Amelia, Ch 266- Lisa
"Good morning, Chief Director," I smiled at Rebecca. Won't be perceived as excess friendliness, I smile at everyone. Most people regard it as condescending and borderline insulting. Most of the time, that's true. In this case, however, the smile was genuine.
"Good morning, High Emissary," she responded back. Using my official title, showing faked amusement overtop real amusement. Fake amusement detectable by others, viewable as a form of contempt for the titles we were using. Real amusement actually is a level of contempt for the new title. She knows I don't respect it any more than she does. It was a sort of tongue in cheek angle, more a way to mock the people who are forced to use it than anything.
I smirked a little. Glad you appreciate the humor. Others would take that at face value, that I saw the contempt and was responding to it in my usual, well documented, way. Instead of the truth, that we were enjoying our private joke right under the noses of everyone around us.
Over months of practice, we'd invented our own psuedo-language with our powers. It changed and evolved constantly. By the end of this meeting, our signals would have yet again changed into a new effective language, making it impossible for anyone else to interpret. The two of us had also reached a sort of equilibrium with my power, allowing me to keep it focused on her constantly without causing migraines.
"First order of business," I started. The briefest flicker of my concern spoke volumes, my worry for her and an apology for the rarity of our talks lately. "The success of the Chevalier-Victoria power interaction."
"It's gone better than I think either of us had hoped," she confirmed. The tilt of her head indicated that she, too, was doing well. "You have the records, of course, twenty seven parahumans thought to be permanently maimed or disabled, restored." Those numbers weren't that high, but that was to be expected. Any parahuman that needed this sort of healing were usually very hard to hurt in the first place, most were wounded by Endbringers. And Endbringers usually preferred to kill, not maim. "And over a hundred Case 53s restored to human appearance. We're beginning to move into cosmetic restorations."
"So soon?" I asked.
"Indeed," she replied. "It appears that the restoration takes less time than originally anticipated." Untrue, cosmetic restorations being done for particularly powerful subjects, a number of less useful seeming parahumans are being 'forgotten' in the 'confusion'. Wants me to know, wonders how I'll react.
"Good to know," I agreed. A slight dip in my smile that would be as obvious as any frown to her. Don't worry, we'll 'discover' this failure ourselves, and take appropriate steps. I was sure Chevalier didn't know about it, or anyone Victoria or I would ever be allowed to meet. I wasn't entirely sure how Rebecca found out, but given her contacts I could make a few guesses.
"Now, let's move on to the less successful project with the restoration saliva," she changed the subject. Knows I have what I need to move forward, trusts I'll find a suitably believable reason to start investigating. The show of trust was, in itself, the most important part of what went unsaid between us.
"Well, you have the reports," I sighed. "We're still trying, but we've hit nothing but dead ends on replicating the fluid in a way that triggers the healing properties. We are achieving results by exposing artificial test organisms to deadly diseases and then treating them with the healing fluid. It produces useful antibodies for almost any infection or parasite, even ones that normally shouldn't be influenced by antibodies at all, and those we can synthesize with relative ease. It's not the universal cure we were hoping for, but it's the gate key to a whole new era of medical treatment and technology. Sadly, it's the best we can do."
"That's still quite an accomplishment," she replied. Open praise, neutral voice, minor inflection on the word 'still'. She wouldn't be seen as outside her position to offer a minor compliment under the circumstances. But moreso, she was letting me know that, if anything, it was better this way. A true universal cure would be disastrous for the world as we knew it, ruining livelihoods and creating even greater stratification between nations. It wasn't the sort of thing she could say, given her position. There were no laws against her thinking it.
I signaled back my agreement with a visible nod, my eyes glancing down. She wasn't wrong, Pantheon's goal of positioning itself as essential in the eyes of every nation, bringing stability through dependence, was far better served by having this ability than a true panacea could accomplish for us. The down glance was a reminder of the Yggdrasil, and would also bring to her mind the sewer system we used to functionally conquer Brockton Bay. This was one more way we could accomplish those goals.
I smiled slightly when I looked back up, making eye contact through the excellently designed video system that used the monitor itself as a camera. This was to assure her that we didn't do this on purpose, that we did everything in our power to accomplish that one perfect cure for everything. She relaxed a tiny amount, letting me know she was glad for the reassurance. She would have been perfectly fine with us lying about it, but it was better that we didn't have to. For a number of obvious reasons, like plausible deniability.
