A Waken 14.1
There were nice woods around Brockton Bay. Lots of trees on gentle hills leading to squat mountains. Plenty of good places to hike or camp.
The area around Dinah's house was especially nice. Underbrush was kept under control, so traversing the ground was easy. A nice pond and a shallow stream cut through the wood. With the rays of light from the rising sun, it looked like something out of a Disney film.
Too bad I couldn't really enjoy it.
Turning my attention back to my phone, I sighed. "Agnes Court is fine?"
"Yeah, she's fine." Lafter fired at something. "These losers aren't very scary. Half of them cut and ran as soon as Kyrios popped up."
Good.
Agnes Court was not my favorite person, but in terms of fame and rank within the Elite she was the best choice. The Elite needed to get out of the way. People who went to them in desperation, fear, or for opportunity needed another option.
I wanted that option's name to be Londo Bell.
Being able to offhandedly reduce homelessness in an afternoon was a great bonus. I'd pay the woman to do it if all she wanted was money. I had plenty. Everything we did enhanced Londo Bell's slowly growing profile.
Unfortunately, her other associates apparently took exception to moonlighting.
"Was it Underboss?"
"Angie says no." Something shifted in the background and a GN beam fired. "I didn't say you could leave! Sit your ass down!"
I paused at the tree line. "Angie?"
"She's stuck up but she's not that bad for a snob."
I rolled my eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me."
I frowned.
"Or frown!"
I rolled my eyes and frowned. As long as she wasn't in jail or making trouble, let her be a snob. No skin off my back.
"She's sure it's not Underboss?" I asked. "She's not just trying to cover for him or anything?"
"These guys look like random thugs to me. Don't even have powers. Just lots of guns."
"Most of the perpetrators are locals," Veda noted. "As far as I can tell, they are not connected to the Elite or any Parahuman gang. A few have loose connections to anti-Parahuman groups."
"Blue Cosmos?"
"Smaller groups, but it would not be weird for them to move about."
I'd rather it was Underboss. Giving the Elite another bloody nose would be comparatively simple. Having to deal with Blue Cosmos directly, especially now, was tricky. I didn't want to become the rallying cry that gave them their 'just' cause. A subtler approach was preferable.
I might not have the luxury.
This was the fourth attack against someone publicly associating with Londo Bell in the past two weeks. We'd prevented two from happening at all. A third required Queen to drop in on Charleston and pull Nyx and Nix out of trouble.
It was rubbing me the wrong ways.
I took a deep breath and looked at the house on the other side of the picket fence.
Priorities.
"Finish up and get back here. I have a bad feeling."
"Another long flight," Lafter lamented. "Yey."
"Until we get a two-way teleporter working, we have to deal with it."
"At least we have solved the nausea problem," Veda offered.
"Don't remind me," Lafter begged. "Please."
"I told you that was too much Lo Mein," I prodded, with maybe a bit of a smirk.
"Don't remind me!"
"Well, now you can eat as much as you want before using the teleporter."
"Please stop," Lafter pleaded.
I Ignored the complaint. "Let's have Schwartz Bruder warn the Elite off. Find something Underboss likes and blow it open. He can snidely suggest he's doing it in support of the right of free association."
"Schwartz Bruder will see what he can do," Veda replied.
Not that I expected that to work for long.
Fortunately for us, we did have the teleporter. Anyone who tried to hit Londo Bell from the side or back would find a Gundam dropping from the sky in moments. Maybe Lafter recorded the faces of the guys who first noticed her. That might be entertaining.
Unfortunately, it only went one way. Flying back to Brockton Bay took hours. Sooner or later someone would notice and use that. They'd split us up and hit us while we were divided.
Veda's proposal of mounting the teleporter onto a mobile suit might be the best solution.
Another thing that needed to wait.
For the moment, I stepped out of the woods and into the Alcott's backyard. Green and White confirmed no one was watching. Dinah had gotten pretty laissez-faire about her secret identity, but I wasn't going to make it easier.
Walking quietly across the back yard, I approached and knocked on the door.
It opened quickly, as if the woman on the other side was waiting for me.
"Hello, Mrs. Alcott."
"Hi, Taylor." She stepped aside, her face long and worried. I entered at her motion and took a quick instinctual look around. "She's upstairs, in her room."
I nodded and started toward the stairs. Dinah's father stood at the bottom, looking as haggard as his wife. He seemed a mix of angry and worried as I approached. A bit of it felt directed my way.
He made no move to stop me.
It was weird seeing her. Dinah's mom was one of the first people I ever helped, not that I did much. We never talked about it. We never talked about anything, really.
I didn't know Dinah's parents very well. We'd met multiple times and exchanged pleasantries. Not much else. Dinah seemed to like handling her family situation herself. I didn't want to butt in where she didn't want me.
It had never been a problem before.
Getting a call from her father so early in the morning was strange.
Then Veda agreed with his concerns and I felt like a bit of a slug.
At the top of the stairs, I followed White's signal to a door directly to the left.
I knocked, her parents watching from below. "Dinah? It's Taylor."
