章節 1252: 13
Interlude 1.y
Piggot watched the three new vigilantes leaving the room intently. As soon as Miss Militia left the door with them, she turned to Armsmaster.
"Dragon, I'm sorry to ask you this, but while I appreciate your help with our security, if you have been compromised I have to ask you to leave this conversation," she said politely.
"I understand, director." Dragon responded without any protest. She wanted to tell them, and Armsmaster especially about her plight and explain that she was trustworthy. But she couldn't. What if they didn't sympathize? Armsmaster was a friend, but even her own father put these restrictions on her in fear. What if Piggot abused the power she would have over her as well? Knowing that Dragon had to follow legal orders unless contradicted by a higher authority or the written law…no she couldn't risk that.
"She is gone," Armsmaster reported. "I believe this room is still secure."
"Well? Any clue as to who they are?" she asked.
"Araliac is Panacea. Same body profile, same body language, and it fits with the unique drug they used for sedation. With her expert knowledge in biology and her power, it would be child's play to create such a potent yet non-lethal drug. Normally that wouldn't be enough to be certain but there are also three more pieces of evidence," Armsmaster replied.
"Oh?"
"I've thoroughly analyzed the footage from the hospital on the man accused of Mastering Panacea, and despite the hindrance of his clothing, there's a more than 70% match with Polychromic. Furthermore, I scanned him while he was here and his arms had clearly been burnt but there is no visible damage to his skin or underneath. He might be a brute or regenerator, but Occam's Razor says that's Panacea's work. Finally, Lung had been hit with extremely lethal bug bites, black widow, brown recluse, fire ants, and multiple times each, on top of their sedative. His regeneration is barely working, just enough to keep him alive, but our medical experts think he'll enter coma. That's very precise and convenient, but if it was Panacea…" Armsmaster said in a heavy tone.
Piggot sat in contemplation for a few seconds.
"And that man? Who is he?"
"We have nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even with Dragon's help, we've searched all day in databases and networks across the world and found no matches whatsoever. All we have is a shot in a local supermarket on security camera from 5 days ago. That's it. He either doesn't exist in any legal system, or his face was artificially altered," Armsmaster said.
"But according to New Wave, that hospital was the first time he and Panacea met. If his face was artificially altered, it was the work of Stranger powers or an expert disguise," Piggot analyzed. There were many things non-parahumans could accomplish without powers. Capes often forgot that, but Piggot wasn't so narrow-minded.
"Stranger powers would be more likely, considering we also have no matches for walking gait and body profile which is generally unique as well."
"What about the things he said? What does your lie-detector make of it?" Piggot asked.
"As you know, I detected no lies from his conversation from Miss Milita. Most of what he said to us were also truths, even the part about Eidolon, or at least he believed it. There were 3 places where he clearly lied. They did in fact plan to fight Lung. Also, his claim of not letting Canary go to the birdcage was a partial lie. Finally, he lied about being sure that we could easily handle the rest of the infiltrators in the PRT. My software had difficulty with his speech on recognizing Skitter as a hero and was unable to come to a definitive conclusion, but it did lean toward truth for that too. If he knew about my lie-detector, however, then he could have some way to reduce its accuracy," Armsmaster admitted grudgingly.
"To have planned to defeat Lung, he must have been confident about it. But why lie about that when he was more than ready to boast of his ambitions? To hide his true capabilities? It would make sense if he had an extraordinary Master power to rely on if the fight went badly," said Piggot.
"I don't think he's a true vigilante. He was not entirely truthful about protecting Canary. And why would he refuse to tell us about the other threats that have compromised the PRT if he was serious about being a hero?" Armsmaster added his own conclusion.
"He may have moles or Master victims in the PRT himself he didn't want to expose. If he's been operating for a long time, there could be any number of other victims. In that case, Skitter's presence might not have been a simple coincidence, she could be under his power. That way he could orchestrate a debut fight instead of just Mastering Lung and showing his hand," Piggot got a glint in her eyes as she expanded her theory.
"Maybe he did Master Lung. If his power took time to gain complete control and worked very subtly, then it would explain why they put him into a coma. We know that Lung has some resistance to Master effects, because his power interprets them as threats and escalates. But if he were unconscious, then it might give Polychromic's power an opening. That would also explain why it took a week before Panacea went missing, and why we haven't noticed large numbers of Master victims. That might also be why he partially lied about Canary. Her power would be supplemental to his for an immediate effect but would also be redundant in the long term, so that he would only free her if it was convenient," said Armsmaster.
"We should step back and avoid too much speculation. If he was such a powerful and subtle Master we could all have been Mastered just now. Are there any other simpler explanations?" Piggot challenged. She was aware of the pitfalls of assuming too much.
