A Champion in Earth Bet [Worm/Original Setting]
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Drums Of War
DRUMS OF WAR
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08-uyfp2iPM
Skull King is very much an established figure of Indonesia's cape scene - he's been an active supervillain for almost fifteen years and one of its most powerful crimelords for the past decade, practically controlling the Surabaya underworld ever since the heroes of Red White took down his rivals, the Surabaya Syndicate.
A big reason why he's considered untouchable and has so many other villains answering to him is his terrifying power. It creates an area, centered on him, with a radius he can set anywhere from skintight to large enough to cover multiple city blocks, where all humans die. Temporarily. Their biological functions resume as soon as they exit the area… unless he specifically selects them to remain dead, in which case the effect is permanent. Between this A-list Shaker ability and a number of minions using their own powers to grant him some undetermined amount of additional protection, all attempts to dislodge him over the years have failed, to the point where Red White sticks to only messing with the edges of his criminal empire - as long as they avoid escalating the conflict, Skull King does not inflict permanent fatalities upon heroes unlucky enough to run into him, and given how the man already has the blood of a two-digit number of capes on his hands, keeping the conflict from escalating has been the closest thing to a winning strategy Red White's had.
At least, that's what the extremely hurried briefing you got on the way says. The problem - as Iron Snake explained when he made an emergency call to the Guild - is that a cape named Blink defected from Skull King's organization a few weeks ago, and now Skull King is spearheading an assault on the safehouse where Blink was being kept.
And that's why you, Dragon, Wing Warrior and Celo are flying hundreds of feet up in the air, above the edge of his power's effect - not that you can actually see the edge of the zone, you and Dragon are estimating it based on the (temporarily) dead people and animals in the streets below.
Not that Celo can see them, with all the smoke bombs Skull King and his men have unleashed on the streets to obscure their own positions. This smoke can't block your enhanced vision or Dragon's infrared camera, though.
"I can see Blink, but he's already inside the death zone," you say. "We can't just have Strider port in and port out with him."
"Skull King is moving in in a tinkertech car," Dragon says, providing exact coordinates to the Guild and Red White.
"Typical of those fuckers," comes Iron Snake's voice on the comms. "Dragon, any chance your suit can swoop in and either evacuate Blink or fight Skull?"
"...I'd rather not risk it," Dragon admits. "These suits have biological components. There's a risk of his power interacting with them in a way that would lead to irreparable harm."
"You're concerned about that now?!"
"Guys, I'm probably Skull-proof," Celo notes. "I can swoop in, get Blink out."
"Probably our best move," you admit. "Tattletale, can you give us any insight?"
There's a groan. Tattletale's headaches haven't subsided, and she's been hurriedly reading the intel Red White and the Guild could provide her on Skull King. "He's in communication with a precognitive minion who warns him ten, fifteen seconds in advance if things go wrong. He's got a skintight force-field, from a tinkertech ring. The car has a field that blocks parahuman powers from reaching in, but not from reaching out. Fuck you all, I'm done."
"Thank you, Tattletale," you reply. "I think I can handle Skull King."
Wing Warrior nods. "I think I can, too. A single shot from here."
"Don't kill him, we don't know for certain people will come back to life if he dies," you counter. "We need to remove him from the area, alive."
And that's why, carefully maintaining range, you begin by calling upon your fate manipulation to ensure that your psionic blast knocks Skull King out of action for at least twenty seconds (a tactic you wouldn't use without your fate manipulation, making it unpredictable to his precognitive ally), before you telekinetically grab Skull King's car and carry it a couple miles above the ground.
"Skull King in a Lockbox. It's hard to believe," Iron Snake says afterwards. "That villain was practically an institution, and you reduced him to begging you not to let him fall!"
"That still leaves his organization," you carefully point out.
"They'll descend into infighting before the day is over," Iron Snake says. "Skull was the one keeping them in line and forcing them to play nice with each other."
"So the next weeks are going to be busy for Surabaya," you say, staring at the city. The entire island of Java, with over 140 million people, is one of the most densely-populated places in the world - which means parahuman troubles are a constant fact of life. Making it all the more impressive that the heroes of Red White have managed to avert societal collapse, even after Behemoth devastated Jakarta.
"That's how it always is," Iron Snake says, "but at least we have one less A-class threat running organized crime now."
You nod. "The cape he wanted to extract. Blink. He used to be a teammate of yours, wasn't he?"
"He was a close friend," Iron Snake admits. "He just… I think he just snapped after seeing too much shit. You keep fighting the good fight for years, you sacrifice so much, you keep losing friends, you keep seeing things turning to shit despite everything you did…" He sighs. "And then, five days after you killed Leviathan, he turned himself in."
"Hm. Why do you think Skull King waited until now to take action?"
"My guess? He's simply been too busy. That's the one good thing about how crazy things are in Indonesia - the villains are just as busy as the heroes. No-one can actually keep up with the local pace," he chuckles darkly.
"I see." You pause. "Have you talked to Blink?"
"...No."
"Do you want to?"
He remains silent.
"Do you want me to come along?"
He smirks at that. "No thank you. But… I'll talk to him."
Back in the late 1950s, you made a lot of people furious by showing up at a civil rights march and protecting the protesters. You didn't do a thing to the police who were attacking them, but you prevented any physical harm from befalling the marching civilians. At the time, a televised debate followed where a segregationist argued that, as a superhero, you had a duty to be above politics. His opponent replied that a hero who was above politics was like a plumber who was above toilets.
("It only makes sense with a kingdom's worth of mushrooms" is something you heard appended to it decades later. Friends told you it was a pop-cultural reference.)
You know all too well how right this sentiment is - a hero has to stand for what is right, and often enough, that means swaying public opinion.
So you have no objections to the Protectorate assigning you to handle a press conference less than 48 hours after the death of Jack Slash.
"...So you deny the claims that Jack Slash isn't truly dead?"
"Certainly. As Jack Slash had become the latest Butcher, it was necessary to kill him in a contained setting, but I did, in fact, kill him personally. He was reduced to monoatomic dust, and the PRT's best Thinkers have since confirmed that he, and the Butcher, are gone for good."
"But as the Butcher, wouldn't he then possess you?"
"The nature of my powers precludes this outcome. They come with a complete immunity to all mental effects." And you're neither parahuman nor human. "Certainly, I haven't been hearing voices," you grin, "and again, PRT Thinkers have confirmed the threat is gone. Next question?"
"With both Nilbog and the Slaughterhouse Nine down, that's four out of six S-Class threats down. Does the Guild have plans for Sleeper and Behemoth?"
"As a general rule, it's a bad idea to reveal this sort of plans before we begin implementing them. We do, however, expect new Endbringers to arrive sooner or later, at which point it will take countless heroes from all over the world to oppose them effectively. Thankfully, we're already reaping the fruits of such cooperation: Against the Nine and Nilbog, we saw not only the Protectorate and local independent heroes, not only the Guild, but also heroes from Kenya, from Brazil, from the European Brigade. When those who seek justice work together, the world changes."
"Nilbog, Burnscar, Bonesaw and Unexpected are all still alive despite kill orders, while the rest of the Nine were killed in battle or executed. Do you approve?"
"Mentioning Unexpected in the same breath as the others makes no sense. Unexpected has no kill order, was not a member of the Nine, and for that matter doesn't even have a history of violence - he's very much a victim of the Nine, rather than an accomplice. As for the others, who are murderers… I find it preferable to err on the side of mercy. We know almost nothing of Nilbog and his madness. Burnscar, it would seem, actually suffers from mental illness, and it will take time to determine to what extent her crimes were actually her fault. As for Bonesaw - I have seen first-hand the sadistic, abominable acts she had committed. I am also aware that she was abducted as a young child by one of the cruelest, most manipulative villains of all time; how many people wouldn't have ended up as an extension of Jack Slash's sadistic will in her position?" You pause. "Given that, I think true justice for her victims was served with the true culprit's death; it is my hope that with time, the person underneath Bonesaw can be restored to sanity."
"You just referred to Unexpected as 'he'. Are you aware that she's act-"
"I am aware of the facts, and you should know better."
"But she's-"
"He is a trusted authority on the matter of his own identity, unlike you or me. I am aware that a great many people find it terribly tempting to believe that all matters of identity and society can be reduced to a handful of simple rules, but life is rarely so convenient. Next question. You?"
"Of all the heroes who fought at Brockton Bay, who would you say was the most useful?"
"That is a difficult, perhaps even impossible question to answer," you chuckle. "Without Kinesis and Voodoo, we would not have been able to stop Shatterbird from screaming. Without-"
"As another cape whose powers are highly in-demand, I get where you're coming from," Kinesis said. "But cramming fifty days of Tinkering into three days? No. That's crazy. I've seen what this sort of overextension does to Fortress. You're going too far."
"I have to," Leonardo insisted. "You saw what I could do with a robustness specialization for Fortress." Before his intervention, the Nigerian Tinker's devices - in particular the personal force-field generators protecting every member of the Kenya Pentagon - would frequently require twenty hours of maintenance in a single day, a breakneck pace only made possible by Kinesis. Since Leonardo's intervention, the same extensive tinkertech arsenal only required five hours of maintenance on a typical day, and Fortress had even elected to create a few additional devices for the team.
"I saw, and don't think I don't appreciate it. But fifty days? Fifty days?"
"It's for the European Brigade," Leonardo explained. "Between Caja, Goldorak, me… there's currently ten Tinkers in it. But now we're getting the Quatre As as associate members, and one of the reasons they're such a big deal in France is that they have tinkertech gear made by Professeur Plus. And we're expecting an influx of independent heroes jumping on the bandwagon. So now," he let out a short breath, "the idea is for me to use the robustness specialization on the tinkertech gear of as many Brigade members and associate members as possible. To give us an edge, you know? Plus I've got a bunch of upgrades for Goldorak's giant robot I want to work on with him.
"And it's not like we want this for free! Professeur Plus will be providing one piece of gear for every member of the Pentagon. Which I'll also be upgrading with robustness, obviously."
"What would that gear even do?"
