Stepping beyond the Brockton Bay alley, Skitter and Blackwall crossed the threshold into the Cauldron compound for the first time. There was only white in the hallways that welcomed them.Alexandria watched as the two reacted very differently to the sudden change of everything. Where Brockton Bay had been filled with the looming smell of flooded streets, Cauldron's compound didn't have any smell. There was also a change in altitude, in pressure, something that few could notice explicitly but that would still put most people off-balance.Blackwall merely glanced around, no emotion on her face. She had immediately found out that Alexandria and 'Rebecca' were one and the same. The indestructible hero and the Chief Director of the PRT.Skitter reacted more within expectations, especially off-put by the lack of bugs in the vicinity. Not even Cauldron knew the exact details of her power, her range and degree of control, so they settled upon removing every bug from the hallway and the room it led to. A show of power.Alexandria did not approve of Skitter being there.'Blackwall may bring someone with her. Allow them to join if they wish.' Contessa had told Alexandria.Even if she disapproved, Alexandria would never go against Contessa's instructions."Follow me." She said, turning around in the air and floating towards a door.Contessa opened it from the other side once they got close, allowing Alexandria to enter, before making a small nod towards Blackwall. A greeting. Alexandria had seen Contessa greet people only on very rare occasions.Blackwall's eyes stopped on each of the figures present: Eidolon, Doctor Mother, Contessa, and of course, Alexandria.Eidolon stood behind Doctor Mother, flying above the ground. Skitter glanced at them and suppressed a surprised yelp. Still within the mentality of a villain.It was Doctor Mother that started the conversation:"Welcome, Blackwall, Skitter. I am Doctor Mother, she is Contessa, and I believe you're rather familiar with the heroes present."This is Cauldron.""You were expecting me…" Skitter muttered. "You knew.""No," Doctor Mother shook her head, "we did not know, we simply guessed it would be the case.""Guessing doesn't seem to be the right word." Skitter pointed at Contessa. "She moves like Tattletale, but better. I've met my fair share of Thinkers able to see the future, I'm guessing she's either like Tattletale or…""Dinah. Yes. I'm truly regretful about what happened to her." Doctor Mother sighed.Blackwall's eyebrow twitched at her words, but only Alexandria noticed. She knows we're lying."Given the odd situation, why don't you introduce us, Blackwall? You should be rather familiar with the basics."Skitter glanced at Blackwall, skeptical."I only found out about them recently. I believe that Tattletale too has begun sniffing them out, especially after Faultline spoke to her about the power vials. Cauldron is a secret organization that is working towards a singular goal, and that has access to nearly unlimited funds, resources and connections to achieve it. Through economic control and selling powers, they are connected to every major and minor parahuman group in America. And most parahuman groups from other parts of the world.""And what is that goal?" Skitter asked."Save the world." Doctor Mother answered.But Blackwall corrected her."Kill Scion."Everyone from Caulgdron, except Contessa, frowned.A silent moment passed."...what?" Skitter asked, not believing what she'd just heard."It is their objective. As it is mine. Though Doctor Mother did not lie - their main objective is indeed to save the world. Killing Scion is simply a necessary step.""I'm not sure it was wise to share it with Skitter." Eidolon commented, out of concern for the teenager rather than any negative reason.It irked Skitter all the same. She glared at the most powerful parahuman in the world as he treated her like the child she was. Alexandria could not believe the scene she was seeing."Skitter is going to be my second in what is to come. I can work alone, but I do not like to." Blackwall explained. "Anything you tell me I will share with her. I have no interest in deceit and lies."That bode badly for her relation with Cauldron, then."I see." Doctor Mother calmly said. "Skitter has proved herself against Leviathan, from what I can recall. I'm not opposed to it. Though just because you know our biggest secret, it does not mean that we will share everything else we know.""I understand that. My research has found out that you've been burned badly many times before by people betraying you at the most inopportune moments.""Yes. Like William Manton.""Manton? The parahuman researcher?" Skitter asked."The Siberian." Contessa answered.In the silence that followed you could hear a pin drop."...as you can see, we have reasons to be careful with every new arrival." Doctor Mother began to speak. "Careful of you especially, Blackwall, as you've already shown skills and expertise that few others can hope to compete against. We'd like to invite you to our operations, slowly at first."We'll offer you the means to gather any non-parahuman resource you may need. And if you prove to be trustworthy, then we'll share much more."As she finished speaking, Doctor Mother glanced towards Skitter. Implying that the offer covered the young parahuman as well.Contessa began to list out the details.
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Blackwall and Skitter left through another portal made by Doormaker, led by Contessa. Plans were to show her around an unused section of the Cauldron facilities, in a mostly uncivilized Earth.In the meeting room, the other three remained. Eidolon, Doctor Mother and Alexandria."She barely reacts. It's hard to tell what Blackwall is thinking about, I wouldn't be able to immediately discern whether she's lying or omitting information." Alexandria broke the silence.Eidolon didn't agree with her skepticism. "I have high hopes for her, after seeing how she dealt with the Siberian and Shatterbird. Especially given how she's somehow managed to reverse engineer Shatterbird's power to such an extent. The average Tinker cannot do that.""She will be a powerful asset. The issue is to what degree we can trust her. Contessa failed to find her native Earth, and we do not know how she came to be 'Andrea Blackwell'. We must not risk another parahuman like Butcher.""Why all this distrust? She shares our objective. Kill the Warrior. Scion."The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings."No," Doctor Mother shook her head, "that was always a means to an end for us, remember. It's why we started project Terminus. Striking down the Warrior is meaningless if humanity does not survive the aftermath. I agree that she wishes to bring down Scion, yes, but if in doing so she causes the extinction of humanity then all is lost.""Like Manton." Alexandria barely held back her anger as she thought of the man, then continued to speak: "he will aid in bringing down Scion when the end of the world comes, but he also believes that society itself is a cancer that must be broken. My opinion on Blackwall and Manton both is that they are risks that are not worth keeping around.""We've already discussed that Manton is too valuable to kill." Eidolon sighed, "I look forward to the day when that is no longer the case.""Getting back on topic," Doctor Mother interrupted the two heroes, "Blackwall is most likely going to act against the Three Blasphemies in the near future. That should give us some leeway. Let's try to see how much we can push Brockton Bay while she is away. Tattletale is an even better candidate for Terminus given her lack of connection to us, and given that through Blackwall she has an open channel to Dragon."Looking towards Alexandria, Doctor Mother continued: "Try to push Director Piggott to slow down on offensive efforts. If possible, encourage her to cooperate with the Undersiders and Faultline's Crew to possibly neutralize the Teeth and terminate the Heartbroken."Alexandria nodded. Butcher was a time bomb on the scale of Gray Boy waiting to happen. They were all lucky that the madness came with a degree of stupidity, it would take one crafty Butcher to take over a powerful parahuman like one of the Triumvirate. It was, in some ways, ironic that Gray Boy would have been the perfect answer to Butcher.On the other hand, Heartbreaker was a problem that required careful planning to solve. Contessa was too busy with more important tasks, otherwise Cauldron would have already taken care of the parahuman Master."Door me, my office." Alexandria spoke to the empty air.
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The whole building began to shake as Alexandria put every effort of her being into flying forward, reaching her maximum speed and then slightly pushing beyond it.Legend easily dodged it all the same.Alexandria crashed into the opposing wall, drilling through the white concrete wall and spreading cracks all throughout the empty training room. Legend flew closer, standing at the entrance to the hole."Let's stop here." He extended his hand towards her.Alexandria stood up, cleaning debris and dust off her costume, and grabbing onto that hand to raise herself up.The two members of the Triumvirate rarely found the time to spar against each other, but they still saw the activity as important training. Few parahumans in the world could keep up with Alexandria once she got serious, and Legend was one of them.They never sparred with Eidolon. There was no point."You acted rash. Is something troubling you, Rebecca?" Legend- Keith asked. He knew her better than anyone else."There is something. But it can wait. Did you speak with Blackwall?"Keith nodded. "I did, yes. She asked about Manton. I told her what I knew and my opinions.""And?""I asked her to join the Protectorate. I was impressed by her ideas, not to mention her fighting abilities."Rebecca grabbed her helmet and removed it, caressing her glass eye to make sure it was still in place. "You think she's a good person.""No." Keith shook his head. "I think she's good enough. Blackwall has principles, and the ability to offer us the help we need. She's likely one of the most powerful Tinkers alive, and from what I've seen she's not as limited to specialization as most are. We can't keep relying on Dragon.""Are you suggesting she could be a substitute for-""Don't." Keith snapped at her.Hero. Ten years hadn't been enough for the pain to fully pass.The two heroes looked at each other. Keith knew that Rebecca and Cauldron were hiding something from him. Was he pushing for Blackwall to use her as leverage? Did he trust her more than Cauldron?Rebecca couldn't think about this. Not alone. These decisions needed Doctor Mother and Contessa.So she decided not to entertain Keith and his suspicions."I have work to do. Door me."Without looking around, Rebecca felt the glare that Keith placed at her back.
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"She is furious." Contessa told them. Blackwall had just recruited Julius, and now she had found out about Charybdis' origin."And so she found out. As expected. When is she joining us?" Doctor Mother asked."Blackwall will ask for a door in thirty to forty minutes. I'm unsure of what will happen after that."Eidolon spoke up, "do we explain everything?"Doctor Mother shook her head.Alexandria proposed an alternative: "do we silence her?""Not now. We need to see how she deals with the Blasphemies, if she deals with the Blasphemies. Let us talk with her. Maybe we can come to a reasonable compromise, like we plan with Legend. Alexandria, go welcome her in. Don't be too aggressive, would you kindly?"Alexandria nodded and moved to walk away, Contessa with her.As they got out of sight from the others, Contessa made a small hand signal, gesturing for Alexandria to follow.They entered the sparring room. The very same where Legend and Alexandria often fought.With a snap of her fingers, Contessa turned off all microphones and cameras hidden underneath the white tiles. Then turned to Alexandria."Provoke her. Blackwall is in a weak emotional state. Incite her to violence, or if that doesn't work attack her yourself. Try to subdue her if you can, but that's not the objective. Don't risk her life or yours."Alexandria nodded, asking nothing more. Contessa had given her an order, and she would follow. Even if Blackwall was a blind spot, even if Contessa couldn't fully path her, Alexandria knew better than to question anything Contessa ordered to do.Beginning to fly towards the middle of the room, Alexandria readied herself. She did not understand why Contessa had asked this of her. But there were many things she did not understand. The tower symbol on her chest felt heavier at that moment.In the end, Alexandria was merely a tool. An unthinking sword or shield in the hands of Cauldron. In the hands of Contessa.She was fine with that. Alexandria would give her very own life for their objective.Death to Scion. All to save the world.