A Waken 10.8
"Thus far," Veda explained, "Calvert seems to be investigating the mystery of Ms. Buckingham."
"Ms. Buckingham is a woman of many mysteries," Lafter mused. "And many hats. Preferably fedoras."
We let Ms. Buckingham make a few more appearances in the morning. Lafter added a hat to the visage. A one off appearance might be very strange, even suspicious. A few sporadic rumored appearances with no pictures to confirm on the other hand?
Well, we got some weird results with that.
"The matter seems to have alarmed him rather significantly," Veda said. "I am not certain, but I believe he has contacted both the Elite and Accord in the past twenty-four hours."
"Fishing for who is snooping around Brockton Bay," I guessed. At least that part of the plan was holding. "We have him spooked."
That was unexpected.
I knew catching Coil turned out too clean and neat. I didn't expect to find Calvert operating a network of informants and contacts with the exact same set up as Coil. No. Not exactly the same. Just the same.
It couldn't be coincidence. Calvert and Coil worked together, and closely. He figured Murrue and I would find something and gave up Coil's end. Calvert even continued communication with the Empire, all but confirming my suspicion that they'd aligned with Coil and the Undersiders somehow.
Sloshing waves sped by beneath me. Exia's particle trail illuminated the sea. It can be surprising how high waves at sea can get. Not building high, but high enough they'd swallow you whole.
Kind of eerie to think about with Leviathan swimming around.
"And the Undersiders?" Dinah didn't get blanks for any of them. I took that to mean they weren't pets, but they were in Teacher's employ however indirectly.
"They are planning some kind of heist," Dinah revealed. "That's all Aisha would say."
"Right."
I didn't exactly not understand.
Grue was a villain, but he was her brother. I'd always been content with the idea of leaving the Undersiders free. I'd stop any robberies or oppose any crimes but the Undersiders didn't warrant the same level of ire I directed at the ABB and the Empire. Even my personal loathing of Tattletale had turned out to be something of a crock.
Not so sure I could leave them be now.
Even if they weren't pets, they were assets Teacher knew and might continue to use. Especially if I got rid of Coil. They made prime candidates for continuing to make the PRT look bad.
Between Hellhound's dogs, Grue's mist, Sovereign's master power, and Tattletale's maybe-she-earned-it arrogance the four of them made for a capable team. They had everything. Grue's power blocked my sonic cameras and those dogs could probably give a Gundam a good run. Sovereign could easily take hostages or remove people from a fight.
Yeah.
The Undersiders couldn't be ignored now. I needed to deal with them. Break them up and keep them separate. Maybe see if any could be flipped. Grue might come over to my side if Aisha talked to him. I wasn't so sure about the other three, though my check into Hellhound's background was enlightening.
"Keep watching," I said, despite knowing I didn't have to say it. "I'm going to have my meeting and I'll be right back."
In other circumstances I'd reschedule, but I didn't want to lose my chance. I didn't know Teacher's plan and fuck him. He didn't dictate the terms of engagement.
My plan needed to keep going forward.
"Green?"
"In position, in position!"
Let's see how many birds I can get with my second stone.
Ideally, I'd reschedule my meeting in Boston. Calvert took priority. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to reschedule. Part of me worried if I tried Purity would get antsy. She said she was turning over a new leaf and she seemed to mean it in terms of actions.
I doubted she was ready to start trusting heroes at the drop of a hat though. She was still a criminal. She just happened to be more convenient out of a cell at the moment than in one. Pragmatism at its finest.
I landed on the roof of the Boston PRT building. Armstrong, Recoil, and two troopers were waiting as my suit knelt and the chest opened for me to exit.
"Newtype," Recoil greeted.
"Recoil." I ran out of questions before clearing her but oh well. I still couldn't check everyone. "Director."
"Welcome," he replied. "I appreciate you keeping my life interesting."
"Sorry." I narrowed my gaze behind my visor. "Calvert sent you the details?"
"Yes." Armstrong nodded to Recoil. "It's no problem."
