A Waken 13.10.T
Why can't anything ever be simple?!
No wonder she was so cagey about some of the details.
Madison.
Cauldron must have had a facility in the city. That's where all the Case-53s came from. That's how the Travelers got the briefcase, and why no one ever came looking for it. If their testing lab got breached and the subjects overran the city, it would be pure chaos. They may have never known the case was missing.
For all I knew, the Simurgh swiped it and dropped it in front of Noelle.
Or, did someone come looking for it?
The Simurgh hit Madison, and the Travelers found a briefcase. Then David appeared. That was so convenient.
Teacher controls the Simurgh.
That… That's not…
"We need to find that van."
On the other side of the line, Professor G sighed. "I feel we are missing something. What just happened?"
"The Travelers were at Madison when the Simurgh attacked," I answered.
Might be why Dinah couldn't get a clear picture of things. Touching me set the Simurgh off, not Noelle. Dinah couldn't see the Endbringers directly, only events around them.
"I need Dinah," I said. "Now. Right now!"
"I am still searching for the van," Veda stated, so calmingly smooth it had to be on purpose. It worked on me. "Dinah is in a class right now and cannot slip away. Calm down."
Fuck. I forced myself to breathe in and exhale. Okay. Immediate overreaction dealt with. Now what?
"If the Travelers were such an immediate threat, we would know," Veda advised. "Forecast's possibilities only contain danger in lines where Façade uses her power on you."
"Right. Why though?"
"Because you intend to hunt the Simurgh," Instructor H offered. "We've not spoken of it, but it is a goal we have in common. Perhaps the Simurgh's precognition is more limited than we've understood it and contact between Façade and yourself would make her aware."
That could be right, but—"Precogs interfere with each other. Could Dinah be interfering with the Simurgh?"
"It's generally been assumed the Simurgh has no such limitations," G explained. "That said, it is an assumption. We hardly have definitive proof of where her abilities begin or end. J would know more. This is more his field than mine."
Teacher controlled the Simurgh.
If she became aware of something, did David also become aware of it? Had he somehow used his power on an Endbringer, or did… Was she his power? No. that couldn't be right. Many of his Pets never encountered the Simurgh and the Travelers weren't Pets.
That pattern is obvious enough someone would notice before Veda and I started looking for connections.
This was something else. Something infinitely fucking worse than the situation we were already dealing with. If David had the world's strongest precog on his side, he might know everything.
I turned around and walked across the workshop floor. Exia, Queen, and Kyrios rested in their alcoves. The damage from the fight yesterday wasn't much. It shouldn't be a problem.
Did I go after the Travelers now? If the Simurgh got to them, they were ticking time bombs. All the chaos they caused could be what she wanted. In retrospect, the messes the Travelers left in their wake fit with Teacher's way of doing things.
He wants to break the cycle.
How did any of this break anything but the world?
Problem for later.
The Travelers couldn't run around unchecked, not knowing this. The PRT would have some procedure… But Cauldron would kill them. That—No. Façade was a walking disaster but she didn't deserve to die. Especially not if she was mastered. Absolutely not so Cauldron could cover their ass!
I needed to cordon them off somewhere. Tucked away until I thought of something. If Dragon were free, she could help. Maybe. Crap, just telling them might set them off.
"What if they are not under the Simurgh's mastery?" Veda asked. "It's possible not mentioning this encounter comes from a justified fear."
"True," H agreed.
"Can we take that chance?" G queried.
"No," I admitted. "No we can't."
Maybe I should call the PRT. All the chaos that flowed in their wake could be ripples… Unless the Simurgh wanted me to call the PRT. Fuck, the bitch is a damn brain twister.
What do you do when anything you do could be exactly what the damn Hopekiller wants?
…
You do what's right. People are the only thing that matters. Time to talk to Noelle again.
"We confront them. Ask them how long they were in the area. How they got the case. We go from there."
I inhaled and returned to my phone. "G, H. If you don't hear from me within an hour, call the PRT and tell them."
"We can do that," H acknowledged. "We've been experimenting with counteracting the Simurgh's power. Having live subjects to scan and examine could be a boon."
Maybe enough to keep them from summary execution. I doubted it, but I'd take the hope. "Okay."
I changed into my costume and sat down at the computer. Veda could search on her own, but maybe I could get us there faster.
I found the number Noelle used to call Veda and dialed it. Straight to voicemail. She was smart. Keeping her phone off meant Veda couldn't track it, even if she uploaded our tracking worm. Something to think of in the next iteration of the program. Wouldn't help now.
All right.
