by Louis IX
Check first chapter for disclaimer and global warnings. And since many of my "normal" chapters lack dialog, this one is that… and only that.
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(in the Parahuman Response Team building)"Good morning, anonymous employee manning the reception desk! I'm Zeitgeist!"
"Ooookay. I presume that you're a new cape, girl?"
"Yes! How can you tell?"
"Your enthusiasm alone is enough. Are you here to register with the Protectorate Wards?"
"I… don't think so. I'm here to register as a rogue. I've been told I had to do that."
"And why wouldn't you enter the Wards?"
"It's not really a sign of the times? Most new capes become villains, you see?"
"Why would you follow trends, if that makes you a villain?"
"It doesn't! Or, rather, I don't want to. See, it's not that I'm devoid of free will, but my power is so adaptive that it follows the needs of the society. Hence Zeitgeist."
"What does that mean?"
"It's German for "time-ghost". Or the "spirit of the age" or something. According to mom, professor of literature as she was, the term had been invented by philosophers a couple centuries ago."
"Does it have something to do with the Empire 88? Or Nazis?"
"Of course not! It's not because the name is German that the thought itself is!"
"Granted. Now, what would a philosophical power do, exactly?"
"It depends. It's really variable. But one thing I'm sure of, is that I don't want to be a villain. Mom would have been horrified."
"So, if you are not doing that path, the one with the most capes is to become a Ward, not a rogue."
"You would say so, wouldn't you? As someone working with them…"
"That's them facts, you know. Or rather, the numbers. God (or any Thinker) knows that the current era equates facts with feelings."
"Exactly! And as a sign of the times, I should feel insulted that you'd imply that I don't pay attention to them facts. Or numbers."
"Hm. Perhaps later. Now, if you want further details on our indoctrination… err… induction process (sorry about that, I always mix the two), you can follow Mr Trooper here. He'll lead you to the higher-ups."
"Okay! Thank you! Have a nice day."
"Thanks."
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(in a meeting room)"So. The reception sent me some information, but not all. What's your name?"
"Zeitgeist."
"And your real name?"
"You want me to remove my mask, too? Isn't there against… rules?"
"So you're a recent trigger but you already know this?"
"So you admit you tried to trick me?"
"So you… Er…"
"Ah! Gotcha."
"Well… no. If you want to join the Wards, we'll need your name."
"Why?"
"So that we can smooth irregularities with your civilian identity, for one. That happens."
"Ah. Alright, then. I'm Taylor Hebert."
"School?"
"Winslow."
"That's interesting. Perhaps you'll find a friend here already, then. Shadow Stalker goes there too."
"Shadow… wait a minute!"
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But as you'll be colleagues soon, that's alright."
"I haven't signed anything, yet! And if Shadow Stalker is as the Parahumans Online site indicates-"
"You know you shouldn't believe online sites of information, they're full of lies."
"As opposed to the PRT's own "online site of information"? Yeah, right. Besides, they aren't wrong: Shadow Stalker hasn't changed name or costume from her vigilante days. And if she's a student at Winslow, she's… Sophia Hess?"
"What? It's a federal crime to unmask a Ward!"
"I didn't unmask her, you just did. I was just asking a question."
"It didn't sound like a question."
"It's because I knew the answer already. I saw videos of Shadow Stalker fighting, and moving, and insulting her… preys. I just didn't make the link, before, with how Sophia fights, moves, and insults me."
"What? She'd never…"
"Of course she wouldn't display that level of aggression here. She was on probation, wasn't she? Well, whichever way you want to change things, she made me trigger. Being moments where we're at our lowest, Trigger events have all sorts of exemptions. I might even have killed her without repercussion, then. And I certainly can't see myself working alongside her after two years of bullying, attacks, and murder attempts! Bye!"
"Murder attempts? But… wait… where did she go? And how?"
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(in the lobby)"Hi! I'm Zeitgeist!"
"Ooookay. Are you the girl who came here, earlier? Or her twin?"
"Nope! I'm just here to register as a rogue."
"Not a Ward?"
"If I did that, you'd have a war on your hands. Shadow Stalker made me trigger, you see."
"But… are you going to press charges?"
