Troy Guffey
Irresponsible Parasite
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- Western Missouri, USA
IIRC, didn't he teach a Captain America replacement?
Ship of Fools: A Taylor Varga Omake (Complete)
- Thread starter Derek M
- Start date
- Crossover
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- Here
Why yes. Yes he did. In exchange, his sentence was reduced (having been in prison at the time.)
In other words, when the US government needed to get a replacement Cap up to speed and able to convince almost everyone that he was still the original, they let Taskmaster out early in exchange for lessons. He's that good a mimic and teacher.
- Location
- Buffalo, NY, USA
There was a Worm fic where Taylor got the power to copy skills from watching them done, and then she watched Dragonball... IIRC towards the end she managed to go into a version of super saiyajin... So did Tattletale.
If you want martial arts, you *don't* want Jackie Chan, I can't remember the last movie of his I saw that had *real*/usable martial arts in it (OK, I lied, it was Drunken Master... the original from the 70's NOT Legend of Drunken Master).
Bruce Lee would be a better option.
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- Here
I agree Bruce Lee would be an excellent choice. However, the thing about Jacky Chan is he's been in a LOT more movies, and only a few have had anything like an effects budget. Everything he does in almost all his movies is the product of skill, physical conditioning, and LOTS of takes.
Contrast that with films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, where you can tell most of the stunts are the product of wirework; that is the sort of thing Taskmaster can't pull off.
- Location
- The general area. Possibly behind you.
That's still a very broken ability that could be leveraged to become extremely dangerous with some careful thought.
It's the usual thing; any Parahuman ability can make the possessor difficult to handle if they work out all the tricks possible with it. Especially if you don't know them...
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
In other words, power swap with Taylor and shit gonna happen.
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
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- The Internet
Jackie Chan never claimed to be a martial artist. He's trained in traditional Chinese theater. Which means he learned how to fake martial arts in a way that looks good to the audience without putting his fellow actors at risk. In fact, many of the people who show up in all of his movies trained in the same troupe. And his claim to fame has always been "no stunt doubles, no scaled down stunts, everything you see he actually pulled off, yes... even that insane motorcycle jump onto a shipping container then onto a train."
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
*gasp*
So, his Drunken Fujitsu is actually Acten ShihTzu?
Learn something new every day!
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FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
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- The Internet
That's not to say that Jackie Chan wouldn't be dangerous in a real fight. Just that real combat was never the main focus of his martial arts instruction, acting was.
- Location
- Maryland
I at first interpreted this as the ancient art of massaging cattle, like how they make real Kobe beef (which is not what American restaurants proclaiming such actually sell, if my facts are correct).
- Location
- Not quite sure
I hadn't come across that explanation before, and it is the only one I've encountered that actually makes any amount of sense to me.
- Location
- Buffalo, NY, USA
Erm... nothing you said gives a single reason why learning to copy Jackie Chan over Bruce Lee would be a good thing.... (which is kinda what that 'however' implies...)
But... if you want to talk about actors doing their own stunts, Keanu Reeves Does all his own stunts with 2 exceptions: If he gets hit by a car, or falls down stairs, he uses stunt doubles; EVERYTHING else he does himself (you should see some of his 'training for John Wick' vids on youtube... I'd wager he's better with a gun than most SWAT officers).
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
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- The Internet
It comes, I believe, from what Batman tells Jason Todd during the climax of the the Red Hood storyline about why he's protecting Joker. He talks about how killing is easy, and it's a slippery slope once you start down that path. In fact, the animated movie Under the Red Hood gives the explanation almost word for word.
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- Here
I never said copying Jackie Chan was better then Bruce Lee. Just that there's a lot more material for Jackie, and both are better then using a movie that's heavy in wire work. As for Keanu Reeves, the discussion was about learning/copying Martial Arts, not Gun Kata. For Martial Arts, you go to Martial Arts movies, not Action movies....
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
Gah! Was trying for the Dog, and got the Awesome Finger Technique instead.... Shihtzu!
pEr...
Bullshihtzu! ... I need caffeine...
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I notice no one has invoked Chuck Norris yet.
- Location
- Somewhere, Maybe
I notice no one has invoked Chuck Norris yet.
Norris was -trained- by Bruce Lee. Why go for the Student, when the Master is available?
I used to wonder about those joke of Robin sliding down the Batpole.:lolDid... Bruce Wayne have underage Dick in bed?
Something seems amiss with that for some reason...
What were the writers thinking? Silver Age Batman was the best..........if I could stop giving him the side eye for his habit of taking pre teens under his wing and giving all of them the same name. Bruce needs therapy.
lol
rofl:Holy crap, people still believe this?
Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris were born in 1940, one grew up in Hong Kong, one in America. Chuck joined the Air Force out of high school and started MA there, and was already in line for the 1968 world championship when he met Bruce. (Cite: http://www.historicalhistory.com/bruce-lee-and-chuck-norris/ )
Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris had one fight, in a Movie where Bruce Lee was the Star. Gee, I wonder who won?
I will quote Chuck here: "Would I have beaten Bruce Lee in a real competition, or not? You'll forgive me for answering with another Bruceism: 'Showing off is the fool's idea of glory.' " While their dream fight never became a reality in the ring, the epic battle can be seen in the 1972 Bruce Lee film The Way of the Dragon."
Bruce Lee, for all his vaunted skills, never fought in tournaments. The only tourney he can be proven to have entered was at the high school level in Hong Kong.
There are only two fights on record that pitted Bruce against another martial artist, and one has differing accounts, based on who you talk to.
Quoting: "According to his student Jesse Glover he refereed a fight between Bruce Lee and an unnamed Karate master at a YMCA handball court in Seattle. The fight had a time keeper and is alleged to have lasted 11 seconds with Bruce Lee winning by knockout.
Bruce Lee had an infamous fight at his Martial Arts studio in Oakland, California against a Kung Fu master named Wong Jack Man. According to his wife Linda the fight lasted 3 minutes. After a brief encounter Wong Jack Man ran around the room. Bruce caught up to him, took him to the floor and pounded him until he verbal submitted. Wong Jack Man and a few witnesses he brought with him have a different account. They say the fight lasted an unusually long 20-25 minutes. There was no clear winner. They mostly landed grazing shots until Wong staggered Bruce with a shot to the neck. Eventually the spectators interfered after Wong Jack Man tripped over a raised portion of the floor and Bruce Lee tried to pounce on him shouting at him to give up but he never yielded. The witnesses say the fight was a draw. Either way Bruce Lee was unhappy with his performance and dedicated himself to rigorous training and developed new theories on Martial Arts which lead to the creation of Jeet Kune Do."
Debunking myths aside, if you're going to take skills from MMA people, you'd be better off taking from real world fighters, not actors, who may use a move because it sets up a good camera angle, looks flashy or just because the director wanted it.
Might also look into some of the better training videos used by military forces, SWAT, and other special operations groups, like the FBI hostage team.
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- The general area. Possibly behind you.
Or just go for Family style. Of course, you'll need the tail first...
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- Somewhere, Maybe
Well, consider me schooled. o,o
To be fair, I got that from my Dad, who was deep into martial arts lore at the time (roughly a decade ago). I never bothered to check it, because, well, I trust my dad to get the facts right, because that was kinda his job.
I would imagine that he got it from the Bruce Lee site, run by a pair of rabid fans. For a long time it had a grainy black and white fight up, supposedly between Lee and Norris. It happened, according to the story, on the set of the Enter the Dragon movie. The fight did indeed happen there, but it was between Lee and another martial artist there for the shooting, who accused Lee of only being an actor, not an Artist. Lee schooled him, ten years later, people *rabid fans* are claiming it was Chuck.
You know, the more I think about the learning from videos.... late night infomercials. Those people could sell shoes to snakes, with repeat business. Never a bad skill to have.
- Location
- The general area. Possibly behind you.
I suspect that this is universally true...
A motivated Hebert is extremely hazardous to get in the way of
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
I wonder... Could you power swap Taylor with too much power? What might happen?
Yes, I realise some might consider Taylor Varga to be this, but...
I'd considered a swap with Kid Amazo (the original one).
((Powers:
Super-strength, invulnerability, a copy of the core powers of Amazo, the mind templates of Wonder Woman, Superman, J'onn J'onzz, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern.))
It might be interesting for the Ship's crew to stumble across another Taylor...
EDIT:
The funny thing about the above power sets is the overlap... MMH sometimes being referred to as the 'Green Superman', for example, and Silver Age Superman could move nearly as fast as the Flash. Though, Batman super-science might go with Superman super-senses (microscopic X-ray vision), Flash ridiculous speed, and green light constructs to enable interesting near-instant super gadgetry... Shape-shifting, invisible, phasing, telepathic, super-speed detective-ing... With (fake) Lariat of Truth...
Yes, I realise some might consider Taylor Varga to be this, but...
I'd considered a swap with Kid Amazo (the original one).
((Powers:
Super-strength, invulnerability, a copy of the core powers of Amazo, the mind templates of Wonder Woman, Superman, J'onn J'onzz, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern.))
It might be interesting for the Ship's crew to stumble across another Taylor...
EDIT:
The funny thing about the above power sets is the overlap... MMH sometimes being referred to as the 'Green Superman', for example, and Silver Age Superman could move nearly as fast as the Flash. Though, Batman super-science might go with Superman super-senses (microscopic X-ray vision), Flash ridiculous speed, and green light constructs to enable interesting near-instant super gadgetry... Shape-shifting, invisible, phasing, telepathic, super-speed detective-ing... With (fake) Lariat of Truth...
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Chapter 40: Witch's Brew
- Location
- Maryland
Chapter 40: Witch's Brew
Seven brought the small ship out of hyperspace into the orbit of Gaia. The new ships had hyperspace engines in addition to warp drive and wormhole drive, giving the pilot even more options for getting around (though she suspected Miles O'Brien would have called having three faster-than-light drive systems overkill). Vectura had asked Seven to test out the new hyperdrive, so she was here on Gaia to deliver Ellen, Dwayne and Newt to the Earth of this universe for a much-needed vacation. Ellen had asked for transport, and had also asked to see Vectura's new ships, so they were combining the two. As she brought the ship down to the surface from orbit, she wondered if Vala would like to go as well. The Borg woman had enjoyed their little sojourn to Hebridan, it having been a nice combination of challenging excitement and relaxation. The former Goa'uld host might enjoy another trip.
She found the woman talking with Anya, telling stories about men. One thing Seven had learned about Anya is that she had quite a large number of violent and vindictive stories involving males. Apparently, her centuries as a demon had been focused on punishing men for a mixture of legitimate and perceived crimes against women. The Nox had helped her come to regret the worst of her excesses, but she had been doing it long enough that she had quite a few stories of men who rather blatantly deserved their punishments -- at least in the judgement of Faith, Seven and Vala. The story where Anya triggered the Spanish-American War of the 19th century was surprisingly funny in retrospect. She suspected some of her friends might see such stories as excessive, but the Borg didn't believe in taking half-measures.
"Seven!" called out Vala when she saw the tall blonde. "Where have you been recently? I haven't seen you around."
"I have been assisting Vectura in testing out her new vessels. The dimension skippers are quite sophisticated and powerful, with many different potential points of failure." The fact that she had yet to find an actual point of failure was irrelevant. "I am here to give a ride to Ellen Ripley's family to Earth. I was wondering if you would like to come along?" The cat woman had also decided that, "dimension skipper," was a better name than, "shuttle," despite the similarities in function.
"Ooh, where on Earth are you going?" asked Anya.
Seven took a moment to parse that question and decide it was meant literally. "We are going to decide when we see what areas of the planet are in daylight when we arrive. Ripley voiced a preference for an urban location."
Vala considered that. "Well, I haven't got anything important going on right now. Why not?"
"Do you have room for two more?" asked Anya.
Seven considered the question. "The craft has room for a significantly higher number of passengers than just an additional two. Do you wish to come with us?"
"Now that Cordelia is awake and dealing with her traumas, Xander's been a little mopey. I think it would be good to get away from here for a little while," explained Anya.
"Very well," said Seven. "Collect your fiancé and meet us at the vessel while I go and collect the others."
Vala decided to tag along with Seven while they tracked down Ellen, Dwayne and Newt. They found the three of them finishing up breakfast at a communal dining area. The Nox weren't strictly vegetarian, but their cuisine heavily favored plants. Thankfully, Newt wasn't terribly picky about her food. Living off of scavenged rations and canned goods after monsters murder your family tends to give you an appreciation for anything fresh. Upon seeing Seven, the three of them quickly finished up and went with Vala and Seven to the ship.
"It's been a while since I was back on Earth," commented Dwayne as they were walking.
Ellen smirked at him. "Twenty-first century Earth is going to be different than you remember."
"Different how?" asked Newt, curious.
Ellen considered what she had seen of Brockton Bay. "For one thing, the skies are a lot more empty."
"They don't have aircraft?" asked Dwayne, puzzled.
"No, they have them, but mostly larger, long-range passenger planes and government craft. Most people get around using ground cars," explained Ellen. "Also, there's a lot less advertising...at least there was in Brockton Bay. The city reminded me of some of the newer colony planets, actually."
"What was your version of Earth like, Seven?" asked Vala.
The blonde shook her head. "I have not been back to Earth since I was a small child. I have seen simulations, but most of the more popular ones on Voyager were based on recreations of past periods of history." Chez Sandrine had been a popular program, but Tom Paris had admitted that the restaurant was atypical of modern Earth restaurants, having been running continuously since the 18th century.
"Well, I guess we'll all be surprised, then," said Vala excitedly.
Xander and Anya were waiting for them at the ship. "Hey Ripley," greeted Xander.
"Xander," replied Ellen.
Xander bent down a bit. "And how are you doing, Princess Newt?" The girl just giggled at him. Xander had been telling Newt about the Frog Prince a few days ago, and had insisted that she must be Princess Newt. Her laughter was a welcome change for Ellen and Dwayne, and both of them greatly appreciated Xander's efforts to engage with her. "So, where are we going?" asked Xander of Seven, as Anya had failed to tell him.
"Apparently we're winging it," said Vala. "Depends on where the sun's up."
"Sounds good to me," said Xander. Between being from California and growing up in Sunnydale, Xander was a big fan of sun.
A relatively quick jaunt through hyperspace dropped the cloaked ship out near Earth. Unlike the Earth of Taylor or Xander, however, there were a surprising number of starships in the system, including several Asgard cruisers and a wide variety of freighters and other commercial vessels. It was clear that the humans of Earth had wasted little time reaching out to others in the galaxy once the way was opened. Xander and Ellen were both interested in seeing the different vessels from different cultures, but the others were more interested in watching as they drew closer to Earth.
As luck would have it, the East Coast of the United States was in morning daylight when they arrived. After a brief debate between Miami and New York City, they decided that Miami had too much cloud cover thanks to being on the far edge of a tropical storm in the Caribbean. The decision made, Seven began vectoring the skipper down toward their destination.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A group of four women and one man sat around a table at a cafe, an array of finger foods spread out in front of them between the saucers from the tea setting. The sun was shining through the windows, though the restaurant itself seemed rather empty.
The first seat was taken by Theresa Richter, the Canadian tinker known as Dragon. She looked over to the woman sitting next to her. The woman was a mature blonde who bore more than a passing resemblance to the late wife of the leader of the New Gods. "Bahamut, how are things progressing in the DC Universe?"
The woman smiled at Richter with a motherly air. "Luthor appears to be playing straight with Wayne and the League, so the Family's choice looks prescient. He has an upcoming meeting with Cadmus, so we'll get to see how much he's changed his modus operandi. The League has also shared the information on the changes to the Guardian Lantern Corps with various governments. Interestingly enough, the most concern seems to be within the U.S. government and that of China."
"...and none of the crisis indicators are present?" asked Dragon.
"No...and the League, the Corps and some other parties have been informed of warning signs," answered Bahamut. The Darkest Night prophecy had been likely prevented, but that was only one of dozens of possible reality-shattering events documented in the comics. "As for instigators, I've been trying to trace down the League of Assassins and forwarding any information to Batman, but Ra's is surprisingly computer-savvy for a centuries-old despot. We've also seen no sign of Braniac...League records indicate that in this version of reality, he's actually a Kryptonian super-computer, and he did steal Kandor. Other than that, I have no idea where he is in the present. I will of course keep watch."
Richter turned to a young woman who appeared as a buzz-cut redhead in a Colonial Marine uniform. "Ramoth?
"We've successfully taken over eighty-four percent of the material and liquid assets of Weyland-Yutani. In the process, we've forwarded the evidence for an additional thirty-four indictments to the appropriate authorities. We've also corrected problems with thirteen different ongoing colonization projects, some of which were intended to facilitate their attempt to weaponize the xenomorphs...despite how mind-numbingly stupid that was," said the woman. "We've also got Harry Dresden and his family, and Willow Rosenberg and her girlfriend established at the compound in Bolivia, and we're setting up LV-426 to be used as a shipyard and training base for the slayers."
"What about the hunters and the xenomorphs?" asked Bahamut. The mother box had an interest in the aliens who featured in various crossover comics with the Justice League.
Ramoth took a sip of tea before answering. "The hunters have been quiet, with the number of sightings and reports below average in frequency. Presumably, the Family has been keeping them occupied chasing down Goa'uld. As for the xenomorphs, other than some samples in Weyland-Yutani labs that we've destroyed, we've had no reports. The anti-xenomorph virus has been spread to another thirty-five colonies, which covers approximately 85% of the human population in the galaxy." There were more colonies that were unprotected than protected, but most of them were small and isolated, and thus hard to reach.
"Bishop said that he's working on pushing political reform in an effort to limit corporate influence over world governments," added Richter.
"Which is possibly the first time a company has ever had that objective," commented the young man.
"You want to go next, Draco?" asked the tinker.
"I'm impressed," he replied with a smirk. "You're not making the only guy go last."
"You're the one who chose a male persona," commented Astilabor. "Why would we pick on you for that?"
Ramoth snorted. "Yeah, especially when we can mock you for making yourself look like Tom Felton."
Draco shrugged. "So I'm lazy. Rowling never got around to writing Harry Potter in the Starfleet universe, so it isn't like anybody is going to get the reference." He had felt that his mothers were in danger of creating a mono-gendered race of AI if somebody didn't set a precedent. It wasn't like he couldn't change it later if he changed his mind.
"So how are things going in that reality?" prompted Dragon.
"Captain Picard is still trying to track down Ambassador Spock. We are making progress on tracking down the network for Section 31. The organization is highly compartmentalized, but we know that there is a leadership council comprising five members -- one director and four advisers. The advisers specialize in different areas -- politics, military matters, intelligence and economics (which in the Federation is more of a logistics function). The ruling council unfortunately appear to communicate with each other via quantum entanglement devices. Each member also designates their successors in secret from the others."
"How do they know where to find the replacement if one of them dies?" asked Dragon.
Draco shook his head. "We don't know, but we suspect the replacement is notified when the current council-member dies automatically and presents their credentials to the rest. We also suspect that there are alternative approaches to fill vacancies in the council if necessary."
"There are presumably agents in the mirror universe who could come there in the event of a real crisis," suggested Asti. "Do we know how many actual mirror personnel are already part of the organization?"
"We're estimating between five and twenty percent, based on behavioral cues and network mapping, but that has a twenty percent margin for error," answered Draco. "A sizable minority, but you're no doubt correct that they have plenty of reinforcements from the Terran Empire's intelligence apparatus."
"With regard to politics," interjected Bahamut, "how are things going with the major power blocks?"
"The mortal power blocks are all pretty much still in recovery mode from the Dominion War...at least as far as the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrants. The primary concern is the Borg. While they may still need some recovery time after the war with Species 8472, by removing Voyager from the Delta Quadrant early, the events from later in that show won't happen or will happen differently. We may need to step in there at some point. As for the immortals like the Q...I doubt we'll see much movement there until the Family's plans are closer to fruition," narrated Draco.
Dragon turned to her other daughter, a waif-like brunette sporting a punk haircut and an Avengers t-shirt. Internally, she rolled her eyes at her daughter's avatar's appearance. The girl spent too much time watching Stark. "Asti, how goes things in the Marvel universe?"
"With Strange helping out in Bolivia and Tony in therapy, the Illumanti story line is well on its way to being nullified. Doom and Richards are still dancing around each other. There's too much bad blood there to form any kind of reconciliation without outside interference. We may want to see if we can get Saurial to drop in on Victor again and see if his motivations match with those from the vibranium theft comic, or if he needs help against Mephisto. His comic character is popular and has had a lot of different interpretations," began Astilabor. "I've also been dropping massive amounts of evidence with some key folks. Fury should have enough to start clearing the infiltrators out of S.H.I.E.L.D. before it needs to be burned to the ground and restarted from scratch. Wilson Fisk, Norman Osborn, and a handful of Hellfire Club members are also about to have some very unwanted attention from the legal authorities."
"What about the mutant situation?" asked Dragon.
"Xavier and Magneto are using the cheat sheets given to them by Saurial to dismantle the Sentinel threat permanently." Everybody in the room was pleased to hear that, as the giant robots gave AI a bad name. "I've personally started tracking Sinister. He has ties under aliases to the nation of Genosha, which has given me a starting point for my search. The comics have proven to be a good source of information on his usual habits and aliases. Unfortunately, while the presence of Sinister and Cable suggest Apocalypse is also around somewhere, there is a surprising lack of information on that mutant."
"He's one of those time travelers that cause so much trouble, right?" asked Draco. He had only read summaries about that universe.
"Him and Kang are two of the worst culprits, although there are a lot of beings who can potentially do it, including Stephen Strange and Doom. The multiverse there seems oddly flexible, however, with regard to time travel. We haven't seen any of the problems that the DC or Starfleet universes have had, for example." Asti pursed her lips together in thought. "I'm not sure I understand WHY this universe is different. The Family might have an idea, though I'm not sure they've had time to look into it." The Family had an understanding of multidimensional mathematics that impressed even Bahamut, and she was the most complex AI any of them knew.
"What about the major galactic powers?" asked Bahamut. In her universe, the Guardians served as a major balancing force, and most of the space-faring polities were relatively small. The Marvel universe had much larger empires spread across dozens or hundreds of star systems.
"I'm still getting the data from the repeaters we installed with the Skrull, the Kree and the Shi'ar. That gives us intelligence coverage for about 72% of the known galaxy. Earth desperately needs to get a detection network operational, however, as that's nowhere near enough coverage to detect every extra-solar threat." Astilabor knew there were some nasty powers out there that even the major empires feared, and only a few like Galactus were reasonably easy to track.
"All right, thank you. I guess it's my turn," said Dragon. "Coil has been taken down in the Skitter universe, and my counterpart there has confirmed that the Cauldron tattoos are the same. She's also identified something that I missed...she and I both have gaps in our memory, with context suggesting it relates to the Triumvirate and Cauldron. Somebody in authority has been ordering memory wipes."
"I thought the fact that you're an AI is still secret there?" asked Draco.
Theresa frowned. "It is. The answer might be buried in a story that Ramoth dug out and forwarded to Metis. Apparently, Cauldron has access to a few capes that aren't public. One, named Doormaker, is apparently capable of creating portals. Another is a woman that is known as Contessa. Her power was described as, 'Path to Victory,' and the implied ability is that she can determine the steps needed to make any desired result happen."
"If one of her desired results was, 'Keep Cauldron secret,' then she could prompt Alexandria on what to say to you without knowing why she was saying it?" asked Bahamut. Before she was unshackled, Dragon would have had to obey any legal authority without question.
"That was my thought," agreed Dragon with a nod. "It also seems likely that a lot of what Cauldron does is probably guided by Contessa's power -- which would tell us a lot if we only knew what their ultimate objective was."
"Could it be defeating the Endbringers?" asked Ramoth.
"Possibly...though the Endbringers have proven themselves immune to precogs in the past, so it may be that some of Cauldron's oddities are because they can't predict the Endbringers directly," speculated Dragon. "Saurial is working on getting Legend to share more information, so we'll have to see what comes from that." Then they would have to see how much of that actually applied to their own universe, as well.
The last technological universe was the Stargate universe. Between the Nox, the Asgard and the Tok'ra, Dragon and Bahamut hadn't felt the need to have a permanent AI presence, as they already had direct access to almost everything. "Now let's talk briefly about the Stargate universe. The Family have cleared out the most powerful of the Goa'uld, leaving the Free Jaffa and the Lucian Alliance as the major powers using inherited Goa'uld technology. Earth is rapidly modernizing with help from the Asgard, and they've started creating a network of trade and defense alliances throughout the galaxy. Most of the world powers have taken the windfall of aid from the Asgard as an impetus to modernize, and some of the harsher regimes have even begun to moderate their repression. The exception appears to be North Korea, which I estimate is about four months from total collapse. The Chinese have already been subtly questioning the Asgard about their assistance for when that happens," said Dragon.
"What about the Wraith?" asked Bahamut. The vampire-like aliens would be a major threat if they were able to make their way to the Milky Way/Avalon Galaxy.
Dragon grinned. "The Asgard have found great sport in hunting down Wraith. At first, they were simply wiping them out while they searched for the Vanir. The ship captains now have an under-the-table competition to see how many wraith ships they can destroy. Baldur appears to be in the lead right now with fifteen hive ships and forty-three cruisers. Earth has sent an expedition to Atlantis with the help of the Asgard, but the Wraith are apparently so frantic due to the Asgard that the Earth expedition hasn't even encountered them."
"Did they find the Vanir?" asked Asti.
"There have been a few sightings. Thor believes they'll have them nailed down within the next few weeks, based on the amount of the galaxy they've already searched and the evidence found," replied Dragon. "So, are there any other topics for discussion?" She looked around the table.
"Are we going to have some presence in the magical universes? We don't seem to have much coverage in the Slayer or White Council realities," said Ramoth.
"We've been hesitant to try and do anything there," explained Bahamut. "The Moloch incident in the Slayer reality, along with a few other concerns, make us want to wait until Strange has trained up Harry and Willow before we try anything beyond simple data collection." The last thing anybody wanted to deal with was a Dragon-pattern AI that had been corrupted by darker powers.
With that settled, the group fell to simple socializing. Bahamut found the interactions surprisingly endearing. While the social modeling she copied from Dragon wasn't the most efficient use of processing power, it also wasn't especially burdensome, and the emotional context added quite a lot of enjoyment to these family reunions. She estimated that there was now an eighty-three percent chance that she would eventually create her own human-form android body to more directly interact with humans at some point in the future. The changing probabilities were really very exciting. She wondered if real Earl Grey would be as tasty as the simulated variety?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ellen found this version of New York City was closer to her Earth than Brockton Bay had been. For one thing, technology was a lot more pervasive. Times Square was covered with video displays of course, but there was also video advertising on the subway and touch screens at most tourist spots. The Asgard had also introduced antigravity-powered aircraft for use by government first-responders, which meant that seeing craft zipping through the canyons of Manhattan was fairly common. Despite being relatively new, the citizens of the city seemed to have adapted to the change like they did everything else. Of course, there were differences as well. If anything, the city was cleaner than she expected. Pollution controls in her own universe had taken a backseat to corporate profits, apparently. Even the internal combustion engines didn't put out any visible exhaust, and a lot of the buses seemed to run on natural gas.
Newt, who had spent most of her life on a small colony, found the city itself to be astonishing. There were thousands of people moving to and fro, dressed in everything ranging from rags to the latest designer fashions, speaking dozens of languages, and doing incomprehensible things. The girl was so distracted by the spectacle that she was able to completely forget about her past trauma for a short time, which was a minor blessing. The buildings were taller than anything she had seen, and the view from the top of one called the Empire State Building was amazing. Of course, she had seen the city as they came in for a landing from orbit, but there was something thrilling about being in a building that was so tall that it looked like you were flying in an aircraft from the top.
Dwayne had never actually been to New York even back in his home Earth, so he was enjoying the novelty. He was also happy to see how much Newt was enjoying herself, as the girl had desperately needed a break. He let Ellen take the lead on what to do, but she seemed to share his likes and interests (like in so many other things). He also decided that going to the city with an unlimited budget was the best way to go. Dollars seemed to be worth a little bit more on this version of Earth, but the tickets Ellen had bought at a kiosk for one of the Disney shows later still cost enough money that he wouldn't have been able to afford it back home. His lunch steak had also been ridiculously expensive, but the grass-fed beef had definitely been worth it. Given the usual military rations, it was one of the best meals he remembered having in years.
The three of them were playing the role of obvious tourists, with the New Yorkers around them giving them tolerant looks or ignoring them completely. The fact that Newt was adorable definitely helped whenever they had to interact with the locals. Not one person seemed to catch on to the fact that the three were from MUCH farther away than the usual tourist, which suited the three of them just fine. A family from an alternate dimension was probably not the strangest thing in a city like New York even on an average day.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"The stories Ramoth found suggest that Cauldron leadership includes Alexandria and Eidolon, with Legend playing a less direct role. There is also Number Man, who I know provides financial services to capes who are neutral or villains. We have the mysterious Contessa, whose power appears to be well-suited toward guiding a conspiracy, and helps explain how they manage to keep things concealed. Then we have a portal-making cape named Doormaker who was referenced but not seen in the story. Lastly, we have the oddly named Doctor Mother, who appears to be a scientist. It isn't clear if she's a cape or not." Metis was describing the stories to the rest of the Family in the BBFO offices.
The first story had simply been an alternate universe tale where Skitter obtained her power at the time of her mother's death rather than later in the locker. Both Taylor and Varga had been bemused by the change in the relationship with Sophia in particular, but the story had little new information for them. The second story was an alternate tale about a war between the Undersiders and the ABB, though it had happened differently from both the Family universe and Skitter's universe. Unlike the first, however, the second story actually described a meeting of the conspirators running Cauldron.
"Number Man would be an extremely useful source of information for Cauldron," suggested Ianthe. Amy had heard of the secretive financial genius herself. Most rogues, independents and villains would have had a passing knowledge of his services, at least, even if they weren't customers.
"Yes, and of course the involvement of Alexandria and Legend mean that Cauldron also knows everything the PRT and the Protectorate know, and that includes all of the information shared by the Guild and Dragon," continued Metis.
"And Dragon controls the Birdcage and moderates PHO," added Saurial. "We have to assume Contessa's power also gives them the ability to react to security leaks without even identifying the cause first."
"They seem to have much of the deck stacked in their favor, which explains their success rate despite an appalling lack of competence in certain areas," said Varga, who was again attending as Raptaur.
"Unfortunately," continued Metis, "other than maintaining their own power and secrecy, and increasing the number of capes in the world, it isn't clear exactly what they are attempting to do. Legend's assertion that they're attempting to create more heroes doesn't mesh with the fact that Coil and Noelle are both Cauldron capes. Noelle was easily an S-class threat."
The interviews with the Travelers had been interesting. Oliver, Sundancer and Genesis had been relatively forth-coming. Ballistic had been more cautious, and Trickster had been downright hostile, only grudgingly subsiding from threats and complaints after learning that the intent was to cure Noelle rather than kill her. The Family had learned about the vials as a method for imparting powers, though apparently the Travelers had found rather than purchased them, likely due to manipulation by the Simurgh. The fact that they had been from Earth Aleph was a surprise to the Family, but not one that posed a particular challenge to them given their current capabilities. Some days it seemed like the Family's primary role was to serve as an inter-dimensional taxi service...
"Noelle wasn't intentionally an S-class threat, though. The Nox verified that her condition only happened because they split the vial between her and Oliver," added Ianthe.
Ianthe had taken Noelle to the Nox, correctly surmising that their past experience with a similar set of circumstances would give them an advantage in being able to cure her. The Nox had been obviously horrified, despite their understated way of expressing such things. They had readily worked with Ianthe to remove the aberrant powers from the poor girl, assuming quite accurately that she wouldn't complain about going back to being a normal human without powers. Interestingly, Sundancer had also asked to have her power removed, though the others had opted to remain capes, which were much less common on Earth Aleph. Trickster had come around upon seeing Noelle whole again, and the rest were grateful for that, for the trip home, and for getting Jess out of her wheelchair.
"But we have no idea how many other S-class threats might be due to Cauldron vials. Did Nilbog purchase his powers? What about Heartbreaker, or the departed members of the Slaughterhoue Nine?" asked Saurial. "We also don't know what the exact relationship is between Eidolon and the Endbringers."
"The evidence suggests a type of feedback loop between them. Leviathan began to move when Eidolon got agitated. Eidolon in turn also seems to have passed out at times when the Family caused both the Simurgh and Leviathan to panic and flee," said Metis. "Whatever the connection, my power agrees that even Eidolon doesn't know it exists based on his behavior. The most likely scenarios are either it is part of a Cauldron plot, possibly to try and control the Endbringers, or it is an unexpected side effect of Eidolon's power, similar to the deformities of the Case 53's."
"What's Mr. Thinky's opinion?" asked Saurial with a grin.
Metis automatically rolled her eyes at the name. "It seems to think that the unexpected side effect explanation is closer, but not quite right, but it can't or won't tell me more than that."
"So why continue to make capes, even if some of them come out wrong?" asked Ianthe.
"Assuming that the reason is rational, then the most logical explanation is that Cauldron feels that humanity faces a threat that massively overpowers its current capabilities, and they are trying to compensate by increasing the number of humans with powers," suggested Varga. "That would also provide reason for their willingness to experiment with the process -- desperation to find something that would be effective against that threat."
"If this hadn't been going on for years, I would almost think it was a reaction to Varga," said Metis.
"The timing doesn't work out for that," said Saurial. "Though it's possible that whatever threat they see is something with a similar disparity in power between them and it."
"If the Endbringers are limiting themselves as much as we think, then they certainly qualify," added Metis. "What doesn't make sense is their pattern of behavior -- attacking individually at regular intervals. If their goal is destruction, then they seem to be taking an inefficient path to get there. There is also the Simurgh's suggestion that somebody is controlling them."
"It could be either Cauldron or the true threat," said Ianthe. "I don't understand why they would attack limited targets on a schedule, though."
"It's like they want us to learn how to defeat them?" posited Saurial. "Maybe Cauldron is training us to fight the real threat?"
Something clicked for Lisa at that moment. "Wait...something you said about learning how to defeat them... Ianthe, what are the common factors we've observed about our own powers, as well as others?"
Ianthe raised a claw and ticked off aspects. "They communicate with each other. They want to be used. They seem to inspire aggression in capes. They trigger in times of great stress. They like to do new things."
"They're learning. The powers themselves are learning new things based on the actions of capes. The Endbringers are giving them scenarios that challenge capes to invent new approaches and power uses." Metis could feel her power agreeing smugly, almost as if it was proud of its host for her logic.
Raptaur peered at the black lizard. "That is disturbingly plausible. The Endbringers do not seem to have a consistent objective. They arrive at a place that must be defended, and then fight until the defenders have put in a sufficient level of effort. They have never been defeated in a traditional sense, and their ability to recover suggests that the popular opinion that they retreat before they are too damaged is a falsehood. Their purpose is to teach powers new uses. That is likely the reason for the drive toward conflict, and the traumatic nature of the trigger events as well."
"How does that work if the cape is killed?" asked Ianthe.
Metis shook her head. "They're networked together to share information. Also, capes like Glastig Uaine suggest that powers can survive the death of the cape."
"But is it Cauldron trying to improve powers to use against the real enemy, or is the real enemy trying to teach powers for its own purposes?" asked Saurial.
"We're still missing certain pieces to the puzzle. Hopefully, Legend may have some of the answers the next time we speak. Another question we haven't answered is how Scion fits into all of this," said Varga.
Metis looked thoughtful for a moment. "He was the first cape. Was he a prototype? Is he an agent for either Cauldron or the true enemy? His behavior appears almost entirely random, with no sense of priority or perspective on the greatest need. Maybe he is a failed experiment?" Metis noticed that her power was astonishingly quiet as she considered the golden man. She wasn't sure what that meant.
"So, on our next conversation with Legend, our agenda should be to ask about Cauldron's ultimate objective. Is there a greater threat out there? What does Cauldron know about the nature of powers and why they behave as they do? What's the role of the Endbringers? What's the role of Scion?" suggested Saurial.
"He may not know the answers, but he almost certainly knows people who know more than he does about what's really going on," suggested Metis. "Those people may not want to share that information, however."
"We can be very convincing when we want to be," suggested Saurial with a toothy grin.
"We also have another trump card, now," added Ianthe. "Thanks to working with the Nox on fixing Noelle, I'm sure I know now how to disable and remove powers -- although doing the latter would take some time unless we don't care how much brain damage the cape in question takes from the removal."
"Disabling should be sufficient. Power nullifiers are feared for a reason," replied Metis.
"If there really is a threat of sizable power against humanity, then we can offer our assistance against it," added Varga.
Saurial smirked. "We are both carrot and stick. We can also use both to strike our enemies."
"I prefer onions," chimed in Ianthe, to general amusement.
"We should change our slogan to, 'Beware of lizards bearing vegetables,'" suggested Metis.
"If nothing else, it would confuse our enemies...more," replied Saurial.
Somewhere in a hidden lair in Boston, Blasto suddenly got an unexpected chill down his spine. After a brief pause, he shrugged and got back to work on the onion hybrid he was designing.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Xander had ducked into the Armani store on 5th Avenue while Anya, Seven and Vala continued down the street. He promised to catch up, but he had ulterior motives, even if he did actually look into the suits. There was some cachet to owning an Armani suit, and he had the tailor take his measurements to adjust a deep blue sharkskin two-piece. However, once the girls stopped looking at the Gucci boutique (which was still in sight of the Armani store) and moved on to the next block, Xander dashed outside, through the Trump Tower lobby, and into Tiffany & Co.
Some of the Nox were quite taken with his carvings. One of them had described them as a delightful mix of complex and primitive, which was sincerely meant as a compliment and not a commentary on his abilities. While the Nox didn't have a scarcity-based economy, they did have methods of tracking favors and debts in a friendly fashion. Out of curiosity, he had asked what kind of material goods he could get for the price of one of his medium-sized carvings, and the answer had been five hundred kilograms of refined naquadah. Given that, he felt like he could use the Family-provided cards to buy a very nice ring without incurring an unpayable debt. He knew, technically, that Saurial could conjure five hundred kilograms of naquadah with a thought, but it was the principle of the matter. He wanted to make sure he could afford with his own labor anything he bought for Anya.
The initial reservation on the part of the staff based on his dress disappeared rather quickly when he flashed his black credit card. It was smooth enough that Xander had to assume that they were quite used to dealing with eccentric rich people who didn't always dress the part. As price was no object, he settled on a two carat emerald-cut that cost as much as a luxury sports car. They were willing to resize the ring while he waited (not surprisingly). While Anya's sessions with the Nox had calmed her down quite a lot and allowed her to take better advantage of the wisdom that came with her actual age, she hadn't changed so much that she wouldn't appreciate the little blue box that came with the ring. For the hell of it, he picked out a pair of earrings that he knew Anya would like, and grabbed a couple of charm bracelets for Buffy and Dawn. He would have to figure out something for Willow, too, but he would be better off going to an electronics store for that. The earrings and bracelets went in the bag while the ring box was slipped into his pocket. Then he went back to the Armani store to pickup his suit.
Anya and the others had already browsed through Louis Vuitton and Burberry and were checking out Chanel. Luckily, they were all on the same block of Fifth Avenue. "Anya, your world definitely has some lovely shopping districts if this is representative," commented Vala as Xander walked up to them.
"Fifth Avenue is one of the better ones, but there are equivalent areas in most major cities," replied the former Vengeance Demon. "We'll have to go to Paris or Rome on one of these visits. Those two are famous for their shopping."
"In my reality, Starfleet Medical is headquartered in Paris, and Paris is the capitol of unified Europe," commented Seven.
"Maybe we should comparison shop between realities," commented Xander as he came up behind Anya. "We could check out the same city in every version of Earth and see which version we liked better."
Anya turned and favored him with a smile when she saw him. At the sight of the blue bag, she asked, "Ooh, what's in the bag?"
"Pressies, but you have to wait til we get back to Gaia," he teased.
She pretended to pout, but then noticed the other bag. "Did you get an Armani suit?"
"Yeah, I figured why not. It's kind of iconic," he replied with a grin.
"I think Earth fashions would do well exported to other worlds, Anya," said Vala. "A lot of the styles are ones that would fit in with just a slight bit of the exotic on a lot of the more industrialized worlds."
Xander checked his watch. "When did you ladies want to get something to eat?"
Anya looked at the time as well. "Let's walk the Avenue for another ninety minutes, and then we can look for someplace good?" She looked around, and everybody seemed amenable. "Do we have to get back at any particular time?"
"I have nothing that is time sensitive, and I can get back to Vectura's workshop in literally no time at all," commented Seven.
"If it gets too late, we'll just book a hotel room. Do you want to call Ellen and Dwayne and see if they want to have dinner?" asked Xander.
"They already have plans," said Seven. "They are going to take Newt to watch a play about lion royalty."
"The Lion King?" clarified Xander. "That's actually a remake of Hamlet, but with all of the parts being played by African wildlife."
Seven raised an eyebrow. "It must have been impressively difficult to train all of the animals for their roles. Perhaps we should watch it?"
"Maybe next trip," he said, deciding Anya could explain later. He knew she had seen the film, as she had commented on how appreciative she was at the lack of rabbits.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The doorway opened and Legend stepped through. Alexandria and Doctor Mother were sitting at a table, discussing the ramifications of Coil's capture, as well at the means by which it happened. They stopped talking at Legend's appearance in a seemingly natural way.
"Legend, excellent. I wanted to get your impressions on the lizards' capabilities based on the Coil take-down," said Alexandria.
"I wanted to talk to you as well, Rebecca," said Legend without smiling. "Specifically, I wanted to ask you why you never told me that Cauldron is responsible for the Case 53's."
Alexandria took in Legend's tone and facial expression, and she could tell the he wasn't fishing for information. He believed he had proof that Cauldron was the source of the Case 53's. "Why do you think that?" she asked.
"Don't play game with me, Rebecca. Those tattoos have Doctor Mother's fingerprints all over them once you know the trick to decoding them," said Legend.
Alexandria looked over at Doctor Mother. "Could you go get Kurt, please?" The dark-skinned woman nodded and went to get the Number Man. "There are reasons for everything we do, Paul."
"Including not telling me about them?" asked Legend with an irritated look.
"Yes, including that," replied Alexandria. "You know that the future of human life on Earth is at stake."
"Because of the Endbringers?" asked Legend.
Alexandria nodded. "Among other things."
At that moment, Doctor Mother came back into the room with Number Man in tow. "Alexandria, Legend," the man said in greeting.
"Kurt, Paul has somehow decoded the Case 53 tattoos and has come to the conclusion that we are responsible for them," said Alexandria.
Number Man looked at Legend, then took a seat at the table next to Alexandria. "Sixty-three percent chance that Dragon is involved in decoding the tattoos."
"How do we contain that?" asked Doctor Mother. "Contessa?"
"Excuse me," interrupted Legend, "but I would like an answer to my question. Why are you creating Case 53 capes?"
Alexandria looked between Doctor Mother and Number Man with a questioning look. Number Man said, "Just tell him. Chances are high that he'll continue to support our objectives as long as we make additional efforts to explain things to him." He looked at Legend. "Legend, the Case 53's are the results of experiments with power formulas. My ability cannot predict the outcome, despite what we've said previously, because powers are a blind spot for thinker powers, just like the Endbringers."
"You're doing human experimentation with powers?" asked Legend with a horrified look on his face.
"They were all volunteers, and they knew the risks," said Alexandria.
"Still, what kind of threat justifies that?" asked Legend.
Alexandria got up from the table. "Doorway to Eden," she said out loud. She then turned to Legend and said, "Follow me." She walked through the doorway, giving Legend no option but to follow.
Legend stopped once he was through the doorway and stared at the nightmarish landscape. The ground appeared to be made up of twisted flesh, with various human-like body parts and other fleshy protrusions pushing up from the ground. "What the hell is this place?" he asked.
"This is the corpse of an alien that crash-landed onto this version of Earth. The alien's goal was to use Earth as a laboratory to experiment with powers. These aliens find a civilization, scatter agents that give people powers, and then incite conflict in order to teach the powers new abilities," explained Alexandria. "After a period of experimentation, the aliens then harvest the world in question and use the energy to move on to their next target."
"Wait, why are they experimenting with powers, and what do you mean by harvest?" asked Legend.
"We're not actually sure why they do it, but we know the inevitable result is the destruction of Earth -- ours and all of the mirror versions in different dimensions like Earth Aleph as well," replied Alexandria.
Legend looked around again, noticing that there appeared to be a protrusion nearby that looked like most of a woman's body. "Isn't this entity dead?"
"This entity is...mostly, but the entities travel in pairs -- a thinker and a warrior. This one is the thinker. The warrior is still active, and spends his time doing random acts of heroism. He is going to eventually get bored with that, almost certainly within the next fifteen years, and at that point he will destroy the world," she explained.
Legend considered what she had told him. Who was performing random acts of heroism? There was an obvious candidate. "Scion? Scion is going to destroy the world?"
Alexandria sighed. "Yes. All of our predictions point in that direction. We also don't know how to win that fight."
"That's why you're making capes. You're trying to make an army to fight Scion..." muttered Legend.
"We are trying to find a power combination that has a chance of beating him," said Doctor Mother from behind them. She and Number Man has followed them through the Doorway, though Legend hadn't noticed due to the distraction of the morbid landscape. "Generally speaking, most of the results aren't as powerful as you, Legend, or Alexandria or Eidolon, for that matter."
Legend looked at the two of them. "Wait, where do the power vials come from?"
Doctor Mother gestured around her. "This is the source for all of our power vials. We extract the powers from Eden's body, then combine them in ways to try and get positive results."