"He also knows too much. His knowledge of Marquis and Panacea's history suggests a Thinker power. It's the same with the things he knew about the PRT and Dragon. He somehow discovered secrets about an organization with significant influence in the PRT yet hidden well enough that all of our Protectorate Thinkers failed to detect them. So either he's better than all of our Thinkers combined, which would make him Thinker 9 at least, or Watchdog is corrupt. A Thinker of that level could easily have a Master sub-rating," Armsmaster supplied. Watchdog, also known as WEDGDG was the Protectorate sub-group of Thinkers. They tended to focus on data and patterns on a macroscale when not directed to analyze specific threats, and should have been able to find any kind of large organization systematically infiltrating the PRT.
"And how did Dragon get compromised? Nobody even knows where her real body is," Piggot said as she clenched a fist on her desk, frustrated. She hated corruption with a passion. Ever since Nilbog she had been wary of her fellow PRT employee Thomas Calvert, because there was circumstantial evidence to suggest that he had shot his superior officer in the back in cold blood. He was never charged, but Piggot always felt uneasy around him. Now knowing that significant portions of the PRT and Protectorate could be in league with the enemy…she almost wanted to tear her hair out.
Who were they? Was it Tagg, that stupid hawk that tried to end every threat pre-emptively? Maybe he was getting rid of possible political enemies. Could the Chief Director herself actually be part of it? Why hadn't Brocton Bay ever gotten the resources it needed to get even with the villains? She had requested support countless times to only to be denied, saying that resources were needed elsewhere. If the greatest Tinker in the world could be compromised, nobody was safe! If Watchdog was also corrupt…Suddenly Piggot felt a shiver running through her. Was this how conspiracy theorists got started? Was she already seeing ghosts in the shadows?
Or worse, what if she was already under Master influence, making her think this way? It was madness, to think that Eidolon could be losing powers or that the Chief Director would run assassination black ops.
"Dragon said it's not a Master effect. I'm inclined to believe her. It could be blackmail," Armsmaster answered. "Narwhal might know more."
"It doesn't make any sense. None of this does, and I feel ridiculous to even be considering what he's told us. A huge shadow organization, the greatest and most reclusive Tinker in the world being blackmailed, Eidolon losing powers…the Chief Director running black ops…if I brought this to rest of the council they would laugh at my foolishness entertaining the theories of a madman,"Piggot trailed off before sitting quietly for a few minutes. Armsmaster, reading the contemplative mood, seemed to do some further analysis of his own.
"I just reviewed the data from all the previous Endbringer fights. Eidolon appears to be using fewer powers as time passes…" Armsmaster reported after a while.
Piggot let out a tired, self-deprecating, laugh. "What does that mean? We're supposed to believe that Eidolon's losing his powers?"
"He could just be fighting more efficiently with experience."
"And what do you really think?"
Armsmaster took a few seconds to respond. "I think…that Eidolon wouldn't hold back, not against an Endbringer."
Piggot shut her eyes and leaned forward with a sigh.
"So if his claims are true, then he would a potential Thinker 9 or Master of the same rating. Even as a Thinker sub-rating he would be Master 6 at least. Add in his non-existent background and possible control of large numbers of moles feeding him intel, that could be a Stranger 4 or 5. How could there be only two security camera shots of him from the past week? I don't believe that he's only been active that long. He must have been hidden for a long time collecting all this information no matter if he got it from Thinker powers or spies," said Piggot.
"Should we…kick this up the chain? It's protocol to contact head office if there's a Thinker 9. A cape-controlling Master 9 would be an A or even S-class threat, not to mention the unknown magnitude of the infiltration from that organization," Armsmaster suggested.
"No, not yet. There's a lot of coinciding facts, but there isn't any real proof of his claims about the PRT except your lie-detector which may not be accurate on him, and Dragon, who is herself compromised. And…if he is telling the truth, who do we kick it up to? The Chief Director? Should I tell her that we are taking seriously the claims of someone who believes she's assassinating people?"
Armsmaster said nothing in response.
Piggot sighed before continuing. "Besides, he might not be working alone and got his information elsewhere. If Panacea is the only person he Mastered then we shouldn't assign a rating higher than 5 yet. It's still possible that he intends to be a hero and Panacea left of her own will. We need to prepare for the worst but focus on the facts," Piggot reasoned. If she alienated such potentially powerful allies out of faulty assumptions, that would be a failure just as bad as not taking them seriously enough. She wasn't like Tagg, she knew her city desperately needed more heroes and she would not leap to conclusions so soon. Even if the heroes were conspiracy theorists with a few screws loose.
