Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

[Xalimur Spud]

Tried some, felt too much into the fourth wall, I much prefer less references and deconstruction/combination of varying technologies like Joe does in BCF.

Click to shrink...

I like BCF because how incredible Lord write and expand canon character more than canon.

 

[LordRoustabout]

99 Main Event - Preamble Hemorrhagia

Preamble Hemorrhagia

Hemorrhagia stood at the Butcher's right hand, within their base of operation in Brockton Bay. A hastily converted abandoned factory, secured against intrusion with obscured points of access to allow covert entry and exit. When operating in a city with as many enemies as they currently enjoyed that level of security was a necessity. Still, it hadn't stopped them from being discovered, at least in a fashion.

They were listening to the gang's newest recruit make his case for membership. The boy had managed to approach a lower ranked unpowered member and cleared enough checks to eventually be allowed a chance to present himself before the Butcher herself. He really was doing a very good job of it. Presenting a convincing story without laying it on too thick. Explaining his history and his powers. What he could offer to the Teeth and why they should take him in. Eager with just a bit of naivete. The perfect candidate.

Too perfect.

"…and after what the Merchants have done to this city there was no way I was going anywhere near them, but people know about the Teeth, right? When I heard you'd shown up I knew this was my chance. So I pulled together everything I'd been working on and took a shot." He said, displaying his crude but quite thematic armor for their examination.

His smile was hopeful and just the least bit uncertain. He'd been coached, that much was obvious. A tinker, even a young tinker, wouldn't need to lay it on this thick.

At least his gear was convincing. Whoever had sent him hadn't made that rookie mistake of propping up their plant to an excessive degree. Hemorrhagia could see the pieces that had been salvaged and reworked. A tinker still in the dumpster diving stage of their career. The overall effect fit the aesthetic of the Teeth better than any sleek suit of elegant technology would have, and the boy was certainly leaning into that theme.

From her seat Butcher gave the boy an appraising look. "Well, I believe there may be some potential, provided you can prove yourself." His face lit up in sharp contrast to the blades and spikes that had been almost haphazardly added to his suit. Particularly to the two large wheels that served as a concession to his chosen moniker.

The Butcher turned to one of the unpowered members of the group. Hemorrhagia thought his name was Dave or Dan. It was hard to keep track with how frequently they cycled through both cities and support staff. He'd been with them at least since Philadelphia and mostly managed munitions for the gang.

"Take Chariot to the garage and help him get set up. Maintenance and support only. We don't have time to entertain any new projects at the moment." She added, turning back to look at the boy. "We can talk later about additional funding and materials, if it looks like you have a future with the team."

"Thank you. I won't let you down." He said as Dan or Dave started rounding up other unpowered troops to help the tinker. Hemorrhagia waited until they had left, leaving just her and the Butcher alone in the corner office of upper level of the factory.

During moments like this, it was hard not to think of her as Quarrel. Her friend was still in there, but things had changed since she had successfully challenged Thirteen. They had talked about it beforehand, what it could mean and what would happen afterwards, one way or another.

That fight had been so drawn out that she hadn't known which way it would go. Without the amount of planning they had done, the precise mapping of the battlefield and use of the environment of New York to her advantage, Quarrel wouldn't have stood a chance. Instead she had been able to slowly wear down Thirteen and take her place in legend.

And then things had changed. Obviously, they would. That was the point, the reason anyone tries for the position in the first place. It was the ultimate goal of every member of the Teeth, to either claim or, if the worst happened, reclaim the role of the Butcher.

But Quarrel hadn't celebrated her ascension. Instead she had become contemplative. Introspective. It made sense, to a certain degree. With the minds of all previous leaders to consult, of course you'd be inclined to look inwards, but things went beyond that. They extended into the nature of the power she had gained and the consequences it held for her.

Becoming the Butcher was as much a burden as a triumph. That was clear now and was more than enough to stifle any dreams that Hemorrhagia had entertained about trying for the post herself. Every person to become the Butcher had seen themselves as the triumphant victor, the one who would stand the test of time and overwhelm their enemies with an unstoppable combination of powers. And every one of them had fallen, becoming nothing more than a historic footnote and source of consultation and advice.

That wasn't the future that Quarrel wanted for herself. Hemorrhagia couldn't blame her, but that was the desire that had brought the gang back to Brockton Bay, into a situation that was more dangerous and complicated than anything they'd faced before. And it was only getting more complicated.

"You know he's a plant, right?" She asked the Butcher. Her former friend turned slowly to face her.

"Obviously." She said in an even voice.

Hemorrhagia let out a huff. "Right. Honestly, he was barely trying."

"Our enemies continue to underestimate us, to their detriment." She said, leaning back in her chair. "Evidently not one of Kaisers. A plan like this is beyond even the elevated ambitions of Skidmark. The Undersiders are too new and too limited for such plays and Piggot is not the kind of director to attempt such an action even if her position was secure." She turned back to Hemorrhagia. "Which makes the boy's backer evident."

"Coil." Hemorrhagia said.

The Butcher nodded once and then smiled. "The man's overconfidence is a gift. We will not squander it."

"And you think it's safe to entertain this kind of infiltration attempt?" She asked.

The woman who used to be her closest friend gave another single nod. "If Coil wanted to crush us, he would have attacked as soon as Chariot confirmed our primary location." They'd known that, and were ready if anything was attempted. "That would have been Kaiser's move, but Coil is playing a different game."

Hemorrhagia nodded. "He wants to draw this out. Play the groups against each other then pick up the pieces."

The Butcher let out a humorless laugh. "Every thinker mastermind believes they are the first to attempt such a plan. Working from the shadows and pulling strings." She shook her head and a cruel smile appeared on her face. "And now we have a string of our own, leading directly back to Coil."

"How do you want to manage this?" She asked.

"Keep him busy and distracted for the moment." The Butcher ordered. "Lotus Eater will be arriving with the next wave of reinforcements. She'll be more than enough to manage things with the boy going forward."

Hemorrhagia cringed slightly as her memories of that woman flashed through her head. There was a reason she had chosen to work in a different cell, in a different city.

"Do you think that will be enough?" She asked. "Lotus Eater's power is a little… specialized. It might not be enough for what we're looking for."

"It will be enough." The Butcher said. "And I'm not just relying on her power." Hemorrhagia gave the Butcher a confused look. "He's a teenage boy. I remember what that was like. Lotus Eater will be more than sufficient, at least in terms of managing his attention. If additional incentives are required, we can address those as needed."

Hemorrhagia nodded. There was a reason tinkers were usually reluctant to approach gangs. It was possible that Chariot or his employer had prepared some countermeasures against those tactics, but they wouldn't last against Lotus Eater. After that, it would be a familiar story that wasn't likely to end well for the boy.

"Good." The Butcher said, "Now, is everything in place for the Empire's attack?"

"I finished the final check. Both sites are prepared." Hemorrhagia said.

It was one of the more brutal decisions she had witnessed during her time with the Teeth, but their presence in Brockton Bay was a contentious decision within the gang. Even with the money still coming in from the ABB's contract, it had been a hard sell.

So the Butcher had taken action to address internal strife in a way that was somehow very appropriate to the Teeth. The less enthusiastic members and their supporters had been positioned away from the main base of operations, in areas that were more secure, less invested, and further from the core conflicts of the city.

The impression among the capes and troops stationed there was that they were holding fallback points for the gang. They fully expected the main force of the Teeth to be crushed in a coordinated assault, leaving them to regroup with any capes who could slip free before retreating from the city. Something of a familiar story for those who had been with the gang long enough.

Unfortunately, remote and isolated wasn't the same as secure. The Empire used very basic means of information gathering. If the Teeth had been fully consolidated then maybe they would have sniffed out their main base eventually, but it had been simplicity itself to allow them to 'discover' the fallback points. The size and complexity of the Empire also meant that keeping their operations secret was nearly a lost cause. Combined with that charity event providing the most obvious time of attack, the Butcher had been able to use what was supposed to be a crushing offensive by the Empire to benefit her own position.

There was a certain mindset that ran through the kind of capes who joined the Teeth. They weren't the kind to forgive slights or run from a challenge. Aggression had defined the gang through its entire history. The Empire would hit those capes who believed themselves to be safe and removed from the situation in the city. Where other gangs might take that as a sign to leave, any member of the Teeth would demand a repayment in blood, either for themselves or their comrades.

Effectively, she was throwing dissenters into the fire to stoke the gang's anger and ambition. It was the kind of thing with the potential to go very, very wrong and the fact that she was even attempting it spoke to the depth of experience that came with being the Butcher.

It also spoke to the arrogance. That wasn't something she would voice directly, but seeing Quarrel before and after her ascension she could recognize it. The Butcher was a collective. They did not think in the same way as other people. They did not entertain the same concerns and were willing to take definitive action on matters that would have paralyzed other capes. It was the cornerstone for the gang's operation. Aggression on a level that no one else would dare and the ability to absorb and regroup from defeats that would have crippled any other organization.

Most of that, probably all of that, was down to the Butcher. In a battle of extremes, the very nature of their existence meant the other person would always blink first. Capes were defined by how far they were willing to go and their ability to manage the consequence of their more extreme actions. For the Butcher, the consequences would always be moderated. It let them push harder and take more risks, even beyond what the typical member of the Teeth would accept.

"We have spotters in place ready to alert us to the Empire's attack." Really, people were so accustomed to the look members of the Teeth put forward that they forgot how easy it was to blend in just by removing the spikes and bones.

The timing of the Empire's attack was relatively easy to guess. Obviously, they were going to act after the Protectorate had committed their Capes to that fundraiser. Cape battles were typically measured in minutes and the Protectorate didn't have anyone they could deploy in time to make a difference.

"As for relief forces…" Hemorrhagia continued.

"Animos and Vex." The Butcher said.

Hemorrhagia nodded. "They are standing by at a midpoint. Deployment to be based on the composition of capes that are sent against each site."

"They are to cover retreat only. If one site gets completely overwhelmed, we cut our losses and leave them to the Empire. Or the Protectorate." The Butcher said coolly. "We can repay them during the counterstrike."

Hemorrhagia nodded again. There would be a counterstrike. The Empire had enough fixed assets and known bases that targets were plentiful. A quick hit and retreat before they could respond in force would be enough to balance the scales. After all, the Empire had a lot to lose, and the Teeth had everything to gain.

More than they could imagine, if what they'd been told was true.

Hemorrhagia swallowed her nervousness and put on a brave front. "Would you prefer to be on standby for the deployment, or should we…"

"We will depart now." The Butcher said. Hemorrhagia nodded. The woman who used to be her friend was already stripping off the iconic portions of her costume. She moved without a shred of concern for modesty. Possibly the result of wearing more than a dozen bodies across the span of her life.

Hemorrhagia took a breath and pulled in the blood spikes spread across her body. They left hairline cuts, tiny lines of red scabs ready to erupt into the terrifying spikes, barbs, and blades she was known for.

Usually terrifying. That had always been her impression she'd enjoyed, right up to the moment she had encountered that… thing from the Celestial Forge. Proto Aima. The First Blood.

Amongst Apeiron's team, that had been the only truly monstrous member. Red fibers molded into the form of an animal with just enough human characteristic to be truly unnerving. The way it… she? had jumped up upon seeing Hemorrhagia enter that bar. The gleam of excitement and even hunger in those glowing eyes.

And that was before she had learned that the creature had ordered a glass of blood as her choice of refreshment.

Blood had an unsettling element to it. It was something intrinsic to the human mindset. Even for those accustomed to working around it, it never became more than tolerated. Spilled blood was never a source of comfort. It was a sign of something gone very wrong. Hemorrhagia couldn't count the number of times she had secured a victory thanks to the shock or fear of her opponent upon seeing her powers at work.

That was something that would not apply to Proto Aima. From the way the creature had reacted it was like she had covered herself in candy. Even through those inhuman features, Hemorrhagia had been able to see hunger, excitement, and a kind of giddy joy that still disturbed her.

"You are thinking about Proto Aima again." The Butcher said. It wasn't exactly an admonishment, but there was a sense of disappointment behind her words.

Hemorrhagia swallowed. "I've never seen… 'someone' react like that to my power. It was disturbing."

The Butcher gave a single nod. "No power is absolute. There is always a counter or a situation where you will be at a disadvantage. Accept, adapt, and move on."

Hemorrhagia nodded and did her best to take her leader's advice. Managing intrinsic reactions wasn't quite so easy. For most parahumans, their powers were such a fundamental part of who they were that finding themselves helpless would cause no end of panic. That was a cornerstone of Animos's strategy, and something they had seen in action plenty of times. Hemorrhagia refused to be like one of those capes who had cracked in the absence of their power, only to be trampled by Animos's beast form.

