Auspicious Beginnings (CYOA SI) [Complete]

[SmartAlek]

A CYOA SI with Power Manipulator, from the points of view of all of the people who have to deal with them.

Written by Elara_Moon on Ao3, posted with permission.

Chapter One: Anything You Can Do​

January 14, 2011

Battery

Battery glanced through the glass panel in the middle of the door into one of the PRT Headquarters' small interview rooms. Inside was a young woman in her early twenties, sitting calmly at the table across from one of the many PRT bureaucrats. She was going by Auspice, according to the message they'd gotten from the PRT. She wore normal clothes, jeans and a T-shirt, and one of the domino masks the PRT kept a stock of, which meant she'd come unmasked.

Velocity leaned in to look over Battery's shoulder.

"Think that's her?" he said.

"It must be," Battery said.

She had been surprised, to say the least, when the PRT requested one of the Protectorate heroes' assistance with power testing and verification. Apparently, they had somebody claiming to be a parahuman who could copy others' powers upon touching them, but who didn't actually have any copied powers yet. As such, they wanted a hero to prove or disprove the person's claims.

It was probably a false alarm. Even in a world with parahumans, a power like that seemed far fetched, and it wasn't that uncommon for people to claim to be parahumans, only to be proven perfectly normal humans. The Protectorate paid well, so there were a lot of scammers. However, if it was true, then they couldn't afford to miss it. And it was simple enough to prove, with parahuman assistance.

And Battery and Velocity were the only two heroes around who weren't on patrol, so they got the honor of catching a fake. Such a joy. Even if it turned out to be true, Battery wasn't sure how she felt about potentially letting somebody copy her power, especially given the, well, origin, of her power. Fortunately, Velocity seemed pretty enthused about it.

"Come on, let's go in," Velocity said, brushing past Battery to get to the door.

As Velocity entered, Battery following behind him, the PRT official glanced back over his shoulder, then stood. Auspice, after a beat, did the same. Battery closed the door behind them, while Velocity made his way over to their visitor.

"Hello. I'm Velocity," he said. "Auspice, right?"

"Yes, that's what I'm going by, at least for now. Not sure if I want to keep it yet," Auspice said with a nod. "Hi."

"Hey. I'm Battery," she said.

Auspice nodded again.

"All right, no point beating around the bush. You say you can copy parahuman powers?" Velocity said.

Auspice nodded yet again. "Yes. When I touch somebody, I get a perfect copy of their power. It doesn't affect the person in question at all when I copy powers," she said. "I think I can also alter powers I've copied, to an extent. Not sure to what extent yet."

"There's no time limit on the powers? No limitations? Like, you can only do three at a time, or something?" Battery said.

"No. No limitations. Anything the person I copy the power from can do, I can do. And I don't think there's a limit on how many I can copy or use at a time."

Battery raised her eyebrows, knowing they were hidden under her visor. She had to take a moment to consider the implications, if that was true. It probably wasn't true; they had no proof of such ridiculous powers, and even the only precedents for such a thing being possible (maybe Eidolon, maybe the Fairy Queen) had limitations.

"But you haven't actually copied any powers yet," Battery said.

"Well, no," Auspice said with a shrug. "Not that easy to go around poking capes, you know? But I know how my power works."

"Either way, if it's true, that is an incredibly powerful ability," Velocity said.

Auspice smiled. "I know," she said simply.

"All right, well, time to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak," Velocity said. He held out one hand to her. "Prove it. Copy my power."

Auspice hesitated briefly. Battery narrowed her eyes. She was just beginning to suspect that Auspice was lying and had just realized she was about to be caught when Auspice reached out. She tapped her hand against Velocity's.

"That's awesome," she murmured as though to herself.

Then she was in the corner of the room. Battery had been in the Protectorate with Velocity too long to jump, but she did blink sharply.

"Well," Battery said. "Either you did copy Velocity's power, or you've got some kind of teleportation."

Auspice smiled again.

"Nah, I could track her; it definitely looked like my power," Velocity said. He was starting to sound really excited, now.

Battery could definitely understand. It was kind of worrying, but to have such a powerful cape -- somebody who could copy every other power they encountered -- on their side… That could be huge.

Now, to prove she didn't just have a power like Velocity's.

"Copy my power, too," Battery said, holding her own hand out.

Her power and Velocity's were also pretty similar -- they were both considered speedsters -- but there were enough differences, too. Battery's charge gave her enhanced strength, which would be even more obvious when compared to Velocity's power dampening his effect on his surroundings.

Auspice nodded. "Sure, but I'm not sure how to prove I've copied your power?"

Battery paused. Right. Her power's speed enhancement could probably be faked with Velocity's power -- or a similar Mover power -- and the other aspects were a little destructive.

"There are facilities for power testing in the building. We'll take you there," Battery said.

"Okay, cool," Auspice said. She gestured. "Lead the way."

Ten minutes later, they were safely ensconced in a Brute-rated power testing room. Battery wasn't a Brute, but she could do some pretty good damage while she was charged up. 'Brute-rated', in this context, actually meant, 'lots of things of varying sturdiness to smash'. There, Battery let Auspice tap her on the hand, same as she'd done to Velocity.

Auspice paused for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, so I'll just… break some stuff," she said.

"Go for it," Battery said, building up her own charge to make sure she could track Auspice.

"Let's see, not using Velocity's power, since that would mess things up..." Auspice muttered to herself.

Then she shot forward in a move eerily similar to what Battery had seen herself do in videos, at a speed only a few people in Brockton Bay could match. Taking full advantage of the enhanced durability of the Breaker state, Auspice smashed right through the nearest block of cement with a spray of cement fragments, and then through two more and a sheet of metal before she ran out of charge and came to a stop.

Auspice laughed out loud, clapping once in obvious delight. "That was awesome," she said, then turned around to face Battery and Velocity. "So, how about it? Have I proven myself sufficiently?"

Battery exchanged a glance with Velocity. It was very unlikely for two powers to be that similar, and Battery found it hard to believe that there was any one power that could imitate both hers and Velocity's. Especially given the origin of Battery's power.

"Do my power again," Velocity said. "Hit something while using it. Wait, no, actually--" He stooped to pick up one of the larger pieces of rubble, which was about the size of a baseball, and set it on a table. "--try and pick this up."

"Sure thing," Auspice said agreeably.

To Battery, it seemed as though Auspice then teleported over to the table, moving so quickly that Battery couldn't track her at all until she came to a stop. She trusted that Velocity could track her. For probably thirty seconds, Auspice tried hard to pick up the rubble, only succeeding in making it roll around the table.

Then she deactivated the power with a huff. "Well, that's frustrating," she said, but her tone was much calmer than Battery would have expected from the words. She looked from Battery to Velocity and back. "So, anything else?"

Battery thought about it. She realized that she was actually convinced; there was nothing else Auspice could do to make her believe her more than she already did, at least not without copying more powers. If she could also do some of the powers that were less like Battery's and Velocity's, like Miss Militia's, it would make it more believable.

"Well, no, I think I'm good, actually. I believe you," Velocity said, sounding a bit faint now. "I… think I should go talk to Armsmaster. Battery?"

"I think that's a good idea," Battery said.

Once they told Armsmaster, that made it -- Auspice -- officially Not Their Problem. Battery did not want to be the one in charge of making decisions regarding a person who could, presumably, copy any other parahuman's power. Telling Armsmaster was definitely a good idea.

Oblivious to Battery's thoughts, Auspice smiled brilliantly. "Great!"



January 14, 2011

Emily Piggot

Emily sighed heavily and rubbed at her temples with her fingers. The girl sitting innocently in the chair in front of Emily's desk continued sitting innocently, in the process continuing to force her existence on Emily. Armsmaster stood beside the girl, considerably less innocently.

'Auspice'. A twenty-two year old girl who now possessed the powers of just about every Protectorate cape in Emily's branch. The only one she was missing was Triumph. But she wanted to join the Protectorate. That was good, Emily reminded herself. That meant she wanted to be a hero, and that she was also willing to put herself under Emily's authority, and under the authority of those above Emily.

Emily tried to be comforted by that fact. It was difficult, when faced with yet another potentially disastrous parahuman.

In any case, that wasn't even Emily's problem right now. No, she had more problems.

"You're… from another dimension," Emily said, dully.

She was repeating Auspice's explanation of why she apparently didn't exist and had absolutely no records at all.

"Yes, Ma'am," Auspice said.

"Like Earth Aleph, we think," Armsmaster said. He was very firmly on the girl's side, and pushing even harder than she was to get her into the Protectorate.

"Yeah, something like that," Auspice said agreeably. "I'm not sure exactly what to call it."

Emily sighed again. Sometimes, she truly questioned whether or not her job was worth the headaches.

The most likely explanation, she felt, was that Auspice simply didn't want to tell them her identity, and was therefore lying about it. But was that a big enough concern to not bring her into the Protectorate, when she already wanted to?

No. Given her power, it definitely wasn't, Emily decided. Still, she could ask a few more questions.

"What's your civilian name?"

"You won't be able to find me if you look it up," Auspice said, frowning slightly. She'd already unmasked upon request. Emily wondered why this was different. "Well, you might find other people with the same name."

"Tell me anyway," Emily said.

Auspice shrugged. "All right, sure. My name is Jennifer Williams."

"Truth," Armsmaster put in, because he was a traitorous, side-picking --

Emily was fine. Everything was fine.

She was going to have to figure that out. Determine whether or not there were records of a Jennifer Williams that matched Auspice. If not, figure out how to hire somebody with no legal identity. Emily didn't really have much choice in the matter; she had to.

"Okay. Auspice, explain your power again. List the powers you've collected --" Emily glared at Armsmaster, who looked unapologetic. "-- so far. Armsmaster, I'm going to need a report from you and the rest of the Protectorate members who have had contact with Auspice."

Emily wanted to make sure this was well-documented before she sent it upward.

"Yes, Director," Armsmaster said, nodding.

"Good. Now, Auspice, if you will?" Emily said. She turned on a recording device, which she had foolishly neglected the previous time Auspice had explained her power.

Armsmaster was almost certainly recording as well, and Emily was reasonably certain that at least one of his recordings of Auspice's explanation would end up in his report, but she wanted to have her own, as well.

If Auspice was annoyed at having to explain again for what was probably the fifth or sixth time, it didn't show. "Sure. My power lets me copy other people's powers upon touching them," she started, voice almost monotone, like she was reading off a list. "The other person isn't affected at all by me copying their power. I get a perfect copy of their power which does not have any limitations or a time limit. I can also alter my own copy of other powers to an extent. I currently have the powers of Battery, Velocity, Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Assault, and Dauntless." She paused briefly, then added, "Oh, and I altered my copy of Battery's power."

Emily tried not to react. Auspice hadn't mentioned that before. "Explain what you mean by that."

"Okay, well, Battery's power lets her build up a 'charge', right, which she can then expend to enhance herself. For her power, the proper version, she has to concentrate on 'recharging' and it takes like twelve seconds or so for her to max out her charge. I didn't really like that, so I changed it so that the charge builds up automatically, constantly, without needing any concentration on it. It does it slower now, though. It takes probably a minute to max out," Auspice explained. "I can't really improve powers; if I make it better in one way, I have to make it worse in another."

She sounded a bit crestfallen, as though having multiple powers wasn't already good enough. Emily restrained herself from rolling her eyes or otherwise expressing her exasperation at potentially the most powerful parahuman she'd ever met. She shuddered to think what this girl could do once she'd collected more powers. And she was upset about her limitations. The very few she even had.

"Is that all? The full explanation of your current capabilities?" Emily asked, once she could trust herself to speak.

Auspice nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Okay. Thank you for your cooperation," Emily said. She turned off her recorder. "You're both dismissed."

Auspice blinked and raised her eyebrows, but fortunately Armsmaster took that as the 'get the hell out of my office' that it was meant to be.

"Yes, Director," he said, and turned to leave, boots clunking heavily against the floor.

Auspice still looked a bit surprised, but she parroted, playfully, "Yes, Director," and followed Armsmaster out.

Emily rested her face in her hands and resisted the urge to go for her secret stash of alcohol that her doctors would be furious at her for having. She allowed herself one minute to wallow in despair and frustration, and then she got back to work.

She had employees to order to figure out how to hire a person who didn't exist, a report to write up for the higher-ups, and security issues to figure out.

 

[SmartAlek]

Chapter Two: (Not So) Super Secret Organization​

January 15, 2011

Rebecca Costa-Brown

Highly classified documents weren't uncommon. As the Chief-Director of the PRT, Rebecca saw many such documents; ones that only the highest-ranking members of the PRT were allowed access to.

Emily Piggot, Director of the PRT ENE, had just directed her to one such document. It was classified to the directors of the PRT and Legend, as the head of the Protectorate, only. Even Alexandria and Eidolon didn't officially have permission to see it -- though everyone knew, if Legend was given access, he would almost certainly tell the other two. Rebecca glanced over the basic information. It was a new hire report for the Protectorate ENE, finalized just that morning.

Rebecca wasn't entirely sure why Director Piggot wanted her to see such a thing -- she was far too busy to read through every new Protectorate cape's file -- but then, new hire reports weren't usually so highly classified, either. Opening the report, Rebecca skimmed through. Then she read it properly. If not for her power-given perfect memory, she would have read through it again.

Pseudonym: Auspice

Name: Williams, Jennifer

Power rating: Not yet rated (EDIT: Presumed Trump 10+ --Director Piggot and Armsmaster)

Power description: Able to copy other parahumans' powers upon contact with them. Copied powers appear identical to the original and seem to last indefinitely. Subject also indicates the ability to alter their copied powers at will. See attachments for more details.

In the files attached to it were reports by, it seemed, every current member of the Protectorate ENE, as well as two audio files -- one from Director Piggot and one from Armsmaster. Rebecca played through both of them, finding that they were both of a woman, presumably Auspice herself, explaining her power, although they seemed to be from different conversations.

Rebecca leaned back in her chair, mind working furiously. The appearance of somebody like Auspice could be huge. It was also very suspect, Rebecca knew. A natural Trigger with a power like that seemed impossible. Still, the potential. The possibilities.

Especially that one, innocuous line about being able to alter their copied powers.

Rebecca needed to call a meeting. She stood from her chair and stepped away from her desk.

"Door me."



January 16, 2011

Emily Piggot

Emily couldn't say she was surprised when, the day after her report about Auspice, Alexandria strode into her office. She wasn't pleased, but she wasn't surprised. A little bitterly, she wondered if it had been Chief-Director Costa-Brown or Legend who told Alexandria.

"Alexandria," Emily said evenly.

Alexandria nodded once, the barest show of respect. "Director Piggot," she returned. "I'm here for Auspice. Where can I find her?"

"I don't know," Emily said, and it wasn't even because she was annoyed. "She isn't on duty yet, and though she assured us she would be finding accomodations soon, we don't currently have an address on record."

