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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

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Mandabar said:
Obviously, the solution is for LordR to switch to a monthly release schedule, and then release a chapter early, every two weeks or so.
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He's been amazingly consistent since the start. I've been very grateful for the consistent schedule. I have seen several other authors who have swapped to a 'bunch' format - halting release of new chapters until they have prepared 8+ chapters then releasing in quick succession. The lack of a consistent schedule seems to lead to rapid abandonment of the story. I'd love this to be one of Worm fics that goes the distance.
 
A deadline, even self-imposed, can be very useful. I can take a 2 month break of running D&D and most of my prep will be in the last two weeks. Even though I could just tell the group "Hey folks, I need an extra week."

And I would if I had an emergency or something that really meant I couldn't prep to my standards (which vary from game to game, I've run full improv before, I'm just trying a long term campaign where I can seed things months if not years in advance).

tl;dr: Deadlines good, YMMV.
 
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103 Calls and Connections - Addendum Accord
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    • 103 Calls and Connections

    I checked on the status of my duplicates' preparations through the network as Aisha, Tetra, and I made our way towards the end of the plateau. We could have just taken a portal directly to the exit, but after that discussion we could all use a chance to decompress.

    "So, Call Beads." Aisha said. "They're old tech, right?"

    I nodded. "Connected to one of the first powers I got. I couldn't make them until I got the materials for the alchemy formula, and even then I had to be pretty conservative until I was able to copy the components with my duplicates."

    "Yeah, Evermore Alchemist." Aisha said. "And none of that stuff makes any sense."

    "That's because it's not chemistry." I said as we strolled through the gardens and courtyards that had been added to the plateau. "It's more of a material-based spellcasting system. You're using components to shape the magic instead of words or gestures."

    "And how many kinds of magic do you have right now?" Aisha asked.

    "Too many, probably. And with a lot of overlap between them." I admitted. The Spiritron Core had advanced to the point where it was possible to train magical abilities inside it. Providing the power had a spiritual element and wasn't based entirely on some aspect of my body, I could get years of progress in a single night.

    Which I had, but even with my duplicates contributing, there had only been so much progress that could be made. A year in the Spiritron Core worked out to about two hours outside. I had been able to get enough practice to at least get proficiency with all of my magic systems, though mastery was going to take substantially longer. My duplicates had been able to share their experiences, but that was mostly limited to the types of magic that were based on casting skill rather than personal power.

    Additionally, there was every other ability I needed to train and develop. Mantra, psionics, advanced martial arts, Aura, and more. I was currently at a level where I could comfortably and proficiently use the abilities I had been granted, but I wasn't pushing the boundaries of any of them.

    Of course, for the span of a single night, that was still quite an accomplishment. Even if most of my focus was going to be devoted to my Aspect, I at least had my other powers at a workable level.

    "Evermore Alchemy was the first system of 'magic' I received." I said.

    "Back when you weren't willing to call anything magic, right?" Aisha teased.

    I shrugged. "It was a bit of a paradigm shift."

    More than a bit of a paradigm shift, really. The interaction between my power and parahuman abilities, the clear origins that could be tied to different works of fiction, and the sometimes arbitrary rules and mechanics under which they functioned were a lot to deal with. Other parahumans could have esoteric restrictions on the operation of their power, but they only needed to deal with one set of crazy rules, not a dozen piled on top of each other.

    "Call Beads were the most significant source of magical energy I had access to for a long time." I explained. "It was a big help for things like Magitek power, but I never really got into their main use."

    Aisha smiled. "Figures you would get something that lets you copy cape powers and you end up putting it on the back burner."

    "It's not copying. Not exactly." Tetra explained. "It's about connections. The beads form a link to a specific entity and provide the energy to emulate expressions of their abilities. It can work for passengers, but the principle would apply to any sufficient source of power."

    "Of course, in this universe we've only got passengers to work with." I replied.

    "So back in the original universe, these things linked up with gods or spirits or something like that?" Aisha asked.

    I shrugged. "I don't know." I said. "Outside of the alchemy system, I don't know much about the place where this power came from."

    "And Survey doesn't have any ideas?" Aisha asked.

    "She has some theories." Tetra said. "But none of them have enough confidence to put forward as a suggestion."

    "Best guess, it's either something obscure or not present in this universe, if it even has a media source for us to reference." I said. "Plenty of power origins are still basically question marks."

    "I guess they can't all come with complete novels explaining things." Aisha joked. "So, if the whole thing with the Call Beads didn't get buried under the rest of your powers, what would you have done with them?"

    "Probably what we're working on now." I said. "Try to figure out how they work and what they can do for both me and parahumans." I shrugged. "Honestly, not having a parahuman to work with on this was the biggest stumbling block."

    "What, you didn't want to bring one of the Undersiders into this?" Aisha asked with a grin. Tetra seemed to share her amusement as the idea of what Taylor might be capable of if the limits were taken off of her already excessive power.

    "No." I said firmly. "I already ended up more entangled with them than I intended. I definitely wasn't going to get into experimental methods of power enhancement."

    Which was definitely a good idea. Even if the Undersiders could have been trusted with that kind of thing, it getting back to Coil in any way would have been a death sentence, at least earlier in my career. Later on, it would have put us against each other well before I was ready to deal with the fallout.

    "Are you sure this is a power boosting thing?" Aisha asked. "Aren't parahuman powers already operating on an insane level? I mean, I know how much you needed to put into those strikers to make a difference in my power. Are the beads really going to make that much of a difference?"

    "There's a difference between continuous enhancement and a single boost." I explained. "Call Beads aren't going to increase the level you operate on like the striker was designed to. It's a single burst of power, as well as an expanded connection that could potentially open up more options for what you can do with your abilities."

    "Like a trigger?" Aisha asked. "That's the whole deal, connecting with a passenger and setting parameters for how your power works. That's what we're going to be doing with the Call Beads, right?"

    "Sort of?" I said. "It would be a lot less certain without the studies we've conducted in passenger space, but I don't think this will actually modify the expression of your powers on any long term basis. Not without a much larger breach to effectively reset the connection with your passenger."

    "You mean like what happened down on the docks? And what you're planning to do to get into Passenger Space?" Aisha asked.

    I nodded. "The Protectorate has been incredibly careful with the details of what happened there, but that's kind of expected when you're dealing with power effects and dimensional portals. Still, it looks like it had that kind of effect."

    "What do you mean?" Aisha asked.

    "Glory Girl was transferred to New York after the Ungodly Hour." Tetra explained. "No reason was listed, but she's been housed in the Protectorate's top power testing facility. They've kept all the data isolated and off network, but Survey was able to scry on some of the researchers when they were talking about her case."

    "Modified power expression and awareness of her Passenger." I said. "And Triumph might be in the same situation, based on how the Case is being treated."

    Survey had also learned the case numbers assigned to both the breach and the effect it had. That was an unfortunate coincidence. I understood that they couldn't reasonably put the case number for the breach after the case number for the effect, but if they could have consolidated the incidents or even just dropped in a filler number it would have avoided a very unfortunate association that was likely assigned to Victoria Dallon.

    It was additionally unfortunate because of the potential this represented. Aisha was right, a modification of the expressions of someone's powers was basically a trigger all over again. If the way that modified power expression manifested could be controlled or at least moderated, it might be possible to fix the issues afflicting Case 53s on a fundamental level. No struggling against their biology, no chance of reversion or collapse, no unforeseen power interactions. A full reset of what gave them their powers in the first place.

    And in the process, I would be turning them from Case 53s to Case 69s. I doubt most of the people who suffered under their current condition would care overly much about the new designation number, but it was still something I would have preferred to avoid inflicting on them. Maybe I could put forward the suggestion that recovered Case 53s be referred to as Case 122s?

    That was a problem for later, and would only be a problem if it was actually possible to address things in that way. Aisha's trial of a Call Bead was the first step, particularly since we would be able to observe the effect from both the real world and from inside Passenger Space. Even if this wasn't a magic bullet for treating Case 53s, I still had plenty of other options available to me. I think, for people living with that condition, a good enough solution would definitely be good enough.

    "Hey, you got parahuman tinker powers from that Armsmaster thing, right?" Aisha asked. "Are you going to try boosting them with this?"

    "Maybe?" I said. "Those powers work differently." I paused. "Well, no. They work exactly the same, but they're being driven differently."

    "He doesn't have a passenger." Tetra explained. "At least not one that's present in Passenger Space, even for his tinker power."

    "It functions like a normal parahuman power, but it's supported from the same source as the rest of my abilities." I shrugged to Aisha. "It means it's less volatile and more stable. No Sechen ranges, but no passenger influence either."

    "And you can't connect to it?" She asked.

    "I might be able to." I said. "It explicitly functions like a 'normal' passenger, but I think the entire process might be emulated by my power. A Call Bead might be able to boost it, but I wouldn't be connecting to Passenger Space. I'd be doing something else, and that might result in a similar boost, or it might do nothing."

    "Right." Aisha said. "Guess I need to be the one to take point on this, as the only 'normal' parahuman around here."

    "I mean, if you don't want to…" I said.

    "Nah." She replied with a grin. "I'm not turning down a chance to hit up my passenger. Besides, she owes me after that shit she tried to pull last time."

    I looked over at Aisha. "Have you had any more trouble since then?" I asked.

    I knew passengers could influence the parahumans they were connected to. Really, there was so much hardwiring between the Corona Pollentia and the rest of the brain that expecting there to be no effect was just foolish. The actual degree varied based on individual circumstances, but there was always something.

    Even for me. My situation was far from typical, but my own passenger had been a constant presence in my life since my trigger, for both good and ill. The intensity had definitely been restrained since the bank and predictions of the future were now badly out of date, but they were still there. Restrained, but still supportive. In that I was luckier than a lot of parahumans.

    "No more attempted memory wipes, if that's what you mean." Aisha said with a wide grin. "I don't think she could do it, even if she wanted to."

    I wasn't totally certain about that. Aisha had a terrifyingly powerful passenger, one with a kind of inherent connection to every other passenger on the network. With that kind of power, erasing the memory of a single person shouldn't be a problem.

    And if we were talking about any other person, that would probably be correct, but Aisha was a special case. Her connection provided a level of inside access that other people lacked. That, combined with Ren granting her better control of her powers was apparently enough to stifle any attempts on the part of her passenger. After all, everything her passenger could do was technically part of her own power set. The same level of interconnection that tied a parahuman's brain into their passenger also tied that passenger into the parahuman.

    "I don't think she's going to try that, anyway." Aisha said. "Not really the sense I've been getting from her, though it's kind of fuzzy in the Workshop."

    "It's the privacy curtain." Tetra explained. "It would keep your passenger from seeing what happens in here, but still lets you use your powers. It's actually a really complicated set of interactions."

    "Yeah, how did you pull that off anyway?" Aisha asked.

    "I have no fucking idea." I said honestly.

    Aisha blinked. "Sorry, what?"

    "That's one of the things from my Simple Scientific Solution power, the one that does super science answers to household problems. I've told you it's crazy advanced." I explained.

    "Yeah, but that was crazy advanced a week and a half ago." She said, "I figured that by now you'd have figured it out."

    I shook my head. "No luck there. It's way too advanced for me."

    Aisha gave me a blank stare. "How?" She shouted. "Seriously, how the hell is that possible?"

    "It's kind of part of the power." I explained. "It lets me create supertech solutions to household problems, but the tech is so ridiculously advanced that I can't figure it out or reverse engineer any principles from it. Generally I'm lucky if I can even tell what it's doing. 'How' is kind of a lost cause."

    Aisha looked genuinely concerned about the concept. "Is it… I mean, with where you are now, does tech even go that high?"

    "Apparently so." I said. "I'm pretty sure one of the really big powers I haven't gotten yet is connected to this one, so there's a good chance that will shine some light on things."

    "Really big?" Aisha asked.

    "Same size as Tybalt's Glory To Me." Also known as the power that single handedly made him the strongest combatant in the Celestial Forge.

    "Right, right." Aisha said. "Always good to know there's more craziness waiting for us." She looked back up at me. "Is there anything we should worry about here? Like, if you don't know how it works or what it's doing…"

    "I know what it's intended for, and I know that it will accomplish that task as long as its use stays within the bounds of a household problem." I said.

    Granted, considering the privacy of a continent sized extradimensional space a 'household' problem might be a bit of a stretch, but apparently that power didn't pass judgment on your living arrangements. As long as the Workshop was a home rather than a staging area or command center, the privacy screen was perfectly stable.

    "It even protects against stuff that wasn't considered when the system was built." Tetra chimed in. "The privacy screen actually stops people from reading memories of what happened in the Workshop. They can't even spy on us by going through someone's head!"


    "How does that work?" Aisha asked. Then, in a more concerned voice, she added "and how do you know?"

    "I can tell the difference in people I'm connected to when they're in and out of the workshop." She explained. "The effect actually obscures the time axis of my connections! It's really incredible and I have no idea how it can do that!"

    That was a bit of an understatement. Tetra's connections fundamentally could not be broken. To even obscure information from her senses you'd basically need to be messing around with alternate pasts. It was full on manipulation of the timestream for the purposes of blocking peeping toms.

    "And you're okay with that?" Aisha asked. "I mean, you're always both in and out of the Workshop at the same time. That doesn't mess up the curtain? Or affect you?"

    "No, it does." She said, "But I like the variations it introduces into my perceptions. It's interesting having a fundamentally different experience in multiple places simultaneously."

    Aisha looked like she was fighting off a headache at the very concept of what Tetra was describing. Eventually she gave up and moved on.

    "Okay, so that's why we need to do the Call Bead testing outside of the Workshop." She said, "So the curtain doesn't muck with the connection."

    I nodded. "The link between a parahuman and their passenger is really complicated. I wouldn't risk messing with it with anything less than ridiculous super technology, and even that only works in a narrow situational range. It's better to try something like this outside the privacy curtain."

