Apparently, that was the last thing Amy expected me to say. She stood, mouth agape, her upraised hand with phone slowly falling to her side as various indeterminate emotions played through her eyes. Sabah, sensing that this was going to be a long conversation, sat down in one of the room's chairs, a wry expression halfway between a smile and discomfort on her face.
I broke the silence. "Let's start from the beginning here. I grabbed everyone in Medhall, like I grabbed everyone else. Once I got to the top of the building, though, steel spikes started emerging from every flat surface and severing tentacles. I...had a talk with him, and he declined to join me."
That jolted her from her shock. "Why did you give
Kaiser a choice, of all people!?" Her voice was carefully modulated to not leave the room, but still loud. As she said that, she joined Sabah in a second chair.
I sighed deeply. "In a word? Gesselschaft. If it got out that I ganked one of their biggest members in the States during an Endbringer fight, they'd view it -rightly- as a violation of the Truce. Even if I did it to save his sorry hide, they'd either come down on the Protectorate like a ton of bricks or demand my death as a precondition to their further involvement in Truce activities. Of course, because I can't exactly die…"
Amy was still shell shocked. Sabah spoke up in her place. "Actually, I had a couple questions about this also. Who was the person you were planning with? I didn't recognize her, or the portal power she was using."
I cut her off. "That's...also complicated."
I took a deep breath and sighed, looking down. "Amy. Sabah. Endbringers aren't the biggest threat to humanity's future."
They were both stunned silent at that. After a few seconds, I looked up frankly and continued. "If nothing is done about it, sometime in the next few decades
something happens. Nobody knows what. Nobody knows exactly when. All we do know is that the vast majority of humanity, including those on Aleph and other similar worlds, dies. And we know that Scion is the one who kills them all."
Their looks of shock continued unabated. "There are people trying to stop this. Trying their best to set humanity up to fight a freaking god and win. The Triumvirate are all in on it. Sabah, those portals you noticed all over Brockton Bay? Something they do. That conversation we had through one of them? I was talking to Tattletale, formerly of the Undersiders, who has been abducted by and joined them. They also took Kaiser and apparently gave him back, and they took Lung as well, though I don't know what they did with him. I...don't know much more about them. Other than that they are vastly underusing the power they wield for some reason I do not know."
That made Sabah quirk her eyebrow. "Like...how? What have you seen them do?"
I chuckled drily. "The night before Ziz attacked, I watched as Eidolon single-handedly took down Ash Beast and shunted him to an uninhabited world. After I treated him, of course, for some seriously nasty conditions. He could have done it decades ago, but didn't because hundreds of new capes triggered in Ash Beast's wake, triggers which could have been the key for fighting Scion. Apparently the same is true of the Slaughterhouse Nine and Nilbog. Millions have died on the chance that it could save the lives of trillions."
Amy spoke up uncertainly. "Taylor...why do you think these are people you should be working with?"
Sabah interjected. "Umm, more important here! You took out
Ash Beast? And told
nobody about this!?"
I grinned at Sabah. "Yup. He's rampaging on some other world like Aleph, but without people. We plan to bring him back when we need to fight Scion." I sighed again. "I don't know why it wasn't done earlier, though. There's a lot of pieces I'm missing here, and I don't really have a way to get more information. The only things I've done in concert with them so far all happened within twenty-four hours of each other, after all, and it's not like I can call up Eidolon and interrogate him for what I'm missing. Assuming he even knows. I got the impression that he isn't even in charge, despite being the most powerful human on the planet. Amy, as for your question..." I shrugged my shoulders. "I've only really worked with Eidolon and Tattletale. These people managed to convince both of them that their conclusions are right, and both are better Thinkers than me. I'd be a fool not to work with them."
Besides. Butcher One intoned.
We have fought one of their operatives before. We are unsure how, but the woman in a fedora you saw with Tattletale for a moment disarmed us and drove us out of Brockton Bay, the first time. We would never have surrendered our territory to trash like the Merchants even if most of our people had been killed by the Nine unless she had.
Why didn't I know this before?
You never asked.
Well that's interesting.
I shook my head. "Anyway, they will do what they will do, and if they ask me to do something else reasonable I will do it. None of that is something I can really help with right now. What's relevant is how we deal with Kaiser."
Amy's face twisted, taken aback. "Taylor, you reveal a massive conspiracy of questionable morality which claims to want to save the world and you expect us to just ignore that?"
I laughed. "Amy, I don't know anything else about them! Just because the world is in trouble doesn't change how we should act right now, and right now we have a problem we can figure out how to solve. I might have fourteen minds, but I wouldn't even know where to begin on how to save the world from someone who can bat away Endbringers like they were kittens." I paused, thinking. "Besides. When I found all of this out, I immediately went to sleep after. Made it all seem easier to deal with, when I woke up. I think both of you should do that too."
They digested that for a moment. Eventually, Amy responded. "All right. I can live with that for now." She paused. "So. Kaiser. What do you think he wants?"
I looked at the ceiling in thought. "If I had to guess...I think he wants exactly what he said. To set up Medhall in Oasis. It makes perfect sense from a business perspective. All of the people who worked for him in Brockton Bay are still alive, and starting back up in Oasis means they don't have to train anyone new and can get business rolling again immediately. There's also the fact that your presence there makes certain...collaborations...possible, that wouldn't be otherwise. Instant bio-engineering of bacteria, for instance. From a purely pragmatic stance, of course."
Amy recoiled in revulsion. "I will NOT work with that monster!"
Sabah wrapped her arms around Amy's shoulders in a tight hug. "That's my girlfriend!" Sabah kissed her cheek, and Amy coiled comfortably into the embrace.
I remember when Josephine and I were like that. Good times… Three recounted wistfully.
I smiled at them both. "Don't worry, Amy. Nobody will make you. It would probably be better, actually, if you made a policy of not inserting yourself into anyone's private businesses. Making the world dependent upon you for the production of pharmaceuticals seems like a bad plan. I was just pointing out that it was a possibility."
She nodded, and they both fell silent for a few minutes.
This is where Six would make a joke about you being the third wheel, Sanity. I kind of miss him. Twelve interjected.
Eventually, I interrupted the two. "Of course, Kaiser is also obviously trying to restart the Empire."
Amy nodded grimly. "How do we stop him?"
I grinned. "That should actually be very, very easy."
----
Global festivities wound down, and everyone got back to work, a few days later. Lily went back to New York, looking forward to being on par with Legend's celebrity, prepared for the next Endbringer attack to bring us all back together.
The rest of us went back to Oasis.
The city had filled out in the week and a half we'd been gone. Where once the streets had been devoid of human life, now they bustled with residents just...enjoying themselves! Jobs hadn't moved in yet, but there was plenty of food, and Amy had managed to tweak a few of the fruit trees to produce different flavors, so people weren't tired of their limited cuisine just yet. No cars yet, so people were just walking around under the bountiful arbors.
The most amazing thing to me was that, everywhere I went, everyone seemed to feel safe. Before, walking around aimlessly in the streets of Brockton Bay varied from a bad idea to a suicidal one, but now…
Now nobody was desperate. Nobody was hungry or thirsty. Nobody was disturbed by horrific memories of war or the Nine, or the depredations of the gangs. Nobody really had any possessions to steal, and all of the buildings could capture people attempting to break in on their own. Nobody had any reason to commit serious crimes.
The moment we arrived in the city, a huge crowd thronged to our location. And my primary power could see none of them. It was glorious!
But...I had work to do.
----
Max Anders hadn't arrived yet. He was set up for a press conference a few days from now, and I planned to...explain the lay of the land...to him at that time. In the meantime, I had something better to do.
I walked up to a specific dappled, living wood door, on a specific street, in street clothes for what felt like the first time in weeks. The branches of the trees were static on this breezeless day, but provided enough good shade to cut out the heat. I knocked. When I'd asked, Amy had closed her eyes for a moment and reached for the nearest wall, then told me exactly where to go.
Around a minute later, Othala opened the door. And promptly shrieked and slammed it in my face before I could get a word in edgewise.
About what you should have expected. One shot.
I decided to wait.
