Rebecca had many things she loathed doing. Years of serving as Chief Director and Alexandria had given her a long list of duties she had come to thoroughly despise.
Dealing with Simurgh fallout might have been chief among them.
There had been a dozen attacks over the years, and every single one had been a horror. Discussing them afterward, managing the consequences, parsing what had gone wrong and what would never be fixed, was always distressing at best.
Still, the current meeting about the attack was almost refreshing compared to the grim condemnations that usually followed Simurgh incidents.
"We need to capture him," Eidolon said. His foot tapped against the floor. He looked ready to fight.
Keyword: almost.
"Let's not be hasty," Doctor Mother replied, eyes never leaving the reports scrolling across her screen.
Rebecca couldn't see David's face beneath the mask, but his posture said enough. Coiled tight. Shoulders rigid. He was angry—almost unnaturally so, considering how little the new cape had interacted with him. David certainly had an ego, but this felt… excessive.
She filed the observation away.
"We can decide what to do once Contessa returns," Rebecca said calmly. "At least wait until then." It was phrased as reassurance, meant to placate him.
Eidolon scoffed and looked away.
Rebecca turned back to her own screen, scanning reports as they came in. The most recent Simurgh attack had been relatively light. Canberra had taken damage, but most of it was contained to roughly a dozen city blocks. Cape casualties were near record lows, and the fight hadn't lasted long enough to deeply affect the wider population.
The hidden Tinker project sponsored by the Commonwealth was its own set of problems. Still, applying financial pressure through Number Man would suffice for now. Any potential inroads the PRT could make there would be for the future.
What interested her most was the new cape.
Eyewitness reports were thin. Aurora's statement, in particular, carried quite a few implications she was still studying.
"His rating?" Eidolon cut in, foot still tapping.
"Tentatively Master eight, Shaker nine, Mover six," Rebecca replied. "Possible Trump classification. Interviews from two capes who interacted with him suggest he was surprised by his own abilities. Evidence points toward some form of power granting."
Eidolon scowled deeper, dissatisfaction written plainly across his body language. Rebecca was well aware of David's issues, but even so, this reaction felt disproportionate.
She kept her expression neutral.
"Do we know who he is?" Doctor Mother asked.
"He was unmasked and caught on multiple security cameras," Rebecca frowned as she reviewed the files. "We have clear images of his face. But every attempt to trace records tied to him has failed."
"Not an Australian citizen?" Doctor Mother asked.
"No. He's a ghost. I had Kurt and Watchdog tasked with tracking him down. There's nothing. No records of him entering Australia. We checked airports, border logs, and city cameras. There's no trace of him in any government database we can access. The first confirmed sighting is of him appearing in the middle of the city and approaching the university."
"A Stranger effect? Teleportation?" Eidolon suggested.
"Possibly," Alexandria said. "I'm not ruling it out. But based on his mannerisms and expressions, he was genuinely confused. I don't think he chose to appear there." She paused. "I'm leaning toward someone from another Earth."
"We can speculate later," Doctor Mother said, lifting her gaze as the faint presence of the Custodian made herself known.
The door opened.
Contessa entered, dressed as usual in a tailored suit and fedora. Rebecca's attention fixed immediately on the damage around her left eye. The burn was severe, raw even beneath treatment.
"Before you ask, no, I'm not in danger of losing the eye," Contessa said smoothly as she sat down, as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
Doctor Mother closed her mouth.
"What happened," Eidolon demanded, "and where the hell have you been for the past day?"
"My attempt at pathing him," Contessa replied. "And then cleaning up the mess."
"His power can retaliate against the path?" Doctor Mother frowned.
"Is he a blind spot?" Rebecca asked.
"Yes and no," Contessa said. "I can path him partially. I've avoided asking direct questions or pathing toward him explicitly. Working indirectly doesn't seem to trigger the backlash." She waved a hand. "I'll need time to fine-tune the path and identify a workaround."
"So we move against him once you do," Eidolon said eagerly.
"Once the path is refined, we proceed with capture," Contessa replied. "In the meantime, there's a villain in Saint Louis I need you to deal with."
Eidolon nodded and stood.
"Door to Saint Louis."
The portal opened, and he stepped through without hesitation.
Rebecca watched him go and clicked her tongue. "Something is wrong with David."
"Yes," Contessa agreed. "There may be lingering aftereffects from whatever Master effect the flame-based power had."
"If Eidolon is compromised by a Master effect, it complicates our plans," Doctor Mother said.
Rebecca frowned, remembering the howl. The fact that it had affected her at all had been notable, though the emotional spike itself had passed quickly. "The Slug?"
"Not yet," Contessa said. "Based on my models of his personality, it shouldn't escalate. Still, keep an eye on it, Alexandria. That's only part of the problem." She paused. "The new cape appears to be a power-granter. Permanently."
Alexandria stiffened. The idea was tempting—especially with Scion looming—but she had long since learned to temper such hopes. The Faerie Queen had once promised much, and her limits had become painfully clear.
Given what she had already confirmed…
"Then we approach him with an open hand," Alexandria said.
Contessa nodded. "The path is changing. His power has some strange effect on my predictions. Me taking the lead may lead to disaster."
"We take a passive stance then." Doctor Mother inclined her head. "Then, for how we'll deal with the newly empowered Dragon…"
Alexandria leaned back in her chair and began noting the steps ahead.
All of it, as always, just to keep the world spinning just a little longer.
I woke up feeling awful.
I forced my eyes open. Sand. Lots of sand. My gaze dragged upward and took in my surroundings. A massive sandcastle of uneven dunes and wind-carved ridges.
I tried to push myself up.
That was a mistake.
My head felt like it had been thrown into a blender.
Ow. Ow. Fuck.
I moved more slowly the second time. Eventually, I got upright, feet sinking into the sand as I steadied myself. The sea stretched out in front of me. Nothing but sand and ocean in every direction. Barely even an island—maybe the size of a football field, if that.
I turned my head.
Ridley stood a short distance away. Looming.
Well. Mostly looming.
Somehow, while I'd been out, the space pirate had managed to half-bury himself. He sat sprawled in the sand, unmoving, a massive dragon-shaped lump rising awkwardly from the beach.
"What are you—"
I took a few steps forward, and my thoughts finally caught up with me. I felt pale. Drained. Empty.
Then the memory surged back in full.
The Frenzied Flame.
The way it had flooded my eyes. How the world had sharpened and simplified until there was only flame. Only certainty.
How beautiful it had felt.
Fuck no.
I shoved the Flame out of the slot immediately. The reaction was instant. The pull vanished. The whispering insistence at the edge of my thoughts, urging me to burn everything, disappeared.
Unfortunately, the fascination didn't.
It lingered, stubborn and quiet. Like an itch under the skin. Like an addict fighting the urge to relapse.
My fingers curled into fists, nails biting into my palms until I felt blood. The pain grounded me. Gave me clarity.
I swallowed hard and forced the thoughts away.
"Fucking hell," I muttered, dropping back onto the sand. I landed harder than intended. The cloak wrapped around me and gave me a gentle tap.
Ah. Right. That too.
I looked myself over, surprised to find I was still intact. I'd gone well past belt-crazy at the end of that fight. Even now, a small part of me wanted it again.
Did the Hypnos Blessing weaken the influence?
Fuck. I still needed to clear my head. Where's—
I paused.
Ridley and the Fool were both there now. A tendril of sand shifted, and the tarot card returned to my hand.
"Thanks, bud." I took it and tried to will it.
Nothing.
Right. Cooldowns.
"What happened after I passed out?" I asked.
They looked at each other.
Right.
Neither of them could talk.
I slapped my forehead. "How long was I out?"
The sand shifted again, forming a number and letter.
Two D.
After a clumsy round of charades and increasingly specific questions, I pieced it together. Ridley and the Fool had moved fast, got me away from the PRT, flown blind, and dumped us here on the island to lie low.
"Good job on the quick thinking," I said, nodding at Ridley.
I reached inward, pulling.
Shadow spilled out as Igris emerged, armor duller than usual, movements slower, restrained. He straightened with effort. Even like this, his presence was solid. Grounding.
Guilt hit harder than the headache.
He stopped in front of me.
"If you hadn't stopped me," I said quietly, "I don't know how far I would've gone."
Far enough to turn a city into kindling.
Silence.
Then a small thumbs-up.
I snorted. "Thanks. For pulling me back."
I raised my hand. The gauntleted one met it in a crisp high five. Igris shot Ridley a look.
I didn't know what it meant, but it clearly pissed him off. The two immediately started scuffling.
I laughed, then let it fade.
In my mind, the diamond ticket gleamed.
[Rolling Diamond Gacha Ticket]
[No Weakness]
|Legendary Trait|
You will show no weakness. Any resistance of yours that is in the negatives is automatically set to zero. 8x weak to fire? It's neutral now. Even a shadow demon would be unharmed by light.
Nice.
Not immediately useful, but good to have. Also interesting that this implied possible race changes.
Now…
What the fuck do I do?
I lay back in the sand and stared at the sky. This whole mess hadn't given me a second to think. Just escalation after escalation until I was throwing around eldritch power at an Endbringer/
I was in fucking Worm, for god's sake.
Okay. Think backwards.
Scion was the endgame. That meant power. Which meant I needed feats…
This world was crazy enough that I could already think of a dozen ways to earn tickets. I'd seen how strong a Legendary was; the higher tiers had to be absurd. Do I abuse the meta knowledge? Tell Ridley to take a road trip across America and wipe out the Slaughterhouse Nine?
Except there was a problem.
I didn't know where the fuck they were yet.
I had a gold mine of secrets about this universe, but most of them I couldn't capitalize on. Too early. Not enough concrete details. What I needed was information.
I could go to Cauldron… but no. I didn't trust them. Not until I had some kind of perfect precog defense beyond the Frenzied Flame and the randomness of the Gacha.
Then I remembered.
Dinah.
Stopping her from falling into Coil's hands would prevent a tragedy and give me a source of information. A perfect solution.
I groaned and covered my face with an arm.
"…Of course it's fucking Brockton Bay."
***
Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.
I have advanced chapters on my if you wanna read ahead.