This took way, way longer than it had any right to, but I'm happy to be posting again. The next chapter should come at a more reasonable timeframe.
Renick Interlude
Michael Renick still remembered the day the world announced the appearance of the Golden Man. It was sunny, they were hanging out at the playground during a break, and he had just gotten Lucy's number.
In a moment, the teachers keeping an eye on them disappeared, and when the bell rang they weren't led back to their classrooms but into the auditorium.
That was the only place where they had a TV.
Renick had been born the day humanity set foot on the moon, and the excitement that preceded and followed those days was something that his father had described in vivid detail. He wondered if it had been anything like that. That mix of fear and excitement, people wondering if it was even real as they struggled to understand that the world was suddenly far bigger than they had assumed.
Then the rumors started.
Sightings of angels.
People with strange powers.
Mages.
Demons.
The first time he saw one of them in the flesh was during a night after he had done something amazingly stupid. He had found himself cornered in an alley being repeatedly kicked in the face by three others. He may have been rushed to the hospital -or the morgue- if it wasn't because this one person descended from the sky. Covered in flames, the person ordered the group to scatter and they scrambled to obey.
He never saw them again.
Hopefully, they retired.
Some months later Vikare announced his existence to the world.
The first cape.
The first hero.
Yes, Africa had gone silent, the warlords were consolidating their power, and the cartels were spreading their influence, but what did it matter? Superheroes were real and they were there to help them!
Back then those who developed powers were simply expected to become heroes. Were expected to be paragons of virtue and righteousness. To be the perfect embodiments of all that was good with humanity and the world.
The fantasy didn't last long.
The 'Golden Age' as it'd later be called lasted a whole 2 years, coming to an abrupt end with the announcement of Vikare's death.
That was how they realized that 'Capes' weren't Batmans, weren't Spidermans, and were most definitely not Supermans. They weren't invincible, they weren't always right, and they may not even be able to win in the end.
Capes could be dangerous.
Brain Matter hurled a car to block the escape route of a bank robber, not realizing that a child had been napping inside that car.
Capes could be wrong.
Mighty Phoenix caused the death of 12 people after intervening in a hostage situation taking place at a gas station.
And capes didn't have to be moral guidelines.
Professor Impossible was charged with no less than 27 cases of sexual misconduct. 5 of them involving minors.
Capes were just humans, and that was what had doomed them. People wanted more. They needed more.
Vikare's death didn't kill the Golden Age. The weight of people's expectations did. They had been like children, believing in a fantasy while not putting the effort into making it true. Reality then arrived like the sun to put an end to the dreams, forcing them to face the waking world.
As a native Brocktonite, the following years were harsh for all of them.
Crime was on the rise. Capes realized that they could be selfish, that they could just take what they wanted, and many decided to do just that.
The Protectorate and the PRT were formed and they became their new hopes, one that Renick joined after dropping out of college.
Some objected to the idea of turning Superheroes into servants of the state, but Capes couldn't be left to their own devices. Just like no other person could. They were still a force to be reckoned with, though, and with proper guidance and supervision, they could achieve great things.
And they did, just before the Endbringers arrived.
And then Hero died.
The Slaughterhouse 9 grew in strength, the Elite turned to villainy, and the Gesellschaft landed on American soil.
There were days when it felt like they were swimming in a sea of lead, but they kept pushing. That was something he had come to admire in Emily Piggot, whose body had failed her long before her spirit had.
Some days he wished she still had her job.
Brockton Bay had always been a difficult city to work with, but all the problems it caused had usually remained contained within its borders. That was no longer the case, and it was his responsibility to answer for it. He may not be the best person for the job, but his objective remained as clear as the first day he donned the uniform: protect the city and its inhabitants.
A task made harder when those same inhabitants didn't want to be protected.
"Pictures of dead Wards is not something that we want in the news!" The yell made Renick's headset fizzle. That had been the voice of Director Mora, who also acted as liaison with the Youth Guard.
Renick kept his face steady wondering if he should point out that Vista had already died once, and it was thanks to Heavy Gear that they didn't have a corpse to bury. Or to hide from the news.
He knew that Vista had grown steadily more rebellious ever since her first interactions with Tech-Priest, but willingly going to another territory was something none of them had seen coming.
She hadn't technically broken any rules, but that didn't make what she did any better.
"Our legal team is working towards rewriting the Wards' manual to prevent situations like this," he replied calmly, "and Vista will be punished to dissuade others from trying to abuse loopholes again."
He looked one by one at the faces on the screen, wondering if any of his fellow Directors knew that the last part had been a lie. Vista would be punished, yes, but it would be little more than a slap on the hand.
If it had been up to him he'd have locked her in console duty for the rest of the year, but the PR department had blocked him. Vista had already shown herself willing to side with Heavy Gear over the Protectorate, and they couldn't risk alienating such a popular cape.
"We suspect that the attack was a mistake on their part," Chief Director Costa Brown stated. She wasn't trying to help him, she was just stating facts. "Under normal circumstances, the Fallen would have aimed to capture, not kill."
"Because Vista's a Ward and they don't want the heat?"
"Because Vista is female and would have been more useful to them alive."
The muscles of Renick's neck tensed.
He had seen the aftermath of Heartbreaker's attacks and had raided Lung's human farms. He refused to let one of his Wards go through that, but that meant them trusting the rules that were there to protect them.
"For how long are we to remain on the defensive against those animals?" James Tagg asked.
Renick had his problems with the man but it'd be a lie to say he didn't share his sentiments. "We're waiting for more of the anti-master devices." And as the man who managed its creators -at least on paper when it came to the tinkers of Heavy Gear- it was his responsibility to reply. "Our specialists have agreed that it's safe to use but our ability to mass-produce it has been limited. Even Dragon's having trouble fully understanding the principles behind what they created."
"Why haven't we put the tinkers responsible in a room and made them build more?"
"We tried in the past," Renick pointed out. "There's a reason why we have a protocol in place for whenever groups of tinkers work together."
Protocols that he had become deeply familiar with in recent weeks.
Tinkers had always been the all-or-nothing capes. They were unpredictable, yes, but that was as much of a strength as it was a weakness. Their equipment malfunctioning was the main reason for casualties among tinkers, and for every Armsmaster there were a dozen Leets.
Their nature also rejected repetition, which had led to unfortunate accidents when they had been forced to replicate their work hours on end. Their instincts would always lead them to modify their blueprints, seeking new discoveries.
The fact that Tech-Priest had been able to grow so incredibly fast without suffering any accidents -none that they had been made aware of, at least- was unprecedented. Not even Toybox, an entire illegal organization of tinkers, had the production capacity he had.
It shouldn't have come as a surprise when an anomaly surged in the city that was already in itself an anomaly. What had been a surprise was how off the charts he had thrown their models.
If Hero hadn't died maybe he'd have helped them develop better ones.
"This brings us to the next point in our schedule," the Chief Director said, bringing the meeting back into focus. "Director Hearthrow, what is your report on Heavy Gear?"
Hearthrow was a woman in her early 50s. Thin and with a pointy nose she wouldn't look out of place in a witch costume. Appropriate, considering she worked with Myrddin.
"They managed to coordinate with Protectorate Chicago to an acceptable level," she said while browsing through some papers she had on her table. "Myrddin didn't report any problem working with Ladybug but she insisted that any orders he had for her team went through her first. He saw no reason to object."
Likely because their communication network was superior to the PRT's. Not like anyone in their right mind would admit that.
"We know that her entire team has problems with authority," Tagg said with a scowl. "That will complicate things in larger operations where any delay in communications can prove fatal."
Hearthrow nodded at him before continuing to speak. "Myrddin also said that Ladybug's power registered as 'administration' and that Tech-Priest's was 'exploration'. Whatever that may mean is for our thinkers to analyze. He also confirms that her power is growing stronger. Not in range as we first assumed but in fine control, allowing her to both see and hear from the bugs she masters."
"As if the tinker wasn't a security breach already," someone else said. Renick wasn't sure whom. "Any way we can know if any fly isn't a spy for her?"
Even if it was difficult to tell who was looking at whom when talking through a screen, Renick knew that they were all staring at him.
"Originally our main means of defense against Ladybug was to ensure she didn't have the range to access sensitive locations, but Heavy Gear's extensive use of teleportation makes that difficult. My department's using several means to deal with bugs," by that he meant bug spray, "and Armsmaster's theorizing ways to translate the power-blocking technology into devices that could disrupt Ladybug's control of her hive. In case of conflict, and considering that we haven't seen an upper limit to the number of bugs she can control, we've classified her as Master 7. Sub-ratings in Shaker and Thinker."
All that without taking into consideration the sixth-grader that Tech-Priest had turned into one of the strongest Strangers in recent memory.
The other directors turned their eyes down to their desks, hastily writing what he had just told them. Soon they'd share that information with their departments and develop new countermeasures.
"Isn't it weird that they gave us that power-blocking device?"
Renick opened his mouth to reply but Tagg got ahead of him. "From everything that we know of their group, they likely have ways to bypass it. And even if they didn't, why should they fear it? Blocking their powers won't stop their mechanical army from drowning us in bodies."
There was a grunt of discomfort coming from Hearthrow's direction as she typed something on her keyboard. "That brings us to this."
The image on her window changed to show a mechanical creature. It was bipedal, its head had a vaguely canine shape, and was taller than a full-grown man. So tall that if it wasn't for its hunched posture it'd hit the ceiling of the room the picture had been taken in.
Something else of notice was that the creature wasn't alone. To one side was Ladybug, and to the other was Vista. In the picture, the three of them were frozen mid-dialogue.
Vista had already told him about it, but he had been waiting for Hearthrow to show it as her team had been the one to see it for the first time.
"This is Tech-Priest," she said. "Either a new combat form that he developed or one that he had kept secret."
"He didn't use it during their battle with The Teeth," Director Wilkins of New York added. "He likely developed it after that. Do we have any idea of its capabilities?"
Once again it was Renick's time to intervene. "Some. Vista saw it in action. According to her, a 200-pound water heater going at terminal velocity failed to do any damage. One of Chimera's beams managed to behead him, but he just put his head back while displaying extreme self-regeneration. He was also equipped with an extensive array of energy weapons of unknown yield." And that was only what he let her see.
"Threat rating?"
That was the part that he had been preparing for.
Threat ratings weren't truly a reflection of the Parahuman's power, they were just an indication of how the PRT should behave in case of conflict. From simply throwing troopers at the problem, to calling for international help.
They were also a reflection of the Parahuman's disposition and willingness to escalate conflicts.
That was why, traditionally, heroes weren't assigned ratings. Officially at least.
It was also because of that reason that ratings were, more often than not, used to shape public perception. It was about telling people how they should perceive the danger, and about telling villains how badly the PRT would respond if they associated with certain individuals.
But there was something else.
It was how they kept glory-seeking vigilantes and heroes -both independent and not- from engaging against giants that they wanted to keep asleep.
"Tech-Priest has put several assumptions we had about Tinkers under question," Renick said while organizing the papers he had on his desk. "EMPs are useless, we can't trust his technology to malfunction as it's self-repairing, and we can no longer separate him from his equipment as he has become one with it. According to both Vista and Flechette, he can even create devices on the spot inside his body, taking matter from what we assume is a pocket dimension." He licked his dry lips. "At first we assumed he was a Chaos, Resource, or Liberty Tinker, but he has shown to have fine control over what he builds while suffering no side effects. None that we had seen, at the very least. We know there is some limit to what he can build, but everything indicates that he has broken it, so we're classifying him as a Free Tinker." He glanced at the documents he had at his side with Armsmaster, Kid Win, and Dragon's observations on his drones. "In case of conflict, we'll be facing the entirety of his hive. An army of self-reproducing, likely self-upgrading robots with teleporting capabilities, and unknown numbers." He didn't add the part that they had reasons to believe that Sun Wukon, Newt, and Nia were fully artificial beings created by him. The Chief Director had instructed him not to tell anyone, even fellow directors who may not have the right clearance. "Considering all this, and adding the complication that we cannot effectively contain him, my department will be formally submitting the request to classify him a Tinker 10. Sub-ratings pending." And he said 'pending' to not say 'everything'.
The room fell into silence.
The rank of 10 was seldom used. Lung himself, who had battled Leviathan and was considered one of the strongest capes in the world, was just a 9. Largely because he stopped growing the moment his enemies stopped fighting back, and because he lacked mobility and ways to cause damage on a large scale.
A 10 was the last step before declaring an individual -or organization, as was the case of the Slaughterhouse 9- as an S-class threat. Walking weapons of mass destruction.
It meant that in case of battle, the PRT personnel should flee the area and focus on civilian evacuation while heroes employed delay tactics waiting for specialists to arrive.
It meant that extreme complications were to be expected and that any conflict should be analyzed as a national crisis.
It also meant that the Protectorate was heavily discouraged from engaging in hostilities as long as the other party didn't start them.
"How should we proceed?" Tagg asked, joining his hands together and making his knuckles crack. "Do we have any strategy?"
"None that are acceptable," Renick replied.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but, outside extreme circumstances, Heavy Gear has made an effort not to kill their opponents, is that correct?"
If the idea was to overwhelm them in a show of strength and make them doubt, the Empire had already tried. Even if some people had forgotten about it already, Heavy Gear did have a body count.
Or, better said, Tech-Priest did.
"We suspect that's thanks to Ladybug's influence," he replied calmly. "In contrast, Tech-Priest has displayed hints of sociopathy. Vista's description confirms that he has very little empathy for humans outside his circle of friends."
She had been shaken by how casually he had killed Ripple, even if that one had been just a clone.
"For now the best way to control him is through his team," Renick continued. "Ladybug has heroic tendencies and he listens to her, so it should be easy to keep them working for us."
Tagg's patience reached its end as he slammed his hand against his desk. "Are you truly telling us to just hope they don't become violent? Even if the chance is low, the amount of damage they could cause is a threat too big to ignore!"
That was an argument that was difficult to argue against. Oh, defeating Heavy Gear was doable, but there would be no victory there. That was something that they couldn't admit.
No one human being should ever have full control over life and death, and in no sane world would a group of children be trusted with the lives of thousands of people. If not more. It was a weight that few would be able to shoulder.
But, then again, theirs wasn't a sane world.
"We're discussing several projects with Dragon that should help us contain them in case of violence, but due to the size of Tech-Priest's Swarm, constant upgrades, and the fact that we lack information on his full arsenal, extensive casualties are to be expected."
"That sounds like fighting an Endbringer, not a cape!"
Renick took a breath to calm his emotions. "And you'd be correct. Heavy Gear has grown to the point where any move against them should be treated as a military operation, followed by a disaster relief one. We cannot fight them without a plan for the rebuilding effort after the battle, or without a plan for how we're going to absorb the casualties that they will inflict upon us."
That was an inherent weakness of capes. PRT troopers could be trained and replaced, but each cape was unique. That was why Endbringer battles were so devastating for their organization as they scrambled to fill empty positions.
And to discontinue toy lines of dead capes.
"Then we can't delay any longer!" Tagg announced punching his desk. "The more time passes the stronger they get and the more difficult this will be!"
And that was how the dam was broken and the meeting dissolved into shouting.
"Heavy Gear remains a very popular group! We cannot risk being seen as the aggressors!"
"Why should we bother? Let's send them to fight the next Endbringer! That will weaken them!"
"And what if they win again? That will make them even more untouchable!"
"Didn't we agree that their weapons wouldn't work against Behemoth and Simurgh?"
"Have you seen how fast Tech-Priest's growing? We have no way to predict what he'll deploy next!"
"Why should we care if they're killing Endbringers?"
"Because of what will happen when they turn their weapons against us!"
Renick remains quiet, what was there for him to say?
For almost 20 years they had been fighting a losing siege battle.
An entire generation of children had been born knowing what an Endbringer was, training at their schools on how to behave when they heard the alarms.
2 months ago the idea of how they'd proceed after the Endbringers were no more would be seen as hopeful dreams.
For the first time in a long time, they were daring to believe that putting an end to them was possible. They had been given a victory that they had so desperately needed. But it had come from the hand of an independent, a rogue agent, someone who they couldn't predict nor control.
The PRT existed because it was needed. Because if heroes wanted to fight crime, the best way to do it was through them. Because the PRT had the resources and intelligence that they needed.
Heavy Gear threatened not only to upset the balance and break the rules but to bring brand new ones of their own.
It would be a return to the Golden Age, back when the streets were the domain of vigilantes that decided right from wrong based on their whims.
And yet, a voice at the back of Renick's mind reminded him that it kept its name for a reason.
What was the price of hope?
No one wanted to admit it, but the world was nearing an abyss, and if something wasn't done they'd all fall. When faced against the horrors that the last decades had conjured, survival had to come first. Everything else was secondary.
"Director Doson?"
The voice of Costa Brown jerked him back into attention.
While the others had been arguing, one of the directors had muted her call, entangled in a heated talk with someone off-screen.
As he had learned under Emily Piggot, that sort of interruptions rarely spelled good things.
"Yes, yes! A moment." The woman reactivated her mic before muting it again. She gestured, likely delivering some orders, before returning to the call. "A detonation has been reported at the Cumberland Mall. We suspect a terror attack. Casualties--" She glanced over her screen. "--being counted." She paused. "Director Renick, inform Heavy Gear that PRT Atlanta is formally requesting the assistance of their medical team."
Renick released a sigh. It seemed that things would keep getting complicated before they got any better.
"Understood," he said, his hands already in the process of writing a message to his deputy.
"This meeting is adjourned!" Costa Brown announced and one by one the screens went dark.
…
