Chapter Text
[Hannah]
I sat down in my chair, right in front of my computer, the night sky shining through my window. Protectorate rules were clear: Capes could not be deployed for more than twelve hours in a row without at least four consecutive hours of downtime. Even after an Endbringer battle.
Even if one didn’t actually need any sleep or rest.
Still, I couldn’t deny that some time to center myself wouldn’t be amiss. Today had been one of the roughest days in my life, and I was still kind of in shock. It wasn’t my first Endbringer battle, and it probably wouldn’t be my last, but the emotional toll meant it would likely be the most unpleasantly memorable.
Even compared to that one time Behemoth had nearly fried me.
Losing comrades was always the worst.
Given the nature and length of my career, it was natural that losses among my peers added up to a monstrous total. Of all the Wards I'd served alongside during my time in that organization, the vast majority were no longer alive today.
But never had so many fallen on the same day.
While the media were already crowning this morning’s battle as the greatest victory against the Endbringers in a decade, it didn’t change the death toll among those I'd personally known. People I’d worked with for years, if not more.
People I’d seen grow.
Triumph hadn’t even been out of the Wards a year. Aegis had been but a few months away from the Protectorate position he’d always wanted. Browbeat had barely been a rookie, facing something he had no clue how to deal with. And Vista…
Vista made me think of myself. So young and so driven. I thanked God she never had to face the things I had, but we'd both had our childhoods stripped from us far too soon.
And now she was gone.
Still, I couldn’t deny what the late news on the web were saying. While cape deaths had been, if not the norm for Endbringer battles, a little lower, the civilian casualties were more than an order of magnitude lower than after one of Leviathan's usual attacks. None of the shelters had flooded or sunk, and Leviathan had visibly focused on capes instead of going after people on the sidelines. The city itself had taken damage, but nothing compared to the usual levels of carnage that followed an Endbringer attack. A good part of the region didn’t have power, and most of the Boardwalk was a loss, but outside that and the new lake, very few spots had taken more than cosmetic damage.
“Miss Militia?” A voice rang out from my computer. “Are you available?”
Dragon. “I am.”
My screen flashed open without my input, showing the Canadian woman in front of her own machine. “Am I interrupting anything?”
I shook my head. “No, you aren’t.” Something then came to mind. “My condolences,” I added.
Her face fell somewhat. “The same,” she replied, though it was clear this was by rote. “Armsmaster fought at your side for years. I’m not the only one who lost him.”
It was the truth, but Armsmaster's passing didn’t have the same impact on me. Compared to the people I’d already buried, Colin was simply another comrade who’d laid down his life for the job. Dragon, however… “You were the closest to him, at the very least. There was always a distance between him and the rest of us.” Arsenal might have become another exception, in time. Had Armsmaster lived.
I might have thought it was a Tinker thing, but Kid Win hadn’t had any success there either.
She tried smiling at that, but it was a sad little thing. “Kind of you to say so.”
I nodded. “Now, what can I do for you?”
A sound rang out in my room; a chime from my inbox informed me I had a new message. “After today’s casualties, there have been some changes in the local organizational structure.”
“Right,” I answered. I’d been expecting that.
“Congratulations, Protectorate leader,” Dragon continued.
“What!?” I stuttered, grabbing my mouse. Dragon’s screen shrunk to the side, letting me reach my inbox and read the message there. All the papers were in order, signed by the very head of the PRT herself, Rebecca Costa-Brown.
“It is of course temporary, pending the approval of Brockton Bay’s new PRT director, but that should only be a formality,” Dragon explained.
“Director Piggot didn’t make it?” I’d heard the shelter under the PRT headquarters had been damaged when Leviathan destroyed the building, but nothing about losses there.
Dragon nodded. “I’m afraid not. By the time rescuers managed to remove the rubble, she'd already succumbed to internal bleeding.”
“How many?” I asked. I’d worked with the PRT for long years, and while I’d never been close to Emily Piggot, I had numerous acquaintances in the unpowered auxiliary forces.
“Nineteen, most of them office workers,” Dragon replied. “Most PRT soldiers were in armor at the time, and survived the short period under the debris without significant injury.”
I’ll check the roster later, then, I thought, then realized something. “That means…”
Dragon nodded, having guessed what I’d just noticed. “Yes. The PRT East-North-East lost every level of senior leadership today.”
I cringed. While replacing the Wards’ leadership didn’t tend to cause issues, the same couldn’t be said of the other two posts. Villain gangs had a tendency to test new Protectorate leaders, and changes in the PRT hierarchy had repercussions at every level.
