VT - Chapter 37 : A House of Cards..... (Patreon)

Disclaimer: Worm belongs to the one and only absolute chad, Wildbow. Enough said.

Somewhere on Earth Bet

–Simon–

He nodded as the Helicarrier reached the Bay, becoming visible at the last moment. From what he had seen in the hacked reports that Dragon had already sent to Costa Brown, multiple reports of a massive object traversing through the air, headed straight to the Bay. Despite his many attempts to make sure that the Helicarrier could not be tracked, it would seem that he had somewhat underestimated Dragon and her reach.

It did not help that Dragon had spent years crafting sensory tech that would help her scan the deep waters, as well as any disturbance in the water and in the air. The Helicarrier, when stationary, was more than capable of negating its presence from even those tech, but to expect that while it was moving at full tilt was unreasonable. Something he could improve on sometime in the future certainly, but for now, it was fine.

Also, even if Dragon had figured out some part of it, and had almost sounded the Endbringer alarms, the Helicarrier’s systems had worked to the point that she was unable to do anything until the Helicarrier was right at Brockton Bay’s doorsteps.

The moment it was made visible, he dropped the rest of the stealth measures and activated the full energy output of all the Arc Reactors embedded inside the carrier, which made sure that unless someone wanted a significant part of the East Coast to become an irradiated wasteland, they would not do something stupid, like launch a nuke at the carrier, or even a bunch of capes at it. The threat of a nuclear wasteland creation was quite the potent one.

Especially since the world had long since abandoned the proliferation of nukes, as it was common consensus now that Scion and presumably the other parahumans as well would not allow the level of R&D required to build the level of nuclear arms that his previous world had.

The appearance of Scion during the Cold War era really put a damper on those plans.

Once that was done, he gave the command as the two Quinjets that held the entire roster of E88, save for Night and Fog, who were not in the city, and Krieg, who was likely extracted by a teleporting cape or something. That was a non issue since the Gesselshaft was no longer going to have a North American branch anymore, so Krieg was irrelevant, as far as he was concerned.

Plus, his main concern here was making sure that Brockton Bay did not devolve into Gang wars. Securing the E88 was just a part of that process. As the Quinjets landed in the bays that closed soon after, over a dozen suits appeared in the bay as the Quinjet opened up, revealing the knocked out forms of E88, save for Max Anders, Kayden Russell, and their two children.

Max walked out of the Quinjet, with Theo in tow, as Kayden did so with Aster. Both of them instantly glued themselves to each other, looking around warily, clutching their kids closely, which was good. This just meant that they were scums, but not that kind of scum.

In this grimdark death world, he had to take the smidgen of good he could see sometimes as good; otherwise, he would have long since fallen into despair. Seriously, having all this power and access to most of the information in this world had created quite the conundrum for him. Even with all the knowledge he had, and the will to see it through, he had almost called everything off many times. Many times, he had to just take a step back, sleep it off, and then move on, as if he hadn’t just seen the kind of atrocities that could be committed on Earth Bay.

Ofcourse, that was after he had sent a missile that erased the entire camp of military extremists in Africa, Australia, and even parts of Asia. While he had been keeping his focus on North America for most of it, especially since the few individuals needed to actually hurt Zion were located here, the internet was available in many places, and after taking a dive into the dossiers of information gathered on those regions, he had chosen to spare a few more units in those war torn regions.

Now, while he couldn't actually go there and create a stable form of governance that would not immediately devolve into feudalism, with parahumans at the top, he had killed many bloodthirsty capes and spared many who were moderates, making sure that his message was received across the more chaotic regions.

Still, even with his efforts, there were more bloodthirsty ones that popped up one after another, and he had a hunch about who was keeping them propped up, but a good old missile to the face took care of them just like the others. It was a constant uphill battle, but he couldn't just see stuff and not do anything about it, hence the odd missiles tossed here and there.

He had been a legend in those circles for specifically targeting the more cruel capes, and the ones who commit the most heinous of crimes, hence the overall drop in those crimes, especially by warlords. He took that as a positive sign.

Shaking his head, he spoke through the spears of the Helicarrier, as Max and his family(separated as it might be) watched the suits carry the capes of the gang Max once led, and deposited them in specialised prison tubes, meant to keep capes unconscious.

Alabaster was the only one who was awake of the lot, but he was unable to do much due to the restraints placed on him, along with the sizzling hot knife that was placed right on top of his head, making sure that the moment he tried to break free or move a bit too much, the knife would go through his brain. He was actually not sure if doing so would permanently kill the guy or not, but the threat of it was more than enough to make sure that the prisoner was compliant and did not thrash about.

Alabaster was also just thrown into a regular prison cell, with forcefields making sure that the guy would never come out. Well, that and energy grids that would turn that guy into Swiss cheese the moment he did so, brain included. He was pretty sure that once the brain was destroyed, including the part that allowed shards to transmit powers and energy directly to a person, Alabaster would die, just like any other person.

“Max Anders, I assume you know what is about to happen to you?”

“Yes.” For someone whose entire life had come crashing down around him without any visible way to save it, the man was oddly calm, or maybe he was just resigned?  “I know I am a lost cause. So is Kayden, most likely, but you can’t let them take Theo and Aster. Please! They will be torn apart by the vultures. I’ll give you anything. Take everything! Just please….”

Ah, that was unpleasant to look at. He frowned back in his office as he looked at a crying Max, as well as Kayden, as they begged for the safety of their children.

The love for their children coming shining through. As he said, this world did have its moments, and perhaps, this could be one of them.

Still, he was not stupid enough to believe everything that came out of their mouths and just help them disappear into the wind, absolved of all their crimes. No, they were going to have to just accept whatever punishment they were going to get, but he could maybe do something about the kids.

Yeah, he could definitely do something about the kids.

“Your kids will be safe, I can guarantee that. They are innocent.”

“How, though?” Kayden pointed out, her face still streaking with tears.

“Do you have anyone who could take custody of them?”

Max was silent for a moment before his eyes widened in realisation. “Yes! I know someone who can do that. She hates me and would kill me on sight, but she would not reject them. Just..”

“Just what?” He asked, his focus slipping to the absolutely massive mobilisation he was seeing, directly in response to a fucking Aircraft carrier appearing above one of the bigger cities on the East Coast of America.

The President was awake, and if he wasn’t before, when it was just the matter of a minor gang being exposed in a mid tier city, then he was definitely awake now with the presence of a Helicarrier parked right on top of a city.

The Governor had already called for the National Guard to mobilise. He could see POTUS ordering the nearby military bases to be prepared for a deployment, and if only Legend had been deployed here, now the entire Triumvirate was marching down here, so to speak.

Legend had already skipped the talk with the suit, and was currently in the PRT HQ, waiting for orders, or rather, waiting for something to happen so he could unleash his powers onto the Helicarrier, which would not work.

Not for him. Not for Alexandria. Not even for Eidolon, based on what powers he had used in the last Endbringer battle.

The Simurgh had absolutely humiliated Eidolon, as he was simply unable to call upon the more potent versions of power he once could.

Max shook his head and replied, “No, it’s fine. I am sure she will keep them safe, and that’s what’s important.”

“Who is it?” Kayden asked, and Max took a second to reply, during which he had already checked out to check on the preparations he had in place to make sure that this aurafarming move of his did not backfire on him spectacularly.

It was only when he heard a loud, “WHAT?!” that he looked back towards Max, only to see that Kayden had slapped the man, who was not even looking at her, too busy looking up at the speakers.

“She will take them in. She lives in Alabama. Her name is Hilda Anders. She is Iron Rain.” Max looked as if he had swallowed a lemon when he said that name. It took a moment for him to register that name and realise who he was talking about. His brows quirked in amusement as he realised that the death of his sister, the sacrifice of his sister, which was used by Max to consolidate his control over the rest of the gang after their father’s death, was somehow staged.

And that she was alive and living somewhere in the south.

Damn.

Interesting, and also nowhere near the priority scale compared to what all was going to happen within moments.

“Very well. I will make sure she gets custody. Be warned, though. I will be keeping regular watch over them, and the moment she steps out of line, the kids will be taken from her.”

“That is fine.” Max quickly replied.

“Very well. Get in the cells. Everything will be provided to you. Max, you stay behind.” Saying so, he cut that connection and focused on the absolutely massive deployment of weaponry he had readied on the Helicarrier, not for deployment. No, if he had to deploy all of this just to deal with Brockton Bay, then the local PRT chapter would have needed the likes of the Triumvirate just to maintain the status quo.

The gathered weaponry was here to send a message. A message that would be showcased along with a message from Max as well, who seemed surprised that he was being told to stay behind, only for his face to morph into one of realisation and understanding a moment later.

Max was likely smart enough to realise that the best way to make sure that the people who actually believed in the cause and worked for him could be made to stand down quite easily. As long as he had the leader’s cooperation, he could make sure that the foot soldiers of the E88 stood down and did not create riots and anarchy.

Otherwise, he would have to step in, and that would not be pretty.

___xx___

PRT HQ

–Emily Piggot–

She stood next to her office window, looking straight up, as the flying aircraft carrier floated above her city! HER CITY!

Even if it did not have a single offensive weapon on it, the fact that it was floating and could fall down on the city with that much mass behind it should be enough for the government to call in the Army and strike it all down.

Grand Chariot was directly threatening an entire city with hundreds of thousands of people inside it. Even now, many people must be fast asleep, and she had chosen not to wake everyone up at this time by ringing the alarms, based on Dragon’s as well as Legend’s recommendations, as it would just create more panic.

Panic was going to be created amongst the population inevitably, but that panic could be better dealt with by a prepared force. Already, the requests she had sent out for more capes, backup, budget, and more were being approved one by one, all because now they saw that the city was under threat.

Now, if they did not agree to her demands and just ignored the city, then it would look bad, so now they were agreeing with her.

Pathetic.

“Massive, isn’t it?” Legend whispered to her, standing beside her, looking straight up at something that could most probably kill every single person in the city, save for Legend himself, all at the whims of a group they had no information on.

God, she had always known that capes were a troublesome bunch and they were going to be the end of her, but she had at least hoped for death because some idiot decided to attack her, not because of the stress that was piling on top of her because of a totally unknown group’s actions.

“Yes,” She replied with gritted teeth, as her calls for Legend himself to intervene and do something to move that whole thing off her city were ignored. Technically, her word was law when it came to any PRT official in her jurisdiction, unless they had the explicit approval of another PRT Director or the Chief Director. While she had not received any such document declaring Legend out of her control, she had to be real here.

She knew that even if such a document did not exist right now, it would manifest out of thin air the moment she tried to pull rank on someone from the Triumvirate.

“They have taken all the E88 capes, except ones that were out of town, and Krieg, who was extracted by a Mover,” Legend said casually, as if they were discussing the weather instead of a gang that had been terrorising her city for decades, and would have continued to do so for decades more to come, had Coil not been killed by a newbie cape. “Dragon reported the two Jets that held the capes flying into one of the Bays that soon closed itself up.”

“There is also a hyperdense energy field around the carrier that will most likely rebuff any attacks below a certain level. Likely only the Triumvirate can breach that barrier.” Dragon, quite unhelpfully, supplied from her mini drone that was acting as a secure communications hub here, since it was well known that Grand Chariot could hack into everything else.

“For now, let’s just wait and watch. I doubt they are here with nefarious intentions. Even if they are, the longer we wait, and they don’t do anything, the more time we have to get more reinforcements in the city.”

So, they were going to have to wait and watch?

WAIT AND WATCH!?

Even with the fucking Triumvirate on their way, they were going to have to wait and watch?

……God, help them!