If Alexandria was upset by that, it didn't show. She nodded again. "I understand. When is her next shift?"

"Eight AM." Emily glanced at her clock. "So, in about ten minutes."

Damn. That meant Alexandria had probably done this on purpose. She knew exactly what she was doing. Emily really didn't like this woman.

Grudgingly, Emily added, "She should be coming here to the PRT Headquarters for a meeting with Image to discuss her future costume."

"I will wait, then," Alexandria said.

Emily gritted her teeth. "Of course," she said. "What do you want her for?"

A stupid question; it was obvious why Alexandria might want a cape like Auspice. But Emily wanted a proper answer, at least, if one of her Protectorate members was about to be snatched away by the damn Triumvirate.

"We have an interest in her power, and intend to test it further," Alexandria said. "As I'm sure you are aware, the potential of her power is immense."

Obviously. Emily restrained herself.

"Of course," she said again.

Ten minutes couldn't come soon enough.

Fortunately, Alexandria seemed to have had the same thought. "Excuse me, Director," she said. "If Auspice will be meeting with the PR department here, I believe it would be best for me to wait there."

"Certainly," Emily said, gesturing towards the door.

Alexandria nodded at her once more, then turned, cape flaring with the movement, and strode out.



January 16, 2011

Alexandria

Auspice was punctual, at least, showing up to her eight AM appointment with Image at 7:59AM. Alexandria was there waiting for her. She'd already explained to the PR people that Auspice would be unavailable, and none of them had argued. The nice thing about being Alexandria. Almost nobody ever argued.

Standing in the hallway, arms crossed, Alexandria saw Auspice first. Auspice looked deceptively normal, in jeans, a T-shirt, and a domino mask. Alexandria knew better than to judge based on that; nobody would have ever believed that David was Eidolon if they saw him out of costume, and Alexandria herself had thousands of people convinced that Rebecca Costa-Brown was a normal human. Auspice would likely be given a suitably impressive costume, once she actually got to meet with Image.

When Auspice noticed Alexandria in return, she hesitated, stopping in her tracks, and then continued towards her.

"Auspice, right?" Alexandria said once Auspice was close enough, and offered her hand for a handshake.

"Yes. You're Alexandria," Auspice said, eyeing Alexandria's hand. "Are you sure about that?"

Alexandria was sure. They -- Cauldron -- had talked about this. Contessa couldn't Path this girl, so they couldn't tell for sure how she'd act, but they had decided that the risk of allowing her to copy their powers was worth it for what she might be able to do. And having Alexandria's power, while not perfect, would go a long way to keeping her safe so that she could do it.

"Of course," Alexandria said.

Auspice looked up at her thoughtfully, then smiled. The resemblance to a smile Alexandria had seen from Contessa too many times to count (a smile that said I know more than you do) was so strong that Alexandria almost felt a shiver down her spine. Auspice reached out and shook Alexandria's hand. There was no visible change. Auspice tilted her head to one side briefly, obviously assessing the new power, then looked back to Alexandria.

"Nice to meet you. So. I'm guessing you're not just here to say hello," Auspice said.

Alexandria inclined her head. "You're right. I'd like you to come with me. There are some people who want to meet you."

"Hmm, sounds ominous," Auspice said cheerfully. "I'm going to miss my appointment with Image, aren't I?"

"Yes," Alexandria said. "It's all right. They've already agreed to reschedule."

Auspice laughed. "Okay, cool." She gestured broadly. "Lead on, Miss Alexandria."

This was not how Alexandria had expected this to go. But Auspice was going along with it very easily; best not look a gift horse in the mouth. Not yet, anyway.

Alexandria led the way.

To be specific, she led Auspice out of the PRT building and into a nearby, isolated alleyway.

"Does this count as a secondary location?" Auspice muttered.

It was obvious that she was talking to herself. And, anyway, Alexandria wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, so she just left it alone. She checked to make sure there was nobody around. There wasn't.

"Door me."

Alexandria glanced at Auspice as the portal formed. Auspice looked curious, maybe even impressed, but not particularly surprised. Alexandria got the eerie Contessa shiver again, which was odd, when Auspice shouldn't have any Thinker abilities yet aside from Alexandria's own, and certainly not Path to Victory.

"Go through, please," Alexandria said, indicating the Door.

Auspice looked at the portal for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay."

She stepped into the portal and disappeared. After a moment, Alexandria followed her through into Cauldron's base -- not one of the interview rooms, but their main conference room. As the name implied, there was a large conference table in the middle of the room, with eight chairs around it.

The Doctor and Contessa were already there. The Doctor was sitting, while Contessa stood.

Auspice looked between them and blinked. "Oh. Uh, hi," she said.

"Hello, Auspice," the Doctor said. "I'm sure you're wondering what is happening."

"Yeah, that's a good way to phrase it," Auspice said.

"You can call me Doctor. This is Contessa," she gestured towards her. "First off, everything we are about to tell you is top secret. You must not speak about it to anyone else. If you are unwilling to agree to those terms, then you can leave now."

Auspice only thought about it for a moment. "Okay. I won't tell anyone about it, then."

The Doctor flicked her eyes to Alexandria, asking for confirmation, and she nodded slightly. As far as she could tell, Auspice was telling the truth.

"We are part of an organization named Cauldron," the Doctor told Auspice.

It seemed she didn't want to go through all of the steps to ensure secrecy that they usually did with people who bought vials.

"We have been operating in secrecy, working to save the world from a grave threat," the Doctor continued.

Auspice was quiet for a moment, looking thoughtful. She glanced around the room again. "A grave threat?" she repeated.

"Yes." The Doctor was quiet for a moment. "What do you know about Scion?"

"Scion," Auspice said, tone unreadable. She shook her head. "Okay, this feels like a random pop quiz. So, he's widely considered the first and most powerful superhero, right?" She looked around again. "Are you telling me that he's secretly evil? You're trying to save the world from him?"

Alexandria analyzed her. It was surprisingly difficult to tell what Auspice was thinking -- had that started when she copied Alexandria's power, or was it true before that?

It didn't really matter, Alexandria supposed. In any case, Auspice seemed calm, a little confused, maybe somewhat surprised. Not shocked, horrified, or skeptical. None of the responses Alexandria might have expected from somebody being told that Scion was evil.

"Yes. I am telling you that," the Doctor said. "Our enemy is Scion, and we have spent thirty years searching for a way to kill him. But it is difficult for a number of reasons: he is near all-powerful, for one. And we must ensure that he does not know of our existence, or he would surely destroy us."

The Doctor was silent for a moment, judging Auspice's reaction -- or, more accurately, her lack of a reaction -- and allowing her to respond.

"Okay. I think I understand," Auspice said, eerily calm for the situation.

If Alexandria had to guess, she would say that Auspice was a precog, living out a conversation she'd already seen, going through the motions without learning anything new. Like before, it reminded her of Contessa. But that was impossible. There were no precog powers that could manage something like that aside from Path to Victory, and blind spot though she may be, there was no way Auspice could have it yet. One of Auspice's powers -- maybe even her copy of Alexandria's power -- must have been deceiving her.

"I do wonder, what exactly makes you think that he's, you know, evil? A danger to the entire world, or whatever?"

That was the main question, wasn't it. This was, Alexandria thought, the calmest she'd ever seen anyone while asking it.

"It is difficult to explain," the Doctor said. She glanced at Contessa.

"The short version is that he is an alien. He and his now-deceased partner came here to Earth planning to eventually destroy all of humanity," Contessa said. "I have a powerful precognition power, and I saw a vision of their plan when I Triggered."

"We realize that may be difficult to believe," the Doctor said.

"Well, yeah. I mean. Aliens. That's a little far out there," Auspice said

The Doctor nodded. "As proof, I would like to show you something." She stood. "Door to the Chamber, please."

Alexandria winced a little. Being exposed to the Counterpart's corpse without warning was unpleasant, to say the least.

A portal opened, and Contessa passed through first. The Doctor gestured Auspice over.

"Auspice, if you will."

For possibly the first time, Auspice looked a little wary. "Sure," she said nonetheless, and followed after Contessa.

 

[SmartAlek]

Chapter Three: Cauldron is Reasonable?​

January 16, 2011

Contessa

Auspice stepped into the Counterpart's chamber shortly after Contessa, took one look at the mountainous monstrosity, and went paper-white. Her eyes flicked around, looking at the various parts of the Counterpart with much the same curiosity that causes people to stop and stare at car accidents; a horrified sort of fascination.

"...That's disgusting," Auspice said eventually.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, she was reacting differently than Contessa had seen from anyone else who had been shown the Counterpart's remains. For instance, no threat of vomiting.

"It is," Contessa agreed. She waited. Idly, she wished that she could Path this girl. That would make things so much easier. As it was, she had to make do.

Auspice looked away from the Counterpart, finally, to look at Contessa with an unreadable expression. Contessa had never been very good at reading people without Path to Victory.

"You said that Scion had a deceased partner," Auspice said. "This is that partner, then?"

Good. The girl was pretty clever. Contessa nodded. "Yes. We refer to it as the Counterpart."

"Okay." She blew out a breath of air, almost a sigh, but not quite. "Well, it definitely looks alien. Where did it come from? Like, why do you have it here?"

"It crash landed on Earth near my home. That is also when I got my power," Contessa said, then, before Auspice could speak again, added, "Is this proof enough?"

Auspice looked back to the Counterpart's body. "...Yeah," she decided after a moment. "I'd say that's pretty convincing proof of aliens. I mean, I'm not sure how this thing connects to Scion, but it's hard not to believe you now."

Contessa nodded. The Counterpart's body was enough to convince most people of at least their theory, and from her lackluster recount of Scion's backstory, Auspice had no particular concern for him or his reputation. Her reaction fit.

"Good. Let us return, then," Contessa said.

"Okay. I don't really want to stand here and stare at this thing any -- way…" Auspice trailed off as one of Doormaker's portals opened with no prompting.

Hm. He usually waited for a request. But then, the circumstances made it rather obvious. Contessa indicated for Auspice to precede her through the portal.

Auspice went, muttering as she did, "That's very Big Brother."

For the sake of keeping the conversation on track, Contessa opted to ignore the comment.

"Convinced?" Doctor Mother asked once Auspice and Contessa were back in their conference room.

"Oh, yeah, pretty convinced," Auspice said slowly. "I mean. Giant eldritch space mountain in the basement, kind of difficult to argue against. Scion is really a giant evil space mountain?"

Giant evil space mountain. Contessa considered the phrase. It was not one she herself ever would have applied to either the Enemy or the Counterpart.

"...Yes. Well, that's one way to describe what he is," Doctor Mother said after a moment. "Also, for future reference, we prefer to say his name as little as possible, referring to him instead as the 'Enemy'."

"Right, right, because of the whole 'killing you if he finds out about your existence' thing. I get it. The Enemy. I can do that," Auspice said. She crossed her arms. "All right, so, aliens and the impending doom of the planet. I assume you guys have some kind of plan to deal with this?"

"Something like that," Doctor Mother said.

"My power is Path to Victory," Contessa said. "It gives me the exact actions I would need in order to complete any goal."

Auspice raised her eyebrows. "Sounds powerful."

"It is," Contessa said honestly, unashamed. "One of the most powerful powers in the world. Unfortunately, it has a blind spot."

"The Enemy," Auspice guessed.

Contessa nodded. "Yes. I can't Path the Enemy, and therefore I can't see how to defeat him. It is our hope that if you copy my power, you can change that in your version."

"I can't improve powers," Auspice pointed out.

"You might not have to. Shortly before its death, the Counterpart added that restriction to my power. Hopefully, you would only have to remove the restriction, not actually add any new capability to the power."

"Okay. Yeah, that makes sense," Auspice said thoughtfully. "Well, I'm not sure if I'll be able to, but it can't hurt to try." She tilted her head to the side. "Are you really going to let me copy your power so easily?"

Doctor Mother sighed, her severe expression softening enough for Contessa to read the exhaustion writ in the lines of her aging face. She had been working as unceasingly and as long for their goal as Contessa -- longer than any of the others -- and Doctor Mother had not been so young when they began.

"We have been working to find a way to defeat the Enemy for thirty years. So, for the possibility of a real chance, yes," Doctor Mother said.

To show her agreement, Contessa simply held her hand out, palm straight down rather than in a handshake pose.

"All right," Auspice said, and reached out to tap the back of Contessa's hand. Her eyes went distant, obviously no longer looking at anything. She hummed a little, thoughtfully.

Contessa watched her carefully, heart in her throat despite herself. Hope was foreign to her, at this point, but -- she wanted it to work.

After a moment, Auspice huffed. "Oh, thanks, that's very helpful," she muttered to herself with an eye roll. She looked around, between Contessa, Doctor Mother, and Alexandria, and smiled. "I think I got it to work."

Alexandria let out such a heavy breath that she'd probably been holding her breath. Doctor Mother braced herself on the back of one of the chairs. Contessa felt the tension in her muscles ease a bit.

"We'll have to test it," Doctor Mother said briskly. "To make sure it's accurate."

And to make sure that Auspice was telling the truth, Contessa noted silently. There were few futures where saying that aloud went well.

"Yeah, of course. Hmm, do you guys get internet down here?" Auspice said, looking doubtful.

Well, with Doormaker's help..."We do," Contessa said. "You hope to use Path to Victory to predict the Enemy's actions, then use the internet to verify it?"

"Yeah, exactly." Auspice looked pleased. "I mean, I figured that would be the fastest way to prove I can Path him. Accurately."

"Yes, you're right," Doctor Mother said. "Door to my office."

Doctor Mother led the way, and Contessa ushered Auspice through before following herself. Once Alexandria had entered last, the Door closed. Doctor Mother took a seat at her desk. Contessa watched over her shoulder as she opened a webpage and navigated to a site devoted to tracking Scion's actions.

"Auspice?" Doctor Mother said leadingly.

"Yup. Okay, let's try… Path to meeting Scion as soon as possible," Auspice said. Her eyes went distant again briefly as she followed the Path. Contessa wondered if it was so obvious when she was using Path to Victory. "He should be in… uh, Salzburg, Austria? In about thirty-seven seconds. It'll take another minute on top of that before anything is posted about him, though."

Doctor Mother nodded and wrote it down. "All right. And then?"

"Then, he'll go to -- what the heck? Why?" Auspice sounded confused. "Whatever, apparently he'll go to Kano, Nigeria, approximately a minute from now. That delays him for twenty-nine seconds, before he goes to Arusha, Tanzania. After that is… across the frigging world, apparently, to Tarija, Bolivia. And then Xalapao, Mexico. Then Port-au-Prince, Haiti. But the thing in Kano won't end up online, and the one in Tarija is so delayed that it won't be online for nine minutes, two longer than it will take somebody to post about the Port-au-Prince thing." She took a breath. "Think six consecutive things is enough, or should I keep going?"