    Which was less of an issue now that I could create proper wards and was naturally immune to precognition. The curtain was still miles ahead of my best efforts, but my best efforts were also miles ahead of the things we were trying to counter.

    "Yeah, I saw some of Survey's models of the connection. Or I guess that would be Passenger Space Survey?"

    "It's all Survey. Just a bit of a different perspective." I said.

    Aisha smiled. "Yeah, I remember the 'perspective' she was trying to slim down to in order to manage the transfer." Tetra seemed a little more amused by that than was strictly appropriate.

    "Anyway, her models have actually been really helpful in breaking down the situation." I called up a hologram of the interdimensional structures that facilitated the link between a parahuman and their passenger. "The link is a lot more involved than we assumed. It's useful in some areas, but presents challenges in others."

    "What kind of challenges?" Aisha asked, looking at the floating diagram.

    "Well, we didn't confirm this until after my last power, but you know the atman?" I asked. "That energy field that makes a person who they are?"

    "Yeah, the scientific soul that the fake gods messed with." Aisha said. "Which is sort of actually a soul?"

    "Yeah, it's basically the same thing." At least as far as my power was concerned. No difference between the unique energy patterns that compose a person's consciousness and their theological soul. It was just a matter of expression and I could use them interchangeably, which had its own set of concerns attached. But those were problems for later.

    "So, what does this have to do with the 'atman'?" Aisha asked.

    "Well, the atman, at least from the perspective of the technology from that power, is composed of all the energy signatures that make up a person." I explained. "Mostly neurological, but they extend to the rest of the body as well, particularly for 'gods' and the expressions of their abilities."

    I shifted the perspective of the model and highlighted certain areas. "For parahumans, the portion of the energy pattern that effectively composes their soul extends through the link and into their passenger." I explained. It was what facilitated some advanced breaker and changer states and allowed people to remain functional even when they transformed into a state where they didn't have a physical brain.

    "Well, shit. That's horrifying." Aisha said. "I get this is all science terminology, but the idea that my soul is partially in my passenger, that's not exactly pleasant."

    I nodded. "Even if you don't consider things from a spiritual perspective, it means that reincarnation technology isn't going to work properly for parahumans. You can't just transfer the atman from one body to the next. You'll basically have to fight the passenger for it."

    "Damn." Aisha said. "And if you pulled that off, would they even be a parahuman anymore?"

    "Maybe?" I said. "We don't exactly have experimental results for that kind of thing. Passengers use a lot of factors to track their hosts. Some are genetic, so a different body might throw them off, but at the same time, the portion of the parahuman's atman that was part of the passenger might naturally reconnect. You could put someone into a completely normal body and they might just manifest a new Corona Pollentia and manifest their powers again. It's why this isn't a perfect cure for Case 53s."

    "Well, that sucks." Aisha said.

    "It has benefits as well!" Tetra said.

    "Like what?" Aisha asked.

    I smiled. I had suspected this, but Survey's investigations had basically confirmed it while I was dealing with the other implications of my latest power.

    "Well, if we can find the right passenger and access the parahuman's atman-"

    "We can bring dead capes back to life!" Tetra declared, cutting me off.

    Aisha blinked and looked between me and Tetra. "You're shitting me?"

    I shook my head. "Survey just confirmed it. You can check her report-"

    Aisha didn't even wait for me to finish speaking before she pulled up her omnitool and requested the information from Survey. She quickly began skimming through the report, and I couldn't help but notice that Survey had specifically sent one of the versions of the reports she prepared to ensure that the key points of the analysis would stand out as Aisha skimmed through the document.

    "Holy shit." Aisha said. She kept the holoscreen up as she slumped onto a nearby bench. "Holy fucking shit. This will work for anyone?"

    "Providing we can find their passenger and extract their atman, it will." I said. It was kind of like the plot of the novel, only instead of recovering an energy pattern from the rings of the planet we were extracting it from extradimensional meat computers. "It's still not easy. There are a lot more passengers than parahumans and it's hard to identify even active connections, much less figure out who dormant or disconnected passengers used to be linked to."

    "But you can do it. We can do it." Aisha said. "Any cape who's died, we can bring them back."

    I nodded. "I mean, this was theoretically possible for a while, and you see similar expressions from capes like the Butcher or Glaistig Uaine."

    "Yeah, but… I mean, those aren't exactly good ways to come back." Aisha said. I nodded.

    "If someone tried to do this kind of thing using cape powers or tinker tech or some combination they would probably end up with a lot of baked in errors. Memory loss, personality shifts, or emotional instability. Honestly, if I tried this as soon as it was technically possible for me I probably would have been dealing with the same problems."

    "But not now?" Aisha asked.

    I shook my head. "Not with dedicated technology specifically designed for the task, and the knowledge to take those principles even further than what was generally believed possible. Not with the quality of the machinery that I can make, and not with the ability to directly interact with souls." I smiled as I checked on the Fleet's accelerated progress through Passenger Space. "The more we explore passenger space, the better our chances of identifying specific passengers. And if we find the passenger of a cape who died, we can bring them back."

    Transferring an atman through a quantum entanglement communicator or worse, though the phone in my office, was technically possible, but would be a bottleneck in almost every sense of the word. Gaining access, either through a Call Bead breach or some other method would address that, and then it would only be a matter of finding the right passenger and bringing them back.

    Unless you already happened to know where the capes in question were. In the case of War Seer and Caydancil, resurrection was much simpler.

    "Fuck." Aisha said. "I can't even imagine the reaction when you start bringing people back to life. I mean, this is casual immortality for capes."

    "Well, this technology was kind of used to give casual immortality to everyone. Like, everyone-everyone. Even farmhands had multiple reincarnations." To be brought back as farmhands, because any advancement through the cycle of reincarnation was just an illusion used to cover for the favoritism of the gods and the protection of their own interests.

    "Yeah, but that was baked into that world from like, day one." Aisha said. "It's harder to wrap your head around the idea that people might live forever."

    I blinked. "Well, you're going to."

    "What?" She said, looking up at me.

    "The nanites that we've been working on? The ones you signed up for?" I asked.

    "Yeah, the healing and like making weapons and stuff. What does that have to do with living forever?" She asked.

    I looked down at her and spoke softly as I replied. "Aisha, the whole nanite project was a life extension initiative. They can heal anything, including genetic damage and the effects of aging. Even if the regeneration wasn't strong enough to make you basically unkillable, you'd never die of old age."

    I could see her reaction and feel the weight of the information through a half dozen supernatural senses. Tetra picked up on the same things and in an instant was at Aisha's side.

    "I thought you already knew that." I said quietly. "We went over the effects of everything before you picked it."

    She shook her head slowly. "No, I should have. I mean, I know how those things work. It makes sense with how they heal, I just didn't think about it like that." She looked up at me. "Like, how do you deal with suddenly knowing that you're going to live forever?"

    There was an awkward silence between the three of us. I glanced away and coughed politely while Aisha cringed slightly.

    "Right, I guess you've already been through this." She said.

    "It kind of snuck up on me." I said. I had gone through several steps of 'sort-of immortal' before the nail had really been hammered in. "And for everyone else…"

    "Yeah." She said, looking at Tetra.

    "As far as we can tell, my species has a life-cycle, but consciousness would be perpetuated from one generation to the next, so it's not really like age or death are things we needed to worry about." Tetra said.

    That life cycle involved eating and blowing up planets to throw copies of themselves out into space. Which for some reason rang a very concerning bell from my passenger. Still, not something to get into now.

    "And Fleet, Survey, and the Matrix are machines, and Tybalt was already a super-god when he showed up, and Garment is Garment." Aisha let out a breath. "I guess this will help me fit in."

    "Look, it's not like you have to live forever." I said.

    "No, it's not like I have to die of old age. That was the limit before. It's just not something you really think about. Only now I'm thinking about how I don't have to think about it." Aisha said.

    "This is probably heavier stuff than we needed to get into right now." I offered.

    "I'm not sure there's a good time to find out you're going to outlive everyone else." Aisha said. Then she blinked and looked up. "Except I'm not. That reincarnation tech is something anyone can use, right?"

    "Anyone but parahumans, and really it's just a little harder for them." I said.

    Aisha cracked a smile. "So that's death cured, worldwide." She shook her head slowly. "I'm sure that's going to bring a calm and reasonable response from society at large."

    "Honestly, it's hard to find a piece of technology that's not going to turn society inside out." I said. "It's going to be enough work to keep my technology from unleashing chaos or being twisted for evil."

    "Yeah, I'm sure reincarnation has all kinds of nefarious uses." She looked up at my expression. "What?"

    "Um, maybe you should read that book." I said.

    "Fuck." She said in a tied voice. "Okay, what did the fake gods end up doing with that tech?"

    "Basically, punitive reincarnation." I said. "If you didn't live according to their ideals, you got shoved into a messed up body to live a life of penance. Spend a lifetime deformed, disabled, or diseased to learn your lesson." I said.

    "Shit." Aisha said.

    I nodded. "And that was if you were lucky. It could be a lot longer than one lifetime. Just a string of diseased bodies to serve as an example to other people, or even dumping someone's mind into the body of a dog or beast of burden if they really wanted to mess with them."

    Aisha shook her head. "Yeah, I almost forgot how shit they were in that world. I'm guessing you couldn't scam your way out of that kind of thing?"

    I shook my head. "The 'gods' controlled most of the technology, and they had that memory tech to read people's lives with more fidelity than should really be possible." I shrugged. "An aspect of the Atman. It can pull any specific moments from someone's life, even if they can't remember it themselves and even read the intentions behind someone's actions. People would get punished just for being inclined towards rebellion, even if they never did anything."

    "Well, that's terrifying." Aisha said flatly.

    I nodded, then smiled. "Actually, that is a technology that might actually have a bigger impact than even reincarnation."

    "What do you mean? Mind scanning people to find out who's against you?" Aisha asked.

    I shook my head. "No. Think about it. Drop the thought crime stuff and think about what happens if you make it accessible for anyone who wants to use it." I said, my smile widening.

    "Like, volunteer memory scans?" She asked. "I guess that's like a pensieve from Harry Potter. You could check your own memories and look at anything you'd forgotten."

    "Or that you needed to verify. Or provide evidence of." I said.

    I could see the penny drop. "Fuck. So, if anyone says you're lying…" I nodded.

    "Use it intrusively and you have a short path to a dystopian nightmare, but just let people verify their own experiences…"

    "And if, for instance, someone said some bullshit about an encounter they had before a charity fashion show you could just show your memory of the event and completely shoot them down." Aisha said with a smile.

    I nodded. "That, but for everything. Every encounter, every accusation, every challenge to the facts…"

    Aisha let out a breath. "That's kind of terrifying. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome. Just being able to shoot down someone who told the teacher that you stole their eraser in third grade and got you thrown into detention for a month…" Aisha trailed off, but from the frustration she was showing I was betting that wasn't a hypothetical example.

    "Um, right." She continued. "That part of it's great, but if people can show off their memories, people are going to start expecting you to, or they'll assume you did something wrong."

    I nodded. "Everything is going to have positive and negative effects and an adjustment period. It's why even when we can start acting openly we still need to be careful about the technology we release. A lot of it is going to have to stay under our control until people adjust."

    Normally that would be a borderline impossible prospect, but I was working with multiple strong A.I.s. Fleet, Survey, and the Matrix were more than capable of handling a worldwide rollout of tech without letting things get too far out of hand.

    "That's going to be big." Aisha said. "I mean, all this stuff is going to be big, but even by comparison…" She looked up at me. "Like, you think about science fiction and you imagine replicators and flying cars and medicine that lets people live hundreds of years, but all that stuff is normal compared to just being able to call up any memory like the court typist is reading it back to you."

    I nodded. "The other stuff doesn't fundamentally change human interactions. You have a lot of advantages, too many for it not to be worth it, but it's definitely going to freak out a lot of people."

    "Mostly anyone with something to hide." Aisha said. "God, can you imagine what politics is going to be like after this?"

    "Probably unrecognizable, along with a lot of other fields that attract corruption." I said. Releasing access to this kind of technology would probably need to be paired with some measure to stop people from silencing witnesses who would want to come forward. I don't imagine the ability to air the dirty laundry of the world's elite would be a popular move, but fortunately I was fairly well insulated from anything they could do in response.

    As Aisha nodded in agreement I felt a shift in the Celestial Forge as the Quality constellation swung towards me. My power secured a connection to a pair of now very familiar motes as the slow rotation of the constellation drew the Forge away from me, leaving me with yet another Minor Blessing and Unnatural Skill.

    This time it was Demeter, goddess of the harvest, grain, agriculture, and the fertility of the Earth. And mother-in-law to Hades, from whom I already had a blessing. I swear, I could feel the animosity between the two gods, even in the expression of their blessings. A blessing of metal standing diametrically opposed to a blessing of life. A blessing that might have been a minor thing, moderately useful in my work, but combined with the Unnatural Skill it had come bundled with, things were taken to an entirely new level.

    "Uh, new power?" Aisha asked, even as my duplicates were working to fill in the rest of the team on the details.

    "Yeah." I said. "Another Minor Blessing and Unnatural Skill. This time it's Demeter."

    "Ah." Aisha said. "So like, gardening or agriculture or something?" She asked.

    I smiled at her. "Cultivation."

    She screwed her face in confusion. "Isn't that kind of the same thing? You cultivate a garden and crops and stuff."

    "You cultivate a lot of things. The blessing is about guiding natural development in a controlled and directed fashion. That can apply to plants, but also animals and people. You can cultivate particular traits and abilities in other people or even yourself. It's actually a really big help for the development of abilities that don't have a clear technical progression."

    "Seriously?" Aisha asked. "How does that tie into Demeter? Does she just let you treat anything like a plant?"

