Heroes of Millaine IC 2 - Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!

[Zelphas]

Waterworks swings around. "Too far, Maestro." In those three words, her calm demeanor cracks, for just a moment. The raw fury in her voice makes Maestro's earlier outburst look like a trickling stream next to a rushing river.

By the time he turns back to Wilson, the anger is gone again, behind a veil of careful control. "He is correct, though, that if Shara Hartmann got this info from her uncle, killing her might have just made the threat worse. Senator Hartmann started this whole trial partially out of spite for you; what will he do now that you've killed his niece?" She shakes her head. "Yes, he's a political animal, but that just means he'll find ways to politically ruin their lives. They'll need help. Wilson--or whoever--I still think you need to answer for what you've done. But I think YOU should answer for it, not your family. And I'll do whatever I have to to make sure of that."

[Llyarden]

Wilson...didn't respond at all to Maestro, visibly turning in his chair to face Waterworks instead and seemingly dismissing the young psychic from reality, pulling out his phone and tapping away on it while he replied to her. "That assumes Halwick knows. And I know how SIDE investigate crimes," he pointed out. "Halwick may be ex-INN, but unless he's gonna come down here and start poking around himself, I can encourage them to not look too closely. Or...I could've, I suppose. If you -"

He bit off the spiteful remark before he finished saying it.

"...well, I guess you're right now. And if you decide that I need to go to prison for what I've done, then yeah, Halwick'll figure out why I killed Hartmann, and Mary and Sarah may well need your help."

He finished doing whatever it was he was doing on his phone and skimmed it across the table to Maestro, who would see it contained a scrolling list of names. "One thing, Mentallo. You ever heard of Adaros? Ten Wolves? Maybe stardom's gone to your head, 'cos when people were busy cheering us for stopping the meteor, Adaros was getting attacked by a bunch of APEX-powered robots. That was the fault of Ten Wolves. They stepped in to pick up the pieces of the Swallows. Sure, they were probably a little more powerful to begin with, but not much. The Hero Corps, in Adaros, for those of you that don't know, was fighting the Ten Wolves at the time. Some of their members could probably beat the five of us single-handed. And they couldn't 'put a stop to them' in a day's work, like you seem to think I could. That list -" he nodded to the phone "- is the names of people that died in a single night of that war. Some of them were my friends. A hell of a lot more died before that, and after it too."

"And whatever you may think about me, you have no right to laugh their work aside like it's something that the marvellous Mister Mastermind could swat aside with but a fragment of his power. Because it's not. Just because you haven't deigned to turn your attention to something doesn't mean it's irrelevant."

"You don't get to say that." Sean's voice was not so carefully controlled as Waterworks', though equally not as furious and scathing as Maestro's. "You don't get to blame us for the consequences of your actions, like it'll be our fault if we turn you in and put your family in danger."

"You know, when you found me I really thought you were every bit like the Heroes the media made you seem, even after everything I'd been taught. And all that about everyone being redeemable, about how it's always your choice whether to let yourself do good? Was all that just...calculated, manipulating me into doing what you wanted? Being some kind of fallback plan?"

"Do you seriously think Hartmann was a threat? She was a spiteful, petty woman, yeah, and yeah, I bet she'd have loved having one of the 'esteemed' -" and it was truly remarkable how much sarcasm Sean put into that one word "- Heroes of Millaine under her thumb. But she wouldn't have condemned a couple of innocent people to death, or to a life of misery."

"Apparently only Heroes do that."

Sean did have the decency to give Maestro and Waterworks a slightly apologetic look after the rather broad insult before he looked back to Wilson. "I told you once that I'd look after your family. That I'd keep them safe. And right now? I'm beginning to get the impression that they need to be kept safe from you. Who are you gonna decide is a threat to them next?"

[Capt. Infinity]

Maestro sat and looked over the list presented to him. But, despite the weight of the statement, that wasn't the thing taking up the largest portion of Maestro's super-powered brain.

"Wait... The pieces of?" Maestro looks at Wilson as if everything was starting to click, and the shape it was taking wasn't very good. "I thought they were still a designated unit. I thought they were still around. That seemed like the only plausible explanation for why you-"

And there was the key word. 'Plausible'. The word that Maestro thought everyone always tried to stay true to. But, as he was quickly beginning to realize, this was very much not the case.

"Wilson. I'm going to ask you a question. I don't want anything more from you than an honest answer. Is there anyone that you know of who would actually have an active, known reason for antagonizing the family of the man known as Thomas Carmichael?"

[Llyarden]

Of course the kid doesn't even have the decency to admit he crossed a line. Why would he? Wilson gave an amused smirk at his own poorly-placed faith before looking back to Maestro, pausing only a moment or two before replying.

