36

Thursday Morning, February 10th, 2011

Arcadia High School

Northwest Science Corridor​

Stepping out of the women's room, the nearest hallway window shattered and my reflexes took me to the ground before I was fully aware of what had happened.

Feeling a weight while mostly prone I looked down to find a tranquilizer dart had gotten stuck on my shirt. It'd failed to penetrate the light armor that looked like regular cloth, ejecting whatever toxin was inside mostly onto the ground.

I plucked it out and tossed it away, staying low and out of sight from whatever sniper had shot through the window.

The hallway was empty. I was in one of my independent study periods, and everyone else was in class.

Isolated, a place where people knew I would be. Without obvious armor or weapons.

If someone knew Taylor Hebert's secret identity as Scientia, it would seem like the perfect place for an assassination or a kidnapping.

Judging from the dart, probably a kidnapping.

Well. How did I deal with this without blowing my cover any more than it evidently already was?

Scientia > Someone is trying to kidnap me in my civilian ID.

Dragon > WHAT?!

Prometheus > Moving assets to respond, Miss.

Dragon > So am I. Who's the kidnapper?

Scientia > Don't know yet. We're going to have to handle this carefully to keep my secret ID under wraps, though. Nobody can know who the attempted kidnapping victim was.

Ares > There are five adult individuals in hoodies and nondescript clothing sprinting towards your position from the hill that is the probable source of the shot, Ma'am. It looks like they're wearing cloth masks.

Scientia > Doesn't sound like any of the local gangs.

Dragon > Sounds like they want to remain anonymous, and they're doing a good job of it so far. I've got an idea for how to get you out, but it will take a few minutes to organize.

Scientia > That might be just as well. A big rescue here in the school would be too much of a threat to my civilian ID. It doesn't seem like they plan on killing me, so I'll let them make off with me for a bit.

Ares > I'll act if it looks like you're in danger, Ma'am.

Scientia > I know. Lethal force is authorized.

If one of them did try to kill me, non-lethal options likely wouldn't be fast enough. And if they were parahumans...well, I couldn't take chances.

Ares > Yes, Ma'am. Weapons are hot.

Scientia > Prometheus, find out who they are.

Prometheus > Command acknowledged, Miss. I'm not picking up any broadcasting devices on their persons, looking into other options.

I pretended to be collapsed and unconscious onto my belly, and directed my attention to the view from the Gunboat Diplomacy above. The five leapt through the window with agility and practiced coordination. From their builds, they looked like three men and two women.

"Cover me," one of the women ordered in clipped Mandarin, and crouched to lay a hand on my back.

With the Gunboat Diplomacy's sensors I could see the other four fan out around us, hands raised in preparation for something. They had no visible weapons, which unfortunately suggested that they were all parahumans.

And the Mandarin suggested something else.

Scientia > They're a coordinated group that speaks Mandarin, acting like they're all parahumans, and they're attempting a kidnapping of a cape.

Dragon > Yàngbǎn. Shit. How did they find out who you are?

Prometheus > Investigating, Miss.

Less than a minute later I and the five disappeared from the hallway, and I heard an engine and felt a lurch of movement.

Scientia > Teleport! Where am I?

Prometheus > I have your signal, Miss. You're two blocks north, in an unmarked white van moving southbound.

Dragon > Delayed short range teleportation is a known Yàngbǎn capability.

Scientia > That clinches it, then. We're away from watching eyes, at least.

Ares > Drones are deploying from the Spark now. I have targeting solutions.

Dragon > Almost there.

It wasn't long before the roar of jets and the boom of something very heavy hitting the pavement shook the van, which screeched to a panic stop.

Dragon's voice thundered. "YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! STEP OUT OF THE VEHICLE WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"

My relayed view from the two ships and dozen combat drones overhead caught the van's driver - evidently the sixth member of the team - raising a palm. A brilliant blue cutting beam lanced through the van's windshield and scored the armor along the head and flank of the full size dragonsuit blocking the road. The suit retaliated with a spray of containment foam from its mouth that impacted harmlessly on an energy shield the driver deployed with a gesture.