"I can't bring proof other than myself. And as she's a Ward already, she has the backing of the government. As such… rogue."
"Alright. Here are the forms."
"You have them already?"
"Of course. You can fill them on your own free time, and be tested for powers when you file them."
"Not today?"
"Have you seen the size of the packet? You'll have to fill everything, and also bring the required documents, too. Especially if you want to make a job out of it."
"Not right now, thank you."
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(days later, in Piggot's office)"You wanted to see me, Director?"
"Yes, Armsmaster. I need your thoughts about Shadow Stalker, especially in light of the last rumour that she made someone trigger at her school."
"I heard. I investigated, of course. Winslow doesn't have electronic surveillance equipment, so I went myself."
"You went there instead of calling her liaison officer. Why?"
"I couldn't reach her. When I investigated that, too, it appears that she died a couple months ago. And we still receive regular mails saying that everything is good regarding her charge. I suspect she had automated the mail and used her time and salary as vacation."
"You went to the school with your armour?"
"No, I didn't. It's too conspicuous, for one thing. I thought about making an elaborate lie about being a parent, or a repairman, or something else… but there was no security guard. People come and go as they want, in there. It's both a recruitment platform for all the gangs, and a drug delivery area. And consumption, too."
"What about the teachers?"
"Half of them partake in the drugs, the other half don't want to make waves. And that includes the Principal. She knows Shadow Stalker is a problematic student, even suspects her of many wrongdoings, but she won't say anything."
"How do you know?"
"The lie detector, with a screen embedded in fake glasses. As well as Dragon logging everything and helping me through an ear communicator."
"The PR team wants the girl out, but they hesitate because of the possible fallout. How can we salvage the situation, you think?"
"I had the same question earlier, and we did some simulations, with Dragon. Best bet is to offer the girl a tour of the PRT facilities, nation-wide. We do that, sometimes, when promising Wards reach seventeen."
"True. It allows them to experience other places and teams. But it seems counterproductive, in our case."
"Because she'll die."
"What?"
"Her heroic persona, I mean. We will have a fight or two with local villains, and I will arrange so that she'll be seen as dead. In the meantime, I'll sedate her and bring her directly to the Birdcage."
"The cage? Why?"
"She can't go to a normal prison, because of her powers."
"Still, that doesn't mean-"
"Her time with us was probationary, but she didn't even care. And now that we have the whole story, her probation can stop. I should have reacted before, because of the many complaints I received. But I always put them down on personality clashes between teenagers."
"And we all know how these go."
"Yes. In her case, we failed to see further than what we perceived. When we recruited her, she had a known lawyer vouching for her personality, and took it as such. We shouldn't have taken more than a week to see that this was faked somehow."
"You investigated that too."
"Yes. Shadow Stalker saved another girl from the ABB, and ingratiated herself into the family's good graces. The two girls go to Winslow, where they bullied Zeitgeist mercilessly."
"So that was true, then."
"Yes. With my lie detector, it wasn't hard to find the truth among the few witnesses I discussed with."
"You interacted in a human fashion with people? Colour me surprised."
"Well… Dragon helped, again. She found Zeitgeist's situation particularly worrisome."
"Explain."
"For the girl. Two years of bullying don't generally transform teen people into sane adults. And, given her suspected powers, we'd rather have her with us than against. Even if we can't do anything about it."
"Again, explain. What is her power?"
"As far as we can establish, she's a Master / Thinker. Her Master ability creates projections of herself, with various powers. Mostly Brutes and Strikers, with a few Blasters and Shakers. Given that some reached as high as 7 on their respective scales, we gave her that level for her Master part. The Thinker part is a precognitive that allow her to manifest her projections anywhere they are needed."
"…what?"
"In her civilian identity, Zeitgeist is Taylor Hebert. But when Taylor Hebert is threatened, Zeitgeist manifests and deals with the threat. When friends and family of Taylor Hebert are threatened, Zeitgeist manifests. If I try to put in place a plan to remove her to keep Shadow Stalker with us… she manifests."
"She did?"