"We'll take a car out of the parking lot." Recoil held a hand toward the rooftop elevator. "Purity will be waiting at the location you two arranged."
"How have things been lately," I asked as I followed her.
"Rough but nothing like before Leviathan," she answered. "No more Teeth. No more Damsel. Accord is in the gutter and Blasto is still Blasto. Whole bunch of upstarts running around starting shit but they're not too bad."
"Improvement then," I gathered.
"Yes," Armstrong answered. "Legend finally gets to stay home with his husband."
"We have things under control," Recoil insisted. "Purity has helped. She's kept her people in line." Good. "She's still a villain, you know."
"I know." Given her targets, I surmised she was still racist too.
"Just checking."
We crossed the roof to the elevator. I stopped for a moment to look at the city. The lights were back on. A few dark spots stood out. The river seemed a little too wide in the night. Leviathan destroyed most of those buildings during the battle. Suppose it would take more than two months to rebuild.
Still, the city looked alive. Scarred but alive.
"We have a car ready," Armstrong said. "Recoil and two troopers"—he nodded to the pair behind him—"will go with you."
"I can handle myself." I swiped at some bug that kept insisting on butting into me. "Do you have some specific concern?"
"Purity has thus far been true to her word," Recoil noted. "But it would be foolish to extend that to Crusader, Night, and Fog. Especially the last two."
"The Empire's old assassin team," I noted. More like the murder team, maybe. "I know. Have there been issues?"
"Reputation," Armstrong stated. "Purity has made a show of wanting to turn over a new leaf. The other three have gone along with her but they've been quiet. We're not sure how committed any of them are."
Recoil nodded, adding, "I'd be most worried that one of them is still talking to Kaiser and the rest."
"Not something to worry about for much longer." I glanced back at Armstrong. "Is the PRT changing its position on them?"
"No. We have bigger concerns than a villain wanting to go ex-villain. But I would like to emphasize that ex-villains are still villains from a legal perspective."
They really wanted to hammer that in. "I get it."
We got into the elevator and that carried us down to the parking garage. I got into the backseat of a car with tinted windows. Recoil joined me and the troopers sat up front.
It was an odd arrangement.
Heroes and villains met under truce conditions for emergencies. I imagined the PRT and the Protectorate talked to Purity in some capacity. Not a hard thing to arrange. My meeting was complicated by the circumstances though. I wanted to talk to someone close to Purity. Someone I only knew anything about because I knew who people were behind their masks.
That made things touchy.
I didn't want to incidentally out Purity or anything. No one should have seen Exia's approach from the sea. The tinted windows would obscure the occupants of the car. I doubted Kati wanted to explain why I was meeting with Purity any more than Purity wanted to explain why she was meeting Newtype with Theo Anders in tow.
The car drove east a few blocks and then turned toward the river.
Construction sites lined the river, illuminated by the distant lights of the city around the darkened scar. I got a minor flashback to the sight of Leviathan bursting from the river. He tore the buildings down and tried to drown all the capes standing on them at the time.
We pulled up to some building that was still steel beams surrounded by covered fences.
"We'll wait here," Recoil said. "Not that I like it."
"It'll be fine," I assured her. "The nature of this chat is sensitive and involves secret identities. I'm sure the PRT already knows enough but I don't want to agitate."
I pushed the door open and stepped out. I glanced up toward one of the nearby buildings. I lingered, giving it just a moment before moving. Had to let Green get my good side.
I walked forward alone, leaving the car behind.
sys.v/ Queen is in position
I nodded, knowing Veda was watching from far above.
Purity was on the short list of capes that gave me pause. She wasn't as fast as a Gundam, but her blasts were strong. I wasn't sure about her durability but I didn't want to test it either. Purity wasn't Gundam fast, but she was fast.
Fast enough to squish me if agitated.
Turning a corner, I walked through an open fence into a construction site. I asked the PRT for the location. Somewhere nice and out of the way. I sent it to Purity for our prearranged meeting time.
I didn't see them at first.
