20

Explosion 2

The first thing I did, since I wasn't able to sleep after that, was to sneak out of the house. I wondered if my new brain could "support" itself. After all, I had my normal brain, and my powers that went with it. As far as any research had found, powers – or, the control of powers, at least – originated from the Corona Pollentia and Gemma. Brain structures which had been copied in my duplicate brain, and were active right now. My copy was only held together by my powers. Nobody had ever manage to perfectly duplicate powers, aside from Trumps. Biotinkers, maybe, but there was a severe lack of heroic biotinkers who did those kinds of experiments, so verified scientific data was quite lacking.

So it was up to me to see how this would work.

You ready for this, me? I asked myself.

Better to know now than get surprised later, right? Promise you'll remake me if it doesn't work?

Yeah. I wasn't exactly a fan of dying, after all. And my brain-clone obviously had the same opinion on whatever this would be called – not exactly suicide, but definitely not sleep, if the brain construct just collapsed in on itself.

I walked away from my house, until I could feel like I was nearing the edge of my control. Or, at least, it should have been. I knew this location pretty well; every time I walked to the hospital, this was where I could feel a humongous chunk of bots disappear from my control – the reserves I held in the basement. Where my brain-clone was right now.

But I wasn't nearing my range limits. In fact, not only could I feel my entire house, I could sense the bots in my neighbours' lawns on the opposite side. And a few houses down from that, too. In fact, my entire control range when I normally slept at home was still under control.

Are you doing that? I asked myself.

I guess so? I responded.

Fundamentally, everything still felt like it was under my control, with no interruption. Not like I had to tell my second brain what to do, and have her relay the orders. It was all fluid and smooth. I should take note of that.

You'd better, in case I disappear.

Right. Here goes. I took a few extra steps, when I knew my home would normally be out of range.

My control of the entire neighbourhood behind me simply vanished.

Damn.

I quickly retraced my steps so that my house was back under my control, and I immediately concentrated on the cellar where my bots were.

Hey, are you there? I thought.

No response. The brain had collapsed into a pile of bots. Ugh. Time to rebuild.

"This is amazing, Eunoia." Dr. Akagi and Dr. Kardon watched the brain I had built out of nanobots, now actively flashing to show them how every individual neuron was firing, in real time. Both of them weren't blinking, staring at the thing for minutes without moving. I was almost worried I had Mastered them or something. "You should be very proud of yourself."

Yeah. Proud. Not having a surreal journey of self-discovery, I thought. I was afraid to let the brain out of my range again. I had taken her to the hospital incorporated into my costume. For once, I was very thankful of Tattletale's suggestions of additional "storage space." Good thing was that my clone brain could be smaller than a real brain; most of the human brain wasn't actually neurons. The majority were actually support cells, ones that did cleaning and maintenance and all that. Without those, since my bots didn't need it, I managed to fit a brain into my costume's boob padding.

I officially had the smartest breasts in the world. A far better thing to be famous for than biggest.

Of course, when I brought me out to show the doctors, I had recreated a third one from scratch, and made it normal-sized. And obviously didn't tell them the full extent of my capabilities. It went much faster than before – obviously, having practice helped, much like forming my clothes or Abyssal. But having two additional brains on hand helping me definitely sped up the process.

I just wasn't sure what I would do at the end of the day. Would they ask to keep the copy? Would I have to dismantle her?

I mean, I'm still me, so really it's not murder. I'll still be alive after that so even that doesn't count.

Yeah, but I'm still killing a sentient being.

It's not so much killing as it is destroying half of your brain.

That's not something I want to do either.

Well, if you build ten of them, even if one dies then it's technically only one-tenth of your brain that's dying.

That's technically better, but fundamentally it's still weird, I thought. I still had my doubts, because there was also the issue that, having more brains was multiplying the problem as much as the solution.

Then again, if I spent most of my time between my house and the hospital, I just needed enough of those brains to lay a path between them, and I would have an unbroken chain of control. From there, I could spread them further out. That would require a major ramp-up in production and supplies, and I didn't know if Lisa could actually supply me with that much more without attracting unwanted attention.

You talk to the doctors, we'll concentrate on the planning, Brain two said to me. Or was that Brain three?

