Many thanks to @BeaconHill, @Assembler, and ShadowStepper1300 for betareading.
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The first impression I had was of the color white. It wasn't just that the floor and walls were painted and tiled white, nor was it that glowing ceiling which set the surfaces alight, though all that helped. The place was white in a way that would have remained, even if the floor had been stained with blood. It was white in the way Moby Dick was white. Like Ishmael, I found myself slightly shaken.
Alexandria led me down a corridor and through a pristine white door with no handle. It slid soundlessly into the wall, leaving no visible crease or hole. Inside the room was a circular table, also flawlessly white. Around it, five people were seated. Two I recognized. Eidolon was watching me gravely, his eyes glowing green under the shadows of his hood. Legend's jaw worked nervously, his eyes flickering from me to Alexandria and back again.
The third was a man with dirty blond hair, cut short and neatly parted. He wore a white button-down shirt over black slacks with no tie, and his brown eyes inspected me over thin-rimmed glasses. His expression was perfectly blank—even wooden.
He's uncomfortable. Doesn't want to be here. It's partly me—he doesn't like being around this many people, and new people especially. He wants solitude. I should leave him his peace, if I can. No sense in making enemies.
The fourth was a dark-skinned woman in a lab coat. I recognized her from Dean's description. Her long hair was done up in a crisp bun. Her face and complexion were middle-aged; her eyes were centuries old.
Stress, work, exhaustion. She's tired, and she can't stop. If I can offer her even a moment of reprieve, she'll be overjoyed to repay me.
The fifth, Dean had also described. Her face was sharply angular, strikingly beautiful in a predatory way. Her dark eyes glittered under her black short-rim fedora. Her tailored pantsuit hugged her form in a way only a tailored suit could, and she practically lounged in her chair, perfectly comfortable in her body, in this room, and among these people.
Lies. She's incredibly powerful, she's not nervous at all, but she hasn't been comfortable in a long time. If I could give her that… her loyalty would be total.
The woman in the suit shifted slightly, her gaze locked with mine. I gave her a faint, quick smile. She didn't smile back.
"I have to say," said Alexandria dryly, watching me with a sort of amused interest. "I enjoy watching you work."
"I know you do," I said idly. "I wouldn't let you see otherwise." I stepped forward, ignoring her chuckling, and pulled back one of the two vacant chairs before sitting down, directly across from the woman in the lab coat. "You must be Cauldron."
She nodded, her face carefully neutral. "Annatar. It's good to finally meet you in person."
"I'm flattered," I said easily. "I didn't expect to be coming up on the Illuminati's radar this early."
"Oh, you're not," said Alexandria, taking the seat next to me. "We're just the R&D division."
I smiled. "I can tell when you're joking, you know."
"I know."
"Enough, Alexandria," said Eidolon. His voice was more tired than exasperated. "We don't have time for this."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alexandria's eyebrow rise. "Oh? Are we on a timetable?"
"We have until Dragon next attempts to contact Annatar," said the woman in the suit. Her voice was deep, for a woman's, and rang like steel—sharp, hard, formidable… but brittle, in the right conditions. "She will need to be there to receive that call."
"And how long is that?" I asked.
"About an hour and a half," she said promptly. "I can be more exact?"
"No need." I shook my head with a smile. "But you have me at a disadvantage. I have a policy against working with people without names."
"Call me Doctor Mother," said the woman in the lab coat. She gestured in turn at the blond man and the woman in the suit. "These are the Number Man and Contessa. I'm sure you're familiar with the Triumvirate. Together, we form most of the organization known as Cauldron."
I nodded slowly. "I see. You sold my teammate his powers."
Doctor Mother nodded. "We did. As I recall, you were quite horrified at the prospect."
"I've had some time to think," I said coolly. "I'm less horrified, now, and more wondering what interest you have in creating human weapons."
No one answered for a moment.
"It's not like that," said Legend finally.
I smiled at him. It was a gentle expression. "I know you don't see it that way," I said. "And it's an oversimplification, I'll admit. You're much more than a weapon, Legend, with all you've done."