"No way to tell in advance. Professeur Plus's whole schtick is that the tinkertech he builds synergizes real well with the powers of whoever he builds it for, but he doesn't actually know what it'll do until he's like 90% done building it."
Kinesis sighed. "I get it. And God knows heroes need every edge we can get. But, fifty days into three is too extreme. You want to do this, kid, we're gonna be smart about it."
Leonardo's face lit up. "Then enlighten me, wise master!
"Wise ass. For starters, no spending more than ten days of accelerated time without a long break to interact with people at normal speed. Second, some mandatory breaks in your tinkering, enforced externally because we all know what Tinker fugues are like; spend your breaks reading books or going on walks outside or whatever. Third, it's best if you spend at least some of your accelerated time with another person who's accelerated at the same pace; Dauntless should be here for at least some of this time. Fourth, doubling down on the acceleration during sleep time is fine, if you get some biometric monitors and sleep right next to a big fan so you don't end up drowning in your own CO2…"
It'll likely be a long time, if ever, until the Mexico City Protectorate has something that isn't a busy day. As for the Guild, it has a short-term agenda that involves helping maintain order in the parts of Brazil held by the government, keeping the cartels busy fighting each other just a little longer, gathering intelligence in preparation for an attack on Gesellschaft assets in South Africa, and organizing training exercises to induct new heroes into the Guild.
Sadly, you'll be unable to contribute, having your own prior engagement: Helping clear the villain problems that led Jacksonville to start wielding its Wards like child soldiers.
The North Florida PRT Director is, to put it mildly, not happy with you. "I never asked for your presence," he glares at you. "I asked the Protectorate for reinforcement for years, did my best to keep the city in one piece when they kept refusing, and now, now that they're finally sending us more heroes, they're reprimanding me for doing what I could with the resources I had!"
You could argue with him, but… that'd be a waste of time.
Jacksonville has over 200 villains, and vastly-outnumbered heroes. Your negotiations with Chief Director Costa-Brown and Legend, shortly before the battle with the Slaughterhouse Nine, have led to seven Protectorate heroes from out of town getting reassigned here… but even so…
"I'm not asking you to like me, Director," you say calmly. "You say you did what you could with the resources you had. Well, for the next two days, I am one of those resources. So, what can we do?"
He harumphs, but you think it'll do. You go on:
"I've been briefed on the known villains active in Jacksonville. To my understanding, the major issues are the Borders, Flash, the Assassins, and Black Sunday?"
The Borders is the actual gang with the largest number of parahumans in town - about forty at last count. Their control over the docks and multiple forms of smuggling has made them wealthy; now that maritime trade is picking up, the docks are becoming even more lucrative, and the city would love for the Borders to not take as big a slice of the pie as they want.
Flash is one of the strongest Movers on the East Coast, with some of the best super-speed observed in parahumans (you understand that on Earth-Bet, that's also the name of a famous fictional speedster; being an outlaw, the Flash of Jacksonville doesn't care about copyrighted names). His criminal organization only includes a handful of supervillains, but the gang's true strength lies in Flash's ability to take on all comers - his speed, as far as the PRT can tell, increases based on how strong the opposition is, and it seems to kick in before the fighting actually starts.
The Assassins started out as a handful of parahumans acting as mercenaries - leg-breakers and hitmen taking jobs from everybody, ranging from assisting a gang against another to union-busting. Over time, however, they came to absorb a few broken gangs and take territory of their own, including some of the posh neighborhoods - they've come to integrate themselves into a number of local businesses, often owning a given percentage via proxies. They've reached the point where they can often get powerful businesses and city authorities to go along with their desire without even using violence - a combination of soft power and the threat of violence is often enough.
Black Sunday, lastly, is an ethnic gang made up of Puerto Ricans. While only one in forty Jacksonville residents is Puerto Rican, practically a tenth of its supervillains are. This is due in large part to Father Chance, the gang leader, a charismatic villain whose frequent successes have nurtured much speculation about his Thinker abilities; he has successfully convinced various supervillains to come to Jacksonville to join him, and won many victories against seemingly-superior foes. Black Sunday is known to control a significant chunk of Florida's human trafficking, and often comes at its enemies from unexpected angles.
"Hm." The PRT Director considers. "Well, the obvious approach is…"
Appearing in Flash's territory, locating one of his meth labs, taking it apart - all fairly easy. But instead of arresting the men inside, you send them off with a message for their boss: That no matter how fast Flash runs, you will catch him. Even should he run to the end of the Earth.
Less than two hours later, still patrolling his territory, you get attacked by Flash.
That he hits you in the neck with a metal bat is no big deal. That he repeats the attack several thousand times in a tiny fraction of a second… that almost hurts. He eventually gives up on that vector of attack, his hands apparently hurting (though you suspect his power involves some resistance to wear and tear). He briefly considers the many bowie knives he's got on his belt… then ultimately opts for the mallet and chisel instead. By the time he has to throw away the first chisel and get the second, he's almost pierced your skin in the neck area.
What he doesn't know, however, is that while your body is virtually immobile from his accelerated perspective, your mind is actually keeping up with his movements thanks to investing all of your power pool in mental super-speed. And he's only a couple hundred strikes into his second chisel before you manage to transfer your power pool to dimensional warding instead - neutralizing all parahuman abilities in range for a few seconds.
Flash stares in shock, his speed disabled, as everything around him is once again moving. "What the fu-"
And then you blast him, then you foam him, then you drop him in a Lockbox.
The exact nature of Grim's power is a matter of speculation.
Oh, she teleports. But what the limitations and full extent of her abilities are is unknown. It is known, however, that as a veteran member of the Assassins, she has used her ability on multiple occasions to murder people - a union leader in his home, a city council member at a bus station, a CEO in her office.
A few hours of hunting down non-powered members of the Assassins, arresting them, and reading their minds while they're in detention (after they've made their phone call - if they realize you're reading their mind, you don't want them using said phone call to warn anyone), finally results in a lucky break that leads you to where Grim is currently in costume and showing the ropes to Bayonet, a more recent recruit of the gang. A psionic blast knocks Grim out before she can escape, and Bayonet is wise enough to surrender.
By the time Grim wakes up, you've had the time to read her mind for important intel.
"Ugh, my head… Where am I?"
"Allow me to answer a number of questions, Grim," you reply. Her eyes bulge out at the sight of you. You're currently canceling parahuman powers in the location, just to be safe.
"Avatar? Fuck."
"In the flesh, grim. And to answer your first question: You're inside a Lockbox - a new type of prison designed to replace the Birdcage."
"Hmph. If you-" she stops herself before saying anything else.
"I'm aware of your power, Grim," you reply. "You can teleport right next to anyone, as long as you know what their face looks like. You've already tested this power on trans-continental distances."
"...So you know this room can't contain me," she glares at you.
"This Lockbox isn't on Earth-Bet," you counter. "Can you teleport across dimensions?"
She blinks in shock. "I… I don't know."
"Then you better hope not," you reply. "Partially, because the ankle bracelet you're wearing will track you and knock you out if you do escape. Partially, because you have several murders on your rap sheet. If it turns out that you cannot be imprisoned, the government will almost certainly issue a kill order against you."
That seems to get a cold sweat from her.
Your first 24 hours in Jacksonville were enough to arrest Flash, four different parahuman members of the Assassins (though only Grim was among the gang's leaders), forty-two unpowered members of both gangs (over thirty of them caught in sufficiently compromising positions that a conviction is very likely), as well as eliminate drug labs and caches worth millions, and convince over a dozen businesses to testify against the Assassins' extortion.
So, of course the rest of the city's villains lay low the next day. That's why you head to another corner of the world, helping Kenyan heroes in Nairobi.
Now, part of that is genuinely intended to help Kenya and clear your outstanding debt. You (with help from the PRT) discussed this in advance with their national hero organization, and you agreed on five raids that you would spearhead, taking out some local villains and criminal operations at almost no risk to the Kenyan heroes.
However, you also specifically arranged to start with the raids that were likelier to run long, and made sure footage of them would be almost immediately available to both the Internet and American TV news.
So, the Jacksonville villains quickly learn that the Avatar's visit to their city ended after 24 hours and he's now doing the same thing overseas.
Normal villainous activities resume… except that this time, particularly extensive Protectorate patrols are venturing into the Borders' territory. Unsurprisingly, a battle ensues, and the Borders' choose to call in reinforcements, taking advantage of their massive numbers.
And that is when you return.
"Oh shi-" Archibang is a villain with a flying artillery powerset. You blast him unconscious and fly between him and the ground to keep the fall from killing him.
Deputy is a Trump who can hand out minor powers to up to five people at a time. Knocking her out doesn't depower them, but it at least makes her capture easy.
Mech is a Tinker. Specialization unknown, but she showed up with a force-field generator and some kind of polearm with an undetermined device in lieu of blade. Her force-field proves insufficient.
Stonewall is a Thinker. There are multiple theories about his exact power, but taking him down, you don't think it includes a short-term precognitive ability.
By the time the dust clears, twelve of the Borders' villains are in PRT custody. The PRT can justify birdcaging one and putting eight in Lockboxes, so the last three will likely be broken out by their colleagues… this time. This is still a loss of nearly a fourth of the gang's parahuman numbers.
Despite your best attempts, you are not able to locate any parahuman members of Black Sunday. The PRT Director blames Father Chance for that.
That doesn't mean Black Sunday gets to keep its power and wealth, though.
Of your second set of 24 hours in Jacksonville, many are spent patrolling Black Sunday's territory, collating intel about their criminal operations, and then, finally, striking.
The gang's human trafficking operation is hard-hit. Dozens of women, children, and a handful of men, liberated. You show up at three brothels - not randomly selected - and tell the workers that if they are there against their will, you will personally guarantee their safety if they follow you. Just short of fifty do; the PRT arranges witness protection programs for them.
Toward the end, you even manage to find a hiding spot where the gang keeps some of its actual cash. Over five million dollars are confiscated.
