Hope Through Overwhelming Firepower END 1
"What." Doctor Mother flatly stated. "You... what."
"I told her everything." Eidolon replied.
Doctor Mother opened and closed her mouth a few times.
Alexandria held her head in one hand. "Why? What could have possibly convinced you that was a good idea? And without consulting any of us." Alexandria stressed that last line.
"In all likelihood." The Number Man broke in. "It wouldn't have mattered for a whole lot longer after that anyway. Considering how 'complete' her powers generally seem to be, I would find it difficult to believe that she would be unable to use her extrasensory perception through Doormaker's portals. Unless we were willing to cut out portal use to Earth Bet entirely – a thoroughly untenable idea as you might imagine – her discovering the complete layout of our base was inevitable. With Taylor Hebert's demonstrated moral... inflexibility, it was probably for the best that Eidolon came clean directly to her rather than base any conclusions she could make entirely on what she's observed through brief glances into our base. Perhaps." He looked at Eidolon. "That was even what happened there. You had Doormaker portal you to the base directly from the battlefield, correct? In that case, Taylor Hebert probably had her extrasensory perception still online, and so when Eidolon went to 'talk', he was forced to field some rather uncomfortable questions. Am I correct with this assumption?"
Eidolon, having had his entire planned argument repeated back to him in the Number Man's typical thorough and highly logical speech, fumbled mentally for a moment. "I-yes. That's... exactly what happened. I went to her planning to talk and ask a few questions and she... had some rather pointed questions of her own."
"So you told her everything." Doctor Mother spoke, attempting to get a grasp upon the situation. "What do you mean by, 'everything'?"
"Everything." Eidolon repeated. "The first thing she said, in a rather more sinister attitude than she usually displays, was that she saw some 'interesting' things through the portal Doormaker had opened. I figured that I was going to have to do some quick talking in order to, uh, not become Endbringer 4.0 right there. So I asked her what she knew about Scion."
Alexandria let out something between a sigh and a groan. "And there went the last of my hope that you had misled her as to... anything we had done."
Eidolon looked at her flatly. "You'll excuse me if the thought of misleading the girl who just had about as much trouble dealing with the Endbringers as I do my morning breakfast never crossed my mind."
"Statistically, based upon Taylor Hebert's demonstrated invulnerability level, you'd have been more likely to die choking on a cornflake than for the Endbringers to have accomplished anything of note against her in that battle." The Number Man pointed out with his usual seriousness.
Eidolon shot the Number Man a disgruntled look. "Moving on, she replied with something vague about him 'having a lot of those connections' and said that, to the extent of what she could tell, he was an 'interesting' being."
"That would imply that her extrasensory perception works on Scion to some extent." The previously quiet Contessa commented. "If that's the case, I would judge your theory that she is something 'outside' Scion and his partner as correct, Eidolon, as no naturally acquired power should be able to work on him in such a matter, Thinker powers were especially crippled in regards to them."
"Speaking of which," Doctor Mother said to Eidolon, "Did you at least manage to achieve your goal while you were in the process of revealing all of our secrets to the being most likely to be both able and willing to act upon them?"
"I didn't have a choice." Eidolon stressed. "She had already seen into our base, saw us going in there, and probably saw everything from the Case 53's to the Garden itself. If I didn't come out with an explanation right then and there, we would have had to basically write off Earth Bet as a location we can create Doormaker portals to at all – if that would have even kept her back. Explaining the Scion situation and our reasons for doing so got her to back down for a little while at least. Her exact words were 'I'll believe that you believe it', and she shortly thereafter went on to state that she had 'better people to question'. And – oh never mind." He sighed. "...Yes, I found out what I wanted. The whole thing's apparently really complicated and I got the cliff notes version, but she's apparently a sort of autonomous weapons system designed by an alternate version of humanity to lay siege to entire solar systems."
The Number Man blinked. "I find that claim... highly dubious."
