Chapitre 2777: Epilogue
Cauldron as an organisation had a very small core team.
True, we had a very strong core team but in the end our influence over the world was mostly gained through covert actions and proxies.
Proxies such as the PRT for example who could move more publically in our absence. Which was ironic since some of the core members of Cauldron were in fact some of the most famous figures in the entire world.
In order to help with said influence we had programs designed to highlight certain keywords that when mentioned on the PRT reports, databases etc. would notify the appropriate parties. A sort of filtering system if you would.
Some keywords and phrases might include:
Cauldron.
Assassinate.
Zion.
Serums.
Powers in a bottle.
The last two were of particular interest to me due to my personal condition.
So when Armsmaster sent in a report about a newly triggered Cape named Vim our system went nuts. Metaphorically speaking of course. Point was, it was determined that we had a natural trigger who did something similar, if only comparatively weaker then Cauldron given Serums.
As Armsmaster's reports of recruitment, training and power testing came in it became clear that this particular Cape could be the answer to my waning power issue.
That said she wasn't the first.
Over the years Cauldron followed leads where they could in restoring my power.
One such endeavor came from our own making.
Metaphorically I had hundreds of water tanks and for the most part they had limited stock within each one. The original Serums I was given at first seemed to fill them up, however with passing time it became clear that all they did was add another tap to the tanks. It made getting the 'water' easier but in the end was no fix in of itself.
Multitudes of other 'Solutions' were simply delaying the inevitable. I was simply getting weaker and even with our considerable resources, we were only slowing it down. Eventually I'd become useless.
In other words, as excited as I was about Vim it was tempered by the knowledge that her Serums might just be temporary or outright duds. After all, without testing the Serums myself I would have no way to know how they interacted with my powers and if their effects would only slow down my power loss then it would be prudent to wait until she reached her highest potential before I even tried.
So in the end it was determined that minimal effort would be made to help the new Cape along without expending too many resources.
The Contessa to my understanding had Rebecca make a very specific single call to someone to sabotage her image, beyond that I don't think anymore action on Vim was taken.
Through a series of convoluted events this made Vim avoid the initial Wards debut that ended in disaster and humiliation for them. If she had attended the event then her image would've been ruined further thus making it difficult to procure funding.
It was ironic. The ugly yellow triangle was the thing that saved her public reputation.
After that she fell off my radar. Cauldron understandably wasn't about to expend all of it's resources on something that might not even work. If she survived then at worst she'd use her healing Serums to keep more Capes alive in the coming conflict against Zion, at best she might temporarily fix my own powers. It wasn't a guarantee, another desperate idea among a dozen others that might never come to fruition.
Not even a week later and all reports from Brockton Bay began to inundate our keyword filters again. In hindsight, we probably should've made an exception to any new report, forum post, document or mention of these keywords that involved the word 'Vim' in them. While she hadn't had her official media debut yet, she had instead caught the eye of everyone involved in testing her powers.
One thing that the Think Tank were practically salivating over were the fact that she could make her Serum's seemingly instantly. Given a day and she might be able to outfit everyone in her local PRT with healing serums. Given a week, month or even a year? Then there was no telling what she would do!
The main thing that caught my attention however was how her 'Mental Focus' serums interacted with Thinker Headaches. They simply eliminated them, reset the Cape's mind to a previous state as if they hadn't used their powers if given enough. Only a few Thinker's had used them but initial testing was optimistic. Heavier testing was to come later with a larger shipment of those specific Serums and honestly, I could say I was looking forwards to the results even if I wasn't personally going to try them.
Vim had a bright future ahead of her and while I paid little mind to her I was still glad to hear about her coming debut when mentioned.
"Good for her." I had absently thought.
Then the Leviathan struck. We met up in Brockton Bay, warned by Armsmaster's and Dragon's new Endbringer system and a bit of me dreaded the coming battle. Another, smaller part of me relished it. I pushed the conflicting thoughts from my head as always and tried to adopt a more professional one.
It was then that Armsmaster gave me the news that would change everything.
"With Vim's permission I am handing out Serums that will enhance your powers, give you new ones in the form of water breathing and in most cases, simply heal you." I was sure that the others in Cauldron had seen the similarities between our own Serums and the ones that Vim had made already.
There was of course no connection despite the wording.
