[ ] Purity – The boss herself. You're fast enough to keep up with her, and like you told her last you saw her, you're tougher than she is. Plus, if you want to try talking her down, this might be your best shot.
-[ ] Cast a recursion field to leave most of the heroes free to herd the civvies, and try talking down Purity.
Escapades 5.4
«Hey, Samantha, you know the thing about trying to talk to Purity? I'm going to give that plan a shot, after all.»
«Yeah, sure. Keep safe.»
You blink. That was… oddly short, to say the least. «Everything going okay over there?»
«About as— Get back here, you overgrown salamander! —as you'd expect. Lung is a pain in the ass, and don't get me started on Oni Lee again.»
You can't help but softly smile at that. Despite her complaints, she doesn't sound that irritated. It almost sounds like she's enjoying herself a little. «Need any help?»
«Nah, I think we got— No, no, no, don't eat that! …I'll call you back in a bit, okay?»
"Something funny?" Strapping Lad asks, a scowl sitting heavily on his face. You don't know if his displeasure is because of you or the situation up ahead, but right now, you're where it's aimed.
You can forgive him, though. Considering how this fight has been going, he's probably a little stressed. "Just something my partner said. I think where you need me most is with Purity. I know she can fly faster than this." A little bit of a lie, but one that's easy to sell to somebody who doesn't even know the names of the villains he's facing. It will be harder to convince the members of New Wave who are here. They may not be winning, not from this perspective, but you remember the sheer venom with which Purity talked about the public hero group. With whatever history they have, they'll want to continue that fight on their own, no matter what arguments you bring to the table.
Not unless you change the situation to one they can't ignore.
Your magic triangle appears below you and spins faster and faster. "Get the civilians out of here."
"That's what we're trying—"
His words get cut off as a wave of twisted not-color washes out the hues and vibrancy of the world. The musclebound Brute vanishes, as does his compatriots you could previously see. The light show where Photon and Laserdream are fighting Purity does not abate, nor does the cloud where Fog has positioned himself. The cars with the civilians should all be gone, though, stuck in the real world with the Brutes. Crusader's ghosts are floating around in aimless surprise, so he's still around, and Night… should be here with you, but you can't know that so long as you don't see her, which is kind of her whole schtick to begin with.
«Call Revel's wristband,» you order Perfect Storm. «Let her know there's nothing to worry about.»
"What did you do?!" the leading heroine's voice yells at you a second later.
Now is really not the time for her to get distracted. Sighing, you fly towards the airborne battle while answering, «I pulled the four of us and at least three of the villains into a pocket dimension. Sort of. Night I don't know about, but even if she isn't here, she doesn't have Fog to protect her. The Brutes should be able to handle her, and I told Strapping Lad to go ahead and get the civilians back to Brockton Bay»—you dodge an errant scarlet laser—«or wherever we're supposed to be taking them. If you can go after Fog and Crusader now that there aren't any innocents around, I'll try to get New Wave to back you up.»
Forming a single Flare bullet, you send it towards the three combatants ahead of you and detonate it. It doesn't hurt anyone, but it gets their attention. Now that they're distracted from the fight, they look around and realize that something big happened while they were otherwise occupied. "Revel needs your help with the others," you tell the mother-and-daughter pair. "I'll keep her busy until you're done."
"We got this," Laserdream snaps back, her eyes still fixed on Purity.
"Full-body forcefield," you explain. You aren't boasting, but you know down in your bones that your Barrier Jacket is tougher than their shields, Laserdream's in particular. She's the offense to her mother's well-roundedness and her late brother's defense. "And I'm faster than either of you. But there are two of you, so you'll be more help against Crusader."
Just like the last time you saw the ex-Nazi Blaster, your mask has compensated for the glare of her powers. It gives you a gook look at the growing expression of rage on her face. That's not what you hoped for when you decided to erect the dimensional barrier. Waving for Lady Photon and Laserdream to go away, you drift closer to the glowing woman. Maybe a stupid idea as her hands shine brighter, but if you're lucky it will keep her on the back foot long enough to calm things down. "Let's get away from here," you suggest, nudging your head towards the distance behind her. "Put some space between us and everyone else."
"What could possibly make you think I'll do that?"
Well, at least she's not shooting yet? You roll your head in a circle, exaggerating the motion to glance at the other heroines without being obvious about it. Still there, unfortunately, but slowly moving away. They are just being cautious in case your plan fails horrifically, not knowing that their very presence makes it more difficult. Looking back at her, you whisper, "We can't talk here."
Purity blinks.
"I figure you'd want to get away from your teammates, too," you say louder for New Wave's benefit. "Less chance of a stray shot hurting someone you'd rather leave uninjured."
"…Okay, then," she agrees slowly. Very slowly, visibly struggling to figure out what in the world you're doing. You wish her luck with that; you don't even know your plan. You are just making things up as you go. "Maybe some distance would be for the best. This way?"
"Works for me."
Side by side, you fly away. Purity's eyes are fixed on you, watching for any signs of duplicity. Your eyes keep flicking back to her just to make sure she isn't about to sucker punch you and go back to the fight. Judging that you've gone far enough, you slow to a halt. Now, how are you going to open this conversation in a way that isn't guaranteed to go straight to hell?
"What are you doing?" the shining ex-villain demands. "Shooting me, then saying you want to talk and bringing me out here. All you've done is isolate yourself from your allies."
"That's true, but my allies and I may not want the same thing. They want to throw you back into Brockton Bay. I want to know why. Why did you run? Why did you join up with the Empire again to get out?" She still looks uncertain, and you sigh and pull off your hat to run your hand through your hair while Perfect Storm floats innocuously beside you. "Do you remember what you told me when we first met, about how you wanted to turn over a new leaf, put the past behind you, become a hero and do the right thing? I wanted to believe you. I still want to believe you. All this? Makes it harder for me to do that.
"Maybe you have a good reason for breaking out. I would love it if you did. So convince me. Give me something I can take back to Revel and the rest of the Protectorate, something I can use to get you re-evaluated to leave. The world needs all the heroes it can get, official Protectorate or not, so give me a reason to help you."
Purity has been staring at you throughout your speech, but now she looks away. "It's not that simple."
"No, it's not. But this won't end unless you can give me and them something that puts your actions in a better light than just 'I didn't want to wait ten months to get cleared to leave'."
"Is that what you think this is about?!" she shouts. "About me, my happiness? That I'm doing this out of boredom?!"
"I don't know what this is about because you haven't told me!"
The woman shakes for a moment, her hands clenched tight, before she takes a deep breath. This is it; you're about to get shot, and Samantha will never let you live it down. "This has nothing to do with me. If that's all it was, I would have gone through the screening and been let go. I know I wasn't affected by the Simurgh."
You bite your tongue. The only people who can truly know they aren't affected by the Scream are those unaffected by telepathy like you and Samantha and Alexandria, but now probably is not the best time to push that. Instead, you focus on what else she said. "You didn't even try to get screened? Why?"
"Do you know who gets screened?" Yes, you do, but you shake your head slowly so she can make whatever point it is she wants to make. "Capes. That's it. Civilians need not apply." Purity struggles with her words for a moment before admitting, "I… I have a daughter, my baby girl. I had to leave her home when I went to fight. I hoped the people I left her with would be able to get her out, but… they didn't make it out in time. She isn't even a year old. There's no way I was going to abandon her in this hellhole, but the PRT would never let me take her with me."
"Couldn't you just explain that to them? Tell them you had a small child and you needed her screened too so you could both leave?"
She shakes her head, the motion furious. "They wouldn't have done it. Do you remember the protests that happened shortly after the Madison attack? They were anti-cape protesters, so most people ignored them, but they raised a valid question. If capes could be screened and let go after the fight, why couldn't the same be done for the civilians? The PRT's official position is that the precogs who can test for influence are needed elsewhere, that's it's a waste of their talents to have them spend the weeks or months it would take to clear everybody. That's why there is a protocol for civilians to be screened by psychologists over several months; it's less resource intensive, supposedly. They would never screen A— my daughter if it would open them up to further criticisms along those lines."
"So why not just wait to get cleared?" you tentatively ask. Chances are slim she won't take that question badly, and sure enough, Purity glares at you. "Several months, you said. Keep it together for that long, and you and she could both get out and go on with your lives."
"Tell me, have you ever met someone who was permitted to leave Madison?" Again, you shake your head. "Few people have. There aren't a many who get cleared in the first place, and those who do are treated like lepers. Doesn't matter their age, their occupation, nothing. Then I got to listen to all the things we would have to do if we were released. Every employer has to be told that you were in a containment zone. Every landlord. Every bank. Every school. Every individual you enter into a contract with. Even security for every public place you enter. If you have the tattoo, you're treated like you're subhuman." Her lips twist nastily at the irony before returning to a scowl. "If it was just me…. Maybe. Maybe I'd go through with it. But not her. She's just a baby, but she would grow up being treated like a monster. No one would ever accept her. She would never get a chance to live like a normal person. I will not condemn her to that.
"But what other choice do I have? Stay in Brockton Bay? Yes, supplies will keep coming in so long as people are trapped here, but inside those walls everything is falling apart. The Merchants' numbers are exploding with everyone who jumps into the shit with them. Just walking down the street poses the risk of being murdered for a few bucks so they can get high. Is that where you would want to raise a child?" She lets out a slow breath. "We can't stay. We can't wait to be let go. So yes, when Kaiser approached me with the offer to help us, I took it. I agreed to help him get out. And once we were free, I left them again so I could get myself and my little girl somewhere where no one would know who we are and where we could start over.
"You wanted my reasons? There you go. I helped the Empire, I broke out, I fought all you heroes who came after me because I don't have any other choice. Now," she says, pulling herself together and spitting out her words in derision, "you made a lot of big promises. You said you wanted to 'help me'. What do you really think you can do?"
Last time, several of you voted to fight if the negotiations with Purity went south; the plan floated out was to take down Purity and then focus on Fog. I just wasn't sure whether or not you would consider this ending to fit that criteria or not.
Either way, now you need to figure out what to do with the information you just got.
[ ] Continue the fight – Purity had her reasons, but they aren't good enough to justify her actions. Defeat the villains and drag them back to Brockton Bay so they can be properly cleared. She's probably exaggerating the restrictions out of panic, and she isn't the only one with a sob story.
[ ] Let her go – You empathize with her plight, and you'd love to help her. She just doesn't have an explanation you can justify sticking your neck out for. All you can do is wish her good luck and give her a chance to escape. If she makes it, great; if not, you did what you could.
[ ] Help her out – No one ever explained that part of the quarantine procedure to you. Giving her a hand could well mean you going up against the other heroes, though. You'll do it, but she'll need some means of escape that will keep them from just tracking her down again.
A plan would be appreciated for whatever overarching action you wish to take. That said, this is a delicate situation. You might not want to get too fancy, or you could wind up voting yourselves into a corner like you nearly did last time.
