Tidal 1.15

The truce was falling at the seams. It would be broken. Sooner rather than later.It would take one villain that had decided they'd waited long enough, or an opportunity that they couldn't afford to miss. It would take a single spark to drown the city into the fires of conflict.Which was why Director Piggot assigned me to stand guard over one of the supply convoys.Literally. As in, I hadn't been allowed inside the armored vehicle, but rather was sitting on top of one, wind brushing against my hair. I had dyed it white on a whim, and now I starkly stood out in the black night.I was the first line of defense, someone Director Piggot found expendable. Dragon had been rather unhappy with assigning me to this position, but orders were orders…A ping. In the corner.My sensors alerted me to a presence. A moment later I recognized it: Menja. The Chosen, then. Were they going to reattempt the same strategy as last time?It didn't look like it. Menja glanced in my direction and then began to move back, retreating. She'd probably decided it wasn't worth it with me guarding the convoy. She was right.My patience was beginning to run thin, and I only needed an excuse to put aside any facade of mercy.The villains were abusing the situation. Taking control of whole sections of the city, using civilians as work-slaves and hostages. Warlords, rather than simple criminals. I could tolerate those that like Skitter focused on the well-being of the people, that allowed no drugs in their territory. But the Chosen? The Travelers? I would deal with them before leaving the city."Menja stopped to take a look. Possible attack further down the road.""Roger." Triumph's voice answered.Now that I was aware of Cauldron's hidden hand in the dark I was beginning to grow paranoid. I struggled to trust the PRT. Or most parahumans for that matter. Truthfully I didn't fully trust Dragon as well, as much as it pained me to admit it.But Arsenal? He I trusted. Merely because I couldn't imagine him ever accepting to fully work under someone else. And I was rather sure that he wasn't leading Cauldron, given his carelessness when it came to the Leviathan fight and Mannequin's attack. That damned foolish idiot. An admirable human idiot.No one attacked the convoy in the end.■The following day I was brought to the newly established Protectorate HQ. Someone had requested to talk to me, and I had accepted.Panacea.The meeting room was empty aside from Panacea and Miss Militia. Dragon would be hearing through the multiple microphones in the room, but she had been sworn into secrecy by Miss Militia. And she'd promised Panacea that she wouldn't share the contents of this meeting."Amy." I made my presence known as I walked in. Panacea was sitting on the other side of the room, rotating her chair ever so slightly and fiddling with a pen, but no paper. She was anxious. Not only about this meeting, but about so much more. Her family for one thing. Bonesaw for another.Miss Militia nudged the healer, trying to make her notice I'd entered the room."Panacea." I spoke up again, trying to gain her attention. This time it worked."Oh. Oh! Sorry… I was… Err…" Her words were softer than last time we met. She didn't have bags under her eyes."You wanted to talk to me. And I was told your mother wasn't really happy with that."The mention of her mother seemed to finally get Panacea to focus."She really wasn't... I managed to convince her to let me speak to you, with a hero present. Victoria wanted to be here as well, but I refused. And Miss Militia…" She let the words linger, not really sure how to finish the sentence.I'd already guessed what she was here for, so I took over the conversation:"This is about what I told you. About the impulses. About your power."Miss Militia raised an eyebrow. So Panacea hadn't told her? That was fine. I trusted Miss Militia enough to have this info as well."It made too much sense. It explained everything. Why the Nine are the way they are. Why some people are so awful. Why I…" Panacea began to rant, trying to convince herself. Trying to justify her own feelings. I needed to interrupt her."Amy. It's not mind control.""...what?"I looked towards Miss Militia. I thought about her dreams."All… Most parahumans have those impulses. Some have it even worse than others. Some even dream about it."But it's not mind control. Many manage to resist those urges, while many others give in to them and go on a rampage. Your power isn't turning you into a puppet. It's more of a… nudge. Sometimes it becomes a strong push. But mostly it's a nudge.""No. But you said-""What I said is true. But those impulses are a reason not an excuse. I don't blame you for having difficulties with them. If anything, I admire that you managed to last so long. I don't know what you did, or even if you did anything. But if something happened, I suggest you take responsibility."I glanced at Miss Militia."Maybe become a Ward. Not here, but I'm sure Miss Militia could recommend you many good cities. It would help."Miss Militia nodded and then took over speaking:"Yes. I'm pretty sure I could get you under Legend. Or Alexandria. Or even to a Ward training center down in California, there are plenty of young parahumans like you there. You don't even have to officially join the Wards if you go that route. They would take care of you. Allow you to heal people while making sure you don't get overwhelmed again." Miss Militia confirmed my point.Panacea was quiet after that.I heard a ping, a notification popped up in the corner of my eye."I have to go. I'm sorry I couldn't give you the answer you wanted. If you need anything else, please contact me again Amy. I want to help you as well."Panacea didn't say anything even as I turned around and left. She kept looking down in silence. Thinking.Miss Militia escorted me out.As we left the room and walked down the hallways she decided to speak up:"She's struggling with her powers. I'm not sure what you said helped. I've met many kids like her. Gallant…" The mention of the dead Ward made Miss Militia slightly wince in pain, "...Gallant also struggled with it at the start. Shadow Stalker is still struggling with it, though she has the opposite problem. I'm still thankful you decided to come and talk to her."I shook my head."You're better at this than I am. You have experience with helping young heroes, you can probably help her much better than I ever could. Now excuse me, but I really have to go."A pained smile appeared on Miss Militia's face. I excused myself and opened the message. From 'T'.'What's up?'