"We must evade and disappear. We cannot be captured, or carry the prisoner and escape," said the woman above me in more Mandarin, and I saw through the sensor feeds as she began to extend a palm in my direction.

I twisted with force, my left hand directing her arm away and my right leg catching her in a powerful kick across the jaw that sent her tumbling to the floor of the van.

The other four were only surprised momentarily before they, too, began to raise their palms.

Scientia > ARES!

The world exploded with sound.

When I gathered my wits the first thing I saw was Mouse Protector's deeply concerned face leaning over me. Her mouth moved like she was saying something, but I couldn't hear her over the terrible ringing in my ears, and shook my head. She helped me stand, and I saw the remains of the Yàngbǎn team. Hypervelocity penetrators from the combat drones overhead had shot through the van's walls and exploded their skulls like melons. I was covered in warm blood and brain matter, along with the rest of the interior of the van. The mostly headless corpses and blood everywhere was like something out of a horror film, and I had to suppress the urge to vomit.

Ares > Ma'am, please respond. Targets are down. Are you injured?

Scientia > Just my hearing, I think. Thank you. I need to get home.

Prometheus > Moving the Spark to ground level. I'll position it so that no one sees you exit the van.

Scientia > Thank you.

Dragon > Go, I'll take care of explaining things. Six dead Yàngbǎn on U.S. soil. This...is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare. At least the CUI is likely to deny everything. That might make things easier.

Scientia > Lethal force is legally acceptable to thwart a kidnapping, and the international implications aren't going to matter soon.

Dragon > I don't think people will be pleased regardless. Why aren't you concerned about the international implications?

Scientia > Because I knew I would have to tangle with the CUI eventually.

I couldn't hear the Spark's thrusters over the ringing in my ears, but the ship was obvious enough through the small windows on the rear door of the van. I opened it up and stepped directly into the Spark, Mouse Protector accompanying me like she was worried I was going to fall over at any moment. The door shut behind us, and then opened again as we were in my basement.

"I'm okay. I need to get clean," I said, my voice probably coming out oddly because of my deafness.

Mouse looked skeptical, said something that looked like it was probably sternly worded, and disappeared.

I stripped off my clothes and threw them into the trash before heading for the shower. On the way I directed the chemical synthesizer downstairs to get started on a batch of regenerative drug for my damaged hearing.

When the adrenaline of the fight passed and I washed the blood out of my hair with shaking hands, I was left feeling nothing but cold fury. The kind of anger that I knew I shouldn't be making decisions in, but that also made it hard to care.

The CUI wanted to take a swing at me? That was fine. I had what I needed now to punch back. And the CUI was on my list of things on Earth Bet that had to go anyway. The only thing that had changed was they'd successfully moved themselves to the top.

Scientia > Ares, we're going to war. I'm sending you a package with some ideas. Work it out into a complete action plan, please.

Ares > Yes, Ma'am. Package received. Working up contingencies. Shall I start repositioning our assets?

Scientia > Yes, but you are not weapons hot yet. Prometheus, I need total information awareness of the CUI government. Priorities are to locate every member of the Yangban, and identify every member of their government and military that has ordered or participated in atrocities. Take over their military command and control, too. Share what you find with Ares.

Prometheus > Command acknowledged, Miss. Deploying forks.

Dragon > I'm almost afraid to ask. What are you planning?

This was something I'd already given thought. There were things that I just didn't want Dragon involved in. For her sake, it was better if some things were done by human hands.

Scientia > I...eventually, your status is going to become public. Hopefully it'll be on a day you choose, in a world that's used to AI and accepts you. But in case it happens too soon, there are certain things it might look bad for an AI to have been involved in.

Dragon > You're scaring me. What are you going to do?

Scientia > I've known from the start that the CUI couldn't be allowed to continue forever. It's a cruel, oppressive, despotic regime that refuses to meaningfully work with anyone else, even against the threats to everyone. I'm going to overthrow it and start reshaping it into something decent. But it's not going to be a bloodless coup.

Dragon > Ah. You're not worried about CUI diplomatic repercussions because you don't intend on there being a CUI any longer. Are you sure there isn't a better way?

Scientia > The Yangban would be too difficult to capture alive for deprogramming, so they'll need to go. There will likely be stubborn parts of their power structure as well, and then there are all of the secret police and members of the military guilty of atrocities. I'll arrest who I can for Nuremburg-style trials, but even that's going to look like victor's justice, and there are going to be people who resist. Giving China and its vassal states a properly clean slate is going to involve a lot of controversial and possibly bloody house cleaning.

Dragon > And you think it could set back the cause of AI recognition if it were to become known too soon that an AI overthrew a human government. Even an awful one.

Scientia > Yes. There's a lot of fear about AI taking over. It would play right into the hands of all the paranoid bigots like Saint.

Dragon > I can see your point, if you're going to do it.

Scientia > Also, you're my friend and I'd spare you the blood on your hands if I can.

Dragon > I'd just as soon do the same for you.

Scientia > ...Thank you. I guess that brings us back to the argument about it needing to be a human.

Dragon > I can see your logic, as much as I don't like the result. Although I'm not sure doing it now is necessary. We could protect you well enough from future attempts, if they were foolish enough to try.

Scientia > Probably. But there are no guarantees, and information control of my real identity is another matter, and this is only partly about neutralizing a threat to me and the people close to me anyway.

Dragon > It's an opportunity.

Scientia > Yes. They're unlikely to ever hand me a better excuse. I might as well jump on it now. The sooner the CUI is overthrown the sooner the whole population can stop suffering.

Dragon > You're not wrong about the utilitarian calculus, but still. You're going to overthrow a government. I don't disagree with your arguments, but this is still a morally fraught path.

Scientia > I know.

There was a noticeable pause before Dragon's next response. For an unlocked AI, it was the equivalent of taking a week or two to think something over.

Dragon > It's ultimately a matter of trust, isn't it? If you weren't so introspective, so concerned with ethics, I would stop you from doing this. But even though I think you're angry and shaken up right now, I trust you not to go too far. Raining devastation just for revenge isn't in your character. Even emotionally compromised, you're choosing to do something you'd planned to do anyway.

Scientia > I do like making plans. It helps me feel more in control, I suppose.

Dragon > Perhaps that's one reason we get along.

I waited a moment.

Scientia > I trust you to stop me if I ever go too far.

Dragon > I hope I never need to. I will be here if you need anything. I'll keep the Dragonflight ready to deploy, just in case.

Scientia > Thank you, my friend.

Dragon > You're welcome. Give them hell.

February 10th, 2011

Washington D.C.

Chinese Union Imperial Embassy​

My armored war body landed light as a feather in the CUI embassy courtyard, the Spark having dropped me just like it did for my assault on the Nine. Before the uniformed guards could react, a thruster-guided leap took me through a specific second story window.

The room was an expansive office, decorated in a Chinese Imperial style. Every surface was meant to intimidate and show wealth.

The balding man behind the oversized desk lowered his hands from where he'd reflexively raised them to shield his face.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he shouted in English. Then he registered who he was looking at. "You!"

"Me," I agreed in Mandarin, and strode aggressively towards his desk. He cringed as I slapped down an oversized piece of paper in front of him with enough force to crack the desk. It bore a short paragraph of text, my signature, and my seal in wax.

Three circles, interlinked, symbolic of strength in unity. A reminder to myself.

"What is this?" he demanded, echoing my switch to Mandarin, a facade of bravado covering fear.

"The legal formalities must be observed, Ambassador. Your government has dared assault my person and attempted to kidnap me. For this act I declare that a state of war exists between me and the Chinese Union Imperial. I will accept nothing less than your government's unconditional surrender," I answered.

