Note: Time for another interlude. I had thought about making this longer, but I felt that some POVs didn't provide much.

-The Light of Brockton Bay-

- Cauldron Headquarters, 3rd Person

Alexandria stepped through Doormaker's portal and arrived at the Cauldron meeting room. Doctor Mother, Eidolon, Legend, and Number Man were already seated. She noted that Contessa was missing, which was rare. Alexandria looked to Doctor Mother. "I have a meeting with the Boston PRT Director in 40 minutes, so let's make this quick. Why did you call an emergency meeting?"

Doctor Mother pressed her lips in a thin line. "It was actually Contessa who called it. We were about to have lunch, but it was interrupted when Contessa paused and seemingly had to take a moment to get her bearings. She then turned to me and told me to 'announce an emergency meeting in 30 minutes.'"

The room was quiet for only a moment before a Doormaker portal opened up and Contessa came through holding a bag containing some files and a book. "Another parahuman has been made into a blind spot," Contessa announced while placing the files on the table.

Eidolon perked up. "Like me?" To which Contessa shook her head.

"No. You are just invisible to me; it's like you don't even exist." Contessa pointed to a picture of a face on the table. "This girl is different. My passenger thinks that the girl should drop dead the moment the path starts. A future autopsy would reveal that a significant portion of her brain was missing. It should also be noted that the report would find an absence of a Corona Pollentia. Of course, this never happens because she doesn't drop dead."

Everyone started to scan their own copies of the documents she provided. A new hero that appeared in Brockton Bay 2 weeks ago named Da'at. Her file was nonstandard in that she had multiple separate sections for her power instead of just 1. She was labelled as a Trump 4, Breaker 2, and Changer 2, but there was a note that those ratings were out of date and were still being discussed.

"The girl's name is Taylor Hebert; I provided you with a file on her and her family. Before today, she hadn't done anything that was significant enough to cause a major deviation in my paths. Today she attacked the PRT ENE headquarters, which has caused some greater changes."

Legend looks up from his documents. "Why would she do that? A new trigger hero doesn't attack a PRT building randomly."

Contessa nodded and placed down a smaller document. "The ENE PRT has a Ward by the name of Shadow Stalker, also known as Sophia Hess; we've talked about her before. Her personality leaves some things to be desired, but we determined her ability was too useful to be wasted in jail. So Alexandria has been stopping her from being thrown in juvenile detention because of her actions out of costume."

Contessa produced a notebook that seemed to be a diary. "This is Taylor's diary, which recounts the actions taken by Sophia Hess and her friends, all of it being bullying in one form or another. My investigations lead me to believe that Taylor ended up triggering due to these actions. All of this leads us to today: Taylor found out Sophia was a Ward and had a breakdown in which she fought inside the ENE headquarters against the Protectorate heroes plus Glory Girl from New Wave."

Legend was looking mildly upset that they protected a Ward who bullied someone into triggering but ultimately didn't say anything about it. Alexandria sighed before speaking. "How bad is it?"

Contessa looked over to Alexandria. "It's hard for me to predict what will happen with a blind spot so close to the problem."

Number Man placed down his document. "We could always cover it up. Give her a silent trial like Canary and lock her away."

Again, Contessa just shook her head. "I wouldn't trust that without an exact path. There are too many chances that a cover-up would blow this even further out of proportion."

Legend looked uncomfortable with the idea. "Couldn't we launch an 'investigation' by the Protectorate and send Shadow Stalker to jail?"

Doctor Mother seemed to agree with this. "If these documents are to be believed, then Da'at would be an even greater asset than Shadow Stalker. We could temporarily put Da'at in jail while we launch an investigation. Later we could use the bit of goodwill from Shadow Stalker's arrest and some threats about jail time to get her into the Wards. It is inconvenient that we have to lose Shadow Stalker, but Da'at could more than make up for the loss."

Number Man nodded. "My calculations say that it's one of the best directions to take this."

Eidolon stared at the page in his hand that held the information on the Trump that seemed to grow over time and felt just a hint of jealousy.

While it was annoying that this situation hit them without warning, Alexandria was a little glad that she didn't have to send another kid to the Birdcage, although if the situation called for it, she would give the order in a heartbeat.

'Anything to save the world'

-The Light of Brockton Bay-

- Thomas Calvert's POV

I sat up from the chair placed in the deepest part of my base with a raging headache coming on. It took a lot of manipulation from me, but I ended up getting Da'at to meet with Shadow Stalker. It had been a long shot, but it should pay off.

My timelines had been messing up lately. At first, it was small things, but then they got bigger. Going from some people arriving a couple of seconds off schedule to the failed breakout of the Merchants. I had planned to let them go free; otherwise, the power balance would be disrupted. That would create more situations where I would be at odds with the ABB and the Empire 88.

Da'at had ruined that now. I had read her PRT file, and it had listed that they had a possible anti-thinker power, but this confirmed it for me at least. After that incident, I tried to have her removed from the picture entirely. However, I found that anytime something big happens to her, like an attempted assassination, my timeline abruptly closes and I suffer a backlash headache.

After quite a few of those, I tried some different methods. I found her identity in a separate timeline and dug into her past. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Shadow Stalker had been bullying her for a year now. After some bloody interrogations of school staff in a discarded timeline, I had pieced together a beautiful puzzle.

