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"Sorry to wake you at this hour, Prime Minister. There's been a… development in the Canberra zone you need to be made aware of." Came the voice over the phone. Julia had to take a moment or two to figure out what the voice was talking about. Then it all came rushing back. The Endbringer alarms, the evacuation, setting up the new seat of government in Melbourne. At least there was no argument from Sydney this time, seeing as it's underwater. She instantly shut down that line of thought. God forbid she ever let such a statement slip around a reporter.

"Is it critical? This is the first time I've slept…" She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. "Over two hours since the twenty-fourth."

"Yes, Mrs. Gillard, I believe it is. A briefing is scheduled for 6 am." Sebastian Dry — Julia was finally awake enough to recognize the voice — said. "We're trying to keep it small, but with it concerning the quarantine zone, there's a hell of a lot of officials and organizations trying to be involved."

Julia groaned. "I'll be there…" She hung up the phone and her head hit the pillow. For a few minutes, she contemplated just… going back to sleep. Or resigning. The perks of the job were not worth the stress of the last month. No, not even a full month. Let someone else deal with the headache.

With a weary sigh, she got out of bed and prepared for another day.

The briefing in no way improved her mood, either. "Excuse me. Could you please confirm that last part? I didn't just hear what I thought I heard." Julia interrupted the briefing.

Robert Vargas, her Minister of Parahuman Affairs, winced. "I'm afraid so, ma'am. Radar picked up five airborne objects leaving the quarantine zone. Quarantine enforcement sent out their fastest fliers, but only two managed to intercept the objects. They both reported giant black dragonfly like creatures. Storm-cloud engaged her target and successfully took it down, it's being dissected by experts right now. Vulture engaged his target but ran into difficulties when the creature sprayed the airspace with a cloud of sticky and self-adhesive material, found later to be a variant of spider silk. He reported it was akin to flying through a... In his words, fairy floss machine. Completely fouled his wings and brought him down hard. He's going to be out of commission for a while till he heals."

"Can't one of the parahuman healers help him?" Julia asked, even if she was rather more concerned with the four other targets that apparently escaped.

"Unfortunately, good healers are rare, with various unfortunate limitations in what they can fix, how long after the injury they can fix it, and how much they can fix. Well, unless you want to see if the Americans will lend us Panacea or Scapegoat? I wouldn't recommend it. Vulture's not dying, just out of commission for a while."

Julia let out a sigh. "Let's hold off on that for now. Please continue."

"Speaking of the Americans," asked one of the foreign relations aids in attendance. "Should we alert them of the situation? Four airborne and fast organic creations escaping a quarantine zone is something we should at least notify our allies of."

"No. Do we know if these creations are capable of intercontinental flight?" Julia asks Robert, who shakes his head. "Then it doesn't need to concern any of our allies. You know the Americans. Give them an excuse to stick their nose somewhere and before you know it, it's them running the entire show."

Julia stared at the image on the screen. A thick layer of something vaguely plantlike grew over the ruins of the Canberra quarantine zone. All over the northern half of the city, what used to be broken streets, collapsed buildings, and burnt wrecks was instead a dark green carpet of wet, spongy… stuff. Here and there, growths were tearing their way from the mat, many glowing dimly in blues, purples, and reds.

"This growth began immediately after the attack on the Independent Nation of Canberra compound. Its initial growth was explosive but has since slowed." Vargas said, after letting them all take in the utterly alien landscape. "Slowed does not mean stopped. Expansion has already begun to be noticed on the southern river banks."

"What… what is it?" someone from the back of the room asked.

"We don't know for sure, we'd need to take samples to analyze. If we have your go ahead Prime Minister, we can do so. There is however significant risk of removing anything from a Simurgh quarantine zone. Even more so when dealing with something created by a biotinker, which is extremely likely. Remote observation suggests a combination of molds and fungi, as can be seen from the emergent growths."

"Wait, wait, wait. Mold and fungi… don't both produce spores?" Piped up one of the annoyances that had forced their way into the briefing.

