Might?" My voice was hard and for good reason. Master and Stranger powers were two of the most dangerous amongst the classification of abilities, and it would also set the tone of future encounters if there had been even an attempt to Master a PRT hero.
Armsmaster chimed in for his fellow hero. "The Doll itself radiated an intense pressure that managed to put both of us on edge. However the effects weren't consistent with most known Master abilities. It might have been more akin to a fight or flight response." his voice sounded annoyed but controlled, it would make sense that the cape most known for a strong hold on his emotions would be bothered by admitting to something as base as fear.
"Beyond that possible Mover for the wings, but we only saw it float down, so they could be ornamental. It's the one we know least about." Miss Militia finished off.
"I'll throw my hat in and say that it probably wasn't the one that made those portals," Assault added in. "Doesn't match the vibe, and if it did, why wouldn't she just make a portal instead of floating down?"
Which left us with the only remaining figure, the nun. "High ranking Brute, it took direct hits from Hookwolf without flinching and could dent and rip apart his metal form. Low rank Mover under that for its speed and reaction times." Battery glanced toward it for a moment before letting out a small breath. "Which leaves Thread herself, I'm guessing high ranking Tinker?"
"At the very least," I responded, bringing up a photo taken from the scene of the Bay. "Possible Mover or Stranger ability given how she disappeared. "For now assume her to be a Tinker with access to an unknown number of Tinkertech weapons."
No one had anything else to add, and I rose from my seat. "Okay, for now we will keep things calm with this new rogue, don't go out of your way to engage unless you're sure that you can make a positive impression. If she steps out of line, take her down fast before she can use any of the Tinkertech weapons," Assault looked like he wanted to say something, but I leveled him with a stare and he simply raised a hand in surrender. "Dismissed," they began to rise before I turned to Armsmaster. "You stay."
The rest of the group made their way out, and once the door shut I turned my full focus back to him. "What do you think?" As the resident Tinker within the Bay he was the one I would trust most in these situations, and the least likely to let his actual thoughts slip during a meeting.
"She is dangerous, if we aren't ready to bring her down then we should probably wait. If we have the slightest hint that she might turn villain I recommend a full deployment of Protectorate forces and possible calls for backup." Armsmaster spoke without hesitation.
"You think it might be that bad?" I knew the man wasn't one to speak without putting his full thoughts behind something, but even with Lung his initial responses were either retreat or a quick takedown. Full mobilization was a step beyond what he normally would ask for.
"We have no basis for the Tinkertech she is using or what its limits are. The closest we might be able to have is Dragon." Armsmaster answered.
"Shit," I let a small amount of exhaustion into my voice. A rogue Dragon with possible hostile intent would warrant that sort of response. "Keep that under wraps for the moment and prepare any countermeasures you can think of, I'll divert some extra funds to your lab." He was the one who had managed to bring down both Lung and Oni Lee after all. I hated having to rely on any Parahuman, but one made due in times of crisis.
Alexandria
As one of the minds behind Cauldron and one of the three most powerful heroic capes in the world I had faced quite a few challenges and headaches in my life, enough to put most people into an early grave. Between the ever looming fate of the Endbringers and the Entity there was never a moment that I didn't feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. However the moment I received an emergency communication from Cauldron a spike of dread tore through my body. I changed into my uniform and doored there as quickly as possible, only to find a surreal scene waiting for me.
Seated around the table where so many meetings that decided the fate of the world were Doctor Mother, Number Man, and Contessa, though the latter was being held by Doctor Mother in the throes of what appeared to be a violent migraine. Along with the members of Cauldron was an old man in a tan suit, a hat by his side and calmly drinking from a cup of tea. Behind him stood a tall figure dressed as a maid with a veil over its face, calmly pouring a cup of tea before moving it over to Number Man, who took a drink.
"What's going on here?" my hands curled into fists as I prepared for a fight, with my speed I could have the unknown man's throat in my hand before he could blink even with the table in the way.
Number Man held up a hand and turned to her. "I would advise against that," his voice was deathly calm despite the unknown intruder in their midst and the obviously anguished Contessa.
