Interlude – Miss Militia
Hannah entered the room, feeling out of place.
She couldn't remember the last time Armsmaster asked to meet anyone in his lab. Usually business happened there because he refused to leave. She'd have to fetch him for a meeting, or to get some paperwork signed. Invitations to Armsmaster's workshop didn't exist.
Until now, at least.
"Militia," Colin greeted. "A moment. I'm almost done."
Hannah nodded and greeted Neil. He leaned against one of the tables at the room's center while Colin labored over a computer console and some code. He looked annoyed, more so than usual.
Stepping closer to Neil, she asked, "Did he say what this was about?"
Neil shook his head. Hannah frowned. That was unusual. Colin inviting people into his private space and offering no reason?
"Should we call for master/stranger containment?"
Neil chuckled. "Maybe he's been replaced by a changeling."
"I am quite fine," Colin said. "Thank you for your concern."
He stepped away from the console and walked to the table. Once there, he pressed a button. "I have disabled all surveillance of this room for the next fifteen minutes."
Hannah tilted her head. "Why?"
"Because the matter I wish to discuss could result in disciplinary action. If you wish to leave, you have two minutes before the door seals."
Hannah stiffened, and even Neil looked surprised.
"What about the others?" Neil asked.
"To Prism, the Protectorate is a surrogate family. I feel she will not be responsive to my concerns. Dauntless has a son that I do not wish to put in harm's way. I have reason to believe Triumph is part of the problem. While some of the Wards may listen, this should not be their concern."
Hannah felt her skin chill. He read the names and reasons off like a list. "This is about what Façade said, isn't it?"
"Yes and no." Colin pressed another button and a recording played over the room.
"Armsmaster." Hannah raised her head at the sound of Taylor's voice. "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—Cauldron will murder them! Like they murdered Cranial."
The recording stopped and Colin clarified, "Newtype said this before Façade's accusations were voiced. She was already aware of them"—Hannah knew that—"and I'd infer that the context of the statement implies belief in the veracity of these claims before her encounters with Façade."
Hannah didn't know that. "She told us Façade tried to sell her a conspiracy theory."
"Maybe she didn't need to sell anything."
Neil crossed his arms over his chest. "Newtype already knew."
"Yes."
Hannah started to object but stopped herself.
"Taylor is not a stupid girl," Colin stated. "Nor is she naïve enough to believe mere words. Master or stranger involvement is not apparent. If she believes these things, she has reason to believe them."
"Rory," Neil said. "Forecast saw him let Cranial go."
She did. He was pulled from the operation and then Cranial died. Eidolon burned her charge to get all the way to Brockton Bay from Houston and killed her.
Thinking back, Hannah remembered Dragon's fury, yelling and snapping at the woman that Cranial had surrendered. Dragon was not one who became readily angered.
"What does this have to do with Rory?" Hannah asked.
"I find it suspicious," Colin explained. "He has repeatedly stood out in several incidents. Most recently, Façade called off her attack as soon as she touched him. If she wanted powers, why not pursue you?"
"There was something about her getting memories from capes she touched."
"Yes."
"You think she was looking for information, not powers," Hannah surmised. "And she stopped because Rory gave her the information she wanted." Colin didn't nod or voice an affirmative. The answer was obvious. Hannah's power flickered at her hip. "Why are we here?"
"Because we are the seniors," Colin answered. "I'm one of the oldest active members of the Protectorate. You are one of the first Wards." He turned to Neil. "You don't like those in charge."
Neil scoffed. "Ah. The resident rebel am I?"
Hannah's initial reaction was disbelief. Armsmaster of all capes proposing a conspiracy theory within the Protectorate? In the PRT? It was absurd. She knew Hero. He'd never condone using people as test subjects, like mine sweepers. If Alexandria were Costa-Brown, neither he nor Legend would keep quiet about it. The civilian leadership of the PRT was what separated them from a band of villains pretending to be heroes.
Why did that feel like a list of excuses?
"What exactly are you proposing we do?" Neil placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. "Join the calls for investigation?"
"That ship has sailed." Colin fiddled with the panel and the surface of the table ignited. The lights arranged themselves into newspaper pages and video streams. "Faultline did not plant the weapons found in Providence. There are far too many. Blue Cosmos is stockpiling arms and several recent acts of violence directed at parahumans are alarming. If Façade was not lying about one part of her claims, the necessary question is what to do if the other parts are also true."
"It's not true," Hannah objected.
"Perhaps not. But if it is, Newtype is in danger."
Newtype is in danger.
Hannah felt her power shift as Hero's words replayed in her mind.
Keep an eye on her, Hannah. It's for her own good.
"And there is something else." The display changed, bringing up a small list of text. "StarGazer provided this list to me as we prepared to deal with Façade."
-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
"Does anything about this stand out?"
Neil cocked one eyebrow and quipped, "Congress using the words 'mad ravings' is hysterically hypocritical?"
"Hannah." She lifted her head, then followed Colin's arm to his finger as he pointed. "This."
"What…"
David.
Her eyes slowly widened as the horrifying possibilities formed in her mind. "No."
"Fill me in?" Stratos asked.
"Façade accused Alexandria of knowing all about Cauldron in addition to being Chief Director Costa-Brown." A marvel they could stand together on one stage and refute the claim. "She also claimed that Teacher was once a member of Cauldron."
"Named David?"
"This would be before you joined the Protectorate."
"It's impossible," Hannah objected. Perhaps more loudly than she intended. "David lost his powers. He's retired."
Colin gave her a level stare. "Is he?"
Neil sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please catch me up here."
"David is the real name of a founding member of the Protectorate," Colin explained. "The first Eidolon."
Neil's eyes widened with recognition. He hadn't been Protectorate then, but he had been active as a cape. Everyone knew David from back then, even if PR liked to pretend that there had only ever been one Eidolon most of the time.
"And Façade said Teacher used to be in Cauldron," Neil muttered. "Alright. I'm following."
Colin nodded. "If Alexandria is aware of Cauldron, then so are Hero and Legend. Eidolon not knowing would be strange. It's possible he didn't lose his powers and retire. He simply quit."
"Got tired of the bullshit and replaced it with more?"
"Possibly. It's also possible there is yet more we don't know. What I do know is that there is no other instance of a cape losing their powers. It was unprecedented when it happened to him."
"Then he lied."
"And usurped the role of Teacher."
"He could have any power, right? Did he ever show the use of master powers before?"
"No, but he often said he didn't get the powers he wanted."
"He got the powers he needed," Hannah whispered.
That had to be wrong. He couldn't possibly be that arrogant, could he? The Eidolon Hannah knew was proud but not a monster. He put so much weight on himself for every failure, and there were always failures. The world's strongest parahuman wasn't immune to the reality that people die.
"And what are you saying we do about it?" Neil wondered, looking to Colin.
"That we should be prepared to choose," Colin answered. "If Cauldron comes after Newtype, or if Newtype goes after Cauldron, whose side are we on?"
"It can't come to that," Hannah protested.
"Of course it can," Neil replied. "You think little miss Do-What's-Right-To Hell-With-Consequences and her growing army of robots is going to balk at going after an evil conspiracy? I saw her at the end of Boston. Leviathan loomed over that girl and she pulled one of those lightsabers out and all but said come at me."
"She will not abide by it," Colin agreed. "If she is aware of Cauldron, she may already be working against them. She is simply more restrained and mindful of the fallout than Façade."
"The truth is the truth. Girl said it herself. Just because the Simurgh got her to say it doesn't mean she was lying."
"Which only makes the situation more harrowing. Dividing the Protectorate with a cruel truth is far more effective than a believable lie. Several Case-53s have already threatened resignation if there are no investigations into the claims Façade made."
No. "Weld?" Where would they go? What would they do? A few of the older 53s had been around for a while, but the younger ones…
"Weld has been silent," Colin answered. "But I'm sure he's spoken with Hunch who has not. Gully is refusing to be in the same room as Alexandria. The timing has already been noted by several observers."
"Timing?" Hannah asked.
"The Madison attack. Case-53s would appear regularly before it. Afterward, only a dozen or so have emerged, a drastic drop in their frequency."
"And meanwhile," Neil growled, "Madison is overflowing with them."
Colin nodded. "Cauldron may have had a facility there, or a lab. The Simurgh's attack may have been targeted to strike it."
"The world needs the Protectorate," Hannah argued.
Colin folded his hands behind his back. "The world needs heroes coordinated. That does not necessitate that the mechanism be the Protectorate."
"The thing Newtype mentioned?" Stratos laughed. "Full of surprises. Never took you for one to jump ship."
"I am not proposing that. I am only saying that given our seniority and positions, we should prepare for the possibility that the Protectorate is not what we thought it was. There may be a point where we are asked to do something. Rather than carrying through, we should be conscious that the moral response is no."
Why did it feel so hard to feel…anything?
Hannah looked around the room. She was no stranger to shock but it usually didn't hit in a calm room with no enemies present. That sort of strange slowness everything took on even as they continued on at a regular pace. The sense of almost being outside herself.
She closed her eyes, unable to not remember the feeling of her own scarf clamping down around her throat. Vision blurring; lungs emptying as she gasped. Taylor screamed, and when she could breathe again… Killing doesn't just hurt the killed. It hurts the killer. Rips pieces of them away bit by bit with each life taken.
Hannah knew what Taylor was feeling before she stepped out of her suit.
The way she stood there, unmoving, with Façade impaled on her sword. It was different, knowing people might die because of you and knowing they died by your own hand. It came with its own weight. A weight a sixteen-year-old girl shouldn't be burdened with.
Buried in the memory of that moment, Hannah remembered something else.
David won't stop because you ask.
She forced Taylor to choose. Either she killed Façade, or Façade killed Hannah. Because David—Teacher—had to die. There was familiarity in that act. Something beyond hero and villain.
Taylor and Façade knew one another, and Taylor knew something of what Facade said before she said it.
"You think Cauldron will come after Newtype?" Hannah asked.
A girl who wouldn't even be a cape if they had done their job. If they'd supervised Sophia properly. She was dead too now. Along with Façade. Carlos. Dennis. Robin.
How many more had to die? It wouldn't just be Taylor. Lafter. StarGazer. Forecast. Chariot. More, maybe.
Colin thought for a moment and closed his eyes. "If not them, then Teacher. If not them, perhaps an Endbringer. The aftermath of Hartford has significantly elevated Celestial Being's profile. Killing Façade has made Taylor more than just a cape. She's a national hero who ended a Simurgh plot and saved one of the country's most well-known heroines."
The age-old heartache of the soldiers. Kill a man in peace and it's murder. Kill a man in war and you're a hero.
"While we skulk around the office pondering the finer points of ethics," Neil commented. "To hell with it. Some of the 53s are preteens. Anyone who does that to a kid gets what they deserve."
"I will not abide crimes simply because those who commit them are convinced they are in the right," Colin added. "It's easy to become swept up in the tide. Whatever these shadows began as, they are wrong now."
Neither man looked at Hannah. Why should they? She was the good little soldier. Good soldiers did as they were told. The last time she did something simply because it seemed right, she ended up in a bomb crater, bullet through her chest, staring at the sky and wondering when she became so alone.
"How do we know they're wrong?" Hannah wondered.
"We don't," Neil said. "But if it looks like an asshole and quacks like one, it probably is."
It came easily after her misbegotten childhood to wrap herself in something else, and simply do as she was told. Easy because when it went wrong, she could tell herself she'd done nothing wrong. She did as she was told, like a good soldier.
Reaching for her neck, Hannah tugged Miss Militia's scarf up and over her nose…and found it didn't work like that anymore.