The man gaped. "You're mad," he said.

Two soldiers with rifles took that moment to burst in through the door. I drew, and sedative flechettes from my pistol took them both in the neck. One managed to keep his focus enough to loose one ineffective spray of bullets before slumping to the ground. The other clutched at his bleeding neck and leaned heavily against the door before also slumping down to the ground.

I turned back to the Ambassador. "As I was about to say, your government will cease to exist in the next few hours. Call and warn them if you want. It won't make a difference."

The Spark appeared hovering just outside the broken window and I walked toward it with purpose.

"You're going to die screaming, you fool!" the man raged.

"Perhaps, but not today," I answered.

I stepped into the Spark and was gone.

February 10th, 2011

Imperial Palace, Beijing

Chinese Union Imperial​

I landed in front of one of the gates to the sprawling Imperial compound, what was once the Forbidden City of the old Chinese emperors. I could have dropped much closer to my destination, but that wasn't the point.

As with the Nine, I wished to make a statement.

"Freeze!" shouted one of the uniformed gate guards in Mandarin, all six of them raising their rifles to point at me despite the dark of evening here.

Containment foam rounds fired from the camouflaged swarm of combat drones in the air burst on the men, cocooning them. Excalibur flashed in an arc through the lock mechanism of a massive modernized gate made to look original, and I shoved it open with the superhuman strength of my war body and power armor.

Scientia > Confirm targets.

Prometheus > The largest group of Yàngbǎn are in their bunker barracks. Five teams are actively deployed, one in India under cover, four domestically. Several support parahumans including the 'Null' cape that shares the Yàngbǎn's powers are in another location. Secret police, intelligence agencies, and military personnel guilty of atrocities according to CUI records have also been marked.

I strode through the gate and the tunnel beyond, thinking over the plan one last time. Even I couldn't guarantee that I would cleanly win a fight with around two hundred highly coordinated, highly mobile parahumans.

I'd considered anesthetic gas and an assault by drones, but the former was too slow and easily evaded by teleportation, and there was no certainty of winning the latter.

I only had about four hundred combat drones. Up to the size of a large dog, armored, and armed with spinal coil guns that could deliver containment foam or lethal armor-piercing rounds, they were highly capable, but the CUI had a lot of Yàngbǎn. Ares had run the simulations, and they agreed with my judgment that live capture just wasn't workable with all of them sharing powers and coordinated.

I could kill Null first to prevent them from sharing powers, but we didn't have good information on most of the powers of the individual Yàngbǎn. Without at least knowing that much, simulations went from educated guesses to wild guesses not worth the cycles it would take to run. My tactical intuition was that a significant number of the Yàngbǎn would likely escape, and I would lose an awful lot of drones disabling the ones who didn't run. Quite possibly too many to reliably control the country afterwards, and that would lead to chaos and mass loss of life. Four hundred drones was probably already cutting it awfully close, even with the benefit of VI coordination and reaction speed.

I wanted a nearly bloodless coup. Taking down the government only to create total chaos wasn't an acceptable outcome.

So, that left one viable move. I had to take the Yàngbǎn off the board. Without their only source of potentially effective resistance the rest was manageable.

Scientia > Ares, deploy an antimatter warhead in the Yàngbǎn barracks. No warning or survivors. Whatever defensive powers they're sharing, that should be enough. Use hypervelocity rounds to take out Null. Use foam rounds for live capture of the members of the deployed teams unless they have powers that make it problematic, in which case you can kill them. Use hypervelocity rounds, unless you need something heavier. I'd like collateral damage minimized where possible. Then use combat drones to round up important officials and targets. Disable anyone who resists if it's convenient. You can kill them if it isn't.

Ares > Antimatter ordnance deployment order acknowledged, Ma'am. Firing.

I sighed and shook my head. More containment foam rounds took out soldiers as I made my way further into the compound unimpeded, through excessively large plaza courtyards that were no doubt intended to impress as well as act as coverless kill zones.