This isn't the end of Black Sunday, but you did separate them from much of their wealth and saved many innocent people. With Flash gone and both the Assassins and Borders significantly weakened, the local Protectorate intends to focus its efforts in the coming weeks on taking down Father Chance and his minions.
Jacksonville is still a messed-up cape city where villains badly outnumber the heroes. But, with the damage you've caused the biggest gangs, the local Protectorate now has a fighting chance.
Undercover missions are always extremely dangerous and complicated. It is necessary for the person going undercover to frequently touch base with their handlers, and this must be done without arousing the suspicions of the infiltrated organization.
Which is why you've volunteered ten minutes a day to serve as a telepathic bridge, allowing Bastion to speak to his PRT handler without so much as using a phone.
"It hasn't even been a week since I resigned," the ex-Protectorate cape thinks in an exasperated tone. "They didn't say they were Freedom Congress, but they pretty much said everything you predicted they'd say, almost word-for-word."
"Racist gangs and cults have fairly typical approaches to indoctrination," you reply.
"With the Slaughterhouse Nine finally gone, the Guild has more time for other matters," says Narwhal. "Which is a very good thing, because we've decided, in our infinite wisdom, to wage war on multiple fronts, both in helping the Brazilian elected government reclaim control of the country, and in fighting the international influence of Gesellschaft.
"Brazil-wise, we've been helping maintain order in the reclaimed territories," meaning Belo Horizonte and Goiânia, "and performing strategic hits that we think will keep the cartels at each other's throats just a bit longer. Think, and pray, because if they decide to join forces to kick us out of their country, they can bring thousands of capes to bear, and even with our help, the government cannot resist this overwhelming force.
"Gesellschaft-wise, we're laying foundations to strike at them and several of their child organizations. Empire 88 has already been crippled; the Irréductibles have made it clear that they would support any attack on the Front Pour La Patrie; Gesellschaft itself is a hard target but an important one, as is Asgard; the Slavic Union and Camelot will be difficult to deal with, given how hard it would be to gain the cooperation of the Russian and British governments. This leaves the terrorist actions Gesellschaft pulls in South Africa, and we're following leads to intercept the next one.
"But considering the class of threats we're dealing with… We're gonna need a bigger Guild." This elicits some chuckles, so you assume it's an Earth-Bet joke. "Since the Simurgh's death, the Guild has recruited nineteen additional capes - not counting the help we get from certain consultants or Toybox. To keep up with the rising tensions, I propose adding the following:
"Mister Clue and Optima, from Nigeria, have already been recruited. After careful consideration, I've decided to also include, partially, Deathblow."
"Deathblow?!" says Sunblade. "He's a villain! Just because he refused to take a swing at the Avatar, that doesn't make him someone we can trust!"
"It doesn't," Narwhal concedes, "but an investigation into his character and intentions, backed by Thinkers, supports at least bringing him in for certain operations. Nigeria has agreed to put him on house arrest and allow him to participate in Guild training and operations, and there will be times we need a good glass cannon.
"Next up, Captain Argentina. He's a veteran and has already proven himself on several Guild operations; I'm just saying we should make it official." No-one objects nor is surprised there.
"I'm still looking at a few candidacies from Mexico. From Brazil, we have a lot of heroes wanting in, and I've finally made my choices. First of all, Singularidade. His ability to generate implosions at long range, while difficult to handle, can be handy in a number of situations.
"Second, Reflexão. Her Thinker ability would be more than a little useful." Reflexão has the power to create a number of additional vantage points from which she can see as if she was standing there; the vantage point itself needs to be within her line of sight, but said line of sight includes what she can see from current vantage points.
"Third, Ninguém. Her power presents certain challenges on teams, but we need more Stranger support." Ninguém can become invisible, but only as long as she isn't in the field of vision of someone who knows she's there.
"Fourth, Excruciante. Her combination of Brute and Striker powers lets her wade into the thick of it and take out extremely resilient foes." In addition to being bulletproof and strong enough to bench-press a couple tons, Excruciante can cause debilitating pain just by touching someone.
"All four of them?" says Doctor volt. "Counting me, that's practically a full percent of the government's heroes who'll be serving in the Guild."
"Last but not least," says Narwhal, "I've decided to fast-track a recent request from a Protectorate hero who wants to join. You guys may have heard of him. Goes by Eidolon."
Lots of people sit a bit straighter at that.
"Eidolon. Isn't he a bit busy in Mexico City?" says Silver Crusader.
"Technically, I'm supposed to be as well," you point out.
"Yeah, but Eidolon actually needs to sleep."
"I have informed him that, veteran status and extensive experience notwithstanding, he would still be expected to participate in many hours' worth of team exercises with the rest of the Guild," says Narwhal. "The recent expansion of the team would not have worked as well as it has if we didn't have many good team players, and we need to keep it up. But given what we can expect to be up against, we can't afford not to bring this kind of firepower on board, either."
"Having fought by Eidolon's side three times, I'm aware of how extensively he changes the balance of power no matter the battlefield," you nod.
Doctor Metal chuckles. "So we get the Avatar and Eidolon. Any chance of recruiting Scion and completing the trifecta?"
"No promise," you give a slight grin.
Much of the day is spent training with the new Guild members. The Nigerian, Brazilian and Argentinian newcomers show promise (though Deathblow needs work), but Eidolon, despite extensive experience, has some lone-wolf tendencies, and you note some inefficient uses of his power.
"You focus a bit too hard on having the firepower with which to take down the enemy," you comment to him between exercises. "You might get better results by spending some time focusing on Thinker abilities."
Eidolon is dubious, but you convince him to give it a shot. When the next exercise starts, he's using a combination of Thinker powers that includes full awareness of every sound in an 800-yard radius, precognitive awareness of everything he experiences in the incoming 6 minutes 20 seconds, and extremely advanced mental multitasking. The team he's on proceeds to crush every other team via effectively knowing the entire course of the fight in advance - including the team you're on. Admittedly, you didn't use your fate-weaving power, but you avoid bringing that up.
"They had to bring in a special Trump who could briefly turn off my power without turning off hers, but, Panacea was able to do some work," Noelle explains nervously. "She couldn't… turn my power off, but she did something with my cells that should counter the mutation and slow it down. In theory, it should take months before my power seriously deforms my body. But I still need to wear gloves for the rest of my life, avoid contact, and… well, I still need to get some kind of biokinetic treatment every few months. As much as I want to go home… I'm terrified I'm making a mistake, because no-one on Earth-Aleph can actually treat me."
"I'll drop by when you need me, and hopefully, we can acquire a more permanent solution," you reply, and you have some leads you'll want to try. "In the meanwhile, I imagine you will want to get as much as possible of your old life back."
"As much as possible," she nods in a bitter tone. You offer some words of comfort, but she has good reasons to be bitter.
Nonetheless, the time has come. You're here both for your ability to open portals, and as security.
After all, this is probably the first time that Brockton Bay is visited by the President of the United States. And definitely the first time Earth-Bet is visited by the president of another United States - the ceremony in which the Travelers return to Earth-Aleph is a big political deal, not to mention a media circus.
Noelle, with clothes meant to minimize exposed skin. Genesis, her legs healed by your hand weeks ago. Trickster. Ballistic. Sundancer. Oliver. Cody, AKA Perdition, standing somewhat apart from the rest - the PRT was able to locate him, though he seems to suffer from a suspicious amnesia of much of his time on Earth-Bet.
With the cameras filming, you open a portal to Earth-Aleph. Soon enough, their delegation - President Abernathy included - steps through. The historic handshake between him and Earth-Bet's President Brown will no doubt appear on many newspaper covers tomorrow.
Words are said, including to you. Gratitude is expressed for returning seven citizens of the Aleph USA safe and sound. You express hope that, in the future, parallel worlds may start helping each other.
When the time comes to cross the portal in the other direction, there are no dry eyes among the Travelers. "Thank you," Noelle whispers to you before she returns home at last.
And since you're here… well. You got the opportunity to exchange words with the President of the Bet USA.
[ ][POTUS] Crime, including parahuman crime, is most often motivated by desperation. Try to impress upon the President the importance of funding social programs and services so less people will be driven by said desperation.
[ ][POTUS] The Brazilian government cannot stand alone against the cartels' overwhelming numbers. Try to convince the President to offer Brasilia support.
[ ][POTUS] The Freedom Congress and Gesellschaft often try to work with far-right politicians. Try to convince the president to unequivocally condemn them.
"Thank you for your time, ladies and gentlemen," Rhetor grinned. "I know all too well how busy you all are. Unfortunately, I fear we are all about to become much busier."
"And what is it, Rhetor? Another one of Aperçu's visions?"
"One hardly needs precognition to understand the threat, in this case. As grateful as I'm sure we all are for the work the Avatar and the Guild have put in countering the S-class threats of the world, they themselves appear willfully blind to the threats to society that we fight. They have been extremely unsubtle on the matter."
He thought back to his conversation with Representative Dunst the day before, and suppressed a grin. How amusing - for years and years, the Freedom Congress had rebuffed Gesellschaft's advances, leaving only Empire 88 to work with them. Yet now, with Mexico being allowed into the Protectorate, and the Freedom Congress paying the price for it, they were suddenly desperate enough to talk.
Let the so-called "heroes" foolishly plunge the world in chaos. Rhetor intended to ride the storm to greater heights than ever before.
Your night is spent on patrol in Mexico City. The most notable event is when you're called to intervene in a shootout, in which you capture seven unpowered men and rush two others to the hospital (you even use your healing powers on one to keep him from bleeding to death on the way, leaving you somewhat tired for the rest of the hour).
More notable is what's been happening at the same time in Poland. The European Brigade has launched a blitz in Krakow, with the first deployment of the Quatre As outside of France's borders in years. Captures include all 17 villains of the Dominatorzy (who were the largest gang in town after you crippled the Maw), every Maw villain you didn't catch yourself during your visit, and more, for a total of 52 villains - more than a quarter of the city's total. All this, without a single major injury on the Brigade's part.
This brings a smile to your face as you help Dragon make several more Lockboxes.