Doctor Mother looked at him in confusion. "Why? Is something like that really so far beyond what's she's demonstrated?"
"Yes." Alexandria bluntly stated. "I don't quite have the capacity that Number Man does, but solar systems are big."
"Quite right." The aforementioned man nodded at Alexandria. "A siege, by definition, implies the capability to project force of some kind or another over the entire area in question. Our solar system is huge in ways unfathomable for a non-thinker. If we stretched out a sheet that represented the solar system to scale on that wall." He pointed at the longest wall of their meeting room. "Earth wouldn't even be visible on it, and the sun would be little more than a very small yellow dot."
"Wasn't she measuring things in AU though?" Doctor Mother questioned.
The Number Man looked at Doctor Mother. "Our solar system, including the Oort Cloud, is approximately sixty three thousand AU in radius. Unless she means solar system in the sense of the planets themselves, a tale that is far more palatable as that usually ranges within a hundred AU."
Alexandria glanced at Eidolon. "You disagree." It wasn't a question.
"I do." Eidolon replied. "But let me finish explaining first. She actually is a Parahuman of sorts. It's just, in the process of connecting with her, her Agent was destroyed accidentally by the original weapons system she was based off of. As the Agent dying mid connection turns out to be a really bad things for someone's mind state, the weapon system – which I only know as 'Buster Machine Number Seven' – rebuilt and recreated the Agent out of an image of its own data. At that point, with nothing else to go off, it attempted to turn her into one of those weapon systems and failed because they were too advanced for it. But enough happened for some sort of automatic repair system to kick in – that's why she was getting stronger by the way, dormant systems reactivating and existing ones getting more power."
"Interesting, I'm sure. But did you find out why Coil's story was so odd?" Doctor Mother asked impatiently.
"Yes, actually." Eidolon replied. "Whatever systems she has for dealing with combat weren't repaired correctly at that time. So she likely got attacked by a gang that set off the systems somehow, killed them, heroes tried to detain them and she killed them too. Things escalated from there because A: Parahumans don't technically count as human to her sensors, and B: Since we had gotten so serious, her combat systems rationalized the deaths of the innocents as necessary to save the greater whole."
"I see..." Said Doctor Mother, "...I suppose that does fully answer my question." She nodded him off.
"That was interesting and all," Alexandria and her one track mind broke in, "But why do you think her statement wasn't hyperbole?"
"The kind of technology level the civilization that built her creator is terrifying." Eidolon turned to answer her. "She showed me a little of the kind of wars they fought – their enemies had fleets of billions, every single one of their ships being vastly more powerful than anything Scion has ever shown. She showed me an image of a single cruiser firing energy attacks that left gaping holes in Titan, as in the moon. I wish to reiterate, billions of these. How did they win that war? By wiping out eighty percent of the galaxy with an FTL propagating black hole."
Alexandria rested her head in her hand, Doctor Mother blinked, and the Number Man settled heavily back into his chair with eyes slightly glazed over.
A moment of silence.
"Eighty percent," The Number Man breathed after a moment of settling himself, "I see why you would be inclined to believe the higher end interpretation of sieging a solar system. With that kind of technology, I find it impossible to rule anything out. Do we have any indication the weapons system Taylor Hebert now is is in possession of similar levels of technology?"
"Technology? Technically no." Eidolon admitted. "She did explain what happened with the precognition collapse, but I would hesitate to label it 'technology'."
Contessa looked up in interest.
"It was an Alcu-something or the other drive." Eidolon began.
"Alcubierre?" The Number Man questioned.
"I believe so." Eidolon nodded. "It worked off the principals of increasing the mass of space behind, and decreasing it before her."
"Alcubierre, then." The Number Man confirmed. "An interesting concept now proven, definitely something of note, but why would you hesitate to call it technology?"
"Because she did it with math." Eidolon responded.