"We are dealing with a lot of unknowns." Hemorrhagia said. Honestly, she had no idea how her powers would interact with Proto Aima's, but she doubted it would be good. "And that's without even addressing Apeiron." She gave the Butcher a concerned look. "After what he said, is there any…"

"No." She said sharply, waving her hand in a cutting motion. Hemorrhagia gave her a concerned look. "They were trying for a while, but since this morning they've been quiet. I have things under control."

The Butcher suddenly froze mid-gesture as a soft light and warm tone filled the office. Hemorrhagia stared at the source of the disturbance. A glowing node of crystal, suspended in the air by the Butcher's right hand.

The interior of the crystal pulsed with refracted light. There was a slight stirring in the air as the layered and overlapped fields of force that made up the node folded in on themselves over and over again, creating the almost sweet tone that was iconic of that particular power.

Caydancil's shaker effect. Space and energy merged into a living force of containment. Hemorrhagia had only seen it a handful of times. Less than a handful, really. During early demonstrations and then once during very specific and careful applications.

The node was different from what she remembered. Over a foot long and pulsing with a tangible force, rather than the shards of crystal that had been demonstrated before. The Butcher looked at the node for a long moment, then made a careful gesture, causing the effect to vanish.

Hemorrhagia nodded slowly. It was a more dramatic demonstration than she could have asked for. If the Butcher was feeling confident enough to use THAT power, then her conviction was clear. The way those nodes had interacted with Six's explosive teleport was the reason Caydancil had become Seven in the first place.

Despite the strength of the display, there was no hint of smugness from the Butcher. She just observed the air where the node had appeared with a blank expression. Hemorrhagia could recognize the signs of the collective in discussion and left them to it while she moved to another room and changed into her civilian clothing.

The Butcher joined her shortly after. Without her costume she looked… perhaps still a little detached, but not to the point where they would attract attention. Which was the purpose of doing this here and now.

The timing was critical. That's what so many things came down to. It was something they had been relying on when they took this job, only for the majority of it to fall out from under them, leaving them to navigate a new and dangerous situation on their own.

Most of it had fallen out, but not all of it. Even with the amount of care being extended, the safeguards and precautions, they had still been able to arrange this. The single point that might well decide if this was actually worth all the effort they had expanded. All the resources that had been committed and the monstrous risk that had been so casually accepted.

With great care, Hemorrhagia retrieved a small cooler from a chest freezer. A quick check confirmed it was still undisturbed, as it had been since before they left New York. It wasn't something she was willing to take chances on, not here and not now.

Silently, she followed the Butcher out of the hideout. On the street they could have been any two women dealing with the aftermath of the attacks and state of the city. They got into a rental car, booked in a false name through dummy accounts, and the Butcher drove them to their destination.

It was closer to the Dark Zone than Hemorrhagia was comfortable with, but thankfully that meant there were fewer people to deal with. They wouldn't have attracted much attention to begin with, but any attention would be too much for something like this.

Fortunately, they didn't attract any eyes on their way to the meeting location. An abandoned warehouse, like so many others in the city. The product of the rapid collapse of a heavily industrial area. Hemorrhagia had seen enough of them in her time with the Teeth, but even then, not to the level of Brockton Bay. Probably because it was a shipping city, rather than pure manufacturing. There had been a focus on storage, and that storage had been left empty when the trade dried up.

She was understanding the jokes about Brockton Bay being built for supervillains. Normally there would be at least a little bit of difficulty finding a place for this kind of meeting. Instead the only challenge was making sure they were going to the correct abandoned warehouse out of the dozen that could be found in the area.

The street was quiet enough that they were able to slip into the building without being seen. She wasn't completely certain they had been unobserved, but she trusted the Butcher's array of powers to safeguard them, at least to a point. Past that point, they were flying as blind as anyone else in the city. In the entire country, if she was being honest.

The noonday sun was beating down, with the dusty air of the interior highlighting beams of harsh light from scattered holes in the roof. Late April in Brockton Bay was considerably warmer than in New York. The cooler in her hand was already dripping condensation onto the cement floor as she trailed after the Butcher.

They made their way to the exact center of the warehouse, following instructions precisely. It was the first point of contact since they had arrived in the city. A meeting that was overdue and had everything riding on it. Hemorrhagia took a shallow breath of the dusty air and focused on the blood flowing through her veins. The soothing circulation that for her was so much more than just a bodily function.

"You're nervous." The Butcher said. It was a clear statement. Setting aside all of her other powers, she could see a person's circulatory system. More than that, she was Quarrel. Had been Quarrel. Her friend was well acquainted with her nervous habits.

"We don't know what to expect." She admitted. They also didn't know if they should expect anything, but bringing that up wouldn't help the situation. "No contact beyond the blind drops, and it all comes down to this."

"It will work. They will come." She said, Hemorrhagia hoped that the Butcher was speaking from experience, or drawing on some combination of powers rather than betting the entire operation on blind faith. It would be nice to imagine that she had seen something like this before. For the Butcher that was usually the case, but things in this city were so far from normal that even the myriad lives of the combined Butchers didn't seem like they could measure up.

So they waited. In the heat and dust of the abandoned warehouse, they waited. The seconds ticked down to the appointed time. The time they had been given. The precise time that was representative of a power strong enough to justify the risk of this venture.

Hemorrhagia concealed her concern as she stood next to the Butcher. Here, in civilian clothing, they looked like two out of place tourists, not the terrors of the parahuman world they had established themselves to be, even before Quarrel's ascension. She tightened her grip on the handle of the cooler as it collected more condensation. She checked once more to make sure the seals were still in place. The Butcher gave her an admonishing look and she fell back into a formal stance. This wasn't the time where they could afford to project any level of weakness.

Specifically, this wasn't the time. She wasn't actually staring at her watch, but she had a sense of the time. In her head she was counting down the seconds. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two.

It seemed she was slow in her personal count. Before she finished, the air in front of them seemed to bow inward. It was like looking at a section of the warehouse through a bottle or some kind of lens. Then the distortion twisted, appearing to wrap in on itself. Hemorrhagia felt queasy just looking at it, but this was one area where the Butcher's experience was clearly helpful. She had seen spatial effects before and was able to observe the growing distortion with nothing but a critical eye.

The distortion seemed to rotate, fold in on itself, and then turn inside out. That brought a new level of disorientation to the effect as a separate space was superimposed on the patch of warehouse floor. The twist of space brough images of sterile metal corridors, complicated technology, and a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a jumpsuit with a cocky grin on his face.

The entire production was accompanied by a specific sound que that cause Hemorrhagia mouth to drop open. All the seriousness of the situation, everything that was at stake, the risks that were being taken, and this was how he chose to open things.

"Really?" The Butcher asked, giving the man a flat look. Well, the image of the man. Hemorrhagia could tell he wasn't exactly all here. Parts of his body were wispy and transparent and others were subjected to the same lensing effect that ringed the entire display. There was a sense of presence, but not a complete one. Like he was standing in the warehouse without leaving his original location.

"Hey, it's the ultimate Warp Zone!" Uber's grin grew wider as he spoke in that obnoxious movie trailer voice he had always used for the pair's videos. "We can't let that opportunity pass." He said, inordinately proud of the inclusion of the Mario pipe sound into the effect.

The Butcher tilted her head, evaluating the effect. "This is a superposition. You haven't left your pocket dimension."

"Got it in one." He said with a nod. "City's too hot at the moment. Can't risk starting the instance until we've finished grinding."

Hemorrhagia could barely follow his terminology and it was clear the Butcher wasn't even trying. Instead she simply regarded the clownish man with a level expression.

"But this is secure?" She asked.

"Beyond secure." He said with confidence. "We reworked the tech we picked up from Dodge. Leet broke out some of the good stuff to get this set up and everyone brought their A-game to make sure it went smoothly. Got a dozen blind drop points for resupply and floating dimensional coordinates. We're even harder to nail down than the Toybox. Trust me, nobody's getting at us here."

"Except through your resupply." Hemorrhagia said plainly. Uber brushed her off.

"Not going to happen. It's all deliveries to storage locations with no ties to us. They drop the stuff off, we fold it in. No point of vulnerability, not even on the financial side." He explained with a kind of smug confidence.

That at least was true. Whatever assets had survived the destruction of the ABB were well entrenched and being managed at the highest levels. No doubt people would have loved to cut off the Teeth's funding, or any of the other contracts that had been put in place, but it seemed the money was going to continue until either the funds or the contract ran out.

"It is good to know you've taken adequate precautions." The Butcher said.

"Hey, we'd have to be stupid to mess with the situation out there before we're ready." He quipped in response. Hemorrhagia could have made some comments about his perceived intelligence based on his past antics in videos, but decided to keep things to herself.

"And you're confident that you'll be ready?" The Butcher asked.

"Well, that depends." He said, posing theatrically. "Afterall, we need to make sure the endeavor is actually worth pursuing." His eyes jumped to the cooler that Hemorrhagia was carrying. The Butcher nodded to her and she stepped forward towards the effect.

It was even more disorienting up close. At times it was so real it almost seemed to be pressing in on her, then suddenly it was nothing but images and sounds that her mind said couldn't possibly exist. She gritted her teeth and pushed forward. With no clear indication of what to do she placed the cooler at Uber's feet and retreated from the disturbing nature of the effect.

Uber reached over to one of the partially visible pieces of machinery and started working. Hemorrhagia tilted her head as she watched the man focus intently on his work. Tinker tech was notoriously difficult to use. Unless it had been specifically designed for other people there were usually hundreds of subtle and unintuitive aspects to its operation that would leave any non-tinker at a loss. Even devices that seemed to have comparatively simple methods of use, like a gun or vehicle, would have subtle aspects to how they needed to be used to avoid damage or catastrophic failure.

It was something she hadn't considered before, but Uber typically utilized Leet's technology to the same degree as the tinker himself. The catastrophic failures that had become associated with the pair meant that nobody would really associate him with effective technology use, but the fact that he could use it at all was impressive.

His technique-based thinker power clearly had some glaring gaps in its coverage and application, but he couldn't be faulted for not pushing it while it mattered. He operated the device with an easy confidence that she doubted anyone else would feel around tinker tech of that scale and suddenly the cooler went from sitting on the warehouse floor to joining Uber and the shadows of those corridors in that disturbing superimposed state.

He casually reached down and tore off the seals before flipping up the lid to the small cooler. He moved with excessive flourish, almost posing as he did and flaunting his slightly too small jumpsuit to absolutely no comment from either of them. The man had gym muscles, not working muscles. His build was designed for appearances, not function. Hemorrhagia knew the difference between them and how much that kind of thing could matter in a life or death fight.

Watching Uber more closely, she may have been a little too harsh in her initial assessment. He gave no reaction to the contents of the cooler, which caused Hemorrhagia to slightly revise her estimates of the man. Plenty of capes were full of bluster but would blanch and shirk when confronted with that kind of thing. It was something the Teeth used to their advantage, mostly through the designs of their costumes.

Without hesitation he reached down and pulled out the contents of the cooler. The hair was brittle from the cold, but he managed to keep a grip on it as he examined the object. He calmly considered the deformed shape and discolored, frozen skin.

"Which one was this?" He asked, looking into the face of the severed head.

"Trickster, most likely." The Butcher said. "It seems like he was the only one involved in the incident before the team left for Boston. It appears there was another incident in that city, but obviously we weren't in a position to collect anything at the time."

"Shame." He said, feeling out the weight of the head. The surface deformities were obvious, but they went deeper. The skull was inches thick in some places and the jaw was so drawn and stretched that it looked like the mouth was actually oriented sideways. "Still, it's lucky you guys do that trophy thing, otherwise we wouldn't be able to confirm this. Wouldn't want to go into something like this blind, right?"

For Hemorrhagia, that would be enough to keep her from going in at all, but the Butcher just nodded at the man's words so she held her tongue.

"We performed our own assessment, but of course do not have the same resources and expertise as your… group." The Butcher said. She gestured slightly to Hemorrhagia and she nodded before responding.

The head had been the only recoverable piece from three similar bodies the Teeth had found while investigating the incident that apparently drove the Travelers out of the city. The Butcher was still sore from a previous encounter and wasn't about to accept apparent good fortune.

They hadn't found any sign of the forty missing people who had vanished in the night, but digging deeper with the benefit of powers had uncovered several points of interest. Evidence of Trickster's power being used frantically and extensively as well as what looked like three related effects.

And then the bodies. Warped and mutated, but still fresh. One had been torn to pieces while the other was crushed by a block of concrete from the chest up. The third had allowed them to recover this head. Something put on ice for a planned confrontation with the Travelers at a later date, until March had come calling and been absolutely besides herself at the prospect and what it could mean.

"There appears to be a Corona Pollentia, but the deformation makes it hard to be sure. Additionally, my ability to examine neural tissue is limited." She explained.

It fell to her to handle exsanguination of any trophies the gang wanted to preserve. Usually, they just went with bones, but her power was equally adept at that kind of work. Years of experience had given her a comprehensive understanding of the human body to the point where she was typically the go-to for emergency medical treatment.

