110.3 Interlude Everett - Addendum Joe
Interlude Everett
Everett stood in the lobby of the East-North-East PRT Headquarters. The sleek corporate polish of the building felt decidedly off, especially compared to the state of the city. The 'Downtown' portion of Brockton Bay had been spared the worst of the fighting, but even beyond that there was something about the place that clashed with the character of the rest of the city, or at least the parts of it he had seen since his team arrived.
Said team was currently mingling with representatives from the local Wards, who had apparently operated out of the PRT HQ even before the attacks had shifted all Protectorate operation into the city. Evidence of Brockton Bay's status as a destination for Cape Tourism was evident in every aspect of the building, with portraits of the Wards spread around the lobby and readily available merchandise on display, outweighing the offerings from the main Protectorate Team.
From a structural and practical perspective he wondered why the Protectorate had set up their headquarters in the Bay in the first place. It seemed like the kind of decision that would have been made as a compromise to development restrictions or building regulations. If a city needed a headquarters for their Protectorate team and didn't have any available real estate, then an offshore facility could make sense.
Based on what he had seen, he could confidently say the issue had not been a lack of development space. There were numerous downsides to isolating the Protectorate HQ out in the bay, including limited access and logistical difficulties, and relatively few benefits. Maybe if they needed excessive security, or if the team contained enough flyers or other movers that the location wouldn't be debilitating, but neither was the case.
He suspected this was probably a legacy issue. Possibly something tailored to the composition of an earlier version of the local Protectorate team, or a project put forward to address issues that were misinterpreted or never came about. Hell, it could have been a vanity project, showboating and spectacle from a time when no one thought the downsides of effectively isolating the city's heroes from the city would be significant enough to outweigh the attention garnered from building something as eye-catching as what locals called 'The Rig'.
He had been thinking about the PHQ a lot since meeting Kid Win. Given his specialization, picking apart the logic and intent behind major constructions was second nature to him, but even he had never broken down a structure as complex as the Rig as completely as Kid Win had.
He hadn't seen it at first, not even when Kid Win had forwarded him the report. It wasn't until he had reached out online that things had really come together. That was when the exact way the PHQ's systems had been broken down became clear.
Modular technology. Or modular principles applied to an existing system, and done almost casually. In that particular casual way that could only be a demonstration of a tinker's specialization. Components that could be effectively interchanged with each other, or that could be modified to serve multiple purposes. A single switched component that could completely change the dedicated function of a system.
Once it had been broken down by the wider community it had created something of a frenzy online. Inquiries made to the Brockton Bay PRT had been ignored, to the annoyance of many departments. There was suspicion that Director Piggot was playing at something, keeping a Ward like Kid Win in reserve rather than publicizing his abilities. Given what he had heard about her current situation and the politics at play, he could understand a director being careful with how they played what might be their last trump card.
At the very least Everett didn't doubt Kid Win's account of Uppercrust's reaction to his work. The boy had seemed completely indifferent to the magnitude of what something like that meant. Everett had to wonder if he was actually ignorant about the significance of the praise he had received, or if he was just too focused on matters in the city to even care.
Looking over at where the tinker was speaking with Cuff, he could see the signs of Director Piggot taking off whatever restraints that Kid Win had been working under. In the space of a few weeks he had effectively rebranded himself from the image of an irreverent and light hearted Ward, complete with flying skateboard and laser pistols, to an unquestionably serious tech hero. He watched as Kid Win gestured to something on the floating screen above one of his recently deployed wrist bracers, supposedly the remains of his skateboard that had been easily repurposed into significantly more effective equipment that had already proved itself in the Ungodly Hour. Combined with the active powered exoskeleton and significantly expanded collection of weapons, and you could see the influence that had come from Kid Win working under a tinker of Armsmaster's caliber.
It was easy to see the potential that Uppercrust had recognized.
Everett didn't know why someone with a specialization as valuable as modular technology was being kept in such a basic role, whether it was Director Piggot's doing or the result of local factors. It was just shocking to hear about someone who had been effectively unknown in the wider tinker community casually discussing his work with Dragon.
Of course, it wasn't like the rest of the city's wards were any less imposing. They had been greeted in the lobby when they arrived, and left somewhat awkwardly as Shuffle was called up for some emergency meeting. It wasn't the entirety of the Brockton Bay Wards, but the world had seen what they were capable of during the Ungodly Hour. The rest of his team engaged in polite conversation with Browbeat, Vista, and Kid Win, making sure to present a good front for the reporters camped outside the glass doors of the lobby, while he stood next to Clockblocker, the Ward's Strike Team Leader.
That was another thing that had apparently been kept under wraps by the local office. Honestly, with a name like 'Clockblocker' and what he'd heard about the man's earlier reputation, he would have been inclined to dismiss him as well. Of course, that was before he had successfully driven off an attack by March on the first night of the ABB attacks, back before anyone realized how significant that was. Back before he had leveraged the abilities of his team perfectly to secure decisive victories against ABB cells during the Ungodly Hour. Back before he had apparently independently worked out how to use his powers to save hostages from Bakuda's bombs, and had done so multiple times in the field. Before Bakuda's threat had put a stop to his effort, dozens of hostages had been saved by his actions, while all Everett could do was show up after the fact and help clean up the mess.
Well, that wasn't all he was doing. It was just the only part of his work that anyone was willing to admit to. He was in the city because the national office was worried about Gully. Normally he would be on board with that, but unfortunately, that concern wasn't coming from a completely genuine place.
It was true that there were concerns about a treatment going wrong. They had shown him exactly how bad things could get when people started messing with Case 53 biology. He didn't even want to think about something like that happening to Gully, but he also wasn't naïve enough to believe that was the only reason, or even the main reason he had been sent to the city.
The city was juggling a half dozen crises already. Gang conflicts held back by a tenuous truce, an invasion by the Teeth, the Elite taking interest, Lost Garden deploying their notoriously unpredictable capes, Bakuda and her remaining forces still at large, massive devastation mixed with exotic tinker effects from both Bakuda and Apeiron, and the very presence of Apeiron's team and everything that represented.