Guess Purity can turn down the light show if she wants. She stood off to the side, arms crossed and a domino mask over her face. Beside her sat a pudgy boy, also in a domino mask. Smart. He didn't wear a costume, but a button up shirt and some khakis. I noted what seemed to be a car in the distant shadows. Purity probably brought her own back up.
They noticed me fairly quick.
"I was expecting you to arrive in one of your suits," Purity called.
"Seemed like it might draw attention," I replied. "I've never seen you in costume without the light show. I worried it might draw attention given my own in the same place at the same time."
I stepped forward, crossing the distance to meet her and the pudgy boy. Though originally, I did plan to meet her by driving to the city in a van. The discovery of Calvert and the formation of new plans put a stop to that.
I was back to seeing how many birds I could hit with the rock in my hand.
"I didn't want this meeting to kick off with a Gundam staring you down either," I added. "I'm not here to pick anything approaching a fight."
"I appreciate that." Purity still looked toward the car with a wary eye. "I hear you caught Lung."
I shrugged.
The story went national the day after it happened. I got a nice little spot on all the big news station. Bakuda got piggy backed on that ride, which worked with my plans. I wondered if that put her on edge though, given how she brought it up. I definitely agreed with Armstrong.
I had better things to do than go after Purity.
"The Empire is next," I declared. "Something that'll be easier with Bruder deciding to go cyber-crusader."
"I've been watching. Your messenger said you wanted to talk about Medhall."
I nodded. "I want to save it." I glanced at the boy. "You're who I'm really here to talk with."
He'd yet to say anything. When I approached he gave me a glance but since then he'd stayed quiet and still.
"Theo," Purity called softly.
He raised his head suddenly. Dozing off? It was getting late. He blinked at Purity and then then looked at me.
"Sorry, ma'am," he said. "I was thinking."
"What about?"
"My father, ma'am."
I don't think anyone had ever called me 'ma'am' before.
"Are you worried about him?" I asked.
It felt weird talking about him. I thought the rules were bullshit more and more as time went on, but I still lived them. For the moment.
It felt oddly akin to talking about someone behind their back.
Kaiser was Max Anders. He held a major stake in Medhall. His family founded the company and used it to push neo-Nazi agendas for decades. Now the entire business was frozen with investigators surging in. I doubted much of the board would keep their shares, but their families might. In some cases that would mean trading one neo-Nazi for another.
But Theo Anders didn't seem like a neo-Nazi. He didn't participate in any social media they used, he didn't go to any of their clubs, and despite Purity having no legal custody of him, Kaiser didn't seem to challenge the fact he was living with her at all.
"No ma'am," Theo answered. "With respect, my father made his own bed."
No love lost apparently. "Do you share his proclivities?"
Purity reacted to that with an angry gaze. That surprised me. Theo just gave me a blank stare.
"My father isn't as bad as you'd think," Theo answered. "He's worse."
"Worse?" I asked curiously.
"He doesn't believe any of it ma'am." And that makes him worse? "So yes, I do share his proclivities. The difference is that when my father taught me respect I actually learned the lesson." He turned away from me for a moment. Then he stood and added, "Diminishing people for something like skin color isn't respectful and neither is pretending to be something you're not for the sake of power." He then added a quick 'ma'am'.
I noticed Purity's gaze shift from me to him. She looked impressed behind her mask. A side of him she'd not seen before?
"Good," I said. "I'd rather not enable a new generation of Nazis." He gave me a curious look, and I explained, "I want to help you take over Medhall."
Both he and Purity gave me looks of surprise.
"Your father isn't the majority shareholder," I noted, "but a lot of the holders are likely to lose their shares entirely by the time the investigation is over. Their families might try to get them back, but a lot of them work for Medhall and I suspect will have a hard time presenting themselves as unaware of the events around them."
Especially after Bruder was through with them.
"You are different," I told him. "Because you can walk into court and argue you turned your back on your father well before any of this started."
"Why?" Purity asked. "What's it to you?"