A Ward had bullied an innocent teenager into triggering. That would make Director Piggot reek of incompetence if the news story ever came out. I know the PRT has quieted some things in the past, so I need to blow this wide open. Not too big, or I might get too much backlash, but big enough that I could get Piggot either fired or make her step down. My promotion to director would cement my position in Brockton Bay.

It would most likely kick the blind spot out of Brockton Bay. It's not that I hate her, but it will be much harder to do things with her around. Even if it doesn't, with my position as director, I would be in a much better situation to manage her. It's either Wards or jail, and both are better for me.

In the end, it had gone just how I wanted it to. I had a few of my mercenaries perform a mugging in front of Shadow Stalker, which delayed her arrival back to the PRT long enough to meet with Da'at. They were still cleaning up the aftermath; with the fight happening in the afternoon, the cleanup team should be here until midnight for a few days.

They had found Da'at and Glory Girl unconscious next to each other. Panacea had freaked out when they were both carried out but calmed down slightly when both were revealed to be alive. Brandish had been furious that the PRT heroes looked to be in considerably better shape. Everyone ended up confused after it was revealed that they didn't know how Glory Girl got her injuries. After hearing their stories, it sounded like Da'at had a personal fight with Glory Girl and somehow managed to exclude the rest. 'Time manipulation? She did have tinkertech with that specialty. Or maybe they were put in stasis like Clockblocker?'

Well, I should stop with the needless speculation. I need to start manoeuvring my takeover as director. Just before I get up to leave, I decide to take one more precaution. Da'at's whole power is to get new power sets, and while unlikely, she may get something to escape from her imprisonment.

I reach for my cellphone and make a call. "Hello, Tattletale. I have a job that may or may not happen. I need the Undersiders to be ready to strike at a moment's notice for three days, so I want you all to stay at your lair for that period of time. I'm sending you the number of a mercenary I have hired. If you need anything, call him instead of going out and getting it... Yes, I'll pay you each 1000 dollars just to sit around. Just remember, I need you all ready."

-The Light of Brockton Bay-

- ?'s POV

When I first noticed the connection between worlds open, I had given up a small seed of light to the girl who caused it. Hoping to save another world that, at the time, I thought would be much similar to The City. Maybe my influence would also expand to there as well, but that would be a bonus.

But when I could no longer feel a connection when the rift closed, I had assumed that it was a one-and-done thing. Instead, it happened again, caused by her light's reaction to her breakdown. I watched the fight continue and come to an end; the rift was a little more stable than last time. Though, once the fight was over, I began to have questions in my mind.

There was essentially no river of light in her world, which should be impossible. All singularities were missing, being replaced with some kind of powers that were born from trauma. I could attribute this all to just being a separate world or dimension, which would obey a different set of laws. But what really caught my attention was how the light was reacting to the new environment.

One could imagine the soul as fire burning logs of wood. Passion burned the logs slowly, but as long as it was lit, you could keep it going by adding more logs. The sickness that was ever prevalent in The City acted like a constant freezing gust, trying constantly to snuff out the flame. Once the wood went cold, it would be near impossible to light it again. That's where L Corp's project came in. The light would act like metaphorical gasoline. It wasn't meant to be a replacement; it was meant to kickstart things again, to give people the tools to change their lives.

What I didn't account for was the near absence of this in the other world. Sure, it was still there, but it was barely prevalent. This change was causing things that even I couldn't predict. Her seed of light was growing faster than what I thought to be possible. The whole world was like dry tinder. The light wouldn't spread without her letting it, but it would be much easier and faster than it would here.

I had thought about spreading the light if the connection ever grew big enough, but this world isn't The City. And honestly, I don't think that my methods would have a positive impact here. I made 'distortions' and pushed people to love themselves for who they are. The people in this new world already do; some don't, but so many more do compared to The City. This world isn't the same; no, I can't use the same methods there. There's still boundless amounts of hope here, but that hope is slowly dying. The City needs to be shaken up to break up the cycle; this other world needs a careful guiding hand to not be thrown into chaos.

I look at the unconscious girl I now know as Taylor. She's lived in that world; she would know better than me. She's still missing some required knowledge and skills. I can give her some guidance, but most of this will be left up to her learning.

"I guess that's a good plan. It might take her a while to be able to use light as well as I can, but I think she could do wonders." Taylor was still in a predicament, though. She would most likely take a deep dive with all that excess light she's gained through her breakdown. That would allow me to widen the connection just enough to have a talk with her. That still leaves her facing jail. I can't just leave my effective trainee in jail.

"Hm, what to do." Taylor needed something to help her immediately and something to help her later on. It took some thinking, but I finally got an idea. The river was a fickle thing, and while I couldn't force her to take something she didn't want, I could give her an option. It was incomplete, but I changed it just enough that it should mostly work for Taylor. That alone should solve her short-term problems.

For her long-term ones, I knew what to give her. I took that little multi-dimensional shard that I had blocked when I first saw this world. I had kept it with me in the light for a while now. It was surprising that a physical object could even stay here like this, but it was no ordinary object. The data that was on it held quite a few mysteries, but I could ascertain that it was the cause of parahuman powers. Taylor needed to be the one to open it up further, so I added the physical shard and its data to the previous gift.

Taking the gift, I sent it off through our connection. Hopefully, this star will be bright enough to stand out in the river.

-The Light of Brockton Bay-

- Spoiler for Teth finale

-Diagnostics complete-

-Some functions are operational-

-User Designation: Taylor-

-Playing welcoming message-

[Welcome, Agent Taylor to # Corp]