"I apologize for my rude entrance into your place of business, I really didn't mean to stir up a fuss," the man spoke kindly and motioned toward the figure behind him, which procured another cup from somewhere and poured a cup of tea, setting it down in front of the chair before me. "That being said I'm not opposed to violence if others engage in it, but it would be troublesome to have to both fight you and protect your friends here from the aftermath, so I would much rather we sit and discuss things like adults."
His confidence gave me pause for a moment, there weren't many people in the world that would hold themselves so confidently against me without any hint of worry toward their own safety. I had very carefully managed how people thought of my heroic identity, often times just the idea of Alexandria was enough to give pause to villains, which meant I was either dealing with someone overconfident in their abilities or who legitimately thought they could match one of the three strongest parahumans in the world.
Given he had managed to infiltrate Cauldron I had my doubts about the former idea holding water.
"Fine," I pulled a chair and sat across from him. I would have to buy time until Legend or Eidolon could make it. Of course given their lives it was possible that they were trapped in situations that wouldn't allow them the luxury of being able to drop everything, or even notice the distress call. "Who are you and what do you want?"
The old man took a slow sip of his tea and made a hum of satisfaction, one that was shared by Number Man. I noticed another two cups by Doctor Mother and Contessa, but they were untouched. "My name is Stetson Aegis, well at least that is what I am calling myself at the moment. As for why I am here, well on that count I was just following the strings and found myself here. It seems your friend," he nodded toward Contessa. "Was caught up in my attempts to burn the world's script, for lack of a better analogy."
My brain kicked into overdrive and the world seemed to slow. I ran his name through my mind and pulled from all Parahumans known both publicly and only to Cauldron. But the list of Parahumans that made it to an age like his were few and between. The idea of him being a new Trigger was laughable, he was displaying confidence not arrogance in this situation. Which meant she was dealing with an unknown Parahuman with the ability to easily break into the most secure location available to them and sit there without a worry.
"What do you mean by following the strings?" Doctor Mother spoke up, having finally gotten Contessa calm.
Stetson's eyes turned to the doctor before answering. "Removal of free will by way of predetermination, your friend most likely suffered a shock as a mass amount of chaos was injected into the world and shattered any and all long standing plans. It's likely the winged one in space will be experiencing a macroscale version of what she is momentarily."
That got a look of surprise from everyone in the room, as the only being he could possibly be describing was The Simurgh. "And how did you manage that?" I had no faith in this odd man or his claims, but the evidence of Contessa's condition forced me to ask.
"Oh, I had a graveyard worth of ships turned into chaos emitters, launching them into satellite orbit. Except for one that is going to crash into a mountain," he paused, pulling out a golden pocket watch from his coat and looking over it. "About now. Don't really understand why in the slightest that it ended up going that way. But I've never claimed to understand every action taken by one of the Black Box."
"You're involved with Thread?" he couldn't possibly be the girl who had taken center stage after the events in Brockton Bay, even if he was able to change size and shape there was no hiding the difference in personality.
"My student, a hard working and diligent girl. Still rather unsure of herself, it pains me to leave her to her own devices so early but to be frank I'm going to be spending quite some time putting out the various fires that have been left unattended and then figure out what is causing the sheer mess of dimensional cross tampering." he sighed like an overworked repairman.
It took all of my control not to react to what he said, breaking into Cauldron was one thing, but knowledge of the Entities and Shard's was on another level of danger. All it would take was one wrong move and someone could set Scion off and the end of the world would fall upon all of their heads. That couldn't be allowed to happen.
"Regardless I'm afraid our time here is going to be up," Stetson picked up his hat and put it atop his head. "Do try and keep your heads on straight, if I find you wanting I will have to put you on the short list of fires I need to put out rather than your currently lower standing on said list." he turned to Number Man. "Ah and the account?"
Number Man waved his hand. "Set up, my people confirmed the materials as promised. The funds are on the card and the account is near untraceable. No point in making threats. I'm not in the habit of betraying clients when the numbers all lead to my death for doing so."