"Brockton Bay has come too far to backslide now," I stated. "Medhall is one of the city's most important employers. The state too. There's incentive to save the company for that alone but I want to go further."
"How?" Theo asked.
"The Helpers. The mass production version of my robots. Have you heard about them?"
"You mentioned them in that interview. I saw it on the news."
"I want Medhall to distribute them. The company has the business ties to help do it, and it has a distribution network already integrated into the medical industry."
I held my hand out.
"I want you to take over Medhall, and I want us to keep the company going using the Helpers. Chariot and I have worked out the last of the kinks. We're ready to start producing test models."
Purity started to speak, but Theo cut in saying, "I'd have to see one." He then looked at Purity, saying, "Sorry. I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine," she said, again looking surprised.
"See one?" I asked.
"It wouldn't be responsible to hedge the future of the company on something I know nothing about," he explained. "Not that I think you're lying, ma'am."
"That's fair." His ready leaped to the idea surprised me. "I was expecting to do more convincing."
"I have little appreciation for my father ma'am." Theo eyes took on a small malicious glint. "Honestly, I think I'd like to rub the company in his face. Besides, it's my sister's company too."
Purity got a little defensive, but I already knew about her daughter. Once you know who Max Anders is, it's easy to know who Kayden Russel is. She divorced him more than a year ago, not long after her infant daughter was born. I'd guess having a child caused a reexamination of certain life choices.
In that regard, I could see Armstrong's concern.
Purity might reasonably fear going to jail or being killed. She'd lose her daughter and her daughter would lose her mother. She was taking care of Theo as well, and I could imagine a few reason for that.
None of them precluded still being a Nazi at heart. Bastion, the previous Boston Protectorate leader, was rumored to be no small bigot in his private life. Those rumors really swelled after he died early in the year.
Being a hero, or on the side of them at least, isn't the same thing as being a good person.
Sophia fucking Hess. Case in point.
"That would be more complicated," I admitted. "There is a problem here." I looked to Purity. "You."
"Me?" she asked.
"While you've said you want to turn your life around and have stuck to that for months now, legally you're still a villain. You're also a well known neo-Nazi formerly associated with the most famous neo-Nazi gang in America. Watchdog is involved now. They'll know what I know. They might not want Theo taking over his father's shares while he's living with you."
"I could emancipate myself," Theo offered.
I turned, surprised he'd said that. I planned to propose it myself. He was sharp, sharper than his somewhat dull appearance suggested.
"Would that work?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered. "Maybe. All of this is a bit iffy in the end, but the two goals advance one another."
His father—currently his legal guardian according to the court even if he lived with Purity—was an unfit parent. Theo could better take care of himself and the family company without the man's interference. Likewise, he could argue he needed the company to support himself and shouldn't be hampered with an undue burden because of his lineage.
The argument more or less just needed more legalese and a good lawyer to make the case. He could get that. He might even find others in the company who would support it. They might assume some scheme on Kaiser's part. Couldn't say why. Certainly wouldn't be because of fake text messages being sent to their phones or anything.
There is something satisfying about gaslighting an entire company of neo-Nazis.
"Theo," Purity urged. "You'd need to—"
"I know," he interrupted.
He wouldn't be able to live with her. It wouldn't help for him to leave his father just to keep living with his father's ex-wife. I'd expected to have to push for that. To try and convince both Theo and Purity it would help them achieve their goals.
I didn't expect Theo to just jump when I suggested it.
"It'll be okay. I can still look after Aster when you're busy." He paused. "Huh. Will I? Would I need to move back to Brockton Bay?"
"That's your choice," I told him. "I want to keep the economy in the city from crashing. With the gangs out the window the city needs to find a new normal. A better one. It needs to get started before anyone else can solidify a hold on the city."
"That's optimistic," Purity said.
Guess one of them wants to fight.
Good. Otherwise I'd think all the time spent prepping to convince them a waste.
"The Elite are already backing off," I said. "Accord too. Bruder has given everyone the spooks, and that's to say nothing of the weirdo in a fedora walking around spreading confusion."
