AN: Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the USA! Thanks again to SlowMercury who took time out of her holidays to edit this chapter!
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Aftermath
March 19, 2011
There was a moment of silence, as the elevator doors closed, and then it seemed that everyone burst into motion at the same time. Beetle reached around Miss Militia to get to Contract, and her hug dislodged Armsmaster's armored hand, which was already resting on Contract's shoulder.
Intrepid found himself cursing the decision to sit across the table from Fi, and immediately used his power to go over the obstacle, rather than around. Taylor had pulled Fi half out of her seat by the time Jason landed, but she seemed to realize, as she hugged her, that the armor plating wasn't comfortable.
When Taylor hesitated, Jason reached out and pulled Fi into his chest, wrapping his arms around her securely. Fi returned the hug, head down, and Jason realized that she was purposefully blocking out the world. Without her hearing, with her eyes closed, she wasn't getting any input except from his own body language.
With that in mind, he kept his eyes open and alert, even though he didn't expect trouble. Taylor reached out a hand and rested it on her shoulder, but Fi didn't show any response.
All this happened in the first few seconds.
Then Dennis was there, just behind Taylor, locking eyes with Jason. He was offering to freeze Fi, if he thought it would help, but Jason shook his head as slightly as he could so as not to disturb Fi. They were lucky that she hadn't noticed what had happened last night. They did not need to tempt fate.
Missy was hovering just behind Taylor, seemingly looking for a chance to show her support, but neither Jason nor Taylor intended to move. Fi was gripping the back of his uniform as hard as anyone ever had, holding herself tight against him, and trembling slightly.
Dean had his hands on his temples, with his head bowed, and Chris was standing next to him, patting the power armor, offering his silent support.
Fi had been nearly broken after erasing Behemoth, and had held herself together with determination and bluffing. Now she had destroyed, or at least controlled, the remaining Endbringers. What could she possibly have given?
Armsmaster murmured quietly, "Dragon reports that the Simurgh just vanished. There's no sign of Behemoth or Leviathan, though that's not unusual. It looks like it worked."
Armsmaster sounded almost apologetic as he said it, as though he knew that the success wouldn't be enough to soften the blow Fi had taken. Savings millions, perhaps even billions, of lives was worth any cost abstractly. But Fi had said it herself: the human brain was bad at multiplication. And saving the world wouldn't change whatever cost that she now had to pay.
Jason swallowed. "She can't hear you."
Fi's breath caught as he spoke, and he realized that with her pressed against him, she might be able to feel the vibration of his voice even though she was deaf. He expected her to lean back, to read his lips or ask what he had said, but instead she buried her face deeper into his shirt and her hands on his back pulled the stretchable material even tighter.
"What?" Miss Militia asked, though none of the Wards looked surprised. Perhaps they had heard what he did, or perhaps they were just accustomed to Fi being randomly deaf.
"She's deaf," Jason explained, hugging Fi more tightly in response. "You can hear it in her voice, if you listen for it. She can't hear us right now."
"Sir?" Dennis asked, addressing Armsmaster. "I know this is so not the right time, but… this morning, there was a lot of high tension around Contract and the Simurgh attack. Especially in the media. We should release some sort of statement about what just happened, before things get even more out of hand."
A week ago, Jason might have been upset that Dennis was thinking of press coverage with Fi falling apart in front of them. Instead, he found himself grateful that someone on the team was thinking long-term, while he handled the immediate crisis. It was weird, to realize that he thought of the Wards, the Brockton Bay Wards, as his team.
Had it happened last night over pizza, when the girls were singing, or later when they shared stories about trigger events? Had it been when they watched a man get shot? Perhaps after they agreed to blackmail the Triumvirate? Or was it when they all reeled under the glimpse of the crimes committed by their heroes?
Had it happened just moments ago, when they figured out how to destroy the Endbringers?
Shit. Listed out like that, the team had had a hectic twelve hours.
"Surely the Triumvirate will handle it," Miss Militia said.
"Before or after they torture more innocent girls?" Missy asked, turning her scathing anger on Miss Militia now that the Triumvirate were unavailable.
"Missy," Dean interjected, calling her up short before Miss Militia could respond, "We clearly don't know the whole story there, yet." Then, before Missy could bristle, he turned to Armsmaster. "She's right though. If even half of what was implied is true, we can't let Eidolon and his teammates get the first word in. We need to announce what happened and make it clear this was Contract's success."
"Is Glenn still in the building?" Dennis asked. Armsmaster nodded.
"He went back to his hotel." His tone was… impressed? Perhaps Armsmaster approved of a team that stuck up for each other. Either that or he agreed with their cynical assessment of the situation. How much had Fi told him before today?
