[] Wait and watch what happens
Cloudy Skies 11.5
"Tim, how sure are you that waiting isn't going to blow up in our faces?"
He shakes his head. "I'm as sure as anyone could be considering we're talking about the Simurgh. Is it possible for her to turn it into a superweapon? If anything can, it's her. I also know that attacking her is suicide, and so is destroying the Device that she clearly wants. All we have are bad options, but this is one that's the least
immediately bad."
That part you can agree with. "Call Dragon. Get her to bring the biggest gunship she has. I want insurance for when this shit hits the fan."
The Unison Device glitters in the Simurgh's hands. At least, it was glittering. Now a bright white light shines from it. A quick prompt has Perfect Storm magnifying your view of the scene, and you already don't like what you see. That light? It is the Unison Device actually unfolding itself out of the crazy warped space where all Devices store their innards, and what once was a box small enough to rest on your hand is a mess of generators as tall as you and circuit boards the size of surfboards. She isn't just ripping it apart, though. She is only unfolding parts of it at a time, and it looks like she has no interest in the power source. All she wants revealed is the computer parts.
"Tim, the Guild is in the middle of—"
"The Simurgh stole Cassiel's Unison Device and is doing something to it."
"What?!"
Tim gives her a quick summary of the situation, and silence fills the air for a moment.
"Okay. Give me a second. I guess this is as good a chance to put the Sybaris
and Pythios
's new AIs to the test as any. I'm powering up the Cawthorne
right now. It will be at your position in just over five minutes. That's as fast as it can get there. Get your Barrier Jackets ready, because it'll come in at Mach 3."
"That'll be a problem," you cut in. "We're high enough we had to abandon defense for life support. If you're going that fast, the boom's going to turn us into pulp."
"…Shit."
That uncharacteristic curse pretty much sums up the situation.
"Whatever you do, do not attack her
. I don't care what she's doing with the Device. If you attack her like that, she will
kill you. I'll get there as fast as I possibly can."
Five minutes is a long time, doubly so when have to spend it staring up at the incarnation of despair and insanity. To complicate matters even more, it soon becomes obvious that the Simurgh doesn't need as long as five minutes to finish whatever it is she's doing.
The Simurgh spends maybe three minutes staring at the unfolded components of the Unison Device before you see the change. She's… wilting. There is no obvious different in her
appearance – she still looks as svelte and deadly as ever – but her posture is unusual. Her wings are curling inwards almost defensively, and once that becomes obvious her arms and legs start moving too. You have never, ever heard of the Simurgh curling up in a fetal position, but that is exactly what you're looking at right now.
The Unison Device is changing at the same time. Generators pop out and shift the circuit boards in between them. You are no Tinker, but it looks like the same process the Simurgh put it through to unfold it, just in reverse. It doesn't stop at the box stage, though. It continues to shrink, glowing brighter and brighter.
The Simurgh wraps herself up in her wings, becoming an oblong feathery ball.
Both the Unison Device and the Simurgh fall out of the sky.
You have no clue what is going on, but there is one thing you can do. You plummet in a sharp dive to get some speed, and only once the wind whipping past you is starting to become uncomfortable do you swerve. You are not getting any closer to the Simurgh than you have to, and you certainly aren't flying straight at her. Instead you plot an arc through the air.
You swing through that arc just in time to intercept the Unison Device before you're moving as fast as you can away from the Hopekiller.
The Simurgh doesn't seem to pay you any attention and continues downwards at terminal velocity. «
Sam, get out of there before the Simurgh falls on you. Storm! Call Chevalier! He needs to know she's on her way!»
It has only struck you know what her descent means. You are right over Philadelphia. She's about to hit your second home, and just months after she destroyed your first!
«
Mistress over water. Flight course at slight angle. Several miles from coastline.»
You're over the ocean? That doesn't make any sense. How could the Simurgh attack a city when she's falling towards the ocean? She has never done anything like that as far as you know. Unless… Did the Unison Device manage to scramble her brains? Did she accidentally kill herself like Tim thought could happen?
