20th June
Mama Mathers led her people towards the shard of their goddess, keeping a constant watch for any possible threats.
They had been lucky so far, but with their goddess no longer whole, luck wasn't something they could rely on.
Something proven as they entered the clearing formed by the meteoric impact of the fragment.
There was the sound of engines, an aircraft passing overhead.
Not something that she would normally consider an issue, but the sound was soon joined by the sense of cameras observing her.
With little more than a thought Mathers cleared the Fallen from the cameras view.
"They are still locating the Shard," she announced to her followers. "Onwards, and we shall claim our first piece of the goddess before them!"
Her words inspired them as she intended, and the entire group charged towards the centre of the site.
{}
If it was possible, Dragon would have frowned.
The footage from her armour in North East Kansas had 'blipped' in an odd manner.
It was as though there had been something present in one frame that was absent the next.
She queried the recording, only to find no signs of any such change, all evidence of the 'blip' missing.
This was… concerning.
The other fragments she'd located and dropped off hadn't had anything of the like, but it had to be because of the Simurgh, surely?
She knew the Simurgh was still alive in some manner, even if it wasn't clear how she could tell anyone without causing undue worry, so manipulation of her sensors wasn't outside the realms of possibility.
And if she was being manipulated, it was all the more important she get the fragment secure as soon as possible.
And so Dragon sent her armour into a final descent upon the impact site of the Simurgh fragment, cross-referencing its precise location through satellite data rather than relying on potentially compromised observations.
The footage changed again as she landed.
What had been empty ground was now covered with charred or flattened bodies.
A feeling of revulsion and horror ran through Dragon.
How many had she been tricked into killing?
She opened an immediate line to the closest PRT branch to the site.
"Director, I believe I have been compromised by the Simurgh," she began, too hurried to even access the name of the branches director.
"Dragon? What are you talking about?"
"I sent one of my armours to collect a Simurgh fragment. The landing site appeared clear until I finished landing, whereupon a number of bodies became clear around the armour. They all match the theoretical damage from being too close to one of my armours during landing."
There was a pause.
"We will investigate before assuming the worst. What are the precise coordinates of the armour?"
{}
Brockton Bay
"I think that's enough studying for today," Taylor decided.
It was surprisingly fun studying with Zelda, but there was a limit to how long she could concentrate on the books for.
"Should we get a game out?"
The question was an innocent one, but it made Taylor freeze.
When was the last time she'd played a game?
"... Sure," she finally stated. "But something simple, that works with just the two of us."
Zelda nodded, heading for the cupboard they used for games.
It wasn't long before she came back out with their chessboard.
"Chess? Are you sure?"
Zelda shook her head.
"I prefer checkers. Set things up right, and you can take all the pieces in one turn."
She smiled as she set the board up.
{}
Kansas
"I think we have identified the bodies," the director informed Dragon.
"Really? You haven't even made it to the site yet."
"The Fallen compound belonging to the Mathers branch is empty, and there were a series of 'false alarms' between the compound and the site of your armour. It would seem the Mathers branch set out to collect the Simurgh fragment, their leader using her power to divert attention. And then when your armour approached she repeated the trick, inadvertently causing her own death and that of her followers."
Dragon quickly checked the Guild files on the Fallen and their powers.
"It… would indeed seem to fit," Dragon acknowledged, hope building within her. "There is a chance I didn't cause the deaths of innocents… We still need to confirm their identities."
"Of course," the director confirmed. "My men are still on route, but I feel confident in stating that you can safely retrieve the fragment and deliver it to its destination. There is no need to wait for our presence."
"Understood."
With permission to proceed, Dragon had her armour dig out the fragment and secure it.
A thought occurred to her while the armour was airborne.
How had the fragment landed so heavily when others had barely done any damage?
{}
21st June
Cauldron
Legend sat at the conference table in less than total comfort.
He knew there were things Cauldron got up to that he wasn't involved in, but as things were they did more good than harm.
Which didn't mean he had to enjoy getting called in for extra meetings.
Just a few minutes after he had sat down, Alexandria arrived, one of the consequences of her multiple, legally exclusive, jobs.
"What is it, I have an urgent message from Dragon to deal with."
"The Fallen aren't in Kansas anymore," Contessa reported.
There was a pause.
"When you say that, do you mean they are no longer in Kansas, or..?"
Contessa frowned.
"There are no longer any Fallen in Kansas," she responded, clearly not understanding the reference she had made.
"What happened to them?"
"They entered a blind spot. When the blind spot was removed, the Kansas Fallen had already ceased existing."
"There was a Simurgh fragment in Kansas, which I had Dragon assigned to collect," Alexandria stated.
"You should ask her if she knows anything," Doctor Mother, Cauldrons nominal leader, responded.
"I suspect the answers are in the report I didn't have time to read," Alexandria answered in an icy tone. "As I recall, the leader of the Kansas faction of Fallen had powers that operated off being perceived in any manner, and it was theorised that Dragon, due to her nature, may be immune."
"I cannot confirm anything dealing with their leader specifically," Contessa warned. "Due to the risk of their power interacting with mine I have taken care to avoid pathing them. So it is possible he survived, even if the others are gone."
