Brockton's Celestial Forge

by Lord Roustabout

The Celestial Forge is the greatest combination of crafting powers in Jumpchain, meaning it is the greatest combination of crafting abilities in all of fiction. In Brockton Bay a forgotten side character's trigger event ends with him linked to the Celestial Forge rather than his intended shard. His expanding collection of tinker abilities drag him into the city's cape conflicts.

151. 101 Catharsis

101 Catharsis

Garment's closing performance had gone over as well as we could have hoped. It was just about the best we could have hoped for in terms of closing out the event. With the final words from Uppercrust, the official portion of the show ended, leaving the work of properly packing up everything that had been assembled to make the event possible.

I fell in with the other volunteers as they worked to pack up the hall. Of course, we couldn't just descend on the room the instant the final address concluded. These things naturally petered out over time. There were always more things to see or additional socializing, or just people who hung around after the structured portion of the show had finished. It was tolerated as nobody wanted to chase out people who might be inclined to make one final donation if they could get that chance for a photo opportunity with their favorite hero or perhaps a closer look at the lovely tapestry and updated decorations.

The event staff had transitioned quite naturally from managing the precise schedule of display and speeches to accommodating the last of the guests who were still processing the final display. While nobody knew exactly what Garment had planned, there was enough organization in place to ensure that people would be ready to adjust to the changing situation. Frankly, there had been a little too much organization in place. While it was good that things had gone smoothly, it was abundantly clear that anyone with the slightest sense of how these events usually played out knew there was some other factor in play.

And of course, rather than any action on the part of Apeiron of the Celestial Forge it had been attributed to Garment. People had already been voicing suspicions back when she premiered at the gym, so it wasn't surprising that assessments had run in that direction. While I would have liked to have gotten through the show without drawing more attention towards Garment's assumed set of powers, it was clear she wasn't bothered by the implication. The assumption that she had the ability to perfectly pull together elaborate events on short notice was nothing but a positive in her mind. Since the Protectorate was apparently okay with a mysterious thinker power being used for charity purposes the only consequence for her was a high likelihood of being asked to be involved in every major show, production, and festival that she was able to fit into her schedule.

Yeah, I understood why she saw the mistaken assumption as a feature rather than a bug.

The lingering nature of the event meant that I couldn't just start tearing out the technical systems I had worked to put in place. The news crew was still active on the show floor getting reaction shots, statements, last minute interviews, and general reactions. Most of the major players had either departed or retreated from the public spotlight, but among the remaining guests there were no shortage of people who were happy to speak with the press.

I worked behind the scenes to dismantle some of the more complicated aspects of the broadcast system that wouldn't be needed for the closing shots of the event. While there wasn't anything impossibly complicated about the setup, I wasn't keen on someone taking too close a look and asking difficult questions about how it was accomplished in time for the show. There were assumptions that Garment had a larger technical team and both the Regency Center and WKMP-6 News were assuming that the other party was picking up the slack in terms of setup. I had been the most front-facing member of Garment's 'team', so had gotten plenty of compliments on the work, but I wanted to keep that attention to a minimum level.

At least I didn't need to rewire the building like with the gym. Honestly, if I hadn't upgraded the electricals, there would have been no hope of that place stepping up the way it did after the Ungodly Hour. Once again, nobody has specifically looked into things, and I doubt they would. The initial electrical system had been severely neglected. As long as they didn't have any trouble, I imagined the work I did could go unnoticed for another forty years.

While I worked behind the scenes, Tetra continued to greet guests and staff alike as part of Parian's team. There was plenty of attention from all sides, with even the news team stopping for some sound bites as they got their final shots of the hall.

I was glad that things had gone so well for Tetra. In addition to absolutely nailing the routine, she was basically exploding online. Even so, that didn't matter to her nearly as much as the experience itself. Her unique relationships with connections came into play here, with both strong connections to everyone she had been introduced to and more nebulous connections through her wider exposure. It was something we'd need to examine thoroughly since this was still very new territory.

Literally new territory. Nobody had done anything like this before. The combination of divine crafting had created a combination of effects that were completely unique in the history of the universe. Of all universes. While I was the one guiding the effect, the sheer volume of quality enhancers and potential for independent development from Tetra's own nature made the situation a lot more complicated. It had the potential to be incredibly useful, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with.

Aside from the divine attributes on display, there was the surge of interest in both Tetra and for Parian's brand. With a little bit of vindictiveness, I noted it was a better reaction than Emma had ever received from any of her previous shows, even proportional to the size of the event's audience. I doubted she knew about that yet, and I wasn't taking too much pleasure in helping Tetra outshine her, but the entanglement did add some additional concerns.

News of Emma's arrest hadn't been released yet. That was partially due to the incident with the Teeth tying up police resources, with Emma's case being a much lower concern than an impending gang war. The video had also not been posted publicly, though it was being shared between Winslow students at a level that meant it was only a matter of time.

My duplicates were looking into ways to manage that situation. While we could probably keep the video from leaking, at some point the interference would become obvious. Taylor was going to have to deal with that becoming public, and there were now other implications to consider.

With the amount of attention that Tetra and Pairan were garnering, there was a good chance Emma's actions would be tied back to the event. Survey could help Parian get ahead of the story to prevent any harmful associations, though it would probably mean openly decrying Emma's actions and throwing the girl under the bus. Given how bad she looked in that recording, I wouldn't be surprised to see similar statements from her other employers. Come tomorrow there were a few department stores that were probably going to be changing the photos they used on their websites.

Still, that was practically a mundane concern compared to the rest of what we were dealing with. In particular, since both Survey's core program and my duplicates operated with the benefit of time acceleration as long as I was out of the Workshop, it was child's play to set up contingencies or even manage things in real time.

Eventually, things began to settle down as the last of the guests slowly trickled out of the hall. I watched as the volunteers who had been managing aspects of the show promptly headed backstage to collapse next to the concession tables. Meanwhile, I joined the rest of the workers and began the process of clearing out the hall.

Garment had been sure to work with the design of the Regency Center, using her decorations to accent and compliment the look of the building. Because of that, it was actually possible for her plan to be put in place within the timeframe available to us, and also possible for it to be disassembled in the space of an afternoon. Well, it would probably take into the evening for everything to be packed away, but that was still record speed as far as events like this were concerned.

The small legion of volunteers definitely helped. The outpouring of support had been tremendous and now that it had gotten out how Garment treated her volunteers, similar showings could probably be relied upon for any future events.

Funny, after the coats were sent out there was suddenly a swarm of inquiries as to whether any additional assistance was needed with the event. If we'd been willing to take late applications, we could have had ten times the staff. As it stood, everything had been locked down the night before and backed by coordination powers, so there wasn't any need to expand the roster. It also helped build a sense of comradery among the volunteers, many of whom were wearing their coats with pride in what they represented, rather than just for the quality of their workmanship.

I took a break from gathering up cables to review the closing tasks for the event. Well, review the closing tasks and not a failed connection to that massive mote from the Toolkits constellation. My reach had hit the point where I could secure a major power and was still growing, meaning I needed to be ready for when the next connection attempt was made. With that I shook my head and refocused on the task at hand.

While the process of packing up the hall was likely to take the rest of the day, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could be. The modified decorations were being moved into storage for the moment, but there were already inquiries as to their ultimate fate. They were the product of Garment's workmanship and thus significantly better quality than what you would normally see at an event like this. No doubt they would end up repurposed, donated, or otherwise reused. A few would definitely find their way to Garment's studio, since she was effectively open for business following the completion of the event.

The tapestry she had woven live on stage was a more complicated matter, though not in terms of transport or logistics. As it turned out, the entire thing could fold up quite easily into a profile that really shouldn't have been possible for that volume of cloth. Honestly, I would have preferred for Garment to be a little less blatant in her use of the skills from 'Bigger On The Inside', but once again the Protectorate seemed perfectly happy to roll with that revelation. Garment was already tentatively rated as a tinker, so the only real consequence was that rating becoming significantly less 'tentative'.

