Palanquin
Spitfire was not having a pleasant morning. The Warning had gone out along the villain's network that the Nine were in town. They knew they were coming for them specifically. The villain's alliance had informed them that due to Labyrinth they were a sure visit. She and Burnscar had shared an asylum. Burnscar would come to visit her former friend.
When she did Spitfire knew her power was nothing but counter-productive. Faultline had given her a knock-off Confoam sprayer. The power to create flames would be worse than useless when Burnscar attacked. With limited ammo, she hadn't had much chance to practice with the weapon.
Gregor's power was good for what they faced. He could sort of be a living confoam sprayer when needed. The New Girl Shamrock had a Danger tech laser rifle. Newter had some ceramic knives he was coating with his chemical cocktail. They should be heat-resistant enough to make it through Burnscar's flame. Faultline had a shotgun filled with pellets of similar material. They were as prepared as they could be.
There's nothing to do now but drive yourself crazy with anticipation. The wait was hell. The attackers would do something unexpected. They always did. Being on defense bunkered down was a nice advantage but being proactive was so much more reassuring. The feeling that you were doing something over the drag of waiting.
The club was closed as it was well before noon. The mercs kept their weapons close and eyes sharp. As expected the attackers did something they didn't expect. Paradoxically because they were expecting that they didn't panic but rolled with it.
The main dance floor vanished in a cacophony of noise. Damsel of Distress rocketed up out of the new hole in the club's structure. Her overly long fingers grabbed a support beam and she flung herself toward the undamaged floor. Newter sprung into action leaping off the nearest wall. He hurtled himself at the attacking villain kicking her directly in the forehead.
The attack sent her landing off course. She slid to a stop on her backside. Her legs tangled up with a table. Rather than attempt to recover she slashed a bracelet off her left arm while flinging her hand at Gregor. He wasn't taking any chances. He blasted the object with a tacky foam. The bracelet stuck to a pillar before exploding into flames. The concrete pillar was largely unharmed but out of the flames stepped Burnscar.
She waved at the bar causing the alcohol bottles to pop like so many Molotov cocktails. The automatic suppressors kicked in at once. Burnscar's power was able to overwhelm the high-price system. That took a bit of focus, however. Shamrock and Spitfire raced to join Gregor.
Faultline had focused on Damsel moving from table to table obscuring her opponents' aim. The seasoned merc didn't trust any material to stop Damsel's destructive blasts. She only sought to obscure her sight. Newter had his knives out. He had spared a glance towards Burnscar but decided to keep the pressure on Damsel.
For her part Damsel was acting oddly she had made only minimal use of her power. She'd send up a few flares to annihilate the projectiles heading for her. She seemed more interested in threatening Newter with her new claws than attacking him with her power.
Shamrock dodged an explosion of flame from Burnscar. As she did a squeal of feedback came out of the sound system.
"Mimi, stop. I'm not going with you. I can't go with you."
"Elle? Where are you? Let's talk, we can make this work, it will be like old times." Burnscar's eyes searched the exposed second level of the club looking for a sound booth or manager's office.
"It won't. I have a new family. They care. What you have isn't family. They don't care."
The Palanquin mercenaries had slowly adjusted their positions. Damsel had done the same hands ready but not pointing at any specific member of the crew. Both sides seemed willing to let negotiations proceed.
"They do Elle it will be better you'll see! We'll have each other and-"
Damsel flicked her fingers and annihilation streamed from between the fingers of her left hand. Burnscar's neck down to her diaphragm vanished into a mist. Her lower body fell forward as her head was snatched by its hair out of the air with Damsel's right hand.
A choked scream went out on the PA then the system cut out. Everyone except Shamrock had moved their target to Burnscar. In shock, they changed targets. Only the new capes' loud cries stopped them from opening fire.
"Hold fire! Hold fire!"
Damsel was going into a crouch, her hands again pointing down. She set the severed head on the floor by her feet.
"What is going on here?" Faultline tersely asked.
