GOLD AND SILVER
The next day is… Well, you'd call it busy, but it's really not so different from how things are back home.
Noelle gets ten minutes of your time, to undo the (barely noticeable) changes to her mind and body that have accrued since your last meeting. Really, you could do this in five minutes, but some extra time to talk helps her peace of mind greatly. In private, director Piggot tells you that the PRT is still debating how to proceed where the Travelers are concerned, with the possibility of returning them to Aleph being discussed.
While you're talking to the director, you tell her of your intention to meet Scion.
"Do you really think that'll work?" she raises an eyebrow skeptically.
"I'm not certain - there are a lot of unknowns surrounding Scion - but it probably will," you say. "It just seems to me that Scion could help so much more effectively if he coordinated with others. Simply having a way to tell him when and where an Endbringer is attacking would make a huge difference."
"I can't argue with that," she says, "but be careful. Nobody really understands Scion, and there's no telling how he'll actually react to someone suddenly being able to contact him like that. Just because we've never seen him angry, doesn't mean he can't get mad."
"I will strive to be as diplomatic as I can."
"Make sure you do." She pauses. "You should also know that, with Weaver's papers having been processed, she will be introduced to the Boston press in less than 48 hours. Since she is officially a Ward, I have decided to include her in their sparring session today. As the one who sponsored her, I want you to assist Miss Militia as she provides today's lesson."
The director's decision surprises you briefly, but it actually makes sense - both times Skitter has gone up against Brockton Bay's superheroes, she has come out the victor. Hoping for some of that tactical skill to seep into the local Wards is understandable.
The day is punctuated by multiple patrols, across the city in general and Empire territory in particular. While the majority of the neonazi gangsters have at least the wisdom to lay low, some of them just can't stomach yesterday's humiliation. And so, you still manage to catch some causing trouble. Of particular note are three skinheads with knives and chains, attempting to assault three black graffiti artists who, in the middle of E88 territory, have spray-painted a massive picture on a wall; the right half of the picture displays Hookwolf in a boxing position with a "Let me at'em!" word balloon, and the left half shows a cartoon puppy giving a Nazi salute with a "Heil Hitler" word balloon. You doubt the Empire is ever going to live that specific joke down.
More time-consuming than your patrols, however, are multiple out-of-town jaunts as you head toward the locations with the largest clusters of Gray Boy's victims. There's the high school classroom in Camden - one teacher, twenty-six students, and one janitor still wielding the remains of the mop he broke on Gray Boy's head. There's the street in Toronto where Gray Boy positioned a car with three passengers to run over the same group of five children over and over again. There's the three members of the Chicago Protectorate and the eight PRT agents flanking them.
All in all, you visit six different locations, freeing 77 people. Only 208 locations and 433 victims to go.
Weaver nervously asks if she should unmask before the sparring session. Miss Militia smiles and tells her that Wards and Protectorate members are encouraged to use their full costume while sparring, since those are the same conditions they'll encounter on patrol.
Your presence here might seem superfluous - you're acting as assistant to the rather competent Miss Militia - but the fact that you're here probably makes Weaver and the other Wards less nervous around each other. ...Though Shadow Stalker is having entirely too much fun with Clockblocker's unsubtle fear of the bug-controlling heroine. She even comments that it's a "shame she's leaving for Boston, we could use another fighter with some actual killer instinct on the team".
This actually prompts an intelligent conversation spurred by Miss Militia on the subject. "Shadow Stalker may not fully appreciate the value of restraint, but she isn't entirely wrong, either. In an actual fight with an opponent who is truly willing to hurt you, you must have the nerve to strike back while you still can. Nothing will kill you as quickly as indecision."
Both you and Weaver confirm that, in the chaotic fast pace of battle, it is vital to just keep fighting. You make sure to explain, however, that a warrior's "killer instinct" is not the same as viciousness, and that frequent sparring sessions are designed to build up the very combat instincts that will keep even gentle souls from freezing up.
With that said, it seems like a productive session all in all. Both you and Miss Militia have some constructive comments… as does Weaver, who has a few clever suggestions for ways the other Wards might use their powers.
"It wasn't bad," Weaver mentions as you escort her out. "I think we might have actually become friends if I had just joined from the start."
"You still might, some day," you say with a warm chuckle, "and there will be plenty of opportunities to make friends in Boston, both in and out of costume. For that matter, do not forget that you can call me on my communicator."
