Finding the Way

Part Thirty: All the Loose Ends

[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]

Baumann Parahuman Containment Centre
(aka 'Birdcage')
Saturday, June 11, 2011

Teacher

"It's about bleedin' time!" hissed Acidbath. "It's been forever!"

Benjamin Terrell withheld the huff of irritation he wanted to express at the grotesque little man's complaint. "It's been barely a week," he murmured. "A mere pittance when it comes to the rest of your life. Your posturing when they first arrived might have raised suspicions, had you sought an interview with them immediately. But time has passed, and so everyone has settled down to the new status quo. Kaiser remains under guard, no matter how many threats or offers of bribery he hands out. Everyone accepts the erstwhile heroes in our midst. Even Lung has made his peace with them."

"Lung is only kissing their arses because they fucked him so hard up his arse the last time he went against them," Acidbath scoffed. "What's he do out there? Makes fuckin' sand gardens on the fuckin' beach! Big time gang lord, my pasty white arse!"

"I wager that you wouldn't dare say that to his face, were he standing here," Ben said, raising his eyebrows slightly. "All my analyses tell me that their vigilance is at the lowest ebb that it will ever reach. They'll never see it coming."

"Does Kaiser even know we're coming?" asked Moss. "Because I can guaran-fuckin'-tee you, he's gonna be pissed as fuck that we've been letting him twist in the wind without a word."

Ben shook his head. "Getting a message to him incurs too much risk that his jailers might catch wind of our plot. Better that they be happily unaware of the very possibility until it is far too late. Besides, my sources tell me that today is Compass Rose's birthday, and everyone is mobilising for the party. We will never have a better chance. Are you ready for your transformation?"

Moss sighed heavily. "Fuckin' go ahead."

"Finally," complained Compass Rose, stepping into the doorway. "Do you two idiots know just how long we've been waiting for you to try to pull this shit? I mean seriously, I've got a party to go to."

"My dear girl," Ben extemporised, twisting his face into what he hoped was a winning smile, despite his severe shock. "I have no idea what you're referring to. Mr. Moss and I were merely—"

"Cocksucker!" screamed Moss, dissolving into a surge of acid and launching himself at Compass Rose. Ben tried to lurch out of the way, fully aware that he was going to be caught in the splash effect … and suddenly, Moss wasn't there anymore.

Losing his balance, Ben fell to the floor. He looked up stupidly as Pathfinder stepped into the cell, with Compass Rose right alongside. "What …?"

Pathfinder shook his head as he slid a small vial into a pouch on his belt. "We were warned about you days ago. Acidbath was the hardest one to plan for. Especially as we weren't sure what to do with him once you two made your move. He decided that for himself when he attacked Compass Rose."

"Ah." Ben didn't want to know, but he asked anyway. "Where did he go? And how did you put him there without burning yourself on his acid?"

"He's on the moon." Pathfinder's voice was matter-of-fact. "Attack me, I might give you a chance to live. Attack Compass Rose, and you die. I hope that's entirely understood?"

Ben opened his mouth, about to complain that Pathfinder hadn't explained the how yet, then closed it again. The lack of explanation, he knew, was deliberate. "I understand completely," he confirmed.

"Good." Pathfinder leaned down and gave him a hand up. "You will be kept under solitary confinement for three weeks of the month. During the week off, you may use your powers, but only under supervision. And you've entirely abrogated your day-release privileges. Do you understand?"

Ben understood all too well. Three weeks would be long enough for all aspects of his power to fade away from his minions. He would be starting fresh each time, utterly unable to build any sort of power base to wrest control of the Birdcage away from the interlopers. Worse, every other inmate there was solidly on their side, not his.

He gritted his teeth. "Yes."

As they led him to his cell, some small part of him envied Moss.

At least he got a quick death.

PRT Building, ENE
Outside the Director's Office
Friday, June 24

Tenebrae

Brian looked at his three companions, trying to quell his nerves. All were in costume, and each of them looked as apprehensive as he felt. Except Aisha, and he wasn't sure she knew how to look nervous. But at least she was more subdued than normal. The last thing they needed was for her to smart off in front of the new Director.

"What are you waiting for?" murmured Vicky. "Me to break the door down?"

She was right; he was just stalling. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

"Enter," called the voice from within.

Turning the handle and opening the door, Brian stood aside for the other three to enter first. He followed them in, closed the door carefully, and then lined up alongside them. "You wanted to see us, sir?"

Director Dan Seneca looked them over, and Brian returned the gaze curiously. They'd attended the meeting where he'd been appointed to the position, but this was the first time they'd actually met the man.

It was hard to tell from someone seated behind a desk, but Seneca seemed to be tall, with an athletic build to his shoulders. Where Director Piggot seemed to disapprove of anything and everything she hadn't personally arranged, Seneca appeared to be more to be a wait-and-see sort of person.

"Yes, I did." Seneca stood up, verifying Brian's surmise that the man was on the tall side. "You four are all relative newcomers to the Wards, but I've had nothing but good reports about you." He cracked a smile. "Relax; you're here to receive good news, not bad."

"Well, that's a first," muttered Aisha, before Brian nudged her. He hoped against hope that Director Seneca wouldn't have heard it.