"Yes. Yes, they do. From the fruiting bodies. There is a high likelihood that these luminescent growths are exactly that. Again, samples will be necessary, we don't know what effects the spores will have on human and animal life. At the very least, they would be likely to spread the growth beyond the containment zone. We… are going to have to consider evacuating everyone downwind of the quarantine zone, too." Vargas answered.

Julia sank her head into her hands. "How far and… where?"

"Primary winds at this time of year are mostly from the east. We… can't know the distance until we give our thinkers and analysts some definite data, but… it's not looking good."

"How bad is it?" Julia asked.

"Most likely large sections, if not all, of Victoria, and the south-western region of New South Wales." Vargas said.

"That's the most populated part of the country since Leviathan hit Sydney!"

"It gets worse." Vargas sighed. "Over the next three weeks, the winds shift to predominantly westerners. That would cause spores to spread around… everywhere. Canberra is rather central to the most population dense parts of the nation."

"We have to prevent that from happening! Prime Minister, please give the order and I will have the army deployed into the quarantine zone to sterilise the problem at its source!" General Magrath stands up, obviously done with listening to more bad news.

"While I agree with the General about the need to deal with this issue Prime Minister, this is a parahuman problem." Vargas refuted the general's claim.

Julia sighed and looked at the two men. Robert Vargas was bright, ambitious but not dangerously so, and most importantly he was hers. He knew who had gotten him the opportunities he'd needed throughout his career. Jaxon Magrath, on the other hand, was a proud military man. A proud military man living in an era when capes, not guns and tanks, decided the future of nations. A relic of a world long gone.

"I'm sorry General, history has shown repeatedly that the armed forces are ill-equipped to handle the… particular issues created by parahumans. For now, none of what we covered here is to be shared outside this room. There's no need to panic the populace until we know for sure there are spores. Robert, I'll be awaiting your action plan. Oh… and please tell me there's been no activity from the Endbringer during all this?"

Vargas' smile was grim. "No ma'am. The Simurgh is still holding its position in the stratosphere over New Zealand. Unpleasantly close, but it seems to be dormant again. I can have a preliminary plan ready in a few hours, but the complete report will have to wait until…"

I once again find myself happy to have made an extra Face, since the primary one has to deal with… everything that followed after the raiders are routed. Primarily, this means figuring out what to do with the base and the slaves.

"It's a suitable building, already set up with infrastructure most enclaves lack." Says Marcus. "It would be an ideal location for our Enclave to move to."

"Naw mate, the place has an unpleasant history now. Anyone that tries to set up here is going to get painted with the same brush as the previous owners by the other enclaves." Benjamin says.

I'm mostly letting them figure it out, though really it's going to be Hewson's choice anyway, since he's the Enclave leader. All I have to do is deal with the slaves. Er… ex-slaves… Or not. "Sienna, would you mind talking to the slaves and finding out if they have a leader of some sorts? Hewson will want to talk to them, I'm sure." At least I can throw handling the humans at the humans.

She nods in agreement and heads off toward the fenced tent city the 'citizens' live in. I send an escort of Zerglings along just in case too. There shouldn't be any remaining raiders around, but I don't know how much the Master running this place could maintain control of them. Or how much of that control remains with his death.

Hadn't that been a surprise, a fucking Master. Good on Benjamin for catching on that fast. Or was it too fast? I glance at the man who's still talking with Marcus. Did he have some prior experience with the raider's leader? Ah either way the man is dead so.

Emily interrupts my thoughts by poking at my main body. I leave Face to wander around after Marcus and Benjamin, and refocus on myself.

"After Benjamin killed the leader, the battle was pretty much over." I finish telling Emily how the battle went. She's sitting on a large bioluminescent mushroom that I sprouted in my Overmind chamber, and I am speaking through the Face clone — now with robes covering his body too.

"So, did anyone from the outside react?"

"Yup. I noticed a couple of drones watching from a distance near the end of the battle. More, once the creep grew out in the open. They're still flitting around out there. I haven't seen any trying to collect samples, but that doesn't mean they haven't." I sighed. "Also lost one of the Mutalisks I sent out of the quarantine zone. Fortunately, it wasn't the one I gave vocal cords… that would have been a problem with contacting potential allies."

"Oooh, what happened?"