Dennis nodded decisively. "Kid Win, Vista, take Miss Militia and go find Glenn. Get a press release written immediately and figure out a strategy. Try to corral PHO about the Simurgh attack too. I'll call J and B and set up an interview, so call me as soon as we have a Glenn-approved party line. We can't tell the truth. Throwing Eidolon under the bus will bring the Triumvirate down on our heads, and it would have a huge backlash against all parahumans. Figure out what our story is and then let us all know. If that's alright with you, sir?"
Dennis issued marching orders like he was born to it, and Armsmaster approved them with a nod. Fi was still shaking against Jason's shirt, and he thought he might be able to detect a wetness that meant tears.
"Have J and B come here," Taylor offered. "If Contract swings into calm territory again, she might talk to them. She hates when other people talk for her. I'm not saying we wait for her to recover and risk not getting in front of this thing, but if she's up for it we should give her ever opportunity to speak for herself."
Dennis nodded his agreement as the three gathered their things and left.
"Are you sure she's deaf?" Dean asked, cautious. Jason nodded. Fi wasn't reacting to anything going on in the room, and he was sure that she would if she could hear it.
Dean nodded once, sharply, then reported: "She's finally hit the kind of grief I expected last night. Defeated, surrendered, sickening grief."
"For how long?" Dennis asked, taking his helmet off to massage his temples. "This morning she went from puking to praying in less than an hour."
"The problem with grief is that the world keeps turning without you," Taylor said with a sigh. "Sometimes you can keep up, sometimes you can't but you want to try, and sometimes you just don't care."
"Is it any surprise it's hitting her?" Jason asked. "Who knows what she just did to herself."
Dennis opened his mouth to answer Intrepid, then seemed to think better of whatever he was going to say.
Armsmaster wasn't so cautious. "The sooner we answer that question, the sooner we can help her." Reflectively, Jason squeezed Fi just a little bit tighter and Fi squeezed him back in response, but didn't raise her head.
"If she'll share with us, great," Dennis asserted. "If she doesn't want it spread around, then anyone she does tell can give the rest of us general advice. At least for now. And the suicide watch stays."
Jason nodded his agreement as the others murmured theirs. It wasn't ideal, but it was better to be safe rather than sorry.
"Is anyone going to mention the rest of what happened today?" Taylor asked, cautiously. Dennis and Armsmaster shared a look, but didn't respond. After a moment, Taylor elaborated. "Legend didn't refute what she accused him of."
"But he was surprised," Dean said, shifting from foot to foot. "Not just surprised that she'd been a victim, I mean. He was surprised throughout her entire description. Then he got pissed, and determined, and finally he shoved it all aside and sort of re-focused on the Endbringers. But he was shocked and pissed when David's name came up. Actually, Alexandria and Eidolon were both less surprised than Legend, throughout the whole encounter."
"Even if it is true, we really can't do anything," Dennis pointed out. "For one, they evidently have some sort of precognition on their side. As soon as we resolve to do anything, they'll know and they can get to us. Or they'll know ahead of time that we're going to resolve to be an issue, and then they'll know and get to us."
"Plus Eidolon just got a serious power upgrade," Taylor said. "Putting the Endbringers aside, assuming that he's not a complete psychopath, if his powers were only under subconscious control before I fear what damage he could do now that he's in full control."
"So we act like we heard nothing?" Dean asked, looking lost.
"For the foreseeable future, yes," Armsmaster said grimly. Jason figured finding a way to block precognition just shot to the top of the hero's to-do list. Assuming that the power in question couldn't just see that coming, of course.
Fi's shaking was slowly subsiding, and Dean must have picked up on her emotions or on Jason's anticipation, because he waved for quiet.
Fi pulled back slowly, not looking up, as she wiped at her eyes. Dean held out a tissue box, and Fi shied away towards Taylor, until she recognized the box and her teammate. Being deaf was putting a dent in her situation awareness.
When she was a little more in control, she looked up at Jason, then around the room in embarrassment. "Sorry, I…"
Taylor moved her hand from Fi's back to her shoulder, turning her so they were more face-to-face. "Don't be ridiculous. You're entitled to as many tears as you need. You don't have any reason to be embarrassed, or sorry."
Fi nodded, and glanced around at each of their faces, a slight frown passing over her face when she looked at Dean. Jason realized that with Gallant's full body armor, she couldn't see his mouth. Taylor's was protected by the mandibles, but when facing front-on her mouth was visible. But Fi had no way of knowing what Dean was saying, if anything at all.
Jason lay a hand on her arm, catching her attention, so that he could say, "Let us help. Anything at all."
She wrapped her arms around herself defensively, as she replied. "I'm just… scattered."
Jason swallowed, and knew that if she wanted to explain her cost, she already would have. If she wasn't going to bring it up, she probably wasn't ready to talk about it yet. Even so, maybe she would answer a related question. "Can we do anything to mitigate your cost?"
She offered him a thin smile, but shook her head. "What's done is done."
Jason turned that phrase over his mind for a moment before he really understood what she was implying. "It's not an ongoing cost?"