I called up Pink and sent her to check on the arcade Sundancer frequented. It might have been the clone yesterday, but maybe the real one went there too. Navy could check their old hideout just in case.
And how did they know where to attack Bakuda? Scouting. Maybe they had a location in the Trainyard.
I dialed another number while sending White to break from Dinah momentarily and search the area around Arcadia.
"What's down, Getter Robo?"
The sound of a welder carried over the line and I refrained from asking Bakuda what she was making. "Is there anything suspicious around you?"
"I live literally in the middle of nowhere, there's always something suspicious going on. But if you mean our kind of suspicious, no. I haven't seen any mythological creatures today."
"A T-Rex is not mythical," Veda pointed out.
Bakuda clicked her tongue. "We're gonna need to work on that."
Not the time. "I think the Travelers have encountered the Simurgh."
The welding stopped. "Well… Fuck."
"Can you check your area? I'd send a Haro but a bunch of them are busy."
"They did know my route to the grocery store."
"They are using a vehicle," Veda explained. "I can send you imagery."
"I'll take a gander. Let me warn Biscuit."
Good. With her checking the Trainyard, I could send Yellow to quickly search the area around the factory. Orange could check the campus and Parian.
A wide net of course was just swinging for the fences. If anyone stumbled on the van, we could go immediately rather than waiting for Veda to finish searching tens of thousands of images on the internet.
After Bakuda I called Orga and warned him, then Kati and Dad. Maybe the Dockworkers could do some searching and Tekkadan too. I needed that van sooner rather than later.
"Dinah is out of her class now," Veda announced.
"Something happened," Dinah noted.
"I think the Travelers have encountered the Simurgh and I think Teacher controls it."
Dinah remained quiet for a moment, and then, "So he set them up from the start."
"And the Simurgh is how he's making all these convoluted disasters work."
How far did her precognition go, and with what limits? G and H were right. No one really knew. The only way to know anything about an Endbringer was by reviewing battles against them and their actions. No one could power test them.
"That's bad," Dinah said.
I nodded. "Right now, we need to find the Travelers and get the truth."
"Yeah. One sec."
While Dinah settled I sent a warning to Lafter. I needed her to get back as soon as possible. It occurred to me to warn Murrue too, but when I called she didn't pick up. I didn't have time to wonder why for the first time in ever she didn't pick up.
"Ready," Dinah announced.
Before I could speak, Veda asked, "Where are the Travelers when Celestial Being locates them?"
That would work. While Dinah wrote, I broke the old bazooka out of storage. If we had to fight, maybe we could take them quietly and I'd figure something out
Orga had a point. Noelle was no brute. Nor were Sundancer, Ballistic, or Genesis herself. We hadn't used the stun bombs in a while but the situation called for it.
Mechanical arms pulled the weapon from a locker and fitted it onto Exia's right shoulder. The magazines were loaded and I got up to check the shells. They weren't on the regular maintenance schedule. Stupid of me.
And of course they were broken.
"Green, I need fuses from the shelf."
"On it, on it!"
I started working on the shells. If I worked fast, they'd be ready in just a couple minutes.
"They're doing something," Dinah declared.
I raised my head. "Doing what?"
"I don't know, but none of them are together."
Why would they do that? "Where?"
"Sundancer is in the woods. Ballistic is surrounded by snow or in a town surrounded by mountains. I think they're close together? Just not together. Genesis is hurt, in either a dark room or a van. A garage maybe."
Strider's power. "What about Noelle?"
"All those places. She appears in some of them but never alone."
"That doesn't make sense."
"Blame the possibilities, not the messenger," Dinah fired back with a shrug. "None of them are in the same place together."
I thought back and my face paled at the memory of Noelle's doing the same. I thought she'd just realized how foolish she was acting. We shouldn't be fighting each other over a few points of trust.
Did something I say—Noelle was scattering her team. Why, and why to places that sounded like the middle of nowhere? That didn't make any sense. Surely they weren't living like that, but if they wanted to avoid a precog who could see the myriad possibilities of the world...
I cursed. God damnit Noelle. "Veda, call Armsmaster!"
This was too far. If people got hurt, and I said nothing—I can't be like them. People are the only thing that mattered. I couldn't gamble with lives.
I didn't wait for a hello. As soon as the line picked up, "The Travelers have been near the Simurgh."
My hands got back to work on the shells, and I started considering equipping Queen with a Gungnir. Stupid thought. That wouldn't help, but thinking about it made me feel a bit better. A meager catharsis in the moment.
"Explain," Armsmaster said.
"I lied."
