Hope Through Overwhelming Firepower Interlude 12 Cauldron 2
"Intriguing information." Doctor Mother rubbed her chin. "What impacts does this have upon our theory?"
"Nothing, most likely." The Number Man spoke. "It just means whatever Agent she first began recovering took priority. It might even be Legend's; it certainly fits with her base capabilities. And we have no idea what a Passenger would be like without the normal restraints, or even if they're sapient at all. They could fairly well act in this mechanical fashion and it would even fit with her statements of default measure being in AU. Legend's Passenger is thought to be some sort of travel one after all."
"What about the robot thing?" Doctor Mother questioned.
"Likely how Hero's shard manifested; giving her an outlet for the Tinker related powers. And the 'collider' attack itself has all the traits of Eidolon." Alexandria answered. A moment later, she glanced around. "Speaking of, where is he?"
"Hero's grave." Contessa simply answered.
"...Ah." And that was all Alexandria needed.
"What disturbs me the most is the Siberian story. How did she destroy the Siberian so easily?" The Number Man began. "The most likely case is that she was tugging on Manton's Passenger to interfere with his connection. This implies that she is fully capable of removing Passengers. We're going to have to be on the lookout for increases in her invulnerability power."
"The only thing she's missing is the unstoppable force part of Manton's projection." Alexandria spoke. "I'd suggest sending her against the Merchants, but we still don't know what set her off. Speaking of which, the 'Combat Protocols' demonstrated a great deal of reluctance to harm people who weren't her targets, which doesn't mesh with Coil's story."
"It's likely that, by this point, large portions of Coil's story are rendered invalid, as what Passengers she has drawn upon have changed. She certainly hadn't drawn upon so much of Manton's in Coil's reality." The Number Man pointed out. "That said, we cannot disregard it entirely. There is a clear connection between the Combat Protocols and whatever caused Coil's reality. That, and whatever set her off happened before any reasonable changes to her drawn upon Shards could have happened, so the ultimate result of Coil's reality is still highly possible. Our goal, then, should be to divine by whatever means the Combat Protocols are activated."
"I would disagree. We know the Combat Protocols activate in response to something, perhaps stress, perhaps conflict, but they've consistently happened in similar enough situations we can make a good effort to prevent it from happening." Alexandria stated, and let out a sigh. "My first instinct is to try and keep her away from anything conflict-related until we can find an effective countermeasure, but Leviathan, and now the Slaughterhouse Nine, make that nigh impossible. At this point, if we tried to keep her away, she could go to the Guild easily, I know their S-Class division has already made motions towards trying to recruit her, and then we have no control over the situation."
"I wouldn't say we would have no control over the situation. We still have Contessa." Doctor Mother pointed out.
"If the Hunters recruit her? Unlikely, she will be in combat too often for me to see anything related to them." Contessa replied.
Doctor Mother acknowledged her point with a nod. "Then we must keep her from doing so."
"Unless we make a determined effort to anger her, she is unlikely to take any offer the Guild gives out, largely because they don't have much to offer. And people are, when given two fairly similar choices, more likely to choose the more familiar of the options." Alexandria commented.
"...Can we provide a similar choice?" Doctor Mother questioned. "The Hunters have a contract with the Toybox, and thus have access to Mobius. Not even Dragon, if she was willing to work with us on this, can match Mobius' transportation technology. And since Nowhere and Strider can't affect her we are, comparatively, incredibly limited on our ability to get her places."
"A fair point, although Mobius is actually making as if she might leave the Toybox soon. Of course, her most likely prospect for where to go after doing so is the Hunters." Alexandria spoke. "However, until the Hunters make an offer, if they even do, this whole conversation is fairly moot."
Doctor Mother nodded in acquiescence.
"So what immediate actions are we taking in regards to Buster?" The Number Man questioned.
"I'm bringing Chevalier over to Brockton." Alexandria stated.
The Number Man nodded. "His ability to see Passengers would be invaluable for figuring out some nuances we might have missed. Anything else?"
Alexandria shook her head.
"Then we will move on to the final topic of this meeting." The Number Man brought out a list of names and ideas, many of them with lines drawn through. The Number Man took out a pen and scratched through 'The Siberian', 'Crawler', and 'Bonesaw'. Very few things remained uncrossed on it.
Alexandria frowned. "We are rapidly running out of potential countermeasures to Buster, and I am extremely hesitant about using any of the ones which remain."
The Number Man frowned at the list as well. "Indeed. Most of the ones we have remaining would create a threat almost as bad in the process." He rubbed his chin with a sigh. "As usual, do we have any new ideas?"
"We're not going to have any. We already went through the 'crazy' options during our last meeting." Alexandria spoke, and looked at the list in disgust. "And now, all we have left are those 'crazy' options."
"It's a depressing thought." Doctor Mother mused. "That we have to seriously consider things like 'Have String Theory head a Tinkertech super weapon project.'" She sighed. "And yet, what else can we do? She's like Scion, only worse in literally every way. She may be quite possibly more powerful, as she would have access to more of herself than Scion would. We don't have anything even resembling a solid time frame on when she goes off. When she does go off, the impact will likely be even more devastating for the populace as a whole; Buster, unlike Scion, is fairly relatable. Some of the most potent powers in the world, the ones we offer, may no longer work for too much longer. Contessa can't use her powers around Buster at all, for fear of an incorrect prediction. And finally, we don't even have the guarantee it's possible we do for Scion."
No one felt like talking much more after that sobering speech.
After a moments silence, Alexandria spoke. "I need to contact Chevalier." She left the room shortly after.
The Number Man picked up the list, and left the room with a nod.
Only Contessa and Doctor Mother remained.
"Is something the matter, Contessa?" Doctor Mother questioned. "You seem distracted."
Contessa was silent for a few moments. "I suppose I'm not used to being this useless."
Doctor Mother had no comment.