"…yes. She appeared in my lab right as I was writing the first mail of that plan. And another Zeitgeist appeared near Dragon. From what I gathered afterwards, they struck a friendship, and Zeitgeist later appeared just as the Dragonslayers tried their own plan to kill Dragon."
"And?"
"They were three fanatics with power armours granting them Dragon-level offensive capabilities. She was alone. They submerged her in firepower. She took it all, and destroyed them."
"Why are you telling me this? You know what I'm required to do, now, right? You know that any mention of power level and threat assessment imply that a plan will be made to get rid of her if she ever turns into an enemy. Right?"
"That's why, despite having known this for a couple days, I haven't committed them to the PRT site. And you shouldn't either. I happen to like working with you, even if our view don't align all the time. Some contenders for your seat would be worse."
"…thanks."
"Look at Calvert, for instance. The minute he learnt about her existence, from the moles he had here, he called Tattletale. She collapsed where she was, in a little café, when Zeitgeist appeared next to her. And Calvert was exposed as Coil only a couple hours later."
"That was her?"
"We didn't say so, because acknowledging her helping us would put her in the villains' sights, and we aren't ready to deal with a Brockton Bay devoid of villains. Despite their villainy, the Empire and ABB care for their own."
"Speaking of the devil… her name, isn't it German?"
"German, but not germane to the situation. The Empire seems not to know about her, despite Victor's situation."
"What about him? Isn't he in custody?"
"Yes. He was teleported there. By Zeitgeist. And, according to him, she appeared right as he was pulling the trigger of the sniper rifle he was aiming at Daniel Hebert."
"I know that name. Isn't he the Docks' Union man, the one the Mayor always complains about?"
"Yes. And Zeitgeist's father."
"And what happened then?"
"She bit the bullet, quite literally, and spat the parts at him, disarming him… in a quite literal manner. And then he was teleported here. His arms stayed with his weapon."
"How do you know it was her?"
"Dragon told me. Apparently, the girl, in her civilian identity, was having a chat with her, and all of a sudden she said "By the way, I just delivered an Empire sniper to the PRT." before continuing speaking about linguistics. She was home, at that point."
"Why is this important enough for you to tell me?"
"She was five miles from her father's workplace. Victor was a mile away from him. And the PRT building is twenty miles further away."
"I understand. Quite a range."
"Indeed. I wouldn't even throw a rocket her way. Or plan to."
"Hm. Speaking of powers… I guess the projection was flying, if Victor was aiming from a rooftop. Tanking that bullet and spitting it back with that amount of damage… that's Alexandria level, there."
"We don't know. Her projections don't stay long enough to measure all their abilities. In power testing, we stopped at seven, because of two reasons, the first being that we didn't have equipment to deal more – and none of the projections seemed harmed by the attacks, either."
"And the second?"
"Because the last one exploded the machinery. Miss Hebert was apologetic, but my lie detector allowed me to note that she was also annoyed at the thing."
"So that's why…"
"Yes. And also why I didn't write it this way on the report."
"She's going to be the death of me, you know?"
"Not necessarily."
"Explain."
"While I'm not planning to put her in harm's way… I insist on that, for obvious reasons… we can point her at real threats."
"Like… S-class? The Teeth? The Slaughterhouse? The Endbringers?"
"As a rogue, we could have her on some sort of commission for that. She already got something from Dragon, to thank for her help against Saint."
"But that would also complicate matters. Imagine the Butcher with her power."
"Her projections disappear when their job is done. According to Dragon, she notices what they do but not in a first-person point of view. But even then, I'm not planning on her killing the Butcher, just get rid of the Teeth. With enough information, she would also have the proper duplicate to get the Butcher without killing her. And then we'd keep Quarrel sedated. Or at the bottom of the ocean, body transformed into a lead prison, unable to breathe and gain consciousness again, but still immortal. Or in space, whatever. In fact, we could be doing so ourselves."
"Perhaps, yes. What about the Endbringers?"
"Assuming that she wants to help, standing around an Endbringer attack would indubitably summon a few projections to protect her, quite aggressively. Perhaps even heal her. Everyone could benefit."
"Once again, what's preventing the Simurgh from controlling her duplicates? Right, they disappear afterwards. I like her more and more, in fact."