The Number Man actually managed to look amused. "I would be highly surprised if she didn't use any-"
"No, I mean only with math." Eidolon clarified. "She apparently knows math equations that rewrite space."
"...Preposterous." Was the Number Mans initial response. "Math cannot, in and of itself, have a tangible effect on reality, it would make no sense. Math is a series of processors for calculating things, not a series of magic spells."
"How does the saying go? 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'" Alexandria pointed out. "Could you truly say it is an out and out impossibility?"
The Number Man breathed. "...No, I cannot. I am forced to admit that some form of thought process or repetitive method could have a tangible effect upon the world, it would be far from the most unlikely thing the scientific method has discovered – indeed, the Agents themselves prove there is far more to the world than humanity knew of thirty one years ago," He maintained a disgruntled look in his face, "I still refuse to accept such a statement at face value. Although." He changed tracks. "You never actually answered why it screwed up precognition."
"Ah, yeah. Basically, 'Algorithmic Imaging' as she called it has some rather nasty side effects. Namely, cause and effect gets screwed up in a large area around her when she does it, resulting in the weird thing that happened at the Guild, and the effect that struck down the Simurgh." Eidolon continued to explain. "Evidently, it also messed up whatever mechanism precognition works on."
"What's the point, then?" Doctor Mother asked.
"Apparently, now that she's at full power, she can compensate for it using a 'physical canceler' of some sort... Which I didn't actually ask anything about." He admitted.
"Physical canceler? Would that imply canceling physical laws?" Alexandria spoke with a hint of incredulity in her voice.
"If she can warp space with mathematics, I would hardly put changing physical laws beyond her." The Number Man spoke. "Nevertheless, as Eidolon didn't ask about it, it is pointless to speculate on."
Alexandria acknowledged his point with a nod. "Well then, do you have anything else to add Eidolon?"
Eidolon shook his head.
"What now, then?" Doctor Mother queried. "I figure it's not too much longer until we get a visit from Buster. In fact, I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet."
"It is... surprising." Eidolon commented. "Her talk of having 'someone else' to ask her further questions left me with an impression she would be interrogating you Doctor Mother. I'm honestly not sure what she's up to right now – actually, she said something about dealing with the press." Eidolon remembered.
"Ah, the ever shifting public." Alexandria reminisced. "That could take a while; someone want to check the news? I doubt the women who slew the Endbringers would be anything other than a live show."
The Number Man nodded, and pulled his laptop open.
A few moments passed.
"Nothing. At all." The Number Man stated with a hint of surprise, "The typical rumors, of course. But nothing even vaguely worth paying attention to. She hasn't contacted any news source whatsoever." A few moments of typing and clicking. "In fact, there's no information upon her current whereabouts whatsoever. Satellite coverage shows she stepped outside of her house three minutes ago, and vanished. Not even Dragon's high speed footage shows any indication of what happened."
"Any speculation?" Doctor Mother asked Eidolon.
Eidolon shrugged. "No idea."
"Then where is she?" Doctor Mother asked exasperatedly.
"I suppose we've reached an accord, then?" Taylor spoke.
"Accord..." The air rumbled as Scion twisted the word and considered its meaning. "...Agreement." He finished in his preferred method of single word responses.
Taylor nodded, and with a flex of the dozens of still active degeneracy reactors surrounding her, she scanned the area, and flung Scion across space to land on the now atmosphere less Earth she had taken him from.
Sensors already accommodating for planetary and galactic drift, she Warped herself as well. Only this time, she went a little to the 'left'...
An odd sound, almost like shattering glass but just ever so slightly different, enough to be noticeable, filled the compound.
Alexandria leapt to her feet, the Number Man and Doctor Mother frowned in confusion, and Eidolon and Contessa stiffened.
"So that's what it sounds like. I didn't quite get the chance to really listen during the battle." Eidolon murmured.
That comment clued the others in, and they relaxed fractionally. "An uneasy sound." Alexandria commented.
