Chapter 6-7

Decontamination sucks. After the explosion, everyone in the room was quickly taken to isolation chambers and scrubbed down by men in hazard suits. Being scrubbed down by strangers using sponges that felt like they were made out of cotton wool wasn't even the worst of it. I could handle that: just changing in and out of my armor hurt a lot more. No, it was everyone looking at me like a leper and keeping their distance that really bothered me. The fact that they were probably right to be worried didn't help either.

That woman exploded for a reason, and if said reason was contagious, I'd probably gotten the worst of it. My shield blocked most of the stuff and whatever went through would probably be taken care of by my power, but that didn't mean I was safe. As I sat in the containment unit, waiting for the results of the blood tests, I wondered what had gone through the woman's head at the end. Was she still aware of what was happening to her? I hoped not, for her sake and my own. If the same would happen to me, I'd rather lose my mind quickly than remain lucid. It'd probably be an easier way to go.

Funny how serene I felt at the possibility of dying. I should probably tell someone about it if I lived long enough for it to matter. For now, though, I was content with lying in the room's bed until someone got me some answers. I wasn't turning orange and I didn't feel sick, which was probably a good sign.

A speaker in the room crackled. "Taylor, are you awake?" Armsmaster said. I never thought I'd say this, but it was good to hear his voice, or anyone's voice for that matter. The containment room was just a little too small for my liking.

"Yes. Did you find out what happened? Are the others alright?"

"They're fine, as far as we can tell. Their blood tests came up clean." He didn't mention mine, though. Still, it was a relief to know that they'd probably be alright. "Panacea seems pretty shaken, but I suppose that's to be expected, considering what happened. We're keeping everyone in quarantine for the rest of the night, just in case. That said, I'm not expecting any complications on their end. On a side note, we told your father that some druggie threw up on you and that we're keeping you here as a precaution."

"The woman wasn't contagious?"

"Not as far as we can tell. It looks like the nanites that caused her…condition burned up before they could jump to someone else."

I got a sense of déjà vu. We'd had this conversation before, and it didn't end well. "Nanites…like mine?"

Armsmaster hesitated before answering. "Yes, like yours and Red's. We haven't recovered much, but it looks like the nanites are similar, if not identical to those in your body. Panacea confirmed it."

Part of me wanted to freak, but I managed to get myself under control before completely bursting into tears. "Armsmaster…"

"No, you're not responsible for this." The boss grumbled exasperatedly. "As I told the director and a dozen other paranoid idiots I've beat off with a stick, you're not the second coming of Nilbog, you're not the first Horseman of the Apocalypse, and you're not contagious because if you were, everyone you've met over the past three months, myself included, would have been infected or dead. In fact, I'd even go as far as saying that the nanites can't spread to another host without some sort of additional treatment or specialized structure, which our victim clearly didn't have. We can all stop worrying about Brockton Bay needing to be put to the torch."

That was a relief to hear, both for myself and the city. "What about my blood tests?"

"Obviously, they came back positive, but that doesn't really matter. You're apparently fine, so I'm assuming that if anything had carried over, your body has already taken care of it. Simply put, you can't get infected because you're already infected; your powers seem to be your symptoms."

"So come I get superpowers and she, well… didn't?"

Armsmaster paused. "I don't know." He finally admitted. "My best guess is that you triggered normally but were exposed to the infection soon after. Your current power is probably the result of an interaction between your original power and the nanites. Either that, or one of a hundred other, equally valid explanations. This is all just speculation. I don't have any hard evidence backing this up and Insight isn't much help here. Apparently, there's something about you that makes her power go haywire."

That surprised me. Under most circumstances, finding out that I could no-sell Thinkers would have made me really happy. Now, it's just inconvenient. I couldn't help but sigh. "Do we at least know who's behind it and why they did it? The Boxheads come to mind…"

"Like I said, we have no evidence. The Boxheads are my prime suspect too, but we can't be sure. There's just too little left of the victim to tell. As for why…"

"You don't know either." I replied morosely.

"Yes. I'm aware this is frustrating, but please, understand that we're doing everything we can to get to the bottom of this. We'll investigate the matter in time."

"In time?" I asked. Considering the rather gruesome results of those damned nanites, I'd imagine that Armsmaster would want answers sooner rather than later.

"Our resources are limited and Empire 88 has a higher priority."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. "A higher priority? With all due respect, sir, a Tinker-made disease just caused someone to pop like a balloon. We don't know anything about how or how fast it spreads. For all we know, we could have hundreds of exploding orange people coming out of the woodworks this time next week. I know you're the boss and you don't owe me an explanation or anything, but please, why's the Empire worse than that? Why are you focusing so much on Kaiser?"

"We have no reason to believe that the virus is that bad. Maybe we'll have to quarantine a few blocks and we'll probably lose a few people, but that's nothing compared to the number of people that die to gang violence every week. Empire 88, on the other hand, can destabilize the entire country if left unchecked." Armsmaster sighed. "Look at it this way: imagine if everyone in the Protectorate stopped following my orders. Let's say they started following Miss Militia's instead. Would I still be the leader of the Protectorate?"

