Chapter Text
Interlude 6
Colin drummed his fingers on the desk in agitation as he reread the results of his latest test battery.
Wetware really wasn't his specialty. However, he was still one of the most experienced Tinkers in the Protectorate, aside from Dragon, of course, and she was here, too.
And neither of them were making any significant headway.
"I just don't understand how it's stable in any way! The cellular structure mimics human blood, but the readings are more in line with something out of Professor Haywire's equations," Dragon complained. She wasn't normally so vocal about her irritation, but they had been at this for hours and she wasn't used to being stymied.
Colin ran a hand down his face.
"I think it's time to put aside any hope of replicating the sample and move to determining its viability," Colin grumbled. "Some Tinkertech will always be incomprehensible to anyone besides the Tinker in question."
"I can accept that with complex quantum mechanics and machinery, but this is just… blood! Blood that also, somehow, has microscopic interdimensional portals bouncing around in it!" Dragon said. "Everything in my calculations indicates that it should be ripping apart the fabric of reality in a hundred different ways, but it isn't. It's like using plutonium to make ibuprofen!"
Which was the primary reason they hadn't attempted to replicate it. Not that they could have, anyway.
Still, it was vindicating that Dragon had the same amount of luck he did in analyzing the frustrating substance. Namely, very little at all.
"Hunter said that she has been injecting herself with it regularly for weeks, and we have seen the evidence of its effectiveness, as long as she wasn't lying," Armsmaster said.
He had run her mildly infuriating conversation with Assault through his speech analysis algorithm. He was reasonably sure that she hadn't lied, but he couldn't be positive with the audio quality and her scarf.
Colin wished it weren't the case, but Ethan's approach had been… effective, if not advisable.
Dragon sighed and her voice became less sharp.
"By practical logic, injecting this into a person should turn them inside out, erase them from existence, and then rearrange all of the atomic particles within a hundred meters. It obviously doesn't do that, but I still don't know if we can clear it for human trials," Dragon said tiredly.
"We could try animals first," Colin suggested, even though the idea didn't appeal to him.
Dragon's avatar bit her lip.
"This substance either does what Hunter says it does, or it will kill everyone in the general vicinity when injected into a living subject. There isn't really anything in between. I don't know if it matters how or who we test it on."
"Maybe a terminal patient who is outside of Panacea's scope of practice?" Colin said. "Put them behind a whole bunch of blast shields, just in case?"
"That's not a terrible idea, although it sounds… a bit insensitively pragmatic. The patient may appreciate the opportunity, though," Dragon considered. "Speaking of which, have you sent over a request to have Panacea analyze the sample?"
"Not yet," Colin shook his head. "I wanted to make sure it wasn't a trap, first. I don't want to risk Panacea's safety around an unknown Tinkertech solution."
"I am… reasonably confident that it's not going to spontaneously lose its stability," Dragon said. "I don't know how Hunter achieved this in the first place, but it seems strangely placid now, given what it's made of."
"I agree, but as you said, I am sometimes… insensitively pragmatic, so I thought it may be better to be safe than sorry," Colin grinned at her avatar. "I appreciate the time and insight, Dragon."
She smiled back. Excellent.
"Anytime, Colin."
…
Thomas once again found himself frustrated. It was becoming a far too common occurrence, these days.
Carpenter, or Hunter, as Taylor Hebert apparently preferred to be called, was getting stronger.
It wasn't uncommon for Tinkers, and was one of the reasons that they were so highly sought after, but it was irritating. He still hadn't found any consistent method to ensure her compliance. And, in his most recent attempt to capture Daniel, the frustrating man managed to call her while barricaded in his office at the Dockworker's Union. Hunter had subsequently appeared out of nowhere within minutes and killed his men, even though she was ostensibly in her cursed Hospital under PRT surveillance on the other side of the city.
If Emily thought that Hunter was contained, she was in for a rude awakening. Hopefully at an especially inconvenient time.
But he was still missing something important, and he didn't have the means to easily figure out what it was. A novelty, for him, and not a welcome one.
It galled him to do it, but he may have to cut his losses and seek to profit off of Hunter's independent existence or downfall. There may not be a way to bring her under his umbrella directly.
The Undersiders still had a chance, at least by association. Somehow, Rachel Lindt had gained Hunter's allegiance, to the point that the vigilante was willing to kill to protect her and warned the PRT to stay away from her.
In the timeline where he overtly turned on Rachel, Hunter found him and killed him, as was par for the course.
And so, despite the blow to his pride, Thomas split the timeline again and sent an encoded instruction to one of his moles planted within the Empire.
If his enemies wanted to tear themselves to pieces against each other while discrediting Emily in the process, so be it. He would be there to pick up the pieces.
…
Vicky was practically bouncing with excitement as she swooped down to meet Amy in the hospital parking lot. She probably would have been, if she hadn't been flying.
