Chapter 29

Killing an Endbringer was a remarkably effective way of making people listen to you. Even insane and homicidal people.

Especially them, even.

It took maybe ten minutes, by Lisa's reckoning, to quarantine almost two dozen Panacea clones. Oddly docile at first, they'd rapidly paled when Jaya ripped four more clear out of the ground from blocks away and added them to the collection.

The Case-53 that had caused all this damage had reverted from raging monster to frightened teenage girl. She was together with her team, The Travelers, all of them under heavy guard.

Oh, and she was so, so sorry she went and killed all those people. Woops, her bad.

Honest or not, the girl would find no forgiveness with the capes here. Too many people had died to her blind anger and Skidmark's absolute stupidity. The punishment for breaking the Endbringer truce so egregiously was a kill-order, usually backdated, as any cape who witnessed such a thing would act immediately. The only reason Noelle was even still alive was the fact that Panacea and Othala, healers the both of them, were stuck inside her.

That, and the fact that she'd stopped producing clones near the end of the battle for some strange reason. Anomalies were never a good thing, but nobody except Jaya had the equipment, ability, or expertise to examine Noelle's body properly, and there was a general consensus that Jaya stay far the fuck away from Noelle at all times.

A consensus that the infuriating girl herself did not share, which is why Lisa found herself in a re-purposed command tent, surrounded by the Triumvirate, with a rebellious Jaya on one side, and a nervous Taylor on the other.

Taylor had only just arrived, and hadn't quite adjusted to the idea of 'OHMYGODIT'SALEXANDRIA!' quite yet. That being said, blatant hero worship or no, the younger girl was plenty capable of acting professional when needed, and had so far held back any embarrassing outbursts. Her role here, just like Lisa's, was merely as a spectator.

Lisa, for her part, was trying extraordinarily hard not to verbally poke at the penultimate Brute. She had seen it in the aftermath of Leviathan's death, in that brief period where people were stuck between celebration and caution; while Eidolon stared at Leviathan with shock and resignation, while Legend looked to Jaya with hope and joy, Alexandria was staring at Panacea's clones not unlike a starving dog would a steak. It was a brief slip of the mask, so brief that Lisa thought she'd maybe made a mistake, but the thought lingered, the seed of doubt was planted.

Lisa was... curious. Cautious too, but her curiosity had always overridden her caution.

Alexandria's poker face was far too good for Lisa's cold reading skills, and Lisa was just about tapped out on her power. Even if she wasn't, using it with so little information available would give her nothing but a migraine. So, with no other options available to her, she'd stuck to Jaya's side like glue and simply observed as the Triumvirate tried to argue with the single most stubborn person in existence.

"Weld is on his way from Boston already, and we are confident that his unique body type will be more than up to the task of retrieving the capes trapped within Miss Meinhardt's body." Legend said pleadingly. "There's no reason for you to risk yourself and everyone else in this situation. The damage a clone with your powers could do is simply astronomical."

Of everyone present, Legend seemed the most sympathetic towards The Travelers' plight.

He advocated The Birdcage, rather than a kill-order.

"Yeah, Weld would work, but I'm right here." Jaya insisted. "I've got the ability to get them out safely, I hardly ever get to practice my biomancy, and there's never been a more acceptable target!"

Lisa quietly covered her face with the palm of her hand.

"It is an unacceptable risk, no matter how confident you are." Alexandria interjected forcefully. "You cannot be exposed to the Case-53, nor Panacea's clones, especially for such a trivial reason. It's simply too dangerous at this point in time."

There was something in that sentence, something unsaid and lingering that Lisa couldn't quite decipher, and nobody else seemed to even notice.

Jaya snorted, her reply filled with disdain, "It's not dangerous in the slightest, and you're an idiot for keeping those clones alive. What part of insane doesn't compute with that calculator you call a brain?"

This was going poorly. Jaya was only even talking to these people because Lisa and Taylor asked her to be polite, but her blatant disrespect was quickly causing more problems than just ignoring them would have. Jaya's definition of 'polite' was anything short of non-threatening dialogue; a fact that Lisa knew, but had irrationally assumed would change when faced with the Triumvirate. No, when presented before the strongest hero team on the planet, Jaya was taking every opportunity to be gleefully petty, and this wasn't the sort of situation where Lisa could simply distract her with something shiny.

At least the majority of her barbs were targeting Alexandria, not that that was any great boon. The sheer presence that the Protectorate icon emanated was almost laughable beside Jaya. There was a gulf of power between them that Alexandria wasn't quite ready to concede and Jaya was all too happy to abuse.

Legend was stuck playing peacemaker between the two of them, a feat only possible because Jaya inexplicably treated him with the tiniest measure of respect.

As in, she didn't insult him every other sentence.

