Carla marched down the hallway, her heels clicking against the marble floor. A small crowd of men and women followed her, doing their best to match her brisk pace. She wanted to leave them behind and escape the sea of bureaucrats and sycophants left over from her predecessors regime. She felt no small amount of resentment for their appointments, how many of them had been picked in spite of Sonya’s efforts to create a body that could lead the world into the future.
She turned to the only person in her immediate vicinity that she could both tolerate and trust, “What’s our progress?” she asked.
“Most of the heroes summoned for Operation Corinth have responded. We’re sourcing from across the globe, though, and there’s been some pushback,” Chunhua clipped, “The French Mythic, Lucian DuCast has insisted that he remain in his homeland to protect it. The French Premier and their representatives at the committee are resisting his involvement too. They’ve been cagy recently. Probably those vigilantes that popped up.”
Carla sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, “What about the internationals?”
“All of them have responded and are ready for their roles, First Wind and Qilin are already here. They’re waiting in the ready room,” Chunhua said.
“He’s sitting in the portal room,” Chunhua said gravely, “He has been since the call to action.”
“He’s been sitting there for two weeks?” Carla asked, aghast.
“Yes,” Chunhua said with a nod, “He’s been in a near-constant state of meditation. I’ve brought him food and drink. We barely managed to get him to leave long enough to take care of himself.”
Carla shook her head, “I suppose I shouldn’t expect less from him, I’ll send-.”
“Chairwoman!” one of the representatives behind her called out and hurried to her side, “We really need to talk about the disbursement of dungeons after the battle. If you’ll consider-”
She rounded on him and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling his face to within an inch of hers, “You just stepped in shit, Representative,” she growled, “I don’t have time for your political pandering and money grubbing. If you think this is going to be an easy win for us, I have news for you. Maybe take a page from Representative Locus, who’s territory you’re making eyes at, and work hard to support the operation, hm?” she asked, her voice tilting up a bit as she tilted her head and searched his face.
He paled and went a little limp in her grip. She pushed him away, “There’s going to be changes in the Committee after we’re done with Liberty,” she growled and turned away, I won’t let you parasites corrupt what Sonya built, even if that means I need to be something of a tyrant myself.
She resumed marching alongside Chunhua who shot an appreciative glance your way, “You’re a lot different when Sonya isn’t around.”
Carla snorted, “I’m an administrator at heart, work and play are two very separate things for me,” she clenched a fist, “Besides…”
Chunhua nodded, “Right,” she said as they passed through the last checkpoint. The doors ahead of them slid open and Euclidia turned to greet them, her right hand man, Gravitic, standing next to her in his hero suit. A jumpsuit with high tech gloves and plates of armor on his torso and extremities. He nodded brusquely to Carla and Chunhua before turning back to one of Euclidia’s archways and holding out his hands.
Carla entered the room fully and turned to see the rest of the logistics crew hard at work. She walked past them and came to meet Euclidia, “Are we ready?”
Euclidia glanced again at Gravitic and nodded, “It’ll be a small window,” she said, “But we’re ready for Rift this time.”
Carla nodded, “Then let's begin.”
I’m ready, Sonya. Are you?
Sonya sat in the grass and leaned back, listening to her new tutor with a smile on her face. It had taken weeks in the time-displaced world of Titania’s trap to turn it into something that felt comfortable. She’d settled for a grassy field with a blue sky, something peaceful. Between efforts to figure out how to take control of the little world and change it to her liking she had rested and recuperated bit by bit.
There were downsides to this place that she immediately noticed. The air had steadily felt smoother and smoother and her sense of time felt more and more clear. Titania had long since clammed up so Sonya could only speculate but given that she was no longer in the bubble of copied time from the past, that time dilation she was hoping to take advantage of was out of her reach. She'd been able to spend some time sorting out her thoughts and recovering, but that particular advantage was gone. Disappointing but not a deal breaker. She had plans for this place but that required learning a bit more about the past and how abilities really worked.
“By your worlds standards, Arbiters are a dangerous group. They hold a great deal of power,” Pandora explained from where she stood just a few feet away. “They are investigators, police, judges, and executioners. Based on what you’ve told me about your Broker ability, it behaves in many ways like our key power, given to us by the Golden Queen. Though there are some caveats.”