"If you're a Blaster, please take a bottle labelled with 'Destruction' on it." Most of the Capes only took one or two Serums each. The Movers took more healing Serums than anyone else and from what I could tell there was no set system on how many each person were allowed to have. It was possible that we'd run out of Serums before everyone had a chance to grab one.
I didn't know what pushed me to do so that day but I had decided to take one of each bottle. My reputation as one of the strongest Heroes was more than enough for people to ignore my apparent greed or simply rationalize that I was the most versatile Trump and would thus need all of the Serums.
Covering my face with my cape (and they said that capes were impractical) I hid my identity as I drank. The bottles labelled as 'Fortify' were the ones I drank first. Bottle after bottle, I noticed a pattern. My powers weren't healed, rather they felt like they were amplified a small if noticable amount. Promising to be sure but nothing that I would consider a game changer.
Then I drank something labelled as 'Mental Focus'.
I practically ran over to Armsmaster again to demand more of them.
"Uhh…" It was clear that I had stunned him. "This is the last one." He told me holding a lonely bottle up to my face.
"Can't you ask Vim to make more?" I asked. "Are the ingredients so rare?"
"Uhh, no nothing like that… it's more that Vim has chosen to not participate in the conflict." That made sense I supposed. Someone as valuable as her with little front line potential couldn't be risked out here.
I snatched the bottle and drank it down greedily. It healed my powers! I could feel it! The reservoir from which I drew my energy was coming back! It was a small amount, almost tiny but I could still feel it. I would need dozens, perhaps even hundreds of them before it would make any real difference but for the first time in years, I felt hope, hope that my powers would reach their peak once more!
So I became reckless.
I used powers that I hadn't in years. I swapped them out far more than my reserves could handle. I went all out regardless of if I could afford to.
Because in my mind, all this dwindling power was just temporary. That, after holding back for so long for fear of losing it all, I could finally let loose. Despite my elation, of the power I wielded I was also disappointed in how sluggish I truly had become. This was only temporary I told myself. Another part of my mind told me to be more conservative and normally I would listen. Not today though, today was an exception.
-Vim has entered the combat zone!-
Dragon's voice spoke into my ear.
It was then that I froze. Didn't Armsmaster mention that she wouldn't be here? Were none of the Movers allocated to her? In hindsight it was stupid of us, though I suppose with the tense news that we'd be fighting an Endbringer we would fall into old habits in preparing for battle. It had been so long since we last had to evacuate a Cape as promising as her and in the current situation, not many Movers were brave enough to try and help someone that Leviathan was so focused on.
The Endbringer tried to hunt her down. I intervened of course as much as I could but the Endbringer was slippery. I was in no danger of losing all my power but with Vim's life on the line and the Serums she could produce, it certainly felt like it.
When she dropped from the sky, hitting the water I thought she was done for. She then emerged no worse for wear and my heart restarted. Then I was swatted out of the air like so many other Capes before me.
The breaker power that made me immune to kinetic force was partially drained before fading completely away as I tumbled through the wall of water that had caught me from behind. So many mistakes, so many blunders today. It was unacceptable. I needed to fight Leviathan, stop him from killing Vim.
So I searched for more powers and ways to keep me alive in the process.
I had a Mover power that let me move in relation to reality and experience it at a lower speed, a temporal distortion focussed on me that to an outsider's eye made me fly. I hastily grabbed a Blaster power that let me disintegrate non-organic matter and finally a Changer power that would turn my body into any matter, anything that I desired so I turned my skin harder than diamonds.
The powers weren't perfect but with desperation kicking in I latched onto anything I could find.
It was all for naught. Leviathan managed to fend me off and a criminal by the name of Lung contributed more than my own powers. It wasn't quite humiliating but it was certainly annoying.
Then I saw Vim go flying through the air after being thrown by the Endbringer. I used my Mover power to seemingly freeze time as I raced after her flying form. Or I tried to freeze time at least, it instead slowed it down, the power was already slipping from my grasp.
I was too reckless, it was a thought I had repeated again and again that day.
Luckily I was still quick enough to let me catch up and soon I was flying alongside her.
I needed those serums! I couldn't stand the thought that they would only exist in such limited supply.