"I find it unlikely that the leader would be the sole survivor," Legend pointed out. "What does this mean for the Wards they kidnapped? Were they a part of… whatever happened?"
"Those who neither escaped or ended up willing members of the group were transferred to other Fallen groups. I suspect they were being used as spies by the leader."
"Then this could be our opportunity to destroy the Fallen," Legend declared. "And with the Wards among them, we even have a proper casus belli to move against them."
"Things aren't so simple, we still need to manage the Simurgh situation. Do you know how many caves of crystals we've had to cordon off because a fragment landed in there?"
"Any Fallen who worshiped the Simurgh could decide it's time to launch a terrorist attack in revenge for her destruction or try to gather the fragments to rebuild her. And at this stage we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop when we could be doing something good. It isn't as though anyone we sent after the Fallen would be unavailable if something came up."
"The new generations of Fallen Capes promise to be much stronger than standard second and third generation Capes-"
"And what does that matter when the Fallen never help with Endbringer attacks?"
There was silence as the other members of Cauldron shared a silent conversation.
"The Endbringers… aren't the biggest threat out there," Alexandria finally explained.
{}
"So what you're saying is that Scion is secretly an evil alien who is planning to destroy every version of the solar system, and you've been trying to fight him by maximising the number of people using the powers he gives out?"
"Yes," Alexandria stated flatly.
"Rather than try and figure out the specific powers that would be useful against him and forming a proper plan of action?"
"Scion is too strong for any one Cape to do anything against, we need the numbers to survive as long as possible-"
"Which is pointless if we can't do anything in return," Legend interrupted. "One of the Wards I'm in charge of, Flechette, has a power that allows attacks that ignore any kind of defence. She's part of a Cluster, that all seem to have the same power, at the same strength. If this power can only exist at the one level, there is a reasonable chance it could be effective against Scion if any power is."
"So we have a plan of attack with one point of failure, against an enemy that likely possesses clairvoyance and an ability to sense events across the globe."
"Have you heard of Leet? A Tinker who can make anything once? If we could get him to copy Flechettes power we would have a weapon we could deploy against Scion when the time comes."
"How could we convince this 'Leet' to help? How much help would a second point of failure be? And where did you event hear about him, he definitely isn't active in New York."
Legend shifted slightly. "He and his partner do videos of their activities in Brockton Bay, videogame themed crimes mainly, which are somewhat popular with my Wards. And I hadn't exactly got as far as planning how to get him to help, but I'm sure one of you could think of something."
"And the single copy?"
"Can't Dragon mass produce any Tinkertech?"
There was a moments silence.
"Leet can be recruited to help by giving him a legal outlet for his videogame theme that also protects his partner," Contessa stated. "For example, funding the creation of videogame themed gameshow in the vein of Knightmare or the Crystal Maze. With each event being guaranteed non-lethal, having Uber run the event beforehand as a demonstration would help to promote the show. With the correct time slot and prizes, the upfront costs would be paid back within a year, with the show being self-sufficient from then on. By adding Wards specials it would be possible to grant the Wards extra training in the guise of a publicity event. The Gameshow Network would be willing to provide the opportunity with a loan from the PRT to cover the upfront costs, which could be covered by Cauldron funds, and the duo receiving pardons for their previous criminal activity, which the president would be willing to sign if informed that they would be providing services to help protect the world and wouldn't be reoffending."
There was something of a stunned silence when Contessa finished.
"So… all we need is to get Dragon on board and talk to people," Legend summarised.
"That would be the easy part…"
{}
Brockton Bay
"I'm home," Taylor called, unusually upbeat for finishing a day at Winslow.
It seemed like life had conspired to keep the Trio away from her, with all sorts of coincidences piling up.
"Welcome back," her dad answered, with a slight chuckle as though he'd made some kind of joke.
"You're home early, problems at work?"
"Quite the contrary," he answered. "We had a very profitable salvage job come through, and we sent everything to someone who can sell it on to a suitable buyer today. Our money troubles should soon be over."
Taylor found herself grinning widely.
"That's great! What did you salvage that's worth that much though?"
"It was an old warehouse, nobody had been there in years," her dad started to explain. "However it's right in the middle of some councilors gentrification project, so…"
{}
"If my information's correct, this is the place," Max Anders announced, walking up to the warehouse.
"And if it isn't?"
"We'll at least find something else my father wanted hidden," Max answered, throwing open the door.
Only to reveal it was completely empty.
To say he was stunned would be an understatement.
Before Max could recover, they were approached by another group of men.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave. I'm in the process of planning a project that should help revitalise this area of the city," their leader, a politician whose job was so obvious James wouldn't trust him if he said the sky was blue, told them.
"This warehouse, what happened to what was in it," Max asked quickly. "It belonged to my father, and I only recently located it," he explained, in case the politician knew nobody had been there since his fathers death.
"I asked the mayor to have it emptied, so I could demolish it when I need to," the politician responded. "I have no idea what he did with it."
"Right, I'll go and have a little talk with him…"
AN: Behold my 'back from holiday surprise', new chapters!
Isn't it impressive how we're still dealing with the aftermath from the Simurghs apparent death? She still hasn't needed to do much more than just give subtle nudges to events.