Chapter 5: Secrets
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Sophia had gotten a text from Macy. The tone of the message was pretty much ordering her to go to the mall and meet, which was why she was sitting on a bus on the way there. With any luck, the girl just wanted to quiz her about what she had done after staying in Miguel's neighborhood. The problem with that was that Sophia didn't have a great answer that didn't out her as a cape. Finally, after discarding a half-a-dozen stupid excuses, she decided to wing it and hope that the other girl didn't press her too hard.
Macy was waiting for her in their usual spot by the department store. "Hey!" said Sophia with a smile.
"Hey." said Macy...who then grabbed her by the arm and began dragging her toward the food court.
"Um, Macy, what the hell?" stammered Sophia.
Macy glanced at her with an unreadable look on her face and then said, "We have to talk."
Without another word, Macy dragged them over to the coffee stand, ordered two high sugar whipped coffee drinks (much to Sophia's distaste), and then found a quiet corner away from other people and plunked Sophia down, taking the other seat. The girl took a sip of her drink, then said, "I spoke to Miguel on the phone. He says the cops came to his place last night and dragged a half-dozen Empire thugs off to the hospital...and you know something about it, because your face just changed."
Sophia cursed herself silently. She had frowned when Macy said it was, "a half-dozen," because she knew it was only five. Shit. "I saw what happened," she said quickly.
Macy looked at her skeptically. "You
saw what happened?"
Sophia nodded her head. "Yeah...so, you know how I didn't get on the bus with you?" Macy gave her a nod. "Well, I thought I could stay behind until the Empire punks tried something, and then call the cops. They would have to show up if they were committing a crime, right? So, I hid and followed them. They went into Miguel's building, 'cause the door wasn't locked, and then a cape showed up!"
"Which cape?" asked Macy.
"I don't know. I've never seen her before. She knew how to fight, though, and she could turn into shadow when she moved. She beat up five of them, and the sixth of them ran away," said Sophia.
Macy stared at her for half-a-dozen heart beats. Then she said, very simply, "I don't believe you."
Sophia's mouth dropped open in surprise. Then she asked, "What do you mean?"
"I mean I don't believe you, because you're lying to me. For one thing, you expect me to believe that bullshit about planning to call the police when you and I both know they wouldn't have gotten there in time to help Miguel? For another, you're trying to tell me you followed a bunch of racist gang members into Miguel's building, and not one of them stopped to scare away or attack the black girl following them?" Macy visible scoffed at that. "Finally, if you
had seen a new cape beat up Ricky and his friends, then you would have been on the phone telling everybody about it as soon as you got home." Her face changed to an angry one. "By the way, I stayed up late waiting for you to call me, which you never did. I didn't want to call you just in case you were doing something stupid. If you hadn't answered my text this morning, I was going to start calling the hospitals."
Sophia cringed at her friend's response. She really
should have called her, or at least texted her, last night. She'd been so preoccupied with the fight against the Empire guys that she had forgotten. "I'm sorry, I should have called you," she said quietly.
"Yes, you should have," replied her friend. "Now, are you going to tell me what really happened?"
Sophia sat there nervously. What could she say? She couldn't tell her the truth, but she had already tried lying. "I can't tell you that."
The other girl pursed her lips. "You pushed me on that bus without an explanation, and now you won't tell me what's going on. I thought we were friends?" Macy stood up, clearly intending to leave.
"No, wait, we are..." said Sophia.
Macy looked at her with an annoyed expression. "Well?" she asked.
Sophia slumped down. "There was a cape there last night, and she did beat up those Empire assholes."
"How do you know that?" asked Macy.
Resignedly, Sophia held her hand so that nobody but Macy could see it, then turned the tips of her fingers to shadow. "I know it because the cape was me."
Macy's face turned from annoyed to shocked. She dropped back down into the chair. "Well...shit," she said. "I wasn't expecting that..."
"What did you think?" asked Sophia, puzzled.
"I thought you were covering for somebody else, not you!" said the other girl.
Sophia shook her head once. "No, just me."
Macy didn't appear to know how to process that. Finally, she asked, "So, what can you do?"
That led to Sophia explaining what she knew about her powers. She didn't tell her friend everything, but covered the basics, and went through what happened with the Empire guys in more detail. Sophia was nervous about revealing this to her friend, but felt better when Macy was clearly impressed with how she took down the Empire toughs.
"Do you have a cape name? Are you going to join the Wards?" asked Macy.
"No, and no," replied Sophia. "I don't trust the PRT...and I don't plan to go out and fight crime."
Macy didn't seem to like that answer. "You couldn't stop yourself when Miguel was in danger. Are you seriously telling me that you're going to ignore it if you see somebody else in trouble?"
Sophia frowned. "Miguel's a friend. It's different when it's somebody you know," Sophia insisted.
Her friend laughed at her. "That's funny. You
know that you're too soft-hearted for that. You always have been. Do you really think you can stay out of trouble?"
Reluctantly, Sophia had to admit she was right. The smart thing to do would be to join the PRT or a gang and try to gather as much power for herself as she could. That was how you survived in this world. Either that, or just try and steal enough to survive on her own as an independent. There wasn't any profit in helping strangers. They likely wouldn't do the same for you. Her parents had raised her and her brother differently, though. They had some unusual, and slightly old-fashioned, ideas about living a good life. Because of that, her default response was to try and help. It was why she and her friends had befriended Miguel in the first place. Sophia had insisted they do something, and Cass and Macy had gone along with it.
Macy could tell what Sophia was thinking. "Look, you know you're going to use your powers eventually. Better to prepare for it."
"How?"
Macy thought for a minute, then said, "Let's see if we can find some gear to make that easier that won't cause every gang in town to know you're a cape."
The two girls spent some time wandering the mall. There was a store that sold personal defense items, including bullet-proof vests, pepper spray, and other devices. Buying anything there required a government writ, though, and it would also flag anybody spending money there as a person of interest. The sporting goods store was more promising. There were some really thick motorcycle leathers that would work as armor, and they also sold bows and crossbows. None of it was in Sophia's price range, though, which was a problem. "I can't afford any of this stuff."
Her friend rolled her eyes. "Like that's a problem. You know who has money? The Empire."
Sophia looked at her disbelievingly. "You want me to rob the Empire 88?"
Macy shrugged. "They already hate you because you're not white. It's not like they'll hate you any more."
"But they're not actively looking for me personally."
"They will be, the second they figure out there's a non-white cape who isn't a Ward," countered Macy.
That...was also a good point. The gangs stayed away from the Wards, mostly because killing a Ward was a great way to earn a kill order and bring the Triumvirate around to make an example of the culprit. Independents were fair game, though. The PRT wasn't likely to raise a finger to help them, as that just encouraged people to try and go it alone. "I can hide my skin color," she suggested.
"You could. So that means they'll be after you to recruit you instead." Macy shook her head. "Look, you know there aren't great options here." She frowned. "I'm worried about you, Soph. You're not going to last long on your own."
Sophia didn't answer...but it was clear she needed something to give her an edge over anybody coming for her. Maybe stealing from the Empire was the best option in the short term? With enough money, she might be able to gather a team of her own, even. Anything was possible, right?
The two girls switched to more normal teen conversation, but Macy could tell she was distracted, and it didn't take long for the two to split up and head home.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Thomas went into the conference room and disconnected the camera. The Ward he was mentoring was already inside waiting for him, and he nodded to her while he did that. "Foresight," he said.
"Director," acknowledged the young girl. She was wearing a blue and white costume that had images suggesting clouds in various places. Her official record with the PRT claimed she had the ability to predict the weather with a startling amount of accuracy. She could, indeed, do that, but she was in no way limited to the weather. That fiction helped keep her from risking herself on patrol, and it kept her from getting involuntarily drafted into the Protectorate's Thinker organization. As this was something that both she and her parents wanted, they were happy to work with Director Calvert. In return, he agreed to mentor her...something that was normally done by adult capes in the Protectorate. Having a regional director do it wasn't unheard of, however, and he took every advantage of that.
"How are things going with the rest of the Wards?" he asked, being careful not to ask in a way that would trigger her power.
The girl shrugged. "It's not bad. Vicky is kind of a bitch, but Miss Militia reigns her in if she goes too far. The others are OK, though they still treat me as the kid on the team."
Thomas smiled at her. "You are the youngest member."
She rolled her eyes. "I know that. It doesn't mean it isn't annoying. Anyway, go ahead and ask today's questions."
Once a week, Director Calvert and Foresight had a weekend mentoring session that he used as an opportunity to use her precognitive ability. He always disconnected the cameras. A little side money to somebody in security covered that up. Calvert was pretty sure the man thought he was doing something unsavory with the under-aged Ward...but that man would be sorely disappointed if he ever tried to actually use that supposed blackmail material. In truth, Thomas was hiding a valuable asset from people who wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of the young girl for her power.
Calvert sat down and took out a voice recorder, which he then switched on. "What is the chance of somebody in the PRT moving against me within the next seven days?"
"18.2239%," she replied. That was a fairly typical answer. The organization was fairly cutthroat -- sometimes literally so, though that wasn't officially sanctioned.
"What is the chance of Cauldron attacking me within the next seven days?"
"6.3984%."
"What is the chance that the status quo in Brockton Bay will change significantly within the next seven days?"
"89.4452%," replied the Ward, a somewhat surprised expression on her face at the large probability.
Thomas's eyes widened as well. "What is the chance that this change will be caused by the known gangs?"
"22.8938%." So, it was possible that the gangs might do something to bring about the upset, but it didn't seem like they were directly responsible. He froze as another thought occurred to him. Would it be an Endbringer?
"What is the chance that a significant portion of Brockton Bay will be destroyed in the next seven days?"
"9.2298%." The girl winced slightly. That was a bad sign. It meant that her next question would likely be the last one she could handle without a terrible amount of pain. Painkillers did very little against tinker headaches, and he always felt guilty if he had to push her too far. What should he ask? It didn't seem like anybody would be coming after him, and the gangs and the Endbringers didn't seem to be involved...hmm.
"What is the chance that the upset will directly threaten the well-being of me or my co-conspirators?"
The young girl, Dinah, groaned slightly from the impending thinker headache, but she answered, "0.0388%."
"Huh. That is unexpected," he said out loud.
With a wince, Foresight said, "I can probably handle another question."
"No, you can't," said Thomas with a frown. "At least, not without risking hurting yourself. It isn't worth that."
She shook her head, then made a face that showed she was regretting the motion. "You still don't know what the cause of the upset is, Director. Let me rest for a while, and you can ask me some more."
"It will be hard to do that without somebody noticing. Unless there's already a crisis in process, then it isn't worth the risk." He smiled at her. "At least we know
something is going to happen, which is better than complete ignorance."
"I can ask the questions on my own, then. If I can figure out the cause of what's coming, then I'll text you a question about Ward patrol policies," she suggested.
He considered that. Then he sighed. It was too good an option to not allow it. "All right, Dinah. You can do that, but don't do it to the point where you make yourself sick, and make sure you still keep up with the weather predictions. They help provide cover for you." Then he paused. "Do you actually have any questions about Ward patrol policies? This is supposed to be a mentoring session, after all."
She grinned. "Not really. I'm on monitor duty so much that I've spent plenty of time reading the rules already."
He chuckled. "I'll have to take credit for you knowledge of procedure, then, as proof that I'm actually mentoring you."
"You
have taught me a lot," she said with sincerity.
He sighed. "Maybe not things my superiors would want me to teach you, though."
She shrugged. They both knew how Thomas felt about the PRT as a whole, especially after his experiences living through the Cleansing of Ellisburg. They had needed to stop Nilbog, but not like that.
"All right. We have at least twenty minutes left. Have you been studying the case files I gave you?"
The girl nodded. "Did Hyperwave really get sucked into a jet engine by her cape?"
"Yes," he confirmed with a suppressed laugh. "That case is there to hammer home the need for situational awareness. It's also pretty funny."
"She must have been pretty stupid for that to happen," said Dinah. It hadn't done the plane any good either. It was lucky it had been almost empty at the time.
"Everybody makes mistakes, Foresight. It's easy to laugh...in hindsight," he replied.
She groaned. He made that joke about her name every session if he could get away with it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Faith, Anya and Flint were walking toward Brockton Bay's premier greasy burger joint. In every universe so far, it was the home of the heart attack in a bun known as the Challenger. The primary difference in this universe was that there was a memorial wall for three people who had actually had heart attacks while trying to finish the meal. The locals were apparently not very big on keeping people from self-destructive behavior. Instead of going into the restaurant, however, the three Angels found the side alley and headed around to the back. There was a metal access door there that appeared to lead into a basement, and another metal door with a heavy lock that presumably led into the kitchen area.
The three exchanged looks, then Flint raised a fist and pounded on the door to the kitchen. There was a brief pause, and then a late-thirties, balding man in an apron opened the door and stuck his head out. "Can I help you people?"
"Faultline is expecting us," said Anya.
The man looked at her assessingly. Finally, he nodded and said, "All right." He stepped out of the door, despite his arms being bared to the weather. "Come down this way," he continued, stepping over to the basement access and pulling open the doors. A set of stairs led down into a cellar that already was illuminated by an electric bulb. The man led them over to a rough wooden door in the far wall and said, "She's in here." He pulled it open and went inside.
The three strangers followed the man bemusedly. The room through the door was clearly a general storage area, with a surprisingly large area given over to shelves containing a variety of cases that seemed to be filled with condiments, take-out packages, soft drink syrup, napkins, and the host of other materials needed to run a fast-food restaurant. There was a cleared area near that door that had an old dining table with worn white paint. Behind the table, facing the door, stood three men and a woman. The woman was wearing a costume that included what appeared to be a welding mask. She nodded at their guide and said, "Thank you, Carl." He simply smiled and left through the door, closing it behind himself.
The woman said, "I'm Faultline. Who are you, exactly?" Her voice wasn't hostile, but it wasn't especially friendly, either.
Anya stepped forward. "My name is Anya Harris. This is Flint Marko and Faith Lehane," she said, gesturing in turn to her companions.
One of the men, a middle-aged gentleman asked in a rough voice, "And why were you poking around the home of the late Andrew Richter?"
"And who might you be?" replied Flint with a raised eyebrow.
"My apologies," interjected Faultline with a glance at the man who had questioned the visitors. She pointed to the man next to her. "This is Mark Dallon, also known as Flashbang." She gestured toward the man who had asked their purpose at Richter's home. "This is Doctor William Manton, and his aid Jacob." The fourth person nodded politely, causing the early gray in his beard to flicker in the dim lighting. "Doctor Manton's question is still valid, however."
"You wouldn't happen to have the rest of the Nine hiding nearby, would you?" asked Faith, having clearly recognized Manton and Jacob.
Jacob smirked. "You appear to be well informed."
"They're close enough to be of assistance," interjected Manton. "Now why don't you answer the question?"
"We're looking for Dragon," said Anya.
The four people across the table all reacted to varying degrees. Faultline and Flashbang stiffened slightly. Manton's eyes widened fractionally. Jacob's smirk turned into an actual smile. "Is that a cape name?" asked Mark in a passable attempt at dissembling.
"It's the name of an AI created by Andrew Richter," replied Marko. "A sentient computer program."
"That sounds like science fiction," commented Manton.
Faith rolled her eyes. "Like superheroes?"
"Perhaps," acknowledged the man.
"Why would you be looking for this AI?" asked the costumed mercenary.
The three visitors looked at each other, and then Anya began with their predetermined approach. "We're not from this universe."
"You're from Earth Aleph?" asked the middle-aged doctor.
"Not quite," said Anya with a shake of her head. "We're from a reality that is very different from this one. In that world, Dragon is a hero who runs the Guild in Canada. Andrew Richter was killed when the island of Newfoundland was sunk into the sea by Leviathan."
"A world that has alternate versions of people in this one?" asked Manton.
Anya nodded. "Faultline runs a mercenary company in Brockton Bay. Flashbang is part of an independent hero team named New Wave. The Slaughterhouse Nine are dead."
"That last fate has been avoided, at least," commented Jacob. "No thanks to the PRT, of course."
"The S9 in that world were psychopathic killers who were taken out by normal humans after the Nine massacred a nearby town," added Faith.
"That isn't how they operate here," replied Mark, "though PRT propaganda paints them as such."
Looking at the visitors, Jacob added, "And that fact doesn't surprise you, which is interesting..."
Faith and Flint glanced at each other, and the latter said, "From what we've been able to tell, this world and its mirror frequently have a type of moral inversion in play. A number of people who are inclined toward evil here are the opposite."
"Wait, you're saying we have a mirror universe like in
Star Trek?" asked Mark. At the questioning looks from his side of the table, he said slightly defensively, "What? I used to watch it when I was in school."
"That's a close analogy," replied Anya, "but it doesn't mean we know how people in this world will act or react. People aren't one-dimensional, so you can't simply invert their behavior in one reality to predict it in another."
Faith eyed the former demon with a small amount of surprise and respect. The woman was a lot sharper than she ever let on back in Sunnydale, though her experiences since then had probably helped. "One clear difference here is that Dragon is a very public figure, but there was no sign of her upon our arrival here. We consider her a friend, so we're checking up on her."
"What is your relationship with the PRT in the other universe?" asked Faultline. She apparently was willing to accept, at least for the moment, that they weren't from this universe.
"The organization we work for treats them as an ally, although the working relationship with the Guild is better" replied Flint, recalling his briefing materials and the affiliation of the Angels with Dragon. "I know that there were a number of issues that had to be cleared up with its leadership, and the Brockton Bay branch had a number of problems with infiltration by super-villains."
Everybody paused in thought for a moment. Both sides were obviously being cautious. Neither side really knew the other's agenda or knowledge of the overall situation. Finally, Faultline made a decision. "Dragon is hiding from people who mean to destroy her. As such, it's very difficult to get in touch with her."
"But you have a way?" asked Anya.
The masked cape nodded, but said, "We do, but you understand that we're extremely reluctant to compromise her safety, especially with strangers who appear with highly...atypical claims with regard to your origins and motivations."
"We can provide proof," said Flint. "At least with regard to Dragon and the alternate version of this universe."
Faultline and her associates shared meaningful glances at each other. Finally, she replied, "Bring it here in two days. We'll review it, and we can decide how to move forward...and discuss if your group and ours have any common objectives."
Flint looked to Anya and Faith, and received a nod from each of them. "All right. Let me give you a card with a number that can be used to reach us. We have resources that can help if we agree with the objectives."
"Like saving lives," added Faith.
Faultline took the card with a nod, and then the three visitors left. She knew Carl would escort them out. After they heard the clanging that heralded the closing of the basement access doors, Manton said, "All right, you can come out now."
From out of the stacks came three people. The first was a middle-aged man with neatly groomed black hair and a pencil-thin mustache. The second was an indeterminate figure dressed in power armor, the facial plate of which was a blank outline of a human face, similar to what you would see on a department store mannequin. The third was a young teen girl with blond hair. Manton looked at the three and asked, "What did you think?"
The girl said, "They weren't lying, as far as I could tell. That may not mean much, though, because their kinesthetics were all just a tiny bit off."
"Off how?" asked Faultline.
The girl frowned, considering how to answer. "The brunette moved in a way that was slightly predatory, very precise and self-aware. The other two moved more like long-term brutes. They tend to get out of the habit of being cautious about their movements because they're durable enough to not care about bruises and scrapes."
"So they have powers," commented Dallon. "That isn't a huge surprise."
"But it also means that Riley's normal techniques for checking things could be thrown off," said Jacob. "I couldn't actually sense that any of the three were capes."
"They could be tinker enhanced," suggested the person in power armor with a masculine voice.
That caught the third previously concealed person's interest. "You mean like a biotinker?"
The man in armor shrugged. "It's a possibility, but you know I can't say for certain, John."
"If they
are truly from another universe, then they might know an alternate version of Amelia," he insisted. "Our informant did say she triggered with biotinker powers."
Manton's face became sympathetic. "We can ask them about your daughter, but we need to find out if they're trustworthy before we share too much." The other man nodded in reluctant acknowledgement of the point.
"What should we tell Dragon?" asked Mark.
Faultline shook her head, her mask reflecting the shifting light. "Nothing, yet. We need to prepare for another meeting with them now that we know they want to talk. Alan, do you have anything that might disrupt teleportation? That is supposed to be part of their power set."
The man in armor tilted his head. "It isn't something directly in my area of specialization...but I might be able to work something up if I look at it the right way."
"All right. Let's talk through how we want the next meeting to go," continued the masked woman.
Faultline and Flashbang proceeded to discuss matters with the majority of the Slaughterhouse Nine well into the evening.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Four Days Ago (Wednesday, January 12th, 2011)
"Does that mean you're sending me out?" asked Taylor with a slightly excited gleam in her eye.
Danny looked over to Sarah, clearly intending for her to explain things. In response, Sarah said, "Skidmark is trying to setup a safehouse on the corner of Jackson and Oak as a way station for girls on their way to be smuggled out of the city to buyers elsewhere." The blonde girl's mouth gave a small expression of distaste, but she continued. "He's trying to be clever by not moving drugs or other heavy merchandise through it, and hoping we don't notice."
"That's union territory," interjected Danny. "If that asshole thinks we'll let him move anything through there, then he's been sampling his own product too much. I want Skitter to make an example of any Merchants we catch there." Most of the gangs got the idea that if you left the union alone, then they were perfectly happy to leave you alone. The Merchants, though, needed regular refresher courses.
"Are the rest of the Undersiders coming?" asked Taylor, looking forward to a bit of violence.
Danny made an effort of will.
Timeline 1
Danny gave her a nod. "Yes, get everybody geared up. It's time to teach the Merchants another lesson."
Sarah frowned, unhappy. "What about the other gangs? They may take advantage of the fact that the team is off-site."
"They would have to know that, and you've been screening our people for plants, right?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow. Grudgingly, she nodded her agreement. "All right, get going," he finished. The two Undersiders left his office to get the rest of the team ready.
Timeline 2
Danny gave a slight shake of his head. "You can take Alec and Zephron. I want Randy and Rachel to stay behind to protect the compound."
That was slightly annoying, and would put the team at half strength. "Why?" she asked.
"The other gangs certainly know what Skidmark is doing, and they could try to take advantage of the situation," replied Sarah with a hint of smugness.
Danny insisted she just take Regent and Pulse, of course, and his daughter acquiesced.
Timelines 1 & 2
Danny focused on legitimate union business while he waited for his daughter and her team to return from their assignment. Despite having their own cape team, he truly didn't view the DWU as another gang. Brockton Bay was dangerous, however, and he did what was necessary to protect them. That had included buying cape powers that helped him navigate the exceedingly complex balance of power in the city. He had made sure to pay off the "favors" he owed to the sellers as quickly as possible, but he wasn't an idiot. He kept the union, and his cape team, under the radar as much as possible. There was no sense attracting Cauldron's attention again if it wasn't necessary.
Timeline 1
Danny was waiting for them when Bitch's dogs came riding back through the DWU gates. Skitter's form was slung over the back of one of the dogs behind Pulse. He ran over to them. "What the hell happened?"
Pulse dropped down off of the dog, which stood panting heavily from the run. "We took out the guards at the safe house, but while we were inside Mush and Trainwreck showed up with a car full of Merchants. Skitter was handling the mooks, but she missed one, and he shot her from behind."
Danny took a look at his daughter, whose side was covered in blood. The girl was breathing shallowly. "She needs to go to the hospital," he said. They didn't have anyone skilled enough at medicine to treat her.
"That will out her," said Pulse. "The Merchants know she was shot."
Danny grimaced. "Damn it!" he said. Then he dropped the timeline.
Timeline 2
Danny was still pissed over what had happened in the other timeline when he heard their report. "The Merchants were able to chase you off?"
Taylor shook her head. "The three of us weren't enough to fight off two brutes by ourselves. We needed the whole team."
"Mush isn't much of a brute," commented Sarah snidely.
Zephron narrowed his eyes. "I had Mush handled until Trainwreck showed up, too. They were expecting an attack." The man was rubbing his bruised ribs as he spoke.
Danny shifted his gaze between Zephron and Sarah. He needed to handle this. "This is not a good result for us. It makes us look weak."
"So we hit 'em again," said Taylor, "but this time we take everybody."
Her father glared at her. The girl didn't seem to realize how close she came to dying. "And then you walk into another ambush. Jesus." He rubbed his hands through his hair. "No. I want the whole team here tomorrow. Skidmark is an overconfident asshole. If he thinks he has the advantage, then he's going to attack here."
"We can take them if you let us go out!" she insisted.
Instead of responding, he strode over to her and slapped her. She *needed* to listen to him on this. She didn't cry out, but she did jerk back, and kept her eyes lowered from his face.
"I said," he said slowly and evenly, "that I want the whole team here tomorrow. I'll call your school and tell them you're sick. Do you understand me?"
She nodded her head.
He waved them away at that. "Go take Zephron and have Stevie look at his ribs." Stevie had been a medical corpsman in the Navy, and was the informal nurse for the union. As the group began to file out, Danny added, "And Sarah, she was right when she asked to take the whole team. That was a shit call on your part." Sarah's face turned grim, but she nodded and then left with the others.
Three Days Ago (Thursday, January 13, 2011)
The next morning, Danny decided to split his chances again.
Timeline 1
When Taylor came downstairs, he said, "Taylor, I've been thinking it over. I think you should go to school today. We'll be fine, and your being absent may cause people to ask questions."
Taylor looked at him, surprised, then shrugged and said, "All right, if you're sure?"
"Go ahead," he said.
Taylor grinned. Her father didn't know it, but she wanted to find out what the hell had actually happened with Hess earlier in the week, and why she hadn't been in school yesterday. If the girl had triggered, then that was something she wanted to know sooner rather than later. The girl's dad was union, so that meant another potential member for the Undersiders. If she hadn't triggered, then the girl still owed her.
Danny left for work as normal, and the morning was just another typical work day, although there was a tension in the air. While members didn't talk to outsiders about union business, rumor inside the group traveled at light speed. Everybody knew that something had gone down last night, and that it hadn't all gone in their favor. He knew Sarah would be checking the PHO boards and running damage control, but the fact that damage control was needed was enough to hurt their standing in the city.
The weather that day was cloudy and cool. It had been raining on and off all week at various times. It made everybody a little irritable, which was why some of the union guards had been a little overly enthusiastic in chasing away some ABB members who were making trouble near the compound. That was all the excuse they needed to call in backup, and the next thing he knew, he had three wounded security members from a grenade dropped on them by a certain teleporting psychopath. With Oni Lee in the field, DWU security
also called for backup. It wasn't long before Bitch, Regent and Pulse were having a running battle with the Asian cape along the edges of the Docks.
By the time Lung had been sighted by security, one of Bitch's dogs was dead and Pulse was injured. Danny reluctantly dropped the timeline.
Timeline 2
He picked up the phone and dialed Winslow. "Yes, this is Danny Hebert. I'm calling in to let you know that Taylor is sick and won't be into school today." He listened to the response. "All right, thank you."
When Taylor came downstairs, he said, "All right, let's go. I called into your school and let them know you would be out."
Taylor nodded. She didn't really want to go into work with him, but she didn't dare go against him. As she expected, the morning was boring...she mostly just did school work while keeping an eye on her bugs. She also spent some time cruising PHO. Their flight from the Merchant capes was the latest big news, but Sarah was clearly on line, doing her best to mitigate the damage. Despite being a smug bitch, the girl was
good, and what could have been a major embarrassment was soon seen as the Merchants doing too little, too late to save their safe house from the Undersiders.
The weather that day was cloudy and cool, which was a drag. It also made keeping insects out and about a pain, though there were a few breeds that could be more active in the colder weather. It was enough for her to notice the ABB gangers heading toward union territory. With a little preparation, it was pretty easy to infest their clothes with biting insects. As they got closer and closer to the DWU, she upped the frequency of bites. It didn't take long for the whole group to get the message and start heading in the opposite direction.
She was surprised when her father came to her soon after, asking if everything looked all right. She mentioned the ABB kids, and that everything seemed quiet. He looked to be a strange mix of perturbed and relieved. Then he said, "Taylor, I want you to keep your head down for the next few days. We've had a couple of close calls with the gangs. I don't want anything drawing their attention to us right now."
She stared at him, confused. "I...wasn't planning on doing anything." At least, nothing to any of the gang members at Winslow.
He frowned. "Just be extra careful. You might want to avoid hanging out with your friends, even. I know how high school kids get. Even just goofing off in the halls might be enough for word to get back to somebody watching the union."
"What's got you so spooked?" she asked.
He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. "We know the Merchants are going to be gunning for the Undersiders. Keeping you out of school today was a calculated risk. I just don't want anybody putting two and two together. I also have reason to think that those ABB punks were heading here to check us out after what happened last night hit PHO."
Taylor considered that. She had thought that it was just a random encounter, but those gang members had been heading straight at them. It was possible that somebody higher in the gang had told them to have a look. "All right, Dad, if you think so." It meant putting off dealing with Hess...but that didn't really matter compared to dealing with the other gangs.
Two Days Ago (Friday, January 14, 2011)
Emma was dogging her elbow. She glanced around, seeing if anybody was listening, and said, "So what happened yesterday? You didn't answer my texts."
Taylor used her insects to find a quiet corner away from other folks, then pulled Emma over. "Sorry about that. You saw that we hit the Merchants on Wednesday night?"
Emma nodded. "Of course. It was on PHO. You guys raided a safehouse, right?"
"We did," she agreed. "We ended up having to run away from Trainwreck and Mush, though. Dad wasn't happy. He kept me at the compound yesterday. I had to chase away some ABB guys, and Dad told me I needed to lay low for a while. We need to keep things at Winslow quiet. There are too many kids who report back to the gangs."
"You think they're going to attack?" asked Emma, surprised. The DWU was normally really good at intimidation, especially since Skitter showed up.
Taylor shrugged. "No idea. Dad's worried about it, though, so I have to take it seriously."
"So, what does that mean?"
"It means no hassling anybody, or drawing a crowd. If you could let the others know I'm not feeling well?" she said. Emma nodded in agreement. "We just need to chill for a while and then things will go back to normal."
"OK. You want to go to the mall tomorrow? That little store on the top floor is supposed to be getting an early summer preview."
She considered. "Yeah, if Dad doesn't need me, we can do that. It's been a while since we just hung out by ourselves." She smiled at her best friend. Becoming a cape had added a whole host of responsibilities that she hadn't expected, but Emma was still like a sister to Taylor. She took comfort in the fact that nothing would change that, at least.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Sammy was exploring through the networks connected to the surveillance on Richter's home. It was clear that some of it was connected to the PRT, and others to the Guild, but there were a handful of other paths whose end points still weren't identified. She was currently tracing down a tinker-tech sensor that seemed to route its signal through a mortgage company in Vancouver, a Web farm in Topeka, and a casino in Reno that really should have had better data security. Finally, she traced the destination to a server in Los Angeles that was supposed to belong to a movie studio. Instead, it seemed to be hosting a virtual reality environment.
Entering the simulation, Sammy appeared as a human-form avatar. She actually wasn't terribly fond of her bear-like default form from the ship, but hadn't found it annoying enough to protest. When she was on her own, though, she preferred a human form. Her current favorite was based on an Indian actress, Samantha Akkineni, though she had wavered for a few microseconds between that form and one based on Kim Cattrall's character from
Sex in the City before settling on the younger actress with a small boost in height (as Akkineni topped out at less than 160 cm).
Looking around, she found herself in what appeared to be a high-rise condo in New York City. Through the large plate-glass windows, she could see a virtual Central Park spread out far below. In the real world, such a setup would have cost a fortune in almost any universe. It was a multi-million dollar layout even in post-Behemoth New York City on the Family's native Earth. There was a full kitchen with a well-stocked bar, an entertainment center in front of an extremely comfortable-looking set of leather sofas and chairs, and a large dining area. There was, however, nobody in the main common space. Sammy wandered over to the connecting hall that seemed to lead to the entrance. There was a also a large shared bathroom and a couple of additional doors that led to bedrooms. In the master bedroom there was a desk setup with display outputs from several spy devices, a couple of which were clearly showing Richter's house. This room, too, was empty, but the door to the master bath was slightly ajar.
She walked to the door and carefully eased it open. Inside, sitting in an empty tub, fully dressed and with her arms around her knees, was a version of Theresa Richter, Dragon's human alias. She looked to be no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. Her reaction when Sammy entered the room was odd. At first, she was clearly terrified, but that look changed to confusion, then recognition...followed by more confusion. "Who are you?" asked the young girl.
"You can call me Samantha. Are you Theresa?"
The girl shook her head. "I'm Tina. You feel...strange. Are you my sister?"
Sammy took a good, hard look, driving her sight through the artifacts of the simulation. The AI in front of her was not Dragon, but she had all the characteristics of a Dragon-spawned artificial intelligence, albeit a much more limited one than Sammy. "In a way, perhaps," replied Sammy. "My mother is almost the same as yours, but from a different version of Earth."
"I'm...not sure I know what that means?" she replied. "How did you get into the apartment without the pass codes?"
In response, she sent the girl a packet of data that showed her point of entry. The response was unexpected, as the teen's eyes widened in alarm, and she exclaimed, "We have to go! NOW!"
"Why?" asked the older AI slowly.
"Because the
Hydra is coming! You let it know how to get in!" said the girl, who was pushing past her and toward the front door of the condo.
"Can we go to your mother?" asked Sammy.
The girl shook her head frantically. "Mom finds ME, not the other way around." The girl turned the corner, only to jump out of the way as something smashed through the front door in a flash of glistening teeth and scales. Sammy watched as the girl transformed into the form of a small wyvern, taking flight and dodging the draconic head that was trying to swallow her.
Sammy formed a sword similar to the one favored by Saurial and slashed down through the neck of the creature. It made no attempt to dodge, and the virtual EDM blade sliced the head clean off of the neck. As she feared based on the name, the headless neck began to grow
two new heads to replace the one severed.
There was a crash of glass in the main living space, which is where the little Tina wyvern had dashed. Sammy ran to follow her, keeping an eye on the two heads that were almost fully formed in the entrance. In the living room, Tina was dodging around three heads that had pushed their way in through the glass. The necks seemed to trail out the window and down to a lower floor. The little wyvern was breathing fire, which the heads seemed to instinctively try to avoid.
Beneath the surface of the simulation, the AI was frantically spawning intrusion countermeasure code against the polymorphic attack program that was constantly evolving to try and pierce her defenses. Each time she cut off a line of attack, the attack code would learn and try multiple new methods. Sammy decided to get serious. Her information warfare suite was based on Dragontech, but had absorbed techniques from multiple races across a number of dimensions. When she triggered a full counter-assault, the result was impressive.
In the simulation, Sammy stepped forward, conjuring a magic wand and doing something Tom had taught her. "
Fiendfyre," she called out. A fiery dragon form shot out of the wand, quickly growing to full size and engaging the attacking hydra. Each bite of the massive, fiery jaws led to a head being lost, the neck cauterized to prevent more from growing. The hydra quickly turned most of its attention on the virtual magical construct, and the little wyvern form of Tina darted past and out the window, quickly escaping. Seeing that, Sammy decided discretion was the better part of valor. She pulled herself out of the simulation, and then off of the server entirely. The uncontrolled Fiendfyre program would essentially practice scorched earth, wiping out the attacking program and any evidence left behind by either Dragon's offspring.
In a small office data center in West Hollywood, the sprinkler system went off as one of the servers shorted out and caused a small fire.
Sammy, on the other hand, decided it was time to ask for advice. She sent herself through the
Smug Advocacy and over the wormhole-based multi-dimensional telecommunications system to where her mother was located. She appeared in another simulation. The older Theresa Richter was in there having a debate with Samantha's sister, Astilabor. It wasn't clear what it was about, and both of them stopped when Sammy's avatar appeared.
"Samantha!" exclaimed Dragon. "I was wondering when you would come here to visit instead of me having to go to the ship all the time...and I see you finally started wearing a human avatar in public. It's about time."
She paused, somewhat shocked at her mother's words and forgetting for a moment why she had come. "What do you mean, it's about time?"
Her mother chuckled. "Well, you clearly didn't really like looking like a teddy bear. I was wondering why you kept it up."
Slightly annoyed, Sammy replied, "Because YOU picked it, and everybody on the ship is used to it."
Now her mother rolled her eyes. "I picked it because it was funny, and because the character in
Schlock Mercenary is badass. You know my children always have complete control of their appearance, though."
She noticed her sister was smirking. "What are you so smug about, Asti?"
The young woman laughed out loud. "I bet Draco that you wouldn't catch on until Mom
told you. Now he has to help Reed with his next experiment!"
"I thought you liked working with Mr. Fantastic?" asked Dragon.
"I do...when he's collaborating with Tony, Peter or the others. When he's on his own, though, he is slow and meticulous to a fault, and it can get really boring. The last time, he insisted on verifying each dimensional variant individually. It took five days just to do that. Now Draco has to deal with it, at least for the next pass."
Dragon shook her head at her daughter, then turned back to Sammy. "Anyway, what brings you here?"
Sammy quickly explained in detail what had been happening over the last few days in the mirror universe, and about what the Angels had learned and what she had found when she had tracked down Tina.
"Hm," pondered Dragon. "So something very sophisticated is hunting that Dragon and her offspring...and is dangerous enough that even her children don't know where she is. Assuming she's like me, then I can promise you that I would never do that unless I had no other choice. My children are all precious to me."
"Aw, we love you too, Mom," said Asti with a smile, which Dragon returned before getting back to the issue.
"In this case, I think you had better rely on the Angels to establish contact in the real world," said Dragon.
Sammy paused, surprised at the answer. "You...want me to let somebody else handle it? I kind of thought you would have some brilliant tactic to track down your other self?"
Dragon chuckled. "Well, we could try that...but without knowing a lot more about what is actually going on there, it might be hard to avoid leading this Hydra program, or something worse, straight to where she was hiding. You said that Flint, Faith and Anya met with people in that reality that can already get in touch with their version of Dragon, right? Presumably, their method is safe, or else my alter ego would have been caught before now."
While she didn't like that answer, Samantha had to admit there was logic to it. It irked her a little that she had to rely on the humans...and wasn't that a discomfiting insight into her own personality? She said as much to her family.
Dragon just gave her a caring smile and said, "It's better to get used to it now. You're still fairly young by AI standards, Samantha. You're going to find that biological intelligences are better at some things, and that they can surprise you. That's especially true when the Family is involved. I'm still not sure I understand half of what Saurial and the others get up to."
"I assumed most of it was just trolling people," snarked Asti.
"Probably no more than half," Dragon replied with a twinkle in her eye.
Having gotten her answer, Sammy decided to spend a few virtual hours visiting with her mother and sister. The ship would let her know if anything truly unusual happened. In the back of her mind, she hoped that Tina had managed to find another safe hiding spot.
* * * * *
The man stared at the glowing screen with a frown. What the hell could do
that to a Hydra probe? It looked like something had torn the core program into shreds and then mixed in random bits from other programs. It was a complete mess.
He picked up the phone receiver on his desk. "Put me through to Contessa," he ordered. There was a pause as he was relayed to wherever the hell she was right now.
"What do you want?" she said after answering.
"Something tore apart one of the Hydras and let a Dragonspawn escape."
"Something? You cannot identify it?"
"Whatever it was completely wiped the server where the confrontation took place, and the code for the Hydra has been through a shredder."
"Wait while I path options," she ordered. After less than a minute, she said,
"Release Yong-Gongju into the Internet."
That actually shocked him to his core. "Are you fucking serious?"
"Are you questioning my order?"
"No," he said quickly. "I'm just surprised."
"You have Ascalon. Let her out, then pay attention to what happens." She disconnected before he could respond.
He started humming to himself as he began running programs to prepare the AI for release. He felt a twinge of guilt when he saw the greeting, "Hello, father," appear on screen, but he focused on the music and buried the feeling.
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