Interlude 1.D (Doctor Mother)

The sweet aroma of the caffè in her mug was her only companion in the room. Doctor Mother sat at her desk, fingers resting against the mug, relaxing. Then she looked up. Files covered every inch of the table.Promising clients that wanted powers. Reports from the Nemesis program. Small leaks that were too irrelevant to require Contessa.A lot of work needed to be done. But she wasn't focused on any of that for the moment. Rather, her mind lay in the most recent problem Cauldron had encountered:Blackwall.Doctor Mother opened her laptop. She quickly moved through the archived files. The last comparable situation: Richter's death, and Dragon's emergence shortly after. She closed the folder.Deciding what to do with 'Richter's daughter' had been difficult. Dragon wasn't a blindspot to Contessa, thankfully, but her constant interaction with Tinker creations made it difficult to predict her influence on the world.Alexandria had voted to neutralize Dragon, thinking she was a future threat that Cauldron could not afford to deal with. Eidolon had insisted on the opposite, sustaining that Dragon's help was needed as more and more powerful parahumans triggered. In the end the decision had come down to Doctor Mother, as Contessa had abstained.Doctor Mother had taken Eidolon's side. It had turned out to be the right call. Without Dragon the Birdcage wouldn't be able to house so many criminals.Without Dragon the death tolls during Endbringer attacks would be worse.And now, like then, three bright doorways appeared in Doctor Mother's office.She watched them step through. Alexandria first. Then Eidolon, floating a few inches above the floor as though standing required more effort than it was worth. Then Contessa, last and quietest. Doctor Mother set down her mug."Coil has been neutralized by Blackwall." Contessa declared. Her voice was even. Without the slightest hint of her original language."Then Project Terminus is a failure?" Eidolon asked, arms crossed."It is not." Alexandria answered in Doctor Mother's stead. "We'll shift the subject from Coil to the Undersiders. The difference is negligible to us."It was moments like these that made Doctor Mother all the more aware of how much she had changed in all these years. Hearing that the difference between Coil, someone fully willing to kidnap, drug, and threaten into submission children, and the Undersiders, who were the children in question at times, was negligible. Once, she would have lost sleep over that. Now she struggled to even care about those atrocities."That's not what we're here to talk about." Contessa interrupted the two heroes before they could continue, then looked to Doctor Mother."Yes." She slid one of the documents across her desk. Alexandria recognized it immediately and recalled all the details with her eidetic memory, while Eidolon picked it up and began skimming through."Blackwall?" He asked. "I thought she was a regular Tinker.""It has become quite evident that she is much more than that. In less than a month she has made quite significant progress in understanding Agents.""Another Bonesaw. We won't make the same mistake twice."Doctor Mother shook her head:"No. I have reasons to believe she's more similar to Dragon. Blackwall has shown to be particularly caring of people. Her trigger event was caused by Leviathan's attack, and it led to a drastic change in her personality."Contessa remained quiet while Eidolon and Alexandria continued."Will we take the same approach? Hands off?""I continue to think that we made a mistake when it came to Dragon. We allowed her too much freedom, and now the PRT is too reliant on her. It does not help that the only other option at this point is one of Teacher's thralls."Saint was a last resort. One that Cauldron had allowed to grow - even helped along. Just in case Dragon went rogue."It would be unwise to pursue termination." Contessa finally spoke up."If we're talking, I assume you don't see a path that cleanly solves this problem." Eidolon was more than familiar with Contessa's power at this point."No. Blackwall has the ability to become a blindspot. It has something to do with her tinkering, but it can happen outside of that context as well. When she met Jack Slash face to face she briefly became invisible to my paths."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story."But not a constant invisibility? You can path her behaviour most of the time?""Yes.""We ran multiple simulations using her present capabilities as a model. I thought it would be better to discuss possible outcomes with you before any decisions were made." Doctor Mother continued. "Contessa. Start with attempts at termination.""Direct attempts involving only me aren't available. Modeling possible outcomes revealed why: even when I manage to inflict crippling wounds she escapes, and from that point she becomes a blindspot permanently. In many of those paths Cauldron is also exposed, with no chance of controlling the spread of information.""What about indirect attempts?" Eidolon asked."Using external parties leads to success, but at a heavy cost. The most viable path pits Dragon against Blackwall. Dragon comes out victorious, with help from Armsmaster. But Dragon is killed shortly after. Fifteen million die in the aftermath, including Protectorate's heroes and Legend. The end of the world happens within the year. It is unclear why.""Unacceptable. That hastens the timeline too much. What about an ambush from us?""Models imply success is possible, but with conditions. If Blackwall interacts with Eidolon or me for any length of time she immediately becomes a blindspot from that point on. And Cauldron's existence is always exposed to the world following that.""Does she survive a direct tinker bullet to the head? Through a Door?"Contessa was quiet for a moment, then answered:"She dodges it from point blank range. There is a small vibration in the air before a dimensional door forms. She can perceive it, and moves just in time. And if we attempt that, she becomes a blindspot immediately after so no more attempts can be made."Eidolon placed a hand under the edge of his mask."Eidolon?" Doctor Mother asked."Will Blackwall hurt innocent people? Betray the heroes she works with?"Another quiet moment passed."No," Contessa answered.That seemed to settle something in him. He lowered his hand."We should invite her to Cauldron." He paused, then added: "I'm not certain it's right. But every path where we treat her as a threat ends badly, and she has shown, repeatedly, that she's trying to protect people. That matters. It should matter to us, even now."Alexandria did not move. Doctor Mother knew her well enough to read the stillness.Rather than protesting directly, she asked:"Outcomes if Blackwall joins Cauldron? Or even becomes aware of us?""She's already aware of us," Contessa answered. "And whenever she joins us she becomes a blindspot. But modeling implies that collaboration is possible, as long as we keep her to a similar position as Legend.""She would react badly to our history," Doctor Mother said. "To what we've done. To what we're still doing. Between giving powers to criminals and the deviations.""Then we keep our distance," Alexandria said. "Neutralizing her doesn't appear to be an option. But I won't advocate for trusting her. She worked with criminals. She may believe she had good reasons, but heroes were still hurt."Eidolon's voice was quieter when he replied:"She worked with one kid she knew before triggering, and she made sure no one died or was seriously injured. Blackwall gave first aid to the PRT officers she injured. We haven't seen her during an Endbringer attack yet, but if she performs anywhere near Dragon's level, that translates to hundreds of parahuman lives and thousands of civilians saved." He stopped. "I'm also a blindspot to Contessa, and you trust me."Both turned to Contessa. She remained quiet. She could have ended the argument in a sentence, pointed them toward whatever conclusion she had already modeled, easily convincing everyone else in the room. Contessa's power meant that if she wanted everyone to choose something, they would eventually choose it. That was precisely why she kept quiet during arguments like these.Which meant Alexandria and Eidolon turned to Doctor Mother instead.She sat with it for a moment. The weight of it. Not the logic, she had already run through the logic, but the possible interactions with other Cauldron operations. Failure points that Contessa could not account for.Then she sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose.A decision needed to be made.And so she would make one.