A shadow passed over her desk.  Turning, she saw a silhouette of a flying man against the light of the sun.

…hello. Legend, is that you?

I’d imagine he doesn’t like to watch this video.

Like so many parahumans, he lapsed into intrusiveness and a self-centered mindset.  Well, she wouldn’t blame him for being emotional in regards to this.

Yeah, seems it’s Legend.

Also, yeah, Legend, you should probably knock before flying into her office. But if she had her door open and you saw the video before entering…

She composed herself and spoke, “If you’d like to enter my office through the front door, Legend, we can talk there.”

Oh, ahaha! Window!

Should still knock, but yeah.

Silently, he disappeared around the side of the building.  She couldn’t see through the wall, but she heard the commotion as he flew in through the window.

I love this.

He stepped into her office with the fluid grace one had when they could use their ability to fly to carry their weight.  Blue and white costume, boots and gloves.

Some logical day-to-day benefits of superpowers are so underrated in other works and popular culture.

Veteran member and leader of the Protectorate, his lasers carried as much firepower as a battalion of tanks.  She had to remind herself that she technically outranked him.

“Siberian?” he asked.

Wait, Piggy outranks Legend?? What is she, Jirector for the entire PRT? Or do all the PRT directors just outrank the Protectorate in general, with no regard for territory?

After that telling blow, Legend’s voice would be ordering the containment foam.  Not so much to bind Siberian as to hide the wounded Alexandria from the feral lunatic.

Wow.

With the sound muted, Piggot would not have to hear Legend crying out over what he had believed was the death of two teammates.

Hm. So what actually happened?

It had always made her feel guilty to hear it, as if she were intruding, seeing someone mighty at a moment in their life when they were stripped emotionally bare.

That’s probably not inaccurate.

And of course, Siberian had escaped.  Slipped past countless PRT officers and a dozen superheroes in the chaos.

I guess the believed second death was the attack against Alexandria?

Nothing in the footage gave a clue as to how.

And the last known survivor stalks her prey in the night… 🎵

Another thing about this: This video shows that Legend, Alexandria and Eidolon were all early parahumans. Add Scion and the fact that Eidolon is still considered one of the strongest capes in the world, and it seems like there may have been a tendency for stronger capes early on.

If there was such a tendency and it’s not just a matter of me using statistically insignificant numbers to support this idea, there are a couple different reasons there could be for that.

Maybe the Dandelions need to spend an amount of a finite energy to bestow powers, and are running low after bestowing strong powers early?

Or maybe they have a regenerating energy they spend, and changed tactics at one point, going for many weaker parahumans rather than few strong ones?

Either of these theories may also explain why younger triggerers supposedly tend to get stronger powers. If I’m right that the Dandelions are equipping humanity to face the threat Dinah predicted, they might be reserving stronger powers for those who are more likely to live long enough to face this threat before dying of old age (if not killed by other things, that is).

Director Piggot had seen the film before.  Several times.  It was the screams that haunted her.

No wonder she turned off the sound.

Even with the sound off, she could have put it all together from the sounds that were engraved in her memory, right down to the cadence, the pitch.  Seeing a teammate die so unexpectedly, so suddenly.

And from a first-person perspective, too!

The noises of panic as some of the strongest capes in the United States realized there was nothing they could do, adjusting their tactics to try to save people, staying one step ahead of Siberian to minimize the damage she did as she waded through any defense they erected, tossing the PRT trucks -modified fire trucks, then- as though they were as light and aerodynamic as throwing knives.

Siberian is seriously not many steps below an Endbringer.

Invincible Alexandria was struck a glancing blow and had one eye socket shattered, the eye coming free in the midst of that bloody ruin.

Damn.

Eidolon had healed her, after, but the scar was still there.  Alexandria now wore a helmet whenever she was out in costume.

In order to keep the appearance of true invincibility, I suppose.

So, with Interludes acting as bridges between the Arcs a lot of the time, does this perhaps mean the Siberian problem will be in the spotlight next Arc?

Alexandria spoke up, “You had better be fucking kidding me, or I swear-”

Yeeah, it’s not ideal. And depending on who the victim is, it might spell big trouble.