"Close enough to the sound of breaking glass to be familiar, different enough to disturb." Doctor Mother agreed.
"I suppose this conclusively answers the question of whether or not blocking off Earth Bet would have accomplished anything." The Number Man noted. "It's worth pointing out that she, judging by the sound made, teleported into the room we use to come into the base. Most likely, she has some method of tracing where Doormaker's portals go cross-dimensionally."
The door into the conference room opened before any further comment could made and Taylor Hebert, dressed in the same casual attire as she had while speaking with Eidolon, walked in.
The two sides stared at one another. Alexandria remained standing, while her contemporaries sat around the table. Taylor remained at the door, arms crossed across her chest.
A moment of silence, and then... it was broken. "I wish to extend my deepest thanks for dealing with the Endbringers." Doctor Mother spoke out. "They were a huge toll on lives that could have helped dealing with Scion."
"Scion... isn't quite a problem anymore." Taylor answered.
Doctor Mother's eyes widened. "I... see. Still, you have my thanks for the simple human life you saved. Cauldron was formed for the sake of saving humanity as a whole, and even without Scion the Endbringers would have brought civilization on this world crashing down eventually. And as the Simurgh had demonstrated dimensional travel before, that may very well include others as well. Although, may I ask what makes you so certain that Scion is dealt with?"
Taylor paused in thought for the barest moment. "I talked with him."
That got looks of surprise from everyone there. "How did you manage that?" Alexandria inquired. "He has historically refused to respond to everything, except the one time he said his name."
"As long as you have a common form of communication, and are demonstrably more powerful, you can convince most things to talk." Taylor answered. "He tried the whole ignoring me thing for a bit, I pushed the point, he retaliated, and I showed that his retaliation was... less than impressive." She shrugged. "He was a great deal more reasonable after that."
"...I would think someone would have noticed your battle." Said a slightly skeptic Alexandria.
"My idea of 'pushing the point' involved using his fake body as a conduit to rip a hole into his dimension. Probably a good thing, in hind sight." Taylor mused. "By the time Scion was finished with his ineffectual attacks, he had burnt the entire atmosphere off that Earth, and I had to go find another planet in that universe with an Earthlike atmosphere."
The Number Man's eyebrow twitched at the implications. "It varies depending upon the universe, but the nearest Earthlike planet is rarely less than a hundred light years away. And you made that travel instantly?"
"Actually." Taylor began. "For the purposes of convincing Scion I was more powerful than him, I actually went all the way to Andromeda to find one."
"Andromeda." The Number Man dryly repeated. "...Well, your efforts have sufficiently intimidated me at least."
"That's interesting and all, but what did talking with Scion do that has you so convinced he won't be a problem?" Alexandria asked, attempting to get the conversation back on track.
Taylor sighed. "To make a long story short, the goal of Scion's race was to escape heat death by giving out powers and letting people experiment with them in hopes someone would stumble across a way of generating energy ex-nihilo. After a period of time they would travel to a different world, destroying it in the process, to search out other races with different ideas of innovation. At least, I think so. Scion is... kind of dumb. He honestly isn't sure what he existed for, apparently the other one was the 'Thinker' and he was the 'Warrior', so there was a fair bit of Scion going 'we do this' being vague about it, and me going 'do you mean this' and him going 'probably'. So after telling him I could deal with the problem of heat death-"
The Number Man merely sighed.
"-He seemed simultaneously happy and confused. We then came to an agreement that he could continue to try and find meaning in his life through whatever method, so long as he didn't harm humanity in any way, and I would insure that his goal of 'living forever' was achieved." Taylor finished.
Doctor Mother frowned. "I'm not sure-"
"Look." Taylor interrupted while rubbing her forehead. "I've been fairly accommodating so far, probably more than I should have, but I'm not here to talk about Scion." She looked at the group. "Where is Legend, anyway?"