From the way the Director's eyes shifted, he had indeed heard it, but his smile widened slightly and he chuckled. "From what I've heard of the shenanigans of some of the Wards on this station, I wouldn't be at all surprised." He walked out from behind his desk and leaned his backside up against the front of it. "I know how Director Piggot ran her show. That's not the way I'm going to be doing it. If I call you in here, I want you to speak your minds, and I will listen to what you have to say. In return, I expect you to treat me with the same amount of respect. Are we on the same page so far?"

Brian blinked. "Uh, yes, sir," he said. One by one, the others responded in the same way, Amy last of all.

"Good. Now, you're all residing in the Hebert house, correct?"

And there was the bombshell. How Seneca was going to spin this as good news, Brian wasn't sure.

"Yes, sir, we are." He wished Vicky or one of the others would step up as spokesman, but the job appeared to have fallen to him.

"Alright, then. You may or may not know that Pathfinder and Compass Rose have gone off the reservation in a big way …" Seneca paused, giving them a chance to interject. Nobody did. "… which would've normally put the ownership of the house, and your residence therein, into a very tricky legal area. However, I received documentation on my desk, this morning, when I turned my back for thirty seconds. The house has been signed over to you four, to be ceded to your personal ownership when you reach the age of majority. In the meantime, I have been named as your executor in this matter, to arrange such things as bill payments out of the monies earned from their takedown of Slaughterhouse Nine members." Half-turning, he took up a large manila envelope from his desk and handed it to Brian. "Fortunately, as you've just turned eighteen, it's not my problem anymore. Congratulations; once you sign the appropriate documents, you'll be a homeowner."

Brian took the envelope; it was heavy in his hands, but the weight of the responsibility it represented was far more than mere paper and ink. "Wait … we own the house now?"

Seneca nodded. "You do, along with the accounts containing the reward money. As I said previously, all bills pertaining to the house are to be forwarded to an accountant of your choice, to be paid out of those accounts. If you have problems with anything, let me know; I'm no expert in such matters, but I can connect you up with several."

"Uh … thanks. Thank you, sir." It was entirely inadequate, but Brian didn't know what else to say.

Seneca cracked another smile. "You're welcome, Mr. Laborn. This is probably the easiest meeting I'm going to have today. Now, while you're here, was there anything any one of you would like to bring up with me?"

Brian glanced at Aisha, then Vicky, then Amy. Nobody seemed about to take the Director up on his offer. One by one, they shook their heads.

"Good." Seneca nodded in satisfaction. "Don't hesitate to make an appointment if you do find yourselves having an issue. Rest assured, I will listen."

They filed out of the office, Brian holding onto the envelope in a kind of a daze. He hadn't known what kind of a day it was going to be when Seneca called them to his office, but now?

Now, it was turning out to be pretty damn good.

Trainyards
Thursday Night, July 7, 2011

Purity

Kayden saw the PRT van, right where the message had said it would be. She did a fast sweep of the area, checking for other vehicles or people, and saw nothing. Coming back over the van, she noted that the driver's side door was open and a man was climbing out. He wore a suit, not a uniform, and carried no visible weapons. From the passenger side of the van, one armed guard emerged, but he kept the nozzle of his foam sprayer pointed at the ground.

Keeping her eye on both men, Kayden glided downward, coming in for a landing about five yards from the van. From this distance, she recognised the one in the suit as the new local head of the PRT, a Dan Seneca. He seemed fit enough, unlike the last incumbent. She'd also heard he was Native American, and he kind of looked like he could be. That didn't bother her; at least he was American.

"Okay, I'm here," she said, pitching her voice so he could hear her but not lowering her powers. "What did you want to talk about?"

Unruffled, he took a pair of sunglasses hanging from his pocket and put them on. "I couldn't help notice that you didn't leave town with the rest of the Empire Eighty-Eight. There have been rumours that you're trying to transition over to being a hero. Is that true?"

"Yes," she said cautiously. "But every other time I've tried to bring that up, nobody's wanted to listen."

"That can be a problem," he agreed. "Well, I'm listening now. Make your case."

The blunt invitation threw her for a loop, but she recovered quickly. "Well, I, uh, ever since I split with the Empire, I've been only going after villains. I haven't attacked heroes or innocents, or done any robberies."

After a moment, he nodded. "That tracks with what I understand. I do notice, however, that you always go after non-white criminals. If the Empire Eighty-Eight returned to Brockton Bay, would you refuse to attack them? Because that might become an issue."

She took a deep breath. He had a point, but there was a deeper reason as well. "I, uh … Kaiser had leverage over me. If I ever went after the Empire's interests, he could've taken away someone I hold dear." Besides, it was very hard to go against Max in general.

"That could've definitely been a problem. This 'someone' is your child?" His tone had actually become softer, understanding.

She hesitated, then nodded. If they already knew who she was, they knew about Aster. If they didn't, knowing she had a child wouldn't alter matters. "He would've taken her away from me."

"Hm." Slowly, he raised his hand and rubbed his finger against his lower lip. "Kaiser's no longer in the picture, but I doubt very much that attempting to rebrand you in Brockton Bay would be successful. As Purity, you're too well-known. But tell me something; do you feel any specific affinity with robots?"

She frowned. "No, not particularly. Why?" Were they going to team her up with one?

The smile was visible on his face. "Suppose you joined the Protectorate on a probationary level, relatively low-key, and I transferred you to Eagleton. Your child could go with you—I'm sure they could arrange care facilities for while you were on duty—and you would have appropriate targets to use your powers on."

Eagleton … where the Machine Army is. I could do that.