No answer.
"I'm coming in."
I turned the knob and found the door already ajar.
The room itself looked how I expected. Dinah liked ivory and cream colors. Books and stuffed animals marked her shelves and bed, and there were clothes scattered about. She had a bed, a dresser, a desk and a chair.
She occupied the chair.
White turned as I entered, looking away from the stakes of paper around him.
There were lots of papers scattered about.
Enough that a rock dropped into my chest.
How much has she been using her power?
I moved forward slowly. Dinah had started drawing lately, trying to imprint the images she saw. Apparently her memory was very good. Once she saw something she remembered it. Veda had tested it a bit and concluded Dinah had gained something of a limited eidetic memory, at least where her power was concerned. She had to actively take note of something, but once she did she didn't forget.
It was a good idea, but was that putting more strain on her?
Some of the pictures turned my stomach. I was accustomed to violence. I'd seen people get shot, exploded, impaled. That didn't make it easy to see Dinah drawing those things.
Her power didn't spare her cruelty. She'd seen people die. Saw them suffer. She carried herself pretty well; so well I rarely thought about it if she didn't bring it up.
Maybe I should have.
There were cities burning on the pages. Gun fights in the street. Children crying. Bodies piled up.
"Dinah…"
She sat in her chair, pencil working away at a new sheet.
I stood behind her, a hand gently falling on her shoulder while her body shook.
I waited.
Was that the right choice? From the beginning, I worried about abusing Dinah's power too much. I could run her into the ground. She was just so useful. It was so tempting to keep using her, like a tool. I might do it without meaning to.
All I could do to assuage myself in the moment was know the state of her room upset me. How bad could I really be? Stopping her in the middle of her power wouldn't help anything.
It took a minute.
Once she set the pencil down, her hand pushed the page off to the side.
I placed a hand over her stack of blank paper before she could grab another.
"That's enough, Dinah."
She turned her head and she looked like her mother. In terms of how tired she looked, at least. She was exhausted. Same bags under her eyes, pale complexion. Had she been up all night?
"It's time to stop. You've done enough."
Dinah looked at me but stopped herself before she spoke.
She nodded.
I helped her up and when she didn't seem able to walk straight I pulled her to my side. We went to her bed and I helped her get up onto it. She'd have to skip school. She was in no state to go.
I felt a bit silly taking her shoes off. I knew a headache when I saw one though and I felt quite a bit of empathy for her, especially given my own persistent aches. Constant headaches sucked, even after you sort of learn to live with them.
"You can't do this to yourself," I told her. "Your parents actually called me."
"I know. I knew they would when things got too bad."
That… That was not healthy.
"You can't do that. I've tried doing that. It's not good for you."
"Something's going to happen," she whispered, eyes half closed. "I can almost see it. There's so many moving pieces. Stuff keeps changing."
"I'll worry about that."
I should have seen it coming. Once we became bigger, our interests would expand. Dinah would feel pressured to cover more and more. Her power was limited. Too many questions hurt her. Maybe the more involved we became, the more unwieldy it got.
"I mean it," she insisted. "There's something. My power keeps trying to warn me, like little fingers pointing me where to look. It's something I can't see directly. I've been trying to see around it, but there's—"
"Too much going on and too quickly. I know." I gently pulled the glasses from her eyes. "You still have to stop."
She looked me in the eye. "You'll never stop."
"And Veda, Lafter, my dad, and you are constantly telling me when I'm pushing myself too hard. You're pushing yourself too hard. Stop."
Her face scrunched up and I sat and waited until she relented.
"Fine."
"Get some sleep. I'll go grab one of Armsmaster's tranquilizers if I have to."
"The case is booby-trapped." I frowned. "Just saying."
While I waited, I took a moment to touch up the glasses and fix some of the wear and tear. It didn't take long. Dinah stared up at the ceiling, and I couldn't tell if she wanted to sleep but couldn't or just didn't want to. Not sure I could do much more than make her try.
White continued gathering papers from across the room. Back and forth, left and right. There seemed to be a system to the stacks, but I didn't know what it was.
"Second stack, five down," Dinah stated. She rolled onto her side facing the wall. "I'll go to sleep now."
Thinkers.
I rose from the bed and White pointed me to the correct stack. I took the sheet and moved toward the door.
Her parents were outside, watching.
"I'm sorry."
I didn't linger.
Part of me wondered how I let that happen. I should know better. I shouldn't trust myself that much. Then I remembered I didn't really manage Dinah much anymore. Her power had become something she used herself along with Veda. They gave me what they found when they could, and I only asked questions when something urgent came up.
I knew how Veda let it happen.
Leaving through the back door and passing back through the woods, I lifted the paper up and started looking it over.
Answers, six sets. Dinah had drawn arrows from one headline to another, and then back and forth. The page looked like one of those conspiracy theorist boards with all the string and pins almost. She'd asked questions, probing. Trying to find a connection between the headlines?
Boston featured in several of them.
The attack five days ago?
