Chapter 9-1
Somer's Rock.
I'd call it a wretched hive of scum and villainy, but that didn't really do it justice. The pub was just run-down. Ugly. Even if the people in this part of town had the money to afford going to the pub, they'd still avoid it. Part of me wondered if the place would see any business at all if it weren't for its reputation as a villain meeting ground.
Or maybe it's just me.
Aegis and I had mutually decided to bury the hatchet for now and fell in line behind the Protectorate. Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Dauntless. The leader, the second-in-command, and the heaviest hitter. On a side note, I was still angry with our boss for what he said, but the sting had worn off by now. He wasn't entirely wrong, after all: I was infected and there's no telling what might happen if the virus somehow takes control of me, unlikely though it was. That said, there was a time and a place for everything and the little scene back at the base had been neither.
Besides, there were plenty of other things for me to get passively-aggressively annoyed at. For starters, this whole situation. We were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and instead of doing something about it, we were supposed to play politics because the fucking zombies didn't file the proper Endbringer-response paperwork. The city was dying and we're wasting time on technicalities! This was Armageddon, dammit, not a man misfiling his fucking tax returns!
Ugh…
"Okay, so we're going to…Oh, Aegis, if you don't mind?"
"It's okay, Insight, take the lead. You know these things better than I do."
Insight made an expression I couldn't quite place. "Right. Anyway, inter-gang meetings. Scary stuff, lots of things that can go wrong. Luckily, thanks to yours truly, we can avoid some of the pitfalls." She handed me and Aegis an earbud. "Biggest thing to remember: everything is politics, even S-class threats. Right now, we're on their turf, petitioning them for help. Unlike the heroes, villains aren't obligated to fight, so we have to make it worth their while."
"'Help us or we all die.'" Clockblocker quipped morosely. "Sounds like a convincing argument to me."
"Well, yes and no. We don't just want them to help, we want them to put some actual effort into it. Risk their lives for the greater good. Them being villains, that's not as easy as it sounds. So, we can't afford to step on anyone's toes tonight."
"Me and Banshee…" Aegis asked.
"We can't send everyone. It sends the wrong message if we do: Protectorate's scared, Protectorate doesn't trust the others, etc. A small gang might be able to get away with that, but not one of the city's major powers. No, we're sending as few people as we can. Enough to show that the heroes are going all-out, but not so many as to ruffle any feathers. Since we're with the Protectorate, that means sending the Wards' leader plus one of our best as a guard-slash-assistant."
"Okay, so why me?" I asked. "Why not you? I think you'd add a lot more to the discussion than I would."
"Because Coil and the Undersiders will recognize me. Faultline too, probably. Maybe even a few of the independents, I don't know. I never was that famous. Anyway, bringing me is like raising a huge middle finger to my old co-workers and while I don't mind rubbing it in Coil's face, I don't want to raise a fuss. Besides, I'll be listening in and watching from here. That, and it's hard to top the girl who took down Lung on her fucking debut."
I shivered. That wasn't supposed to be public knowledge. "They know about that?"
"Not know know, but close enough. You weren't exactly subtle, sweety." She replied, looking almost pityingly. "But, hey, look at the bright side: you're officially a badass! Don't be surprised if Kaiser tries to recruit you. Wouldn't be the first time he's tried something like that."
Vista's face darkened for a moment. Obviously a story in there. I'd have to ask later.
We walked inside, trying our best to convey an image of strength to the capes already there. Not that there were many to impress: only the Undersiders and a few independent heroes were here already. Guess we were early. Armsmaster nodded to us and we took a seat in the booth next to the people from New Wave. They smiled warmly. Good. At least we had an ally.
The Undersiders sat in their corner, eyeing us warily. Circus, in particular, looked like she wanted to skin me alive. Considering what happened the last time we met, I can't say I blame her.
The door opened and the E88 contingent arrived: Kaiser flanked by Purity and one of his Valkyrie bodyguards. Fenja? Menja? The one with the spear. I wondered where the other one was. As if reading my thoughts, Insight said: "Hmm, interesting. Looks like the Nazis got into a tangle with Outbreak already. Lost a few people too. Fenja, couple of unpowered members."