"I'm not against the idea," she said carefully. "But the crime here in Brockton Bay …"

"… is very much on the decline," he assured her. "There are no more supervillain-led gangs, and the ordinary crime is well under control. You may have found yourself lacking drug houses to hit, recently. Thanks to one of our new Wards, we're locating them as fast as they pop up."

"Oh. Well, that's okay, then." She took a deep breath. "You promise that nobody will try to take away my child?"

He stepped forward, holding out his hand. "My word on it."

With a severe sense of unreality, she shook it. "Okay, then. Put that in writing and let's do this."

Central Park, New York
Monday Evening, July 25, 2011

Taylor

I moved my pawn and took Marquis' castle. He didn't look chagrined; in fact, the expression on his face made me wonder if I'd made a bad call. "I just lost again, didn't I?"

"Not yet," he said. "But that does allow me to snap up your pawn with my bishop, which opens your entire left flank to me." As he spoke, he made the move and collected my piece.

"Arrgh." I groaned and facepalmed, knowing it was all my fault. "I always fall for that."

"Not always," he assured me. "I had to really work to tempt you with that one. You're improving."

"She's still better than I'll ever be," Dad noted without looking up from the book he was reading nearby, by the illumination of an overhead light.

"And if she were beating the socks off me, I still wouldn't mind." Marquis looked up at the gently rustling leaves of the tree we were sitting under, and around at the park itself as the last rays of sunset gleamed between the buildings to the west. "Just this moment, right here, is worth more than gold itself."

I looked around as well. "It is pretty nice, yeah," I agreed.

Of course, the universe had to be laughing at me. Because right at that moment, the Endbringer sirens went off.

Marquis knew what that meant, of course. "Damnation," he muttered, scooping the pieces back into their box. "I don't suppose you could leave me out awhile longer? I promise I'll be good."

I went over and took Dad's hand. "First off, let's see what's going on." Taking a deep breath, I concentrated on 'Endbringers'.

It wasn't the Simurgh; she was inert in low earth orbit. Leviathan was deep in an oceanic trench, probably still sulking from having been dumped on the moon. But Behemoth … Behemoth was a thousand miles under India, riding a wave of liquefied rock upward like the world's most dangerous body-surfer. I didn't know what city he was aiming to come up under, but it didn't matter.

"We don't have to go anywhere," I decided. Picking up a piece of gravel from beside the path, I handed it to Dad. "Think we can get him with this?"

He smiled. "It's worth a try."

Armsmaster, En Route to New Delhi

"Whoooaa …" breathed Dragon in Colin's ear. "I'm not sure what just happened, but something did."

"Speak to me," he said. "What are you detecting?"

"A massive shockwave from where I think Behemoth is," she reported. "He's stopped moving … no, he's started again. But whatever hit him, tagged him good."

"Isn't he still underground?" he wasn't sure what was going on here.

"Yes. Nearly a thousand miles down, still in the mantle. But there was a shock … a double shock, though the second one was a lot weaker."

"What could've caused it?" He had her data up on his HUD now, and he started dissecting it even as he spoke.

"Maybe a medium sized nuke?"

"Define 'medium sized'."

"Okay, just going by the shockwave, about twenty kilotons."

That was definitely big enough to be concerned about. "And he's still moving?"

"Like I said, a little slower than before. Whoever did that just bought us half an hour."

"Good. How's New Delhi? Did they feel it?"

There was a pause; he imagined her sampling news feeds. "Quake, minor one. Stronger than the seismic activity they've been feeling so far."

"Maybe it'll speed up the evacuation." That was always a bugbear with Endbringer attacks.

"We can only hope."

"Keep me posted."

"Will do."

Taylor

"Anything?" asked Dad.

I growled under my breath. Stupid durable Endbringers. "Good news: we blew his head off. Bad news: he's growing it back. Worse news: he's still going."

"Okay, then." Dad cracked his knuckles. "Find me a bigger rock."

From our link, he wanted something about the size of a baseball. I concentrated on exactly that, and seconds later, he teleported it into his hand. "Where'd this come from?"

"Other end of the park," I said absently, getting a targeting fix on Behemoth. Despite everything from the neck up just being gradually regrowing spiky shards, he was still surfing upward. Slower than before, probably to let his head regrow all the way before he reached the surface, but still moving.

Well, Dad and I weren't about to let that happen. We had the means to stop Behemoth once and for all, and we intended to do just that.

I waited until I knew exactly how fast he was moving, so that when I dropped my fix on him and put it on the rock Dad wanted to send, I knew where to send it to. Just to be sure, I did two dummy runs where I picked my target spot then went back to see where Behemoth was. On the first run, he was just above it; on the second, dead on target.

I lined it up and gave Dad the information. "Go!" I said out loud.

The rock vanished in the typical puff of purple-brown smoke. I waited for a long moment, then set my focus on 'Behemoth'. Nothing.

Hope began to grow in my chest. "I think we did it," I whispered.

"We did?" A grin burst across Dad's face.

I reset my focus to 'bits of Behemoth'. There were some pings from Washington DC, but I ignored those. The majority were far below India, no longer moving. Nothing was regenerating.

I grabbed Dad in a tight hug. "We did it! He's in bits and pieces!"

"Congratulations. Well done, young lady." Marquis held up the box of chess pieces. "One more game, to celebrate?"

