The Protagonist System

227 A Cauldron Bubbles Under Heat

I dropped Carol off at her house first and we discussed what to do with the recording stream. It was decided to post it on PHO under New Wave and I sent it to Crystal to let her handle it, since she was the team's social media expert. I couldn't leave it at just that, though. I told them that I had another idea and would let them know about it before it was released.

Carol might have badgered me about it if Vicky hadn't been there and giving the both of us the stink-eye, or what was better known as an accusing stare. She knew something had happened between us while we were in New York and she restrained herself by not saying anything while I was there.

Since I couldn't stay and had to go home to visit my mother, I thanked Carol for supervising my volunteer work so professionally and hugged her before I kissed her cheek. Vicky gasped, scandalized, and Carol huffed at her reacting to such a little thing. No, she did not tell her daughter we had done a whole hell of a lot more than that all weekend, because it was none of her business.

Crystal again regretted she had to be back at the college before my return and told me so, because she had missed meeting with me a few times on the weekends and that wasn't fair. Both Carol and Vicky huffed at her telling me that and I had to smile at their similar reactions.

My weekends were going to be full for the next little while, so I couldn't promise to meet up with Crystal in the future. Instead, I gave Carol a down payment to hold in trust for Crystal, which was another hug and I kissed her other cheek. That earned an indignant squawk from Vicky for kissing her mother again and I chuckled and waved, then teleported home.

My mom leapt on me as soon as I appeared in the living room and she ordered me to tell her everything. Since I knew she just wanted to spend time with me as she listened to me talking, I was more than happy to indulge her. We both changed into our pyjamas to get comfortable and then sat on the couch as I told her all about the work I did and meeting the New York capes that kept the huge city safe.

We stayed there all evening and then I showed her the video stream I had Carol shoot. My mother looked shocked at me doing what I did, even though she knew what I was capable of. It was just that the scale of what I did was so grand that it was shocking in and of itself. I knew that and agreed, since the Statue of Liberty was such an iconic structure in history. Now it was back and everyone was going to know about it.

My phone rang just as the video ended and I saw it was Paige and answered it on speaker mode. “Congratulations! You're the first caller to make it through the switchboard. Go ahead, you're live on the air.”

“Greg!” My mom gasped and smacked my arm. “Stop answering the phone like that! It could be an emergency!”

I couldn't argue the point, so I sighed. “I'm sorry.”

My mother gave me a glare before she sighed, too. “You need to stop acting foolish all the time to try and get a laugh out of people. What if it was important and you're carrying on like it doesn't matter? Someone could be dying right now and you're making stupid jokes like a clown.”

“I can only apologize so many times.” I said and didn't try to defend myself.

My mother stood up and looked down at the cell phone to see who it was. “Paige is also your boss. If you're in person, that's one thing. I can't complain about you carrying on if you know the situation. Over the phone? You don't know what could be happening.”

“Mom...” I started to say.

“I don't want you to regret joking around when you find out what's going on.” My mother said. “If I had called you during the weekend, what would you have answered with?”

I couldn't lie to her, so I told her. “Hello, officer. I plead the fifth.”

My mother nodded. “Then I'm glad I didn't call and tell you Sarah Pelham heard from Chief Director Costa-Brown from the PRT to set up an appointment to meet you.”

“Wh-what?” I asked and heard Paige suck in a sharp breath on the phone.

“Your schedule in New York was too packed for her to interrupt on Saturday and she's not in the office on Sunday, so she called to make an appointment for Monday.” My mother said. “You'll be excused from school tomorrow and Lady Photon will escort us to the PRT ENE HQ building downtown.”

I opened my mouth to respond and had nothing to say, so I closed it and nodded.

“Paige, don't keep him up too late.” My mother said to the cell phone. “Atlas has an appointment first thing in the morning and he better not be tired or distracted.”

“He won't be, Miss Veder.” Paige answered without hesitation. “I only wanted him to come to the studio to record the Star Spangled Banner. I'm going to add it to the video of him restoring the Statue of Liberty.”

My mom smiled. “That's an excellent idea, Paige. He'll be right over.” She said and hit the end call button. “Get changed into your business suit and go over there.”

“Mom...” I started to say.

“No, Greg.” My mother interrupted and walked across the room. “There are times for playing and times for seriousness. You needed to learn when it's appropriate to make a joke at someone else's expense and answering the phone is never one of those times.”

I didn't try to say anything else and put my phone away, changed my clothes to the business suit I wore while in New York, and teleported to the downstairs lounge area of Paige's warehouse studio. Paige walked down the stairs to meet me and she had a sad look on her face as she hugged me. She let me go, handed me the sheet music and lyrics for the national anthem, and led me over to the recording booth.

As I sat in front of the main microphone and picked up the acoustic guitar, I realized my mother was right. There were times for joking and times for seriousness, and now was a time for seriousness. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to center myself, opened my eyes, and nodded. Paige started recording and I waited for a moment and then started playing as I sang my heart out.

“Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light...”

*

Nearly everyone in the country were stunned when the video of New Wave's gift to New York was released, especially the citizens of New York that didn't know it had happened. Most thought it was faked, then they were shocked when Bad Canary Productions released an official video and dubbed the Star Spangled Banner over it.

It was Atlas himself singing and that made it into the most majestic and patriotic video to ever exist, thanks to how he could boost feelings and effects with his voice. Radio stations had already started playing his debut song and they scrambled to be the first to play his version of the National Anthem before anyone else.

Not surprisingly, the owners of the New York Mets were the first to lease the exclusive rights to play his version at their baseball games. It started out as a thank you to Atlas for giving them back their iconic tourist attraction, then they felt how emotionally boosted they were after hearing it. It worked every time and the effect didn't lessen, even when replayed immediately.

Word about that spread quickly and by the next morning, when Atlas was supposed to meet the Chief Director to discuss things, she had heard the news as well.

*

Rebecca Costa-Brown sat behind the borrowed desk and tried to remain calm. Despite her own prodigious mind's capabilities, she had felt a surge of national pride every time she heard Atlas sing the Star Spangled Banner. It was both unnerving and concerning, especially since it was repeatable.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The office door opened and in walked the cape that had been in her thoughts a lot the last few weeks. Atlas wore his cape costume and Rebecca couldn't help but compare his stature and physique to her own. They were both prime physical specimens and they were both immensely strong, as well as exceedingly good looking.

Rebecca stood up and walked around the desk to shake Lady Photon's hand first. “Thank you for allowing this meeting on such short notice.”

Lady Photon shook her head. “It should have happened before now, considering what the newest member of New Wave has been up to lately.”

Rebecca had to fake her smile and she immediately noticed Atlas knew it was fake. “I believe the rumors online said something about your sister Brandish being responsible for it?”

Lady Photon nodded. “She was supervising Atlas while in New York and somehow convinced him that restoring Lady Liberty was a good idea.” She said and let her hand go and motioned to the very short blonde woman next to her. “This is Nostrum, Atlas' mother and also a healing cape.”

Rebecca only briefly hesitated to reach out to shake the woman's hand. Again, she noticed that Atlas saw her reaction and mentally cursed herself for letting this meeting get out of control before it even started.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Nostrum. You've been doing good work at the hospitals in Brockton Bay and saved many lives.” Rebecca said and tried to sound sincere. She was, it was just difficult to convey that while also knowing the healing cape was reading her biology like an open book, which meant she probably knew who she really was, the famous cape known as Alexandria.

Nostrom shook the hand and frowned slightly, then smiled to cover it up. “It's nice to meet you as well, Chief Director.”

No one missed the implication when Nostrum didn't return any kind of compliment.

Rebecca ignored the lack of praise, as she usually did, and turned to shake the hand of the cape she had wanted to meet for quite some time. “Atlas, I'm glad to finally meet you in person.” She said, again it was quite sincere, only she knew this man was also reading her biology like an open book.

Atlas shook her hand and he didn't twitch or frown, or had any kind of reaction to finding out she was a cape in disguise. Instead, he held onto her hand and stepped close as he looked into her fake eye.

Rebecca caught her breath at the intense stare he was giving it, because it was like he was trying to figure something out. She did not tell him it was a tinkertech prosthetic eye she had replaced the one she lost when fighting the Siberian.

“They're gone, you know.” Atlas said as he stepped back and let her hand go.

“Who?” Rebecca asked with a calm voice, despite knowing what he was going to say.

“The Slaughterhouse Nine.” Atlas answered and Lady Photon gasped. Nostrum just looked resigned, which meant she already knew about it.

What else does she know? Rebecca asked herself and pushed that thought aside. “No one knows where they are.”

Atlas took out his cell phone and showed a very clear picture of the two vehicles the group of capes used to travel across the country to perform despicable acts. They were in what looked like a huge ash filled dusty pit. He swiped the picture to the next one and showed them it was a crater on the moon.

“Oh, god.” Lady Photon whispered and her knees felt weak. “A-Atlas.”

A chair materialized under her and Atlas eased her down into it.

Matter generation? Rebecca asked herself. That explains how he restored the Statue of Liberty.

“You... really...” Lady Photon whispered.

“I did that before I took care of all the other world ending threats.” Atlas told her and she stared at him like he was insane. “Ash Beast, Nilbog, The Three Blasphemes, The Elite, The Yangban...”

The three women listened as Atlas listed off everyone he disposed of.

“The Birdcage?” Rebecca couldn't help but ask, because Dragon was listening in and had been investigating it since it disappeared.

“Sucked into a black hole.” Atlas said and didn't react when there were four gasps instead of three. “I needed Glaistig Uaine's powers to absorb the powers I didn't want for myself.”

“It wasn't her doing all of that?” Dragon asked from a dark monitor on the wall.

“I always sent her through a portal to deal with capes I didn't want the powers of, like Mama Mathers, Heartbreaker, Valefor, Ash Beast, and a whole bunch of others.” Atlas responded. “I did not need any screwy mind control or randomly destructive powers, thank you very much.”

“How did you bypass her three power restriction?” Rebecca asked. It was something she really wanted to know, since her friend Eidolon suffered from the same thing.

“Only she had that physical restriction. The power itself can make as many copies of her ghosts as I want, including multiples of the same one.” Atlas said and waved his hand. The office was suddenly filled with twenty copies of Nilbog and they all waved and looked happy.

“Why...” Rebecca paused and swallowed audibly. “Why are you coming clean about this now?”

“The statue was too big to cover up and none of my previously shown powers could conceivably explain how I did it, not even my different type of healing that disassembles and reassembles.” Atlas said and my mother nodded. “When my mom told me you already asked for a meeting, I was sure it was going to be about the Endbringers and definitely about how I fixed the statue.”

Rebecca wasn't sure what to say until the ghosts of Nilbog faded away. “How many powers do you have access to?”

Atlas looked thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged. “Pretty much all of them.”

Lady Photon made a soft sound and fainted as she slumped down in her chair.

“With her unconscious, I can heal that eye for you.” Atlas offered.

Rebecca shook her head. “I've had the best healing powers and top surgeons try to do everything with it and there's nothing they can do.”

Atlas gave her a smug smile. “Have you tried poking your head into a Grey Boy bubble? They rewind time, don't they?”

Rebecca stared at him and didn't know what to say. The idea was so crazy that it might work.

“I'm just kidding.” Atlas said and caressed her face as he popped out her fake eye and then reformatted her face to fix the damage and rolled time back on it to before it was scooped out by the Siberian. “There you go. It's all fixed. You're welcome.”

Rebecca blinked her eyes at him, both of her eyes, for the first time in years. “What do you want in exchange?”

Atlas chuckled at her immediately trying to buy him off for helping her. “I would normally say nothing, except I want access to Clairvoyant and Doormaker.”

“Why?” Rebecca asked, immediately on guard to protect such essential assets. “You just said you already had access to all the powers. I won't let you kill them to add to Glaistig's collection.”

Atlas shook his head. “I only used her powers of death on villain capes that had powers I didn't want. I don't need to kill anyone to gain a copy of their powers, I just have to touch them.”

“How can I trust you to...” Rebecca started to say as a bright white door appeared in the air beside Atlas and he seemed to freeze for a moment.

“Of course I can help you in exchange. I can help you both.” Atlas said and stepped through the door and it disappeared.

“Dammit!” Rebecca exclaimed. “Door me.” She said and nothing happened. “I said, door me!” She almost shouted and still nothing happened. “Door to base! Door to home! Door to anywhere! Door! Door! DOOR!”

Nostrum stayed quiet as she watched the Chief Director of the PRT freaking out. Lady Photon woke up from the commotion and saw the scene, then gave her good friend Nostrum a questioning look. Nostrum whispered what had happened after she fainted.

Lady Photon couldn't believe that Atlas stepped through a glowing white door without knowing where it went. She had known he was reckless after a few of the stunts she knew about, and now she knew he had pretty much saved the world many times over after joining New Wave. She also had no idea how to handle that information or what to do about it.