"Considering that nobody else can predict him even one action in the future, that should be plenty," Contessa said.

Contessa might have thought she'd feel angry, or upset in some way, about another person so easily Pathing Scion, when she herself had been so agonizingly unable for so long. She wasn't, though. As the next post on the Scion tracking site popped up declaring a sighting in Salzburg and Doctor Mother confirmed it, Contessa didn't feel anything but an overwhelming relief and happiness. Shortly after, another new post announced a sighting in Arusha, and Contessa felt another emotion.

She thought it might be hope.

After ten minutes, they had verified every one of the Scion sightings Auspice had predicted, except, as she'd also predicted, the one in Kano, Nigeria. Doctor Mother sat there silently for a moment. Alexandria seemed to be in shock. Auspice waited patiently, with a hint of smugness.

Contessa spoke first. "One more thing," she said.

Auspice didn't look surprised at all. "Okay," she said easily, then gave Contessa an expectant look.

Oh. Of course. She'd run a Path to convincing them that she could Path Scion. Obviously; Contessa would have done the same. For a moment, she doubted Auspice's ability again. But no, Auspice had done exactly what she needed to in order to truly prove herself. Contessa could also Path convincing the others that she could Path Scion, but her version mostly involved a lot of fast talking, posturing, and fancy words.

In any case, that was why Contessa wanted one more test, even if Auspice had already seen what Contessa wanted her to do. Damn it. Was this what it was like dealing with Contessa? It didn't matter, however; whether or not Auspice knew ahead of time the answer Contessa wanted, she would still need to be able to Path Eidolon in order to get it.

"Run a Path to restoring Eidolon to full power," Contessa said.

"Sure." Auspice smiled. "It's actually pretty simple."

Alexandria scoffed quietly. Contessa could understand the urge; years of all of them worrying about Eidolon losing power, years of trying to regain, replenish, fix his power -- and it was simple? So, yes, Contessa understood. However, she too had experienced first-hand the sheer breadth of Path to Victory's power. She had once been given the sole method of killing an alien of unimaginable power, deceptively simple and yet so impossibly precise that it could not have been possible without Path to Victory.

Under the command of Path to Victory, everything was simple.

It didn't mean anything.

"Basically," Auspice continued, and Contessa could tell immediately that she was paraphrasing; this was not what she had gotten from Path to Victory, "he's running out of power, right? Or more like, the energy that feeds powers. To get back to full power, he needs to take the energy from another power. Another… agent? Either other parahumans or the Counterpart's body would work. The Path actually says to tell him, and I quote, 'You just need to look. Whatever powers your agent gives you, just keep switching them out until it lets you see.' Apparently weird and cryptic is the way to go." Auspice rolled her eyes. "Oh, and also, one of you has to tell him. He won't listen to me. Not without a lot more effort, anyway."

Well, Contessa was convinced. She could tell that Alexandria was itching to go get Eidolon immediately. First things first, though.

"Good. And the Enemy?"

"Practically even simpler," Auspice answered. "Well, for me, anyway. I just need to collect a few more powers, and then I can kill him directly with hardly any trouble."

"What powers?" Doctor Mother asked immediately.

"Doormaker's and Clairvoyant's, some Ward in New York named Flechette, and pretty much any Blaster power, but obviously Legend's is the best. Plus he's right there in New York too."

"You want to copy Clairvoyant's power? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Doctor Mother said, frowning.

"Oh, yeah, it'll be fine. Hmm, it sounds kind of terrible to say -- I kinda want to apologize -- but I won't have any ill effects from it," Auspice said. She shrugged a little.

"After you copy those four powers, what then? How do you kill the Enemy?" Contessa said.

"Like I said, it's simple. Path to killing Scion: hit him with Flechette's power, then laser until dead."

"That is not what the Path says," Contessa protested automatically, feeling oddly like her power had been slighted.

Auspice snickered. "Well, no, I'm just summarizing. It's more fun like this. To be more specific, I plan to alter Flechette's power so I can use it together with a Blaster power, but that's not strictly necessary. Then, I don't want to be seen murdering the world's first superhero, so I wait until there are no people around -- that's not hard, he crosses the ocean a lot -- and I hit him with, you know, a ton of lasers until he's dead." Auspice spread her hands, as though to say see? "If all goes right -- and I mean, Path to Victory, so it will -- then he won't even have a chance to fight back."

Contessa took a moment to process that. She exchanged a look with Doctor Mother, and then with Alexandria.

"You're saying that you could do it right now," Doctor Mother said slowly. "You could kill him."

"As soon as I have the powers, yeah. Which I guess is to say, as soon as you guys want me to do it and let me get the powers."

"As soon as possible," Alexandria said, her gaze intent. "After so long -- with the Enemy dead, then…"

She trailed off.

Then they could handle all of the threats they'd previously allowed to exist in the expectation that they might be useful against Scion, Contessa finished.

"Yes, that is correct. We should not put it off, especially not if it would be, as you say, that simple," Doctor Mother said.

She glanced at Contessa, who dipped her head slightly. Contessa agreed, too. As Alexandria had said, after so long, she wasn't sure she could bear to put it off any longer.

"Alexandria, you go with Auspice to collect the powers she needs. Contessa, go retrieve Eidolon, tell him what is happening, and verify that Auspice's Path is accurate."

Alexandria and Contessa nodded.

"Door to Doormaker and Clairvoyant," Alexandria said.

Once she and Auspice had passed through and the portal disappeared, Contessa said, "Door to Eidolon's office in the Houston Protectorate base."

Even as she stepped through, Contessa began Pathing a man who was not Eidolon, but who acted much like what she knew of him, plotting out the best way to explain the whirlwind of the past twenty minutes.

 

[SmartAlek]

Chapter Four: Path to Completion​

January 16, 2011

Flechette

The alarm on the Wards' base went off, warning that somebody without the clearance to know the Wards' identities was about to enter. Flechette already had her mask on, as did most of the others, but she noticed Jouster putting his on hurriedly.

Finally, the alarm stopped and the door opened. Three people walked through: Legend, Alexandria, and some girl Flechette had never seen before. She was wearing a basic domino mask and civilian clothes, bringing up the question of whether she was even a cape. Maybe just one without a costume…? She was kind of pretty, anyway, if plain.

Legend immediately zeroed in on Flechette and led the two women over to her, moving purposefully. "Flechette."

Flechette stood to greet them, a little nervous. Sure, she worked in New York with Legend, and she'd met Alexandria before, but that was a far cry from this. She'd never been searched out before.

"This is Flechette?" the mystery girl asked once the three were standing in front of Flechette.

"Yes. Flechette, this is Auspice," Legend said. "She's a new hero with the Brockton Bay Protectorate."

"Uh, okay." Flechette wasn't sure why that warranted a special meeting with Flechette in particular.

"Hi! Nice to meet you, Flechette," Auspice said cheerfully, holding out her hand.

Flechette shook her hand instinctively. "Yeah. Nice to meet you too," I guess, she said.

Auspice sidled backwards, glancing at Alexandria and Legend. "Well, sorry to greet and run, but I'm supposed to be in Brockton Bay right now." She winked at Flechette. "Don't tell the Imaging Department where I went, okay?"

It startled Flechette into a laugh. "I'll keep your secret," she promised.

"Excuse us," Legend said, nodding politely to Flechette.

And just like that, as abruptly as they had appeared, they left.

Flechette stared after them for a moment, hopelessly confused.

"What the hell," Jouster said eloquently.

"I… I don't even know," Flechette said.

What just happened?



January 16, 2011

Eidolon

Eidolon wasn't sure how to feel. Contessa had waltzed into his office and overturned his life. Typical of her, really.

He had expected for a long time, most of his life, to fight Scion, to save the world. As time went on and he weakened, he became less and less hopeful of his chances of winning, but the point remained that it was one steady part of his life.

And now, apparently, somebody else was going to kill Scion. Some girl who'd shown up literally two days ago, but apparently possessed the ability to copy others' powers and had been able to unblock Path to Victory and use it on Scion. A large part of Eidolon felt that this was going to go horribly, horribly wrong. He wasn't even sure if he wanted it to or not.

To add to Eidolon's conflicted feelings, Contessa had shown up and told him exactly what he needed in order to get his full power back, apparently passed on from the girl. They had gone to the Counterpart's body, and it had worked.

Eidolon was as strong as he had ever been. He was doing things he hadn't been able to do in years. It felt amazing. He felt amazing. He felt powerful.

But what was the point, if somebody else had the method to kill Scion, no input from Eidolon required? What was the point of his power? What was the point of him?

So he wasn't sure if he wanted the girl -- 'Auspice' -- to successfully kill Scion. Of course he wanted Scion dead; like the rest of them, it had been his main goal for more than twenty years. And if Scion could truly be killed, it would be a massive relief. They would no longer have the end of the world hanging over their heads. They would be free to do so much more, without Scion as a concern.

The selfish side of Eidolon, however, almost wanted something to go wrong. He wanted to be useful. If something went wrong, then he would be. Then there would be a point to him having lived all these years.

According to Contessa, Alexandria and Auspice had gone to gather the powers Auspice said she would need in order to kill Scion and explain the circumstances to Legend. In the end, they took longer to do that than Eidolon and Contessa had taken, but not by much. Fortunately for Eidolon, they portaled back into Cauldron's base to meet up before he had much time for introspection.

Alexandria entered first, followed by the girl who must have been Auspice. Eidolon examined her. She looked ordinary. If not for the domino mask -- which looked almost like an afterthought -- he would have thought she was any normal college student. She didn't even have a costume.

A sign of what a short time she'd been a hero, he supposed.

Auspice smiled when she saw him. "Eidolon! Did it work?" she asked immediately.

Eidolon inclined his head. "It did," he said, then, after a moment of thought, added, "Thank you."

"No need to thank me," she said, shaking her head. She looked around at the four of them gathered there. "So, we ready?"

"Legend isn't coming?" Eidolon said.

"He decided to stay behind," Alexandria answered.

Eidolon nodded. "Then, I believe it's up to you, Auspice," he said. "Are you ready?"

"Of course. I have all the powers I need; I'm all set. Also, if we go now, we can catch Scion in the middle of the Atlantic," Auspice said, very casually, as though it was no big deal.

It wasn't entirely unfamiliar. Contessa often spoke in much the same way, almost taking Path to Victory's power for granted. Contessa, however, took most things more seriously than this girl seemed to.

"Let's go, then," Alexandria said impatiently.

"Sure thing. Contessa, Doctor, either of you coming?"

A portal opened as Auspice spoke. One of Doormaker's, Eidolon recognized, although in this case, he supposed it was made by Auspice using Doormaker's power.

The Doctor shook her head. "No. We will wait here."

"All right."

Auspice lifted a couple of inches off the floor, then flew through her portal. Eidolon followed suit, trailed shortly by Alexandria. As Auspice had implied, they were now several hundred feet above the ocean, with no land in sight in any direction.

Auspice flew a short distance from where she had created her portal, turned in a full 360, then, finally, deliberately faced in a specific direction.

"He'll be coming from that direction," Auspice said, pointing. "Actually, to be specific, he'll be traveling on a direct collision course with me, now. We have about a minute before he shows, though. I wanted to make sure we'd be here in time, you know?"

The question sounded rhetorical, so Eidolon opted to ignore it. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he said.

It came out sounding a bit more aggressive than he'd intended. Eidolon didn't actually want an argument. This was why people considered him the least friendly member of the Triumvirate. Fortunately, Auspice didn't seem offended.

"I'm sure," she said lightly, and looked at him with eyes that seemed to pierce through his soul. "I know it must be hard to believe. It's just… well, it takes a very specific combination of powers to do any damage to him, but with those powers, it's not so difficult." She shrugged. "Also, he's not expecting to be attacked, so that helps too. If it was in the middle of a fair fight, this would be much more difficult." She turned back towards the direction she'd indicated before, a smirk growing on her face. "Fortunately, I don't plan to fight fair. Twenty seconds."

Eidolon tensed. His powers cycled restlessly, and he clamped down on them, trying to keep the current ones, by habit. Then he remembered his newly-returned strength and allowed two of them to switch out, but kept the one he was using for flight. He noticed Alexandria's hands tightening into fists with her own tension, the only sign of it.

Auspice raised one hand, and glowing blue-white light began building around her hand, then around the rest of her body. It was a little jarring to see it coming from her, when he so strongly associated the appearance with Legend. Of course it did. She literally had Legend's power.

A beam of blue-white light shot off from Auspice, followed shortly by dozens more. Eidolon caught just the barest glimpse of Scion, rocketing towards her at impossible speeds, before he was caught in the first laser, obliterating the top half of his body. In the next second, several portals opened around and over him, revealing on the other side a massive creature so unnatural that Eidolon couldn't even describe it.

Immediately after the portals opened, so close that it almost seemed to be at the exact same time, Auspice's additional dozens of lasers shot through, impacting the alien creature -- Scion. Some lasers exploded on contact, but most just cut through, gouging away large portions of the creature's body.

And then it was done.

The massive body was gone, and the lasers went on to carve long chasms into the ground of the empty planet below before finally slowing and fading. Auspice's portals closed.

Eidolon stared.

For a long moment, he couldn't do anything but.

More than twenty years. For more than twenty years, they had worried about the eventual, inevitable fight with Scion. For so long, they had plotted and planned and done frankly terrible things, all in the hopes of finding the correct combination of people to allow them to kill Scion. To kill a god.

And this girl did it so easily. Three days after gaining her power. A matter of minutes after gaining Path to Victory. And she just wiped Scion out of existence effortlessly.

It wasn't quite so easy as it looked, he knew. And there was more to it than simply the flashy, impressive effects of Legend's lasers. As Auspice had said, she had a very specific combination of powers necessary, including Path to Victory, which had always made things look effortless in Contessa's hands.

But still. Still.

"Hmm. I wonder if I can still make my meeting with Image," Auspice said thoughtfully.

Eidolon looked at her, struck speechless. Alexandria seemed to be much the same. All of that… and she was just concerned with a meeting? It was like killing Scion meant nothing to her.

Like Cauldron's life work of close to thirty years meant nothing to her.

Eidolon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Auspice hadn't been there for all of that, and killing Scion really was just that minor, that fast, for her. Either way, she didn't deserve his anger.

He almost wished he could be angry; wished he could hate her for rendering him -- and the rest of Cauldron, it seemed -- superfluous. But it wasn't her fault, not really. And in the end, she had saved the world. She had helped them all immensely, and so willingly and readily that some part of Eidolon still thought it must be a trap.

Eidolon's feelings were very conflicted.

"...You probably can," he said belatedly. "They're usually pretty understanding."

Auspice turned to smile at him.

At this point, she was quite possibly the strongest person in the world. Maybe not stronger than Eidolon himself, now that he was once more at full power, except for the inclusion of Path to Victory. And she was young, barely an adult. Eidolon could no longer claim the title of most powerful parahuman, but perhaps he could still be useful otherwise.