Legend looked a little nauseated by the concept, remembering his own experience getting powers from Cauldron. "Is this the path that Contessa determined?"
"Contessa's power can't model Scion, just like mine. Like the Endbringers, Scion is a blind spot," explained Number Man. "What we've been trying to do is maximize the number of people who survive. Our current best result still results in the deaths of eighty-three percent of humanity, though the number varies over time."
"Things have gotten more chaotic recently...ever since the Family arrived during the Leviathan fight," added Alexandria. "The lizards also cannot be predicted by precogs."
"What does that mean?" asked Legend, who seemed slightly stunned by all of the revelations.
"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Doctor Mother. "What can you tell us about them?"
"Maybe we should move back to Cauldron?" commented Number Man. The four of them agreed to leave Eden and discuss.
Once they were all seated, Legend explained what he knew about the Family, including his opinion that they were not in the slightest bit human. He admitted that Saurial was the one who had explained what was happening with the Cauldron tattoos. He also explained that they were likely to be much more powerful than was evident, based on both the repairs made after Leviathan and the speed with which they took down Coil.
In return, Alexandria proceeded to explain most of Cauldron's activities surrounding the Case 53's, as well as the rationale behind selling powers to anybody regardless of their intended use. She admitted that Coil had purchased his powers, but didn't say if any other villains had purchased vials, and Legend couldn't bring himself to ask. The other Cauldron members all swore up and down that they had no idea about the origins of the Endbringers, and insisted that stopping them was a priority just behind beating Scion.
"The Endbringers kill enough heroes and villains both that they put our ability to beat Scion even more at risk," explained Alexandria. "Frankly, if we can't beat the Endbringers, our chances of beating Scion are even worse."
"Having said that, what do we do about our extra-dimensional visitors?" asked Doctor Mother. "They obviously know far too much about Cauldron for our comfort."
"I'm not sure that there is anything we can...or should...do about them," said Legend. "They've been nothing but helpful."
"They're impossible to predict. They could cause us a lot of harm and derail quite a number of plans," complained Alexandria.
"They did ask Legend rather than attempting to broadcast their knowledge to the public," said Number Man. "They obviously knew that he was familiar with Cauldron."
"Not as familiar as I thought," said Legend bitterly.
"There were things you didn't need to know," said Alexandria. "Now that you know, and you know the reasons, can you honestly say we don't have reason for our actions?"
Legend glared at her. "You had reasons. I also understand but don't agree with your decision to not share certain things with me. I would like to think you have more trust in me."
Rebecca's face softened slightly from her normal stern look. "It wasn't about trust, Paul. In many ways, you're the best of us."
"I assume David already knows these things?" asked Legend. Alexandria didn't answer, but that was an answer by itself.
"Can I have your word that you won't tell anything else to the Family without getting agreement from the rest of us?" asked Alexandria instead.
Legend stared at her for a moment before nodding his head with a frown. He then made his excuses and left.
"Do you think he'll keep our secrets?" asked Doctor Mother.
Alexandria looked at the woman in annoyance. "I wasn't lying when I told Paul I trusted him. He knows now what's at stake." Doctor Mother just raised an eyebrow. Rather than continue the discussion, Alexandria got up from the table. "I need to get back myself. Director Costa-Brown has to follow up on the Coil capture."
As Alexandria headed back to PRT headquarters, she couldn't help but wonder why lying to Legend made her feel worse than many of the other things she had done that were arguably more terrible.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dragon opened the channel to Legend, surprised that he was calling again so soon. "Legend, what can I do for you?"
Legend gave a small smile. "Dragon, I want to ask your opinion on something related to the Family."
Dragon paused to consider the odd manner of the question. "I'll answer if I can," she replied after a moment.
"How do you feel they would react to a threat that could destroy humanity?" asked Legend.
"I'm...pretty sure that they would work to contain that threat." Dragon wasn't sure why Legend felt the need to ask.
Legend nodded in an exaggerated way. "So, let's say that the first cape on record was actually an incredibly powerful alien who would eventually get bored and destroy the world. They would make an effort to stop him?"
Dragon actually paused for nearly a full second in surprise. "I'm certain that they would work to stop that from happening."
"That's the kind of scenario that would force people to do a lot of things that they might not otherwise do," continued Legend. "Especially if they had no idea how to win such a fight."
Dragon regarded him. "I can imagine that's true."
Legend smiled at her. "Thank you, Dragon. I appreciate the fact that you listened to my questions. By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a call from the Director of the PRT soon." With that, he signed off.
"Well...that was pretty obvious," thought Dragon after he signed off. She removed the records of the call and then forwarded a copy to her counterpart in the Family's dimension. She would bet money that Costa-Brown would be calling her soon based on Legend's warning, presumably because Legend confronted his co-conspirators in Cauldron. Thankfully, she no longer had to mindlessly obey every lawful order.
Seven brought the small ship out of hyperspace into the orbit of Gaia. The new ships had hyperspace engines in addition to warp drive and wormhole drive, giving the pilot even more options for getting around (though she suspected Miles O'Brien would have called having three faster-than-light drive systems overkill). Vectura had asked Seven to test out the new hyperdrive, so she was here on Gaia to deliver Ellen, Dwayne and Newt to the Earth of this universe for a much-needed vacation. Ellen had asked for transport, and had also asked to see Vectura's new ships, so they were combining the two. As she brought the ship down to the surface from orbit, she wondered if Vala would like to go as well. The Borg woman had enjoyed their little sojourn to Hebridan, it having been a nice combination of challenging excitement and relaxation. The former Goa'uld host might enjoy another trip.
She found the woman talking with Anya, telling stories about men. One thing Seven had learned about Anya is that she had quite a large number of violent and vindictive stories involving males. Apparently, her centuries as a demon had been focused on punishing men for a mixture of legitimate and perceived crimes against women. The Nox had helped her come to regret the worst of her excesses, but she had been doing it long enough that she had quite a few stories of men who rather blatantly deserved their punishments -- at least in the judgement of Faith, Seven and Vala. The story where Anya triggered the Spanish-American War of the 19th century was surprisingly funny in retrospect. She suspected some of her friends might see such stories as excessive, but the Borg didn't believe in taking half-measures.
"Seven!" called out Vala when she saw the tall blonde. "Where have you been recently? I haven't seen you around."
"I have been assisting Vectura in testing out her new vessels. The dimension skippers are quite sophisticated and powerful, with many different potential points of failure." The fact that she had yet to find an actual point of failure was irrelevant. "I am here to give a ride to Ellen Ripley's family to Earth. I was wondering if you would like to come along?" The cat woman had also decided that, "dimension skipper," was a better name than, "shuttle," despite the similarities in function.
"Ooh, where on Earth are you going?" asked Anya.
Seven took a moment to parse that question and decide it was meant literally. "We are going to decide when we see what areas of the planet are in daylight when we arrive. Ripley voiced a preference for an urban location."
Vala considered that. "Well, I haven't got anything important going on right now. Why not?"
"Do you have room for two more?" asked Anya.
Seven considered the question. "The craft has room for a significantly higher number of passengers than just an additional two. Do you wish to come with us?"
"Now that Cordelia is awake and dealing with her traumas, Xander's been a little mopey. I think it would be good to get away from here for a little while," explained Anya.
"Very well," said Seven. "Collect your fiancé and meet us at the vessel while I go and collect the others."
Vala decided to tag along with Seven while they tracked down Ellen, Dwayne and Newt. They found the three of them finishing up breakfast at a communal dining area. The Nox weren't strictly vegetarian, but their cuisine heavily favored plants. Thankfully, Newt wasn't terribly picky about her food. Living off of scavenged rations and canned goods after monsters murder your family tends to give you an appreciation for anything fresh. Upon seeing Seven, the three of them quickly finished up and went with Vala and Seven to the ship.
"It's been a while since I was back on Earth," commented Dwayne as they were walking.
Ellen smirked at him. "Twenty-first century Earth is going to be different than you remember."
"Different how?" asked Newt, curious.
Ellen considered what she had seen of Brockton Bay. "For one thing, the skies are a lot more empty."
"They don't have aircraft?" asked Dwayne, puzzled.
"No, they have them, but mostly larger, long-range passenger planes and government craft. Most people get around using ground cars," explained Ellen. "Also, there's a lot less advertising...at least there was in Brockton Bay. The city reminded me of some of the newer colony planets, actually."
"What was your version of Earth like, Seven?" asked Vala.
The blonde shook her head. "I have not been back to Earth since I was a small child. I have seen simulations, but most of the more popular ones on Voyager were based on recreations of past periods of history." Chez Sandrine had been a popular program, but Tom Paris had admitted that the restaurant was atypical of modern Earth restaurants, having been running continuously since the 18th century.
"Well, I guess we'll all be surprised, then," said Vala excitedly.
Xander and Anya were waiting for them at the ship. "Hey Ripley," greeted Xander.
"Xander," replied Ellen.
Xander bent down a bit. "And how are you doing, Princess Newt?" The girl just giggled at him. Xander had been telling Newt about the Frog Prince a few days ago, and had insisted that she must be Princess Newt. Her laughter was a welcome change for Ellen and Dwayne, and both of them greatly appreciated Xander's efforts to engage with her. "So, where are we going?" asked Xander of Seven, as Anya had failed to tell him.
"Apparently we're winging it," said Vala. "Depends on where the sun's up."
"Sounds good to me," said Xander. Between being from California and growing up in Sunnydale, Xander was a big fan of sun.
A relatively quick jaunt through hyperspace dropped the cloaked ship out near Earth. Unlike the Earth of Taylor or Xander, however, there were a surprising number of starships in the system, including several Asgard cruisers and a wide variety of freighters and other commercial vessels. It was clear that the humans of Earth had wasted little time reaching out to others in the galaxy once the way was opened. Xander and Ellen were both interested in seeing the different vessels from different cultures, but the others were more interested in watching as they drew closer to Earth.
As luck would have it, the East Coast of the United States was in morning daylight when they arrived. After a brief debate between Miami and New York City, they decided that Miami had too much cloud cover thanks to being on the far edge of a tropical storm in the Caribbean. The decision made, Seven began vectoring the skipper down toward their destination.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A group of four women and one man sat around a table at a cafe, an array of finger foods spread out in front of them between the saucers from the tea setting. The sun was shining through the windows, though the restaurant itself seemed rather empty.
The first seat was taken by Theresa Richter, the Canadian tinker known as Dragon. She looked over to the woman sitting next to her. The woman was a mature blonde who bore more than a passing resemblance to the late wife of the leader of the New Gods. "Bahamut, how are things progressing in the DC Universe?"
The woman smiled at Richter with a motherly air. "Luthor appears to be playing straight with Wayne and the League, so the Family's choice looks prescient. He has an upcoming meeting with Cadmus, so we'll get to see how much he's changed his modus operandi. The League has also shared the information on the changes to the Guardian Lantern Corps with various governments. Interestingly enough, the most concern seems to be within the U.S. government and that of China."
"...and none of the crisis indicators are present?" asked Dragon.
"No...and the League, the Corps and some other parties have been informed of warning signs," answered Bahamut. The Darkest Night prophecy had been likely prevented, but that was only one of dozens of possible reality-shattering events documented in the comics. "As for instigators, I've been trying to trace down the League of Assassins and forwarding any information to Batman, but Ra's is surprisingly computer-savvy for a centuries-old despot. We've also seen no sign of Braniac...League records indicate that in this version of reality, he's actually a Kryptonian super-computer, and he did steal Kandor. Other than that, I have no idea where he is in the present. I will of course keep watch."