Another late afternoon/early evening patrol across the city, and this time something unusual catches your eye: Apparently, Kaiser, on the roof of a large building, has used his power to spell "AVATAR" with a mess of blades and spears. He stands next to the signal, apparently waiting for your arrival.
Well. No reason to keep him waiting any longer. You land in front of the supervillain.
"Avatar." His tone of voice is steady. "So kind of you to stop by. You have been giving my people a lot of trouble recently."
"Only a small fraction of the trouble they have given the people of this city, Anders," you reply with a neutral expression.
"I fear you may be working under certain misapprehensions concerning what Empire Eighty-Eight is about," he says. "There is no need for us to be enemies, Avatar."
"Of course there isn't," you say. "You can turn yourself in right now, return your ill-gotten gains, and apologize to all those you have hurt."
He laughs at that. "In all seriousness, Avatar… I don't know how things go back on Earth-Gimmel, or for that matter what the PRT has been telling you, but the simple truth of it is, Brockton Bay, practically from the start, has needed the Empire."
Ah. Apparently, Kaiser has reached the "bargaining" phase.
He pauses, looking in the distance. "Have you heard about the 'bad old days'? Back in the days of Allfather, the early days of the Empire, this city was suffering under the yoke of the first wave of supervillains. Galvanate was a lowlife mob enforcer who could temporarily give superpowers to other lowlifes. Marquis ruled through terror, putting on airs of honor and nobility while leaving a trail of death and permanent disappearances behind him. The Teeth were basically a poor man's Slaughterhouse Nine.
"I know you think of us as villains. As thieves, thugs, and God knows what else. But the reality of it is that compared to the competition, the Empire has always been a moderating influence - simply because the other gangs are so much worse. How much have they told you about the ABB's bombing spree, when they planted bombs in the skulls of their own conscripts and indiscriminately murdered hundreds of innocent civilians - when things got so bad that it fell upon us to stop them? Are you aware of the Merchants' viler practices, such as forcibly addicting children to their poison?
"If you are engaged in some quest to free this city from the clutches of crime, then forgive me for bursting your bubble: There will always be gangs and supervillains. Removing all the existing ones will merely create a power vacuum that will attract new comers, new predators. You cannot extinguish crime, you can only choose which criminals get to rule to roost. And of all the gangs to have dominated the Brockton Bay underworld, the simple fact is that the Empire is the only one that's actually invested in the common good.
"I do not claim to be some great philantropist, Avatar, but I am civilized. I accept that I have some duties toward this city. When the other gangs go too far, my Empire is there to stop them, and we are better at it than the Protectorate will ever be. If you truly wish to help Brockton Bay… then don't pursue some foolishly idealistic venue like the complete eradication of every gang. Settle instead for the gang that will be best for the city."
He pauses, and you speak: "Well, if anything, I'm thankful that you did not try to win me over by arguing that we were both champions of some master race destined to fight side-by-side. That argument was plenty insulting when Hitler attempted it." Kaiser's eyes bulge slightly at that, but you refrain from grinning as you continue. "The answer to your request, however, is an unmitigated negative. There will be no compromises with the Empire. Its operations will not be allowed to resume. Its ideology will not be allowed to go unmocked. Its crimes will not be allowed to go unpunished. Its existence will not be allowed to continue.
"I took on the Ku Klux Klan back when its membership was in the millions and included members of Congress. I won that fight, and America was a better nation for it." Imperceptibly, you have slowly started hovering, so that you are now towering above Kaiser. It's a cheap rhetorical trick, but it helps. "Your entire organization is built on hatred, gratuitous hostility, and convincing utterly terrible human beings that they are good and superior not because of anything they do, but by virtue of their birth. You take the scum of the Earth and teach them to think that they are morally superior to those whom they bully.
"Do not paint yourself as a defender of civilization, Maximilian Anders," you conclude before flying off. "You could be that, but you choose instead, again and again, to be a cheap peddler of hate and moral mediocrity."
Between you, the other heroes, the police, and yesterday's arrestees cutting deals, this day sees the arrest of twenty-two of the gang members. There will certainly be more arrests tomorrow. Additionally, "Familiar Farces" are hardly the only comedians to have declared open season on the Empire - ridiculing the racist gang is now in fashion.
As the sun sets, you once again jaunt back to New York. Ever since you killed Leviathan, there has been an increasing demand for you to once again speak in public, preferably at a press conference, and the Simurgh's demise has been pushing that demand even further.