Eidolon drifted close enough to rest his hand on her shoulder. Auspice looked at the hand with some bemusement.

"Well done," Eidolon said, somewhat awkwardly.

Auspice's smile widened -- with amusement, but a little honest delight, too, Eidolon thought.

"Thank you," she said. "That means a lot coming from you."

Alexandria flew over to them, her arms crossed. Though more of her face was visible than Eidolon's, it was still difficult to read her; the visible portion of her face was stony.

"Scion is dead, then?" Alexandria said.

"Oh, yeah. Super dead," Auspice said.

Alexandria nodded thoughtfully. "How do you feel about destroying the Slaughterhouse Nine?"

 

[SmartAlek]

Chapter Five: The Slaughterhouse None​

January 24, 2011

Alexandria

Their plot to destroy the Slaughterhouse Nine ended up being put off. As much as Alexandria might have wanted to go fight them right then, it didn't really work out, logistically. Instead, they decided to wait until Auspice's costume had been finished and she was about to be officially announced as a Protectorate hero.

In the meantime, they planned out their attack -- it took about as long as planning sessions with Contessa, which was not very long at all -- informed the PRT ENE that they would not need to announce Auspice, and waited. Finally, it was almost time. The Slaughterhouse Nine would be in position soon -- all together and far away from any other people. Legend should have already told the PRT what they were planning.

At the prearranged time exactly, one of Auspice's portals appeared in front of Alexandria -- now easily differentiated from Doormaker's by a helpful golden edge. Alexandria raised her eyebrows, but didn't hesitate in going through.

The portal let her out in Legend's office in New York, where Legend was already waiting. Eidolon and Auspice were just exiting portals of their own next to Alexandria. Alexandria had to do a double take when she saw Auspice, who was now wearing her new costume, plus an unexpected addition. She elected to ignore it.

"It's almost time?" Alexandria asked.

She knew full well that it was, but it still felt strange to be waiting for battle in the Protectorate base in New York. They hadn't really used Doormaker's portals like this; only for official Cauldron travel, for secrecy reasons.

"Yup. In about six minutes, the Slaughterhouse Nine will be on an empty road near-ish the PRT Headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That would be, uh… the PRT 47. I think." Auspice shrugged.

Alexandria nodded once in acknowledgement.

They fell into a tense, awkward silence.

After a moment, Legend spoke, in much the same tone he used on his Wards. "Your costume looks very nice."

It did. The costume consisted of a black bodysuit with tasteful patterns embroidered in gold. Over that, she wore a pure white hooded jacket that had gold edging at the sleeves and hood, with loose sleeves that stopped just before her wrists to reveal the tighter sleeves of the bodysuit underneath transitioning into fingerless black gloves.

As Alexandria had expected, the costume made Auspice look much more impressive. The designers had done a good job.

The cloud of inexplicably golden smoke covering the top of her face under her hood, however, was a bit over the top.

Auspice smiled brightly at Legend. "Thank you," she said, doing a quick twirl. "I'm pretty pleased with how it came out."

"Please tell me you're at least wearing a mask under there," Eidolon said dryly.

Auspice laughed. "I am, I'm wearing a domino mask," she said, lifting a hand, which disappeared into the smoke as she tapped at, presumably, her mask. "I just thought the smoke looked cool."

"It does look cool," Eidolon said, because this was the man who put LEDs in his own costume for effect.

Legend let out a quiet, muffled chuckle. Alexandria didn't bother to be polite, snorting audibly. Auspice and Eidolon both ignored her, anyway.

Alexandria didn't quite have room to mock them, however, she acknowledged to herself. Though she hadn't gone nearly as far over the top as Eidolon (or now Auspice), she had also put considerable thought into the appearance she wanted when in costume; they all had. Appearances were important, especially for capes, and heroes and villains alike put a lot of work into their costumes.

After another moment of silence, Legend spoke again. He always was the worst with silences.

"Does everybody remember the plan?"

Alexandria couldn't help but give him an incredulous look, a little offended by the implication.

"Because it's so difficult to remember 'attack through the portal as soon as it opens in front of you'," Eidolon said.

Legend smiled ruefully. "Yes, fair enough," he said. "What about you, Auspice?"

Alexandria could understand being nervous about Auspice's role in the plan. She was in charge of the majority of it, and the rest of them would be relying on her to do her part correctly. And she was twenty-two and had been a parahuman for less than two weeks. But Legend hadn't seen her seemingly effortless defeat of Scion. The proof that Path to Victory made her just as ridiculous and impossible as Contessa, except with added superpowers.

"I remember the plan," Auspice confirmed obligingly. "It'll be fine. Four minutes to go, by the way."

Apparently bored, she pulled out a phone.

They lapsed back into a tense silence that only Auspice seemed immune to. Legend was frowning faintly, looking pensive. Eidolon was difficult even for Alexandria to read, too much of his body disguised under his costume.

Alexandria was anxious. No, not anxious; excited, maybe. Something like that. There was some anxiety about going after the Slaughterhouse Nine, but for the most part, Alexandria was… looking forward to it. She would be glad to finally kill Manton and eliminate the Slaughterhouse Nine. After twenty years, they would no longer be able to kill and torture people as they pleased. Alexandria would not be sorry to see them dead.

Several minutes later, Auspice looked up and put her phone away. "Thirty seconds."

Alexandria readied herself as the seconds ticked down. With three seconds to go, Auspice made a small portal, just big enough for her hand to fit through, before getting rid of it just as quickly. Only because Alexandria had already known the plan did she realize that Auspice had done it to poke Manton and copy his power.

The mental count Alexandria had been keeping hit zero, and two portals appeared: one for her, and one for Auspice. Alexandria launched herself through her portal and slammed directly into the front of a van. As the van crumpled around her and the windshield shattered, Alexandria saw Manton's startled expression in the few seconds before he died. Good.

Extricating herself from the wreckage of the van just in time to see a second portal open, Alexandria went through that one too. In an abrupt shift of perspective that would be dizzying for anyone else, Alexandria found herself going from flying horizontal to the ground to flying downward at an angle. She didn't let it affect her, simply kept going -- directly into Mannequin, who was midair in an attempted leap to safety. Aware of how difficult Mannequin had made it to kill him, Alexandria reduced him to scrap and pulp before considering him dead.

It didn't take long.

Then Alexandria was able to look around, easily locating the charred, smoking remains of what had probably once been a bus. It had been broken into so many pieces that it was barely recognizable as a vehicle, making it impossible to tell what damage had been done by Auspice and what had been done by Legend. Eidolon's contribution, however, was obvious. On one side of the wreckage was a bubble of space, large enough to fit a person and steadily growing, which appeared to disintegrate everything inside its area.

Alexandria wouldn't have been able to tell what had happened at all, aside from her parts, if she hadn't known the plan beforehand.

The plan in question being: at the same time as she opened a portal to Manton for Alexandria, Auspice had gone into the bus with the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine because she wanted to collect some of their powers -- and she'd assured them that she could do so without any issues. Once she was done, she used her copy of Legend's lasers empowered with the ability she'd gotten from Flechette to kill Crawler and Hatchetface. Then she'd left the bus and opened portals for both Eidolon and Legend -- Eidolon to use one of his powers on the section of the bus that held Bonesaw to disintegrate her before she could release any of her plagues, and Legend to destroy the rest of the bus.

With the Siberian, Crawler, Hatchetface, and Bonesaw all dealt with, the only member of the Nine left who was even remotely, temporarily able to survive a barrage from Legend was Mannequin, who fled the bus, only for Alexandria to hit him.

It was a good plan. Worthy of Path to Victory. It certainly went as perfectly as anyone could ask.

Alexandria ignored the ashy taste in her mouth from the knowledge that Auspice could have done it entirely alone if she'd wanted to, instead basking in the knowledge that the Slaughterhouse Nine was gone. She'd finally gotten to kill Manton.

Eidolon and Legend passed through their portals to join Alexandria in the aftermath of the Slaughterhouse's destruction. Auspice returned from where she'd gone when she'd left the bus -- back to Manton's van, to destroy the evidence of him having ever been there.

For a moment, they all stared in silence at the bus.

"So, who actually has to report about this? Not it," Auspice asked finally.

Eidolon and Legend both groaned a little. Whether at the question itself, or Auspice's childish behavior in asking it, Alexandria wasn't sure. She, for one, had an answer. Or at least part of one.

"Not me," she said.

Legend looked at her with surprise. "Not you too, Alexandria," he said with some amusement.

"I'll have to do the paperwork either way; I'm not doing it twice," Alexandria said.

Auspice seemed neither confused nor surprised at the comment. She probably already knew Alexandria's secret identity -- undoubtedly thanks to Path to Victory, if not Clairvoyant's power. It was a little annoying. Alexandria knew Auspice's identity, of course, or rather, she knew the civilian identity the PRT ENE had created for her so that they could hire her, but it wasn't the same. As the Chief-Director of the PRT, she had access to every hero's identity. Auspice's cheating meant that she was now one of three Protectorate or PRT members who knew Alexandria's identity.

It didn't really matter. If nothing else, Auspice seemed to be good at keeping secrets. Cauldron had already shared secrets far more important than Alexandria's identity with her.

And she seemed to have enough secrets of her own, too.



January 24, 2011

Velocity

Velocity went to the PRT Headquarters five minutes before he was supposed to go on patrol. Auspice was already there, getting set up with a Protectorate headset to communicate with each other and the Console. Though she was facing away from him, Auspice must have noticed him immediately, as she looked over her shoulder at him. The PRT agent helping her with the headset grumbled at her.

"Hey, Velocity," she said.

"Hey. Almost ready?"

"Yeah, almost finished."

"We are finished," the PRT agent corrected. "It should work now. Don't bother the Console unnecessarily, but let me know if it doesn't work during your patrol."

Auspice looked amused. "Okay. Thank you."

The agent nodded once and left, in a hurry to do whatever it was that people who worked for the PRT did all day. Auspice put her hood back up and a cloud of smoke the same color as the edging of her costume formed underneath the edge of the hood, hiding the top of her face.

Velocity raised his eyebrows. Tinkertech? A power she'd collected? Tinkertech made with one of the powers she'd collected? It was hard to imagine Armsmaster ever making a purely cosmetic device, but Velocity supposed that didn't mean his power couldn't do it.

"Neat effect," he said. He thought about it. "Can you see through it?"

"Thank you, and yes, I can see through it," Auspice said around a laugh. "It's still a little early, should we get started, senior member?"

"Yeah, let's just go," Velocity said.

Normally, Protectorate capes patrolled alone, unlike the Wards. They could generally handle themselves in a fight until reinforcements arrived. However, there was a bit of a training period for new Protectorate capes, where they would be sent out with another hero for a week or two to get a handle on procedure and the lay of the land before being let out alone.

They usually hated it. The only Protectorate cape Velocity had seen join since he'd joined that hadn't been at least silently annoyed was Assault, and though he'd been on full probationary status for a lot longer than the usual week, he'd been surprisingly good-humored about it, like most things.

For now, Auspice seemed more amused than anything, but Velocity wondered how long that would stay true.

"So the route they have me on right now is through Downtown, up onto the Boardwalk, then through the rest of the docks into the trainyard, and back again," Velocity explained as he led the way out of the building.

"Sounds like a long route," Auspice said.

Velocity nodded. "It is. And through a lot of empty territory, too, once we get into the docks and the trainyard. I use my power most of the way to speed things up, but as Protectorate heroes we're supposed to have visible appearances, so on a couple busy streets in Downtown and on the Boardwalk, I slow it down and walk through at normal speed."

"All right," Auspice said, sounding ominously as though she was committing his words to heart.

Velocity ignored that and continued.

"Patrolling heroes are supposed to call it in if they encounter trouble, but in case they can't, Console tracks us. Also, for when Console needs to direct backup to somebody, they know where everyone is," he said. "Since we're obviously not wearing tracking devices, that means that there are a number of prearranged check-in points, where we're supposed to contact Console and tell them we're moving on to the next segment of the route. And on that note, I need to check in that we're starting."

Auspice nodded.

Velocity activated his mic. "Velocity and Auspice beginning patrol at Lord Street and 27th," he said, and deactivated his mic.

The response came almost immediately. "Console here. Roger that, Velocity and Auspice. We've got you on the board."

"Did you get Console's response?" Velocity asked.

"Yeah, I heard it."

"Good. That's the basic format for the entire way. It changes up a little, but not by much," Velocity said. "I'll do the next check-in, then you can do the one after that to get used to it and make sure your headset's hooked up properly."

"Okay, cool."

Lord Street was pretty busy, but the patrol route didn't have them stay on it for long. Soon, they were turning onto a much emptier street.

"Are you ready?" Velocity asked.

Auspice nodded. "Yup. I'm ready."

Velocity activated his power, and the world slowed to a trickle around him. Auspice must have activated her copy of his power immediately after he did, as she only slowed down for a few seconds to his new perception. Then, Velocity started forward at a brisk walk. He could have run; it would make his patrols go much faster. But, apparently unlike Assault and Battery, Velocity could get tired even while using his power. Physical exhaustion still affected him, but he didn't get any mental exhaustion from the extra time he experienced while sped up.

"Seems kinda slow," Auspice commented after some time.

Velocity jumped and looked at her, surprised.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing, I just -- I've never tried to talk like this," he said. "I didn't think it was possible."

He supposed it wasn't that surprising that he could talk, given that his power let him breathe when he shouldn't be able to, but he'd also never had any reason to talk while using his power before.

Velocity shook his head. "Anyway, what were you saying?"

"You could go faster, right? Why don't you?" she asked.

"There's no real point," Velocity said, shrugging. "And, if I go too fast, it makes it hard to hear if somebody says something over the coms."

"Oh. That makes sense." Auspice nodded in understanding.

Several streets later, Velocity paused. "All right, this is the first checkpoint."

He dropped back to normal speed, followed shortly by Auspice.

"This is Velocity and Auspice, we're at the corner of Elm Street and 7th, moving on," Velocity told Console.

"Roger that, Velocity and Auspice. Marking down your route," Console said.

"Did you get that?" Velocity said, just to check.

Auspice laughed. "Yes, I got it," she said. "I am now ready to do it myself. When we get to the next one."

"Good."

They continued on, and eventually made their way onto the Boardwalk. The Boardwalk was not always the busiest part of the city, but it always had the most foot traffic. A couple of people paused and whispered as Velocity and Auspice passed; the vast majority, however, ignored their presence. Most of the people in cities with a Protectorate base became inured to the presence of heroes.

Even so, it wasn't long before a woman approached them, looking nervous. Auspice glanced at Velocity questioningly, and he nodded slightly.

"Excuse me," the woman said shyly.

"Hello," Velocity said with his perfected PR smile, stopping to talk to her.

