54

Interlude 5.b (Cauldron)

"That concludes my report."

The face of Director Emily Piggot was stoic, her voice tightly controlled against a hidden tension. Unusually different from her previous experiences with the woman.

To Rebecca's powers of perception, it was that the Director was feeling distinctly uncomfortable, and the source of that distress seemed to be Rebecca herself.

What could be the cause? Her mind ran through the possibilities and identified nothing from her end. The last report she'd heard was only a few days ago, and there was nothing out of the ordinary then.

The only possible answer had to be found within a catalyst on Piggot's side. Perhaps something to do with these new heroes that had defeated the Dragon of Kyushu.

It was something she had to look into.

The stakes were too high for her to risk overlooking any sort of lead, no matter how insignificant it may seem. If her identity was exposed, the results would be catastrophic for the world.

O O O

"…and the Simurgh has been moving strangely. We haven't identified the why yet, but there's definitely something different. It's spending more time in the lower atmosphere above North America," said Alexandria.

"The other Endbringers?" Eidolon asked.

"Nothing notable there. By the schedule, the next attack will happen next month in May."

"Have we made any progress on figuring out where they might target next?" Legend asked.

"We have a list of high potential cities. Too many to be useful. There are a couple of capes that are developing software to provide a slight advance warning that seems promising," Alexandria said.

"In the Protectorate?" Legend asked, with a look of surprise.

"It's not an official project. Dragon and Armsmaster are working on it in secret."

"Oh, I see," Legend said with a look of understanding. "Is that all, then?"

"There's one more thing," said Alexandria. It was time to discuss her mounting concerns over the leadership at the PRT ENE. The evidence was already clear.

"There is a strong chance that the PRT Director of ENE and Armsmaster have acquired knowledge, or at least suspicions, of something that would be unfavorable to us."

Everyone present gave her their full attention.

"We've been compromised? How?" Eidolon asked.

The Doctor's glance toward her silent assistant did not go unnoticed by Alexandria. Did they know already? Why hadn't Contessa done something about it then?

Whatever the case, they weren't going to be the ones to answer Eidolon's question. Not with Legend around, she supposed.

"I wouldn't say compromised quite yet. On April 11th, Director Piggot had a meeting with the new heroes known as Polychromic, Araliac, and Skitter. Records of that meeting have been tampered with, I believe with the assistance of Dragon. Since then, I've kept a closer eye on them, and Piggot and Armsmaster have been making certain dangerous lines of inquiry, while increasing security and actively hiding information from me. My close monitoring of them is how I knew about the Endbringer prediction software they are developing. It's still unclear how much they know."

The words brought the group to a momentary silence.

"If Dragon is involved…" Eidolon said.

"Are her restrictions failing?" Legend asked.

"I believe the source of the change was not Dragon, but the new hero known as Polychromic. The threat rating assigned to Polychromic was Thinker 6, possible 9, and there are records that Polychromic claimed to have highly sensitive information. Furthermore, the hero known as Araliac is in fact Panacea, who had run away from home after a suspected meeting between herself and Polychromic in civilian identity."

"I think I heard about them," said Legend. "They're the ones who defeated Lung, right? And you say Araliac is Panacea the miracle healer?"

"Yes. But we know that Panacea's much more than that. She would be an S-class threat if she used her full powers."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves and label anyone an S-class threat yet. They are heroes, at least for now, and we should hope it stays that way. The Protectorate would benefit greatly from having such powerful heroes added to our ranks."

"They refused to join the Protectorate and have declared their intention to establish an independent team."

"Independent or not, they aren't exactly villains yet."

"No, they're not. I'm only assessing their capabilities and stating the current situation. It's a cause for concern, and it concerns all of us, so I thought it best to inform you all. I will continue to monitor and try to defuse the situation peacefully. They may just be overly paranoid."

Legend nodded at her explanation. "That's fine. I just don't want us to make any wrong assumptions. It's easy to get caught up in pre-conceptions if you use the wrong terminology."

"I understand, Legend," she said, giving him a reassuring smile. "That's all for now then. You can go home now. Let's move on to our finances."

