PRT Discussion
Director Piggot walked into the meeting room closely followed by the Lady Photon and Brandish "I've invited New Wave here because I believe that they have information that is vital to us in regards to a couple of new capes around." She glared around the room "We'll start with what happened with Coil, Armsmaster, report."
"Yes, ma'am." Armsmaster paused for effect "Kid Win, Dragon and I, after consulting with the lawyer about what he saw, managed to create and distribute several devices around the city that detected Coil's power in action. Analysis of where we detected its use led us to believe that he was holed-up in this building here." An image appeared on screen showing an unfinished high-rise.
Everyone leaned in to get a closer look before Lady Photon stated "I know he's a villain and may not go after the finer things in life but surely even he would prefer to keep the rain off of his head."
"And that shows just how good this building was for his cover." Armsmaster looked over at New Wave "To get a building of this type to that stage of construction requires that the foundations are completed which includes several floors of car-parking which is where his base was situated. As those floors are solid, reinforced concrete they're almost impossible to penetrate even using Tinker tech and Coil had added extra shielding."
"I see." Brandish leaned back "Who's this lawyer that you mentioned?"
"Jack Debonaire."
"The name rings a bell." She paused in thought "Scuttlebutt has it that he does a lot of pro-bono and tends to win. It also rings false but I haven't looked into it."
"That's because it is false." The Director looked more irritated than usual "False name, false history and all perfectly legal as our lawyers have taken great pains to inform me."
Brandish blinked "What?"
"A little unintended consequence of our laws designed to protect the innocent from the retribution of villains." She almost spat "We don't know who he is or where he came from and nor do we have the legal power to find out. Believe me, we've tried."
"Oh. I didn't think those laws could be taken that far."
"Neither did anyone else but that's what happens when a Cape with perfect memory and a logic circuit that makes Tinkers jealous becomes a lawyer."
"He's a Cape?"
"Yes, he's a Cape and the bastard's memorised the entire legal code and can read it back faster than a damned computer."
"Oh, my, that's… um…" She was one of the top lawyers in the city because she could read faces quickly and accurately "So, how did you come into contact with this Super-lawyer?" She paled slightly as the Director's face got even redder.
The Director closed her eyes and breathed deeply "You've heard of the fiasco at Winslow High?"
"Some but not much and most of what I have heard hasn't been verified."
"Well, at least something seems to be going right. This may have bearing on why we're here." She looked meaningfully at the two from New Wave "This goes no further." She paused for their confirmation "At the centre of that is one of our Wards torturing another student. I'd like to say that it ended with the young victim being left in a catatonic state for a week." Their were gasps of shock from the two New Wave leaders "Unfortunately, it didn't. It went on for another three months before we heard about it from the girl's lawyer with all the evidence that he had accumulated, legally via a private investigator, and all the evidence that the girl had recorded as well. Mr Debonaire is the girl's lawyer."
There was a pregnant silence as everyone absorbed that then "If I understand what you've been saying…" said Lady Photon "Then this lawyer can detect other people with powers and, specifically, Coil's power?"
"Yes." Said Armsmaster "He says that he'd always been able to detect people with powers but that this was the first time he'd come across anything like Coil's."
"And how did he determine Coil's power?"
"He was able to see both time-lines when Coil walked into the room."
"What do you mean both time-lines?"
"Coil was able to exist in two time-lines at once. We don't know if he's just observing two or if he's somehow creating a second and then existing in both. When one of the time-lines doesn't go his way he drops that one, keeps the one he's in, and starts another while retaining all the knowledge of the dropped one. One hell of an ability that allowed him to almost always make the right choice." He paused to let that sink in "Now, as far as we can determine, the reason why Mr Debonaire was able to detect it was because there's a localised effect, which we believe to be the two-way communication between the time-lines, around Coil in each of the time-lines that he's… participating in and so when he walked into the room Mr Debonaire was able to to… intercept… that communication up to the point when Coil dropped one."
"Which means that he can be in two places at once. How did you stop somebody like that?"
"With the knowledge gained from making the devices that we used to track him we were able to create another device that blocked his powers and then we simply walked into his building." Said Armsmaster as another image appeared upon the monitor "And then this person, a Vuukahla, showed up, chained him in fire and left him collared so that his power will never work again. Vuukahla was not human."
"Which is where you come in." Said the Director "What can you tell us about Elfin Shadow? We've only heard the rumours so far so we need to know what you know before we contact her."
The two New Wave leaders looked at each other and then Brandish said "We can confirm that going to her place removes a person's power, that that removal is permanent as the corona pollentia has been removed and that we've been told that the Undersider's lost their powers at the same time as my daughters did." Brandish paused "We can also confirm that their Healer has identified herself as being of the Vuukahla race."
"So, it would seem that the Vuukahla that I met was just using his race name and not his actual name." Said Armsmaster "Can you tell us how she removed people's powers?"
"We can only tell you what she told us and that is that only people she invites in can get to her place and that she refused to invite in our Passengers. All those that go through her portal without such an invitation are destroyed." Said Lady Photon
"Why would she not invite our Passengers in?" asked Dragon, shocking some as she appeared on screen and spoke for the first time.
Brandish shrugged "She says that the entity giving them out is hostile and she doesn't want them to know who or where she is which would surely happen sooner or later through the Passenger's communication with the entity."
"What does she mean, destroyed?" Asked Armsmaster
"We did clarify that and she said that they would cease to exist but not from any action she took." Said Lady Photon "When we found out our people had been kidnapped we were, of course, looking for ways to get them back and our conclusion was that we would only get them back if Elfin Shadow released them."
"Do you have doubts that she'll do that?"
"No, I don't." Lady Photon stated with conviction "Since Mark has been there we've had daily updates and full access to the same data that Healer is using which we've passed on to our own doctors who are saying the same type of things about Vicky and Amy's health. Everything she's done with Amy and Vicky indicates that she was, and is, concerned for their safety. She admits that taking them at the time wasn't the best move and we've accepted that things at the time weren't… black and white."
The Director blinked "Who is Healer and is he what his name implies?"
"She. Healer is the doctor that works at their clinic, the one who identifies herself as one of the Vuukahla." Said Brandish "It hasn't been confirmed one way or the other but Mark believes that she is a Cape healer."
The Director sighed "Where are all these new Capes coming from and where are they getting their resources? There must be a money trail somewhere. Dragon, can you look into it?"
Dragon nodded "I'll look but I have very little to go on."
"All the Capes that Mark has met while over at Shadow's base have been non-human." Said Brandish
"What I think is more interesting." Said Miss Militia "Is that they don't consider themselves connected to this entity that is giving everyone else powers with what appears to be fairly solid evidence."
"What evidence?" asked the Director
"The fact that if anybody with powers goes there their powers are destroyed. If all of our powers were from the same source I don't think that would happen." She paused in thought "Well, I suppose they're not really our powers no matter what we like to think."
"No, I mean what evidence that they think that their powers come from a different source?"
"Oh, right, because she said that she didn't want the entity knowing about her or her place. To me this indicates that they think that their powers come from somewhere else."
"Which implies that Earth is not her place and probably not the source of their resources." Said Dragon
"That fits." Said Brandish "Dragon, can you put this picture on screen?"
"I can." She said as she displayed a picture of a night sky, sans stars, with two moons.
"An illusion?" asked Armsmaster "Those moons look extremely uniform."
"An extremely good one if it is. Analysis of the picture shows enough difference in the shadows to indicate that they're tens of thousands of kilometres apart with the light source matching the approximate distance to the sun. Such detail makes me wonder why they didn't include impact craters."
"Mark thought that it was an illusion as well especially as he couldn't see any stars." Brandish flicked more pictures to Dragon "Until it rained and a new star appeared that is also visible during the day."
Dragon put all four pictures showing the landscape around where he was up on screen "My analysis of the plants, sunlight and shadows indicates that there's a high probability that we're seeing a real world and it is not Earth. The details are just too good to be fake while the plants resemble nothing known on Earth."
"I see." Said the Director "Do we consider them to be hostile?"
"No." Said Lady Photon "In my talks with Elfin Shadow she's made it clear that she is not against us even if her methodologies and goals differ. She's also presented evidence, often from the PRT's published research, that the entity responsible for producing Capes is actively working to disrupt Earth. For what reason she doesn't know but she says that one of her goals would be to stop that as she considers it an injustice."
"If she's protecting an entire world then that would explain why she's so… selective about who she invites." Said Miss Militia
"She invited the Undersiders in." Stated the Director
"She did, yes, but have the Undersiders ever done anything really terrible?"
The Director glared at her but it was Armsmaster who responded "Not really. Just some minor theft here and there. They were on the radar as they had been making a bit of a name for themselves as professionals but not a priority."
"You're forgetting the bank robbery." Stated the Director
"A bank which they didn't steal from, where nobody got hurt and provided us with the information necessary to stop Coil getting his hands on the world's most accurate pre-cog?"