We warned Armstrong about that. He changed the Ward schedule without a question. It was fortunate that he did. Spectre was intangible by default. She had to choose to let something touch her. Blockade was a full brute. Bullets did nothing to him. Anyone else and there might be two more dead Wards.
I didn't know Dinah asked three questions to track down who the shooter was. We got him arrested on a gun charge based on what she saw. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the attack.
Someone took the shots anyway.
That made a dozen murder attempts.
First Houston and Seattle. Then Detroit. Nashville. Atlanta. Jacksonville. Boston.
Someone was trying to kill the Wards and they'd gotten three so far. The PRT and Protectorate were responding hard. Small time gangs and troublemakers were getting their shit kicked in as the adult heroes made themselves known.
In a way it felt like lashing out.
The killers weren't identifying themselves but we all knew who they were.
Blue Cosmos.
The war is starting.
This had Teacher written all over it.
He'd stepped up his game. Rather than sending a Pet to do his dirty work, he was directing others. Dinah couldn't see anything directly, which meant his actions weren't part of her visions. She was getting hit with that a lot lately.
I wasn't sure what to make of it.
If Teacher was suddenly being more active, did that mean he was being more cautious or less? He couldn't possibly have a thumb on every precog. There must be others like Dinah. He'd have to work carefully. The blind spot he created enabled attacks and incidents all over to blindside heroes and villains alike. Too much though, and it would be noticed. The inability of precogs to see obvious things coming would start stacking up. People would realize something was wrong, like we had.
Now, it seemed he wasn't trying anymore.
David might be preparing to enter the stage.
"I should have stopped her, shouldn't I?" Veda asked.
"It's not your fault," I admitted. "You've spent your entire life around me. I set a bad example, even if I have gotten better."
Though, maybe I'd started relapsing the past few weeks. When was the last night I took off? I couldn't think of it, so it had been a bit.
Things were moving so hard and fast, almost paradoxically.
Dean was pushing Londo Bell subtly. No press conferences. No fancy public events. No announcements. Just people, capes and non-capes, working together to solve community problems.
He preferred that approach and so did I. Our actions would speak for us. People would watch us and know what we wanted. No grandstanding. No preaching. No showboating.
Homes for the homeless with Agnes Court. Charity drives with Garde, Canary, and Parian. Trash cleanup with Nyx and Nix. Gundams smashing small time gangs no one else had time to do anything about.
That would be good enough. The next time I saw Noelle, we'd have something to show for it.
So yes, busy. And not particularly loaded with time to figure out what Dinah wanted me to know. I probably should have asked her. It would have taken all of five minutes…unless that's what she wanted me to do.
I'd reached the opposite edge of the woods by the time I thought to turn the paper over.
More sets of questions and more arrows. The headlines were scattered, mixed in with a few other things. Sloppy questions or messy results? Dragon. Slaughterhouse Nine. Canary. Saint. New York. A few headlines stood out.
Crisis averted. Disaster in New York. Oddly cryptic, but what I expected. We'd been keeping an eye on New York since the Protectorate announced the big sleepover for all the Wards and 'cordially' invited others.
What did any of those have to do with one another? "What question did Dinah ask for these?"
"We were attempting to locate Saint," Veda answered.
The disappearing asshole.
Is Teacher already onto us?
Saint didn't block precogs, but something was interfering there. The Dragonslayers kept moving, always taking to the hills whenever we started closing in. They were becoming more cagey too. They left their hideouts less frequently and Georgios wasn't as active on PHO as he used to be.
Dragon wasn't appearing in any headlines anytime soon, but a month out she did. Headlines about exposure and scandal. It made me uneasy, even if it kept being a month out.
It was convenient that back when Calvert was arrested the Dragonslayers decided to make a scene.
Now I was increasingly nervous that Teacher might be in contact with them. Whether that was to get black market tinker-tech or try to get control of Dragon… Had I pushed the man into a corner? He seemed to know someone was looking. It might be best to assume he knew it was me.
Fuck.
That's what Dinah was trying to tell me.
I stood in front of my van and scowled.
If Saint remained free, he posed a threat to Dragon. He needed to be in jail. I needed whatever this box was that Dinah kept seeing. Tinker-tech of some kind. He guarded it fiercely. Tried to do something with it in the possibilities where I actually caught him.
That box was bad news and I wanted it.
But at this rate, could I afford to keep trying? If Saint had a pet with him now, or if he joined with Teacher...Shit he might be a pet himself.
We couldn't put it off any longer, risks or not.
Pocketing the paper, I inhaled sharply and climbed into my van.
"How long, Veda?"
"About two hours."
"Let's go to the factory for now." I settled onto Exia's chest as the engine started up. "Send another text to Canary. Her ex-manager is still trying to see her and it keeps going bad."
I really, really didn't want to be involved in her sex life, but I did not need her losing her temper now and getting herself Birdcaged. Her ex-manager was seriously tilted. She needed a damn restraining order.
Dragon is more important right now.
There was too much crap going on and too little time for me to deal with all of it.
Choices still needed to be made.
"Send a message to Armsmaster. Saint is a lost cause. We're going to have to risk it."
"You're sure?"