"We've cumulatively recovered 98% of our investment losses attributable to the Canberra attack, of which 34% are still unrealized gains. Of particular significance: 67 out of 82 outstanding insurance lawsuits regarding the voiding of policies of the persons legally unpersoned and properties within quarantined territory have been settled, resulting in one-time loss reserve adjustments representing $6 billion net booked in exposure-weighted terms across all insurers in our portfolio. Our strategy to manipulate insurance programs to mitigate damage to Cauldron influence and assets from Endbringer attacks is working well. We've closed on 36 high potential clients and 123 regular clients since…" the Number Man started reporting.

Legend smiled back and excused himself.

Once he left, the Number Man stopped, and they all looked at each other.

"Whether they're heroes or not, I believe Alexandria has good cause for concern. If they find out too much, what should we do? Bring them in, or…" Eidolon trailed off, looking at the woman in the suit.

The Doctor turned to Contessa and nodded. Suddenly the normally silent woman spoke up.

"The Paths changed on April 3rd. Before then, the man known as Polychromic was hidden to the Paths. The Paths adjusted, and he is now part of them, but the Paths around him are murky, uncertain. He possesses knowledge of Cauldron and many other secrets, but silencing him is not a step in the Paths to protect Cauldron's secrets."

Alexandria held down her shock. The words spoken by Contessa implied that Polychromic had been a complete blindspot of sorts to the woman's power. Contessa was their ace and their most powerful asset, even above Eidolon, in many ways, if not for her few blindspots of Scion, Eidolon, and the Endbringers. And now she was saying that another one had appeared, one with knowledge of their organization? One that Contessa might not be assured victory against, if he proved to be a threat.

"Does this mean you don't think we should do anything about him?" Alexandria asked the Doctor.

"It would be dangerous to move carelessly. He was a total blindspot for Contessa before, it's possible that he allowed himself to be seen on purpose. Right now he doesn't seem to be an immediate threat to our plans, so it's best to observe some more," the Doctor said.

"What about Piggot, Armsmaster, and Dragon?" Alexandria pressed.

"The Path does not require them to be silenced either. They do not know enough, and will not spread their knowledge," Contessa said.

"I see."

Then she would continue to observe.

O O O

"This is an outrage! They are flaunting their access to weapons of mass destruction, illegally holding cape captives, and have the audacity to act like they're the heroes!" Director Tagg said heatedly. "We can't possibly let them get away with this!"

Most of the directors' faces on screen looked deeply concerned, but none were as angry as Tagg. Piggot looked as stoic as ever, her face a near blank.

"Nevertheless, they are registered heroes with significant public support right now. Should we take any aggressive stances, the PR backlash would be difficult to manage," said Piggot.

"Then you need to bring them in line," Tagg said.

"With what? It's obvious from Director Piggot's reports that they knew exactly what they were doing. This is not a case of new heroes unfamiliar with the protocol, this is a case of powerful capes deliberately leveraging PR to break regulations and avoid the consequences," said Director Armstrong.

"And what will happen if other capes start taking this as an example to follow? That if you're powerful enough, and have enough public support, you can ignore the law? This is a threat to the very existence of the PRT and Protectorate. If the government is seen as being unable to keep control over powerful hero groups, the system itself will collapse. Not to mention that this 'CRUCIBLE' could turn villain at any time, and what then? Shall we let them grow until it's too late to stop them?"

While Tagg's attitude was not making him any allies, his logic was one that most of the Directors could understand, and certainly Rebecca had the same concerns.

The conference of PRT Directors shared a moment of silence.

"We could officially authorize their possession and custody, on a temporary basis," said Director Heathrow.

"What?" Tagg looked stunned.

"That way, it will appear as if they are working under PRT oversight, while we look for better ways to keep them in line," Director Heathrow suggested. "They'll make a mistake somewhere down the line, and we'll capitalize on it to shift public sentiment in our favor. We have to wait until people calm down and start thinking about the implications rather than their achievements, that's when we make our demands."

"That's risky," said Director Armstrong.

"But what else can we do? If we take a heavy hand right now, we won't have public support behind us. Nor do we want to get in a fight with CRUCIBLE. As annoying as they are, they're still heroes and we need all the heroes we can get. If we say that the PRT is authorizing them to secure the weapons and villains on a trial basis, we can draw out the people that would be opposed to it, then slowly build up support to revoke the authorization. And let's not forget, despite these supposed 'weapons of mass destruction', we deal with threats just as dangerous all the time. So what if they break a few rules? When they fall, as independent hero teams always do, the PRT will pick up the pieces and it will be a cautionary tale for future ambitious independent-minded heroes not to scorn the PRT."

"I can support this plan," Piggot said.

"It's not too bad, all things considered. I will support this," said Armstrong.

A round of nods and agreement later, and Rebecca affirmed the decision. "Very well. We'll do as you suggest Director Heathrow. Director Piggot, you can prepare the relevant announcements and documents."

O O O

"There's no need to panic," said the Doctor. "In fact, this could work in our favor."

"How?" Eidolon demanded. "Crucible is proving to be even more dangerous than we thought, and clearly they don't think we're on the same side. Even their name mocks us."

"Not necessarily. They haven't done anything to explicitly to disrupt our plans," Alexandria said.

"They've interfered with Terminus, haven't they? Wasn't that a critical part of our plans?"

"Rather than interfering, it would be more accurate to say that they took over the Terminus project. Coil was never vital, merely the best and most easily controlled candidate as our client with a suitable power," said the Doctor. "They have proven themselves rather more effective, and appealing to the masses, which ultimately is what we wanted to achieve."

"And how does killing and breaking people out of the Birdcage work in our favor? Without the assurance that the Birdcage provides, the public would push for executions. We'd be losing a huge number of powerful assets in the final fight," said Eidolon.

"So it stays a secret, except among the top brass. The loss of a Trump as useful as Teacher is regrettable, but this also means that Cauldron can start removing some Birdcage inmates for our own purposes now that there's been a precedent. It gives us a lot of time to mold them to our objectives, instead of being forced to rely on their cooperation when the time comes," the Doctor explained patiently.

"You agree with this?" Eidolon directed towards Alexandria.

She hesitated only for a moment before nodding. "There's some evidence to suggest that they may be working towards the same goals as we are, and my investigations suggest that they revealed far less about Cauldron to Piggot and Armsmaster than I initially suspected. However, I think we need to establish communications with them soon. As it stands, they are too much of a wildcard that we have no leverage over, especially if Contessa can't be certain her Paths are accurate for them."

"I want to agree with you, Alexandria, but the Simurgh's latest activities have me worried. A few hours before the Birdcage break-in, it started singing at a very low, barely audible frequency from her position in the atmosphere, which has never been observed before. In the past the Simurgh has interfered when it seemed that we were on the verge of a great breakthrough…I fear that direct cooperation with CRUCIBLE would invite her attention, if it hasn't already," the Doctor said.

The conversation came to a halt when a portal opened to reveal Legend finally arriving.

The group instantly controlled their expressions.

"Hi. I just finished reading the report from Dragon. So do we have any idea who was behind it, and why?"

"Unfortunately, we don't know much. We don't know we could even have the power to do such a thing, let alone suspects. The Birdcage was thought to be essentially impenetrable. As for the why, it could have been a coordinated assassination of Teacher, or Canary might have been taken for her powers."

"My powers haven't given me anything useful either. All I've found out is that whoever it was can do it again."

"That's…not much," said Legend with a disappointed look.

"Yes, I realize that," growled Eidolon, acting appropriately frustrated.

O O O

"What's going on?" asked Eidolon.

The Doctor looked haggard, and her dark skin was unusually pale. She had suddenly called for an emergency meeting, even though these days she usually left the Triumvirate to their own devices until a regular meeting, or Alexandria initiated the call.

"We have a lot less time than we thought. There could be as little as two years until the end of the world scenario," said Doctor Mother.

"Only two years?" Eidolon asked, his face solemn. "Our earliest estimates put it at least 23 years away, based on Endbringer activity. Unless…Scion? What's changed?"

"It's not that anything in particular has changed, but that we've found a precog who could give a more accurate prediction," said the Number Man as he came through a side door to the conference room. Behind him was a young girl with straight, dark brown hair in a Greek style dress and half mask.