    "It's not unprecedented." Tetra said. "There's a story about Demeter trying to make a baby that she was caring for immortal. She was interrupted at the last minute so it didn't work, but it was definitely something she could do."

    "Growth, fertility, nourishment." I explained. "It's not the most obvious application of her abilities, but I think the blessings are kind of tailored to help my work."

    And possibly to provide a direct point of contract to Hades granting me the ability to work with static metals, particularly the one associated with death. Cultivation of continuously growing and changing systems was kind of the direct opposite of casting something in steel and leaving it static for eternity.

    "So can you do that immortality trick?" Aisha asked.

    "Well, not THAT immortality trick." I said.

    "Right. We're not exactly short on immortality around here." She replied before letting out a breath. "So, it's a minor blessing. That works out to what, ten percent immortality? Or is that just a boost in lifespan?"

    "Sort of." I said. "It helps me encourage and direct development in any biological system. Not complete control, but enough to make a significant difference, especially if I boost it with libations."

    "Got it. What do you figure Demeter's drink of choice is? She seems like a gin aunt to me." Aisha asked with a grin.

    "Given her focus on grains, it's probably beer or whiskey. Or possibly vodka? There are a lot of possible options." Tetra mused.

    "Anyway, this will actually be a big help with developing control of my Aspect." I said. "Also other powers that are less technically based. Ki, mantra, certain types of mantra spiritual energy, that kind of stuff. I can also help other people with that kind of thing."

    "Sounds useful." Aisha said.

    "It is." I said. "Of course, it's kind of overshadowed by the other part."

    "The skill? What, did you get something weird?" Aisha asked. "Those things are monster based, right? I know they can get crazy."

    "The Unnatural Skill is Naturecraft." I explained. "It's kind of based on woodland monsters, creatures that operate in natural environments and can use that to their advantage. Everything from camouflage and setting snares to casting illusions or bending an entire forest to your will."

    "Yikes." Aisha said. "And that works with all the other skills, so you can boost or combine it, right? Make haunted, cursed, enchanted woods?"

    "I can do more than that." I said. "Honestly, this is kind of huge. At least combined with Demeter's blessing."

    "What, does that supercharge the nature control?" Aisha asked.

    "More than that." I said. "With Demeter's Blessing of Cultivation, Unnatural Skill in Naturecraft, and Monstrous Strength boosting it, I have enough control over the cultivation of plants for it to count as crafting."

    Aisha looked at me blankly. "And that's a big deal?"

    "It counts as crafting, according to my other powers." I said.

    I could see the penny drop. "Fuck." Aisha said. "You mean if you grow a plant, you can apply all of your bullshit?"

    "Most of my bullshit." I said. "If I'm not cultivating by hand Master Craftsman won't apply, and it's only thousands of times faster than normal, rather than millions. I mean unless you're growing a tree into a piece of technology…"

    I paused as I considered the idea. With advanced enough understanding of the structure of a plant and the ability to control the way it grew, it was possible to encourage the development of pseudo-mechanical structures that would classify the end product as technology according to my power, allowing the highest level of my crafting time acceleration to come into play. While it was a bit complicated, it was potentially the best way to encourage rapid growth-

    'So, our Noble Phantasm works with plants now.' A transmission from one of my duplicates cut through my chain of thought. 'Just a heads up, Garment has divine level flax now, so the next batch of linens might get a bit crazy.'

    Along with the transmission, my duplicate used our mental link to share the experience with me. Our telepathy had grown substantially since the previous night and was more than sufficient to handle the transfer of memories, even outside the assistance of an Omni-Sphere.

    I lived the experience of my duplicate as he retrieved flax seeds from the greenhouse and fabricated a small planter full of earth. My Noble Phantasm formed, starlight cast into the shape of a gardening trowel before he brough it down and activated the bounded field.

    "Mystic Forge!"

    The concept of time fell away as suddenly there was nothing in the universe but the earth, the seeds, and my interaction with them. Through Demeter's grace I understood how to guide and channel growth, cultivating it beyond simple expressions into something elegant and directed. Through Naturecraft I drew from literally unnatural knowledge of nature, with the contradiction proving no obstacle to my abilities. I understood the seed, the plant, the earth and the seasons as well as any machine. I could guide it, shape it, and allow it to grow.

    In the space beyond space and the time beyond time green shoots emerged from rich earth. They shot upwards, wreathed in vibrant green leaves and buds that opened into flowers of the purest sky blue. With gentle care, I guided the plants through their development from seed to shoot to flower to full maturity. Three seeds became twenty-five under the effects of my resource abilities with each plant growing stronger and taller as my powers reinforced it.

    And finally, it was done. The effect of my Noble Phantasm dropped away, leaving the flax ready for harvest. The first divine plant to grace this world, and it was about to be turned into linen. Honestly, I didn't have a problem with that. I checked and confirmed that the message had gone to Aisha and Tetra as well. I smiled while Aisha looked up at me.

    "So magic plants now?" She asked.

    "Magic, and maybe technological." I said, then paused as I received a message from my other duplicate. "Oh, and one of my duplicates wants to see if he can give a tree Hindu Godbody cybernetics."

    Aisha blinked. "Is that going to do anything special?" She asked.

    "I don't know." I admitted. "I'm pretty sure trees can't generate or channel Mantra, but there are a lot of weird possibilities here. You're looking at the same combination of divine crafting and quality powers that makes my typical work insane, only applying it to plants." I took a breath. "And the duplicates have their twenty percent off time coming up."

    "Ah." Aisha said, looking out over the expansive fields and forests of the workshop. "We're going to end up with a giant tree, aren't we?"

    "Considering that my Always A Bigger Robot power can now be used on plants? Almost certainly." I said. Honestly, I wasn't opposed to my duplicates experimenting with new power combinations, but would have appreciated a bit more notice before they decide to build the discount version of Yggdrasil in my backyard.

    Or maybe it would count as the deluxe version of Yggdrasil. There were a lot of powers being thrown into these projects.

    Aisha smiled. "Probably a good thing I didn't ask for a treehouse." She said, flicking through some reports on her Omnitool's screen. "It would probably end up as insane as that portable workshop you guys have been working on."

    "It's not that insane." I protested.

    "Really?" She stood up and placed her hand on her hips. "Because the last time I asked, one of your copies said it would be ready to go as soon as they finished calibrating the tidal effects."

    "Well, do you want an irregular tidal cycle?" I asked.

    "I didn't want a tidal cycle at all!" She said, "Honestly, I don't care how good the surfing is."

    "You don't?" Tetra asked, looking up at Aisha.

    "Um, I mean, we can still…" She let out a breath. "Look, just let me know when it's done. It's gonna be soon, right?"

    "Yeah. We're going to finish it after we wrap up work on the nanites. We're going all out on that, so we needed to make sure we were topped up on spiritual energy."

    Aisha perked up. "You mean the big elven magic stuff, right? With the singing?"

    I nodded. "We should have it set for later tonight. We can get you and Tybalt set up and I can drop off the other ones tomorrow."

    "Khepri, Flechette, and Panacea." Aisha said. "Have you even pitched this to them yet?"

    "I mentioned something to Khepri a while back. Nothing to the other two, so no way to tell how that would go." Plus Amy's situation was still a bit complicated. If I didn't want to break into a PRT facility, my options were kind of limited.

    "Well, good luck with the pitch. I'm sure it will go over great. Just remember to softball the whole living forever thing." Aisha said.

    "The ones I'm handing out will be limited to healing. There's not much more than the living forever part." I said. "And besides, that's more of a side benefit of the healing."

    "Yeah, I'm sure that will do wonders to soften the impact." Aisha snarked.

    I was going to reply when I got a message from the Matrix. "Aisha, can I meet you in the external lab? I need to deal with something."

    "What's up?" She asked.

    "There's a message from Uppercrust." Tetra said. "He's been working on the problem with the ABB hostages, but needs to speak with Joe."

    Of course, she was happy to remind us that she had been privy to everything that Uppercrust had been doing since she established her connection with him.

    "Right." Aisha said. "Think we're done here anyway. Good luck with that."

    "Thanks, but I think I can manage." I said. Aisha gave a slight wave as she called up a portal with her watch and stepped to the Workshop's exit. Tetra nodded before flickering away, though not really leaving thanks to the nature of her connections. I just focused for a moment before teleporting to the staging area the Matrix had been using for their work with Uppercrust.

    It was really just a section of the Workshop centered around the link points to the book I had made for Uppercrust. The Matrix would have been perfectly capable of generating everything as needed, but had instead assembled a parallel workshop where a dedicated portion of Tier One nanites could standby.

    At my arrival, the golden mass pulled into the armored shape that the Matrix preferred for interacting with people.

    "Uppercrust is currently engaged with the repair assessment of the Protectorate Headquarters. While he had not requested parts, materials, or other assistance, he had provided updates on the nature of the project and his prospective timeline." They explained.

    None of that was really necessary, but I could tell the Matrix enjoyed being involved in a project of that scale, and apparently Uppercrust enjoyed working with the Matrix. That was evident from the scope of the projects he had completed the previous night. Even the more… creative ones.

    That skin tight force field probably wasn't intended for his personal use. Probably.

    "Thank you." I said as I checked the relay of Uppercrust's book. There were also mirrors that could be used for direct communication, but texting was often the more efficient method, even if you were using magically linked books for communication.

    Uppercrust's message was written in his neat, professional handwriting.

    "Apeiron, I have made contact with Director Armstrong regarding your request. I have taken every advised precaution in my correspondence and believe the Director is highly amenable to the proposal. My personal involvement in the initiative has been obscured, though it is likely that Director Armstrong suspects some level of involvement from the Elite. Initial measures are being put in place to facilitate the transfer of the affected individuals, though Director Armstrong has requested some level of personal assurance prior to taking command of the situation from Director Piggot. While I do not imagine this will result in an undue delay, it would facilitate matters considerably if you or a member of your team was able to contact Director Armstrong and communicate your intentions."

    I smiled as I wrote my reply.

    "I will take care of it."

    Normally, securely contacting a PRT director would be a frustrating task. Fortunately, I had a new addition to my workshop that was practically made for this situation. I opened up a channel directly to Survey.

    "Survey, could you get off the line? I need to use the phone."

    Survey did not overly appreciate losing access to the phone line as a data link to the Final Frontier. She still had the QEC, though the bandwidth was a fraction of what she could manage through a voice call. Still, she understood the utility of reaching out this way and even checked in on Director Armstrong via scrying before I made my call.

    Director Armstrong was a short black man with receding hair that was beginning to go gray. He was currently in a conference room working with several members of his staff. From the material being examined, it looked to be related to the transfer of the hostages, though I knew no action had been taken yet. I picked up the receiver of the phone in my office and placed the call.

    I watched as Armstrong's cell phone began to ring. One of his staff looked up with a confused expression.

    "Did you change your ringtone?" The man asked.

    Director Armstrong furrowed his brow as he took out the phone. "No, I…" As soon as he looked at the screen he froze. Without looking up he quickly spoke to the rest of the room. "I need everyone to leave immediately. I will contact you after this call."

    To their credit, everyone rose from their seats and made their way to the door without a second word. Director Armstrong waited until the last of them had left and the door had shut before he answered the ringing phone and lifted it to his ear.

    "Hello?" He said.

    "Good afternoon, Director." I said. "I heard that you were interested in speaking with me again."

    "Apeiron." He replied, practically sagging into his chair. "And yes. I imagine a great many people are interested in speaking with you, and you may count me among them."

    "Well, I am rather invested in the proposed project, and I have confidence this call will go better than our previous one." I said, lightly chiding him.

    "Yes." He said in a tired voice. "And I would like to apologize for that."

    "You would?" I asked. I hadn't really expected to revisit the topic.

    "The attempt to trace your location was an automated measure for external calls. I could have overridden it, but failed to do so in the moment. That was an oversight and I apologize." He explained as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table.

    I felt myself raise an eyebrow. "Is that an official apology?"

    "As official as I can make it." The Director said. "I will provide it in writing if need be."

    "That won't be necessary." I said. "It's just, given my relationship with the Brockton Bay PRT, I'm not accustomed to those kinds of overtures."

    Public image always seemed to be more important than mending fences. Or doing the right thing.

    "It is my professional opinion that the situation in Brockton Bay, and your case in particular, has been badly mishandled. Furthermore, while this is hardly an official stance, you have my personal gratitude for Weld's recovery." He took a breath. "And his treatment."

    "Ah." I said. "I wasn't sure if you were fully apprised of that situation."

    "I am Weld's legal guardian. That position entitles me to certain information that even my role as Director would not guarantee." Director Armstrong had a natural expression that sat somewhere between frustration and anger, but as he spoke with what could be described as a fatherly smile spread across his face.

    "In that case, I apologize for not contacting you before the procedure. The conditions weren't exactly favorable to open communication." I half-joked.

    He shook his head. "There is nothing to apologize for. I know how much this meant to Weld. I would not ask him to delay such an opportunity even for a single day regardless of the circumstances." There was something close to pride in the man's voice.

    "I understand. And to reiterate, I was completely sincere regarding Weld's treatment. He is effectively 'covered'."

    There was a slight pause and Director Armstrong shifted slightly before continuing. "And there is more you can do?" He asked.

    "There are options." I said, "The initial session wasn't exactly conducted under ideal circumstances and several more potential solutions have become available to me since then."

    "Three days, several times over." The Director muttered, shaking his head. "This is fascinating, and I thank you for informing me, but I do not believe this is the reason for your call."

    "No, though I am pleased to know that you have already begun work on the matter." I said. I didn't let on how much I could see, but Uppercrust's message indicated some level of work towards the project.

    Director Armstrong nodded as he looked down at the documents spread over the conference room table. "The methods used to inform me of this situation could be considered excessively cautious, but given the nature of what we were dealing with, that is understandable."