While transport and storage wouldn't be an issue, finding a home for the tapestry would be more of a challenge. It was too big to display in Garment's studio, or at least the portions of Garment's studio that we were willing to admit to. Some of the back rooms had been subjected to extension charms sufficient for them to count as their own countries, but those weren't exactly open to customers.

Still, as it stood the tapestry had to be set up somewhere. That was clear both from public interest and official inquiries. The creation of the piece had been the climax of the event and there was a massive amount of buzz online about it. The idea of hiding it away in some storage room would not go over well. Really, it was just a matter of figuring out where it would be displayed, under what conditions, for how long, and who would control access.

And, of course, it would also have to be insured. A little feature I hadn't really considered, but apparently displaying valuable art assets, of which the tapestry clearly counted, carried a level of liability. For it to be insured it would first need to be appraised, which meant additional steps to the process.

There was some talk of just leaving it in the Regency Center until the space was needed for the next event, something that was going to happen sooner than anticipated given the amount of attention the building had received, which sounded like an excellent short-term solution, but that liability issue still needed to be dealt with. Even a short-term arrangement for storage and display would be a nightmare of terms and conditions.

The entire thing was a legal mess that Survey was absolutely relishing. She had a tremendous amount of offers and appeals being sent to Garment that she could evaluate against legislative code, financial guidelines, and her own models of public behavior and official responses to specific actions. Really, she couldn't have been happier with the set of 'problems' that Garment's tapestry had created for her.

Though she gave no sign of any level of stress of distraction in her role as Delphine. Remote management of the replica droid was something of a collaborative effort of what passed for the three versions of Survey that were actually all Survey, rather than just being an offshoot of her physical form. I had the sense that she enjoyed the additional steps of evaluation and assessment as each decision was considered and vetted, though with understandably limited input from the version of her program operating in Passenger Space, at least for non-cape related matters.

As such Survey continued to coordinate the winddown of the event until such time that the full disassembly could begin. At that point she handled the after event for the organizers and major parties. Not really an after party, because that implied more of a celebratory atmosphere than what was present. It was really just a place for people to enjoy some time away from the chaos of the event in order to recharge in relative quiet. Or, in the case of Mrs. Gartenberg, where she could begrudgingly take a break from her duties because to do otherwise would seem ungrateful despite the fact that she clearly wanted to stay and coordinate the cleanup.

Of course, she was still largely doing that through relayed messages and orders whenever one of the volunteers entered the back rooms.

In terms of actual party type events, there was one being arranged for the volunteers that evening, generously sponsored by the startup catering company who had been providing meals for the event's workers. In other words, sponsored by the front company that had been set up to allow the Matrix to continue to sell the boxed lunches they had taken so much pleasure in individually designing. It hadn't started with the intention of being an actual business, but as things progressed it was just easier to create a false history for the company along with a business plan and product launches.

Close examination would probably raise some flags, but that was partially by intention. A business like that springing up in the aftermath of the Ungodly Hour was pretty much guaranteed to involve some questionable practices in order to facilitate its existence. Survey had at least ensured that the financial chicanery involved in the company's origin was at the level that would result in fines rather than criminal activity, and even then, it was likely to go undiscovered unless someone brought in a forensic accountant. Frankly, the city had bigger problems to deal with than a startup lunch shop taking some shortcuts on their paperwork.

As a bit of a surprise, Gully had approached Delphine and asked to speak with Garment, citing their earlier conversation being interrupted. While I wanted to avoid any associations between Garment and Apeiron, it might provide an opportunity to approach her regarding treatment, or at least a better idea of her availability to determine the best time to reach out. She settled into the green room where she was warmly greeted by both Survey and Uppercrust before settling in on one of the couches.

Really should have seen to seating arrangements for her, though going too far with that might have raised some points of concern. Or resulted in even more elements being attributed to Garment's supposed coordination power.

While the directors of the event took the opportunity to relax and marvel at how well everything came together, I checked in on the rest of the Forge. Tetra was spending time with Parian's workers and helping them pack up the materials from her show. She had switched her life fiber emulation of Parian's dress back for the conventional one, though it really was impossible to tell the difference without impossibly advanced analysis. The other models had packed up and left with the early waves of departures, but Tetra was enjoying her time with the rest of Parian's crew.

Tybalt was still on security duty, coordinating with the police representatives and Regency Center security to oversee the end of the event. Things were still hectic and there was a virtual mob of reporters and spectators outside the center, even after most of the guests had left. Most likely they were sticking around for the departure of Garment and the remaining capes. With Tybalt managing security matters. The chance of any incident was practically nonexistent, but he made sure everyone in the security office stayed on top of things.

Fleet had taken it upon himself to help the volunteers get through the nightmarish traffic that had built up around the event. There was only so much he could do without taking direct control of all the vehicles in the vicinity, but he was still able to help. Having awareness of the position and movements of every car definitely helped, and I suspected he may have been doing that thing where he nudged the traffic lights to be a little more accommodating, only this time it was being used to smooth out traffic flow rather than ensure he never had to suffer through a red light.

The Matrix wasn't maintaining a physical presence in the Regency Center for obvious reasons, but they had propagated enough dispersed nanites to ensure that the storerooms never seemed to run out of key supplies. They had also handled most of the concessions for the event following a great deal of satisfaction over how their previous efforts had been received.

Aisha was busy in the back rooms dealing with everything that Garment currently wasn't. While she didn't have official duties enough people had identified her as Garment's assistant that a fair amount of matters were being brought to her. Mostly she was screening for Garment to make sure she actually got to enjoy her time with the rest of the people who had made the event possible, but that wasn't an easy task when everyone thought you were the direct line to the most popular cape of the hour.

For my part I just kept my head down, avoided attention, and finished removing evidence of anything more complicated than a basic wiring setup. Another pass would get things fully dismantled, but it was good to be able to see things through without any trouble.

"There is a problem." Survey transferred to me. I covered my reaction as I took down a camera mount.

"What is it?" I asked. I hadn't heard anything from the rest of the team. It didn't seem to be related to the Slaughterous Nine of our scrying efforts otherwise my duplicates would have chimed in as well as been working on it with the advantage of time acceleration. I linked up with the Workshop's assessments of the current situation in the city and potential threats following the attack on the Teeth in case there were any developments that needed to be addressed.

"During a discussion of volunteer activities, Parian has raised the topic of your encounter with Sabah." Survey said.

I managed to keep myself from freezing at the news. As my mind spun off to some unpleasant place, I forced myself to reply. "Raised in what context?" I asked.

"A concerningly negative one." She responded. "Though she is not elaborating and is resistant to the matter being investigated."

I didn't know what to make of this. Sure, it wasn't a pleasant encounter, but Sabah had seemed fine when she left. I knew she was upset, but she effectively left on a strong note. I can understand her being upset, but not to the point or raising concerns to her employer. Her cape employer who would then raise them to other people.

"One moment." Survey said. Honestly, I could have just observed what was happening in the room. I probably should have, but I'm not sure I wanted to do that. Setting aside the intrusion it represented, this really wasn't something I wanted to deal with through remote observation.

"What is it?" I asked hopefully.

"Gully has spoken on the matter, likely in reference to details relayed to her by Crystal Pelham and your own interactions." Survey said.

I felt some of my concerns settle, really there were only complicated by the new development. Now it was multiple capes involved with their versions playing out for the people in that room. The rather influential group of people in that room. Even if I effectively owned Uppercrust, this wasn't an entanglement I wanted to deal with.

Once again, I was stuck between my desire to know what was happening and my dread at seeing this mess play out in real time. I took a breath. Survey was on site and would be able to recognize any key information that needed to be communicated.

"How bad is it?" I asked.

"Parian has opposed Gully's version of events, but Gully has remained adamant. She has not specifically mentioned Crystal Pelham's involvement, but is taking a confident stance regarding her reliability." Survey explained.

I relaxed slightly, but only slightly. Crystal wouldn't be dragged into things, or at least she hadn't been yet. I was still processing exactly what had happened there, but whatever this was, I did not want it to begin with an inquisition.

"One moment." Survey said. The tone of her transmission was worrying.

"Survey?" I asked.

"Parian has raised the issue of Aisha's presence during the encounter between you and Sabah." She said quickly.

"What?" I asked. "How?"

"An accusation that you were bothering her was leveled." She said.

I felt myself tense. Knowing everything that Aisha had gone through, the situation with her mother that caused her father to gain custody, a situation she very understandably did not talk about, this was beyond a step too far. Even beyond the horrific implications even a vague statement like that could cast on the situation, Parian involving Aisha in this was somehow worse. I could understand Sabah being concerned about me, but this kind of statement, as horrible as it was, didn't just affect me. Whatever mess there was between me and Sabah, Aisha didn't deserve to get dragged into it.

"Survey?" I began.

"Through my identity as Delphine Mertens I have contacted Aisha regarding this matter. She is currently addressing the concerns." Survey said.

That was probably only possible because of Aisha's direct involvement with the highest levels of the show. Hell, Aisha had been introduced to most of the people in that room. If it had been some random volunteer who hadn't been one step removed from 'Delphine' and Garment this would need to turn into an investigation. Parents would need to be contacted and formal interviews set up.

When it was just people talking about me and Sabah I could justify stepping back. That was bad, but it was a personal situation for Sabah. This wasn't a personal situation. As soon as Aisha had been involved everything I'd used to justify discretion fell away. I reached out and patched into Survey's sensor feed from the green room.

"Joe?" Aisha asked in surprise. "Yeah, I saw him when he was doing a cable check."

"Did anything happen?" Suzan Yoon, the managing director of the Brockton Charity Association and Michelle's mother asked in a stern tone of voice.

Aisha looked towards the woman. "Well, I said hi, then some girl he knew from college showed up." She shrugged. "It was kind of awkward. I bailed as soon as I could."

By 'bailed' she meant she used her stranger power to escape without being noticed. Given how her power messed with people's perception of events, it was possible that had contributed to a mistaken impression on Sabah's part. Possible. If you were feeling generous.

"You were acquainted with the man?" Jennifer Marshall, the Regency Center's event organizer asked.

"Well, yeah." Aisha said, looking around the room. "He's one of my dad's boxing students. Plus he's been helping out at the gym since everything started going to hell." Mrs. Gartenberg was nodding from the end of the room, but Parian didn't seem to notice.

I doubt she was noticing very much at the moment. While I wasn't accessing the fully scanner reads since they were beyond intrusive, Survey was highlighting a set of biometrics. Parian was not taking the situation well. She was tense to the point of near panic, something that had probably played a significant role in how the situation had played out.

"So there are no problems with him?" Jennifer Marshall asked. "He wasn't bothering you?" It was a leading question with clear implications.

"Please, Joe?" Aisha asked. Her tone gave the impression that she hoped she was dealing with some kind of joke or misunderstanding. "No. No problems." She said in a much more serious voice.

"Thank you, Aisha." Survey said. "Sorry for bothering you."

Aisha gave a single nod, then turned to leave the room. Mrs. Gartenberg exchanged a glance with her before she left that once again seemed to go unnoticed by Parian. As soon as she was out of the room her privacy field activated and she was on the line.

"What the fuck was that about?" She demanded.

"Parian raised concerns regarding the nature of your encounter with Joe, presumably based on Sabah's account of the event." Survey relayed as an awkward silence settled over the green room.

"The hell she did. What did that bitch say?" Aisha asked. "You know what? I'm going to see for myself. Can someone get me a Workshop door?"

"On it." One of my duplicates replied. It was fortunate that the Regency Center had been peppered with access points allowing Aisha to duck into a side room and slip into the workshop through one of the closets.

Thanks to Temporal Controls time in the Workshop was passing at ten times the rate of the outside world, allowing Aisha to call up Survey's records of the conversation. While normally that would feel like an intrusion of privacy, the fact that she had involved Aisha in this pretty much waved all concerns.

It didn't take Aisha long to go through Survey's supercut of the exchange which did nothing for her temperament.

"Holy shit." Aisha replied. Speaking across the time dilation required sending buffered messages and accelerating responses, but thankfully that was largely automated by systems my duplicates had put in place. However, it did have the unintended effect of letting Aisha stew in the situation while she waited for a response. "You know how bad this could be? How bad this still might be?"

"She didn't know how young you were." Tetra said to Aisha. She kind of existed everywhere she had ever been, so the temporal effects were less of an issue. "I know it was a terrible thing to suggest, but she was specifically surprised by that when she saw you."

"General impressions have placed you as entering your junior or senior year of high school." Survey explained. "Largely attributed to your wardrobe, mannerisms, and role in the event."

"Shit, really?" Aisha asked. "I mean, that's still not much better." Aisha was continuing to work through the recordings of the exchange, including portions of it that I still hadn't seen. "You know how bad this could have been, right?"

There was some implication in Aisha's words that seemed specifically directed at Survey and Tetra. Possibly related to the details of Parian's team that I'd asked her not to share. Whatever it was, it was clear that Aisha was concerned about it. Still, it hadn't hit the threshold where Survey was bringing it to my attention, so either it wasn't of particular note or she was confident she could address it without my input.

"I do. I know exactly what could have happened." Tetra said.

From her voice I could tell she was offended by the situation, but moderating it. Trying to do the right thing, potentially because of the insight she gained from her connection. The same power that could be used to kill and control gave her insight and the opportunity for understanding, at least to a point.

"Parian has been having trouble." She continued. "I don't think she realized how serious things were, particularly considering what's happening on the other side."

I blinked as I caught her meaning. I contacted the Workshop, but thanks to Temporal Controls my duplicates were already ahead of me in reaching out to the Final Frontier. While the initial push under my guidance had been completed, they'd continued to consolidate and expand, though at a much slower rate. While there weren't that many developments, they had managed to locate Parian's passenger.

It wasn't on the level of Aisha or Jack's passengers and didn't come anywhere close to Taylors, but it was definitely in the upper echelons in terms of power and complexity. And it was active. Exceptionally active, particularly considering Parian hadn't been using her power for anything more than slight adjustments to her clothing.

The amount of direct influence a passenger had on their parahuman was a bit nebulous. There was definitely some level of direct effect, but mostly that wasn't needed. Passengers didn't need to actively drive their parahumans towards conflict when the slight modifications of the parameters of their powers was usually enough to encourage them along. The boost from Sechen ranges alone was enough to cause most parahumans to seek out the conflict that passengers were seeking.

But things were clearly different for Parian. Sure, she wasn't someone who regularly saw combat, but I kind of assumed the stress of the fashion industry combined with the way she pushed her power for her performances filled the same role. Based on how aggressively her passenger was acting, that was clearly not the case.

Direct action from a passenger could explain a lot, but for this kind of response it was likely that issues had already been present. Parian's state was worsening as the severity of the situation was spelled out for her, and by Gully of all people.

Not to imply that she wouldn't be familiar with those kinds of issues or capable of addressing them. Her record as a Ward was actually incredibly impressive. She'd probably be leading her team if she was marketable enough for the San Antonio branch. Still, outside of official matters she had a tendency to be quiet and reserved. For her to speak up either meant she felt particularly strongly about the issue of the closed environment was one where she was comfortable raising her concerns in a way she probably wouldn't be if the public had been present.

With the spikes of emotion, activity of her passenger, and Survey's scans of her power it was clear that she was well into her Sechen range. This wasn't just an abstract concern for her employee, it had some parallel to her trigger. Master triggers typically had a social element to them and apparently being in a room where everyone was calling out her mistake was hitting that note pretty hard.

"I… Excuse me." Parian stammered as she rose from her chair and rushed out of the room. She didn't quite sprint down the hall, but that was mostly because her power was manipulating her dress to carry her at faster speeds than a person would be able to run. As Parian fled to the opposite side of the Regency Center the rest of the event organizers were left to process what had just happened.