Damsel opened her mouth and let out an airy rasp. She tilted her overly long hand so it pointed at herself and pointed at her throat with one long knife blade finger.
"That makes things difficult, can you write?"
She came as close to balling her fists as she could with their slender width and extreme length. Her head shook an angry no she then extended one finger and dipped it into Mimi's blood. She smeared a dollar sign onto the floor.
"Please tell me we're not about to play blood and offal pictionary," Newter said as he swallowed back the sick feeling rising in his stomach.
"Stow it. This is important. I doubt she's happy about it either." Faultline snapped.
Damsel gave a nod as she made more dollar signs six in al. She tapped next to one then crooked her finger back to herself. She extended her fingers palm still down and tapped the other five each with a single finger. She then made a slow flick towards the group that didn't come so far as to aim her hand at them.
"Equal shares?"
The hand rocked in the air then with no blood for ink traced a rectangle a squiggle in a line along the middle another squiggle in the lower right.
"Check... Paycheck. You want to hire us. To protect you."
Her finger stabbed the floor as she shook her head.
"To kill them."
She nodded again.
"The rest of the kills split the same?"
Damsel nodded then again pointed to her throat.
"You want healing as part of your share and need someone to negotiate with the PRT and Protectorate. We can do that."
"Is this a good idea?" Gregor asked.
"Maybe not but we just witnessed a rarity. Someone on the inside betrayed the Nine. Normally Jack Slash has better control than that. Being possessed by the Butcher has changed him I think. This might be our chance."
"Then we had better find those independents who captured the last Butcher in New York. The ones who had her when Jack accidentally killed her." Gregor opined.
"The Punks. They were in Boston, where everyone expected the Nine to show amid the chaos. We might have to cut them in, or we can put them in a lump sum. I hear they are almost mad for vengeance at their leader's death to Jack." Faultline corrected seeing that more hands in the pot were agitating Damsel.
"I'll call the Protectorate. Let them know we have a confirmed kill." Gregor offered.
"I'll make the other calls. Newter, check on Elle. Get her a pot of soup or something. Spitfire, Shamrock keep an eye on our new employer, be wary but not paranoid." Faultline ordered as she headed out to set events in motion.
Brockton General Hospital
Weld approached the parking lot. Thanks to Vista the team had made good time. They beat Miss Militia to the scene. He, Vista, and Kid Win were all that was left in the city. Panacea was healing her sister near a giant glowing emerald.
"What's the situation?" He asked.
"Bad. We were ambushed by Crawler, Siberian, and Bonesaw. Crawler was crazy about attacking Nova. He was moving about wickedly fast. She couldn't get away from him. I couldn't get past Siberian to help Amy and De-" Glory Girl stopped her face twisted into thought.
Weld "Dean Stansfield who escaped to find Gallant? Kid dropped the Gallant suit off around back the PRT is covering for him making the change."
"Only a few people saw him here as Dean but the cameras-"
"The PRT will take care of most of that. So Dean was unable to get Gallant because as long as Bonesaw didn't know there was another Parahuman we had a trump card."
"In short, yeah. When I saw Nova wasn't going to be able to get clear of Crawler I knew I had to do something to break the stalemate. So, I flew away and made it look like I was cutting out. I came back with that- well it was a cement truck. Straight down and from high enough, I had trouble breathing. I was really hoping I had killed him."
"He's still alive!" Kid Win exclaimed, spinning towards the shattered truck.
"He's gone he changed his body into something like a slime or mollusk and slithered away into the storm drain," Amy explained.
Weld nodded. He turned his head and eyed the crystal.
"Yeah, that. After I took Crawler out of the fight, Nova attacked Siberian and was going to annihilate Bonesaw. She was charging up some sort of area-effective version of her eye rays but before she could unleash it Siberian reappeared. The bitch punched straight through Nova's chest." Victoria finished.
"She stumbled then turned into that," Amy added.
"I didn't know she could do an area attack," Vista said.