"The Empire just lost one of their heavy hitters, Insight. That's not a good thing." Miss Militia whispered.
"Au contraire, Militia. It means that Kaiser can't sit this out. Sure, he might bitch and moan a little to keep up appearances, but at the end of the day, he'll still fight because he can't afford not to. He'd lose all his street cred if he lets his people die unavenged."
"Think he doesn't want to fight?" I asked. Empire 88 didn't seem like the kind of organization to shy away from a challenge. Defeating Outbreak seemed like a great way to build more support.
"It's a zombie apocalypse, Banshee. Of course he doesn't want to. The guy isn't stupid. There're going to be casualties and he'd rather have the heroes make all the sacrifices than his own people. Thankfully, Outbreak forced his hand. He'll help us, no doubt."
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch. We haven't even started yet." Armsmaster replied, gruffly.
Next to arrive was Coil: A large, well-muscled man in a skin-tight costume with a white snake coiled around it. Strangely, he didn't have any guards or back-up. Confident or just plain arrogant? Hard to tell with a man like that. "It's not the real Coil." Insight mentioned. "It's one of his mercs. Coil's telling the guy what to say via text messages sent to a screen in his mask."
Guess that explains it. No risk to the man himself if he sends a proxy. "Seems awfully paranoid. Does he think someone's going to break the truce?" I had trouble believing anyone would be stupid enough to kick up a fuss here on purpose, but Coil might know something I didn't.
"No, it's…Shit, he knows about Banshee's power. He thinks she can recognize him by his voice."
I suppose he wasn't entirely wrong in that regard. I could recognize people by their voices, after all. It's not even difficult. What did bother me is how he knew about it. That little aspect of my power isn't exactly advertised, for obvious reasons. Insight mentioned he had moles in the PRT. If they had access to my full power testing results…
One problem at a time. We had enough to worry about already.
When the next group arrived, I nearly had a heart attack: The fucking Corpus. What the ever-loving fuck?! What the hell were they doing here? Trying to get themselves killed? Of course, Alad himself wasn't there, the coward. Instead, he sent two of his cronies. The first was obviously that Anyo character I met before. He calmly entered the room, ignored mine and Armsmaster's death glares, and took a seat at the table. I'd call him balsy as fuck, if I didn't hate him so much.
The second was a man I didn't recognize: A tall man in a green/black suit, unarmed except for one of those cattle prod-sword hybrids the Corpus like so much. He looked at me for a moment and paused, before nodding politely and taking a seat.
"Friend of yours?" Aegis asked.
I thought for a moment, wondering if he had some ulterior motive. Since I couldn't think of one, I told him the truth. "Not sure. Could be. Most of the Corpus look the same to me."
"Fair enough."
Without realizing it, I'd dub my fingers into the table and I forced my hands to unclench. Calm. Stay calm. Truce is in effect. No fighting.
"So, with that settled," Insight continued "let's talk etiquette. Their house, their rules. When you come in, there'll be a table and a couple of booths. Table is for the big wigs. Armsmaster, in our case. Everyone else is going to sit in a booth. While you're there, be quiet. Don't speak unless you're spoken to. If you have to say something, whisper."
"I could cheat with my power." I proposed.
Insight frowned. "Better not risk it. No powers on neutral ground, even harmless ones just in case someone sees it as a breach of trust. Eavesdrop all you will, but don't do anything overt. Like I said, we don't want to kick up a fuss. We need these guys on our side, so that means that unless they've got a kill-order on their heads, you're going to be nice to them. No fighting, no insults, no provoking anyone for any reason, got it?"
"Yes, ma'm." Aegis said, sardonically.
It took a few minutes of breathing exercises to calm myself again. By then, most of the others had arrived: Uber and Leet, a new group apparently called the Travelers, a small assortment of minor heroes and villains, and the Merchants who quickly got into an argument with Kaiser.
