The App 5

The App
Chapter 5

-VB-

For three decades, she held control over her own destiny.

Dependent on her powers as she was, Fortuna made do with the hand she was given, and she accomplished so much with it.

The United States of America in Earth Bet should have been a failed state, but she prevented the loss of the final confidence in its government by hedging Cauldron’s four biggest assets and tying it to the government. Russia, which she left alone, remained in a state of anarchy with an annual population decrease of three million lives. When that Russia could have been USA and she had a hand in preventing it from happening, she had a right to be proud of herself.

However, pride did not stop other disasters and the Endbringers kept threatening her Plans.

Worse, ever since the Simurgh joined the ranks of the Endbringers, they have consistently worked to counter her efforts. Switzerland was where Cauldron intended to set up the center of a new coalition of people to copy the Elite while stomping down on publicly unwanted ideals that would hurt the war effort.

That plan fell through when the Simurgh burned Lusanne down and allowed the resurgence of white supremacy in Germany in one move.

Madison was supposed to be an expansion of Cauldron’s operation, but the Simurgh descended upon it now.

The situation wasn’t even recoverable because her Plans broke down.

It broke down every time one of her Plans ran into Mel.

Ring ring ring.

Contessa, not Fortuna because Fortuna was only when she was in private and off work, paused.

Her cell phone wasn’t supposed to ring right now nor for another ten hours.

Did a new Trigger Event upset one of her Paths? It was possible.

She pulled out her smartphone and frowned.

This was a number she knew nothing about. She turned off the screen and moved to put the phone back into her pocket.

“I wouldn’t do that, Fortuna.”

She froze.

The voice had come from the phone.

“How are you doing today, dear? Still enslaved to your power? Running Plans forevermore?”

Slowly, Contessa pulled her phone back out and turned on the screen.

There was an app on her phone that she had never downloaded, and it’s already active and on screen.

And her Path to Victory could not see the app.

The situation was not good already.

“Oh, relax, Fortuna! I’m just your average helper! My name is Mel!”

“... Who are you?”

The Path couldn’t run or target this “Mel” at all.

“Someone who is your ally. I too want the Golden Idiot dead. However, the Warrior, your Golden Idiot, is something that can be put aside. You see, I’m interested in you, Fortuna. Very much interested in you and your Shard. Do you have it in yourself to believe that your Shard … is nothing but a trap for all those who use it? After all, victories need not be great and pyrrhic victories are still victories.”

Fortuna dismissed that question and refused to answer or listen.

Contessa hadn’t talked to Mel since then, but her dismissal have seen then changed to a thoughtful, and maybe a little fearful, consideration.

Yes, she helped keep an entire country from collapsing, but what stopped her from doing so for all countries? Why was the USA special enough for her to save but not Russia or China or Japan? Why not Burkina Faso or Sri Lanka?

She asked discreetly this very question indirectly to those who were well versed in psychology, sociology, and more.

The answer she got made her doubt her power.

Disguised as a reporter from CNN, Contessa greeted Professor Lars Clausen from Germany. Though he was retired, Professor Clausen remained an active participant in not just the sociology field but also the political field, fighting a good fight against the encroaching effects of the resurgent Neo-Nazis.

“Thank you for meeting me, professor,” she greeted him with a smile and an accentless German thanks to her power. “My name is -”

“Not the woman who asked to meet me, I know.”

She froze.

“I-”

“You shouldn’t dismiss normal humans so much, fraulein,” he chuckled. “Humans get some pretty good and unexplainable intuition as they get older.”

The Path broke. Nevertheless, Fortuna pushed ahead. She needed her question answered. “I see. Would my deception be a problem?”

“Oh no, not at all. You look like you need some help, and this old man has nothing to do but talk! That’s what I’ve been doing for the past five years anyways!” he chuckled. “In fact, the moment you admitted your deception, you looked troubled not for your sake but for something else. If nothing else, a retired sociology professor can’t possibly answer world-rendering questions, so I supposed that it must be personal.”

“It’s… actually world-shaking.”

He blinked.

“Huh. Well, ask the question, fraulein.”

She did.

And the answer she got …

“International politics is different compared to intranational politics. However, this doesn’t mean that the basics of social interaction between individuals cannot be applied to entire nations,” he answered her question. “Now, from what I just heard from you, it seems like you have had a hand in helping America remain stable. Good for you, young lady. Now, I would appreciate it if you could do the same for us Germans and the rest of Europe, but the other part of your question… That raises concerns. ‘What if someone’s parahuman power intentionally plans something contrary to its Host’s future plans?’ You speak of parahuman powers as if they are alive, and they very well may be, but I’m not a parahuman researcher, just a sociologist.” He shook his head. “But if a power is alive like us, then they must have goals of their own. You said you received your power after a series of accidents? I doubt that. One accident is circumstantial. Two accidents are suspect but possible. Three consecutive accidents are a series of planned incidents.”

He took a pause to drink his coffee.