"Do you know who Regent is?" asked Lady Photon
"Who?" asked the Director somewhat nonplussed with the non-sequitur.
"Regent is one of the Undersiders who's father is Heartbreaker. A young man who broke away from that environment so he could stop being evil." She glanced around the room "Who here would have believed him if he'd strolled into the foyer to hand himself in?" She very carefully did not look at Brandish who had her eyes to the floor. They'd had words before about how she treated Amy, words that had had even more influence since the day Vicky and Amy had disappeared.
Brandish spoke up "Since the bank robbery I've spoken to all of the Undersiders and their tales are all similar. Tales of abuse and exploitation with no help coming from the society that labelled them criminals. Tattletale's recruitment by Coil was, simply put, join or die. These kids haven't had a chance to be anything other than criminals."
"What?" the Director almost shouted
Brandish blinked "It's why I was so shocked when you mentioned what happened at Winslow High. Criminal actions that result in a young girl going catatonic and no one hears or does anything about it? We didn't have their backs when they needed it and then we're surprised when they end up treating us the same way that we treated them."
The Director looked at her "Point taken but I was more referring to the fact the Undersiders worked for Coil." She turned to Dragon "Did we know that?"
"It was speculated about after the information that they gave us that allowed Armsmaster and the group he led to protect Dinah Alcott but we didn't have firm confirmation until now."
"I see. He really was an actual kingpin of villains and we missed it." She tapped the desk "I want a report on what we missed with Coil/Calvert while he was here and what we can do to stop it happening again."
"Noted."
"Now, back to the fact that we seem to being invaded by another world. What do we know about them?"
"Very little." Said Lady Photon "But I don't think that we're being invaded or that they're a threat."
Brandish looked up from her notes "There are a number of coincidences to consider."
"And what would those be besides the fact that they can speak English as if born to it?" demanded the Director
"That would be another one but let me ask a question first." Brandish waited until the Director nodded "Who was the private investigator that Mr Debonaire used?"
Dragon answered "That would be Elfin Shadow."
"As I suspected." She paused "The time-line, as I understand it" She ticked the points off on her fingers
Some four months ago a school girl was left catatonic by the actions of bullies.
About three months ago Mr Debonaire enters the legal scene of the city and starts making waves, becoming a hero for the poor.
A little over a month ago Lung was taken down by Elfin Shadow. That is also the first time that anybody has heard of her.
The day after that the police and the PRT are called to Winslow High and arrest a number of teachers and students after an alert by Mr Debonaire who used Elfin Shadow as his PI.
Two weeks ago Elfin Shadow intervenes in a bank robbery by the Undersiders, prevents a pre-cog from being kidnapped and takes them and my daughters to another world.
My first question is. Where the hell has Shadow been all my life? As a lawyer I need a PI that good and yet she doesn't appear to be available to anyone but Mr Debonaire and even then only in relation to the bullying of a single girl in school. Secondly, who were the children that Shadow saved from Lung?"
Armsmaster was the first to respond "Are you implying that the Lung incident was actually inter-gang warfare and that the children that Lung and the ABB were after was the Undersiders?"
"Perhaps. I have another question. Were Mr Debonaire and his young charge at the bank when the Undersiders started robbing it?"
"Yes they were." Said Dragon as she put the banks video feed up showing the two walking in not long before the Undersiders "In fact, they'd just left here after Mr Debonaire collected Shadow's reward for apprehending Lung."
"Really? I don't know of any lawyer who would do one client's work with another client present especially if that client was a minor. Was either of the girl's parents with her?"
"No, they weren't." Said the Director "The mother is dead and the father works at the docks and couldn't make it."
"And I really don't know any parent that would let an unsupervised minor close to a lawyer. It can get very expensive even if they're working pro-bono as Mr Debonaire has a tendency to do. Which brings me to the question. Is our catatonic girl, Mr Debonaire and Elfin Shadow all the same person?"
"Mr Debonaire and Miss Hebert came in at the same time and their DNA says that they're two different people. Shadow's DNA is different again." Said Armsmaster
"How'd you get their DNA?"
"Elfin Shadow passed me the key to the cuffs that she used on Lung and normal procedure had us analysing the cuffs which revealed the DNA. For the other two we always scan people's DNA when they come in here as both the Hebert girl and Mr Debonaire did."
"What we have of Shadow's DNA indicates that she probably isn't human but we really don't have enough to say one way or the other. Changers that could alter their looks but not their DNA and projections don't have DNA." Said Dragon.