The woman smiled back. "I'm sorry to bother you, but could I get an autograph? And maybe a picture?" she squeaked out.

"Of course," Velocity said.

The woman brightened and held out a pad of paper and a pen. While Velocity was writing, she turned to Auspice, who had been watching curiously.

"Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before."

"Yeah, I just joined the Protectorate here in Brockton Bay," Auspice said. "I'm Auspice."

Once Velocity was done, the woman got an autograph from Auspice as well, and then a picture with each of them. Finally, thanking them effusively, she left, and they kept going.

"As long as there's nothing going on, we usually stop to talk with civilians," Velocity said in an undertone.

He was prepared to explain, but Auspice was already nodding in understanding.

"Ah. For PR reasons," she said.

"Image already gave you the whole spiel, huh?" Velocity said, laughing a little.

Auspice sighed. "Yeah."

In the end, their patrol turned out to be exceedingly uneventful, and they returned to Headquarters without any incidents. Velocity wasn't surprised; patrols were boring more often than not. Villains couldn't be getting up to crime all the time.

It would probably just be a boring day, he supposed.

 

[SmartAlek]

Chapter Six: Wait, What?​

January 24, 2011

Dean Stansfield / Gallant

A new hero was officially joining the Protectorate today. Even the Wards had been told, though they hadn't gotten to meet the hero yet. They were expecting to get to meet them that afternoon, once they got out of school and could go to their 'after school activity'.

Dean was excited; they didn't get new heroes that often. Plus, the adults had all been weirdly cagey about this new cape -- they hadn't even been willing to say what their name or power was. So Dean was looking forward to getting to meet them, and an entire day of school seemed almost more unbearable than usual.

The others felt much the same, he knew, if not even moreso.

They stayed away from each other in school, the four of them that were all in Arcadia -- Shadow Stalker was in Winslow and Vista was in middle school, so they weren't an issue -- but Dean still checked up on the others, as much as he could while still being subtle about it. When it came to his power, he hardly even had to try to pick out Dennis and Chris, especially today. They were both practically overflowing with excitement and impatience, though when Dean saw them in person, they were hiding it surprisingly well.

It was mid-morning when Dean first noticed something odd. People's emotions started fluctuating oddly -- shock, confusion, sometimes a joy that felt almost vicious. One or two wasn't that weird, but when it got to eight or nine people, that was weird.

And the number only went up.

What could possibly be happening in school that everybody was reacting to, Dean wondered. Or rather, how many of them were really on the internet during school?

Dennis had been affected too, he saw. They shared some classes, and Dennis looked like he had something he desperately wanted to tell Dean, though he didn't give into temptation. It wasn't that surprising for Dennis to be on the internet during school, of course.

Bravely resisting temptation, Dean did not try to figure out what the big deal was, and therefore didn't find out until lunch.

Victoria had also been caught by whatever bug had been going around, it seemed, because as soon as he approached her table in the cafeteria, she tackled him -- gently, for her, which meant he staggered, but stayed on his feet and kept hold of his tray.

"Hi, Vicky," he said, but she was already talking over him.

"Dean! Why didn't you --" she cut herself off. Ah, the sound of Victoria almost forgetting that his identity was secret. "Did you hear?" she said instead, but didn't let him answer, assuming correctly that he had not heard. "The Brockton Bay Protectorate just got a new hero."

Oh. So he had heard, though that didn't explain why Dennis had been any more excited than that morning--

"And apparently, this morning she helped the Triumvirate take down the Slaughterhouse Nine!" Victoria finished.

Wait.

What?

"What?" he said out loud.

"I know, right," Victoria said, dragging him over to the table and ushering him into a seat. "It's all over PHO. The press release from the PRT announced the total annihilation of the Slaughterhouse Nine and the new hero at the same time. Apparently her name is Auspice, and they didn't say what her power is, but they said she was 'instrumental' in the defeat of the Nine, so she must be pretty powerful, right? Also, look at this!"

Victoria whipped out her phone and shoved it in Dean's face. He leaned back slightly so that he could actually see the screen. It was already on a picture of the Triumvirate -- no, the Triumvirate and a fourth person, a woman who looked short in comparison to the Triumvirate, who were all very tall.

"Look at her outfit! Isn't it so pretty?" She pulled her phone back to stare at the picture and sighed at it. "I'm surprised to see a Protectorate hero wearing something like that. I mean, it looks like something I'd design for myself."

She finally fell silent, and Dean seized the opportunity.

"The Slaughterhouse Nine is gone? Really?"

It was Amy who answered, sitting on Victoria's other side. "Yeah. The PRT didn't say it outright for PR reasons, but they're all dead."

"Oh my gosh," Dean said.

The Slaughterhouse Nine was gone. That was huge. They'd been such a thing -- like an especially awful real-life boogeyman -- for Dean's entire life. And they were dead, now.

Their new Protectorate hero had helped get rid of them. The new person none of the Wards had even gotten to meet yet, who was supposed to have their first official day today, had helped the Triumvirate kill one of the most notorious villain groups in the United States.

Seriously, what?

The Wards hadn't even been told anything about the new hero. The internet knew the hero's gender and name before they did. No wonder Dennis had been so agitated.

Dean was mostly just confused. That wasn't how it worked. New heroes didn't just go out with the Triumvirate and take out a massive S-class threat on their first official day. Except, apparently, for when they did.

More than anything, he was even more anxious to meet the new hero now.

Finally, their half-day of school was over and they could go. Chris and Dennis rushed out. Dean tried not to look like he was hurrying.

Before long, Gallant was in the PRT building. The Wards weren't officially meeting the new hero -- nothing had been arranged -- but the new hero was supposed to be at the PRT Headquarters, so they were all definitely going to hover until they got to meet her. Gallant supposed their intentions were going to be pretty obvious as soon as she got mobbed by teenagers.

Clockblocker and Kid Win had rushed off to find her, hoping to do so before getting sent off on patrol or something. Gallant was not going to give in to temptation. That would be childish.

"Oh, hey, you're one of the Wards, aren't you?"

Gallant startled and whipped around, because there was not supposed to be anyone behind him. There were other people in the hallway, but not directly behind him, and if nothing else, Gallant usually had a pretty good idea of where people were.

And yet, despite his power clearly marking the space behind him as empty, there stood the new hero, easily recognizable from the press release photos. She was smiling at him, looking polite and friendly. And yet she was a complete void of emotion, absolutely nothing coming from her. That wasn't possible, emotions were too strange and esoteric for somebody to not have any at all.

...Something about her was messing with his power, then. That was -- kind of freaky, but no call to be rude.

"Uh, yeah," he said after far too long a pause. "I am a Ward. I'm Gallant."

"Nice to meet you, Gallant. I'm Auspice," she said, holding out her hand for a handshake. She looked around, then leaned in and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Don't tell anyone, but I was hoping I'd get to meet some of the Wards."

Gallant laughed a little. "We've all been looking forward to meeting you, too," he said. "Especially after this morning."

"Oh, really?" Auspice sounded curious. "I thought the news would have dropped after you were in school."

"It did, but that didn't stop anyone," Gallant said. "Everyone's been talking about it all day."

"Mm, yeah, that makes sense. Some of the others were less than impressed that they found out from the news," Auspice said.

"You -- you didn't tell them?" Gallant asked incredulously.

Auspice shrugged. "Well, I told Director Piggot. And I had permission from on high, you know."

Gallant went to reply, but before he could speak, he spotted somebody behind Auspice. "Incoming," he said.

"Hm?" She glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, more Wards?"

But there was no time to give her a more detailed warning; Clockblocker and Kid Win were already upon them. Kid Win was all but vibrating with excitement. Clockblocker was just as excited, though less visibly so.

"Hi," Kid Win said breathlessly. "I'm Kid Win."

"Hi. I'm Auspice," she said, holding out her hand, which Kid Win shook without seeming to notice.

"You fought the Slaughterhouse Nine?" Kid Win said.

"In a manner of speaking, yes," she said.

Gallant raised his eyebrows.

"'In a manner of speaking'? What does that mean?" Clockblocker said.

Auspice shrugged. "Well, it wasn't much of a fight."

Kid Win and Clockblocker laughed. Gallant had the ominous feeling, however, that Auspice hadn't meant it as a joke.

"That's awesome," Clockblocker said. "I'm Clockblocker, by the way."

He offered a hand.

"Clock, don't do it," Gallant said, knowing full well what Clockblocker was like.

It was too late. Auspice took the proffered hand…

"Nice to meet you," she said.

...and nothing happened?

Gallant stared. Kid Win stared. Clockblocker looked down, then back up, in confusion.

"What even is your power?" Clockblocker blurted.

"Ehh, well, I'm not actually supposed to talk about it," Auspice said. More staring. She added, "My power is literally classified by the PRT, so nobody is allowed to talk about it. Apparently nobody is allowed to know what my power is, unless they already know."

That was… weird. Gallant's first assumption, given his own situation, was that Auspice's power was something so PR unfriendly that they didn't want it getting out. But they'd given Gallant a fake power and an excuse for him to use his power, so they definitely would have done the same with a hero like Auspice. There was no way for an active hero to avoid using their power.

"What, so you're not allowed to talk about your power at all?" Kid Win said, frowning. "That kinda sucks."

"I guess." Auspice shrugged. "I'm not going to be able to be a hero for very long without people getting some idea, of course. I think the general idea is supposed to be that my power is just complete BS." She laughed. "So I can talk about it in that context."

"Complete BS? What, like Eidolon?" Clockblocker said.

Auspice smiled. "Yes, pretty much." Before they could ask more questions, she said, "And that's all I can tell you. Like I said, I'm not allowed to talk about it."

Gallant doubted either Kid Win or Clockblocker would respect that. They were both more the 'pester somebody until they answered the question' type.

"That's why the Triumvirate brought you with them to fight the Slaughterhouse Nine, then?" he asked.

It worked; Kid Win, at least, was distracted.

"What was it like to fight the Slaughterhouse?" Kid Win asked before Auspice could answer.

"Like I said, it wasn't much of a fight. I mean, the Triumvirate were also there, so it's not like I did everything myself," Auspice said. "It actually went really fast."

It was a good thing Auspice seemed patient, because Gallant could already tell that Clockblocker and Kid Win were not going to leave her alone.

_____________________​

"What do you think her power is? Auspice's, I mean," Clockblocker said later, once the Wards were alone.

Vista and Aegis had joined them, which meant only Shadow Stalker was missing, and Shadow Stalker didn't really hang out with the other Wards much anyway.

"I mean, my power didn't even work on her," Clockblocker continued. "I've never had my power not work before."

"I don't know. Whatever it is, my power doesn't work on her, either," Gallant said.

"You tried to use your power on her?" Aegis asked, a little sharply.

"No -- not actively. I wouldn't use my power on another hero without permission! But I couldn't sense her emotions at all, it was weird."

"There aren't many powers that make people immune to other powers," Vista said.

"Guys, if Auspice's power is classified, I doubt we're supposed to be theorizing about it either," Aegis said halfheartedly.

He was trying to be the responsible one, but he was curious too; Gallant could tell.

Clockblocker scoffed. "So what? They can't stop us from having opinions, can they?"

"What do you mean, Vista? You think she has some kind of power nullification power?" Kin Win asked.

"Yeah. I mean, what else could have kept Clock's power from working on her?" Vista said.

"That could be true…" Gallant said slowly. "Power nullification is really rare, though, and I could still sense other people's emotions while around Auspice. Aren't powers like that always area of effect?"

"Maybe she has really precise control over it," Clockblocker said. "And hey, I was looking up the Slaughterhouse earlier, and one of their members, Hatchetface, had a power nullification power, and it made him really dangerous. Plus a bunch of the others had powers that made them really hard to kill -- like the Siberian and Crawler, two of the most notorious Brutes. If Auspice had a power like that, it could explain why the Triumvirate brought her with them, right?"

"It could also explain why her power is classified. Nobody likes the idea of their power being turned off," Aegis added, apparently giving up on being the responsible one.

"Especially if she's a really strong power nullifier! Maybe her range is really big?" Kid Win said.

"But she'd cause problems here and in the Rig, if she was turning people's powers off," Gallant pointed out.

"So then maybe it's more specific than that. She might be able to target individual people, even," Vista said. "That would be a lot more helpful in a fight with allies."

"And it probably just has a passive effect that makes it so that powers don't work on her directly," Clockblocker said. "That would explain why our powers didn't work on her, without her meaning to use her power or anything."

Gallant thought about it. "Okay, that would make sense," he said.

"Guys, just remember, whether we're right or not, you can't talk about this to anybody, okay?" Aegis said. "We don't want anybody to get in trouble, us or Auspice."

"Well, yeah, obviously," Clockblocker said. Gallant could almost hear him grinning. "It's a secret."

 

[SmartAlek]

The mugger scene applies to SIs?!​

February ??, 2011

Random mugger

Brockton Bay was a hard city to live in. It was especially hard to be a small-time criminal in. It had one of the highest cape populations in the U.S, but that wasn't that big a deal, because there were still only like fifty capes to worry about. The problem was that it was practically ruled by the gangs, and anybody who wasn't part of one of the gangs was smart enough not to wander around in the areas that were easy to mug people in.

So John had to be careful. An Asian person walked by? Probably ABB. A white person with visible tattoos? Almost definitely E88. Even the druggies were startlingly willing to shank people! 'Shank' was also totally the correct word, because the chances of their weapon being a legitimate weapon were low.

Anyway.

John had been waiting for more than an hour for somebody to pass by that wasn't 1. Obviously ABB, 2. Obviously E88, or 3. In possession of the eau de psycho junkie. He would just prefer not to get stabbed himself in a mugging attempt, okay.

Finally, an opportunity walked up.

A young woman, walking alone, wearing clothes that were casual, but looked new and were pretty high quality. No purse, but she was holding a nice looking smartphone. White, no visible tattoos, far too steady to be either high or going through withdrawal.

A perfect target.

Once the woman got close enough, John jumped out of the alley he was hiding in, brandishing his knife at her. The woman looked up from her phone slowly.

"Hey, lady, hand over the phone and any money you got on you and nobody has to get hurt, all right?" John said in his best authoritative voice.

The woman blinked at him. She looked down at his knife, then back up, and blinked again. "...Are you mugging me?" she asked finally, squinting like she was confused.

"Uh, yeah. Obviously," John said, making a vague motion with his knife.

"Oh."

"Hurry up, I'm not playing around!" John said.

The woman looked down at her phone contemplatively, like she was seriously considering whether or not her phone was worth getting stabbed. John could tell her from experience, it definitely was not. Very little was worth getting stabbed.

"Hurry up!" John snapped, stepping closer and waving his knife around like a madman. That usually scared people.

"All right, all right!" the woman said, more in the vein of somebody being pestered by a younger sibling than that of somebody being threatened with a knife.