"We'd love to be able to use this to help our research in some way," Dr. Akagi was saying. "It could revolutionize the field of neurology."

I was still too consumed by my minor existential crisis to feel proud of her declaration. I was sensing a huge "but..." behind that, though.

"But you know how slowly the approval process can work."

I nodded.

"Don't give it up, though. I'll make sure I'll get the approvals started. My god, this could earn us a Nobel Prize..." Dr. Kardon said. Dr. Akagi nodded beside her.

"Keep this up, and maybe build more of them if you can. The usefulness of this can't be understated. Do you know how long-"

The hospital's overhead speakers suddenly blared. "Code Orange. Repeat. Code orange."

I turned to the doctors. "What does code orange mean?" I asked.

"Mass casualties. Maybe a plane crash, or bridge collapse or something," Dr. Kardon told me. "You've been working with some of the emergency doctors for stroke and head trauma procedures, right? You should head down to the ER, see if they need you."

"Uh, right." As I ran down the hall, I really had to wonder what constituted mass casualties. Brockton Bay was a place that saw dozens of people injured in gang-related crimes on a daily basis. I mean, I'd seen twenty people brought to the hospital all at once as a result of the larger gang fights, and even that didn't warrant a code. What was going on that was even worse today?

Even as I waited for the damn elevator, I was watching the streets with my bots. Multiple ambulances were arriving, crowding up the hospital's driveway. Meanwhile, regular cars were arriving at the same pace, with bloody people climbing out to stagger through the entrance. I got to the ER only a few minutes later, and already there was a lineup of stretchers and injured stretching from the admitting desk all the way outside. Panacea was already there, hard at work.

"Eunoia! I can use your help here!"

I always thought she could heal everything better than I could, but I wasn't going to turn down the chance at working side-by-side with her. Then again, I was still pretty inexperienced with emergency situations; most of my patients had been long-term and stable. And almost entirely brain issues, not bleeding out with missing limbs. The worst emergency was usually a stroke, easy for my powers to deal with and I had doctors directing me. This felt like my first day at the hospital all over again.

"Most of these people have shrapnel in their bodies. It's inorganic. You can pull the shrapnel out of their bodies more easily than I can. It'll make my healing faster."

I understood. I sent my bots into every cut and laceration I could see. I didn't bother killing the bacteria or clotting the blood; Panacea could do that far faster than I could. I just used my bots to pull out the bits of metal and rock embedded in their wounds. As my bots worked, I could see the wounds closing behind them as they crawled out of the body.

Thank goodness I had additional brains today. The pieces of shrapnel were tiny, and he had thousands of bits embedded in his body. The additional concentration I had let me handle all of it at once, working at quadruple the speed I normally could. I definitely needed to make more of the neuro-bots and brains if it drastically improved my skills like this.

Working together, we'd saved this man's life in fifteen seconds.

You're welcome, I told myself.

Less preening, more life-saving! I insisted.

"Can I get a bottle of bleach?" I shouted. My bots were coated in blood. Normally I had ten minutes or more in between each patient to get my bots cleaned up, but that definitely wasn't happening tonight. Didn't want to give one patient's disease to another, and there were plenty of patients right now. Ambulances were shuttling people in, minute by minute. If my bots just swam through some bleach, it would quickly clean and sterilize them in seconds.

For now, I could continue using my reserves of clean robots. I was good for another five patients or so.

The work was varied but repetitive. Over and over, I yanked out foreign bodies while Panacea healed. Sometimes we split up and worked on separate patients; I focused on ones with bad head injuries while she worked on a few patients that weren't directly injured by the bombs. There were plenty of people who were injured from car accidents, falling, or being burned.

I wasn't sure how long we healed. The hours blended together, but at some point, we were finally catching up. The waiting area, which had been turned into a triage center, was still jam packed, but the number was dropping instead of rising.

The ER was completely out of beds, and even chairs at this point. We started to move into the triage area to treat the patients there directly. The waiting area had a TV at least, and everyone was watching the news.

There was a figure in a gas mask on TV.

"...now you know. We are the power in this city! Don't you dare think that, without Lung, the ABB is vulnerable. You cannot stop us. You cannot hold us. You will release Lung, or suffer my wrath." The video cut out and went back to the anchorman.