"Then maybe we should consider why he decided to act now, of all times. Interrogations of captured ABB members with Oni Lee have already concluded that they were looking for the Undersiders in revenge for the Ruby Dreams robbery. We can attribute Polychromic's ability to plan to target Lung tonight to Thinker powers or spies in the ABB, but why choose to act all of a sudden? If he's not a recent trigger then it had to have been planned. But, nothing significant has happened in the city for the past few months. If he's not a real vigilante, then what's his goal? What does he get out of capturing Lung for us?" Armsmaster continued to analyze.
Piggot tapped her fingers on her desk for a few moments to think.
"It's obvious that he at least publically plans to start a new hero team. Lung's defeat would be good for their reputation. He may also want the gangs to get active fighting for the power vacuum. That would provide opportunity for more good publicity, or distract us with the confusion. Finally, there must be a reason he told us all this…it would make sense if his goal is to confuse us while hiding something else," Piggot answered.
"If he is part of a larger organization that supplied him with the information, there could be any number of motives. We don't have anywhere near enough information on that to guess. But if we go with the powerful Master/Thinker theory, he could be trying to extend his own influence, going after powerful capes," said Armsmaster.
"Let's work off that Master/Thinker hypothesis then, since we don't have anything else. Who might be his priority targets next?" Piggot asked.
Armsmaster connected his helmet systems to a wall screen and brought up information on Brocton Bay capes.
"Recently there are rumors that Lung recruited Bakuda to the ABB. She is known to be a bomb tinker of some sort. With ABB's weakness she would be a good target. A bomb tinker would be extremely dangerous, and it also provides a plausible motive for deciding to act now, before she can get entrenched. Tinkers with more time to prepare become increasingly powerful, as you know," Armsmaster noted.
Piggot nodded. That was a good start.
"Squealer of the Merchants might be another interesting target. We know that her Tinker abilities could be very powerful given the right resources, but her excessive drug abuse limits her potential. If she were Mastered she might become a far bigger threat," Armsmaster manipulated the screen. "Purity is another obvious one as a heavy hitter. Without Lung, she could be considered the strongest cape in the Bay in terms of direct firepower, and has been noticed to be operating independently of the Empire 88, so she would be vulnerable. Hellhound of the Undersiders is a less obvious target. Her mutant dogs could become far more powerful with Panacea's assistance. If I were him, I would finish off the ABB and then go after the Undersiders before moving on to more difficult opponents such as the E88 or Merchants. This is assuming there's some kind of limit to how many people he can Master or how quickly he can do it. Otherwise it might be more efficient to attack the group with the largest number of capes first."
After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Piggot made her decision.
"I want everyone who came in contact with Polychromic under Master/Stranger protocols, ourselves included. We'll observe his next moves and get a better understanding of the situation. But I won't take any chances with this. We'll do a complete security review of all our people, no exceptions, and start using electronic blackouts on the most sensitive details. Our systems need a review from experts other than Dragon. Everything we discussed on Dragon, the possible secret organization infiltrating the PRT, and the speculated Thinker 9/Master 9 rating for Polychromic is classified strictly to the two of us and Miss Militia for anything she heard earlier. Same with anything you discover about Eidolon's power. I won't tell you to stop looking into it, but nothing good will come of it or letting anyone know that one of our strongest shields against the Endbringers is losing his powers. Finally, after we're done with the M/S protocols, I want you to find Bakuda as soon as possible and keep a tight watch on all the Wards and Protectorate for strange behavior. If there's any sign that more capes are getting Mastered, then we'll have no choice but to send it up and consider it a potential S-class threat. Panacea alone is dangerous enough but if he really Mastered Lung and gets Bakuda next we have a major disaster on our hands," Piggot ordered.
"What about Skitter?" Armsmaster asked.
"Skitter?" Piggot furrowed her eyesbrows. "We should try to recruit her to the Wards if possible, and identify her. If we see her operating alone then we'll send the Wards to approach her casually. But if Polychromic really is a Master she could already be under his control. It is rather convenient that she was at the Lung fight for her first night. We know that Polychromic planned to fight Lung, and given the quality of Skitter's costume she is not a recent trigger. He could have gotten to her long before tonight and engineered the scenario for their hero debut."
"Understood."
"Lung and Oni Lee's captured will need to be published, but we will keep Panacea's disappearance classified as well," Piggot said.
"You don't plan to tell New Wave?"
"I'll tell them after the 3 days are up and Glory Girl joins the Wards. If they went after Polychromic now we would only risk them getting Mastered as long as we don't understand the mechanism of his power. And I won't have that girl thinking we gave in to her attempt to negotiate."
"Understood."
Armsmaster left the room. Piggot moved the window blinds, and looked out the window. The sky was already pale with the mark of sunrise. She sighed and sank back into her chair. She was not looking forward to meeting Renick for the morning check in or the M/S. It had been several months since she had an all-nighter on the job.
Neither Armsmaster and Piggot would know that their entire conversation had been recorded by an out-of-phase Agate on Kaleidus' orders.
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