Amelia, Ch 319- Rebecca
The Endmakers are running out of tricks? No. I'd learned a lot about Minerva, Lisa, over the last few months. She wasn't certain of any of what she just said, and she knew some of it was complete garbage. She stood just a little taller than normal. Her boots were already platformed, at least a little. She was convincing, but she couldn't make her body language lie enough to fool me. Although, to my amusement, she clearly beat Defiant's lie detector technology. Armsmaster's technology. Did they know the connection? Probably, they were willing to work with Bonesaw after all. Still, couldn't hurt to ask.
I gave a glance toward Defiant during the partial second that Lisa allowed herself to make eye contact with me specifically, then I looked toward Amelia and gave my head a tenth of a degree of tilt.
Lisa relaxed slightly, deliberately forcing her heartbeat to slow a little. No danger there. She wasn't curious, or surprised, so she knew who Defiant really was and didn't consider it a problem or a specific secret, past the parts that obviously needed to remain secret from the public.
"I suppose we should discuss how to handle the circumstances of the devastation of Paris," I spoke slowly. Around the group, the others nodded in agreement. This was really my scenario to lead. Patheon and Dragon knew my identity, had known ever since New Delhi, and likely before. I deliberately chose to look everyone in the eyes except Chevalier for this one. "We have to keep Moord Nag's involvement a secret. As Minerva said, this wasn't truly her fault. Will she be okay?"
Of course, that was a lie, it was very much her decision. She got a taste of Endbringer grade power, decided she liked it, and forgot that Pantheon had an Endslayer. She was suffering the consequences.
"In a lot of discomfort, but she'll live," Lisa responded. Meanwhile, a subtle shift of her hip, bringing her knees closer together. A signal of denial. Chevalier did not yet know I was the Chief Director, that was a relief.
"Lily's power bypasses all defenses, and annihilates everything it contacts if she wants it to," Minerva explained. "But it doesn't extend beyond that. Wounds inflicted by her weapons won't have any more trouble being healed than injury inflicted by anything else. Aceso's more than qualified to resuscitate her. From there, Gaea can handle the rest, she'll be good as new in a day or three."
Gaea tensed a little. She knew something, and wasn't happy about it. The girl had gone quiet, mousy even. Without the Khepri girl to back her up, she'd fallen back into the behavior I'd come to know from Panacea those few times I'd met her. Would Khepri default to her Skitter persona, were the situation reversed?
Lisa's reaction was slight, but involuntary. It was as good as flinching in pain to our senses. The answer to my question was yes, something that they knew for a fact, and brought shame and guilt at the memory. I wished I was better at showing emotional support, the girl clearly needed it. There were deeper undercurrents as well. More than could be conveyed through our secret language. Something between the core group, important secrets. I'd have to actually ask. "Can your men keep the secret, Director?" Lisa didn't want me to ask those questions.
"They are well trained professionals," Calvert responded, unaware of our ongoing conversations. Theoretically, he outranked me here. Realistically, our theoretical ranks were meaningless, especially here on foreign soil. "They understand the need for discretion. What would you have us claim happened here instead?"
I watched Lisa with my peripherals, she shifted her right hand, evoking thoughts of a handshake or high five, a signal of thanks for my praising the man, earlier. I already knew who he was and what Pantheon had done to him, he was far more their puppet than Cauldron's, now. But Pantheon was using him for the same basic goal we had in mind anyway, so we were content with that situation.
Lisa blinked, with a momentary delay in opening her left eye. She was signaling there's a relationship between the Moord Nag and Calvert thought points. They're planning to do to Moord Nag what they did to Coil. I didn't disagree with that plan in the slightest.
"We can imply it's the Endbringer's farewell attack," Lisa answered. "We should have the shunt bugs by the next Beelzebub attack, which means we'll have an excuse why it wasn't used in future fights."
"That should work," I agreed, to both trains of conversation. "Chevalier?"
"It's not a perfect solution," the man responded. "Moord Nag was, is, a monster. She's killed thousands even before this. If not for the Endbringer truce, we should be using this opportunity to put her in the Birdcage and wash our hands of it." And that's why we can't tell him she was responsible for her actions here.
Victoria stood next to him, and it was easy for me to figure out their not-quite relationship. Just as she at least imagined she understood mine and Lisa's. It also was quite obvious that she knew the lies we were telling, about Moord Nag. About what was going to happen with her. I wonder, would she go against her team and her sister by letting Chevalier know the truth?
"Endbringers and Scion take priority," Vicky finally spoke. "Moord Nag is one of the few parahumans that stands a real chance to hurt them. We have to keep her."
"Dragon, you're certain the shunt bugs will work?" I asked.
"The hard part isn't building them, it's building enough of them to matter," the AI responded. We'd yet to manipulate her code in any way. We'd yet to have a need to. But Saint and Contessa were enough to give us nearly unlimited access to her databanks, the general basics of her abilities. I let Lisa know that while Dragon was talking. "We'll need to adapt a purely organic variant, which we can then use Avalon's resources to mass produce."
"Our tinkers have proven capable enough to adapt purely organic antigravity technology," Lisa informed. She stood a little taller, spoke a bit more forcefully. "I trust them to handle this. Defiant, would you please assist in this project? Your specialty is exactly the kind of thing we need for this project." She still wants me to give them Richter's emergency control system
.
"Certainly," he agreed. "Perhaps we could apply the same graviton field principles on an atomic scale, creating a chain to carry the wave that doesn't require such a large amount of supporting mass interaction."
I paid only polite attention as he slowly delved into tech speak. He was a Tinker, as smart as I was I didn't have the ability to follow where their minds went. There was nothing I could say that Lisa would want to hear on the issue. She was at least assured that we weren't abusing our access to Dragon, even if she wasn't happy that we had it at all.
She hadn't told anyone about her knowledge, either. In a way, we were both going behind our organizations' backs on this. I raised an eyebrow, ever so slightly. It would be be invisible behind my helmet, the more streamlined one constructed of my own biological material, shielded by my own power, and built by Pantheon.
"Your people work quickly," I said to Director Calvert instead, as his second in command jogged back.
"Director," the woman saluted, and Calvert responded in kind. "Preparations are complete."
"Thank you, Commander James," he responded. Deliberately using her name, not so much to make it personal, but to reward her with name recognition in front of a number of powerful and influential people. It clearly made her happy. One of the ambitious types, apparently.
"Well, that's our cue," Victoria responded. She smiled cheerfully at me. "Come on, Sis, we have jobs to do. Try not to stay up past curfew, Minerva." Having got in her attempt at subtlety, she went off toward the improvised medical camp.
"Curfew?" Director Calvert asked. I had to admit I was curious, myself.
"We implemented a fairly strict lights out policy for our underage members," Lisa answered. "That was her idea of teasing me, since technically I fall under its umbrella. Clearly, however, I am an exception."
"Clearly," he agreed. I watched with a rather morbid fascination as the contempt he showed for Lisa was censored and replaced by a simple acceptance. There was a time when that would have horrified me. Now I wondered if Cauldron could harness such techniques for themselves. "If you will pardon me, I must attend to my men. Authorize the special draft recruits to return home."
"Let Janus and Tir know what you need them to do. Let them know I said to do anything reasonable to help." Lisa brushed the hair away from her cheek. Strong negation of that idea. She was right, too likely for it to be detected with people like Dragon, harnessing Rapture's technology. Still, it could have been convenient. And Amelia would be horrified at the concept of others using technology she helped Bonesaw to build. It would devastate our political alliance.
"Of course," I agreed. "We all have our responsibilities, especially after Endbringer conflicts. I expect we'll work together in the future, now that the M7 concept has been proven valid in the field."
"Indeed," he agreed marching off to his core group.
Meanwhile, Defiant hadn't managed to stop talking. He'd attracted Tir and Hecate into the conversation, and they were clearly in full Tinker fugue.
Dragon noticed me noticing them. "My apologies, Alexandria," she spoke. "I'm sure you understand."
"Yes, well, it's only to be expected," I responded. "Besides, this is a technology with the potential to save millions of lives. Don't let me waste your time on relatively inconsequential conversation when you could be improving it. I am aware none of you are in my command chain, but consider that an order."
"Thank you, ma'am," she responded. It was merely her being polite, of course. But she agreed with the request, I was sure. Richter's program made it pretty much impossible for her not to.
I watched them leave, then glanced at Lisa. She was almost wistful. I tilted my head, asking her what was wrong.
Her eyes went to the pod where Khepri was resting. She was worried about her friend. Or, more specifically, she wasn't worried. She knew things were going well, that while Taylor was hurt for now, she'd be fine in the long run, she had support to help her recover. What bothered Lisa is that it wasn't her that would make that recovery happen.
I opened my hand. Letting go.
She smiled sadly, and then broke our pattern by using words. "I tried to help her," she admitted. "But I'm not what she needed. Amelia is. And now that they have each other, I find myself wondering. We're still friends, but she doesn't need me, not really."
"You don't need her either," I responded. "You still trust and care about each other."
"Yeah," she sighed. She's lonely.
"It happens," I responded. "People change, grow. It's impossible not to. Some grow apart, others grow together, and other simply grow nearby. And those roles change often. Victoria considers you and Khepri to be effectively siblings." Much to her amusement and my annoyance. "That's not a small thing. You could have a similar relationship as she and Gaea... nevermind."
"It's fine," she replied. "I get what you mean."
She got what I meant about Victoria as well. Victoria was a Thinker, but not the kind of Thinker that Lisa and I were. Like Rapture was. Like Accord and Contessa might be if they thought to use their powers to their fullest. Victoria saw things from a normal person's mental lens. Maybe that would change in time. Unlikely, and certainly not any time soon, but maybe.
"I doubt they'll abandon you," I continued. "You'll always be a part of her life. Just, not the centerpoint. That's how life goes, with family."
She shrugged. Given what little I could divine of her family, how they were responsible for her brother's suicide, at least in her eyes. How they were responsible for her Trigger Event. She likely didn't believe in family. Then again, I didn't either. My family loved me, but they failed me nonetheless. I hadn't spoken to them in years.
"You'll find someone else to grow together with," I consoled.
She looked at me with a smug grin she rarely actually pointed at me. Costa-Brown on a regular basis, but not me. "Is that so?" The question was loaded with meanings, and entirely rhetorical. She knew the statement was an implied offer.
"Statistically, it can't not happen eventually," I replied. A logical, safe answer. Meanwhile I relaxed my body language, an invitation. Before it could have been interpreted as accidental, a slip of the tongue even for people who think like we think. Now it was quite clear it wasn't.
"You're right," she agreed. She didn't put hope into it, she put certainty. It already has.
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A/N- This is MY personal favorite part about the Endbringers. They cause dominoes to tumble into new configurations that wouldn't otherwise happen.
Great chapter but what part of Vicky's lines were subtle?