Obviously, she had a lot more experience working on limbs and torso wounds than damage to the brain. That kind of injury was beyond the patch jobs she would be called in to handle. While she could feel there was something in that thing's brain, she couldn't tell if it was exactly what they were looking for.

"No worries." Uber said, lightly tossing the frozen head in his hand. "Leet and Bakuda have been going mad with the medical work. I'll be able to confirm if we're looking at the real thing or not."

The real thing. In other words, a functional Corona Pollentia. Meaning that the clones weren't just drones or constructs. They were actual parahumans, with connections to the agents. The same agents as the parahumans they were cloned from.

"I would be interested to know how March became aware of this particular effect." The Butcher said calmly.

"Seriously? You want to know how March keeps track of things? I mean, that's what she does." He looked back at the head in his hand. "But the Travelers themselves? May's been keeping notes on weird power expressions for years. She knew something was off about the Travelers. Pattern of movement or something. Once she got here and really started cutting loose, she was able to pick out the details."

"I didn't think her power was that expansive." Hemorrhagia said.

Uber just shrugged and gave the head a little toss. "Having a highly motivated research team helped. Was able to chew through data like you wouldn't believe. Which is what led to that little offer."

"Yes, the offer." The Butcher said, looking at Uber. "It's a strong claim. Some would say too strong. That it might be tailored to what someone would wish to hear, rather than what's actually possible."

A wicked grin spread across Uber's face. "Oh, it's possible. May saw it herself." He looked from them to the head and back again, his eyes gleaming in the light of the spatial distortion. "Town called White Rock. Don't bother looking for it, the whole thing was scrubbed by the Protectorate. Buried deep. But March was there. Saw it happen."

He held up the head and angled it towards them. "Connections to the agents can be modified, if you know how. Happens in clusters all the time, but most of them don't notice or understand what's going on. Not something available to most capes, unless you've already got a set of connections to work with." He said, nodding to the Butcher. "Or the ability to create new ones." He lifted the head. "Or both."

That was the offer. The thing that they couldn't turn down. The one factor that could justify all this risk.

In the world of capes, power was everything, but it was incredibly difficult to obtain in any meaningful fashion. A trigger granted power, sometimes fantastic power, but there would always be limits. Always points beyond your reach. Practice and dedication could improve your control. Creative uses of your abilities could stretch what you could accomplish, but actually getting stronger was mostly a pipe dream.

So you sought different kinds of power. Resources, allied forces, bases of operation, connections, teammates. Soft power, at least in comparison to the abilities at your disposal, but necessary nonetheless. Hard power, power that enhanced your own capabilities, was incredibly rare. Pursuing it generally came with terrible risk or ruinous cost. Often both.

In a way, the Butcher was a perfect symbol of that. She represented the chance for power, for immortality, but that chance was paired with the risk of needing to defeat the strongest cape in the Teeth, and the cost was clearly more than most people understood, not just because of what it did to you, but what it meant when your time was up.

The Butcher Collective was a powerful resource for the Teeth, but it wasn't something anyone aspired to. They wanted the power of the Butcher, not to become a voice in the head of their successor. For the prospect of avoiding or even mitigating that fate, she could understand why Quarrel had taken this chance.

"I don't suppose you'd care to enlighten us to how this is accomplished?" The Butcher asked.

"What, and spoil the ending?" He joked. "No, just that you need a living parahuman with a shared connection." He lifted the head again, causing flecks of ice to drop from its surface. "And it seems we've happened upon an unlimited supply."

"And this is worth it?" Hemorrhagia asked. She looked between the Butcher and Uber. "There are other power boosts that fail to deliver what they promise. The Adepts' rituals hardly make them an unstoppable force. I just want to make sure this is worth the risk we're all taking."

"Oh, it's worth the risk." Uber said. She could hear the anticipation in his voice. "March has seen how far this can go. Stack enough connections and you become a new class of parahuman. A global threat." He grinned at Hemorrhagia. "If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself. Actually, I think you already have."

The Butcher tilted her head. "You are certain this is the method Apeiron uses?"

"Well, not certain-certain, but yeah, it checks out. Man's an admitted power tinker with a team on the same level. You can practically see the bleed over between them. I mean, you saw the guy in person. You had to notice something was going on."

The Butcher smiled slightly as she brought a hand to her chin. "He did have a good heart."

Uber gave her a confused look, but quickly shook it off and fell back into what was clearly a character bit. It probably wasn't worth getting into that particular aspect of Apeiron's biology, or how it contrasted with the rest of his team. Or how the Butcher had reacted to it. That certain enthusiasm that came out when she was describing what she saw…

Really, all that mattered was that under the surface, the Celestial Forge were even less human than they appeared.

"Right…" He said. "The thing is, this is the new reality. The game's changed. Apeiron's not playing at the same level as other capes. This is going to be the future. Capes who can manage this, and then everyone else. The gap's too big for you to ignore. You either keep up or roll over, because the new standard for parahumans is as far beyond your typical cape as they are from the average joe on the street."

"Perhaps." The Butcher said. "White Rock. What happened there? If one cape took so much power, how did the Protectorate manage to bury it?"

"Oh, you're gonna love this." Uber said. "The whole mess was over a portal. Best the Protectorate was able to do was chase her into the other world and seal things off. With that much power, she's probably ruling the planet by now." He grinned even wider. "That's the new standard I'm talking about. Those are the stakes we're playing for. So, are you in?"

The Butcher considered for a moment, then inclined her head slightly. "Yes, I believe we are."

"Yeah, I figured, since you'd be the easiest one to set up with this kind of thing." Uber said smugly.

"Are you certain?" Hemorrhagia asked. "I mean, the risks and the complexity of this…"

Uber shook his head. "Typical cluster you need to fight over the power, since you don't have a central point for it to flow towards. Butcher kind of has that built in. Past hosts are weaker, so it's not like they can challenge the process."

The Butcher suddenly froze. It looked like one of the conferences, but it seemed to have more weight than Hemorrhagia was used to seeing. More tension.

"No." The Butcher finally said, breaking her silence. "Of course they can't."

Hemorrhagia gave her former friend a concerned look, but Uber didn't seem to pick up anything of concern.

"Excellent. Now, for our next move?" He asked.

The Butcher smiled, either moving on from whatever had just happened or expertly concealing her reaction to it. "Some luck on that front. Coil has attempted to infiltrate our organization."

Uber blinked. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "A young tinker of suspicious enthusiasm for the principles represented by the Teeth and a total disregard for the level of risk we are incurring during our operation in this city." She shook her head. "Honestly, it's almost insulting."

"Makes sense." He said. "Keep to March's timetable and thinker powers go wonky. Coil probably thinks he has everything in the bag, and will keep thinking that as long as you move on our signal."

"About that." The Butcher said. "The injuries March sustained were… extensive. I was surprised to learn of her survival, even in the state of reduced capacity you mentioned."

"There were extenuating circumstances." Uber said dismissively. "We have things in hand."

"What, is she a mess of cancer as well?" Hemorrhagia asked, remembering the regrown hand that Bakuda had proudly displayed during her video exchange with Apeiron.

"No, separate issue." He said. "Like I said, I have it in hand."

"How?" The Butcher demanded. "Considering she stands as a key component of this operation, I think some assurances are in order. How do you 'have it in hand'?"

Uber smirked at them. "Let's just say blackout fields and elemental crystals aren't the only things people have been able to pick up from Apeiron. There's a technique that top thinkers have been picking over on private groups."

"Top thinkers." Hemorrhagia said. "And you're included in that?"

"For this? Fuck yeah I am." He said with enthusiasm. "They can bust their ass to crack the mechanics all they like, but they need someone to figure out the technique, and that's all me."

The Butcher gave a slight nod. "Medical technology, or procedures?" She waved her hand. "It doesn't matter. March will be ready when we need to move?"

"I'll make sure of it. There's another guy working on the same application. He's being cagey about it, but there's a technique to picking up on that stuff." Uber explained. His excitement was palpable. "I'm shooting for a lower target and have a better handle on the procedure. Gonna beat him to it. Just give me a few more days and I'll be ready to go."

"I may need to hold you to that." The Butcher said. "The Empire's offensive will not be their last, and there will be costs to address. The Teeth cannot fight the entire city on their own."

To say nothing of what would happen if the Celestial Forge decided to step in. The other gangs' fear of the results of Apeiron confronting the Butcher would keep them out of the field for a time, but not forever.

"You won't have to." Uber said. "I know this city. The gangs don't play nice with each other. This deal isn't going to hold, particularly when powers start flying. Plus, it's pretty clear that Coil will be trying to drag this out as much as possible."

"Almost certainly." The Butcher said. "If you are able to hold to your timetable, then matters can progress. The Teeth will hold until the time comes to move against Coil."

"The timetable's not going to be a problem." Uber said. "March might not be up to running the city, but I can work with her for the broad strokes. Timing for the big stuff is still locked down."

There was a look in Uber's eyes that Hemorrhagia found slightly unnerving. His casual mention of March's level of influence, and then complete disregard of any risk to himself. She had seen enough thinkers at work for it to raise serious red flags.

And if she'd noticed it, then the Butcher definitely had. She checked in the corner of her eye and there was just the hint of a reaction. A reassessment of roles and shift in appraisals. Not completely, but it was very clear there were other hands at work here.

Hemorrhagia cleared her throat and moved to change the subject. "Even if we secure access from Coil's spy, this isn't going to be a simple operation. It would help if there was some level of distraction. Could Bakuda…"

Uber shook his head. "Not going to happen. She's mono-focused on her recovery and without Oni Lee in the field her tech's going to run out before it can make a difference." There wasn't even a hint of the technique Uber had been focusing on being used for Bakuda's benefit. Possibly a limit of its application, but more likely further evidence of influence on the part of the timing thinker. "But don't worry, we've got something lined up."

Hemorrhagia blinked. "What, from Leet?"

Uber nodded with a wide grin on his face. "Oh yeah. It's gonna be more than enough. We'll have it ready to go." He paused for a second and glanced to the side before clearing his throat. "I'll make sure of it."

The Butcher nodded. "Acceptable. Now, tentative timeline?"

"Three or four days." He said. "We'll have better estimates once we see how the situation is developing. We'll update you with blind data drops. No more face to face until we're ready to move."

"Agreed." The Butcher said.

Hemorrhagia nodded. This was risky enough. If they didn't need to perform the handover, they never would have chanced it. Odds were that Survey was directing her attention towards the mobilizing Empire, assuming she was actually capable of that kind of clairvoyance. Dealing with an unknown thinker was always a headache. The success of their entire operation depended on assuming limits for a group that made a career out of defying them.

He dropped the head back into the cooler and picked it up by the handle. "First message will confirm viability, but I think that's pretty much a formality." He smiled at them. "Just imagine, less than a week and we'll be cracking the limits on parahuman power." His eyes gleamed. "And standing on the same level as the Celestial Forge."

"I look forward to it." The Butcher replied with her own smirk.

They watched as Uber deactivated the not-quite portal effect, causing the distortion to collapse in on itself. And, because the clown duo apparently couldn't help themselves, it played that pipe sound once more as it disappeared.

Hemorrhagia let out a breath and slumped. The Butcher just glanced at her before turning and striding towards the door. She quickly straightened and hurried after her former friend.

"He's compromised." She said quickly.

"Yes." The Butcher said simply. "But not to the degree you believe." Hemorrhagia gave her a confused look. "Effects of his power. March is building on what was already there. Thinkers." She shook her head. "They take self-delusion to the level of an artform."

Hemorrhagia considered herself before continuing. "And March doesn't?"

"March is broken." She stated directly. "She just broke in a way that was useful to her. And us."

"You don't think she's playing us?" Hemorrhagia asked.

The Butcher shook her head once. "No. Or not more than she plays anyone. She's serious about this kind of power."

"Right, but why now? Why here?" Hemorrhagia asked. "If she knew about this kind of power, why did she wait to pursue it until after someone else achieved it? Why try in a city as dangerous as Brockton Bay?"

"She didn't." The Butcher said. Hemorrhagia looked to her. "Clusters. They're the foundation for this exchange of power, and March spent her entire career chasing Flechette. And continued chasing her to Brockton Bay."

"Flechette?" Hemorrhagia asked. "I don't know much about her…" She had been active in New York along with the Teeth, but the Protectorate didn't allow Wards to engage gangs like theirs. The most she could remember was seeing the girl on some advertisements put up around the city, but frankly most of the Protectorate heroes blended together.

A statement that was possibly a bit ironic, coming from a member of the Teeth.

"Flechette has a high strength striker power, though she currently uses it through ranged weapons. She also possesses enhanced accuracy and timing powers." She explained.

For Hemorrhagia the pieces fell into place even as the Butcher explained them.

"This isn't some new objective for March." The Butcher continued. "It's not a story she fabricated to bring us on board, it's something she's been trying to achieve since she premiered as a cape. Words can lie, but actions speak the truth. March can do this, or at least believes she can do this. And after what's happened in this city, I'm forced to accept her claims."