"Got intercepted by a cape. Some sort of flying brick and hydrokinetic combo…" Seeing Emily look confused look, I filled in. "She controlled water. Don't know if any water or only precipitation, but she carried around her own personal rain cloud and literally shot droplets of water out of it like bullets."

Emily laughs. "Ouch. The rest made it away?"

"Yeah. It'll just take them a while to get to their destinations."

"Um… so what to we do for now?"

"The swarm will begin aggressive expansion… Some of the other Enclaves have tried to fight back the creep, but… they've been unsuccessful. I'll talk to Hewson and see if he can talk to them."

"… What about making Abzu? And the armour for me so I can go out and fight too? Will it be done before the next enemies show up?"

"That too. It's only a question of time before someone insists on speaking to him rather than Face. I'll work on your armour too. Do you have any requests?"

"Yup! Abzu should be tall! And… can you just make the skin a different colour rather than scales or those plates most of your creatures have? Make it smooth and-" Emily takes off rambling, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Whoa wait. I meant requests for your armour, Emily."

"O.. Oh." Emily blushes deep and hides her face in her hands. Her excited chatter turns into a shy mumbling. "Um… I figured… I… um… It's… but Face is all… creepy… and the Overmind is all… brainy and tentacly… which is fine… but uh… I want Abzu to… look good… so… when we do… stuff. It's… not fair you… see and… touch me… but… I can't… do the same. Not the same… way?"

Too cute, I wrap Face's — slightly disproportionate — arms around her in a hug. "Okay Emily. I'll try to make Abzu look good, alright? Heh, still having a hard time talking about sexual stuff, even with all we've done?"

She makes a high-pitched whine in her throat and buries her face in my coverings. "It's embarrassing!"

I chuckle at her, but am just glad at the physical contact while I hold her. Eventually I do have to go focus on other things. There are experiments to do with my captured prisoners, not least of which is the cape known as Howitzer.

Taking inventory of my prisoners, I have a good number of regular humans cocooned up and hanging on walls. Most are awake and struggling futilely against their bonds. Where to start… I need a way for an unmodified human — Emily — to control one of my organisms… And not hurt herself in the progress… Maybe a paralytic agent — such as found in a few parasitic wasps — to prevent any unwanted movement? I'll need something able to be quickly neutralised too though, which means trial and error in organic chemistry. Then… Hijack the spinal cord or dig into the brain? I'll try both and see what has better success.

The first subject screams. A lot. I should add painless to the requirements. I don't want Emily to have to feel whatever this raider is going through. Hmm, his veins are inflamed too, that's not looking good.

I wrap a tentacle around the prisoner's head and clamp down to stifle his screams. I wish I could use anaesthetic or knock them out, but I kinda need them to be conscious to learn much.

"Alexei?"

I refocus on Face, Emily is standing before him, and I can still hear the faint echo of the raiders' screams. Shit, I didn't even consider her presence and reaction to my experiments. Sure, she's an amazing girl, but there's a long way from watching a bunch of raiders be slaughtered in active combat, to hearing or even seeing a man suspended by tentacles screaming in agony.

"Oh Ziz! I'm sorry Emily, I'm so used to being alone down here, I didn't even think of warning you I'm going to start some experiments."

"Hmm?" Emily tilts her head and pears into the dim light of the Overmind chamber. "That one of the raiders?" Then she shrugs and waves her handheld game system at Face. "I need to grab some more batteries from the house, and I'm going to take a look at the city too now that your creep is growing out in the open! I bet it's really pretty if it's anything like down here."

"I think it'll look better at night, but sure. I'll send a pack of Zerglings with you. Hmm better grab anything from the house that you might need for a long-term stay here. Just in case outside forces take drastic measures."

"Okay!" She steps in and hugs Face around the waist. "Hurry with making Abzu!" And then she's gone down the corridor towards the bunker exit.

Three capes in my clutches now. Dundee and Reflect are being altered… what to do with Howitzer. Artillery is useful… but he's just one cape, and a single artillery piece that can't aim for shit is… not the most useful unit. Especially since it lacks the explosive nature of actual artillery. I've got more than enough organisms to deal with soft targets.

I almost forgot I have the Essence for that stone-flesh guy too. I aborted his cocoon when trying to recreate him as a perfect human clone because of the time it would take, but tried nothing more.

First the stone-flesh cape. Weave his essence into a cocoon, along with the upgrades to make the process not take months. Maybe the shard will still consider it close enough to reconnect despite some genetic drift. It would be nice if I could collect shard connections off of dead capes.

Second, Howitzer. I could turn him into a unique organism… Maybe some sort of short range combatant that can spew fireballs? Shit accuracy shouldn't matter at sword fighting range. On the other hand, I need to see if I can get any interesting Essence from a living corona potentia, and Howitzer is probably the least valuable cape I currently have.

Let's see… How to get at it without killing him in the process… I reweave his Essence to remove any non-essential tissue and organs, spread his brain out into a thin membrane only a few millimetres thick, and exposed. Stiffen it up so it doesn't rupture… general upgrades to make the resultant organism survive…

I let myself relax into the act of weaving Essences, only holding myself back from a full tinker fugue.

Sienna hurries through the corridors of what used to be Parliament House. Word just got to her that someone else will deal with the raiders' ex-slaves. Thank god for that. She's a fighter and ill-equipped to deal with traumatised and abused civilians. The Master that had been leading the raiders was insidious too. Even with the way they were treated, few of the ex-slaves are able to work up any ill will towards him, even after death.

Hell, her own short time under his control still has her feeling… odd. She still feels a faint shame for failing to protect him. She shivers. Fucking Masters. Not even once. Thank god for Benjamin.

Speaking of Benjamin, she finds him standing outside talking to a group of new arrivals. Huh, they don't look familiar, and with their reduced numbers, she knows everyone at the Enclave.

"Hey Benji, who're these? Don't recognise em."

Benjamin growls at the name, but doesn't object more. "These are from the Kaleen Enclave. Hewson reached out to them when he heard about the state of the slaves here." He motions at a short woman in her early twenties. "Holly, Sienna. Sienna was with myself and Marcus when Abzu took this place from the bastards. Holly's a shrink. Hewson offered a portion of loot from this place for the Kaleen Enclave to loan her to us. Whatever Abzu doesn't claim, anyway."

"Holly Robinson. Psychiatry student, actually. I'm afraid the Simurgh cut my studies woefully short. And blew up the university. And killed all my classmates and professors. So I seem to be the best the city has to offer. I'm considering it an… extended practical."

"Sienna. I'm glad to see you. We've got way too many rather difficult Master victims and… My hobby of punching people really well helps manage them, but is probably not helping their mental state."

Holly laughs. "No, it wouldn't. Though I've heard a few of my older peers claim it works wonders for some of their parahuman patients. Where can we stash our gear while we stay here? Then I'll take a preliminary look at the victims."

"Over this way, follow me." Benjamin says, and leads them towards the raider barracks.

"So, I'm dying to know about this Abzu. Me and pretty much everyone in the city, I bet." Holy says, motioning with her arm at the skyline visible across the river. "Especially with the… changes he's brought. Mr. Hewson assured my Enclave that it was safe. We saw a few packs of those creatures on the way over here, and they didn't bother us."

"We haven't met him either, just his intermediary. Goes by Face, he's around somewhere. I'll introduce you." Sienna tells her.

"I've worked for a few capes before." Benjamin says. "Face at least, seems to be a decent sort. Brute of some sorts, Marcus says his power probably isn't quite human, what with the way he covers himself up constantly. Never seen an inch of skin."

"Hmm… I wasn't aware heroes made a habit of hiring out muscle." Holly says.

"Hey, maybe they hired be as an interior decorator for their heroic lair… base. Headquarters." He's quiet for a moment as both Sienna and Holly look at him. "Yeah fine, it was all villains. Profesional hench and troubleshooter, before the Simurgh paid us all a visit."

My tinkering is interrupted when a Ratling observes a large, obviously tinkertech truck drive down the highway from the edge of the dome. Well for certain definitions of truck and drive, seeing as it lacks wheels and is hovering just over the ground. The large logo on its side shows a shield with a ring of stars, and the letters A.D.V.P. embossed beneath. Wonder who they are?