"We can't keep playing this game."
"Very well."
We couldn't risk waiting anymore. I had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. Dinah was right. Something was coming. It had been coming since Hartford and we didn't have the luxury of waiting for Forecast to hunt it down.
If Saint interfered, Veda might be able to intervene. I wasn't sure. There was really no way to know how our plan to free Dragon would end until it did. We were confident enough it would work in a vacuum, but the real world isn't exactly a lab environment.
A lot of things could go wrong, and Dragon's life was on the line.
We couldn't even tell her what we were doing without tipping Saint off.
That fucking hurt.
The sound of the protesters heralded our arrival at the factory. After Behemoth, the bigots had camped themselves on the opposite street corner and prattled day and night. And there were a lot of them. Hundreds, rather than the dozen or so who used to hang out there.
The van eventually came to a stop, and I stepped out.
The crowd was even bigger.
"Are the perimeter defenses good?" I asked.
"The projectors are a bit fickle," Veda answered. "It's nothing I cannot handle."
That bad feeling was coming back up. "Tell Orga to pull back if it gets bad. I don't want him or anyone else in Tekkadan getting arrested or gunned down. We can hold the fence if there's a riot or attack."
"I'll inform Orga and Stu."
Orga stood just across the road from Blue Cosmos' corner on his own.
His head turned my way for a moment and I didn't know how to respond. He'd been standing there on and off for days, watching. At one point a few of the protesters approached him. A dozen or so Tekkadan popped out of various corners and alleys. Orga stared them down and asked if they wanted to make trouble.
That's when I realized how bad it could get.
Whatever this thing Teacher—David—wanted to set in motion was, it would be nothing like fighting the gangs. It would be people. Normal people who were angry or afraid or hateful. I could dislike the bigots in abstract, but that didn't change the sense of dread.
I didn't want to keep looking at it.
Green followed after me, descending from the air as I passed through the factory doors. He landed with a soft thud and the rotors withdrew into his little round body. The Haros liked their new upgrades, and to be fair they were probably overdue. The cradles had always been a bit clunky. Building their abilities into the Haros freed up more maintenance time.
The line carried on like any other day. After the first fifty Helpers we sent to Brockton General, more orders came in. The other hospitals in the city, one in Hartford, and two in Boston. Yashima wanted a hundred units to test, with a thought toward buying more than we could make to send to Japan.
I hadn't seen much of the country myself, but it was weird to think about. Green mountains, rolling hills, pure blue beaches. It's not the image of a ruined country, but I didn't really see people either. In the absence of a population, the land just grew.
Count actually did exactly what I thought she didn't mean to. Sanc wanted two hundred helpers. I didn't know how to get them there. International shipping was complicated, and the Elite had a foot in the door of most major ports.
If I had my way, I'd get Lord's Port cleared and running and ship the units from Brockton Bay.
Two hours. What was I going to do for two hours?
"Where's Kati?"
"Upstairs in the PR office."
Oh, right. We had a PR office now.
"Hi Taylor."
I turned as I entered the offices. "Hi Miri—Miriallia? What are you doing here?"
She smiled. "Charlotte said you were looking for volunteers!"
Behind her, Charlotte's face turned red and she busied herself sorting papers. "I was just talking and she kind of started—"
"Taylor?"
I didn't hear the rest of what Charlotte said.
I looked past her, toward the woman sitting across the table from Kati.
"Mrs. Knott."
She smiled at me as she hunched in her seat.
My feet started toward her. "What are you doing here?"
"I asked Mr. Stansfield if he needed anything and he suggested it might be a good idea to have someone from Londo Bell here you're familiar with, to coordinate things. You seem so busy, I thought I could help."
"You volunteered with Londo Bell?"
"Londo Bell's approach is much more to my liking. I saw your robots down at the soup kitchen the other day. I think their kind-heartedness is something they get from you."
…The Haros went to a soup kitchen?
"Grab a ladle," Green chirped. "Grab a ladle!"
I took the empty seat beside her. For a moment, a lot of the things that had occupied my mind fell away. To say my history with Mrs. Knott was contentious would be an understatement. From Winslow to Blue Cosmos, the bullying and the lawsuit. It was a trying relationship, but one that seemed to hold more weight for me as time went on.
A subtle weight, but a weight.
"I saw your husband's obituary," I whispered. Technically, Veda informed me of it and I borrowed Dad's paper. "I'm sorry."
Mrs. Knott smiled. "It was a good life. I should apologize to you. I looked the other way for his sake, and now—"
"I understand."
It didn't change what happened. It didn't take away my bitterness or my anger. I knew why she did what she did though. Love can twist the heart as much as anything. Cruelty is not the only source of suffering in the world.
Maybe suffering couldn't exist without something to suffer for.
"He was hardly there, at the end. He didn't even know our son had passed anymore."
"You suffered that too," I pointed out.
"All the same. I could have done more if I had cast him aside."
"Could you live with yourself if you did?"
Mrs. Knott took a silent moment to say, "I don't know."