"Yeah, that sounds good to me." I sat down at the board again. "Maybe this time I'll kick your ass."

He snorted. "Maybe this time I'll let you."

Armsmaster

Dragon's icon popped up in Colin's HUD. "I have good news and bad news."

That didn't sound like something he wanted to hear about. "Talk to me. What's the good news?"

"Behemoth has stopped. There's no movement at all."

He blinked. That sounded like very good news indeed. "You're certain?"

"Certain as I can be. All I'm getting is echoes."

"Echoes from … what?"

"The bad news. Whatever they hit him with, it was in the range of two hundred megatons, and caused quakes across half of India. Some of the shockwaves reflected off the Mohorovičić discontinuity and back down into the mantle, but a lot got through. This one's going to be setting off seismographs all over the world."

"How bad were the quakes?"

"The worst was seven point four on the Richter scale, and going down from there." She sighed. "There are going to be some people hurt, maybe killed."

"There were always going to be people hurt and killed with this attack," he pointed out. "At least now we can do search and rescue without worrying about an actual Endbringer murdering us as well."

"I suppose you're right. I'm just tired of situations where there are no good outcomes."

He felt a mirthless smile quirk the corner of his mouth. "Welcome to the real world." Then he switched channels for an all-points broadcast. "This is Armsmaster speaking. Behemoth has been neutralised. I say again, Behemoth has been neutralised. We are still needed, however; New Delhi has been hit by a major earthquake. This is now a rescue mission. Armsmaster, out."

As he settled back into his seat, he could hear the cheering over the radio net. Yes, they were going into a disaster area and would probably still be faced with death and destruction. But it was still preferable to facing Behemoth.

Taylor
A Little Later

The Birdcage was celebrating. Marquis had spread the word, and apparently quite a few of the villains had lost someone—or several someones—to an Endbringer attack. Even those who hadn't were still happy Behemoth was gone.

"So what are you going to do, now that he's dead?" asked Paige. She was wearing a homemade party hat, and was taking a break from singing various celebratory songs in the common room.

"Maybe go after the others," I said. "Dad?"

He sipped from his glass of champagne—after tasting their idea of jailhouse booze, he'd had me locate a dozen cases of the stuff, which only served to raise the general level of cheer in the place—and looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "We could do worse. But do you know what I was thinking?"

"What?" Paige and I asked at the same time.

"The question we should've been asking all along is this." He studied the bubbles in his glass for a second, then looked back at us. "What are the Endbringers? They're not people. Taylor, you blew Behemoth's head clean off, and he kept climbing. They don't bleed blood. Just because the Simurgh looks like a fifteen foot tall woman doesn't mean she is. What if they were constructs, being controlled by someone?"

Paige shuddered. "That's a scary thought."

"Well, that's easy to find out." I sat up from my previous boneless slump. "Dad, gimme your hand."

"Here you go." He reached out. "What are you going to look for?"

"Whoever's controlling the Endbringers." I grabbed his hand. "If there's no such person, it'll show up as a null answer. But if there is …"

"Then you'll see them." Paige nodded. "Well?"

I took a breath, and concentrated on the search. Let's see now …

And I had my answer.

Right there, in my mind's eye.

"What the ever-loving fuck?" I blurted. "That can't be right!"

"What?" asked Dad. Paige was only half a second behind.

I sent the image to Dad so he could see it too, but Paige was still in the dark.

"You're never going to believe this," I said. "It's fucking Eidolon."

Dad shook his head. "It can't be."

I renewed the question. 'The person controlling the Endbringers'.

Again, Eidolon.

"It is," I said. "I don't know how or why, but my power's never been wrong before. It's him."

Paige shook her head. "But … Eidolon," she said helplessly. "How could that be? He's a hero."

Dad shook his head grimly. "I've known of firefighters who went out and lit fires so they could turn up and fight them. Cops who planted evidence so they could keep up a great arrest record. Anyone can be corrupt. A hero who learns how to make constructs that attack whole cities, one who wants the reputation of the greatest hero ever … yeah, I can see that."

"But what do we do?" I asked. "How do we deal with this? How does it even help if we destroy the Endbringers, and he just creates more?"

"I can only think of one way," he said quietly. "Confronting him directly is just asking to be murdered."

I made the time-out gesture. "I think we need to talk to someone else about this. Get another opinion."

He nodded. "I think you're right."

PRT ENE Building
Wards Area

Insight

Lisa wasn't sure who'd had the brainwave of linking surveillance drones through to the Wards gaming console, but whoever it was, they were a genius. Sitting on the sofa with Chris, Aisha and Alec, they each had a controller and a separate drone. It was the quickest way of scouting with IR and other sensors, with a human mind behind the drone for on-the-spot judgement calls. So far, Alec had the highest score of trapped people located, with Aisha not far behind him.

There was a tiny puff of smoke as a piece of paper insinuated itself between her right hand and the controller; she didn't let herself react, but instead guided the drone in on another hotspot. Then she double-clicked the appropriate button on her controller and announced over her headset, "Insight going off controls for a personal break."

"Insight handing over control, roger," the supervisor in charge of their area replied. She saw her screen moving as someone else took over the drone.

Putting the controller down, Lisa curled her hand around the paper in a natural fashion, then pulled off her headset. "Just going to freshen up and have a five-minute lie-down," she said. "I'm starting to see things that aren't there."