"That… goes with what Mark has said about Healer. The two don't look alike but Healer is taller than Mark's six foot and that's excluding her horns. Throw in her tail and grey skin colour I don't think that we're talking human there either."
"Did she have hooves as well?" asked Armsmaster
"No, she doesn't and when Mark asked she laughed and asked him if he understood how impractical hooves were for a bi-ped."
"A strange observation."
"So, possibly two new species and a new world all conjecturally connected to a girl that may or may not have Triggered." The Director turned to Dragon "Do we have records of any one visiting the Hebert girl when she was catatonic?"
"It's standard procedure to send someone in cases where there's a possible triggering and records indicate that one was sent." Said Dragon as she put up an image of a PRT officer and an MRI scan "A James Tagg and his report is remarkably brief. The entire quote is No sign of a corona pollentia and the catatonic state indicate that the subject has not triggered. End quote. The darker spot, here, is where we'd normally find the corona pollentia."
The Director sighed "Is it normal to have a dark spot at that point at all?"
"The brain is very complex and an MRI scan shows different densities and some regions of the brain always show up darker than others. The lighter the spot, the higher the density. What we see here is within normal parameters for a brain scan on anyone who doesn't have a corona pollentia. The evidence we have indicates a normal girl simply pushed beyond her ability to cope temporarily and throwing her into a catatonic state."
"What you're saying is that we don't have any physical evidence that Hebert triggered but a whole lot of circumstantial evidence that says she has." She looked over to Brandish "As a lawyer, would you take this to court?"
"No. I wouldn't even say that we have circumstantial evidence that she's triggered. Just that she's connected somehow."
Armsmaster spoke up "The evidence may be circumstantial and wouldn't hold up in court but there's enough to include the Hebert girl in an investigation concerning these new capes and her connection to them."
The Director nodded "Keep an eye on her. I want to know everything she does." She looked across the rest of them "Any other thoughts?"
"What are the capabilities that we're seeing?" asked Miss Militia
"From what we've seen so far" said Dragon "Elfin Shadow has a short range teleport, high agility and perhaps some bio-Tinker ability if the anesthetic she used in taking down Lung is anything to go by."
"Elfin Shadow can, apparently, detect a person's psyche and how its acting on the fly." Said Lady Photon "She told us that she could detect Vicky's aura and its effect upon Amy as soon as she paid attention to them."
Dragon continued "If she created a pocket dimension that could either be a Shaker ability similar to Labyrinth or a Tinker using tech to do so. It's most likely to be a Tinker capability though."
"Seems a little large to be called a pocket dimension." Said Miss Militia "From what's been said it may as well be a universe. And what about the new species?"
"The new species could be a bio-Tinker, a case 53, a Changer or possibly a projection."
"Projections don't have DNA."
"True. Continuing on." Dragon paused then threw up the video of Vuukahla taking down Coil "Vuukahla showed high agility when dealing with Coil and then control over fire, or at least energy, when he detained him."
"What about that collar he put on Coil?" asked the Director
"We don't know. Despite how it looks its not fire. It goes through his skin and flesh without damaging it and envelopes his corona pollentia and is, for lack of a better word, eating it. The collar will be gone when it is according to the video of her take-down of Coil."
"So another way to remove powers and, again, without harming the person. Continue."
"Vuukahla was also able to teleport himself and others and to create portals although that may have been someone or something else at their secret base responding to communications. If the latter we didn't pick them up."
"Vuukahla was using heavy armour, almost game like in its configuration, that could throw back what was thrown at it." Said Armsmaster "We don't know its full capabilities but while it threw back the Containment Foam we used we see the bullets that Coil fired strike the shield itself before being deflected."
"More Tinker-tech then." Said the Director "And then there's this Healer. What do we know of her?"
"She runs the clinic and although Mark suspects that she's got Cape healing capabilities he hasn't seen her use any. That said, she's surrounded by Tinker-tech gear some of which she's been making available to the hospitals." Said Brandish
"She can duplicate it?"
"Yes, and its good stuff as well. If every hospital and clinic gets access to it then Panacea would have been out of a job."
"Its too much." Said Miss Militia
"How so?"
"Everything we know about Capes tells us that what a Cape is capable of is either very powerful and narrow or wide and weak." Said Armsmaster "For all this to be happening requires several capes."
Miss Militia nodded her head in agreement then "We seem to be dealing with several Capes with a wide range of abilities and that they all seem to come from a different source than normal."
"And all seemingly attached to the perfectly normal Hebert girl." Said the Director "We need to find them and find out what they're truly up to." The door swung open and Battery entered "What is it?"