"Right then," he turned his back and in that moment I moved with my full speed. Even if he was enhanced or thought he could take them all at the moment his back was turned and I wouldn't miss the opportunity to protect everything that we had worked toward.
However before I could lay a finger on him the odd maid that had been behind him matched my speed and caught my hand in its fist. The pressure of the punch caused the veil over its face to flutter, revealing a metallic face set in a murderous grin, a red oil like substance running from its 'eyes' and into its 'mouth'.
"Fury dear, we are leaving." With that said the maid pushed me back with strength that I couldn't hold firm against without a foothold, and like that the two of them were gone.
I let out a curse under my throat and turned to Number Man, who had simply scooted away from the table before it collapsed. "What account was he talking about?"
Despite the tense situation he simply set down his cup of tea on the floor. "Before you arrived and while Contessa was undergoing her attack we discussed setting up a fund for his student to use, I believe you called her Thread? Regardless he paid in gold and precious gems," the look on my face must have given a hint at my anger and he simply gave a shrug. "Just because we are probably going to have to kill him doesn't mean I have to miss out on a business venture."
It took all of my strength of will not to throw the man into a wall. There were more pressing concerns that would need to be dealt with, and soon.
Saint
As one of the three people that knew the true danger that the hero, or rather AI, known as Dragon, could pose to the world, I had faced quite a few challenges and headaches in my life, enough to put most people into an early grave. Having to operate outside of the law in order to keep the world safe from the horror it could unleash if not kept in check was a constant weight on myself and those who chose to follow me.
Today had only added to the list of events that would have me tearing at my hair if I had any left. It was supposed to have been a simple grab and go operation to get them parts to upgrade their battle suits from one of the machines remote labs. But something had gone wrong, one of the AI's partners from the Guild had been on location and their normal countermeasures had been subverted somehow. It was a humiliating defeat and it burned in my stomach more than I cared to admit.
Dobrynja and Mags climbed out of their own suits, both of them swallowing in breaths of air and looking over their suits. This had been one of their worst missions to date, and the battle scars on their suits were much more than cosmetic this time, while the redundant systems had absorbed most of the blows a few of the weapons systems would have to be replaced, and to add insult to injury I had been forced to eject an arm and a leg from my suit or risk being tracked.
"That was too close," Dobrynja looked at me, and even if he didn't show it I knew the man's eyes were silently judging me. I was their leader and I had told them to not even bother to prepare for combat. While the silent judgment irked me I couldn't say that it was totally undeserved considering just how things had gone.
"I realize, but we can't stay here. One day to bag everything and then we need to be gone," I injected more strength into my voice then I actually felt.
This fallback base was one of the less secure areas that my Dragonslayers had used over the years, mainly a good stop point while moving between different areas to stay one step ahead of Dragon and those that it had managed to fool. It was built into the side of a mountain range that had become near untouchable after an Endbringer attack a few years ago, I honestly couldn't remember which one but probably either Leviathan or Behemoth, unless the Simurgh had become interested in mastering a legion of mountain goats.
Still we had been forced to make an almost straight line here, the jammers would block instant detection from the machine but it wasn't worth the risk of being found. A day to rest and get some minor repairs done and they would burn everything of worth in the place and move to somewhere more secure.
Mags approached me and put a comforting hand on my shoulder, offering a small smile. "We managed to get out, that's what mat-" before she could finish the thought a massive crash rang out through the area, and I was thrown off my feet by an explosive force. When I finally managed to look up all I could see was crimson surrounding the point where Mags had been standing, along with what looked to be a massive boat anchor. All of my thoughts froze in my mind as I looked at the massive hunk of metal, the heat coming off of it enough to turn what had once been a temperature controlled room into a hellish environment. I turned to try and see if Dobrynja had managed to survive whatever had hit us, but the heat was starting to make my eyes fuzz over.
"What th-" my words were cut off as another crash exploded above us, and at least one mystery was solved.
The rest of the boat had followed the anchor.