"No. I couldn't have done it at all if I wasn't focused on how much it would help Eidolon. If it was ongoing, then the first time I calmed down the contract would have swung out of balance and undone itself."
"You're deaf," Jason said cautiously, watching her reaction for any sign of which emotion would be coming next.
She nodded sharply, inhaled deeply, and in a very controlled tone said, "And now I always will be."
He flinched, and saw Taylor flinch over Fi's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
Fi shrugged, looking down at her hands, then looking back up at his face abruptly. Jason forcefully kept his expression neutral. She couldn't even give normal social cues like breaking eye contact without rendering herself even more handicapped. She had to look at him, just in case he spoke. "It's done," she said, trying to sound casual.
"What else?" Armsmaster asked, but Jason didn't repeat the question. Fi would not like being pushed on this, not right now.
He tried to think of what she would want to do, but all he could come up with was sleeping. He couldn't think of a good way to offer her a nap at ten in the morning. Taylor rescued him by touching her shoulder, drawing Fi's attention.
When Fi was looking at her, Taylor asked, "Do you want to go back to church? Get out of the base for a bit?"
Fi shook her head dejectedly, and Dean hissed in surprise. Jason carefully didn't turn to look at him, and Taylor managed not to react at all. Fi didn't need it rubbed in her face that her emotions were on display, even if Dean was her teammate.
"No, I… I don't want to interact with strangers right now."
"Okay." Taylor took a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever she was going to ask next, "I know you can't go home for Ash's funeral, but do you want to do something here, alone or with some of us, to commemorate him?"
Fi grew thoughtful, and mentally Jason thanked whoever might be listening for Taylor. She was going to be a godsend to the entire team, while they tried not to stumble too badly through the mess that was Fi's grief. After another moment, Fi nodded, and Taylor offered her a small smile. "Come on," she said, pulling Fi towards the Wards' dorms. "Let's see what we can come up with."
Commemoration preparations kept Fi and Taylor mutually occupied for close to two hours. Mostly, it consisted of Taylor making suggestions, and Fi turning them down. Then Fi would start to tell a story, and realize halfway through that the story revealed something about her family or past that she wanted to keep secret. So the story would trail off, and Taylor would move onto the next idea without a single question.
Jason watched this interaction, noticing the way Taylor managed to keep Fi talking and taking mental notes. He also kept his phone close at hand but out of the direct line-of-sight of the girls, who were sitting on Taylor's bed. In this way, he was able to text with Armsmaster, Dennis, and the rest of the team and keep them posted without disturbing the girls.
The news from the press team was actually pretty positive: it had evidently taken longer to swear Glenn to secrecy, convince him to sign paperwork, and explain the events of the afternoon, with significant holes, than it had for him to start suggesting cover stories.
The final version went something like this: Fi had not attended the Simurgh attack because she hadn't been cleared for duty on account of her recent upheaval from moving to a new city. When she heard that her uncle had been killed in the Simurgh attack (the cover version of Ash's death, which had evidently been a lie Chris told to Glenn, and not one Glenn invented) she had a second trigger event. Eidolon and the rest of the Triumvirate had come to Brockton Bay to talk to Armsmaster about the prediction algorithm. When Eidolon and Contract had run into each other, Eidolon's power gave him a dynokinesis that was similar to Behemoth's, but not quite the same. With this power, they were able to work together and eliminate the rest of the Endbringers, but without the mass-conversation-city-healing effects.
It wasn't a bad story overall. It did give credit to Eidolon, but that was necessary on several levels. First, they had to cast the Triumvirate in a good light, so that they would go along with the story. At the same time, it gave Eidolon a vested interest in keeping the Endbringers gone, to balance whatever messed up psychology had manifested them to begin with.
That Eidolon had vanished the Endbringers was becoming truly apparent: no one anywhere in the world could find any trace of any of them. While not entirely impossible, it was unusual, particularly in the case of the Simurgh who had vanished out from under direct observation.
Armsmaster, Dennis, and Dragon had discussed the possible reasons and implications at some length, but hadn't reached any firm conclusions. Jason was waiting until Fi asked about the Endbringers to see if she knew anything about what had happened.
It was bad luck that Fi and Taylor went back to the main conference room at the same time that Chris and Missy returned to change into their "media" costumes. Immediately, Fi guessed where they had been and demanded to know the concocted story.
Glenn turned up looking for the Wards around the same time they had finished telling her the final version, and Fi whirled on Glenn with a fire that none of them expected.
"I am getting in front of those cameras."
Everyone froze. "Contract," Glenn said cautiously, and then he amended, "Fi, you can't tell the truth."
She snorted. "Obviously. I have no wish to cross Eidolon and his pet precog. But this is our best shot at putting a set of reins on him. I will do this."
"You're deaf," Armsmaster pointed out, "can you even do an interview?"
"I can," Fi answered immediately, which surprised Jason because he hadn't expected her to even notice that Armsmaster was talking. His helmet did expose his mouth, but it was shadowed at best.