"There's two… Elves… walking down the docks and the ABB are moving."
Finishing Lung
Lisa and I walked down the boardwalk while enjoying the sun, holding hands and chatting amiably.
"What's with the ring?" I asked
"Seeing if I could do the same as you with the pendants that you gave all of us while not using your power."
"And?"
"The deflection shields seem to work, power storage is good but…"
"But?"
"Power accumulation is slow. Too slow to be effective."
"How do you accumulate the power?"
"A small, very low power field covering the body of the wearer that directs the energy that strikes it to the ring where its stored in a dimensional pocket."
"Ah, yes, that would be slow. Have you considered using the pocket as the energy source as well energy storage?"
"No. How would that work?"
"In a universe, such as this one where there are many parallel dimensions, there are stresses between those dimensions similar to the stresses along the fault lines in the Earth's crust. Those stresses could be tapped for energy without harming any of the dimensions themselves."
"I'll have to look into how to that." She mock glared at me "Because you're not going to tell me."
"If I gave you all the answers then you wouldn't learn anything." I paused "Still, what brought this on?"
"I was thinking that we could sell them here and then non-Capes would have at least some protection from Capes."
"Good idea especially considering how… blatant the criminals are around here." I looked around "This place isn't as crowded as before, you seeing anything?"
Her face took on a distracted look "Bugs on Lung, Oni Lee and Bakuda show them as being on their way, ETA 2 minutes. They seem serious and have sent most of their non-Cape members on ahead to surround us as well." Aesara frowned "The concentration of ABB members in the local vicinity seems to be what has caused the exodus."
"Good, the less innocents around the better. Some taunting of Lung should give the rest time to get out as well."
"We may have the Protectorate and/or the PRT here to interfere sooner than anticipated as the Director has just been informed and they're mobilising."
"I'll be setting up the barriers once Lung and his associates are within range. That'll keep the authorities and others out until we're gone. Are there any other Capes in play?"
"Not that I've seen. The power detectors on the bugs aren't as good as I'd like though and their range is limited but I can confirm that Lung and Oni Lee are red while Bakuda is blue." I nodded my understanding, the bugs were small and limited to what could effectively be put in them "Lung is in the zone."
"Good. Barriers are up, Uber and Leet's channel cracked, remind me to send them an apology package, and broadcast on. Time to give the rest of the world a show." I pulled Lisa to me and gave her a passionate kiss before whispering in her ear "Are the others ready?"
"They are."
"YOU!" Lung's yell echoed across the road "Time for you to die."
Aesara and I broke from our embrace and I turned to face him "Ah, Lung. I would have thought that someone from a four thousand year old civilisation would have more class than to interrupt a girl on her first date." I paused "Still, I suppose even four thousand years isn't long enough to get rid of the low level thugs."
"I will tear you limb from limb and then feed you your heart. Come, fight me."
"Really? That line again?" I waved my hand and caused the video of our last confrontation to show beside me "The last time you used it it took me little more than a minute to take you down. Doubt if it would take me much longer this time even if you have brought more goons. And I'm still not here to get into a boxing match."
"I don't need my people to get rid of you."
"Then why bring them? Is it just because you want an audience? Moral support maybe? But, then, its not as if what you're doing is moral or just and I suspect most of your people didn't want to be here. You even have to force them to join the ABB after all and to do as you tell them by having you're psychopathic sidekick implant bombs into their heads. You must truly be a weak leader."
The screech that filled the air brought everyone's attention to said sidekick as Bakuda screamed "Let me kill her, my lord, let me have her." She took a step forward before Lung backhanded her
"She is mine. You can play with her toy."
Aesara stepped forward "Does the spoiled rich brat know how to play? Does she know that simply buying powers doesn't make her any better than what she was before? That no matter what powers she has and how many people she kills she's till just a failure."
Bakuda went red with rage as Lung demanded "What?"
"Oh, you didn't know?" Aesara asked "Whereas you went through the worst day of your life to awaken the powers given to you she went down to the café and bought some with daddy's money. Pity Cauldron doesn't give out receipts else she could ask for her money back as it obviously failed to give her what she wanted or needed." Aesara tapped her teeth "But, then, it wasn't her money was it?"
"I got what I wanted. I can think faster and further than anyone. I know every step you can make and in all of them you die." Asserted Bakuda "Even your ability to teleport has been neutralised by my skill."
"Don't think so." I clicked my fingers and Mandrake, in a tuxedo, spinning his walking stick and tipping his top-hat appeared next to me while Satyr, in full aristocratic dress with his tail swishing behind him, teleported in next to Aesara.