“Will one of the current Brockton Bay PRT managers be promoted?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“I can’t say,” Dragon quickly answered. “With the loss of the PRT Headquarters, it may take some time before anything more than a temporary appointment is made.”
Which meant I was currently the leader of all the cape forces in the city.
Business called, then.
“Thank you for the information,” I replied, intending to dive directly in the reports. I had a lot of work to do.
“Would you appreciate some assistance?” Dragon asked.
I wasn’t going to deny I could use it. Still… “I’m pretty sure you have better things to do than help a single cape on the other side of the continent.”
The Canadian Tinker shook her head. “Not really. I’m not going to get the last batch of components I need today, not at this hour, and Vancouver is much calmer than Brockton Bay,” she explained.
I smiled. “Then I would very much appreciate your help,” I replied. “I suppose you have an updated list of casualties?”
“Yes,” she said, the relevant document appearing on my screen. A second later, names highlighted themselves.
“Brockton Bay capes,” Dragon explained.
I nodded, then cringed. In front of me, black on white, were the names of the youths I'd lost.
"Any... Information on how it happened?" I asked, my cursor indicating a pair of names. I'd seen what happened to Triumph and Aegis, but not how the other two had been lost.
Dragon shook her head. "There is little I can say. Based on positioning data, Vista and Browbeat were separated from the rest of the Wards in the initial rush, and as such missed being teleported out. When Leviathan broke through, they ended up in close range with the beast, and neither were able to disengage in time. Browbeat may have tried shielding Vista in his last moments, as indicated by his final movements, but we will never know for sure."
"God," I exclaimed, and took a minute to center myself once again. Dragon stayed silent, understanding.
Then I went back to work.
“I see we’re not the only ones with serious losses,” I pointed out, face grim. New Wave also hadn’t gotten through unscathed; the public hero team had lost nearly half their number.
“No,” Dragon said, then added more. “Every organized group in Brockton Bay lost at least one of their number. The Undersiders and the Travelers took the least damage, with only a single loss each. Empire 88 lost three confirmed along with Fog, who has yet to reappear.”
“This member of the Undersiders is also unconfirmed,” I pointed out.
“Yes,” the Canadian Tinker confirmed. “Apparition’s armband indicated her death, but no body has been found at her last known coordinates, and the largely intact state of the area is proof that Leviathan was never at that location. And since the peculiarities of her shadow power aren’t known, it may simply be that the armband misreported her status.”
“Still, that at least gives us a starting point,” I replied. “Anyway, the Undersiders haven’t yet been a real issue outside simple thievery, and the Travelers haven’t done much except hitting a Protectorate event. They aren’t the real threat.”
“The Empire,” Dragon stated.
I nodded at that. “With their identities revealed and the loss of so many of their number, something will clearly give. I’m more concerned over the fact that Kaiser alone was absent. I wouldn’t have been surprised if few of the E88 members had shown, or even only select cliques within the organization.” I shook my head. “No, only Kaiser was missing, and I wouldn’t see him as someone who ran while his troops fought.” I’d met Kaiser on the battlefield enough to have a good measure of his personality, especially after last week’s reveals. I couldn’t say if he truly believed in the cause he was preaching, but I’d bet my life against him running, leaving everything behind.
He just wasn’t the kind.
“I concur,” Dragon added. “I’d found his absence bizarre myself, but there were other fish to fry.”
I couldn’t contradict that. “Any Ward or Protectorate cape still wounded?” I asked.
The woman before me shook her head. “None. Between Panacea’s presence and Arsenal’s beacons, we lost no one at the triage table. A few are still under observation due to head wounds, but no one within the Wards or Protectorate. Kid Win was the worst hit there, and he’s already back in his workshop.”
“Good,” I answered with a nod. “Now, patrols will clearly need changing, especially considering our new landmark. I’ll take the earliest patrol tomorrow myself, then…”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[Doctor Mother]
“…Slenderman left after Scion without a word. The rest of the day was the usual search and retrieval, without anything outside the norm,” Eidolon stated as he finished his report. Both Alexandria and Legend beside him nodded at the summation. He then reached out and drank a shot from his glass.
There had been post-mortem meetings like this one after every Endbringer battle, as Contessa needed to model the behavior instead of relying on her power alone. And this was clearly one of the times where new information would force changes. Of course, Legend didn't know that part.
“So, in short, we have confirmation that the Endbringers are targeting specific capes when showing up somewhere,” I stated, and all members of the Triumvirate nodded as an answer. “Along with two of his targets: Scion and Slenderman.”