"Weirdo in a fedora?" Purity asked. "That old urban legend?"
I stopped my planned rebuttal.
"Urban legend?" I inquired.
"Like the bogeyman," Purity explained, "but for capes. Woman in a suit and a fedora. Shows up out of nowhere, usually kills everyone in sight, then gone."
Wait…Is that why Calvert is freaking? He thinks Lafter is some kind of bogeyman? "How does anyone know anything about this if she kills everyone in sight?" .
"Because she doesn't exist," Purity stated. "Probably the Elite drudging up old stories."
Calvert believes them.
I pulled my phone and sent some messages back and forth with Veda.
"What?" Purity asked.
"Curiosity."
I wanted more information on this bogeyman. Bogeywoman? Either. I'd meant to get people thinking about the Elite while scaring the Elite off. Bruder's subtle exposing of Bastard Son's banking arrangements helped with the latter. Stumbling into old cape stories was not the plan.
Didn't even know we had urban legends.
"Let me worry about the villains," I said. "I brought the Merchants, ABB, and the Empire down in less than a year."
"The gangs in Brockton are small fish," Purity replied. "How do you plan to deal with Gesellschaft?"
"Gesellschaft?"
Purity glared at me. "Where do you think Kaiser and the Empire get all their support?"
I knew about that, but, "It's more than just a business arrangement?"
"They're how he got Night and Fog?" Purity asked. "They're from the farms. Literal cape farms Gesellschaft runs to make capes."
The fuck?
"I thought those were just stories idiots on PHO talked about."
"No," Theo affirmed. "You might be able to get Fog to talk about it."
"They loan them out to other groups to build support for the cause," Purity continued.
Is that why they stuck with Purity? Their ticket to escape Gesellschaft? Cape farms. Assuming that phrase implied everything I thought it did…that's fucked, even for fucking Nazis.
"Neo-Nazi's don't have business arrangements." Purity shook her head. "It's all about ideology. About purity. If Kaiser hasn't called them in yet, it's because he's stubborn and doesn't want to give what they'll ask. Push like you are and he will call them in and the rules in Europe are different than the ones here. Gesellschaft isn't the Empire. They're worse."
I frowned. That was a complication. I thought the ties between the Empire and Gesellschaft were ephemeral. A byproduct of two neo-Nazi groups existing, not part of a broader concerted effort. How many capes did Gesellschaft have? I normally heard them mentioned in breaths with the Elite in terms of scale.
That could be a problem.
"I will handle this matter." I turned toward my phone. Veda continued, saying, "I believe we can work a solution into our current plans for the Empire. I will query Forecast."
"Okay. Thoughts?"
"It is a simple matter," she replied. "We merely need to highlight a lack of purity."
I needed a moment to figure what that meant, but, "Yeah. That might work." It would be easy to tack onto the plan. A simple expansion.
I glanced to Purity. "Let me worry about the villains."
She started, saying, "You can't expect—"
"It's fine, Kayden."
She flinched at her name. I gave Theo a curious glance, but he wasn't watching me.
"You stood up to him," Theo said, "when he tried to make you come back. I can do that too, on my own."
"He might come after you." I wasn't going to lie.
"He won't," Theo retorted. "If you undo the Empire, he won't want to risk fighting Night, Fog, Crusader and Purity. Victor and Othala were the ones who gave him an edge and he doesn't have them anymore."
I raised my brow. Othala I got, but Victor? Well, man with a sniper rifle a mile away I supposed worked on just about anyone lacking a brute rating. Had he actually thought about this? Or I guess, something like it?
I did not expect this to be so easy. Orga needed convincing and I was still watching Bakuda for any attempts to murder Lung.
"Aster won't have to worry about college or anything," Theo surmised. "If I get the company, we don't need him anymore."
He held his head up and turned to me.
"I want to see them. The robots. If they work, prove it. I know the company has connections with some hospitals. I can convince them to set some things up, make it look like I'm taking over for him and edge them out."
