Responses to Reviews:

mr I hate znt nobles kill em: Yes, therapy would definitely help with this all of his uncomfortable revelations. Too bad the only good psychologist in Worm is a child psychologist, but hey, at least she specializes in capes, right?

Hellking666: Kukukuku...

Sorrow: Hey, it still worked for him. He even got to go for a swim afterwards!

Aria 1.7

+AA+

A/N: This is the final chapter of arc 1. If there is anyone you want an interlude from before arc 2, please let me know.

+AA+

The PRT HQ was crowded with the heroes and villains who were now loudly debating what to do. I heard some of them call for my head, which I found distinctly uncomfortable idea. 'Why?' I mentally asked myself as much as them.

'They're scared,' Korra replied, 'don't worry, they'll get over it or the Protectorate will stop them.'

'Unless the Protectorate agrees,' Han helpfully supplied.

'Do you honestly think saying that helps?' Korra asked.

'I think he just likes making other people suffer for his stupidity like he did,' Rai replied.

'Probably,' I agreed, over Han's objections.

I walked through the crowd, which parted to keep their distance from me as Victoria, Eric, Crystal and Aunt Sarah landed behind me. We followed Armsmaster towards the raised stage where Alexandria, Legend, and Chevalier were standing and talking quietly with each other. As I approached, Alexandria looked up and gestured for me to come closer.

When I reached the stage, she asked me, "Can you explain what happened, and how you were able to change the Simurgh's behavior?"

I drew in a deep breath and Korra reassured me, 'Don't worry, just tell the truth and it'll work out.'

'And if it doesn't, we'll do it right in the next life,' Han helpfully added.

'He is proof enough of that,' Rai snarked.

"Well –" I started to speak before hearing the echo and realizing that my words were being picked up by a microphone and relayed across the hall I had found myself in. I drew in a deep breath and continued, trying to ignore the dozens of suspicious eyes on me, "Well, as you already know, Glory Girl and I were in the nearby mall when the Simurgh attacked. I went to retrieve water for a special ability that I could access through my hydrokinesis." I paused, considering how to explain it. "My power is sort of a collection of matter control abilities that have knowledge stored within them. Um, kind of like a Tinker, but how to use special properties beyond the direct manipulation of material, I suppose."

'That's actually pretty accurate,' Claire agreed. 'When we give Tinker powers we help our hosts make all sorts of cools things within our specialization, though we don't usually talk to our hosts…. Not that I mind, this is fun!'

"Um," I said, trying to buy time while I half listened to Claire before I focused on the present. "One of the techniques my power had stored was an ability that it labeled as 'spiritual cleansing.' Since it was supposed to work on things it labeled as 'spirits' and it was an actual technique that my power said worked, I figured that it would probably work on a Changer or Breaker power, or projections." I cast my eyes across the room, avoiding looking directly at anyone.

I was already admitting to people who suspected me of being a Simurgh bomb that I was basically a second coming of Myrrdin, I didn't want to look any worse in their eyes. Someone set their hand on my shoulder and I jerked around, seeing it was Legend with an encouraging expression on his face.

I turned back to Alexandria, whose face was set with stony skepticism. Behind her, I saw Myrrdin – who must have come up on stage while I wasn't looking – give me a thumbs-up with the hand not holding his cheesy wizard's staff. 'Thanks.' I muttered in my mind before speaking again, "Since nothing else I had would likely do much to an Endbringer, I decided to try that… And it worked, I guess." I paused for a few seconds before continuing, "Well, she wanted me to do it, so I suppose we don't know for certain, but I hope it worked."

"What exactly was your spiritual cleansing supposed to do?" Myrrdin asked me as he walked forward. "I admit that mine own abilities do not have neat descriptors with which handily understand them, but I dost feel that mine own insights might be of use in this matter."

I heard chuckling, and not just inside my mind from Han. 'He's a real wizard, calling it,' Han said between laughs.

I heard someone from the crowd of assembled parahumans call out, "This is serious, get that clown off stage!" I saw Myrrdin scowl beneath his long beard and suppress a wince.

I felt guilty for being dismissive of him when my own powers were explicitly spiritual in nature, so I spoke up for him, ignoring the naysayers, "You're right Myrrdin, you might be able to help. My power is supposed to purify dark spiritual energy and transform or restore spirits to using light spiritual energy. This is supposed to appease them and leave or make them non-hostile. Apparently spirits are supposed to be pacifistic or something, I'm not really clear on that."

'Dark spiritual energy is and is caused by ill intent and negative emotion,' Rai informed me.

"Basically it gets rid of ill intent and negative emotions," I parroted. "Oh," I added as a thought occurred to me, "and it's supposed to free spirits from the control of others if it was enslaved with dark spiritual energy." Aware of the stares directed at me I coughed. "At least that's what my power says anyway. I'm not sure how that translates into hard science."

'It translates exactly how you said it,' Han told me, 'but with more and longer words.'

Off to the side I saw Armsmaster scowling. 'He certainly seems convinced,' I remarked.

'Not in the slightest,' Han agreed gleefully.

Myrrdin was meanwhile stroking his long wizard's beard in thought. 'I'm not sure if that's real or fake,' Korra commented.

Claire hummed. 'I think it's fake, but I wasn't optimized for data gathering. Oh, oh oh! We should make him a real living beard that he can attach or detach form his face when he needs to! When he's not wearing it he could stick it in a nutrient solution to grow, and when he wears it, it could extend tendrils to feed on his –'

'Hold that thought Claire, I think he's about to speak,' I interrupted quickly.

However, Alexandria spoke first. "It seems to me that this translates to an anti-Master that targets projections and possibly parahumans."

"No, no, we're not spirits, merely empowered by them," Myrrdin corrected as he continued to stroke his fake beard. Alexandria shot him a glare, which he studiously ignored as murmuring grew in the background.

"So you're saying that it could work on powers?" Legend asked. A hush fell over the room.

I shrugged. "Uh, this is the first time I've used it, so I don't actually know."

"It should work on the source of or connection to the parahuman's power to some degree," Myrrdin said, "though it wouldn't get rid of the power, merely change it I imagine."

"Try it on me," an Eastern European accented voice called out from the crowd. I turned to look and I saw Gregor the Snail raising his right hand, which was covered in spiral shells. Faultline and the rest of her crew were standing near him and were now looking at him incredulously. I saw Faultline speak, but she was too far away for me to hear what she was saying. "I need to see," Gregor rumbled in reply to whatever she had said.

"I don't know what, if any, effect it will have on you," I warned.

"You should at least wait before you try," Legend warned. "There's no telling what other effects it could have…" He trailed off, leaving the concern that I was a Simurgh plot left unsaid. At this point it really didn't need to be after all.

"Shall I wait until you have picked a sacrificial lamb to test and the truce has ended then?" he retorted.

Alexandria glared at him. "If something does go wrong with the 'cleansing,' how would we stop you later? You would be free in the city before anyone knew what was wrong."

"Finding a 'volunteer' to experiment on and then locking them up until you're sure is better?" Newter demanded. "If it really does work then this is basically our only chance without you locking us up afterwards." Alexandria clenched her hands so briefly that I almost missed it.

I held up my hands. "Everyone calm down. I'm not with the Protectorate, I'm with New Wave. They can't keep me from using my cleansing on you later if you want."

'They have a point though,' Korra told me as Alexandria turned her glare on me.

"They do have a point about caution though," I said, "it's perfectly understandable after all. However, we're all under the legal exposure limit and I'm fairly confident that it works on Endbringers at the very least."

This time Chevalier spoke up. "The first time the Simurgh appeared, she pretended to be non-hostile for some time before finally acting. I suggest that we all wait for a few months before trying to 'cleanse' any parahumans in order to make sure that this is not more of the same. If nothing happens, then arrangements can be made in the same vein as the Endbringer truces for Case 53s."

Legend nodded. "This sounds reasonable, are there any objections?" He looked across the room and I did as well.

I saw Gregor reluctantly nod. "As long as we can contact her if it works…"

"Don't worry, I'll help you if it does," I assured him. After a moment I realized I made a faux pas and corrected myself. "If you want."

He grunted.

"Good," Legend said loudly. "Now that that is out of the way, let's discuss the other Endbringers."

"Um," I said, raising my hand. He looked at me and I could tell that he had an eyebrow raised under his mask. "The only reason it worked was because she let me. I don't want to trust that the other two will be as … nice."

"Understandable," Chevalier agreed. "I was about to suggest that if the Simurgh does in fact remain docile, or at least non-hostile, to the next attack, that we use specific strategies in order to maneuver you into position for each target. In both cases, we would have to hold the Endbringer in position, but getting you close safely would be the hardest."

"We can help with that," a smug, familiar voice called out. I looked and saw it was Kaiser, standing with the rest of the Empire's capes. "Othala can grant invulnerability," he continued, smirking as he saw the hall's attention turn on him. "If she helped Aerodyne, not even Behemoth's death aura would be enough to stop her."

"Thank Hitler," Han and I said at the same time. I froze as Han started laughing hysterically and everyone looked at me. Over by Armsmaster with the rest of the ENE Wards, Clockblocker stated snickering, along with Victoria who was standing at the edge of the stage. They were shortly followed by a few others around the hall, including Eric, Crystal, Neil, Sarah and surprisingly even Mark and Carol. I saw Kaiser scowl at me before carefully blanking his face. A part of me wanted to apologize for breaking decorum and causing people to laugh at him, but the rest of me didn't because he was a Nazi.

"Your offer is appreciated," Legend carefully said.

'I think he's leery of actually saying 'thank you' to an honest to Hitler Nazi,' Han commented.

Kaiser inclined his head. "You're welcome. After all, we have to band together to face this mutual threat to all of Humanity."

'Neo-Nazi,' Rai corrected.

'Of course, my mistake,' Han apologized.

'I can't believe I actually said that,' I thought.

'Sometimes a little snark is good,' Korra said.

I could see Legend pursing his lips as he thought of an appropriate response that wasn't to thank or agree with a Neo-Nazi. Alexandria dryly replied, "An admirable sentiment, if only more people were as compassionate about their fellow man regardless of their origins or life choices." She tilted her head in Miss Militia's direction. "Right, Miss Militia?"

"Yes," Miss Militia agreed readily with a gleam in her eyes, "I'm glad that you're volunteering for this. I wish more people could set aside their differences to work together."

Kaiser nodded and said, "We are all in danger from the Endbringers and the Empire is committed to making a better world." He smiled at us from beneath his helmet and gave a short bow to the center stage. "However, now that the crisis is over I have business to attend. Good day." With that he turned and swept out of the hall, the rest of his capes following him save for Purity, who stood around awkwardly near some villains from Illinois.

Victoria floated into the air and started to call after them. "Do –"but I flicked her with a short burst of airbending. "What?" She demanded as she turned to glare at me in defiance, "I was just going to ask them to stay!" She put her hands on her hips and pouted cutely, but I didn't let that distract me too much.

"I know they're Nazis, but they just volunteered to help us stop the Endbringers. Don't antagonize them," I chided her before I amended my statement with, "Here anyway."

Victoria crossed her arms underneath her bosom, emphasizing her figure, continuing to mock glare playfully at me. She harrumphed and said, "It wasn't anything bad, and I thought it was going to be hitlerious."

Han and Eric started chuckling, the rest of New Wave joining in briefly, even Carol. "We should focus," Carol said before looking meaningfully at the rest of New Wave and turning her gaze to the stage. The others all stopped, but unfortunately no one could shut up Han as he continued to laugh and make terrible puns even though the rest of us in my head did Nazi the point.

Chevalier looked to Legend and then clapped his hands together while drawing in a deep breath. "If that's all, I believe that we should adjourn this meeting. The Protectorate will handle developing the strategy, and I implore you all to assist however you can when the time comes."

With that, Alexandria gestured for me to follow her through a side exit.

+AA+

Alexandria led Chevalier, Legend, Myrrdin, and all of New Wave to a conference room where Armsmaster, Eidolon, and Director Piggot joined us shortly thereafter. When they arrived, a large screen on the wall lit up and a perfectly generic Asian-Canadian face appeared. Dragon had been invited as well. Joy.

"Care to explain your power in more depth?" Alexandria asked me.

'You can do this,' Korra reassured me.

'And if they lock you up, it'll just give you a chance to practice Korra's spirit transition thingy,' Han added.

'Indeed, and that certainly makes up for spending days, if not weeks or months, locked up in Quarantine,' Rai agreed with sarcasm as dry as the Sahara.

I took a deep breath and looked around at the assembled capes. Armsmaster and Alexandria had scowls set on their faces like they had been born with them. Legend stood several feet away from me with an encouraging smile and a cautious stance, while Myrrdin stood at ease and gestured for me to speak. Carol watched me with a slight frown and furrowed brows while the rest of New Wave tried their best to seem encouraging. Victoria's smile was especially radiant, framed by her bangs –

'Focus,' Korra mentally chided me.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I have aerokinesis like you already know, but in addition to hydrokinesis I've had pyrokinesis, geokinesis, metallokinesis and touch based biokinesis for years. Since I was six I suppose." I perked up, "Oh, and a sort of energy power that is supposed to let me take away that those powers or give them Chi, the stuff that makes me tougher. It's also required for the element powers I use."

As I spoke I saw both Armsmaster's and Alexandria's scowls deepen and after I stopped talking he asked me, "Why did you feel the need to hide these powers?"

I looked down at the floor. 'It'll be fine,' Korra assured me.

'Or they'll know to expect our next life,' Han amicably stated.

'We are going to find a way to the spirit world, and then I am going to beat you with a rock,' Rai informed him.

'Ditto,' Korra said.

'Leave some for me,' I told them as I looked back at Armsmaster's face, or at least his scowl and his beard. "Well," I said, "that's because of how the … knowledge works…" I paused, collecting my thoughts as my heart raced. "It isn't just knowledge… it's the previous holders of my powers…advising me."

I stopped at everyone tensed and Armsmaster lowered his halberd in my direction. "Like the Butcher?" he asked.

Victoria jumped between us. "Hey! She's not a crazy serial killer or anything, so leave her be!"

"No, it's okay," I told her. "It's part of the reason I didn't tell you. I thought you would think I was crazy."

"The rest of the reason?" Armsmaster asked wary tone.

I sighed. "I've already told them this, but when we first met I was six and they had just beaten my father half to death." I turned to look Carol in the eye. "Then you took me away and I was scared. You said my father was a bad person and that you were only protecting me, but how could I trust you?" I saw Carol stiffen. I clasped my hands together and continued in the otherwise quiet room. "I was just a kid, and we were never close… Mark tried but he was never really there… By the time realized I could possibly trust you, it felt like it was too late. If you were like that when you didn't know I'd been hiding powers, what would it be like after I told you…?" I turned to glare at Armsmaster and demanded, "Good enough?"

He grunted. It was Dragon who spoke up next. "You mentioned Chi?" she asked with a eyebrow raised.

"Yes, they say that it's the energy of life inside people and it's what allows people to bend – to use these abilities. Supposedly I can give people the energy required to be able to develop it without the spirit that's required for normal powers, but I never managed it with my cats."

"Bending?" Dragon asked at the same time Vicky asked, "Cats?"

I nodded at Victoria. "Yeah, I found a few strays that I feed whenever they come by." I saw Carol scowl and continued. "I also tried a few things like increasing muscle mass and making their fur glow. Most of it I reverted unless it helps them, like healing them or making them stronger but I always reverse changes that make them anything impossible for a cat to normally be."

'Except for the blue fur,' Han interjected.

'The cat ran away before I could fix it,' I argued. Seeing their curious looks at my brief pause, I explained. "One of them reminded me that I didn't change a cat back when I made his fur blue, but what happened was he ran away before I could fix it."

"I thought Avatar was behind it," Armsmaster remarked.

"The voices are talking to you?" Victoria asked with concern in her voice.

"Normally, yeah," I explained, "but I can send them away if I want some privacy or one of them is being annoying."

"That happens?" Dragon asked.

'Never,' Han said.

"Yeah, but I've developed a tolerance for it," I told them. "He's worse than Clockblocker."

'Hey!'

"Huh, that explains the oddly high tolerance for him," Eric joked.

'I knew he was a sharp one,' Rai commented.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"He?" Victoria asked, discomfort growing in her voice.

"He's the only guy, the other three are girls – well, two of them are women – and he hasn't done anything too crude."

'Crude? I'm a sensitive flower,' Han objected.

'Hah.' Korra laughed.

"It's like if Clockblocker were following you around commenting on your actions" – I thought I saw Armsmaster suppress a shudder, but I wasn't sure underneath that bulky armor – "but you get used to it, especially when the others appreciate it as little as you do. They're nice enough, and their experience with their powers is really useful even if they aren't familiar with being heroes here, exactly."

"What do you mean 'here?'" Alexandria asked.

"Well, three of them are from another planet and one of them is a power," I explained. "Something happened and they ended up here and attaching to me when I was born. Then the power, I call her Claire, budded off of my father's power and attached to me, waking my past lives up somehow."

Alexandria's frown deepened. "You can talk with your power?"

"Yes, she's very energetic and likes to experiment. She's my biokinesis, my past lives didn't have that."

"On this other world?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they don't like talking about what happened, but they want to help deal with the powers and the things causing them here."

"They know what are causing powers?" Piggot asked, stepping forward as Legend and Alexandria tensed.

"Yes," I said, "Claire is some sort of multidimensional spirit-thing. I'm not clear on the specifics and she has trouble explaining the details in a way that doesn't make my head hurt."

Claire huffed. 'I'm here and a bunch of other places that are here. Especially now, Raava is very roomy.'

'Um, right,' I replied. "When she budded to me, she went inside Raava, the spirit that is inside me and is responsible for my reincarnating powers, but Claire is also in a bunch of other places at once. I don't even know where to start with that." I sighed and dragged the meeting back on track. "Anyway, the point here is to tell you all about my spiritual purification technique and show it to you, in the hopes that you guys can translate what it does into science and hopefully replicate it so that it can be used to help with the other Endbringers."

"What is it supposed to do?" Dragon asked. "In the words of one of your passengers, if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Korra would have the most experience since she was the longest lived of them," I said, relieved that I didn't have to hide the voices in my head yet at the same time exhausted from the rollercoaster that today had been and the way it was just dragging on now. 'Up for the task?' I asked her.

'Sure,' she said, 'repeat after me as you do a demonstration on that chair.'

"Do you have some water I could use?" I asked them, and Armsmaster offered me two plastic bottles of water.

She started to speak and I repeated her word for word as I unscrewed the bottle caps and let the water flow out, "Waterbending spiritual purification works like Amelia explained earlier. The waterbender calls up streams of water that encircle the target." I bent the water into streams and then into a sphere. "Once that's done, the bender then focuses on purity, on calmness and kindness in order to banish the spiritual darkness. This spiritual light is then released into the target. The idea is to banish dark spiritual energy and the associated negative emotions and intentions. Once that's done, the spirit acts in accordance with light and peace, returning to its normal habits depending on its nature. Since the Simurgh's purpose was to cause conflict and thus totally dark in nature, I think that she had all motives removed. Here's what it looks like." After waiting a second, I started bending the water into streams and then sending them around the chair before releasing the purifying light into it, turning a sinister office chair into an innocent office chair. "Given the at least partly spiritual nature of both Shards and Endbringers, the effects should be consistent. Did you get enough readings? I think Amelia's exhausted." I paused. "Um. I'm fine, though I'd prefer if we could continue this tomorrow."

"I think we've got enough readings for now, but we'll want more later," Dragon amicably told me.

"Yes, and we have some questions about these 'Shards,'" Alexandria said.

'That's pretty simple, you can just tell her now,' Han said.

'Tell her what?' I asked.

'Okay, repeat after me…' Han said, trying to lead me. I was, however, skeptical. 'Fine,' he said in a huff, 'just say they're pieces of two biological-spiritual multi-planar space whales, one of which decided to be a hero and the other went AWOL before releasing three Endbringers out of twenty, though it could make more if it felt like it. Also, there was a third one involved at some point but it's off somewhere writing graffiti on asteroid belts or something.'

I shrugged and repeated that verbatim.

There was momentary quiet. Eventually Dragon asked, "You mean Scion is one of these… entities?"

"It's a best guess," I said. "I mean, it's not like he couldn't shapeshift or store most of himself elsewhere if he was. Not really sure why, but he seems genuinely dedicated to doing good, even if he's not as good at it as someone as powerful as him has any right to be, what with spending half his time rescuing cats from trees."

"…Right, and the other two?"

"Um, Claire explained that her parent was from a third thing, called the Destroyer, that gave some of its stuff to the second one, the Thinker, in exchange for some of that one's stuff before leaving the solar system or something. Um, after that the second one disappeared as far as we know, but Claire's been running into some of its Shards that have ended up in new capes since then so it's probably hiding. Also, the fact that the Endbringers are probably its creations instead of one of the other two space whales makes that more likely."

Alexandria stepped forward. "This does not leave this room." She turned to Dragon's screen. "This is need to know basis only, and no one, I repeat no one can be told without authorization from the highest echelons. Understand?" We all nodded as she glared at each of us in turn. "Good. We have Thinkers tracking the situation already and I can assure you that according to our best sources, the third entity is in fact a non-issue." She swept her gaze across the room again. "The second entity, this Thinker, is also a non-issue."

"I'd think that something that has possibly released the Endbringers would be a cause for concern," Carol stated with hard steel in her voice.

"It's dead," Legend said. "It was killed shortly after impact with the Earth."

'The Case 53s with the mystery tattoos and rumors of powers for sale,' Korra said.

"And you're using it," I concluded.

Legend frowned.

Alexandria spoke up, "The PRT and the Protectorate have been experimenting with powers, but it's a third group that has access to the body." She looked everyone in the room again. "This absolutely must not leave this room." She focused on Eidolon and we both saw that his fists were clenched and shaking slightly in anger. "Bring in S-Class nondisclosure forms as soon as this is finished. No one else leaves until they've signed." He nodded sharply before turning and striding out of the conference room. She turned back to the rest of us. "They are a group called Cauldron, and they have been experimenting with the body of the Thinker. They have also been involved in the sale and experimentation of superpowers. The reason that we know we have nothing to worry about from the Thinker and the Destroyer is because of testimony from one of their capes, the most powerful thinker this world has ever known. She has the power to know what steps to take to accomplish any goal, and she has said that the only entity that we have to worry about is the first one, Scion. Unfortunately, before the Thinker died, it blocked her power against the entities, leaving her with only a partly remembered plan."

"Why do we have to worry about Scion?" Victoria asked, worried and confused.

Legend sighed. "We're not sure why, but apparently he eventually gets tired of being a hero and decides that it would be better to simply kill everyone. We've agreed that for now it's best to prepare in secret. After all, if the wrong person hears about this and tries something, it could set him off early and we need to be as prepared as possible." Everyone looked thoroughly uncomfortable by that point. "However, it is possible that if Aerodyne's spiritual purification does work as intended, it could potentially head off this battle entirely."

There was a long silence.

Then Victoria spoke up, "Avatar. Her cape name is Avatar," she held up a clenched fist, "and we'll make sure Scion doesn't go crazy, or stop him if he does. Together."

'We're all gonna die,' Han cheerfully declared.

"Together," I agreed.

'We're the Avatar, we don't lose when it counts, not even you,' Rai replied.

"Together," Erik said, followed by Crystal, and then Sarah, Neil and Mark.

'Saving the world is what we do,' Korra agreed.

Carol drew in a deep breath and nodded. "He thinks he can just blow up the world when he gets bored?" she demanded with indignation clear in her voice. "No way in hell am I letting him get away with that."

'Earth is too much fun to let it blow up, especially with you on it,' Claire piped up.

Myrrdin held his staff up in the air pointed towards the center of our group. "As heroes, it is our ultimate duty to defend the world from grievous threats such as this. Of course I'm in."

Armsmaster and Chevalier shared a look before Chevalier stepped forward and said, "Was there any doubt I'd say yes?"

Armsmaster nodded. "Whatever I can do to help."

"We'll need to get to work immediately, but we can do this," Dragon said, her face looking away from the camera. "I'm already looking at his demonstrated capabilities and estimating up in case he's holding something back."

Director Piggot looked around the room and muttered, "I'm too old for this shit." She sighed. "I'll see what I can do to help."

+AA+