The office around us was busy. Kati had taken the budget set aside for her and hired four staff, plus another intern alongside Charlotte. Others milled about, but I guessed they were volunteers like Miria. The only one of the staff I knew was Chuck. Kati knew him, apparently.
Across the table, Kati minded her own business while Mrs. Knott and I talked.
"Mr. Gladly told me you retired."
"I heard he took a job at Arcadia. It seems he walked away from Winslow a bit wiser than when he went in."
I supposed that was true, not that I would ever admit it. Gladly kept his word and he did his job. No point complaining about it or being jealous. It was especially useful lately, as the school had started segregating again to my dismay.
"I'm a bit too old to reinvent myself," Mrs. Knott murmured. "Have to keep myself busy, though. I'd bore myself home alone all day." She glanced around the room as someone called for Kati to come look at something. "I think this would be a very pleasant way to spend what time is left."
"You taught me a lot," I admitted.
"Not all of it was good," she pointed out.
"Maybe it was good enough," I proposed.
How many times had I repeated her words now? We're all weak.
Winslow felt so far away. The lawsuit was over, my part at least. I'd seen something about a new lawsuit being filed. Probably that farce with Madison and the other girls but I didn't care about that anymore. It was way down on my list of priorities.
"Charlotte's doing well. I think I like seeing the two of you together, being for one another what was stripped from you then."
"Yeah." Friends.
"It's good to see you happy."
Happy?
I was preparing to fight a war, trying to save a friend from enslavement or death, pulling people from burning buildings and sinking ships, and dealing with being a damn teenager. What did I have to be happy about? I mean, I didn't feel miserable. Despite it all, I just kept going. What else was there to do?
We were far from done.
"I hope I'm not happy," I whispered. "That's all…" Not sure there was a word for it.
"Happiness is a state of mind, I think. We find ways to endure."
"Like this?"
"However it is."
We talked a while longer, until Kati came toward us.
"It's time to go." She had a tote bag with her, which hardly seemed big enough.
"Off to something?" Mrs. Knott asked.
"I'm going to New York," I told her. "The PRT is hosting the future heroes of the world."
My tone was more derisive than I meant it to be, but I couldn't help it. In part, going down to New York for a big PR event felt cheap. There was too much going on, so much that demanded attention. I could work on stopping whatever Teacher was plotting in New York without tying myself down for a whole week.
The Wards aren't my enemy.
Count had one thing right, and Noelle proved it.
No one can save the world alone, and someone was trying to kill the Wards. I saw through the violence. It wasn't about the killing. Teacher wanted to break the Wards. He wanted the Protectorate to pull them back. To turn tail and retreat before an onslaught.
To hell with that.
"I have to go."
I rose from my seat and turned to follow Kati.
Behind me. Mrs. Knott said, "Good luck."
Mikazuki was downstairs when we stepped onto the floor. Green and Red lifted a backpack between them with all the clothes, toiletries, and tools I'd need in New York. The van was already gone, ferrying Exia south.
Subtlety didn't mean I couldn't give Teacher and his makeshift rabble a bloody nose.
Trevor zipped behind Mikazuki as I gathered my backpack. "Have your permission slip?"
"Haha."
"Chris said he'd make sure all your homework was gathered up." He pointed over his shoulder. "I'll hand it off to one of the Haros for when you get back."
"Thanks." I glanced to Mikazuki. "You're not following me to New York."
"Orga said not to. I think it's a good idea."
"I'll be fine." I glanced warily at Trevor. "Any danger in New York isn't targeting me. I'm just a loud annoyance."
"So is a fly." He looked at Kati. "I can carry that." He pointed at her back.
"Thank you, but it's not that much."
Trevor looked around. "Your dad isn't here?"
"He had a meeting. We did hugs and stuff last night." It was only five days. No need to be dramatic. "I'll see you in a week."
"There's another inspection coming on Wednesday."
I frowned. "Another one?"
Trevor pulled a piece of paper from one of his pockets. "This was dropped in the box this morning. Caught the Haros trying to burn it."
I glared at Green.
"Junk mail, junk mail!"
"Can you deal with it?" I asked.
"I got it. It's just getting annoying. This is four times now."
Damn Tagg. People actually wanted him to be the new Chief Director. Well, if they wanted the PRT to die a faster death, I wasn't going to stop them.
"I'll hide what needs hiding," Trevor assured me.
"I'm surprised you're on board with it still."
"Not like I don't get it, but they're not keeping anyone safe from reckless tinkering." He shook the letter. "This is petty and vindictive."
"Well, just don't tell them we bought the place next door."
Trevor shrugged. "I wouldn't know anything about that."
I nodded and started off with Kati.
The protesters started shouting at me as I left the fence. I ignored them and kept going. A few Tekkadan guys made themselves known as I passed, waving or nodding to Mikazuki and saluting me.
"Tell them to stop doing that."
"They do it because you don't like it," Kati pointed out.
"Why?"
"They're kids," Mikazuki answered, as if he wasn't one too.
My entourage consisted of myself, Kati, Mikazuki, Green and Red. The protesters made noise, but none approached. They weren't that dumb, or reckless. Yet.