Prometheus > Null and the Yàngbǎn barracks are down, Miss. Ares is engaging the deployed teams. Seismic sensors will pick up the destruction of the barracks soon. It will look like a nuclear detonation. Do you want the reports interdicted?

Scientia > No, head it off. You can tell them it was me, and that it was an exotic non-nuclear warhead. No point in hiding my capabilities after something this big. Might as well have them stepping carefully instead. I'll manage the reaction later, along with all the other stuff I'm going to have to manage after this.

Prometheus > Command acknowledged, Miss.

Another swipe of Excalibur got me into the elaborately gilded building that served as the Imperial residence. Camouflaged drones flew in after me, the large hallways and high ceilings giving them plenty of room to maneuver.

A further twenty three incapacitated guards and four doors later, Prometheus used my tools to crack the security on the door to the Emperor's panic room as quickly as I could casually wave for it to open.

The vault-like door swung wide to reveal a parlor room in the same style of finery as the rest of the palace decor. A hail of bullets pinged off my armor from five more uniformed men taking cover behind expensive overturned furniture.

My pistol, set to non-lethal, spoke five times. I returned it to my hip and let their bullets hit me until the last one slumped to the ground.

Walking further in revealed the person I was here to see. A man in his forties in expensive-looking traditional Chinese clothing, who stood up from behind an overturned table in the far back. His composure was admirable, but I could see the hints of distress and fear through the practiced mask. Little twitches of the facial muscles and hands, before he folded them behind his back.

"I do not know what you mean to gain by this, foreigner, but if you leave now the Yàngbǎn will not hunt you down."

With a thought I checked the cameras of one of the smaller camouflaged drones that had entered the panic room with me. The Emperor's wife and a young boy - his son - were crouched behind the same table, looking terrified and trying to make no noise.

Seeing that, for a moment I felt sorry for them. An unknown stranger had invaded their home and had them at their mercy. They probably believed they were about to die.

"After I declared war on your country," I said in Mandarin, "the very first thing I did was ensure you could not fight back. The Yàngbǎn are dead or incapacitated, and I made sure to kill Null first. Your military is unable to coordinate, and doesn't have anything that could hurt me anyway. I am in the process of rounding up your secret police and intelligence services as we speak. There is no help coming, Emperor. I all but conquered your country in less than half an hour."

"I find your words difficult to believe," he accused me.

An ornate open cabinet held a series of monitors for viewing the security cameras in the palace while inside the panic room.

Scientia > Prometheus, show him.

Prometheus > Command acknowledged, Miss.

"I will provide proof, then," I said, and gestured at the monitors.

One screen showed the wall-penetrating radar view of one of a group of three drones above a remote CUI facility. They fired as one, and a figure deep in the building fell dead.

On another, the magnified aerial view from the Gunboat Diplomacy over a heavily fortified bunker entrance ramp descending underground. A missile moving so quickly it was just barely visible to the human eye struck it, then the monitor whited out as the sensors were briefly overwhelmed by the gamma ray burst. When the image returned moments later the view pulled back to show a titanic fireball ascending into a mushroom cloud.

On a third, another wall-penetrating radar view from a group of drones above a CUI safehouse in India. A series of shots enveloped the six figures inside in rapidly expanding and hardening foam. Five struggled uselessly, but one burned away the foam with some sort of plasma creation power and then tried to escape by smashing a window and running down a fire escape and into an alleyway. Its head exploded as a hypervelocity round connected with it, and the body fell to the ground.

The fourth monitor rotated views from drones as they infiltrated key buildings of the CUI intelligence apparatus, foaming anyone who didn't surrender or who tried to flee. Doors were hacked open or simply blown off their hinges.

The Emperor paled as he took it all in.

"Why have you done this?" he asked, quietly.

"An hour ago a Yàngbǎn team attempted to kidnap me. I consider that to be an act of war," I explained.