"He's largely kept in the dark." Alexandria answered. "Doesn't actually know anything about Cauldron's true motives, or that we've actually done anything beyond provide powers for a few people."
Taylor frowned. "I suppose he can be left till later than."
"What do you mean you're not here to talk about Scion?" Doctor Mother latched onto that, "He is a... rather important figure, as you well know."
"True," Taylor admitted, "But I've dealt with Scion adequately enough for my purposes. I'm here to talk about you."
Understanding flashed across Doctor Mothers eyes. "Ah... Well either way, if you have proven conclusively more powerful than Scion, I believe I can accept whatever judgment you lay upon us."
Taylor stared for a moment. "I suppose I will ask two questions. First; why all... that?" She motioned downwards. "Because if you honestly believe that bunch could even phase Scion, than you might be legitimately insane."
"Of course not." Alexandria answered. "They were never intended to be anything more than a distraction at best; we were searching for another Eidolon – someone powerful enough to fight off Scion."
Taylor raised her eyebrows at Alexandria.
"To clarify," Eidolon broke in. "We considered pretty much everyone aside of the most powerful of Parahumans to be a distraction in the face of Scion – even with the limited amount he has shown, he is still too far beyond any Parahuman for all but the strongest to be relevant at all."
"I'm not seeing why they're all kept caged then," Taylor asked with narrowed eyes.
"Our formulas are far from stable – see the difference in power between someone like Alexandria and, say, Battery." The Number Man began to answer. "And they frequently lead to some serious mutation. So what often happens is they receive a power they either can't or are unwilling to control. In those cases, we imprison them in the lower levels. And to assuage your obvious concerns, every person we dosed with the formulas would have assuredly died otherwise."
"Since when did saving someone's life give you right to own it – that was certainly in no version of the Hippocratic Oath I've ever heard of." Taylor's expression lightened little, if at all.
"By any conventional moral standard, what we did has little in the way of an excuse." Doctor Mother answered. "But we had few, if any options otherwise. What morality we could salvage from this situation we did, all else was discarded as stopping the end of the world was the highest priority. We had no idea that someone as incredibly powerful as you would come along, so we had to do what we could to save humanity. If, at the end of it, enough of humanity remained I, at least, would have accepted whatever decision was made about my actions."
Taylor's face initially remained hard, and then she sighed. "As much as it may satisfy that dark little part inside me, killing you all wouldn't actually solve anything. So we're going to move on, ignore any 'point for point' debating about what you've done and how it weighs against what happened and might happen, and state the facts. Namely, you've created a shitty situation for a lot of people in the hopes of stopping a shitty situation for everyone. And now as the latter event has been interdicted, you're left with having left a lot of people in a shitty situation. So, here's how it's going to go."
Taylor shifted stances slightly. "Cauldron has entirely too many useful resources to just dismantle in its entirety, and it will be a while till I can get around to starting on anything that could effectively take your place. So you're going to gather every Case 53 Parahuman you've created, and issue reparations. If that includes, taking their powers away and giving them their normal bodies back fine – I am more than capable of dealing with that problem. If they want their memories back, fix them if you can, I'll see what I can do to get them back if you can't. If they want a fuck ton of money, they get that."
"And if they call for our deaths?" Doctor Mother asked, before closing her eyes. "If that is what they require, I will accommodate. So long as none of the others have to, they are far too valuable."
Taylor hesitated for a moment. "...No, if you really did only take those on the verge of death, murder in response is not actually the answer."
Doctor Mother nodded in acknowledgement.
"Anyway." Taylor continued. "If Contessa is half as powerful as Eidolon suggested, you should be more than capable of doing all of that on your own, and I will handle any requests you are unable to. And if you at least attempt to satisfy the requests of every single life you ruined... I will consider your debt to society to be fulfilled."
"I believe I can agree to that." Doctor Mother answered.
"Not that they really matter, but are there any objections from the rest of you?" Taylor asked.
