Interlude 4.F
0700 AMContessa opened her eyes as the clock hit the hour. She was welcomed by the sight of a moldy ceiling, but she did not take the time to glance at it.She stood up and grabbed what she had left on the bedside the night before: a protein bar, a bottle of water and some odd pills. She took two precise bites of the bar, put the pills in her mouth then swallowed it all with the water. She continued to drink the water until the bottle was empty.Contessa's main limitation to her work was that she, in the end, was still human. She needed to sleep, to eat and drink. But her power allowed her to do so with the utmost efficiency. She slept exactly enough not to feel tired. She ate and drank exactly enough not to feel hungry or thirsty.Walking to the bedroom wardrobe, Contessa took out her uniform and quickly got changed. Her elegant black suit was a necessary part of her operations. It struck fear into the one she wanted to intimidate, and reassured those she needed to make deals with. She reached out and took out the hat, before walking to the exit door.The hat, though, was something Fortuna had decided to add. Not necessary. But also not an obstacle.If she had to use cape terms, the hat was her own mask.She opened the door and walked down the stairs, one hand in her pocket. She glanced at the window while doing so, looking in the distance at the ruins of Toronto. Two days had passed since the Simurgh attack.In the room below she could hear three voices, discussing among themselves. Two males, one female. She stopped at the doorway, just out of sight. Not to overhear what they were saying, that was someone else's job, but to wait for the right moment to walk in.To Contessa, conversations were battles. She needed to strike at the right time, and with the right force, to put her opponent off balance. To lead the discussion in such a way that her opponent did not realize they were being manipulated, but also in such a way that her opponent was utterly defeated."They're late." The woman, Margaret, anxiously walked up and down the room. "Teacher said that they're never late.""Teacher also said that they will play us for all we're worth." One of the men, the one standing, Mischa, was wearing a full suit of power armor, holding the helmet by his side. The armor was one of Dragon's designs, reverse engineered to allow an actual 'human' pilot, and to add a plethora of lethal weaponry. If it came down to it, he'd be able to level the whole neighbourhood within a minute."We don't have any other options, we can't risk Dragon being compromised." Finally, the leader of the trio, Geoff, silenced his teammates. He was the only one sitting down at the table. "Now that both Dragon and Blackwall are-"It was at that moment that Contessa walked in, slamming the door behind her to interrupt the conversation.Mischa raised his gauntlet and almost shot at her, while Margaret ran to her own power armor hidden behind a pillar. But neither actually opened hostilities as Contessa walked to the table and sat opposite Geoff."Geoff. Or would you prefer Saint?" She asked.He took a moment to parse the words in his head, with the adrenaline still pumping in his veins after the violent sound of the door closing. "Saint. We're here on cape business.""Very well.""And what do we call you?" Saint asked."You don't." Contessa shook her head. "Tell me what you need to tell me, and I'll answer. No more, no less."Mischa was clearly displeased with that answer. "Fuck. I don't like this, Geoff we need to-" "No. Quiet." Saint repeated, raising a hand to motion for silence. "It's too important."Contessa continued to stay silent."It's about Dragon. She is not human."Fortuna almost chuckled just at how little Saint understood the world. But Contessa continued to stay quiet, expression locked into apathy."And… We had the tools to stop her. We kept her secret, kept her around, because she was doing more good than harm. And because if need be, we had a weapon made by her creator, Andrew Richter, to strike her down.""But you made a mistake.""We did. We should have triggered the device - we named it Ascalon - as soon as we got word that the Simurgh had appeared over our location. But we were too slow." At that last sentence, Margaret and Mischa both frowned. Truth was, it's not that they were too slow, but that something had gone wrong in triggering Ascalon. The fact that Contessa could not see the specifics meant that the Simurgh had done something."Where is the device now?" Contessa asked, already knowing the answer."The Simurgh… She has it. If she manages to compromise Dragon to even a fraction of what we did… You need to stop Dragon, now. Separate her from all systems. Remove her from control of the Birdcage.""And put you in charge of it." Contessa concluded."Yes," Saint confirmed, "the alternative is letting all of those parahumans die. Or, worse, letting them free.""Hm." Contessa faked a thoughtful hum, "is that it? Is there anything else?"Saint hesitated for a moment. He looked behind him, to his teammates. Mischa's eyes were locked straight on Contessa, ready to blast her if she attempted something. Margaret, instead, looked tired, and she gave a weak nod to Saint.