Amy definitely looked more… relaxed, than usual. Whatever was going on with Anne had certainly taken the edge off.
Victoria repressed the urge to scream. Amy was doing rebellious teenager stuff! This was the most exciting thing that had happened all month! Her sister had gone to Anne's house without asking their mom, and was being snarkily coy about what they got up to!
It was unironically awesome. Amy had been slowly fading for so long, and nothing Vicky did seemed to help. Now, even if Amy's relationship with Anne was a bit rocky, not to mention weird, it was obviously helping somehow.
Probably whatever it was that Vicky wouldn't do. That probably applied to a lot of things, given that she was, well, straight, but still! The implications were exciting!
Had Amy taken her advice and actually talked to Anne about her feelings? Had it gone well?
She had to know, or she would die.
"Hey, Vicky," Amy smiled at her.
Smiled! Without schadenfreude or sarcasm!
"You have to spill, I'm dying over here," Vicky said as she landed in front of her. Amy wasn't allowed to take the air taxi home until she gave up the goods.
"About what?" Amy said.
And there's the schadenfreude, right on schedule.
"You know what!" Victoria said. "Going over to Anne's place? Doing things?"
Amy's smile was definitely a smirk now.
"Vicky, you should know that I would never kiss and tell," Amy said.
Amy was obviously evil. It was the only explanation.
…
"No, no, that's not even the best part. He didn't steal it from the Image department, he filed the necessary paperwork and requisitioned it as a mission critical asset!"
Dean Stansfield, otherwise known as the Ward, Gallant, glanced over at the cackling group sprawled on the couch of the Wards common area as he exited his private room. Dennis and Missy were laughing their asses off, while Carlos just shook his head.
"Did I miss anything exciting?" Dean asked, wandering over. He hadn't been on a patrol since Sunday.
The others just lost it again, but Carlos leaned back to look up at him.
"You haven't read your email yet? Velocity found Carpenter's lair, and for some reason they sent Assault to make contact with her," Carlos said. "He… well, you know how Assault is. He went for the… atypical approach."
This was going to be good.
"What did he do now?" Dean grinned with the rest of them. The emotions flaring within them were encouraging. They seemed to find this legitimately enjoyable. Given Carpenter's track record, that probably meant that she hadn't killed any of the heroes.
"He gave her a pirate hat that he claimed was a mission critical asset," Dennis cackled.
Dean didn't get the joke.
"She only has one leg because the other one got eaten by Hookwolf," Missy said.
Ah. That would do it.
That… was in poor taste. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it seemed… disrespectful? Ableist? Something like that.
"And, the best part is, it worked!" Dennis continued. "She agreed to play nice with the heroes and limit her killing to the gangs. She even promised not to kill or hurt the surveillance teams monitoring her Hospital. And, she warned us not to go in, because we'd get lost? Not sure if she means dead, or literally lost. She said that she'd try to find us and get us out, but that's not super clear either."
"That's…" Dean wasn't sure what to make of that. "I wonder why they aren't trying to bring her in. She's a murderer."
"She told Assault that she would limit herself to killing other 'monsters', as she calls them. But, I'm not sure. Armsmaster has the sample of her Tinkertech that she gave Assault, supposedly some kind of blood concoction that heals?" Carlos said with a shrug.
"Wait, what does she make? I thought she just made weird old fashioned weapons?" Dean asked.
"According to her, she's a blood Tinker. So yeah, we have our very own one-legged vampire Bonesaw running around. Or hopping around," Dennis said. "Assault tried to get her to join the Wards, but she said no because they'd probably make her stop killing people."
Dean choked slightly.
"They're still trying to recruit her? That's insane," Dean said.
"I don't know, it'd be nice to have someone who actually fucking did something around here for a change. Especially if she wasn't an absolute bitch like Sophia," Missy said.
Her cursing was getting worse. Dean thought it was probably a coping mechanism.
"That may be true, but I doubt replacing her with a Nazi-hunting blood Tinker would be better," Dean said.
"Oh! Right, also, she said her name was Hunter," Carlos said.
That didn't bode well for her intentions. Violent vigilantes could be almost as bad as true villains, and sometimes worse. Moral righteousness had the potential to be a strong motivator. The road to hell, and all that.
"Do you think they're playing nice because of the healing thing, or what?" Dennis said, glancing at Carlos. "I mean, normally Piggot would be coming down on her like a ton of bricks."
"I think she's being told to take a 'wait and see' approach," Carlos said. "If we make the first strike, it's entirely possible she won't keep her word to Assault and start killing our people. It's hard to justify the risk when she isn't going after us or innocent people directly. Enemy of our enemy, right?"
"Just as long as the Empire doesn't fly off the handle," Missy grumbled. "Not that they'd actually let us fight them."
"Also, she keeps waving at the surveillance teams," Dennis laughed again. "Hasn't left the building, but pops her head out every once in a while just so they know that she knows they're still there. They've upped her to a Thinker 4. It seems like she has a danger sense or something. It took her all of two seconds to identify the original team on Tuesday night, even though she couldn't have known we were there ahead of time."
