Surviving in a World of Magic and Superheroes (Fate/Worm): Chapter 26 (Patreon)

“Door to Cauldron.”

Chief Director, Rebecca Costa-Brown stepped around her desk. The Head of the PRT, she adjusted her collar after a long day of work.

In front of her a door-like opening appeared out of thin air, connecting two points in space.

Unbeknownst to the majority of the world, the chief director had a few secret identities. For one, she was actually Alexandria, a member of the Triumvirate, one of the most powerful heroes in the world.

This identity was kept secret because it was illegal for Parahumans to hold positions within the PRT. Parahumans were only allowed into the Protectorate, a division of power so that ‘regular people’ would have authority and power over Parahumans.

And of course, her second identity.

She stepped through the Door as it disappeared behind her.

She was a member of the secret organization known as Cauldron.

One of their assets—Doormaker—allowed them to create portals wherever they wanted.

Even across parallel worlds.

That’s why Rebecca stepped foot onto the pristine tiles of Cauldron’s floors on a whole other Earth.

“Apologies, I just now finished up work I couldn’t put off.” She joined the room with an assortment of other people as she took her seat.

Among those present were her colleagues.

Legend, another of the Triumvirate.

And Eidolon, the third member of their group.

Considered to be the three strongest Capes in the world. Worshiped by so many people, that their presence in a city will generally lower crime rates for weeks even if it’s just a brief visit.

They were all members of Cauldron.

Three more members joined them at the table.

Numbers Man, also known as Kurt Wynn. He had a particular previous identity, one of the founding members of the Slaughterhouse Nine, one of the worst villain groups in existence. His powers allowed him to understand numbers and probabilities to an obscene degree.

Next to him, a younger woman in a well maintained suit and a wide brimmed hat on her head.

Contessa, the boogeyman of the world.

The strongest thinker in existence, barring the Endbringer Angel that floated above the planet.

And lastly, the leader of Cauldron—Doctor Mother.

The only non-Parahuman among the group.

“It’s understandable; let’s begin.” Doctor Mother said easily. “Contessa.”

“Coil is dead.” Contessa spoke in an almost mechanical way, blunt and direct to the point without any emotion on her face.

The words were so abrupt that it left everyone bewildered for several moments, except for Numbers Man, who was already aware.

“What do you mean Coil is dead?” Legend asked. “His powers are….well, they’re difficult to deal with. Who could have killed him? I thought we were keeping him around for future paths.”

“We were.” Doctor Mother replied.

Legend's brow furrowed. “Then what happened?”

“We don't know.”

That caused a different reaction.

Rebecca turned toward Contessa. “You don't know?”

“I know what happened.” Contessa corrected. “I don't know how it happened.”

Eidolon leaned forward slightly.

Contessa continued. “Coil's base was infiltrated approximately 3 hours and forty-three minutes ago. His security was bypassed without triggering an alarm. Coil was confronted in his office and killed. Subsequently, his base was blown up with his own failsafe, leaving very little evidence.”

“His power isn’t infallible.” Eidolon pointed out. “Maybe there’s another Thinker that was able to outmaneuver him? Isn’t that… Tattletale suspected of being a higher-level thinker than she’s letting on?”

“Coil was…meticulous, depositing his abhorrent behaviors and goals.” Doctor Mother spoke. “If he couldn’t contend against a teenager girl out of her depth with everything he had available, then the paths wouldn’t have valued him at later portions.”

Contessa was silent, not adding to that statement.

Her power allowed her to make paths.

Path to Victory, it was called.

She could designate a goal, and her power would provide her steps to achieve it. Sometimes it was long, sometimes it was short. There were sometimes variables that could make the path adjust itself.

Coil was one such variable, in that, his existence removed dozens of steps on a certain important path later down the road, which was valuable in of itself.

“Wouldn’t your Path have warned you, or had you taken actions to prevent Coil’s death?” Legend asked. It was perhaps a vague question, as while he knew her abilities fairly well, he didn’t know them to an academic extent.

