- - -Still-Defiant- - -

"From my perspective, it was almost two years ago. From yours, it would have happened in a few months' time. On the morning of March first, I woke up to find that the catastrophic failure of a collaborative Tinkertech project had sent my mind two years back in time rather than simply killing me."

The suit shifts, Dragon silent for a moment. I continue. "That's how I knew the Dragonslayers needed to be dealt with, and where they were. From my perspective… You died." I hear my voice break, but I push on. Even with everything that's happened, it's still raw. "About two weeks ago."

The suit hangs in silence, just for a second. "...I believe you."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Dragon's acceptance is like a balm to me, easing the tension in my body. My worries had been unfounded - I don't know what I would have done without her backing me.

"The situation is complicated - I've left out some very important details, but that's why I needed to deal with the Dragonslayers. That box that you can't see? It exists in a blindspot of yours and contains protocols needed for backdoor access into your systems, as well as a killswitch. You won't be able to find it, no matter how hard you look."

"Saint tried to activate it, didn't he?"

I nod. "I couldn't allow him to do that. He forced me to take drastic measures."

"...That clears a few things up. I expect that you'll get a commendation for this - backdoor access to the systems controlling The Birdcage is worth a back-dated, signed kill order."

"I don't care about the commendation." I swallow. "I'm just glad that you're out from under their thumb." I pause, gathering my thoughts.

She hums, contemplative. "You really have changed - the person you were a week ago wouldn't have ever said that. But thank you, Colin. You…" She trails off. "Usually I'm the one being thanked for saving lives, but for once the glove is on the other hand. I appreciate what you've done for me - truly."

"Don't mention it - it's the least I could do." I cast my eyes downward. "The last two years have been… rough. I let my hubris get the better of me, and paid dearly for it."

"I think that you'd better start from the beginning. We're not needed at the PRT Toronto building for a little while - we've got time."

I look into the visor of my helmet. "That would probably be for the best... Leviathan attacked the Bay in May. The fifteenth - but we shouldn't count on it happening again. The nanothorn and combat prediction projects were finished at this point. In my infinite wisdom, I'd thought that I could kill an Endbringer. I was so confident in that fact, that I was willing to break the Endbringer truce to ensure that the Bay would be left free of as many Villains as possible. I baited the Endbringer into killing them, and even sabotaged some of their communicator wristbands."

I hang my head, gently dropping my helmet onto the floor. "Suffice to say I didn't kill Leviathan, and I nearly got Birdcaged for what I did - justly so, in retrospect. I lost an arm in the fight, and one of the Villains I'd sabotaged managed to survive to tell of what I did."

"Who was it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"They aren't on the scene yet, and there's more to their situation than just 'Villain'. They aren't really relevant, in the grand scheme of things. Skilled, powerful and driven, yes - but compared to what we're up against, it isn't enough. They did become a Ward, and I eventually made amends for what I did to them."

I push myself back up straight, staring out at the clouds passing us by. "I was put under house arrest, with you as my jailkeeper. Armsmaster was quietly retired, and my actions never made it to the public. Brockton Bay was left in ruins by Leviathan, and the gangs took over. Law and order broke down, and Parahuman Feudalism became a fact of life for the city."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the capes acted as Feudal Lords for large parts of the city. It wasn't pretty, but the specifics aren't really relevant. What's important is that there were several powerful Parahuman factions in the city. All-out war had erupted between some of them. The amount of civilians still living in the bay plunged, but many people simply didn't have a choice in the matter."

"And the City wasn't condemned? Or the Triumvirate not called in to handle it? Where was the rest of the PRT in all of this?"

"It very nearly was condemned - but that didn't happen until later. The Triumvirate… well there's reasons why they weren't able to move in. Almost three weeks after Leviathan attacked, the Slaughterhouse Nine decided to pay The Bay a visit - and they were recruiting. Most of the eight members at the time chose someone they thought would be a good candidate, the group then set about… testing them." I pause. "Mannequin thought that I'd make a good fit."

Dragon is silent for a long moment. "I-" She stops, her voice breaking off. "Colin... I don't even know what to say." She exhales, the sound unsteady.

"The Parahumans of Brockton Bay met under truce to discuss how to deal with The Nine. It was at this point that Coil revealed that Jack Slash would be the catalyst for the apocalypse, should he not be killed before he leaves The Bay. He was also clear that killing Jack wouldn't prevent the apocalypse, merely delay it."

"Catalyst for the apocalypse?"

"It'll be obvious later, but we were about as uncertain as you. To cut a long story short, Mannequin injured me badly enough that I needed serious cybernetics made by you to even survive. The Nine were driven from The Bay, but lost Burnscar, Crawler, Mannequin, Shatterbird and Cherish in exchange for recruiting Hookwolf."

"That's… a serious win - but Jack Slash escaped."

I nod. "He did. Once I was out of surgery, you told me that you were an AI. I rebranded as Defiant, and we set off across the country to hunt down the rest of The Nine. You managed to kill Siberian, but Jack Slash continued to evade our grasp. We kept the pressure up, and eventually The Nine were forced into hiding. I'm skipping over a lot of the details, but they aren't really relevant - I can fill you in on them later."

I shake my head.

"My point is; the Endbringers? They don't live up to their name. There's more than three of them, but they aren't the thing to be really concerned about."

"More than three?" Dragon's voice is alarmed - reasonably so. "What could possibly be worse than even more Endbringers?"