"Yeah, yeah, wuss," Alec grunted, then double-clicked his controller. "Hijinks, I've got one. Grid Alpha three niner six dash one three."

Lisa turned away from the screen and headed back to the bathrooms, where she splashed water on her face—handy excuse or not, she needed the freshen up—then unfolded the note.

NEED TO TALK. V IMPORTANT. CR

Okay, so what's going on here?

Leaving the bathrooms, she headed to her bedroom, then closed the door and engaged the flimsy lock. Then she turned around to face the room, and waited.

Two seconds later, Taylor and Danny teleported into the room. They were both in civilian clothing rather than their costumes, and neither one looked happy. "Hey," said Taylor. She stepped forward, clearly about to hug Lisa, then paused.

"Hey, you," Lisa replied with a grin, and hugged her. "Just because you've gone to the dark side doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"Good." Danny still looked grim about something. "We need to talk about something, and you might want to shout. How long do we have?"

"Four minutes," said Lisa. "Let's go."

She had to admit, they were getting slicker at it. Before the word 'go' even finished leaving her mouth, she was somewhere else. Somewhere with concrete walls and floor, and no doors to the doorways. There were rugs on the floor, a mismatched sofa and armchair, and a coffee table with a chess set, a champagne bottle, and a wineglass on it.

"Okay," she said, looking around carefully and letting her power fill in details. "So instead of letting deserving prisoners out of the Birdcage, you've moved in?"

"Yes and no." Danny gestured to the sofa. "You're going to need to be sitting down for this one."

Cautiously, Lisa sat. "What's going on?"

Taylor took a deep breath. "After we killed Behemoth—"

"Fucking what?" Lisa sat up straight. "How the fuck—what did you—are you shitting me—"

"Jeez, settle down." Taylor rolled her eyes. "Remember a few weeks ago, how someone set off a nuke in Death Valley?"

"I remember." Lisa shook her head. "The whole west coast went on high alert for about two days straight. We were combing PHO for any terrorist manifestos, the whole nine yards. Why do you—" That was when she saw Taylor's face. "Oh, no. Ooooh no. You didn't. That was you?"

"That was us," Danny confirmed, seating himself in the armchair. "We were testing an interesting application for our powers."

"And Behemoth was the real deal." Lisa's eyes were wide open now, her brain churning through the various implications as fast as it could. "Sonovabitch. Teleport—you're teleporting things into other things, aren't you?"

"And releasing an absolute fuck-ton of energy, doing it," confirmed Taylor. "Turns out that when Einstein was talking about the old e equals m c squared, he wasn't actually joking. But that's not what we're here to talk about."

"Wait, wait," Lisa begged. "Before we move onto that one, what did you kill him with?"

Taylor grinned briefly. "Blew off his head with a piece of gravel, then finished him off with a chunk of stone this big." She cupped her hands facing each other, the fingertips barely touching.

"Yeah, that … that'll definitely do it." Lisa considered telling them about the above-ground effects of the blast, but decided against it for the moment. "So, what did you want to run past me?"

Taylor took a deep breath. "After we did it, Dad and me were spitballing, and he said what if the Endbringers were constructs being controlled by someone?"

Lisa pondered that idea. "That's definitely a scary concept, yes." She let her power loose on it, and frowned. "I've got several possible answers for that one, and I don't like any of them."

"We've got one answer," Danny replied. "And we definitely don't like it."

Startled, Lisa stared at him, then at Taylor. "What … you actually looked for someone like that? And you found someone? Who was it?"

Taylor and her father spoke at the same time. "Eidolon."

Taylor

Lisa shook her head. "Oh, no fucking way. There's got to be a mistake somewhere."

"Nope." I put my hand on her shoulder. "I looked for it in a dozen different ways. Same answer every time. Not only are the Endbringers being controlled, but Eidolon's the one doing it."

"Talk to us," Dad urged. "What's your intuition say about this? Could it be him?"

Lisa grimaced. "Fuck … no, you've twisted my head around somehow. Now, all I can think about is how it could be him. He's always been a glory hound."

"Can you think of any reasons it couldn't be him?" I pressed. "Anything at all? Trust me, we don't want it to be, any more than you do."

Lisa looked at us for a long, stricken moment, then shook her head. "I can't. And I'm trying to."

Dad sighed gustily. "Okay. Thanks. Uh … can you keep this a secret?"

"And who the fuck am I going to tell it to, exactly?" she snarked. "The only people who know I've been talking to you are you and me."

"Good point." I squeezed her shoulder for a second. "Before we send you back, any pointers as to how we should approach him with this?"

"And not get murdered out of hand?" Lisa shook her head. "Not a one, sorry."

I grimaced. "I was afraid you'd say that."

"Well, don't tell me what you're going to do," she said with flat finality. "I'd prefer not to know."

"Don't worry, we'll talk to other people before we make a move," Dad assured her. "We're just getting all the opinions we can."

"Oh, good," she said. "Just, you know … be careful, yeah?"

I considered the next person we were likely to be talking to. "Careful. Yeah."

Danny

"The Faerie Queen will see you now."

No matter how long they spent in the Birdcage among the very worst supervillains in the world, Danny decided, going to meet with Glaistig Uaine would never not be creepy. At least she hadn't pulled some ridiculous bullshit power play and made them wait on her whim.

Costumed up once more, they walked into Glaistig Uaine's sanctum. Tea had been laid out for them, so they took their seats.

