Capítulo 632: 71
Date
2011 March 1st - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Emily hated Mondays, and she even hated Mondays such as this one even more.
When she arrived back in the city, she thought that her biggest concern would be dodging the paparazzi or handling the public opinion about the battle. Sadly, her agents were trained well enough, and the security measures that Armsmaster and Dragon updated were enough to keep the annoying journalist who knew nothing about personal boundaries out of sight, and the public opinion, in Brockton Bay at least, was on their side.
Apparently, the people of the Bay, instead of getting up in arms about the videos that some channels had cut together about bloodthirsty parahumans, instead obsessed over the parahumans, and how cool they were.
Officially, there was already an entirely new set of merchandise (which were obviously almost always sold out) connected to the Battle of Ellisburg, including an entire set of high-quality figurines of the monsters, and the most prominent parahumans. The most popular of course was Lux Arcana, then for some unfathomable reason her own figurine.
There was also a motion made on PHO to create a card game, and D&D scenarios about the battle, and who knows what else.
She really didn't get people…
However much the external happenings annoyed her, they didn't come even close to the internal events. Shortly after they arrived, every parahuman who participated in the battle and even those who didn't begin showing signs of their power changing. Not to mention the very ominous blind spot that now covered the entire city that she got informed about by a very panicky Watchdog representative.
Of course, per procedure, she immediately ordered full quarantine and a very thorough set of examinations of the affected parties. They even ordered the entire New Wave to come in and go through the same examinations.
While Brandish grumbled, they were still worried about what or who could have done it, so they came willingly.
In a fit of curiosity, she even asked Dragon if she had experienced something like that. The damned woman just gave her a mysterious smile and told her not to worry because she didn't think it was malicious.
So, obviously, Dragon knew who did it.
If she were a betting woman, she would say it was Lux Arcana or Serenity or whatever the hell the annoying woman wanted to call herself. She already demonstrated Thinker, Tinker, Breaker, Blaster, Striker, and Mover powers, who said she couldn't have Trump powers either? Of course, it was just a supposition because they knew very little about her. But Occam's Razor and all that…
Naturally, this entire thing could also have been something the Simurgh orchestrated, and it was the first idea the researchers brought up, but Emily told them to shelve that thought for now and concentrate on causes they could work with. If, in the end, they found nothing, they could always return to ineffectively shaking their fist at the false angel.
As she sat in her office and luxuriated in the feeling of a healthy body, she silently read through the summarized results of the examinations.
Apparently, every parahuman's power improved. Some got minor fixes, and extra powers that covered previously weak spots, while others simply got an increase in firepower. Or like Glory Girl, who for some reason got shiny gold and silver hard light boots, gloves, and honest to goodness tiara that radiated light.
It looked like some kind of patch was sent out to the parahuman powers belonging to the heroes of Brockton Bay.
On one hand, she was pretty happy about the increase in strength, on the other hand, she was already dreading the response from the Chief Director and the other Directors. She was sure they would somehow manage to screw this up for her by transferring these parahumans, saying that their new powers would be much more useful elsewhere, leaving her once again powerless against the gangs.
Well, over her dead body!
While she might not like most of the parahumans stationed in Brockton Bay, she would not let them go without a fight! This was her chance to clean up this godforsaken city, and by hook and crook, she would do it.
Now that there was little chance of her death because of her old wounds, she wanted to live somewhere, where she didn't have to worry about a racist metal blender shredding her while she took a walk in a park. Not that she had time for walks in parks…
So, she made sure that the examination progressed as fast as possible and that the mandated quarantine and Master/Stranger protocols were as short as possible. Emily was pretty sure that the situation already leaked, so she didn't want to give those assholes out there a chance to cause chaos while her parahumans were benched.
She was about to take a brief break and enjoy a non-dietary meal when her phone rang. Emily sighed despondently and wondered what manner of disaster was happening…
"Yes?"
"Director, I'm Michaels from the PR Department, and somebody approached us with a request."
"So?"
"It's about you, Director."
"I'm listening."
The man on the other end took a deep breath, then continued.
"It seems Dragon recorded the entire Battle of Ellisburg and wants to publish it as a movie. She contacted a prominent Director and Editor, and they want to know if they could use your image in the movie."
She closed her eyes and reached up with the hand that was not holding the phone in a death grip to massage her forehead.
"What?"
"Well, Director, it seems Dragon…"
"No, I understand that part. Just tell me what they are planning to do with the profit from the movie?"