Contessa shook her head. “The Path only changed after I confirmed his death. My Path was unaware of his death until that point. A blind spot had interfered. After the explosion of his base, I was only able to recover minimal information. The last person to enter his base was one of his hired mercenaries with no records of leaving afterwards. Logically, he should have died, yet he was found passed out at his home in the suburbs a few miles away.”

It painted a very clear picture.

“So someone assumed one of Coil’s Henchmen’s identities.” Rebecca summarized.

“That is correct.” Contessa confirmed

“And who was it? You should have been able to trace any small clue from there, right?”

Contessa shook her head again. “Whoever assumed his identity did so in a perfect way. Voice, face, and body shape. I was able to find some video footage from various cameras the person passed on the way. My power could not differentiate the two. It was as if the person became him completely.”

“A changer with that kind of ability is rare.” Legend voiced his thoughts. “Usually, there’s some sort of tell with them, isn’t there? Something not quite right? If it were some kind of illusion or something like that, your power should have been able to see through it, I mean.”

“You’re missing the important part.” Rebbeca spoke up. “It was a blind spot.”

Contessa looked at her and nodded lightly again.

“A few days ago, Coil sent his mercenaries out to scout a target. They used their Tinkertech weapons to probe.” Doctor Mother stated.

Rebbeca frowned. “The Wizard boy.”

Everyone was now on the same page as soon as those two incidents were put back to back.

Eidolon scoffed.

Out of everyone here, he was the most disdainful towards the concept of magic. 

"...magic," Legend said slowly. “You think it was magic.”

Contessa simply nodded again. “It would align with what we know so far.”

To the public, Magic was ‘acknowledged’ by the government as existing. Beyond that, before the Winslow incident, there was almost nothing else. Even if something dripped down, a wisp of truth, it was drowned out by conspiracy theories or just false facts being propagated.

For Cauldron, though, they knew a bit more.

“We’ll start at the beginning," Doctor Mother stated. “Roughly two weeks ago, Contessa noted that Brockton Bay became shrouded within her path."

That alarmed many at the table.

“Shrouded?” Legend repeated. “Why didn’t we hear about this before? If Brockton Bay became a blind spot –”

“Not a blind spot.” Contessa interrupted. “I can still go to Path Brockton Bay. However, it is now comparable to parts of London, the Vatican, and various other places throughout the world. It’s like there’s a haze over the area, a smog. I can still see the whole City, but it is as if the process to reach the conclusion is….fluctuating.”

Her words left them concerned. 

“Those…wizards, we have it almost confirmed that they operate out of London. We’ve learned recently with the Winslow Incident—at least we finally have evidence—that the Catholic Church also has hands behind the curtain.” Rebecca spoke her thoughts out loud.

It was enough that a picture could be painted and assumptions met.

Number Man folded his hands together. “London has been problematic since we have established this organization. Rome and Vatican City for approximately the same period we've been monitoring them. Smaller instances exist throughout Europe, Asia, and portions of the Middle East.”

“And now Brockton Bay.” Legend said as if continuing the thought.

“Correct.”

“Beginning when?”

“The effect became measurable thirteen days ago.”

“That’s what, about a week before the Winslow incident?” Legend asked, earning a nod from Kurt. “So what happened a week before Winslow that shrouded Brockton Bay? Because the supposed Wizard lived there for much longer than a week, right?”

“Going by the records we have, the recordings of the incident. It’s very clear that the wizard boy’s family has been housed in Brockton Bay for….generations.” Rebecca stated. “Kurt have you…?”

“I have been investigating the finances of Mr. Verde. And I rarely find myself alarmed.” He pushed his glasses up. “I have been working nonstop for nearly a week now, and I don’t think I’ve under covered even half of his family assets.”

Rebecca looked at him. “Define alarmed.”

Number Man was silent for a moment.

That alone was unusual.

“I cannot determine their net worth.”

Eidolon raised an eyebrow. “Everyone has a net worth. That’s what you do, isn’t it? In your spare time, you amuse yourself by calculating someone’s power into a variable number and attaching it to them in the form of money. You’ve bragged about your equations.”