"It is not at all how I ever imagined spending my time after Scion was dealt with, but I am lacking in anything else to do." The Number Man responded. "I have no objections."
Alexandria simply shook her head. "I am fine with that."
"That's fine." Contessa answered.
Eidolon hesitated for a moment. "I... suppose this is the final death knell in my hopes for leaving my legacy behind." He sighed. "But it wasn't likely to work out by this point anyway." He looked up. "I agree."
"I suppose the question by this point is; what are you going to do?" Doctor Mother asked.
"A good question," Taylor sighed, "I'll get back to you when I know the answer. Hopefully, I'll have one by the time the press loses all patience. Which," She grimaced, "Judging by the crowd gathering in front of my house isn't too much longer. In fact, I'd better get back now before they break the door down or something, ugh." She turned to Cauldron. "I'll leave you to your tasks, while I deal with mine."
And with a flash of light, Taylor vanished from the base.
All was quiet.
"...Where do we even start?" Eidolon broke the silence.
"In hindsight." Alexandria began to speak. "Someone probably should have told her that Contessa's powers are down right now as well."
"Logically? We begin with those who have a power releasable into the world, and don't seem like they want to lose it. Or gain their memories back." The Number Man pointed out.
"How many of those are there?" Doctor Mother questioned.
"Not many." He admitted. "But there are some who may fit those criteria."
"And I, personally, don't want to have nothing done when she inevitably comes back." Eidolon replied.
"Unlikely to be good for anyone's health." The Number Man agreed, while looking over the list of Parahumans in their base. "...Custodian, bring two-six-seven-nine here."
A brush of air through the room, and they waited.
"Which one is that?" Doctor Mother asked.
"His powers turn him into a living source of lava, but they also render him without need of any food or water. In all likely hood, he has grown too dependent on his powers to give them up. He also speaks a language only the Number Man knows." Alexandria answered.
A minute passed, and the door opened to reveal a subdued man. The man had thick, cracked black skin, Darker than any possible human pigment. The man steamed as small bits of lava oozed their way out of the cracks in his skin.
"Wh-what do you want?" He stuttered.
The only one capable of understanding him, The Number Man took over this exchange. "The situation has changed. The reasons you were retained here are no longer relevant, and for your sacrifices we are offering restitution to some extent. What is it you want?"
"I just want to go home..." The man asked, a look of depression on his face.
"Very well." The Number Man answered. "If you would like, we may be able to rectify your condition given enough time."
"I..." The man hesitated. "...No, I just want to go home now. And this I... don't think I could manage without it."
The Number Man nodded. "Very well. Doormaker, portal to Earth six-seven-two-seven. Area two-six-seven-nine."
A rectangle opened in the air.
"The world you came to here from is through there. The location is fairly close to where we first picked you up as well." The Number Man spoke.
The man hesitated, clearly not believing any of this. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"You don't." The Number Man answered. "But if we wanted to kill you, we could do that quite easily. And, either way, you will no longer be trapped here."
Still hesitant, but satisfied enough, the man stepped through.
The portal shut behind him.
A moment of silence as the Number Man typed something out on his computer. "Twelve thousand six hundred and eighty two remain." He commented.
Eidolon sighed. "We're going to be here a while."
"Most likely." The Number Man agreed. "And few are as likely to be as 'easy' as that one." He checked the list again. "Custodian, bring up six-two-seven."
As the custodian brushed by them again, Alexandria stood up. "Number Man, send me a list of every Case 53 in the protectorate. I will see about gathering them up."
The Number Man nodded. "Sent to your phone."
With a nod, Alexandria left through a Doormaker portal.
"...Door to Legend." Eidolon called out.
A portal formed.
"You're going to tell him." Doctor Mother stated.
"The whole world will know soon enough. He deserves to hear it from me." Eidolon answered.
Doctor Mother nodded, and Eidolon stepped through the portal.
The portal closed.