    "Trust me, I fully endorse that level of caution." I replied.

    "Yes." He briefly took his phone from his ear and checked the caller ID. The word APEIRON was printed there with no further information. He checked some of the phone's settings, then moved to his laptop. Checking activity of department communication lines. He took a breath and braced himself before he began speaking again.

    "I assume this call would be more secure than our previous conversation?" He said. "I ask because it does not appear that my phone or any internal systems are actually registering the call."

    "This call is completely secure, or as close as I can make it." I replied.

    "I see. I assume this is some form of power is at work, or an emulation of similar effect?" He asked.

    "If I answer that, are you going to need to isolate yourself for a week to check for mental influences?" I asked.

    "Hardly." He said derisively. "The prevalence of stranger effects related to your team makes such measures laughable. While I'm sure some in the wider PRT will have no shortage of concerns, I do not intend to inform them until the current situation is fully resolved."

    "You can do that?" I asked. "I mean, in an official capacity."

    The Director smiled. "Regional directors are granted a considerable degree of autonomy. I understand that policy has allowed matters in Brockton Bay to escalate well beyond what could be considered a reasonable response to your actions, but the same policy grants me significant leeway in this situation."

    That was interesting. I had honestly never expected to see the other side of the bullshit that had allowed the local office to make such a mess of things. Obviously, in the event of a crisis, local directors needed to be able to take decisive action. It was just odd seeing that policy used for what was clearly its intended purpose, rather than as a cudgel to manage department image and try to bring third party capes into line.

    "That is quite a refreshing change from dealing with the Brockton Bay department." I said.

    "I imagine so. There have been many instances where well intentioned policies have been applied to excessive effect."

    "I assure you, there is no shortage of dissatisfaction with the actions of the local office." I said. It was fairly likely that Director Armstrong and the rest of the PRT would be perfectly happy throwing the entire Brockton Bay office under the bus if it would improve relations between my team and the wider PRT. So far, he hadn't pushed further than I would consider a reasonable response, but this call wasn't about grievances with Director Piggot's handling of the recent crisis or her general management of the city's cape conflicts. "I believe that brings us to the purpose of my call." I continued.

    "Yes." He said. "I have to say, despite the indications to the contrary, I did find it quite difficult to believe the situation as presented to me. Dragon was quite adamant regarding the nature of Bakuda's encryption."

    "That was by no means a simple matter to resolve." I explained. "It required significant effort from both me and my team. I do not believe it would have been possible for another organization to succeed in deciphering this code."

    Armstrong let out a breath. "No, I don't believe so."

    It may have come across as a little conceited, but the fact was this had been a significant effort for ME. Bakuda had been working at the peak of her craft with access to aspects of passenger information that I was guessing probably weren't intended to be accessible to hosts. It was likely only allowed because of a level of confidence that no one would actually understand just what they were looking at.

    "That being the case, it's very likely that Bakuda believes her system to be secure, and will continue to do so unless presented with evidence to the contrary." I explained.

    Honestly, even when presented with evidence to the contrary, I'd give decent odds of Bakuda assuming it was a trick, mistake, or failure of some other element of the system. Given her egotism, it was a lot more likely that she would assume someone else had made a mistake, rather than believing that her masterpiece had been undermined.

    "Yes. To be clear, we are currently taking it on faith that you have indeed countered Bakuda's signal, though that is faith I am willing to extend. I do not have the resources to verify your claims, and this isn't something I would be willing to risk by bringing in outside experts." He looked down at some printouts of the information Survey had provided to Uppercrust in support of this initiative. It was probably a bit beyond what his local technicians could manage.

    "I understand, and thank you for your accommodation on this matter." I said.

    "That is quite alright." He replied. "To be clear, you have fully subverted Bakuda's control signal?"

    "Completely." I assured him. "She is unable to detonate either implanted or emplaced bombs. I have also intercepted and mirrored tracking and operational information from her devices. She will be unaware if a bomb is moved or taken off line, unless I portray it as doing so."

    Armstrong nodded. "I see. That is excellent news. The hostage situation has weighed on the minds of many both within and outside of the PRT. Knowing they are currently safe is a great relief."

    "Yes. To be clear, there is no way for this situation to end that poses any risk to the hostages. Their safety is assured, regardless of any other factors. That said, I would prefer Bakuda to remain ignorant to this until I have succeeded in tracking her current location."

    "I am in full agreement." He said, shuffling to another paper. "The information regarding the use of Dodge's technology was illuminating. I can safely say that you were not the only one frustrated by the difficulty locating Bakuda."

    It was a little surprising that Uppercrust had managed a better investigation than the Protectorate, but then again, he had called in a significant number of favors on my behalf. He also had working relations with organizations and individuals that the Protectorate couldn't associate with, giving him another layer of advantage. I'd expect that Director Piggot would have been frustrated at any information he received not being immediately provided to her, but Armstrong seemed much more reasonable in his approach. Frankly, it was a nice change.

    "Once again, I do not believe that is something that will be possible for other organizations." I explained. "Tracking Bakuda's location requires a comprehensive understanding of the principles of her control signal and the mechanics and structure of pocket dimension formation. A Protectorate wide task force might be able to make some progress, but I doubt that many resources would be allocated to this situation."

    "A regrettably accurate summation." Director Armstrong said. "The recent events in Brockton Bay have been tragic, and have shed light on what appear to be systemic issues that have gone unaddressed for much longer than is acceptable for a major Protectorate branch. Unfortunately, the issues faced by other directors continue to require attention, limiting the resources that can be directed in support of your city."

    I had the sense there was some weight to referring to Brockton Bay as 'my city'. Still, I had to concede his point. While Brockton Bay was undoubtedly in crisis, other cities were facing their own problems. Problems that weren't as severe as Brockton Bay's situation, but problems they couldn't leave unaddressed in order to throw support our way.

    People saw the kind of responses that got rolled out for Endbringers and S-class threats and assumed that was some kind of magic bullet that the Protectorate could direct at any problem. The truth was it was a major undertaking that usually had significant repercussions for everyone involved.

    It also helped that the Truce ensured that anyone who took advantage of the local heroes being deployed to an Endbringer fight risked being declared as a truce breaker by proxy. Using Endbringer fights as cover for unopposed criminal activity while heroes were away didn't endear you to either side of the hero/villain divide. Most of the time, those kinds of problems sorted themselves out, typically in a fairly direct manner.

    The problem was, nothing that had happened to Brockton Bay was considered an S-class event. Even Lung's rampage hadn't been classified as such, but that seemed to be mostly a political matter at this point. There was no cover for anyone providing support, no obligation for response teams to help, and no Truce to enforce good behavior. A lot of places were still recovering from the effects of March's Blackout when the situation in Brockton Bay went completely to hell.

    "I hope conditions in Boston are not overly difficult." I said. I had Survey's reports on the area. There hadn't been an uptick in parahuman crime, but there were often elements to a situation that weren't obvious from the perspective of high level analysis.

    "They have been manageable. Or at least as manageable as things get for a city our size." He said with a slight amount of humor.

    Boston was only about twice the size of Brockton Bay, but that was only if you limited things to the city itself. You had the Greater Boston area to consider, which substantially increased the area that Director Armstrong was responsible for managing. Some definitions of that area even extended into New Hampshire. If Brockton Bay didn't have an unusually high concentration of capes there's a decent chance that it would have been overseen by the Boston office, rather than getting its own department.

    "I doubt anyone was prepared for the blackout, and disruptions like that take time to settle, but the department has been managing things well." He continued. I could practically hear him work to not mention Aegis's transfer. There wasn't really a polite way to bring that up without getting into subjects that were very much not related to the purpose of this call.

    "So no issue with the transfer of responsibility for the hostages?" I asked.

    "Thankfully not." He said, "Frankly, something should have been done about their situation by now, but between the aftermath of the Ungodly Hour, the legislative issues, and the primary concern when dealing with those individuals, matters have dragged on far longer than they should have."

    Primary concern meaning nobody wanted to get close to a person with a tinker tech bomb in their head, particularly after the Ungodly Hour. People had gotten a very good look at what Bakuda's explosives were capable of. It wasn't just the fact that they were risking death. Given what those devices were capable of, they were risking much worse than death just by being close enough to be caught in the area of effect.

    "With the risk removed, it's a relatively simple matter to relocate and properly house the affected individuals." He shuffled papers on the table and pulled out a specific document. "There's a currently unused Army Reserve training camp north of Danvers, Massachusetts where we can relocate the hostages. It's less than an hour from Brockton Bay and well insulated from outside observation."

    "I see." I said as Survey provided me with a report on the location. It would be barracks style housing, but that was still significantly better than the tent camp the National Guard had set up for them. "Will transport be an issue?"

    "Given the numbers and the state of the roads in and around Brockton Bay we will need multiple trips to complete the relocation." Director Armstrong explained. "It would be simpler if we could use charter vehicles, but given the nature of this situation I would prefer to limit things to PRT resources."

    Meaning troop vans, rather than just loading everyone into a dozen buses. Still, if he had the resources available it would probably be a more secure way of handling the transfer.

    "And there won't be any difficulty accommodating them at the camp?" I asked. I knew the site had sufficient capacity for everyone, but there were other logistical concerns. Still, I doubted Director Armstrong could do worse than what had been arranged in Alan Shepard Park.

    "Not for the length of time that is being proposed." He said confidently. "Long term accommodation would be more difficult, but my department can easily manage a span of a few days."

    I blinked. Right, Uppercrust had the same reaction. Needing to spend three days to track a signal might have been a titanic investment on my part, but for most other parties it was apparently blindingly fast.

    "And there will be no issue with privacy or security?" I asked.

    "Once again, not over the timeframe being considered." Armstrong said confidently. "While no director can offer absolute assurance of their department's security, I am pleased to say we do not have anything close to the scope of information security issues that have become evident in the East-North-East PRT. Furthermore, I am personally overseeing all aspects of this operation and limiting information access as much as possible."

    I nodded. "I appreciate your efforts, but despite effective autonomy and best efforts at containment, this will circulate through the wider PRT to some extent."

    "Undoubtedly." He said. "However, your involvement will not be included in those details."

    "Are you presenting this as your own initiative?" I asked.

    "Partially." He said. "The third parties you engaged to convey your plans have a history of supporting such operations. Generally it is accepted that whatever good might be drawn from them would also benefit the sponsors behind such work and that a level of separation is advantageous."

    "I see. And you don't have any concerns with my association with those individuals?" I asked, clearly taking around the involvement of the Elite.

    The man furrowed his brow. "I would have preferred matters to have progressed in a way that allowed you to openly coordinate with the PRT on issues such as this. However, it can be safely stated that the fault of that situation lies with us."

    "Thank you, but I understand the role my early actions played in the development of the current dynamic between the PRT and my organization." I said.

    I could see tension building from the man. "Apeiron, to speak plainly, it is the PRT's responsibility to resolve those issues and prevent them from developing to this level. We are the ones who are supposed to be the responsible mediators in situations like this. It should not be the responsibility of new parahumans to navigate the political landscape of the environment they operate in. Yes, your actions and statements were less than ideal in developing a rapport with the local office, but it is the local office's responsibility to address that, not exacerbate the situation to secure their own position."

    I raised an eyebrow. "Compared to what I am familiar with, that sounds like a very different version of the PRT."

    "Yes, it has become quite apparent that many things are handled differently in Brockton Bay." Director Armstrong said sternly. "A situation that I can assure you, is under significant scrutiny."

    Saying 'better late than never' probably wouldn't do much to help the situation.

    "On that point, is there going to be any problem with taking over this situation from the local office?" I asked.

    "The transfer of responsibility for an active and volatile situation is often seen as disruption to local operations and can be considered a slight against the managing director. However, that is not a concern that I am willing to prioritize at this point." It was a very diplomatic way of saying 'Yes there will, but fuck Piggot'.

    "That's good. Now, regarding extraction of the bombs…"

    "Yes, about that." He shuffled some more papers. "Are you committed to removing the devices tonight?"

    "Given how long the hostages have endured, I did not want to extend their situation any longer than necessary."

    "I understand that, and greatly appreciate it, but given the logistics of the transfer, it might be best to consider a short delay." He explained. "I will happily inform them that they are no longer at risk and that they can expect removal of the implants, but I do have some concerns regarding the effort of transporting, organizing, and rehousing the hostages in the same evening you intend to perform major medical procedures on seven hundred and seventy-four individuals."

    "I can assure you, the extraction of the bombs will be a fairly simple matter."

    "I appreciate that, but the fact remains we are working with a substantial number of individuals from highly diverse backgrounds." He shuffled more papers. "Those with prior gang affiliations have been separated from the general population, and there has been some success in organizing the remaining individuals, but this is going to be a complex operation. I understand your desire to address what has by all accounts been an intolerable situation, but as I will be the one overseeing the transfer, I would greatly appreciate it if you could operate on a schedule that I would be able to match."

    I let out a breath. If I had been handling things, the entire matter could have been resolved by teleporting the bombs out of the hostages heads and relocating the entire group via portals to a specifically prepared site where they could stay in comfort until Bakuda had been dealt with. Restricting options to what was possible with conventional resources and no supernatural mastery of logistics, I could see how the process of relocating and housing the population of a major high school in the space of a single evening might be a little bit of a challenge.

    Additionally, it wasn't like Director Armstrong's other responsibilities just disappeared. He was taking on this problem while also managing a larger and more active department than Brockton Bay. Of course, that department didn't have an active cape war brewing in the aftermath of what was effectively an S-class attack on the city, but as he said, the gangs didn't just take the week off because there were other problems to deal with.

    "Alright." I could see the man sag with relief. "I appreciate your efforts on this matter and am happy to work to your schedule."