“Arbiters are bound by the worldpact, we have a litany of rules and limitations. I cannot err… ‘sanction’ is the word you used, I cannot sanction someone’s abilities just because I see fault in what they are doing. There must be enough evidence and agreement among other great ones for the worldpact to permit such a punishment,” she explained. “Losing one’s powers, for one of the great ones, means death. Their abilities sustain their agelessness.”
Sonya nodded along, “I’m gradually unlocking new functions for Broker, what else can I expect?”
“Sanctioning is a big one,” Pandora said, “I imagine that you’ll gain an ability that allows you to directly strip a power and take it into your ‘warehouse’. We also possess the ability to demand the truth from another if they are marked for investigation.”
Sonya raised an eyebrow, “What about how others' abilities work? Can you tell me about that?” She said, thinking about Titania’s taunts about Otis.
Pandora shook her head, and shot the captured fae queen a withering glare, “She lied to you, even if we are copies, we are bound by the worldpact of our time, I can’t explain to you how the abilities granted to someone else work. I imagine this person you’re thinking of is not a Great One who I can hold to account and even then, I would have to meet them in person. In short, that would be undue interference, not even Loki or Set can help you there,” she paused, “I also wouldn’t ask Set at all, a warrior like himself would find the question offensive.”
Pandora sighed, “I can only give you the tools to figure that out on your own, besides, it’s important that you figure that out on your own.”
Sonya frowned, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s all about staking a claim, I have a feeling you’ll understand what that means sooner than you think. For now, lets talk about the basics of how inscriptions work, you call them instincts yes?”
“Yeah,” Sonya said, getting to her feet.
“Alright, let’s begin, let's talk about state of mind first…”
Mimir didn’t look up from the scene before him. A small group of self-proclaimed heroes were milling about in the open courtyard down below, carrying boxes and talking amongst themselves. Amongst them, horrible creatures were making their rounds, watching for any signs of intervention. He frowned, just how many heroes has Astaroth pulled into his umbrella at this point? Corrupt, the lot of them.
“The Pandora Committee?” he asked absently as he gestured to Hellion who crouched on the railing to his right. Chains appeared around the young man’s arms that began to glow with a brutal heat.
“Yes,” Addison said, “They’re moving into position, war is going to break out soon all over the place.”
He nodded slowly, “I see,” he murmured, “Go.”
Hellion leaped off the side, dark fire erupting around his arms as the chains went wild. He landed atop the largest of the demons and with a quick motion severed its head from its body. He kicked off the first corpse and drove a fist into the face of the nearest hero. By the time the others reacted he was already moving again, leaving behind his first target bound to the ground with red hot chains.
Shouts rang out and Mimir made another hand gesture, Max, Faux, and several newly recruited vigilantes leaped off the side and out of their own hiding spots. Gunfire was joined with the rush of mana in the air as powers exploded on both sides. Mimir rest his hand on the railing with a frown, running his thumb along the metal. He watched Max grab one hero by the face and let go, the man collapsing so hard he embedded into the concrete beneath him. Another hero swung at Faux only for his blow to be reflected on one of the demons, a grievous wound suddenly appearing.
“How many locations?” Mimir asked.
“At least one for every time zone, we also have word they’re going to be targeting the dungeons around Liberty’s territory,” Addison said.
“They’re going to suppress the dungeons so they can field more heroes,” Mimir muttered, “Multi stage attack, I’m guessing, the first wave of heroes will be small but not insignificant. They’ll include Sapporo. That will be to lull Liberty into a false sense of security when it comes to numbers, especially with what I assume are mythics assigned to the dungeons.”
“Probably,” Addison agreed.
Mimir nodded to himself as Hellion leaped off another demon and landed atop one of the cargo containers. He whipped his arms down and his chains tore through the door, ripping it off and casting it aside, striking another demon in the process. Inside, Mimir could make out the huddled forms of civilians. His lip twitched, “The committee will be sending in a second wave afterwards to throw the balance. They’re committing a lot of resources to this.”
“Should I contact the other cells?”
Mimir nodded again as the fight below wound down. The vigilantes were securing the civilians and tying up the heroes. Hellion looked up from his spot atop the cargo container and sent him a brusque salute. He returned the gesture and turned to Addison, his eyes glowing with that bright golden light, “It’s time to make our first move.”