I sighed. This is how the human race would end: slaughtered to the last by monsters while the ones with the power to save everyone were too busy having a dick-waving competition.
Armsmaster called everyone to attention. "Considering the time-sensitive nature of the matter at hand, I feel it is prudent to start as soon as possible. I assume you are all aware of the threat we face."
"I assume you're referring to the army of monsters rampaging through the docks." Kaiser said.
"More specifically, a virus that turns its victims into monsters, but yes. The Protectorate doesn't have the power to stop this thing on its own. Since this is a threat to everyone, we are willing to discuss a truce until the virus is eradicated and the quarantine is lifted."
Kaiser was the first to speak. "My organization is willing to help. However, I'd rather not go into this alone. What is the ETA on the Protectorate reinforcements?"
"Never." Armsmaster stated bluntly. "Our superiors are unwilling to send more people into the city until they fully understand how this virus works. We have measures in place to reduce the rate of infection, but they are not convinced. Needless to say that by the time the bureaucrats have made their decision, it'll be too late. The virus seems to link its victims into some sort of neural network. In short, the more people get infected, the smarter it gets. We need to stop this now, or we won't be able to stop it at all."
Skidmark snorted from his booth. "Then why the fuck should we…"
"Because if you don't, the city and everyone in it will be annihilated by a 50 kiloton nuclear bomb." Armsmaster warned. "Like I said, we need to stop this now, for all our sakes."
That part of the briefing…it had put the whole thing in a completely different perspective. If I hadn't been told before, I probably would have freaked out by now. This wasn't just a case of the bad guy escaping justice, this was…God, everything I've ever known. Aside from a few trips here and there, I'd never been outside of Brockton Bay. This city was my entire life and the thought of losing it all if this fails…
Calm. Keep calm. It's just the imminent destruction of the city we're talking about. No worries. Nope. None at all. Besides, it wasn't a done deal. We could still prevent this, and we would.
"I see." Kaiser said, visibly ruffled. It's the first time I've ever heard of him showing an emotion other than smug superiority. If things weren't so dire, I might have felt some satisfaction from that.
"The PRT is treating this like the second coming of Nilbog." Armsmaster continued. "We have two days to contain Outbreak. If the situation hasn't improved by then, the PRT will give the go-ahead. Needless to say, I don't want that to happen and I don't think you want that to happen either."
The room fell silent as everyone tried to process the bomb that's just been dropped on them, no pun intended. I focused my power and listened, trying to get a feel of what everyone was thinking. Faultline, Grue, New Wave, and most of the independents were close to panicking or quietly trying to keep their teammates from doing that. Not-Coil had an elevated heart rate, but wasn't freaking out. A professional. I could appreciate that. Anyo was completely calm, which wasn't that surprising considering that his people made this damn virus in the first place. He must have known something like this was going to happen. Skidmark was just unreadable. He probably didn't understand what was going on anyway.
Funny, I thought there'd be more shouting. Guess I'm not the only one who's jaded.
Finally, I looked at Kaiser. He was…quietly livid, as far as I could tell. Now that he'd gotten over the initial shock, he just seemed angry. Judging by the way he was trying to set Armsmaster on fire with his glare, his hatred seemed to be aimed solely at the Protectorate. Why? It wasn't our fault his people were dying.
But then again, what drove a man like Kaiser? From all the briefings that I've heard (including a few I probably wasn't supposed to), all he really wanted was to take over the city. He was driven by the pursuit of power, not his ideology. If he saw his people as expendable tools, it'd explain why the Empire had such a high turn-over rate: you can only treat people like shit for so long before they decide to ditch you and move on.
With that in mind, it was more likely that Kaiser hated the lack of control he had over the situation. We were all but forcing him to fight on our terms. With a literal sword of Damocles over his head, he simply couldn't afford to stay behind. Given what I know about Kaiser…yeah, that must why he hated us. We were stripping him of his agency and telling him what to do. It was interesting, to say the least. I wondered if we could use that knowledge against him at some point…
But not now. Even if the truce wasn't a thing, Kaiser was too useful an asset to lose. For now, we'd just have to tolerate him.
For now.
"Perhaps we should continue." Anyo calmly stated. "As powerful as they are, these creatures are far from unbeatable, provided we strike now."
"And what exactly do you propose?" Armsmaster growled back.
"We burn them out. Experiments have shown that the virus and the infected matter is very vulnerable to heat. Incendiary devices or munitions would…"
"Wait, experiments?!" Faultline all but shrieked. "You built this fucking thing?!"
Without missing a beat, Anyo continued. "No. It is simply something we've encountered on our travels. Something we've been trying to cure, or at least neutralize. A vaccine for something like that would be incredibly valuable."
"How very magnanimous of you." Kaiser deadpanned. "A pity your 'experiment' got out and is ripping our fair city apart as we speak."
"Indeed." The Corpus soldier replied before turning to Armsmaster. "If only the Protectorate didn't stick its nose in other people's affairs. If only they had the presence of mind to destroy a lab clearly labeled 'Hazardous Material', as is procedure. Tell me, Armsmaster, was taking our technology really worth the risk? I know our stuff is much better than anything you can produce, but to disregard basic safety procedures for it…"
Don't take the bait, Armsmaster, I quietly whispered. Whatever you do, don't take the bait.
If the boss had heard me, he didn't show it. "It's our job, as law enforcement agents, to 'stick our nose' in the affairs of people who break the law. We had reasonable suspicion that you were illegally manufacturing Tinkertech weapons and responded in kind." That wasn't our only reason, of course, but we couldn't publicly admit that one of our Wards got abducted. "You shouldn't have been working with something that dangerous anyway, not when you don't have the resources or equipment to properly contain it. Instead, you should have handed it over to us and let the professionals handle it."
Anyo snorted in response. "I assure you, the laboratory you stole from us was one of the best equipped in the world, staffed by some of the finest minds money could buy. There was no better place to study the virus, assuming procedure is followed."
"I find that very hard to believe."
"Our backers are a lot richer than yours, Armsmaster. We have all the equipment we could ever need, including the very devices you're using right now to slow the spread of the disease. Of course, equipment is only as good as the person that wields it. I'm sure you know better than anyone what kind of damage overconfidence can do when it comes to this kind of technology. Maybe when this is over, you'll think twice before trying to loot a lab full of technology you don't understand."
My eyes narrowed. Was this whole mess Alad's plan all along? Was he trying to scare us into submission with the threat of mutually assured destruction if we tried to take him out? It sounded insane, but this was Alad we're talking about. Worse, it might just work. The Corpus kept their heads down, for the most part. Armsmaster might not be willing to let this go, but he could still be overruled if people decide taking down the Corpus wasn't worth the risk.
"That's enough." Kaiser interceded. He wasn't angry anymore, though. If anything, he sounded almost triumphant. "You're both responsible for this tragedy and you will both be held to account when this is done. Until then, we're burying the hatchet. We need to treat this like an Endbringer attack and act accordingly. I suggest that we divide up our respective forces and group them based on their respective skill-sets: front-line brutes, environmental manipulation, search and rescue, etcetera. We will meet outside in an hour. I'll expect that you two geniuses will have a target for us to hit by then."
With that, Kaiser and his bodyguards left. With the meeting essentially over, most of the others dispersed soon after. I resisted the urge to punch something. Kaiser had won. No matter what happened now, he would come out on top. Either we all died or we won using 'his' plan, regardless that that plan was the only sensible one. Kaiser would have the glory of 'having led the city to victory against the evil monsters', which would probably get him countless new recruits and God knows how much notoriety. Even the PRT's propaganda machine couldn't produce that kind of positive press.
Fuck that man. He needed to have an 'accident'.
"This is bad." Miss Militia muttered to herself as we walked back to the vans.
"It could have been much worse." Armsmaster said, reassuringly. "We have a truce and we have a plan of action. We got what we came for."
"I'm not worried about that." She replied.
"Oh?"
"I'm worried about what will happen when you tell Red we're allied to the Boxheads now."
Armsmaster froze mid-step for just a moment before marching on.