166 Interlude: Poe Poe Poe

Oakland, California, December 12th, 16:40.

Inside of a PRT meeting room, the city's five Heroes can be seen holding a meeting, including Poe, despite him being a member of the Guild and not the Protectorate.

The number of Heroes is rather low considering the size of the city, but Poe is more than enough that assigning anymore would be a waste of recourses. Instead, Oakland is one of the cities Wards are most likely to be assigned, do to it's relatively peaceful climate making it a good spot to learn the ropes.

However, in recent days, that peace has been slowly showing signs of crumbling.

"So, what's with the sudden meeting Director?" One of the Heroes, Turtle Neck, says, breaking the silence, "things are kind of all hands on deck at the moment, shouldn't we be out there weathering this storm?"

The two Heroes either side of him, Pitfall and Shortcut both nod their heads in agreement, while the final member of the Protectorate present, Custard, and Poe simply wait patiently for Director Simmons to explain.

"That is actually the exact purpose for this meeting," the thin woman answers, her voice still strong in spite of her visible age, "as you are all aware, the crime rate in this city has increased by nearly seventy percent over the past week alone, for no apparent reason."

"And this is the part where you tell us you know the exact reason, isn't it?" Shortcut jokingly responds, tucking her long blonde hair behind her ear as she does so.

"Close, it is actually Poe who will do the explaining," the Director says with slight mirth, returning Poe's exaggerated glare with a smirk of her own.

Letting out a sigh, Poe resigns himself to his friend's antics and begins his explanation. "Approximately eleven days ago, I made contact with a woman who goes by the name Selene-"

Before he can go any further, Pitfall speaks up, her voice even more teasing than Director Simmons' as she dramatically places a hand over her heart. "Oh my.~ Has old man Poe finally decided to settle down? We've been telling you for years you need to meet a woman, what's she like? I bet she's a looker."

"She is indeed attractive," Poe admits with a sigh, knowing the woman wouldn't let the subject drop otherwise, and he ignores her fist-pump as he continues with what he was saying, "however, I believe that Selene is the reason for the recent increase in crime."

Pitfall merely pouts at the information, while the rest of the room, bar Simmons, seem somewhat confused.

"If you already know all this, then how come you haven't caught her already?" Custard asks, his baritone voice asking the question on his fellow's minds for them.

"That, is because of her power," Poe answers with another sigh, "she hasn't confirmed anything, but I believe her power is some kind of precognition combined with a Stranger power of some sort. We've given her the temporary ratings of Thinker 4 and Stranger 4."

"Ok, I can see how that'd be inconvenient. Do we at least have a description of how her powers might function, so we can work around them?" Shortcut asks, hoping to get this problem solved quickly so he can catch up on this new show from Earth Aleph called Merlin that he's been getting into.

"She doesn't exist," a new voice bluntly answers, and everyone present turns to face the wall mounted monitor, where a thin hologram of an exceedingly average looking woman has appeared. Though, not a single person on the planet would dare to call her average, for she is Dragon.

"I wasn't aware you were getting involved in this Dragon, is the situation more serious than I thought?" Turtle Neck says, familiar enough with Dragon by association with Poe to be one of the few people who 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 understand just how busy the woman is, constantly.

"Not necessarily, it's simply the nature of the situation that has gained my attention, because as I said, Selene does not exist. To be more concise, I have run the name Selene through every database available to me, as well as doing the same in search of her face, as described by Poe."

Dragon's face abruptly disappears to be replaced by a generated model of Selene's.

"𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘶𝘮," Pitfall whistles in appreciation, "well you weren't wrong about her being attractive."

"Quite," Dragon curtly states, before returning the conversation back to it's topic, "however, neither the name Selene or her face appear to exist in any record on the planet, the closest match being a woman in England called Sarah. I believe that her power, likely upon Triggering, erased all digital, records of her existing, as, by her own admission, she is 'nobody and nothing'."

"And the Thinker rating? What makes you think she's a precog?" Custard asks after taking a moment to absorb the information given.

"Ah, that," Dragon says, giving Poe a quick glance before continuing once he gives her a nod in return, "this Selene seems to have developed something of an obsession with Poe and has been stalking him since December first. She has managed to be present during a majority of the situations Poe has resolved since then."

Turtle Neck gives Poe a curious glance, and he simply nods once to verify Dragon's words.

"That, I believe is evidence for some kind of Thinker power to predict where incidents will be taking place, all so that she can watch Poe resolve them. Then there's the more.. 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 reason."

Getting a look from the projected face, Poe opens his mouth to finish the explanation. "She seems to have some kind of obsession with fate. She has the belief that the fate of all Heroes is tragedy, and that my 'peripetia' is coming. She also seems to believe that her own tragic fate is to witness mine befall me."

"Ok first of all," Shortcut says with a wave of her hands, "the hell is a peripetida or whatever the hell you just said; secondly, am I the only who feels like this is weirdly Shakespearian?"

Though none of them say it out loud, or even acknowledge the question, they all do agree with Shortcut's assessment of it all sounding oddly Shakespearian.

"Peripetia is the sudden reversal of fate, typically in a narrative. In this instance, I suppose it would be like when a Bond Villain reveals that Bond's chair is above a trap door that falls down into a shark tank." Turtle Neck's odd choice for example causes everyone to give him a strange look.

"What?" He questions, only to be ignored.

"With all of that said, comes the part that actually matters," Director Simmons says, tone more irritated than severe, "three days ago, Miss Selene admitted to Poe that she has been inciting violence so that she could report it and watch him put an end to it."

"Dang Poe," Pitfall says with a smirk, "you sure know how to choose 'em huh? She must really like watching you work eh, eh?" She finishes by wiggling her brows and nudging her elbow suggestively in his direction over the table.