You're doing even better than a press conference, though: Today, you are a guest speaker at the UN, with Glenn Chamber's backing. (You had to let him go over your speech, but you were both happy with the version you compromised upon.)
You stand before the sea of cameras and diplomats. Not a problem - you've done this numerous times, stretching back to the days of the League of Nations.
You open your speech with some generic niceties - you need to make it clear that this is for the global audience, not just one nation's public. And then…
"Two days ago, I killed the Simurgh. If that sounds like a boast, understand that it is not - I very nearly died in that battle. Leviathan too almost killed me, and against him, I had ample, much-needed help from many other champions. If I have given the impression that I can save the world on my own… then I assure you, such a feat is beyond me. Beyond anyone. Not one person can save the world.
"But all of you together absolutely can." A basic light-bending trick allows you stare directly into every camera at once. "I have seen again and again, both on my world and on Earth-Bet, the magnificent achievements that people can accomplish when joining forces. And now, mankind needs to work together more than ever before.
"The Endbringer War is not yet over. Behemoth lurks, and he will have reinforcement in time. The Endbringers, however, are not invincible. Not truly. If Earth-Bet's forces truly unite against them, then even they will meet defeat. The problem," you pause, "is that Earth-Bet is far from united. You spend more time fighting each other than the real enemy.
"The flames of conflict burn hot across this world. Nation against nation. Warlord against warlord. Supervillains fighting over the scraps of a collapsing society, instead of working to prevent that very collapse." You pause. "There should, by all means, exist an international military force with over a thousand well-trained parahuman super-soldiers, backed by elite personnel, the best equipment money can buy, and international agreements, ready to strike whenever an S-class threat rears its head. Instead, we have the current status quo. What Earth-Bet lacks isn't supersonic flight, nigh-invulnerability, or powerful energy blasts - though those are all nice to have," you smile slightly at the tiny joke, "but rather, cooperation. Your world suffers as much as it does because everyone keeps working at cross-purpose.
"This is not abnormal. Far from it. Cooperation is, and always has been, a challenging thing. How do you work together with someone whose desires are mutually exclusive with your own? How do you work together with someone who can gain much by betraying you before you can betray him? How do you work together with someone who has hurt you, hurt the things you care about, hurt the ones you love? These are problems that society has struggled with for millennia.
"And yet, all of those challenges can be, and have on many occasions been overcome. It is at the very core of what society is - people agreeing to join forces, to put differences aside and work together. It takes courage, taking a chance on trusting others… and yet, we do it every day."
You go on for a while. About how the countries of the world need to work together. About how Earth-Bet needs more heroes and less warlords. About how international law needs to become a thing again, if only so that the would-be warlords can be properly countered. And so on.
The speech ends after a while. Glenn chambers tells you it went fairly well - it's not going to turn international politics on its head, but it's a start.
Well. That leaves the other thing you wanted to do tonight.
You are flying over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, miles above the ground.
In your world, this would be the approximate location of Avalon - a constant threat hanging over the world, a stronghold of dark magic from which Nollius launches his nefarious plans. An international fleet, armed to the teeth, always surrounds the location from a respectable distance, observing signs of unusual activity.
On Earth-Bet, it's a fairly unremarkable spot in the ocean.
Pushing those thoughts away, you invest your power pool in telepathic communication. Your range is planetwide. Your target, just one man.
"Scion."
Silence.
Then response.
There are no words. Not per se. Rather…
[Surprise] [Curiosity] [Identity?]
Scion doesn't seem to think in words. This would support the idea that he suffers from some kind of autism. Either that, or he is inhuman in significant ways.
So, you adopt his own language of concepts, transmitting your own thoughts in a form similar to his own.
[Avatar]. With that thought, you include perhaps not the mechanics of gods, but at least imply that you are a physical avatar of something greater.
[Hero]. No bragging, no false humility. You simply express the most central element of your nature.
[Friend?]. No imposition, no request, simply an offer of goodwill.
Silence reigns for a brief while.
And then, the golden man appears before you.
Almost instantly, your main hypothesis goes out the window. You're not sensing any cosmic energy from Scion. Whatever else he is, he's not a god like you.
He does, however, seem to be some kind of projection. You're not detecting real organs, or anything even vaguely resembling earthly biology in his "body".
The golden man looks you over. [Unknown] [Inquiry] [Goal?]