"This is Oracle, the one who made the prediction. It's quite detailed," said the Number Man.

"I recognize her," Alexandria said, closely observing the girl. The mask was only a minor obstruction to her. "Dinah Alcott, niece of the Mayor of Brockton Bay? When did you get her?"

"That's correct. Contessa has been paying more attention to Brockton Bay in order to better model Polychromic. She found Oracle in the process. We've replaced her with a believable clone that will die of natural causes shortly." said the Number Man.

At the last part, Alexandria and Eidolon both gave sharp looks to the Doctor.

"We didn't kidnap her, if that's what you're worried about. When Contessa found her, she came willingly. Quite eager to help too."

The Doctor's explanation both relieved and unnerved Eidolon. He wanted to save lives, that's all he ever wanted. He knew what they were up against, and the necessity of everything they'd done.

In the beginning, he hadn't known the whole truth, but there was a point when his powers told him what the Doctor and Alexandria had kept from him.

So he understood why they were getting a mere child involved in their ugly business, and understood how that child might have felt in the face of a threat such as the end of the world.

But so too was unnerved, because he knew what was left unspoken. That Contessa probably persuaded her the same way she persuaded Eidolon himself when he learned the truth about Cauldron's less savoury projects. Contessa rarely spoke in their meetings, allowing the Doctor to speak instead, but he knew that when she stayed silent, she was holding back. An answer to every dilemma, from the most trivial to the most major.

Even he, a blindspot, was subject to an Eidolon-like model, and with her path to victory she could convince anyone of almost anything. Was it really willing if one could be persuaded to do anything she wanted?

"I…want to help. Please. I want to be here. Nobody believes me at home, but I have to do something. I know I can help," the girl said in a strong voice.

Alexandria nodded. "The end of the world, then? How does it happen?"

"A man with a knife. He's the one who makes everyone die. I don't know how. But if he's alive, something happens in two years, or eight, or some time in between, and everyone dies. Everyone dies anyways but if that something happens, they die really fast, and in a year almost everyone is dead," the girl explained.

The Number Man cut in. "What we've been able to piece together is that Jack Slash is the catalyst, and if he stays alive there's a 95% chance that the end of the world event happens about two years from now."

"So we need to eliminate Jack Slash?" Eidolon asked.

"No, not quite. There's an exceedingly good chance that we would have only sixty-six to twenty-five percent of the forces available if we waited ten years."

"Fourteen years from now is the breaking point," Dinah said.

"Fifty-three to two percent of the forces available, then," Number Man clarified. "Counterintuitively, the two-year scenario is actually the best case. For having the strongest force and therefore the highest chances of victory."

"We knew this was coming sooner or later and that the results wouldn't be good for humanity. What Oracle has provided us with is a clearer picture of the when, and more importantly, the how. These new predictions have decimated our projected timelines, but we now have confirmation that it can be survived, at least. It won't end with the Entity simply obliterating all Earths in one devastating strike. Instead, there will be vast swatches of destruction, and civilization may survive in various small pockets across a number of realities," said the Doctor.

"Thus confirming the importance of the Terminus," said Alexandria.

"Correct. In light of this new information, there's no time to prepare or pursue anything further. We can only continue with what we already have."

"In that regard, it seems that leaving CRUCIBLE alone was the right choice. They've managed to complete Terminus earlier than even our most optimistic scenarios," said Alexandria.

The Doctor nodded. "So now we can advance the Cockroach and Exodus plans. Then the question is, how much should we involve the Protectorate?"

Alexandria shook her head. "The Protectorate is proving to be a failure on that front. Recent events haven't given me much hope. I would include them in Cockroach, and only fully segregated, but not Exodus, considering the superior results from Terminus. Our resources would be better spent replicating CRUCIBLE's success for Exodus."

There was a loud gasp from Oracle.

"The—the numbers are changing! I don't understand—ah…it hurts!" The girl clutched her head with both hands.

Doctor Mother looked disturbed and turned to Contessa.

"Jack Slash was killed by a missile fired through a portal connecting to space," said Contessa.

O O O

A/N: We're almost reaching the end of the Worm segment, and will soon be moving on the start of the multiverse portion of the story.