■We met the day after, in the early morning. Tattletale had arranged the talks to happen in their territory - specifically Skitter's.I was quite surprised to see that only Skitter and Tattletale had shown up. It was a sort of show of trust, saying that they didn't want to fight."G'morning Murderbot. To what do I owe the displeasure? Are you here to offer a deal for my soul? Or maybe just steal it, I'm not sure we could stop you."Skitter clearly wasn't amused by Tattletale's jokes but kept quiet."You two alone couldn't."Tattletale shrugged."...That aside, I need something.""I'm not sure asking her is a good idea." Skitter whispered."I think it's the only option at this point. Not many more people can help us. I'll tell you what we need and then you'll tell me what you need." I sighed, understanding the joke she was hiding beneath her words." 'I will show you mine if you show me yours first'? Really Tattletale?"She chuckled in response. "I think Imp's been a bad influence on me.""Mh." I didn't want to bother asking more."I want to get rid of Coil. And I'd rather not die in the process.""Okay." I quickly answered."...okay?" Tattletale asked, a bit confused "You know he's not dead. How? Wait, don't answer that."I didn't know as much as I strongly suspected.His corpse had lacked a Corona Gemma, or at least I didn't see it after the meeting in the lake. His head had been split open, so it was possible that it had simply been destroyed as most of his brain. But then, at some point, it had been switched out for one that did have a Gemma before it got to the morgue."You probably have a plan underway already," I continued, "I want you to hurry it up if possible. Besides that, I want to know more about your power, Tattletale. About powers in general, really, but I believe yours is the stepping stone to that.""I'm psychic, simple." She continued joking. But I only raised an eyebrow in response. Not amused."Okay, sorry. It's a bit hard to explain. And I'm not sure I want to, given that you joined the other side and all that…""Tattletale. I will work with anyone as long as they can help my objective and do not violate my ethos. One of them is not to betray people, which is why even though my PRT contact is aware of this meeting, they won't be informed about anything you tell me.""Right… Opinions?" Tattletale asked, looking at Skitter.The latter seemed conflicted for a moment, then decided to speak up.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement."What is it? Your objective?" Skitter asked."Save the world."Tattletale stared at me for a while, seemingly trying to parse something. I was getting an idea of how her power worked, though the specifics still eluded me."She's serious… Wait… You know what causes the end of the world? Oh. Oh. Oh fuck." It was less of a question and more of a statement. She was connecting some dots, though I couldn't guess at the specifics.I nodded."...and you're not telling anybody because you're not sure how it happens, and there is the chance that talking about him causes it. Fuck. Coil now suddenly looks MUCH less important…""Focus. One thing at a time." I interrupted her before she could continue her rant.It was pleasant to work with a Thinker. Made explaining things simple."That… Puts it into perspective huh…" Tattletale began massaging the bridge of her nose. I could see signs of pain in her expression. Thinker headache? Already?"Then there is not much more to discuss. We'll help you. And you'll help us." Skitter immediately answered. "But I want another thing from you."I nodded, allowing her to continue speaking."Rachel. Bitch. I want to save her. Whatever it takes."Silence fell upon the three of us for a moment.Skitter was truly determined to get her back. She knew the risk associated, now that she had been taken by the Nine, but she couldn't leave it as it was. There was an unsaid implication in her meaning of 'save': if possible she wanted to get her back. But if it wasn't possible…Once again I nodded. I would see it done. Whatever was necessary."Okay. We're all on the same page then. My power can be summarised as super intuition, and I think I know what Coil own power is. But you also have a theory. You want to start us off?" Tattletale asked, trying to change the topic from their kidnapped friend and the end of the world."Coil is a parahuman with an unknown power." I began. "There is also speculation that he does not have powers at all, but I doubt it. Working for him are the Undersiders and the Travelers. Maybe the Merchants were as well, but that's rather obviously not an issue now.""I don't think he ever had control of the Merchants, but yes we and the Travelers work for him. Especially them - they're on a tighter leash than us. He's got some kind of leverage, more than just money and threats. He's offering something that they really want.""You didn't comment on his power.""Yeah… It's scary. He has the ability to essentially see two outcomes to every decision, then decides whichever he prefers and makes it a reality. Let's say he wants to win a bet of head versus tails, Coil will always choose the right one. It's a bit more complicated than that, I think, because he can work from his base while also having the option of never having gone to his base that morning in case of an attack or trap. Splitting his world from a certain moment until he discards a timeline and then splits the world again.""Precognition But that's not it, is it? There is Dinah."Skitter's expression turned into a grimace. Tattletale continued her explanation:"...his 'pet' - that's how he calls her - can tell the odds of something occurring, but only when you ask her a specific question. They make a deadly combination, especially since he's so paranoid. Coil starts every morning with a series of questions to safeguard himself and his interests. Stuff like 'Will I get murdered in my sleep by that newly arrived unfunny Murderbot?' and all that. If he doesn't like the odds he uses his own power to change them."I see. Already I was beginning to plan out how to take him out. He would see me coming, there would be no working around that. He was probably already ready for Tattletale's betrayal as well. Meaning I would need to come at him with overwhelming force."Dinah is the real problem." I said. "We somehow need to make sure that our plan works no matter what he does, as Coil could simply choose the other option if we fail in one timeline.""Yep, you got it. So, any solutions?"I glanced at Tattletale. She was already working on her plans, but wasn't going to share. Meaning I either could not help with them, or she'd rather see my attempts at it first. Fine. She was probably worried that this would come back to bite her if I failed, and wanted to make sure her own contingencies could still work."I have an idea, yes. I need you to contact me the moment you're sure he has activated his power, and only if you're fully confident that you could've contacted me no matter the circumstances, no matter what Coil could have done in between him activating his power and you sending a message. Once I have established an initial focal point I will proceed.""You make it sound easy… So what is it? What did you want to ask me?"I took out and handed her a page. A printout of what my terminal had found."A cipher? No. More like coordinates, but they're not on this continent. Or, like, this solar system. The fuck? What is this?""What I need your help on. It's both a cipher and a set of coordinates. No amount of computing power can brute force this. I have reasons to believe that your power would be particularly good at making sense of this.""Mh. Looks like you're right. I'm seeing a pattern already. This is almost too easy…" Tattletale glanced at Skitter, who had not said a word after mentioning Rachel. Skitter nodded, giving her permission to help me. The dynamic between the two was odd: Tattletale was the one leading the team, but when it came down to it she deferred to Skitter for important decisions and strategies."...okay. So, I think I can make sense of this. Give me some time. It's strange though… It's almost like my power was built for this. It's really too easy. I don't like it."That made sense. After all, this was a communication between a Shard and a brain. Given that Tattletale's own power came from the same source it was no surprise that she could decipher the Shards' own language."Do you need paper to transcribe? Otherwise simply dictate what you understand.""This shit is somehow the scariest thing you've shown so far. Okay, here goes nothing…"■The endless dimension of crystals welcomed me with eerily silence. Everything was still, save for small flashes of light that sometimes appeared under the ground of my islands. Synapses going off, processing data and translating the information into something a human mind - or a mind shaped by a human - could understand. Programs that I had hijacked from the original Shard inhabiting this island.What Tattletale explained to me was how to duplicate that translation and repurpose it for other means. It wasn't something related to Cherish or Shatterbird's specific powers - likely because their hosts were dead. Their Shards were in maintenance mode, making routine checks but not actually working on anything. At least that's what I thought.Now I had way to understand this space. A guide. Combined with what I had stolen from Jack's parasite, I would be able to move away from my own islands. Towards only two locations for now, but it was a start.First I needed an avatar. Luckily I had come prepared for that.From the red and black crystals beneath, a block rose up, shifting the ground and beginning to levitate in the 'air'. A flicker of intent caused cracks to spread all over its surface, chunks of it falling away, reabsorbed into the island once more. It took most of my focus to sculpt the statue that would be my avatar. It was the most computing intensive task I had performed in a long time.What was left was the silhouette of a person. Female in appearance. Similar to my host body, except featureless. The first step was done.Then I began funneling crystals towards the statue. Making it denser. Impossibly so. Most of it was unsorted garbage data, but there were traps hidden among that data, meaning one couldn't try to ignore that mass to reach the core.I did not stop when the human silhouette became warped and could no longer stand on its own two legs.I did not stop when space began twisting under the sheer density of data that was gathering.Only when all that remained was a hyper-dense black sphere I stopped.By its nature it was a proxy - not my full self. It had enough of me to move around and face possible threats, but not so much that I would cripple myself by cutting it off if I found myself outmatched.The sphere was so dense that more shattered crystals began being pulled towards it, spinning in orbit around the center.An accretion disk formed, an unintended secondary layer of defense.My physical body was safe in my laboratory, hidden. I realized, in a way, that too was a proxy. But also very much not.I did not delve into these feelings any further. I would need to focus on what came next.The avatar was ready. I sent it flying over the void. The moment it crossed the boundary of my domain my perspective shifted: from the omnipresent sensory output of the island into a more focused perspective. Was this what netrunners could see while jacked in? Jack's shard had given me the tools to keep my presence concealed, and so I continued to accelerate forward into the crystalline landscape.Towards the unknown.