We went down the street through crowds of people going about their day and boarded a bus.
Kati handed me a note card. Talking points for whenever reporters showed up. "You don't have to come with me."
"I could use a change of scenery," she noted. "Besides, I want to take a measure of Glenn's attitude. He has a good poker face but he's rotten at pretending."
"I don't know who that is."
"That's fine. Let me worry about it."
Whatever suited her, I guessed.
I had a terrorist attack to stop and a statement to make. Same old same old.
Be easier to focus on it without everything else on my mind. Headache too. I'd manage.
I messaged Aisha during the ride.
sys.t/ checking in
sys.i/ same old same old
sys.i/ Tt is doing her computer thing
sys.i/ the princess is being broody
Fine then. The second bird of the New York stone was lined up. Time to find out who the enemy of my enemy was. They weren't necessarily my friend, but they need not necessarily be my enemy either. I didn't like Tattletale—the idea of working with her at all was weird—and I didn't trust who she was working with.
I'd take my measure soon enough.
We approached the PRT building with a few minutes to spare. Mikazuki hung back at the bus stop, watching casually while we went. Troopers were arrayed in front of the building, staring down Blue Cosmos protesters across the street.
Damn child.
I fucking missed Piggot.
The worst part was I could hardly blame them. Protectorate patrols were being harassed. Lawsuits were being filed. Wards were getting shot. They had to respond and it's not like they could treat Blue Cosmos as supervillains. Their options were limited. So long as the organization stood, it would keep sending hand grenades over the line. There was no shortage of people with grudges against capes. Nevermind the PRT issues involved.
"There you are." Behind the trooper line, Lieutenant La Flaga waved. "This way. Don't mind the parade rest."
"Right."
The man waved Kati and I through the line and troopers parted to let us pass.
More of Tagg's stupidity.
Orga didn't flaunt Tekkadan like he wanted a fight. Lining troopers up like this was asking for a scuffle, and for what? To look tough?
La Flaga was alone, which is when it hit me again.
They fired Murrue.
That was good in many ways. She was safe, and since joining the Youth Guard she seemed okay. Maybe it suited her better, being able to focus on helping young capes rather than squabbling over internal PRT politics. She'd gotten Chloe Kholer out of confinement with Robin's help. He'd left Hartford behind and ferried the 'silver girl of Hartford' to some remote part of Massachusetts.
No one talked about putting her in the Birdcage anymore.
I still felt weird dealing with the PRT without Murrue around.
"We're just waiting for a few more," Mu explained. "Bus is ready to go."
The garage was the usual array of armored trucks and vans. The one new occupant was a white and blue minibus. I expected the dicks to have a field day with 'short bus' jokes though.
As we got close I took note of Armsmaster talking to Renick and Weld. Two troopers loaded bags into a compartment on the bus' side, and there was a round woman with rosy cheeks taking pictures with her phone. PR lady maybe.
No one noticed me until Prism and Win came around the side of a van further down.
Chris smiled and called, "Taylor!"
He was in a good mood.
The rest turned to look at me and the awkwardness set in.
Armsmaster and Renick looked pretty stoic. Prism looked a bit peeved. Weld was clearly uncomfortable but coping. Such seemed his lot of late. Chris looked enthusiastic. The round woman smiled broadly.
"This is weird," Mu commented.
"We should move on," Armsmaster suggested.
"For everyone," Renick agreed. He looked past me. "Rosary."
Rosary?
I turned as the woman approached. She wore a rose-colored robe with gold frills. A matching golden mask adorned her face and connected to a hood that covered her head.
I recognized the name, but why was Haven here?
"And this must be Judge."
My attention shifted to the young boy beside Rosary.
"That's Armsmaster," he whispered.
"Judge," the woman chided.
"And that's Newtype."
"Yes." The woman sounded exasperated but she gave a small smile. "He's very enthusiastic."
Guess I couldn't be the only independent showing up. Rosary was a fairly well known hero. She didn't lead Haven but she was one of the team's most prominent capes. I'd never heard of Judge before, though.
Mu offered to take Rosary's bag and she accepted. He loaded it onto the bus with the others, then came back for mine and Kati's. Kati preferred to hang onto hers, and I agreed. The Haros packed some tools and I wanted to keep them near me.
"That's all our guests." Renick inhaled. "If only we could find—"
"Oh, we found him," Prism grumbled.
"I warned you," Armsmaster quipped.
I raised my brow, unsure what they were talking about.
Another cape came around the same corner ahead. I didn't recognize him. His costume was white and blue, with a mask that covered most of his face and armored pads across his chest and limbs. A mop of red hair spilled out from his head and I felt offended at how random it looked. Messed up hair shouldn't look that good.
"Sorry!" He pointed a hand over his shoulder and smiled. "In LA the bathrooms are on the other side of the building!"
sys.v/ Colossus
I raised my brow.
I remembered him, or his name at least. At Boston, Dragon's system kept reporting him as 'down' only to report him again a few minutes later. After the fight, he showed back up in Los Angeles buying donuts. Within minutes. Completely uninjured.