"...so we're in a bit of a bind," Narwhal explains. "On one hand, South Africa. We know a team of Gesellschaft-aligned villains from the Afrikaner diaspora are going to be making landfall today, even if we don't know the timetable of their terror strike." And the Guild has expended its quota of questions to ask Forecast. "Catching them tomorrow will be a lot harder and might be too late.
"On the second hand, Uberlândia." A city on the edge of the territory currently controlled by the Brazilian government. "We know that many of the cartel capes located there are unfond of the cartel in general and local leadership in particular, and sympathetic to the government. We know there are currently anti-cartel riots going on. We've used extensive Thinker support to determine that, if we take out the villain in charge and her inner cadre today, most capes in the city will support handing the city over to the government - but this window of opportunity closes before the day is over. This is probably our last shot at gaining another advantage in Brazil without causing a massive, brutal reaction from the cartels.
"On the gripping hand, Mombasa. The Kenya Pentagon is planning to take down the biggest gang in town today. We've already committed Dauntless and promised several more capes."
"That last one doesn't sound as time-sensitive as the others," Eidolon comments. "Couldn't we just ask them to reschedule it for tomorrow?"
"Given the amount of resources and effort Kenyan law enforcement has committed into this operation," Dragon replies, "I doubt they'll be happy about it."
"Can't we do all three?" says Laser Fist. "Our numbers are significantly better than they used to be," she glances at you and then Eidolon.
"Even so, a two-way split, and even more so a three-way split, are dangerous," Narwhal says. "We need to consider our options carefully, and reach a decision quickly. No pressure!"
[ ][Objectives] Gesellschaft is a plague upon Earth-Bet, and this is your opportunity to both deal them the first blow and prevent a destructive terrorist strike. Target South Africa.
[ ][Objectives] Restoring Brazil is going to be a long, uphill battle, and you cannot waste this opportunity to improve your foothold before things escalate further. Target Uberlândia.
[ ][Objectives] Kenya has been immensely helpful, and the Guild repays its debts - all the more so given how central Kenya is to any plans to save the African continent. Target Mombasa.
[ ][Objectives] There will be other, bigger opportunities to hit Gesellschaft. Target Uberlândia and Mombasa.
[ ][Objectives] Liberating Uberlândia so soon is overreaching. Target South Africa and Mombasa.
[ ][Objectives] They won't like it, but the Kenya Pentagon can reschedule their Mombasa op. Target South Africa and Uberlândia.
[ ][Objectives] Gesellschaft cannot be allowed to attack people with impunity, Brazil's government needs every advantage it can get, and you owe the Kenya Pentagon a lot. You've been expanding the Guild's size and resources for a reason - target South Africa, Uberlândia AND Mombasa.
[ ][Avatar] You should spearhead the South Africa operation. Let Gesellschaft know you're coming for them.
[ ][Avatar] You should spearhead the Uberlândia operation. Take down the cartel leaders and convince as many people as possible to support the government over the cartels.
[ ][Avatar] You should spearhead the Mombasa operation. Lend your direct support to the Kenya Pentagon.
[ ][Eidolon] Eidolon's ability to wield Thinker powers could be a game-changer. Encourage him to use them more extensively for this mission.
[ ][Eidolon] Eidolon clearly has fairly limited experience with Thinker powers. You'll encourage him to experiment with them more in training exercises, AFTER the mission.
[ ][Aid] You're trying to groom Nigeria into an international peacekeeper role. Try to convince them to send additional capes to help out.
[ ][Aid] Japan owes you and the Guild a great debt of gratitude. Try to leverage that into support for this operation.
[ ][Aid] Gesellschaft being a European organization, try to convince the European Brigade to intervene, politically rocky as this proposal may be.
[ ][Aid] You and the Guild know many independent heroes. Try to bring some along for this.
[ ][Aid] There are rogues out there who work as mercenaries but haven't truly broken the law so far, and thanks to the bounties on the Nine the Guild now has a much bigger budget. Hire some parahuman muscle to help out. (This may set a problematic precedent, but to be fair, you're already paying Tattletale as a consultant.)
[ ][Aid] Don't seek additional aid - there's too little time, and you should focus on preparing the operations proper.
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Skull King is very much an established figure of Indonesia's cape scene - he's been an active supervillain for almost fifteen years and one of its most powerful crimelords for the past decade, practically controlling the Surabaya underworld ever since the heroes of Red White took down his rivals, the Surabaya Syndicate.
A big reason why he's considered untouchable and has so many other villains answering to him is his terrifying power. It creates an area, centered on him, with a radius he can set anywhere from skintight to large enough to cover multiple city blocks, where all humans die. Temporarily. Their biological functions resume as soon as they exit the area… unless he specifically selects them to remain dead, in which case the effect is permanent. Between this A-list Shaker ability and a number of minions using their own powers to grant him some undetermined amount of additional protection, all attempts to dislodge him over the years have failed, to the point where Red White sticks to only messing with the edges of his criminal empire - as long as they avoid escalating the conflict, Skull King does not inflict permanent fatalities upon heroes unlucky enough to run into him, and given how the man already has the blood of a two-digit number of capes on his hands, keeping the conflict from escalating has been the closest thing to a winning strategy Red White's had.
At least, that's what the extremely hurried briefing you got on the way says. The problem - as Iron Snake explained when he made an emergency call to the Guild - is that a cape named Blink defected from Skull King's organization a few weeks ago, and now Skull King is spearheading an assault on the safehouse where Blink was being kept.
And that's why you, Dragon, Wing Warrior and Celo are flying hundreds of feet up in the air, above the edge of his power's effect - not that you can actually see the edge of the zone, you and Dragon are estimating it based on the (temporarily) dead people and animals in the streets below.
Not that Celo can see them, with all the smoke bombs Skull King and his men have unleashed on the streets to obscure their own positions. This smoke can't block your enhanced vision or Dragon's infrared camera, though.
"I can see Blink, but he's already inside the death zone," you say. "We can't just have Strider port in and port out with him."
"Skull King is moving in in a tinkertech car," Dragon says, providing exact coordinates to the Guild and Red White.
"Typical of those fuckers," comes Iron Snake's voice on the comms. "Dragon, any chance your suit can swoop in and either evacuate Blink or fight Skull?"
"...I'd rather not risk it," Dragon admits. "These suits have biological components. There's a risk of his power interacting with them in a way that would lead to irreparable harm."
"You're concerned about that now?!"
"Guys, I'm probably Skull-proof," Celo notes. "I can swoop in, get Blink out."
"Probably our best move," you admit. "Tattletale, can you give us any insight?"
There's a groan. Tattletale's headaches haven't subsided, and she's been hurriedly reading the intel Red White and the Guild could provide her on Skull King. "He's in communication with a precognitive minion who warns him ten, fifteen seconds in advance if things go wrong. He's got a skintight force-field, from a tinkertech ring. The car has a field that blocks parahuman powers from reaching in, but not from reaching out. Fuck you all, I'm done."
"Thank you, Tattletale," you reply. "I think I can handle Skull King."
Wing Warrior nods. "I think I can, too. A single shot from here."
"Don't kill him, we don't know for certain people will come back to life if he dies," you counter. "We need to remove him from the area, alive."
And that's why, carefully maintaining range, you begin by calling upon your fate manipulation to ensure that your psionic blast knocks Skull King out of action for at least twenty seconds (a tactic you wouldn't use without your fate manipulation, making it unpredictable to his precognitive ally), before you telekinetically grab Skull King's car and carry it a couple miles above the ground.
"Skull King in a Lockbox. It's hard to believe," Iron Snake says afterwards. "That villain was practically an institution, and you reduced him to begging you not to let him fall!"
"That still leaves his organization," you carefully point out.
"They'll descend into infighting before the day is over," Iron Snake says. "Skull was the one keeping them in line and forcing them to play nice with each other."
"So the next weeks are going to be busy for Surabaya," you say, staring at the city. The entire island of Java, with over 140 million people, is one of the most densely-populated places in the world - which means parahuman troubles are a constant fact of life. Making it all the more impressive that the heroes of Red White have managed to avert societal collapse, even after Behemoth devastated Jakarta.
"That's how it always is," Iron Snake says, "but at least we have one less A-class threat running organized crime now."
You nod. "The cape he wanted to extract. Blink. He used to be a teammate of yours, wasn't he?"
"He was a close friend," Iron Snake admits. "He just… I think he just snapped after seeing too much shit. You keep fighting the good fight for years, you sacrifice so much, you keep losing friends, you keep seeing things turning to shit despite everything you did…" He sighs. "And then, five days after you killed Leviathan, he turned himself in."
"Hm. Why do you think Skull King waited until now to take action?"
"My guess? He's simply been too busy. That's the one good thing about how crazy things are in Indonesia - the villains are just as busy as the heroes. No-one can actually keep up with the local pace," he chuckles darkly.
"I see." You pause. "Have you talked to Blink?"
"...No."
"Do you want to?"
He remains silent.
"Do you want me to come along?"
He smirks at that. "No thank you. But… I'll talk to him."
Back in the late 1950s, you made a lot of people furious by showing up at a civil rights march and protecting the protesters. You didn't do a thing to the police who were attacking them, but you prevented any physical harm from befalling the marching civilians. At the time, a televised debate followed where a segregationist argued that, as a superhero, you had a duty to be above politics. His opponent replied that a hero who was above politics was like a plumber who was above toilets.
("It only makes sense with a kingdom's worth of mushrooms" is something you heard appended to it decades later. Friends told you it was a pop-cultural reference.)
You know all too well how right this sentiment is - a hero has to stand for what is right, and often enough, that means swaying public opinion.
So you have no objections to the Protectorate assigning you to handle a press conference less than 48 hours after the death of Jack Slash.
"...So you deny the claims that Jack Slash isn't truly dead?"
"Certainly. As Jack Slash had become the latest Butcher, it was necessary to kill him in a contained setting, but I did, in fact, kill him personally. He was reduced to monoatomic dust, and the PRT's best Thinkers have since confirmed that he, and the Butcher, are gone for good."
"But as the Butcher, wouldn't he then possess you?"