"Well, that was…" Oliver Cook, the producer from WKMP-6 news said numbly.

"Yes." Uppercrust said, looking at the door. "In light of Parian's reaction, I believe I should apologize for my own misstep."

The entire group rounded on him. "Excuse me?" Jennifer Marshall asked as if she hadn't heard him correctly.

"I believe I may have set off this unfortunate event." He said. "With the advantage of working in New York, I have become quite accustomed to a certain dynamic when presenting opportunities to independent capes. While I do not like to dwell on such things, there are elements of my organization who do not enjoy such cordial encounters when dealing with unaffiliated Rogues."

"You think she was frightened of you?" Jennifer Marshall asked.

"At the very least I believe she was acutely aware of the level of power and influence at my disposal. There are unfortunate individuals in the Elite who would leverage such an advantage in their dealings with other capes." He paused. "Though in fairness, such dynamics are commonly leveraged in all cape interactions, even those involving heroic organizations."

It was a rather diplomatic reference to Director Piggot's policies and the situation that had resulted from them.

"Are you certain?" Oliver Cook asked. "I mean, her reaction when you mentioned that project, and the Empire…" He left the final point hanging.

"I have seen such responses before. On reflection, her concerns were clearly centered on the involvement of the Elite rather than… other aspects of the proposed project." He said. "I do not know if you have seen the composition of her staff, but it is safe to say that if she held any such leanings, she would be more selective in her employees." He said. "And perhaps be less protective of a girl by the name of 'Sabah'." He made sure to strongly pronounce the name.

"I see." The producer said. "But…"

"In fact, it could be said that she was exceptionally protective of a GIRL by the name of Sabah." Uppercrust reiterated. With that he glanced at Delphine and an eyebrow moved above his mask.

"Oh." He paused before a look of recognition bloomed on his face. "Oh…" Whatever disappointment at the loss of a potential angle of investigation seemed to be replaced by the new implication.

Honestly, I was right there with him. On the surface it didn't seem likely, even if it was a convenient explanation for Uppercrust to present. I mean, I could sense attraction thanks to Aphrodite's Blessing and Sabah had held absolutely zero interest in me. I had assumed that was connected to our past, but it could mean that her interests just didn't align that way.

Which would cast all of our previous interactions in a new light. I'm not sure if that made the situation better or worse. On one hand, it meant that I hadn't screwed up a relationship because there never was the chance of one to begin with. On the other hand, it would mean that there was yet another thing I had been completely oblivious to and yet another thing that Sabah had probably been struggling with.

Also, if that was the case, it probably wasn't much fun for her to be in a program that only had three other girls in it. That also put the transfer to the fashion program in a new context, but once again I wasn't sure if it made things better or worse.

Whether Uppercrust's assessment was correct, it seemed to mollify some of the concerns present in the room. Not dismiss them, but the level of tension had definitely dropped.

"I can understand her circumstances, but this still wasn't appropriate." Gully said, shaking her head. "Accusations like that are serious. They shouldn't be thrown around casually without an understanding of what they involve."

"I agree." Jennifer Marshall said. "While it appears there is no cause for concern, I don't believe this should be fully dismissed, particularly given our organization's involvement."

"I will see to the matter." Survey said. "A discussion with security and a review of the pre-show footage will hopefully provide some insight."

I knew the placements of the cameras. There was at least one that would have been able to catch our conversation, though not in a close shot. I checked the footage to confirm. No sound and not enough resolution to even really read expressions, but it did show that I hadn't been the one to approach Sabah, that we had talked briefly, and then she had left. It also showed that Aisha had done exactly what she said, approached and briefly talked, and then left after Sabah showed up.

In terms of evidence it wasn't completely exonerating of all possible accusations, though it did rule out many of the worst possible conclusions that could have been drawn.

"I will also get a statement from Aisha and speak with Parian about the same from Sabah." Survey continued. "In all likelihood it will not be a matter of concern, but I agree that appropriate steps should be taken."

"It does help that no formal concerns were raised." Jennifer Marshall agreed. "Though regarding the man in question, should we look into that to verify Aisha statements?"

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat and all eyes turned to Mrs. Gartenberg. She waited until she had their full attention before she began to share her thoughts on the matter.

Anyone who might have thought Mrs. Gartenberg had been window dressing for the event or that her inclusion with the other organizers were quickly corrected on the matter. The woman provided a succinct summary of my situation, involvement with the gym, relief efforts, and work with the volunteer team of the event. It wasn't exactly a cavalcade of praise, but I don't think that Mrs. Gartenberg typically indulged in such things. From her direct statements regarding my actions it was clear that I at least made a positive impression over the past week and a half.

Apparently, as the main coordinator for the volunteer staff, she had taken some care with who she had put forward. As such, she may have taken Parian's accusations a bit personally. Furthermore, she was not happy with Parian's involvement of Aisha, particularly given the fact that was clearly very familiar with Aisha's history.

Garment was also not taking the news well. I had never seen her that upset, or at least not upset in that particular way. Given the timing of her reaction largely corresponded with Aisha becoming involved, it seemed the impression was offense on behalf of her young assistant.

Generally, the discussion was focused on moving past the issue. There was a general sense of gratitude that things were being dealt with and would not turn into a massive point of concern. With that people were quite happy to move on. There may have been some reevaluations of their opinions of Parian, but that was at least moderated slightly by Uppercrust's explanation and Survey's assurances that she would see to the matter.

Things were not going nearly as well for Parian herself. She had sealed herself in one of the smaller back rooms of the center well away from the rest of the workers. Isolation seemed to be the point, but it wasn't really helping her state of mind. Tetra was able to follow every shift in her condition and was very aware that it was spiraling down.

"So," Aisha said as she emerged from the Workshop's time acceleration. "She's sulking after the shit she tried to pull."

"Aisha, this is serious." I said, checking the data feeds on the situation.

"You're damn right this is serious." She spat. Her privacy field was probably the only thing keeping her from announcing her displeasure to half of the Regency Center. "Do you know how badly this could have gone? I've been tied up with that kind of shit before and she wanted to drag both of us into it."

It was the closest Aisha had come to talking about that aspect of her past. I knew the kinds of circumstances her situation implied and was at least aware of the rumors at the gym, but I'd never raised the subject and Aisha had never volunteered.

"Aisha, it's her trigger." I said, pulling up the readings from the Passenger Space fleet. Aisha put her back to the door of the side room she was hiding in and drew up the data on her omnitool. "Believe me, I know how bad this could have gone, but I don't think Parian realized what she was suggesting. Not if she was dealing with this kind of stress."

"Fine, still doesn't excuse it." She said, "I've seen this kind of thing a million times at school. Nobody means for shit to get out of hand until it does. You don't get points for what you meant to do or not knowing how bad something can be."

It sounded like she was talking from personal experience. Given what I knew about her time at school and her living situation, I can't imagine she had the best experiences when it came to personal accusations.

"I'm not excusing it, but that doesn't change the situation." I highlighted aspects of the readings from Passenger Space. "This is serious."

Aisha took another breath and looked at the data. "Okay, what am I looking at?"

"It's her passenger." Tetra said. "It's trying to make a connection." She had a level of certainty on something I only suspected, but then again when it came to connections, she was something of an expert.

"What connection? She's already plugged into it." Aisha asked before looking at the screen again, specifically the areas of data Tetra had highlighted. "Wait, the bitch is going to second trigger?"

"No." I said. "Or not just from this, but the threshold is probably lower than it would normally be and given the state she's in it's not going to take much to push her over the edge."

Aisha huffed. "Something like one of us telling her to fuck off." I had the feeling Aisha would have told her much more than that, but was restraining herself for the point of brevity. "She gets a pass to keep her from going nuclear."

"Aisha, this is her trigger." I said. "Anything related to a trigger is serious, and she's come very close here. I don't know what her situation is, but I do not want anyone to go through something like that again."

Aisha took a breath, let it out, then shook her head. "Fuck." Once again, it felt like there was more meaning to that. "How do we stop this? I mean, we have to stop this, right?"

Survey was the one to give the answer. "Given the strength of Parian's current abilities, the modifications that can be expected upon a 'second trigger' event and the potential complications from the presence of additional capes and members of the Celestial Forge it would be likely that a failure to mitigate the current situation would have highly adverse results."

"It would be bad." Agreed Fleet, not even looking up from his task assisting with traffic navigation. That was followed by Tybalt jumping on the line from the security office, breaking down exactly how bad a modification of Parian's power could be and the kind of destruction we could be looking at.

"Okay." Aisha said. "So, how do we do this?"

I nodded. Weirdly, despite the accusations being targeted at me, it felt like Aisha was the more offended party. I suppose that was down to the fact that I at least had a history with one of Parian's employees while Aisha had been dragged in as a tool to use in the confrontation. As a child of divorced parents, that had to be especially unpleasant.

I don't think she had let the matter slide, but she was at least willing to deal with the current situation before going for blood. Probably because this was less kicking someone when they were down and more volleyball spiking them into hell.

"I can try." Tetra said. "Me and Survey. She likes us, and we aren't involved in this."

"Given our options for addressing the situation, that may be for the best." Survey said as 'Delphine' departed the Green Room.

I nodded. "If you want to-" But Tetra had already vanished from her location and appeared outside the room Parian was hiding in.

"Parian?" She called. "Are you in there?"

We damn well knew she was, but this was basically theater for her benefit. Possibly manipulative, but if the sentiments behind it were honest, I didn't see an issue. And with Tetra the sentiments were definitely honest.

Parian responded and began pulling herself together. I shifted my attention away from Tetra and Survey's efforts. I was fine with a report after the fact rather than assessing everything live.

Though I will say, if Parian had a relationship with Sabah, her reaction to Survey's civilian identity might be putting that in jeopardy. Hopefully not, since the entire suggestion was built on heavy speculation. Really, I was mostly dismissing things because I had enough stress to deal with without the possibility that I was compromising Sabah's love life with a homewrecking replica droid.

I shook my head. This wasn't the time to make light of the situation. A cape had nearly broken down over a situation I had inadvertently caused. I wasn't going to berate myself over it, and the actions that Parian had taken had been extremely serious. Aisha was right to be upset, and she wasn't even the primary target of it.

Or maybe she was upset on my behalf. Huh. I was still getting used to the idea of that even being a thing that could happen. It was kind of important to keep in mind considering what the people who could get upset on my behalf were capable of. Going from effectively no support to having the equivalent of a group of walking nuclear weapons looking out for you took some getting used to.

After the initial panic, most of the team had calmed down, if not exactly accepted things. In contrast, Garment was still seriously put off by the incident. She had recovered enough to be able to politely see off the guests, including setting up a meeting with Gully for the following day, but this was still the worst I had seen her. Well, worse in a different way from when she had managed to get herself suspended from PHO over the course of a single night.

At least she wasn't acting on her frustration, but people were picking up that something was off. Hopefully we could get ahead of any rumors, but even with the incident, there was still work to do. I worked to finish packing up the broadcast equipment as the Forge made a connection to a small mote from the Personal Reality Constellation.

It was called VOWP Cellular Service, which stood for Voice Over Warehouse Protocol. It was an upgrade of the Extranet that allowed my Workshop to enjoy high speed untraceable internet access. The upgrade granted fiat backed cellular service that worked anywhere in any reality, or at least any of the variant realities of Earth Bet. They could perfectly connect to my Workshop or any other phone service, with no concern for signal strength, broadcast infrastructure, or service plans.

It also came with a vending machine that produced various models of phones. Not models that were common on Earth Bet, which probably meant I was looking at something from that version of Earth without parahumans.

It could make Nokia phones that were fairly recognizable, but also some kind of smartphone produced by Apple called an iPhone. Well, eight different models of iPhone. There was also a Samsung smartphone called a Galaxy S7 that used an operating system called Android Marshmallow.

Fortunately, it could also produce sim cards that would grant the same benefits of phones produced by the system and could copy any cell phone of similar device if you provided an example. Given the level of technology I could produce and what kind of things could technically count as being 'similar' to a cell phone, there was the potential for some fairly advanced devices to be churned out en masse.

It did provide a way to maintain communication without chaining together a mess of quantum entanglement communicators. Having one of those phones in Passenger Space would have massively simplified our operations. It may have been a minor thing at this point, but fiat backed communication was definitely a step up from communication based on quantum effects.

But, incredibly, the ability to churn out perfect communication devices that could link to the Workshop or any phone network was actually the less significant aspect of the upgrade. As a 'minor' secondary effect, VOWP Cellular Service added a phone to my Office. A simple landline which had the ability to call anyone in reality.

Anyone, anywhere, even if they didn't have a phone. It actively warped reality to ensure that they would be able to take the call. And I knew this worked because in the very short time since this power had arrived my duplicates had tested it by placing a call directly to the bridge of the Final Frontier.

Fleet's motoroid form had received the call on the ship's communication system, though there was no discernable point of origin. When they tested things by having him move outside the ship it came through the motoroid's comm link. When he disabled his communicator and effectively isolated himself in Passenger Space the call still came through thanks to a completely mundane telephone that spontaneously appeared next to him. And disappeared as soon as the call was complete

Clearly, no matter what the situation, the effect was sufficient to make sure that the call would go through. The implications of what this could accomplish were staggering, even if it was currently being used to provide a dialup connection to the Final Frontier that absolutely dwarfed the bandwidth of the QEC link that Survey had been relying on.

Of course, there were still limitations. An intrinsic aspect of the system made it impossible to locate a person through the call. Even aspects like background noise and environmental factors that could normally be used to discern a person's location were specifically obscured. It was also impossible to project the effect of any power or technology through the call. It facilitated conversation and absolutely nothing else. A person could tell you where they were, but there was no way to force them to reveal that information.

Well, no supernatural or technological way to accomplish it. Deception, coercion, and trickery were entirely possible, but that was just a facet of any interaction. Normally that wasn't my strong suit, but I had just received rather extensive skills in communication and espionage that turned it into a practical option.

There was the question of how to make use of the ability. Well, how to use it when Survey wasn't hogging the line to talk to herself in Passenger Space. Regrettably, there was the practical limit in the fact that there was only a single phone, meaning it was only possible to make one call at a time. Which was unfortunate, because this ability had a tremendous amount of potential.

Though it wasn't possible to use the phone to mine for information on the status of specific people. If the call didn't connect there was no way to tell if that person was dead, incapacitated, or just didn't feel like taking the call. You couldn't use it to confirm someone's physical condition any more than you could use it to track someone's location. For example, during my duplicate's testing of the system the failure of a specific call to connect could mean that Elvis was really dead, or maybe he just wasn't answering his phone.

Joking aside, it was a Fiat backed way to reach any person in any universe. It was tied to the 'reality' outside my workshop which included every version of every planet in the universe. As long as I knew who I was trying to reach, even just through a cape identity, I could make a call.

It was honestly tempting to just call up Bakuda to see how she would react. Or try Leet to see how his life decisions were working out for him. Really, as tempting as that was, any petty snipes at the remnants of the ABB forces could wait until the hostages were safe.

But there were other possibilities. Missing persons could be contacted, inaccessible capes could be reached, political figures could be contacted directly. There was no end of potential uses for this ability. It did have the potential of drawing attention and blowback, but these days I was in more of an active management mode of thinking rather than being purely reactive. If there was something that could be accomplished with this ability that would do enough good, I could go through with it and just deal with the consequences.

Of course, it was a lot easier to take that approach with the Slaughterhouse Nine analyzed and contained. There were other points of concern, but dealing with that particular mess had freed up a lot of options. Particularly since Fleet, Survey, and the Matrix could just exit out any information that we didn't want them to know.

The possibilities of the phone link, and my duplicate's experimentations with it, was enough to keep me occupied through the rest of the disassembly. While most of the focus was on the phone upgrade for the office, there was still plenty of value in the VOWP Cellular Service. In addition to switching out the team's communicators, since Workshop to Workshop communication was completely secure, they finally upgraded the Undersiders' watches.

Not directly, but that wasn't necessary. The watches were linked to quantum entanglement communicators that were linked together and to other quantum entanglement communicators. Since each QEC could only talk to a paired QEC a bit of a mess had built up. Still, it was easy enough to just attach the relay of each of the Undersiders' watches to a Cellular Service device and suddenly they not only had a dedicated link to each other but also untraceable access to the world's phone system.

Probably best to wait to give them that update. Tattletale had needed to adjust to a lot today, and that wasn't even getting into Taylor's situation. This was more of a minor convenience rather than some critical advantage, so holding off on the announcement wouldn't do any harm.

Of course, busy work at the closing of the event and experimentation with the new upgrade to my workshop could only take me so far. Eventually things wound down enough that one by one people were able to slip away. Eventually, the team made their way to the unpleasant task of dealing with what had happened with Parian.

In order to maintain the time acceleration effect, the meeting was happening in one of the expanded backrooms of Garment's studio. Everyone had just ducked out from the Regency Center with some explanation covering our absence without being seen to officially departing. Really, there wasn't much concern on that front. Aisha was getting a lift from Delphine, at least as far as her father was concerned. Garment would make a formal exit, probably with a brief interaction with whatever reporters were still staking out the Center, and for the rest of us, as long as we were seen to actually leave at some point, I doubt anyone would really care.

It was the kind of anonymity that I enjoyed, and the same anonymity that had almost been stripped away by the potential of Parian's accusations. Even with the current situation dealt with, we needed to decide what we were going to do.

Well, really, it was mostly deciding what we weren't going to do. Specifically, what Garment wasn't going to do. The time since the incident had tempered Garment's attitude a bit, but you could still see her irritation even with the ability to read fashion. With that ability, the slight shift in the fit of her dress and style of her gloves said a great deal, and not much of it was pleasant.

The response from the rest of the group was mixed. Aisha was still frustrated, but had at least calmed down to a degree. Fleet and Tybalt were treating the situation seriously, though without the level of investment that some of the others shared. Tetra and Survey were most aware of the severity of the situation on both sides, but I didn't know how that would play out. As for the Matrix, they were mostly taking the entire incident as a point in support of their decision to not bother with a civilian identity, human form, or gender.

We were all gathered in a meeting room that honestly looked like it had been built for making grand decisions. Unfortunately, it had mostly been built because my duplicates had access to Garment's studio during their twenty percent time and had realized exactly how much could be accomplished with extension charms and unnatural skill in architecture.

The group wasn't exactly treating the room like some grand and imposing meeting room. The Matrix was standing awkwardly to the side in their golden armored form while also being in dozens of other places. Garment had settled into one of the high-backed chairs, but her clear irritation was conflicting with the tone of the room, which was probably the most obvious sign of how upset she really was. Aisha was slumped in one of the chairs with her arms crossed while Tetra sat in the chair next to her. Fleet was leaning against the far wall and Tybalt had decided he would be more comfortable in the center of the massive marble slab of a table. As for Survey, she wasn't even in the room. Instead she had opted to remain on surveillance duty and send a hologram in her place. Though, thanks to the improved link to Passenger Space, we effectively had all three perspectives of Survey chipping in on the conversation.

"So we can all agree this situation is fucked, right?" Aisha asked.

"It's certainly less than ideal." I said grimly.

"No." Aisha said sharply. "Not to time to be understating things. This is fucked."

"Yes, it is fucked." I agreed.

"So what are we doing about it?" She asked, looking around.

"I think the worst of it has been headed off." I said. "Survey and Tetra are helping to deal with the aftermath, so I don't think we're going to be looking at any more issues."

Aisha looked at me. "Please don't tell me you're letting this slide? Not something like this. I thought you were specifically past that doormat stuff."

"I'm not letting it slide." I said. "But this was an extreme situation, both for Sabah and evidently for Parian. I'm taking that into account."

"You're going to downplay this?" Aisha asked. "With what could have happened?" She seemed to realize how loud her voice had gotten. "Sorry, it's just, this isn't a joke, you know." Her face turned dark. "My mom tried this shit on my dad, back when she lost custody of me. She tried pretty much everything. Is still trying, really, but that was one of the worst. It didn't stick, thank God, but it was hell on everyone involved."

"I'm sorry…" I began, but she waved me off.

"I just want to make sure you know how serious this is. How bad it could have gotten." She sighed. "I've seen the recordings. I get she was pretty much floundering, but still…"

"I know." I assured her. "Survey is working with Parian. She's going to make sure this doesn't happen again." I turned to her hologram. "And asked her to check if anything like this had happened before."

It was easy to try to dismiss the current situation based on how well things had turned out, but if this had happened to anyone else without the precise set of factors that worked out in my favor it could have been a disaster. While everything suggested this was a product of extreme circumstances, the mere fact that it had happened suggested it might have happened before. After all, extreme circumstances were far too common in the life of a parahuman.

"I have assessed reports from all of Parian's previous shows and public appearances." Survey explained. "There are no incidents of a similar nature apparent, though I will be performing a more in-depth examination of the event. Furthermore, her evident ignorance to the severity of her accusations suggested a lack of personal experience with such matters."

"Well, that's something." Aisha said, slumping back into her chair.

I nodded. "I'm not sure how Sabah is taking this, but Survey has offered to look into her situation through Parian."

"Right. Sabah." Aisha said, letting out a breath. She glanced at Survey and then Tetra. "What happened with her exactly? I mean, I was fine with the cliff notes back when it was just you running into someone from school, but now that I've been dragged into this, I'd kind of like to know where all this is coming from."

I took a breath and leaned forward onto the table. I really didn't want to get into this, but Aisha was right. She was involved now. Honestly, everyone was kind of involved, if just from my own connection to the mess.

"I met Sabah in my second year at Brockton University." I began. "She transferred in from the math program at the start of the year. She kind of had a hard time connecting with the rest of the class, so I reached out to her."

"That must have been hard." Tetra said. I nodded. I knew how she felt about isolation.

"What was the problem? Was she as bad back then as she is now?" Aisha asked. Clearly Sabah had made an impression during Aisha's brief encounter with her. That, or her frustration with Parian was bleeding over.

"No, it was just a bunch of things." I said. "The class was pretty small, only twenty-five people, and we had already been working together for a year. That wasn't an easy thing to break into, even if Sabah hadn't been coming from the math department."

"Math?" Aisha asked. "Why was that a problem?"

A slight smile played across my face as I thought back to that time in college. Well, to the better parts of it. "Basically, engineering is a hard course, but there's a level of pride in being able to handle that kind of work, at least compared to softer subjects."

"Oh, so you got to look down on everyone else for not being as smart as you." Aisha quipped. It sounded kind of pretentious when she put it that way, but really it was just part of the college culture. "I'm guessing that didn't apply to people who were taking math?"

"Not really." I said with a shrug. "It kind of went the other way from kids in the math department."

"Is this a general thing, or was Brockton U just crazy?" Aisha asked.

"I don't know. Don't really have much to compare it to, but all schools probably have their own quirks." I said.

"Right. So Sabah comes in not knowing anyone and from a program full of people who looked down on engineering students. I think I'm beginning to see where this went wrong for her." Aisha mused.

I shook my head. "It wasn't that bad. I mean, the whole thing between math and engineering is mostly played for a joke anyway. It's not like the class was against Sabah from the start, she just didn't have the connections other people had built up."

"But things didn't get better?" Tetra asked, leaning forward.

I shrugged. "Sort of, but I guess not really?" My answer yielded nothing but confusion. "She was having some trouble with the coursework, so I tried to help her with the material."

"Came from the class that thought they were smarter and still couldn't keep up." Aisha at least seemed to hold some sympathy for academic troubles. "I get why she wasn't instantly popular."

I shook my head. "It wasn't that she couldn't handle the material. She was just coming into different subject matter. There was a lot of stuff from first year that was assumed you'd understand, and she'd missed out on that. She could handle it, she just needed some help putting it in context." I shook my head. "Though her language problems didn't help."

"What language problems?" Aisha asked.

"Sabah immigrated from Iraq and learned English after she arrived. She was really proud of learning it along with her other schoolwork." I smiled, despite the now tainted memories of our interactions. "Anyway, she still had some trouble. Her English wasn't perfect and she had a hard time with some of the stuff we had to cover in class. I think it was easier when it was just math, but dealing with broader elements meant she ran into trouble more often."

"So you helped her with that?" Aisha asked.

"Well yeah. I know what that's like." I replied.

Aisha gave me a blank look. "What? You speak another language? I mean, spoke, before all this happened?"

"God no." I said. "I barely passed high school French."

"Then what?" She said.

"Um, you know my grandparents came over from Eastern Europe?" I asked.

"No." She said, "Though I guess the last name was a hint."

I nodded. Without the amount of time she'd spent reviewing aspects of the city's situation in the Spiritron Computer I doubt she would have recognized that.

"Anyway, when I was a kid, after the Iron Curtain came down, we had some relatives who immigrated. Second or third cousins." I explained. Aisha nodded. "A lot of them had trouble with English. I remember how hard it was, and how people treated them like they were stupid when they couldn't understand or explain something." I shook my head. "I didn't want Sabah to go through that."

"So what, you acted as a translator for her?" Aisha asked.

"No. I mean, I worked with her in class, and when there was a study session I tried to make sure we covered anything she was having trouble with." I replied.

"Wait, you were hosting study sessions for your class?" Aisha gave me an incredulous look. Given how social I had been, I didn't blame her for her skepticism.

"Not exactly. I figured out how to book study rooms in the student center, so I would book them on a rolling schedule with another schedule. It was usually only six or seven people. More if there was a quiz coming up or it was close to exams. And it wasn't really structured. We'd just do homework or review stuff from lectures." I explained. "It really wasn't anything we hadn't already been doing."

"And even though you were helping her, things still went bad?" Aisha asked.

I shrugged. "That's probably why things went bad." I said. "She needed help, but she didn't really warm up to the rest of the class." Probably because she was avoiding class events so it wouldn't seem like she had agreed to go with me. "She didn't have anyone else to help her, so she probably felt she couldn't just tell me to get lost."

"But she did, right?" Aisha asked.

I nodded. "I guess unsurprisingly, she never really turned me down when I suggested stuff. Just delays or non-answers." Aisha nodded. "Anyway, after Christmas she finally gave me a clear answer and I backed off."

"Wait, you held out for half a year over this?" Aisha asked.

I shrugged. "I wasn't constantly asking her out. I mean, I wasn't even asking her out, just suggesting stuff the class was doing when it came up. The engineering program had too much work for there to be parties every weekend or that kind of thing. Mostly we just worked together."

"Right. Then what happened? That wasn't the public blowup you mentioned?" She asked.

"No, that came later." I said. "A friend of mine said I should just ask directly rather than dancing around. Put things to rest, one way or the other."

"And she didn't take a direct question well?" Aisha asked.

"I didn't even get that far. As soon as I started to bring it up, she went off on me." I shook my head. "I didn't take it well, but I dropped it. It was probably as clear an answer as I could hope for." I let out a breath. "We avoided each other after that, then about a month and a half later she apologized and said she wants to work together again."

"Because she needed someone to work with." Aisha said.

"Pretty much." I said. "Not that I really got that at the time. Anyway, I backed off for the rest of the year, and then found out she had transferred to the fashion program. And that her dad had died weeks earlier and she never mentioned it." I leaned back in my chair. "It was a bad situation for her and I made it worse."

"Bad for you too." Aisha said. I just shrugged. "So her dad died and she changed courses again?" She asked.

"Yeah." I said. "And I guess she was able to start working with Parian after that. Which is probably a good opportunity for her, and Parian clearly cares about her wellbeing, it's just a mess."

"Yeah. A mess." Aisha said, glancing at Tetra and Survey again.

Given the fact that Aisha had checked on Parian's team when her power was active and privacy basically didn't exist to Survey and Tetra, they probably had a solid understanding of whatever that 'good relationship' was between Parian and Sabah. Whether it was just Parian being protective of her employees, possibly due to the nature of her trigger, or there being something more going on, at least Sabah had someone looking out for her.

Of course, it would help if that person was a bit less reckless in their actions.

"Great." Aisha said, shaking her head. "So, what now?"

"Ideally? Nothing." I said. There was an offended gesture from Garment. "I'm serious." I let out a sigh. "I didn't like getting into this before and I don't want to get stuck in it now. Not with everything else we're working on. Survey has things under control, right?" I turned to her hologram.

"For the moment." Survey said. "Parian has significantly improved from her earlier state. While I do not believe she is ready to address her role in the situation as yet, she is highly unlikely to take any further action on the matter without consulting my civilian identity."

"Okay." I said. "And if Parian isn't going to do anything, hopefully Sabah won't either."

"Yeah." Aisha said. "That seems reasonable."

Once again, I could tell there was something there, but if it was serious, I trusted Survey to bring it to my attention. That or deal with it herself, which she might well be doing.

"So is everyone alright with that? Leaving things to Survey and Tetra for the moment? No action against either Parian or Sabah?" I asked.

There was a mix of nods and shrugs from the group. Fleet and the Matrix were both of the opinion that this was outside their area of expertise and they were happy to leave things at that.

While Tybalt was a demigod of war, this wasn't the type of conflict he specialized in. He'd be ready in the event things turned ugly, but if that happened it would mean a failure on multiple levels.

Aisha reluctantly nodded, though I could tell she wasn't happy about it. I hadn't realized how close to home this would hit for her. She exchanged another meaningful look with Tetra and Survey. If she wanted to work with them or just keep tabs on the situation, I was fine with that, as long as that didn't involve her haunting Parian's studio with her power active.

Finally, there was Garment, who seemed significantly less happy with the situation. If anyone ever told you someone needed a face to be able to glare, they had never met Garment.

"Garment, I know you're upset, but…" She launched into a series of flurried movements that made it very clear how upset she was on behalf of me, Aisha, the event, the standards of professional conduct, the reputation of the fashion industry, and the casual and careless manner in which it had all been conducted.

To be fair, she was right. This had been a threat my reputation, her reputation, Aisha's reputation, the public perception of the event, the image of the Regency Center, the dignity of the rest of the volunteers, and the meaning and significance of everything she had been trying to achieve for the city and the people who had been dealing with the aftermath of the event.

That was kind of overshadowed by my own personal crisis and the fact that Aisha had been roped into this mess, but it was true. This wasn't just a fundraiser; Garment had worked extremely hard to make it a moment of catharsis and renewed hope for the city. A chance for Brockton Bay to come together and remind people they weren't the caricature the media and internet had been portraying them as. That they were a community, a people with shared hopes and dreams.

A scandal about the treatment of a thirteen-year-old girl would have seriously compromised that. Even if it had been proven to be untrue, there was no getting away from that kind of association once it had been made. Garment's attempt at an uplifting beacon of hope would have been turned into just another joke about the degraded nature of Brockton Bay, all while dragging down the two people closest to her.

To say she was upset was a bit of an understatement.

"I'm not asking you to let this go, but please, leave the direct action to Survey and Tetra?" I asked. Garment very reluctantly agreed, but I had the feeling that any thoughts of collaboration with Parian were well and truly dead and future projects might not be that friendly to her either.

For the moment, I could accept that. This had been a mess, a ghost of my past that decided to rear its head at the worst possible moment and nearly trigger a disaster. If this had gotten away from us, I couldn't imagine how badly things could have gone.

"Great." Aisha said with heavy sarcasm. "Now that that's done with, what's next?"

I gave her a slight smile. "After going through all that I figured we'd try something less stressful, like using a call bead to punch through to your passenger."