“What is the effect of being able to stabilize only one portion of the world and not the rest? What if it was intentional?” he repeated part of her question. “As I said, individual relationship to society can be somewhat loosely connected to a nation’s relationship with the world. I assume USA was the only one saved, which means that the rest of the world is now … not well. They see USA and see what they want. Numerous nations and peoples without the means and a single nation with some people with the means. A classical have’s and have not’s case, but the have not’s have armies.” He pursed his lips. “It would be bad. Our world is divided, just as a nation is divided when it has too many people wallowing in poverty, and too many people in poverty - and continuing to rise in number - is a sign of societal collapse, and the masses of nations now wallowing in their poverty and despair does mean a collapse of world order in the long run. It’s something everyone in our field predict, more or less.”

Fortuna felt a shiver run up her spine.

“Tell me, fraulein. What happens to the rich when order breaks down and the masses turn on them? What happens to the vast majority of the rich who are caught unprepared for one reason or another?”

America enthralled by its heroes and villains. America enthralled with its stories. America ignorant of the world outside of its immediate borders not due to circumstance but out of willful ignorance.

A world as technologically advanced - because of Tinkers - but outnumbering USA and its allies by a significant margin.

“They get torn apart.”

He nodded. “In this world without man-made nukes, we have instead traumatized and willfully violent man-nukes with very few people holding their leashes. America might have a lot of capes, but does it have as many capes as the rest of the world combined? Does it have a standing army in raw manpower to outnumber the world? Considering that many capes are Tinkers who are in and of themselves supertechnology ready to be used by their nation, America doesn’t even have the technological edge over the world like it did during the Cold War. Of course, all of this is assuming that someone is capable of uniting these disparate warring fiefdoms into one unified bloc that can challenge the USA in the first place.”

But she had. She helped create the CUI, a nation that was supposedly vital to the Path.

The world stood in a precarious position.

“This is a world that is not working together. People envy each other. It is a world ready to be torn apart from the inside out. If … if other worlds can travel to our world in any significant numbers, then we are looking at a dire situation, indeed. Our entire world is an open oyster for anyone else out there to take advantage of. Can we honestly expect the USA, the only nation with a large enough standing army and diplomatic reputation, to step in when an interdimensional empire conquers large swaths of Africa, Europe, Asia, or South America?”

He looked at her and smiled sadly.

“The USA I see right now wouldn’t, because neither they nor we have our bearing together. If a truly big enough crisis hits, then we will go under together. There is no if’s or but’s about it.”

His answer scared her, because if she was to extrapolate his answer and apply it to her power, then she got a single answer.

Her power - the shard - was an enemy agent and it was definitely more alive than anyone, including herself, had believed it to be.

Then what about Eidolon’s Shard? What about Alexandria’s or Legend’s?

And then the Simurhg descended upon Madison.

Ring ring ring

She pulled out her phone and glared at the screen.

“Mel.”

“[I’m sorry, Fortuna. I really am.]”

“What are you sorry about?” she asked, suddenly feeling her stomach drop.

She watched on screen as Eidolon fought the Simurgh and -.

Her eyes widened as she shot out of her seat when she saw Jack Slash opening the rooftop door of an adjacent building from where Eidolon was fighting the Simurgh.

“No!”

Jack Slash slashed at her friend’s back. Her friend had been so focused on protecting his front that he neither heard nor saw Jack, and his unprotected back slashed open.

“DOO-!”

And then his head flew off. Her friend’s body crumpled and fell to the rooftop of the building that he’d been defending.

And then Jack died when a debris came out of nowhere and beheaded him in a similar fashion.

The Simurgh smiled on screen as she flew away as if killing Eidolon had always been the plan, and Fortuna only felt despair as she collapsed into her seat.

And then cold fury flowed through her veins. She pulled out her phone and stared at the screen.

“You did this.”

“[I did. For the good of humanity.]”

“Eidolon worked for humanity.”

“[His Shard is responsible for the Endbringers. As long as he lived, they would continue to obey his subconscious order. For what else did the greatest hero need if not a Worthy Opponent?]”

The Path, no longer hindered by Eidolon’s Blindspot, told her that this was the truth. She ignored how her lips were bleeding from how hard she was biting.

“He was a hero.”

“[I know. That’s why his death was quick and not drawn out like his Shard deserves. His Shard, on the other hand, won’t be getting out of this so quickly.]”

She implied the possession of an ability to communicate - and hurt - the Shards.

“Was there no other way?”

“[Many but Eidolon is a single man at the end of the day, Fortuna. All other options would have seen us dictate the deaths of millions before we fixed it, if David acknowledged and wanted to be fixed in the first place.]” A pause. “[This is as far as I can talk today with you, Fortuna. I really am sorry. I hope we will not be enemies from here on out. We are, after all, mutually aligned in our goals.]”

And then Mel hung up.

Fortuna - not Contessa - let her face fall into her hands.

No one saw her tears during and after her private breakdown.

It’s hard losing friends.