"The nature of my powers precludes this outcome. They come with a complete immunity to all mental effects." And you're neither parahuman nor human. "Certainly, I haven't been hearing voices," you grin, "and again, PRT Thinkers have confirmed the threat is gone. Next question?"
"With both Nilbog and the Slaughterhouse Nine down, that's four out of six S-Class threats down. Does the Guild have plans for Sleeper and Behemoth?"
"As a general rule, it's a bad idea to reveal this sort of plans before we begin implementing them. We do, however, expect new Endbringers to arrive sooner or later, at which point it will take countless heroes from all over the world to oppose them effectively. Thankfully, we're already reaping the fruits of such cooperation: Against the Nine and Nilbog, we saw not only the Protectorate and local independent heroes, not only the Guild, but also heroes from Kenya, from Brazil, from the European Brigade. When those who seek justice work together, the world changes."
"Nilbog, Burnscar, Bonesaw and Unexpected are all still alive despite kill orders, while the rest of the Nine were killed in battle or executed. Do you approve?"
"Mentioning Unexpected in the same breath as the others makes no sense. Unexpected has no kill order, was not a member of the Nine, and for that matter doesn't even have a history of violence - he's very much a victim of the Nine, rather than an accomplice. As for the others, who are murderers… I find it preferable to err on the side of mercy. We know almost nothing of Nilbog and his madness. Burnscar, it would seem, actually suffers from mental illness, and it will take time to determine to what extent her crimes were actually her fault. As for Bonesaw - I have seen first-hand the sadistic, abominable acts she had committed. I am also aware that she was abducted as a young child by one of the cruelest, most manipulative villains of all time; how many people wouldn't have ended up as an extension of Jack Slash's sadistic will in her position?" You pause. "Given that, I think true justice for her victims was served with the true culprit's death; it is my hope that with time, the person underneath Bonesaw can be restored to sanity."
"You just referred to Unexpected as 'he'. Are you aware that she's act-"
"I am aware of the facts, and you should know better."
"But she's-"
"He is a trusted authority on the matter of his own identity, unlike you or me. I am aware that a great many people find it terribly tempting to believe that all matters of identity and society can be reduced to a handful of simple rules, but life is rarely so convenient. Next question. You?"
"Of all the heroes who fought at Brockton Bay, who would you say was the most useful?"
"That is a difficult, perhaps even impossible question to answer," you chuckle. "Without Kinesis and Voodoo, we would not have been able to stop Shatterbird from screaming. Without-"
"As another cape whose powers are highly in-demand, I get where you're coming from," Kinesis said. "But cramming fifty days of Tinkering into three days? No. That's crazy. I've seen what this sort of overextension does to Fortress. You're going too far."
"I have to," Leonardo insisted. "You saw what I could do with a robustness specialization for Fortress." Before his intervention, the Nigerian Tinker's devices - in particular the personal force-field generators protecting every member of the Kenya Pentagon - would frequently require twenty hours of maintenance in a single day, a breakneck pace only made possible by Kinesis. Since Leonardo's intervention, the same extensive tinkertech arsenal only required five hours of maintenance on a typical day, and Fortress had even elected to create a few additional devices for the team.
"I saw, and don't think I don't appreciate it. But fifty days? Fifty days?"
"It's for the European Brigade," Leonardo explained. "Between Caja, Goldorak, me… there's currently ten Tinkers in it. But now we're getting the Quatre As as associate members, and one of the reasons they're such a big deal in France is that they have tinkertech gear made by Professeur Plus. And we're expecting an influx of independent heroes jumping on the bandwagon. So now," he let out a short breath, "the idea is for me to use the robustness specialization on the tinkertech gear of as many Brigade members and associate members as possible. To give us an edge, you know? Plus I've got a bunch of upgrades for Goldorak's giant robot I want to work on with him.
"And it's not like we want this for free! Professeur Plus will be providing one piece of gear for every member of the Pentagon. Which I'll also be upgrading with robustness, obviously."
"What would that gear even do?"
"No way to tell in advance. Professeur Plus's whole schtick is that the tinkertech he builds synergizes real well with the powers of whoever he builds it for, but he doesn't actually know what it'll do until he's like 90% done building it."
Kinesis sighed. "I get it. And God knows heroes need every edge we can get. But, fifty days into three is too extreme. You want to do this, kid, we're gonna be smart about it."
Leonardo's face lit up. "Then enlighten me, wise master!
"Wise ass. For starters, no spending more than ten days of accelerated time without a long break to interact with people at normal speed. Second, some mandatory breaks in your tinkering, enforced externally because we all know what Tinker fugues are like; spend your breaks reading books or going on walks outside or whatever. Third, it's best if you spend at least some of your accelerated time with another person who's accelerated at the same pace; Dauntless should be here for at least some of this time. Fourth, doubling down on the acceleration during sleep time is fine, if you get some biometric monitors and sleep right next to a big fan so you don't end up drowning in your own CO2…"
It'll likely be a long time, if ever, until the Mexico City Protectorate has something that isn't a busy day. As for the Guild, it has a short-term agenda that involves helping maintain order in the parts of Brazil held by the government, keeping the cartels busy fighting each other just a little longer, gathering intelligence in preparation for an attack on Gesellschaft assets in South Africa, and organizing training exercises to induct new heroes into the Guild.
Sadly, you'll be unable to contribute, having your own prior engagement: Helping clear the villain problems that led Jacksonville to start wielding its Wards like child soldiers.
The North Florida PRT Director is, to put it mildly, not happy with you. "I never asked for your presence," he glares at you. "I asked the Protectorate for reinforcement for years, did my best to keep the city in one piece when they kept refusing, and now, now that they're finally sending us more heroes, they're reprimanding me for doing what I could with the resources I had!"
You could argue with him, but… that'd be a waste of time.
Jacksonville has over 200 villains, and vastly-outnumbered heroes. Your negotiations with Chief Director Costa-Brown and Legend, shortly before the battle with the Slaughterhouse Nine, have led to seven Protectorate heroes from out of town getting reassigned here… but even so…
"I'm not asking you to like me, Director," you say calmly. "You say you did what you could with the resources you had. Well, for the next two days, I am one of those resources. So, what can we do?"
He harumphs, but you think it'll do. You go on:
"I've been briefed on the known villains active in Jacksonville. To my understanding, the major issues are the Borders, Flash, the Assassins, and Black Sunday?"
The Borders is the actual gang with the largest number of parahumans in town - about forty at last count. Their control over the docks and multiple forms of smuggling has made them wealthy; now that maritime trade is picking up, the docks are becoming even more lucrative, and the city would love for the Borders to not take as big a slice of the pie as they want.
Flash is one of the strongest Movers on the East Coast, with some of the best super-speed observed in parahumans (you understand that on Earth-Bet, that's also the name of a famous fictional speedster; being an outlaw, the Flash of Jacksonville doesn't care about copyrighted names). His criminal organization only includes a handful of supervillains, but the gang's true strength lies in Flash's ability to take on all comers - his speed, as far as the PRT can tell, increases based on how strong the opposition is, and it seems to kick in before the fighting actually starts.
The Assassins started out as a handful of parahumans acting as mercenaries - leg-breakers and hitmen taking jobs from everybody, ranging from assisting a gang against another to union-busting. Over time, however, they came to absorb a few broken gangs and take territory of their own, including some of the posh neighborhoods - they've come to integrate themselves into a number of local businesses, often owning a given percentage via proxies. They've reached the point where they can often get powerful businesses and city authorities to go along with their desire without even using violence - a combination of soft power and the threat of violence is often enough.
Black Sunday, lastly, is an ethnic gang made up of Puerto Ricans. While only one in forty Jacksonville residents is Puerto Rican, practically a tenth of its supervillains are. This is due in large part to Father Chance, the gang leader, a charismatic villain whose frequent successes have nurtured much speculation about his Thinker abilities; he has successfully convinced various supervillains to come to Jacksonville to join him, and won many victories against seemingly-superior foes. Black Sunday is known to control a significant chunk of Florida's human trafficking, and often comes at its enemies from unexpected angles.
"Hm." The PRT Director considers. "Well, the obvious approach is…"
Appearing in Flash's territory, locating one of his meth labs, taking it apart - all fairly easy. But instead of arresting the men inside, you send them off with a message for their boss: That no matter how fast Flash runs, you will catch him. Even should he run to the end of the Earth.
Less than two hours later, still patrolling his territory, you get attacked by Flash.
That he hits you in the neck with a metal bat is no big deal. That he repeats the attack several thousand times in a tiny fraction of a second… that almost hurts. He eventually gives up on that vector of attack, his hands apparently hurting (though you suspect his power involves some resistance to wear and tear). He briefly considers the many bowie knives he's got on his belt… then ultimately opts for the mallet and chisel instead. By the time he has to throw away the first chisel and get the second, he's almost pierced your skin in the neck area.
What he doesn't know, however, is that while your body is virtually immobile from his accelerated perspective, your mind is actually keeping up with his movements thanks to investing all of your power pool in mental super-speed. And he's only a couple hundred strikes into his second chisel before you manage to transfer your power pool to dimensional warding instead - neutralizing all parahuman abilities in range for a few seconds.
Flash stares in shock, his speed disabled, as everything around him is once again moving. "What the fu-"
And then you blast him, then you foam him, then you drop him in a Lockbox.
The exact nature of Grim's power is a matter of speculation.
Oh, she teleports. But what the limitations and full extent of her abilities are is unknown. It is known, however, that as a veteran member of the Assassins, she has used her ability on multiple occasions to murder people - a union leader in his home, a city council member at a bus station, a CEO in her office.
A few hours of hunting down non-powered members of the Assassins, arresting them, and reading their minds while they're in detention (after they've made their phone call - if they realize you're reading their mind, you don't want them using said phone call to warn anyone), finally results in a lucky break that leads you to where Grim is currently in costume and showing the ropes to Bayonet, a more recent recruit of the gang. A psionic blast knocks Grim out before she can escape, and Bayonet is wise enough to surrender.
By the time Grim wakes up, you've had the time to read her mind for important intel.