"Again, that was the ultimatum sent to us two hours ago by the villain Bakuda, representing the ABB gang. Moving to live coverage outside the Protectorate, it appears that the ferry terminals to the Protectorate Headquarters have been taken over by gang members..."

The image on screen, shot from a news helicopter, now showed a huge mob of people carrying guns standing around on shore. The Rig's shields were up and its turrets were active, but it appeared that they were presently at a stalemate.

Crap. I thought the gang war a few days ago was bad. This was even worse, with even more potential damage and casualties. I wondered where the ABB had managed to recruit so many members.

It was only then that I noticed my phone ringing.

At this point, the patients I was working on were less critical. I figured I could spare a few seconds, in case it was an actual emergency. "Hello?"

"Tay- Eunoia. Don't need to talk. There's a major villain meeting at Somer's Rock, a bar in the east end of the downtown area. Starts in an hour. Figured you might want to watch."

Spy on all the villains? That was a good idea. I knew in a situation like this, Panacea was staying at the hospital. I felt bad leaving all the work to her, even if there wasn't anything major happening for now. At the very least, I let her know. I hoped the meeting wouldn't be long.

An hour. That was pretty short notice. I had vaguely heard of Somer's Rock. Some of the seniors at Winslow went there because they were lax on checking ID. I knew I could run there in about fifteen minutes. Though I didn't know how long the meeting would run, and I didn't want to leave Panacea alone with all the work for long. That problem would be solved if I just made more brains, and daisy-chained them to the restaurant.

With the existing brains I already had, and the bots I had in reserve in the sewers... I could do it, without taking too much time.

I worked extra hard alongside Panacea for the next half hour, and we took care of all the critical patients. There were a lot more, but none with injuries that the nurses and normal treatment couldn't handle. "Hey, Panacea? I need to head out for a little bit," I said. "Need to head home and get more of my nanobots. Get some rest, okay? I get the feeling things might get worse before they get better."

"You're right," she sighed. "I think I'll take a nap somewhere in here until the doctors call me again. Be careful out there."

"I will." I gave her a hug just before I left, depositing a few nanobots on her clothes. I just wanted to keep watch on her as I left, to make sure she was actually getting the rest that she promised she was getting.

As I walked away from the hospital, I was glad to see that Panacea was actually heading towards an empty stretcher. The nurses and doctors were grateful to have her nearby and helped prep one for her. I kept monitoring her until she actually climbed into bed. As I walked, I formed another new brain in the sewers while as many spare bots as I could along the street. I moved that one a block further from the hospital; the brain that was sitting on Dr. Akagi's desk could keep watch on the hospital itself for now.

I had to make a detour to the new storehouse, which would provide me with enough of my new, high-quality bots to make it all the way to Somer's Rock, but it would cost me the ability to form Abyssal himself. No matter; I wasn't going to crash the Villain meeting and try to arrest all of them at once.

Still, having all my bots used up as brains wasn't ideal. I needed most of them to manufacture more bots, and on top of that, a bunch more to use as Abyssal. But now more than ever, I needed to watch my back.

On that note, I needed to spy on a whole lot more than just a villain's meeting. I couldn't just let Bakuda run loose. I needed to find her. A tinker's workshop was one of the hardest places to find and break into. Which meant I needed to search every building in the city, every sewer, every trap door and basement. Which meant I needed more bots, more neuro-bots, to cover the city. I was certain I'd never be able to make enough bots to cover the city in time.

I needed to find the optimal balance between them all. Maybe I could make Abyssal out of low-quality junk and garbage on the streets, and use the high-quality stuff that Lisa provided for more brains. I'd figure out what to do after I saw what was going on with the meeting.

I dropped off one of my pre-formed brains in a hidden spot within two blocks of Somer's Rock, then immediately turned back and headed to the hospital again. I could feel my control remain. I started to get a picture of the interior as my bots swarmed towards Somer's Rock, a dingy little bar hidden in between the business district and the docks.

As I retraced my steps, I kept watch on my entire route back to the hospital. The destruction that Bakuda had wrought with her "warning" detonations were already massive. While on the way to Somer's Rock I was primarily focused on simply building more brains and laying a path all the way there, I was actively keeping watch on the way back with all... ten of my brains now.

With the number of patients that had flooded the ER with severe injuries, I had expected things to be bad. It was actually worse. Bakuda's bombs were exceptionally lethal, not just because of the size of the explosives, but their exotic effects.

I saw buildings that were not only burnt, but even the bricks had been charred black. Whatever flame had struck them, it was no ordinary fire, probably closer to a massive thermite bomb than anything. No survivors. Another had a section turned entirely to glass, causing the building to collapse. Another section had massive chemical burns, which even my bots had to avoid. Paint, wood, plastics, they were all melted and warped - along with flesh. I saw bodies on the ground, people who must have died in agony, but nobody had been able to rescue them because the area was too hazardous to enter.

I kept my costume on as Eunoia, using my bots to search and aid any survivors on the way back from Somer's Rock. I guess there was another advantage to the extra range - it allowed me better multitasking while still keeping watch over the villains' meeting.

Somer's Rock was a dingy pub that was clearly far removed from the law. Graffiti covered the walls, iron bars covered the windows, and a putrid mix of dried beer and blood covered the floors. I didn't even want my nice bots in on this meeting; the cheap ones derived from garbage suited the locale all too well.

Kaiser appeared to be leading the meeting. Either that, or he had simply used his position to force himself to be the centre of attention. Flanked by Fenja and Menja, two supermodel-esque (dare I say it – Aryan) women dressed like valkyries, he commanded the table like, well, an emperor despite the trashy bar they were sitting in. He himself was wearing shiny armour adorned with blades. It wasn't as large or elaborate as Abyssal's armour, but his looked functional for a normal human who actually needed to move his joints.

Skidmark and Squealer were there too; she sat on her boyfriend's lap. On the other side was a woman in a welder's mask and a bulletproof vest. She had some people behind her that had… deformities. One was a bright orange, the other was an obese man with nearly translucent skin. I didn't recognize them by their costumes, but I knew what they were. Case 53's. Monster capes. Sure, they probably could have been nice people on the inside, but they definitely looked weird. That meant it was probably Faultline's crew, who was well-known for recruiting Case 53's. Not exactly a charity group, since they were villains, sitting in on a villain meeting.

There was also another man in a top hat. I didn't recognize him either, but it seemed like the others knew of him well enough not to question his presence. Lastly, there was a group of people in military uniforms. Non-capes. They looked like professionals, with lots of "normal" weaponry. At least, it didn't look like he was going for any kind of theme, unless a being a standard soldier was his theme.

Grue was there, too - I guess that's how Tattletale got in.

Apparently they didn't have as strong a reputation as the others. "Who invited the the fucking kids?" Skidmark drawled.

"And who invited the shit stain?" Grue retorted.

Looks like the meeting was off to a great start already.

"Of course the damn niggers don't got any manners," growled someone behind Kaiser. Tall, hairy, shirtless - that was probably Hookwolf. I was annoyed at the fact that he was already free, but that was just how Brockton Bay worked. Grue and Skidmark both stopped antagonizing each other and glared at the neo-nazi. Nothing to unite people like mutual hatred. Almost seemed like a law in this city.

"Indeed. I'm already starting to wonder if this meeting is worth our time," Kaiser said.

"Look, the ABB are attacking indiscriminately. Bakuda is insane. If the town burns, we all lose. We need to stop her," Faultline said, trying to bring people back on topic. "One of her bombs nearly hit the Palaquin. That's our territory. We normally stay neutral in this city, but it seems like there's no line she won't cross."

"Quite true. I would prefer to actually have a city to rule over," Kaiser said. "So, the news of the day. The ABB, specifically Bakuda, represents a wild and irrational threat. She can strike any one of us without provocation. She's already killed civilians."

"The Protectorate recognizes that Bakuda represents an extreme threat to the city," the mercenary said. "I represent Coil's forces. We have fairly strong intel that the PRT is unofficially willing to overlook criminal activity to rein in the ABB for now."

I wondered how he managed to get that unofficial information. I suppose that meant Lisa's knowledge of leaks and moles inside the PRT were true.

