Interlude - The Ascendant

“Orion,” says an aging biracial man, his face slightly wrinkled and his black hair laced with grey, “Bring up the reports of the fight with Armageddon Harbinger from yesterday. I want to know the latest data.”

“Yes sir,” relies the mechanical monotone voice, “On screen now.”

“Thank you Orion,” replies the person known only as the Ascendant to those around him.

He looks through the reports. It states that the source of Armageddon’s name is the transdimensional alien known as the Guardian. From the information provided to the US government from the vigilante Gears, Guardian has faced Armageddon on past occasions and that Armageddon is part of a group known as the Dozen Harbingers of the End Times.

The Ascendant leans back in his comfy leather office chair. With more of these monsters ready to plague this world, perhaps the Transcendency should commit some of its resources to fending them off.

After all, Superior was pretty annoyed at not being able to fight Armageddon. He was eager to test his strength against that of the Harbinger even if Superior’s strongest asset would have been useless against the inhuman monster.

The Ascendant brings up the footage of the bloodied monster as it fled through a portal with unknown origin and destination. With both his eyes taken out with Guardian’s sword, once by Guardian and the second by Gears, Armageddon escaped and its current fate unknown.

“Orion, display the reports on the estimated fates of the Trinity and the Chicago Junior Heroes Union,” says the Ascendant as he pauses the footage as the portal closes.

The AI brings up the medical reports and statuses, but the Ascendant waves them away on the interactive screen.

“Summaries please,” says the Ascendant, “I’ll review the full data later if I need to.”

Several summaries of each parahuman’s current status and estimated status appears on the Ascendant’s screen.

“Ah, thank you Orion,” says the Ascendant and begins to flick through them.

John Clarkson, also known as Atlas, suffered minor injuries and was released from hospital within an hour of being brought there. Timothy King or the Mentalist wasn’t directly involved in the battle with Armageddon and therefore wasn’t hurt.

The third member of the Trinity, Elizabeth Summers aka Lightbringer, was taken away by her brother, Charles Summers aka Darkness, before the full extent of her injuries could be found out.

The Ascendant strokes his beard. Darkness, along with the Guardsmen, is a dangerous unknown with no easy way to make him less of a threat.

While the Syndicate is easy to infiltrate, the Transcendency has no one close to Darkness himself and the core of the Syndicate operations since Atrox was killed. And the Ascendant still isn’t sure if the Darkness knew about Atrox’s true loyalties or if his death was simply unlucky.

And Gears and his fellow Guardsmen aren’t worth the trouble. Minimal useful data on them available and any attempts to get more than been fended off almost casually. In fact, the Ascendant doesn’t believe that the Guardsmen even know how hard that is. To be able to fend off the most technologically advanced and smartest people in the world and a strong seed AGI with access to grand amounts of computing power with ease is nothing to be laughed at.

It makes the Ascendant wonder what secrets the Guardsmen have hidden from him and the rest of the world. Especially since Gears and Guardian took down Darkness, a feat that should be impossible to be accomplished by someone of their power level.

No, best to just leave the Guardsmen be until otherwise.

The Ascendant goes back to reviewing the status summaries of the Chicago Junior Heroes Union.

Charlotte Clarkson aka Alexandria is still in hospital with over 90% of the bones broken or otherwise damaged by Armageddon. Her power is keeping her alive and with her B+ class healing factor means that she should be mostly recovered in between one to two weeks and fully recovered in double that time. Physically at least.

Nicola Hatheway aka Glowbug suffered more severe injuries, the primary ones being a broken back and the loss of the right arm and both legs. At this point in time, Nicola has yet to awaken from a coma she is in and is protected by her power generating a personal energy field. Due to her powers and the uncertainty of the situation, only time will tell what will happen to Glowbug.

Another interesting development in Glowbug’s situation is an apparent boost to her power. Previously a B class energy projector, Oracle says that Glowbug’s power has increased to A class. Both she and Orion recommend watching Glowbug in greater detail and perhaps intervening to ensure her recovery if necessary.

Ascendant hopes his suspicions are right and the girl has achieved her second Manifestation.

The status of the other members is simple. Clarence Redmund aka Shift went missing during the fight and has yet to be found either alive or dead and is currently presumed KIA. Vanessa Horn aka Flamefly went down early in the battle and suffered only minor injuries. They were minor enough for her to be released from hospital.

Gemma Jones aka Pathfinder is in the same state as Flamefly except she was active throughout the entire battle from the point she entered it and was coordinating the defenders.

An interesting thing about Pathfinder is that her witnessing Guardian’s death is the only record of it. Perhaps he will have one of his agents bring her in for questioning. It could be useful to have a sleeper agent on the Chicago Junior Heroes Union.

The Ascendant closes the summaries and goes back to what he was doing before, reviewing the Fowler situation.

Such a concentrated group of closely connected and high level parahumans. The Transcendency needs a sleeper agent in that family and at moment, only Breanne Fowler and Joan Fowler are viable candidates.

And one or both of them need to be turned before their powers are awoken.

“Hmm,” mutters the Ascendant as one last thought hits him, “Perhaps Guardian is the one I know.”