Something began to slow me down the moment I crossed over the boundary. The invisible presence that Cauldron used to vigil over their compound. The Custodian, I believe they called them. Her.The doorway closed behind me.Alexandria crashed against the opposing wall, unbothered by the strike. She immediately shot forward, sending a sonic boom rippling through the facility. Her fist aimed directly at my face.Red lightning coursed over the surface of my skin. The speedware activated. I moved my head ever so slightly to avoid Alexandria's blow, then grabbed her arm and pulled to the side. Alexandria crashed to the ground back first, briefly dazed by the sudden movement. With a sharp downkick I struck her in the chest and kneeled over her prone body. All the while the Custodian tried to pull me away, trying to slow me down. And failing.I began pummeling Alexandria's face, again and again. Anytime she attempted to get up from one hit, I immediately struck her again within an instant. Within seconds the initial crater had become a hole as I drove her deeper and deeper into the ground. Her armor cracked and broke under the onslaught of my attacks.Finally she changed her tactics and began flying downwards, digging through the solid ground and coming out from the floor some meters ahead. For a second she floated there in the air, glaring with her single eye.Then she shot towards me again. With perfect technique she swung for my head, using her ability to fly to perform otherwise impossible attacks. After getting used to her style it became my turn.My first strike hit her right in the eye, as I grabbed the side of her face and blinded her. Then with a kick I sent her flying backward, before engaging Shatterbird's power and following her in the air. This time I gave her no spare room to recover, making full use of my speedware. Every now and then, when I slowed down to give my speedware time to cool down, she would attempt to counterattack. I had to give it to her: her style was perfect. No movement was wasted, every swing of her arm was calculated and perfectly aimed. She made full use of her freedom of movement to attack me from angles that nobody else could have been prepared for.But I was faster, and I never slowed down for more than a second at a time. Maybe in a fair fight she would have stood a chance, but as it were she was on the backfoot, trying to parse what was happening around her as I dodged each counterattack and crashed her against the ground, wall or ceiling once again. The Custodian simply couldn't keep up with our fight, and so she quickly became a non factor.Tired of being pushed around, Alexandria raised her hands and smashed at the ground below, sending a shockwave rippling through every surface of the room, giving her a moment to breathe as my sensors adjusted to the new environment. I had not hurt her at all during the fight, while I was accumulating small damage. I decided to stop playing around. As I reached for the knife hidden in my abdomen…"Stop."Contessa's voice echoed across the room, somehow cutting through the deafening noise of our battle. Alexandria immediately froze, while I merely took a step back, prepared for any follow up attack. None came."Blackwall. Doctor Mother will clear things up." I couldn't help but notice the slight glare Contessa spared for Alexandria as she turned around and motioned for me to follow. A disapproving look? Or an act to trick me?Whatever the case I reactivated my safety protocols and turned off my speedware, following Contessa out of the room.Alexandria remained behind.
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"I advised her not to provoke you." Doctor Mother began to speak the moment I entered the room. She held a ceramic mug in her hand, swirling the coffee inside with a spoon. "It fell on deaf ears, unfortunately."To the side, Eidolon sat at the table, while on the opposite end Number Man was finishing up typing something on his laptop. Contessa left my side and walked to Doctor Mother, taking her usual position behind the leader of Cauldron. Arms crossed behind her back.Fighting with Alexandria had cooled down my anger. But my blood began to boil once again as I asked:"What is your excuse for what you've done?""No excuses." Doctor Mother shook her head. "Only explanations. There is really nothing that could justify some of the things we've done. Some of the mistakes we made."I glared at her, waiting for her to continue."Cariddi is among them, unfortunately. Though I blame that particular mistake on Manton. We were reeling from Hero's death, and weren't as thorough as we should have been. After that-" "No," I interrupted her, "that does not explain the many other villains I've traced back to you. Shatterbird stole her vial from an oligarch slaver, and he bought that vial from you.""Yes." Doctor Mother confirmed it."And the Case 53s. The 'deviations', or 'subjects'. There is something more about them that you're keeping hidden from the world. The reason why they have no memories.""An unfortunate and rare side-effect of the vials. We warn every buyer of the possibility, if it helps." A partial truth."That is another lie. You try to hide from the truth through omissions, through careful speeches that