"Maybe you don't understand how gangs work, kid. They're not logical. Carmichael became the face, far as they were concerned, of a SIDE operation that took down a big gang. No matter which gang it was next, if they took him - me - down they'd call that a victory. So yeah, I know of a hell of a lot of people who'd have a reason for hurting him. Me. Unless you're next gonna claim that they wouldn't think of hurting my family to hurt me. But if you want specifics..." He paused another moment or two before listing a few names.

"Hoa Pasztor, Michael Angenent, Yasin Heppenheimer. They weren't the only ones that escaped the SIDE ambush, but they're the ones that were high-ranking enough for us to know their names." Of course, this was Wilson talking. He could probably have named the guy that came to fix the Swallows' door one time, so him saying that they were the only ones he knew the names of didn't exactly imply that there were many more. "They didn't try to rebuild, but last I heard there were still warrants out for them. Probably changed their names, looking for revenge, and Carmichael is the only one they'd have as a target."

"Then there's whoever the Swallows had in SIDE and the rest of the government. Maybe the Corps, too. Not like they revealed themselves." Which, admittedly, had never strictly speaking been proven, but it had been an everpresent rumour around SIDE, and there were some things that just couldn't be explained otherwise. "And I have no idea who, but one of the idiot Defiant that attacked last year was with the Swallows at the time and he seemed pretty certain that someone was still looking. And no," he added, "before you ask, I didn't kill him. He could be controlled. Hartmann couldn't."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Innocent? She planned to do Arch knows what with the Recruiter's summons! And it was me and Wilson who stopped her, can you really blame him for thinking she might want to get revenge?" Declan said to Sean, then turned to Maestro.

"And you are forgetting that we're not super smart, we can't consider every single possibility and run simulations in our minds like you do...and that our families are not made of IN-SIDE elite operatives. Sometimes, you just can't take the chance. 'You can't fix the future. You either let it happen, or you do everything in your power to make the future you want to be true.' Weren't those your own words?"

If not for the gravity of the situation, Declan would have had a big smug on his face. It doesn't happen everyday that he, of all people, manages to turn Maestro's words on himself.

"...and besides, why were you spying on me?" he added. The plan was to ask that later, but...his guts were twisty in a strange way.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Spoiler: Maestro

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~I mean, I don't know, but it seems like a pretty specific claim to me. Although why he might have thought I would be a threat to his family I couldn't tell you. I suppose maybe because I could possibly ferret out his secret technopathically? Whatever. What are you guys even doing here? This is pretty simple, isn't it? He killed a woman, he clearly doesn't feel even the slightest bit of remorse over it, and he confessed. So you just take him in to SIDE, right?~

--

~I see.~

~Alright. I can't dictate your actions, but if you want my advice, the best way to handle this is to keep it quiet for a little longer. On the small scale, yes, some responsibility must be taken for what Wilson and the other Heroes have done. But at the level you all are operating at now...the fact is that pretending you are normal people whom the law should apply to equally is naive at best. If one of the Heroes of Milaine is charged with a crime like this, the negative repercussions are too likely to far exceed the justice done.~

~I have some connections I can discuss the matter with, discretely. They have significant resources. We can figure out a way to ensure justice is done without ruining the legacy of the Heroes of Millaine, or threatening the institution of Hero Corps. I will of course discuss and coordinate such efforts with you directly. But for now, I must strongly advise that no one else learn of this. If it gets out to the public, especially with this Hearing going on, there is no telling what the results will be.~

~Above all, Senator Halwick must not learn what happened to his niece.~

[Capt. Infinity]

Maestro sighed.

He was done. He really was. This was so large, so monumental, so positively insane that nothing could possibly be said to make sense of it.

"Declan. Please just-... That wasn't what I meant and you know it. NONE of this was what I meant. Killing people out of raw fear should never be a decision you make. It's wrong. It's a failure on your part. It means you gave up on trying to fix things, and that you just want the problem gone." He gives the Diamond Defender a tired look. "I was spying on you because you napalmed a bunch of teenagers to death. Forgive me for wanting to make sure you weren't doing anything stupid."

Maestro turned to Wilson, and gave another deep sigh. "I'm sorry for being so aggressive about this. I just... Look, you're right, killing a gang isn't that easy. It's hard, and confusing. But you are NOT allowed to compare a bunch of serial thieves to the most terrifying pack of super-criminals Adaros has ever seen. You don't get to hide behind a maxim just as much as I don't." Maestro declares with a finality that was... strangely devoid of emotion. As if some part of him had just broken, and wasn't willing to put in any more rage.

"No matter what you say, Wilson, the fact remains that this wasn't something you were allowed to do. And it wasn't something you should have done."