That was also scary. Capes with mental enhancements were harder to counter than just standard physical boosts.
"Does her healing stuff work?" Dean asked curiously.
"They haven't tested it yet. I think they're going to call Amy to come take a look?" Carlos said.
Dean winced internally. Amy would definitely have something to say about that.
Maybe he should check with Victoria about her, actually. Vicky said something about her sister being off kilter recently, but he hadn't seen her to gauge her emotional state.
Still, any change was probably an improvement, when it came to Amy.
…
Max Anders once again stood before his Empire and spoke in the voice of Kaiser. His tone, however, was much different than the rally earlier in the week.
"I will not lie to you, loyal soldiers of our cause. We have been wounded. We have been threatened. Our safety and our honor have been spat on by those who seek the downfall of all that is good."
The crowd was quiet, aside from a low murmuring. No glorious applause yet, but Max knew how to coax out the necessary fervor.
"We have been attacked. Not by a worthy foe who stood to face us in battle, but a knife in the dark, who hides behind a curtain of anonymity. A coward, who even now hunkers in their hole and waits for the next opportunity to strike."
Hunter thought that she could take the high road while committing atrocities. He would show her how the game was played, and what the consequences for breaking the rules were.
"Fifty-two people should be in this room with us today, who aren't. I'm sure all of you know at least one member of our righteous movement that passed over the last two weeks. Friends. Coworkers. Mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. They died in the name of our cause, but they were denied the basic decency of a true fight. They were butchered by an animal, who hunted them in the night while they worked, or while they revelled with their brothers and sisters."
If the rules didn't apply, then he could break them, too.
"Tonight, we will prove to the fallen, and to ourselves that they did not die in vain. Fifty-two people, good people, and the authorities do nothing! They have the audacity to slander our great mission, while they turn a blind eye to the beast on their doorstep. We will not be so blinded. We will not allow these atrocities to go unpunished!"
The excitement was building now. Max could feel it. The anger, the hate. So easily summoned. So easily directed.
Aimed at the monster who stole Kayden from him.
"Tonight, we will march on the gates of our enemy and we will force them to stand and fight. We will stand tall and give them the battle that they denied our fellow soldiers. We will show them, and the rest of this city, that we will not be silenced!"
Max knew where to find her. The PRT leaked like a sieve, and it hadn't taken long to get his hands on the official report from Tuesday evening, including Hunter's warning. Max certainly wasn't stupid enough to wander into a murderous Tinker's lair.
Instead, he would force her to come out and face them. Her barbarism had provided him with the opportunity to maintain moral superiority while pushing the boundaries of normal decency. It opened up avenues of attack that would be too damaging to their public image if she hadn't opened the door first.
He would prove that the might of the Empire was still more than sufficient to hold their own. Hunter may be strong, but she wasn't bulletproof. She may be fast, but against all of them, along with their unpowered army, she would fall.
"Tonight, the Hunter will die!"
And his army roared their approval.
…
Emily Piggot reviewed the recently updated, highly confidential report.
The gangs weren't the only ones with moles. The PRT just called them informants.
Kaiser was finally on the move. The Empire capes had been noticeably absent from his push for territory, and Lung had been more than willing to sit on his ass and let the unpowered minions poke at each other. It was a game, to them.
This time, it wasn't a game. Not when Hunter had already flipped the board.
Kaiser's plan to force Hunter into a direct conflict was a clear violation of the standard rules of engagement, but Hunter had brought it on herself. Avoiding this kind of situation was exactly why the PRT paid lip service to the rules, even if they benefited villains more than the heroes.
But Hunter made her bed, and now she would have to lie in it. The Chief Director had been clear; stay the course. If they were supposed to leave Hunter alone, then they were going to leave Hunter alone.
The Empire still fielded eight capes, and that was only if they hadn't received reinforcements from Gesellschaft. That, along with several hundred angry foot soldiers with automatic weapons, would be a serious challenge for any organization to handle in a full assault.
And Hunter was just one cape. A teenager.
The public relations fallout from this would reflect negatively on the PRT, but it was worth the hit to their reputation. If the Empire won, then the status quo would be restored, with significantly less parahuman power under the Empire's control. Maintaining the peace would be straightforward until they recovered or splintered.
If Hunter won, then there wouldn't be an Empire to worry about anymore. The balance of power would shift to allow for Hunter on one side and Lung on the other. Two unstoppable forces. Two immovable objects.
They would either destroy the city, or they would reach an uneasy equilibrium of mutually assured destruction.
That was if Hunter won. Emily doubted she would. Fresh triggers were always overconfident, so certain that the world would bend to accommodate them. Hunter wouldn't be the first to think that the cape problem could be solved with a gun, and she wouldn't be the last.
Good riddance.
…