"She couldn't, or she never has, she thought it was within the ability of her powers to grow in that direction but she wasn't cleared to start practicing such. Destroying Bonesaw's countermeasures was her inspiration. Looks like she decided to skip straight to attempting it in the field." Weld peeked at an instrument Kid Win was waving at the crystal.
"Sorry Boss can't make heads nor tails out of this. A bit of toxic Flux like when she pushed her powers against Leviathan. I think that might be her pushing the eye rays. This is outside anything Armsmaster and Dragon prepared me for." Kid Win explained
"Has anyone touched it?" Weld asked.
"We did, it's so slick you can't really feel it. Nothing biological about it. Stopped my power cold. Vicky and Gallant said it feels a bit like when Clockblocker freezes something." Amy answered.
Vista ran her hand over the crystal and gave a nod. "It's immune to my power as well. My senses tell me there isn't anything here, not even empty space."
Weld raised an eyebrow. "Let's not do that anymore than we have to. At least until we can get some better scans. No powers, no touching."
"Sheilder and Laserdream, incoming." Kid Win warned.
Weld nodded. "Miss Militia got rerouted. Faultline was attacked, it's not confirmed but they may have killed Burnscar. Assault was badly hurt. Battery found a way to stabilize him. They are on their way."
"Stabilize? It's fucking Othala isn't it?" Amy pondered.
"I can't say."
Vicky nodded "It's Fucking Othala."
"Where is our other resident Nazi?" Amy asked.
"I can't say much she's on special assignment. It's rules-related. On an unrelated note, Max Anders is dead. Has to be the worst day ever for his kid." Weld explained.
"Oh my god Theo?" Vicky put her hand to her mouth.
"Yeah, we might need Dean to talk to him later. For now, he's in the care of his stepmom."
"Yeah, I- I guess that would be best. They really hit everywhere at once didn't they." Vicky responded.
Seconds later she was nearly bowled over by an embrace from Crystal. Eric made a more reserved landing closer to Amy.
"Oh my god. Are you ok? What happened?"
While Crystal received a repeat of Victoria's recounting of events Gallant returned. One of the large white trucks that had become synonymous with the Villains sending some of theirs on an officially sanctioned collaboration was pulling up.
Out of the truck came a paramedic team with a stretcher. Assault was on the device. Gifter was on one side and Battery was on the other. They made a Beeline for Panacea.
"I keep hitting him with regeneration but it's not doing much more than keeping pace with the damage."
Amy put her hand on Asaults forehead. "Good, they gave him fluids. This concoction he was pumped full of feels like Bonesaws work it's very nasty I'm going to have to modify cells to break it down. With the damage already done, I'm going to need more biomass."
"Here you go one five-gallon tub of highly active yeast" a familiar voice called out.
Danger marched over bucket in hand and set it down next to Amy. Kid Win watched Expert who he still thought of as Victor. He made sure the former Nazi was staying out of the way. Gallant gave Weld a nod that he would keep an eye on the villains as well.
"Step away a bit to give them room. We have something over here you need to look at. You're the local expert on Quantum powers. What can you tell us about this." Weld asked him.
"Oh- Balls." the color drained from his face as he regarded the glowing emerald shell. He reached out and put his hand on the surface. To everyone's surprise, Amy suddenly dropped Assault's wrist and lunged for Danger. She touched her fingers to the exposed neck below the hairline but above his collar. Other than shocked gasps no one dared move. Just as quickly Weld had grabbed Panacea by the back of her neck. Every visible eye was darting around at the tense standoff. Except Panacea s whose were wide with shock and Weld who was focused directly on Amy.
"Amy Dallon. You are going to remove your hand from Doctor Danger at once. When you do we will take several steps back until Assault and the stretcher are between us and him. At that point, you will start explaining yourself at once." Weld ordered in a calm but very authoritative tone.
Amy's fingers pulled back into a fist and she stepped back with each of Weld's heavy treads. Most of the group had changed to watching the retreat. Gallant however was keeping his eyes on Danger. Dean noticed the jaw muscles clenching and unclenching. Slowly the Doctor put his hand down away from the closest facet of the rough crystal. He inhaled a careful breath between clenched teeth.