There was a bit more arguing, but in the end Fi proved to be more stubborn than the rest of them. It probably helped that Jason and Taylor were of the opinion that if Fi wanted to do this and thought she could handle it, then it was her judgment call to make.
The reporters were eager to do an interview, even if it meant coming to the PRT base to do it.
Just before the red recording light clicked on, Fi's spine straightened and her shoulders dropped into a more relaxed posture. Either she was a much better actor than Jason had previous seen reason to believe, or she was so focused on the interview that she was actually able to block out everything else for the moment.
Either way, Jason marked the behavior, even as Contract spoke, taking the opening statement out of the hands of the reporters.
"Hello again, Bobby, Julie." She nodded at each of the ladies, then nodded towards the camera, silently including the audience. She turned back toward the reporters, draping on arm over the back of the couch. It wasn't as open and inviting as the interview that had been leaked that morning, but then again the circumstances were quite different this time.
"You've had a busy day, since we last saw you," Julie responded, playing off her greeting. "Why don't you tell us about it?"
It was a kind question, opened ended, to allow Fi to say whatever she wished. Fi swallowed, but answered. "Well, the Simurgh attacked. My uncle was killed." She took a deep breath and Jason thought for a moment that she would say I blackmailed the Triumvirate. Instead, she continued, "And then I erased the rest of the Endbringers. Or, well, we did." She glanced at the camera as she corrected herself, making it seem natural, though he was pretty sure the mistake was deliberate.
He wondered how much of the less open quality of her performance came from being deaf, how much came from real grief which she could afford to show as part of her cover story, and how much came from needing to watch the interviewers in case they spoke.
Fi hurried to explain herself, and he couldn't tell if she was pretending to be more earnest than she felt for the not-yet-existent audience. He wanted to believe it was a performance, because it would mean that his teammate was alright enough to be thinking clearly.
"When I found out that the Simurgh had taken another member of my family… I sort of lost it." She gave the camera a brief, self-deprecating smile and Jason felt his heart soar, because she was playing it up, which meant she really was doing okay, at least at the moment. Maybe having something to focus on really was good for her.
The tension in her shoulders was still there as she turned back to the interviewers, but she was able to continue, "Eidolon came to Brockton Bay to talk to Armsmaster about the algorithm that enabled the evacuation. After he got here, we started talking about the Endbringers, about Behemoth and his powers… I think I told you earlier that it was Behemoth's unique dynokinesis that enabled his destruction?"
Bobby and Julie both nodded their agreement, and Fi continued, "Well, the Wards and I were talking about the Endbringers. We were trying to find another cape with similar dynokinesis, just brainstorming really. They were being good friends, trying to distract me from my uncle. Eidolon heard our discussion…"
She trailed off, shrugging, and let the sentence hanging. She was doing a good job of sounding earnest, sincere, and open. "Eidolon can mimic nearly any powerset, given the right circumstances. He didn't find a direct match, but it was close enough. We were able to work together to destroy the rest of the Endbringers, though without the matter-reformation from Behemoth. It seems like they just… vanished."
Bobby took up the questioning. "So they really are gone?"
Fi nodded firmly. "Yes. I did everything exactly the same as I did for Behemoth. I guess it's possible that something went wrong on Eidolon's end, but I doubt we'll be seeing any of the Endbringers again." Fi smiled a little tentatively. She looked tired, worn out, but triumphant.
Her comment toed the edge of the line Glenn had drawn in the sand, making her promise not to poke Eidolon, but it was the truth. If they saw any of the Endbringers again, it would be Eidolon's fault. They couldn't come out and say anything directly, but they could plant the idea. Depending on how seriously Eidolon took the jab, it might even been seen as blackmail. Jason was a little surprised they hadn't all be killed, or otherwise silenced yet, either by precog shenanigans or by Eidolon himself.
Despite her earlier caution, Fi seemed willing to take some risks now. He added terrifying precog to the list of topics he needed to discuss with her at the earliest opportunity.
Bobby and Julie were nodding along, in understanding, as Fi explained. As she finished, Julie asked the next question. "So all you needed was Eidolon's help, all along?" Her tone was surprisingly gentle, considering she was basically asking why Fi hadn't swatted the Endbringers before the Simurgh attacked and killed hundreds of people.
"Not just that, no," Fi refuted just as gently. "I know most heroes don't talk much about their powers, and some of that is because we don't understand them very well, as a whole phenomenon I mean. But we do know that powers are stronger, more potent, during the heat of battle. Like women who can lift cars to save their babies due to adrenaline, some powers have a… secondary mode. It's difficult to access, sporadic, and sometimes the stress of being pushed over that threshold can cause permanent damage, mentally or physically. The grief of losing my uncle pushed me over that threshold."
The debate over exactly how to present Fi's fake second trigger had not been easily won. Trigger events in general weren't public knowledge, and everyone was a little wary of encouraging capes to go out and take more risks. But at the same time, Missy was adamant that they make it clear to the public that Fi could not have solved the Endbringer problem any earlier, and she had a point.