She looked down at her hand and slowly clenched and unclenched her fist. Hemorrhagia's mind jumped back to the manifestation of Caydancil's crystal node. The display of an incredibly risky power she had pulled out so casually back at the base. The Butcher was serious about this. There was no question about that. Still, the situation warranted caution.

"I want to verify Uber's information. Everything we can. White Rock, March's past objectives, the cycling of power in clusters, everything." Hemorrhagia said as they made their way out of the warehouse.

"Agreed. Use civilian staff and third-party organizations. We don't trust electronic security as long as Survey's an unknown quantity." The Butcher said as they walked through the empty streets towards their rental car.

"With the Celestial Forge active, can we really trust anything?" She asked. "We don't know their limits, and Apeiron did say he would…"

"Apeiron's focus is on the city as a whole, not our actions specifically." The Butcher said. "We just need to ensure he's sufficiently distracted until we can make our move."

Stated like that, it sounded reasonable. After all, it wasn't like there was anything that would disrupt the city or undermine Coil set to happen in the next few days. Still, she couldn't imagine what could possibly be serious enough to distract Apeiron.

99 Main Event

I was trying my best not to be completely distracted by Taylor's situation. I mean, there wasn't much of a risk of me actually missing something. At this point the event was basically proceeding on autopilot and between my duplicates and the other members of the team all fronts were covered. Or at least local fronts were covered.

The distraction was more due to the presence of an actively developing situation compounded by everything the event implied. Taylor had clearly been having more than a 'little' trouble at school. I was still actively avoiding the exact details, but it was a fair bet that she had been the victim of a targeted harassment campaign that had broken through into criminal behavior without anyone taking sufficient action to actually stop it.

There was also the fact that Taylor was at Winslow. That was a minor element to the whole situation and something I really should have keyed to earlier. The fact that she was at that school in particular had surprised me when I was looking into Emma's situation. Winslow had something of a reputation, one that extended even out into the suburbs. People had talked about Winslow at my old school, usually with reference to over-the-top stereotypes of inner city schools. It seemed that reputation was well earned and had probably been under-calling things.

But Taylor wasn't supposed to be at Winslow. That was one thing I remembered clearly. Professor Hebert specifically talking about her daughter starting at Arcadia the next year. Arcadia also had a reputation that extended into the suburbs, though pretty much in the opposite direction of Winslow. Professor Hebert had been so proud of her daughter for getting in and excited about Taylor starting at the school.

Except she hadn't. Clearly, something had happened. I didn't know what put Taylor on that course, but obviously it had been the wrong one. From what Survey had helpfully, and without any requests on my part, provided regarding Arcadia's admissions policies, Taylor shouldn't have lost her spot in Arcadia regardless of what happened after Professor Hebert's death. Some decision had sent her to Winslow and into this entire mess.

I didn't know what had happened, but it was something I could address later. I doubted I'd get a chance to speak with Taylor before the end of the day, but at least she'd agreed to bring me up to speed. That was probably so that she could control how I learned about what were undoubtedly some very personal details about the situation, but I was willing to accept that. Despite how serious the situation was, it wasn't likely that anything critical would happen before I had a chance to speak with her.

I mean, anything more critical than what was already happening. Emma was absolutely being arrested. There wasn't even a question on that or any chance she could get out of it. Whatever the flag on Taylor's case file had been about, it had the Police department going for the throat. Survey actually confirmed that the city's Commissioner of Police had been directly informed of the incident. There was the distant and quite concerning possibility that they may have connected her to her cape identity, but the reaction didn't exactly line up for anything so serious.

I was really hoping that their response level was about politics or image or something like that. Not the actual fate of the city resting on a January incident at Winslow High. Something I knew I could learn about with so little effort it was almost insulting. But no, I had promised Taylor so the blinders would stay on until I had a chance to speak with her. At least regarding earlier incidents.

Current developments in the situation were a different matter. Once again, I was forced to wonder exactly how much my luck had been nudging things in my favor. Or Taylor's favor, as the case might be. The police had clearly been putting a priority on Taylor's case, but was that fortune energy at work, or was it already in place? Or was it already in place because of fortune energy? Fortune energy didn't literally change reality, but it could create some incredibly favorable circumstances that were based on preexisting factors.

I mean, finding a dollar bill on the street didn't mean fortune energy just manifested it out of nowhere. Someone needed to have dropped that at some point. Who and how long ago seemed to be immaterial to the concerns of fortune energy. It was just how luck worked.

I knew when I got this power it would be a headache and a half, and that was back when I was running on 'normal' levels of elevated fortune energy, not the near-critical mass I'd been walking around with since my duplicates figured out how to multiply it through energy-based crafting. At least they had determined exactly how much fortune energy I could carry without the whole 'spontaneous deity transformation' thing happening. And also figured out that transforming from a physical being to a nascent god was one of the few things that could still dispel a duplicate. Apparently having your soul turned inside out would do that to you.

The actual process was a lot more technical than that, but no less unpleasant. It was getting into levels of spiritual dynamics that I was deeply uncomfortable with, and my standards were already significantly beyond what most people would even be willing to entertain. Compared to this kind of procedure, reinforcement of surplus hell souls was practically mundane.

No matter how it functioned, things were lining up just a little too well for my fortune energy not to be involved. It was lucky enough to find that video, but the angles, framing, and even lighting had cast Taylor in an incredibly sympathetic light while almost demonizing Emma Barnes.

Not that she really needed much help in that area.

That video had not been easy to watch. Not only was Emma going after things that any decent person would know to leave alone, she was approaching them so casually that it clearly wasn't the first time she had broached that topic. Just thinking about how much abuse Taylor must have suffered over Professor Hebert's death, about how callously someone who used to be close to their family was treating that subject…

That had brought out a level of reaction that I hadn't expected. There were a lot of things going on in my head these days, a lot of disparate memories, unique perspectives, independent mindsets, and even primal instincts. Emma's words had hit all of them on a very fundamental level. If I had actually been there when she said those things, I would have…

I would have restrained myself, because I know full well what I was capable of if I cut loose. I wouldn't have liked it, but I would have held back. I don't like it now, but at least action was being taken. Whether driven by fortune energy or some department mandate, Taylor's case is being given priority. The police were not letting this fall between the cracks.

Just the selection of officers sent to the school had been incredibly favorable. It could have been any beat cop looking for the easiest way to resolve the situation, but instead the pair had consisted of an expert in assault and abuse cases and an officer who practically specialized in preventing procedural mishaps and avoiding legal loopholes. Emma hadn't just been arrested, she'd been arrested by someone with the skill and experience needed to make sure there were no ways for her to wriggle out of her situation, no matter what her father tried.

On the other side of things, Officer Ramirez was meeting Taylor and Mr. Hebert at Summerhill Hospital. She had already called ahead and informed them of the situation. The hospital knew exactly what to look for and how to document the information for the upcoming criminal proceedings.

I hadn't actually spoken with Taylor since I gave her privacy to discuss things with Officer Ramirez, but I was standing by in case anything came up. Honestly, I didn't think anything would. Things were in hand. Shockingly well in hand. A few tiny nudges from me seemed to be enough to cause everything to fall into place.

Okay, that might not have only been because of my luck. In order to help manage the details of the event both me and my duplicates had empowered my Blessing of Hera to the absolute limit. Libations of alcohol so perfect it could barely be considered part of the physical universe had been offered up in tremendous quantities, and 'grandma' clearly liked her drinks strong and plentiful. Right now, administrative coordination and efficiency was pretty much as easy as breathing. Somehow the idea that it might not just be luck acting on Taylor's behalf didn't make it much better when the alternate factor was divinely empowered administrative facilitation.

Regardless of what had actually been moving things along, they were at least progressing smoothly. Well, not for Emma Barnes, but that was kind of the point. Taylor should be fine long enough for me to speak with her about what had happened. What had been happening. Until then I would keep an eye on things while I focused on the event. And so would Survey. And so would my duplicates. And so would Tetra, but mostly because she was pretty much connected to everything we did, including as much of the event as she had been able to involve herself in.

From the moment Tetra arrived she had been… energetic. I had been a little worried about her first major experience with the outside world, but she'd fit in seamlessly with the staff. Another eager and helpful volunteer to pitch in with the preparations. That would probably have been enough for people to accept her presence but, of course, she was also running Survey's early social interaction programs and had memorized both the guest list and volunteer rolls. On top of all of that she also had the benefit of being related to a known figure at the event.

People's reactions upon meeting the younger sister of Delphine Mertens had been interesting. Well, it was mostly their reaction upon learning that the bubbly girl who had been acting as a hyperactive assistant for their assigned tasks was the younger sister of the severe faced lawyer who had half the convention staff terrified of her. A few people who had worked more closely with Survey's civilian identity had managed to piece things together from Tetra's accent and appearance, but generally it came as a rather sudden shock to the people at the event.

At least there hadn't been any suspicion over the matter. Their similarities in physical appearance and accent were enough to more than make up for the difference in personality. Tetra's use of Survey's interaction program also meant they shared a few subtle mannerisms, but that probably went over most people's heads. Really, it wasn't like siblings were expected to be exact copies of each other. Tetra probably would have been more suspicious if she had been a miniature version of Delphine Mertens rather than her own distinct person.

Over the course of her work, Tetra seemed to be more popular than Delphine, or at least more approachable. Delphine Mertens was the excessively direct battle-axe of a lawyer who had been managing the buildup to the event with an iron fist. Tetra was the friendly, outgoing girl who was more than happy to help in any way she could. She had also instantly memorized every element of the backstory she had constructed with Survey and was happy to discuss it with anyone who expressed the slightest interest. Her high energy, enthusiastic, and overly helpful nature couldn't have contrasted more with her 'sister', but that seemed to be a point of amusement for most people.

Of course, anyone who underestimated her quickly found out that one thing that did apparently run in the family was startling levels of competence. Life fibers operated on a mental level that no human could match. Anyone who happened upon the idea of using Tetra as a way to leverage complaints on the way her sister was handling the event would quickly be bombarded with the exact details of why a particular decision had been made or the logic and regulatory reasoning behind whatever policy was being griped about.

Even now, as the last-minute touches were being put on the event, Tetra was explaining to a group of workers the reasons for the scheduling decisions and sequence of presentations. It had been spurred by a member of convention center staff asking them to hurry up and offhandedly mentioning that she couldn't understand why they were organizing things in such an inconvenient manner. The group of volunteers were doing their best to conceal grins as Tetra expounded on the logic behind the decision and all the problems that would be caused by defaulting to a more obviously 'convenient' approach. Meanwhile, the staffer was standing to the side looking like she'd just choked down an entire lemon.

It probably came across as Tetra defending her older sister's decision, but the explanation was offered with such enthusiasm and obvious good intentions that the staff member could only stand there and nod as the apparently teenage girl explained more details about the operation and logistics of the Regency Center than I'd wager she knew herself.

It was a explanation cut short as the last of the tasks had been seen to and the volunteers were vanishing into the 'backstage' areas of the center. I had followed suit, effectively hiding near the media room with the justification of being on hand if anything needed to be dealt with on the technical side of things.

Practically, it gave me an excuse to stay at the other side of the building from Parian's team. I did not want to accidentally run into Sabah again, or even the other members of her group. It was fairly clear she had moved on and was happy with that arrangement. I was going to do my best to avoid dredging up more of her past, even vicariously.

Speaking of Parian, the situation with Emma was going to impact more people than just Taylor. Parian would be down a model. Based on her planned portion of the show, it should be possible for her to adjust her program, providing she was alerted to the situation in time to account for the loss. During their meeting Parian had walked Survey through every aspect of her planned performance, including ideas that had been considered and rejected and how the performance was developed.

It had been quite an extensive presentation. About a third of the way through Parian's presentation, Survey had started running variant scenarios for her performance to account for increasingly unlikely potential events. She had developed response plans for scenarios far more serious than a missing model, so this situation should definitely be manageable.

Survey was currently looking for the opportunity to inform Parian about what had happened with Emma. The problem was she needed a plausible explanation for how the information could have been received. The best option would probably be having someone call to check in as soon as Emma was late, providing her parents hadn't called to inform Parian or the event staff by that point. Based on what was happening, that would probably be something of a low priority for them at the moment. We could also fake a call from someone at the school, but a direct line to the event wasn't as easy to find as an emergency number or the contact email for the Dockworker's Association so it was a bit of a long shot.

There was also the possibility of a public leak of the incident. Honestly, unless I took steps to prevent it that video was going to get out eventually. It had spread far beyond the set of contacts the girl who recorded it had initially shared it with. I didn't know if it was the kind of thing that would go viral and also didn't know how Taylor would feel about that.

Given the actions I'd already taken, I'd preferred to stay hands off on most matters. Still, that meant I was stuck watching the information slowly spread from one person to another, making its way through friend groups and social networks. It was going to come to public attention relatively soon, just probably too slow to effectively warn Parian about the situation.

"I will continue to monitor the situation and inform Parian at the earliest point that can be reasonably justified." Survey transmitted. Transmitted from her scrying chamber, not the show floor. The 'Delphine Mertens' that was currently interacting with the staff was a replica droid being remotely piloted, allowing Survey to stay focused on her monitoring efforts.

"Thank you, Survey." I replied in my own transmission. "Please keep me apprised of the situation. It would be for the best if we could minimize the disruption for Parian's group. I'd prefer to not cause Sabah any more stress."

"Yes." She responded rather directly. "To that end, Parian has 'arrived' at the event and will be joining the reception of the guests."

There was an emphasis there that was unusual for Survey. It was like there was more going on, but Survey was not coy when it came to sharing information and was exceptionally diligent about what to share and what to keep to herself. If there was anything I needed to know I trusted her to keep me informed. I could only guess that my connection to a member of Parian's team might have complicated things.

"That's good. Are you certain she doesn't want to greet them along with Garment?" I asked.

"Parian has been extremely adamant with respect to maintaining a distinction for her own contributions to the event. She stated that she does not wish to diminish Garment's efforts or accomplishments."

"Well, that's nice of her." She was the one who suggested an event of this scale, so I would have assumed she'd want to be part of the spectacle. Instead she'd been fairly insular in terms of her portion of the event, using Survey as her only point of contact. Maybe that was just the way she approached things, but I figured someone in the fashion industry would be more likely to seize upon opportunities for promotion and collaborative work.

It was an unexpectedly cautious attitude for someone in a field that relied on engagement with the public. Maybe that came with operating as an independant cape. I just hoped that approach didn't negatively impact the students she had assisting her. Sabah seemed to be enjoying her new program, but I had the feeling a lot was being staked in her association with Parian.

"What about the other active situations?" I asked Survey.

"I am maintaining continuous observation of both the Empire's forces and the Teeth forces they plan to strike. As earlier investigations confirmed the Butcher's intention to remain absent from the conflict, monitoring resources have been directed to the expected combatants. Points of risk to civilians have been flagged and members of the Celestial Forge stand ready to intercede on their behalf."

I nodded to myself as I leaned against the wall outside the Regency Center's media room. Odds were good that neither force was going to risk breaking the mandate I had set down, but this was not going to be a soft conflict. Kaiser was looking to utterly crush the forces of the Teeth that he had identified. In the face of that kind of offensive I couldn't count on the Teeth's capes exercising restraint, and with the forces being mustered you'd just need one overeager Nazi to cut loose with his power for things to go to hell.

But they wouldn't. The second anyone was in danger a member of the team would move in to intercept. With Survey's level of monitoring they would be able to deploy the instant they she detected a threat of civilian casualties and arrive in time to prevent them.

And to unleash hell on whoever had decided to step over that line.

It was one of the few situations where we could really come down on someone without setting off international panic or breaking precognitive thinker models. After nearly a week of buildup from my fight with Lung there was plenty that we were ready to unleash on the first person who decided they didn't need to worry about collateral damage or risk to civilian life.

The question of who exactly would be the one to intercede would vary based on commitments. Survey was set to portal to wherever she was needed, but didn't want to leave her monitoring devices unattended for any length of time. Thanks to her connection power Tetra was effectively already in large portions of the city, including likely combat sites around the Empire's targets. Tybalt could teleport to any battlefield with a thought and Fleet's speed made the distance from the Regency Center effectively meaningless. Even the Matrix was willing to deploy if needed, though they had made it clear they were less interested in fighting either group of capes than in preventing and restoring any damage to life or property.

Really, only Garment and Aisha were effectively committed to the event. For both of them their absence would be noticed and neither were the best match for a problem like this. Garment because of her official distance from the rest of the team and Aisha because of her only slightly above human reaction speeds and relative inexperience with her more recent powers.

I would absolutely give Aisha ten fights out of ten against any combination of Teeth and Empire parahumans, but defeating the capes was a different matter from completely neutralizing the threat they represented. I knew she could handle herself, but she wasn't the best option for split second deployment.

"Additionally, continuous monitoring of the Slaughterhouse Nine has indicated that Cherish and Shatterbird are likely preparing for a definitive move against Fleet's replica droid." Survey informed me with a note of optimism.

I had to hold back a sigh as she transferred the latest observations of the two villains. Despite having a near perfect vehicle for their purposes dangled in front of them, both of them had decided to drag out the encounter to an almost painful degree. Actually, that 'painful degree' seemed to be the point.

The current droid Fleet that was piloting had been designed as an unattached man in his mid-twenties relocating to another state for a chance at a better job. He had no connections to check up on him and would only be missed when he failed to arrive at his next apartment. They literally couldn't have asked for a better target, yet instead of just grabbing the truck and heading back the two villains seemed to relish the interaction, drawing things out with vaguely unsettling flirtations and subtle uses of their powers to put the 'man' more and more on edge.

No doubt they were building to something. Winding him up for the big reveal of who they were and what they had in store for him. They were wasting a tremendous amount of time on this, especially considering how far behind the loss of their last truck had put them. And despite Jack's direct orders to grab the first truck they could find and return immediately, instead they were happy to indulge in the pointless tormenting of a random civilian.

Go figure, villains with poor impulse control? Who could have imagined.

"Are you alright with this?" I checked with Fleet. He was in his civilian guise waiting backstage after helping with the last of the setup.

"It's fine." He said as he caused the drone to react with sudden shock to a wave of emotional influence from Cherish. It had been a brief burst of her power, just enough to unsettle the person they thought they were talking with. Fleet had the drone put on a show of calming himself down before apologizing for his outburst to the two villains, both of who continued to smile in their own amusement. "I still have a dozen scripts I didn't get to use from the last drone. We're not going to run into any problems here."

The last drone meaning the fake traveling salesman that had been torn in half by the Siberian before Fleet got to use any of the hundreds of pages of backstory he had prepared with Survey.

"Well, is there any way you could hurry this up?" I asked. A slight use of Shatterbird's power caused a needle-thin fragment of glass to whip past the drone's face faster than the human eye could follow. Fleet had the drone mime a reaction to the sting of contact, then bring its fingers to its cheek, pulling them away to see the blood welling from the cut. He made sure to adjust the drone's emotional reaction to building uncertainty and horror, much to Cherish's amusement.

"Not without breaking character to a degree that would raise suspicion." He said nonchalantly.

"Profiles suggest they will take more direct action at some point within the next fifteen minutes." Survey said, providing a full set of data tables to back up her analysis. "Though there will likely be several more attempts at torment before they elect to return to the rest of the group."

"Great." I replied. Well, at least we were getting plenty of scans of their powers in action. "At this rate, are they actually going to get out of there today, or are we looking at a further delay?"

"Departure is nearly guaranteed, though they will likely elect for an alternate destination to account for the reduced travel time. Steps are already underway to seed drones and prevent civilian interactions in possible target locations." Survey once more provided a set of probability tables and potential destinations.

I had to admit, it was frustrating to see this drag out, but at least they were fully contained. Survey already had a breakdown of Cherish and Shatterbird's powers in action, which would make it easier to work around them. Just having a clear picture of the range and mechanics of Cherish's emotional sense made the entirety of the Nine much less of a threat.

Thinker models and response from major organizations still made it a bad idea to just crush them out of the blue, but as soon as they got close to the borders of the city the entire team would be ready to come down on them. Until then they could work their way through Survey's route planning and Fleet's attempt at amateur dramatics.

Putting that out of my mind, I focused on the now elegantly appointed main hall where Garment was sweeping out to greet the first of the official arrivals. The previous groups that she and Aisha had been managing were tangentially affiliated with the event or the Regency Center itself. In some cases that meant they threw enough money at things to be given a mostly honorary position on the staff, but I guess some people went for that kind of thing. In certain circles it was probably a point of prestige or whatnot.

There was a fair amount of press outside, including some additional coverage from WKMP-6. They were managing the stream and held carefully negotiated broadcast rights from the event. Those broadcasts would undoubtedly end up on some of the cable news channels that had set up teams in the city following the attacks, but that would be after another round of careful negotiations. For now you had a mess of media trying to speak to the various capes, officials, and public figures who were slowly arriving for the event.

It wasn't a red carpet, but that was intentional. The feel of the event had been carefully managed to make sure people didn't lose sight of what this was all for. Garment could have put on the glitziest fashion show imaginable, but that wasn't what the city needed right now. They needed acknowledgement, recognition, and hope.

Which wasn't to say the event was a memorial, but it was considerably more somber than most of the events that would be hosted at a place like the Regency Center. Garment's purple and black dress spoke to the intended tone. The people who entered weren't greeting cheering fans with smiles and waves. They made their way into the event with a sense of the gravity of what the city had dealt with. Even the occasional guest who seemed to be over excited quickly recalibrated their reactions when they encountered the tone and design of the event.

"Don't bother with the local color. This is going national. Keep focused on capes and city officials. Actually, hold off on the officials until the mayor shows up." The broadcast director was already hard at work in the media center. Their close association with the event meant they got preferred placement for the exterior shots of arrivals.

And of course, full ideal framing of people entering the center, including their reactions to the minor transformation that had been accomplished over the past three days. Well, three days including planning. It was understandable that people who had been out of the loop on how much had been pulled together in that time were a little shocked by the state of the main hall.

"Yes! Make sure you don't miss any of the reactions. This is gold." The director continued. I smiled from my space in the hallway. I didn't need to watch the screens to see the contents of the feeds. There were at least a half dozen ways I could patch into the signal and see the results of my hard work.

Garment remained front and center to personally greet each guest as they arrived. The composition of the guest list was a careful balance between notable individuals that brought in attention and press coverage to help with the wider charity efforts and the local elite who would typically attend such events in order to make a show of their philanthropic efforts. Garment greeted everyone with equal enthusiasm, but from proximity to the media center it was clear they were less interested in local donors than anyone in a costume.

The actual cape turnout was fairly high. High enough to have garnered some comment from the public about allocation of Protectorate resources. That was really more of a restatement of concerns regarding the management of the situation over the past weeks, but it didn't change the fact that most of the Protectorate and nearly the entirety of the Wards were being sent to what could be regarded as an indulgent exercise in self-promotion.

Considering roughly the same thing had been lined up the night of Bakuda's first attack, it was understandable that there'd be a bit of pushback to the heroes revisiting the concept.

At least for the Wards there was more justification for their presence. Incredibly, Wards weren't actually supposed to be deployed against major villains. The fact that Brockton Bay had somehow adopted that policy had drawn a considerable amount of scrutiny from the rest of the country. Really, attending charity events and promoting the Protectorate was supposed to be the main role of the Wards, not something that they would fit in around life-or-death battles with supervillains.

From Survey's analysis, the PRT knew that one of the gangs was likely to try to take advantage of the distraction provided by the event. Also from Survey's analysis, and thanks to the holes in the PRT's information network that had yet to be patched, not all of the heroes who made an appearance were actually staying for the event. Assault and Battery were some of the Protectorate's last fast response capes. They were going to show up, smile for the cameras, get their interviews out of the way, then slip out to provide support to whatever disaster was probably brewing in the city.

In terms of response, Dragon already had a suit in the air and was prepped to drop onto the first sign of parahuman violence. That might have been enough to reassure me about the coming conflict, but unfortunately the Dragonslayers were also mounting up to counter her. It provided two more fronts that Survey needed to monitor, stretching her capacity for live observation to its limit.

I really needed to step up that aspect of my work. Unfortunately, it was contingent on my final resource bottleneck. Spiritual energy was needed if I was going to extend the level of oversight I had placed on the Slaughterhouse Nine to anyone else. Which was the entire point of this enterprise. Get out, meet people, feel human, and then use that spiritual recovery to expand your psionic divination network across a larger portion of the villainous community.

I took a breath and shook my head while the guests began to filter in. You had the 'normal' people who were not normal by any conventional definition. Industry leaders, investment moguls, and the super-rich of the city. Or sometimes only vaguely associated with the city. There were people from out of town who had been able to leverage their local contacts to secure an invitation.

In any other case they would be the most important people in the room. Here they were filling out a guest list choked with heroes and civic officials. To be fair, even the wealthiest of local attendees paled in comparison to Uppercrust's resources.

The media center absolutely buzzed with activity upon his arrival. First his polite acknowledgement of the reporters outside, then his warm greeting of Garment, specifically complimenting aspects of the décor and the quality of her dress before politely moving aside to allow her to welcome the next arrival.

The director stayed focused on Uppercrust, who was currently flanked by Yellowjack and Jacob's Ladder, as he moved through the hall, noting the works put in place and the various offerings of the event. They were fairly meager compared to most charity events, but that was a consequence of both the timescale we were working on and the alternate streams of revenue.

And, you know, the fact that the Celestial Forge had been using it as cover to ship out as many goods and resources as we could get away with. Pretty much every charity's wish list had been filled by anonymous donors from out of state.