    And if the hostages were informed that the signal had been blocked and they were at no risk… well, some of them might not believe it, which was why I wanted to get those bombs extracted as soon as possible. For the rest, it would help. Just some level of assurance that you were no longer living at the whims of a madwoman who was bartering your lives for her freedom…

    Okay, that was probably going to hit fairly hard. Armstrong was probably right about giving the hostages some time to adjust.

    "Thank you." Director Armstrong said in a tired voice. "And thank you for all you have done here." He shifted papers again, bringing up a list of the hostages. A full list, with pictures and details for each person currently being held in the camp. The document was too thick for a staple and had to be spiral bound. "I'm sad to say that, prior to this, many were regarding this as an impossible situation."

    "I understand. And, as unfortunate as it is, I would prefer for that impression to continue for the immediate future."

    "I can promise you, I will be doing everything I can to contain this information." He said. "Given the perceived risk, it will not require any special justification to isolate the camp."

    That risk had actually been one of the points in favor of moving the hostages out of the city in the first place. Concern that one of the bombs could detonate into poison gas, lethal radiation, or some kind of biological weapon. The compromise had been moving them to the less densely populated areas in the south of the city, but even that had been a half measure.

    There were a lot of half measures being taken in Brockton Bay.

    "If there is anything I can do to help at this point, just let me know." I said. I watched as Director Armstrong froze briefly, then shook his head with a slight smile.

    "You know, most directors would do just about anything to be given a blanket offer of assistance from someone like you." He said in clear amusement. "And while I am certain that there is no end to the wondrous things that you could do to facilitate this operation, they would generally run against the need to conceal your involvement."

    "Unfortunately, that is quite likely." I said. "I'm just glad I was able to offer assurances on the matter."

    The director nodded. "I have to say, I did not expect to receive a response so quickly when I leveled my concerns."

    "I did not wish to impose any delays that could be avoided." And having a literally untraceable method of communication helped. "Though from the sound of things, you were already quite well on your way in terms of preparations."

    The Director smiled and leaned back in his chair. "Even without you offering a resolution to the problem, the situation had become untenable. Those people should have been moved to proper accommodations long ago. If a third party wished to facilitate things, I was happy to do my part. At worst they would be comfortable and properly housed while the hostage deal was hammered out."

    "On that topic, are there likely to be any problems in terms of offers to Bakuda?" I asked.

    "Once again, not within the timeframe being proposed." He said. "I understand Governor Robertson is pushing for an offer, but the issue is extremely complex and highly controversial. Even the best estimates would have the initial offer taking about as long as your full schedule."

    I nodded as my power missed a connection to the Time constellation. "That is a relief. And we can ensure that the hostages are seen to long before that, correct?"

    "I will make sure of it." He said quickly. That statement may have come across a bit more directly than I intended based on how he was reacting. "Barring any major difficulties, we should be able to facilitate your treatments tomorrow without a riot breaking out."

    That was a good point. This was going to involve treating ten times as many people as I dealt with back at the storage yard, and even that had required both the Undersiders and Chen to keep things in order. My current abilities were incomparable to what I was working with back then, but trying to deal with tired, scared, and disoriented people who had just been bussed into a new location wasn't going to be easy.

    And, unlike with the charity event, there was no way for me to facilitate things from behind the scenes. I had gotten so used to prodding things along to optimal efficiency that it was easy to forget the amount of work needed for even a comparatively simple operation like this.

    "You can reach me through the third-party contacts to make the arrangements. Just know that my schedule for the next few days is a little complex."

    I could see Director Armstrong's concern at that statement. "Um, yes. I have seen the latest reports from Brockton Bay." He said quickly. "Your teammates conducted themselves commendably, but to clarify regarding your schedule…"

    "I am not planning to directly engage the Teeth." I said and saw the man relax by several degrees. "We will not tolerate risk to civilians from anyone involved in the conflict, but we are not taking aggressive action."

    "That is good to hear." He said, absently wiping at his forehead. "I understand the situation must be frustrating for you, but given the risk involved, your restraint in this matter is greatly appreciated."

    Those risks weren't really risks, but I couldn't discount the possibility of the Protectorate putting some desperate and stupid plan into play if it looked like I might come to blows with the Butcher. At this point the overreaction of other parties was a bigger threat than the Butcher herself.

    "This is getting a little off topic from the purpose of the call. Unless you want to discuss my thoughts on the situation in Brockton Bay?" I asked.

    "There are many things I would like to discuss with you, but given the service you have already extended to Bakuda's hostages, I would not push beyond the initial purpose of this call."

    "Plus, I imagine you are quite busy at the moment." I said with a smile.

    The man let out a long breath and sank into his chair. "That is something of an understatement. A project like this on short notice is not an easy task." Once again, I remained silent. This was not a situation where my own perspective on what qualified a reasonable timeframe or a logistical challenge would be appreciated. "I can assure you, I will see it completed today, but that doesn't leave much time for conversation."

    "I understand. Perhaps we can speak further when I see to the hostages?" I asked.

    "I would greatly appreciate that. I understand I am unlikely to change your opinion of the PRT, but I would like to convey that we do not constantly act in opposition to reason and good sense."

    "That's a nice idea, Director. It would be nice if you could back it up. In my experience, this kind of outreach typically results in some kind of disaster or blowback." I said.

    "Then I will be pleased to be able to defy your expectations." He smiled and tilted his head slightly. "And I suppose I should thank Director Piggot for providing me with such a low bar to clear."

    "I imagine it's easier when you aren't also managing the situation in Brockton Bay." I joked back. Though the degree to which that situation had been 'managed' was highly debatable.

    "Yes. What happened there was a tragedy. I wish nothing but the best for your city going forward, despite the current situation."

    "Thank you, Director. Best of luck with your own work, and I will see you tomorrow."

    "I will make sure you stay informed of our progress. Providing the third-party will be able to reach you?" He asked.

    Despite the forced calm in his voice, I could see his concern. The Elite having a direct line to Apeiron was not something anyone in the PRT would be comfortable about, particularly if their own methods of contact were limited to a public website, a single Ward, and a director with a history of open hostility.

    "On this matter they will." I said, "This is a limited association for the purpose of this project."

    That didn't speak to the possibility of future projects or closer connections. All the Director knew was agents connected to the Elite were facilitating this work, something they would probably have done even without my connection to Uppercrust. Just the potential of building goodwill with the Celestial Forge wasn't something they would pass up.

    To be fair, the PRT was doing the same thing, though they did have more to gain from ensuring the safety of Bakuda's hostages than any random branch of the Elite.

    "That is good to know. I will make sure to keep you apprised, and look forward to speaking with you tomorrow."

    "And you as well, Director. Goodbye."

    I hung up the phone, at which point Survey immediately requested permission to reestablish her call to the Final Frontier. I let the link go through and soon Survey was once again speaking with Survey and Survey, with the 'conversation' now involving variations in analytics that had developed during the period of limited communication as compared to each of their models of what would happen.

    I left her to it and apparated to the entrance of the Workshop. I stepped out into Garment's studio and set the time acceleration back to a factor of ten. My duplicates immediately launched to work while Survey had to moderate the transfer through the phone line to account for the time dilation. I nodded, then made my way to the broom closet in the back room of the studio.

    Inside stood testament to the strength of extension charms and the amount of free time my duplicates had been able to devote to the renovations of the studio. Unnatural Skill in stonework had helped, along with the benefits from enchanting and runes. The consequence was the stadium sized entryway the closet opened to, and that was just a fraction of the space that had been added.

    It was weird to consider that this counted as a minor work, simply because it hadn't required any limited resources or dedicated development time. Just high level applications of already established spells. Without the need for Spiritual Energy, Mantra cultivation, or psionic advancement of the designs it was practically an assembly line project.

    Not that it wasn't impressive in its own right. In addition to being expanded space, the closet was adequately warded with a second layer of security on top of the protections that had been placed over the entire studio. Those were more focused on remaining unnoticed while providing security, while these areas had the strongest protections that could be accomplished without using super household science to warp reality to a desired effect.

    I took a moment to get my bearings before apparating to the southeast sector of the broom closet. This had been set up as a magitech lab for projects that couldn't be housed inside the workshop, either due to the privacy screen, the dimensional mechanics of that space, or a combination of the two.

    I found Aisha in the corner of the lab skimming through some of Survey's reports on Call Beads. Once again, the reports she had been provided were written so that key points would stand out when Aisha skimmed through the material. It was interesting that Survey had effectively adapted to Aisha's reading habits rather than attempt to change them.

    "Hey." Aisha said. "Everything alright?"

    "Yeah. Spoke with Director Armstrong from Boston." I said.

    "About the ABB hostages?" She asked.

    "Yeah." I replied. "He's arranged a place to house them. Army camp about halfway between Brockton Bay and Boston. The Boston PRT is going to be handling transport and logistics, but it's a bigger job than I anticipated."

    Aisha smiled at that. "Yeah, well, not everyone has their grandma helping them out with that kind of stuff."

    I returned the smile. "Alright, I might have slightly underestimated the complexity of the process, and maxing out Hera's blessing probably played a role in that."

    She nodded. "Still, probably good to know that kind of thing can happen before it bites you in the ass when things are really important." She tilted her head. "Is that something we need to look out for? Because, I mean, if boosting those blessings warps the way you see things already, I don't want to know what stuff made from the new crops is going to do."

    I could understand her concerns. Now that the time acceleration was back in place my duplicates had begun experimenting with the Seeds and Seedlings in the Workshop's Greenhouse. There had already been some examination of that item when it arrived, but now that my crafting powers could apply to plant growth it had gone from a side project to a potential tactical asset.

    Multiple runs of plantings were being experimented with using various levels of guidance and cultivation, natural growth and Noble Phantasm assisted, imposed technology and 'normal' plants, and of course the full range of variation possible with the breadth of my power.

    Plenty of those crops could be turned into alcohol, and that alcohol would be a league above what I had been producing before. You basically had no point in the production chain that wasn't divinely enhanced on at least some level.

    And then you had the potential for the same trick I had been pulling with Dionysus, only instead of using libations to boost my skill at alcohol production to make better libations to further boost my skill at alcohol production, now Demeter could be included in that enhancement chain. The further I boosted her blessing of cultivation, the better the quality of the plants I could grow, and the better the quality or the wine, beer, or liquor that could be produced.

    I don't think anyone really would have considered Dionysus and Demeter to be drinking buddies, but there was some serious overlap between their abilities. Aisha was right, Demeter seemed a lot more like a gin aunt, great aunt in my case, compared to Dionysus's frat boy reputation.

    "This is going to be a significant boost, but I don't think you need to worry, at least not with blessings from the other gods." I said to Aisha. "For the other gods, there's always something actually supernatural going on. Even if the blessing is something mundane, it manifests in supernatural effects."

    "And Hera's doesn't?" Aisha asked.

    I shook my head. "Not at the end product. It helps me keep track of multiple factors and manage things effectively, but any systems that get put in place are just normal systems of organization or administration. Stuff that doesn't need magic to sustain itself." I shrugged. "I guess that's why it's easy to underestimate problems. Everything ends up seeming so simple and obvious."

    Aisha gave me an intrigued look. "So Hera magically sees the way everything should be organized and knows that it can be done without any superpowers backing it up, but then has to sit and watch all the stupid shit the Greek gods got up to anyway." She cracked a grin. "I think I get why she was so crabby all the time."

    I let out a short laugh. "Well, I think most of that is on Zeus, but you might have a point."

    She nodded. "Just wanted to make sure you weren't going to get hopped up on Zeus' blessing and then forget that normal people can't sense electricity or whatever."

    I shook my head. "No risk of that." The effect of my other blessings were a lot more noticeable than Hera's. It really wasn't the kind of problem I needed to watch out for. "Anyway, you ready to start on the Call Bead stuff?"

    "Definitely." She said, "We going to start by tearing open one of those space holes?"

    "Um, not just yet." I could tell she was joking, but the fact that it was something we were actually working towards cast the humor in a different light. "Passenger space isn't supposed to be accessible, at least not through any means available to parahumans." I picked up one of the larger Call Beads, a Call Gem, and held it up. "These things are kind of out of context for the whole system. You combine a stable conduit to passenger space with a truly titanic use of omnidimensional energy, and apparently you can open up the kind of access point that's really not supposed to happen."

    "Right. So, if we do go that route, are we going to end up with the kind of mess that happened at the container yard?" Aisha asked.

    "Maybe." I said. "Honestly, I'm not totally clear what happened there. There was clearly an intrusion of material from Passenger Space, and the breach was significant enough to draw in my motoroid, but other than that the dynamics are kind of hard to figure out."

    "But you're still going through with it?" She asked.

    I nodded. "Whatever happened there was pretty much the definition of an uncontrolled breach. We have a lot of options for moderating something like that that weren't available back then. Even so, there would probably be some way we could have stabilized the effect, even back then."

    Well, not actually back then. With the capacities I had at that point I could have, but I was kind of occupied at the time. It wasn't really the best moment for dimensional studies.

    Still, it would help to learn more about what happened. Understandably, the Protectorate was keeping any information on the event heavily isolated to the point where Survey hadn't been able to access it. Nothing on public networks, and they seemed to be working person to person when it came to this matter. Honestly, I would probably be better off just talking to Glory Girl, particularly with what else Survey had learned about her situation.

    "Alright. So, normal Call Bead stuff. Is this going to be complicated? The notes didn't really get into how you activate them."

    "You break them." I said.

    "What?" Aisha looked up at me. "That's it?"

    "A call bead is a spatial conduit stabilized by pseudo crystalline expressions of interdimensional fabric." I at least had a better idea of what the 'beads' were and how they functioned than I did when I first got the ability to create them. "You break the bead and the conduit will open. Well, it's kind of open, but locked in place. Breaking the bead allows flow through the link, which will last until the potential energy of the conduit is expended."

    "Right." Aisha said, looking from the Call Gem in my hand to the other examples around the room. "So, I break the bead…"

    "Really just the outer surface." I said. "They aren't really solid. Technically they aren't really physical objects. It's more like interacting with a very small spatial anomaly."

