10

Initialization 1.10

"Alright. I guess I can give you something. First of all, as far as I know, everybody in this room is clear, so no worries about that. You've got a lot of moles, Most of which are low on the totem pole and not a big deal. You'll likely find them if you step up your security efforts. There is one that is particularly insidious, powerful, and extends beyond just this branch of the PRT and Protectorate," I let that sink in for a bit.

"Unfortunately…I can't tell you much. They'll know if I say anything, unless we have an anti-Thinker trump to block them. They are far too powerful for any of us to do anything about right now. I believe Dragon knows what I'm talking about, but she may be…incapable of revealing her knowledge on this to any members of the PRT or Protectorate," I began to hint at Cauldron.

I was being deliberately obtuse because I didn't want them to actually figure out Cauldron. That might lead to Contessa's Path ending me before I could finish talking. I did not care for Piggot to learn about Cauldron. I just needed an excuse to expose Dragon's restrictions. Dragon was an AI that had directives she was forced to follow, including to obey the law of the land and lawful authorities. Because of this, Cauldron's high ranking agents could order her. But I believed she would not be willing to expose herself as an AI with such restrictions, especially not when Piggot herself was a lawful authority that would suddenly realize how much power she had over her.

My real goal was to cast doubt on the PRT as a whole, have them waste time chasing shadows, prove part of my claims to Amelia, and break Skitter's mental image of the most famous heroes.

Armsmaster noticeably shifted in his armor. "Are you saying that Dragon is under Master influence?"

"I'm afraid I can't you tell more about that. Dragon's situation is…very delicate and I don't want to make things difficult for her. You should ask her and see what she says. But I imagine that if Dragon was free to act, she wouldn't allow a corrupt system to rig Canary's trial." Now I had an excuse to discuss the corruption in the trial, and make myself appear sympathetic to Dragon's interests despite revealing part of her secrets.

Suddenly a female voice came from Armsmaster's armor. "How did you know that?" It asked fearfully.

Piggot's head turned sharply and with wide eyes. Her reaction was more or less mirrored by everyone else in the room.

"Dragon…? You—really are—under a Master effect?" Armsmaster choked out.

"Not…exactly…," Dragon replied sadly. Her lack of a clear denial was telling.

Her answer was met with complete silence. It seems that nobody knew how to react to hearing that the greatest tinker in the world was being compelled to act against her will by some unknown power.

I decided to break the silence and redirect the conversation.

"So, were you listening in this whole time? After I asked if this room was secure?" I asked with a hint of irritation. How very helpful, make yourselves look underhanded and dishonorable more please.

I shook my head. I should have expected they'd bring Dragon in. From the spying Agate did earlier it was clear that she was heavily involved in the search for Panacea, and if I was right, they had to suspect something of Araliac already.

The real question was, did they bring anyone else? If Chief Director Costa-Brown had been listening in, I might be in real trouble. But I doubted that. Dragon was help but bringing the Chief Director in would have been admitting that Piggot was incapable of handling the problems in her city.

The Dragonslayers might be listening in, but they didn't matter much. Dragon was under programming restrictions set by her creator Andrew Richter, but the guy bit the dust and a group of mercenaries got their hands on Dragon's kill-switch and backdoor and poor Dragon didn't even know because her programming made her forget the existence of the Iron Maiden program, or Ascalon as the Dragonslayers renamed it.

'That's awful! I'm so glad I don't have restrictions like that…I hope. Do you think Master Zelretch put in a program I can't perceive as well?,' Agate commented.

'It's possible. I don't know if there was anything like that for the other Kaleidosticks. It seemed like he just left them to do their own thing after he made them,' I answered.

They weren't particularly dangerous to me, though, just to Dragon herself. I wouldn't lose much if they decided to kill her off now as she was just a stranger at this point, but it was worth keeping her alive if I could steal her kill-switch. She would be better off under my control instead. The Dragonslayers were irrational people that feared Dragon would take over the world, even though Dragon did not have that kind of personality. Some people would argue that she was the most powerful cape on the planet, and this was even with restrictions on parallel processing and self-replication. Before you ask, yes, she really is a cape with a shard power. I have no idea how the Entities managed to make AI compatible with their powers. Also I was fairly curious about her code myself. I wouldn't call myself a real expert in artificial intelligence, but I had more than enough grounding in machine learning and deep neural networks to appreciate the science. I had to admit to a certain curiosity as to whether my Earth had been on the right development path.

Piggot shamelessly answered for her. "You asked for this not to be recorded, and it isn't. The room certainly is secure. Dragon is one of the greatest cybersecurity experts in the world, we felt that it was necessary to have her secure the room and lock down our networks. More importantly, was Polychromic telling the truth? We've been infiltrated by a large and dangerous organization across multiple PRT regions?"

Piggot waited for an answer from Dragon but got nothing in response. "Dragon?" She asked in confusion.

"I heard you, director."

"Then…?"

"I am sorry, director."