Aisha's eyes lit up "You're ready for that?" She asked as Tetra jumped to her feet, the rainbow effect of her interdimensional nature playing across the red glow of her hair and clothing.

"Can I help?" She asked, her eyes literally gleaming with the power of her Bifrost effect.

"We'll need you to observe at the very least. And in terms of being ready, we're about as ready as we can be for opening a controlled breach into passenger space for the purposes of overcharging a parahuman power."

Aisha smiled widely. "So, where are we doing this?" She asked.

"The duplicates have set up a secondary lab in the southeast sector of the broom closet." I explained. Extension charms really were insane, particularly when you combined them with unnatural skill in enchanting and stonework. "Though it might be best for you to officially leave the Regency Center before people wonder where you are."

"That would be for the best." Survey said. "The press has been expecting Garment's departure, though it was perhaps for the best that she did not interact with them immediately following the incident."

Yeah, I can't imagine that going over well. As it stood, people could probably pick up that something was bothering her, but at least she didn't look like she was literally dressed to kill anymore.

"What about you?" I asked. "Or Delphine, I guess?"

"Parian had departed with the rest of her team. She will be taking tomorrow 'off', though I have offered to check in. depending on developments, there may be follow up events this weekend, but that remains highly variable, particularly with the other active factors in the city."

Right. As much attention as this situation had required, it was actually pretty low in terms of the active threats we were working to address. Given the rate at which the situation was developing, we were likely to see half a dozen major conflicts before we needed any follow up on this matter. Kicking things down the road for a few days was basically the same as buying us a lifetime to address them.

"Then I guess we can head out and circle back from the Regency Center." I said, effectively ending what had been a combination situation assessment, strategy consultation, and venting session.

Everyone broke off, making their own way back to private corners of the Regency Center. Portals, teleportation, or use of the Workshop's key link saw the group off.

I would need to return as well, just to make sure no one wondered where I went. I also needed to get my car back through the current downtown gridlock, though I think I might lean on Fleet's manipulation of the traffic system to keep that from becoming a completely hellish experience. But before that, I went to check on Survey.

Survey in her physical form was standing in the scrying chamber maintaining her observations of the Slaughterhouse Nine and other points of interest. Both the size of the room and the complexity of the devices had increased since my last visit.

"Survey." I said. She nodded in greeting, briefly taking her eyes off a pool of crystal-clear water in a silver basin. "Things seem to be going well."

"The Temporal Controls have allowed an accelerated upgrade program for observation devices. Additionally, improvements granted by the Glove of the East have been highly beneficial." She explained.

I nodded. The highest levels of the Glove's enhancements needed to be fed with the equivalent of oceans of quicksilver bullets, but it was better than spending spiritual energy and my duplicates had more than enough time to create a near infinite supply of the stuff, and the capacity to store oceans in simple containers.

Once again, Harry Potter's extension charms were basically insane.

"That's good." I said. "But I wanted to check in on you."

"I'm handling my tasks adequately and have been able to significantly expand persistent surveillance efforts." She explained.

"I'm glad, but I was talking about today, with Parian." I said.

She turned to look at me. "I had the impression that you approved of the approach put forward by myself and Tetra."

"I do." I said. "I'm glad you stepped in to help her, and I'm glad she's getting support. If she was dragged back to her trigger conditions that hard, things must have been bad for her." Survey nodded. "But I wanted to ask about that. I thought you were upset about what she did."

"I am." She said firmly. "Extremely. The set of circumstances that allowed this matter to be resolved without seriously adverse consequences were fortuitous to a degree that suggest influence from probability altering effects. In the absence of those conditions, this would likely have resulted in a protracted and highly damaging set of consequences."

"I know that." I said. "But you weren't angry at Parian, even knowing how bad things could have gone. You tried to help her."

Survey nodded. "It was more advantageous to address and mitigate her concerns by entering her confidence than to attempt to secure the same result through damage to her career and reputation. In fact, such action would likely result in desperation-based attempts to lash out before her position could be fully neutralized."

I nodded slowly. It was the kind of clinical assessment I had gotten used to in the wake of my fight with Lung. Survey was focused on my wellbeing, but on practical actions that would help ensure my safety and the safety of the group, rather than just annihilating everything that could be classified as a threat. If getting Parian into a better headspace had a better chance of dealing with the crisis than going to war, then that was what she would do.

"Additionally, while I in no way approve of her action, I am personally familiar with the experience of a distressed mental state brought upon by one's own cognitive imbalance." Survey added. I raised an eyebrow.

"You were worried about her? About what she was going through?" I asked.

"I understand the experience of thinking oneself into a dysfunctional state. I also understand the level of support needed to effectively extricate oneself from that condition, and the difficulty most people encounter in both recognizing the need for such support and actually obtaining it." She explained.

I nodded. "I'm glad you were able to help her."

"Assistance will likely require ongoing effort. I had hoped to limit my entanglement due to certain elements of our interactions, but believe that would not be advisable given the current situation." She explained. I nodded, remembering those elements of their interactions.

"You're alright putting in this time? With your other commitments?" I asked.

She smiled. "The replica droid is more than sufficient for such purposes. In truth, the majority of 'Delphine's' schedule was unaccounted for. Obligations towards Garment and shared activities with Tetra only account for a small portion. I am able to devote a sufficient amount to address the situation with Parian."

I nodded. "That's good to hear." I said, then let out a breath. "And I know that there's something, with Parian and Sabah that you, Tetra, and Aisha know about."

Survey looked at me, and then nodded. "I suspected your abilities would be sufficient to discern as much, though not the full account?" I shook my head. "Do you wish to be informed?"

"If it becomes necessary." I said. "Really, I'd say I want to give Sabah some space, but I think I just want to move on. This, all of this, wasn't something I saw coming. It's not something I want to have to deal with if I don't have to. It sounds like you have the situation under control, and I'm happy to see that. I'm here if there's something I can help with, but you don't need to keep me posted unless there's something you think I need to know."

"Understood." She said, "I will inform Aisha and Tetra of your wishes."

"I already know." Tetra said, appearing beside me.

"I am aware. However, I have included a breakdown in my official report on the matter for both you and Aisha." Survey explained.

"You know Aisha doesn't read those, right?" Tetra asked.

"No, she will often skim relevant reports, particularly prior to a discussion regarding that topic. I have taken this into account with the documents prepared for her to ensure key details are included in areas that match her reading patterns." Survey said with just a hint of smugness.

"That's cheating." Tetra said petulantly.

Survey went on to explain that meaningful use of data on how Aisha approached reports as well as her response to specific documents didn't count as cheating while Tetra insisted that she was cheating to get more people to read her reports than would normally bother. Survey insisted that was a good thing, and that Tetra memorized all of the reports anyway. The back and forth continued for probably longer than it should have before I cleared my throat and broke things up.

"Are we ready to start the call bead test?" Tetra asked.

"Soon." I said. "I'm going to get things set up, but we can start as soon as everyone gets back from the Regency Center." I paused as I felt the Forge move, bringing a massive mote from the Quality constellation towards me. "And right after I deal with this power."

I just managed to get the words out before the massive ball of power descended upon me.

(Author's Note: The final roll of this week will act as the opening roll of the next chapter.)

Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

VOWP Cellular Service (Personal Reality) 200:

This Extranet upgrade hooks your Personal Reality up with Voice Over Warehouse Protocol Cellular Service, and provides you with fiat backed cellphones that are guaranteed to connect to the Personal Reality or to any other cell phone on the service… regardless of what Reality those phones are connected to at the current moment. You gain a vending machine that vends Nokia dumb-phones, iPhones up to 8, and Galaxy S7 smartphones, plus any cell phone (or similar) you supply it with a copy of, as well as SIM cards or the equivalent for other phones. These phones will work just fine no matter where you find yourself, but be careful as they're just as durable as normal ones and will need to be replaced should they get damaged or destroyed. They must be charged as normal, but get extremely good battery life.