"I believe that covers everything," I admitted. Only Rebecca would recognize the disappointment in that statement. "But if I may ask, how's Chevalier coping with our liason? His report was notably lacking in opinions. I'd like to know how he and the PRT in general feel about this." Not that it stopped me from figuring this information out on my own. The poor guy was torn between wanting to murder her in her sleep, and wanting to kiss her. Figuratively speaking, on both counts. Still, it gave an excuse to extend the conversation, and it made my power look less than it really was.
"He likes her well enough that he didn't file a complaint when she snipe-recruited Sveta," Rebecca informed me. Her eyes crinkled just a little, a sign of her amusement in how transparent I was being, by our standards, of not wanting to be the one who hung up first. A light, involuntary, fidget on my part was a significant tell. We both knew she got me. She continued speaking. "In spite of her being one of the more powerful parahumans we've managed to restore thus far." Her voice sounded disapproving of this fact, but I knew better. She wasn't bothered, didn't care if we got the capes or the Protectorate did, beyond how it looked to the officials.
"I'll ask her to be more respectful of our joint venture in the future," I conceded. Meanwhile, I was talking to Rebecca via powers. I won't, Vicky knows restraint in situations like this, her powers let her know what she can get away with, and how to get what she wants, most of the time. Sveta was a special case because of just how powerful she was once reworked into a human shape. "Speaking of, how's Alexandria enjoying her new physiology?"
"She's impressed," Rebecca told me. This time the sign was a deliberate dilation of the formerly fake pupil, displaying conscious control of otherwise automatic feature. Implying similar control of every aspect of her body. Superior musculature more suited for other species of primate meant an overall increase in strength, flexibility, and reaction time. Especially the reaction time. Coupled with a limited version of Vicky's ability to overclock her body. "Says that she can't do a proper test until the next Endbringer conflict, but expects a full twenty five percent increase in combat effectiveness."
"That's a pretty remarkable improvement," I agreed. She knows I'm talking about the control, not the declared markup. She also knows this conversation point would remind the observers of just how valuable our arrangement was. The fact that it drew attention to Alexandria's working friendship with myself, and made me look like I was acting my age by being openly interested in my friends, was all bonuses in their own right. "I look forward to talking to her about it in person." Minor implied apology for not being able to make more time, and an understanding that I can be friends with Alexandria, but Chief Director Costa-Brown isn't an option. Professionalism and all that bullshit.
The alarm beeped. "Looks like you should be careful what you wish for," she spoke, hanging up the call immediately. Quip, deliberately curt, agreeing with the clear divide between her personas, knows I won't be offended, expects feed could be monitored, believes it almost certainly will be monitored. Rude cutoff was a calculated move under the circumstances meant to seem like a heat of the moment act. Implying that the Chief Director wasn't particularly fond of talking to me at all. Like pretty much every politician I'd ever known.
I was already up and moving. Over the next couple minutes, we'd gathered our teams, with exception to Victoria, who was semi-officially part of Chevalier's team for this conflict. Lily was the first of our branches to appear, although the rest of Faultline's crew was again notably absent from the gathering.
"Janus is getting the LA team right now," she told us as she approached. Apprehensive, worried, hasn't talked to Sabah in the last couple days. Concerned about their relationship, needs reassurances from Sabah. "Do we know what we're facing?"
"Unsure," Taylor replied. "Probably an attack on the USA, maybe Canada. Profile also unknown. We're getting one of the new ones."
Another set of people started appearing. Crystal and Sabah I recognized immediately, but the other three were new members of her team took me a moment. Sveta, Anima and Genius Loci. They had other members, but they weren't suitable for the 'new' way Endbringers were being fought. Only those that were likely to survive were being sent into battle these days, the zerg were the feed for the meat grinder.
"That's... that's fucking impossible," Taylor cursed at the triangulation data. I glanced at mine. Oh fuck.
"Clearly it's not," I replied. "The Endbringer is targeting Brockton Bay."
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A/N- I really, truly, love everything about this chapter.
(this forum REALLY needs to get a devil emoticon...)