"I know. She did have evidence of her claim, didn't she?"
"Yeah. She gave it to me, and I went looking."
"And the Simurgh?"
"They were at Madison," I explained. "They saw something, or crossed paths with someone there. Façade's power doesn't just let her copy capes. She gets their memories too."
"And she saw something during Madison."
"Yeah, but she didn't tell me about the Madison part. It explains why she has a copy of Chevalier in his old costume though, and where she had the chance to touch Strider. He helped evacuate refugees to Milwaukee."
How much should I say? How much should I hold back? I didn't even know if Armsmaster told anyone I lied before.
"Armsmaster…maybe, maybe I'm overreacting. I can't stand to think people will get hurt if I'm not and I didn't do anything but if they're not dangerous"—I quietly cursed myself—"Cauldron will murder them. Like they murdered Cranial. I—"
"You are doing the right thing."
He spoke calmly. Not any different from how he normally talked, which struck me as odd 'cause I was torn. I didn't want to screw Noelle over but she wasn't leaving me a choice. It was one thing to avoid detection or be cautious with her secrets, but if her team was scattering...
"The stakes are too high," he continued. "I will gather my team and report the situation. We will focus on locating the Travelers. If we can convince them to come in quietly, I will not allow harm to befall them."
That was sweet in a way. Like a punch to the chest that felt good rather than painful. He didn't even bat an eye at a word I said. "But—"
"The innocent come first. That priority can never change."
Yes. Yes, they did. I just wished it could be different in the moment.
"I asked the question again," Dinah revealed. "Similar results, but Genesis is in the same place a bunch of times. Garage, or a van that I think is inside it. She's hurt in all of the possibilities."
"One sec, Armsmaster. Forecast, hurt how?"
"Shoulder. Sometimes arm."
Why leave her teammate somewhere when she was hurt? Did someone attack them? Cauldron.
"Ask what Façade does after scattering her team," I suggested. "See if we can find where she goes next."
"I believe I have located the van," Veda declared.
I wheeled around. "Where?"
"I have it in a photo driving out of the city late last night, captured in a family photo heading west on Route Twenty-One. There is an old garage and gas station along that road thirty miles from Brockton Bay. It is presently abandoned and I can confirm the van has not been seen at the other probable locations in that direction."
"I'm going. Keep asking questions."
"What do you mean Façade has scattered her team?" Armsmaster asked.
"We attempted to locate the Traveler's through Forecast's power," Veda replied. "Their locations are separate and erratic."
"And Genesis is hurt," Armsmaster mulled. "Be careful, Newtype. This situation forces me to inform Director Tagg and sound a general alert." Yeah… Yeah it did. "I need to leave this line. Keep me updated, or inform Lieutenant Ramius."
Tried that already. Shit, I hoped she was alright. Was she in trouble because of me?
I loaded the shells into the magazine, fitted them to the bazooka and climbed into Exia.
Thirty miles wasn't that far. Not in a Gundam.
Queen followed behind Exia, and I got a text from Lafter asking what was up. Apparently, she left her class when Labyrinth got called out.
I pulled her in about the same time Dinah said, "She's fucking with us."
"How so?" Lafter asked. "What did I miss?"
"She's just standing in a field," Dinah explained. "Literally. She's standing there and watching the sunset. Or a mountain. Or a beach. She knows how my power works."
"She did absorb the memories of Triumph," Veda noted. "She will be aware of the mechanics of Forecast's power." She could guess what questions we'd ask too. She was buying herself time by wasting a few minutes watching the sunset. "We should check tomorrow's news headlines. It is possible whatever she is planning will not happen today."
"And if it does it'll be in the news. Do it."
I sent Exia into a dive down a mountain slope. Better than constantly asking what she'd do next and finding her doing other mundane things. If only we had time to think through and formulate better questions.
The garage was on the edge of a small town in an area that seemed mostly abandoned.
Brockton Bay wasn't the only place to suffer after King's Port stopped serving. Nearby places did too, especially those running along the rail lines leading out of the city. Kingston might be named for the port, and like the port it looked empty and broken down.
Pulling up, my legs went down and forward, flipping the suit about and gliding over the ground in a swirl of dust and rock. Queen swept in a bit more gracefully, moving with a precision of motion and flanking Exia to the right. I released the safeties and pulled the bazooka up.
Exia marched steadily toward an open garage door, where a van was just visible inside.
"Who's there?" Genesis didn't speak much while Noelle and I talked, but that was definitely her. "I need help! I'm blee—" She stopped as the light from the GN Drive drifted into the room. "Fuck! Whatever Noelle's done this time I have nothing to fucking do with it!"
I came around the van, finding Genesis on the floor clutching her arm below the shoulder.
The blood looked like a lot, but from experience the wound looked worse than it was. The van doors hung open. The vehicle was empty, save for a cot and some clothes strewn about.
"I swear," Genesis snapped. "I didn't do anything!"
I turned back to her, quickly looking around the room for a projection. "Where's Façade?"
"I don't fucking know!"
"Who stabbed you?"
"Who do you think!?"
…Noelle? "Why would she attack you?"
"How many times do I have to say I don't know? Can I get some help here?"
Without a word, Veda projected a list onto my visor from Forecast.
My heart started skipping beats.
-Arbiter steps down, no comment given
-Blue Cosmos denies accusation, believes in peace and stability
-Congressmen dismiss 'mad ravings' against PRT
-Is Cauldron Real?
-Who is David, Teacher Unmasked
-Villains reveal arms and ammo, Blue Cosmos' war plans
-Chief-Director walks out of briefing, controversy mounts
-Heroes or true Villains, protests sweep US & CAN
She was going to tell everyone. She'd expose everything. Cauldron. Blue Cosmos.
I set Exia's eyes directly on Genesis. "Where's Noelle?"
"I told you, I don't know."
"I don't have time for games! Where is she?!"
All of that in just a day. Setting it out logically, where could she get that kind of attention? A TV studio, maybe. With Strider, she could go anywhere. Plant herself right in the middle of any daytime news show in the country and just start talking.
"StarGazer, send the list to Armsmaster."
I didn't know what to think.
This was like tossing a match into a world of gasoline. Cauldron. Teacher. Blue Cosmos. They needed to be stopped but like this... Is this what the Simurgh wanted? Teacher?
"If Noelle said anything, Genesis, I need to know. I need to know right now."
I stepped closer and she flinched on the floor. "She—She wasn't making sense! She just said she couldn't have me telling anyone so she stabbed me in the arm!"
"How does that prevent you from talking?" Veda asked.
The girl's head snapped around, looking up at Queen as the suit came from the other side of the van. "I have to sleep to use my power. Can't sleep with a hole in my arm!"
"Go on," I urged. We needed to do something about her wound. Anything is fatal if left untreated.
"She said something about—" She stopped herself, turned her eyes to the ground. I knew the look. I'd seen it in my own face. Fear. Fear of persecution. Isolation.
"We know about the Simurgh," I said. The girl grimaced and started to pull her one leg closer with her good arm. "Genesis, tell me what she said."
"She—She said—She wasn't making sense!"
"Repeat her words exactly," Veda suggested.
Genesis frowned and snapped. "I don't know, okay?! She said it was all the same!"
All the same? "What was?"
"David. The Simurgh. She said it was all the same!"
No.
She'd figured it from that offhand comment? She knew. She knew she was a bomb…and it set her off. Did—Was I supposed to do that to her? Such an innocuous comment, but it set all this in motion.
"She didn't say where she planned to go?"
"No, okay!?" Genesis was crying now, hand holding her wound tight. "She hit Luke and ported him away! Then she grabbed Mars and did the same to her! When she came back, she stabbed me, said she couldn't have me warning anyone and…" Her voice hitched as her back shook. "She said… She said she was sorry. For getting us into this mess."
She scattered them to protect them. If they were all someplace different, one or two might make it. Why leave Genesis—her legs.
Jess couldn't walk.
Sundancer or Ballistic, dropping them in a forest somewhere didn't cause too much trouble. They'd walk out. One hiccup with Genesis could leave her stranded. Anywhere her chair could move might be close enough for her to find people.
Leaving her here, unable to use her power, gave her a chance to survive.
And now what did I do with her?
If Noelle blew the whistle loud enough…her friends might be safe. It wouldn't serve Cauldron to kill any of them with the secret already out. Cover ups only work when no one knows about them, and the Travelers possessed extensive knowledge of Teacher. PRT thinkers might be able to do more with the information than me.
Which is why David would kill them, to keep anyone from learning any more than Noelle could say.
"You're going to be okay," I offered.
Noelle left her on purpose, and left her somewhere she knew I'd find. A quick scan of the garage across my camera filters revealed nothing. They hadn't been living here. Façade probably transported the van and Genesis to this location, hoping her friend would be found before she bled out.
"We're taking her."
"We are?" Veda asked.
"If Cauldron doesn't kill her, Teacher will." I needed to find Noelle, though. I didn't have time to do more than tie off the wound. It wasn't serious but she could still bleed out. "Call Trevor. He needs to get a first aid kit and keep her safe until we have time to do something."
I released the bazooka from my hold and bent over. The suit opened, and I got out quickly. I tore some of her shirt off and quickly used it to tie off her arm. She flinched as I moved, though it didn't seem to be painful as I tied off a makeshift tourniquet. She just leaned away from me, like she thought I'd hit her.
"Stay here. Chariot is coming. I need to go."
I didn't wait and climbed back into Exia.
Trevor decided not to get involved, and here I was dragging him into it. Trevor's freedom to choose his own fate, or Genesis' right not to suffer or die. Such a shitty choice to have to make.
We spend lives, Orga said. Brutally honest of him, and true.
"Let's go, Veda."
I turned Exia about and flew back into the sky.
"Why would she leave her friend like that?" Lafter asked.
"Because it gives them a chance to live," I explained. "Noelle isn't coming back for them." Why did that come so easily to me? "She's planning to die."
People might write off a crazy cape and her tall claims.
Once Faultline hit Mockelburg's depots and revealed his weapons though, one third of the story would suddenly look plausible. Then people would wonder about the rest of her story. They'd start asking questions. Cauldron would sweat. Teacher's connections would start falling together.
She'd take Cauldron, Blue Cosmos, and Teacher down with her, or at least inflict a wound so bad they could no longer hide.
It's exactly what I'd do in her position.
Except it's the Simurgh. If Teacher controlled the Endbringer, was all of this just part of his plan? Were we in the middle of Operation British—Why spill about Blue Cosmos? That didn't serve what I knew of Teacher's agenda. It wasn't a recipe for any sort of neurotic revolution. How much control did Simurgh victims have over their own actions?
"We need to find Noelle."
I flew Exia up over the mountain and back toward Brockton Bay.
"I'm coming," Lafter said. "Getting into Kyrios now."
"Come meet us."
"I know where she'll be," Dinah announced.
I turned my head. "A question?"
"Nah. My uncle was over a few nights ago complaining about how bad he felt that one of his aides needed to watch Blue Cosmos' charity stream. Said he wished he didn't need their campaign contributions so much."
Charity stream?
"Today from noon till eight," Veda explained. "Blue Cosmos will host lectures and speeches from prominent leaders in the movement against parahuman oppression and corruption. Donations during the event will be given to support families and friends who have suffered at the hands of reckless heroes and foul villains."
Foul villains? Really?
Phantom Pain again.
Triumph would know about the stream. The PRT probably briefed every member of the Protectorate on Blue Cosmos' agenda for the next few weeks. He'd know the stream was happening. Probably got a bunch of warnings about how not to respond to it or something.
"It's streamed to the internet," Veda noted. "The PRT lacks the legal power to quickly shut it down short of an emergency declaration."
All their lawsuits. The PRT, Cauldron, couldn't just shut it down, not even with Dragon. Dragon had to obey legal authority, but she also had to obey the law. Noelle would be able to say as much as she pleased until someone stopped her.
If she led with Cauldron, Blue Cosmos would probably let her say whatever she wanted until they got pie thrown in their face.
That's what I'd do.
"Ask anyway," I said. I started turning Exia north. It made sense. Noelle would get instant attention at a Blue Cosmos event. "We should be sure. Veda, warn Aisha. Maybe she can stop Noelle before all this goes off."
I dialed Armsmaster.
"Have you found anything?" he asked.
Genesis, but mentioning that would mean Cauldron would know. "I think Façade is going to attack Blue Cosmos' charity event in Hartford. I'm waiting for Forecast to confirm."
"I received your list from StarGazer. The situation has elevated. Most of the PRT and Protectorate divisions on the East coast are being mobilized."
As in all of it? "Isn't that excessive?"
"Experience has taught us that the Simurgh cannot be taken lightly, however her influence appears. Her plans tend to play out like dominos. The Travelers may merely be the trigger of something much worse."
Why did it have to be this way?
"I'm on my way to Hartford. Maybe I can stop her before she does anything."
"Blue Cosmos will take any opportunity to ruin a cape," Armsmaster warned. "There is a point where you're only harming yourself."
I didn't care about that. Hartford wasn't that far away by Gundam, but even if I got there in time, then what?
Kyrios appeared far in the distance, a green streak flying parallel to Exia and Queen. Lafter drew closer and closer, gradually falling in behind Queen as we turned north.
On the Protectorate line, Dragon's voice spoke up.
"Armsmaster, I am transfering command control to you from Boston and New York. Legend is currently unavailable."
Convenient.
"She's there," Dinah revealed suddenly. "She's going to walk in front of the cameras and start talking. No one really tries to stop her most of the time."
"Understood," Armsmaster replied.
"There's something else." Of course, there was. "The possibilities blank out. I can't see them past a certain point."
"Does that mean something?" someone asked.
"Forecast has blind spots," Veda explained. "She cannot see the Endbringers or trigger events. Some capes interfere with her power as well."
Trigger event...
"Do we have teleporters?" Armsmaster asked.
"Strider is being requested."
"I'll take the Protectorate ENE in first. If the situation remains at a low threat level, Celestial Being may be able to detain Façade without incident." Celestial Being? Wait, what? "If it escalates, the Protectorate ENE will engage. Other teams should remain on standby as the situation dictates. Our priorities are to detain Façade, Trump nine, and protect the public."
A series of acknowledgments came after that. I recognized Recoil's voice in the mix. Most others I didn't know.
The weight of it came on suddenly. How bad was it? Obviously, it was bad, but if this was the standard response to someone mastered by the Simurgh what the hell happened in the past?
"Tagg's not jumping in on this?" I asked.
"Endbringers are one of the few occasions where command authority is given directly to capes," Dragon said. "While the Simurgh is not present, emergency authorizations allow the Protectorate to take unilateral action to protect the public. The PRT takes the backseat in these matters. There is too little time to relay commands between civilian leaders."
"Do we have Robin on the line?" Recoil asked.
"I'm here," he said. "I'm on my way to the convention center now to check the area. We've warned Blue Cosmos but they don't usually listen to us when we warn them."
"More corpses improve the tragedy," someone quipped.
"This line will remain clear," Armsmaster ordered. "Newtype, do you have an ETA?"
I checked. "Twelve minutes." I isolated the Protectorate line and muted it for a moment. "Aisha."
"I'm looking. Sounds like this shit is pretty shitty."
"If you see Noelle, try to get her attention."
"And if she's in a room full of people?" Oh. "Basically giving myself away at that point, and with Blackie hanging on my back."
Complications on complications.
"We have to stop her. Have Red and Purple start searching. Noelle could appear anywhere near the event hall."
"You know, if she gets stabbed out of nowhere, she probably won't be able to do whatever this bad shit she's supposed to do is."
Or that would make it worse. "No stabbing. Unless she's about to hurt someone. Don't touch her skin with yours."
"Yeah yeah. Your costume covers all of me. Shouldn't be too hard."
I'd call Faultline to help, but she would already be in Rhode Island by now. She'd never arrive in time. Would be really nice to have a functioning portable teleporter at the moment.
I pulled up the vista on my HUD, looking at a map of the Connecticut Convention Center. It was a big building. Multiple stories. Multiple routes in or out. Veritable maze inside. It would take Aisha, Red, and Purple forever to search and they couldn't possibly cover the building exterior.
"Hol'up."
"Imp?"
"I see her. Let me go—"
"Wait. Get into her pocket, turn her phone on, and call me!"
"You sure?"
"Phone!"
"Everyone's a critic."
Veda managed to get Black looking over Aisha's shoulder at the right angle to show me Noelle. She was walking down a hall, ignoring the few people she passed. Aisha ran up behind her, weaving through the crowd to start patting at the older girl's pockets.
She found two phones, not one. I could see Black's vision rise and fall as she shrugged, pocketing one phone and turning the other on. She dialed and then grabbed Noelle's wrist and forced the device into her hand.
Kind of weird to watch Aisha's power in action.
Everyone literally acted like she wasn't there, though Noelle stumbled as her wrist 'twitched' and looked down.
She raised the device up with a confused grimace and I answered the incoming call.
"Noelle," I called.
She flinched, stopping mid-step and looking around. Her head turned Aisha's way, but she just looked over her and kept searching.
"Noelle!"
"Huh." Noelle raised the phone to her face. "Now I'm really morbidly curious!"
"Stop. It's not too late—"
"Though on second thought, it is kind of rude to just go off and not say anything. Sorry. Kind of making this up as I go. Did you find Genesis?"
"Tha—" Fine. This worked. It kept her on the phone and not moving toward the event hall. I didn't need that much time. I checked, finding Trevor had already left the factory and was running her direction. "I tucked her away somewhere."
"Oh, good. I dropped Sundancer and Ballistic up in Maine, I think. Would it be selfish of me to ask but could you"—she hesitated a moment, and her smile cracked—"watch them, for me? I don't think they're going to hurt anyone."
"You don't have to either. Stop and turn around. If this is what the Simurgh wants—"
"You would figure that out. Figures." She started looking around the hall again. "David was right about one thing. People have the right to fight for their future."
I was still puzzling that statement out when she held her free hand behind her back and Strider popped into existence. The hall flashed and I blinked as a hillside took over the scene. A few people shouted and yelled, and Aisha stumbled back and tumbled down a hill.
"Shit. Fuck. Shit!"
She grasped at the ground and Black wheeled up to look at Noelle.
On the slope, Noelle looked around again and flashed away.
"There's too much lying going on for people to make that choice," she muttered.
"That doesn't—"
"You can't tell anyone the truth without a hundred targets falling on your back. I get it." I didn't like the tone creeping into her voice. "I'll do it."
"There are other ways. Please."
She started to speak but stopped. There was movement around her. Someone shouting that she stop. Then a gunshot.
"The world is broken," she repeated. "Do you want to fix it, or pick at every little thing you can't control?"
"Noelle!"
"The Simurgh had me from the start. You can't save me…but thanks for trying."
The line died and I wanted to scream.
Exia roared down the highway and over an overpass. I ignored the blaring of horns.
I didn't know how to parse it. I didn't know where the Simurgh's influence began or ended. Teacher's either for that matter. Did she make this choice of her own free will, or was it designed? Manipulated. Was I another cog in some machine designed for nothing but setting Noelle on this path…
No.
It couldn't work like that. If Noelle wanted to screw the conspiracies of the world over, what was stopping her? She'd name Cauldron, Blue Cosmos, and Teacher and then what? That hurt Teacher as much as anyone.
"Is Imp okay?" Lafter asked.
"She dropped me on a fucking hill! I hate nature! But nah. I'm fine."
"Taylor," Veda called. "We should consider that this isn't something we should stop."
I—"I know."
"Say what now?" Aisha reacted.
"Yeeaah," Lafter drawled. "What about the whole…Simurgh…thing?"
"Why would Teacher try and screw himself over like this?" I asked back.
G and H admitted no one really knew how the Simurgh's powers work. If Teacher controlled her, why set this up? If the Endbringer wasn't infallible that just meant we could beat her.
But this wouldn't end like Noelle was thinking.
Blowing the whistle like this wouldn't pull the façade or the lies away. Teacher and Cauldron would keep lying. People would believe them. They'd argue. They'd fight… And all of that was going to happen anyway.
If Noelle wanted to spend her life this way, why should I stop her?
"It won't be that simple," Dinah declared. "The possibilities cut out not long after she starts speaking. Something happens that blocks my power."
Teacher's interference.
Noelle's confidence didn't matter. If this is where we were, it might still be exactly what he wanted. She was in a room of Blue Cosmos. There had to be Pets in the room.
I switched back to the Protectorate line. "Armsmaster, is anyone watching the stream?"
"Yes," Dragon answered. "Façade just stepped onto the stage."
Already?
Veda projected the stream onto my HUD. Looked nice, but basic. A small podium with Muruta Azrael behind it. Something she did drew his attention before she stepped out, because he was searching that way when she appeared.
Heads in the front row turned, and someone rose from their seat. Voices fell silent. Azrael turned, and Noelle walked like he wasn't even there. The man stepped back, watching her as she stepped up to the podium.
"Can we shut this off?" Recoil asked.
"We can ask," Dragon said. "I doubt Blue Cosmos will listen. I'll see what I can do on the ISP side."
I watched Noelle raise her head and look out over the room. Chevalier's clone followed behind her, some kind of gun knife in hand. More than a few voices on the Protectorate line reacted to that.
She raised one hand and tapped the microphone. "Ehm. Testing. Testing. One, two, tricycles. Can you hear me in the back?"
We were still two minutes from the city limit.
"Sorry," Noelle began. "Not sure I have a whole lot of time, so I'm just going to say it. Fuck it. The truth is the truth."
"It serves no purpose to shut the stream off now," I realized. There really wasn't. "We turn it off, Blue Cosmos will just edit the recording they have and make it say whatever they want."
Noelle was going to tell the truth…and the truth was the least damaging thing that could happen. It was happening, for better or worse.
"So first off. There's this group. Cauldron? They run the PRT and the Protectorate. They're also kidnapping people, forcing power juice down their throats, and turning them into monster capes. They dump them around here and there with no memories because they think heroes or villains winning makes things worse."
"The fuck is this?" someone on the Protectorate line snapped. "Armsmaster?"
"Façade may be under the influence of the Simurgh," Dragon noted. "For the moment we should ignore any accusations. Our first priority is public safety."
Noelle was about to continue speaking.
"Do you have evidence of this claim?" Azrael looked like a kid in a candy store, as if someone had handed him the keys to the city. Fucker.
Noelle turned, looking at the blond man and his snake smile. She scowled, the hate I'd seen on her face whenever she talked about David overwhelming her features. She was about to speak but stopped herself.
"Teacher," she said. She looked away from Azrael, at the cameras. "Know him? Total ass douche that ruins people's lives? He used to be a member, and all this shit he does is his idea of saving the world. He's working with this shit heel"—she pointed at Azrael—"to start a war between capes and everyone else, but that's just because Teacher is full of himself."
Azrael looked taken aback, jaw slackening. He only needed a moment to recover and his face twisted in anger. First time I'd ever seen him without a smug smile.
"I think that's—"
A voice roared, and one of the men in the front row shot to his feet. "Shut up, Azrael!" I recognized him; Xavier Londo, Sonic's father. "Keep talking, girl. Ignore him."
Noelle looked surprised.
Armsmaster started issuing orders but I sort of tuned them out.
Noelle's face softened and the hate faded. I didn't know how to qualify the expression. It looked vulnerable. Afraid. This was different than I thought it would be. Noelle wasn't ranting. She wasn't being angry or furious. She was speaking calmly and directly.
Turning back to the camera, Noelle continued, "Are those the choices you really want? Fake heroes who think more suffering is all there is, or these fucks, collecting charity money while eating five hundred dollar steaks and working for a supervillain playing them all for fools?"
Noelle was silent for a time, looking out over the room.
Then a smile spread on her face. "You have to fight for your future. Will either of their worlds satisfy you?"
My eyes went wide. I'd had that thought before, asked that question. So did Relena Peacecraft. Did Noelle watch her speech or notice me quoting Sam Stansfield?
Noelle inhaled, smile cracking. "Alexandria knows all about it. Her real name is Rebecca Costa-Brown." WHAT?! "Yeah. That one. And Teacher's real name is Da—"
A gunshot rang out, cutting off her voice as blood shot from her shoulder.
"Armsmaster!" Dragon shouted.
"I'm at the center," Robin announced. "I'm going in!"
"Do not engage Façade," Armsmaster ordered. "Prioritize evacuation. Protectorate ENE deploying. Newtype!"
Teacher!
I knew it. There was a fucking Pet in the room! He shot her the moment she was about to mention him.
I flew over the outskirts of the city and dove down into the streets. Horns honked as Exia raced down the road toward the convention center. Almost there.
Bastion appeared behind Noelle, and his power shielded her from the next volley of shots. Chevalier's shadow began firing back. People screamed, and the camera was knocked over as the crowd jostled to escape and gunfire thundered.
I couldn't quite make out what was happening. It all came so quickly. People running past the fallen camera. Guns firing. A body hit the floor, arms and legs twisting back as thread moved to hogtie him.
Parian's power.
I threw Exia's feet into the street, cutting a scar into the road as I swung the suit around toward the center.
"Robin!" I called. "We're here!"
I didn't see anyone running from the center yet. A few looked at me. News crews. Bystanders. None of the cops. The cops were moving toward the building, guns drawn and waving people back and out of the way.
I switched to the sonic cameras and started looking in Noelle's direction. Kyrios landed beside me, and Queen flew over the crowd while Veda warned everyone to evacuate the area.
"Robin?"
"He is not responding," Dragon said. "One moment—"
I didn't hear whatever Dragon said next.
I threw Exia forward, rocketing toward the building at an angle that didn't strike any support beams. I'd slam into Noelle from below and piledrive her from the building if I had to. Maybe if I got her far enough away there was a chance.
She did it. She told the truth. Maybe—No maybes. We had to make it work now. The die was cast.
Then Noelle hit the ground and something moved.
It wriggled and twisted, exploding out and then contracting on itself. Arms shot out from it, cutting into the walls, the floor, the ceiling. The guards inside were all shooting at it. A figure I took as Noelle lay on her back as someone—Bastion's clone—loomed over her. A woman stood nearby. Parian's clone. The writhing mass swung a massive arm through the air, and bodies tore apart.
The limb hit the ground and splintered, shredding more and destroying the Parian clone. Noelle was knocked away.
The fuck is that?
"Six… six," a voice croaked.
The line went silent, still.
Armsmaster broke it. "Robin, repeat."
The man gagged on something, and hoarsely repeated his warning. "Case-66 in progress."
That's why Dinah's vision cut out.
A broken trigger.