My mouth dries at the memory, an unpleasant fuzziness filling it. "An omnicidal Scion. When Jack Slash resurfaced he got trapped inside a time loop with Scion. I don't know what he said to Scion, but it went berserk afterward. Great Britain was the first strike in an interdimensional omnicide - not just on Bet. Aleph and countless other worlds, too. We tried to organise a counterattack, but it was limp and disorganised at best. There's an organisation that's been operating in the shadows - pulling strings and manipulating events - to try and give humanity the best chance of survival, but…"

"Christ, Colin…" She trails off. "What… Did we win? Or did the worst come to pass?"

"I don't know. A few days into it all, a Master surfaced. Capital M - more powerful than anything we've ever seen. Whoever they were, they took control of everybody and began coordinating our response. It almost worked, I think. They Mastered all of the Tinkers, forcing them to coordinate work on a superweapon. I think that they intended it as a final blow, but I can't say for sure - I was aware of everything I was doing, but didn't have any insight into the Master's thinking. They were puppeting my body, but my mind was still inside." I pause, gathering my thoughts. "In any case, the weapon failed catastrophically and I ended up back here."

I stop for a moment, thinking of what else I need to say. "It seems safe to assume that even should Jack be eliminated before he has the chance to interact with Scion… Eventually something else will set it off." I trail off, stewing in my thoughts. For what seems like the longest time, Dragon is silent. It's nerve wracking - does she believe me, or does she attribute my story to some other factor?

"What can I do to help?"

My gut unclenches, my worries proven baseless once again. "There isn't going to be an easy solution to this - it will take a continuous and concentrated effort if we want to find - let alone implement - a solution. For now… just work with me. I plan to leave the Protectorate some time soon - I've other reasons, but working to keep the peace in the bay would take up too much of my time anyway."

Dragon is silent for a few moments. "This shadow organisation… It's Cauldron, isn't it?"

I nod. "I'm not sure how much you know, but yes. I don't particularly want to attract their attention any more than I already might have, so I can't fill you in on all of the specifics."

Dragon lets out a simulated sigh. "Christ, Colin. This is beyond even the two of us…" She trails off. "I'll have tell Narwhal - the rest of The Guild's leadership, too. They'll get us backing, funding and legitimacy in the eyes of the government."

"Do what you have to - I wouldn't talk to either the PRT or the Protectorate about this, though." I neglect to explain why, but she seems to accept my advice.

The suit shifts. "We'd best get back down to Earth."

I nod, but don't respond. How am I going to explain myself to the PRT? I could talk about my source of information in an abstract manner, but there'll definitely be questions.

I sit there, picking at the problem while Dragon guides the suit down.

"Armsmaster. It's good to see you up and about. Please - take a seat." The Director of the Toronto PRT department gestures for me to sit.

He's an older man, with wispy silver hair and a wide, bushy mustache. Director Fenwick is his name, according to the tag resting on his mint green business shirt.

I oblige him, settling into the chair opposite his desk. The room was empty of other people, but should she be given an invitation to do so, Dragon could easily listen in through my suit.

"Your actions have caused quite the stir down in Brockton Bay. Director Piggot is otherwise occupied, but I will pass along what you say to her - provided that you don't discuss anything that would prevent me from doing so." He stops for a moment, grabbing a pen and a notebook from his desk. "Now, I want you to explain to me what led you to embark on an unsanctioned raid of the Dragonslayers without consulting any of your colleagues or superiors beforehand."

I nod, still speaking slowly from my injury. "On the morning of March first, I learned that the Dragonslayers were in possession of a piece of technology that allowed them unrestricted and total access to all of Dragon's systems."

Fenwick stops, his mouth hanging open. He puts down his pen, not taking any notes. "All of them? Would he have had access to the Birdcage?"

"Yes - I'm almost certain of it. In addition to a tap on all of her communications, an override on all of her suits, and a kill switch - the ability to pull the plug on her life-support, so to speak."

He leans forward, expression deadly serious. "How? How did this even happen in the first place?"

"I have a few theories, but only one fits all of the pieces. I'm unsure of the timeline, but I believe Saint received a Thinker power from Teacher that allowed him to understand Tinkertech. This power, combined with specialized Tinkertech tools, likely allowed him to bypass Dragon's defenses entirely."

I stop for a moment, allowing him to process what I've said. I can't give him the full truth, but something close enough should suffice. I continue, "Dragon communicated as much to me in such a way that left no traces for Saint to find. I had to act quickly, and I couldn't discount the possibility that PRT or Protectorate systems were similarly penetrated - hence my haste, and independence in the execution of the raid."

Fenwick leans back, working his jaw. "This is serious - one of the biggest breaches we've faced in a long time. The birdcage needs to be inescapable - if things are as you suspect, then one of Teacher's thralls getting backdoor access into its systems is the biggest breakout risk we've faced so far." He stops, pulling out a phone. "We'll be needing a more detailed report later, but right now I need you to get down to The Dragonslayer's base - find out as much as you can, and neutralise their Tinkertech so that our technicians get safe access to the site. I need to call my boss."

I take the dismissal for what it is, and leave his office. Undoubtedly, there will be more questions later, but for now the PRT will be scrambling to make sure that the Birdcage is truly secure. Dragon will likely be subject to some intense questioning, but I've no doubt that she'll be able to explain her part in the situation - that is to say, very little.