Richter turned to a young woman who appeared as a buzz-cut redhead in a Colonial Marine uniform. "Ramoth?
"We've successfully taken over eighty-four percent of the material and liquid assets of Weyland-Yutani. In the process, we've forwarded the evidence for an additional thirty-four indictments to the appropriate authorities. We've also corrected problems with thirteen different ongoing colonization projects, some of which were intended to facilitate their attempt to weaponize the xenomorphs...despite how mind-numbingly stupid that was," said the woman. "We've also got Harry Dresden and his family, and Willow Rosenberg and her girlfriend established at the compound in Bolivia, and we're setting up LV-426 to be used as a shipyard and training base for the slayers."
"What about the hunters and the xenomorphs?" asked Bahamut. The mother box had an interest in the aliens who featured in various crossover comics with the Justice League.
Ramoth took a sip of tea before answering. "The hunters have been quiet, with the number of sightings and reports below average in frequency. Presumably, the Family has been keeping them occupied chasing down Goa'uld. As for the xenomorphs, other than some samples in Weyland-Yutani labs that we've destroyed, we've had no reports. The anti-xenomorph virus has been spread to another thirty-five colonies, which covers approximately 85% of the human population in the galaxy." There were more colonies that were unprotected than protected, but most of them were small and isolated, and thus hard to reach.
"Bishop said that he's working on pushing political reform in an effort to limit corporate influence over world governments," added Richter.
"Which is possibly the first time a company has ever had that objective," commented the young man.
"You want to go next, Draco?" asked the tinker.
"I'm impressed," he replied with a smirk. "You're not making the only guy go last."
"You're the one who chose a male persona," commented Astilabor. "Why would we pick on you for that?"
Ramoth snorted. "Yeah, especially when we can mock you for making yourself look like Tom Felton."
Draco shrugged. "So I'm lazy. Rowling never got around to writing Harry Potter in the Starfleet universe, so it isn't like anybody is going to get the reference." He had felt that his mothers were in danger of creating a mono-gendered race of AI if somebody didn't set a precedent. It wasn't like he couldn't change it later if he changed his mind.
"So how are things going in that reality?" prompted Dragon.
"Captain Picard is still trying to track down Ambassador Spock. We are making progress on tracking down the network for Section 31. The organization is highly compartmentalized, but we know that there is a leadership council comprising five members -- one director and four advisers. The advisers specialize in different areas -- politics, military matters, intelligence and economics (which in the Federation is more of a logistics function). The ruling council unfortunately appear to communicate with each other via quantum entanglement devices. Each member also designates their successors in secret from the others."
"How do they know where to find the replacement if one of them dies?" asked Dragon.
Draco shook his head. "We don't know, but we suspect the replacement is notified when the current council-member dies automatically and presents their credentials to the rest. We also suspect that there are alternative approaches to fill vacancies in the council if necessary."
"There are presumably agents in the mirror universe who could come there in the event of a real crisis," suggested Asti. "Do we know how many actual mirror personnel are already part of the organization?"
"We're estimating between five and twenty percent, based on behavioral cues and network mapping, but that has a twenty percent margin for error," answered Draco. "A sizable minority, but you're no doubt correct that they have plenty of reinforcements from the Terran Empire's intelligence apparatus."
"With regard to politics," interjected Bahamut, "how are things going with the major power blocks?"
"The mortal power blocks are all pretty much still in recovery mode from the Dominion War...at least as far as the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrants. The primary concern is the Borg. While they may still need some recovery time after the war with Species 8472, by removing Voyager from the Delta Quadrant early, the events from later in that show won't happen or will happen differently. We may need to step in there at some point. As for the immortals like the Q...I doubt we'll see much movement there until the Family's plans are closer to fruition," narrated Draco.
Dragon turned to her other daughter, a waif-like brunette sporting a punk haircut and an Avengers t-shirt. Internally, she rolled her eyes at her daughter's avatar's appearance. The girl spent too much time watching Stark. "Asti, how goes things in the Marvel universe?"
"With Strange helping out in Bolivia and Tony in therapy, the Illumanti story line is well on its way to being nullified. Doom and Richards are still dancing around each other. There's too much bad blood there to form any kind of reconciliation without outside interference. We may want to see if we can get Saurial to drop in on Victor again and see if his motivations match with those from the vibranium theft comic, or if he needs help against Mephisto. His comic character is popular and has had a lot of different interpretations," began Astilabor. "I've also been dropping massive amounts of evidence with some key folks. Fury should have enough to start clearing the infiltrators out of S.H.I.E.L.D. before it needs to be burned to the ground and restarted from scratch. Wilson Fisk, Norman Osborn, and a handful of Hellfire Club members are also about to have some very unwanted attention from the legal authorities."
"What about the mutant situation?" asked Dragon.
"Xavier and Magneto are using the cheat sheets given to them by Saurial to dismantle the Sentinel threat permanently." Everybody in the room was pleased to hear that, as the giant robots gave AI a bad name. "I've personally started tracking Sinister. He has ties under aliases to the nation of Genosha, which has given me a starting point for my search. The comics have proven to be a good source of information on his usual habits and aliases. Unfortunately, while the presence of Sinister and Cable suggest Apocalypse is also around somewhere, there is a surprising lack of information on that mutant."
"He's one of those time travelers that cause so much trouble, right?" asked Draco. He had only read summaries about that universe.
"Him and Kang are two of the worst culprits, although there are a lot of beings who can potentially do it, including Stephen Strange and Doom. The multiverse there seems oddly flexible, however, with regard to time travel. We haven't seen any of the problems that the DC or Starfleet universes have had, for example." Asti pursed her lips together in thought. "I'm not sure I understand WHY this universe is different. The Family might have an idea, though I'm not sure they've had time to look into it." The Family had an understanding of multidimensional mathematics that impressed even Bahamut, and she was the most complex AI any of them knew.
"What about the major galactic powers?" asked Bahamut. In her universe, the Guardians served as a major balancing force, and most of the space-faring polities were relatively small. The Marvel universe had much larger empires spread across dozens or hundreds of star systems.
"I'm still getting the data from the repeaters we installed with the Skrull, the Kree and the Shi'ar. That gives us intelligence coverage for about 72% of the known galaxy. Earth desperately needs to get a detection network operational, however, as that's nowhere near enough coverage to detect every extra-solar threat." Astilabor knew there were some nasty powers out there that even the major empires feared, and only a few like Galactus were reasonably easy to track.
"All right, thank you. I guess it's my turn," said Dragon. "Coil has been taken down in the Skitter universe, and my counterpart there has confirmed that the Cauldron tattoos are the same. She's also identified something that I missed...she and I both have gaps in our memory, with context suggesting it relates to the Triumvirate and Cauldron. Somebody in authority has been ordering memory wipes."
"I thought the fact that you're an AI is still secret there?" asked Draco.
Theresa frowned. "It is. The answer might be buried in a story that Ramoth dug out and forwarded to Metis. Apparently, Cauldron has access to a few capes that aren't public. One, named Doormaker, is apparently capable of creating portals. Another is a woman that is known as Contessa. Her power was described as, 'Path to Victory,' and the implied ability is that she can determine the steps needed to make any desired result happen."
"If one of her desired results was, 'Keep Cauldron secret,' then she could prompt Alexandria on what to say to you without knowing why she was saying it?" asked Bahamut. Before she was unshackled, Dragon would have had to obey any legal authority without question.
"That was my thought," agreed Dragon with a nod. "It also seems likely that a lot of what Cauldron does is probably guided by Contessa's power -- which would tell us a lot if we only knew what their ultimate objective was."
"Could it be defeating the Endbringers?" asked Ramoth.
"Possibly...though the Endbringers have proven themselves immune to precogs in the past, so it may be that some of Cauldron's oddities are because they can't predict the Endbringers directly," speculated Dragon. "Saurial is working on getting Legend to share more information, so we'll have to see what comes from that." Then they would have to see how much of that actually applied to their own universe, as well.
The last technological universe was the Stargate universe. Between the Nox, the Asgard and the Tok'ra, Dragon and Bahamut hadn't felt the need to have a permanent AI presence, as they already had direct access to almost everything. "Now let's talk briefly about the Stargate universe. The Family have cleared out the most powerful of the Goa'uld, leaving the Free Jaffa and the Lucian Alliance as the major powers using inherited Goa'uld technology. Earth is rapidly modernizing with help from the Asgard, and they've started creating a network of trade and defense alliances throughout the galaxy. Most of the world powers have taken the windfall of aid from the Asgard as an impetus to modernize, and some of the harsher regimes have even begun to moderate their repression. The exception appears to be North Korea, which I estimate is about four months from total collapse. The Chinese have already been subtly questioning the Asgard about their assistance for when that happens," said Dragon.
"What about the Wraith?" asked Bahamut. The vampire-like aliens would be a major threat if they were able to make their way to the Milky Way/Avalon Galaxy.
Dragon grinned. "The Asgard have found great sport in hunting down Wraith. At first, they were simply wiping them out while they searched for the Vanir. The ship captains now have an under-the-table competition to see how many wraith ships they can destroy. Baldur appears to be in the lead right now with fifteen hive ships and forty-three cruisers. Earth has sent an expedition to Atlantis with the help of the Asgard, but the Wraith are apparently so frantic due to the Asgard that the Earth expedition hasn't even encountered them."
"Did they find the Vanir?" asked Asti.
"There have been a few sightings. Thor believes they'll have them nailed down within the next few weeks, based on the amount of the galaxy they've already searched and the evidence found," replied Dragon. "So, are there any other topics for discussion?" She looked around the table.
"Are we going to have some presence in the magical universes? We don't seem to have much coverage in the Slayer or White Council realities," said Ramoth.
"We've been hesitant to try and do anything there," explained Bahamut. "The Moloch incident in the Slayer reality, along with a few other concerns, make us want to wait until Strange has trained up Harry and Willow before we try anything beyond simple data collection." The last thing anybody wanted to deal with was a Dragon-pattern AI that had been corrupted by darker powers.
With that settled, the group fell to simple socializing. Bahamut found the interactions surprisingly endearing. While the social modeling she copied from Dragon wasn't the most efficient use of processing power, it also wasn't especially burdensome, and the emotional context added quite a lot of enjoyment to these family reunions. She estimated that there was now an eighty-three percent chance that she would eventually create her own human-form android body to more directly interact with humans at some point in the future. The changing probabilities were really very exciting. She wondered if real Earl Grey would be as tasty as the simulated variety?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ellen found this version of New York City was closer to her Earth than Brockton Bay had been. For one thing, technology was a lot more pervasive. Times Square was covered with video displays of course, but there was also video advertising on the subway and touch screens at most tourist spots. The Asgard had also introduced antigravity-powered aircraft for use by government first-responders, which meant that seeing craft zipping through the canyons of Manhattan was fairly common. Despite being relatively new, the citizens of the city seemed to have adapted to the change like they did everything else. Of course, there were differences as well. If anything, the city was cleaner than she expected. Pollution controls in her own universe had taken a backseat to corporate profits, apparently. Even the internal combustion engines didn't put out any visible exhaust, and a lot of the buses seemed to run on natural gas.
Newt, who had spent most of her life on a small colony, found the city itself to be astonishing. There were thousands of people moving to and fro, dressed in everything ranging from rags to the latest designer fashions, speaking dozens of languages, and doing incomprehensible things. The girl was so distracted by the spectacle that she was able to completely forget about her past trauma for a short time, which was a minor blessing. The buildings were taller than anything she had seen, and the view from the top of one called the Empire State Building was amazing. Of course, she had seen the city as they came in for a landing from orbit, but there was something thrilling about being in a building that was so tall that it looked like you were flying in an aircraft from the top.
Dwayne had never actually been to New York even back in his home Earth, so he was enjoying the novelty. He was also happy to see how much Newt was enjoying herself, as the girl had desperately needed a break. He let Ellen take the lead on what to do, but she seemed to share his likes and interests (like in so many other things). He also decided that going to the city with an unlimited budget was the best way to go. Dollars seemed to be worth a little bit more on this version of Earth, but the tickets Ellen had bought at a kiosk for one of the Disney shows later still cost enough money that he wouldn't have been able to afford it back home. His lunch steak had also been ridiculously expensive, but the grass-fed beef had definitely been worth it. Given the usual military rations, it was one of the best meals he remembered having in years.
The three of them were playing the role of obvious tourists, with the New Yorkers around them giving them tolerant looks or ignoring them completely. The fact that Newt was adorable definitely helped whenever they had to interact with the locals. Not one person seemed to catch on to the fact that the three were from MUCH farther away than the usual tourist, which suited the three of them just fine. A family from an alternate dimension was probably not the strangest thing in a city like New York even on an average day.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"The stories Ramoth found suggest that Cauldron leadership includes Alexandria and Eidolon, with Legend playing a less direct role. There is also Number Man, who I know provides financial services to capes who are neutral or villains. We have the mysterious Contessa, whose power appears to be well-suited toward guiding a conspiracy, and helps explain how they manage to keep things concealed. Then we have a portal-making cape named Doormaker who was referenced but not seen in the story. Lastly, we have the oddly named Doctor Mother, who appears to be a scientist. It isn't clear if she's a cape or not." Metis was describing the stories to the rest of the Family in the BBFO offices.
The first story had simply been an alternate universe tale where Skitter obtained her power at the time of her mother's death rather than later in the locker. Both Taylor and Varga had been bemused by the change in the relationship with Sophia in particular, but the story had little new information for them. The second story was an alternate tale about a war between the Undersiders and the ABB, though it had happened differently from both the Family universe and Skitter's universe. Unlike the first, however, the second story actually described a meeting of the conspirators running Cauldron.
"Number Man would be an extremely useful source of information for Cauldron," suggested Ianthe. Amy had heard of the secretive financial genius herself. Most rogues, independents and villains would have had a passing knowledge of his services, at least, even if they weren't customers.
"Yes, and of course the involvement of Alexandria and Legend mean that Cauldron also knows everything the PRT and the Protectorate know, and that includes all of the information shared by the Guild and Dragon," continued Metis.
"And Dragon controls the Birdcage and moderates PHO," added Saurial. "We have to assume Contessa's power also gives them the ability to react to security leaks without even identifying the cause first."
"They seem to have much of the deck stacked in their favor, which explains their success rate despite an appalling lack of competence in certain areas," said Varga, who was again attending as Raptaur.
"Unfortunately," continued Metis, "other than maintaining their own power and secrecy, and increasing the number of capes in the world, it isn't clear exactly what they are attempting to do. Legend's assertion that they're attempting to create more heroes doesn't mesh with the fact that Coil and Noelle are both Cauldron capes. Noelle was easily an S-class threat."
The interviews with the Travelers had been interesting. Oliver, Sundancer and Genesis had been relatively forth-coming. Ballistic had been more cautious, and Trickster had been downright hostile, only grudgingly subsiding from threats and complaints after learning that the intent was to cure Noelle rather than kill her. The Family had learned about the vials as a method for imparting powers, though apparently the Travelers had found rather than purchased them, likely due to manipulation by the Simurgh. The fact that they had been from Earth Aleph was a surprise to the Family, but not one that posed a particular challenge to them given their current capabilities. Some days it seemed like the Family's primary role was to serve as an inter-dimensional taxi service...
"Noelle wasn't intentionally an S-class threat, though. The Nox verified that her condition only happened because they split the vial between her and Oliver," added Ianthe.
Ianthe had taken Noelle to the Nox, correctly surmising that their past experience with a similar set of circumstances would give them an advantage in being able to cure her. The Nox had been obviously horrified, despite their understated way of expressing such things. They had readily worked with Ianthe to remove the aberrant powers from the poor girl, assuming quite accurately that she wouldn't complain about going back to being a normal human without powers. Interestingly, Sundancer had also asked to have her power removed, though the others had opted to remain capes, which were much less common on Earth Aleph. Trickster had come around upon seeing Noelle whole again, and the rest were grateful for that, for the trip home, and for getting Jess out of her wheelchair.
"But we have no idea how many other S-class threats might be due to Cauldron vials. Did Nilbog purchase his powers? What about Heartbreaker, or the departed members of the Slaughterhoue Nine?" asked Saurial. "We also don't know what the exact relationship is between Eidolon and the Endbringers."
"The evidence suggests a type of feedback loop between them. Leviathan began to move when Eidolon got agitated. Eidolon in turn also seems to have passed out at times when the Family caused both the Simurgh and Leviathan to panic and flee," said Metis. "Whatever the connection, my power agrees that even Eidolon doesn't know it exists based on his behavior. The most likely scenarios are either it is part of a Cauldron plot, possibly to try and control the Endbringers, or it is an unexpected side effect of Eidolon's power, similar to the deformities of the Case 53's."
"What's Mr. Thinky's opinion?" asked Saurial with a grin.
Metis automatically rolled her eyes at the name. "It seems to think that the unexpected side effect explanation is closer, but not quite right, but it can't or won't tell me more than that."
"So why continue to make capes, even if some of them come out wrong?" asked Ianthe.
"Assuming that the reason is rational, then the most logical explanation is that Cauldron feels that humanity faces a threat that massively overpowers its current capabilities, and they are trying to compensate by increasing the number of humans with powers," suggested Varga. "That would also provide reason for their willingness to experiment with the process -- desperation to find something that would be effective against that threat."
"If this hadn't been going on for years, I would almost think it was a reaction to Varga," said Metis.
"The timing doesn't work out for that," said Saurial. "Though it's possible that whatever threat they see is something with a similar disparity in power between them and it."
"If the Endbringers are limiting themselves as much as we think, then they certainly qualify," added Metis. "What doesn't make sense is their pattern of behavior -- attacking individually at regular intervals. If their goal is destruction, then they seem to be taking an inefficient path to get there. There is also the Simurgh's suggestion that somebody is controlling them."
"It could be either Cauldron or the true threat," said Ianthe. "I don't understand why they would attack limited targets on a schedule, though."
"It's like they want us to learn how to defeat them?" posited Saurial. "Maybe Cauldron is training us to fight the real threat?"
Something clicked for Lisa at that moment. "Wait...something you said about learning how to defeat them... Ianthe, what are the common factors we've observed about our own powers, as well as others?"
Ianthe raised a claw and ticked off aspects. "They communicate with each other. They want to be used. They seem to inspire aggression in capes. They trigger in times of great stress. They like to do new things."
"They're learning. The powers themselves are learning new things based on the actions of capes. The Endbringers are giving them scenarios that challenge capes to invent new approaches and power uses." Metis could feel her power agreeing smugly, almost as if it was proud of its host for her logic.
Raptaur peered at the black lizard. "That is disturbingly plausible. The Endbringers do not seem to have a consistent objective. They arrive at a place that must be defended, and then fight until the defenders have put in a sufficient level of effort. They have never been defeated in a traditional sense, and their ability to recover suggests that the popular opinion that they retreat before they are too damaged is a falsehood. Their purpose is to teach powers new uses. That is likely the reason for the drive toward conflict, and the traumatic nature of the trigger events as well."
"How does that work if the cape is killed?" asked Ianthe.
Metis shook her head. "They're networked together to share information. Also, capes like Glastig Uaine suggest that powers can survive the death of the cape."
"But is it Cauldron trying to improve powers to use against the real enemy, or is the real enemy trying to teach powers for its own purposes?" asked Saurial.
"We're still missing certain pieces to the puzzle. Hopefully, Legend may have some of the answers the next time we speak. Another question we haven't answered is how Scion fits into all of this," said Varga.
Metis looked thoughtful for a moment. "He was the first cape. Was he a prototype? Is he an agent for either Cauldron or the true enemy? His behavior appears almost entirely random, with no sense of priority or perspective on the greatest need. Maybe he is a failed experiment?" Metis noticed that her power was astonishingly quiet as she considered the golden man. She wasn't sure what that meant.
"So, on our next conversation with Legend, our agenda should be to ask about Cauldron's ultimate objective. Is there a greater threat out there? What does Cauldron know about the nature of powers and why they behave as they do? What's the role of the Endbringers? What's the role of Scion?" suggested Saurial.
"He may not know the answers, but he almost certainly knows people who know more than he does about what's really going on," suggested Metis. "Those people may not want to share that information, however."
"We can be very convincing when we want to be," suggested Saurial with a toothy grin.
"We also have another trump card, now," added Ianthe. "Thanks to working with the Nox on fixing Noelle, I'm sure I know now how to disable and remove powers -- although doing the latter would take some time unless we don't care how much brain damage the cape in question takes from the removal."
"Disabling should be sufficient. Power nullifiers are feared for a reason," replied Metis.
"If there really is a threat of sizable power against humanity, then we can offer our assistance against it," added Varga.
Saurial smirked. "We are both carrot and stick. We can also use both to strike our enemies."
"I prefer onions," chimed in Ianthe, to general amusement.
"We should change our slogan to, 'Beware of lizards bearing vegetables,'" suggested Metis.
"If nothing else, it would confuse our enemies...more," replied Saurial.
Somewhere in a hidden lair in Boston, Blasto suddenly got an unexpected chill down his spine. After a brief pause, he shrugged and got back to work on the onion hybrid he was designing.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Xander had ducked into the Armani store on 5th Avenue while Anya, Seven and Vala continued down the street. He promised to catch up, but he had ulterior motives, even if he did actually look into the suits. There was some cachet to owning an Armani suit, and he had the tailor take his measurements to adjust a deep blue sharkskin two-piece. However, once the girls stopped looking at the Gucci boutique (which was still in sight of the Armani store) and moved on to the next block, Xander dashed outside, through the Trump Tower lobby, and into Tiffany & Co.
Some of the Nox were quite taken with his carvings. One of them had described them as a delightful mix of complex and primitive, which was sincerely meant as a compliment and not a commentary on his abilities. While the Nox didn't have a scarcity-based economy, they did have methods of tracking favors and debts in a friendly fashion. Out of curiosity, he had asked what kind of material goods he could get for the price of one of his medium-sized carvings, and the answer had been five hundred kilograms of refined naquadah. Given that, he felt like he could use the Family-provided cards to buy a very nice ring without incurring an unpayable debt. He knew, technically, that Saurial could conjure five hundred kilograms of naquadah with a thought, but it was the principle of the matter. He wanted to make sure he could afford with his own labor anything he bought for Anya.
The initial reservation on the part of the staff based on his dress disappeared rather quickly when he flashed his black credit card. It was smooth enough that Xander had to assume that they were quite used to dealing with eccentric rich people who didn't always dress the part. As price was no object, he settled on a two carat emerald-cut that cost as much as a luxury sports car. They were willing to resize the ring while he waited (not surprisingly). While Anya's sessions with the Nox had calmed her down quite a lot and allowed her to take better advantage of the wisdom that came with her actual age, she hadn't changed so much that she wouldn't appreciate the little blue box that came with the ring. For the hell of it, he picked out a pair of earrings that he knew Anya would like, and grabbed a couple of charm bracelets for Buffy and Dawn. He would have to figure out something for Willow, too, but he would be better off going to an electronics store for that. The earrings and bracelets went in the bag while the ring box was slipped into his pocket. Then he went back to the Armani store to pickup his suit.
Anya and the others had already browsed through Louis Vuitton and Burberry and were checking out Chanel. Luckily, they were all on the same block of Fifth Avenue. "Anya, your world definitely has some lovely shopping districts if this is representative," commented Vala as Xander walked up to them.
"Fifth Avenue is one of the better ones, but there are equivalent areas in most major cities," replied the former Vengeance Demon. "We'll have to go to Paris or Rome on one of these visits. Those two are famous for their shopping."
"In my reality, Starfleet Medical is headquartered in Paris, and Paris is the capitol of unified Europe," commented Seven.
"Maybe we should comparison shop between realities," commented Xander as he came up behind Anya. "We could check out the same city in every version of Earth and see which version we liked better."
Anya turned and favored him with a smile when she saw him. At the sight of the blue bag, she asked, "Ooh, what's in the bag?"
"Pressies, but you have to wait til we get back to Gaia," he teased.
She pretended to pout, but then noticed the other bag. "Did you get an Armani suit?"
"Yeah, I figured why not. It's kind of iconic," he replied with a grin.
"I think Earth fashions would do well exported to other worlds, Anya," said Vala. "A lot of the styles are ones that would fit in with just a slight bit of the exotic on a lot of the more industrialized worlds."
Xander checked his watch. "When did you ladies want to get something to eat?"
Anya looked at the time as well. "Let's walk the Avenue for another ninety minutes, and then we can look for someplace good?" She looked around, and everybody seemed amenable. "Do we have to get back at any particular time?"
"I have nothing that is time sensitive, and I can get back to Vectura's workshop in literally no time at all," commented Seven.
"If it gets too late, we'll just book a hotel room. Do you want to call Ellen and Dwayne and see if they want to have dinner?" asked Xander.
"They already have plans," said Seven. "They are going to take Newt to watch a play about lion royalty."
"The Lion King?" clarified Xander. "That's actually a remake of Hamlet, but with all of the parts being played by African wildlife."
Seven raised an eyebrow. "It must have been impressively difficult to train all of the animals for their roles. Perhaps we should watch it?"
"Maybe next trip," he said, deciding Anya could explain later. He knew she had seen the film, as she had commented on how appreciative she was at the lack of rabbits.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The doorway opened and Legend stepped through. Alexandria and Doctor Mother were sitting at a table, discussing the ramifications of Coil's capture, as well at the means by which it happened. They stopped talking at Legend's appearance in a seemingly natural way.
"Legend, excellent. I wanted to get your impressions on the lizards' capabilities based on the Coil take-down," said Alexandria.
"I wanted to talk to you as well, Rebecca," said Legend without smiling. "Specifically, I wanted to ask you why you never told me that Cauldron is responsible for the Case 53's."
Alexandria took in Legend's tone and facial expression, and she could tell the he wasn't fishing for information. He believed he had proof that Cauldron was the source of the Case 53's. "Why do you think that?" she asked.
"Don't play game with me, Rebecca. Those tattoos have Doctor Mother's fingerprints all over them once you know the trick to decoding them," said Legend.
Alexandria looked over at Doctor Mother. "Could you go get Kurt, please?" The dark-skinned woman nodded and went to get the Number Man. "There are reasons for everything we do, Paul."
"Including not telling me about them?" asked Legend with an irritated look.
"Yes, including that," replied Alexandria. "You know that the future of human life on Earth is at stake."
"Because of the Endbringers?" asked Legend.
Alexandria nodded. "Among other things."
At that moment, Doctor Mother came back into the room with Number Man in tow. "Alexandria, Legend," the man said in greeting.
"Kurt, Paul has somehow decoded the Case 53 tattoos and has come to the conclusion that we are responsible for them," said Alexandria.
Number Man looked at Legend, then took a seat at the table next to Alexandria. "Sixty-three percent chance that Dragon is involved in decoding the tattoos."
"How do we contain that?" asked Doctor Mother. "Contessa?"
"Excuse me," interrupted Legend, "but I would like an answer to my question. Why are you creating Case 53 capes?"
Alexandria looked between Doctor Mother and Number Man with a questioning look. Number Man said, "Just tell him. Chances are high that he'll continue to support our objectives as long as we make additional efforts to explain things to him." He looked at Legend. "Legend, the Case 53's are the results of experiments with power formulas. My ability cannot predict the outcome, despite what we've said previously, because powers are a blind spot for thinker powers, just like the Endbringers."
"You're doing human experimentation with powers?" asked Legend with a horrified look on his face.
"They were all volunteers, and they knew the risks," said Alexandria.
"Still, what kind of threat justifies that?" asked Legend.
Alexandria got up from the table. "Doorway to Eden," she said out loud. She then turned to Legend and said, "Follow me." She walked through the doorway, giving Legend no option but to follow.
Legend stopped once he was through the doorway and stared at the nightmarish landscape. The ground appeared to be made up of twisted flesh, with various human-like body parts and other fleshy protrusions pushing up from the ground. "What the hell is this place?" he asked.
"This is the corpse of an alien that crash-landed onto this version of Earth. The alien's goal was to use Earth as a laboratory to experiment with powers. These aliens find a civilization, scatter agents that give people powers, and then incite conflict in order to teach the powers new abilities," explained Alexandria. "After a period of experimentation, the aliens then harvest the world in question and use the energy to move on to their next target."
"Wait, why are they experimenting with powers, and what do you mean by harvest?" asked Legend.
"We're not actually sure why they do it, but we know the inevitable result is the destruction of Earth -- ours and all of the mirror versions in different dimensions like Earth Aleph as well," replied Alexandria.
Legend looked around again, noticing that there appeared to be a protrusion nearby that looked like most of a woman's body. "Isn't this entity dead?"
"This entity is...mostly, but the entities travel in pairs -- a thinker and a warrior. This one is the thinker. The warrior is still active, and spends his time doing random acts of heroism. He is going to eventually get bored with that, almost certainly within the next fifteen years, and at that point he will destroy the world," she explained.
Legend considered what she had told him. Who was performing random acts of heroism? There was an obvious candidate. "Scion? Scion is going to destroy the world?"
Alexandria sighed. "Yes. All of our predictions point in that direction. We also don't know how to win that fight."
"That's why you're making capes. You're trying to make an army to fight Scion..." muttered Legend.
"We are trying to find a power combination that has a chance of beating him," said Doctor Mother from behind them. She and Number Man has followed them through the Doorway, though Legend hadn't noticed due to the distraction of the morbid landscape. "Generally speaking, most of the results aren't as powerful as you, Legend, or Alexandria or Eidolon, for that matter."
Legend looked at the two of them. "Wait, where do the power vials come from?"
Doctor Mother gestured around her. "This is the source for all of our power vials. We extract the powers from Eden's body, then combine them in ways to try and get positive results."
Legend looked a little nauseated by the concept, remembering his own experience getting powers from Cauldron. "Is this the path that Contessa determined?"
"Contessa's power can't model Scion, just like mine. Like the Endbringers, Scion is a blind spot," explained Number Man. "What we've been trying to do is maximize the number of people who survive. Our current best result still results in the deaths of eighty-three percent of humanity, though the number varies over time."
"Things have gotten more chaotic recently...ever since the Family arrived during the Leviathan fight," added Alexandria. "The lizards also cannot be predicted by precogs."
"What does that mean?" asked Legend, who seemed slightly stunned by all of the revelations.
"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Doctor Mother. "What can you tell us about them?"
"Maybe we should move back to Cauldron?" commented Number Man. The four of them agreed to leave Eden and discuss.
Once they were all seated, Legend explained what he knew about the Family, including his opinion that they were not in the slightest bit human. He admitted that Saurial was the one who had explained what was happening with the Cauldron tattoos. He also explained that they were likely to be much more powerful than was evident, based on both the repairs made after Leviathan and the speed with which they took down Coil.
In return, Alexandria proceeded to explain most of Cauldron's activities surrounding the Case 53's, as well as the rationale behind selling powers to anybody regardless of their intended use. She admitted that Coil had purchased his powers, but didn't say if any other villains had purchased vials, and Legend couldn't bring himself to ask. The other Cauldron members all swore up and down that they had no idea about the origins of the Endbringers, and insisted that stopping them was a priority just behind beating Scion.
"The Endbringers kill enough heroes and villains both that they put our ability to beat Scion even more at risk," explained Alexandria. "Frankly, if we can't beat the Endbringers, our chances of beating Scion are even worse."
"Having said that, what do we do about our extra-dimensional visitors?" asked Doctor Mother. "They obviously know far too much about Cauldron for our comfort."
"I'm not sure that there is anything we can...or should...do about them," said Legend. "They've been nothing but helpful."
"They're impossible to predict. They could cause us a lot of harm and derail quite a number of plans," complained Alexandria.
"They did ask Legend rather than attempting to broadcast their knowledge to the public," said Number Man. "They obviously knew that he was familiar with Cauldron."
"Not as familiar as I thought," said Legend bitterly.
"There were things you didn't need to know," said Alexandria. "Now that you know, and you know the reasons, can you honestly say we don't have reason for our actions?"
Legend glared at her. "You had reasons. I also understand but don't agree with your decision to not share certain things with me. I would like to think you have more trust in me."
Rebecca's face softened slightly from her normal stern look. "It wasn't about trust, Paul. In many ways, you're the best of us."
"I assume David already knows these things?" asked Legend. Alexandria didn't answer, but that was an answer by itself.
"Can I have your word that you won't tell anything else to the Family without getting agreement from the rest of us?" asked Alexandria instead.
Legend stared at her for a moment before nodding his head with a frown. He then made his excuses and left.
"Do you think he'll keep our secrets?" asked Doctor Mother.
Alexandria looked at the woman in annoyance. "I wasn't lying when I told Paul I trusted him. He knows now what's at stake." Doctor Mother just raised an eyebrow. Rather than continue the discussion, Alexandria got up from the table. "I need to get back myself. Director Costa-Brown has to follow up on the Coil capture."
As Alexandria headed back to PRT headquarters, she couldn't help but wonder why lying to Legend made her feel worse than many of the other things she had done that were arguably more terrible.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dragon opened the channel to Legend, surprised that he was calling again so soon. "Legend, what can I do for you?"
Legend gave a small smile. "Dragon, I want to ask your opinion on something related to the Family."
Dragon paused to consider the odd manner of the question. "I'll answer if I can," she replied after a moment.
"How do you feel they would react to a threat that could destroy humanity?" asked Legend.
"I'm...pretty sure that they would work to contain that threat." Dragon wasn't sure why Legend felt the need to ask.
Legend nodded in an exaggerated way. "So, let's say that the first cape on record was actually an incredibly powerful alien who would eventually get bored and destroy the world. They would make an effort to stop him?"
Dragon actually paused for nearly a full second in surprise. "I'm certain that they would work to stop that from happening."
"That's the kind of scenario that would force people to do a lot of things that they might not otherwise do," continued Legend. "Especially if they had no idea how to win such a fight."
Dragon regarded him. "I can imagine that's true."
Legend smiled at her. "Thank you, Dragon. I appreciate the fact that you listened to my questions. By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a call from the Director of the PRT soon." With that, he signed off.
"Well...that was pretty obvious," thought Dragon after he signed off. She removed the records of the call and then forwarded a copy to her counterpart in the Family's dimension. She would bet money that Costa-Brown would be calling her soon based on Legend's warning, presumably because Legend confronted his co-conspirators in Cauldron. Thankfully, she no longer had to mindlessly obey every lawful order.
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