It was a terrifyingly unstable situation, one that everyone was desperately trying to manage. And, on top of everything, you had the prospect of a cure for Case 53s. A cure that was buried under all the chaos of Brockton Bay. It almost seemed cruel. Just the possibility of something like that should have been a cause for celebration. A reason for resources to be diverted and mandates put in place to facilitate things. To make sure as many people could be helped as possible, and to make sure it was safe to do so.
But that wasn't happening. Not with everything else the city was dealing with. He hadn't been sent to the city because they were worried Gully would take a bad option and end up like one of Lab Rat's experiments. They were worried about what her presence might mean and wanted her contained and out of the way for long enough to deal with some of the other pressing concerns the city was facing.
It seemed reasonable, and if the PRT had been more honest and accommodating then maybe most of the Case 53s would have been willing to work with them. But instead of receiving news and assurances from the national office they had received leaked information from a contained Ward and been left to figure things out for themselves. It wasn't surprising that most Case 53s were working against the PRT's wishes considering the PRT had made its stance on the matter abundantly clear.
He knew there were more Case 53s in the city. Outside of Gully he wasn't that connected to the community, but he had heard reports and even seen a couple when his team had been working to clear rubble. The child sized cape with a lumpy green exoskeleton and lopsided man with skin like wet sand had bolted when they saw his team, like they were afraid of being detained just for being present in the city.
The sad thing was, there were probably policies that could be used to do just that, especially if the status of the capes in question was unclear, but the last thing the city needed was for the desperate individuals who were seeking a cure to believe they were being hunted by the authorities. Just having that many unaffiliated capes in the same area was dangerous enough.
At least he had someone to seriously discuss the local tactical situation with. Honestly, he found himself envying the rest of his team. Most of them were oblivious to the larger concerns and free to trade stories and joke with the local Wards while he reviewed the local situation with Clockblocker.
"There's always been tension in that part of the city." Clockblocker explained. "It's hard to explain, but you get a feel for it from patrols. There's a different character to gang territories and adjacent spaces, as well as unaffiliated and buffer zones, but they shifted often enough that there was never a firm definition. The uncertainty also had an impact."
Tecton nodded as he looked down at the animated watch faces on Clockblocker's blank mask. "There are similar situations in Chicago, but the Wards aren't typically actively involved in them."
Not even when shadowing members of the Protectorate, which the local team tended not to do. Possibly a consequence of them being located half a city and a body of water away from the PHQ, but it seemed to be as much a result of local policy as any practical concerns.
"It's not something we're expected to manage, but it is something you need to be aware of. After the attacks, and with everyone who was displaced by the Ungodly Hour, you're going to see a lot of complications for the recovery efforts."
Tecton nodded. "Given the scale of everything, I didn't think that the social aspect would be more complicated than actually clearing the damage."
Clockblocker shrugged. "People are complicated, and stuff like this, something as big as what's happened, is going to hit a lot of them in different ways. It would be different if things had time to settle, but we haven't been that lucky."
There was an edge to his statement, and Tecton understood why. They were coming up on the one-week anniversary of the Ungodly Hour, which had been a week after his own team had been brutalized by the Undersiders, which had been barely a week after Lung had first been captured. So far the city had avoided any major disasters in the intervening time, but with the clashes between the Teeth and the local gangs, it had been closer than anyone was comfortable with. Everyone was holding their breath and worrying about what the next disaster could be.
"Yeah, there was a lot of pushback to our work this morning." Tecton admitted. "A lot more than I expected."
"Holding up traffic will do that." Clockblocker said in a light tone. The levity seemed somehow out of place for someone with so serious a reputation, but Tecton appreciated the effort.
In reality, they had stumbled into entrenched civic issues that stretched back for years. Steps taken to facilitate faster recovery were being seen as catering to the least damaged and most well-off area of the city. It was something that could probably have been avoided, or at least mitigated, if their team hadn't been kept entirely separate from the local command structure. He almost wondered if Director Piggot had encouraged the misstep, but the backlash was directed as much at her as it was at the Chicago capes.
Which might explain why they had been called in for an emergency meeting, but still, the urgency seemed slightly out of place for a PR move.
"Do you know if that's what this is about?" Tecton asked, slightly inclining his head towards the front of the lobby. Despite the entire area being designed to cater to tourists and show off the local heroes, at the moment it was entirely closed off with crowds of people camped outside, including scores of reporters and news crews from the networks that had been set up in the city since the Ungodly Hour. They'd been there since his team arrived and seemed more than a little excessive for the issues of that morning.
"I'm not sure, but I doubt it." He admitted. "Could be for New Wave." He added, also subtly gesturing to the cape team that had been keeping to the other side of the lobby. "This would be their first appearance as a team since before the initial attacks."
He glanced slightly towards the collection of white costumes. Just like him, Clockblocker was being careful not to make any gestures that could be misconstrued in an unfortunately timed photograph.
"That would be enough?" Everett asked. "There are major network teams out there."
"Might be if Panacea's being released." He said with a hopeful edge to his voice.
"Do you think that's likely?" Tecton asked.
"I don't know." Clockblocker admitted. "Everyone's hoping for it, but I doubt they're going to send her back into the field right away, even if she's willing to help."
There was a sad note in his voice. Like so many other aspects of Brockton Bay, the significance of their local healer had been completely missed by the rest of the country. Something of a theme really. The full extent of her impact hadn't really come to light until she was unavailable. Until the local Protectorate suddenly had to deal with the impact of injured members and hospitals didn't have an easy solution for people injured in cape fights.
Everett didn't know the full details of why Amy Dallon had been kept in confinement for so long. Knowing what he did about the local PRT office, it was probably bad decisions and half-measures compounding on top of each other until they had a mess that couldn't be untangled by anything less than herculean effort.
Effort that hadn't been available when New Wave was in disarray, something else that had been blamed on Apeiron, but in all likelihood was an unfortunate coincidence. Or the result of March's schemes. It was still hard to pick those apart.
With a devastated city, he could understand enthusiasm for having someone like Panacea back in the field, but that wasn't the kind of thing that could bring out major networks. There were police managing news vans in front of the PRT building. It seemed a lot for the return of a cape, even one as significant as Panacea.
Of course, it would have been easier if they could have just walked over to ask New Wave about it, but that wasn't in the cards. If there was some kind of complication or PRT drama tied up in Panacea's case, even being seen talking to New Wave could be a step too far. After the mess with how the morning recovery work had gone over, Shuffle had instructed all of them to be on guard and to stay offline until a statement was issued.
That order still stood while they were waiting in the PRT lobby. With the cameras on them, just standing around became a form of performance art. Despite everything that was happening at higher levels, when the public's eye was on them they were still supposed to do everything in their power to show a united front. No hint of conflict or division between the Chicago and Brockton Bay teams.
That actually wasn't as difficult as he would have imagined. Sure, the Brockton Bay Wards were intimidating in concept, but dealing with them in person was a very different experience from seeing combat footage from the Ungodly Hour or reading about their engagements with Lung or major gang forces. It was still a little unnerving to see the kind of enthusiasm that someone Vista's age had shown about direct combat, but without an active crisis they were a lot easier to deal with.
Well, mostly. Clockblocker was still a special kind of imposing. Probably because of that blank mask with the abstract and animated design moving across it. Everett had to wonder if that had been an intentional choice, if someone in the PRT public relations department had leaned into a dehumanizing angle to accentuate the kind of presence that seemed to come naturally to the striker.
Maybe he wouldn't have found it so unnerving if he hadn't seen the assessments of exactly what Clockblocker's power had stood up to. The Protectorate's tinker forums were a great resource, but they had a tendency to run away on certain topics, and the assessment of Bakuda's bombs had been a popular point of discussion. Because of that he knew exactly what Clockblocker's power had been able to weather. Combined with the reach and versatility that Vista brought to the table, it was easy to see why they made such an effective strike force.
Clockblocker paused, then pulled out a Protectorate issue phone. Tecton raised an eyebrow behind the cover of his helmet. "Is there news?" His own phone had been silent, along with the rest of the team. Almost suspiciously so.
"Not official. Message from Gallant." He looked up. "Teammate, transferred to New York."
"I heard." Tecton said. He'd seen the footage of the fight, along with the account of what had happened to the man's armor.
"Infosec has been insane lately." Clockblocker said as he tapped at his phone. "I'm guessing he got more information from the outside than we've been issued from upstairs."
Everett nodded. Assuming something had leaked to the media, an outside source might be more informed than people under information controls.
Clockblocker tapped at his phone again, then froze. "Oh." He said in a flat voice.
"What?" Everett's question was interrupted by the ding of the elevator doors opening. He turned to see a figure ducking down to fit under the doorframe of the elevator before standing up. And up. And up. And… out.
The entire lobby went silent at the arrival of the giant woman. Everett was about to ask Clockblocker what the message had said, and then he saw the shovel.
It was incredibly elaborate, with a handle of some translucent opalescent material that looked vaguely crystalline. Engravings and accents of a silvery material snaked up the length of the handle, merging with a brilliant spade that seemed to glow silver in the lights of the lobby. It was one of the most beautiful items he'd seen in his life, like nothing else he had ever seen, and yet the moment he laid eyes on it, a thousand details snapped into place.
Things he never would have ever imagined he could have noticed or recognized came flooding back to him. Everything from the shape of the woman's braid to subtle movements of her hand as she shifted her grip on the shovel or adjusted her bangs. Even the way she walked, slight shifts in her posture and probably most of all, the way she looked at him.
Looked at him and smiled. Smiled in that way Gully did when there was no one around and she could briefly forget her PR training. Smiled in the way she thought made her face look frightening, even though it was the most natural expression she had. Somehow, despite being completely different in every way, it was the same smile.
"That's Gully." Tecton whispered to Clockblocker.
"Yeah." He said, putting his phone away. "That's what the message was about. She walked into the PRT headquarters like that."
Tecton looked from the nonplussed Ward to the substantially more shocked reactions from the rest of both of their teams. Vista was staring up at Gully with her mouth open while Browbeat spoke with Kid Win. His own team was at least making an attempt to maintain their composure. Wanton had the strongest reaction, but he had known Gully from back in San Diego, not just by reputation or through training exercises.
Gully, and that was Gully, looked away from him as members of New Wave rushed towards her. Laserdream and Manpower led the way, both with wide smiles on their faces. From their reaction, this wasn't a surprise for them, though it was clear that Crystal and her father were closer to Gully than the rest of the family.
It also bought Tecton a moment to try to get himself together. Not that it was doing much good.
"But… that's Gully." He repeated.
"Yeah." Clockblocker said. "And we both know what probably happened."
Tecton swallowed. Apeiron. As if it wasn't obvious enough from the shovel she was carrying, of the state of her appearance, and everything else.
That was why they were here. Why he was here. It was another level of manipulation, just like his deployment to the city had been. Gully's treatment was public knowledge. It could potentially set off every Case 53 in the city, and draw even more into the volatile situation. They hadn't briefed him or given him any instructions, probably because that could only have made things worse, but they were probably hoping his presence would mitigate things, or at least give Gully something else to focus on.
But he couldn't even think about that, because this was just too much. He had been so focused on how everything could go wrong, on every nightmare scenario that had been laid out for him he never even considered the idea of Gully being cured, much less cured to this extent. He was totally unprepared for this, especially when Gully was sneaking looks in his direction.
"What am I supposed to do?" He whispered half to himself.
"There's a step ladder in the broom closet." Clockblocker said irreverently.
He looked down at the other Ward in shock. Eventually he managed to find his voice. "That's not… you know what I mean." He muttered.
"I know she likes you." Everett tensed, but Clockblocker pressed on. "Wasn't exactly subtle at the charity thing. And now she's hot." He shrugged. "I'm not really seeing the problem here."
Everett couldn't help but envy the man's confidence. Then again, he had seen recordings of the way Clockblocker had handled himself in combat. And worse combat than Everett had ever found himself in.
"It's not that simple." He said, looking back at Gully. At all of her. All of all of her. He felt his chest tighten. "Something like this.. it's just…" He found himself at a loss for words. "I mean, I never cared about THIS."
Clockblocker just looked up at him, and Everett had the feeling there was an amused expression behind that mask.
"Didn't care, or didn't want people to think that you cared?" Clockblocker asked.
Everett felt himself flush. "I don't know. Both?" He answered mostly honestly. Everett briefly wondered how he had ended up having a discussion about the state of his relationships with Clockblocker of all people. From what he'd seen, it really seemed like the Ward leader would be above that kind of thing.
"You're worried." Clockblocker said. "Because if you start dating her now, after she's become a total knockout, people are going to think you're the kind of shallow guy who's only interested in someone because they're a total knockout."
"That's not it." Everett insisted. Clockblocker just held his gaze. "Okay, that's not all of it."
Clockblocker shrugged. "I'm guessing you always felt you were above all that stuff? Noble, objective, dignified." Tecton tensed. "Not saying you weren't. I could tell you cared about her too. This wasn't a superficial thing."
"No, it wasn't." Tecton said. He couldn't believe their conversation had taken this turn, but it made sense that Clockblocker would be able to read people to lead as well as he did. "It wasn't anything like this either. I never really considered…"
"Yeah." Clockblocker said. "So, all that stuff you thought about yourself, is it more important for people to see you like that, or to actually follow through?"
"What do you mean?" He asked.
Clockblocker let out a breath as he inclined his head slightly towards the crowd of reporters. "None of us can really control how we come across, and the image you have of yourself can change in a second. What you do for the people around you is what matters." He turned back to Gully. "You go for this and people are going to make all kinds of assumptions about you. Half of them will be misinterpreting things and the other half will probably be jealous of you, and it's going to suck, but consider that maybe this isn't all about you."
Everett swallowed, then nodded. "Honestly this wasn't a problem I anticipated having."
"Yeah well, given the spread of problems in this city, there are plenty of people who would happily trade you for this one." Clockblocker quipped.
Tecton shook his head and smiled. Most of it was the shock. The shock, and the complete upheaval of everything he had been preparing himself for. As he watched Gully make her way towards them he recognized that it was really shock, upheaval, and a couple of other things as well.
Clockblocker nodded to him, then moved forward to greet Gully first. It gave Tecton another moment to collect himself, and he was secretly grateful to the Brockton Ward for the chance. There was a brief but friendly exchange between Gully and Clockblocker. She said something he couldn't hear and he saw Clockblocker go tense for a moment, then give Gully a quick nod.
Clockblocker glanced back at him, then looked over to his own team. Kid Win and Browbeat looked shocked, but Vista was unusually stiff and was looking at Gully's new body with a complex expression. Given her proximity to Clockblocker, Everett's mind briefly jumped to some of the highly inappropriate assumptions that had been put forward regarding the two capes and their degree of synergy. When Clockblocker quickly nodded to Gully before hurrying off to have a hushed conversation with Vista it didn't do much to dispel the impression.
And that thought made him acutely aware that the press was still camped outside, with a surge of activity following Gully's arrival in the lobby. It was a consequence of the lower levels of the PRT headquarters being built for tourist traffic, rather than privacy or security. He knew there would be other options for that, but apparently some element of the situation had pushed things into the public space.
Which meant he was in the public eye as he slowly approached Gully. Despite the confidence with which she carried herself, her own steps were equally reserved. He swallowed as he approached her, unsure of how to handle a situation he had never imagined.
"Gully?" He said cautiously.
"Yeah." She said. The gravely aspect of her voice that she had worked so hard to conceal and downplay was now completely absent. Her voice was different, but somehow she still sounded like herself.
"Um, congratulations?" He said, still floundering, without the stability of his armor he probably would have been shaking with a leaf.
And without the height granted by his armor, he wouldn't have been able to have this conversation face to face.
"Thanks." Gully said, tracing a hand over her long braid that still nearly extended to the ground. "Um, if you have time to talk, Dragon set up a room where we can speak without the PRT or anyone listening in."
Tecton nodded, relieved at the prospect of getting away from the assembled crowd of spectators. "I'm pretty sure that's why I'm here." He admitted.
Gully smiled. It really was a very nice smile. "They weren't exactly subtle about it." She said.
He nodded numbly, grateful for the privacy of his armor under the prying eyes of the public. "I'm sorry about that. I know… I didn't mean anything, but I know it didn't come from the best intentions."
She nodded. "It's okay."
Really, it was better than okay. Part of him was still worried. He had been walked through all the horror stories, the thousand ways this kind of treatment could go wrong, but it seemed that, once again, Apeiron had been able to achieve what had been seen as impossible by every other cape on the planet. He had cured a Case 53, completely.
Well, treated a Case 53. Gully was still a towering presence. While the vast majority of concerns had been addressed, her height remained. Fortunately, the hallways of the PRT building were designed to accommodate capes and equipment transfer, meaning their height was less of an issue, provided they walked in single file. They were led out of the lobby by an older woman who seemed slightly out of place with the rest of the PRT staff. He caught some encouraging looks and indiscreet gestures from his team as he departed, as well as a final blitz of camera flashes from the press outside.
They were led to a meeting room on the ground floor. Not the kind of conference room that gets shown off to visitors, but the kind of utilitarian space that hosts staff meetings and employee announcements. The woman, who turned out to be a PRT tech on loan from New York, assured them of their privacy before departing, leaving the two of them hanging in awkward silence.
Both of them were near ceiling height, which made the room seem slightly cramped. His armor and Gully's new body were too big for any of the chairs around the basic table, so they were left standing across from each other as Everett tried to figure out what to say. Gully didn't seem to be any better off. As soon as the woman departed the veneer of confidence she had been showing to the world collapsed, leaving her no less imposing, but also awkwardly avoiding eye contact while she shifted her grip on her shovel.
That seemed like as good a place as any to start. Everett swallowed and pressed forward.
"Apeiron." He began, causing Gully to look up. "You were able to contact him? Make a contract?"
Obviously she had been, but it provided a jumping off point for both of them.
Gully shook her head. "I didn't find him." She explained. "He approached me." She smiled slightly. "Just showed up after I finished morning work. Told me that someone had set up a contract for my treatment."
Everett's eyes widened. "Really?"
She nodded. "For the work I've done. Rescue and recovery."
"That was enough for…" Everett trailed off. He didn't want to diminish what Gully had accomplished, but compared to what had happened, a full treatment and what appeared to be a shovel of Apeiron's own workmanship… the value seemed incalculable.
"For him it was." She said, "He cares about his city."
Everett nodded. That was already theorized, but there was a difference between a cape caring about a place and them taking action on this level. "That was…" He began, not wanting to finish the thought.
"It was lucky." She said with a nod. "I know that. I know this could have gone wrong, or been a waste of time, or caused nothing but trouble, but still…" Emotion was leaking into her voice and Everett felt his chest tighten.
Seeing that kind of vulnerability from Gully was incredibly rare. She was too guarded to let things bother her, only giving the slightest hints to the kind of weight she carried. With her new body, it seemed like that should be a thing of the past. She projected confidence like no one he had ever seen, but that confidence fell away just as quickly. She might have swung from one extreme to the next, but she was still very much the same person underneath.
He hesitated for a moment, then triggered the seals on his armor. The suit clanked as it shifted open, letting him step out into the room in nothing but his basic costume and a largely superficial mask concealing his identity. Gully's breath hitched as she looked down at him. Quite a bit down at him. He looked up at her, with a significantly different view than he was used to.
"It's okay." He said, looking up at his… friend. She sniffed and shook her head.
"It's just getting started." She replied, her eyes darting towards the front of the building. "I wasn't ready for any of this. I don't think I even expected to get this far. It was just… I had to try."
"Yeah." Everett said. "I don't think anyone could be ready for this kind of thing. I can't even imagine." He shook his head. "I know it's better, but I mean, you basically traded one set of problems for another." He paused when he saw her expression. "What?"
"Part of why I wanted to talk to you." She said, anxiously shifting her grip on the massive shovel. "Apeiron… So much happened. More than I think I can talk about, and not here." She said, looking around. "I know Dragon said we'd be secure, but I don't trust this place. Not entirely."
Everett nodded. The reputation of the Brockton Bay PRT could hardly be lower, but their handling of information was a particular sore spot, especially considering how much sensitive information a PRT branch was entrusted with. He had expected them to be escorted to some ultra secure isolated room where Dragon could blank out all the sensors, but frankly, a forgotten corner where no one would bother with surveillance and with someone watching the door was probably better than the best cybersecurity Dragon could offer.
Still, another thought stuck out. "Dragon." He said, letting out a short breath. "We're working with Dragon."
Gully nodded. "I know. I mean, Apeiron and Dragon and national policies…"
"Yeah." Everett said. "It feels bigger than anything we should be dealing with."
Gully smiled. "Not like anyone else was dealing with it." She replied.
He returned the smile. "I guess that's what happens when you take things into your own hands."
Gully let out a breath. "It was the hardest thing I ever did." She admitted.
Everett nodded. "You've always done things by the book. I knew if you decided to do this, it had to be serious."
"Serious." She said, "That's a good way of putting it. Everything's been serious. Insanely serious, and it's only getting more serious."
He picked up on her meaning. "The other Case 53s?" He asked.
She nodded. "I didn't want them burying this, so I made sure everyone saw me come in. Director Piggot wanted me hidden away for medical observation." She said derisively. "I can understand where she's coming from, but after everything that's happened…" She shook her head.
He could more than understand not wanting to put her fate in Director Piggot's hands, but the situation was still volatile. Honestly, hiding Gully away wouldn't have done much to change that, not at this point.
"Do you think there's going to be trouble?" He asked.
"Maybe?" She admitted, leaning back against the wall of the meeting room, causing Everett to blink. That particular angle stood at odds with the seriousness of the topic and Everett worked to keep his mind on task. "I can't speak for every Case 53. No one can, not even Weld. Some might take it as a good sign, others might react badly. I just wanted them to know there's a chance."
"There is?" He asked. "I mean, not just for you?"
She gave him a very careful nod. "I don't want to talk about it. Not here, not now, not even with Dragon's assurances, but yeah, there's something."
Everett let out a breath. That was huge. More than huge. Even if she had to be careful about the details, the fact that this wasn't going to end at Weld and Gully, that there would be a chance for other Case 53s, it was incredible. He could only guess at how that would work, what Apeiron would ask from them, but if he had been willing to extend something this big to Gully for helping with the recovery, something she would have done anyway and without any expectation, then there was hope that maybe it wouldn't be anything too extreme.
"He can help them." Everett said, then looked up at Gully. "I mean, help them most of the way." He added with a slight smile.
Gully shifted nervously and he felt his grin falter. "Not that it's anything bad." He added quickly. "It looks…" He coughed. Saying it looked 'good' was a bit of an understatement, and any of the more accurate words seemed inappropriate.
"Um, yeah. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." She said, twisting the shovel in her hand.
"About this?" He asked, looking up. And up. "I know it's… it's a lot, but I mean, Apeiron-"
"No." She said, cutting him off. "This…" She gestured down at her body. Her new body. "It wasn't Apeiron. This was my power. Apeiron just kind of reset it."
"Your power?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
Gully flushed slightly. "There's a biological part of my power, as well as the earth control. It kind of like to… exaggerate things?"
That was a diplomatic way of putting things. And also cast some light on what might have happened before. Reset her power from whatever it was originally, with an ability that exaggerated biological aspects, only it was exaggerating… different things.
"I see." He said. "So your power is what made you like this?" He appreciated the explanation, but in the end the result was the same.
Gully nodded. "Apparently, Apeiron tried to hold back, when everything was happening. He, um, he didn't want people thinking it was his fault, and he didn't want me to be stuck like this."
Everett nodded. "I'm sorry." He paused, seeing Gully's expression. "I mean, not sorry?" He asked. "Are you…"
"I'm not stuck like this." She said carefully, holding up her shovel. "Apeiron gave me a way to turn it off. To change back."
Everett's eyes widened. "Back to…"
"Before I became a Case 53." She said.
"He can do that?" Everett hissed, looking up at Gully. Once again, the impossible tinker was just that extra degree of impossible. This was probably his fault for assuming the man who named himself after a lack of limits had somehow found limits to his abilities.
Gully nodded. "That's what he was trying to do. It's what's supposed to happen, for people who don't have…" She looked down. "I guess, a changer power now."
"So you can turn… back?" Everett asked. It was a lot to get his head around when he was already struggling with the scale of everything the day had thrown at him.
Gully nodded. "That's why he made me this." She tightened her grip on the shovel. "It lets me regulate my powers. I can turn off the effect that makes me this size."
"Is it hard? Or dangerous?" He asked.
"No." She replied as she looked down. "I'm just really nervous." Said the eight-and-a-half-foot tall bundle of nerves.
Everett gave her the most reassuring smile he could manage. "It will be okay." He promised. "And you don't have to."
"It's fine." She said, taking a breath. "I just, here."
There was a sudden flash and Gully vanished. He blinked, looking up at the ceiling until a flicker of movement drew his eyes down. And down. A foot shorter than him, and slim, with hair tied back in a ponytail, but it was the same hair. The same costume, somehow still perfectly fitted to her slimmer form.
Her tiny form. Her barely five-foot-tall form.
"Um, Dragon did a full physical. She said there's nothing wrong, I'm just short. Was short, before everything else." She… Gully said in a voice that was even lighter than her previous form. She was so small and tiny, but still Gully. Still had the same nervous motions and expressions, even if she was so small and light.
Gully let out a squeak as she looked into his face. A tiny, cute squeak. He quickly caught himself and set her back down.
"I'm sorry." He said quickly. "It's just, you're so tiny."
"Um, yeah." She said, glancing away. "Sorry, I've never been picked up before."
Everett felt his own face flush. Gully glanced away from him, but there was a clear smile on her face.
They took seats on opposite sides of the table while Everett tried to adjust to the second curveball the day had thrown at him. Or possibly third, given the fact that Apeiron's shovel could shrink and transform into any number of items of jewelry.
"So you… You don't have to be Gully." He caught himself. "I mean, you don't have to be a cape. Not all the time. You can have a civilian life."
"Yeah." She said, looking down at her slender arms. "Dragon knows about it, and so does Director Castillo. And Facetime."
"Of course." Everett said.
"Yeah." Gully said with a smile. "I haven't told anyone here. Not in this department. I know they're being careful, but I don't want to take any risks."
Everett nodded. Normally a hero's identity was kept beyond secure by the local PRT department, but given the scale of the failures by the ENE, he wouldn't bet on it.
And that was assuming that Director Piggot didn't try to use it as leverage to keep Gully contained until the situation with the rest of the City's Case 53s could be dealt with. Another thing he normally wouldn't have even considered, but when it came to the Brockton Bay department there always seemed to be a new low.
"That was smart." He said, looking across at her. "And thank you for telling me." Gully nodded. "Do you know what you're going to do first? Now that you can go out as a civilian?"
"Um, yeah." Gully said, looking to the side. Her face was turning flush, but she seemed to be forcing herself through. "I was thinking about getting dinner. As a civilian. Tonight." She looked up at him with her dark brown eyes, her face a mixture of hope and fear.
"Dinner." He said. "You mean, with me. Together." He swallowed. "Out of costume."
She nodded. "I, uh, I know there's going to be a lot to deal with, with everything that happened. I'd just like one night to get away from it before everything takes off."
"As a date." He said.
She looked back at him. "If you don't mind."
He took a breath. It was too much, but if it was too much for him, he couldn't even imagine how bad it was for Gully. Everything he'd been bracing himself for, every scenario that he'd need to contend with, it was all out the window. Instead he was faced with what was probably the most mundane thing in existence, but somehow it felt bigger than any of the massive cape conflicts he'd been preparing himself for.
"Yes." He said. "I'd like that."
Gully practically melted in relief. It really was beyond adorable. "Good. Good." She said, leaning back in her chair.
"Let me guess, you have a restaurant picked out already?" He asked jokingly.
"Believe it or not, I haven't had time to scout the local dinner scene." She shot back, and he raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I have some leads that might be worth looking into."
"Solid leads, or mythical food trucks that turn out to have been out of service for six months?" He asked.
"That was Fisherboy's fault. And I swear he did it on purpose." She said with a grin. Tecton returned the smile and suddenly it was like nothing had changed, despite everything having changed on every level.
"Are you going to be okay?" He asked. Gully gave him a flat look that scrunched up her face slightly. "I mean with logistics and transport, that kind of thing. It's going to be a lot more complex, and the local office probably won't be too friendly."
"I'll be fine." She said, and he gave her a look. "I'm serious. I'm meeting with Garment in a little while. She saw the news and already reached out. Offered to send a car for me. I'll be fine."
"You're seeing Garment?" He asked.
She nodded. "Set it up yesterday, after the event."
"And Apeiron just happened to find you right before you were scheduled to meet her?" He asked in a flat tone.
"Yeah." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "I know, but they didn't confirm anything, though there was a comment about needing two new wardrobes."
"They…" Everett began. "They Celestial Forge? Not just Apeiron?"
She nodded. "Not the whole team, but yeah. Not something I want to get into. At least not here."
He nodded and leaned back in his own chair. "So, Garment?" Gully nodded. "Nothing I brought with me is going to be close to dressy enough for tonight, is it?"
"I'm sure it won't be that bad." Gully said. Everett raised an eyebrow and Gully dropped her head. "Honestly, I'm not sure what to expect. I've never really had fashion be a thing for me before, and now I'm going from zero to Garment."
"You should probably get used to it. With all those reporters, they're probably going to want to rebrand you as soon as you get back to San Diego." He joked.
"Probably." Gully agreed. "I mean, it was supposed to be coming up anyway, but I wasn't looking at anything more than a costume change." Her hand dropped to the charm bracelet on her wrist. "Probably going to be a lot more than that now."
"Most likely." He said with a nod. "What do you think? Different theme? Change costume? Whole new cape name?"
A glimmer entered Gully's eyes. "Actually, I've had some ideas on that front."
"Really?" He asked with an amused smile.
"Yeah." She said, then with a flash of light her chair fell away and all eight and a half feet of Gully was leaning over the table towards him. Her bangs framed dark eyes that looked down at him as she gave him a smile that had a wicked edge to it.
"What do you think of… 'Ravine'?"
Everett felt the smile drop from his face as his mouth fell open. His chest felt tight as he looked up at her face, then down to…
He cleared his throat. "I think that sounds dangerous." He said, shifting in his seat.
"Dangerous for who?" She asked, that sly smile still on her face.
"Probably everybody." He muttered, and Gully's expression cracked. Her grin went from wicked to genuine and she let out a fit of giggles that completely dispelled the image she had been projecting.
Thank goodness. The world really was not ready for that. Not yet anyway.
With another flash Gully was back in her smaller form, utterly amused at his reaction while he did his best to downplay it. The conversation shifted to lighter topics, details of his team, the people she had met during her work, and other little stories they had to share with each other. For a moment, they were free of all the machinations that had sent Gully to the city and him chasing after her. He didn't know where any of this would go, but it was good to know his friend was still there, and that he could be there for her.
Addendum Joe
As I worked I kept an eye on Survey's analysis of the situation in the wider city. Gully had made it to the PRT building without any major incidents, but unsurprisingly, she had caused quite a splash as she made her way through the city. Forums and social media were full of pictures and video of her walk through the city, to say nothing of the reactions from major news organizations.
The twenty-four-hour networks were picking the story apart, or at least what little that had to go on. San Diego had released a statement that was mostly just telling everyone to wait for a statement from the national office, though they did confirm that Gully was active in Brockton Bay, in good health, and not currently operating as an on-duty Ward. Most of that was already public knowledge, but most people seemed to be taking it as confirmation of her identity.
At the moment news crews, tourists, and spectators were camped outside the PRT Headquarters, reporting on mostly nothing. The brief appearance of Gully had caused a short storm of posts, but that died down after she left with Tecton.
Of course, that just caused a new level of speculation, some of which ventured close to or past the bounds of decency, but thankfully that stayed out of major news reports and was mostly squashed by PHO moderators.
I did feel a little bad about effectively cutting her loose, but she had a line to the Workshop if she needed it, and there wasn't much else I could do that wouldn't just add more complications. A miracle cure was well within my grasp, but managing the complexities of government agencies and public perception was a lot more complicated.
That 'miracle' cure had actually been an incredibly useful exercise in my current theories of Passenger Space. Xenoarchaeologist had transformed the process of deciphering the mechanics of passengers and the dimension they inhabited from a titanic challenge to the kind of project I could make meaningful progress on with just a set of simple observations. The insights we had gained from expanded exploration and the data from Gully's treatments were tremendously helpful in figuring out the true principles by which passengers operated.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of principles used by passengers. Pretty much a completely new set for each one we encountered. They were now something that could be deciphered without needing to commit tremendous resources to the project, but the volume of information was still tremendous. Without my duplicates being able to take advantage of the time acceleration from Spiritron Core, all my latest power would have done was show me exactly how much I didn't know.
The importance of the layered acceleration of Temporal Controls and the Spiritron Core made any time I needed to spend inside the Workshop cause significant delays. I had taken that when dealing with Gully since we needed the magitech laboratory and that wasn't the kind of thing I was willing to hand off to a duplicate who was getting close to his end-of-duration grumpiness. That had been a relatively small portion of Gully's treatment, and even my duplicates could accept interruptions for really important things.
Like putting a book away.
I had cleared the gap from Xenoarchaeologist while working with Gully, resulting in a missed connection to a large mote from the Alchemy constellation. After Gully's treatment had been completed the Forge had connected to a larger mote from the Knowledge constellation, which resulted in a book being added to my Workshop. A very large, very important book, at least if you were a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The Pleician Tome was a monolithic construct unto itself. Superficially it resembled a book, if a book was the size of a coffee table and covered in an arcane arrangement of gears, circuitry, tubing, and skulls. Skulls both real and mechanical. Unsurprisingly, the Pleician Tome shared an origin with my Laboratorium, tech priest skills, and various crafting Schemas. In fact, it was very much an artifact of tech priests, as knowing the rites and practices of that faith was the only way anyone would have a hope of making sense of the contents.
The massive tome would require four people to carry it, but ease of transport clearly wasn't the priority of whoever had created that absolute beast of a reference book. The actual written portion of the book was only a tiny sliver of the assembled information, but even that was a complex mess of space age QR codes, obscure ciphers, oblique references, and extremely dense scientific formulas. I was tempted to move the entire thing to the Library to take advantage of Library Services for a translation and appendix of idiomatic word usage, cultural context, and author's background, but unfortunately that might compromise the other components of the text.
Because of course the space age reference book wasn't just limited to what was in the text. Seemingly every possible form of data storage and protection had been integrated into the tome. From the actual memory banks that were built into the covers to the complex system of microcircuitry that spread through the pages to the actual cybernetic skulls that were wired into the systems, it was less a reference book and more a repository of terrifying scale and degree.
Survey was currently working to integrate copies produced by the Matrix into the Library, but unfortunately, while the added appendices were happy to provide cultural context and word usage, it seemed that the Matrix counted as the author of those particular copies. Though really, hoping for any specific author for a database of this scale was probably wishful thinking. Additionally, the context only covered the superficial knowledge on the surface level of the tome, not any of the database contents that sat underneath.
While the Library hadn't proven to be an easy solution to the complexities of the book, what I had been able to discover in spite of those obstacles was fascinating. The source universe of that book possessed some of the most advanced technology I had access to, even if it was highly inconsistently distributed. I knew how to construct discrete examples of that technology and understood the principles of operating it. With the information from the Pleician Tome, the distribution of that information was a lot less discrete.
Technologies that I'd only been able to produce at a basic level I now had a complete breakdown of function and operation. I could build and create fully fledged examples of the industrial base that powered humanity in that strange universe. Not just scattered pieces of it, but the entire foundation of their society, all laid out in a single 'book'.
But even that was only scratching the surface. I could feel the volume of information within the tome with my divine sense. My enginseer training was enough to access 'basic' technologies, meaning the core principles of hive cities, war machines, and entire spacecraft, but that was still only the start. This was a holy relic of the Adeptus Mechanicus and within its depths lay the technological secrets of that order. The type of technology that made even the most advanced examples I had encountered look like toys. Technology that could actually be meaningful, even at my level of resources.
And it was locked away. Not behind locks or encryptions, but by ritual and rites. An intrinsic aspect of the Pleician Tome ensured that the highest levels of its secrets could only be accessed by the highest levels of the Adeptus Mechanicus. I was just too low in the hierarchy to qualify for access to anything above what was 'publicly available'. It was an effect that was an intrinsic aspect of the book, enforced by my own power.
Normally, it would have been hopeless, but my situation was anything but normal. I had unnatural skill with rituals and a dangerous level of cultural insight. I might not be part of the higher echelon of the machine faith, but given time and effort I could work out the progression for myself. It would mean basically deconstructing the culture from the fragments I had access to and filling in rites and rituals as I worked my way through, but it was the only option available for me. After all, it wasn't like I would suddenly be blessed with the knowledge, skills, and ranks of an experienced tech priest.
Well, probably not. There was one more mote connected to this universe in the Knowledge constellation, but I wasn't going to bet on that being the final piece of the puzzle. No, this was something I would need to work out on my own.
Well, me and my duplicates. And the aspirant Kerbals. And of course, the skulls and machine spirits of the Laboratorium. Which was why all of us had taken a break from our other projects to oversee the internment of the Pleician Tome in a custom-built reliquary located in a place of honor within the Laboratorium.
Technically a reliquary should only be used to house the remains of the dead, but considering the amount of human body parts integrated into the technology of that universe, I could safely say that the Pleician Tome counted at least a half dozen times over.
The ceremony was massive, possibly the most significant thing that had been done in the history of the Laboratorium. The significance of the Pleician Tome within the faith of the Adeptus Mechanicus was hard to convey. The skulls and machine spirits were absolutely beside themselves. The honor of even being in the presence of a relic of the caliber of the Pleician Tome was nearly enough to overwhelm the systems, before kicking them into overdrive.
Actually, considering the constant wireless data transfer that occurred between all examples of that technology, it was very likely that the presence of the book actually had a positive impact on the functionality of all related technology in the area. If that was the case, it was easy to see why it was a big deal.
Since I was now trying to climb the ranks of a church hierarchy that I was working out from first principles, we didn't hold back on the ceremony. I was there in full armor with my red robes, flanked by similarly attired duplicates and every Kerbal who had even expressed interest in the machine faith. So were both Fleet and Survey as sanctioned machine intelligences, as well as Tybalt as security chief for the facility. And of course, Garment managing all the robes, banners, and mantles.
Tetra was also there, though mostly for moral support, while Aisha was just taking in the spectacle of the most elaborate book return in history.
Through clouds of incense and to the sound of dozens of skulls singing in binary, the massive book was carefully lowered onto a dedicated lectern, one that would both support it and interface with the integrated systems and circuitry. A flash of electric patterns flickered over the cover of the book as it tied itself into Laboratorium, causing a slight shift in the sounds of the skulls' hymns. Then, with great ceremony, I approached the tome and carefully opened it to the section on artifact examination and documentation.
From the reaction of the Laboratorium you'd think that the gates of heaven had opened up. To be fair, there was a decent amount of divine presence between me and my duplicates and we were leaning rather hard into ritual, but still, it was a lot to take from opening a book. Still, we closed out the ritual, properly anointing the lectern and ensuring that all the skulls and machine spirits were sufficiently blessed to ensure that they could interface with such a holy relic without corrupting it.
That was a very complicated way to say we were updating their drivers, but the end result was the same.
"So, nice job." Aisha said, "I liked the part when you opened the book."
"Ha." I said as my armor and robes vanished, leaving my normal clothes. "I'm not the one who made up these rituals."
"Wasn't that exactly what you were doing?" She asked with a grin.
"Figuring them out, not making them up." I clarified.
She gave me a placating nod. "So is this actually going to help? I mean, with any of the pressing stuff?"
"It might." I said, looking back at the book. "There's some crazy stuff in there. I can feel it, but unless we can crack this rite and ritual stuff, it's locked away."
"Right. So longshot?" She asked. I just shrugged. "Still, won't say no to another option."
"Yeah." I said. "On that note, I should get out of here. Let you get back to fast time."
"Eh, I was going to take a break anyway." Aisha said.
I nodded. "You helping Garment with Weld and Flechette?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Not interrupting that drama. I'm good just getting the highlights." She said with a grin. I just rolled my eyes. I wasn't sure if anything would happen there, or even if it could develop beyond whatever Flechette saw in the situation, but at least they'd be speaking the same language. Well, sort of.
"No, I was going to check in with my dad at the gym." She said slightly uneasily.
I nodded. "Right, I said I'd stop by as well." There was the slightest twitch from Aisha, but she covered it well. Whatever it was, it was probably personal and better to leave alone. "I guess I'll meet you there?"
"Yeah." She said a little stiffly. "Probably a bit overdue, all things considered."
I gave her a slightly confused look, but nodded. Really, it would be nice to get back to the gym and get a break away from all the drama that had been packed into the day so far.
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
The Pleician Tome (LoT DLC 1 – The Heathen Trail – Warhammer 40,000) 500:
The Pleician Tome is a portable font of certain archives, templates and pieces of ancient lore, created by a senior Tech-priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus and used by Techmarines.
Even to a trained eye, the information is a seemingly random collection, with no easy means of navigation, and so it takes much study to glean anything relevant to a particular task. Indeed, only those with a wide knowledge of Machine Spirits and engine lore have any hope of understanding the information contained within, however, those with patience and the appropriate skills can find secrets of great use within the datacore, secrets dating back to the fabled Dark Age of Technology.