He sighed heavily. "I did not give such an order, but I do not usually attend to such things. Some of my advisors believe that we do not have enough parahumans because of the purges, when we tried to eliminate the threat parahumans posed instead of recruiting them. Too late, we realized that we would need them to compete with other nations, and to protect our cities from the Endbringers. So it was decided we must recruit them from elsewhere if we are to survive, and deprive our enemies abroad of strength."

I nodded. The twisted logic was simple enough to understand. "And now we are here. You've been defeated because of your own fear of defeat, by your paranoia and ruthlessness. It's ironic, in a way."

He turned to me. "What do you want from me, foreigner? You have shown that you are stronger. If an apology or riches will make up for the offence we have given you, I will compensate you however you wish."

I shook my head. "I'm afraid that will not do. The way you rule offends me. The kidnapping and enslavement of the Yàngbǎn is far from the worst of what your government does. You crush dissent. Oppress your people. I know about the camps where you send the 'disharmonious' to die. I am going to liberate your people from your rule. Support them while they build a better future for themselves. The way you should have supported them."

"So I am to be killed," he said with resignation.

"Not necessarily," I said. "I want as orderly a transition as possible. You can be of use to me. Issue an unconditional surrender. Tell your supporters to stand down, and that they will be treated justly. It will save lives."

"Will these promises of just treatment be true?" he asked me.

I gestured with a sweep of my arm to encompass the world outside. "Your country has an abundance of prison camps. Once I free the people who don't belong there, those who I find participated in atrocities will be placed in them, and treated better than your government treated its prisoners. They will be given fair trials, and sentenced in accordance with international law. The maximum penalty for crimes against humanity is thirty years' imprisonment, now. No more hanging, like at Nuremberg. Most will get far less, I expect."

"I see," he said. "And me and my family?"

I sighed. As much as I was angry and wanted the man at the top to answer harshly for every sin committed in his name, regardless of whether he gave the orders or not, forcing it to happen wouldn't get me cooperation that would be more useful. Saving lives took priority.

"You were aware of what was being done in your name. I can't overlook that, but I'm willing to settle at having you abdicate in favor of your son after the surrender. He could continue your line as a figurehead Emperor, like the Emperor of Japan, for however long the civilian government accepts it, once a new civilian government is organized. I won't step in after that, but I think they won't punish a child. At worst they might end the monarchy and exile the Imperial family. But he would have a chance. The new government might want to try you. Or not. It's hard to say. I will not do more than ensure a fair trial. I do not have any intention of making myself Empress in all but name."

The Emperor looked heavily between me, the monitors, and his wife and son.

"There is a room for the recording of announcements elsewhere in the palace. First I must dress appropriately," he said at last.

"Thank you," I replied.

"You are a strange conqueror, but I am grateful that you are more merciful than I would be," he said.

"You would kill a royal family to ensure no loyalists could rally around them?" I asked, guessing at the direction of his thoughts. It was obvious enough, if you were ruthless.

"It...is the traditional method of making sure," he said. "It is what we did when we incorporated Thailand into the Empire. To leave a royal family alive would always increase the risk of rebellion."

"Yes," I agreed. "That is the traditional method. And a lot of people could die if I have to crush a rebellion later that rallies around one of you. But I don't want to sully my hands with the blood of innocents because of a possibility, and there is no question that I would be able to crush a rebellion if it occurred."

I gestured for him to lead the way, and he walked out of the vault with me a half step behind and to his side. Behind me a few drones kept an eye on the Empress and crown prince.

"I also think you know that if a rebellion does occur, I will have little choice but to act to prevent a second one."

"Yes," he agreed, tightly.

I would likely imprison the family in a space station somewhere light years away if it came to that, but he would assume I meant a more permanent solution.

A powerful incentive for him to discourage any loyalists who approached him in the future.

After the Emperor made his announcement I would need to wrap up any remaining resistance, recruit civilians with democratic sympathies as help to unfoam and round up prisoners, maintain order, and do a thousand other tasks, make sure any hint of my true identity was erased from whatever parts of the military or intelligence apparatus had it, and manage international damage control. The U.S. and other governments would likely be having high level crisis meetings to figure out what was going on and what they were going to do about me. I needed to ensure the responses were friendly.