"Well, yes, but it wouldn't mean anything if nobody's listening to you." I wondered where he was going with this.

"Exactly. On paper, I might be in charge, but authority is meaningless if nobody respects it. It works the same way for governments. People will only accept a ruler if they think it's in their best interest to do so."

"And you're worried that Kaiser's becoming too popular."

"He is becoming too popular." Armsmaster stressed. "Kaiser's a charismatic man and he makes his followers feel like they're part of something greater. He makes promises and is usually able to keep them. We…haven't been as successful in that regard."

"We're fighting with one hand tied behind our backs thanks to Glenn and company. They can pretty much go all-out and don't have to worry about looking good. We're trying to restore law and order to a city that's falling apart. They have twice the numbers we do and probably a lot more money backing them up. It's a miracle we have any public support left."

"A fact I'm very well aware off, Taylor." Armsmaster snapped back. Must have hit a sore note there. "It's not my fault the economy is in the gutter, or that we're massively outnumbered, or the thousand other little injustices that happen every single day. Regardless, the people blame us when things inevitably go wrong. The only reason our government still has any support is because we've been able to convince people that working for us is better than working for a supervillain. If that ever changes…"

We stayed silent for a moment. Time to change the subject. "So what does that have to do with Kaiser being worse than a killer virus?"

"Simple. That virus, like Lung, the Merchants, the Boxheads, and all the other gangs, is Bad with a capital B. We don't even need a spin-doctor to get people to hate them; just the plain truth is enough. No one will question us if we fight them. Kaiser, though? He's setting himself up as an alternative to the government. He's providing services, protection, unity…basically everything we're supposed to be doing. Yes, he's a criminal, but he treats his people reasonably well. That's what makes him dangerous: one day, he'll announce himself king of Brockton Bay and the people won't care enough to oppose him. If that happens, we lose."

I snorted. The idea of Kaiser, or any criminal, openly claiming a city as his personal fiefdom seemed ridiculous. "Sir, if that happens, he'll have the entire Protectorate on his ass before you can say 'Heil Kaiser'."

"He will, but what will that say about us? If we try to violently depose someone who's got enough popular support to take over an entire city, it's going to get ugly. An all-out battle between two large cape armies always is. Even if we win, we'll still lose the people's trust in us. Kaiser's supporters will hate us for ruining their lives and Kaiser's enemies will wonder how we could have let things deteriorate this far. Also, imagine how it will look to people outside of Brockton Bay."

"People will start seeing you as fallible and start judging you by your merits instead of blindly accepting your authority." A sentiment I already had. Then again, I've been screwed over by the powers that be far more than most. I had a right to be jaded and cynical.

I could almost feel Armsmaster frown in response. "In any case, we'll lose the one thing we'll never be able to get back: faith. Faith that the government is something a supervillain can fight, but never defeat. Even if Kaiser is killed or Birdcaged in a day, the fact that he was able to get this much power at all will encourage other villains. They'll start taking bigger risks and the Protectorate will have to clamp down even harder just to keep other cities from slipping away. Once we go down that road, it'll probably end in either martial law or a full-scale civil war. Everyone will lose, especially the people we're sworn to protect."

As much as I hated to admit it, his reasoning made sense. Kaiser was a threat, not just to the city but to the country as a whole. More so than someone like Lung ever was. Sure, Lung had followers, but most of them were press-ganged into service. I doubt there was much loyalty amongst the ABB. The gang wouldn't have evaporated so quickly if there were. "I understand that Kaiser is bad, but how is he worse than something that can destroy the entire city?"

"Assuming the virus is really that bad in the first place?" He quickly corrected. Frustrating, but given the lack of evidence, I couldn't prove that he was wrong. My gut said I wasn't, but that wouldn't be enough to get the Protectorate to act.

"Can we risk it?"

"Honestly? Potentially city-destroying disasters affect Brockton Bay two or three times a year. We've dealt with worse and we're still standing. Trust me, Taylor, we'll be fine."

I sighed. "It's just…I can't shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen."

"You're scared. I get that. You don't have to pretend that all this doesn't get to you."

My mouth fell open. "That's not what I…"

"Taylor…" He interrupted. "It's okay. A woman exploded right in front of you. You got showered with gore. It's normal for a fifteen year-old to be freaked out by that. Just get some sleep. Unless we're horribly wrong about the virus, we'll let you out in the morning."

Great. That really makes me feel better. Like I'm not at all going to literally and metaphorically explode.

The speaker crackled to life again. "I…probably could have phrased that better."

Did he just apologize for something? All by himself? I had trouble believing that. "Did Miss Militia tell you to say that?"

"No, she didn't." Armsmaster quickly replied. Too quickly.

"Was it Battery?"

The boss just grumbled in response before the line went dead, leaving me to try and fall asleep.

I didn't have a pleasant night.