Holy shit.
"You're ready to try that?" I asked. "It will piss people off. Capes aren't the only threats in the world."
"Fuck them," Theo cursed. "They're Nazis."
Guess respect didn't extend to assholes and racists.
"That's going to be a hard needle to thread," I said. "But I can help. No one is going to believe I'm working with Nazis. If I back you, I can get law enforcement to go along with it."
"I can play it off like you're young and naive on my end. They'll see me as the chance to save their money and I'll edge them out."
Could he do that?
Maybe I shouldn't judge, but Theo didn't look any older than me. Orga was twenty or something. How had it fallen on the three of us to save an entire city's economy?
The world is insane and insane things happen.
Not that unexpected in the context of my life.
"Here." I pulled a small USB from my pocket. "You have a smart phone?"
"Yes," he answered.
"Use this. Load it onto your computer and then connect your phone to the wireless. StarGazer will load a program onto it that'll hide your real contacts list from anyone who goes snooping around."
Theo took the USB and nodded. Purity still didn't look happy, but she didn't stop him.
"Call me when and if you want to move forward."
"Worse ways to get a girl's number," he mumbled.
I balked.
"I believe that was a joke," Veda said.
Theo got a little red faced. "Sorry, ma'am."
"Teenagers," Purity mumbled.
I broke out of my bluster. Felt pretty stupid. I was sixteen, a hero with her own team, a business owner with over a hundred employees. All it took to fluster me completely was a boy making a joke about getting my number.
I cringed just thinking about it.
This is what I get for putting off being a teenager.
"What happened?" Recoil asked as I slid in beside her. "Your face is red."
"Teenagers," I grumbled.
She watched me for a moment.
"Eh. You're only young once," she said. The troopers—both women—nodded. "Believe me."
And this is why I put off being a teenager.
The troopers started the car and backed out. No one ambushed us or anything. Really the whole thing was a bit melodramatic. Capes and their secret identities and what not.
We got back to the PRT building nice and quick.
"Wards," Recoil called as we got out. "You're back early."
"Easy patrol."
A girl in a black costume with red goggles led the group. Phobos, one of the older Boston Wards. Combat thinker. Behind her was a small boy I'd seen in some news articles. Rake, a newer Ward. He helped bring in Hemorrhagia, the last free member of the Teeth.
Fuck, the Teeth.
Forgot about that.
Butcher is coming back.
Maybe. Dinah wasn't getting frequent appearances in news headlines, but seeing the name at all? I took it as a signal. We'd gotten oddly lucky with the new Butcher but after two months it seemed the reprieve might be over.
"No problems?" Recoil asked.
"No," Rake answered. "Real quiet. Not even that many autographs."
"Finally. Shit got old."
"Language," Phobos warned.
"I'm working on it," the third Ward grumbled in a hushed voice. "Get off my back."
I turned to the third Ward.
Rune tensed up and quickly looked away from me. Orbit, rather. I wondered if there was a connection between Rune and Purity ending up in the same city. They had to know each other.
"Let's head on into the com room and talk about it." Recoil waved to the troopers behind me and pointed to the elevator doors. "Never think a review of even a quiet night can't be useful."
'Orbit' was quick to follow. I watched her go quietly, trying to quiet the unsettled feeling in my stomach. I'd felt it before, when I caught her and no one else. I thought it merely meant I was angry at my plan not coming to fruition.
So why was I still bitter seeing her in that brightly colored cliche of a hero costume? One of those armored body suits the PRT liked sticking capes in. Skirt, mask that covered her face but not her mouth. Little circle patterns all over.
What is it?
Took me a moment to notice Phobos watching me.
"Hi?"
"Newtype, right? Phobos. Don't think we met when"—she shrugged—"you know."
"Don't think we did."
"Heard you saved Armsmaster's ass, got your ribs broken, and kept going."
"It happened." And then Leet set me up to die. I glanced back, and asked, "How is she? Orbit I mean."
"You don't like her?"
"She's a Nazi. Ex-Nazi."
Phobos shrugged again. "She made it one week before calling me nigger. Pretty sure she wanted to say it way before that."
I raised my brow.
"She said sorry."
I raised my brow higher.
"Spectre doesn't get it either."
"Spectre?" I asked.
"Boston Ward leader. Also my girl."
"Okay." Still didn't answer my implied question.
She watched Rune converse with Hunch and who I assumed was Rake. Recoil turned back and called for Phobos. The Ward waved and started toward them.
"Grudges are easy," she said. "Forgiving is hard. She said sorry. She's done better. World would be a better place if more people nutted up and gave it a try."
My trooper escort led me back to the elevator.
I never was particularly good at sorting my feelings. Feelings were messy. Rune hurt people back in Brockton Bay. She didn't have anything on Victor, or Hookwolf, or Alabaster, but still. Maybe I held that against her?
And damn that sounded hypocritical.
Made me wonder if I was secretly sick with myself or something. Or maybe upset at something else entirely. I didn't get the sick feeling in my gut looking at Purity or Bakuda, not like I did looking at Rune.
Pretty little girls who get off free?
I dismissed the thought. It couldn't be something so childish. And that rang really false as I thought it.
The elevator stopped halfway up and the doors opened.
I was busy swatting another fly away when Weaver stepped in. She wore her costume, hood up like it always seemed to be.
"Going up?" one of the troopers asked.
"Um," she looked at me. "Yeah. Sorry."
I watched the fly buzz off and plant itself on the ceilin—"oh."
"They have minds of their own," she apologized. "I just nudge them about. Might be a subconscious thing. I was watching you so it buzzed around."
The door closed and she took a spot beside me. She seemed so small, and not just because I was tall. Her head hung from her shoulders, she slouched, and she held her shoulders high. I knew that body language well. I'd practiced it for two years almost.
What does she want to hide from?
"This is about what happened, isn't it?"
"What happened?" she asked meekly.
"You know." I waved a hand at my face. "The whole mask thing. You saw my face, right?"
One of the troopers beside me turned her head and looked at Weaver.
"Yeah, I did," Weaver admitted. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—It just sort of happened. I was checking on Shadow Stalker and—"
She stopped herself.
I didn't pay much mind to Sophia. I did remember her body. Crushed and twisted, like a crumpled up piece of paper. Why didn't she mist away? Was she stunned or jarred by Leviathan's sudden attack?
"It's fine," I told her.
I noticed the trooper at my side saying something under her breath and gave her a sideways glance. Talking to someone on a radio in her helmet?
"Not like you're going to tell anyone, right?"
"No. I won't."
The elevator reached the top floor and I started toward Exia. Weaver began to follow me, saying something that never quite made it from her mouth. The trooper put a hand on Weaver's shoulder.
"The Director wants to see you," the woman said. "Emergency situation. Just came up."
Cape life. Never takes a break.
"Don't worry about it, Weaver. Shit happens." I continued toward Exia, and tacked on, "I forgive you and all that."
Somehow I doubted people with more personal experience with Rune could do that. I didn't think I'd ever be able to forgive Sophia for what she did to me. Not even in death.
I tried not to think about Sophia. I'd been happy realizing she died. Happy my tormentor suffered? Or maybe just glad to see something akin to justice in the universe. She did have a family though. A mother, a brother, and a sister. I didn't know how they felt about her.
Kaiser has a wife, a daughter and a son. Near as I can tell, two of them hate his guts. Theo didn't seem to balk at all at the thought of going against the man publicly. He seemed eager to do it for someone who appeared so meek at first.
I climbed into Exia and closed the armor around me.
Across the roof the elevator doors closed.
Is it really just because of Winslow?
That feeling I had around Rune and the sight of Weaver's defensive posture made me think of it. Sophia got punished in a way, and then she died. Madison was going to get off free as a bird by blaming everything on a dead girl. Emma…I didn't want to think about Emma.
Recent events drudged up old feelings I definitely didn't want to linger on.
Some things can't be forgiven. Or maybe I just wasn't a forgiving person? Maybe I only struggled to forgive the things that happened to me. What did that mean for my choice to ally myself with various people who had brought harm to others? Others who might be less willing to forgive themselves.
I spun up the GN drive, but kept the power down.
"How did the picture come out?" I asked.
"Quite well," Veda answered.
"Photogenic, photogenic!"
Green was already in his cradle and flying the long flight back to Brockton Bay. Veda showed me the pictures Green took. Me stepping out of the car. Me talking to Purity and Theo. We'd amend another one. Make it look like Purity and Theo stormed off, just in case.
"We'll bundle it with our care package." I started forward and left Boston behind. "That went well. I'll have to thank Kaiser for being such a rotten guy."
"It appeared quite successful," Veda agreed. "Dinah and I have developed a solution for the Gesellschaft problem. The rest of the plan will require no adjustments."
She sent me the details and I nodded.
"I think that'll work."
We prepared a few options.
Ultimately it came down to where I wanted to put emphasis. I had my ultimatum to maintain. An Empire to defeat. Dad and Dinah both needed to be kept safe, and I didn't want to leave Theo or Purity flapping in the wind for my choice.
"Find anything on this bogeyman story?"
"A few things," Veda revealed. "The stories are sporadic and do not seem very reliable. There are a number of them, mostly from older versions of PHO lingering on the back end of the servers. They ceased appearing after 2002."
"And Calvert is still trying to figure out Ms. Buckingham?"
"Yes."
I tapped at the controls.
"Calvert believes in the bogeyman," I mumbled. And I wanted a way to get him arrested that didn't point at me.
We can use that.
I managed to get the four of us in a room together. Me, Dad, Dinah, and Charlotte. I couldn't make that choice on my own. It affected all three of them.
It was a weird conversation.
Charlotte seemed nervous but she didn't object or flinch at the potential risk to herself. She figured she could easily pretend she never knew and we didn't exactly hang out. No one had a reason to go after her. Not like they had a reason to go after Dad or Dinah.
Dad didn't get scared. He got practical. Dinah didn't get upset. She got sagey. She'd been doing that a lot lately.
"You're going to do it," Dinah said.
"Yes."
"Scared."
"Not really."
Knowing that Teacher could drop it on me at any time was scary. Doing it myself to deny him the chance? In the long run I increased my risks by zero and in the short run I got to take control of an uncontrollable situation.
Control is such a shallow word.
"I suck at hiding it anyway, and like this we can use it as a weapon before Teacher can. Kind of surprised everyone else is going along with it."
"You can sort of be a force of nature," Lafter stated. "Not much point trying to talk you out of things. Really we should be lucky you're not interested in world domination. You might pull it off."
That's a flattering assessment.
"I don't mean to be. I just—"
"It's okay," Dinah interrupted. "If he knows about you, he probably knows about me too. There's a sword over both our heads."
"This could be more dangerous," I offered.
I think part of me was confused why I wasn't getting more push back.
"If you want to do it do it," Lafter said. "Should make for a good time."
Lafter I got.
She was along for the ride. Dinah's fear had always been being taken. Taken for her power. Taken because she was a threat. Taken to a dark place never to see the light of day. She came to me for help and safety. We lost that without realizing it so long ago, when my identity fell into the lap of a global super terrorist.
She was right. If Teacher knew about me he probably did know about her. It wouldn't take much to wonder why Taylor Hebert and Dinah Alcott were suddenly such close friends. They had no real reason to know one another save for a chance encounter at a mall in February.
"We can choose our own possibility," Dinah said, "or wait for Teacher to choose it for us. You're the one who's always figured out what to do. A bit late to change that now."
"You are the brains of the operation," Lafter insisted.
Maybe it's just my background as a bullied girl that left me continually surprised at what support felt like.
"Do it, Veda." I set a timer and turned Exia south over the rolling waves. "Time to end an Empire."
"Deploying."