She was still moving too quickly and if her pained expression was anything to go by, she was very hurt. I remembered her trick in hitting the water earlier, she survived that! But was it a conscious use of her power that activated it or was it automatic like Legend? I could grab her and try to slow her descent. Anything more and I might break her neck going at such high speeds.
The main problem was that she was heading for a building, not a large body of water.
As the building came closer I decided to take the gamble and hope that she would automatically activate whatever power she had that would let her pass into the water unharmed. So I used my blaster power on the building to clear it away so that she would hit the water instead… or at least I tried to.
It fizzled out on me. I only disintegrated the outside wall revealing some sort of open training room, perhaps for martial arts. The floor was most likely padded but such a thing would make no difference to an injured person travelling at such speeds.
I had been pushing myself too hard today and it showed.
It was too late to guide her body towards the water now, I'd snap her bones if I tried. I reached for another power, something that could save her and frustratingly it was all out of reach. Everything was out of reach! Anything I could try would take too long!
I couldn't even save her with my power! If only we have some sort of teleporter to…..
Though only a second passed, my initial Mover power let me think for almost a minute. It was risky, but if it truly did give me back my powers then it would be worth it.
"Door to Cauldron's big bathtub!" I silently intoned. It was less of a bathtub and more of a small pool with spa like extras to be honest. Flying ahead of Vim into the portal I used my Changer power one last time. Initially I used it to turn my skin to something harder than diamond. Now I used it to turn my entire body into water. I could only hope it would work.
She flew into the deep bathtub with a splash and it was only then that I noted that it was already filled up with water…. Hot, soapy water.
"What…. What are you doing David?" Asked a familiar voice as the portal behind me closed. Standing to the side of the bathtub wearing her usual lab coat, carrying a towel in one hand and a rubber duck in the other she simply raised an eyebrow. Was she going to get into the bathtub wearing that?
No, surely not. She was probably in the process of taking her clothes off.
"OH GOD ….whose David?" Asked Vim. "Wait where am I…. are those bubbles?… Wait…. OH GOD!" It was at that point that Vim covered her face in embarrassment. "Wait.... what's Cauldron?"
Oh well…. Shit. How did she? Did she have some sort of Thinker power?
"Can we…. Not kill her please?" I asked. "Or mind wipe her? The reports I've read theorised that uh… her powers needs those things…." I rambled. "I mean, technically everyone needed their minds to use their powers but they were more tied to her then others… in theory at least, something about her requiring experience."
I realized that my mind was babbling.
Doctor Mother didn't even have powers, yet her withering stare did little to calm me down. Not a single word answered me but her expression demanded an explanation.
"It was the only thing I could've done!" I swore. "Create a door to Cauldron's bathtub so that there would be enough water to break her fall!"
It was then that she finally answered. "Why didn't you make a door to the ocean then?"
Oh…...Well shit…..
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Preview for:
Sole Survivor without a radioactive wasteland to roam.
Starring Danny!
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"Go away." I told them as I gripped my weapon harder. "Go away and maybe my turrets won't turn you into swiss cheese."
Behind me the constant hum of their engines comforted me. At any other time I would've been annoyed with unseasing sounds but in a Brockton Bay that had turned into a warzone? It was practically like a angel's hymn.
The Undersiders for their part didn't seem intimidated. Wary but not afraid.
Tattletale as she introduced herself was the most confident of the group.
"Please, I've seen your turrets work and I know as long as I don't start anything, they won't finish it."
"So what?" I snarled. "You're just here to talk?"
"To help you… more specifically I want to just say…. I know something that you don't." She sang. "I know something that you don't! I know something that you don't!"
That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I didn't care if she was just a kid, she was going to die.
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"It hurts… I want candy…. Please….."
"Now now my pet, I have something different this time…. Here, have a bottle of soda…."
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Sole Survivor without a radioactive wasteland to roam is coming out sometime in January! (Hopefully)
Alternative titles were:
Sole Survivor without nukes to fire.
Sole Survivor with nothing left to lose.
Sole Survivor without a robot butler to befriend.
Sole Survivor without a Kellog to shoot.
Sole Survivor without Dogmeat to pet.
Sole Survivor without a Sanctuary to call home.
Sole Survivor without a hair line to comb.
Sole Survivor without Dragon souls to spend.
Have a happy new year everyone and stay safe.
— Un nouveau chapitre arrive bientôt — Écrire un avis
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone