Chapter 43: The Bubbling Pot

-Doctor Mother POV -

“Well,” Kurt drawls, “That’s not ideal.”

The members of Cauldron sat at their meeting table, brows furrowed and eyes tired from not enough sleep. It had been like this for the past hour, watching with mute -tired- horror as the live feed showed the progress of the Endbringer’s construction.

Doctor Mother looked across the room, desperately wishing for another coffee.

Standing just next to her was Contessa, where the rest were restless and worried she remained a figure of stability and quiet resolve. Whether because of the path or her own determination, Contessa had simply accepted the new Endbringer’s presence and adjusted her plans accordingly. She had stepped out a few hours ago to reboot Dragon and ensure they could recover what assets were still viable.

To her right was David. The man had always seemed like less of a hero, and more of an office worker playing pretend. Nothing about his appearance, balding with a slight pudge, gave off the impression of a noble saviour. That being said, his usual appearance would be preferable to how he looked now.

Upon arriving he had collapsed into his chair and not moved an inch in the hours since. His costume seemed to sag around him, giving his figure an almost skeletal quality. The only sign of life present was his eyes, still tracking the Endbringer on the screen – glaring hatefully.

To her left was Kurt, the man trying to keep up an image of being unruffled – but utterly failing, as his eyes constantly darted from the screen to his computer. She could almost hear the gears in his head whirring as he calculated the fallout of the current situation, given his expression the answer was likely: not good.

The custodian was also here, the phantom presence only made clear through paper thin touches. Her attendance was sporadic however, as she was constantly moving back and forth the entire base – checking and rechecking.

Then there was herself. Doctor Mother, the only ‘normal’ human present. For her part she was feeling a building pain between her eyes that could be: stress, lack of sleep, an aneurysm or all three.

None of them were taking the fact that this operation had gone so poorly well, and neither was she. Doctor Mother had personally approved of Alexandria’s idea, seeing it as a chance to get a powerful new group under their thumb.

Now they were, once again, suffering the frustration of having their plans upended by an Endbringer. You’d think by now she would have gotten used to it, but she never did.

On the outside she remained calm, collected. Part of being a leader was projecting an image of calm, even when you were anything but. Thankfully there was one less person in the room who could see through her masks than there usually was.

She eyed Alexandria’s empty seat.

It truly was a pity. Alexandria was an excellent asset. Intelligent, dependable and determined to save humanity. Her death was a true loss, just as Hero’s was. The only thing they could do now was to mitigate as much of the damage as possible.

“Indeed,” she says – replying to Kurt’s quip.

“You’ve all seen the footage. You’ve all seen the transcripts. We’ve now witnessed the aftermath of this battle. Now is the time to determine what comes next,” she says – her eyes once more shifting across the room and settling on David, the one who would be the most trouble.

Sure enough, for the first time since this meeting began, Eidolon shifts in his seat. His back straightens and his hands curl into fists as he speaks. “What we should do next is strike while we still can! That monster is still present! If we hurry we can stop it from building any more monstrosities!”

“That would be unwise,” Kurt says. “You should already know the Endbringer has ensured countermeasures in place. We should-“

“BULLSHIT!” Eidolon roars, his fists cracking the wooden table.

“I know we have weapons capable of clearing out such places! The only reason we never used them on Nilbog was because he might be useful! Isn’t this one of the reasons why the Armoury was created? Shouldn’t we use it?!”

None were so undisciplined to glance towards each other worriedly at Eidolon’s attitude, nor at his suggestion - but the tension was palpable.

The Armoury. Shortly after the formation of the PRT Cauldron had discovered a particular parahuman and had…acquired his services. The man, Jason Wilhurst, had an ability to hold things in stasis within a one hundred meter radius, should he choose to use it.

He didn’t have much of a choice these days. The Slug, plus a few choice Master powers, had made sure of that. His only purpose now was to keep his power running at all times in a storage base a few Earth’s away.

There they preserved samples of Tinkertech they believed were too dangerous, or too valuable, to be allowed in the PRT’s hands. The most famous example being String Theory’s Mooncracker Cannon, officially destroyed in the raid which captured the Tinker – but in actuality squirrelled away for a day it might be needed.

To say that the Armoury was brimming with weaponry capable of destroying cities would be a gross understatement, most of the equipment within only scaled up from there. It was true that if they opened it up they would have a plethora of ways to destroy Hyderabad , however…

“Those weapons are only supposed to be used in the final battle, you know this David.” Her refusal causing Eidolon’s ire to be directed her way.

“Besides, the use of this Endbringer still remains too high to risk destroying it.”

Eidolon looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he looked around the room – searching for some kind of support but finding none.

“This…This is insane! Do you not realise what that thing has done! It killed Rebecca!” Eidolon shouted.

She simply glanced cooly at him, before turning back to arrange the papers sitting in front of her. “Yes, I know. It’s a tragedy, but what’s done is done. Using valuable resources simply to spite this creature will get us nothing.”

Clearly, in spite of her eminently sensible reasoning, Eidolon wasn’t satisfied with her words. She sighed, sometimes her work felt less like managing an interdimensional secret society and more like herding dumb kittens.

“Our path remains the same, David. When Alexandria screamed for the bloody murder of Manton, didn’t you help convince her to see things our way? Yes, one of us is dead, but we are all replaceable. We must be. If I died a gruesome death tomorrow at the hands of someone useful, I would expect you to only care about my death for what it could give you – and nothing else.”

Eidolon still looked defiant, he was still itching for the first opportunity to fight the newest Endbringer. She sighed, the hardest part regarding this job was undoubtedly trying to understand others. Didn’t he see he was being unreasonable?

“Regardless, This is the path we shall be taking.” With those words she slid copies of a certain document to each of the members of Cauldron, with the exception of Contessa – who know doubt already knew what was in it.

Each member reached to take their copy, even Eidolon reluctantly snatched it up and began to sullenly read. That sullenness quickly reverted back to anger as he continued to read however.

“What the actual fuck is this?”

“It’s one of the potential strategies the joint UN and associated countries has come up in regards to the new Endbringer. This is the one Contessa, Kurt and I have decided is the best one to use going forwards.”

The words made Davids’s hands crease the paper with how hard he was gripping it. “But this is an absolute joke! ‘Observe the Endbringer from a safe distance’, ‘Upon the Endbringer’s departure quarantine the city and send specialised squads to investigate the effected area?’ You may as well gift-wrap the cities to that thing, and since when the hell does the UN get to set precedent regarding Endbringer strategies?!”

Kurt glanced sardonically at her, rolling his eyes before once more focusing on his computer.

“It’s almost like they don’t trust us after that extrajudicial romp you and Alexandria went on. I wonder why?” Kurt’s mocking words only gained him a withering glare.

“As Kurt said, the PRT has lost much reputation and trust with the international community. As for the rest…”

At those words the projector lit up, showing a brilliant bridge slowly being built in place by invisible hands. The soft blue glow of the Bridge’s lights adding sharp contast to the dingy surroundings.

“There is a marked difference between before you attacked the Endbringer and after. This can also be seen in the last two countries as well.”

The screen once more changed, showing aerial footage of both New Fukuoka and New Jinzhou.

“In Japan, the Endbringer’s work went unnoticed and nobody attempted to stop it. This resulted in the technological marvel that is New Fukuoka. Meanwhile, in China, it is likely that the Endbringer faced resistance from members of the C.U.I.’s military – but not from it’s prisoners. Thus a city was built which favours those that capitulated to the Endbringer, but greatly unbalanced China itself.”

The footage changed back to the live video recording of Hyderabad, this time focusing on the thick walls being built at the boundaries of the city. Each undulation of the slime-like creature adding to the mass of the gargantuan construction.

“Then we have Hyderabad. For all intents and purposes the creature did not begin the construction of the city using Bio-Tinkered creations, it instead used atomic energy that created very little waste radiation as a byproduct. According to Armsmaster’s sensors, it was barely higher than background radiation despite clearly being nuclear technology. Then it was attacked.”

Eidolon crossed his arms, refusing to admit fault. She couldn’t blame him. Once it became known that the creature was an Endbringer, attacking was the logical choice.

“In response the Endbringer killed the vast majority of the forces that were sent against it and ensured we would be unable to retake Hyderabad.”

Doctor Mother leaned forwards.

“But notably the creation of this city has done nothing to effect the surrounding area, in fact it seems to be working to prevent such a scenario from occurring. The walls are clearly designed to keep the creatures it created within, and the filters it is in the midst of building seem to be filtering and cleaning the water downstream more effectively than what India had previously used. This has only negatively affected the PRT, not India.”

Eidolon scoffed. “You can’t seriously mean that it has a sense of mercy?”

She shook her head at that. As nice as it would be to have an Endbringer aligned with humanity, that was clearly impossible.

“No, I’m saying it has an understanding of proportional response.”

If what she had said before was shocking, this was akin to a bomb going off for David. Even Kurt seemed to have difficulty believing what he was hearing, despite likely having come to the same conclusion as she did.

The idea that the Endbringers had been getting smarter and more human wasn’t unknown to her. It was a theory that occasionally cropped up, but never in serious academic discourse. It was something you’d be more likely to find on old forums or conspiracy boards.

Yet, the proof was right in front of them. An Endbringer that could talk, one that could understand complex social constructs and even act irrationally – assuming the redacted report from Dragon could be trusted.

“Surely you’re not saying this was my fault,” Eidolon asked, aghast at the possibility.

Doctor Mother considered the question. Yes, by all accounts, he and Alexandria were the ones to first initiate conflict. Yes, those actions had lead to the deaths of hundreds. However, in any other circumstance, it would have been the correct option. The discovery of a new Endbringer should have called for immediate and overwhelming action.

Besides, even if he had made the wrong call, telling him it was all his fault clearly wasn’t what he needed to hear right now. If even she could tell he needed reassurance, then it was desperately required.

“No. ultimately it was still the Endbringer’s choice to murder hundreds of heroes, and it was our choice to approve your mission to Hyderabad. It was just a set of unfortunate circumstances Eidolon.”

The words didn’t seem to quell his anxiousness, and Doctor Mother could only bemoan the fact that Alexandria was dead. With her gone, and with Legend not being read in on their deepest secrets, Eidolon was set to become a lot more unstable.

She would have attempted to once more reason with Eidolon, but she was cut off by a cough from Kurt. Perhaps it was better this way, Doctor Mother mused, she had never been the best when it came to managing other’s emotions. Too messy, too illogical.

“Speaking of the Endbringer, what are we going to call it?” The question was unexpected, but after a second Eidolon waved his hand dismissively.

“What does it matter what we call that monster?”

“Names have power. Names can shape perception. It just depends what sort of perception we want the world to have, regarding this new threat.”

Kurt steepled his fingers in front of him, eyeing the strategy briefing.

“To my understanding we will want others to stay away from these cities that it builds? In order to have the time to quarantine and study them with a fine comb?” The man wearing glasses asks her.

Doctor Mother nods her head. “That is correct. One of the main causes of our troubles over this last month has been because of people desiring these cities, to the point that they are willing to wage war over them. If possible we should emphasise the possibility that these places are a trap.”

Kurt smiled at that. “There are already a few names being tossed around, and some have unfortunately already been adopted by several countries. India seems to be calling it Kali, named after the Goddess of Time, Death and Destruction. The deity in question is also part of a group of goddesses that bestow knowledge upon mankind, which the Fallen have been using to spread their Endbringer worship.

Doctor Mother’s lips curled at that. Even as a woman who had done many distasteful things, she still found it hard to believe anyone would willingly worship beings that were actively trying to cause the apocalypse.

“Those in Jinzhou are still referring to the Endbringer as Yà Lì Shān Dà. Thankfully the name isn’t spreading that far beyond the city, it’s not exactly a name that catches one’s eye.”

Then Kurt turned his computer around, bathing them in the cold light of the screen. Upon it was a painting of a beautiful young woman, the figure was quite comely – with raven black hair and a smile that seemed to hold a hidden joke. Upon her back were pitch black wings that spread out from her and took up the majority of the painting. Finally, in her hands, was a seemingly innocuous golden apple.

“Eris, goddess of strife and discord. A figure that is most well known for handing out poisonous gifts that other goddesses fought over. I believe this would be the best name to give our ‘new friend’, given our plans.”

There were no objections to the name, Eidolon even seemed viciously pleased with the name. The meeting dragged on for a little longer, but eventually all points had been brought up and discussed to the fullest extent.

Once the meeting ended the members of Cauldron began trickling out. Eidolon stormed out, as melodramatic as always. Contessa called for a door, smartened herself up and stepped through. No doubt completing another part of one of her many paths. Kurt lingered for a little longer, clicking the keys on his computer and attempting to smoothen out the recent economic backlash that had happened as a result of the newest Endbringer’s reveal.

Finally, when it was just her, she left through a door herself – and emerged in a darkened, icy, room. The base she had just entered was lined with specimen tanks, each being full of an amniotic green liquid. Some were vacant, many were not.

Eventually she found herself staring at the one occupied by Alexandria, her body attached to many life support systems – at least those that could help with a body like Alexandria’s.

She raised her hand to wipe away the condensation that had gathered on the pod, revealing the face within. Without the makeup, without the careful acting and the long carried stress of her duties, Alexandria looked painfully young.

Doctor Mother’s eyes drifted to Alexandria’s scar, her missing eye – a wound partly caused by her own negligence when it came to managing Manton. She wondered if she should say something. Some grand eulogy, a promise that she wouldn’t be forgotten.

She did not. Doctor Mother wasn’t the type of person to do that, and no doubt she would be grieved by the friends she had made in life.

She turned around, unsurprised to see the man sitting on the bench behind her. She had grown used to Contessa anticipating what she would need.

The man was tall, almost rakish. What small bits of skin she could see that weren’t covered by his purple velvet costume were a pale milky white. His skin was smooth and hairless, and his eyes were a pure dark pink.

She smiled, Pretender looked away – unnerved by the woman in front of him.

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me Pretender,” she said – as if he had had any choice in the matter. “I believe we have a proposition you would be greatly interested in.”

AN: Fun news: I’ve sprained my ankle trying to squash a mosquito. I can assure you that this has only made my hatred of them burn ever fiercer.

So, the strategy against Alexander has been revealed. Was it what you expected? Cauldron, at the end of the day, wants a parahuman army. Alexander, when they tried to fight him, wiped out 99% of the capes sent to fight him. Perhaps if he was targeting cities with people living in them it would be a different story, but he’s not. So why put in the effort.

Plus they still want his tech.

Also, as some of you no doubt predicted, Pretender is being dragged into this mess, give him a cheer everyone!

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment!