The Eldritch One (Celestial Forge)

Interlude: Piggot New
Semi random end of month status report for February 2011

Delayed until Saturday March 5th due to imposed Endbringer truce.

Recorded on a closed system due to security concerns.


Piggot​

I see everybody is in attendance today. Every Protectorate hero, select trooper captains, a couple consultants, Calvert, a local PR employee, and all the senior PRT staff. The higher echelons of power and everybody who needs to know.

"All right. Now that everybody's here we can begin. First on the docket is Taylor Hebert." A collective slump went through everybody at that. No wonder too, she's made us look either puppy kicking evil or hilariously (if you're not us) incompetent.

"Don't give me that, she has a multi million dollar bounty on her head. She needs to be addressed."

"If I may," From Calvert. "We could just do nothing here. Her and the rest of the Undersiders dispatched that Waldo character well enough on their own. And the Empire's attempt on her just yesterday didn't amount to much either. They could end up taking all comers with their team composition. And if we do decide to address the Undersiders we would first have to find them."

"While those are good points that's not what I'm referring to. We've managed to get in contact with New Wave, and are now cooperating on this. Panacea managed to strike up a rapport with her in school and has seen fit to share some information about her.

"First up is that she hates cape work and wants to be a civilian. The timing she learned this was such that she was already a member of the Undersiders though, so it can be surmised that she has a particular goal for doing so beyond revenge for her trigger. Everybody involved in that has already either been thoroughly fucked over or driven off. Ideas people?" That sets the room abuzz with speculative whispers. Probably the most productive any of us is gonna be today.

"She could just be stuck in the roll." From Miss Militia. "The incident with the Empire's and Coil's men could have had her running scared, while the McCormicks and the smear campaign would have just prolonged that. If that's the case she will continue to stay with the Undersiders for as long as this bounty is up for the backup in cape fights."

"Could be." From Assault. "Could be that thinker on her team is manipulating her too. We all heard the Palanquin recordings, right? That little lady is a smooth operator. Convinced her not to call the fire department or ambulance for Faultline's mercenaries in just a couple sentences."

"And her anti thinker qualities?" From vice director Rennick.

"Could only apply to her projection." Says Armsmaster.

"Let's not get bogged down in the minutia of her powers." I say, trying to steer the conversation back on track. "Anybody else have any other theories?" A few murmurings, but nobody is confident enough to speak up.

"Then I believe it is time for solutions. We'll reclassify Taylor as a violent vigilante, and her team as a vigilante group with villain members. Are there any serious concerns about this?"

"Wouldn't this embolden them to do more egregious crimes if they know they can get away with it like they have been?" Asks a trooper captain.

"We can make it clear the kids gloves are contingent on their behavior. I believe the PR team can handle that, can't they?" A quick nod from the one of them in attendance.

"Good. Second item on the agenda is the Simmurgh. She attacked Canberra on the twenty fourth during evening rush hour local time. This was very good for us. It's estimated that because people were already in their cars that about twenty percent of those who otherwise would've been her victims got away. Naturally there's a catch.

"She has been known to modulate her times like this to cause disruptions elsewhere, or bat down orbiting debris on her way down to accomplish side objectives. Through New Wave we found out that Taylor Hebert was mere feet away from The Instigator when the Endbringer alarm went off. Ready to kill him either then and there, or within the next hour." And oh the chaos that brings to the table. Personally I think she should've just killed him then and there, and damn the consequences. Judging by the noises from the table about half my staff does too.

"If that is quite enough" The room quiets down. "Then I will be changing the Interloper from a national threat to a possible Simmurgh asset." The possible is there because we went after a couple people in his position before a little too hard, and it backfired horribly. Goddamn Simmurgh plots.

"Armsmaster. Would you go over the statistics for me?"

"Yes ma'am. General gang violence has been down this month. I expect those numbers to go up once temperatures and tempers start rising though. The news cycle was dominated locally by the Undersiders, but there were a few incidents involving independent parahumans." And on and on it went. Most of it was inconsequential, but a couple incidents warranted a slight change in a patrol or two.

After the meeting I'm in my office with deputy director Rennick.

"So, how likely do you think it is that the Dallons will keep up their end of the bargain?" He asks me.

"As long as we avoid tripping on one of their neuroticisms we'll be just fine." I answer. "So in other words I have no idea."

"Ha!" He barks out.

"Go deal with whatever waves this meeting made in town. I've got some interdepartmental relations to take care of." I dismiss. As he's leaving the office I dial the number for Chief Director Rebecca Costa Brown. I'm not put through immediately unfortunately. The Director is a busy woman with many demands on her time, and she doubtlessly can't drop everything to listen to me. I do get through eventually though.

"Chief Director speaking, what is it?"

"Hello Director, this is regional director Emily Piggot calling to inform you of a classification change."

"This is about The Instigator? Why are you calling me about this?"

"Because somebody in our command structure is protecting him." I hear an intake of breath.

"Go on."

"If I'm right this is probably a long running Simmurgh plot taking advantage of the division in our ranks. Lord knows we've lost enough good and dependable men and women over the years to make it a viable option. Some chucklefuck in the Elite probably noticed and took advantage, despite any logical thought dictating you not take advantage of Endbringer casualties. Said advantage being suborning WDGD in order to protect their chaos sowing tinker."

"What proof do you have of this?"

"Not much I'm afraid." I lament. "Only that the man was a national level threat, and we were denied national assistance in dealing with him once he slipped up."

"I see. I'll look into that Director. Of that you have my word." And she hangs up on me. I look around to make sure nobody's watching.

"Yes!!" As I do a little fist pump. I may not have much reach beyond Brockton Bay, but the Chief Director is another matter entirely. The little dickheads fucking with my department couldn't possibly have more reach than her. I think I'll look into shaking some more trees in about a week too. See what pops out.


Three days later​

I'm going through my usual routine in the office when my phone suddenly goes off. My work cell phone in my purse. Damn thing slips out of my hand when I try to answer it. Stupid fat fingers. I bend over-

*BANG*

*CRASH*


Holy shit I'm being shot at!! I immediately dive off of my chair, grab my phone as an afterthought, and roll myself in a most undignified manner to interpose my solid metal desk in-between myself and the now shattered window. Minor lacerations aside I am now safe.

*BANG*

For a given definition of the word at least. I look down at my phone to see Armsmaster calling me. I answer.

"Director I have news about Taylor Hebert."

"Armsmaster I do not give a flying fuck about that glorified prima donna right now!! I am being fucking shot at!! Get the goddamn alert out and mobilize!" A moment passes.

"Yes ma'am."

I spent the next half hour huddling behind my desk, bleeding onto the floor, and desperately trying to organize a response through the comms. Brings back memories. I hate it. After said half hour we finally got the all clear.

Apparently the perpetrator got into position, fired ten shots into the building, some of them through the walls, and left immediately afterwards. Now all of my senior staff, including Deputy Director Rennick, are dead.

The only footage of the fucker we got is a couple blurred frames of a fedora.
 
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So Taylor's Blank adjacent actions caused ripples and had Armsmaster to call Piggot which in turn messed with Fortuna's perfect accuracy.

Not just that.

Remember Taylor isn't invisible, she gives bullshit results to precogs.

Piggot tipped of RCB to an issue, RCB ran to her pet precog, Contessa ran a Path.... And the Path didn't do what she wanted.

I would agree that Armsmaster phoning up about Taylor is why she was out of position for Contessa's shot, but I bet knocking off all the senior staff also wasn't what cauldron wanted and just Contessa blindly following a bad path.
 
Instigator is either an ass stirring up shit, or a plant by Contessa to take Taylor out of the picture.
If Insti is a plant, then Contessa was trying to clean up the mess that was left by removing people that know what was going on, and screwed up because Armsmaster called at the exact right time.

If he wasn't a plant, then Contessa might have been following a path to let Instigator find a way to deal with Taylor so the rest of her paths started working properly again. Unfortunately, as was pointed out by TypoNinja, Contessa's path was probably flawed because pathing in BB right now is kinda broken due to Taylor & the Forge.
 
Not just that.

Remember Taylor isn't invisible, she gives bullshit results to precogs.

Piggot tipped of RCB to an issue, RCB ran to her pet precog, Contessa ran a Path.... And the Path didn't do what she wanted.

I would agree that Armsmaster phoning up about Taylor is why she was out of position for Contessa's shot, but I bet knocking off all the senior staff also wasn't what cauldron wanted and just Contessa blindly following a bad path.
Sounds about right. This begs the question though, is the rest of Cauldron going to notice her abilities are going funky, or will they continue blindly following Countessa, who is in turn blindly following bad paths based on wrong information.
 
I would agree that Armsmaster phoning up about Taylor is why she was out of position for Contessa's shot, but I bet knocking off all the senior staff also wasn't what cauldron wanted and just Contessa blindly following a bad path.
Agreed.

After this, though, there's no way Cauldron is going to be able to continue the experiment. I don't know what's going to happen when they try; the outcry from all the other departments at the situation in ENE being ignored is going to be epic, and RCB will probably go back to only having one job.
 
Sounds about right. This begs the question though, is the rest of Cauldron going to notice her abilities are going funky, or will they continue blindly following Countessa, who is in turn blindly following bad paths based on wrong information.

Oh I bet Cauldron is going to notice real quick that Contessa is having problems. The murder of the entire senior command structure of a Federal law enforcement agency by obvious parahuman means is going to trip all sorts of alarms. There is about to be a lot of federal attention on what happened, and that's going to dig up so many skeletons.

The chaos will be glorious!!!
 
"I see. I'll look into that Director. Of that you have my word." And she hangs up on me. I look around to make sure nobody's watching.

"Yes!!" As I do a little fist pump. I may not have much reach beyond Brockton Bay, but the Chief Director is another matter entirely. The little dickheads fucking with my department couldn't possibly have more reach than her. I think I'll look into shaking some more trees in about a week too. See what pops out.
Oh, you sweet summer child...
"Chief Director speaking, what is it?"

"Hello Director, this is regional director Emily Piggot calling to inform you of a classification change."

"This is about The Instigator? Why are you calling me about this?"

"Because somebody in our command structure is protecting him." I hear an intake of breath.

"Go on."

"If I'm right this is probably a long running Simmurgh plot taking advantage of the division in our ranks. Lord knows we've lost enough good and dependable men and women over the years to make it a viable option. Some chucklefuck in the Elite probably noticed and took advantage, despite any logical thought dictating you not take advantage of Endbringer casualties. Said advantage being suborning WDGD in order to protect their chaos sowing tinker."

"What proof do you have of this?"

"Not much I'm afraid." I lament. "Only that the man was a national level threat, and we were denied national assistance in dealing with him once he slipped up."

"I see. I'll look into that Director. Of that you have my word." And she hangs up on me. I look around to make sure nobody's watching.

"Yes!!" As I do a little fist pump. I may not have much reach beyond Brockton Bay, but the Chief Director is another matter entirely. The little dickheads fucking with my department couldn't possibly have more reach than her. I think I'll look into shaking some more trees in about a week too. See what pops out.
Yeah, that was Cauldron trying to remove any loose ends of that security leak about Cauldron activities.

Because yes, "Someone in our command structure is protecting him" is actually most probably RBC herself. Possibly Contessa pullling threads, but most probably RBC. And she does not want people to check further. There is no actual proof. So if everyone dies, that story is gone... right?

Heh.

It would have worked too, except for that indirect protection from a blindspot.
 
Oh I bet Cauldron is going to notice real quick that Contessa is having problems. The murder of the entire senior command structure of a Federal law enforcement agency by obvious parahuman means is going to trip all sorts of alarms. There is about to be a lot of federal attention on what happened, and that's going to dig up so many skeletons.

The chaos will be glorious!!!

Unfortunately, no chaos for you:(

We don't actually get to see all that much of the paper pushers in the PRT after Tagg. They're all just faceless assholes after that. So I'm gonna have to say that given how active Contessa is, the upper levels already know about her(or should). They just stick their heads in the sand about her and hush any news when she pops up because they can't do shit about her.

The only practical effect on Contessa's path is that Piggot's survival shifts all the blame onto her instead of having it disappear entirely. Nothing the path can't handle when she's already being covered for.

As for Taylor, who cares? She's just another brute really. Much less complicated than Eidolon to plan around. At least for now.
 
Sure, Cauldron can keep the PRT suppressed by fear no problem. There is, however, two "funny" little sideeffects:

a) We might get to see a Piggot that's pretty full of spite because she's been betrayed by the brass.... again.... and most of the people around her are all dead because of it... again...
b) A lot of the Wards and Protectorate members are actually under the misapprehension that they are actually meant to be heroes. Them figuring out that the organization above them is ruled by terror and 'killing off anyone who knows too much' maaaaaay have some tiny, insignificant, local and unimportant effects. Just saying.

And while yes, Contessa could absolutely handle all of this if that was her ONLY job... this is not even slightly the case. She's highly active globally with dozens of paths. And the sideefects mentioned are most probably far less important than all of them, and quite possibly not even on the list.
 
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