she no doubt prepared." I glared towards Contessa. "She can't see you, Blackwall." Number Man tried to mediate.Doctor Mother motioned for him to stay back and abstain from the conversation."No. But she can model you well enough to help us decide what to say. We are not above using Contessa to convince our own allies. Legend is an example." "Tell me the truth. Unredacted."This time it was Contessa who spoke up:"We made a deal, Blackwall. You prove to us that you are capable of dealing with the monsters that threaten the world, and we'll give you our full support. Do you want to go back on your own word?"Rage burned through my glare. For a moment I imagined walking up to Contessa, to Doctor Mother. Crushing their windpipes, leading them to a slow death by suffocation.Then I calmed down. Centered myself. Took a step back, focusing on the problems that mattered. On the importance I gave to my own promises."I will deal with the Blasphemies and whatever is hiding from you in Rome. But after that, you tell me everything. No more secrets. You tell me about Scion's brethren, about the vials, about the other Earths. And if I decide it's necessary, you also come clean to the world as a whole, and accept judgement.""Deal." Contessa immediately answered. No hesitation. Doctor Mother didn't look surprised at this outcome, and neither did Number Man or Eidolon.They knew this was going to happen. They had prepared for it."We were never going to stay hidden forever. We have protocols in place, prepared for when Legend would inevitably protest our methods. Prove to us that revealing our existence is good for humanity and we'll do it without hesitation." Contessa explained.And if not, then we'll force your silence. The implication went unsaid.I saw it, in their eyes. The apathy I was much too familiar with.The moment where a human broke away from their own humanity. The moment when other people turned from living beings into mere numbers upon a spreadsheet. Many of the well-intentioned people back in my world were like this. Ready to torture a million innocent people if it meant that a million and one people's happiness would outweigh their suffering. An utilitarian approach that looked at human life as though it was another currency to be exchanged.I spared no other words for them as I turned around and walked away.
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"So it wasn't Malacoda or her sisters?" Julius asked as we walked through the dark underground of the city. He was fully bronze, except for his costume. Which I had modified and improved to the degree I could. Nothing special, a rush job.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings."No. Cariddi got his power from an organization known as Cauldron. Malacoda had nothing to do with it.""That makes much more sense. For a while I had been worried that one of her sisters had developed a power to induce triggers in people.""I wouldn't discount that just yet." Weaver's voice reached our ears, while she kept tabs on us through the few members of her Swarm that were with us. "Malacoda and her sisters had a Trump stressor in their trigger event. We can't know what to expect more than that. Reliably, powers that have to do with 'powers' tend to quickly become blind spots for Thinkers, and we know that Thinkers can't see within the Vatican.""There are also devices that can do something similar, aren't there?" Julius asked, carefully making his way through the uneven footing."Yes, but it is very rare for a Tinker to be able to build them. Even then-""Except those created by Teacher." Weaver corrected me.I felt my heartbeat quicken at that mention. I had told them what Cariddi had revealed to me."Thank God for the Birdcage…" Julius muttered."...even then," I continued, "Malacoda has shown no Tinker abilities, and if the sisters had a cluster trigger as we suspect then that would mean that none of them have a Tinker rating.""Mh." Julius hummed thoughtfully. No doubt thinking about what other minor abilities Malacoda had shown, to try and guess what powers her sisters would have.There was also the very scary possibility that the black metal mass wasn't Malacoda's main power."Turn left, and - there it is. The wall."Julius and I stopped as the light from my torch reflected the dark metal in front of us. It was fully pitch black, no ridges or seams that I could spot. Touching it, the surface turned out to be perfectly smooth, something also confirmed by my sensors."How thick do you think it is? If this is like Malacoda's metal then the original parahuman will feel it the moment I use my power on it." Julius asked. "If it's too thick, then we may not have enough time to carve our way through.""Given the architecture and surrounding structure… Arm thickness at best. Twice that at worst.""Not too bad. Have you secured the surroundings? Accounted for Aquila and other members of the Swiss Guard?""Aquila has just left his station to respond to 'a parahuman threat' caused by one of my Wasps. The Swiss Guard is all over the place, panicking over your disappearance, Julius.""Like we expected." Julius nodded and took a step towards the metal wall, placing his open palms upon the perfectly smooth surface. "It's… Difficult… To… There! I