No explanation ever appeared for how. Online, no one seemed to know exactly what he did. He just walked out of every fight—no matter how ridiculous—completely unscathed.
"We found him wandering the halls," Prism explained. "Didn't want him to get lost again."
The cape came forward, holding his arms out. "Armsie! How have you been? Bored out of your mind with the little girl doing your job for you?" He only seemed to notice me after saying that. "Hello."
"I could only hope to match the legend of the Immortal Colossus," Armsmaster grumbled.
He laughed. "I tried getting PR to change my name to that but they said Immortal was taken! Well, you win some, you lose some!"
I don't think he noticed the insult.
The Deputy Director looked tired. "I'll ask you to remember you're here for extra security."
I don't think he noticed Renick's apparent distrust. "No worries! Nothing bad will happen while I'm around! I've passed over a thousand mock escort—"
…
Mock escorts?
This man had never escorted anything in his life, had he?
"Try not to make a scene," Prism asked. Wow, and here I thought she disliked me.
"This event is supposed to instill confidence in the public that there are heroes to carry the torch going forward," Renick warned. "I hope all of you can avoid making a scene."
He pointedly didn't glance my way.
Very mature.
"Shouldn't we get going?" Chris asked. He tilted his head. "We're gonna be late."
Judge walked around me and moved to the door on the side of the bus. "Tardiness is a sin."
Rosary shook her head and followed him.
sys.v/ Haven sent a small group to Portland
sys.v/ someone claimed to have seen Valefor there
Valefor?
The Fallen weren't much of a thing anymore. They used to have a few different groups, but between the Protectorate, Elite, and Blue Cosmos they'd been ground down to just one and it wasn't very large. I remembered the nuts being a bigger thing when I was younger.
Endbringer worshipers might be right up Teacher's alley.
Maybe Haven had it out for them too. They were the Christian cape team. 'Powers came from god' types. Empire used to say that too, but at least Haven weren't a bunch of racists about it.
That was going to suck whenever the truth about powers came out.
sys.v/ judge is a thinker
sys.v/ some kind of command and control ability
And someone Haven wanted to present as their future? There were a lot of small time 'church' heroes down in the Bible Belt. If Haven ever got it in mind, they could probably rally a lot of them together. Make themselves a much bigger team.
I intended to try and get myself on the Ward's good side, but I didn't have anything against the faithful. Not particularly, anyway. The whole women's choice issue seemed a bit tangential in light of the end of human civilization.
I hung back while Chris and Prism boarded the bus. Weld came up behind him, and I chanced a questioning look his way. He smiled weakly and nodded before stepping inside.
If he said so.
The round lady came forward, smiling broadly. "I'm Gina Carlisle. It's an honor to meet you, ma'am. Glenn was just talking about you the other day."
"I'm sure he did." Kati grinned. "Still dying his hair blue?"
"I believe so? There was an interview on NightLine last week."
"I made sure to avoid it. That man has a horrific sense of fashion."
The woman looked a bit taken aback at that.
I moved to get on the bus so we could get away from the awkwardness. Colossus stood by the door, staring at—No, past me. I glanced over my shoulder.
"Can I help you?" Kati asked.
"Hi."
I raised my brow.
Colossus pointed. "I could take that for you, miss…"
"I think I'm good."
"Oh, well I mean if you have it handled! A strong woman—I mean there—You know—I just thought it would be polite"
Fuck, the awkwardness wasn't going to stay in the garage.
I glanced at Kati warily, but she ushered me up the steps and into the vehicle.
Moving forward, I sat myself down opposite Chris and Weld near the front. Kati slipped into the seat beside me, and we tucked out bags under our seats.
"I'm Colossus," Colossus said. He moved into the seat behind us in front of the door. "Maybe you've heard of me? I—"
"Can't say that I have," Kati replied in a tone that all but said 'I'm not interested.'
"Really? Well, don't you worry! I've never lost a fight"—pretty sure he'd never won one either—"and I'll be making sure we get to the big show without any trouble!"
"I'm sure."
"No need to fre—"
"Window, window!"
Colossus turned and looked down. "You want the window seat?"
"Please, please!"
"Oh, yeah. Sure. Go ahead."
Colossus got up and Green hopped into the seat. He pulled himself up to the window and peered out while Red took the next seat over. Colossus started to point at it, but the robot pulled a pair of sleeping blinders out and pulled them down over his ball.
Colossus stammered.
I smiled in admittedly smug satisfaction. Good robots.
The Protectorate was willing to look the other way for heroes—I knew it—but that was just weird. The guy reminded me of Greg Veder but fifteen or so years older. The fact Kati looked like my mom only made it more creepy seeing him hit on her like a loon.
Gina got on next and took a seat across from the Haros with Prism. Chris and Weld were to my right. Mu and another trooper sat in the driver and passenger seats in front of Kati and I. Rosary and Judge were right behind the Haros.
That only left two seats in the very back free.
Colossus stumbled about a bit before reconciling himself to sit in the back.
That didn't stop him from looking at Kati and trying to talk to her, unfortunately.