"Greetings, o Forger of the Path and Finder of the Way." Her multi-toned voice hadn't gotten any less creepy, either. "I am honoured once more to host you, your dark and vibrant majesties. A tremendous beast you have slain, yet you come to me for advice."

Taylor sipped at her tea. "We have," she admitted. "We think they are being controlled by someone, and we're hoping you could confirm matters, one way or the other."

The Faerie Queen looked at her. "Yes."

Oh, good. She's willing to talk. "So basically," Danny began, "Taylor's uh, faerie has identified Eidolon—"

"Yes," Glaistig Uaine said once more. "Must I answer thy query yet a third time? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!"

Taylor caught on quickly. "Oh, of course. So, do you have any advice for how to deal with this?"

Danny could feel the powerful cape's eyes boring into him from behind the shroud. "The High Priest is yet unaware of the devastation brought about by his idle wishes. Were you to accuse him with it, he would in all honesty deny every word. Yet even now, a nascent creature stirs, awoken by the demise of the firstborn. You have but two paths to tread."

Shit. He's responsible, but doesn't know about it.

"What two paths are these?" asked Taylor boldly.

"One of two things needs must be destroyed utterly, for these creatures to be made harmless." Glaistig Uaine sipped from her cup, without taking her eyes from Taylor or Danny. "The High Priest himself, or that from which he draws his power: She Who Sleeps Beneath."

"You've spoken about that before," Danny said, a little frustrated at the double-talk. "What is She Who Sleeps Beneath?"

"That is not for me to answer, o Forger of the Path," Glaistig Uaine answered. "Thy fellow majesty, Finder of the Way, has eyes that see e'en where mine own cannot."

"Ah." Behind her goggles, Taylor's eyes went a little distant. "Oh. Oh, I see. Thank you, Faerie Queen. You have been a great help."

"You do me too much honour, your majesty," Glaistig Uaine demurred. "I have merely shone a light upon a path you already knew to tread."

"Well, be that as it may," Danny said, "we appreciate your gracious hospitality."

"Fare thee well, your Majesties," the Faerie Queen said as they got up to leave. "But one final word of advice."

"Yes?" asked Taylor. Danny paid attention as well; creepy she may be, but Glaistig Uaine knew far more than she should.

"Beware the Golden Fool," their host intoned. "He plays a part, and wears a false face."

Danny didn't understand it, but given that she'd already mentioned that Scion was the origin of many powers, suspected that this may be a reminder of that. Together with Taylor, he walked back toward their personal area within the Birdcage.

Five Minutes Later

Taylor

"Okay. Wow." I studied the mass of fleshy protuberances, faces, arms and legs floating in my mind's eye. "When she said 'She Who Sleeps Beneath', I did not expect that."

Dad, who could see the same thing because I was sending him the image, frowned. "How big is that thing?"

I shrugged. "I think it's multidimensional. Those fuzzy areas, I think they extend in directions I can't follow. But the main bit, the part Eidolon gets his powers from, it's gotta be in the main mass."

"And where is it, anyway?" He seemed to be opposed to the idea of it even existing. I couldn't argue with that. I got the same sort of uncanny-valley vibes from it as he did.

"I'm … pretty sure it's on another Earth," I replied slowly. "Getting a fix on it has a whole different feel than normal, anyway."

"Good." He set his jaw. "Because if we're going to destroy every last bit of it, we're going to need to make a large crater."

I tilted my head. "Hold that thought. I have an idea."

Danny

Leaning against the tree at the edge of the Sheep Meadow, Danny watched as Taylor ran out over the grass, tossing rubber balls from the basket she was carrying to the left and right. She'd located a store selling the toys for a steep discount, and they'd bought up the lot. Other people on the grassed area looked as her as though she were crazy, but she didn't care. Neither did Danny, because he was aware of she was really doing.

When she was finished, even without the confirmation from their link, he simply teleported out to where she was. Neither of them was in costume, or even masked up; what was the point? The chance of meeting anyone they knew in New York was slim to zero.

He took her hand, then crouched down and put his finger to one of the balls. In his mind's eye, he saw the array of rubber balls. She knew where they needed to go.

He sent them there.

Some of the people, the ones who had seen him teleport, were beginning to point at them. He didn't care; his attention was on Taylor. Her frown suddenly broke into a broad grin. "We got her, Dad. She doesn't exist anymore."

"Well, then." He stood up and dusted his hands off. "It's time we—"

"Uh, Dad?" Taylor was pointing upward.

Cauldron

The base containing the flesh garden, the nerve centre of the ultra-secret organisation called Cauldron, was designed to repel outside attack for quite some time. It had thick walls, secondary fallbacks, and a whole host of security measures.

What it didn't have was protection against having several dozen megaton-equivalent nuclear bombs going off inside the central chamber. The entirety of the Thinker's semi-corpse was turned to plasma, along with the walls and roof of the chamber it was residing in. Irresistible wavefronts of energy tunnelled down each dimensional partition and laid waste to those spaces as well.

Doctor Mother, working in her office, didn't even have time to wonder what was happening when her office was vaporised and her with it. The Custodian, as well as the Case Fifty-Threes she was keeping prisoner, all became one with the mushroom cloud. Doormaker and the Clairvoyant were likewise annihilated.

Contessa had been out of sorts all day, not sure what was going on with her Paths, but unhappy with it. She suspected that Pathfinder and Compass Rose were about to blow up another one of the Endbringers and cause some sort of problem in the process, but she didn't know which one. So she followed a Path that took her to Central Park in New York, and saw Taylor Hebert laying out a series of rubber balls. Strolling across the grass toward them, she watched as Danny sent them away—oh, how cute. They're using the trick I suggested—and leaned into her power to feed her the answer to which Endbringer had been targeted.

Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown sat in her office in Washington DC, speed-reading the latest reports. She had no idea that anything was wrong until her desk phone rang. Without even looking, she reached over and put it on speaker. "You have Director Costa-Brown."

"Rebecca, it's me." She recognised David's voice, but infused with a desperation she'd never heard from him before. "You've got to help me. My powers are gone."

As she sat up straight in her office chair, the press of a button secured her door. "When did this happen? Have you spoken with Doctor Mother?"

"Thirty seconds ago." He was breathing harshly. "I nearly fell off the damn roof. I've tried to Doorway back to Cauldron, but nothing's working!"

Suddenly alarmed, she drifted up off her chair. "Well, mine are. Keep trying. I'll contact Legend."

She hung up the call, then entered Legend's number from memory. Just as she was about to press the Call icon, it rang anyway. Even more surprisingly, the caller ID showed it was Legend himself.

"Hello," she said, not bothering with formalities. "I was just about to call you. There's a problem."

"Well, yeah, there's a problem!" He sounded flustered, which was highly unusual for him. Part of her mind noted a pattern forming.

"Wait, you've lost your powers as well?"

"Powers? No. Mine are fine. What do you mean, 'as well'?"

"Never mind that for the moment," she said impatiently. "What's your problem?"

Taylor

That's Scion. Wow.

Just for a moment, I stood in awe, staring up at the glowing golden man who had protected the world (after a fashion) for longer than I had been alive. Then I took in the apocalyptic rage on his face, and the extra glow gathering around his hands, and stopped thinking wow so I could start thinking oh, shit.

Dad grabbed me and we teleported blind, to the other end of the Sheep Meadow, just in time for a massive golden beam to carve a huge furrow in the parkland, curving toward us. Rocks, chunks of turf and incandescent energy descended on us, but we weren't there anymore.

By sheer instinct, I guided us back to the room in the Birdcage. Dad looked around and yelled, "No! He'll kill them all!"

Fuck. He was right. We teleported outside, and there he was, just powering up his beam again. As Dad and I began to fall, we teleported away again, to the Sahara. I scooped up a handful of sand. Surely a single grain would kill him without wrecking us too?

As Scion flashed into view, I pressed a single grain of sand into Dad's hand. He teleported it into Scion, but the golden man blurred aside in the same instant.

Oh, that's just cheating.

At least he hadn't stayed to destroy the Birdcage. I pointed Dad at the crater we'd made in Death Valley; weeks later, it was still impressive. "Okay," I panted. "Maybe—"

Scion appeared above us. Dad tried another grain of sand, but Scion seemed to have some kind of precog danger sense; the instant the teleport engaged, he was six feet to the side.

We teleported away, ten miles down the valley, just in time to see yet another beam of golden fuck-you energy swinging our way. Another desert, and another. Every time, Scion showed up just seconds later.

I handed Dad one grain, and threw the rest in the air. At the same time, I fixed on all of them.

He teleported the whole cloud of them at Scion. Whether the golden fool went to the left or right, he would be hit by one.

Scion went backwards. He'd somehow known what we were going to do.

This wasn't fair. He was cheating before we even made our moves.

We normally didn't teleport this much in one go, and we were starting to run out of places that we'd already been to. It didn't seem to matter where we went, anyway; he knew, and showed up no matter what.

How are we supposed to beat Scion?

And then Glaistig Uaine's words came back to me.

'Beware the Golden Fool. He plays a part, and wears a false face.'

No shit he plays a part and wears a false face! He's supposed to be a fucking hero!

We teleported again, back to Death Valley. It was already the worse for wear from our previous visits, but I figured there wasn't much more damage we could do to it.

But two words were niggling at the back of my brain.

'False face'.

As Scion appeared, I concentrated, not on where to go next, but on 'Scion's true shape'.

And I saw it.

More than that, I saw how to win.

"Dad!" I yelled. "City! Any city!"

Anyone else would've queried me, but Dad knew I was up to something. He took us to the city he and I knew best—Brockton Bay.

We landed on the pavement, next to a row of parked cars. I threw myself on the closest one, grabbed its windshield wiper. Never so grateful for Panacea's muscular upgrade, I tore it away from its mount. The broken metal gashed my palm, but I didn't care.

"Hey!" yelled a guy a few yards away. "That's my car, you little freak!"

"Fuck off!" I screamed at him, then slapped the wiper into Dad's hand. Scion appeared in the sky above us. I called up the image of Scion's true form—a ponderous creature with crystalline outgrowths, hundreds of miles long—then linked the car and its wiper as 'parts of that car'. "Send it!"

Normally, he would not have been able to send something as massive as the car without going along with it. But he could send the wiper on its own ... and linked to it, the car went along as well.

Both the wiper and the car vanished in the same cloud of purple-brown smoke. I regained my vision of Scion's true form. Scion himself jerked and convulsed; in my mind's eye, a huge, ragged hole had been torn out of the otherworldly flesh.

The guy who'd just lost his car tried to grab me. I ducked, and Dad punched him out neatly. Overhead, Scion seemed to have recovered from the hit, and was prepping to blast us. We knew how to hurt him now, so we teleported away again.

In Boston, we scored a Porsche, while in Toronto I managed to break the wiper off a garbage truck. That one did the most damage of all, nearly tearing the continent-wide lumpen body in half. I wasn't really surprised; a rock had destroyed Behemoth, and a truck was a lot bigger than that.

Scion was staggering by now, but we couldn't let him get up. From city to city we went, committing grand theft auto in the name of saving the world. Finally, after the last one—a pickup truck from Melbourne, Australia—the body started coming apart of its own accord. Scion's false image flickered, then vanished.

We'd won.

Somewhat Later
Washington DC

Danny

"You realise, we can't just let you wander back to the Birdcage after that." Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown had her arms folded, and was tapping her foot. "You're loose cannons of the highest order."

"And yet, we saved the world." Danny tried for his most reasonable tone.

"Which is the only reason we're talking to you right now." Contessa was in a wheelchair after being caught at ground zero when Scion attacked at the Sheep Meadow. Her power was apparently all that had kept her alive. "You have good intentions, but you go too far with them."

"Because you weren't doing anything!" Taylor, it seemed, wasn't interested in 'reasonable'.

Danny nudged her warningly. "What would you have us do?"

"That depends," Legend said, also trying to sound reasonable. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, I've got one idea," Taylor said.

Everyone turned to look at her.

Birdcage

Taylor

"Mars." Marquis sounded dubious. "You want to colonise Mars."

"You do understand, that's a massive undertaking," Lustrum added.

"I totally understand," I agreed. "But look at it this way: do you not want to be the first people on Mars? You guys are all in here because you clearly can't fit in with the society out there. I mean, I know it'll be dangerous and all that—"

Lung stepped forward. "We are supervillains. We know danger."

Dad cleared his throat. "And in the meantime, your appeals can be ongoing back here on Earth. Because now it's possible to let you out, they have to allow the possibility of an appeal. Just saying."

"What about me?" snapped Kaiser. "I was never sentenced to the Birdcage in the first place!"

I shrugged. "I'm sure they can rig up a supermax cell for you. Just because we snuck you in here under false pretences doesn't mean they aren't gonna arrest you and charge you with all the crimes you're due for. The Empire Eighty-Eight isn't really a thing, not anymore."

"And me?" asked Teacher. "Am I still to be held under duress?"

"If you want to come, you can come," Dad decided. "Giving people specific skillsets on command is a useful ability. But you don't get to build another cult." He looked around at the gathered population of the Birdcage. "So, who's interested?"

Lung was the first to put his hand up, followed closely by Marquis. One by one, then a flurry of others followed. By the time the movements had finished, very few still had their hands at their sides.

Dad nodded, and dusted off his hands. "Good enough," he said with some satisfaction.

"I have one question," Cinderhands ventured. "If we're all going at once … where will we be living?"

I grinned and rapped my knuckles against the concrete wall beside me. "Sturdy enough for you? We've been talking with Dragon, and she's willing to install airlocks. Instant base; just add doors and windows."

"Damnation." Marquis' tone was amused rather than complaining. "We're never getting away from this place, are we?"

Dad smiled slightly. "Well, that depends on how well we do on Mars."

Lung raised a hand. "Do we still come back to Earth if we are good? I was enjoying the island."

I looked at Dad, and we both nodded. "I think we can definitely arrange that."

Somewhat Later

Danny

"Eight … seven … six … five …"

Dragon's countdown echoed through the Birdcage. Danny stood next to Taylor at one of the reinforced viewscreens that currently enjoyed a view of exactly nothing. They were holding hands tightly, and each had hold of a safety rail. In his head was a complete view of the structure, placed there by Taylor. At the very top of the Birdcage was one of Dragon's drones, poised to trigger the explosive charge that would release the prison from its tether within the mountain.

Danny glanced at Taylor. Ready, kiddo? He didn't need to explicate the words.

She nodded. Absolutely.

Their handclasp tightened fractionally.

"… four … three … two … one …"

They both saw and felt the jolt as the charge went off, and the Birdcage began to fall.

The landing spot on Mars had been long since scouted, carved to fit, and lined with containment foam. It was ready.

Danny triggered the teleport. Purple-brown smoke filled the interior of the mountain, and the Birdcage itself. They felt the soft impact, the Birdcage settling into its new home. The gravity holding them down became substantially less. Outside, the teleportation effect cleared … and they saw a desolate, blasted landscape.

They were on Mars.

Now, all they had to do was make something of it.

Epilogue
Five Years Later

Taylor

The lightspeed lag between Mars and Earth was such that even at closest approach, there was a three-minute lag between speaking and being heard. This being so, Dad was relaxing in a comfortable chair with a cup of Glaistig Uaine's tea while listening to Costa-Brown's tirade, while I played chess with Paige off to the side. I was getting better at it, and she was happy to learn from me.

"You and your daughter have been spotted in Brockton Bay," Costa-Brown snapped. "Also in New York, Yellowstone Park, and Paris. You said you would leave Earth!"

Her image blinked out, indicating that she was awaiting a return signal. Dad leaned forward and took up the microphone.

"We did say we'd leave Earth," he agreed. "We never said we wouldn't come back to visit occasionally." He went to put the microphone down, then paused. Grinning, he keyed the mic one more time.

"See you around."

End.