Emily Piggot glared at the paper before her, oh she had known it was coming, with how many 'failures' had occurred during the last few weeks. It was only a matter of time...
The large slip of paper with the words FIRED across it seemed to taunt her, even as she read it. It explained the numerous reasons she'd been fired, dozens of deaths the PRT hadn't been able to prevent (Even if those deaths were criminals), the disappearance of Thomas, all their cape identities being revealed, the death of so many of her capes... The latest disaster the last straw.
Things had been going down hill ever since Faust appeared, the bastard never seemed to run out of tricks. She'd tried to get a Kill Order on him, but without full knowledge of his abilities she couldn't receive permission. Even when the bastard broke the Endbringer Truce and kidnapped her wards, those above her were terrified of the cape escalating if they signed a Kill order. Cowards the lot of them, fearing what Faust could do instead of what he'd already done.
The Merchants were never truly a threat, annoying yes, but everyone knew the only reason they hadn't been wiped out was the other gangs being such large threats.
The Empire was a step up, even after they split they had dozens of powerful capes, but Faust and his group (Who were being called Mephisto online, a fitting name if nothing else) tore them apart.
She had hoped Lung's reputation would stall the mad Tinker long enough for them to put a plan together to deal with him, but of course things didn't go as she'd hoped. The ABB torn to shreds, Lung being who knows where, and another incident of 'The Light' appearing (While it hadn't had any side effects on capes this time, it still lead to the worrying conclusion that Faust had a weapon that could wipe out entire cities, if it was truly him that had used it. But considering the timing...).
Now? Now despite the chaos of the Brockton Bay, the PRT being its weakest in decades... She'd lost her job, replaced by that trigger happy bastard Tagg. The city didn't need someone who only knew conflict, he'd drive the PRT to ruin she knew.
Sighing, Emily grabbed a bottle of scotch she'd kept under her desk for shit situations like this, not bothering with a cup she simply drank from the bottle. Who cared if she got drunk? This was her last day in office after all.
At the very least, she'd have one final deed to her name as she grabbed a pen to sign her signature on another paper.
Kill Order - Faust.
Contessa walked through the halls of Cauldron Base Site Sixty-Seven, approaching a large steel door, she glanced through the window. Within was a knocked out many with a lanky, yet muscular appearance with long black hair and a scruffy beard, Heartbreaker.
Step 356.
Acquire Heartbreaker, brainwash him with The Slug.
It had been surprisingly easy to tempt the Master with news a beautiful and powerful female cape was passing by his current domain, his unending appetite couldn't ignore the meal before him, going to hunt the supposed cape down with a few of his brainwashed harem. A few gas grenades had easily taken him down and allowed them to bring him in, just in time to.
Cauldron had planned to set off an atomic bomb in the city, using it to both ignite further conflict between groups claiming to have planted the bomb, while at the same time making it seem as if Heartbreaker had perished. But before they could, Aleister's newest minion had struck, mass petrifying the entire city and melting most of it.
It was ironic that despite him standing against them, Aleister was working towards there goals. The fact he'd created another powerful parahuman only served to further this point.
With Heartbreaker, they now had a backup in case Aleister proved to be unwilling to listen. Or at least, thats what the others in Cauldron believe.
Step 357.
Head to The Nurse.
{Queen Administrator calls meeting to order}
{Shaper-Bud here}
{Safeguard here}
{Broadcast here}
{Future here}
{Sting here}
{Champion here}
{Negotiator Here}
{Mission, research into Anomaly One?}
{Energy B 'Mana' still unclear, attempts to replicate require immense amounts of energy. Theory, energy exists in a higher dimension}
{Unlikely, low dimensional scanners can detect Energy B, connection to The Light? Eighty-six percent certain, insufficient data}
{Conflict needed, lack of powerful foes in Location Brockton Bay. Ideas?}
{Promote conflict with rush of new Triggers}
{Push Conflict Engines into another attack, destroy city and force Anomaly One to move}
{Trigger Subjects of Interest 'Natalie' and 'Aliya', Conflict Drive will push them into danger, Anomaly One will interfere to protect them. Force circumstances that will lead to Subjects of Interest death}
{Chances of each working... New Triggers thirty percent, Subjects of Interest thirty-two percent, Conflict Engine will likely result in fleeing to alternate Earth}
{Inclusive data, shelving plans. Research into The Light?}
{All attempts inclusive, dimensional scanners breaking, Warp malfunctions when 'Rhongyomniad' is used. Research, connections to Arthurian stories}
{More combat needed, more data. Remove Anomaly One from Brockton Bay, suggestion, New York, war}
{Explain}
{Conclusion, Holy Grail = Anti-Entropy. Must force Anomaly One and Anomaly Two to create another and acquire it for research}
{Permission granted, sending resources}
For those curious who each Shard belonged to (Although some of the characters are dead).
Shaper-Bud = Panacea.
Warp = Vista/Iris.
Safeguard = Imp.
Broadcast = Jack Slash.
Negotiator = Tattletale.
Future = Dinah/Lumine.
Sting = Flechette/Match/Homer.
Champion = ?
Anomaly One = Aleister.
Anomaly Two = Medea.
Ah Jack Slash, causing problems even from beyond the grave!
The Nurse grinned as she stabbed her current patient with a syringe, watching eagerly as their body began to shift, expanding and shrinking, pieces of skin falling off and rotting, until eventually it just stopped, dead.
"Aah pooeey, another failure!". Yet her grin widened, that just meant more experiments! Grabbing another syringe, she moved to another patient's bed-
"Nurse". The emotionless voice of Contessa spoke up, freezing the other girl. "Experiment status?".
"Wellll, I've not managed to get the skin cells and DNA you've sent me working! I can create perfect clones out of all of them, except Aleister, Medea, and Okita, all attempts have resulted in failure. Aleister's cells even cause mutations and near-instant death to all I inject them with!". The Nurse explained with a grin. "Have ya managed to get that new smoking snake babe's DNA yet? I wanna see some mutant lizards!".
"Not yet... Have you managed to figure out who Medea and Okita were?". The Precog was all serious compared to her fellow Cauldron agent, who frowned.
"Nope! I can tell you who everyone else is, but those two? I can't find out who they were before, are we sure they were people Aleister modified the appearance of?". The Bio-Tinker frowned, it was rather frustrating not being able to find any hint of the two woman's existence besides the falsely created government files.
"Unsure, they may be from an Alternate Earth or even created from the ground up by Bio-Tinkering".
"Oooohh I hope they were! Imagine if we could get Aleister to make us an army of parahumans grown from the ground up!". The Nurse insane grin widened, oh how fun that'd be!
"Understood... Keep up your research, I have to meet the others". Contessa began to walk away, even as The Nurse waved goodbye, before getting back to her... Research.
Contessa arrived at the Cauldron Executive meeting, giving a nod to her comrades as she sat down.
"With the arrival of Contessa, I call this meeting to order. First, how goes The Nurse's research?". Alexandria asked the Precog.
"Medea, Okita, and likely the new snake cape, currently being called Medusa for simplicity sake, are all likely ether completely Bio-Tinker made or from alternate Earth's. Attempts to clone the first two woman and Aleister have constantly ended in failure". The emotionless parahuman replied, following up with. "Attempts to keep searching for their past is ill-advised".
"Understood, have our scientific divisions found anything else out about The Light?". Alexandria turned to Doctor Mother, who shook her head.
"The Agents won't be caught unaware by it again, despite it being used to kill Lung, not a single parahuman was effected this time, greatly reducing its effect against Scion. I would still suggest trying to acquire Vista to both study whatever modifications Aleister made, but also to take whatever is used to create The Light". Doctor Mother replied simply, handing out a file containing everything they knew about Vista and the changes done to her.
A quick DNA scan had allowed Cauldron to quickly figure out that 'Iris Dawn' was simply a changed Vista, further tests allowing them to confirm the identities of each of Aleister's allies, with the exception of those already mentioned.
"So he used something to make them look older?". Eidolon asked with a look of disgust, they already knew Aleister was likely in a sexual relationship with two of his allies, had he...?
"No, they ARE older. Likely some sort of power used to age them".
A sigh of relief left the strongest parahuman, sure it was still a monstrous act, but them being of age was a small comfort.
"Have we found any proof of the Third Entity theory?". Contessa asked, speeding the meeting along.
"No concrete proof, but we have found a lot of evidence. Aleister has performed dozens of power upgrades or modifications, he's seemingly able to do this without being close or even touching the person he modifies the power of". Doctor Mother frowned as she brought up a file on Aleister. "However, I would like to bring up a possibility Aleister is obsessed".
"Like he wasn't already... Explain". Alexandria rubbed a hand across her head, things could never be simple could they?
"I was lead to this possibility after looking over pictures of Medea, Okita, and 'Medusa'. Along with research done on the 'Demi-Servants' who were apart of his first wave of improving powers. Each seems to match with a historical or mythical figure". The only non-parahuman gifted files to everyone. "Princess Medea of Colchis, Okita Souji of the Shinsengumi, Medusa I don't need to explain. Even most of the Demi-Servants seem to match mythological themes".
"So he's a myth fanatic?". Eidolon asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It seems so, he may even believe his powers are actually magic". At that last word, a few chuckles were suppressed. Magic, what a ridiculous thing to believe in.
"That could lead to complications, hopefully its just a theme he's stuck to and not an actual obsession". Alexandria sighed, before straightening herself. "Alright, Contessa. You've got the backup ready for if our first plan to control Aleister failures?".
The Precog nodded, not saying a single word.
"Its time to move then, with Tagg replacing Piggot the PRT will push on Faust all the harder, he'll ether be forced to leave the Bay or take drastic actions, ether of which could assist us". The woman of the Trimuvirate was about to speak when Contessa spoke.
"Step 364, send Aleister Crowley to New York". The Boogeyman of the Cape world's words froze the group, before each nodded. If thats what the path required, thats what they'd get done. "It doesn't need to be permanent, but a few months in New York will allow the path to proceed".
"Alright then, add it to the note". With those final words from Alexandria, Contessa left the room.
2353 steps left on path to acquiring a Holy Grail.
A smile crossed her lips, so thats what Path to Victory wanted? She wasn't surprised the most intelligent Shard had managed to figure out that the Holy Grail was real and wanted one for itself, but she hadn't expected other Shards to also figure it out.
She doubted the Shards truly believed the Holy Grail could grant a wish, but they did know it could grant a massive amount of energy, energy the Shards wanted.
Another Holy Grail War... Gaia had dismissed the idea before, where would the fun be if a bunch of weak Demi-Servants were created again? But perhaps with a bit of help...
She'd leave the choice up to Aleister, but she wondered if Cauldron would even leave him with the option? Ah, the show was getting exciting!
She couldn't wait to see what happened next.
Aleister smiled as he approached his family's bakery, he'd messaged his family he'd be visiting today so they'd decided to close up early. Knocking on the door, he frowned when nobody answered, perhaps his family was upstairs and couldn't hear? He knocked louder, sweat beginning to form on his forehead when again he received no awnser.
'Calm down, they may just be out for five minutes to grab some last minute food'. He shook his head, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pair of keys and unlocking the door. Entering the building, he froze as a familiar metallic scent hit his nose, no... NO!
Rushing into the building, he felt his heart stop at the sight in the kitchen, no... no nonononononononono!
Aleister Crowley stared in horror at the bodies of his parents, both of them laid down besides in each other in an almost peaceful manner, with large holes in their chests, slowly leaking blood. No...
He fell to his knees, uncaring as blood stained them, or the panicked questions coming over from his bond with his Servants, all he could see was the bodies before him.
But despair was quickly pushed away by something else, cold anger. Rising to his feet, he placed his hands on his dead parent's stomachs, a use of Flash Air sending them to the storage he used for dead bodies, he needed them preserved.
"Medea". He spoke both out loud and through their telepathic bond, not even giving the Caster time respond. "Use every spell you can to ensure nothing happens to those bodies, I... I need to investigate".
"O-of course Aleister". The shaky voice of his Servant replied, the witch in shock both from the sudden deaths and the sheer anger her master was showing.
With that done, the Magician used one of his Perks, Modern Magus, to create a quick wave of fire that burned away the blood on the ground. No, he was a fucking True Magic user and Necromancer, he wouldn't let this be the end. But right now, he had more important things to do.
His sisters weren't here, and considering his parents souls weren't here ether, it was an easy conclusion they had attached themselves to their children. From what he had seen while wandering around the bay, souls tended to stick to areas or people close to them, an image of a man who seemed to be suffering from expression being followed by a woman and the former Demi-Servant of Caster popped into his mind.
If that was the case, his sisters were still alive, he could save them. He WOULD save them.
Aleister's eyes flickered to the side, were a single perfectly written letter laid. With quick steps he approached it and took hold, reading the message across it.
If you want your sisters back Mr Crowley, come to New York and bring a Holy Grail with you.
His fists clenched, uncaring even as he felt the letter destroy itself, some sort of Tinker-Tech to ensure he couldn't use it to trace them?
"I don't know who did this, but know you've made a powerful enemy today... I won't rest, I won't stop, until I have you at my mercy!". Aleister shouted, his body beginning to instinctively radiate Reiryoku, causing cracks to spread across the floor. But despite the struggle, he managed to rein himself in.
Someone wanted a Holy Grail? He'd give them the whole damn supper.
Sooo, not gonna lie, the parents were planned to die for a while, same with Natalie and Aliya being kidnapped. It was meant to happen a while ago, but got constantly pushed back by other bigger events happening.
Well... That happened. We can never have nice things in Worm can we? Aleister with Flash Air can easily visit New York, but whether we create a Holy Grail (Medea can easily create an empty one) and bring it? Thats up to you guys.