"She said that she is 'waiting for my fate to befall me'. I get the feeling that the fact that nothing bad has happened to me is making her doubt her views on reality, causing her to attempt to force my life to turn tragic." Poe's deadpan voice makes Pitfall wilt as she realises just how messed up that woman's thinking seems to be.

"So, how are we going to find her then?" Custard says, asking the question on everyone's minds.

How do you find someone who does not exist?

"As we have nothing to really go off of except that she is stalking Poe, I suggest that we simply lay out a trap for her, with Poe as the bait." Dragons words cause Poe's lip to twitch at the fact he wasn't even being asked if he wanted to be bait, not that he would have denied, but it's the principle of the matter.

"I thought she was precog?" Turtle Neck asks, "wouldn't that make a trap kind of pointless?"

"The way I see it," Dragon counters, "either we will capture her, or have a better understanding of her Thinker power, it's a win either way."

A moment passes in silence as they all contemplate the idea, before they all eventually come to the same conclusion that there isn't really a better option.

"Well, I guess it's our only choice if we wanna get Poe's girlfriend stalker to stop causing a scene," Pitfall says with a shrug, "it's not like she'll just show up after all."

Right after she finishes speaking, as if to punctuate her words, a phone's ringtone sounds out through the meeting room. Immediately, everyone's eyes snaps to Poe, who seems just as surprised as all of them.

"Ah, sorry," he says as he takes his phone out to check the caller ID, only for it to be an unknown number. Casting a quick glance through the room, everyone seems to accept that he should answer the call, knowing him well enough to know his phone wouldn't go off during a meeting if it wasn't something important.

"Hello?" He says, answering the phone and putting it on speaker.

"Ahh, my dear Tragedy, it is lovely to hear your voice again."

The sonorous voice immediately causes the faces of everyone present to freeze, after which they all turn to Pitfall, who is silently muttering to herself about jinxes.

"Selene," Poe says, "you haven't contacted my number since I gave it to you, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

A soft chuckle can be heard, and Pitfall is immediately entranced by the musical sound of the woman's voice.

"To tell the truth, I've been feeling rather anxious," she admits, pausing for a moment before continuing, "I've been thinking about what you said, about proving me wrong, that yours could be a story of hope."

The people present in the room are still as a statue, watching the conversation unfold with bated breaths.

"And? Are you willing to accept my offer now?" Poe asks with a glimmer of hope in his voice.

"Of course not silly," is her chuckled response and immediately his heart falls, "Fate is not so simple to defy. But as I said, I'm starting to feel anxious, so I have decided to put Fate to the test."

A severe expression appears on Director Simmons' face at her words, not liking the sound of them one bit.

"Test?" Poe tentatively asks.

"Indeed, my Tragedy. As I said when we first spoke, the Fate of a Hero is one of tragedy, of despair. You disagreed, so now we will see who is right, and who loses."

All of a sudden, no one likes where this is going, and Dragon, already working on tracing the call, starts checking security cameras across the city for any signs of trouble.

"You don't seem to understand why a Hero's Fate is tragic. It's because at the end of the day, you can never save everything. You will lose, even only a tiny bit, but you will lose tiny pieces of yourself over and over again, until nothing is left. That is the tragedy of Heroism."

"What have you done Selene," Poe demands, uncharacteristically stern, even if he can picture the exact same smile being on her face no matter his tone.

"In about a minute, the city will have a moments chaos. There is a bomb in both malls, set to detonate in two minutes, as well as fourteen separate groups of individuals who will be causing harm, either to property or to people, and lastly, there is me. I will also die in two minutes, at the same time that the bombs go off."

The brief silence that dominates the room once she finishes speaking doesn't nearly compare to the chaos that it erupts into as soon as the words register in everyone's minds.

Orders are shouted out and phone calls are made, and Poe doesn't bother being polite and simply grabs his phone and flies out through the window, shattering it whilst yelling behind him that he would deal with the bombs, as he's the only one to get them away in two minutes.

"Selene! Why are you doing this!" He yells into his phone as he flies far faster than the speed of sound, having to use his power just so he can hear her response.

"I'm sorry my Tragedy, but this is our Fate. Either Fate will win, you will lose, and I will die; or, you will defy Fate and save me. Do so, and I will surrender completely, I swear it. But no matter how much I wish you will, I know Fate cannot be denied. Good luck my Tragedy, I love you."

Before he can say anything more in response, the line goes dead and Dragon's voice soon takes it's place, coming from his headpiece this time.

"You have one minute, fifty-six seconds to find both bombs and contain them." Having only that much time to save Selene on top of it all goes unsaid. He knows what has priority.

One minute, fifty-four.

Pushing even more power into his speed, Poe surpasses Mach three as he approaches the closest mall, hoping beyond hope that he will truly be able to prove her wrong, that he can save everyone.

Because if he fails, if a single person dies tonight, then she will be right. A little piece of him will be lost.

But he refuses that notion.

He will prove her wrong.

No matter what it takes.

=================

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Big news! I have my second ever £50 patron! Unfortunately that means smut is likely on it's way again, however this time I hope Lusia will be the only sadomasochistic psychopath.

Man, what's with this sudden change in genre? Did we start a new story or something? What's going on?~

To be completely honest, this whole Poe thing was only supposed to be a quick two chapter thing, but I've gotten too into it now and have plans and ideas.

I hope you don't mind this tangent of a mini-arc

Also, be honest. Do you think that Lusia is Selene, or that Lusia is the tragic fate Selene is predicting, or perhaps something else entirely? I'm curious.

AND POE IS JUT A NICE FUCKING PERSON STOP DOUBTING ME I AM THE AUTHOR AND YOU MUST LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY!!!!

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash or check the description)

Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses