“I take it things are bad?”

“Yes.  We have seen this type of situation before, if not to this extreme.  Too many citizens here had been living paycheck to paycheck or were unemployed.  There was a great deal of latent frustration and unhappiness with the status quo.  A powder keg needing only a spark to set it off.”

I wonder if this kind of thing is why the problem with the Simurgh tends to be what happens afterwards. I mean, it’s bad with Leviathan, but maybe the Simurgh specifically sets things up to make the recovery even worse after she’s gone.

Weld nodded, “And the arrival of an Endbringer is a bit more than a spark.  I see.  I know the Endbringers tend to target areas where they know they can do the most damage.

The mention of media coverage back in Interlude 7 really makes for a pretty silly mental image. Imagine Leviathan just sitting there, watching the news on an old 12-inch box TV while trying not to short circuit anything with his water echo…

You think Leviathan did it on purpose?  Attacked this city because he knew this would happen?”

Possibly, though it’s not the only theory we have available for why he attacked right now.

“If someone raised the idea, I wouldn’t dismiss it.  But our focus should be on what we do in the here and now.  Are you ready to take command of the local Wards?”

Can you ever truly be ready for something like that? Especially if the only time you’ve spent with the people in question was during an Endbringer situation?

“I’m ready to try.”

That’s all one can ask for, really.

He glanced quickly at her hand, checking there were no rings, then shook it.

Rings, huh? Would your power absorb them into your body or something?

“Thank you, ma’am.  Director Piggot, I’m assuming?”

“You assume correctly.  Shall we?”

He nodded.

Yes, we shall.

Okay, so we’re getting to know Weld now, and probably getting a look at how the Wards are dealing with the events of Arc 8. I’m very pleased with this development.

As they fell into step, he asked, “Where is everyone?”

“This airport was attacked by one of the local villain groups just three days ago.

Ahh, that explains some things.

The front lobby and ticket claim were ransacked, and the airport has shut down for the time being, with only special cases such as yourself coming or going.”

Fair enough!

“Alright,” he conceded, “Where are we headed?”

The man gestured toward a set of double doors, then gripped the handle of the cart to push it in that same direction.

Stainless steel handles on the doors.  He put his hands on the painted surface instead, pushed them open, and then held one of the doors open for the cart.  He was distracted enough that he almost didn’t notice the group waiting for him.

People!

So if this is Weld, then these would probably be the Wards.

The group consisted of a squad of PRT officers

Ah, fair enough. Still works with the Weld hypothesis, I suppose.

with their regular assortment of nonlethal weaponry and a large woman with a bleached blonde bob.

This is that administrator woman we met in Interlude 3, and heard about again in Interlude 7, isn’t it? I forgot her name.

…Piggy…? …Piggot! That’s it.

“Weld, I’m glad you made it,” she managed to say the words without a trace of humor or smile on her face.  She extended a hand.

Eyyy!

At least there were no people making the same old jokes about the metal detectors.

Heh. Silver lining, huh?

Baggage claim had three carousels, which should have been in operation, delivering a regular supply of people’s luggage onto the conveyor belts, crowds gathered around them in anticipation.  Instead, there was a single man in uniform with three large bags already piled onto a cart.

It definitely seems like mystery dude’s arrival is being treated as a special case. Were there even any other people who arrived with him? Did he fly in on a private jet?

“I can take my bags, I’m stronger than I look.”

Why do I feel like this is a hint that mystery dude is a parahuman with super strength?

“It’s alright, son,” the man replied, “It’s good to have something to do that isn’t cleaning up.”

Son.  That bothered him more than he cared to admit.  Not that he had any ideas about his own ethnicity, but it was vaguely condescending.  A reminder that people didn’t know how to act around him.

Hm.

Sounds like there’s either something visible about him that makes people unsure, or he wants people to treat him differently because of something they don’t see.

I’m inclined to go with the former.

I think I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this is Weld, coming back to take the role as leader of the Brockton Bay Wards. Although… didn’t he have a leader position in the Boston Wards too? Then why would this be getting in over his head?

I don’t know, maybe it’s not him. It’s just a working guess until things get a little clearer.

It was seven-thirty in the evening in a medium sized airport.  Weren’t there supposed to be people?

Uh, yes, usually.

What’cha doing at the airport?

There had been staff, for sure.  The odd staff member to greet him as he got off the plane, another to see him past the gates.

Okay, so it seems we’ve got another POV character for this chapter. Interesting.

I vaguely felt like that might be the case – with how much Arc 8 felt like a game changing climax to a hypothetical “part 1″, Arc 9 is an excellent point to start changing some constants up, such as Taylor being the POV character in every non-Interlude chapter.

Although that kind of defeats the apparent purpose of mid-Arc Interludes, which I know for a fact are going to continue being a thing.

I’m going to wait on speculating on who this “he” is for now, considering I have literally nothing to go off of except “he” and “got off a plane somewhere at around 7:30 PM”.

Still, the terminals were empty, there were no crowds, the shops and restaurants were all closed.  Only half the lights were on.  For the first time, he was wondering if he was getting in over his head.

I don’t even know for sure which airport this is. The obvious guess is Brockton Bay, but could be Boston, Vancouver or even Calcutta for all I know.

That said, it being Brockton Bay might explain the emptiness. I doubt Brockton Bay gets much tourism in its current state, and lots of the people who wanted to leave have done so already, apparently primarily by bus.

Oh hey, this chapter was posted on April 3, 2012, and the Interlude was posted on March 31, 2012…

Did Wildbow do an April Fool’s thing between these chapters?