"So, what, we hunt down the damn chinks, we get total immunity? Sweet deal," Skidmark said.

"How do you even know this? You could be talking shit just to get us in trouble," Faultline pointed out. She crossed her arms and watched him steadiliy through the heavy welder's mask she had on.

"We have sources within the PRT," he said. "I only offer what we hear. Nothing more."

"I hope we have similar views on what is considered 'reasonable'. Given that Bakuda has bombed civilian buildings, I believe killing any ABB member approaching us may be considered appropriate," Kaiser said. "I've heard reports of suicide bombers."

"That could be justifiable, with a good enough lawyer," the mercenary said. "Oni Lee is known to use that tactic. Maybe others have joined him."

That actually surprised me. Obviously none of the suicide bombers made it to the hospital - no point in rescuing a dead person. But when I got the chance, I would have to check, preferably from a very safe distance.

I found it strange. The ABB didn't have the kind of ideology behind them that would inspire suicide bombings. They didn't have the numbers, nor the fanaticism. Kaiser, maybe. The E88 were neo-nazis, and perhaps a few members would be fanatical enough to kill themselves for a cause. The ABB was just a loose collection of various Asian immigrants, from Chinese to Japanese to Vietnamese, held together by nothing but the "protection" that Lung and his crew gave - mostly against the E88. From what I heard, they often hated each other nearly as much as everyone else. The only suicide bomber they had was Oni Lee, who only sacrificed his clones using his power. He was better at it than any regular civilian was anyway, so why bother?

I would need to do some more scouting once I had more brain clones completed. I turned my attention back to the meeting.

"...Bakuda and the ABB have gone too far? Nobody targets each other. No claims on territory, product, or money. We don't attack each other until Bakuda is captured or killed. Agreed?"

Tattletale whispered to Grue. "Wait. The truce should last until all of Bakuda's bombs are found and disarmed."

"What's the difference? We bust her base, blast the bitch, break her bombs. Boom, we're done!" Skidmark yelled.

Tattletale shook her head. "She's made contingencies in case she dies. She must have. Until the bombs are gone, nobody's safe."

"Very well then. We will not take action against each other until the danger of bombing has been dealt with. All in favour?" Kaiser asked. Most of them raised their hands.

"Why the fuck ain't you joining, bitch?" Skidmark yelled at Faultline.

She jabbed an armoured finger at him. "We're mercenaries. We work for money. We're defending our own territory, but that's it."

"That is why I invited you today, Faultline. Your crew would be very… helpful in ridding the city of this menace."

Faultline nodded. "We don't normally take jobs in Brockton Bay. Can't shit where you eat. But we may be willing to set that rule aside in this situation. Maybe even work with the PRT if they offer a contract."

"Highly unlikely," said the mercenary. "If you know anything about the ENE Director, she is loathe to work with even her own capes, much less mercenaries."

"We weren't counting on it, just letting you know this is our standard operating procedure."

"Your honesty goes a long way," Kaiser said dryly.

The mercenary captain spoke up next. "Are any of you are willing to aid the Protectorate in the defense against the ABB army? We will be sending a few squads."

"Why the hell should we help those cocksuckers? Truce, sure. Help, no fucking way!" Squealer shouted.

"Lung. You guys want Lung back out on the streets? The Protectorate needs help keeping him locked up," Tattletale asked.

Skidmark shook his head and stood up. "Naw. I'm out. Empire and ABB can fight it out for territory. I'm doin' just fine here. Truce is on, that's all. I ain't helping no heroes. They can suck my dick." He and Squealer left.

All eyes turned to the only group that hadn't said a word all meeting.

"We're just passing through the city. Unfortunately, this ain't something we want to risk our lives over," the man in the top hat said. His group had been mostly silent until now. "If there isn't anything else, we'll be leaving. This city ain't worth it."

"Wait. Trickster, is it?" said the mercenary. "My employer believes we can help each other. We can discuss your needs and compensation immediately."

Trickster and his group looked interested. I didn't hear what else went on; all of them left and packed themselves into a large SUV. They drove off, well out of my range before discussing their deal.

"Wait, nobody's going to try to go after Bakuda?" Grue asked.

Kaiser shook his head. "We will be busy ensuring no bombs are hidden within our territory. We are not risking attacking a Tinker in her workshop - especially not one that specializes in explosives. Feel free to take her on yourself. Feel free to search for her yourself, the Empire hasn't found any clues as to where her workshop may be," he said as he got up. Fenja and Menja followed him. Faultline and her crew walked out with him, as well as everyone else, until only the Undersiders were left. I wasn't surprised the meeting was so short; the villains all seemed to hate each other after all.

"Fuck. What the hell can we do?" Grue asked Tattletale as the meeting dispersed. "Not like we can search the whole city. I don't want this place to go down in flames. Is the boss saying anything?"

"Nope. Boss is keeping quiet. I might be able to figure out where she is. Just keep watch on ABB movements for me, I'll make some good guesses. I think I know someone might be willing to help, though," Tattletale said with a wink.

"You talking about that black knight?" Grue asked.

I knew. And I was willing.

By the time the meeting was over, I had nearly made it back. It was good to know a few more of the masks that ran this town, putting some faces (or masks, at least) to the names I heard on the news. And the meeting did let me know a little more about how the villains operated. Now I had to get back to healing people.

On the way, I did manage to gather enough bots from the surrounding streets to extract some survivors from the rubble using a lower-quality Abyssal. I didn't want to use the dirty bots to perform first aid, so I had Abyssal drop them off near the hospital ahead of me. He was capable of carrying several of them at once, thanks to his massive size, and I reshaped his armour to be more comfortable for the victims. Panacea, thankfully, was still resting, though with the victims Abyssal was dropping off meant more work for her – or both of us – very soon. I made sure Abyssal disappeared long before I got to the hospital so people wouldn't associate us.

At this point, there was still the occasional boom in the distance. I could never be sure if it was another bomb, or just the aftermath. There were still some fires and sirens off in the distance, but those were practically a constant at this point.

With the villain meeting over, I decided to rearrange my bot-brains. I didn't need to go back to Somer's Rock again. I had my brains move themselves so that they were pointed more towards my house. I needed to have at least five more of them before I went home to have a permanent connection to the hospital. I wouldn't have time to do it within a few hours, but the current situation was as good an excuse as any to stay overnight at the hospital.

Panacea was already back at work. She definitely didn't get enough rest. That girl was burning herself out for sure. She was working near the entrance to the ER, treating the critical patients as they came in. I ran back to the hospital to help lighten her load more quickly. "Sorry for taking so long, Panacea," I said.

"Don't worry about it," she said in a tired voice. It was well past midnight and it didn't look like it was slowing down any time soon. The waiting area was starting to fill up, even with both of us working.

I had just finished with a few patients when my bots in the streets saw an Asian man sprinting towards the hospital with a fearful look on his face. Much further away, an armed ABB gangster was chasing him, carrying with a rifle. The first man didn't look like a member of the ABB - no tattoos, and he looked more like the family man type than a gangster. Other than the fact that he looked crazy. His eyes were wild and he looked like he was frothing at the mouth.

I decided to send some bots to the entrance of the emergency room. I didn't have enough nearby to form Abyssal quickly enough. Instead, I just reinforced my own costume, in case he got violent. He didn't look like the type who would wait patiently to get treated, and maybe would cause some trouble.

As he walked in the door, millions of bots swarmed his body. He ran straight to Panacea.

"Help! Bomb! Brain cape, help!" He was yelling, pointing to the back of his head. My bots swarmed to his head, both inside and out. I saw incision marks, and inside there was definitely some kind of device. My bots pierced through his skin without care. I hadn't seen anything like it before. And I was inclined to believe that it was a bomb.

"What's going on?" Panacea asked, quickly walking over to me. I detected additional electrical activity coming from the implanted device.

"Everyone, get away from him!" I shouted as I moved to put myself between him and my friend. My Eunoia costume was morphing, the bots covering every part of my body to increase my strength and protection. I shoved him away from her as hard as I could, then turned to shield her. With the help of my bots, he flew across the room further than a girl my size had any right to push. I sent him nearly straight out the door.

The room was suddenly engulfed in white light.