“No.” Number Man replied. “Everyone has assets that can theoretically be assigned a monetary value. I’m talking about something different. All the assets I’ve found are quite easy to calculate.”

“Then give us an estimate.”

“I can't.”

Rebecca frowned. “You can't?”

“Not with any degree of confidence.” Kurt touched the screen of a tablet in front of him. “The Verde family owns property through holding companies. Those holding companies are owned by trusts. That’s not too strange, if odd for a mere family. However, several of those trusts are administered by institutions that no longer exist. Some were established before modern financial reporting standards. Others predate the United States.”

Legend blinked. “Predate?”

“One deed I've verified dates to 1743.”

“In Brockton Bay?”

“Massachusetts.”

“And that Verde kid owns it?”

“Technically, a family trust owns it. The youngest son of the Verde family is its current beneficiary.”

Eidolon leaned back. “So he's old money. What’s weird about that? They exist; we know about plenty of old families who have obscene wealth. Hell, we’ve pressured plenty of them to gain funding.”

“That would be the simple explanation.”

“And the complicated one?”

Number Man adjusted his glasses. “The Verde family has been accumulating wealth for longer than I can reliably trace. I was using the predation of the United States as a start, not the end point. I have some contacts abroad, and I’ve been able to confirm a few things, albeit not to an absolute, but I believe the Verde family may be well over a thousand years old.”

No one spoke up immediately, so he continued. “Land. Precious metals. Art. Businesses. Lending agreements. Investments. There are assets currently under their control that I can trace through successive legal entities for centuries.”

“Some of the institutions involved ceased to exist hundreds of years ago. Ownership was transferred to their successors, then their successors, then reorganized beneath trusts and holding companies as the legal systems surrounding them changed. Constantly. Empires collapsed. Borders changed. Currencies disappeared. Banking systems were replaced. Governments were overthrown. The assets remained.”

“That’s interesting and all, but what does it have to do with what we’re discussing?" Eidolon asked. “So he’s rich. How is that important?”

“I’m simply making note and providing information for everyone. He’s not just some boy we presume can wield magic. He is a boy with virtually unlimited assets and presumably can practice magic. I believe there is a significance there that has to be addressed," Kurt said plainly.

“It could be more significant than that," Rebecca interjected. “We know so little about magic and their kind.”

“Their kind? Are we going to start treating them like another species? They’re just another group with powers; we do the same thing we always do.” Eidolon was annoyed, and it was obvious to everyone.

They were all aware of his attitude regarding Magic so no one commented on it. To him who found his self worth in his identity as a Superhero – as a Cape, a Parahuman, Magic was something that challenged that.

“Besides, it’s not like we haven't dealt with a ‘wizard’ before. That guy back in '99," Eidolon pointed out. “He was easy to kill, wasn’t he? And we’ve been able to track down a few others, even if they have disappeared or killed themselves.”

Rebecca frowned, not because he was wrong, but because she didn’t like how many assumptions he was making. “We know nothing about their society despite our best attempts to infiltrate. Every attempt we’ve had to send someone to investigate the locations in London has been unfruitful. And there’s no need to mention the Church.”

Legend looked at her and then at Doctor Mother. “We’re still trying to send people over there? I thought we stopped after losing over a dozen agents of ours.”

“We’ve tried various measures.” Doctor Mother said evenly. “Different approaches. We have had…some success.”

“Some success?” Legend raised an eyebrow.

The doctor's mother’s lips thinned slightly. One of our agents was found unconscious. Usually, they were killed or simply vanished. This one appeared on the outskirts of London with a note taped to his chest. ‘Stop’, was what it said, and initials ‘K.Z.S.” Doctor Mother explained. “Since then, we haven't been so…overt.”

What was left unsaid was that they were slightly intimidated by them, at least knowing they were being poked at by someone else.

They had thought they covered all their tracks, using disposable agents, making sure none of them had any connection to themselves or the others, or even those who didn’t know they were being used.

“Maybe we should stop being so passive then," Eidolon offered. “If we can’t sneak in, then just break down the front door. We could easily frame it as a group of villains, couldn’t we? We have control of the media over Europe even if we don’t control England’s government like we do here.”