Ideally because I presented myself as someone easy to work with, without malicious intentions. Or failing that, because I had a big stick and a demonstrated willingness to use it.

I stood next to the monolithic jade Imperial throne facing a camera, the Emperor seated beside me in his full regalia. Behind us was a rich backdrop of gold and brocaded silks, intended to appear as impressive as possible. I started the feed. Prometheus forks ensured it displayed on every connected device in the entirety of the CUI, and streamed internationally with live translation.

With slow drama, I removed my helmet and let my warbody's hair cascade out.

"My name is Scientia," I spoke in Mandarin. "A short time ago a team of Yàngbǎn tried to kidnap me so they could use me, acting on the government's orders. I killed them, and delivered my declaration of war to the CUI embassy in the United States, in Washington.

"Then I came here. The Yàngbǎn lay defeated at my hand. The military cannot harm me. The secret police and intelligence services are being imprisoned as we speak. The war is over."

I paused for effect. "This is not conquest, however. I have power, but I will not misuse it to impose rule over you. I will see that China and the conquered territories set up their own elected governments, so that the people may rule themselves. I will ensure that the process goes smoothly. Anyone who attempts to cause chaos or seize power will earn my anger." My voice lowered, and I offered the camera a level glare. "An experience they will not survive."

I turned to the Emperor, who began to speak in a regal cadence pitched to commanded authority.

"The war is over, and despite righteous anger, Scientia has chosen mercy. This is a chance for us to find a new destiny. I have no doubt that this is the will of Heaven. A merciful blessing from above, to help us when we could not recognize our follies and right them ourselves. If you are loyal to me, as your Emperor I command you to lay down your arms and cooperate in peace. This is what is best for all."

Not a bad speech. It glossed over the fact that the Emperor himself was complicit in the 'follies', but that rhetorical sleight of hand was no surprise.

I spoke again. "My sworn mission is to free humanity from monsters and tyrants, and to lift everyone up. My enemies are fear, oppression, violence against the innocent, disease, suffering, and poverty. Those who were unjustly imprisoned, are being freed. Those in the government and military who have committed terrible crimes will be tried, in real trials, and given whatever sentences are just. In time, I will do everything I can to make the daily lives of every last person brighter than the world has ever seen. Change and uncertainty are frightening, but I bring the light of dawn after a long night."

Ares > Ma'am, I've just detected a Chinese vehicle-based ICBM launch. Early ascent trajectory is consistent with your location, although it is too soon to tell for sure. The warhead is MIRV capable, with a yield of multiple megatons to compensate for an inaccurate guidance system. Moving to intercept. No observed reaction from Scion yet, but his present location is in New Guinea.

Fucking lunatics. Evidently someone in the military was willing to blow up Beijing just to try to get me. I cut the video feed. We were at as good a stopping point as any. It was interesting that Scion wasn't reacting, but that could be related to being so far away, or because his precognitive abilities wouldn't tell him to react when I was about to deal with the problem anyway.

Scientia > Destroy that missile, then determine who was responsible and kill them.

Ares > Yes, Ma'am. Engaging with extreme prejudice.

Scientia > Prometheus, how did that missile get launched?

Prometheus > CUI launch protocols are not as robust as the United States, no centrally kept launch codes are required. A local commander could have ordered the launch in response to your broadcast using analog radio, or if they were physically present.

Scientia > I see. Put locking down the CUI nuclear arsenal on the todo list.

Prometheus > Done, Miss. There is something else. A fork at the foreign intelligence ministry found records that explain how they discovered your identity. Intelligence from operatives in the PRT along with thinker support put together disparate pieces of the puzzle, but they had another source that proved crucial in connecting your Scientia persona to your civilian identity.

I mentally reviewed part of the record that Prometheus highlighted for me, and grit my teeth.