You consider briefly before answering. [Protect] [Assist] [Inspire]
He seems to mull it over. You turn the question back at him: [Inquiry] [Goal?]
After some hesitation, he responds: [Sadness] [Loss] [Escape] [Help]
He has lost someone, or something. The grief is crushing him. He has been helping others as a way to escape those feelings.
You've certainly heard of worse ways to channel grief… but Scion has been at it for years, and he seems to still be grieving. [Sadness] [Situation] [Progress?]
He considers your question. [Sadness] [Constant] [Unchanging]
He's made no progress. He's saved tens of millions of people, but his grief remains as crushing as when he started.
So, slowly, gently, careful not to startle him, you give him a hug. [Empathy] [Communication] [Relief] You explain to him, as best you can, the importance of sharing his feelings with others as a mean of dealing with grief.
He seems startled - more by your ideas than the physical hug - but he considers them. So you go on. Telepathically, you explain to him the need to emotionally connect with others - it is a good, a glorious thing, that he saves lives, but if they're just statistics rather than people to him, it will feel empty. You could theoretically live like that, but most beings cannot; the emotional burden would be crushing.
Eventually, the unusual conversation moves to the actual effectiveness of his heroics.
[Communication] [Coordination] [Efficiency] You struggle to explain to him the need to work with others.
He seems unconvinced. Then you point out to him that, whenever Endbringers attack, he shows up to help… once he becomes aware of the situation, which at times is too late. He is receptive to the argument, and you manage to reach an agreement: He will provide a communication channel for the PRT to call him in the event of an Endbringer attack. As soon as the agreement is reached, a communicator forms around his wrist, looking somewhat similar to the one you have yourself been provided with.
And with that, Scion has apparently decided that your meeting has come to an end. He flies, at a speed greater than even yours, toward the East; roughly Britain's direction in your estimate.
Hours later, dawn is breaking in Brockton Bay, you've made another patrol through the city, and you've given the PRT your preliminary report. According them, a new communication channel appeared in the central mainframe in Washington, specifically devoted to Scion's communicator. It's the first time he has ever displayed tech-related powers - not too surprising considering his previously-displayed versatility, but still unexpected.
Scion was sighted flying over the British Isles shortly after your meeting. A couple hours later, he resumed his usual heroic activities; it's too early to tell if there is any significant change in his behavior.
Well. That leaves you with some time to decide on your strategy from this point onwards.
Objectively speaking, Brockton Bay is in a much, much better state than it was when you first came here. The addition of Kilogram, Dinah Alcott and Tsunami to its heroic roster will help a great deal, as will the large amount of money (officially "Endbringer reconstruction funds") that's about to be federally injected; the clearing of the boat graveyard and the upcoming increase in sea trade will help as well. The Merchants are down, Coil's organization has been destroyed, the Travelers are in custody, Empire 88 has lost a lot of its resources, the Undersiders no longer have Skitter; Leet was let go (on the logic that keeping him prisoner violated the Endbringer truce), but even so, the city's remarkably low on supervillains at the moment.
There is still work to be done, of course. However, the local heroes can handle it… and beside, the reason you were assigned to Brockton Bay in the first place was to help you learn the ropes of Earth-Bet. It's time to move on to something bigger.
Well, not right now. But from your conversations with the PRT, it sounds like you'll be getting transferred before the end of the week, and as before, your own thoughts on the matter will weigh heavily on where you go.
[ ] The New York Protectorate. That city has the largest villain population of the entire Western world, and the eyes of the world. You can help Legend clean up the Big Apple, while interacting as needed with diplomats at the UN.
[ ] Mexico City. In order to close the deal on Mexico joining the Protectorate, a deal can be worked where a number of heroes are sent down South to help out as an exchange program of sorts. You can fight the cartels and help the agenda of international cooperation by getting Mexico to join forces with Canada and the USA.
[ ] The Guild. This Canada-based superhero team specializes in fighting S- and A-class threats - the closest thing Earth-Bet has to the Global Champions. The majority of its members are also part of the Protectorate. Working with them, you'll have further opportunities to take down the biggest monsters on this world.
[ ] Go independent. You're grateful to the Protectorate for all its help, and you will gladly work with them in the future, but right now, you need to focus on being an international hero. You're going to try and go wherever you are most needed, try to get more countries working together, and you'll be more convincing if you're not affiliated with any one government's organizations.
[ ] Write-in.