"Er, let me look it up, Director." She waited a few seconds, still massaging her forehead as she listened to the man type. "Ah, here it is. It seems part of it will go to Endbringer relief funds the rest will go to Children's Hospitals."
She grit her teeth then answered. "Fine, tell them to go ahead, but I'm shooting the first person who asks for an autograph!"
Emily didn't even wait for the man to answer. She hung up, then threw the phone on the desk in disgust. Then she laid down her head on the desk while aimlessly looking out the window and cursing her life.
Date
2011 March 1st - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Tess sat on the rickety chair of one of the cafes on the Boardwalk while drinking delicious tea. Taylor was right. An excellent tea with good company and a pleasant view was really relaxing. The beginning of March was greeted with an increased temperature, which while it didn't affect her because of the obvious reasons, caused the people to flood the Boardwalk and the parks, enjoying the sunny day.
She was the same, and as was Colin who was sitting in his civilian clothing, sipping his chocolate milkshake sulkily while every once in a while throwing an angry glare at the Rig.
"Oh, come on Colin, don't sulk," she said with a smile. "You know how the procedures are. The Director made sure they would be short, but they still have to do their due diligence."
The man didn't answer, just took another aggressive slurp of his drink.
"Look on the bright side!"
"What's good about it? I have all these new designs, and I'm locked out of my workshop!" complained the man in a low voice.
"Well, for example, you could relax and spend time with me."
"We could have done it in the workshop… Speaking of which, can't we go to yours?" Colin asked hopefully.
"No. I promised the Director I will keep you out of any workshop," answered Tess with a smirk on her face, while Colin just frowned in disappointment. "Now, finish your milkshake, and let's go for a walk."
"Fine…" replied Colin with an exhausted sigh. "But can we at least brainstorm about improvements?"
Date
2011 March 1st - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Missy was over the Moon.
No.
She was over Jupiter.
For some reason her power decided to improve itself, allowing her finally to go on the offensive. And it was glorious. She almost wished Sophia was back, so she could show her how much destruction she could bring upon the bad guys.
The only bad thing about it was that this improvement and apparently all other upgrades to the other's powers sent the PRT and the Protectorate into a tizzy. Still, while she had to spend some time in quarantine and showcase her powers once again to researchers who didn't care for her opinion, always believing they knew more about it, there were some positives that came with it.
First, her power got better and more awesome. Second, she didn't have to spend time at home, instead could relax without a care in her room at the Headquarters. Thanks to the high number of people who had to be isolated, they quickly ran out of M/S cells, so somebody upstairs decided the Wards were less of a risk and they could be isolated in their own rooms.
It was all around an exceptional situation. She spent the entire weekend with the other Wards, and younger New Wave members (it made tolerating Glory Girl even easier) having fun, playing games, and munching on pizza.
She already dreaded the moment when she had to go home…
Missy heard one researcher mentioning psychological evaluation, so once again she would give it a try and ask if they could do something about her parents. She wasn't expecting much, but in the end, it was worth a shot.
She was about to head out to see if there was any pizza leftover when her Ward-issued phone dinged. Missy checked the phone and saw that her appointment with the psychologist was set for ten minutes later.
She checked her clothing for any stains, then headed for the room that was indicated in the message, still cheerily humming and imagining what she would be able to do to the bad guys when they finally let them out.
If those daydreams contained a defeated Glory Girl and a swooning Gallant, well, nobody could really blame her, right?
Date
2011 March 1st - Monday - Earth Bet Time
He replayed the video once again, taking notes of the parahuman's abilities. He had to make sure he understood it correctly because if the rumors were true, Lux Arcana lived in the Bay, where he was planning to create his own personal kingdom.
He was about to replay it once again when the intercom turned on.
"Mr. Anders. Mr. Fliescher is here with the report."
"Let him in."
He minimized the video and turned towards the door where moments later, Krieg entered with a pensive face and a stack of documents in his hand.
"So?"
"We found her."
"Excellent," he replied with a bloodthirsty grin. "Where?"
"San Diego."
The smile was instantly wiped off from his face. "How?"
"Dragon."
"Well, fuck… Does she know what we were looking for?"