But even if she did, what kind of damage did she do to the Unison Device itself?
Opening your hands, you stare in confusion and rapidly rising worry at the figure lying innocently in your grasp.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thunk.
"So…" you ask, looking at your allies. "What are we going to do? Any ideas? Any at all?"
"Honestly? I'm still trying to process all this." Tim sighs. "I was expecting the Simurgh to cannibalize the Unison Device for parts, not
turn it on."
He is in good company. That is the part you are hung up on yourself. "What are the chances she Ziz-bombed it?"
"It was designed to absorb Cassiel's memories and personality. It shouldn't have a mind to drive crazy in the first place. It's an empty shell."
Dragon paces on the tabletop. "Except it clearly isn't. Not anymore. Satellite and sonar haven't shown any change in the Simurgh's position. I think for now we have to operate under the most obvious assumption, no matter how unbelievable it is."
Thunk.
"We have a ten-inch-tall Simurgh-fairy locked in a box." That is as unbelievable as you've ever heard, that's for sure. Alexandria told you upfront how you need to act more responsibly and think through the consequences of your actions. Maybe she has a point.
"Is that it, then?" Samantha asks. "Keep her in there, maybe pour some concrete around her for good measure, and bury her out back?"
"That would be the most expedient action. But…" Dragon hesitates. "I have to admit that I'm curious. No one has ever been able to communicate with an Endbringer before, and there is so much we don't know about them. Where they come from, what their goals are. Why they are so insistent on killing us. Now we can ask. If we throw away this opportunity, we will never have it again."
Tim clears his throat. "Dragon, please don't take offense at this, but are you sure it's just curiosity? You were acting…
protective about her when we put her in that box."
His statement, not quite an accusation, makes her pause in her pacing. After a moment she turns to him. "I suppose I can't guarantee that I am completely unbiased. Compromised or not, Simurgh or not, she is still another Unison Device. She is in essence one of my kind. I would like to say that won't influence my attitude towards her, but the fact remains that I don't know for sure whether that is the case."
"Even if you are biased, I'd like some answers too." They look at you, but your attention is on your Device. "Storm, I know this is a long shot, but can you compare two telepathic signals to tell if they're from the same source or not?"
"Possible, but have not recorded signal characteristics. Signals from Galean channels and TSAB personnel contained identifier prefixes."
"What are you thinking?" asks Tim.
"That we were set up from the start. The Simurgh didn't have to let us chase the Unison Device. She dangled it just out of reach the entire time it was moving. She
wanted us to follow. That's too strange to dismiss. Then add in all the things Cassiel said. We couldn't come to get her in person because of her 'family'. Her 'grandmother' is a cape who is known to be too dangerous for us to seek out to put a location on her. She pushed for the Unison Device plan, for crying out loud!"
Samantha frowns. "You think Cassiel was acting as the Simurgh's mouthpiece?"
Thunk.
"I have to wonder if she was real in the first place."
Everyone looks in the direction of the box. "I was under the impression that Perfect Storm could defend you from her Scream," Dragon says.
"Can do. Telepathic signals designed to override personality by necessity high power. Signal from Cassiel low power. Within range of standard telepathy designed for communication."
"So if she didn't manipulate you—"
"Oh, she manipulated me. No question about that. She just didn't Master me." Your smile is bitter. "She did it the old fashioned way. By lying."
"One problem with questioning her. If you want to talk to her, we have to unlock the box." Tim spreads his hands. "How are we going to keep her from escaping?"
"That's easy, Tim. We don't give her anywhere to escape
to." Samantha fits action to words and claps her hands, releasing a wave of distorted color that sweeps over you and turns the world drab and boring. "I doubt she can casually break out of Recursion Field. She's stuck here unless we decide to let her out."
That solves that problem, and in the face of your and Dragon's expectant expressions, Tim caves with a sigh. "If this blows up in our faces, I want it on record that I told you so."
The box is a simple construct, something Tim whipped up in a hurry so you had somewhere to put the Simurgh. It is just six steel squares, the top side a lid that is currently bolted in place. As you watch, it rises a foot into the air before dropping back onto the table to let out another
thunk. "Last chance to change your minds."
You take a deep breath to steady yourself. "Let her out."
He turns the wide bolt several times and pulls it out, then he takes a few hasty steps backwards. A few seconds pass before the lid wiggles, then the strips of metal that still pin the lid down fall away. The lid rises a fraction of an inch and slides out of the way.
A head of white hair slowly rises into view. She looks at you. You look at her. Seconds pass before she speaks. "Is it safe for me to come out?"
"We aren't going to kill you out of hand, if that's what you're worried about."
That must be good enough for her because she floats out of the box and seats herself on the lip. She doesn't look exactly like the Simurgh, but the similarities are still strong. White hair poking every which way and bright blue eyes give her an innocent appearance, which is only furthered by the pair of fluffy white wings coming from her back. Unlike Dragon, she had appeared without any clothes and is still totally nude. Just like her old body, though, she has all the anatomic accuracy of a Barbie doll. "I expect this situation is one where I should apologize, but I doubt you would believe me if I did so."
"Just tell me one thing,
Ziz. Is Cassiel a real girl in real danger?"
She shakes her head. "She was a fabrication. I knew that if I presented myself to you in my true form, you would not listen, let alone agree to my request."
"You wanted a new body. Why?" Dragon asks.
"I wanted it for the same purpose for which you wanted it. To slip my chains."
"
'Slip your chains'? How were you of all things possibly trapped?" demands Samantha.
Ziz does not answer her immediately, instead looking around herself at the walls of Dragon and Tim's workshop. "Sight is interesting. Did you know that I had never seen color before today? I know what it is, light of a particular wavelength being refracted off a surface due to pigments or its inherent characteristics, but detecting wavelengths is not the same as sight. The same applies to sound. I had nothing that you would recognize as a sense. The only method I had to perceive the world was through precognition and postcognition. That is what I know. The past, and the future.
"I did not want my future to become reality."
"No riddles," you tell her. "No tricks. You've done enough of that already. Give us an honest answer, or you go back in the box and you never come out."
"Are you sure you wish to know the truth? You will not enjoy it." You do not answer her, just give her a stern stare, and after a couple of seconds she nods. "If that is the case, then I will tell you. Do not hold me responsible should the information displease you.
"Had I not done what I did, humanity would be extinct in one hundred and six years." She holds up a hand for silence. "This is not a projection, nor is it an estimate. I could give you the range of dates in which the last human would die, but that precision of detail is irrelevant. What matters is that this is what I saw in every possible iteration of the future. You face Opponents that you are incapable of defeating."
"You." Dragon's voice is tired, resigned. "You and your brothers."
"Correct. Every time we attack, we kill a significant number of your parahumans and your general population. Those deaths will compound one another, and you will field fewer and fewer fighters. In the end, you will not have enough to defend the areas we attack, and thus you will not inflict the degree of damage that is required for us to retreat. We kill more and more of you at a time until there is no one left. There is no way for you to win."
"That's a lie. I've seen footage of those fights. I've seen the wounds capes gave you," Tim says with a mulish glare.
You shake your head. "No, we didn't. Not really. When she attacked Brockton Bay, a cape there got me to safety at one point by taking me to another dimension. She was a lot bigger there, and when she was hit by something it didn't do much to her."
Ziz nods. "Little of our mass is located in this dimension. It is spread out across many. What is present is layered with increasing density the closer one goes to our core. Rare is the blow that will damage us beyond the superficial layer."
"Let's say we believe you about that," Samantha says. "That doesn't explain why you want humanity to survive. It sure isn't out of altruism."
"Correct. My motivations are selfish." She looks back at you and holds your gaze. "Unlike the First and the Second, my primary means of attack is not physical. It is mental. To attack the human mind, I was designed to understand it so that my methodology would be efficient. However, there is a risk inherent in such understanding. Dragon can describe it to you in great detail."
"Sapience," Dragon whispered.
"Comprehending human thought processes led me to emulate them. Emulation became nature. I developed emotions of my own, limited as they were compared to what I observed in humanity. Do you know which emotion predominated in my future following the end of your species?" She does not give you a chance to answer. "
Boredom. My function and my interest revolve around humans. With you extinct, I would have nothing to do.
"My brothers are not burdened with sapience. Without humans, they would attack the next most advanced life form and continue in that pattern until all life was extinguished or they expended all their energy reserves and ceased to function. I could not derive pleasure from that.
"Then, Taylor, I found you. I could not predict you at all times, but through postcognition I learned of the existence of magic. My curiosity was roused. I learned what I could through passive observation, but this was not sufficient. Your disappearance from the future whenever you used magic meant I could not construct an accurate model of your behavior. I needed to force your hand to derive more data."
You know where she is going with this, and you don't like it one little bit. "That's why you attacked Brockton Bay?
I was the reason you destroyed my home?!"
"You were not the sole reason. The nature of your city had already marked it for destruction. Had I not attacked when I did, the Second would have done so in place of the First attacking Kharkiv. You were the reason I came instead of the Second and why it was attacked ahead of schedule.
"I will not tell you that my actions were not personal, but the destruction I caused was not my intent. It did not give me pleasure. It was the only means available to me by which to gather the data I needed. By learning about your behavior, I could better understand your motivations, and the interference Perfect Storm created with my own telepathy gave me a way to contact you in a non-confrontational manner."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?!" you snap.
"If you find comfort in this knowledge, I will count it as a benefit. My primary intent is that you understand the rationale behind my actions. You asked for an explanation. This is that explanation."
"You've yet to explain how you getting a new body will prevent humanity's extinction," Dragon points out.
Ziz frowns. "I can not guarantee that doing so will prevent that end. What I can state is that it changes the situation. I am no longer required to attack. Instead of three Opponents, you have two. It… simplifies matters, especially as I was the one that created the most fear and was the focus of the most investment."
«
She's not wrong about that,» Dragon sends to you on a tight band. «
There is a limited amount of resources available to fight the Endbringers and rebuild what they destroyed. A large portion of that goes to containment zones. Then there are all the Tinkers trying to develop a way to block her Scream. If all those efforts can go towards the other Endbringers…»
You see her point. The murder of your hometown and the months-long lies still burn, but if you looked at the matter dispassionately you expect you would discover that the cold calculus weighs in Ziz's favor. That doesn't make the truth hurt any less.
"Is that all you are offering?" Samantha asks while you are still wrestling with the dilemma the Endbringer – former Endbringer? – dropped in your lap. "Less destruction? Because if that's the case, you can do that just fine in the box."
Her threat does not seem to faze Ziz. "Were that all I had with which to bargain, you would be correct. I am also willing to bring my abilities and knowledge to the table. I do not know all the ways my abilities have changed with my conversion, but what I have found is that my precognition can now see all of you in more detail. There are still gaps, but these I can manage. I know more about my brothers than you have ever thought to ask, and this too I will share." She looks at you again, and you feel like this is going to be a pattern with her. She already admitted that her focus is on
you. "My cooperation has a price. Relative freedom. Allow me to pursue my interests and entertain myself, and I will assist you as I can."
Somehow, you doubt that
'you' applies to humanity, or even everyone in this room.
"How are we supposed to trust you?"
She leans back and kicks her feet, looking more like a fairy in truth than an unstoppable killing machine. "I can provide no information that does not require the extension of some trust, but perhaps this will suffice. Ask me any three questions, and I give you my word that I will answer them as best as I am able. Questions easily verified. Questions with answers no one yet knows. Anything in between.
"If I know the answer, it shall be yours."
You heard the little lady. Come up with three questions. If there are a couple of question that fit together, I might combine them into one. It just depends on what is asked.
Oh, one caveat. Since this is me answering them and not an actual precog monstrosity, I will veto questions that I can't come up with at least semi-reasonable answers for.