She unhooked an earbud from her ear, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a wallet. Just then, there was a glint in the corner of John's eye, and he looked up -- and was slammed into by a black and white blur which knocked him straight onto his back on the ground.

John groaned and went limp. It figured. He finally gets a good target, and a hero shows up.

The hero -- because it had to be a hero, nobody else would jump off a roof like that -- got off of him, standing up, but John just kept lying there, eyes closed, pitying himself and trying to get his breath back. Finally, John decided to face the music. He opened his eyes and sat up, to much protest from his back.

The hero was standing over him, a smug smile on the visible half of her face. He didn't recognize the costume, but there had been something on the news about a new hero in Brockton Bay. Must have been her. The woman he'd tried to mug, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen. She must have booked it while he was distracted. That was a little strange; didn't even stick around to thank her rescuer, meet a hero?

"I'm calling the police," the hero said. She must have meant on a headset or something, because she wasn't holding a phone. "No offense, but you're a little below my paygrade."

"I have never been so happy to be insulted," John said.

The hero snorted. "A mugger with a sense of humor, nice. Stop trying to mug people, okay? It's not very nice."

John nodded earnestly. "I will never try to mug anyone again," he promised. It just wasn't worth it.

The hero stayed until the cops showed up, then left. John let himself be taken into custody without a fight.

Maybe once he got out, he'd move somewhere else. Idaho, or something, somewhere with no capes.

 

[SmartAlek]

Chapter Seven: Making Things Better​

February 2, 2011

Armsmaster

"Hello? Armsmaster?" came a cautious voice from the doorway of Armsmaster's lab. Auspice.

He grunted in acknowledgement and didn't look up. He would close the door to his lab if he could, but unfortunately as the leader of his Protectorate branch, he couldn't afford to close himself off like that.

Auspice walked closer to stand at his shoulder. "Miss Militia said that there's a monthly meeting with Director Piggot in an hour and asked me to remind you of it," she said.

What? An hour? Armsmaster checked a clock and found that it was, indeed, much later than he'd thought. Even so, a human reminder was unnecessary; he had an alarm set to go off in time for him to get to the meeting.

"Understood," Armsmaster said simply.

There was a moment of silence as Auspice, presumably, debated whether or not she had completed the task Miss Militia had given her.

"All right," she said finally. But there was no sound of footsteps as she left. Instead, she spoke again, "What are you working on?"

She sounded genuinely interested. And either his initial explanation would scare her away as getting technical did with most non-Tinkers, or, given that she had a copy of his power if not his experience with it, she might be able to keep up. Her input might be useful, even.

"Combat prediction software," he said.

"Really? That sounds useful. Wouldn't you need to program it for every individual person, though? At least with parahumans."

"That is the main problem so far, yes," Armsmaster admitted. "Currently, it only has an accuracy rate of 30%, which is, of course, unacceptable. Optimally, it would be able to predict an enemy with only knowledge of their capabilities and enough information of general strategy and logic."

Fifty minutes later, Armsmaster's alarm went off, making both of them jump. Auspice looked at the clock.

"Oops," she said.

Later, after the meeting, Armsmaster was no longer distracted by immediate Tinkering, and his suspicion kicked back in. He wondered why Auspice was suddenly so interested in his tech.

So, when she approached him again, he asked. "Why the sudden interest in Tinkertech?"

"Uhh, because it's interesting…? Do I need a reason to have an interest in something?" Auspice said. "You don't have to worry about me stealing your tech, or anything. I don't think Tinkertech is the right path for me, anyway."

A diplomatic way to say that she was powerful enough to not need Tinkertech, Armsmaster noted. It was reasonable enough; grating though it may be, something like Armsmaster's armor was laughably unnecessary to somebody who could probably kill an Endbringer in one blow.

"I really do just think that it's interesting, and it's not like I'm ever really going to use my copied Tinker powers for my own sake. I'm… sorry, if I offended you in some way," she finished, frowning now, as though truly upset by the idea of offending Armsmaster.

"No. You didn't do anything wrong," Armsmaster said. It was possible that he'd overreacted somewhat. "...I believe you were saying something, before we were interrupted," he added as a peace offering.

Auspice brightened immediately. "Oh yeah!"

Armsmaster supposed that, if Auspice was willing to lend him her time and opinions -- which had, as he'd expected, been very useful -- then he should take advantage of it while he could.




February 4, 2011

Kamil Armstrong

Kamil was surprised when his phone rang with a call from Emily Piggot, director of the PRT ENE. Though they may have been PRT directors in nearby cities, they rarely actually spoke unless in an official meeting. For her to call him directly was… rare.

"This is Director Armstrong," he said, answering his phone. "How can I help you, Director Piggot?"

Director Piggot was the straightforward type; getting right to the point would be best for everyone involved.

"Director Armstrong. Auspice, one of the capes in my Protectorate, has information about the villain gang known as the Teeth, who she says are currently in Boston," Piggot said, sounding tired. Before Kamil could reply to that, she continued, "She would like permission to operate in Boston in order to apprehend those villains."

Kamil hesitated. "Auspice? The name sounds familiar."

"She's a new hero. You may recognize her from the takedown of the Slaughterhouse Nine two weeks ago," Piggot said.

Oh. Yes, Kamil recognized the name. Auspice was definitely a mysterious hero; even Kamil, as a director of the PRT, didn't have clearance to know her power. But she must have been powerful. Kamil wasn't sure of the wisdom of a direct attack on the Teeth, even if they could find them, but if Piggot -- a cautious woman -- had faith in Auspice's abilities, then…

"Yes, I remember now. Well, if you're confident in her, then I can have my Protectorate leader arrange a team for a raid," Kamil said leadingly.

"That won't be necessary," Piggot said, to Kamil's surprise.

"It won't?"

"Auspice just wants permission to operate in your city. She won't need any assistance," Piggot said, sounding even more tired than she had before. It sounded like she was grinding her teeth for a moment, and then she added, "Of course, your people will need to take the Teeth into custody afterwards, and Auspice has said that she doesn't mind if your Protectorate takes credit for the arrest." Her reluctance was palpable.

Kamil was surprised by that, but he was still stuck on --

"Wait, let me get this straight. You really believe that one hero can take down the Teeth alone?" he asked, incredulous. "From our estimates, they have half a dozen capes!"

"I have reason to believe that Auspice will not have any issues," Piggot said evenly.

Kamil had to sit back in his chair. Piggot politely waited for him to process that.

He covered his eyes with one hand. "She's that strong?"

"Yes."

"And there's no chance of her killing the Butcher, accidentally or otherwise?"

"She assured me that was not a risk."

Kamil sighed. "All right. What kind of timeline are we looking at for this? A couple of hours, a couple of days?"

"I'm pretty sure she's already in Boston," Piggot said with exasperation. "So, a couple of minutes. If you agree to give her permission, then I suggest you mobilize PRT and Protectorate response immediately, Director Armstrong."

Kamil weighed his options. Letting an unknown hero attack a major gang alone in his city, versus having the Teeth off the street. And having his department get the credit for it; Kamil had to admit that that was a factor, too.

Kamil took in a deep breath. "All right," he said on the exhale. "Do you have an address or something?"

"I do not. I can have Auspice contact you," Piggot said.

"I would appreciate that. Thank you, Director Piggot," Kamil said.

"Of course," Piggot said. Then, in a rare show of sympathy, she said, "Good luck, Director Armstrong."

Piggot hung up.

Less than two minutes later, Kamil got another call. He answered the phone.

"Director Armstrong."

"Hello, Director Armstrong. I'm Auspice," she said. She sounded young.

"You're the one who wants to take on the Teeth," Kamil said, hoping to get a measure of her personality.

He doubted Piggot could be fooled by the overly-confident type, but it was hard to tell.

"Yes," Auspice said. "I am confident I can subdue them quickly, with no risk of injury or collateral damage. Also, I have a way to make sure the Butcher will no longer be an issue."

Kamil sat up straight. "What do you mean by that?"

"I can't tell you the specifics because of the gag order regarding my power, but I can remove the Butcher's powers, including the one that causes them to jump to other parahumans."

"You can remove the Butcher's powers?" Kamil repeated incredulously. "Permanently?"

"Yes," she said, then, after a brief pause, added, "Obviously, it would be best if that didn't become common knowledge."

"Yes, obviously," Kamil agreed, because nobody needed to know that there was a cape who could permanently remove other people's powers. If it was true. "I mean no offense, but that is rather unbelievable."

"I'm aware of that. It is the kind of thing that nobody could believe unless it was proven," Auspice said. "And, given that I don't exactly want to go running around removing people's powers, I felt that the Butcher would be a good target to use to prove it -- because there are few other ways to keep the Butcher from continuing to be a problem otherwise."

She made it sound so reasonable. And Piggot had been confident in her, and she had to deal with her all the time. Suddenly sympathetic to Piggot, Kamil decided to just give in.

He doubted Bastion would be happy about it, but he'd certainly appreciate getting the credit for it, so it would probably be fine.

"All right. I'll trust you. Give me an address," Kamil said.

He could hear the smile in her voice when Auspice said, "Thank you."




February 4, 2011

Bastion

Bastion was already in a bad mood by the time he, two of his Protectorate members, and a squad of PRT mooks got to the abandoned warehouse the Director had told them to go to. Between some newbie from Brockton Bay just up and deciding to take down a gang Bastion -- and others -- had been trying to get for years and the Director ordering him around like an attack dog, Bastion was pretty angry.

The warehouse in question, along with the entire surrounding area, was completely ordinary. There was no noise or damage to suggest that a parahuman battle had or was taking place.

Shortly after Bastion and the others arrived, however, one of the warehouse's large sliding doors opened with a cacophonous sound. Bastion did not jump, damn it. With the door open, a figure was visible inside the warehouse: a woman wearing a hooded jacket.

Auspice, Bastion recognized. The uppity newbie.

She waved at them.

Bastion strode up to her. "You said that the Teeth were here?" he said impatiently.

"I did say that," Auspice said, and gestured behind her, into the dark warehouse. "Oh, wait, let me get that."

Auspice took a couple of steps and flicked a lightswitch, turning on the warehouse's overhead lights and revealing that the warehouse was full of people all dressed in the typical style of the Teeth. There were probably twenty people total in the warehouse.

Bastion definitely did jump, that time, reflexively creating a forcefield between him and the group of people in the warehouse.

"It's fine," Auspice said at the same time that Bastion realized that none of the figures were moving. "They're not going to attack."

"What did you do to them?" Bastion asked, peering closer.

"I just froze them in time," Auspice said casually. "And they're going to start unfreezing soon, probably, so it would probably be best to start foaming them now."

Gesturing for his fellow heroes and the PRT members to follow him, Bastion ventured into the freaky warehouse. All of the Teeth in the warehouse did indeed seem to be frozen in time, completely unmoving. Except one -- there was one woman who was not frozen. She wasn't standing, instead crumpled in on herself on her knees, which was why it had taken Bastion so long to notice her. It was easy, then, to identify her as the Butcher, her samurai-style armor being rather distinctive, as were the massive bow and gatling gun on the floor next to her.

Bastion's forcefield went right back up as he held his hand out to stop the others.

"Why didn't you freeze the most dangerous one?" he hissed at Auspice.

Auspice blinked. She turned towards the Butcher. "Oh. It's fine," she said again. Bastion thought he might hate that phrase. "She won't be able to cause any trouble anymore."

The smugly pleased curl to her lips was enough to make Bastion pause where he might not have otherwise. He'd learned to be wary of people looking like that.

"What did you do to her?" he said warily.

"I suppressed her power," Auspice said.

"Suppressed…? What, like Animos' power?" Bastion said.

Auspice nodded. "Yeah, basically," she said. She shrugged a little. "Except indefinitely."

"In -- indefinitely?" Bastion repeated.

"Yes. It'll last until I undo it," Auspice said.

While Bastion was floored from the implications of that, Auspice looked at him carefully.

"Hopefully it's obvious that we don't want that getting around, but also, the PRT classified my power, so you're not allowed to tell anybody about it," she told him frankly.

Bastion gritted his teeth and glared at her. "I know that," he snapped. "What are we supposed to do about this, then?"

He gestured vaguely towards the Butcher, who really looked pitiful.

"Claim that you sent the Butcher to the Birdcage and actually send her to a psych ward or something under her civilian identity," Auspice said, like that was no big deal. "She's pretty much harmless now, compared to before, although she'll probably still be violent once she recovers, and she's definitely still crazy."

Bastion put a hand to his forehead and breathed, reminding himself not to yell at her. Making him do the annoying part; of course she was. "You're giving us the credit for this, right?" he said.

"Sure."

"Okay." Bastion took another deep breath. "Which ones are capes?"

Auspice easily pointed out five people in addition to the Butcher. The PRT squad got to foaming people, while the other two Protectorate capes supervised.

"Thank you for your help," Bastion bit out grudgingly.

"Sure thing," Auspice said. "Well, it seems like you guys have this in hand, so I'm going to go."

Good. Bastion restrained himself. "Fine," he said.

Auspice seemed amused, but she didn't comment, just turned and walked out of the warehouse.




February 16, 2011

Rebecca Costa-Brown

A portal with shimmering gold edges formed on the wall of Rebecca's office, next to the door. An arm reached through the portal to knock, politely, on the inside of the door. In lieu of being able to knock on the outside of the door, presumably, due to the cameras in the hallway where there were none in the office.

Rebecca sighed. "Yes, Auspice? What do you want?"

Auspice passed entirely through her portal. Apparently sensing Rebecca's lack of patience -- or, more likely, using Path to Victory to predict the best way to approach her -- she answered quickly as she sat in one of the chairs opposite Rebecca.

"The Fallen." She frowned. "Wait, that sounds wrong, let me rephrase. I want to cripple the Fallen. Yeah, that's better."

Rebecca resisted the urge to sigh again. "And you want me to deal with the legal side of it," she surmised, shaking her head. "Fine. Who and where?"

"Well, there's a lot of them, but only a few really important ones," Auspice said. "So, we've got the head of the Mathers branch near Kansas City, her son, her other son, who is also the head of the McVeay branch, and the four Crowley siblings who run their own branch." She thought about it for a moment. "That's all of them, I think. The really important ones, anyway; the others should be easy enough for other people to capture later."

"The leader of the Mathers branch," Rebecca repeated. "Also the very powerful Stranger who can affect anyone who has interacted with her in any way?"

"Well, yes. You're aware of what I did to the Butcher, right?"

Rebecca was aware. One of Auspice's abilities that she had not shared with them directly: removing other people's powers permanently. Whether it was a largely-unused part of her own power or a result of altering powers she'd copied was unclear.

"You plan to remove her power?"

Auspice nodded. "Hers and her two son's powers, Valefor and Lionheart; they're all annoying Master slash Strangers. The others should be containable, maybe Birdcage worthy, I'm not sure."

Rebecca thought about it. The Fallen were a large organization, behind both small and large time crime across the country, largely protected by a few powerful people. The removal of the Mathers head especially would be very helpful.

"All right. Do it. I'll handle it," she said.

Auspice smiled. "Great!"

Rebecca had expected her to leave immediately, but to her surprise, Auspice stayed sitting.

"One other thing," she said.

Rebecca gestured for her to go on.

"There's an Endbringer attack coming soon."

Rebecca went still. That was true, there was; it had been close to four months since the Behemoth attack. Rebecca, like many other heroes, never forgot the loose Endbringer schedule.

This time, however, was different, and for all that Auspice had killed Scion, Rebecca hadn't yet seriously considered the possibilities.

When and where would be nice to know, but it wasn't really important. More important was, "Can you kill it?" Rebecca asked.

Auspice spread her hands as though to say, well, duh. "Of course I can. That's easy-peasy compared to some of the things I've done. That's actually what I wanted to ask about, though. How easy should it look for me to kill an Endbringer? Like, are we talking 'swat it like a bug', or 'fake a long fight'?"

"I'll talk about it with the others," Rebecca said. Personally, she was leaning towards 'swat it like a bug', but she was aware that might not necessarily be her rational mind speaking. "Which one is it, when, and where?"

"In that order, the Simurgh, the 24th of this month, and Canberra, Australia," Auspice said.

Rebecca nodded. "I'll still talk to the others, but I believe a drawn out fight with the Simurgh is too risky," she said.

"She's definitely the hardest to contain," Auspice said. She shrugged, then bounced to her feet. "Well, whatever. Let me know what you guys decide. I'm going to go start dismantling the Fallen before I kill off the first of their 'gods'."

Waving lightly, Auspice created a portal and disappeared into it.

Rebecca got to work on the paperwork she was going to need.

Less than an hour later, the PRT had seven new villains in custody, three of them minus their powers. If nothing else, Auspice worked quickly.




February 24, 2011

Dragon

The morning of the 24th of February, the Protectorate sent out a warning -- to everyone -- that their Thinkers had predicted an Endbringer attack in Canberra, Australia.

That was unheard of. Thinkers, especially precogs, had been trying to use their powers on Endbringers, largely to no effect, since Behemoth first appeared. Dragon and Armsmaster were working on a computer program that could predict the Endbringers, but it wasn't finished yet.

Dragon had her doubts about the exact source of the prediction, but she wasn't complaining. She highly doubted the Protectorate would send out a false warning, and the twenty minute warning gave her time to send one of her suits to meet up with the transport for the Seattle capes. Her creations were fast, but it was a long flight to Australia.

Canberra was chaotic, though considerably less so than other Endbringer battles Dragon had been to; the forewarning had allowed the civilians to be evacuated and they were on their way out already, leaving the center of the city where capes were congregating otherwise empty.

If it had been Leviathan, they would have gathered closer to the coast, but Canberra wasn't close enough to the ocean, which meant it was going to be Behemoth or the Simurgh, and the last attack had been Behemoth, so it was almost definitely the Simurgh. Whenever the Simurgh attacked, she tended to hover above the center of the city, whether to make sure her range covered the entire thing or for some other reason.

The sky was clear and bright -- the Simurgh's preferred weather; more than eighty percent of her attacks occurred on sunny, cloudless days.

In the direct center of Canberra was a parliamentary building, built into a hill, with walkways and grassy gardens on top of it, and a tall, elaborate flagpole sticking off the top, above a glass skylight into the building. A perfect target for the Simurgh, and a terrible one for everyone else. It was undoubtedly a busy area normally, with crowds of people. Dragon could see how an attack would have gone without any warning.

Dragon looked around, cataloguing the present capes, who were waiting on top of the parliament building. The Triumvirate were there, of course. Narwhal was already there, too. Armsmaster and a few other members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, including their newest hero. Cinereal was there, the lone member of her Protectorate. Chevalier and Myrddin were there, with a couple of members of each of their Protectorate departments. Exalt, standing with the rest of the Houston Protectorate minus Eidolon.

There were a lot of heroes. There were less villains, but still a good amount.

It wasn't the best turnout Dragon had seen, though; nobody liked fighting the Simurgh, and Australia also didn't have as many capes as other countries did. A lot more people went to defend their own country from Endbringers.

Legend was arranging people into the usual groups. Blasters with him, Alexandria packages with Alexandria, people with shields with Narwhal. The support capes -- healers and Thinkers -- were being sent to make a camp outside the city. There were things specific to a Simurgh fight, as well; capes were put into further groups, these ones for time. People from Group One would fight first, then when they were running out of time, they would switch out with people from Group Two, and so on. Dragon knew how it worked.

There was still a couple of minutes left, if the prediction was accurate. Doing a quick headcount, Dragon gave out armbands to be distributed to the capes who would be involved in the battle. These ones were the Simurgh specific ones, with timers set to go before any of them could spend too much time around the Simurgh.

Once Dragon's part in that was done and other people were making sure everyone got an armband, she made her way over to Armsmaster.

Armsmaster went to every Endbringer battle he could, as Dragon did. It was the life both of them had chosen. That didn't make it any easier to face the thought that this might be the Endbringer battle that cost Armsmaster his life.

"Armsmaster," she said in greeting, dipping her suit's head like a nod.

Armsmaster wasn't one for idle chit chat at the best of times, which an Endbringer battle certainly was not, so Dragon didn't expect much from him.

He spared her a glance, and nodded back. "Dragon."

The new Brockton Bay hero and rising superstar, Auspice, leaned around him to wave. "Hi, Dragon," she said.

Dragon had spoken with Auspice over her usual video chat a couple of times before. Auspice had been spending a considerable amount of time in Armsmaster's lab with him lately. Dragon was studiously ignoring the envy that she experienced any time she focused any attention on that fact.

"Hello, Auspice," Dragon said.

Auspice left soon after to make her way over to Legend and the Blasters. Dragon made a note of it. Auspice's power was so highly classified that Dragon didn't know about it, and though Armsmaster likely did, he hadn't shared it with her.

As people had left the city to wait for their turns, the number of waiting capes dwindled further and further, until they had worryingly few combatants. That was one of the biggest disadvantages of fighting the Simurgh. Dragon was in the first group, as were the Triumvirate, Armsmaster, and Auspice.

It wasn't long before the first sign of the Simurgh's appearance became obvious: the Simurgh's scream, which seemed to reverberate throughout Dragon's processes in an impossible manner. It was one of the quirks of the Simurgh, or perhaps of Dragon; the mental attack affected Dragon, though she was not there in person, nor did she have a typical brain to attack.

Everyone readied themselves. The armbands' countdowns began.

The Simurgh descended soon after, hurtling downwards like a shooting star directly over the tip of the flagpole. The building started collapsing under them, the flagpole breaking into pieces, as did buildings all around, and people who could fly lifted off, while those who couldn't hurried for solid ground. Dragon was distracted for a moment catching several people and bringing them somewhere safer -- for a given value of 'safe'.

When Dragon looked up, it was to see a figure distinguishable as Auspice, flying higher and closer to the Simurgh than anyone else. Foolishly, if she was indeed just a Blaster -- without a Brute rating or some kind of Breaker form, the Simurgh would crush her like a bug.

Other people had noticed, too. Some people shouted, trying to warn her. The flying Brutes hurried to catch up to her.

One of the Simurgh's person-sized pieces of rubble was heading straight for Auspice.

Auspice brought one hand up, and released a brilliant golden laser, heading for the Simurgh. Dragon analyzed it. It was a big laser, by most Blaster standards; probably five feet around. But Dragon had seen bigger things do next to no damage to an Endbringer. Even the Simurgh, as the smallest and most fragile seeming of the Endbringers, was terrifyingly durable.

The Simurgh also had a tendency to block. Several pieces of her growing rubble field swung into place between her and the laser. But the laser went straight through the rubble as though it wasn't there.

The constant, piercing scream in the background went discordant suddenly, loud and jarring enough that people clapped their hands uselessly over their ears, as though the Simurgh had lost control of it. The Simurgh shot to the side in an attempt to dodge, but didn't quite make it. The laser impacted the Simurgh perfectly center-mass, and then kept going. Where the laser had passed, the Simurgh's body was entirely gone from shoulder to hip, large chunks of wings gone too.

The assembled capes went quiet in shock. The Simurgh's scream stopped abruptly. The floating debris began to fall to the earth.

After a long moment, the remaining pieces of the Simurgh's body belatedly succumbed to gravity, and the Simurgh fell from the sky.

 

[SmartAlek]

Chapter Eight: PHO Interlude​

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♦Topic: The Simurgh Has Fallen!
In: Boards ► World ► News

Bagrat (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Posted on February 24, 2011:

Earlier today, the Simurgh attacked Canberra, Australia (that's Australia's capital). Thanks to Protectorate Thinkers, there was enough warning to evacuate the city beforehand.

But that's not the important part. The important part is this: according to a number of on-site capes, Auspice, a newbie Protectorate hero from Brockton Bay, attacked and killed the Simurgh during the attack. As a result, this is the first Endbringer attack ever to end with zero casualties (except for the Endbringer). The Protectorate and other organizations have since officially confirmed the rumors (here's a link to the Protectorate's press conference about it). They said a whole lot of nothing else, so it's not entirely clear what actually happened, but everyone who was there pretty much agrees on the basics.

So, it's official, everyone. The Simurgh, Ziz, Israfel, Ulama, the 'Hopekiller', the Third, whatever you want to call it, is dead. Let's celebrate.

(Showing Page 1 of 67)

► DigaWell
Replied on February 24, 2011:
SERIOUSLY? That's awesome!

► Saskatchew
Replied on February 24, 2011:
Good riddance. I doubt anyone's upset about THIS Endbringer battle casualty

► Aiming_Low
Replied on February 24, 2011:
Pics or it didn't happen

► More_Or_Less
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Aiming_Low
I mean, yeah, it's a little hard to believe, but you know there's never any actual pictures or video from Endbringer battles. Everyone tends to be busy trying not to die.

► RobinU
Replied on February 24, 2011:
Justice for Lausanne, and all the other cities that were crippled, destroyed, and quarantined because of the Simurgh. I'm definitely celebrating tonight and taking off work tomorrow

► SorryNotSorry
Replied on February 24, 2011:
It's hard to believe anybody could kill an Endbringer, after, what, twenty years? Especially some newbie. I've never even heard of that hero before now. Still, not complaining, and I doubt the Protectorate would have confirmed it if it wasn't true.

@RobinU Yeah, seconded on the celebrating. I'm gonna have a cold one in Auspice's honor

► Nakyak (Cape Geek)
Replied on February 24, 2011:
I think I have heard of Auspice, actually. Wasn't she that cape that supposedly helped the Triumvirate take down the Slaughterhouse Nine last month? Her power was already a huge mystery back then, but I REALLY want to know what it is now!

► NobodyYou'dKnow
Replied on February 24, 2011:
Good riddance to the Simurgh! She won't be missed.

► ShortyShort
Replied on February 24, 2011:
WAIT, the Simurgh is seriously dead??? Really?!

Here's holding out for Leviathan next *fingers crossed*

► namesarehard
Replied on February 24, 2011:
So, does this make Auspice the 'Hopekillerkiller'?

@ShortyShort Shh, don't jinx it
​

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 65 , 66, 67





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■​

♦Topic: The Simurgh Has Fallen!
In: Boards ► World ► News

Bagrat (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
Posted on February 24, 2011:

Earlier today, the Simurgh attacked Canberra, Australia (that's Australia's capital). Thanks to Protectorate Thinkers, there was enough warning to evacuate the city beforehand.

But that's not the important part. The important part is this: according to a number of on-site capes, Auspice, a newbie Protectorate hero from Brockton Bay, attacked and killed the Simurgh during the attack. As a result, this is the first Endbringer attack ever to end with zero casualties (except for the Endbringer). The Protectorate and other organizations have since officially confirmed the rumors (here's a link to the Protectorate's press conference about it). They said a whole lot of nothing else, so it's not entirely clear what actually happened, but everyone who was there pretty much agrees on the basics.

So, it's official, everyone. The Simurgh, Ziz, Israfel, Ulama, the 'Hopekiller', the Third, whatever you want to call it, is dead. Let's celebrate.

(Showing Page 28 of 72)

► SecretSurfer (Muted)
Replied on February 24, 2011:
Look, I'm just saying. There's a couple irrefutable facts! 1. Every time Scion showed up to an Endbringer battle, the Endbringer basically immediately fled, implying that he's more of a danger to them than ANY OTHER PERSON. 2. Auspice is the only person known to have done enough damage to an Endbringer to kill it.

The conclusion is obvious.

► Antigone
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@SecretSurfer What? That's not obvious at all.

► Tumbles
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Antigone I mean, there is kind of a lot of evidence, even besides the fact that Scion and Auspice are obviously the two most powerful parahumans ever and are the only people who ever really hurt an Endbringer.

So, look. We have mid-January-ish, where Scion disappears. Just, completely drops off the map. Then, late-ish-January, Auspice makes her first appearance as a hero. I mean, okay, that might not be anything alone. However! There's also Auspice's color theme: white and gold (and black), where Scion was gold and wore white. Coincidence? There's no such thing.

Auspice is OBVIOUSLY Scion

► BooptheSnoot
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Tumbles Yeah... Obviously /sarcasm. I mean, seriously, after thirty years Scion suddenly decided to join the Protectorate. As a FEMALE hero? Doubtful.

► Ryan_Reynolds (Unverified Cape)
Replied on February 24, 2011:
Um, guys, Auspice can't secretly be Scion masquerading as a girl for some reason... Because she's obviously Eidolon's illegitimate child. Duh.

► Space Zombie
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Ryan_Reynolds

...Source?

► Lolitup
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Ryan_Reynolds Wait, who says she's illegitimate?? Maybe Eidolon is secretly married, you don't know

► Ryan_Reynolds (Unverified Cape)
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Space Zombie
My sources are as follows: [Eidolon_Hood.jpg], [Auspice_Hood.jpg]
and also, Eidolon's power is complete BS and so is Auspice's. We already know that powers run in families, so Auspice obviously got the BS gene.
The facts are undeniable.

@Lolitup
No. Illegitimate. There's no way Eidolon is secretly married; we'd know. Just look at Legend.

► Space Zombie
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Ryan_Reynolds

Yeah, seems legit

► SecretSurfer (Muted)
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Ryan_Reynolds

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. What, just because two heroes both have hoods, they're related somehow??? Are all of the heroes with similar helmets related now? And anyway, even if Auspice's power is 'BS' (we don't know what it actually is), you know whose power is EVEN WORSE than Eidolon's? Scion's. You know, 'can do whatever he wants' man. Eidolon has limitations, Scion doesn't, and I bet Auspice doesn't either. You're dumb.

