Chapitre 646: 85
Date
2011 May 3rd - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Day 6172 - Monday - Administrator Network Time
Done with the Network for now, and the preparation for the eventual invasion of the countless Entities well on its way, he turned his attention back to humanity.
Though, he had to wonder if the ROB kept its side of the deal, and gave all that it promised to his original.
Well, not that it mattered, he had enough power here that getting to use magic, while sounded interesting, didn't really excite him. That much.
But, well, beggars and choosers…
Instead of dwelling on things that he can't do anything about, he started preparing for the last Endbringer fight.
After killing Zion, he got total control over the so-called Conflict Engines and could have shut them down, but he wanted to use them, or at least one of them, to really jumpstart humanity's ascensions from the grimdark world to a hopefully happier place.
He had already unleashed Dragon to help advance the technology, and while he started with giving instructions to Taylor about what to do with Serenity, he saw she was going through the designs available to her, and working towards publishing more things that would help people.
This was fortunate because now that the young woman didn't need his help as much, he planned to slowly fade to the background, letting the girl live her life as she wished.
As cruel as it sounded, he didn't need Taylor anymore.
And thankfully, neither did Taylor need him.
He would stay with her, and keep training her until the Endbringer fight, but after that, he would become a simple observer. Maybe even relegate Taylor's power to another Shard.
Behemoth was simple.
He just took over the controls, 'drove' the thing deep into the Earth's crust, until he was sure it was out of sight of every sensor equipment, even the ones Dragon recently developed, then turned it off and reclaimed it.
He didn't destroy it, after all the power it used was rather useful.
Maybe he could repurpose it for foot soldiers for the defense of his dimensions?
The Simurgh was just simply turned off. While he could have reclaimed it too, he knew it would freak those watching out if the Simurgh just up and vanished.
So, he left the inert and indestructible body of the Hopekiller in orbit around the planet and sent a message to Dragon that she should 'plan' to kill it in a year or two.
For the Leviathan, he just took over, added some constraints, a simple instruction, and left it to its own devices.
While he could have taken over the piloting of the Endbringer, he didn't.
Because the humans, even if he made sure none of the powers brought attention to it, would have noticed that the Leviathan was acting differently. Especially after what the Simurgh did in February. They would be definitely on the lookout for anything weird.
Much easier to let the Leviathan do its thing…
He would make sure that Taylor was powerful enough to win, and Tess and Amy would make sure that nobody died.
With that done, he took a quick look at Cauldron, who were planning on finding the new Entity, and looking rather frantic.
Well, he would give them until after the Endbringer battle, to realize the futility of it, then he would go down there in person, and have a pleasant talk with them.
Another look at the Network showed that everybody (who had the sentience to enjoy it) was happy with the changes, and the conversion of the Shard bodies was going along splendidly.
The new type of triggers was spreading all over the world.
A plant manipulator near the Sahara.
A water purification tinker near a toxic river.
A healer in a town struck by sickness.
And so on…
The world was getting better, one step at a time.
Date
2011 May 5th - Wednesday - Earth Bet Time
Tess answered another email about her decision to unmask herself while also keeping an eye on all of her projects.
She finally updated the Birdcage enough that a breakout was even less likely (Fairie Queen notwithstanding) and the inmates were much more comfortable. Though, she hired a law firm to research the possibility of getting some of the people in there a retrial.
She also made sure that the recycling facility was working optimally in Brockton Bay, while several others were being built in Canada, near dumps and the Water purification plant, and the Medi-Gel factory was also working well.
Her own factories were also performing excellently, manufacturing everything that the Guild, the PRT and Protectorate, and even some governments needed, while also supplying equipment for her own projects.
Sometimes being an AI was pretty sweet.
And now with her official unmasking (though, if she really wanted, she could have built another body and assumed an alternate identity, but felt it was too much), she felt even freer.