This weird story, half adrenaline rush and half second trigger, was the result.
Fi sighed, glanced at the camera, and then re-focused on Julie. "The other thing, is… my power is inherently scary. In New York, I converted matter. If I hadn't found a way to re-direct the energy blast, I could very well have destroyed the planet given exactly how much energy was contained in that matter. I was high on adrenaline at the time, desperate, and I instinctively knew what to do. But once I got my feet on the ground and thought about what I had done… I was terrified."
She swallowed heavily. Her tone reminded Jason of when she'd talked about her potential to destroy souls. She took her responsibilities very seriously, and he would bet anything that even though she was talking about non-existent mechanics of her fake powerset, she was thinking about the real damage that was constantly within her grasp.
She broke eye contact to glance at her hands, then looked up at Bobby, sounding earnest. "After Behemoth, the Protectorate convinced me to experiment with my power, trying to convert grains of salt or sugar. I couldn't do it. There was a block, something missing, that stopped me. I was grateful, for that limitation. I didn't want, I don't want, to be a walking nuclear weapon. I was scared of my own power."
"So, to answer the question of why now? Part of it was my grief opening up that threshold for me, removing the block I felt when I tried to experiment. Part of it was my own desperation to lash out at the Simurgh finally pushing me past my fears. Part of it was Eidolon and I being in the same city, which lead to the realization he might be able to supply the missing dynokinetic power."
She swallowed heavily, looking away from the reporters but not quite making eye contact with the cameras, either. "Do I wish, desperately, that I'd done this two days ago? Of course I do. I'd give anything to have saved those that died, my own family included. But that's not what happened. And now, I get to live with that regret for the rest of my life."
A stunned silence followed her pronouncement, as she looked back towards the newscasters in case they spoke. Glenn had advised her against actually apologizing for not killing the Endbringers sooner. He maintained, they all maintained, that the deaths were not her fault. No one had known the schedule would compress. Everyone, from the Triumvirate down, had believed there was time - months of time - before the situation would be critical.
Glenn didn't want her to take responsibility for the deaths, which is what an apology would imply. What Fi was doing now danced on the edge of that prohibition.
After another couple heartbeats of silence, Fi looked to the camera and spoke directly to the audience for the first time. "My sympathy, my prayers, and my heart goes out to everyone who suffered because of the Simurgh's attack, and to the families of those who have fallen in previous Endbringer attacks. These atrocities have taken so much from us all."
She maintained the gaze for another beat, then looked back towards Bobby and Julie. It was Bobby who finally responded. "You have our condolences as well, Contract. Losing your parents, and now your uncle to the Endbringers… I can't imagine."
Julie reached over the gap between their seats, and rested a hand on Fi's, which were clenched together in her lap. "Thank you, for what you did. You've saved millions, billions, of lives. No one else will have to lose family to the Endbringers, because of you."
Fi smiled tightly, and nodded wordlessly. Jason could see tears in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He couldn't tell anymore if this was for the cameras, or if she was breaking down again.
With only a moment's hesitation, he stepped into the camera's view and took a seat beside Contract, putting an arm around her.
"I think you're the first ones besides her teammates who have thanked her," Intrepid explained, mostly for the sake of having something to say. "It's a little overwhelming, to realize that the threat of the Endbringers is actually over. It keeps hitting her, hitting us all. It'd be a lot to handle even if… well, if her uncle hadn't died."
Intrepid barely caught himself before he said Ash's name. It was only his reflexive reach for a cape name, which of course Ash didn't have, that reminded him that Ash's identity wasn't to be released.
Bobby and Julie were consummate professionals and rolled with his input flawlessly.
"You're Intrepid, aren't you? The one who helped Contract erase Behemoth?" Intrepid nodded, both grateful to be able to take the pressure off of Contract and dreading this a little. His parents had both insisted that the media not make a big deal about his role in New York. He'd refused to give interviews and vanished off PHO for a while, and for the most part the media had ignored him anyway. To most, he was a random, faceless mover that just happened to be close to Contract at the right moment.
That was about to change.
"That's right. I found her on the battlefield, and she asked for a lift." He smiled his most charming smile, purposefully mimicking Contract's tendency to make the momentous sound casual. The reporters smiled with him, sharing the humor.
Julie leaned back as she asked, "Did you come to Brockton Bay to be paired with Contract?"
It was another soft-ball question, one he'd actually already answered on the PHO boards when he announced he was leaving Texas.
"No, not at all. My dad took a job in this region. I loved working with my team in Texas, and I actually begged him to leave me behind with a family friend. Of course, now that I've met the Brockton Bay Wards, I'm glad to be here.
"I was shocked when I walked into the base on the first day and saw Contract sitting at our table. I hadn't heard from her in weeks, and I had no idea she'd been moved out of New York City."