Eidolon had simply hovered behind his teammates, quietly observing Jaya and keeping his own council. Jaya had paid him exactly one glance before ignoring his presence entirely.

"Their sanity is not in question. We just don't know that the process that changed them is irreversible." Alexandria said, almost smugly. "In fact, we only have your word that the changes Panacea's clones have made are permanent at all. It might wear off tomorrow, but you'd have us kill them today? No. Better for the PRT to keep them quarantined and see if we can help restore the victims."

"Unless you've got a biomancer hidden away somewhere, the only people who could even attempt a restoration on that scale would be me or Panacea." Jaya retorted. "I doubt Amy will want anything to do with her fratricidal sorta-siblings, and if I get my hands on them there won't be enough left to restore. Shit, I only rounded them up before incinerating them because I thought you needed to identify the casualties, not play mad scientist with the fucking Zerg."

Alexandria blinked in confusion, clearly searching for the reference and coming up short, before narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "Panacea can't heal brains, so she wouldn't be a candidate regardless." she stated cooly.

"Are you retarded?" Jaya asked with mock concern.

Alexandria recoiled in fury, but before she could respond a quiet voice interrupted with, "Enough."

Eidolon approached, glowing green eyes fixed on Jaya. "You will not be convinced?"

Jaya eyed him curiously, openly, like a child might and without a sign of wariness. "Nope. I'm gonna pop Noelle like a water balloon. Except with blood. A blood balloon."

The living legend (not Legend, Lisa mentally amended) stared down at Jaya's tiny, unassuming form, and seemed to come to some sort of resolution. He nodded to her, a sharp jerk of the chin. "If you say you can do it, then we can only believe you. I doubt we could stop you either way. About our other offer..."

"I will not be joining The Protectorate." Jaya stated, jerking her head towards Lisa and Taylor. "I've got a team already and I'm perfectly happy with them."

"I didn't really expect you to." Eidolon admitted. He snapped a finger and produced a glowing business card. "You've got the kind of power most people can only dream of, but it comes with expectations and responsibilities. You can hide away, here in Brockton, and ignore the rest of the world, but they will not ignore you. What you've done here, today, will be remembered forever." He offered her the glowing card.

"Be ready for the consequences."

Jaya looked at Eidolon with... was that confusion? Lisa could barely read her friend at the best of times, but something had clearly played out differently than she had expected. Jaya took the card with agonizing slowness, reading it carefully and tucking it away in a pocket. She looked back towards Eidolon with the tiniest of frowns creasing her head.

"I can be reached at any time on that number," Eidolon continued, unperturbed. "If you need help, or advice, or even some training with your power, let me know." With a final nod, the fifth strongest being on the planet left the tent. A furious Alexandria stormed after him, while Legend followed after a polite nod to all three girls.

The tent was silent for a moment, before Taylor collapsed in a heap, moaning, "Oh God we just insulted Alexandria to her face! Multiple times!"

"Technically only Cat did that," Lisa pointed out. "We just... tacitly supported her I suppose."

A frustrated groan was given in reply.

"Alexandria's a bitch anyway," Jaya said, regaining her energy. "Enough of the moaning Weaver! We've gotta save Panpan!"

Taylor flopped about like a fish.

"What happened with Eidolon?" Lisa inquired, as Taylor ineffectively recollected herself.

"Ah, it was no big deal." Jaya waved her hand dismissively. "I wasn't expecting him to be so... accepting, is all. Thought I'd have to smack him down at some point. Create some friendship through violence and all that. An offer to spar is an decent alternative. I can snag some new tricks."

"You..." Lisa and Taylor both chose to ignore that entire statement, united in mutual exasperation, and Lisa hauled the taller girl to her feet.

"Alright, I think my heart is ready for your next miracle and/or act of insanity." Taylor announced, gratefully leaning on Lisa.

"Atta girl," Jaya replied as she lead them out of the tent, and along a broken street. The 'camp' was set up far away from the initial battle site, both for privacy and to avoid the staring. Honestly, Lisa would be surprised if Jaya could go anywhere in public, without being mobbed, ever again.

Noelle's location was further separated. She was locked away in an old underground shelter that Coil had probably considered purchasing at some point. She was under guard by some of the strongest blasters that The Protectorate had at their disposal, and Strider for a quick getaway. The Travelers all volunteered to help with guard duty, but in reality were every bit prisoners as Noelle. The girl was as isolated as she could realistically be, kept separate from her friends in case of an escape attempt.

It must have been a surprise, then, when Jaya strolled into Noelle's cell, which was really more of a fenced in corner, and announced, "I'm here to fix you!"

Noelle flinched in surprise and more than a little fear, but barely had time to process Jaya's remark before the mad girl plunged her arm elbow deep into Noelle's torso.

There was a brief moment of silence, followed immediately by screaming.