"We've moved Bakuda's bomb to base." Mandrake said to me as he turned to the bomber "So don't bother to threaten to blow up the city to save yourself either."
Lung spun and punched her, knocking her to the ground "I told you to get rid of that thing."
"I did, my lord."
"So, you got rid of the first one, as demanded, but then made another?"Aesara shook her head "Such arrogance, such stupidity." She turned to Lung "A weak leader indeed if you can't even keep your subordinates in line."
Lung started to berate his insubordinate again but she was already moving, dodging the anticipated attack from her master while throwing a grenade at Aesara.
With a flick of his wrist Satyr deflected the grenade up so that it exploded harmlessly "I don't think so, bitch, I will be your opponent."
A maniacal laugh escaped from the masked Oni Lee, drawing attention to the explosive teleporter, only for it to be cut short as an arrow pierced his skull from behind. Using the distraction that was the ongoing discussion between us Huntress had removed the only real threat to this encounter going smoothly and then stepped forward, a large cat at her side.
Lung sneered as he shifted to the side giving his remaining subordinate and her opponent room as the two circled each other "Is that how you roll? Too chicken shit to fight openly?"
"This isn't a boxing match, but a fight to the death." Said Mandrake "Bringing about the complete destruction of the opponent is the goal, not scoring points."
"And I'm going to crush you like the bug that you are, pretty boy." Said Lung as he rolled his shoulders, his shirt ripping as his transformation began.
"Pretty Boy is someone else, I'm Mandrake." He doffed his hat "And I will be your opponent." Mandrake spun his walking stick and then held it horizontally before him "Shock." Twin arcs of lightning reached out and struck Lung, one in the chest and one to the legs, lifting him up and throwing him into the building behind him.
"You know" Mandrake said as he watched Regent deflect one of Bakuda's bombs behind her thus forcing her forward into a well timed fist "My goddess has taught me a simple philosophy about fighting. It's if you can hit them and they can't hit you, you win. It's what makes Bakuda the more deadly between you as she can strike from a distance. Although it looks like she's outmatched as well. After all, being able to strike from a distance is really only viable if one can maintain that distance."
Lung roared as he thrust himself out of the rubble, obviously larger than when he went in "Your lightning doesn't affect me, doesn't even tickle." He started running toward Mandrake "And when I get my hands on you I'm going to crush you."
"No effect? I'd call this an effect: Bind." A single flash of lightning reached across the distance between them and wrapped around Lung's ankle. The sudden stop of a single foot caused him to face-plant with the sickening sounds of snapping as his ankle bent at angles that it wasn't supposed to. "Bind." More bindings appeared upon Lung forcing his legs and arms apart while keeping him face down to the street "The mighty Lung brought down simply because he can't move." Mandrake turned to me "He's yours?"
I nodded then stretched out my hand "Chains of binding fire." Bindings of fire wrapped around Lung as I stepped closer to him "Well, for you, the good news is that you won't be going to the Birdcage as only Capes are sent there." I turned to where Satyr and Bakuda had fallen into a simple melee routine of parry and riposte "Satyr, stop toying with her and finish it."
Satyr glanced over my way and nodded as he deflected Bakuda's stick and then struck her in the chest. Bakuda dropped her stick and staggered back, her hands clutching her chest as she collapsed to the ground. A final blow by Satyr left her unconscious upon the ground. A quick cast and my fire bindings appeared on her as well.
I turned to the rest of the Lung's gang that were standing around looking shocked at how easily their leaders had gone down "The bombs in your heads have been disarmed and can now be safely removed but only in this area. If you leave then they're likely to go off until all of Bakuda's other devices have been found and turned off. I suggest that you now toss away your weapons and wait patiently for the PRT or the police to arrest you." I turned back to Mandrake "Lightning cuffs?"
"I took what you said to Satyr to heart and looked for ways to stop people and cuffs work well. The lightning allows me to throw them where I need them while ensuring that I don't need to get in range to be hit. And, of course, they also works as a Taser on most people."
I nodded in understanding "How long can they hold?"
"Depends upon the strength of the person cuffed. In the state that Lung was in when I brought him down they would hold for around five minutes. For longer than that I'd have to set up some power nodes to keep them going." His forehead wrinklde in thought "Didn't he have a ranged attack?"
"He did. He breathed fire but it was low power, easy to avoid and I don't think he'd reached the stage in his transformation where he could use it."
I heard the throb of a large motorbike approaching "Looks like the PRT have arrived. You four head back to base and I'll deal with Armsmaster." Three of them nodded and disappeared in columns of susurrating light. I looked to Aesara and raised my eyebrow.
"I'll hang." She smiled brightly "Maybe we can finish our date."
Armsmaster
Armsmaster stopped just on the other side of my shield. His head moved as he scanned across the now sitting troops of Lung's then he turned to me "What's happening here?"
"We were attacked by Lung and his subordinates and had to defend ourselves. Lung and Bakuda have been trusted up, powers removed and are ready for you to pick them up. Oni Lee has been killed but that really won't make any difference as there just wasn't anything left of him. The rest of Lung's goons are now patiently waiting to be picked up by you and the police."
"What do you mean that Oni Lee's death won't make any difference?"
"There simply wasn't that much left of him. It appears that his means of teleportation damaged his brain and removed his memories. What was left was less than a chat-bot. There was, quite literally, nothing he could tell you. We'll send you the information we have via my lawyer as I don't have it on me."
"This seems like it was a set up which makes the killing of Oni Lee murder."
"Nope. Me and Aesara were here on a date, which we'd really like to continue, and they attacked us. We were only acting in self-defense." I glared at him "And besides, all three had kill orders on them after the damage and death that they've caused recently which means that we would have been fully justified in simply killing them. My lawyer will be authorised to pick up our rewards."
I could feel Armsmaster's eyes narrow behind his mask "For someone out on a date you seem to command a lot of firepower."
"I suppose the same could be said about Alexandria or, in fact, any Cape. None can leave their infestation behind." I paused for emphasis "Neither Aesara nor I participated in the fight except in the final apprehension of Lung and Bakuda where I used my own powers to restrain them and remove the infestation. Otherwise, we are unarmed as you're devices will tell you."
"Then how did the other people get here so quickly?"
"I said that we were unarmed, not that we were out of communication with the rest of our team."
"I see. They seemed to respond faster than would be expected for people just sitting around."
"Who said that they were sitting around? We're a new team dedicated to bringing justice to those who need it. As such, we have a lot of training going on."
"Which again raises the question of how fast that they responded… you have this going out live?"
"Of course. Citizen journalism is a thing especially since the advent of phones with cameras and internet." I paused "As for how fast that they responded… well, they are a well trained quick response team."
"Can we pick up those that you have… apprehended?"
"That's one of those things that we're waiting on. Both the PRT and police can enter the shield and any one inside can exit. For now its preventing the bombs inside many of Lungs henchman from exploding so you'll want to get medical teams here to do something about those or to find and disable any other transmitters that Bakuda set up."
"I see. If we have any further questions?"
"You know where to find my lawyer. Now, Aesara and I are going to finish our date." We turned and started to move off when I turned back "Oh, another point. The entities that are attacking Earth have a genetic memory that Aesara and I have started to decode. We've barely even scratched the surface but I can tell you two things. The first is that they remember everything back to their species' beginning and the other is that they've destroyed many worlds before… including their own."
Armsmaster's eyes narrowed "You're reading minds?"
"No. It's more like reading a computer's memory. As I said, their memory is encoded into their genetics in a form similar to human mitochondrial DNA. Through the Passengers that have infested parahuman's I have access to that memory and can, with a bit of effort, decode it. We're talking peta-bytes of information and so it's going to take awhile."
"Then how could you read Oni Lee's memory?"
"I couldn't but I could detect the damage done to his brain and read his brain function the same way that an EEG can." I glanced over to an impatient Lisa "Any, we have to go. Date an all that to finish." I turned, linked arms with Lisa and walked off.
Uber & Leet
Uber stared at the box that had just appeared on the table in front of him in a flash of light next to a piece of paper. He moved closer but very carefully did not touch either. Once he got close enough he noticed that the piece of paper was a note that read:
Kia ora
Uber and Leet,
I apologise for temporarily taking over your stream but I needed an active one with viewers on short notice. In the box are two 100g bars of 99.999999% gold (legal requirement, not allowed to say pure) as a small gift to cover your inconvenience.
Also in the box you will find two pills (one each). These will remove the powers that you have but give you the ability to become true gamers - if you're game enough.
This is also a final warning. Super villains will no longer be tolerated and I will be delivering justice as I just did to Lung.
Become better people or die.
Elfin Shadow
Uber stared, dumbfounded for a second, then yelled "LEET, get here."
Slaughterhouse Nine
"It seems that… some sponsorships will have to be withdrawn."