Also, does Alexandria regularly swear like a sailor? That would honestly be kinda fun, this idealized bigshot having a real pottymouth when not on camera.

“Stop, Alexandria.  It was the only way to guarantee she’d stay put.  If we moved too soon, she’d run, and it would be a matter of time before she racked up a body count elsewhere.”

Point, though Taylor certainly wouldn’t approve of this sacrifice.

I’ll actually appreciate if Alexandria doesn’t either. We know Taylor had an Alexandria phase (click through for adorable fanart that deserves another look), so I really like the idea of there being parallels between the two of them.

“Then let’s move,” she responded, “The sooner the better.”

She’s not arguing Legend’s point, but she does rush it along in a way that’s not uncharacteristic of Taylor.

“We’re trying an experimental measure.  It’s meant to contain, not kill.  Drive her towards main street.  We have more trucks over there.”

Contain.

I’m feeling a touch more confident in the camera person being Sphere.

Emily turned off the sound as the four charged into action.  She didn’t want to hear it, but she felt compelled to keep watching.  A matter of respect.

It’s pretty clear that what’s about to happen resulted in at least one death, or worse. Quite likely that of the camera person, which would go against them being Sphere.

I said I was more confident in it, not very confident.

So when he’d escaped, he’d done it with the intent of fighting the Nine.  She’d suspected as much.

I suppose that makes sense. If it was in an attempt to stay away from them… well, he’d have been safer staying, guarded by the Protectorate.

She refined the search to remove the simulations from the results and found video footage.

How old? This group changes quickly.

A video of Winter, an ex-member of the Nine, engaging in a protracted siege against no less than twenty members of the Protectorate.

Damn.

Cold powers, I’m guessing?

She’d been killed by one of her teammates.

Are we in for a montage of S9 kills not being the Protectorate’s accomplishments?

A sighting of Crawler, shortly after he had joined the Nine.  He’d been more humanoid, then.  Still large.

I suppose joining the Nine really helps to attract attackers with strong powers.

Another member of the Nine from yesteryear, Chuckles, attacking a police station.  No use to her, beyond serving as a testament to what might happen if she consolidated too many forces in one place.

I can’t help but imagine her in a Harley Quinn outfit.

Maybe her power was causing uncontrollable laughter. That’s more powerful than it sounds.

She found a file listed as ‘Case 01’.  She clicked it.

Case like in Case 53, likely involving mysteries of parahumanity?

If this wasn’t a result of searching for the Slaughterhouse Nine, I’d think this was going to be about Scion.

Is it the first out of all the cases involving the Nine?

“We’ve got her cornered?” the person in the video spoke.  Hearing the voice, noting the camera image of an apartment was mounted on a helmet, Emily Piggot knew who it was.

Colin?

She knew the video well enough.

“Think so,” a man replied.  The camera focused on Legend, then swung over to Alexandria, and finally Eidolon.

Is “her” Siberian, perhaps? We know she’s been up against these three several times. This might be the first.

“We’ve got teams covering the drainage and plumbing below the building, and the entire place is surrounded.”

Hmm. That sounds like a very different power is involved. Unless this place has ridiculous plumbing, Siberian wouldn’t be able to use that to escape. Maybe someone who can turn into water, or shrink, or something along those lines?

“She hasn’t tried to leave?” the face behind the camera asked.  “Why not?”

But yeah, I don’t think this is Colin anymore. He seems to have stayed in Brockton Bay most of his career, though I suppose he might’ve gone to wherever this happened to help out.

More importantly, though, if it were Colin, I think we’d have had that confirmed by now. It’s probably someone we’ve heard of, though, for the same reason.

…oh man, maybe it’s Sphere. He seemed to have been a rogue, but perhaps the Protectorate asked for his help with containing “her”.

Legend couldn’t maintain eye contact.  “She has a victim.”

Ohh. Bonesaw.

Of course. She’s where this all started, after all. Maybe the Protectorate are about to find, for the first time, that she gets protected by her fan club, the proto-Nine?