Rebecca looks up as Legend walks through the doorway before taking off his mask and sitting down as Paul. Off to one side Contessa stands looking at a wall, her eyes unfocused.
"Good afternoon everyone. This is our monthly planning meeting for Cauldron, so hopefully it will be a quick half an hour catch up. Before we begin, does anyone have any new business?"
Contessa turns to the table and, with a couple of crisp steps, takes a seat, "I cannot path Brockton Bay."
Everyone at the table looks over at her at this point, eventually Kurt breaks the shocked silence, "Do you mean there's someone there like Eidolon?"
Contessa shakes her head, "No, it's like my agent has come against some form of randomness, and the steps get so far before veering off into so many possibilities that it stops."
Rebecca nods with a concerned expression, "When did this start?"
"April 10th 1432, Parahuman Feudalism Experiment: sit at hot desk 23 for 5 minutes, then leave. After that paths in Brockton bay started to vary in length. Three days ago Brockton Bay became unpathable."
Rebecca nods, "Kurt, how about you, is there anything odd with Brockton Bay?"
Kurt opens his laptop and looks at some of his notes, "Nothing major, a few of Coil's operations haven't gone ahead that we expected to happen. There have been some changes in the PRT connected with a new trigger, and Lung is missing presumed dead."
Rebecca nods, "I know about that, it's to do with the first verified case 61. For some reason Director Piggot classified the file as eyes only, along with the new file on case 62's. All I know is that at the Directors meeting last week, Armstrong stated that he's read the files, and agrees with the eyes only classification."
Paul nods, "Director Wilkins said as much herself, though she wouldn't be drawn on the specifics. Only that the implications were as absolutely terrifying as they were hopeful."
Dr Mother looks around the table, "Given this information, is the experiment still worth doing or should we cancel it?"
Paul looks uncomfortable as he looks around the table, "I say cancel it, as I was never happy with it to begin with."
Eidolon shrugs, "I say continue, until we can't contain it."
Kurt nods, "There's still an 83.4% chance it will give us the information we need, so continue."
Rebecca thinks for a moment, "I think we should continue, though we need to take into account that the FBI now has a permanent interest, and the state legal services have started taking an interest. Contessa, is there any reason why you let that happen?"
Contessa shrugs, "Path to defeating Scion, it cut 10,000 steps off of the path."
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In the middle of flying to Brazil in order to put out a fire, Scion stops over the Atlantic Ocean as a small group of shards reaches out to him on a little used channel. As he processes the new information, his permanent frown moves minutely into a neutral expression at the same time as he begins the slow process of removing one of his shards from deployment and repairing it. After nearly 15 minutes he detects that the fire has been extinguished and moves to a new objective.
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Kaiser sits at the head of an ornate table, while the rest of the E88 parahumans sit to either side in order of seniority.
"Victor, report."
Olatha puts a hand on Victor's leg as he shuffles some papers nervously, "Our protection income is down 2% on last month, and we have been unable to regain access to the areas that we had bugged in the PRT. This has also started to affect the planted bugs in the BBPD and City Hall. In particular, the mole we have in PRT dispatch has been unable restore the tap on the PRT network, so we are relying on our 911 tap for real time datamining. Consequently, we have seen encounters with the Protectorate increase by 25%, though we haven't yet been caught without an avenue of retreat. Possibly due to the fact that Miss Militia has been transferred to a different department."
Victor turns the page on his notes, "With the loss of Mr Hebert, we have been able to push through a test delivery from our overseas sponsor, due to the inexperience of the new contract and management staff. If this pans out, we will have access to a low key method of getting product in and out of the country that looks legitimate. Finally, Bakuda and Oni Lee are holding the borders of the ABB by liberal usage of exotic effect grenades, though they have scaled back on the size of those effects to minimise the effects on civilians. I recommend that we attempt to track down the tinker and eliminate her discretely, as any overt moves on our part could trigger an escalation targeted at our own territory."
Kaiser nods and turns to Hookwolf, "What of your report?"
Hookwolf grumbles, "Dog and cage fighting are doing well even with the sweep the BBPD did after our Lieutenant was caught with the surveillance footage and take. Though I've been seeing more state police around since then. Something's been going down in the slums and North Docks, as recruitment from those areas has slowed slightly. On the plus side, the Merchants have been laying low in the slums with the increased state police presence. Though reports say that they're still active in the north."
Kaiser nods again, "Some of my own contacts have let me know that the state is investigating the various government services that we've been seeding. One of our bought judges has been rotated out to another city, and social services is under investigation. Now, onto the rest of the meeting."
Once the board meeting finishes and everyone else has filed out, Kaiser places a hand on Victor's shoulder, "Victor, I want you to start separating our Medhall ties, and find a patsy we can hang things on if we're investigated. Also, start looking for a new building we can buy to hold these meetings in, in future."
Victor nods before he too leaves to join his wife.
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Rupert tugs the lapels of his suit jacket nervously, as the bailiff opens the door to the Federal court. Here he is about to find out if the union has the standing to sue the government about NEPEA-5 given the fact it applies to permanently granted powers, and it has forced them to suspend a valuable worker that has been with them for decades because their power allows them to be better at the jobs they've been doing for most of that time.
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In a small solitary confinement cell, there is a barely audible pop. The occupant of the bed doesn't even stir as the cause of the pop leans over to see the tear tracked face that's facing the wall on the hard bed with only a flimsy blanket for warmth. Gently the figure covers the occupants nostrils until they open their mouth, and then they gently place a face hugger over the mouth. When the face hugger latches on, the occupant wakes up for a few seconds to struggle before the face hugger knocks them out again. The intruder carefully turns them over, and covers them back up with the blanket before moving to the door and pulling out a phone to play games on.
Once the face hugger releases from the occupant, the intruder gathers up the dead face hugger, and disappears as silently as they appeared.