Outside of the auction, donation drive, and various presentations there was a silent auction containing offerings from local businesses, a basic raffle, and the standard 'pay money to get time with the heroes' deal that was pretty much expected from these things. Most of that was a secondary concern designed to give the wealthier guests something to do with their money beyond just writing a donation cheque.

I mean, most of them would do that anyway. Hell, most of them had done that already. The event had effectively gone viral during the final stretch. Even before the live broadcast and auction, we weren't hurting for donations. And thanks to Survey, those donations had already made it to where they could start doing some good.

"How is he looking?" The station director asked as the shot zoomed in on Uppercrust.

"Not as bad as yesterday." One of the assistants said. "A bit tired and worn down, but nothing that serious."

"Well, keep an eye on him. If anything happens we aren't going to miss it." The director ordered. "Now, switch the shot over. The Protectorate is about to enter."

Ah, quality journalism. Leering at a supposedly dying man in the hopes of catching the equivalent of a car crash on camera. I suppose I couldn't fault them, at least in comparison to other networks. There had been a bit of a stir over the state Uppercrust was in during one of his public appearances yesterday.

I had my suspicions, which were confirmed when I met with him earlier in the morning. He had obviously gone a little overboard in celebrating his recovery, and by a little overboard I meant he consumed a quantity of grease that probably would have required hospitalization if eaten by any other man his age. Only the quality of his treatment had kept him upright, but it still hadn't completely cleared his system when I had spoken to him the next day.

At least that, and now the all-nighter that Uppercrust had pulled were helping to conceal his recovery for a bit longer. When that got out… Well, I wasn't sure what would happen. Probably a lot of turmoil inside the Elite. I wasn't worried for his position or safety, not with the support of my team behind him, but there was no way a shift of that magnitude would go over quietly.

I just prayed that it could be kicked down the road for long enough for me to deal with some of the other balls I had in the air. I definitely didn't need to deal with backing Uppercrust in a civil war within the Elite while also dealing with all the current crises both within and outside of Brockton Bay.

As attention shifted to the arrival of the Protectorate's heroes I felt the Celestial Forge move again. It had managed to recover from the effective stall from Trigram Knowledge and Manipulation and built up enough reach to attempt another connection. I watched as the Personal Reality constellation slowly moved towards me.

With the slower movement of the Celestial Forge, another Personal Reality connection almost felt like a break. Sure, there were some abilities that had been disproportionate, but they were few and far between. Most of the constellation was simple comforts and quality of life improvements. Things that were fun to explore rather than world shaking revelations. I watched as my power connected to a single mote from a rather large cluster. Five motes of equal power, all on the smaller size. My reach was sufficient to secure one of them and dislodged the power as the constellation continued on its way.

And then I examined my new ability and remembered what had happened the last couple of times I had underestimated the Personal Reality constellation. It wasn't quite as bad as receiving a caged star or personal divine realm, but I would at least place it in the same category.

Temporal Controls. I had just received the ability to control the flow of time within my workshop, at least to a point. I could accelerate it to ten times normal speed or slow it to a tenth of what was experienced in the outside world. For some reason, it only worked when I was outside my workshop, meaning that my duplicates could make use of it, as could the rest of the team, but I was specifically excluded.

I had entertained the idea that my power wanted me to get better. That it was driving me towards a healthier mental state through the use of specific abilities and incentives. I didn't expect for it to take such a blatant and direct stance on the amount of time I had been spending in the Workshop.

Needless to say, the rest of my team was very excited about this development. Garment was particularly enthusiastic over the prospect of ten times as much time to work on her projects. I think that her very visible reaction was publicly attributed to the arrival of the Protectorate heroes. Well, actually it was the Wards who were entering when Garment had that particular reaction, which did earn some amused chuckles from the media booth. I was a bit too focused on my nascent mastery of time to bother enjoying Flechette and Kid Win's reaction to Garment's apparent joy at their arrival.

"Seriously? You can control time now?" Aisha asked. She was back in her assistant role, mingling with guests around the periphery of the hall and answering questions about the event, but she had managed to slip off for a quick call.

"Temporal manipulation was technically possible prior to this ability, but concerns regarding stability and containment prevented its general deployment." Survey informed her.

"Mostly it was stasis fields and slowing down time." I said. "Not really as useful as getting a chamber of fast time to work in."

"Uh, yeah." Aisha said. "Shit, and you're locked out of this?"

"We're not!" My duplicates helpfully informed her. "Joe Prime can go hit the town while we get everything locked down in here."

"Won't that burn through your duration or whatever?" Aisha asked.

"Duplicate duration syncs to the processing of the potion effect by Apeiron." Survey transmitted. "As is evident through work with the Spiritron Core."

"Which is going to process ten times faster, provided you can keep Joe out of the Workshop." My second duplicate chimed in.

I took a breath. "I get it. This is important." I reached out through my connection to the Workshop. Normally something like this would have a manual interface, but between Central Control and Hallowed Earth I was connected to the Workshop on a fundamental level. Any of the systems or elements could be directed through that link, including the Temporal Controls.

"Okaythisisabitweird." My duplicate transferred. I could feel the rate at which things were moving inside the Workshop. The same connection gave me awareness of the contents and location of everything in that space, so I could feel the way that the faster time was affecting it.

"I. Mean. We. Can. Adjust. For. It. But. It's. Still. A. Bit. Disorienting." The second duplicates transmitted.

"A bit like looking at the outside world when you're connected to the Spiritron Core." The first responded at a mostly normal rate of communication. "You can correct for it, but it takes some effort."

Really, they were just setting up messages to play at one tenth speed. Not a major obstacle, but mental communication was another matter. The low level telepathic link I had been maintaining with my duplicates suddenly became an aggressive buzz in the back of my head. Thoughts were not as easy to moderate as transmissions and I winced as my duplicates overcorrected a few times before settling things to a more manageable level.

'Is this going to be a problem?' I asked through our link.

'I don't think so.' My first duplicates said. 'We're going to have ten times as much accomplished in the same period. I'm not sure how much of that we can share, but the link is much better with the new version of the potion.'

'I was talking about mental communication across different rates of temporal flow.' I clarified.

'Ah.' My second duplicate chimed in. 'Honestly, no idea. Might have been a problem, but I think we can take it, right?'

'Probably.' I replied. This wasn't something I had thought to prepare for, but then again, my power did love to surprise me.

"Given the potential advantages of accelerated action, I believe it would be prudent to consider relocating certain assets into the workshop, rather than external operations centers." Survey said.

"That's about that stuff you're doing that I don't want to know about, right?" Aisha asked.

"Yeah, it's-" I began, only to be cut off.

"It's something I don't want to know about. You deal with it and fill me in when it's safe. Or sane. Or at least properly dealt with." She shot back.

"Alright. Survey, we can look into it, but not all of that can operate from inside the Workshop, and the different rate of time flow might affect some of the functions." I said. "You'd be trying to connect two places that experience time differently."

"Yeah, like with me." Tetra said. "I'm still inside the Workshop, so I'm in the fast time, but that doesn't move as fast out here, but I'm in both at the same time because of my connections, so I'm living and thinking faster, but I'm also not because that's not how it works out here."

"Um, are you okay?" Aisha asked. "That sounds kind of awful."

"No it's fine." She said breezily. "Actually, it's kind of fun. Like how people describe roller coasters, only it's happening all the time. Like I can skip back and forth to speed up and slow down." There was a pause before she let out a cry of "Weeeeeeeeee!" that warbled like someone was changing the playback speed and ended in a fit of giggles.

"That doesn't sound… I mean, as long as you're enjoying it, I guess." Aisha said. "So I guess this means accelerated training for everyone?" She asked. "Well, except Joe."

I let out a breath. "I can get some of the benefits from my duplicate's work now, but yeah. I'll need to stay out of the Workshop."

That was… it was something to deal with later. This was going to be a considerable advantage for my duplicates and the timeline for advanced uses of the Spiritron Computer, but our current objectives hadn't changed. See through the charity event and make sure things in the city didn't get out of hand.

I turned my attention back to the management of the broadcast, which was currently focused on Dauntless.

"Where's his spear?" The director asked. The techs cycled between a few different angles, revealing a telling lack of an Arclance.

"Not carrying it. Probably concerned over the crowds and decorations." One of them said.

"Damn. That would have made a great shot." The station director said.

It looked like Dauntless hadn't been locked down under Master Stranger protocols after our earlier conversation. It seemed like the Protectorate weren't comfortable with him carrying an Apeiron-modified weapon into a civilian gathering, but he was obviously still cleared for attendance.

He looked better rested as well. I reached out to Tetra to check.

"Yep." She said. "It went to the national office. They decided to treat everything like a contract, or he was ordered to take a nap until he had to leave for the event." She continued, demonstrating the frankly terrifying amount of information she could aquire on anyone she had made a solid connection with. "Survey has some more information on their examination of the Arclance, but it's limited."

"The National PRT actually maintains reasonable levels of information security. I could easily bypass their measures, but my resources are currently committed." Survey explained in her defense.

"It's fine. I'm just glad he's not being punished over it." I said as in the next room the director launched into another set of orders.

"Get some wide views of the heroes before the next group comes in. Who's handling the interview with Assault and Battery before they slip out?"

"Melony has that covered. PRT requested we conceal their absence, if possible." His assistant informed him.

"Someone's going to pick it up, but we can avoid drawing attention to it." He said dismissively.

They made sure to get enough footage featuring Assault and Battery to plausibly cover their departure. The main focus was on Miss Militia as the acting head of the Protectorate and Triumph in his first public appearance since the Ungodly Hour.

Physically he looked fine, but his mood was considerably more somber than the tone that the event was going for. You could see the shield of professionalism he was putting up, but there was no question as to the impact that experience had on him.

It was something I understood quite well myself.

The next major arrival was Mayor Christner, accompanied by the fire chief and police commissioner, both in full dress uniform. No representative of the PRT and the mayor had entered at a point well separated from the city's heroes. Was that a political statement? Probably. Everything seemed to be when playing at that level. Survey would have a set of analysis ready after the event on possible meanings in relation to any ongoing departmental conflicts, I'm sure.

There was a surge of excitement outside marking the last major arrival of capes. The team from Chicago, with Shuffle leading a group of Wards consisting of Tecton, Cuff, and a fairly new recruit in Annex. Tecton's power armor drew particular attention, though upon entering the hall Garment was less impressed by it than the costumes of the other heroes.

I took a moment to check on Gully's location. She had specifically made herself scarce at the time of Tecton's arrival and it seemed like he was actively scanning the crowd. There was something complicated going on there and I could only hope it worked out for Gully. I would do what I could, but I had a bit too much on my plate at the moment to swoop in with proposed Case 53 treatments.

Maybe tomorrow would be better.

If the mayor's arrival might have been a political move, then the Chicago team's arrival definitely was. They were the kind of shaker-based cleanup detail that would be sent out following major disasters, as in Endbringer or near S-Class disasters. They also were very distinctly separate from the authority of the ENE branch. It didn't take much to notice the reaction Shuffle and Miss Militia had to each other.

The presence of a team like that was the Protectorate's way of saying that they were taking the situation seriously, but it was also a way of demonstrating near official lack of confidence in the local leadership. It was no secret that the PRT was in hot water over how events had been handled, but this was perhaps the first public and official statement on how the wider organization felt about the local branch.

And it was all being streamed for the world, with the best framing, angles, and shots that my power could provide. Why, you could actually see the flickers of emotion on Miss Militia's face when Shuffle entered and approached the Mayor directly.

Yeah, there were going to be consequences to that, but it was more an acceleration of things that were already in the works. The PRT needing to own up to their failures was a matter I was happy to stay out of, if just to prevent Piggot from trying to cast any more undeserved responsibility on my shoulders.

With all the guests and major players finally arrived there was a polite period of milling and socialization where they interacted and drank in Garment's work on the décor. Parian was out politely chatting with guests, though she was favoring members of the local business and social community over anyone in a costume or uniform. Garment floated through the crowd with an easy grace in a situation where the lack of conversation seemed to serve as an asset that kept any one person from monopolizing her time.

The support staff, including Aisha, were limited to the periphery. Honestly, given the number of viewers even this early in the stream, it was probably for the best that Aisha wasn't connected to Garment through the entire event. That would be way more exposure than anyone would have bargained for.

The opening mingling period also gave the WKMP-6 reporters a chance to get close shots and simple statements from guests, staff, and capes in attendance. They were clearly fishing for soundbites and the people approached knew how to play along, but some of the shots were spliced into the stream as the director jumped between close and wide shots of the start of the event.

Which lead to the official opening. A musical cue, which my duplicates had taken the liberty of providing on behalf of Boundless Music, drew attention to the main stage where Uppercrust was taking his place at the focal point of the hall. It was the product of careful design and optical effects to create a precise balance of effects, drawing the eye in and lending a sense of grandeur and seriousness to what was otherwise just an opening speech.