The other man didn't even hesitate with his answer. "I'm pretty sure. Our people said there were some suspicious things about how they found the information about her. So, there is a chance Dragon wanted us to find it. Maybe as a warning…"
Max took the glass of scotch on his desk and downed it in one go. "What about legal…"
"No go. Everything we found is ironclad. She changed names, and everything else. Basically, everything short of Witness Protection. The only way we could affect her if we were to reveal her origins. But that would…"
"Yes, she could do the same to us," finished the sentence Max with a scowl. "This also means that Dragon and probably the PRT knows who I am."
"The Unwritten Rules…"
"Are unwritten."
James fell silent, and Max turned around and looked out at the city. It seemed he needed to change a few things. Without turning around, he began speaking.
"Send out a call for the lieutenants. We will have a meeting. Also, make sure the taxes are airtight. They got Capone with it, I don't want to go the same way."
"Hey look on the bright side, at least you don't have syphilis!"
He ignored James' poor attempt at joking and continued. "And tell Brad that one more step out of the line, and I will make what Vista did to him seem like slap on the wrist."
"Yes, Sir."
Date
2011 March 1st - Monday - Cauldron Dimension Time
"So Serenity is a Trump too…"
"We don't know if she was responsible for the situation in Brockton Bay."
"Oh, come on! It is so obvious… The blind spot grows and the heroes gain more power. She couldn't have been more obvious if she had taken out an advertisement on Times Square."
Doctor Mother frowned at Eidolon. Then, after some thinking, she answered him.
"Be that as may, there is also a chance that somebody, maybe even the Simurgh, used Serenity as a cover. Until we confirm it one way or another, I'm not ready to lay the blame at her feet."
"Could it be the Simurgh?" asked Alexandria, who was also reviewing the documents about the testing in Brocton Bay.
"Unknown," stated Contessa simply. The woman was still a little bedraggled, and Alexandria could see several dark circles under the woman's eyes, but the previous shock brought on by the Path shattering was almost gone. "The Path has reformed, but I'm still examining it. The Simurgh is still a blind spot, as is the Enemy, Eidolon, Serenity, Dragon, and the entire city of Brockton Bay."
There was a terse silence as all of them digested the information. In the end, it was Numberman who broke the silence, not even looking up from the laptop he was typing on.
"I'm just throwing things out, but could we simply contact Serenity, ask if she was responsible and if yes, could she make improvement to Contessa's and Eidolon's Agents?"
Contessa frowned, then closed her eyes. The rest of the group simply watched her.
"Unknown," said the woman without opening her eyes. "I have enough information to somewhat model her in battle, but I don't know how she would react to us."
"Pity."
Doctor Mother nodded in agreement, then turned to Alexandria.
"The experiment in Brockton Bay is obviously a bust. But let's keep everything as it was, see how Serenity reacts to things. Also, make sure that Director Piggot understands how important it is to find Serenity."
"Agreed. I'll also ask for more tests, and ask for proper recordings and analytics of the fights they would get in, to see how viable these power upgrades are, really."
She ignored the blatantly hungry and desperate look on David's face and turned to Contessa and Numberman.
"You two try to figure out a way to monitor the city without Clairvoyant and powers."
"Sure thing!" replied Numberman while raising his cup of coffee in a salute.
However, Contessa just simply smiled. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"It appears something broke Mama Mathers power…"
There was a pregnant pause while they digested the news. Alexandria just sighed and massaged her temples. Despite not being able to feel pain, or even have headaches, she felt one coming just the same.
"Seriously? How?"
Contessa just shrugged, stood up, and calmly began to walk out of the room.
"If you would excuse me, I have to take care of some business. Door to Houston." And with that she stepped through the portal that appeared, leaving the people in the room looking at each other bewildered.
Date
2011 March 1st - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Day 6109 - Monday - Administrator Network Time
His last stop, for now, was the Birdcage. He needed to take care of Teacher and Faerie Queen.
Sadly, he was pretty sure he couldn't simply infiltrate Ciara's Shard, so he had to either go in with full force or simply contact the Shard. He didn't like either of the options, but unfortunately, he couldn't waffle about it for long. The more time the Shard had, the more chance it would do something that messes up his plans.
So he simply and slowly isolated the Shard at a distance it wouldn't notice, making sure it couldn't send out any message he didn't approve, then after he was satisfied that was working, he girded his metaphorical (and crystalline) loins and poked the Shard.
[QUERY]
The answer came instantly, though not in the format he expected, though based on his experiences with other Shards he really should have foreseen it.
[Hello there, brave adventurer! How may We help you today?]
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