"My one fear is that you aren't troubled by the decision. You're troubled by the fact that you got caught. Shara had a family, James. A family she loved that loved her. She wasn't a murderer or a thief. She wasn't a freedom fighter, and she CERTAINLY wasn't an evil megalomaniac. She was some namby-pamby rich b***h with a mean streak, who thought it would be fun to lord knowledge over someone important. She didn't deserve to die." Maestro's voice takes on a distinctly human tone as he speaks. No longer stuck in a factual, dictating state. But now more closely resembling the voice he spoke with in the talking down of Prometheus. Of a boy who was scared for his friends.

"What if Mary found out about this Wilson? What if Sarah found out? I don't know if I can look them in the eye after all of this. How the f*****g hell can you?" Maestro's head was in his hands at this point, and he wasn't even trying to hide the sound of tears creeping up in the back of his throat.

He just wanted it done.

"We can't tell anyone about this. Not when times are like this. Justice will be done, but not until we can be sure our Archdamn mess of problems doesn't ruin the lives of all the good people who work for the corps. I refuse to let all the good people who risk their lives every day get branded murderers because of you." One eye looks between Maestro's fingers to glare sadly at Wilson sitting there.

"We just... We just have to move forward. Just a little while longer." He takes a deep breath and sits up straight, the man's hands falling to his side. "But, if it's all the same to the rest of you, I'd rather if Wilson not join us in the next few missions. I don't... Feel safe working beside him."

Spoiler: Quellian

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~If we take him into SIDE, then every Hero the world over will suffer the sentence he'll never get. He'll ruin everything. And he'll ruin it forever. He'll get what's coming to him. And let me tell you, Kathlyn. SIDE will NEVER give that to him.~

Spoiler: Amelia

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~Hopefully what I've just said can keep everything from falling apart. Once this meeting is done, and we do your mission, I want use to get straight onto discussing this. This one can't be put to bed like the others. This problem can only get worse.~ Amelia, perhaps more than anyone, would be able to tell that the UTTERLY defeated tone with which Maestro spoke before was no act. And that, even now, over a mental transmission, the young man's every word was pained with sadness and a lack of hope.

[Zelphas]

"We can't tell anyone about this."

"No." Waterworks' answer came softly, but the underlying tone was hard as stone. "Regardless of who started this trial and why, the reason regulation is even considered for Hero Corps is because we've been sweeping things under the rug to preserve our reputation, and people are noticing. That needs to stop. If we keep silent about this now, we validate every point that those pushing for regulation have made."

[Capt. Infinity]

"But that's not fair, Darla!" Maestro looks pleadingly at his teammate, suddenly worried. "That isn't fair to all the THOUSANDS of Corps members who don't do what we do. Don't you get it? We're the worst ones! We're the worst-case scenario. We're a statistical outlier of unimaginable proportion that should have NEVER been used as a key example of what the Assembly is. And the only reason we WERE was because we were the most popular group at the time the Hearing started. We OWE it to the Dream of what the Assembly is to put on a face. To represent, not ourselves, but the Hero Corps. The Hero Corps is better than us. The Hero Corps DESERVES better than us. But, sadly, we're all they've got. All that's standing between them, and the mother of all short leashes. We can't let our own petty humanity ruin the single greatest thing to happen to Aranth! We just..."

"We just can't..."

It was anyone's guess if Maestro was explaining or begging at this point. And, whilst nobody could deny that he was being convincing. At this point, one can only begin hope that that was going to be enough.

[Zelphas]

"We may be the worst," Waterworks replies, calm in the face of Maestro's panic. "But even if we are, we're proof that not only can the system be abused, it can be warped far enough to outright condone murder with next to no consequence, for the sake of our 'reputation'. The Corps has to be better than that, and that starts by us owning up to our mistakes and accepting the consequences, not hiding what we've done because those consequences might hurt others. We had popularity and public support, and we abused it. If we're the outlier, then the Assembly is smart enough to show that we're the outlier, and prove that they can police their own when it comes to it."

She considers for a moment more before speaking. "Maestro... if we have to hide what we've done, if we have to lie, and cheat, and destroy evidence of our wrongdoing in order to keep Hero Corps afloat... then Hero Corps has already failed."

[Capt. Infinity]

"Maybe, Darla. Maybe you're right. But that's not going to be fixed by the law getting passed. All that laws going to do is ruin the Assembly's chance of EVER doing anything good. There is no permutation of reality in which sticking a government's ideologies in front of an ostensibly altruistic conglomerate will EVER make it better at being objective and genuine. If we want to fix Hero Corps, then we should take what we've done TO Hero Corps. Change can only happen if it's an internal choice. All this law is going to do is cause a strain of ideologies that WILL cripple the Assembly's capacity to EVER do anything of worth." Maestro's resolve was slowly beginning to rev up again, with the young man quickly finding renewed purpose in keeping his vision alive.

[Zelphas]

"If this were an internal issue, I would agree with you, Maestro," Waterworks responds. "And I do agree with you that Hero Corps should have some way of dealing with this. However, this is not an internal issue." She turns towards Wilson, trying not to talk about him as though he isn't in the room. "Wilson, you killed a woman, in her home, and then made sure that she wouldn't be coming back. That breaks the laws of Ilessia, not just the rules of Hero Corps." She turns back to Maestro. "Hero Corps should know about this, since it was one of their members that committed a crime. But a crime was still committed, and the right thing to do is to turn Wilson in to the people who take care of the people after they've committed a crime. That's not Hero Corps' job; we're first responders, not judge and jury."

She keeps her voice steady and reasonable. "You can't fix the future, you've said. The same is true about the past. Maybe there's more we could have done before things went this far; I know there's more I could have done, more I should have done, for all of you." Waterworks pauses for a moment, her eyes sad. "But delaying the consequences only makes the eventual repayment that much larger, that much uglier. We should do everything that we can to make sure Hero Corps can continue doing good work, but it won't be doing good work if it chooses its image over the truth."

[Llyarden]

"If we're the outlier, then the Assembly is smart enough to show that we're the outlier, and prove that they can police their own when it comes to it."

"Would they, though?"

Sean sounded almost as defeated as Maestro, his claws now retracted (and no longer scratching long marks in the table, so that was something.) "Look, I've seen...a lot of what the Assembly is capable of when it comes to hiding the stuff they don't want people finding out about. They have a hell of a lot more power than it looks like, and their image is the most important thing to them. Sure as hell is more important than the truth to them."

"What would you do, exactly? Run to the biggest news agency in Millaine and tell them one of their Heroes killed someone? Hell, given how much you guys are loved, they might well cover it up of their own accord, without the Assembly even lifting a finger."

Sean sighed. This day had been going so well. "Look, I agree that he -" he didn't even look at Wilson "- needs to face justice for what he's done. But I don't think going to the Assembly is going to help, and I don't think going to SIDE will help either. Not if what he's said is true and he's some ex-SIDE officer. They'd probably just recruit him as an Archdamn assassin or something, leave someone else rotting in his place." The Assembly weren't the only people that Sean had been turned against by the Reclaimers. "But I think keeping quiet would be even worse. The Defiant attacked here based on an rumour with no proof. What the heck do you think they'd do if someone got wind of this and people started to connect the dots? We can't keep quiet. But if we want people to know about this, want to get justice for Hartmann, then we need to get around SIDE and the Assembly."

Wilson, meanwhile, had gone quiet.

Mostly.

"What if Mary found out about this Wilson? What if Sarah found out? I don't know if I can look them in the eye after all of this. How the f*****g hell can you?"

"Because they'd be alive to be looked in the eye. That's how."

[Capt. Infinity]

"Because they'd be alive to be looked in the eye. That's how."

"...And that's enough for you?" Maestro looks at Wilson with a blank and sad expression. "Heh. Maybe you were right after all. I guess some robots don't have souls."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Spoiler: Maestro

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Spoiler: OOC

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Re: The last paragraph of this whole thing: Don't hate meee!

~I have to say, Boss, I'm with Waterworks on this one. Hero Corps has had bad apples before. Heck, one of the people responsible for the breakout this past Spring used to be a Hero. I know there's this Hearing thing so it's a bit more serious, and you guys are the Heroes of Millaine so it's a bigger spotlight. But...I dunno. If this was a business thing, like if it were Ben who killed someone, yeah, I'd say the tactical move would be to keep it in-house. But, I dunno, it's like...screw it, you know, you're Heroes. That's supposed to mean something, isn't it?~

--

~Maestro...I am not certain you are going to be able to win this argument. I would say that while ends may not be able to justify means, it is valid to consider ends and means together in determining if a course of action as a whole is just. But that is an argument for rational debate, and will have little impact on a decision driven by guilt and shame and righteous wrath.~

~Let us take it as probable that at least Waterworks and Sean cannot be swayed by argument. From that premise, we have options to delay their action or minimize the damage they cause. Perhaps call for a vote. Wilson obviously would be excluded, and Kathlyn is not in a position to involve herself in the decision and appears to know it. If the others all vote for turning him in, at least you know where they stand. However, Declan might not be so willing to go along with that decision. If it comes out two against two, the decision can be delayed until Copycat has returned to break the tie. That will not buy us much time, but it will be something, and will also ensure that no further action is taken until they have had an opportunity to sleep on the matter and allow their emotions to calm.~

It became clear, as she went on, that Amelia was putting more focus into her power, analyzing possibilities to try to calculate the optimum moves. One might have found it a tad unnerving, for the cheery, sociable VP of the Agency to so completely switch to a purely pragmatic mindset, analyzing the people around her (or, well, around Maestro, in this case) for advantage and opportunity without regard to emotion and attachment, as if they were puzzles to be solved.

~While cooling the intensity of their current emotions is unlikely to sway their decision, it should also give other feelings the opportunity to rise to the surface. Wilson is their friend, and most would naturally shy from having to turn a friend in for such a crime. No matter how justified it may be, it would always feel like a betrayal. You can use that. If Copycat does not sway the vote in your favor, offer to be the one to handle the matter. They should trust you to be the best choice for such a complex situation, and their desire to avoid being the ones to do it will hopefully combine with that to make them easy to convince. From that point, we will have the opportunity to deal with the problem on our own terms.~

~But should that fail, in the final extremity where we cannot control how the secret is revealed, the ultimate goal must be to limit the harm. Let Wilson be the sacrificial lamb if he must, but any notion of revealing the full truth of what the Heroes of Millaine have done must be discouraged. It is one thing if this was a singular act; it is quite another if it comes out as just the latest in a pattern of behavior. That the majority of the Heroes of Millaine are corrupt, is the revelation that would threaten the whole of Hero Corps. One alone will be a setback for certain, but there are ways to manage it. It must all fall on Wilson's shoulders, then. Hard enough that no suspicion is cast upon the others. But we can accomplish that by- ah...~

For a moment, that purely pragmatic voice broke, letting feeling and the consideration thereof back through. There was a note of clear regret and sympathy in Amelia's voice as she sent with a brief, mental sigh. ~I would not offer advice like this to most people, Maestro, for it would turn the average mind against my suggestions even if everything prior were otherwise valid. I am continuing because I trust you to be rational, to be sane enough to know that I suggest this because, if it comes down to it, it would be the optimal move to minimize the damage caused on the large scale. That being said, I am fully aware that it would come at a cost to you personally, and I would completely understand if it is not one that you are willing to pay.~

~But if it comes to it that the other Heroes do not let you handle the process yourself, ensuring that it goes through open channels and is revealed to all, there is a way that you can still avert harm to the other Heroes of Millaine, and Hero Corps and the Assembly beyond them. Wilson is, of course, no longer fully human.~ Of course she knew that. ~The nanites that made him up are the work of Adair Gaertner, yes?~ Hyper. Freakin'. Analysis. Never forget. ~If it comes to that, you can get ahead of the response by denouncing what occurred as a corruption in his programming, as not a choice to do wrong by the Hero James Wilson, but as a terrible glitch in the programming of Adair Gaertner. It...I have heard of the groundwork you have been laying in the Senate for your Android Rights agenda, and I will not pretend otherwise: if you took this path, you would almost certainly lose all credibility in that arena. But you are Maestro Mentallo, and the world would believe you if you proclaimed this event to be nothing more than a tragedy caused by a malfunctioning machine.~

[Zelphas]

"If the Assembly won't do anything, and SIDE won't either, I'd go to Lucas next," Waterworks responds to Sean. "He has connections throughout the media, and he's smart enough to know how to use them. If that fails..." she shrugs. "I'm slated to show up for the Hearing next, and that's being filmed and broadcast live. It's not how I would like this to be revealed, but the public deserves to know. If telling the Hearing is the only way to do that... then that's what I'll do."

[Capt. Infinity]

Spoiler: Quellian

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~Exactly, Ms. Street. We are Heroes. And that means that, in the eyes of everyone, no matter what they think of us, we are above them. Beyond them, a greater thing than themselves. And, because of this, the one thing we can never, EVER do, is let them see us bleed.~

~If we let this get out to the public, it could mean that, not only do we face the music. But the world, in its totality, will shift against its current grain. A friction the likes of which we've never seen could run through every facet of society, and turn humanity against both Dreamers, and themselves, before anyone could do anything to stop it.~

~We can't just be handled like people anymore. That's not a privilege we're allowed to have. We've been put up on this pedestal by society and circumstance. And the LAST thing we can let ourselves do now, is fall.~

Spoiler: Amelia

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There are moments that define you as a person.

Moments in everyone's lives where, when presented with a choice, the choice taken bares to the world your one true nature. Who you are, at your deepest core, and what that means for those around you.

Maestro sat there, his true emotions dead to the world, forced to face such a moment.

And the answer?

~If it helps to keep the Dream alive, I'll do it. I'll give up a thousand hopes today if it means that, one day, every hope can come true.~

Maestro's voice sounded slightly pained as he spoke. But, more than that, he sounded calm, strong, and resolute. This was his hill to die on. And he would sacrifice whatever it takes to see it whether the oncoming storm.

~But... Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Let's try plan A to start.~

"Look, I... You all bring up good points. Waterworks is right, something has to be done. But, Sean also has a point. Just bringing it forward now means that there would be any NUMBER of things in our way. This is a complex issue and, if we actually want anything done, we have to take our time and be smart. Add on the fact that we've given everyone the chance to speak their mind before now, and we're currently down a member, and I propose a temporary fix. We have a vote, omitting Wilson for obvious reasons, and Kathlyn for unfamiliarity, to postpone this judgement and action until Copycat returns from the Hearing. Once he does so, and after we've had time to consider our options, we will cast our final vote on if we should bring this directly to the authorities, or if we should find some ulterior means of dishing out justice."

"All in favour of waiting till everyone can have a say?" Maestro raises his hand, trying his best to remain diplomatic about the situation.

[Zelphas]

Waterworks... ripples, her entire form distending for just a moment into a clear whirl of water before resuming its normal shape and color. "You aren't listening, Maestro." He voice is softer. "This is not an internal issue. This is not between the Heroes of Millaine. Wilson killed an unarmed civilian because he thought that she might, one day, decide to do something that might, one day, hurt his family. That is a crime. That gets reported to the authorities. That is not 'complex'. We do not 'find some ulterior means of dishing out justice'. We are not vigilantes. We obey the laws of the country, and we take the consequences when we break those laws."

[Capt. Infinity]

"Waterworks. All I'm trying to be is fair. I'm not about to suddenly start going straight to the law when Declan got a slap on the wrist for HIS debacle. And you got off with nothing but understanding when you not only obliterated a group of disarmed Defiants, but also after the Maelstrom nearly killed us specifically as a show of dominance." Maestro spoke clearly, trying to remain concise. "We can't suddenly start deciding the answers to our problems are clear and concise. Not after everything we've tried to suppress. Not after all the leeway we've given all the others."

[Hyperbolic sine]

Declan looked at Maestro incredulously.

"Disarmed? The hell are you saying? They were attacking the city with military grade weapons! And you can't blame her for what she's done as the Maelstrom."

"But you are right, I can be proscuted for what I've done, and I won't let Wilson be the scapegoat. That wouldn't be fair."

He looked at the genius billionaire, then at Waterworks. "If he goes down, I go with him."

It was a statement of intention, not an effort to coerce the team into deciding one way or the other: it was (sort of) fine as long as no one got punished, but having someone else pay for his action was inconcievable.

[Llyarden]

"Heh. Maybe you were right after all. I guess some robots don't have souls."

"You asked me back then why I never came to you when I realised Gaertner had infected my nanites." Wilson's expression was half amused, half disappointed. "And you told me that I could've come to you because all you do is bluster and bluff."

"So what's this?"

"If he goes down, I go with him."

"I cannot believe I'm saying this, but...no."

Sean looked...annoyed, to put it mildly. "It's bad enough that Beth and I got seen there. If one of the world-famous Heroes of Millaine steps up and admits publically to massacring a bunch of would-be Defiants for nothing more than learning self-defence, Heroes all over Ilessia will pay for it. Not just Heroes," Sean corrected himself, "Dreamers too. Especially since you guys thought it was a bright idea to cover it up originally. You can't just turn around on that now. People are gonna start wondering just how many skeletons in cupboards the Heroes of Millaine have. How long before people stop trusting the Corps?"

"And imposing regulations on Heroes from the government won't help. How many of them d'you think would just quit the Corps and go independent? And then either we have a bunch of Heroes under less control than we had before or everyone's time gets wasted bringing in people who are trying to do the right thing. However much of a mess they make of it."

If you were looking veeery closely, you might have noticed that Sean seemed to glance ever so slightly in Declan's direction at that last line.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"And just whose falut is t-" Declan started to reply, then abruptly stopped, violently shaked his head and took a deep breath (grimacing because of his still broken ribs). "Don't make me start this again. I never said it has to be public."

But this is ridiculous. I think it has been vehemently said that what I've done is murder...and I didn't kill one person. How can you throw Wilson to the wolves, but not me? Have him pay for all of our actions? I might be a selfish coward, but do you really think I'm that much of one?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Spoiler: Maestro

Show

~You're...not though,~ Kathlyn sent, bluntly. ~I mean, I know that's the story the Assembly pushes, and I know a bunch of people buy into it, but...c'mon. That's all PR stuff. It's...not quite what Sean's saying, but kinda like that. Good people aren't going to stop doing good things just because it turns out a single Hero, or a few Heroes, or whatever, did something wrong. Sure, the public'll be disappointed. Sure, maybe this law will get passed, and maybe that'll make certain things harder. But...if you're not making the right choice, just because it'll make stuff harder for you...that's the PR Hero Corps. That's the publicity stunt Hero Corps that the Defiant talk about. That's like...the Hyers, you know? Or those prim and perfect Arberan Heroes who look great on camera and have never had to make a hard choice or fight an overpowering enemy in their lives. And if that's what's most important, then fine, cover the thing up. I just didn't think that was what the Corps was about.~

--

There was a vague sense of frustrated disbelief as, literally just after she had privately suggested to Maestro that they should try to get the other Heroes coordinated in a decision and that the most important thing was ensuring that if someone had to go down, it was only Wilson, Waterworks said she was willing to take unilateral action and even bring the matter up before the Senate Committee, and then Declan said that if Wilson went down, he went with him. It was a private telepathic conversation and yet they had still deftly thrown two monkey-wrenches into her carefully-thought-out strategy. ~Your friends...really are remarkably contrary, you know that?~

~Alright. Waterworks is willing to take unilateral action to ensure Wilson's crimes become known to somebody who will do something about them to sooth her sense of anger and betrayal. Declan is willing to throw himself and, with him, the reputation of the Heroes of Millaine and possibly Hero Corps itself under a bus due to shame masking as honor. And Sean wants to see justice done but appears to have precisely zero trust for most of the institutions in Ilessia whose job is to do just that. Kathlyn is clinging to a childish belief that public perception doesn't matter as long as you are true to yourself, probably because looking at the matter realistically reminds her of the time that a single change in the public's perception of her brought her entire company to its knees, and on that subject may I just say that I really am constantly astonished by how willingly people blind themselves to facts right in front of their eyes. So, the question is, how do we assuage all of those cognitive biases while still accomplishing the important goal of not destroying Hero Corps' reputation. And the answer...hm. What if you called in a judge? I could recommend one that will work with us. It wouldn't be an actual trial, just a hearing. The judge can make a decision about how to proceed. Waterworks gets to pass the matter off to an appropriate authority, Declan gets the catharsis of having judgment passed on him, Sean gets a show of progression from an authority that he can hopefully not doubt arbitrarily, and the whole thing can get moved to a setting where it can be resolved without collateral public damage. Do you think they would go for that?~

[Llyarden]

"Right, because clearly no-one will notice SIDE arresting the Unbreakable for multiple counts of murder. Whatever we do is going to be public, unless we're suggesting outright lynching Wilson ourselves."

"In case you forgot, Declan, if it'd been my choice we would have 'thrown you to the wolves,'" Sean replied acerbically. "But we didn't, and now we have to deal with that. And we're not - or I'm not, anyway - trying to blame Wilson for what you did. He's done enough ---- on his own."

"Besides, at least you had the decency to feel bad about what you did. Even if it was only a little, and only after a whole bunch of people yelled at you. Does it look like he does to you?"

"Still here, you know."

"You obviously don't think what I did was the 'right thing.' Fine." Wilson didn't really sound angry. His tone of voice was more...kinda like someone might using talking to a smart kid who wasn't all that likely to get a question right, but who they'd held out hope of getting it right anyway, and were now being disappointed. "I'm not afraid of facing the law for what I've done."

"But if you want to keep it under your hats until you make a decision, then you'll want to unlock the doors, Mentallo, and let me finish my work." And yes, he said 'work' without a trace of irony, sarcasm, or anything else that suggested that he saw the murder of Hartmann as anything more than an irritating task. "Because otherwise SIDE'll figure out what's going on pretty quick, and then the lot of you'll be in just as much ---- as you want me to be."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"As if SIDE couldn't stage an incident to cover my disappearance." Declan retorted. "And he doesn't have to feel bad about it. My acts were emotional, he simply used logic. Machine-cold logic, sure, but that in itself is no crime."

He didn't really mean to imply anything with that statement, but it certainly resonated with Maestro's "some robots don't have a soul" statement.

"And anyway, 'feeling bad about it' doesn't cut it. I didn't ask you not to turn me to the authorities, yet only one of you wanted to do it. There's basically no difference between Wilson and me...so why the different treatment?"

"Maybe you think I don't, but I still have principles. It wouldn't be right if he was in prison and I wasn't. Either you report both of us, or you report neither."

[Zelphas]

"That's your counter-argument? 'We did the wrong thing before, so we better keep doing the wrong thing or else it won't be fair'?" Waterworks is staying still, her voice quiet and deceptively calm. "I'm sorry, Declan, but we should have brought your actions to SIDE when they happened. I made a mistake then." She takes a breath. "And this all started with me. I killed ten people, when I could have just as easily knocked them out. I destroyed Saint Romsmere Falls. And I tried to kill all of you. And I didn't pay for any of that. That was wrong."

She looks at Wilson. "I don't want you hurt, Wilson. I don't want your family hurt. I wish that all of this had never happened, or that it all would just go away. But every time we hide away the results of one of our foolish, or misguided, or well-intentioned actions... everything gets worse. It needs to come out, all of it, before it gets worse. We need to bring this to SIDE, and we need to pay for what we've done. Especially me."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Spoiler

Show

You know...this bit I think I won't put in a spoiler. Although it's still probably not something the others would be aware of.

As if the situation weren't messed up enough, Maestro's technopathic earpiece alerted him to a call to his phone.

Whether he picked up or let it go to voicemail, the message received was the same.

"Um. Hi. This is...is Suzanne. Um, Leon. From the movie." Her voice was breaking, her words staggered as she clearly tried to fight back sobs. "Um. I didn't...I didn't know who else to...um. I think...oh Arch...I think T- I think Copycat might have killed someone. I..."

Then, in a bare, broken whisper, "I think I might have helped him."

[Capt. Infinity]

Spoiler: Quellian

Show

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~Kathlyn, if the public's opinion of someone or something had no merit on their capacity to act, and never got in the way of action, then why the heck are you working for me?~ Maestro's voice wasn't so much annoyed as exasperated, as he felt assaulted on all sides by setback after setback after setback. ~You of all people should know how powerful an opinion can be. And yes, if we get branded bad people should this come out, we'd have had it coming. But, no matter how much we'd deserve it, you CAN'T deny the fact that the blame would forever taint the reputation of everyone who DOESN'T deserve it. All the innocent heroes just trying to do a good job. The PR of the Assembly exists for a reason, Ms. Street. It exists so that, unilaterally, and without fail, the general public opinion of the Hero Corps is of a good group of people that you can TRUST. If that fails, and that image is shattered, then we will NEVER be able to do our jobs properly again. Forget the government oversight. If the people of Illessia no longer trust the Heroes to keep them safe, then they'll never be ALLOWED to so much as try! Lies are powerful things, Kathlyn. But the truth? That's damn near unbeatable.

"THIS, Wilson, is me no longer being your friend." Maestro said without a trace of sarcasm, wit, or vitriol. He was stating a fact. A fact that needed saying. "Back when I was your friend, you could have trusted me to handle your problems and help you. Because I trusted you. Because I felt like I could trust you. NOW, having seen how your brain actually works at this point in your life, I DON'T trust you. Because you are so cold and calculating as to think murder is an agreeable option when problem-solving. I'm sorry for being so naive back then."

Maestro turns to his team as a whole, rubbing his temples. "Look guys. We're getting nowhere. We keep equating things that aren't valid as equal problems. I'M guilty of it too. We keep trying to seek justice to assuage our consciences, whilst acutely aware of the consequences said judgement will bring on the innocent masses with which we are associated." He tried his best to put on a diplomatic face. "What if... What if I called in a judge? Someone who's a neutral third party, and who's job in life is to determine guild or innocence in someone's acts? It'll be off-the-record, and it won't be recorded. But it will be honest, unbiased, and it will bring us the outside perspective our incestuous little circle DESPERATELY needs right now." He pointed his hands out, palm forward. "We need someone to give us a foreign opinion. Someone to gather our thoughts and put forth their judgement. From there, we can take their judgement and make our own decision. But I feel like a judge is something we NEED in the wake of all this. What do you guys say?" Maestro asked, almost begged, as one possibly final, desperate plea. Hoping that, for once, the Heroes could agree to at the very least a compromise in this utter mire of complex decisions.

Maestro picked up the message from Suzanne technopathically. And, in what was perhaps the first truly questionable act of his life...

He tells no one of it.

[Llyarden]

"Like who, exactly? Yeah, maybe that'd be useful, but who are we going to ask who's not got any interest one way or another in the Heroes of Millaine?"

Wilson, meanwhile, was looking at his watch. It was almost an antique, with actual hands and everything. And as soon as he'd vanished from Darla's sight, he'd set the stopwatch running. "Twelve minutes," he observed. "Say...two minutes to get there. That would be fourteen out of fifteen, assuming they haven't gotten there already." He tugged his sleeve back down over his watch and looked back at Maestro.

"So, Mentallo, are you so prideful that you won't let me help you because we're not 'friends' any more? Because if you are, then none of you'll need to make a decision anyway, and we can all just sit back and have a lovely cup of tea right up until SIDE kick down that door.

"You have...about 30 seconds to decide."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"That's no-"

Declan grunted, irritated that his point wasn't getting through (likely his fault, he was never a great speaker), giving up on that. He still had something to say, though.

"Yes, you should have, but you didn't. And you know what consequances that had, Darla? That today, a good woman lives and a good man does not have his life ruined by a faulty autodrive.

"And I told you already, you didn't do any of that. It was the Maelstrom." he said to Waterworks.

"Yes, like who?" he then echoed Sean and, once Wilson gave his ultimatum of sorts, looked at Maestro, waiting for his decision.