“I’d suggest Arsenal as a possible third target, along with a fourth still in the city,” Alexandria added, pointing at the map of Brockton Bay before the group. “Leviathan’s first charge now makes sense, given Arsenal's initial location. Positioning data indicates that he was beaten back here,” she pointed to another spot, further from Leviathan’s position, “only to make his way back to the combat zone. However, when Leviathan disengaged, it didn’t go after him, but disappeared to track what I suppose was another target. It was found back here,” another point on the map. “Close to none of the capes present. It then resumed targeting Arsenal, and based on GPS information from Arsenal's armband along with the pattern of devastation left in Leviathan's wake, it is a virtual certainty the Endbringer chased the Tinker for several minutes. Arsenal only stopped when Armsmaster arrived, upon which the two of them decided to stand their ground, something which led to both being declared deceased, the Protectorate leader for good. Armsmaster might have been another target, but it wasn’t his first Endbringer battle, and I doubt he’d have lasted this long with direct Endbringer attention.”
Number Man looked over the top of his laptop to peruse the data, then nodded. “Arsenal. The facts fit. And, agreed, Armsmaster would be a long shot, unless something new changed the data.”
“Such intent targeting; a change in their pattern?” Eidolon wondered out loud, glass still in hand.
Number Man’s fingers flew over his keyboard as he typed. “Preliminary analysis indicates no. The Brockton Bay encounter was in no way outside the parameters for Leviathan, and even the battle itself was within norms. I’ll have to go over past showings with a fine tooth comb, but nothing indicates this was an isolated incident.”
There was a moment of silence.
“About Arsenal,” Eidolon asked, tapping the display before him. “Should we arrange a visit?”
I shook my head. “Premature. He’s a stabilizing influence in Brockton Bay, and shows no indication of going rogue or villain. He can wait, if he’s needed.”
“Slenderman, then,” Legend remarked, serious.
“Indeed,” I answered. “This is the second time he comes to our attention, and both the uses we could make of him are crucial.”
“Not to mention Scion’s reaction to the man,” Alexandria added.
“Yes, that point also,” I replied. “I doubt the rumors of him being Scion’s opposite are true, given what we know, but there is clearly a link there.”
“If we’re talking of recruitment, there is another cape I want to bring to the table,” Eidolon spoke.
“Reinforce, I suppose?” Legend asked, a slight smile on his face.
“Yes,” Alexandria said to the Protectorate leader, before turning to the group at large. “Even if temporary, a second trigger at will is something we can’t pass by. Boosting Contessa or Number Man’s power might give additional insights on the formula’s workings, not to mention possibly breaking through the limit on Scion and the Endbringers.”
“I was about to suggest the same,” Eidolon pointed out.
“It might even be possible to recruit both Arsenal and Reinforce at the same time,” Legend pointed out. “Based on their interactions, they are clearly part of the same team, and for a while, at that, judging by the details I noted. And, with what Reinforce said, there should also be another two members who didn’t participate in the Endbringer battle, for whatever reason.”
“A secondary Cauldron team might be a boon to operations,” Eidolon suggested, “and that’s not saying what a Tinker could bring to the table on the science side.”
“More numbers on the ground could only help compensate for the discrepancy in cape numbers,” Number Man added, not looking up from his screen.
“Agreed,” Legend replied, only for something to ring on his belt. “Duty calls, it seems,” he said sardonically.
“We’re mainly done here,” I answered, catching a signal from my side. “At least, nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow. Recruitment will require planning anyhow, and not one done at this late hour.”
The Protectorate leader nodded. “Later, then,” he remarked, rising from his chair. “Door! New York Skyline!”
The requisite opening appeared right behind him, and he was gone not a minute later.
I turned to Contessa, who I suspected had engineered the alarm. “Something urgent?” I asked.
“Slenderman’s blocked, as he’s been for the past few weeks, and he’s not the only one,” Contessa explained, and everyone leaned forward at those words. “The same is true for Arsenal and Reinforce”
“Any other blocked contacts in Brockton Bay?” I asked after a second of silence. “Battery, Coil?”
The Thinker simply shook her head. “Short goals are working. Anything longer than a few hours starts changing without stopping.”
The two remaining members of the Triumvirate looked at each other, clearly unsure. Contessa is such a critical part of Cauldron’s inner workings, and now an entire city might be blocked? That was a scenario for a disaster.
“We need better eyes on the city,” I ordered. “Between Reinforce, Slenderman and that mystery target, there is too much going on to let our control slip. We need people on the ground, in all positions if possible.”
No one argued.
Alexandria nodded and smiled. “Actually, there is some good news there. There is a new opening in Brockton Bay, and we have an agent that’s perfect for the position…”