Granted, the fans and journalists were annoying. But they were that before she unmasked, so she was already used to it. And Taylor put together a simple bracelet, which would project a Stranger field, making people unable to recognize her if she wanted.
The only reason she did it, because she finally accumulated enough technology and information that was not Tinker-tech, that she could start operating as a proper company, and she wanted to lead in person.
According to Admin, parahumans soon would be less important, thanks to his changes (there was never a time when she wished more, that she could get drunk), parahuman aggression and conflict would more than likely decrease.
So she took the leap.
Plus, doing business with her own name, and not as a parahuman, made some things so much easier…
Of course, she didn't stop preparing for threats, just because Admin said so.
She was creating mechs that would be able to protect entire cities against Endbringers (killing them was harder), and other parahuman threats, while her stealth drones canvassed North America, for the known S-class threats.
Nobody had heard for a while now about the Slaughterhouse Nine, and she was getting worried.
Not really about the Nine. With her current weapon load, she could take the villain group out in a blink of an eye. And if she asked Nero for help? They wouldn't even notice her…
More like the American government's, or more like the PRT's response to the Nine. They always insisted that only they could deal with the Nine, but based on previous responses she suspected that something fishy was going on there.
Previously, Admin cautioned her against digging deeper about it, so she abided by that request, but she hated not knowing.
Thankfully, Admin assured her that after the next Endbringer fight, the restriction could be lifted, and she could start researching her questions.
She couldn't wait!
Date
2011 May 8th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time
Taylor looked out at the Bay, and the Rig, then glanced at Amy, who was eating her own ice cream (boring vanilla and lemon combo) out of small paper cups (she was having mint-choco with Lux Arcana flavored one) while leaning against the rail on the Boardwalk.
She decided to take out Amy for a walk after a week of seeing the girl mope around listlessly in the guest room. She invited Vicky too, but the cheerful blonde had already arranged a date with her boyfriend, so it was just the two of them.
And the metric tons of people enjoying the beautiful day, and the bucket load of tourists who were looking around wildly with their cameras as if a parahuman could jump out any time.
Granted, this was Brockton Bay, so that was a distinct possibility…
Watching a clueless tourist get pickpocketed, she glanced at Amy.
"Better?"
"Mmhm," replied Amy, not looking away from the water.
"That's great. How was the second session? Did the psychologist have to use the force field?"
That managed to break the other girl out of her funk.
"What force-field?"
"We were worried that parahumans could get aggressive, so we installed a force-field that would be able to protect the therapist and the room from the parahuman. It can also restrain them if needed. Rated to Brute 8, I think."
"I wish. Just a lot of yelling, and more yelling."
"Well, at least it's a start, right?"
Amy just snorted.
Taylor followed a good-looking guy with her eyes, as he carried some package into a shop, as she continued.
"So, still not moving back?"
"Why, getting bored with me?"
"No-no! Just… I thought you would like to move back to your own room."
"I don't think so. I doubt, mo… Carol would do anything, I just don't want to deal with it. Living with you guys has been a vacation… Plus you spend way less time in the bathroom in the morning than Vicky."
Taylor chuckled in response while glaring at a guy who was coming close to pickpocket them (she watched through her senses as he fleeced several tourists), who in a true Brockton Bay fashion immediately did an about-face and looked for another mark.
People in their city were remarkably quick in recognizing the hints of impending violence.
"And how is your dad?"
Amy's voice was markedly brighter as she answered.
"Much better! He even took all his medicine this week."
"That's great to hear! And the other part of the family? How are they reacting to… everything?"
There was a brief silence as Amy took a few bites of her ice cream.
"Aunt Sarah and Uncle Neil are really supportive. Which made Carol even angrier. Apparently, Aunt Sarah betrayed her or something… I didn't really pay attention to her rants, but I think the therapist is planning to write at least a book about her. And us."
"Your mother is…"
"Yeah…"
They finished their ice cream while talking about unimportant things, and when they were walking towards the nearest bin to throw it out, Taylor turned to Amy.