Bobby took the next question. "So where were you when the excitement was going down this morning?"
There were a couple candidates for what she meant by 'excitement' but smart money said she was fishing for details about the moment that the Endbringers had been banished. "Well, the team stayed up late last night, so we slept through the attack itself. None of us are cleared for contact with the Simurgh, so we weren't part of the alert from the prediction. When we got up and saw the news, Contract was distraught. Then she was informed about her uncle. The whole team rallied around her at that point, but she wanted answers more than anything."
He took a deep breath and glanced down at Contract to buy himself a bit of time. The story they'd all worked out included a timeline, but he hadn't thought about how to translate it into an actual narrative, so he was making the details up on the fly.
"We called up to the Triumvirate who, like Contract said, were talking to Armsmaster. They came down as a group, all four of them, and Miss Militia too. So we were all together when the discussion just sort of… meandered. One minute we were talking about the Endbringers in general, and the next we were suddenly looking at a possible solution to the problem."
In a fit of bravery and inspiration, Intrepid decided he was going to claim a little credit for the Wards, since it was close to the truth anyway. "It wasn't like you might imagine - there was no dramatic, revelation moment. The Wards were talking, just chatting really, and the Triumvirate were joining in the discussion and then - BAM. Endbringers gone. I think it might have been Beetle who made the final suggestion, but I'd have to watch the base surveillance to say for sure."
He gave a little laugh, high on the anticipation of what he had just done, "It didn't feel momentous at the time. It was just a conversation among teammates, with the Triumvirate in the room. It's hard to believe that 12 hours ago we were just eating pizza and watching a movie."
Julie and Bobby seemed pleased with that answer. Glenn rolled his eyes, but Clockblocker and Armsmaster were nodding in unconscious unison, both of them evidently pleased with his gambit. Under his arm, Contract had relaxed again, but she was sitting back, looking towards him, content to let him talk, and very content to have someone sharing the spotlight.
"Well, then we owe a thanks to you all," Julie offered sincerely. "Thank you for destroying them. And, we're sorry for your loss." Contract shook her hand, nodded again, and offered a quiet smile.
There was an audible click as the camera turned off, but Julie didn't release Contract's hand immediately. "I lost my grandfather in one of Behemoth's first attacks. It does get better, eventually."
"Thank you," Contract whispered, her eyes wet. Bobby stepped forward and shook her hand as well, then Intrepid put a hand on her back and led her out of the room while Glenn stepped forward to talk to the two reporters.
All in all, it had been a very fair interview, kind even, and Intrepid knew he could trust Clockblocker and Glenn to be sure it was edited and presented properly.
After the interview, Jason expected Fi to be tired, but she seemed contemplative more than anything. She returned to the Ward's main conference room, where she sat in front of the console for a while, lost in thought. Jason and Taylor, who were acting as her shadows for now, shared a glance and mutually decided to allow her to brood for a little while.
It didn't last as long as Jason had expected. Within just thirty minutes of the end of the interview, Fi reached out to the keyboard and pulled up video chat, calling Dragon.
The call was answered within moments, and Dragon's computer-rendered mask showed what seemed to be genuine concern. "How are you doing, honey?" she asked, sounding a bit like Jason's mom after he'd lost a game.
Fi shrugged, but she did put her feet up on the desk in front of her, so she was more relaxed than she had been all day. "I'm not going to kill myself or anyone else."
Dragon blinked, obviously not prepared for that level of bluntness, and Fi continued before she regained her equilibrium. "Sorry. I didn't mean that. Do you have a minute? I had some questions."
"For you, I've got several minutes," Dragon assured her, and Fi smirked in reply.
"The Wards said that Jazz disappeared within moments of the Triumvirate leaving?"
"That's correct. And there's been no sign of Leviathan either."
"Did she do anything odd before she vanished? Change direction, move in an unexpected way, anything?"
"No, not really. Why?"
Fi didn't answer right away, and Jason glanced toward Taylor. Taylor was looking towards him, just as confused. Whatever Fi was getting at, neither of them had picked up on it yet.
"I just…" Fi trailed off, then continued. "Why would Eidolon give up such an advantage? As long as the Simurgh and Leviathan were around, he could have used them to target enemies or cities or even individuals, maybe, depending on his other powers. They make for a powerful threat, and in a terribly cynical way they were a moderating and unifying force for the world. Why did he throw that away?"
Dragon seemed just as nonplussed by this answer as she had by Fi's initial reassurance. Hesitantly she asked, "You didn't expect him to destroy the Endbringers?"
"Honestly? No." Fi held up a hand and started to tick points off on her fingers.
"One, they are constructs, not projections, so I'm not entirely sure HOW he vanished them. I didn't even consider that as a possibility. All that mass had to go somewhere.
"Two, he manifested them for a reason. Whatever that reason was, it was strong enough to create them.
"Three, he gave up a huge amount of power, as I said. If the Endbringers had just… stopped… he would have been much safer. I basically just blackmailed him on national television, saying that if they ever come back then it's his fault. If they weren't gone in the first place, I couldn't have done that.
"Four, he didn't require much time at all to make his decision. It's a decision the entire world saw, that sent ripples through every government and hero team as soon as it was made, and yet he made it remarkably quickly."
"What are you getting at?" Dragon asked her cautiously.
Fi bit her lip, then said very quietly, "I just don't understand. It's quite possible there are factors that I don't know about. But the more likely answer is that some sort of precog bullshit told Eidolon to pop them. Maybe it was his own precog power of some sort. Maybe it's whatever pet precog Legend has on call. Maybe Eidolon IS Legend's pet precog. But I don't understand, and I don't like it."
"I'm not sure that's the most likely answer," Dragon offered slowly, looking thoughtful. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but there's a big gap between possible and reality."
"Maybe," Fi said, sounding doubtful but not totally dismissing Dragon's concern. "I'm not sure why I was even allowed to interview, though. The Triumvirate left, they failed to secure the information we'd learned beyond our verbal promises at the very beginning of the meeting, they destroyed the Endbringers immediately, and then they gave us hours of free reaction time. I feel like I'm being trapped, and I don't know exactly how. Maybe it's paranoia, but it can't hurt to be prepared."
"What can I do to help?" Dragon asked, concerned even though she still seemed a little doubtful herself. The answer seemed to rouse Fi from her dark musings.
"It became abundantly clear earlier today that I know basic facts about capes that are much less common than I believed. On the chance that I am going to meet a messy end, or some other silencing gesture in the near future, I want to share that information with you. Note," she held up a hand, like she was swearing an oath, "this is not a suicidal contingency. I am worried about an outside force moving against me, not my own hand."
Dragon nodded, actually looking bemused at that. "I was listening to the call this morning through Armsmaster's systems. Do you mind if we start with the Siberian?"
"The Siberian is a projection. That's what we know for a fact. We suspect that the actual cape is male, mid-to-late middle age, but that's just profiling. Ash had an algorithm that was trying to track vehicles that moved around with the Nine, because the cape probably has a range, but it wasn't really a priority. Like I said earlier, we thought it was a known fact, though not released to the public."
"How did you know it?" Dragon asked, cautiously, likely knowing that the source of Fi's knowledge might be touchy. "Did you meet her?"
"Well, yes, eventually. But I figured she wasn't really alive before that. I mean, she couldn't die… so…" Fi trailed off, and shrugged.
Dragon blinked. "You didn't assume it was part of her powerset? To be invincible."
Fi's mouth twisted in an ironic, secretive smile. "No. Capes are human. They live, they breathe, they dream, and they die. The Siberian can't die, ergo, I presumed she was not a cape."
Dragon looked for a moment like she was going to pursue this topic, but instead she changed tracks. "Do you have any insights about Nilbog?"
"Not really. I barely got a block or two inside the wall, and I wasn't there for him." Her tone made it clear the subject was closed, although Jason figured the other two had to be as curious as he was. He and Taylor exchanged another glance. Fi really needed someone to talk to that she could trust.
"Okay," Dragon allowed, letting the topic drop just as she had with the Siberian. "Was there anything else?"
"Yes. Crawler is a cape, and he can die, if it's done right. Ditto with Lung and the Abominations. I haven't had contact with any other S-class threats directly. I suspect that Butcher can be dealt with permanently if he or she can be captured, isolated, and then killed by a regular person, but that's obviously easier said than done. Barring that, it might be possible to have him or her be killed by a natural force, with fourteen or fifteen normal people around, spreading out the influence and the danger. Ask the thinkers for details."
Dragon nodded, "The last has been on the record for some time, but as you said, it is easier said than done."
Fi nodded back, acknowledging the point. "Though he's already in the Birdcage, you should know that everyone Teacher influenced, he also Mastered. His gifts can't be separated from his will."
Again, Dragon nodded to show that this wasn't new information.
Fi shrugged and waved a hand, "I know some of this is known, but I thought the stuff about the Siberian was known as well, so I want to cover all of the important bases."
She leaned back, closing her eyes, and Dragon glanced at Jason and then at Taylor, smiling at them. She could have wished them hello - they wouldn't have disturbed Fi, what with her being deaf and all - but maybe she forgot that, or maybe it felt rude to her.
Fi mumbled with her eyes closed. "The Nine, the Abominations, Butcher, Teacher… Saint!"
She opened her eyes and leaned forward. "First, Saint got his powers from Teacher. See previous note about Teacher's mastering. Second, Ash told me to tell you that he has left you several gifts, in the case of his death. He said you'd be able to find them, but you might not trust them. I swear to you, as Ash swore to me, that they are safe, and they are true." She shrugged again, "That's all I know."
Dragon smiled. "Thank you. That explains a lot. I wonder though… were there any other hackers he was close to?"
"No. Not that I knew of. Why?"