"Ugh, my head… Where am I?"
"Allow me to answer a number of questions, Grim," you reply. Her eyes bulge out at the sight of you. You're currently canceling parahuman powers in the location, just to be safe.
"Avatar? Fuck."
"In the flesh, grim. And to answer your first question: You're inside a Lockbox - a new type of prison designed to replace the Birdcage."
"Hmph. If you-" she stops herself before saying anything else.
"I'm aware of your power, Grim," you reply. "You can teleport right next to anyone, as long as you know what their face looks like. You've already tested this power on trans-continental distances."
"...So you know this room can't contain me," she glares at you.
"This Lockbox isn't on Earth-Bet," you counter. "Can you teleport across dimensions?"
She blinks in shock. "I… I don't know."
"Then you better hope not," you reply. "Partially, because the ankle bracelet you're wearing will track you and knock you out if you do escape. Partially, because you have several murders on your rap sheet. If it turns out that you cannot be imprisoned, the government will almost certainly issue a kill order against you."
That seems to get a cold sweat from her.
Your first 24 hours in Jacksonville were enough to arrest Flash, four different parahuman members of the Assassins (though only Grim was among the gang's leaders), forty-two unpowered members of both gangs (over thirty of them caught in sufficiently compromising positions that a conviction is very likely), as well as eliminate drug labs and caches worth millions, and convince over a dozen businesses to testify against the Assassins' extortion.
So, of course the rest of the city's villains lay low the next day. That's why you head to another corner of the world, helping Kenyan heroes in Nairobi.
Now, part of that is genuinely intended to help Kenya and clear your outstanding debt. You (with help from the PRT) discussed this in advance with their national hero organization, and you agreed on five raids that you would spearhead, taking out some local villains and criminal operations at almost no risk to the Kenyan heroes.
However, you also specifically arranged to start with the raids that were likelier to run long, and made sure footage of them would be almost immediately available to both the Internet and American TV news.
So, the Jacksonville villains quickly learn that the Avatar's visit to their city ended after 24 hours and he's now doing the same thing overseas.
Normal villainous activities resume… except that this time, particularly extensive Protectorate patrols are venturing into the Borders' territory. Unsurprisingly, a battle ensues, and the Borders' choose to call in reinforcements, taking advantage of their massive numbers.
And that is when you return.
"Oh shi-" Archibang is a villain with a flying artillery powerset. You blast him unconscious and fly between him and the ground to keep the fall from killing him.
Deputy is a Trump who can hand out minor powers to up to five people at a time. Knocking her out doesn't depower them, but it at least makes her capture easy.
Mech is a Tinker. Specialization unknown, but she showed up with a force-field generator and some kind of polearm with an undetermined device in lieu of blade. Her force-field proves insufficient.
Stonewall is a Thinker. There are multiple theories about his exact power, but taking him down, you don't think it includes a short-term precognitive ability.
By the time the dust clears, twelve of the Borders' villains are in PRT custody. The PRT can justify birdcaging one and putting eight in Lockboxes, so the last three will likely be broken out by their colleagues… this time. This is still a loss of nearly a fourth of the gang's parahuman numbers.
Despite your best attempts, you are not able to locate any parahuman members of Black Sunday. The PRT Director blames Father Chance for that.
That doesn't mean Black Sunday gets to keep its power and wealth, though.
Of your second set of 24 hours in Jacksonville, many are spent patrolling Black Sunday's territory, collating intel about their criminal operations, and then, finally, striking.
The gang's human trafficking operation is hard-hit. Dozens of women, children, and a handful of men, liberated. You show up at three brothels - not randomly selected - and tell the workers that if they are there against their will, you will personally guarantee their safety if they follow you. Just short of fifty do; the PRT arranges witness protection programs for them.
Toward the end, you even manage to find a hiding spot where the gang keeps some of its actual cash. Over five million dollars are confiscated.
This isn't the end of Black Sunday, but you did separate them from much of their wealth and saved many innocent people. With Flash gone and both the Assassins and Borders significantly weakened, the local Protectorate intends to focus its efforts in the coming weeks on taking down Father Chance and his minions.
Jacksonville is still a messed-up cape city where villains badly outnumber the heroes. But, with the damage you've caused the biggest gangs, the local Protectorate now has a fighting chance.
Undercover missions are always extremely dangerous and complicated. It is necessary for the person going undercover to frequently touch base with their handlers, and this must be done without arousing the suspicions of the infiltrated organization.
Which is why you've volunteered ten minutes a day to serve as a telepathic bridge, allowing Bastion to speak to his PRT handler without so much as using a phone.
"It hasn't even been a week since I resigned," the ex-Protectorate cape thinks in an exasperated tone. "They didn't say they were Freedom Congress, but they pretty much said everything you predicted they'd say, almost word-for-word."
"Racist gangs and cults have fairly typical approaches to indoctrination," you reply.
"With the Slaughterhouse Nine finally gone, the Guild has more time for other matters," says Narwhal. "Which is a very good thing, because we've decided, in our infinite wisdom, to wage war on multiple fronts, both in helping the Brazilian elected government reclaim control of the country, and in fighting the international influence of Gesellschaft.
"Brazil-wise, we've been helping maintain order in the reclaimed territories," meaning Belo Horizonte and Goiânia, "and performing strategic hits that we think will keep the cartels at each other's throats just a bit longer. Think, and pray, because if they decide to join forces to kick us out of their country, they can bring thousands of capes to bear, and even with our help, the government cannot resist this overwhelming force.
"Gesellschaft-wise, we're laying foundations to strike at them and several of their child organizations. Empire 88 has already been crippled; the Irréductibles have made it clear that they would support any attack on the Front Pour La Patrie; Gesellschaft itself is a hard target but an important one, as is Asgard; the Slavic Union and Camelot will be difficult to deal with, given how hard it would be to gain the cooperation of the Russian and British governments. This leaves the terrorist actions Gesellschaft pulls in South Africa, and we're following leads to intercept the next one.
"But considering the class of threats we're dealing with… We're gonna need a bigger Guild." This elicits some chuckles, so you assume it's an Earth-Bet joke. "Since the Simurgh's death, the Guild has recruited nineteen additional capes - not counting the help we get from certain consultants or Toybox. To keep up with the rising tensions, I propose adding the following:
"Mister Clue and Optima, from Nigeria, have already been recruited. After careful consideration, I've decided to also include, partially, Deathblow."
"Deathblow?!" says Sunblade. "He's a villain! Just because he refused to take a swing at the Avatar, that doesn't make him someone we can trust!"
"It doesn't," Narwhal concedes, "but an investigation into his character and intentions, backed by Thinkers, supports at least bringing him in for certain operations. Nigeria has agreed to put him on house arrest and allow him to participate in Guild training and operations, and there will be times we need a good glass cannon.
"Next up, Captain Argentina. He's a veteran and has already proven himself on several Guild operations; I'm just saying we should make it official." No-one objects nor is surprised there.
"I'm still looking at a few candidacies from Mexico. From Brazil, we have a lot of heroes wanting in, and I've finally made my choices. First of all, Singularidade. His ability to generate implosions at long range, while difficult to handle, can be handy in a number of situations.
"Second, Reflexão. Her Thinker ability would be more than a little useful." Reflexão has the power to create a number of additional vantage points from which she can see as if she was standing there; the vantage point itself needs to be within her line of sight, but said line of sight includes what she can see from current vantage points.
"Third, Ninguém. Her power presents certain challenges on teams, but we need more Stranger support." Ninguém can become invisible, but only as long as she isn't in the field of vision of someone who knows she's there.
"Fourth, Excruciante. Her combination of Brute and Striker powers lets her wade into the thick of it and take out extremely resilient foes." In addition to being bulletproof and strong enough to bench-press a couple tons, Excruciante can cause debilitating pain just by touching someone.
"All four of them?" says Doctor volt. "Counting me, that's practically a full percent of the government's heroes who'll be serving in the Guild."
"Last but not least," says Narwhal, "I've decided to fast-track a recent request from a Protectorate hero who wants to join. You guys may have heard of him. Goes by Eidolon."
Lots of people sit a bit straighter at that.
"Eidolon. Isn't he a bit busy in Mexico City?" says Silver Crusader.
"Technically, I'm supposed to be as well," you point out.
"Yeah, but Eidolon actually needs to sleep."
"I have informed him that, veteran status and extensive experience notwithstanding, he would still be expected to participate in many hours' worth of team exercises with the rest of the Guild," says Narwhal. "The recent expansion of the team would not have worked as well as it has if we didn't have many good team players, and we need to keep it up. But given what we can expect to be up against, we can't afford not to bring this kind of firepower on board, either."
"Having fought by Eidolon's side three times, I'm aware of how extensively he changes the balance of power no matter the battlefield," you nod.
Doctor Metal chuckles. "So we get the Avatar and Eidolon. Any chance of recruiting Scion and completing the trifecta?"
"No promise," you give a slight grin.
Much of the day is spent training with the new Guild members. The Nigerian, Brazilian and Argentinian newcomers show promise (though Deathblow needs work), but Eidolon, despite extensive experience, has some lone-wolf tendencies, and you note some inefficient uses of his power.
"You focus a bit too hard on having the firepower with which to take down the enemy," you comment to him between exercises. "You might get better results by spending some time focusing on Thinker abilities."
Eidolon is dubious, but you convince him to give it a shot. When the next exercise starts, he's using a combination of Thinker powers that includes full awareness of every sound in an 800-yard radius, precognitive awareness of everything he experiences in the incoming 6 minutes 20 seconds, and extremely advanced mental multitasking. The team he's on proceeds to crush every other team via effectively knowing the entire course of the fight in advance - including the team you're on. Admittedly, you didn't use your fate-weaving power, but you avoid bringing that up.
"They had to bring in a special Trump who could briefly turn off my power without turning off hers, but, Panacea was able to do some work," Noelle explains nervously. "She couldn't… turn my power off, but she did something with my cells that should counter the mutation and slow it down. In theory, it should take months before my power seriously deforms my body. But I still need to wear gloves for the rest of my life, avoid contact, and… well, I still need to get some kind of biokinetic treatment every few months. As much as I want to go home… I'm terrified I'm making a mistake, because no-one on Earth-Aleph can actually treat me."