Doctor Mother frowned slightly. “Our control of the government has been tested recently and been found wanting.”

“What happened?” Rebecca narrowed her eyes. “It’s barely been a week since we’ve met after the Winslow incident. What happened in that time?” She had been wrapped up in her own work as both Alexandria and working as the head of the PRT.

“Many of our assets within Congress, both the House and Senate, have decided to shut us out.” Doctor Mother began without any preamble. “Our goal was to push some sort of legislation to define Magic and those who use it to fall under PRT control; even if vaguely so, we would have operational access.”

Rebecca nodded. “You mentioned this. From what I understand, Congress has been caught in a deadlock. There were several senators that tried to submit legislation to do just as you said. And even some more…absurd goals.”

Doctor Mother nodded. “That was intentional. We were going to try and push through clearly illegal or dubious legislation, have it get shut down, and then use that as a way to reach a congressional cooperation on something 'reasonable.' However, we couldn’t get through the first phase because it was all shut down almost immediately. In fact, several of our people voted against their own legislation after submitting it.

"...what?" Legend blinked.  “Why would they vote against the bills they themselves submitted?”

Eidolon clicked his tongue. “Did they turn on us? Are they crazy? Which one of them don’t we have enough blackmail to bury them in jail for?”

“The ones who gave us a courtesy of an explanation said something all variations there of ‘Going to jail would be more merciful.” Doctor Mother explained calmly. “We’ve been trying to pressure them for more, but without much luck. And we are…concerned about suddenly making some of them start disappearing in light of recent events.”

Everyone went quiet for several moments before Rebecca opened her mouth again.

“Our assets have been compromised.” She said darkly. “How many?”

“Enough that we lost our stranglehold on Congress.” Doctor Mother said very bluntly. “It was sudden and precise. We haven't been able to regain our control just yet, but we should manage to gain power again within the next month, maybe two.”

“How much do they know about us? How concerned are we?”

“Minimal. They do not know that we are organized or who we are. They believe us to be Parahumans, however.” Contessa responded. 

“Hold on, hold on.” Legend raised his hand. “I need a second.” Everyone looked at him as he took a few breaths to gather his thoughts. “You’re saying we lost control of Congress. Okay. But how? We glossed over that.”

“The Wizards, I believe.” Doctor Mother replied. 

Kurt spoke next. “Based on the responses and the timing, we believe…we hadn’t been subverted. Rather, they were never our owned assets in the first place. We were merely borrowing them.”

“Them?” Eidolon was the first to respond, earning a simple nod from Kurt. “How didn’t we know?”

“We never thought to check.” Rebecca said quietly. “We had them dead to rights, so we thought. What point in there was checking to see if someone else held their leash as well?”

It was an easy oversight in hindsight. They were overly confident that they could take down every one of their assets if needed, so why would they in their right minds rebel like this?

That is, of course, until things are put into perspective better. Because, as they said, there were things far worse than simply going to prison.

“I never pathed the hypothetical if someone else would usurp our control after achieving proper blackmail or bribes.” Contessa added. “Even if the idea was conceived, we, at the time, would have dismissed it.”

If someone tried to grab hold of their person, well, they would just grab him back. It was plain and simple; that was the perceivable worst-case scenario.

“I've begun reviewing them retroactively," Kurt continued. “Seeing if there were any clues.”

“And?” Rebecca asked.

“There were indicators.”

Eidolon's expression soured. “Indicators you missed? You don’t miss things.”

“Indicators I had no reason to assign significance to," Kurt clarified. “Immaterial facts that were insubstantial and glossed over. No different than asking Contessa what she ate for lunch in the grand scheme of her Paths.” That shut down the accusation before it could properly form.

Kurt tapped his tablet.

“One senator has made sizable donations to the same Catholic charity every year for twenty-three years. Nothing unusual about that by itself. Another's family has maintained a relationship with a private estate in England since before his grandfather was born. Again, nothing particularly noteworthy. Just as examples.”

Legend held his hands up to his mouth in deep thought. “We knew they existed. We found out even before everyone else. We thought they were just small groups at first. A curiosity, but something we ignored. Then, we find out that they’re a lot bigger than we thought. We try to reach out, and we get rejected. Brutally. Again, we thought they were secular communities, living away from society. But that’s not the case, is it? Just how deep are their foundations? Because the fact that we’re just now finding out about this, that’s very, very bad.”

“Have we been infiltrated?” Rebecca’s immediate thought had passed her lips. “Have we checked all our personnel?”

“We’ve been through them all.” Doctor Mother nodded. “Many of them were recruited from other Earths. So it’s safe to assume they have not been compromised or are spies.”

Eidolon slammed his fist on the table. “They’ve been operating like this the entire time, and they haven't been helping with the Endbringers or every other catastrophe!?” His outburst was abrupt, but it also wasn’t warranted. “Why!? Why aren’t they helping then!?”

They had no good answer.

“If they can't fight them, fine. If they're ordinary people with a few tricks, fine.” Eidolon gestured toward the others. “But you're telling me they have communities in London. Rome. Across Europe and Asia. Families that might be a thousand years old. Enough influence that we just lost Congress when we stepped on their toes.”

His words stumbled for a moment in a fit of anger. “Where are they when an Endbringer attacks?”

Nobody answered.

“Where are their dead?” He demanded. “Not all of ours are as strong as us. How many of our Capes, with weak powers, still show up to fight? Why don’t they!?” Frustrated, but eventually, he sat back down with silence, retaking the room.

No one told him off for it. They accepted his anger as respectfully as they could. Because they could all understand. All the things they’ve done, all the lines they’ve crossed—why is it only them having to do these sacrifices?

The world was threatened; why weren’t these others helping?

Rebecca turned to Doctor Mother. “You said we were starting from the beginning, but we veered off.”

The doctor's mother nodded. “Let’s start with the Reveal. All of you know what happened. It’s been suppressed—presumably not just by us. Magic was revealed, it was confirmed by many high-level Thinkers that the target was not in fact a Parahuman or enhanced via Parahuman powers. This knowledge got out, and everything that came with that.”

“That’s the abridged version," Rebecca noted. “I don’t think we need to spend hours debating that fiasco again.”

“Moving on.” Doctor Mother replied. “Since that time, while not always a priority, we have tried to investigate, to research this magic. Every opportunity had ended in failures, and not all of them were our fault. Four years ago, we had captured a presumed Magus; we were about to transfer him to the base, only for him to quite literally explode when we took our eyes off him for a second. Even his blood evaporated, leaving no remains.”

They all remembered it, but they had no context to know what happened.

“Even our think tanks—utilizing the PRT resources at the time—didn't have a plausible explanation. There were fourteen different theories, but ultimately, it was a dead end. We were able to get our hands on several items of some variety, some of which we believe are 'magical.' But beyond that, our trail ended.”

“Years operating at what we assumed was the highest level of secrecy in the world, and we have…trinkets." Eidolon spoke sarcastically. 

“They have existed far longer than us. Their infiltration is logical with this new information.” Doctor Mother continued. “We don’t know how long they have existed, where they came from, or their actual source of powers. But we believe they are well over two thousand years old.”

Legend sucked in a cold breath. “Saying it like that, it does put it into perspective. We thought we were the only ones on the board, and we’d been operating like that since we came together.”

“With recent evidence, it appears, the game has been going on for quite some time, and we’re simply new players who have joined in.” Kurt stated. “However, that doesn’t mean our position is weak. We have significant power and resources they couldn’t fathom.”

It did alleviate some concern they had.

It was the truth. Even ignoring Doormaker and the fact that they could travel to other Earths, they had a Dead Entity for which they were harvesting Vials of powers to slowly build up enough of an army to prevent the end of the world.

“Do we know anything about magic itself at this point?” Legend asked. “Anything? Details?”

“Beyond the fact that Powers seem to react strangely to it, we don’t know much. And from what we do know, what’s true, what’s false?” Doctor Mother shook her head.

“Continue where you left off," Rebecca told her.

“We’ll skip ahead. We hadn’t had a proper breakthrough in awhile, and we deemed it unimportant enough compared to our own preparations to protect the world.” She continued. “That is until the Winslow incident roughly a week ago.”

“That kid, Frederick Verde.” Eidolon knew his name; they all did, as it had been said over and over in various meetings, not just in Cauldron but in the PRT and Protectorate as well.

“He’s the first known, publicly revealed 'wizard.' "Doctor Mother noted, still using that nomenclature, as they didn’t know the proper term. “We’ve all seen the videos and various reports.”

“We’ve analyzed the battle front to back a hundred times here and outside," Legend stated. “But the new question is, is this the standard for their kind? We’ve run into a mere handful in the past, and we've…killed more than one. But they posed no real threat. If anything, it only reinforced our own thoughts before about focusing on the bigger problems at the time. Was it a happenstance of them being ‘weak’?”

It was a question they didn’t have an answer for.

“Why don’t we just have one of us fly down there and talk to the kid? That’s the easiest way, right?” Eidolon asked, his anger dissipating as his more rational temperament returned. “What kid his age isn’t going to be wide-eyed at seeing us? Tell him that his country needs him, blah blah, come be a hero.”

“According to the reports we have, from the PRT ENE down there, he’s shown nothing but disdain for the PRT as a whole and doesn’t seem to possess any heroic desires.” Rebecca shook her head. “I’ve ordered Director Piggot to keep trying for now, but there isn’t much she can do since he’s not legally under her jurisdiction.”

“What about the others?” Legend asked. “There’s that woman that appeared with him. What are they calling her, Radiant Knight? She looked heroic, right? Are you telling me that the woman who dresses up as a knight, using a glowing spear, is a ‘wizard’ too?”

“I can’t path her; I don’t know.” Contessa chimed in.

“Pardon? She’s one of those ‘shrouded’ spots too? Is Brockton Bay that bad?” He asked.

Contessa shook her head. “I attempted Paths specifically for Frederick Verde, even creating new models based on his parameters to try and see if I could find an adjustment point for Magic. I cannot confirm anything yet, but when I tried to path that woman, my power didn’t recognize her.” As if she did not exist but rather was a ‘redacted spot’ that was Eidolon or the Endbringers and such. “I was forced to create a profile like I do with Eidolon for my Paths to add the woman into calculations.”

"...is it possible she’s a Parahuman?” Eidolon raised a question.

“They denied it vehemently. And unless we get her under an X-ray to look at her brain, we can’t know or not.” Rebecca stated, remembering the report Piggot gave. “It’s highly likely she, or the other woman, killed Coil.”

“The Church girl.” Eidolon’s nose scrunched. “We think a couple of kids might have blown up the Coils base like that?”

“She appears to be closer to middle-aged, in her thirties.” Rebecca corrected. “I just learned of that myself with Piggot’s newest report from another incident a few days ago.”

“What, does she soak in virgin blood to keep looking like a teenager?” Eidolon scoffed. 

“It’s not like our powers don’t do the same. I’m unageing as well.” Rebecca pointed out. “However, we are unable to verify her point of origin or any relative background information. Her name on her passport is quite literally only 'Ciel,' and it was issued decades ago. We’ve attempted to reach out to Italian authorities, but we’ve been stonewalled.” And she wasn’t surprised by that last part, but she mentioned it anyways.

“Is it possible he’s actually a 'master'? That was mentioned in the report; that’s what the Knight woman called him, right?” Legend questioned.

“Unconfirmed for now.” Rebbeca answered. “However, it’s something we’re keeping in reserve just in case. There’s the possibility we can use that to pressure him in the future.”

Legend grunted, understanding what her meaning was. “We’ve not put as much effort into this as we should have.”

“We were busy with more important things than chasing down a group of cowards who wave their hands and chant words to throw a ball of fire," Eidolon dismissed again. “Finding what happened to Scion is much higher of a priority.”

It was their primary goal right now.

The object of their desperation, the one they knew who would eventually destroy the Earth. He had gone missing a few years ago, leading to them scrambling to find his location. They had no idea where he went, on another Earth? Into a pocket dimension somewhere? Turning into a proper human to blend in?

It’s what has been taking up the vast majority of their resources, manpower, and efforts.

Doctor Mother shook her head. “After the catastrophe in South America, we haven't been able to find him. And looking for clues over there has been unfruitful. We can’t even approach the approximate place of disappearance due to various forms of radiation and environmental hazards.”

They didn’t know what happened, but they hypothesized that Scion got into a fight with someone or something. 

The running theory was another Endbringer.

But even with Scion missing, they still had to deal with the eventual collapse of the world due to the other Endbringers' constant attacks. They were most certainly not out of the woods yet, and the hanging blade over their heads never disappeared.

“We’re not usually the ones in the dark.” Legend frowned. “It was inconsequential before.”

“That is why we’re paying close attention to Mr. Verde.” Doctor Mother nodded. “Every other potential source was from luck or intentional digging. Now, we have one of their kind out in the open, the first.”

“Is there a reason we don’t just put a bag over his head and grab him in the night?” Eidolon asked. “It’s not like we haven't done that sort of thing before.”

“Caution.” Doctor Mother stated plainly. “We’ve been gathering more data than we have in years simply by letting him exist. With satellite images and various resources such as Thinkers, we’ve been able to deduce that the majority of his estate is hidden from conventional sight or observation. We are unsure of what other…surprises might lurk there as well.”

The unspoken words—they didn’t know how dangerous any type of defense at home was if he could hide in plain sight like he was doing.

“We created the narrative that ‘they could be anywhere’ and shoved that into the public. But they really could be anywhere, can’t they?” Legend spoke softly. “Do they not care about their reputations? We tried to get them to reveal themselves by having the public outcry. Having them start taking blame for every little thing. But there was no response. And I’ve seen some of the stuff they’re saying about the kid now too. The News had been running nonstop, bouncing between calling him a hero or calling him out on ‘hiding’ or ‘not sharing’ his magic every other broadcast.”

“We’re intentionally fanning the flames to see his reaction.” Doctor Mother responded. “But it is correct to assume that they appear to take no care of public perception, which is odd.”

“If they infiltrated the government so deep, you would think they would leverage that to clear their names, right?” Eidolon couldn’t understand it. He would be furious if everyone started with even half the stuff they’re doing behind his back.

“Do we have any other methods available, or are we taking the sit-back-and-wait approach?” Legend asked.

“The PRT ENE is compiling a folder. Once it reaches a suitable point, we may be able to leverage it to pressure him aggressively. However, until then, we’re being cautiously hands-off and probing his reaction otherwise. We’re investigating his emancipation, and it’s full of flaws. It’s a point we will be attacking to see if any hidden actors appear. For now, we’re letting the locals act as our tests.” Doctor Mother explained. “We have a list of potential…friends or relatives we’re compiling by looking into the deceased parents or other relatives. But it has not shown much promise so far.”

“Since the Brockton Bay experiment is probably out the window, I guess that’s a good use of the resources we invested into the city," Eidolon snorted. “Ignoring the kid, are we really just going to sit back and hope we can scrape some crumbs from them?”

Rebecca frowned, but she didn’t disagree. “I agree, we can no longer keep being passive. I suggest we take more aggressive actions in trying to uncover information.”

“I’ll second it.” Legend let out a small sigh. “We can’t have a group of powered people interfering that we know nothing about. It was…ignorable if they kept to their corners, but it’s clear we underestimated their reach.”

“Very well, we will be doing procedures and devise more aggressive forms of information gathering.” Doctor Mother acknowledged. “Now, I will present the data we have recently and the next operations we’re taking.”

@***@

“I’m home!” Ciel yelled as she entered the front door, walking into the living room, and then she peered into a side room to see Lancer peek around the computer monitor.

“Hello.” 

“Where’s the brat?”

“Master is in the library doing some research.”