"What the hell is going on? My- partner is dying and you. What the hell did you even do?" Battery screamed.
Amy's mouth started to open. Danger however cut her off. "She offered me unsolicited medical expertise. Now either, I am her patient or her victim. In the first case, her silence is assured and she will keep her mouth shut about anything she gained in this- abuse of confidence. Or, as her victim I press charges, and as an officer of the law you take her into custody."
"May- I ask your retroactive permission to observe your power work on Nova. She's- my friend. My best friend." Amy asked, closing her eyes.
The jaw muscle kept twitching. "Given the circumstances, I feel I have little choice. Now." He released a deep breath. "Heal your damn patient. I'm going for a walk to collect myself."
"What about-" Victoria began
"Later!" Danger exclaimed as he stalked off behind the truck
"What were you thinking Amy? Your Mom and Dad are on their way so you better have a reason for all of that." Crystal said.
"He admitted he erased her memories. I didn't feel we could trust him to be honest. I have felt how Nova's power works from the inside and his power is supposed to be the same type. I was going to hitch along and double-check that he wasn't doing something to her."
"That- well that at least makes sense," Crystal admitted.
"It was still dangerous irresponsible and wrong." Battery added.
"Yes," Amy said quietly.
None of them saw Vista follow Danger. She rounded the truck and seeing the back door open she stepped up into the truck. She approached Danger and put her hands on her hips.
"What the hell was that John?"
A door opened where there shouldn't have been one. Through it, Vista couldn't see the parking lot. It opened into a hallway made of concrete and steel. Someone in the same outfit as the boy she was with raised his eyebrows which was primarily noticeable in how it made the goggles over his eyes move.
"John-David Ethan Danger, Mom wants to know what happened here. She also wants you to come to her side at once."
"Justin-Daniel Ian Danger, tell her I don't want to talk about it right now."
"You didn't get the hint. She used your full name. She's in no question asked, do as I say, angry Mom mode. Your wishes don't factor into this. Also, you'll want to be there. She has a plan to avenge Jean"
"Fine! Sorry Missy I have to go. I'll try to explain later." John said in apology. As he passed his brother he addressed his twin."That bitch Panacea knows my secrets. Don't let her off the hook, Justin"
"Yes. even the ones you were keeping from me" Justin replied. John's eyes widened a bit but he resumed his stalking walk down the hall. Justin came out of the hall as he did the anomalous door closed and Missy's feeling of the space beyond it vanished.
"Terribly sorry you had to see that. Family drama I'm afraid." Justin said turning toward Missy.
"Is Mary or Jean or whatever you say her name is going to be ok?"
"Yes, I'm sure she will. Let's go I can explain it to everyone at once. John wouldn't have been good at explaining it. His personal beliefs conflict you see."
"Not the least bit. I don't understand half of what's going on and-"
The Endbringer sirens started to blare.
"Seriously!" Missy exclaimed.
"Well, this is ill-timed," Justin said as he jumped down out of the back of the truck. Together the two raced back to the group to see what was going on.
Cauldron Base
Eidolon and Doctor Mother were reading the reports from Contessa. She had been unable to path an answer to who was responsible for the Endbringers. She had managed to carefully word questions to eliminate nearly every Eden cape known to Cauldron. The remaining list was a short one. A few case 53's they could not find a few mistakes that had been dropped well away from Bet who couldn't be reached in a timely fashion, and Eidolon.
"It has to be me. My power is the only one Contessa can't Path." David said his voice filled with devastation.
"It has grown in likelihood. It still is not a sure thing. Even if it is you who started their attacks that doesn't mean you necessarily can end their rampage. Even the most extreme methods might fail. Then where would we be without you?" Doctor Mother reminded him.
"I know, I know. Other than Scion I'm the only one who's driven them off. What if out of a desire to test my power for the final battle I called up powerful opponents to test my skill."
"Which is why you are still a key to our defensive plans. I worry about your mental health David. I think you have pinned too much hope on the Kaga formula restoring the vigor your powers first had."
"It's not only that. We know quantum power sets come with a power source. We can guess from reports on the Dallon girl that the Shards seem fascinated by this. We also know this enhancement can boost human faculties. I have always felt there were secrets of my power slipping around just beyond my comprehension."
"You hope enhanced intelligence would give you the ability to reason out these mysteries?"
"Yes, something of the sort. Perhaps I can power the abilities my agent grants with quantum. The tests, how have they gone?"
"Interesting. We have used three of the four vials we have. We started with a normal human with no gemma for control. She is now a minor brute. A human with an inactive gemma saw the surrounding tissue react as if the tissue was a cancer. The situation has hit an equilibrium. Minor symptoms from ongoing aggravation of the immune system. The body is making no progress with destroying the pseudo-organ. Then there is Kurt. He had already active parahuman powers. No reaction from his immune system. He has increased mental activity. It appears that the bulk of change is in his reaction speed and response times, not raw intelligence."
"He is adapting to make better use of the power set he was given. Perhaps on an instinctive level." David postulated.
"Yes, perhaps so. Far too small of a sample size to do more than guess. We need more samples or better yet the ability to create our own doses. Hopefully, the Dragonslayer's trip will be fruitful."
"We still have one dose."
"None of the Kaga-granted powers have displayed the raw power you need to fuel any of the powers you have lost. You would need something closer to a Nova. The Teragen experimented with creating Nova's. At least according to the records the Dragon Slayers brought us."
"The girl in Brockton was a spy in the Teragen camp. A spy placed by that Hightower guy to learn their secrets."
"Absolutely not David, do not go near the girl. She was set up to lure us out. In a worst-case scenario, we will bargain with Danger. I can not believe he would wipe the girl's mind and not back up any data she had. He is a scientist after all. Adding to the store of human knowledge is his calling."
A light appeared on every nearby console.
"Endbringer attack. We were overdue for one. Poor timing with the chaos in Boston." Doctor Mother said, pulling the data.
"This isn't a known Endbringer. It's attacking the facility holding Leviathan!"
"Yes, it is. Hold on before rushing out. Dragon is logging into the fortress controls. Let's see what this new Endbringer is capable of before you engage."
"Door to just outside the exclusion zone. Hold it ready." David ordered.
The fortress scanned with every conceivable sensor the team of shard and Quantum-empowered minds could dream up. There indeed was an Endbringer one that had never been seen before.
It had a bulbous appearance and an enormous globular midsection. His legs would have looked odd supporting such an abdomen. He was however hanging unsupported in the air.
The fortress guns were not opening fire. Longer-range fire from the Protectorate HQ neared then froze in mid-motion.
"Temporal powers he's going to pop the bubble and free Leviathan!" David exclaimed as he dove through the portal
Eidolon had already loaded his fastest flight, his most broad thinker power, and his strongest remaining brute power. He saw the monster's snarling face turn to him as its arm gestured almost mockingly.
The bubble around Leviathan popped. The tide was in so the suspended ocean water rushed into the broken Fortress. Eidolon's thinker power gave him time to process what happened but only just.
Leviathan moved the barest twitch. He then exploded. Chucks of his body struck the new Endbringer like a shotgun blast. The new Endbringer was scoured nearly to the bone.
Eidolon wasted no time and crashed into the monster with his full power. The damaged flesh proved a poor defense against the world's second most powerful Cape.
The floating Endbringer vanished. Eidolon's earpiece chimed. He flipped its channel.
"You shouldn't have rushed in! Transmitting is an unacceptable security risk."
"Then make this quick, where is it?"
"Gone you drove it to retreat. There is no response from Dragon! All of her duties are now on automatic. That will work for seventy-two hours, we have that long to find out what happened to her."
"Shit"
David flew down to the fortress. The place was covered in a maze of temporal fields. He dropped his thinker power and brute load. He needed specialized power. There was that temporal awareness he'd used to avoid Grey Boy. It would be useful here. Should he add a specialized thinker power? Maybe not.
"I'll figure this out. I can deal with this locally. Best if we drop the transmission."
Doctor Mother didn't respond but the line dropped. The lack of transmission automatically swapped him to the Protectorate channel.
"-ent. The city is under attack by both an Endbringer and the Nine. All PRT forces must sweep the shelters. This could be a trap."
"Miss Militia? This is Eidolon. Kill the alarm, the Endbringer has been driven away. I am going to need assistance at the Fortress. It is in bad shape out here."
"We are in bad shape everywhere, sir! The Nine are in the city. We can expect Shatterbird to scream soon. Assault is among the casualties as are Nova and Glory Girl."
"That leaves only three protectorate heroes. Contact Doctor Danger at once it's time to call in the villain's offer to help keep the city stable. What is the situation with our casualties? Are they getting medical attention? Is Panacea available?"
"Battery managed to get Assault to a nursing home. Gifter and Expert were there. Gifter has been keeping Assault alive. They are loading up in PRT transport and heading to Brockton General Hospital.
Nova was fatally injured but seems to have encased herself in some kind of green crystal. Panacea is attempting to figure out what has happened and if she can heal the damage. I am headed there as well to plan and set things to order."
"What is the new member doing?"
"Luminous is dealing with a Crisis Point. Sir, we should leave her to it."
"I see. Yes, continue as you have planned. I must touch base with Director Calvert." Eidolon cut the com and reconnected. Calvert answered quickly.
"Eidolon we are lucky to have you here. What is the status of the Endbringer attack?"
"The Leviathan appears to be dead. The attacker was a different Endbringer, a new one. It has been defeated largely by the Fortress' impressive armament. The Fortress appears a total loss, however. Put one of your men on recalling Armsmaster, we need him out here ASAP."
"I have Armstrong on the other line. I can send Squealer and the patrol boats. Trainwreck, Leet, Uber, and Circus have just appeared at the ferry they have- 'borrowed' it to reach the Fortress with all available speed."
"Given the situation Director, I think we can forgive it this time. As soon as your boats are here I will be heading to Brockton General. It sounds like the bulk of the local heroes are going to be there, and a sizable faction of villains as well. I will be staying in Brockton at minimum until Armsmaster returns beyond that-. We will just have to see. If you need anything from me. No matter how minor it may seem, do not hesitate to call. In a crisis such as this, even the little things have a magnified effect."
"Very reassuring"
"In darker news Director Dragon was logged into the fortress when it suffered catastrophic failure. Some feedback may have had adverse effects on her. We have been unable to contact her. Prioritize any data recording devices, computer cores, or other storage mediums. They might give us a clue as to what happened inside the Fortress. The more we know about the circumstances here the clearer idea we will have as to how Dragon is and when she will recover."
"Loud and clear sir, it will be a priority."
"Keep the city safe Calvert we will have a counterattack prepared soon. The Nine have succeeded in finally overreaching. I doubt they will live to regret their choice."
"Remember sir you are absolutely forbidden to hunt Jack Slash. As the new Butcher his death anywhere in your presence is a danger not only to this city but the entire world."
"I am well aware, Director. I have studied numerous plans to contain and capture the Butcher that were formed in the wake of the Teeth attacking New York. The Punks held the Butcher for half a week. Siberian's presence complicates things but in the end, this affront to decency must be answered. Any villain who uses an Endbringer attack as cover for their crimes must pay. It would set a dangerous precedent if we didn't answer this. I plan to be involved from the rear, not the front but an attack plan will be made and carried out."
"I think our organizations can come to a place of mutual acceptance if that is done with care. I must attend to the city. Good luck sir."
"And to you Director."
Eidolon continued to scan the ruins. The remaining temporal fields were small. They slowed time to a crawl. As he watched a few systems floating in mid-air already cut off from further power flow reacted. The projectiles floated barely moving through the air. The energy weapons lanced out escaping the slow time field with their extraordinary speed.
"Squealer, watch the weapons, it's too late to stop them from firing," he ordered as she pulled the tinker tech boat up to the edge of the chaos.
"Yes sir! I'm marking them all as navigation hazards. Did you see that jackass Leet stole the ferry?" She responded.
"I did. As he is responding to this emergency we'll forgive it for now. Despite your probation, I am going to show you a great deal of trust. Take charge of this crime scene and support the PRT efforts to investigate what happened here."
"Oh wow. Um, don't worry I won't fuck it up. I-I mean you can count on me, sir!"
"Good woman. Don't pick a fight with Leet. Make use of him but don't let him take over either."
"He's a hateful asshole. But, he's useful. We'll make it work."
"I'll return once I have a better feeling for what's going on in the city," Eidolon said as he spun and then sped off.
He flew over Brockton till he found the hospital. He came in for a landing touching down next to Miss Militia. She welcomed the relief from being barraged with information by the pack of parahumans standing around her.
"The Endbringer was new. It sought to free Leviathan. I can confirm Leviathan's death. We are at a net loss. Leviathan we at least knew. However, for the day we are victorious. We will worry about this new Endbringer when we are not in the middle of another crisis." He explained to the crowd of Parahumans.
"That fits. The readings I have. I'll have to get with Armsmaster. This is an unmitigated success." Danger mused
"Success?" Miss Militia asked, confused.
"Yes, you see we knew they were in communication. The Fortress would never hold, say Behemoth off. We would however have an excellent opportunity to force them into a confrontation at a location of our choosing. Meaning we could set up equipment to record every minute of the combat. We would then cross reference that with the Endbringer communication. The first step in decryption." Danger revealed.
"I haven't seen anything about that," Eidolon said, his voice darkening.
"For reasons of security, only Armsmaster, Dragon, and myself knew that. And to prevent that angel-winged cheat from defeating all of our work with her future sight, each of us left one of the others out of key parts of the plan. We each know two-thirds of the whole and took pains to erase or lock away most of the remainder from ourselves."
"That's- isn't that paranoia?" Battery asked.
"No. I'd rate it as overly complex but not insane. When will we know if you succeeded?" Eidolon judged
"The process has already started. I have the most powerful calculation engine ever built by human hands crunching the numbers now."
"Well, that is something. What happened to her?" Eidolon said shifting gears. He inclined his head towards the green crystal.
"Yes, well that. Humm, that requires some background. One of the political factions among Quantum users was called the Teragen. They practiced an art refined by their founder Divis Mal. That art was known as Teragenesis. It helps Quantum-empowered people also known as Nova's to process toxic Flux which builds up as we overstress our powers."
"And over-stressing is required to build your powers to a stronger level. I've read that report. Is it dangerous? Why didn't more Novas use it if the technique helps manage toxic Flux?"
"The Teragen kept it a closely held secret. A group who were preparing to evacuate Earth to escape the rampant prejudice sent an infiltrator. They desired the secrets of the Teragen as well as information on their plans. She was that infiltrator. Having just turned eighteen she had a very public blow-up with the leadership of the Titans. When she left she was quickly recruited by one of the Teragen inner circle. Count Raoul Orzaiz was among other things a lecher who had a taste for young women."
"She's over eighteen?" Battery asked her mouth a hard line.
"She's about twenty-four. She is the youngest ever to achieve the cusp of biological immortality. She should live several hundred years. Even if she completely stopped pushing her body to improve its self-healing and regulation."
"She's almost as old as I am!" Battery exclaimed.
"Yes and no. Her mind was, Humm, rewound to be age-appropriate to the role she was playing."
"That's-" Battery stopped at a loss for words.
"Both times she has gone undercover she asked for memory modification and information blocks. It's hard to blow your cover when you don't know it is a cover. I warned her against it. Previously the memory block was done by the Islington Tea Society. They were experts in the morally dubious art of memory and personality alteration. She listened to other voices- louder voices. Some of those voices came from without some from within."