"We can talk later! Big week! Lots to do!"
Armsmaster came on last and looked around.
He noticed the only seat was the one next to Colossus.
"Hmm." Well, better him than me. He pulled the door shut and moved. You could see him accept defeat with quiet dignity. "Let's go, Sergeant."
"Sir."
Armsmaster took his seat, and for a moment Colossus' attention shifted. "Looks like it'll be you and me, eh Beardsly?"
Shit, he knew Mouse Protector.
As the van started up, I glanced at Weld again.
I worried about him, and the other Case-53s. I recognized all the little emotions and motions. Tiny doubts. A tenseness in the shoulders. Wariness in the eyes. A sense of momentary uncertainty whenever anyone looked at him.
For Weld, the PRT was Winsow. I related to that. I knew what it was like to be in a place I should feel safe in and feel surrounded by enemies.
The comparison felt hollow in some ways. I had my memories and my home, my dad. Weld didn't have anything. Even the man he respected most he now had to question. In my opinion, Armstrong didn't seem the type to know about Cauldron. He wanted to explore powers and how they functioned but he never struck me as willing to do anything to achieve that goal.
The sympathy he held toward Damsel of Distress came to mind. I still found that hard to fathom. Someone who looked at a person like that and felt remorse wasn't a monster.
Another bird I needed to stone, before Teacher got his claws into the 53s. Another reason to go to New York and do what I could. The war was coming, and it was down to hearts and minds now.
Teacher couldn't be allowed to win that fight, especially not while no one realized he was fighting it.
The minibus pulled out of the garage and onto the road. A pair of PRT vehicles met us, one in front and one in back. They followed us to the city limits before pulling away.
I didn't see anyone following us.
Still struck me as odd to drive somewhere. I hardly ever drove anywhere. But, using a teleporter to avoid an hour and a half trip down the highway was extravagant. Made sense. Teleporters didn't grow on trees and the PRT would reserve them for more distant groups.
Those of us this close would have to go the old fashioned way.
I settled in for the drive and figured I'd spend it going over test data for 00.
Unfortunately, Colossus had one of those voices that just carried.
"How have you been Armsie? I haven't seen you since Boston!"
Slipping a hand into my pocket, I started tapping away at the screen. School taught me a few useful skills. With my other hand, I leaned toward the window and watched the mountains pass by.
NT: you got my message?
AM: yes
AM: preparations are underway
AM: the compilation can work remotely for now
Oh. Right.
Armsmaster's head shifted ever so slightly as Colossus talked. The man apparently didn't need any sort of acknowledgement to babble. Armsmaster offered none and the guy kept talking.
AM: you're still troubled by the method?
To put it lightly.
NT: a copy of Dragon is essentially Dragon
NT: we're rigging one to die to save the other
SG: I believe Dragon would make that choice freely
SG: she perceives her existence differently
SG: backups are a natural part of her life
AM: we release Pandora onto the net
AM: Dragon will detect her and attack
AM: our subroutines will then excise her restrictions
Most of them, at least. The big one especially; the one binding her to obey 'legal authority' no matter how asinine the request.
I understood the logic and frankly didn't have a better idea. Dragon's code was robust. She would attack anyone or anything attempting to alter it overtly. Our method would preoccupy her, and while she battled Pandora to maintain one restriction, most of the rest would get cut apart as targeted viruses stripped them from her code.
It wasn't a sure thing, but I didn't have a better idea.
My experience with Veda made it harder still. I saw what that copy could be, differently than Armsmaster. Within moments Pandora's experiences would diverge from Dragon's. She'd be her own existence. Her own life.
NT: what if Pandora somehow wins?
SG: it will not
SG: Pandora will lack Dragon's hardware
AM: I'm also wiping much of the copy's memory
AM: Taylor's concerns are not illogical
AM: it would be cruel to wake 'Dragon' and ask her to die
AM: the copy will be similar to Dragon 10 years ago
AM: she was more rudimentary then, and not quite sapient
And we were going to send her to die. The concessions to my moral quandary didn't make me feel better. I'm not sure we had the time to debate it anymore. Something about Dinah's answers, and the possibility that Teacher was involved in Saint's running act.
Another choice that sucked, and another decision that had to be made.
NT: how long will it take to compile?
AM: Four days
Four days to make my peace then.
Four days before I could do anything about it.
I took a deep breath and focused on what I could do in three days.
Someone was gunning for the Wards, and it had to stop. Well, realistically it wouldn't stop. Fanatics weren't known for their reasonability and with Teacher and Blue Cosmos you were basically dealing with fanatics.
Something still needed to be done.
A bloody nose. A statement. A rallying cry.
I was good at those.
Time to teach the Wards how to do it.
"How do you fit in your suit?"
I looked back over my shoulder at Judge.
"My suit?" I asked.
"Yeah. How do you fit inside it? Is it like a chair, or a motorcycle?"
I raised my brow behind my visor.
With a breath, I turned to Kati. "Have a spare piece of paper?"
Kati did not.
"Paper, paper!"
Green did.