Ciel grunted. “Did dinner get started yet?”

“Master said he would wait for you to return home to see what you wished to eat. He said we would be utilizing something called 'takeout.'" Lancer stated, looking very happy despite her lack of expression on her face. “Apparently, they deliver freshly cooked meals upon demand within this era.”

Ciel was about to say something snarky or sarcastic, but she quickly remembered that Lancer was not someone from this era, so to her, it was something strange or interesting.

“Coil is dead, by the way.”

“I see.” Lancer turned her attention away. “I am sure that Master will be pleased and offer you praise.”

Ciel scoffed. “I didn’t do it for 'praise.'" She rolled her eyes. “What are you doing?” Remembering she was not from this era a moment ago, it was now odd seeing her behind a computer screen. “Do you know how to use that thing?”

Ciel walked over, peeking behind Lancer’s shoulder. 

“I have learned since my summoning.” Lancer seemingly appreciated not needing to be overly reserved about her origins. “Master stated that it allows one to access information about any subject. I have been using it to great effect, but I am running into some difficulties.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I noticed something odd that has left me confused when I was out with Master. I am trying to search for information about it so as not to bother him. But I seem to be receiving this response, and it has left me perplexed.” Lancer gestured to the screen.

Ciel narrowed her eyes to look. “Oh, looks like you enabled the parental locks somehow. Were you messing around with the settings?”

“Oh?” Lancer tilted her head. “I apologize; I do not know if I did something wrong.”

“It’s easy to fix.” Ciel pointed. “Move your mouse here, click on that. Then go here, click on that one there, click that box right there, and yup, it’s off now.”

“Thank you.”

Ciel waved it off. “Have fun.” She stepped away. “Oh, I was going to ask the brat something. What's his mood like right now? He stressed out again? If so, I’ll ask when he’s in a better mood.”

Lancer perked up. “I have provided Master with stress relief; you need not be concerned.”

"...well, alright then.” Ciel’s face went blank. "What…exactly do you mean by that?"

“Hmm? Is it not a common application of intimacy of this era? I did my best to express a sense of closeness through bodily touch.”

Ciel blinked. 

Lancer noticed she was confused still. “It appears I have been mistaken about something in this era as well. I recall seeing…no. If it was mistaken for me, then I will not have Master rest his head upon my lap any longer.”

“Oh!” Ciel’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, that's..." She cleared her throat. “I thought you meant something else.”

“What did you mistake my words for?”

Ciel opened her mouth but instead made a motion with her hand, curling her fingers and moving it up and down. “You know…?”

Lancer just blinked.

“Actually, forget it.” Ciel was starting to wonder how sheltered this woman actually was.

“I heard someone come in. Is Ciel back?” Frederick came walking out.

Ciel gave a curt wave. “Finished the job. Coil’s dead. I stole his money too, but I’m keeping that.” 

“Well done.” Frederick gave her a deadpan. “I saw on the news that there was an explosion downtown.”

Ciel just gave him a thumbs up, making him sigh.

He knew she was just being difficult for the sake of being difficult and that she most assuredly completed the job in a proper manner.

Just as he was about to ask questions about it, the doorbell rang.

For most people it was a completely normal occurrence. However, Frederick’s house was anything but normal. In fact the Bounded Fields should have prevented most people from approaching unless they had a proper reason.

But the Bounded Fields also didn’t alert him that someone had approached, which was the concern.

The two girls also noticed his reaction and turned towards the door as Frederick went to go check, and the two of them flanked him.

He opened the door and his eyes widened. “Teacher?”

“Good evening, Frederick.” Bazett Fraga Mcremtiz was standing at the door. “May I come in?”

@***@

A/N

Cauldron POV, answering some questions. Tell me if I missed anything; I may have missed something important that should have been talked about in their get-together. Granted, this is a week after the Winslow thing, and that had been talked to death already by the PRT, so they weren’t going to repeat every point there, as the normal PRT response more or less aligns with their own. Also, Bazett finally makes her appearance. She’s been mentioned a few times now, the person his parents hired to ‘teach’ him how to fight and all that.