Jack turned to where Cherish leaned against the door frame then turned back to the video that the previous tenant of the room had been watching "Yes, well, I suppose it does save us the effort of their sponsorship exams to have the trash be removed before we get there."
"We still going then, Mister Jack?" asked the youngest of them as she sat upon Siberian's lap
"Yes. Brockton Bay is full of possible recruits so a recruitment drive there would likely be successful in replacing our dear departed members even without a list of favoured possibles. And this new team of heroes, these non-humans, has peaked my interest."
Bonesaw nodded "I wonder what makes them tick? Are they any different on the inside? Is their blood red?"
Jack smiled at her "All good questions which I'm sure your art will be up to the task of answering."
"When are we leaving?" asked Cherish
"Hmmm, I think we should stay here the night, as planned, and look for transport in the morning."
"Transport won't be a problem." Said Crawler as he pushed past Cherish "There's a house-truck in the shed."
"And is it as well laid out as the rest of this fine mansion?"
"I didn't look inside but as it looked brand new I wouldn't be surprised."
"I do so like having comfortable transport. Makes trips so much more enjoyable."
Cauldron
Alexandria walked into the room and nodded a curt greeting to those already there before turning to the one who was the centre of their attention "Doctor Mother, sorry I'm late but I was caught up in a meeting that I couldn't get out of."
"Anything important?"
"Yes in a number of ways." Alexandria sat in her seat "The new team that just took out Lung and their apparent easy removal of Powers was discussed."
"We'll need to talk about that ourselves but I get the impression that wasn't the most important?"
"No, it wasn't although the most important also comes out of Brockton Bay. As you know Dinah Alcott is asked a couple of questions per day to try and discover the timing of the end." The others nodded their agreement "Well, that timing has just become a lot shorter than we thought."
"How short?" asked Legend
"A month." Shocked silence met her assertion. "A month is all we have and there's no way we can be ready but there is also hope. The last question of the day, shocked out of questioner, was if it will be stopped and the answer was 100%."
"So…?" asked Eidolon
"A 100% chance that it will happen in the next month and a 100% chance that it will be stopped." She looked over the stunned faces before her "Considering our readiness, despite all our actions over the last thirty years, there's no chance that Scion is going to be stopped by us."
"Then who?" demanded Eidolon
"Her."
Everybody looked up at the unexpected statement from Contessa but after there was no follow through Doctor Mother asked "What do you mean Contessa?"
Contessa took another few seconds before she answered "When the first video of her surfaced I asked myself how to defeat her. The answer was run." She took a deep breath "That answer, no matter how many times I watched the video, never changed. While watching the footage of the take down of Lung and his goons I was quite certain that I could find ways to defeat the four individually but not together. And the answer for her still was, even without her doing anything, run."
Alexandria spoke up "How do we approach her? The way she just outed Cauldron suggests that she isn't going to be friendly."
"Do we even know where she is so that we can approach her." Asked Legend
Doctor Mother stood and spoke to the air "Clairvoyant?" A door opened in thin air and a young man stepped out "Do you know where The Shadow is right now?"
The young man shrugged "No."
"Did you see where she went when she stepped through her door?"
"Yes."
"Where did she go?"
"Outside."
"Outside where?" demanded Eidolon
The boy cringed away from him and Legend spoke up "Eidolon, you're scaring the boy and…"
"I don't have any time for this. Let me know what you decide. Door." A door appeared and he stepped through and was gone.
There was silence then Doctor Mother spoke "He's too impatient." She turned back to the young man "What do you mean by outside?"
With the threat gone the boy straightened up "I can't see where she goes, I just know that she goes Outside."
"Thank you, you may go now." He nodded and stepped through another door "I wonder…" she trailed off as she stepped behind her desk
"What are you thinking?" Alexandria asked
The Doctor sat down "We've always assumed that all the universes were the same as this one with some change that split them some time in the past. What if we were wrong?"
"Wrong, how?" asked a confused Legend
"Wrong in assuming that all the parallel Earth's were different universes. What if they're different dimensions of the same universe?"
"Meaning…?"
"That when Clairvoyant says that she's going Outside that she's not just going to another dimension in this universe but to a completely different universe. One where there isn't even an Earth."
"One that he can't see to. One that I doubt Doormaker could make a door to." Alexandria said "Which probably explains the reports that only those she invites can get to her place… and she can't be defeated… Oh my god. Her PLACE is another universe."
"Which would mean… Oh, I see, yes."
"Clue a guy in here…?" asked Legend
"We're not dealing with a Cape." Said Contessa as she looked toward him, her gaze full of meaning "We're dealing with a god."