"I'll drop by when you need me, and hopefully, we can acquire a more permanent solution," you reply, and you have some leads you'll want to try. "In the meanwhile, I imagine you will want to get as much as possible of your old life back."
"As much as possible," she nods in a bitter tone. You offer some words of comfort, but she has good reasons to be bitter.
Nonetheless, the time has come. You're here both for your ability to open portals, and as security.
After all, this is probably the first time that Brockton Bay is visited by the President of the United States. And definitely the first time Earth-Bet is visited by the president of another United States - the ceremony in which the Travelers return to Earth-Aleph is a big political deal, not to mention a media circus.
Noelle, with clothes meant to minimize exposed skin. Genesis, her legs healed by your hand weeks ago. Trickster. Ballistic. Sundancer. Oliver. Cody, AKA Perdition, standing somewhat apart from the rest - the PRT was able to locate him, though he seems to suffer from a suspicious amnesia of much of his time on Earth-Bet.
With the cameras filming, you open a portal to Earth-Aleph. Soon enough, their delegation - President Abernathy included - steps through. The historic handshake between him and Earth-Bet's President Brown will no doubt appear on many newspaper covers tomorrow.
Words are said, including to you. Gratitude is expressed for returning seven citizens of the Aleph USA safe and sound. You express hope that, in the future, parallel worlds may start helping each other.
When the time comes to cross the portal in the other direction, there are no dry eyes among the Travelers. "Thank you," Noelle whispers to you before she returns home at last.
And since you're here… well. You got the opportunity to exchange words with the President of the Bet USA.
[ ][POTUS] Crime, including parahuman crime, is most often motivated by desperation. Try to impress upon the President the importance of funding social programs and services so less people will be driven by said desperation.
[ ][POTUS] The Brazilian government cannot stand alone against the cartels' overwhelming numbers. Try to convince the President to offer Brasilia support.
[ ][POTUS] The Freedom Congress and Gesellschaft often try to work with far-right politicians. Try to convince the president to unequivocally condemn them.
"Thank you for your time, ladies and gentlemen," Rhetor grinned. "I know all too well how busy you all are. Unfortunately, I fear we are all about to become much busier."
"And what is it, Rhetor? Another one of Aperçu's visions?"
"One hardly needs precognition to understand the threat, in this case. As grateful as I'm sure we all are for the work the Avatar and the Guild have put in countering the S-class threats of the world, they themselves appear willfully blind to the threats to society that we fight. They have been extremely unsubtle on the matter."
He thought back to his conversation with Representative Dunst the day before, and suppressed a grin. How amusing - for years and years, the Freedom Congress had rebuffed Gesellschaft's advances, leaving only Empire 88 to work with them. Yet now, with Mexico being allowed into the Protectorate, and the Freedom Congress paying the price for it, they were suddenly desperate enough to talk.
Let the so-called "heroes" foolishly plunge the world in chaos. Rhetor intended to ride the storm to greater heights than ever before.
Your night is spent on patrol in Mexico City. The most notable event is when you're called to intervene in a shootout, in which you capture seven unpowered men and rush two others to the hospital (you even use your healing powers on one to keep him from bleeding to death on the way, leaving you somewhat tired for the rest of the hour).
More notable is what's been happening at the same time in Poland. The European Brigade has launched a blitz in Krakow, with the first deployment of the Quatre As outside of France's borders in years. Captures include all 17 villains of the Dominatorzy (who were the largest gang in town after you crippled the Maw), every Maw villain you didn't catch yourself during your visit, and more, for a total of 52 villains - more than a quarter of the city's total. All this, without a single major injury on the Brigade's part.
This brings a smile to your face as you help Dragon make several more Lockboxes.
"...so we're in a bit of a bind," Narwhal explains. "On one hand, South Africa. We know a team of Gesellschaft-aligned villains from the Afrikaner diaspora are going to be making landfall today, even if we don't know the timetable of their terror strike." And the Guild has expended its quota of questions to ask Forecast. "Catching them tomorrow will be a lot harder and might be too late.
"On the second hand, Uberlândia." A city on the edge of the territory currently controlled by the Brazilian government. "We know that many of the cartel capes located there are unfond of the cartel in general and local leadership in particular, and sympathetic to the government. We know there are currently anti-cartel riots going on. We've used extensive Thinker support to determine that, if we take out the villain in charge and her inner cadre today, most capes in the city will support handing the city over to the government - but this window of opportunity closes before the day is over. This is probably our last shot at gaining another advantage in Brazil without causing a massive, brutal reaction from the cartels.
"On the gripping hand, Mombasa. The Kenya Pentagon is planning to take down the biggest gang in town today. We've already committed Dauntless and promised several more capes."
"That last one doesn't sound as time-sensitive as the others," Eidolon comments. "Couldn't we just ask them to reschedule it for tomorrow?"
"Given the amount of resources and effort Kenyan law enforcement has committed into this operation," Dragon replies, "I doubt they'll be happy about it."
"Can't we do all three?" says Laser Fist. "Our numbers are significantly better than they used to be," she glances at you and then Eidolon.
"Even so, a two-way split, and even more so a three-way split, are dangerous," Narwhal says. "We need to consider our options carefully, and reach a decision quickly. No pressure!"
[ ][Objectives] Gesellschaft is a plague upon Earth-Bet, and this is your opportunity to both deal them the first blow and prevent a destructive terrorist strike. Target South Africa.
[ ][Objectives] Restoring Brazil is going to be a long, uphill battle, and you cannot waste this opportunity to improve your foothold before things escalate further. Target Uberlândia.
[ ][Objectives] Kenya has been immensely helpful, and the Guild repays its debts - all the more so given how central Kenya is to any plans to save the African continent. Target Mombasa.
[ ][Objectives] There will be other, bigger opportunities to hit Gesellschaft. Target Uberlândia and Mombasa.
[ ][Objectives] Liberating Uberlândia so soon is overreaching. Target South Africa and Mombasa.
[ ][Objectives] They won't like it, but the Kenya Pentagon can reschedule their Mombasa op. Target South Africa and Uberlândia.
[ ][Objectives] Gesellschaft cannot be allowed to attack people with impunity, Brazil's government needs every advantage it can get, and you owe the Kenya Pentagon a lot. You've been expanding the Guild's size and resources for a reason - target South Africa, Uberlândia AND Mombasa.
[ ][Avatar] You should spearhead the South Africa operation. Let Gesellschaft know you're coming for them.
[ ][Avatar] You should spearhead the Uberlândia operation. Take down the cartel leaders and convince as many people as possible to support the government over the cartels.
[ ][Avatar] You should spearhead the Mombasa operation. Lend your direct support to the Kenya Pentagon.
[ ][Eidolon] Eidolon's ability to wield Thinker powers could be a game-changer. Encourage him to use them more extensively for this mission.
[ ][Eidolon] Eidolon clearly has fairly limited experience with Thinker powers. You'll encourage him to experiment with them more in training exercises, AFTER the mission.
[ ][Aid] You're trying to groom Nigeria into an international peacekeeper role. Try to convince them to send additional capes to help out.
[ ][Aid] Japan owes you and the Guild a great debt of gratitude. Try to leverage that into support for this operation.
[ ][Aid] Gesellschaft being a European organization, try to convince the European Brigade to intervene, politically rocky as this proposal may be.
[ ][Aid] You and the Guild know many independent heroes. Try to bring some along for this.
[ ][Aid] There are rogues out there who work as mercenaries but haven't truly broken the law so far, and thanks to the bounties on the Nine the Guild now has a much bigger budget. Hire some parahuman muscle to help out. (This may set a problematic precedent, but to be fair, you're already paying Tattletale as a consultant.)
[ ][Aid] Don't seek additional aid - there's too little time, and you should focus on preparing the operations proper.
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Finally it has returned
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- He/Him
Huh, and here I thought BB was special in how much it's Wards had to deal with.
- Location
- Malaysia
I figured in that respect, Brockton Bay was "worse than the national average, but not as bad as it gets". Hence why you've been approached by the Youth Guard in a pre-Slaughterhouse Nine chapter.
- Location
- Arcadia
Hm, one was concerned about overextension for exactly this reason.
The situation in Brazil is one that should be addressed, especially since it is the last chance for the Guild without inciting violent, united retaliation from the cartels.
Considering the debt owed to Kenya, one should be accommodating.
As for South Africa, well, if one could confirm the timetable, it would help. If the attack is today, then the danger of overextension will simply have to be broached. If it is tomorrow, then one is inclined to push it back a day.
The situation in Brazil is one that should be addressed, especially since it is the last chance for the Guild without inciting violent, united retaliation from the cartels.
Considering the debt owed to Kenya, one should be accommodating.
As for South Africa, well, if one could confirm the timetable, it would help. If the attack is today, then the danger of overextension will simply have to be broached. If it is tomorrow, then one is inclined to push it back a day.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm thinking at least a two way split.
But it's tricky, we've left Gessehschaft, directly and it's affiliated groups, be for too long and should start working on them. But we've also got a big debt to Kenya.
South America…well, the bigger the foothold we have the easier it will be to hold it and build on it.
But it's tricky, we've left Gessehschaft, directly and it's affiliated groups, be for too long and should start working on them. But we've also got a big debt to Kenya.
South America…well, the bigger the foothold we have the easier it will be to hold it and build on it.
I suppose if I had to pick I'd go for Mombasa and Brazil.
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- Location
- Who knows?
One thing I really appreciate about this work is how large/global the scope is. Even if Brockton Bay has 10x the world average of parahumans and 100x ithe rate of Parahuman BS, there's still a lloooooooootttttt to go around.
Also oh hi there Eidolon, don't think I don't see you killing two birds with one stone.
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
I feel bad for Noelle. Aleph has parahumans but none are like Bets. If Noelle accidentally a clone, even if it has no powers its still going to be a bad time.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I don't know about Dinah specifically, but the general concept of using his Thinker abilities for strategy…
I feel like a well placed Eidolon with minimum support should be able to handle one of the situations, with his ability to make really powerful parahuman thinker abilities...
Huh.
Hey SunTzu, the Avatars second variable power pool. The way that works in story is that it's a pool of free floating cosmic power that he can shift and use in multiple ways right?
Does that mean if the Avatar actually saw how some of the Shards were making precognition work, he could copy them. Use his variable power pool to do what they are doing. Would that be really tiring like blocking parahuman powers, if he could do it how powerful would it be?
Huh.
Hey SunTzu, the Avatars second variable power pool. The way that works in story is that it's a pool of free floating cosmic power that he can shift and use in multiple ways right?
Does that mean if the Avatar actually saw how some of the Shards were making precognition work, he could copy them. Use his variable power pool to do what they are doing. Would that be really tiring like blocking parahuman powers, if he could do it how powerful would it be?
Gesellschaft needs either Eidolon or Avatar along with Thinker support, and supplemental heroes with a focus on mobility and range to intervene when the villain group is spotted.
Uberlandia needs the other of Eidolon and Avatar, and likely a majority of the strangers should go here, along with some other capes those that are relatively heavy hitters but with bad mobility to take the people down,
Kenya Pentagon needs a contingent of heroes, but is the least pressing. So no thinker support is needed, but any stragglers and Dauntless can definitely help here.
Uberlandia needs the other of Eidolon and Avatar, and likely a majority of the strangers should go here, along with some other capes those that are relatively heavy hitters but with bad mobility to take the people down,
Kenya Pentagon needs a contingent of heroes, but is the least pressing. So no thinker support is needed, but any stragglers and Dauntless can definitely help here.
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- He/Him
Trade too many favors and you find yourself with too many debts pay when you have other stuff to do.
- Location
- Over there
That's pretty much the situation we're in. I don't remember the details, but I think we've been leaning on Kenya in ways that have them questioning whether they're being used. I think either calling in a favor or promising a favor to a group that's more positively inclined to us would not make the situation worse.
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- He/Him
What if we ourselves went to Mombasa? One person, but what a person, allowing for the numbers to stand in for the other ops?
Lend The heavy hitter as they have theirs in the past.
Lend The heavy hitter as they have theirs in the past.
- Location
- Elsewhere
We do have Eidolon as well, having him and Avatar be present at one location seems overkill so we can attach each of them to one of the main targets. Possibly having Dragon lead the third. Then just split the capes between them. Overall, it seems like we should be able to manage it.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
- Location
- Over there
Or for that matter any non authority-affiliated capes who would be interested in hunting Nazis.
Fun fact - Skull King and his powerset literally occurred to me while I was laying in bed shortly after waking up. Had to write it down quickly.
Blink, Iron Snake's old teammate who turned villain and then turned himself in after Leviathan's death, was first mentioned back in "Perspectives: Earth-Bet" when you recruited Iron Snake.
I can't claim credit for "a hero who's above politics is like a plumber who's above toilets", it came from a friend of mine.
The other Brazilian recruits are new characters, but Singularidade was mentioned back when he showed up to help fight the Nine and Nilbog.
Cauldron, as mentioned previously, made some backroom deals with the Yangban to recover Cody.
There's a whole world out there, and over half a million parahumans. Events should reflect that!
When you liberated Kolwezi - a Congolese city - from Madame Lustucru, the only thing that stopped the Triple Alliance - the trio of terrifying warlords who rule the rest of the Congo - from immediately taking control of the city was a combination of the Guild and actual military forces sent by Kenya and Nigeria to keep the Triple Alliance out of the city. Those forces are still there, hundreds and thousands of miles away from the borders of their respective countries, continually aggravating the most powerful warlords on the continent, because the Guild asked Kenya and Nigeria for help and promised to reciprocate.
And then there's the Kenya Pentagon. The fact that these five parahumans exist, are all on the side of angels, and work so well together, is honestly one of the main reasons Kenya's managed to avoid collapsing into warlordism. The Pentagon are very, very good for removing dangerous villain problems.
...But ironically, the very fact that the Pentagon are so useful makes their superiors nervous about deploying them. "What if this is the fight where their luck runs out and one or more of them dies, leaving our country up shit creek without a paddle?" You see the problem.
So, when the Guild asked for the Pentagon's assistance in liberating the Nigerian former capital of Lagos, some protested. When Fortress started collaborating with Dragon and Leonardo, some protested. When Kinesis started helping Dauntless develop his power, some protested. When the Avatar brought Kinesis to a ship off Brockton Bay's coast with Bonesaw-rigged games, some people definitely protested.
Now, it is not as if Kenya has gotten nothing out of this. The Tinker collaboration did Fortress and the Pentagon plenty of good. Dauntless has been helping the Pentagon while he's in Kenya. The Guild took down the Death-Dealers. The Avatar cleared up the Brown Spot (admittedly a mostly-symbolic gesture) and helped with some heroic operations in Nairobi last update. Costa-Brown and the US government are placating the Kenyan government with some military surplus, and Nigerian subsidies on food and raw materials are playing a large role in keeping the Kenyan economy from collapsing.
But even so... Kenya has been extremely helpful to the Avatar and the Guild's agenda, and they're not wrong to expect help back. All the more so given that your overall big picture "unfuck Africa" plan largely relies on building up Nigeria and Kenya as the pillars of an African heroic force.
The Apartheid didn't end on Bet!South Africa, and the growing parahuman population ultimately led to a genocidal race war twelve years ago. The side with way more parahumans won and kicked people of European descent out of the country, but by that point, the country was basically a wasteland that collapsed into parahuman feudalism almost immediately. The fact that much farmland was deliberately destroyed in the last days of the war did not help.
South Africa, at this stage, isn't a country so much as a post-apocalyptic patchwork of enclaves... and anyone actually making genuine progress at rebuilding civilization risks getting a deadly visit from Gesellschaft. Specifically, the numerous parahumans of the Afrikaner diaspora who joined Gesellschaft after the war forced them and their families to flee the country.
Blink, Iron Snake's old teammate who turned villain and then turned himself in after Leviathan's death, was first mentioned back in "Perspectives: Earth-Bet" when you recruited Iron Snake.
I can't claim credit for "a hero who's above politics is like a plumber who's above toilets", it came from a friend of mine.
The other Brazilian recruits are new characters, but Singularidade was mentioned back when he showed up to help fight the Nine and Nilbog.
Cauldron, as mentioned previously, made some backroom deals with the Yangban to recover Cody.
You know the Gesellschaft team will be reaching South Africa today. You don't know if they're planning to launch their attack on the same day and immediately leave the country, or if they're planning something that'll take longer.
I try! I love Worm, but it did sometimes feels silly how much of Earth-Bet's fate revolved around a handful of capes from a small-to-mid-sized New England town.
There's a whole world out there, and over half a million parahumans. Events should reflect that!
Certainly, it's an avenue he has regrettably neglected, but Eidolon's a bit too focused on being the guy who solves the problems.
Techno-Paladin or Causality might be able to reverse-engineer spacewhalehax powers like that, but the Avatar, for all his cosmic power, is no scientist - he's not gonna figure out how to recreate a power that would be a complete OCP to Earth-Gimmel.
Oh, there are options.
Let me put it this way.
When you liberated Kolwezi - a Congolese city - from Madame Lustucru, the only thing that stopped the Triple Alliance - the trio of terrifying warlords who rule the rest of the Congo - from immediately taking control of the city was a combination of the Guild and actual military forces sent by Kenya and Nigeria to keep the Triple Alliance out of the city. Those forces are still there, hundreds and thousands of miles away from the borders of their respective countries, continually aggravating the most powerful warlords on the continent, because the Guild asked Kenya and Nigeria for help and promised to reciprocate.
And then there's the Kenya Pentagon. The fact that these five parahumans exist, are all on the side of angels, and work so well together, is honestly one of the main reasons Kenya's managed to avoid collapsing into warlordism. The Pentagon are very, very good for removing dangerous villain problems.
...But ironically, the very fact that the Pentagon are so useful makes their superiors nervous about deploying them. "What if this is the fight where their luck runs out and one or more of them dies, leaving our country up shit creek without a paddle?" You see the problem.
So, when the Guild asked for the Pentagon's assistance in liberating the Nigerian former capital of Lagos, some protested. When Fortress started collaborating with Dragon and Leonardo, some protested. When Kinesis started helping Dauntless develop his power, some protested. When the Avatar brought Kinesis to a ship off Brockton Bay's coast with Bonesaw-rigged games, some people definitely protested.
Now, it is not as if Kenya has gotten nothing out of this. The Tinker collaboration did Fortress and the Pentagon plenty of good. Dauntless has been helping the Pentagon while he's in Kenya. The Guild took down the Death-Dealers. The Avatar cleared up the Brown Spot (admittedly a mostly-symbolic gesture) and helped with some heroic operations in Nairobi last update. Costa-Brown and the US government are placating the Kenyan government with some military surplus, and Nigerian subsidies on food and raw materials are playing a large role in keeping the Kenyan economy from collapsing.
But even so... Kenya has been extremely helpful to the Avatar and the Guild's agenda, and they're not wrong to expect help back. All the more so given that your overall big picture "unfuck Africa" plan largely relies on building up Nigeria and Kenya as the pillars of an African heroic force.
Problem with that is, WHAT authority?
The Apartheid didn't end on Bet!South Africa, and the growing parahuman population ultimately led to a genocidal race war twelve years ago. The side with way more parahumans won and kicked people of European descent out of the country, but by that point, the country was basically a wasteland that collapsed into parahuman feudalism almost immediately. The fact that much farmland was deliberately destroyed in the last days of the war did not help.
South Africa, at this stage, isn't a country so much as a post-apocalyptic patchwork of enclaves... and anyone actually making genuine progress at rebuilding civilization risks getting a deadly visit from Gesellschaft. Specifically, the numerous parahumans of the Afrikaner diaspora who joined Gesellschaft after the war forced them and their families to flee the country.