got it."From his palms the black metal began to turn to bronze. Slowly at first, then the spread sped up all at once, turning the indestructible material into bronze within a two-meters radius centered around Julius' contact point.After that, it was my turn. I unsheathed my blade and quickly slashed through the now very-destructible bronze, carving away a rectangular section of the wall. Just enough to create a hole that a person could fit through. I glanced at the cross-section of the black metal, noticing how tightly woven it was. It was indestructible not because of its natural properties, but because it had been accumulated over the course of years, weaving and knitting multiple layers together until it became incredibly durable.Nanothorns would make quick work of it. I sighed in my mind, lamenting that neither Dragon nor Arsenal had shared the secret of that tech with me.The other side was fully dark, even darker than the underground we were already in.Weaver was the first to move, sending two of her invisible Wasps into the darkness, scanning for living signs or traps. It took a few seconds before all scans returned negative. "Seems clear.""After me." I nodded towards Julius and made my way in.On the other side of the wall was an ancient structure, looking older than the underground catacombs that were spread all under Rome. But beyond its age, the structure all around us was… Different. Lacking decorations. If anything, the architecture was hostile, unwelcoming to anyone walking through.There was only the smell of stagnant air, mixed with the very weak stink of rot. Human corpses? No, it wasn't the right smell.We stepped into a long hallway, with multiple side rooms. Each room was sealed with a metallic door. Regular metal, fortunately, and even more regular locks. Julius barely had to brush against the handle to allow us access.Within each room we saw a single skeleton crumpled to the ground. Some of them were still stuck in the chains or shackles affixed to the stone walls.This was a prison. An ancient one, that didn't see any more use today. Surely something like this could not hold parahumans within, so why had it been surrounded by an impregnable wall?"They noticed something is wrong. Aquila has been recalled to the Vatican. I haven't spotted the Blackbranch but I expect that they shall follow shortly. Hurry up.""At least it confirms that the black metal was similar to the one Malacoda used. Shall we take a rougher approach?" Julius asked."Yes." I nodded.Julius quickly began to jog down the hallway, brushing against the doors and disengaging the locks through a quick use of his power. I followed behind, kicking each door open to see what was inside. For now, we only found skeletons."Something is ahead of you. The same black metal, but a smaller cube."Likely our objective. I signaled for Julius to speed up.Julius began to use the same technique he'd once shown before - using his power in a very precise way to create air bursts under his feet to speed up his dash. I kept up through the power of my leg implants alone.We exchanged no words as Julius crashed against the stone wall, breaking through and reaching the black metal cube. He placed his hands on the surface and carefully applied the power, making sure that he did not affect whatever was inside, only the container around it.Immediately after I followed it up with a precise cut of my sword. The side of the cube opened up, and from it something fell out.Someone.Crouched in a fetal position, a person rolled out of the cube, wearing nothing but consumed rags. They were so starved and dehydrated that I could not spot anything about their appearance at a glance, except that they had been here for a long while.And that they were parahuman, as they were still alive. No mundane human could still breathe while reduced to such terrible conditions. There was no air within the cube, no oxygen.Each time their chest moved to breathe in the 'fresh' air, I could see the muscles straining and breaking apart, beginning to bleed. Within seconds of the figure having fallen out of the box they became a bleeding mess. Yet that didn't seem to threaten their life."[What the fuck… Holy god…]" Julius swore in his original language, crouching down to check on the person. He was careful, hesitant. He didn't want to worsen their condition.But we didn't have time.So I took a risk. Taking into account what I observed, and my own guesses as to what this prisoner's power could be.I clipped the side of their ear with the edge of my blade. Julius almost struck me to the side as he yelled at me:"WHAT ARE YOU… doing?" His voice lost its intensity as he observed the wound in the prisoner's ear beginning to quickly patch itself up. It wasn't immediate regeneration, but it was enough. They would survive a little rough treatment.I picked the prone prisoner up, slung them over my shoulders and glanced at Julius."ETA two minutes before Aquila gets to your position, with at least twenty five armed men. Three minutes before the Blackbranch join him.""Good call, Blackwall." Julius nodded in my direction. "Now we get out. Immediately.""After you." I answered, pointing my head towards our escape route.We rushed out of there, carving our way out.