Credit to Uppercrust, he clearly recognized the effect Garment had been going for and played it perfectly. Personally, I could recognize the intentional use of behaviors that had previously concealed his condition, but to anyone else they would come across as completely sincere. For years Uppercrust had masked his weakness by moving with calm, deliberate, and serious steps. It drew out his approach to the podium, but that was exactly what he was trying to accomplish. By the time he was ready to begin the room was dead silent and all eyes were on him.

Well, besides the cameras that had lined up to get reaction shots from members of the audience.

"Good afternoon. I find myself with the privilege of welcoming you to the first of what will no doubt be many events on behalf of the citizens of Brockton Bay. For those of you unaware, I am Uppercrust, leader of the New York Elite. A tinker by trade, I have devoted my life to the protection of cities from the disasters of the Parahuman Age. Most of my work sees me to cities in an attempt to prevent the worst. Occasionally I encounter a city in the aftermath of one of the disasters I seek to prevent. It is truly rare for me to experience one myself."

There were some murmurs of surprise, but I suppose the timeline of Uppercrust's arrival to the city wasn't that well known. Uppercrust waited for the reactions to quiet before straightening his back and continuing.

"I arrived in Brockton Bay shortly before the event that had been known as the Ungodly Hour. I was fortunate enough to be removed from the worst of the conflict, but an event of this scale leaves no one untouched. I witnessed the power and fury unleashed on a city that had already endured much, and I witnessed as that city withstood more than anyone could imagine."

There was a grandeur and reverence in his tone that was helped by the tone of Garment's design. The audience hung on his words as he launched further into his speech.

"I am not here to speak to the events of that horrible night. More than enough analysis has been directed at the displays of power that were unleashed. Instead I am here to speak to the aftermath, and the recovery. Over the past weeks the eyes of the country and the world have been directed to Brockton Bay and they have consistently been astonished with what they have seen."

He let that hang in the air for a moment as he seemed to direct his attention straight into the cameras focused on him. He then shifted his focus from the broadcast to the live audience.

"A somewhat cynical belief has developed that Brockton Bay is simply different. That it is some form of exception that should not be compared to the rest of the country. This could not be further from the truth. Such comparisons have been made, and they have consistently shown the extraordinary nature of this city and those who live here. From the strength of its defenders to the resilience and generosity of its citizens, trials that would and indeed have broken other communities have served to temper this city into something we could all hope to achieve. Not an outlier, but an aspiration."

Some of the people in the crowd began to stand slightly straighter and a few of them were nodding along.

"But this has not happened without cost. Both before the tragic events of the past weeks and during the ensuing crisis, the people of this city have suffered losses and endured sacrifices. We stand in this hall as the true cost is still being assessed. Volunteers devote themselves to the task of venturing into a technological dead zone seeking survivors or recovering what has been lost. Entire communities have banded together to offer comfort and support to their neighbors who have lost or been cut off from their homes. Despite all these efforts, the true cost of what this city has endured may never be known and could never be put into words."

His voice dropped, leaving the impact of his words to echo over the hall. He lowered his head for a moment before refocusing on the crowd.

"We stand here to honor those who have been lost and those who worked to save who they could. The city's brave rescue workers, the citizens who have banded together, and the heroic defenders who fought to prevent the worst. It is rare that one is present to witness a city's darkest hour, and rarer still to be blessed with the light of the coming dawn."

In the next room the director frantically balanced the framing of Uppercrust's speech with the myriad of reaction shots he was pulling from other cameras. Some people were completely unrestrained, but most of the key figures seemed to be carefully moderating their reactions for the sake of public apparances.

"The generosity of both the citizens of Brockton Bay and those acting on their behalf has already served to ease the suffering of the victims of the horrific attacks this city has endured. This stands as an example to all, but there is much more to do. More help that is needed and more aid for those worst affected. I thank our guests and donors for their generosity, as I have been assured that it will all be put to good use."

There was a glimmer in his eyes and a few chuckles from the audience, many of which looked towards where 'Delphine Mertens' was standing at the edge of the hall. She gave a slight smile and nod, which the director decided to include in the stream, probably to the considerable confusion of most of those watching.

"And with that I would introduce you to the illustrious woman responsible for this event, whose generosity with her works serves as the inception of all you see before you. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure, I am pleased to be able to introduce you to Garment Gloves."

There were polite cheers as Garment took the stage. The audience watched with rapt attention as Garment began gesturing emphatically for the crowd. There was no translation, but I noticed several people nodding along with some of her more dramatic gestures. Generally, the tone and emphasis of what she was trying to convey seemed to connect to them on some nonverbal level.

I could have provided a complete translation, though some of the context would have been lost in converting to spoken English. That would have been difficult to explain and didn't really seem to be necessary. Just when I thought the audience would have gotten tired of watching a disembodied dress practice charades, Garment started drawing on her power, animating swaths of cloth and portions of the tapestries decorating the hall.

Actually, she was extending her power much further than what she had previously demonstrated. The upgrades to her gloves from Feel It Out was evident as her telekinesis had expanded in range, strength, and precision. As the opening demonstration it was more than enough to hold the crowd's attention.

Which was also the signal to take action on the matter of Emma's absence. Amazingly, the students of Winslow High had managed to restrain themselves from a mass release of that video over their lunch hour. Unfortunately, that meant it was down to Survey to find an alternate plausible method through which she could have received the information.

Parian's models were supposed to be on site by the start of the event at the latest. Emma's absence had been noted, but given the state of the roads and traffic in the area they weren't chasing her down just yet. Most likely they were expecting her to rush in at any moment.

It was probably a bit early to check up on her, but it was still excusable. Survey used one of the Regency Center's phone lines to start making calls. She was handling everything remotely and was using a fake identity, posing as a random member of the event staff.

No answer at her home number. Agency had provided her personal cell phone, but with her in police custody that was being held. Actually, there was currently an effort to get a warrant for the phone's contents based on information Taylor had shared at the hospital. An attempt was made just to see if someone would answer and be kind enough to fill in the clearly concerned staffer who was just checking up on things.

That was a dead end. Additional contact was her father's office, but he wasn't in. An attempt was made, but surprisingly a law firm wasn't keen to announce to strangers that the daughter of one of their lawyers was currently being arrested for assault. Finally a call to the school. Long shot, all things considered, but this time we were lucky. Possibly even 'lucky'.

The school secretary answered the phone and was clearly still off balance from the earlier events. She didn't immediately share any information, but when informed that they were calling from the Regency Center event to ensure Emma Barns was on her way there was a telling reaction.

"Emma Barnes. Oooooh…" She ended her reaction with a hiss and a click of teeth.

"Is something wrong?" Survey asked in her fake volunteer voice, all while the Delphine Mertens continued to operate without any sign of distraction.

"No. No, nothing. Nothing I can talk about." The secretary said quickly.

"Please, this event means a lot to so many people." Survey pleaded rather sweetly. You could hear the secretary's hesitation on the other end of the line. "We just want to confirm that she's on her way. If something happened, I don't need any details, but you could just let us know…"

The woman on the line dropped her voice. "Well, you probably shouldn't expect Emma to make it in time for her role."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. I'll update the organizers and I hope everything is alright." Survey replied.

"Yes. We all do." The woman, Ms. Stoningham, according to Survey, replied. She quickly hung up, but Survey was already sending an update message to… well, to herself, but it provided an excuse to update Parian.

Garment had concluded her opening demonstration and the event had shifted over to a breakdown of the damage to the city, but also the relief and restoration efforts that were already being put in place. The rather generous expansion of media resources meant there were more than enough displays to show the footage to the guests, as well as a direct feed for the stream.

It was as well put together as any of Garment's videos. The footage had been supplied by volunteers, but the editing had been conducted by… well, officially it was a recently established video management company, but really that was just a rather comprehensive cover that Survey has assembled to cover my duplicates' efforts. Just like with the musical accompaniment. Frankly, Boundless Music was going to have an entire album worth of original content for everything that had been written for this event.

While the crowd watched the well framed efforts of brave recovery workers clearing debris or comforting the displaced or injured Survey had her replica droid covertly made her way to Parian. She looked up as 'Delphine' approached, then froze as she leaned in to whisper to Parian.

"I need to speak with you privately." She said. There was a long moment before Parian responded with a slight nod before following 'Delphine' backstage.

I was far enough away to need to rely on Survey's account of events, but it was clear that Parian was nervous. She was shifting her weight from side to side as Survey's droid turned to face her.

"I have some bad news." She said directly.

"I'm sorry?" Parian asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"One of your models is late. The volunteer staff followed up on her and was able to speak with her school. They don't have the details of exactly what happened, but it doesn't look like she'll be able to make it." Survey explained.

Parian held still for a moment, then wilted, kind of sinking into the expansive skirts of her dress. "Damn it." She muttered. "Who was it?"

"A girl named Emma Barnes. I believe you've worked with her before?" She asked.

"Yes. She's modeled for me several times." She shook her head. "This isn't ideal. She knew the routine very well. I was counting on her to help some of the other girls through it."

Survey-Delphine leaned in towards Parian. "I know this isn't ideal, but I'm confident you can adjust." Parian looked up at Survey. "You did mention your alternate plans for the event. Moving more towards something similar to what you did for the two thousand ten thanksgiving show should allow you to adjust to Miss Barnes's absence while putting less pressure on your remaining models."

Parian took in a quick breath. "You remembered."

Survey smiled. "You were quite comprehensive."

Parian turned slightly to the side and… okay. That was a pretty strong reaction. I mean, Survey tends to bring out so much attraction in either of her forms that it kind of becomes white noise, so I didn't really pick up on anything earlier, but yeah, this was definitely more than the background level.

"Thank you. For letting me know and for the… encouragement." Parian said.

Survey nodded. "We should inform your staff and the rest of the event organizers." She said as she began to move further backstage with Parian trailing after her. "Once we adjust the schedule, I'll brief the media team and bring Garment up to speed when she has a moment."

Parian tensed as she hurried after Survey. "Media. Garment. Right." She said in a strained voice.

They turned out of the relative isolation of the outer corridor and into the more bustling part of the backstage area. Aside from Parian's portion of the event there wasn't much need for elaborate preparations. You had additional presentations, statements from some of the officials and heroes, smaller contributions from local businesses and sponsors, all leading up to a live stream of the auction, with Garment sharing details of each outfit with the guests as the bidding was handled.

There was still a fair crowd of people, including the portion of the volunteer staff that had remained behind to assist after setup was completed. As soon as Survey entered a red headed girl jumped up and hurried towards her and Parian.

"Delphine!" Tetra said, rushing up to her 'sister'. "Oh, hello Parian. It is nice to meet you." She said with the same subtle accent that Survey used in her civilian identity.

"Um, hello." Parian said. She paused and looked from Tetra to Survey.

"Parian, may I introduce my younger sister, Tetra Mertens." Survey's dignified introduction was slightly spoiled by the energetic wave Tetra gave the two of them at the mention of her name.

"Ooooh." Parian said. "Oh!" She stepped towards Tetra and extended a hand, which Tetra shook enthusiastically. "It's nice to meet you as well."

"I was sorry to hear about the trouble with your model. I hope you will be able to manage without her." Tetra said.

"Yes, your sister was very helpful." Parian slowly paused her hand as she looked over Tetra with what seemed to be a serious level of evaluation.

"It will require some adjustment, but Parian is confident she can adapt the program to account for the absence." Survey said confidently.

"Actually…" Parian turned to Survey. "I would hate to impose a last minute change on the organizers. And for you to have to bother Garment during such an important time." She said, looking back and forth between Tetra and Survey. "I feel awful about asking this, but is there any way I could impose terribly upon your sister?"

Tetra gave Parian a confused look, at which point she proceeded to propose what might have been the last thing I could have expected from this event. Tetra's face lit up as she realized what was being requested.

"Please?" Tetra transmitted her plea to me even as she continued listening to Parian's proposal.

I leaned my head back against the wall. Absolutely the last thing I had expected. I was ready for gang attacks, intrusions from outside the city, a party van full of Slaughterhouse Nine barring towards the city, even an early Endbringer appearance. Nowhere in all the myriad scenarios I had considered did I include Tetra getting scouted as a model.

Then again, I hadn't considered the possibility of Taylor getting attacked at school and all the cascade effects that would bring about. A spontaneous modeling opportunity for Tetra was a pretty far flung and probably as far as it was likely to go.

The slow movement of the Celestial Forge resulted in a failed attempt to connect to the Alchemy constellation as I considered the situation. Tetra was all for it, obviously. It was a chance for her to meet more people and do new things. Survey was confident she could handle the task without compromising any aspect of her identity, which I could generally agree with. Still, this was more than a bit much for her first real exposure to the outside world.

But there was also Parian to account for. Sure, she could handle a change in her program, but that would require a lot of frantic work. More than bringing a new model up to speed on an existing and fairly basic program. Not that Tetra would need that much work. She had already reviewed all of Survey's notes from her meeting with Parian and was completely familiar with the planned performance.