"Should I put you in Master / Stranger protocols, Director?"
"Why, Colin, I didn't know you had a sense of humour."
"I'm sorry Dragon had to pummel it into my thick skull."
"Yes, you'd be. Now, while I might understand everything you told me, there is a final test for this whole situation, and you'd better be there."
"I understand, Director. The Chief Director."
"And the Triumvirate, too. But let's not get too hasty."
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(months later, another place)"Have you heard, Puppy? They demonstrated that Zeitgeist's abilities extended worldwide."
"Yes, thank you, Ethan. I read the same report you did. We have also received information that other parahumans have the same range, even further in some cases. Cases in point: Doormaker and Clairvoyant. They can target other dimensions."
"Still, that's impressive!"
"I'm not denying it either. Looking at how the CUI imploded after they tried to target her, it was… interesting. I admire her restraint in not killing the innocent civilians they surrounded themselves with, too."
"A truly precise application of power, that. Like me!"
"Ethan, please. Don't tell me you're precise. I do happen to live with you."
"Low blow, Puppy. Real low."
"But I agree with your assessment of our local prodigy. What, with her here, and gangs trying to recruit her with threats, and other gangs attracted by the power vacuums they perceived… we have no more villain on the East Coast."
"No more Endbringer either, so no need to have soft policies with overpowered killers."
"I heard that when she got rid of them, Eidolon cried. And not in joy. Apparently, he was the one who called them forth."
"It should have been evident, too: three powers, three Endbringers."
"Well, we can't assume everything from that rule, because otherwise he'd be responsible for the Blasphemies, too. And the Slaughterhouse Nine, during the few minutes where they were three."
"Right! Zeitgeist did quite a number on them, didn't she? When her range was confirmed, she was announced to the public as replacing Alexandria, and even travelled around to deal with "pests" like Ash Beast and Moord Nag."
"True. Her power to summon a projection with any power needed for a situation, it's a godsend. Even if it spelled the end of the Triumvirate."
"Legend is still around, Puppy."
"Yes, but he has voluntarily demoted himself. He was quite enraged against his coworkers, too. Rumours are that he forced them into therapy. With Jessica. As a friend of Zeitgeist's, she's protected from their outbursts."
"It's true that they can become quite violent. We didn't see that coming from Alexandria. All calm and collected, all the time… only to start foaming at the mouth when her status was threatened."
"And the bogeyman she called, too… what was her name?"
"Contessa."
"I don't know how she could have been considered as most powerful, given that she can't perceive anything linked to precognitive Thinkers."
"We know that now, but precogs are still quite rare. It's thankful that Zeitgeist is one."
"Her power wouldn't work otherwise, Ethan. Summoning a defence after an attack would be useless. With Contessa, she had multiples appear, so as to tank the bogeywoman's blows as well as attacking her. And when her Path became unmapable, she collapsed completely."
"And that's when Scion appeared, right? I don't remember things right, after that."
"Yes. Cauldron's head woman, named Doctor Mother, fled through a door through dimensions, when Contessa was restrained, and called for another portal. Flesh started to fill the room, only for Zeitgeist to manifest a clone with teleportation abilities, so that everyone could evacuate."
"And that flesh…"
"That was Scion's girlfriend. Scion was a space whale, too large to comprehend, and his companion died. Feeling her coming into this reality, he arrived quickly, only to find Zeitgeist and the others near the corpse of his love, he went mad. And Zeitgeist manifested a single being in front of him, with the appearance of Eden."
"Eden?"
"That's how Cauldron named said girlfriend. And with her appearance and apparent powers, it seemed that Scion was stopped for a time. And, after a while, he left, and Zeitgeist told us that he intended to find himself another world to become the king of, like she was."
"King of the world? Really?"
"That's what she told us. And she doesn't deny having that kind of power: since that happened, Zeitgeist appears at random places around the world, at random times, to push things along."
"Towards what, you think?"
"Given the girl's willingness towards heroism, I believe it's for our betterment. At least, it's a sign of the times. Let's hope that she doesn't change… or that what she considers our betterment doesn't ends up in everyone miserable, like on Aleph."
"Or dead."
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To be continued… as needed