    "Fun." Aisha said with just a hint of nervousness in her tone. "So I break the bead, open the connection, and then what happens?"

    "I'm not completely sure." I admitted.

    "Well, that's encouraging." She muttered. "But you have a rough idea?"

    I nodded. "You're opening a direct connection to your passenger. Technically the beads can open a connection to anywhere that you've established that kind of connection, but for parahumans there's really only one option."

    "Right." Aisha said, "So this calls up my passenger and then we, what? Work out what to do with the power that's lying around?"

    "Honestly, that's pretty close to my best guess." I said. "If it was me using the bead, assuming I could make a connection, the best I'd be able to do was emulate an existing effect, but for parahumans it could get a lot more significant."

    "So, if I do this, will you be able to connect to my passenger? Copy my power?" She asked.

    "Maybe." I said. "The knowledge of how to do this is kind of baked into the same alchemy that let me make the beads in the first place. I don't know if other people will be able to use the beads like that. The whole situation with parahumans might be an artifact of how the power would work for me in this universe. Since I can connect to passengers, it naturally boosts those connections."

    "And then the question of whether this was possible before you got that ability, or if getting that power changed the way the universe worked." Aisha said as she shook her head.

    "I know, it's a headache."

    "It's a full on migraine." Aisha said. "Let's move on to something less complicated, like punching holes in the fabric of reality."

    "Well, technically the holes are already punched." I gestured to the reserve of various beads and gems that had built up from my duplicates' work.

    "Right. Do I need to look out for the difference between these?" Aisha asked as she browsed the various blue stones.

    "The bigger and fancier ones are later creations. Earlier ones have been held on to for the purposes of comparison. The more recently created gems have enhancement effects, but they are mostly focused on stability and control."

    "But they're also stronger, right?" She picked up a particularly hearty Call Gem. "Bigger means more power."

    "Proportional to internal volume, so yes, quite a lot stronger." I said.

    "So should I start with the early ones? Do some control runs?" She asked.

    "We could, but the later ones actually have more safety features and generally better control." I said.

    Well, they had been built with the intention of facilitating control of the energies of the beads, and that intent was translated to reality by my divine crafting abilities. Even without knowing precisely how the beads would function for Aisha, I was able to influence that aspect of their operation.

    "This is all starting to sound a little risky." She said.

    "Well, we are playing with stabilized dimensional breaches." I said. "But we have the Final Frontier stationed near your passenger for observation and ready to intervene if necessary, this lab has been hand built with the intent to stabilize any uncontrolled dimensional ruptures, Tetra is maintaining focus on you, me and your passenger, at least to the extent she can, and is uniquely qualified to monitor for any problems and counteract them. It's about as safe as we can make it."

    "Which is pretty fucking safe." Aisha said with a good deal more confidence. "Which means if there's any problems, they're going to come from somewhere else."

    I picked up on her meaning. "You're worried about your passenger?" I asked.

    She shifted slightly. "Not exactly. I think she'll be on board for this, or at least excited to know it's possible, but I also know what we're dealing with there."

    I nodded. "It's kind of a different scale of problem."

    "Yeah, well, that's the story of my life since I joined up." She quipped.

    "Hey, I'm pretty sure you forcefully adopted yourself into the group." I shot back.

    "Well, it was your fault for tolerating me." She joked. I just rolled my eyes. "Anyway, no sense putting this off any longer. Where are we doing this? And is anyone else joining in?"

    "Not on site. And you just need to get in the scanning and detection area in the center of the lab."

    I pointed to the large ritual circle surrounded by arcane machinery. My duplicates hadn't gone hog wild in the design of the lab's equipment, but going all out meant not bothering to restrict aesthetic effects. The combination of elaborate ornamentation and precise design gave the sense of a religious ceremony, which was another layer to the effects of the lab. Repeatable research as a ritual.

    Fortunately, we didn't need any elaborate ceremonies to help Aisha get ready. She took one of the more powerful Call Gems and stepped into the center of the observation area while I managed the scanning equipment.

    "Anything else?" She asked.

    "Just one thing." I said. I retrieved my Bright Spear from the pocket dimension of my Weapon Swapping power. Aisha nodded as she saw it.

    "You going to Attribute-boost the lab equipment?" She asked.

    "Not the lab equipment." I said as I focused. "Hold still for a moment."

    I focused and drew upon my attribute, channeling it through the Bright Spear. Reactive metal structures folded into themselves as the spear resized itself down to the size of a pencil. Aisha watched it as it drifted towards her. The spear lifted above her head, then with a lazy motion the tip swung like a pendulum until it was aligned with her hair clip. Ren. I paused and looked at Aisha. Understanding she gave a single nod, then held perfectly still.

    With a smooth drop the spear sunk into the ornament and carried the effect of my Attribute with it. The march of Progress acted upon Aisha's diamond focus, advancing its design and function. She took a breath as the material of the clip shifted into a new, more effective arrangement.

    "God damn." She said, blinking furiously. I could see sparks of light from the diamonds on her clip and the lab's systems were able to pick up discharges of power. "Okay, fuck, that was definitely worth all the god stuff you were hyping up." She paused and turned back to me. "You going to be okay with this?"

    "It's no problem." I assured you. "Attribute is a lot easier than Aspect, and the Bright Spear helps with that. Figured if Ren helped you deal with your passenger, it was a good idea to boost it as much as we could."

    "Yeah, definitely." She said, The diamonds glowed again as patterns of light played across their faceted surfaces. Not just white light, but split into a rainbow of color. Some of which edged beyond the colors of the conventional world.

    "Something wrong?" She asked, seeing my reaction.

    "I think the enhancement is boosting your use of the Prismatic Laboratory's colors." I said. On one of the screens I pulled up a display of the shifts. It wasn't able to actually display the impossible colors, but I could highlight when they appeared.

    "Shit." She said, watching the screen. "Is that bad?"

    "I don't think so. It looks controlled. I think it's amplified residue from when you were in the laboratory. If anything it probably means you're working towards better control of the colors. Not something specifically relevant here, but…"

    "Yeah, we'll circle back to it. Right after we tear the universe a new one." She said with a grin.

    "Crude phrasing aside, ready to go when you are." I said.

    Aisha smiled and held up the Call Gem. It was the size of a tangerine and filled the palm of her hand. Call Beads were actually quite stable, but when acted upon with intent they 'broke' easily. What looked like the bead breaking was actually the action of the conduit being called upon, which removed the stabilization artifacts around the breach.

    As Aisha squeezed down on the blue gem there was a shattering sound as the surface exploded into a spiderweb of cracks. The material of the gem flew apart, with shards of blue crystal evaporating into nothingness. As the residue of the gem vanished, a brilliant glow pulsed from inside Aisha's closed fist.

    The space in the room seemed to suck inward and bow out at the same time. From within Aisha's hand the glow was bright enough to see the bones of her fingers, but that was a fraction of the true energy being released. The sensors of the lab could detect expressions of power that went beyond the expressions of the physical world and every one of them was lighting up with the intensity of what had just been unleashed.

    Data on Aisha's passenger was transmitted back from the Final Frontier's observations. The massive crystalline structure was lighting up in a titanic display, but unlike when it had attempted to erase Aisha's memories, it wasn't drawing on the unfathomable reserves of power. Instead, the buildup was entirely internal. The processing and direction of energy, rather than the generation of it.

    Through the incredibly complicated spatial link connecting Aisha to her passenger I could see the power at work. Energy being drawn in from the new link available to both of them. A sudden overwhelming burst of power waiting to be directed. In that one moment, the full apparatus of Aisha's titanic passenger was being mobilized to utilize the energy available to it.

    It is possible I may have slightly underestimated the effect of layered quality enhancements and divine effects on something that, at its base level, was already capable of sustaining a breach to an area of dimensional space that barely counted as part of the physical universe.

    "Aisha?" I asked. The glow from her hand had spread through her body. Energy flowed from her eyes and every diamond in her hairpin lit up like a miniature sun. It would have been blinding for a normal human, and that was only looking at the visible spectrum. "Are you alright?" I asked.

    I wasn't registering any distress through the Dragon's Pulse. Her physical scans were clear and her aura was still full. Brain activity was high, but considering what was going on between her and her passenger that was to be expected. Tetra confirmed no sense of risk of distress as I waited for her to respond.

    "Yes, I'm… it's just a lot. More than I thought." Her voice sounded distant and reverberated as she spoke. The glow from her hand, eyes, and hairpin flickered along with the modulation of her voice.

    Because it wasn't her voice modulating. It was the link to her passenger, and the stability of the conduit. If not for the control enhancements from my power it wouldn't have remained open this long, but even so it was reaching its limit.

    "The link is destabilizing." I said. "If you're going to do something you should do it soon. Otherwise there are failsafes. I can close and contain the-"

    I was cut off as the power suddenly flickered out. The massive and complex energy readings dropped to zero as a titanic interdimensional pulse was sent out from Aisha's passenger. Superficially, it was structured like the activation of her power, but much more concentrated and specific. And much, much stronger.

    "Aisha? Are you alright?" I asked. She blinked furiously, then refocused on the room.

    "Uh, yeah. I'm fine." She let out a long breath. "That was just…"

    "I know." I said. "Readings would have been off the charts if my duplicates hadn't overbuilt everything."

    "Well, thank goodness they go overboard with everything." She said, "Though, considering that Gem, that was probably the problem in the first place."

    I nodded. "Layered enhancements." I said, shaking my head. "The divine effects kept things stable, but they added up to a lot more than we anticipated."

    "Did you at least get what you needed?" She asked.

    I pulled up the data that was already being aggressively analyzed by both Survey and one of my duplicates working from the Spiritron Computer. At eleven hours per second.

    "Yeah, we did. Structural mapping of how the gems connect to passenger space, the access pattern when you connected to your passenger, and a full calibration of the power and effects in play."

    Aisha leaned forward to look at the data. "This enough for you to copy my power?" She asked.

    I checked the analysis again. "Maybe." I said. "That's going to take some trial, but I think I might be able to emulate a version of your primary connection."

    "What kind of version?" She asked.

    "Fewer people and a shorter duration." I said. "Enough to affect the immediate area, but not a global effect."

    Which was probably for the best. The idea of the world suddenly forgetting about Apeiron… well, it was already a possible application of Aisha's power, but if I started doing that independently of her, I imagine the reaction would be pretty severe.

    "Huh." She said, "That's useful, I guess. I just thought it would be something bigger, considering what you're working with."

    "Call Beads access other sources of magic, but the effect is still based on your own abilities. It's just that with you, your passenger counts as part of your abilities."

    "So I can do memory stuff as well as she can, when she's at full power. Makes sense." Aisha said, but I could tell there was something else. It was obvious through both the Dragon's Pulse and my manipulation sense.

    "Aisha, what happened at the end? What did you end up doing?" I asked.

    She shifted and glanced away. "Um, well…" She took a breath, then turned back to face me. "There was a lot of power. I mean a LOT. More than I've ever felt, and the connection… It was like I could see things from how my passenger saw them. Kind of inside out and backwards and out of order. It's hard to explain."

    I nodded and gestured for her to continue.

    "So, the power was building up and there were these choices." She looked up and gestured vaguely. "Some of them I got, some were hard to understand. I think my passenger was trying to help me. Like she was excited about the idea, but couldn't get everything across." Aisha shook her head. "I knew I needed to do something with that power. I didn't want to dump it on her and end up with something weird, but there was this way to channel it towards a specific thing, and that seemed to work."

    "A specific thing?" I asked, my concern rising.

    "Yeah. Kind of like what my power does, only targeted and specific. And kind of more effective." She said.

    "You directed your passengers memory suppression…" I paused as I checked the nature of the final pulse. "Data suppression power towards a specific target?" Aisha gave a slight nod. "What was it?"

    "Um, you remember that really annoying meme that was everywhere last summer?" Aisha said even as Survey informed me of a massive disparity between her backups and the current state of the internet.

    "Seriously?" I asked.

    "It was really annoying." She said, even as more reports came in from Survey's analysis. Complete removal from memory, digital records, and even physical media. That last one was technically possible for Aisha's power, but not something I had ever imagined at this scale.

    I took a breath. "Can you fix this?" I asked. Aisha's power was a lot more complicated than just erasing information. It was capable of suppressing awareness of the information being obscured. That required a much more complex set of effects, and was also what allowed her to effectively erase and restore herself in people's memories.

    "Probably?" She said, gesturing to the other Call Gems. "I'm pretty sure the effect is strong enough. If we keep trying…"

    "Right." I said, preparing for another run. Fortunately, there were only a few capes immune to Aisha's power, and the effect suppressed awareness of itself in the rest of the population. With any luck no one would notice that meme was gone before we were able to set everything right.

    Addendum Accord

    Accord stood in the information center that had been constructed for Othello's personal use. His subordinate's twin nature allowed him to effectively monitor information streams while also seeing to his on-site duties. Following the discovery of his resistance to Lethe's stranger effect, the operation had been expanded, with Othello tasked with informing him of any developments. It was a resource he greatly appreciated and the envy of many organizations, even if it could produce surprising results.

    Accord looked at his subordinate's black and white mask. There was no hint of humor in his expression, but still, Accord pressed for confirmation.

    "Borgles?" He asked, feeling out the unfamiliar word.

    "Yes, Sir. I know that it appears to be improbable, but I assure you…" Accord raised a hand and his subordinate fell silent.

    "Regrettably, I have sufficient familiarity with the culture of the modern internet to find your description plausible. You may continue."

    "Thank you, sir." He said. "The meme consisted of a picture of a poorly drawn human figure holding up an oversized bagel captioned with the word 'Borgles'."

    "And this was amusing?" Accord asked.

