DLM, Bk 6, Ch 1, Rewrite

The last two years had been an interesting time, in many ways. On one hand, my environment was reasonably peaceful, a large part of my time spent in quiet commune with Galatea, as the two of us were commanding and controlling a swarm of construction-robots, some of them using humanoid frames, most of them using insectile or arachnid frames, the low centre of gravity and extra legs providing excellent stability.

For anyone looking at the construction from the outside, the progress would be difficult to measure, the remote location providing some cover, while the almost complete obscurity and a lot of deliberate misdirection did the rest. The local politicians had been suitably convinced, mostly by Mr. Acharya, to turn a blind eye to any unusual things that might be going on and with the closest neighbour over a kilometre away, things had been quiet.

Transports filled with a wide variety of resources, courtesy of Galatea’s efforts at playing the international finance-game, had been delivered to a rented warehouse in the nearest town, where they had been stored and slowly shifted to the construction-site. Up on the ground, the shell of a building-complex had gone up rapidly and once things were concealed, progress only sped up.

Beneath the shell of the powerplant, tunnels were dug, creating a concealed base similar to the bunker I had taken over near New Brunsburg. Those tunnels took most of the work, with living-quarters for Sophia and myself,access- and escape-tunnels to multiple concealed exits, workshops for myself, testing-areas and the necessary engineering-spaces to make an underground-base livable.

Something else I had installed were the wards Fey had created for me, in trade for the manufacturing I had done for her. The preparation was reasonably simple, even if I was somewhat disturbed at having to drop blood on the metal-cubes and watch the blood get sucked into the cubes, violating my understanding of physics in the process. While I was unable to actually test them, I could only hope that Fey had made things work. I could hardly ask her to check, no matter how much I would have loved to.

In comparison to the underground-base, the power-plant up top was child’s play, outside workers preparing the shells for additional buildings, while humanoid robots installed the machinery. By the time the project’s timeline was entering its final stage, things had moved along splendidly, we had even managed to remain within the budget Galatea and I had set. Having an untiring labour-force that was perfectly content to work constantly and had never even heard of Unions allowed us to create something impossible, even if the power-plant up top looked very much as one would expect. Deliberately so.

With the completion of the project rapidly approaching, and right on time too, I had been invited to Nisha’s graduation a week prior. Given that Sophia had been travelling to visit her adoptive parents once again, I had declined, partially due to a need to keep the relationship between Nisha and myself, especially in the guise of Metis, under wraps. To that effect, I had made sure to always don the face associated with Catherine Alleyne when moving in public, to the point that I had not bothered to remove the alterations most of the time. Metis was, once more, becoming only a mask I was wearing.

The dissociation was necessary, as Metis was a wanted criminal again, though Mr. Acharya and even Parvati had assured me I was safe in India, with the hidden subtext, that I was safe, as long as I was useful. It was understandable, while I had the impression that both of them were deeply grateful for saving Mrs. Acharya, they had their duty and had to weigh the cost and benefit of their actions. Regardless of my empathy, it did not make me overly happy.

Overall, the international situation had been rapidly developing for the last two years, the initial wave of Scourge-attacks having killed almost two-hundred thousand people around the world, creating a climate of fear. That climate of fear had elevated politicians and organisations promising their constituents peace and security, oftentimes in the form of greater support for their Heroes, and the governmental organisations that controlled those Heroes.

The Guild, on the other hand, was essentially laid to rest, or at least the mandate and credo of it was. The organisation itself remained, essentially folded into the American Superheroes, with Mordred trying to establish something. Sadly, without a core of incredibly powerful Powered from different, ideologic backgrounds and the backdrop of a World War, there was no way he had the ability to gain the concessions that had made the Guild into what it had been. The shell remained, no longer neutral and trying to advance the whole of humanity, but very much following a Western ideology and trying to impose that ideology on the world, wherever they could.

The Heroes’ Association, the American Superheroes and hundreds of other organisations at the national level gained tremendous traction, as their personnel were seen fighting on the frontlines against the Scourge, some of them losing their lives, others gaining accolation. Registration was now mandatory in most Western countries and actively enforced, with special legislation bypassing individual rights, such as the right to medical privacy, in an effort to find as many Powered as possible, register them and recruit them as Heroes. Politicians and the Media made a great push to paint Powered as either Heroes or Villains, essentially taking away their ability to decide what they wanted in life. They either joined up, or they were tightly watched, lest they turn out to be Villains. It was either the Golden Cage of a Hero, or the iron bars of a cell, if one put a single toe over the line.

Safety, unity and security, all provided at the national level, had been the topics of all political candidates and in Europe, that climate had propelled the rise of the European Party, the party of Mrs. Greene and her compatriots of the Colours-Group. As if they had known what was coming, the Colours had been planting the seeds for years, some of their initiatives having been prepared decades in the past and with the Scourge-Attacks, those seeds sprouted into a massive crop.

At an unprecedented speed, the calls for European Unity swept across the continent, all the while young Powered took up the banner of the Golden Eagle and repulsed the Scourge, almost always captured by the waiting cameras of various media-organisations.

And the calls, coming from all around Western Europe, were heard and within months, the proposal of a singular Nation, a European Super-State, was brought up and quickly pushed forward. The people of Europe wanted safety and the Colours had long since prepared the idea of Europa Magna. Europe, united under a single banner, to repulse all foreign threats, be they Scourge or whatever else the Politicians or their media-mouthpieces told the public.

That was another thing that had been long prepared, media-organisations were not, as generations prior, forcibly brought in line with governmental edict, instead the people had been working up the ranks, trained by initiatives sponsored by the various different parts of the Colours-Group. Given that they had been trained to see the world in the same way and were given the same, somewhat skewed, information, it was no wonder that the results were eerily similar. And without anyone truly noticing, the free press had been brought in line, and the few people who complained were quickly shouted down, some as conspiracy-theorists, others simply as terrorists or foregin agitators.

Without a single shot fired in anger, Europe was united. The Mad Painter would have been proud.

Around the world, the promise of safety and protection had given rise to many autocrats. Some of them had started out as Heroes, Leaders amongst the Powered who had repulsed Scourge-attacks or other Powered and turned that success into political power. In other cases, the international turmoil had emboldened criminals and violent coups had toppled many governments, some of them even legitimate. In other cases, there was simply a change at the top of a corrupt government, the new leader promising to right the wrongs committed by their predecessors, to clean up the Scourge and corruption with the full force of the law, Right before they turned around and filled their own coffers and the ones of those who had propelled them into their positions of power.

If it weren’t so sad, it would be amusing. The destruction and suffering caused by the Scourge was far eclipsed by the destruction and suffering brought on by the international instability, though it was hard to say how many of those coups and uprisings would have occurred anyway, probably even with the same players.

A message caught my attention, coming from Sophia. After reading it quickly, a smile appeared on my face, she was coming home. Over the last two years, she too had finished her degree, her current journey had been to visit her Brother and the two Isleens.

To my surprise, she added that Nisha had asked to join her on the trip. I had been anticipating Nisha’s coming, but had not expected the two of them to arrive together. It might make things a little awkward, but I would just have to deal with it.