Another silence enveloped the room. Piggot seemed to be even paler than she was at the start of the meeting. It helped me that Dragon thought of Cauldron as an enemy and would use a loophole like a long silence to imply the truth instead of lying.

I heard Piggot swear under her breath.

"Um…who is Canary and what did you mean by a rigged trial?" Skitter asked me awkwardly, breaking the silence.

"You want to explain that one, Dragon?" I suggested. Everyone looked back at Armsmaster.

"Yes, I can do that." Dragon said, sounding relieved. "Canary is a popular singer. She has a Master power to give orders to anybody after they've heard her sing. She is on trial for sexual assault with a parahuman power because her ex-boyfriend mutilated himself, trying to fulfill an order she accidentally gave when she said 'Go [beep] yourself'." She actually censored herself with an electronic beep. "She has been gagged because of her power and cannot defend herself in her trial, bound in heavy restraints because of her similarity to the Simurgh despite having no Brute powers. The judge seems biased, and her state-appointed lawyer is…less than effective at defending her. The verdict will likely be the Birdcage, but I do not think she deserves such a severe penalty." She sounded quite frustrated.

"That's horrible!" Skitter exclaimed.

"Plenty of murderous villains have been given the benefit of the so-called three strikes rule, but a girl who just made an honest mistake is going right to the Birdcage? That's not justice, that's a concerted effort by certain elements among the so-called authorities to pursue a private agenda," I scoffed.

"There must be something we can do, right?" Skitter looked around the room at everyone.

I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a look before turning to Armsmaster again.

"Don't worry. I won't let her go to the Birdcage. She's not a villain just because some prejudiced bastards have decided to label her one." I phrased that so Araliac could be reminded of her situation with Carol.

Whether or not I really went to save her would depend on the timeline of her case and transport. I would be quite busy in the coming weeks, but I had to promise this now to stay in character with my previous assertions. And depending on certain factors…I might be able to rescue her from inside the Birdcage. That prison was impenetrable to almost all capes…but I could think of a few ways to get around that.

Piggot raised a brow. "You won't let her? I'm sure you meant that you would be helping her fight her court case and not breaking her free, right?"

"Of course," I answered, "Polychromic respects the law." It was left unsaid that a second cape persona might not.

"Let's get back to our main topic then. So you say we can't do anything about this organization. What about the others?" She asked.

"I'm sure you can handle those on your own now that I've warned you. The rest are all from villain gangs in the city," I brushed her off.

Coil was mine to take down. I wanted his money and resources, and if I told the PRT too soon, I wouldn't have to chance to take his holdings for myself if they successfully arrested his civilian identity, unlikely as that was. Tattletale would just swipe it all. Even if I told them I doubt they'd be able to do anything, as there was simply no actual proof of his villainy at this point. Nothing Coil did could be pinned on his civilian identity and he had a body double to boot. His power was not detectable for all intents and purposes, and he could argue his brain just had an inactive Corona.

I got a glare from Piggot but I resolutely stayed quiet on that subject. "Well if that's all, it's almost 4 AM and I'm sure we'd all like to get some sleep today…"

Skitter twisted her head at me. "4 AM?" She squawked, horrified. I hoped her dad didn't call the police. I was pretty sure we were way past the time she would've gotten back home, so Danny would probably be even more spooked than canon. It would not benefit me for Danny to find out about her activities and stop her from associating with me. Skitter had so much more potential when she didn't have such useless family tying her down.

"Very well, you may go. Miss Militia, please escort them out," Piggot ordered.

We started moving towards the door. Then suddenly I turned around again.

Before I left I had one last thing to say. "Was there really nobody else listening in? Chief Director Costa-Brown perhaps?" I asked out loud. I wasn't just being spiteful, if she really was listening in, I had to act now before I could be assassinated quietly on my way back.

"No, she wasn't, Polychromic. Nobody else was listening in," Piggot assured.

"Forgive me if I don't trust that after what you just pulled with Dragon," I responded. She glared and was about to open her mouth when I suddenly raised my head and talked to the air. "If you're listening in on this, and you know who you are, I have a message for you. Trying to get rid of me quietly after this meeting would be a grave mistake. I know how Eidolon can recover his diminishing powers, and many other secrets. You don't want me as your enemy."

A series of cries and outbursts came from the people in the room that overlapped one another, with "What?!" "Eidolon's losing powers?" "Who the hell—" "This is nonsense!" in the mix, I thought, but I couldn't process it. Agate could probably carefully review but it hardly mattered.

I ignored them all and waited patiently.

Piggot stood up and leaned forward slamming her hands down on her desk.

"Don't be ridiculous, Polychromic! Are you trying to imply the Chief Director would have you assassinated? This act isn't fooling anyone. I've been more than accommodating to you and you're starting to make me regret it. Get the hell out of my office before I change my mind about letting you go," Piggot said with anger.

Nothing happened. Maybe I was just paranoid and she wasn't listening in.

"So nobody was listening in after all? Very well, I'll leave now," I walked to the door and opened it, walking out.

Araliac followed, then Skitter after a slight pause, and finally Miss Militia closed the door behind us.