    "No, Sir. To my limited knowledge, it was not generally regarded as such. Primary, it seemed intended to provoke reactions of frustration and confusion, with the frustrated and confused reactions eventually becoming the primary focus." Othello explained. "It was particularly prominent from June to August of the previous year. References to the image have appeared in various television shows and news reports, and I believe it was a popular form of graffiti."

    "I see. And all references to this meme have vanished?" He asked.

    "Confirmation of the extent of the effect is ongoing, but it appears so." Othello explained. "The effect was noted by one of the Lethe-resistant parahumans employed by the Protectorate. Apparently the young man utilized a version of the meme as the background image of his smartphone. He raised his concerns, and the effect was confirmed by other watch posts."

    The term referred to sites devoted to monitoring for the activation of Lethe's power. General activation could be assessed through agents employed to compare physical and digital records, but the concern over more esoteric applications of Lethe's abilities, such as those applied to Apeiron during his recovery, had caused the Protectorate to utilize the services of any capes that had demonstrated resistance to Lethe's abilities.

    Paranoia had driven concerns beyond the bounds of typical policy restrictions and the Protectorate had been open to collaborating with anyone who could provide similar resistance to Lethe's power. Othello's involvement had opened many doors for the Ambassadors that Accord had been quick to take advantage of, even if the initiative had proven an unnecessary precaution.

    At least until now.

    "As expected for Lethe, the effect has removed the meme from both memory and electronic record. An examination through the Haywire link to Earth Aleph has confirmed the same effect is present through the portal."

    "Lethe's power was already suspected to extend to other universes, though I suppose there is some value in this confirmation." Accord said.

    "Yes, Sir." Othello replied. "Though a point of significantly greater concern is the effect on physical media." He gestured to one of the consoles. "With your permission, sir?"

    "You may proceed."

    "Thank you, Sir." Othello seated himself at the console and began to draw up reports and details of the other watch posts.

    Certain altered physical records had already been confirmed. A 'Top Ten Memes of 2010' article only contained nine entries. Interestingly, there was no obvious blank space in the publication. The rest of the content appears to have been altered to obscure the missing information, similar to how Lethe's power functioned when applied to memories.

    There were other examples that were less definite. Claims about missing graffiti. A blank printout pasted to an office wall, surrounded by images of insipid internet references. And an attempted recreation of the 'meme' in question.

    "Ah." Accord said upon seeing the crudely drawn image. Based on Othello's description he doubted the original was any more elegant.

    "Yes, Sir." Othello said, noting his reaction. "I believe a primary element of the humor derived from the image was centered on the manner in which the bagel-object was drawn."

    That 'manner' involved an over inflated bagel with the center hole represented by a small X and excessive rounding in the rest of the shape, clearly intending to present a reference to a rear end.

    Accord had no memory of the image, though if it had been as ubiquitous as Othello indicated he would likely have encountered it in some form. On reflection, it was quite possible that people may have died over his reaction to such an affront, though the nature of Lethe's power would mean there was no way of determining if this had been the inciting incident for any of the people who had provoked him beyond the bounds of control.

    Thankfully, those moments were becoming less frequent and more manageable. His use of the chamber had become a minor source of amusement among his Ambassadors, though they sensibly refrained from making any comment in his presence. Even the most recent of hires had recognized the advantages that it had yielded for both him and their organization.

    And it stood as only the most minor of Apeiron's works. A freshman effort that none the less conveyed a purity of purpose and design that could not be denied. It lacked the obviously unnatural perfection of the man's later projects, but that very aspect served his purposes, allowing immersion in the curated environment without being overwhelmed by it.

    "The impact to physical media is a marked escalation of Lethe's abilities and a subversion of the accepted countermeasures." Accord mused. "How is the Protectorate responding to this event?"

    "For the moment, information is limited to the watch posts and upper levels of the Protectorate and PRT." Othello explained, pulling up the relevant documents for his review. "There is an additional request for external affiliates to refrain from publicizing this information prior to an official assessment by the PRT. Said assessment has been offered in full to all affiliates."

    A meagre price to buy their silence on the matter, but for most the continued access and association was the real objective. "A reasonable precaution. Refrain from mentioning this event to your fellow Ambassadors or any external parties without my express instruction."

    "Yes, Sir." Othello replied.

    Accord tapped his chin. "Based on your previous observations and the assessments of the other watch posts, what do you believe Apeiron's intentions to be in regards to this incident."

    "Sir, given the wide sweeping nature of the effect in play and the demonstration of a new capability, it is probably a show of force, possibly to counter precautionary measures that have been put in place to address Lethe's abilities. The decision to target a meme, a piece of media naturally subject to change, repetition, and variation, demonstrates the breadth of this ability and the difficulty in protecting other information from its effect. It shows this application of Lethe's power to both be capable of affecting a wide range of targets, and applying the effect selectively. Effectively, a show of force to reestablish the significance of Lethe's abilities in the face of the countermeasures that have been implemented."

    Othello's explanation carried sound reasoning based on the most accurate models and assessments of Apeiron's behavior. It made perfect sense as the actions of a powerful ascending cape acting in opposition to established power blocs.

    So of course, it was completely wrong.

    "And how would you assess this ability if it were not connected to Apeiron?" Accord asked.

    "Sir? I'm not sure what you are requesting." Othello asked.

    "Assume you observed this effect from an unaffiliated cape. An unknown with no connection to Apeiron or any of the Celestial Forge as they have been so extensively modeled. What would your assessment be in that case?" Accord asked.

    Some of his amusement may have been leaking into his voice. He could tell it made Othello nervous, but the man conducted himself well.

    "In the case of the expression of this ability from an unknown stranger, the most likely explanation would be experimentation with a new or unfamiliar ability. Little concern would be given to the global effects of their actions, and the selection of the meme as a target would likely be based on familiarity or some personal dislike for the material." Othello offered. He paused before continuing. "Sir, do you believe that situation is more likely? It would conflict with all established analysis."

    "Established analysis had consistently failed to predict Apeiron's motives, actions, or objectives." Accord smiled to himself. "The core mistake stems from the belief that Apeiron regards rival power blocs as rival power blocs."

    "Sir?" Othello asked.

    Accord's smile grew a fractional amount. "Displays of power meant to cow the actions of rival factions are only conducted if there truly are rival factions."

    "And you do not believe that Apeiron regards other organizations as threats, Sir?" Othello asked.

    "It is plainly obvious that he does not regard them as threats. What is more important is the minimal degree to which he regards them at all." Accord explained. "The manner of power plays that are being theorized assume the need for such measures, something that is plainly absent in the case of the Celestial Forge."

    "I understand Sir, though there are numerous examples of the tactical and strategic benefits resulting from Apeiron's actions. The wider consensus believes it to be unlikely that such advantageous results would be the product of random chance." Othello was dutifully reserved in presenting contrary opinions to Accord's assessment, as was appropriate for his position.

    "Indeed. An unfortunate fallacy of working backwards from results and assuming intent." Accord said. "Apeiron's core intentions are refreshingly direct, though conducted with a level of elegance and precision sufficient to yield numerous advantages that obscure a straightforward intent."

    The advantages of peerless design and supporting stranger effects reinforced by a competent team. Every action on the part of Apeiron had a titanic impact, to the point where apophenia was nearly inevitable. It had taken Accord a tremendous amount of effort to pierce the veil of misinformation and faulty analysis surrounding the man, and in doing so had revealed elegance in simplicity. Pure and direct motivations, conducted with the most masterful command of situations of any cape in history.

    It had also resulted in the most drastic revelation of Apeiron's career. One Accord would not have been privy to if not for Othello's collaboration with the Protectorate combined with his own services being employed by Coil and by Cauldron itself.

    All groups were acting with complete confidence in their assessments, and all were completely incorrect. If he had not been managing overlapping plans for multiple organizations it is likely he would have missed that detail. In the past, it is unlikely he would have even been able to attempt such a feat. The conflicting measures would have long since driven him to fury. Instead he was able to see what everyone else had missed.

    Models founded on precognition consistently failed when applied to Apeiron, or to any member of the Celestial Forge. What's more, they failed in a consistent manner. Unlike most sources of obstruction, Apeiron's organization did not represent a blank space in predictions, it presented consistently false data. Data sufficient to assure even the Boogeyman of Cauldron of their security against any action by the Celestial Forge.

    It was no wonder that they did not regard other organizations as threats. Apeiron had neutralized the primary advantage that could have been leveraged against the Celestial Forge, all while leaving his foes blind to their own folly.

    It was a discovery that had caused Accord to reevaluate many of his long term plans. In theory he could have informed Cauldron of his discovery and worked with them to address the blind spot that Apeiron represented. It was possible that, with his assistance, Cauldron might be able to devise sufficient countermeasures to Apeiron's obscurement effect to allow them to operate on somewhat equal footing against his organization. In doing so he would earn considerable prestige with Cauldron, perhaps enough to facilitate the implementation of some of his plans for global relief efforts.

    Perhaps. Maybe. Possibly. That in taking on an uphill battle against an impossible task and potentially making a tremendously powerful enemy in the process, he might be granted some concessions towards his life's goals.

    You didn't need to be a thinker of Accords caliber to know that was the wrong move. Pulling back the veil of assumed intentions had also dispelled the myth of instability. Direct intentions had remained constant across the man's rise, only to be obscured more and more by the grandeur of the man's actions.

    And despite his initial presentation, there was an undeniable element of altruism. One merely needed to observe the improbable magnitude of donations provided due to Garment's magnificent display that very afternoon.

    The financial impact of the event was significant, with Accord having contributed his own share, securing the purchase of two undervalued lots in addition to a tax deductible donation from one of his front businesses. He had restrained himself from taking more aggressive action during the auction to avoid stifling the rightly justified acclaim Garment had earned for her works.

    It also freed resources for his other endeavors. The auction of Apeiron's whiskey had attracted far too much attention for him to hope to secure the bidding through only his own resources. It was possible, but not while limiting himself to legitimate income. Thankfully, the expanded volume of the bottle had allowed him to propose a coalition of like-minded bidders. Each of which were set to receive a small keg of the spoils and limited access to the bottle, with Accord taking final possession. In exchange, he was coordinating the bidding using contributions from the entire group, allowing him to leverage far more capital than he would otherwise have been able to mobilize, without needing to resort to creative accounting practices.

    Similarly, the event's finances were being managed openly and precisely, but the donations of physical items was a less precise process, and Apeiron's hand was visible if you knew where to look. Allowing individual charities to provide a list of supply requests for direct donation was an elegant idea, but those requests had been filled far too quickly and efficiently to be the work of the general public.

    The action spoke to both resources and, once again, intent. An intent that could align with the motivation that set Accord on his path to begin with. An intent that set Apeiron and his organization apart from those who believed him to be easily managed.

    It was unsurprising that Coil had encountered an opponent who he had no hope of countering and yet believed himself to hold a superior position. Accord appreciated the efficiency of the man's operation, but there was no doubt that, based on the nature of his activities, he would find himself opposed to Apeiron and come up short. For the moment Accord was happy to feed Coil plans based on erroneous assumptions that would lead to his downfall.

    It was more surprising that Cauldron had so definitively failed to recognize what they were facing. Honestly, Accord was somewhat disappointed. What he had assumed to be competence was obviously buoyed by the prodigious abilities of the Boogeyman. The inability to even consider the possibility of subversion of that asset spoke poorly of their operational structure, but did suggest the driving parahuman behind their organization was as powerful as would be expected.

    Regrettably, that fact also prevented him from taking any more direct action. He lacked any of Apeiron's countermeasures, leaving him vulnerable to the very forces he collaborated with. Any action against those groups would result in reprisals he was not generally prepared to counter.

    He could, however, reposition himself for a more advantageous placement when it became evident that Apeiron was not a manageable element. That repositioning was much easier now that certain frustrations could be effectively moderated. Not removed, but managed well enough to curb some of the traits that were likely to be regarded as more objectionable. There were past actions that would likely need to be accounted for, including the particular manner in which Coil had decided to conduct the theft he had commissioned.

    His past actions had been necessary, an inevitable result of his position and the nature of his power. However, that would likely be insufficient justification for the Celestial Forge, should their groups come into contact. Accord reached over to one of the consols and replayed one of the better recordings of the encounter between Survey and the capes of the Empire.

    The angle was less than ideal, but at least on this recording the dialogue was clear. Survey's melodic yet stern voice began to speak.

    "We are not friends. We are not allies. We are not a coalition." The angle, shot from within the protected store, showed Survey float forward slightly "We are tolerating you for the purpose of a single task. A task that holds a single condition." The cape turned and looked directly through the window of the store. "A condition that has been breached."

    "That wasn't us." Purity's voice was clear, but she wasn't visible in this recording. The civilian who captured the footage had quite understandably decided to stay focused on Survey. "We tried to stop them."

    Survey's expression hardened and she turned away from the store window. "You attacked them. And you pursued them. Your tactical decisions gave minimal attention to the concerns of the city. The Celestial Forge agreed to leave these matters to other parties on the condition that recovery efforts and civilian safety would not be endangered."

    "No." Purity attempted another futile protest. "We weren't the ones endangering the public. You can't hold us responsible for this. It isn't fair."

    "Fair." Survey spoke with derision. "Fairness would require the accounting of events beyond our current circumstances." She leaned forward, out of frame from the perspective at the window. "I do not believe you would wish to see the results of a FAIR appraisal of your actions."

    Accord paused the recording. He remembered Ashley Stillons from the Boston Games and had no desire to subject himself to any more of the woman's antics than was absolutely necessary.

    "Sir?" Othello asked.

    "The Celestial Forge had made their position clear, even if that position is not yet widely understood. It is likely that, should we come into contact with them, objections will be raised regarding the prior conduct of our organization."

    "Ah." Othello said, his mouth dropping open. He quickly corrected himself and turned back to Accord. "My apologies, Sir."

    "Given the magnitude of the potential problem, I am willing to forgive this breach." He said.

    "Thank you, Sir." Othello replied quickly. "Is there anything that I should undertake to prepare for such an eventuality?"

    "At present, our options would be limited, but I will be working to address the points of concern." He explained.

    Ideally, it was believed that efforts to reform oneself or one's organization should be conducted out of a desire for self-improvement or care for one's fellow man, not pragmatic survival. Apeiron was set to become one of if not the dominant power in the world, and he had made his standards clear. Accord could appreciate clear standards, particularly when they were conducted with grace and elegance. It was unlikely they would be able to sufficiently alter their operational practices and correct for what would be regarded as past misdeeds before they earned Apeiron's attention, but evidence indicated that an intention towards improvement would likely be favorably received.

    As would 'assisting' with the problems represented by both Coil and Cauldron. Coil was inconsequential, but Cauldron was not a group that would adjust well to being overshadowed. Their response when they became fully aware of the situation was likely to be quite extreme. Acting to moderate that could potentially aid them when their time came for a 'fair assessment'.

    Until then, he would sit and watch the show as Apeiron and his allies danced around the established powers who believed the situation was under control. At the very least, it provided entertaining viewing.

    "Sir?" Othello said as he received a message from one of the other watch posts. "It appears that the meme has been restored."

    Images played across the screens. Print articles that now contained pictures and descriptions of the meme in question. Digital copies of the image. Various images of the picture scrawled on walls and what appeared to be toilet stalls. One particular picture of a man who for some ungodly reason had tattooed the image on his shoulder.

    Accord focused on his own memories within the context of his previous discussion with Othello. It was necessary to push through the obscurement effect inherent to Lethe's power, the same one that made it difficult to remember that you had forgotten her, even if the situation had been actively discussed.

    He remembered the discussion and was able to connect it with his own memories. He was indeed familiar with the juvenile and detestable image. The obnoxious manner in which it had been shared and the insipid repetition of the nonsense word that characterized the meme.

    A deep seated irritation welled up within him. He had not actually killed anyone over this content, though there was a frustrating minor villain who would never regain full use of his right arm due to a particular incident. On reflection, if Lethe had erased this abomination out of personal distaste, perhaps the prospects for an eventual meeting with the Celestial Forge were brighter than he anticipated.

    And maybe he could convince her to revisit this specific use of her power, hopefully on a more permanent basis.

    Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

    Minor Blessing Demeter - Cultivation (Percy Jackson) 100:
    For one reason or another you've got a god who cares slightly about you and has seen fit to grant you some minor boon within their domains. Choose one god from any pantheon and gain a minor boon from them. The god will care slightly about you but unless you go on to further distinguish yourself it will be more of a minor interest in your affairs than someone they feel the need to help (Effectively think a diminished version of one ability a demigod might have, think minor ones are stuff along the lines of breathing water, lucid dreaming, or appropriate vague extra senses, useful but nothing especially major). This can be taken multiple times.

    Unnatural Skill: Naturecraft (Percy Jackson) 200:
    Whether from your heritage or just being that good you've got one particular mundane skill that your feats with border on supernatural. Whether you're a smith on the level of the Cyclopses, a near prescient tactician or a swordsman who is ny unstoppable with a blade your feats will be legendary. You are on a level within your skill such that only other beings of legend can hope to match you. This may be taken multiple times. You may not choose magic but you may choose a particular application of magic if you have it already (so curses, enchanting might work, more specific gets a bigger boost).
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • No, you're not.

    I find it somewhat ironic that if the internet were to figure out that Lethe user her super-stranger power to completely remove a meme of all things from the world, the response to said act would probably involve a lot of memes and then promptly defending it from Lethe's judgement :rofl2:

    PHO Post: People, Lethe just obliterated this meme from the internet!!!
    PHO Response: Insert *Suprised Pickachu face meme* here. Please don't delete this one, Lethe, I really like it!!
     
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    And on today's news, Lethe uses her world-shaking powers to utterly obliterate an annoying meme from the public consciousness for some time. Now, the weather.
     
    It makes me think, that now the PRT know that Apeiron worked with the elite. if they find out about Uppercrust's healing they might assume the deal was help with dealing with the hostage situation in exchange for healing, Instead of Uppercrust selling out completely.

    I have been looking forward to the call with Armstrong for a while and loved it.

    also love seeing Accord being the only guy on the outside understand whats going on and instead of panicking he calming figures out what he needs to do and it working on "self improvement"

    Also Aisha only you could come in closer contact with an eldritch memory monster and use its power to delete a meme.
     
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    It's so nice to see reasonable people doing things for a change. Armstrong and Accord are such a great contrast to the vast majority of people Apeiron's had to interact with.
     
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    BananaBuddy said:
    also love seeing Accord being the only guy on the outside understand whats going on and instead of panicking he calming figures out what he needs to do and it working on "self improvement"
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    Considering his experience with a similar but vastly different organization (Cauldron) and his frankly absurdly powerful abilities that are no longer hindered by his manic OCD? Not that surprising in hindsight.

    Lepidoptera said:
    And on today's news, Lethe uses her world-shaking powers to utterly obliterate an annoying meme from the public consciousness for some time. Now, the weather.
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    Can't wait for a PRT analyst to make a 10 page dissertation on this one event that is based off the widely inaccurate assumptions that Accord just pointed out to get leaked and be widely considered accurate and thus further compounding the misconception.
     
    LordRoustabout said:
    Minor Blessing Demeter - Cultivation (Percy Jackson) 100:
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    Cauldron foolish children who know not the immensity of Heaven and Earth, though you have eyes you could not see Mt. Tai and so have courted death. However I, your grandfather, am a kind and benevolent lord. Rip off your right arms and left legs then proceed to kowtow 10,000 times and I will kill you painlessly.
     
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    LordRoustabout said:
    "Yeah, how did you pull that off anyway?" Aisha asked.

    "I have no fucking idea." I said honestly.

    Aisha blinked. "Sorry, what?"

    "That's one of the things from my Simple Scientific Solution power, the one that does super science answers to household problems. I've told you it's crazy advanced." I explained.

    "Yeah, but that was crazy advanced a week and a half ago." She said, "I figured that by now you'd have figured it out."

    I shook my head. "No luck there. It's way too advanced for me."

    Aisha gave me a blank stare. "How?" She shouted. "Seriously, how the hell is that possible?"
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    Hahahaha. Aisha being gobsmacked by SSS is hilarious. Schizotech means shizo.
    LordRoustabout said:
    She looked up at me. "Like, how do you deal with suddenly knowing that you're going to live forever?"

    There was an awkward silence between the three of us. I glanced away and coughed politely while Aisha cringed slightly.

    "Right, I guess you've already been through this." She said.
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    Irony in a nutshell, chapter continues to be hilarious.
    LordRoustabout said:
    Director Armstrong furrowed his brow as he took out the phone. "No, I…" As soon as he looked at the screen he froze. Without looking up he quickly spoke to the rest of the room. "I need everyone to leave immediately. I will contact you after this call."
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    YES! It's happening Apeiron is making positive PRT contact! Ok, so the bomb defusal isn't being done tonight which sucks, but it's only being moved until the next day which I think still puts it ahead of the S9 attack. This means Joe should be in good standing with the wider PRT, and able to leverage that on Friday.
    LordRoustabout said:
    As Ashai squeezed down on the blue gem there was a shattering sound as the surface exploded into a spiderweb of cracks.
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    Glad we finally got to this plot. Honestly, with all of Joe's buffs I would have thought he was able to match powers 1:1, but I guess that the point of building the final frontier so he can match them.

    Finally, while I'm not going to quote the Accord section as a whole, I'm so glad to see him figure everything out. Saying it was a brilliant deduction and therefore wrong was great. He figured out that above all the way to approach Apeiron (and how Apeiron approaches others) is directly and philanthropically. He was subverting precog to prevent people from worrying, and the correct action moving forward was to go forward with organizational reform. Truly the greatest super power common sense coming in clutch here.
     
    LordRoustabout said:
    "You can reach me through the third-party contacts to make the arrangements. Just know that my schedule for the next few days is a little complex."

    I could see Director Armstrong's concern at that statement. "Um, yes. I have seen the latest reports from Brockton Bay." He said quickly. "Your teammates conducted themselves commendably, but to clarify regarding your schedule…"
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    Tiz Goldeneye said:
    YES! It's happening Apeiron is making positive PRT contact! Ok, so the bomb defusal isn't being done tonight which sucks, but it's only being moved until the next day which I think still puts it ahead of the S9 attack. This means Joe should be in good standing with the wider PRT, and able to leverage that on Friday.
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    I can't wait for the moment where Joe destroys S9 and then Armstrong has that moment understanding "oooh thats what he meant by complex"
     
    LordRoustabout said:
    I shrugged. "It was a bit of a pardine shift."

    More than a bit of a pardine shift, really.
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    'Pardine' apparently relates to leopards. I think you meant 'paradigm'.
    LordRoustabout said:
    Not complete control, but enough to make a insignificant difference
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    I could also make an insignificant difference. Should probably be 'significant'.
    LordRoustabout said:
    Even without your resolution of the problem, the situation was still untenable.
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    This feels wrong. Should probably be 'with your resolution the situation is still untenable' or 'without your resolution the situation was tenable'.


    LordRoustabout said:
    Othello's explanation carried sound reasoning based on the most accurate models and assessments of Apeiron's behavior. It made perfect sense as the actions of a powerful ascending cape acting in opposition to established power blocs.

    So of course, it was completely wrong.
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    This about sums up all analysis done to Apeiron's actions.
    LordRoustabout said:
    "Indeed. An unfortunate fallacy of working backwards from results and assuming intent." Accord said. "Apeiron's core intentions are refreshingly direct, though conducted with a level of elegance and precision sufficient to yield numerous advantages that obscure a straightforward intent."
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    Someone finally understands how Apeiron works.


    Once you post something online, it's there forever... Unless you're Lethe I guess.
     
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    LordRoustabout said:
    the Matrix had been using for his work with Uppercrust.
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    Think you meant to say 'their' rather than 'his'.

    Also, I think it's hilarious that Aisha is basically Accord's spirit animal. Like that moment with Superweapons and Mt Rushmore where she's yelling "That's barely even science!" -- and now globally redacting memes she doesn't approve of from existence.

    I want to say it right now though. When they deal with the Nine, Joe should have Aisha banish Jack's name as an opening move. He'd just be Jacob and know that no one would ever remember Jack Slash.
     
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    SiegfriedisOP said:
    Cauldron foolish children who know not the immensity of Heaven and Earth, though you have eyes you could not see Mt. Tai and so have courted death. However, I your grandfather, am a kind and benevolent lord. If you rip off your right arms and left legs then proceed to kowtow 10,000 times I will kill you painlessly.
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    Say those damn words again and not even god will be able to save you from the horror I will unleash upon the world.

    In other news, Aisha is the first person to, albeit temporarily, actually remove something from the internet. Congratulations, you broke that one rule that everyone else has to abide by, Aisha, how do you feel?
     
    LordRoustabout said:
    "I'm not sure there's a good time to find out you're going to outlive everyone else." Aisha said. Then she blinked and looked up. "Except I'm not. That reincarnation tech is something anyone can use, right?"
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    Who wants to tell Joe that he's had this since he rolled Digistruct tech? I dont think digistruct specifically excluded NewU and Quickchange stations, so that's both death by violence and negative effects of aging off the table, as soon as the tech is deployed. Galaxy wide.
    LordRoustabout said:
    "Um, right." She continued. "That part of it's great, but if people can show off their memories, people are going to start expecting you to, or they'll assume you did something wrong."
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    Oh Aisha. The 1312s are gonna be all up in chat over this. But imagine some darker stuff than just "if you have nothing to hide". Imagine revenge porn that includes every sensation. Imagine doxing but instead of a photo of your street address, it's a memory of standing outside and just feeling the weight and shape of a knife or gun in your jacket pocket...
    LordRoustabout said:
    Minor Blessing Demeter - Cultivation (Percy Jackson) 100:
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    What the fu... oh. that kind of cultivation. right. fields, not the tao. carry on.
    LordRoustabout said:
    You can cultivate particular traits and abilities in other people or even yourself.
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    Waaaaaaait a minute ...
    LordRoustabout said:
    I mean unless you're growing a tree into a piece of technology…"
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    Niraada said:
    Think you meant to say 'their' rather than 'his'.

    Also, I think it's hilarious that Aisha is basically Accord's spirit animal. Like that moment with Superweapons and Mt Rushmore where she's yelling "That's barely even science!" -- and now globally redacting memes she doesn't approve of from existence.

    I want to say it right now though. When they deal with the Nine, Joe should have Aisha banish Jack's name as an opening move. He'd just be Jacob and know that no one would ever remember Jack Slash.
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    To be honest, as an opening move, it'd be a good one to remove the very memory of 'Jack Slash' from the other S9 members at least. Combined with something to block his power, and it would most definitely cause significant confusion, and might get Jacob killed by his own crew. Which would be hilarious.

    "Wait, why am I obeying this random douche I've never met? I don't take orders from nobody!"

    *Jacob proceeds to get blended by his buddies*
     
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    LordRoustabout said:
    "A regrettably accurate." Director Armstrong said.
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    I think 'assessment' or 'doubt' is missing here.

    LordRoustabout said:
    Frankly, something should have been done about their situation by not
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    by now
    LordRoustabout said:
    And we can ensure that the hostages are seen too long before that, correct?
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    Extra o I believe, seen to.

    Great chapter, good stuff, seeing him interact with Weld's dad who has the more minor title of Director.

    Loved everything about Accord's part, man's very skilled in figuring out Apeiron and working on his own to do better to be more appealing for the coming merger/submission. Man is smart.

    It'd be nice to see him actually interact with the Celestial Forge.
     
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