So these meetings aren’t entirely casual and peaceful. There’s an air of forced cooperation here, not one of the Triumvirate being higher-ups for Cauldron somehow.
But what are they cooperating to accomplish, and why?
Insurance, he thought. The Doctor thinks that woman can face us if we turn on her.
I suppose that makes sense. That would imply the woman is very strong, though. Like, almost Siberian-level.
Would she win? Legend harbored doubts. He’d met a lot of powerful individuals over the course of his career, and he’d learned how to measure them. This woman didn’t relax for an instant, where someone who was assured of victory would be more willing to let down her guard.
Legend does have a habit of trying to read and understand people. I like that about him.
But don’t forget what you told Skitter before the miasma.
More likely that she’s supposed to stall or stop us if there’s a problem, buying the doctor time to escape.
Fair enough. She’d still need to be plenty strong, but not necessarily strong enough to defeat them.
Legend glanced around the room. Alexandria leaned back in her chair, her helmet on the table in front of her, a star-shaped scar at the corner of one eye. Beautiful, Legend was sure, but more in the way a lioness was beautiful.
Majestic, with an air of power and danger?
In her black and gray costume, she was intimidating, her expression regal.
Let’s keep in mind that this is being described by one of the few people who are on roughly her level of power. And more importantly, by a man who started us out by indicating that intimidation and the fact that he himself didn’t want to intimidate people (except villains, I suppose) would be themes of this chapter.
I’m not sure how clear I made it that that was the vibe I got from Legend’s initial thought towards Kid at the beginning. That it was going to be a major theme of the Interlude, one that will also likely close us out at the end.
(It’s like Piggot thinking about the world going mad and her opinions on parahumans at the beginning of her Interlude, and those themes coming back in full force by the end.)
Eidolon was the opposite. He had lowered his hood and removed his glowing mask, revealing a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows, thinning hair and heavy cheeks. He looked more like an average family man who was getting dressed up as Eidolon for a costume party than he looked like Eidolon himself.
Hah, I like it.
I wonder how much that reflects his personality. I do like the contrast between how normal he looks without his mask and how alien he looks with it. Though I’m not sure the latter is an intentional textual thing so much as my opinion of how he looks in fanart.
There were others around the table. The Doctor: dark-skinned, hair tied into a prim bun with chopsticks stuck through it, wearing a short white dress beneath a white lab coat. The Number Man, with his laptop set in front of him, looking more like a businessman than one of the most influential and lesser-known parahumans on the planet.
I can’t help but imagine Richard Osman on Pointless.
So what kind of numbers do the Number Man deal in? On a related note, what would his power be? Surely it isn’t fast math, but it presumably has to do with the numbers somehow.
Maybe he rates powers? But I’m not sure how that would make him influential.
There was also the woman in the black suit, who had never introduced herself or been introduced by name.
Rude.
Maybe a direct subordinate of the Doctor?
Whenever Legend came here with the others, the woman was there with the Doctor.
When he pushed open the double doors and stepped into the conference room, there were a few looks of surprise.
Interesting. So clearly he’s going to some meeting, but the others at the meeting don’t seem to have known he was coming, despite the opening of the hallway at the oil rig not seeming to be meant to pick up someone else. Did Legend specifically contact the person whose makes that happen?
I’m guessing he’s here to talk about Siberian in some fashion.
“Legend,” the Doctor spoke, “I thought you were occupied in Brockton Bay.”
That’s done, so far.
Also, unsurprisingly at this point, it’s clear that they know each other. More importantly, Legend knows the Doctor. The other way around would be easily explained by Legend’s fame even if they’d never met.
“Jack escaped.”
I suspect Cauldron would be more interested in whether Siberian did. And Shatterbird.
“That’s… really unfortunate,” Alexandria said.
…
Hi.
They’re all in on this? Is Eidolon here too?
This raises some big questions about Cauldron’s origin and status. Is the whole thing set up by the PRT/Protectorate, or is it just the Triumvirate? Do the North American governments know? Why would they do this, especially considering the company’s willingness to deliberately create villains, including Siberian?
Maybe the Triumvirate didn’t know about the villainous part until Legend saw the Cauldron tattoo on Siberian?
Krixwell Liveblogs 