"Explain" Eidolon commanded
"When you no longer remember your true loyalties you no longer have reservations about betraying them. As a member of Teragen, she did- very Teragen things. While she was left with a revulsion for the method and tactics of the more extreme members she embraced the others. At the time willingly.
"Imagine sending someone to infiltrate the E88. Their mind knows they want to join the organization. They have a revulsion at the idea of outright murder and terror tactics. But, the rest are ok in defense of what you care about right? Then that ends you return to base after five years with all the information on them. But, now you have to reintegrate those memories with your own.
"You are back to the person who you were but you remember being a person who hated anyone who wasn't white. It was fake but it doesn't feel fake. Because in the end, it wasn't fake only artificial. Your only solace is you did it to yourself for what you believed was a good cause.
Then not being comfortable being who you are you toss yourself into doing it again. Now that your mask is off you're wondering why your face feels like a mask. So you put on a different mask to see if it feels more like your face. A poor coping mechanism in my opinion but I was told my opinion wasn't welcome."
Eidolon had no time for such philosophical sidetracks, however. He refocused on the point. "What does the crystal do?"
"It is a chrysalis formed of pure quantum potentiality. Inside its walls is another universe. It is a micro-universe consisting of only Jean Marie Danger. Inside that universe space, time, and matter, have only the meaning assigned by her will. Toxic flux accumulates from a novas power causing micro-fractures in the universe. In that universe, you can process this taint and turn it inward as a catalyst for change. It is a fast clean and efficient means of cleaning up these tainted energies."
"Then it's good? It's healing her!" Victoria exclaimed.
"Tell me Panacea someone here is reduced to just a brain. You have to rebuild an entire body for them from memory. Your memories of who they were. How accurate would the recreation be." Danger asked.
"Oh dear god" Amy quietly exclaimed.
"Now perform the same exercise but with your self-image. Now give yourself a licence to change things. Anything you desire. Everything you desire. Now how dangerous is using such a technique?"
"You would have to have an Iron will and a strong identity backed by deep self-reflection. It's the sort of thing I might trust a warrior monk with doing. Even I have self-doubts. There are things I don't like about myself. Things I would change under such temptation. But they don't just do it once, do they? This process would have to be used many times dozens at least." Eidolon pondered.
"With months or years between them yes. It is a very powerful technique it is faster and it can be argued as better than the slower path. The path of powering down resting and letting the taint bleed away. The primary thing that worried those who studied it was if you bleed your taint your children are better at bleeding taint. With successive generations, you would develop the tools to manage toxic flux. Each would become more efficient than the last. If you use Teragenises you do not. Your descendants grow better at using a chrysalis. It was felt only one technique could dominate. Only one could be the future. As one is stable, slow, and requires far less focus to use it was chosen to be the future of Quantum kind among the evacuation. Certain people fear it they Demonize it. They blame it for all their problems. She is one of those who do. But on the edge of death with a single lifeline, she reached for it cutting straight through all the blocks put in her path."
"She violated her principles. She went against her rules because she wanted to live." Amy muttered looking at the crystal.
"Luckily I am not so quick to judge. To stretch a religious analogy to its limit I would say this. One soul's sin is another's sacrament. Literally in this case. While I have a strong aversion to the Terat just because they invented this doesn't mean it in of itself is evil. I have no plans to use it but I believe it could be used for good. With great care mind you. Which, it wasn't in this case it was used with desperation and fear. Not all sins are mortal sins. Even among the most fire and brimstone of believers. If every choice led to damnation there would be no saved."
"Post a guard. There is nothing else we can do for her. We have spent enough time on this. We have a city to save. I need you to help at the Fortress we can't contact Dragon something has gone wrong. I will see Armsmaster is brought there at once we will need him as well" Eidolon ordered.
Danger nodded and waved at Kid Win "Can I beg a ride?"
Kid Win gave him a resolute look. "Let's go"
The two took to the air. As the others dispersed the Crystal continued to glimmer. It cast no judgment and offered no opinion on the world. Its gaze turned only inward. It's only contemplation 'I AM'.