"Some of what I've found was made years ago. I didn't start corresponding with him until after I met you."
Fi smiled softly, and a little sadly. "Ash admired your work for years. He positively gushed about you. We teased him for having a crush at the ripe old age of thirty two. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he'd been preparing things for a long time, just in case he never got to introduce himself. He had a peculiar outlook on life. He lived for the moment, for the day, but he also loved to make contingency plans. He liked the challenge of it, I think."
Dragon looked pleased at that. "He sounds like an amazing man."
"Oh, he really was."
Dragon opened her mouth, but then shut it with a frown, and her face got distracted as something pulled her attention away from the call. It was only a moment before she looked back to them, however. "Fi, honey, are you expecting a package today?"
"No. Why?" A moment later, comprehension dawned on Fi's face. "Is it FedEx? Delivered by a blonde?"
Dragon looked away from the screen, and then looked alarmed. "She's already left the lobby. I can't find her on any traffic cameras. She's… just… gone." A furrow of confusion had engraved itself so deeply into Dragon's forehead that Jason wondered if she'd have a permanent wrinkle, until he remembered that this was a rendering.
"She would be. You better send it on down. It's important."
Dragon looked dubious, but after studying Fi's face for a moment, she said, "Someone is coming with it now."
Taylor, who was still masked up, went over to the elevator, and took the simple envelope from the PRT guard who delivered it. She carried it back over to the console, reading the label as she did so.
"It claims to be from Amazon. I'm guessing that's a fake?"
She handed it over to Fi as she spoke, and Fi nodded thoughtfully, fingering the envelope without opening it. "Do you have a lighter?" she finally asked, looking up like she was coming out of a dream.
Jason and Taylor both shook their heads, a little stunned.
Fi shrugged. "Just as well. I'd hate to set off a fire alarm."
"You're not going to open it?" Jason asked, gently. Fi glanced up only as he finished speaking, but she guessed what he had asked.
"I already know that it contains a letter. The fact that it has been delivered to me tells me everything I need to know."
Taylor looked as surprised as Jason felt, although it suddenly occurred to him that if she knew who was hand-delivering a fake package to her, chances were that she must have some idea what was inside it.
"You don't need to read it?" he double checked.
She gave him another sad smile. "No, but thank you for the concern." Fi glanced up at Dragon. "I think I'd like to go down to the Boardwalk. Can you let Armsmaster know that I'm going out with Jason and Taylor?"
Fi didn't say much until they'd bought a lighter and wandered down past the limits of the Boardwalk, almost to the edge of the Bay. They stood there, together, in the chilly wind, staring at the grey scenery, for what felt like a long time.
"We burn our dead," Fi said out of the blue, still staring across the Bay. If one of them wanted to interrupt her, they'd have to purposefully catch her attention; she wasn't watching their faces. "It's a family tradition, you could say. Fire cleanses. It converts dead matter into living flame. It transforms rot into light."
She turned the envelope over in her hands, fiddling with it like she had since the moment Taylor had given it to her, but still not opening it. "This is my family's final goodbye. After what happened with Ash, there's really no other choice. I finally free myself from the Behemoth contract - I have the chance to go back, if I trusted Eidolon to restrain Behemoth - and yet, there is nothing for me to go back to."
She glanced over to the two of them, but Jason wasn't sure what she saw. He wasn't even sure what his face looked like. Somehow, he'd forgotten for a few hours that Fi was being held as a Ward against her will, forced by circumstance and a lack of alternatives.
He didn't want her to go, but the fact that she couldn't go back, that her family blamed her, was worse. He had to say something. "It wasn't your fault."
"Maybe," she allowed, looking away again, "maybe not. It's not about blame though - it's about practicality. And practically speaking, if I hold onto my past, it will hold me back. And I will be endangering my family, as I endangered Ash."
Fi pulled the lighter she'd bought out of her pocket and lit it, holding it against the edge of the envelope. Once it caught, she held it out away from her, flame up, so that the package would burn slowly.
"Go, my friend. Do not be held here by my grieving. Go and make trouble for the angelic feather-dusters. They could use shaking up." As she spoke, the envelope burned with a nasty, plastic-y smell.
Her voice started to choke up as she continued. "I am going to miss you, Ash. You were my support, my rock, my sounding board. You checked my temper and vetted my schemes. We're all going to feel your passing. We needed you for so much. You were our shield, our eyes and ears, our brain, and our voice. I know you had no regrets, but I do. I regret not listening to you years ago. I regret my hard-headedness. I regret my anger. I selfishly want you here."
The smell changed, got worse, and the tears that she'd been holding back started streaming down her cheeks. "You were the closest damn thing I had to a father. And," she let out a small sob, "I love you."
The fire had reached her fingers now, hanging onto the last safe corner. She dropped the scrap onto the sand, and they watched it burn itself out. Soon, there was nothing left but a little bit of discolored ash, and then even that was blown away by the chilly wind.