If this had been back in my first life, I normally would have been trying very hard to present a facade of calm while being in this conference room or to be more accurate, this interrogation room. And it can simply be one, that is based on the fact that there was not only one door, but blank white walls as well.
And if what my X-ray vision is telling me, the one in front of me was definitely see through as there were a few individuals on the other side. Yeah, it took a lot out if me to not simply roll my eyes at their theatrics as well.
Nevertheless, I still kind of felt naked and a bit vulnerable as well which again, was not something I had not felt In multiple lives and years. Funny thing is, the only part of that was the mostly undressed state of my body most of the rest came from the woman sitting across from me.
Contessa, Aaso known as the Bogeyman of Cauldron. The very same woman who pl it a bullet in the back of Taylor's head, as well as killed many people in the main plotline. Heck, her abilities, words, and actions had doomed about a few million individuals in the main storyline as well if I am not mistaken.
I certainly did not enjoy living through the 'Gold Morning' nor the shit that followed after, so being dumped twenty two or so years in the past sure as shit doesn't exactly give me the patience to deal with her, nor that cunt called Doctor Mother for that matter.
Being quickly been scooped up by Cauldron merely ten seconds also did not exactly endeared then to me, especially not after the ROB thought it would be a funny idea to send me back in the past, after surviving that hell hole the first time.
Contessa had probably noticed my arrival and she had simply decided to see if I was useful to the plan, which I was, and more than they probably anticipated.
After all, Knowledge was a dangerous weapon all on it's, and I had a fair amount of it.
Still, Contessa was as silent as a slug. She simply sat there staring a hole through my skull and In the end despite the annoyance, I broke first, looking away for a brief second and breaking eye contact with her.
For some odd reason she just irked me, sitting here with that suit, that fedora, that blank unreadable expression, it just creeps me out, to be blunt.
It was that simple.
Though, I wonder of she could keep that expression on while getting her guts shifted in bed.
Food for thoughts, food for thoughts.
I was saved from more awkward thoughs by the arrival of a second member of Cauldron, this one I didn't recognize on sight, which said something in and of itself.
A masculine figure, clad in power armor- even without that clue, I could have guessed from the simple fact that he was neither Eidolon or the Number Man while still being male. In front of me was an icon, a man who had been dead for more than a decade when I'd triggered. Hero, the first leader of the Protectorate and the role model of every PRT tinkers.
Though while it was a novelty to meet him, I kind off wished that they had sent Legend instead. But considering that they had always left him out of their little mad science projects, as well their crime against humanity It sort of made sense that he'd be the one here.
"So, what have we here?" The Tinker's face was covered, but his tone was cheerful as he took the remaining chair, the last of three in the room. "I hear you've got quite a tale for a teenager, kid."
I shrugged, unsure of how to respond. It wasn't hard to guess what they were doing- Contessa made a superb Bad Cop, and Hero seemed well-suited to the Good Cop. I felt it was unnecessary, but I suppose they were entitled to their doubts. My story was rather fantastical- things were bad enough for them as it was, between Scion and Behemoth.
"Let's see…" Hero slapped a folder on the table, previously hidden from my view by the bulk of his costume. From the sheets that slipped out, it was a transcript of what I'd told Contessa. "According to you, Scion is going to destroy the world in twenty years. And he's going to fail. Let me say that again: the most powerful man in the world, the first parahuman, is going to… what? Go nuts and start blasting? And he'll be stopped? You've got a crazy imagination, kid."
My first response was a sigh, either he didn't believe my story, thinking me a lunatic, or he was testing me. Or both.
"If you'd like, I could explain the part where he found the corpse of the other thing in your base in another dimension." I glanced around, feeling slightly self-conscious as a thought struck me. "Am I in that base, right now? Because the idea of being near your 'Garden of Eden' is pretty disgusting."
While I couldn't see his face, but he did shift slightly in what I thought was surprise, but for all I knew he had just sat funny.
"I do have to ask about a couple of things, though. You mentioned quite a few people- Eidolon, Legend, Glastig Uaine. Those are some big names. Then there are people we've heard of, but that try to keep a low profile- Contessa here is one of them. But I gotta ask though, who the heck is 'Leviathan'? 'the Simurgh'? Khonsu? Or Tohu and Bohu for that matter? Those names don't have great connotations, and the people don't sound too friendly from what you've said."
I just stared at him in blank expression that would make Contessa proud for several long moments, while processing the question. It was just something so basic, where I'd grown up- if anything, Behemoth got the least attention in school and conversation.
Brockton Bay was a coastal city that had grown through its shipping industry, so Leviathan was a given as a topic, and the Simurgh lent herself incredibly well to horror stories, conspiracy theories, and all sorts of things. The idea that someone from Earth Bet no less, had no idea who or what they were was absurd.
Oh right, I was in nineteen ninety four. Of course they didn't know about them- Leviathan wouldn't show up for another two years or so, and the man asking the question had never lived long enough to see the Simurgh in the first place let alone Khonsu, or Tohu and Bohu for that matter.
Apparently my look of chagrin was amusing, because Hero shook slightly, a few quiet sounds that I pegged as chuckles escaping despite his best efforts. I immediately frowned, going for intimidating but probably only managing put-upon, given the circumstances.
"If you really want to know," I started, and I packed my tone with as much resignation as I could, because I didnotwant to be the one to break the news to them, "Leviathan, the Simurgh, Khonsu, Tohu and Bohu are in order the second, third, and fourth Endbringers, respectively."
"Endbringers?" The Tinker's head tilted within the helmet, confusion in his tone. "What are the- oh." I could peg the exact moment when he made the connection- it wasn't exactly subtle. "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding." Any levity had gone from his voice. I shrugged apologetically- it wasn't a pleasant thing to hear, but it was the truth. "Fucking hell, there's more than just Behemoth?"
"A lot more," I confirmed. "Behemoth was finally killed in 2011 by Scion, actually. Then Khonsu and the Twins showed up in the year after that, bringing the total up to six. The Twins were called Tohu and Bohu, by the way they just always stuck together, so they functioned almost as a single one. Not fun to fight. Of course, that's sort of required with an Endbringer." I leaned forward, fixing my gaze on the eye slits in Hero's helmet.
"They were still around, most of them, but they all stopped doing much of anything after the Golden Morning." There was a more specific point than that, but even now I couldn't quite bring myself to believe that Eidolon had been responsible for the Endbringers, no matter what Valkyrie had witnessed and all the evidence for it.
Besides, I would probably end up mentioning the possibility later, while right now I needed Cauldron to believe me. Accusing their ace in the hole of creating genocidal monsters was not the way to gain any trust.
"Shit." Hero leaned back. "Shit. Is that… accurate?" The question was directed to Contessa.
"Nothing said to this point has been a known falsehood," she calmly replied. I envied her- that level of self-assuredness was something to strive for, and while I was better than most I had never reached that pinnacle. Then again, I didn't have her ridiculous power. "Either this is a true recounting of a possible future, or the child has gone insane."
"Not a child," I tiredly interjected. That hadn't stopped her from calling me as such before, but it was a matter of principle by this point. "Anything else?" I prompted Hero.
The Tinker was silent at first, staring at me- studying me intensely, I imagined.
"Yeah, there is," he eventually spoke. "Where am I in all of this?"
"Dead." I shrugged again, awkwardly, realizing too late how callous that sounded. "You didn't even live long enough for the Simurgh to show up. If memories serves ne right, you are due to die in six years sir. I believe the specific date is September fifteenth, two thousand. "
"Well, damn." Hero seemed to have regained his equilibrium by now. I was impressed having face Behemoth myself, I was quite aware of what the news of five more foes like him could do to a man, and he'd bounced back incredibly quickly, even despite my gaffe with his fate. Or maybe he was just postponing the panic attack- that, too, was a useful skill to have, I knew from experience. "Was it Behemoth? Or this… Leviathan?"
"Neither. You were killed by the Siberian." I grimaced at the memory of the black-and-white woman, naked and vicious, an unstoppable force and immovable object rolled into one.
"She appeared from nowhere in two thousand. And it was discovered much, much later that she was not a parahuman at all. Oh no, he was a projection created by a man named William Manton." Hero almost visibly stiffened at that, despite the power armor. Not hard to guess why really, even with the man's fame as a researcher, no one outside Cauldron had known about his work with them while it was going on.
"Contessa, in the future, mentioned that he worked with Cauldron for a while and helped with the formulas for the powers they gave out. The Number Man did a better job than him in her opinion, though." I reached up to massage my temples
The mention of the two men had affected him, he had definitely been startled at the name of the man who had been Harbinger but I couldn't tell anything more specific about his reaction.
"After that she, no I apologize, he joined the Slaughterhouse Nine." My face darkened as I named the group of murder hobos, it still baffled me that they allowed them to continue to breath after all the shit they'd pulled.
Heck, I remember when they and the Teeth rolled into town like they owned it. Committing crimes and atrocities simply because they could, torture, rape, inhuman experimentation are just a few of their long list of reprehensible acts.
Simply put, I did not hold fond memories of the psychopaths I had faced, first in Brockton Bay and later during the after after of Zion's temper tantrum.
"Alright, then," Hero continued, audibly dubious. "Interesting story, in every respect. All the stories, really you've told a lot more than one." I shrugged again, not having anything to say in response, he was right.
They could be one story, I suppose, but it would have to be a ridiculously long and convoluted one to connect them all.
"Suppose we believe you. You have this knowledge of the future you can offer us, what do you want in return?"
"I've told you everything," I said while staring at him with an impassive face, while I was vaguely offended at the question for the implication that I was in this for personal gain. "What you do with that information is up to you."
"So… that's it?" Hero sounded confused, glancing to Contessa for support, for a signal, for something before going on, "No plans, no belief that you know better? You're just going to let us do our work?"
"I didn't exactly plan this little jaunt," I drily pointed out. I wasn't one for sarcasm, usually, but the situation inspired me.
"The only thing that occurs to me is to bring Legend in all this, because when he found out the kind of things Cauldron got up to, he was pretty devastated. Besides, maybe having him in on it will help keep the organization from becoming as horrific as you were in the future. 'The ends justify the means' can only go so far before it becomes a meaningless platitude." I scoffed at the thought of what they'd done for their greater good.
"Also, don't get go and yourself killed, because your replacement for the leader position was Alexandria, and to perfectly honest with you her death was to quick. She deserved a more 'painful' death, the fact that she was killed in the Sean of a few second was a slap to the face of all the innocent she doomed for 'the plan'. I said while scowling gritting my teeth.
Taking a deep breath however I let a smile slip on my face, but judging by the way Hero flinched back It may have been a bit to much a bloodthirsty one.
"At least we got our pound of flesh from Doctor Mother, Contessa, and Harbringer. Specially Doctir Mother and Harbringer, they died in very...messy manners." I couldn't not help the chuckle that escaped at the thought of how Sveta killing the bitch.
"As for Eidolon, well considering despite his grandstanding, selfishness, and thinking he is the greatest gift to human kind he died a dog's death. Zion killed him in the most humiliating way possible, he reminded him that despite all his powers that David was nothing but coward at heart." I let out a full belly laugh that shocked Hero, but I paid it no mind before continuing.
"After all, he is the one responsible for the all the Endbringers being activated. He is the responsible for Behemoth, Leviathan, Simurgh, Khonsu, as well as Tohu and Bohu. All those deaths are directly laid at his feet, all because he needed worthy challenges in order to fuel his ego. So his shard decided to give him one, and now we have twenty Endbringers being released out in the world, with three being active at one. Kill one? no problem since another takes It's place, and the cycle continues until we manage to kill all of them." I let out a bitter chuckle.
"But I digress, where were we again? Oh yes, for the actual work? I haven't the faintest idea of where to start. You people are the ones with a global conspiracy to kill the strongest being in the world, I just know how it was done the first time and that the actions you lot took to accomplish the mission had made the world an unhospitable planet after the Zion's death."
The look Hero was shooting me was both doubtful, hesitant, and resigned a at the same time. His shoulders slumped just the tiniest bit, effectively telling me that he had far too much dumped on him at once.
When he let the silence stretch out, I finally lost the last of my patience.
"So, I've cooperated with you. Told you what I know, so don't fuck up like you and the rest of your little illuminati wannabe s did in the future, so What happens now?"
Hero wicked briefly at the image my words painted, before he grumbled incoherently at the end. Then he turned to Contessa before pausing and swiveling to face me once more.
"I guess it comes down to one question: are you going to interfere by outing us? Because if you are, the answer is that you get a quick trip to an unmarked grave. I'm sure we'd all like to very avoid that option. In which case the other option is that we let you go, trusting in your ability to keep quiet about Cauldron. I'm sure you can guess what would happen if you tried to go back on your word to stay silent." He said in a serious tone of voice.
"Have you even listen to a thing I've said? Hero, so let me rephrase it for you and those who are listening. Simply put, I. Do. Not. Care about your or your little group of psychophants playing god, just make sure You. Do. Not. Fuck. This. Up. Again." I sent most baleful look I could manage in my current body towards him, and judging by the flinch I knew he got my message.
We stared at each other for a bit before the silence was broken by him, he gave me a nod before speaking.
"I understand, now that we have taken care of the unpleasant side of this conversation, the question I asked before is still left unanswered. So allow me to ask it again, Where do we go from here?"
"I could join your organization." Hero just stared for a long moment, then suddenly guffawed. I blinked in dumbfounded surprise- then slapped myself in the face as I realised what he had taken from that.
"Your public organization," I muttered in embarrassment. "I'd rather avoid Cauldron, considering what I just finished saying. Good intentions or not, the idea of actively working for Cauldron turns my stomach."
Hero's laughter eventually subsided. "But not so for the Protectorate, huh?" He seemed to regard me thoughtfully, though I could only guess as to his thoughts without seeing his face. "I suppose that could work," he finally allowed. "That'll let us keep an eye on you, too. Yeah," he began slowly nodding, "I like that idea, actually. Just one question."
"Shoot," I promptly replied. I had no problem answering another question- I'd already spilled so much that it didn't really matter anymore.
"What do we call you?"
I leaned back in surprise I hadn't expected the question, to be honest, even if it was a reasonable one. I hesitated to answer- there was an obvious choice, an obvious answer, but I had spent quite a bit of time wishing I could run away from that particular name.
Still, in the end, it was part of me and it was the name I had worn through the most momentous parts of my life.
I nodded decisively, and to Hero said, "You may call me Ghost."
"Very well, Ghost it is."
Contessa left almost immediately really, it was a surprise she stuck around as long as she did. Even after the Golden Morning, when her task was completed, she hated to stay idle for long.
I'd gotten the impression, in my conversations with her, that the blind spots to her power had fundamentally damaged her, she'd known from the very beginning that Scion was bad news, but this amazing ability, which had led her to kill Eden, was useless against him. She became obsessed with Scion for a good reason, probably, but still obsessed.
Then she spent thirty years dedicated to nothing more than optimizing the heroes and villains of Earth for the fight against the Golden Man.
And we'd almost lost anyways. Would've lost, had it not been for Taylor and her sacrifice.
Most people cursed her, well the name Khepri, in the first future. Oh sure, there were more than a few that didn't hate her but most of them just stayed quiet on the subject. Legend and Chevalier were like that; and quite frankly I didn't blame them.
Defending Khepri was a good way to turn everyone against you, and they needed to be a unifying force. The Undersiders never hid it, though and they mostly got away with it thanks to having all of Bonesaw's clones.
I didn't hide it either, I think Theo and I were probably the only one that felt any pity for the girl. The rest just avoided her, plus she was pretty focused, and they didn't figure into her view of the world. So she didn't care about them.
I liked her, really, but she was messed up. Anyone that bothered looking could see it she was so focused on Jack Slash that anything else barely registered. That's why Theo and I mattered, in her world, because Jack had issued challenge to him, which meant that Theo was sure to encounter him, sooner or later. On the other hand, I just wanted the fucker dead and hus hroup of hobos dead.
Anyways, I didn't hate her but I mourned her, certainly, because even before her achievements on the Golden Morning Weaver deserved better than to be shot in the head. Knowing the story of little girl who life just shat on constantly from a book, and seeing it with your own two eyes is a whole different thing altogether.
I think the two nights we spent relishing in each others company, with lust driving our actions was probably the very few times she had ler go of the constabt tension in her body since she atrated high school.
I knew for a fact that I was just a booty call thus did not take it seriously, plus I knew she had not recovered from the whole Brian situation.
Still though, I miss the little slip of a girl as well as that chubby little twerp who kept putting on a brave front. In a way the two of then were probably the only friends and family I had in that world, and I did my best to train them to the best of their capacity.
I told then what their future may entail if they continue down their paths, I gave them different options but in the end the choice was always theirs to make.
With a sigh, I broke out of my little funk and turned to the only other person in the room, let's get past the fact that I had been interrogated all the while sitting there, half-naked, in a room with Hero.
The Tinker was sitting in place, ignoring me utterly, probably thinking about something way over my head like all Tinker bullshit is. I finally got bored enough to break the silence again.
"So can I get my suit back, please?"
"Sorry, what?" No, wait. He'd been daydreaming. Or maybe daydreaming about Tinker stuff? "Oh, right. Your armor. Sure. Come on, kid." He pushed himself to his feet, and I followed suit. "Don't give me that look."