@Space Zombie I can't believe you're listening to him, you must be just as stupid

This user has earned an infraction for this post
​

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 ... 70 , 71, 72

(Showing Page 29 of 72)

► Tumbles
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@SecretSurfer That's... a little extreme, man. Everybody is entitled to their opinions, even if theirs is wrong.

I mean, Auspice COULD be related to Eidolon. I guess. Even if it seems really unlikely. And costume choice is a really thin foundation for your theory.

Meanwhile, in the 'Auspice is Scion' camp, we have 1. Time of disappearance/appearance, 2. Color theme (which is definitely better than a hood I promise), 3. The Endbringer thing, AND 4. According to Protectorate sources, Auspice is immune to Thinkers, like Scion.

Bam. Beat that.

► Ryan_Reynolds (Unverified Cape)
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Tumbles
Eidolon is also immune to Thinkers

► Tumbles
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Ryan_Reynolds Oh, damn.

Uhh... Okay, how about this: Far as anyone can tell, Auspice straight up didn't exist until she joined the Protectorate last month. Which is obviously because she'd been running around as Scion for thirty years until he/she decided to settle down. And also, why is Auspice in Brockton Bay when Eidolon is in Houston? That's like halfway across the country

► Space Zombie
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@SecretSurfer

That's just rude. It's not that unreasonable, and anyway, who are you to diss other people's theories?

Also, Auspice being Eidolon's daughter (illegitimate or otherwise) could also explain why she came literally out of nowhere and suddenly showed up working with the Triumvirate! They knew she was powerful, and whatever her power actually is, because she knew Eidolon personally. So there

► Ryan_Reynolds (Unverified Cape)
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@Tumbles
Obviously Eidolon sent her to a different Protectorate to hide the fact that they're related

@Space Zombie
That's a good point

► PierPieper
Replied on February 24, 2011:
You're all morons. It's OBVIOUS that Auspice killed Scion to assert her dominance before she debuted as a cape! She couldn't have him undermining her

This user has earned an infraction for this post

► Tumbles
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@PierPieper

Umm? Regardless of Auspice's origins, she's a hero... Why would she kill another hero?

► Ryan_Reynolds (Unverified Cape)
Replied on February 24, 2011:
@PierPieper
No. I think you're the one reaching here, my friend. That's ridiculous
​

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 ... 70 , 71, 72

 

[SmartAlek]

Chapter Nine: Don't Ask​

February 26, 2011

Clockblocker

The Wards were having another meeting. It was a very important meeting, about top-secret information. Everyone was there. Except Shadow Stalker, as usual, but she didn't count anyway.

"Is it possible…" Clockblocker said, "...to power nullify an Endbringer?"

There was a moment of silence as the others processed this truly earth shattering suggestion.

"I want to say no on principle, but honestly, I don't think we have any proof either way," Gallant said.

"Exactly, because there were only two people I could find with power nullification powers, and they were both villains who never went to Endbringer battles," Clockblocker said excitedly.

"So Auspice killed the Simurgh by nullifying her powers, including her durability?" Kid Win said.

"But somebody else still would have had to deal the final blow, so how come all of the heroes who were there say that Auspice killed the Simurgh?" Vista said. "A lot of them might not even have known that Auspice did anything, if that was the case."

"And it's been pretty well established that a lot of powers that could drastically hurt or weaken an Endbringer tend to just not work at all," Aegis added.

Clockblocker flapped a hand at him. "That's not the point! Anyway, that's so hard to define, it could be as simple as 'yeah, but Auspice's power worked anyway'." He turned to Vista. "And, well, maybe she was just standing really close to whoever actually killed the Simurgh and everybody thought she did it."

"Maybe after Auspice nullified the Simurgh's powers, she fell out of the sky and went splat," Kid Win said thoughtfully. "So it was like, obviously Auspice, by removing her flight and Brute powers, was the one who killed her. It's basically undeniable then."

"Hey, that would work," Clockblocker said.

"She agreed that her power was 'pretty much' like Eidolon's, right?" Gallant said slowly. "So maybe there are multiple parts to it like his. Power nullification is only one part of it, then, and there are other things she can do."

The warning alarm for the door went off, but the Wards were all masked already, so they ignored it.

"That's true, the other two nullifiers had other aspects to their powers, too. Hatchetface was a Brute, and the other one -- Animos -- was also a Changer," Clockblocker said.

"So maybe Auspice is, like, a Shaker or a Blaster or something?" Vista said.

"It is powers like those that usually do the most damage to Endbringers," Aegis said.

The door opened, and admitted the very topic of their conversation herself, Auspice. Clockblocker jumped guiltily, noticing that most of the others did too. Aegis, as their fearless leader, stood to greet her.

"Hello, Auspice. Do you need us for something?" Aegis said.

Auspice looked behind herself. "Well, no, not exactly, but… Hm. You guys don't mind if I hide out in here for a while, do you?"

It was at times like these that Clockblocker was grateful for his full face mask, as it meant he didn't have to try to control his expression. He wasn't sure exactly what his face was doing, but he would bet it was noticeable, or would be if anybody could see it. Even Aegis was quiet for a long time.

"No, of course not," he said finally, sounding bemused.

"What are you hiding from?" Clockblocker asked, because it wasn't like anyone else was going to. Awkward questions and comments were his thing. "Piss off Halbeard?"

"Actually, no," Auspice said with a laugh. Then she sighed and ventured further into the room, away from the door. "I have discovered that being famous is bad, actually."

Clockblocker lamented how difficult it was to read people's expressions with masks on. Even Kid WIn and Vista, who both wore visors and had the least of their faces covered, were hard to read. Still, he would bet that they were all flabbergasted like he was.

"...I always thought it would be cool to be famous," Kid Win ventured finally.

"I know! I thought so too!" Auspice said. "And then it happened, and now everyone wants to talk to me. I've done seven interviews in two days! I've met with three world leaders! For some reason the President of India wants to talk to me! I mean, I could understand the Prime Minister of Australia. The fight happened in their capital city, after all. I can even understand the President of the United States -- I am American and theoretically an employee of the American government. But the President of India? Really?"

She stopped for breath, finally. Clockblocker and the others just stared. Idly, Clockblocker wondered who the third world leader was. He wasn't sure he cared enough to ask.

"Sorry to… hear that," Aegis said eventually.

Auspice nodded. "Thank you. Anyway, so that's why I'm hiding," she said, tone now very even. "Sorry for the rant. Oh, don't let me disturb you; you can go back to your conversation."

The Wards hesitated collectively, glancing at each other. They really, really couldn't go back to their conversation. Even Clockblocker wasn't entirely willing to tell Auspice to her face that they'd been speculating about her highly classified power. Even if they were totally right. That probably made it worse, actually.

Before anyone could decide on what to say, the door alarm went off again -- the short alarm. Auspice ran forward and vaulted a couch to put it between her and the door. The door opened, revealing Miss Militia.

"Sorry to bother you, Wards. Have any of you seen Auspice?" she asked.

Clockblocker carefully did not look towards the couch that Auspice was hiding behind. Being the main troublemaker amongst them, it took Clockblocker approximately two seconds to decide that he wasn't going to get Auspice caught.

"Nope. Haven't seen her," he said. "Why? What's up?"

"Oh, just some routine stuff. Paperwork, you know," Miss Militia said dismissively.

Clockblocker raised his eyebrows, hidden safely behind his mask. Who knew Miss Militia was such a good liar?

"So none of you have seen her?" Miss Militia said.

The others seemed unwilling to lie aloud, but they all shook their heads. If nothing else, if they told the truth now, they'd get Clockblocker in trouble too.

"Sorry, Miss Militia," Aegis said.

Yeah, sorry for lying, Clockblocker knew. He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

"All right." Miss Militia sighed. "Thanks anyway."

She stepped back and closed the door. After a few seconds, Auspice popped up from behind the couch.

"Thanks for covering for me," she said.

"You're really that desperate to avoid interviews?" Gallant said doubtfully. "Won't you just get in trouble?"

"Oh, nah, I don't actually have any interviews or meetings right now. It's just that I have approximately a thousand people requesting interviews and meetings, and the Director, and therefore Armsmaster, and therefore Miss Militia, want me to go through them immediately," Auspice said. "And I'm avoiding doing it. Procrastination for the win. Don't use me as a good life model, kids."

Clockblocker laughed. "You're, like, five years older than me," he said.

"I'm just saying," Auspice said.



March 11, 2011

Armsmaster

"Armsmaster, this is Console." It sounded like Kid Win was on Console for the evening, and he sounded worried. "We have reports of a shootout at the north edge of ABB territory, and it looks like Lung just showed up."

Of course. ABB and E88 gangbangers were always getting into fights; the problem was when they got their capes involved. That was when things got really bad. Lung alone was a massively destructive force even if none of the E88's capes showed up -- and they would.

"Understood, Console," Armsmaster said. "Exact location?"

Console listed off a street.

"Roger that. Armsmaster moving to engage."

Armsmaster swung smoothly onto a different street, then floored it. At max speed, it wouldn't take him long to get there, and the faster the better. He needed to get there before the E88, before Lung ramped up too far, and before Lung destroyed too much.

Soon, Armsmaster was close enough to hear the battle: Lung roaring and destroying things, people -- probably E88 gangbangers -- screaming, and some gunfire. That was either brave or foolish of them, continuing to shoot at Lung even though most everyone in Brockton Bay knew it wouldn't do any good. Armsmaster was leaning towards foolish.

Soon after that, Armsmaster turned onto the correct street, and the battle itself came into view. Lung, only a couple of inches taller than usual -- not even seven feet -- was in the middle of the street, facing away from Armsmaster, stepping slowly towards a half a dozen cowering, fleeing men. There were several more bodies littering the ground, but even so, he was obviously playing with them -- waiting for the E88 capes, most likely. Armsmaster hoped that didn't mean Oni Lee was laying in wait nearby.

Of lesser importance, there was a group of ABB thugs nearer to Armsmaster, focused so carefully on hiding from their own boss that they weren't paying Armsmaster any mind. They would regret that.

"This is Armsmaster. Engaging Lung."

"Roger that, Armsmaster," came the reply. There was an audible breath, like Kid Win had gone to speak, but he stayed silent.

Armsmaster parked his motorcycle a safe distance from Lung, drawing his halberd and dismounting in one easy movement. Lung turned slowly, almost carelessly, to face him, then almost immediately grew two inches at the appearance of a real enemy. Grabbing a containment foam grenade, Armsmaster strode towards Lung, who just stood there and waited for him to approach. Halfway there, he flicked the pin off the grenade with his thumb, then tossed it over the bush the ABB thugs were using as cover, where it went off, encasing them with a few yelps of protest.

Lung didn't even spare them a glance.

"Well, well. Armsmaster," he said, his voice still mostly clear and understandable. "Come to try your luck again?"

Armsmaster narrowed his eyes. "Luck has nothing to do with it. I'm taking you into custody, Lung," he said.

Lung coughed out a mocking laugh, obviously disbelieving. That was fine. Armsmaster was confident.

If things were different, he might not have finished the tranquilizers in time -- but they weren't different, and he had finished them. There was no way to know for certain if they would work properly on Lung without testing them, but Armsmaster was confident that they were as close to perfect as they could be.

Armsmaster just needed to hit Lung with a tranquilizer. Unfortunately, due to the unique characteristics of Lung's power, he did often remember to dodge, as not all Brutes did.

The key to beating Lung was, of course, to end the fight quickly. Lung, meanwhile, would do his best to keep that from being possible. Matching Lung in battle before he got ramped up had never been the problem, though. The problem was that it was infuriatingly difficult to keep him down.

Hence the tranquilizers.

Lung had been growing incrementally while Armsmaster approached, and as soon as he was near enough, Lung lunged for him. Armsmaster dodged to the side, lashing out with his halberd and scoring a thin line across Lung's arm, which immediately began healing. Lung growled and pivoted on his heel to come after Armsmaster again.

Armsmaster dodged again, and they continued like that for some time. It was a delicate balancing act between ending the fight before Lung ramped up too far, and waiting for a good opportunity to strike. If Armsmaster tried it too early and failed, Lung's guard would be up. As long as Armsmaster was primarily fighting defensively, Lung didn't seem to be ramping up very quickly.

Finally, there was an opening. Lung overextended, went too far too fast, leaving his back to Armsmaster, open and undefended, and Armsmaster shot him in the back. With a tranquilizer. It was probably more effective than a bullet would have been.

For a moment, Lung didn't even seem to notice the tranquilizer. He turned to face Armsmaster, who swore silently, about to write the tranquilizers off as a failure, already running through the reasons it might have failed -- and then Lung took a single, staggering step and lost an inch of height. He continued shrinking, quicker than he usually ramped up.

"What..." Lung managed, and then collapsed face first onto the pavement.

Armsmaster eyed him carefully for a moment. It was unlikely that he was faking it; as far as anyone knew, Lung had no conscious control over his power, which would make it impossible for him to pretend to be weakened. And either way, Lung certainly wasn't the type to attempt such a charade.

"Console, this is Armsmaster. Requesting PRT prisoner transport and police backup," he said. He couldn't help the satisfied curl to his mouth as he said, "Lung is subdued, as are eight probable ABB gang members."

The surviving E88 gangbangers were long gone.

"...This is Console," came the reply, after a moment. "Armsmaster, repeat that?"

Restraining himself from rolling his eyes, Armsmaster repeated himself

A beat. "Roger that, Armsmaster. PRT and BBPD on route now. ETA three minutes and seven minutes respectively."

Armsmaster spent the next several minutes watching carefully. It was still possible, if unlikely, that E88 capes could appear, and if Oni Lee was laying in wait nearby, he would definitely interfere before Lung could be taken into custody.

Contrary to all of his expectations, however, nothing managed to go wrong in the next three minutes. The PRT transport arrived, escorted by Miss Militia on her motorcycle. That was fair. Lung was a big deal, and with Oni Lee still out and about, more than deserving of a two hero escort.

"Nice job," Miss Militia said as the PRT troopers foamed Lung and prepared to transport him.

Armsmaster nodded in acknowledgement of the compliment. It felt arrogant to thank her for it, though he was gratified by the success and the acknowledgement of it.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing to have Lung off the streets," Miss Militia said in a low tone. "But this could end badly."

That was true. The gangs in Brockton Bay had been laying low, especially since Auspice killed the Simurgh. Lung's capture and subsequent removal from the criminal scene might be just enough to encourage the E88 to start moving again. If they tried to move on the remnants of the ABB -- well, the ABB wouldn't stand much chance, without their leader and powerhouse of a cape, but it would be the civilians of Brockton Bay who suffered for it.

On the other hand, if Kaiser and his capes crawled out of whatever hole they'd been hiding in, it would be easier to take them into custody, too.

"I know," Armsmaster said simply.

Either way, at least they had one extremely dangerous villain off the streets.