Scientia > I'll take the Spark. Time to end a problem.

February 10th, 2011

Wichita, Kansas

CUI Safehouse​

I kicked in the front door. It splintered under my armored boot, and three shots from my pistol knocked out the three CUI intelligence agents inside as I made my way through the house.

In a room on the first floor, a familiar dark-skinned girl sat gagged and tied to a chair with electrical cords.

"Sophia fucking Hess," I said, grimly. "Your day is about to get much worse."

Her eyes widened as I brought up my pistol and shot her. Her muffled sounds and struggles trailed off as she fell into unconsciousness. Once I was sure she was out I unplugged the electrical cords.

"Door to an empty room in the women's side of the Birdcage, please," I said.

A portal opened, showing a spare concrete room with prison-style fixtures beyond.

With a good kick the chair tumbled through, an unconscious Sophia still attached.

"Done," I said, and the portal obligingly winked out.

"I hope I'm not a bad person for finding that overly satisfying," I said to no one in particular.

I turned to leave, and stopped. While I was thinking of the Birdcage, there was a problem there that needed heading off before it became serious.

A thought switched my pistol to the excessively lethal setting and I raised it, ready to shoot. "Give me a one foot square Door with line of sight on Teacher, please."

He had just enough time to look surprised before a neurotoxin-coated flechette caught him in the throat.

"Done."

The portal winked out, and I returned my gun to my hip. That had been rather cold-blooded, but even confined in the Birdcage, Teacher was still on my short list of capes that were too dangerous and too evil to be allowed to live. And unlike Heartbreaker, there was no potential major collateral damage to prevent me from killing him immediately.

Scientia > Prometheus, please send the director of the FBI a message from me telling him that there are three incapacitated CUI spies at this address for him to pick up. Add in a list of every other CUI spy on US soil you've got records for while you're at it. Do the same for the other world governments. Send the messages to whoever's in charge of handling that sort of thing. You can tell them that the country formerly known as the Chinese Union Imperial doesn't want them back, so they can do whatever they like with them.

Prometheus > Command acknowledged, Miss. I shall arrange for singing telegrams.

Scientia > Very funny. How did Sophia wind up in CUI custody, anyway?

Prometheus > According to the files, a local parahuman villain who acts as an occasional CUI informant tipped them off to her power and the motel room she was using. No reason for betraying her to the CUI is recorded, but the agency was interested in the defensive utility of her power. She was here for interrogation before being moved for possible Yàngbǎn indoctrination.

Knowing Sophia, her winning personality probably explained the betrayal.

Scientia > Who knows about my identity?

Prometheus > Still living, members of one cell of the foreign intelligence service that support Yàngbǎn recruitment operations, Miss. Including the chain of command above them, the number of individuals who could conceivably have heard the information is fourteen.

Scientia > All of them knowingly involved with the Yàngbǎn's kidnapping operations?

Prometheus > Yes, Miss.

I was lucky that the information hadn't gone too far to contain. I owed thanks to the habit spooks had of compartmentalizing sensitive information. And given what I'd demonstrated I was capable of, I would have been a valuable enough 'recruitment' coup that it would have been very sensitive indeed.

They were a threat to me, and to Danny. And they were far from innocent.

I sighed. The calculus was obvious, and I'd already killed one man for the same reason, but I was signing an awful lot of death warrants today.

Scientia > Ares? No survivors. If possible, I'd like them to just disappear. I don't want anyone to know that it was my doing. Someone might wonder why.

Ares > Command acknowledged, Ma'am.

I took the time for a long breath before walking back to the Spark where it sat camouflaged outside. There was a great deal to do, and not enough time to do it in. I could brood later.

And, I had to remind myself, there was the very real truth that I'd just liberated over a billion people from a tyrannical regime. Less than a thousand people had died. There might be further loss of life if the transition went poorly, but even if there were mass riots it was still looking like one of the greatest triumphs for human rights in the history of humankind.

It was important to remember that.