When she explained that her sister had already given her a detailed breakdown of the program based on her meeting with Parian… well, she didn't actually swoon, but I might need to talk to Survey about what was clearly becoming more than the incidental attraction her identities tended to draw.

An additional factor was one less model meant one less outfit on display. There was a lot more exposure hanging on this event than anyone anticipated. Parian losing the chance to show off one of her outfits was actually a substantial hit when you considered the size of the audience.

And that might track back to Sabah. I doubted a second year fashion student was handling design work on this level, but any level of connection to a major show would be a big deal. Parian's portion of the event going over well could mean a lot to all of the college students she had assisting her, including Sabah.

Though it would mean undercutting Emma Barnes. That's right. This would undercut Emma Barnes. Tetra wasn't a perfect match for Emma's body type, Parian would need to take in the dress slightly, but they had a similar color palette and well… Emma had been able to sustain a moderately successful modeling career with local businesses, but Tetra could pass as the sister of Delphine Mertens. There really wasn't a comparison.

Was it petty of me to consider going forward with this primarily as a way to make things worse for Emma Barnes? Maybe, but I could still remember everything she said about Professor Hebert. The fact that she said that to Taylor, and the smug look on her face as she did.

I had held off from actual divine vengeance. There were no curses directed at Emma Barnes. Her family wasn't blighted and she hadn't been transformed into a monster or one of the less popular animals. I hadn't summoned the Furies to torment her. Well, I hadn't built my own version of the Furies so that I could then summon them and send them to torment her. Basically, I had held back on every over the top act of horrific vengeance that was available to me.

This? Making sure that her modeling role was filled by someone who would outperform her by a mile? That wasn't divine retribution. It was barely a petty slight. I think I could afford to indulge in that level of revenge plot without morally compromising myself.

"If you want to, I don't have a problem." I transmitted. "Though it means you probably won't be able to help if we need to deploy against the Teeth or Empire."

"That's alright." Tetra said, still smiling at Parian as the woman did her best to talk Tetra and 'Delphine' around to her proposition. "There will be other fights."

"Then as long as no one else has an objection?" I asked the group in general.

"Go for it." Aisha encouraged. "You'll do great."

"Seize the opportunity." Fleet said.

"Your aesthetic characteristics are more than sufficient for a task of this level." The Matrix offered.

From the security booth Tybalt offered her a series of meowed encouragements that were mostly composed of references to the advantage of initiative in tactical military maneuvers.

I smiled. "Sounds like everyone's on board."

In the backstage hallway at the other end of the building, Survey had her replica droid look down at Tetra with an expression of encouragement on her face. "It is alright with me if you would like to."

Tetra smiled at Parian. "I'd be happy to help with the show."

I leaned back against the wall with an easy grin. It looked like Tetra would be starting a modeling career. I never would have imagined she'd beat Survey to it. As Parian rushed her off for an emergency fitting I extended my awareness to check on the other threats currently being managed.

The Empire was currently mounting up for the first major cape offensive since the Ungodly Hour. Dragon was ready to intercept them, and the Dragonslayers were ready to intercept her. The Butcher was thankfully staying out of the field, but according to Survey was planning a counterattack for the coming night. The Slaughterhouse Nine still had only just stolen the damn truck, but Cherish and Shatterbird were still tormenting the replica droid that had been driving it. Oh, and across the city a fifteen year old girl was being booked on assault charges.

With all that to keep track of, an alien taking up modeling was practically mundane. Or maybe my standards had become just a little bit skewed. At the very least it looked like things were starting to get exciting, both for the event and in the city at large.

Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

Temporal Controls (Personal Reality) 200:
This Personal Reality Option gives you control over how fast time flows in your Personal Reality while you're not there. The default is 1:1, but with this you can dial it anywhere from 1:10 to 10:1. Remember, this doesn't work when you're in the warehouse.

 

[AnaqiX]

First

Edit: Nothing much happened, Uber, Leet and Bakuda digging themselves into deeper graves

I wonder what's up with Butcher, Something obviously happened thanks to MC, so why did the two suddenly go silent I wonder

 

[adamashield]

Temporal Controls (Personal Reality) 200:
This Personal Reality Option gives you control over how fast time flows in your Personal Reality while you're not there. The default is 1:1, but with this you can dial it anywhere from 1:10 to 10:1. Remember, this doesn't work when you're in the warehouse.

Click to shrink...

I read ahead this part before go to sleep .

Oh, my God, they bribe him with more time. That requires him to go outside for character development? Since the lab/team can certainly work on their own too for analyzing data and so on.

Well, I guess every (evil) villain/'hero'/monster just heard boss music even louder than before
edited.

 

[bludvein]

Not sure how I feel about massively overcomplicating the S9 situation. I get that he wants to make an example of them and crush their efforts trivially as part of that, but he could've achieved the goal so much easier with some common sense.

 

[Martian_Tech]

I don't really like the… pacing isn't the right word… I'm not sure how to describe but it feels like Lord is making way too many plot threads or different ideas and not developing any of them. It might just be an effect of how rapidly events are occurring in story but it feels like if someone few out a time line there would be a exponential growth curve in events over time.

 

[Martian_Tech]

Emma Barens

Click to shrink...

*barnes

musical que

Click to shrink...

*cue

Asisha

Click to shrink...

Aisha

 

[dermenscha]

Eventually the Sabah/Parian thing is gonna blow up in Joe's face and I can't wait for it.

 

[SiegfriedisOP]

Not the actual fate of the city resting on a January incident at Winslow High

Click to shrink...

Well more like the fate of the multiverse.

Well, actually it was the Wards who were entering when Garment had that particular reaction, which did earn some amused chuckles from the media booth. I was a bit too focused on my nascent mastery of time to bother enjoying Flechette and Kid Win's reaction to Garment's apparent joy at their arrival.

Click to shrink...

Damn fortune energy showing it anime roots by keeping the main protagonist dense.

 

[Tiz Goldeneye]

Well this is going to go terribly wrong for the Butcher, and it will be interesting to see heroes take control. I wonder what Uber will learn about human transmutation. Joe is going to need to roll Truth soon just as a matter of practically. I'm interested to see what Leet makes of the game grid. Also, as always the dramatic irony between factions is on point. Well, now Joe is kicked out of his workshop so at least half the rewderbase should be happy.

I don't have words for Uppercrust's speech. Congrats to the people who called Tetra modelling.

 

[BlueArcher]

Man its almost like Uber and Leet want to be remembered as members of slaughterhouse nine and get not only a killing order but basically send to the most deep hellhole once they finally get the deserved bullet in the head.

 

[___]

The Butcher smiled slightly as she brought a hand to her chin. "He did have a good heart."

Click to shrink...

Do his posing powers work on his heart or is this just divine craftsmanship at work.

"Thank you, Survey." I replied in my own transmission. "Please keep me apprised of the situation. It would be for the best if we could minimize the disruption for Parian's group. I'd prefer to not cause Sabah any more stress."

Click to shrink...

So close yet so far, fortune energy at work, keeping Joe's sanity intact, nice and happy.

had my suspicions, which were confirmed when I met with him earlier in the morning. He had obviously gone a little overboard in celebrating his recovery, and by a little overboard I meant he consumed a quantity of grease that probably would have required hospitalization if eaten by any other man his age. Only the quality of his treatment had kept him upright, but it still hadn't completely cleared his system when I had spoken to him the next day.

Click to shrink...

Good luck Uppercrust, now time to flirt with Survey.

I don't really like the… pacing isn't the right word… I'm not sure how to describe but it feels like Lord is making way too many plot threads or different ideas and not developing any of them. It might just be an effect of how rapidly events are occurring in story but it feels like if someone few out a time line there would be a exponential growth curve in events over time.

Click to shrink...

Contrary to popular belief this represents the resolution of many plot threads, from Joe finding out about Taylor's connection to Joe slowly realises the Parian-Sabah connection. The culmination of the Professor Hebert love triangle with Professor Singh is at hand as well, after Joe talks with Danny again, Joe should probably thank his stepmom, capricious and flighty she may be. She's way better than Joe's biological and mortal parents.

Man its almost like Uber and Leet want to be remembered as members of slaughterhouse nine and get not only a killing order but basically send to the most deep hellhole once they finally get the deserved bullet in the head.

Click to shrink...

Nah, it seems Leet hasn't drank the Kool-Aid, Uber may be a lost cause though.

 

[verycoolname]

Man, Uber and Leet in are way over their heads, but I can't help but be impressed with how much of a threat they are shaping into.

I'd prefer it if they just kinda keeled over next chapter, but I am still impressed.

 

[RogueDruid]

Joe: I need more time-
Forge: 10-1 time dilation- but you can't use it. only your duplicates. You have to be outside the labs.
Joe:... Well, I suppose I can go for a walk. maybe even an enthusiastic one! Might go shopping, maybe visit rest of the Bay while I'm out....

*Cue shivers down every parahuman in the city and surrounding Tri-state are*

 

[BananaBuddy]

Rally, all that mattered was that under the surface, the Celestial Forg were even less human than they appeared.

Click to shrink...

Should be Really and Forge

 

[BlueArcher]

Hmmm, is a thing mine or Sabah basically had a very distracted by the sexy moment when she saw both sisters? Like I could swear that I read a brain melted moment where she was just like Brook of Pokemon.

 

[Absolute_Flaw]

For all that fortune energy he still hasn't stumbled on March and her merry band of shit stirrers again…

 

[ImperatorV]

I have to say, I do love March's master plan here. LordRoust has elegantly devised a way for the Uber&Leet/March/Bakuda group to potentially become not complete pushovers, which relies entirely on canon parahuman mechanics. If it wasn't for the fact that Joe is eventually going to outscale the shards themselves, March might even have had a sliver of a chance.

Also Tetra becoming a model is great. Did not see it coming, but it makes perfect sense and is genuinely hilarious.

 

[renextronex]

With the slower movement of the Celestial Forge, another Personal Reality connection almost felt like a break. Sure, there were some abilities that had been disproportionate, but they were few and far between. Most of the constellation was simple comforts and quality of life improvements. Things that were fun to explore rather than world shaking revelations. I watched as my power connected to a single mote from a rather large cluster. Five motes of equal power, all on the smaller size. My reach was sufficient to secure one of them and dislodged the power as the constellation continued on its way.

And then I examined my new ability and remembered what had happened the last times I had underestimated the Personal Reality constellation. It wasn't quite as bad as receiving a caged star or personal divine realm, but I would at least place it in the same category.

Temporal Controls. I had just received the ability to control the flow of time within my workshop, at least to a point. I could accelerate it to ten times normal speed or slow it to a tenth of what was experienced in the outside world. For some reason, it only worked when I was outside my workshop, meaning that my duplicates could make use of it, as could the rest of the team, but I was specifically excluded.

Click to shrink...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think he had 100 CP leftover from the previous chapter and +300 CP from the way you are making the 600 CP rolls work he should have rolled with 400 CP which means he should have taken another perk with the cluster. (that cluster is of 5 perks of 200 CP)

of course I could also be wrong somewhere

 

[Anaja]

"Just imagine, less than a week and we'll be cracking the limits on parahuman power." His eyes gleamed. "And standing on the same level as the Celestial Forge."

"I look forward to it." The Butcher replied with her own smirk.

Click to shrink...

Those poor deluded idiots. I can't wait to see them get what's coming.

When she explained that her sister had already given her a detailed breakdown of the program based on her meeting with Parian… well, she didn't actually swoon, but I might need to talk to Survey about what was clearly becoming more than the incidental attraction her identities tended to draw.

Click to shrink...

If it's blatant enough, right in front of him, and includes a member of his team, then, eventually, even Joe can recognize romantic interest.

 

[MerrickZ]

TYFTC

 

[OglyMogly]

Okay, the mirroring of March's group being given a time manipulator's head while Aperion is also given a time manipulation perk is great.

Also, I'm loving the hints given to what Leet's mega project will be. Great chapter!

 

[___]

Hmmm, is a thing mine or Sabah basically had a very distracted by the sexy moment when she saw both sisters? Like I could swear that I read a brain melted moment where she was just like Brock of Pokemon.

Click to shrink...

No, for all her faults, Parian isn't that much of a Paedo(Flechette was a Ward). I think it's more like she got friendzoned by "Delphine Mertens" and then got cockblocked by Tetra(what's a female/lesbian word for cockblocked?)
Edit:
What would Taylor's reaction if she found out that Tetra(Joe's teammate) upstaged Emma?

 

[Whamodyne]

3 to 4 days from the charity event is going to be the singularity point.

Timeline wise it's Weds Afternoon so yes, everybody's working for the weekend.

 

[BananaBuddy]

So with the time bending of the workshop Joe is actually going to be able to track them around 10 times faster if he just stays out of the workshop. the three days he told Uppercrust he needed is looking alot more like an afternoon. Unless the tracking of location needs to be done out of the workshop.