Gesellschaft Headquarter
Europe
"Resurrection?"
"Yes. It seems that the one known as Panacea has second-triggered. She is now capable of resurrection, though the how eludes us still."
"An asset we can steal from the Americans?"
"No. She is protected."
"By whom? The weak and incompetent Protectorate?"
"No, the Broker."
"… Ah, she must be one of his projects."
"I would assume so. Take the one Panacea resurrected, for example. Our intelligence department had long ago confirmed that he was one of the Broker's."
"Infiltration and seduction?"
"Unlikely. By all accounts, Smiles didn't do seduction; the boy was too blunt. It is likely that he was sent to 'help' her."
Others in the room laughed.
"The Broker? Help someone? The idea is ridiculous. That cold-hearted son of a bitch killed his own friend to get to our former leader."
The mood turned somber as everyone came to the fact: the Broker was untouchable not because he couldn't be touched, but because his retaliation would always arrive tenfold, often times skipping the low level grunts entirely.
Marsiella de Vouleneu, known to the world as the second-in-command of Gesellschaft, remembered the day when they decided to "cut the bud" of an upstart in America who had touched their operations in United States. They found out who the cape was and killed his brand new wife.
Three weeks later, the very same cape burned down Gesellscahft's former headquarter, slew two dozen capes and thrice that many sympathizers, and left a clear message, even as his own friend who helped him get back at the Gesellschaft lay dead, surrounding by their dead capes.
Ten years ago, this happened. Even know, the upper brass of the Gesellschaft -especially those who the Broker has "mercifully" spared- hesitated to engage the American Underlord.
Oh, how they laughed when they heard about the Protectorate discovering the man for the first time in 2004. Protectorate thought him to be a fresh trigger, but that was far far from the truth. By the time the Protectorate had discovered the man, the Broker's network had spread not just all over the United States of America but beyond, and the man himself had been active for at least a decade and a half at that point.
Most of his employees didn't even know they were working for him. In fact, quite a few of them thought they were working for legitimate governments. No, the Broker was a mastermind of intrigue. There was a reason why the capes of Gesellschaft called him the American Underlord, for even without realizing it, many of the big villain names of America had come to work for him, if not for money then to further the man's nebulous goals.
"Then we leave Panacea alone?" one of the younger members of the leadership, a cape who hadn't been there when the Broker came calling for blood, asked incredulously. "He is only a single man."
"He is Vexa," the oldest among them snapped.
There was a pause as the younger leaders absorbed that information.
"The Endseeker?"
"The very same."
"The very same Vexa who forced Simurgh to retreat at Canberra?"
"Yes."
"… I apologize. I was not aware that he was such a formidable enemy."
"It doesn't help that he is also immune to subjugating Masters. Thinkers cannot see him."
"Then how do we defeat him?"
"We have yet to find a way, but we will. All things come to an end, and the Broker is no exception to the very law that governs the universe."
"For now?"
"I believe we should encourage our own trigger operations along the same lines as the Broker's."
"What do you mean?"
"The Broker's operations and backings always lead to an increase in parahuman population. Take the city of Minneapolis. It is one of the Broker's main staging grounds. It is where he funds - by proxies - three different cape gangs to wage war on each other, and always near residential areas."
"What does this have to do with our own clean and safe operations?"
"I am suggesting that we should change our Operation Mass Trigger's viability. While we flounder and barely create one or two useful capes to join our cause every year, the Broker finds fresh triggers almost every month."
"I still fail to see the validity of changing our methods. Our methods ensure that we have no traitors among our midst. We only recruit from within."
"Yes, but we are limited, are we not?"
"…. We are."
"But if we were to branch out, fundnon-sympathizing cape organizations, and get them to trigger the bystanders in their turf wars-"
"Then we gain fresh triggers. Again, I fail to see the value. Fresh triggers of bystanders will not automatically join us."
"Indeed. But if we were to have our own agents in the area who conveniently happen to be there in the aftermath to help the confused and scared triggers..."
"… Ah, I see now. We will be seen as the good, no matter our past."
"Yes. People want safety, and we shall provide it."