Number Man glanced sidelong at Alexandria. "I see why you like her, Alexandria."
Doctor Mother looked a little annoyed now. I was hijacking her conversation. But I was much more interested in the way Contessa was watching my every move. She was wary. I was making the room's only precognitive
nervous. Now wasn't that interesting?
"Our interest is simple," Doctor Mother said, "Keep the human race alive."
I looked at her. One eyebrow rose, slow and sardonic. "Well done," I said dryly. "You should have seen all the
surviving Brockton Bay was doing a month ago."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Number Man's lips quirk momentarily in amusement. Doctor Mother's lips pursed. "The Endbringers are a problem," she said. "A wrench in the works. Our usual solutions don't work as well against them."
"They wouldn't," I said, a faint grin coming to my lips as I remembered the star in Leviathan's chest. "I imagine Contessa has even more trouble predicting them than she does me?"
Silence fell again. This time it was broken by Eidolon clearing his throat. "Yeah," he said. "I see why you like her, too."
"Something like that," Doctor Mother said coldly, shooting Eidolon a withering look. "That's why we're approaching you. The Triumvirate saw your performance against Leviathan. It… put you on our radar, so to speak."
She was lying. I frowned and leaned forward—keeping my movements visible, almost telegraphed. I was impressing both Alexandria and Contessa with the show. In this case, I wanted to
show off, not keep my cards close.
But really, why lie? What
else could have made them take note? Unless they'd known from the beginning—unless my nature had been observed even before I'd taken it up. If they had known about me for that long… surely they would have acted? Subtly, from the shadows, but…
It was only put into place by Chief Director Costa-Brown a few weeks ago. Piggot, speaking about my trial membership in the Wards.
For all I know I'm going to be killed in my sleep tonight for telling you this. Dean, the night after the defeat of the Merchants, and yet nothing had happened to him.
I was sure there was more. There could be miles of it—a thousand little actions, little moments scattered across time and on the scale of continents, which had come together to build events which had shaped my life. All planned, all constructed. They had
let me see.
…Then why were they lying now? Why the inconsistency?
The woman in the suit was looking at me. Her big, dark eyes glittered under the rim of her fedora.
She
hadn't told them.
I leaned back. I'd misjudged the situation. I needed to observe more, be more cautious.
"I see," I said. "I can't be the only person who's been effective against the Endbringers before, though."
"You're not," said Eidolon dryly.
"But you managed something that
was unique," said Legend quietly. "Something none of us have managed before. You brought people together."
"People always come together for Endbringer fights," I said, my expression carefully neutral. "Heroes and villains cooperating… that's the whole point of the truce.
I didn't create the truce."
"Why do you think Kaiser made it a point to collect your identity, after the battle?" Alexandria asked. "Why do you think Heartbreaker came after your family?"
I didn't answer.
"They see you as a threat," Legend said gently. "Not in the sense that you could kill them or capture them. They're afraid you'll take their power base out from under them. You've become the functional leader of the Brockton Bay PRT and Protectorate, at this point. With a little more work, you could control the entire city."
I considered denying it, saying something like
Director Piggot is still in charge. I didn't bother. "I know."
"And you plan to do that, don't you?" Eidolon asked, leaning forward slightly. "You want that kind of control."
I snorted. "I want people to stop flailing around and hurting each other for no reason. They're not going to stop by themselves."
"They're not going to work together by themselves, either," said Doctor Mother grimly. "But they'll need to."
Oh. Wait. "When you said 'keep the human race alive,'" I said slowly, "You weren't talking about a general principle, were you?"
"No," she said. "Are you familiar with Scion?"
I nodded. "Sure. The golden man. The first cape."
"He's not human."
"What?" I asked with an affected gasp, putting a hand on my chest. "Really?"
"He's not like you, either," said Alexandria grimly. "He's the source of powers."
I froze. "What did you say?"
She considered me. "You've figured something out?"
I swallowed. "You're telling me," I said softly, "that Scion, the world's greatest superhero, the guy Endbringers run away from… is one of those
things?"
"You remember your vision," said Contessa suddenly.
"My second one," I answered, staring around the table.
"We weren't aware you even
had trigger visions," said the Number Man, folding his hands together on the table. "
Are you a parahuman, then?"
I shook my head, meeting his eyes for the first time. "I rejected the parasite," I said. "Fought it off. And Scion is… what. An avatar? For the source of those things? One of the two?"
Doctor Mother nodded. "Exactly. He—"
"Then where's the other?"
There was a pause. "Already dead," said Contessa.
I stared at her. "You managed to
kill one of those things?"
"As far as we can tell, it crash-landed," Doctor Mother said. "We just finished the job."
I blinked. "…Surely people would have noticed a massive alien crash-landing? Especially if space was folding around it?"
"It crashed on a parallel earth," Doctor Mother explained. "Its corpse is still there."
It clicked. "And you mine it," I breathed. "That's how you sell powers. They're fragments of the dead creature."
"Exactly," said Doctor Mother.
I stared at her for a moment. "That's…"
incredibly risky, don't you know those things are alive? Don't you know what they can do? "…daring, but I suppose I can't argue with the results."
"We decided it was worth the risk," said the Number Man. "We can't predict the results of triggers, you see. All we can do is use our formulae to try and get the powers we need."
I suppressed a shudder. "You want a parahuman army, then? To fight Scion?"
"That's almost exactly wrong," said Alexandria quietly. "An army wouldn't hurt, but Scion is… overwhelming. We can't beat him with just numbers."
"We're looking for a silver bullet," said Doctor Mother. "A particular power or, more likely, a combination of powers which could defeat Scion."
I nodded. "And you think I'm part of that."
"You may well be," said Legend quietly. "You have a way of making people work together, Annatar. The reason I'm leader of the Protectorate is because I have that same ability, but you've managed to do in a few months what it took me years to achieve, and you did it without any of Cauldron's resources. You may not be able to kill Scion, but you can make the people who can work together. That's something we need."
"Then why now?" I asked. "Why contact me now?"
"We were waiting," said Contessa. "For your second trigger, whatever it was."
My eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Before that moment you were difficult, but not impossible, to account for in my precognition." Her voice was soft. "Now you are nearly invisible to me."
"Then why didn't you try to kill me?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. "Surely that would have been simpler. Having a variable you can't account for must be frustrating."
"That was discussed," said Doctor Mother, completely shameless. "Your Rings of Power, we decided, had too much potential to be wasted that way. From what we've seen of you so far, and from what little we can predict, you don't want the world to end any more than we do. No matter what other concerns any of us have, that makes us allies."
I leaned back in my chair, considering. My eyes fell on Contessa.
They aren't telling me everything. I saw it plainly written in the precognitive's face, and I knew she was letting me see it.
"Very well," I said. "I suppose it does. What does that mean for now?"
"Well, for now, we want to make a sort of… peace offering," said Alexandria, and there was a wide smile in her voice.
"Several years ago, a power was purchased from us by an enterprising PRT officer named Thomas Calvert," said the Number Man. "He began to use it to try and take control of his city. We allowed it. It was to be an experiment in parahuman feudalism, to see if we could survive after the collapse of conventional civilization."
"Your success," Doctor Mother said, "has left that experiment mostly unnecessary. So, as an offer of peace, we'll give you Thomas Calvert."
I frowned.
I don't want some random ambitious cape. They know that. Who are they really
offering me? "So?" I asked. "Tell me who he is."
Alexandria stood up, followed by Contessa. "I'd just as soon show you," said the caped hero.
I stood slowly. "Then… we're done for now?" I asked. "That's it? Just an introduction, and this peace offering?"
"That's it for now," said Eidolon. "We'll be in touch, Annatar."
I scanned the room slowly, then nodded. "I look forward to it," I said.
Contessa came around the table and led us out of the room. "Door to Coil," she said as soon as the door slid shut behind us.
The rectangular hole in space opened behind me. I turned.
Coil's face was thin and sallow, and his eyes were sunken in his head, glittering in their sockets like dark beetles. He was in costume, but his mask was off. He was unshaven, an unkempt mess of stubble marring his sharp chin.
I stepped through. Alexandria and Contessa followed.
Coil's hands began to shake on his keyboard.
"Coil," I said quietly, a smile spreading across my face. "You have something of mine."
Narya flared upon his finger.
Jerkily, he stood up. "Ah, ah, no," I said brightly. "
Down, dog."
He went down—not into his chair, but onto the floor. The thief knelt before me. "Annatar," he whispered. "You—you're with
them?"
"I am now," I said. I stepped forward, holding his gaze. After a moment, he broke it, and looked down at the floor. "I'll take what's mine back, now."
"Please," he whispered.
"You knew they were binding," I said softly. "You must have known. Did you not believe it? Or did you assume I would never come to collect?"
He swallowed. "I was a fool," he mumbled. "But—Annatar, please. I can… I can be of use to you!"
I raised an eyebrow. "I have little use for thieves and traitors. I know you worked for the PRT."
He laughed aloud. The sound was frenzied and mad. "Do you think I could betray
you?" he asked, staring up at me with a wild light in his eyes. "I swear to serve you, Annatar! I swear on Narya, on the Ring! Only let me
keep it! I need it! I'll die without it!"
I considered him. Somehow, this had not occurred to me. I'd never planned on something like this. "What
is your power, anyway?" I asked.
He swallowed. "I ... I divide realities.. I can do two different things in two different realities, and pick the one I like better, dropping the worse result."
I raised an eyebrow. "That's certainly impressive. And useful."
"Yes. Yes!" He looked up at me, feverish and desperate. "And it's yours! I'll use it when you want me to, how you want me to, for whatever you need! I have capes, minions, even a precog! Only, please,
let me keep the Ring!"
I stepped forward again and put my hand on his chin. I forced his eyes up and stared down into them. He tried to look away but soon gave up.
He wasn't lying. It wouldn't have mattered if he did—an oath taken on a Ring of Power by its Ring-Bearer would have been binding regardless—but it would have been nice to know.
Some part of me still wanted to wreak terrible vengeance upon the man before me. He had stolen Narya from me, had left me without the Ring of Fire when I had needed its light most. With that Ring I could free the thralls of Heartbreaker and Valefor without having to use the shell of Nikos Vasil.
And yet, Coil was a powerful tool. A mean, petty, small man, yes, but in that meanness was utility. He could act in places I could not afford to be, he could do things I couldn't be seen doing, and his power would allow me to take risks I otherwise wouldn't dare take. The ends justified the means. No matter how distasteful I found Coil, no matter how much he repulsed me, he was more useful as a servant than a corpse. And it wasn't as though I had to keep him around forever, was it?
I reached down to my hip and pulled a knife from its sheath. He flinched, curling his whole body to protect his left hand, where Narya glittered.
I dropped the knife. It clattered to the floor between us. "Swear it," I said coldly. "Swear fealty to me, the Lord of the Rings. Swear to serve me, in life and in death, Ring-Bearer."
His right hand reached out, shaking, to take the knife. Slowly, on an instinct he didn't understand, he brought it to rest upon the palm of his left hand. For a moment, he hesitated, his breathing quick and uneven. Then, with a sharp motion, he drew the blade across his flesh.
His fist closed. Blood emerged from between his fingers, staining the gold of Narya red.
"I swear on Narya," he whispered. "I will serve you, in life and death… Annatar, Lord of the Rings."
I smiled and turned away. "Good," I said. "Door back to the rooftop, if you please?"
The door opened in space. I glanced back at Coil. "You will send me your contact information sometime tomorrow," I said. "I don't care how you get it to me, so long as it's secure. Understood?"
"Yes," he murmured. "My Lord."
I stepped through the door. Alexandria and Contessa followed me.
I had already started laughing when it closed.
End Arc 9: Wildfire
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