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation."There's something else. Dragon is not the only inhuman power running around… Blackwall too is an artificial intelligence. And given they're working together…""You think that the Simurgh will try to compromise Blackwall through Dragon.""Yes. We confirmed that some of Richter's tech did work on Blackwall, though only indirectly. And the Simurgh is surely much more skilled than us. You know what she did in Madison, with Haywire's tech. Together the two artificial intelligences could wipe out life from the planet, and they could likely extend the damage to Aleph too.""I see." Contessa took out something from her pocket. A folded piece of paper. A contract. She put it in the middle of the table.Saint reached out and opened it. For the first time Mischa averted her eyes from Contessa to sneak a peek and read the paper's content."You want us to work for you?" Mischa asked, clearly displeased at the idea."Yes. As spies. Teacher is an entity we cannot afford to ignore anymore.""Teacher? Dragon is the problem!" Saint stood up and raised his voice. "If anything, you should ask us to help you collaborate with Teacher. He's the one that helped us stop Dragon in the first place.""Geoff, this is a good opportunity." Margaret stepped forward to try and convince Saint. "We've relied too much on Teacher. This is a way to finally free ourselves from him.""We can give you powers, too. Permanent." Contessa reminded them. The offer immediately flared Mischa's greed.But Saint was too far gone. Teacher had set roots too deep in him to be wrenched out."No. We will not be working for you. Not now, not ever. Unless you give us the tools to truly stop Dragon."And that, in the end, was Saint's greatest flaw. He had started out as a well-meaning criminal that wanted to stop Dragon, and make some money doing it. But at some point, likely due to Teacher's poisonous power, his intentions had shifted.He became the Dragonslayer, whose sole purpose was to fight against Dragon and to strike her down. Consequences be damned.Cauldron had allowed it, despite the casualties. Every fight Dragon lost she learnt something new, taught her how to be humble, made her more empathetic to the human struggle. But that was old Cauldron. Now things were different."While I agree that Dragon may be compromised, Blackwall is a powerful ally to our cause. You saw yourself how many lives she alone saved during the fight with the Simurgh, and already within a few months of her appearance she dismantled a nation-wide conspiracy in Rome. If you wish to ally with us to keep track of Dragon, fine, but we will not act to kill her."Saint closed his eyes, teeth gritted in anger."Then you're fools.""We're done here." Contessa simply said as she stood up."Is this really it?" Margaret asked, "You're just going to let Dragon have her full freedom, despite the fact that the Simurgh now has control over her?""No. But you cannot be trusted with the tools to stop her."As Contessa glanced back to answer Margaret, she noticed the slightest hint of something flying out of Margaret's hidden power armor. Something invisible.She paid no mind to it.The Dragonslayers kept their eyes locked on Contessa as she walked out of the room, exiting to the desolate street. She continued to walk, until she was sure the Dragonslayer's sensors could no longer detect her. She turned into an alley, and in that exact alley a figure was already present and waiting for her.Wearing her black costume with the yellow lenses, surrounded by a swarm of coordinated bugs, Weaver made for an intimidating sight in the darkness of the alleyway. Contessa took a step forward and reached out with her hand, where Weaver placed a USB drive."They're already talking to Teacher." Weaver said.Contessa nodded. "As expected. Do take note of what they're saying, it will take a while for the spyware to fully blend in."Weaver was quiet for a moment. "How many paths resulted in the Dragonslayers dying during that conversation?""Most. We would not have been able to neutralize them non-lethally in most circumstances. A minority of paths ended in us bringing them to the Slug, but-""No. Fuck that," Weaver immediately reacted with disgust at the thought of using the memory warper, "you've already used his power more than enough.""Yes, Blackwall thought that too." Although with less swearing.The mention of Blackwall seemed to bring back the slightest hint of hope in Weaver's stance as she relaxed. It was difficult, for Taylor, to knowingly act behind Blackwall's back, even if she had been specifically instructed to do so."What's next?""A Cauldron client has gathered a rather large criminal gang north of Toronto. She's looking to move in while the city is still recovering. She has refused any and all proposals to stand down.""Power?""She can duplicate herself at long range, slightly larger than your own, and all the copies share a single mind. And she can shift which copy is the 'real' one. She also keeps a Blaster 10 by her side, a natural trigger. ""At least no Masters this time… Any outside help?""No.""Very well. Let's go."