"Hey, I heard that Über and Leet are planning to set up a skeet shoot thing. Want to check it out?"
Date
2011 May 10th - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Emily sat in her chair at the head of the table and looked over the assembled agents, officers, lawyers, parahumans, and assorted idiots.
"Let's begin. Where are we with Hookwolf?"
One of the people from legal stood up and began speaking.
"Per your directions, Dragon had immediately taken the comatose Hookwolf away, and we have been working closely with state prosecution to make sure everything we have, sticks to the guy."
"And will it?"
"Yes, Director."
"Good. What about Kaiser?"
Here the man frowned.
"He has good lawyers, but we caught him red-handed, and with the information we got from Purity and Dragon, the prosecutors are sure that he is not walking, but it is questionable what we can make to stick."
"Do you need any resources or help?"
"No, Director Piggot. This is now just a simple paperwork fight." The man cracked a smile. "And we have a Medi-Gel dispenser for that."
"Cute. Call me immediately if something changes."
The man said nothing, just nodded, and sat down.
Emily turned towards one of the officers.
"Smith, what about the rest of the Empire?"
"Chaos, Director. To our knowledge, Krieg already fled the country, presumably back to Germany, while Cricket is hiding in the city somewhere. Menja was also spotted fleeing the city. But we don't have a target for her yet."
"The rest?"
"No word from Crusader, but probably also fled the city. Othala and Victor are much more interesting."
"How so?"
"Othala approached the new Healer Union for legal representation in exchange for working as a healer."
"Why haven't I heard about it yet?"
Looking at the visibly angry face of his superior, Smith couldn't help but swallow heavily.
"We are still in talks with the lawyers, and we wanted to avoid any chance of retaliation, so we kept it on the down-low."
"I'm the Director, Smith. I assure you I can keep a secret," said Emily in a sarcastic voice.
"Honestly, Director. Things were happening so fast, we are simply reacting…"
"I don't care. The next time something like this happens, you will at least send an email. Understand?"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Good. And Victor?"
"Unknown, Director. Our investigators found nothing. Probably thanks to his power, so I would like to involve Watchdog."
"Wait, he didn't go with Othala?"
"No, she went to the Union alone."
"Hmm. The permission to contact Watchdog is granted, if they refuse, call me. I want to eradicate the Nazis from my city once and for all."
"Yes, Sir!"
They continued to talk about the issue for a while, making sure every i was dotted and every t was crossed before they began the next topic.
"How are we with the ABB?"
"They are leaking members, like a sieve, Director. It seems Lung has given up keeping the gang together."
"Any new parahumans?"
"No, and people haven't seen Lung in an official capacity in weeks. At least according to the rumors."
"But he is still in the city?"
"Yes, Director."
"Any idea, what he is planning?"
There was an uncomfortable silence after Emily's question as everybody pretended that the ceiling or the ground was more interesting than giving an answer.
Emily huffed a little.
"So, no idea. Great, another thing to ask Watchdog."
There was another silence as she made some notes before she looked up.
"Any news about a new gang moving in? Or people organizing into new gangs?"
One agent raised a hand, and she nodded at him.
"Yes, Director. It seems several people have noticed the 'vacancy', though as of now there is no evidence of parahuman involvement."
"Tell me about them."
Emily was walking back to her office with Renick, intending to talk over the meeting, and to make a few decisions, when she came across a sight that would have been impossible a few months ago. Two ArsmBots (Clockblocker called them that, and it had stuck) carrying two stacks of pizza with mechanical precision. One stack had a sticky note saying 'Wards' the other 'PR'.
The two bots nodded respectfully at them and stepped aside to let them walk unimpeded, then continued to deliver their bounty.
The rest of the way to the office, both of them were silent, contemplating how odder their life has become.
As she sat down in her chair, she threw out a quick question to Renick.
"Did we limit how many of those bots he could make?"
"Uh, I don't think so…"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone