When I arrived at the tower, a receptionist quickly sent me towards the right room, a small conference room on the ground floor. I was slightly early but was already awaited by a panel of three people, one of whom I had seen before. Considering that I had seen exactly two Guild-Powered before, at least while they were in costume, that had to be deliberate. The one I knew was Metanite, dressed in his Guild-costume, alongside a second person, likely a female, in costume. The third person was a guy, dressed in a sharp suit.
“You are Metis?” Metanite asked, his voice all business.
“Yes, Metanite, I am. I know, the last time we met I was wearing armour but I did not bring my armour to school with me. I am here to learn, not fight Powered-battles. The only weapons I was expecting to face here, were weapons of math instruction.” I answered, my voice tinged with a little sarcasm as I made my bad joke.
But my bad joke worked, the female figure snorted in amusement, before introducing herself.
“Greetings, Metis, my name is Pheronica, you know Metanite and our last member is Bob. Well, Robert Glind, but we call him Bob.” Even without seeing her face, I knew that she was wearing a broad grin, just by the tone of her voice. Mister Glind did not seem to be phased by her behaviour, so maybe it was normal, for Guild Standards.
“Well, we are here, can we get this show on the road?” Metanite asked.
“No, there is one more person coming. We will have to wait for him.” Mister Glind said, his voice calm and professional.
But the announcement made me worry a little, I was not sure how I would react if the other party was Clark, here to face his accuser. Part of me wanted to instantly strike, trying to kill him, but the gear I had with me was likely not good enough, even without interference from the three Guild Members across me. I had no idea what their powers were, so I would have to control myself, even as I wanted to rip him to shreds.
The door opened and I tensed but the figure entering was clearly not Clark. It was a distinguished looking gentleman, dressed in a sharp suit, his brown hair turned silver at the temples.
“Ah, Ambassador Hoffman. How, kind, of you to join us.” Metanite stated, his tone suggesting that it was not much of a kindness. The sarcasm was strong in that one.
“Good morning, everyone. I heard one of my countrymen, an upstanding an important citizen, was being slandered and maligned, so it is my duty to be here.” the newcomer announced, his voice oozing arrogance.
“It is only slander, if it is not true.” I calmly responded to his opening statement.
“We are here to determine that. How about a round of introductions, so everyone knows who the others are?” Mr. Glind asked. “Ladies first, if you would Pheronica?”
“Sure, why not. I am called Pheronica, associate member of the Powered Human Cooperation Guild, stationed in the US.” she introduced herself. I wondered what an associate member signified.
After a short gesture from Mr. Glind, Metanite went next, introducing himself as a member of the Guild but without saying where he was from. Next, Mr. Glind made a gesture to me.
“I am called Metis. Independent Powered, previously living in New Brunsburg, currently enrolled at the Guild Academy and not active as a Powered, at least not in any street-capacity.”
“My name is Malte Hoffman, I am an ambassador to the United Nations, here to advocate for Mr. Greene, also known as Battlemaster, who is unable to be here, due to the sudden nature of the meeting.”
“And I am Robert Glind, an advocate employed by the Powered Human Cooperation Guild. Now, today's proceedings were called because Metis allegedly was attacked and nearly killed by Mr. Greene while in her civilian identity. Such attacks are an affront against all Powered, no matter which side of the law they stand on. We will have to determine what actions to take, or we risk to go back to the bad old times when it was considered appropriate to attack the family of a Powered, in an effort to get at them.” Mr. Glind started the proceedings.
“Could you provide your statement and possibly evidence to what happened?” he asked, directed at me.
“Of course. Yesterday evening, around seven-thirty, I was working in my private workshop, here on the Island, when I was attacked from behind. Let me show you the video my computer has taken.” I moved over to the screen-setup, connecting my gauntlet to it and playing the video. The four people were able to see my face, plus whoever was watching the proceedings from other places. The video played and I noticed that afterwards, the body-language of Pheronica was rather subdued and she visibly flinched when I displayed the list of injuries I had sustained in the attack.
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“Yes, a wonderful video, I do have to commend you for the wonderful work. You should consider a career in movie-making, I’m sure you could become famous.” Ambassador Hoffman broke in, his voice mocking.
“Excuse me?!” My voice full of disbelief.
“It is not the first time that you have fabricated data to attack either Mr. Greene as an individual or even his family. It has been widely reported before, multiple times. So, why should this time be different?” he sneered.
“Could you elaborate, Ambassador? And please, cease the personal attacks.” Mr. Glind spoke up, before I could.
“Of course. As I said, it is not the first time that this vandal has aimed at either Mr. Greene as a person or at his family in an attempt to cause them harm. I suspect it is because she got into conflict with him at multiple times during her criminal endeavours in New Brunsburg. Mr. Greene, or Battlemaster, as he is known as in his Heroes’ League persona, was trying to enforce the law, which she broke. Not only laws that are internationally controversial, like the obligate registration of Powered, but also her blatantly criminal conduct, breaking into facilities and stealing their possessions.” The ambassador was obviously a trained orator, presenting his narrative with great conviction and pathos.
“Almost a year ago, she tried to smear the well-connected and influential Greene-Family, most likely to take attention from her own actions, the brutal mutilation of three young men. Her accusations were ridiculous, painting the picture of a multinational, nationalistic conspiracy. Even the idea is ludicrous. It is a contradiction in itself!” he took a deep breath, as if to calm himself.
“Earlier this month, she spread false information to derail an investigation into the former leader of the Heroes League, who sadly fell to corruption. Or, maybe he had been corrupt all along, the investigation uncovered that he not only paid criminals, like Metis here, very well, but that he had worked for years with a shady figure called Shadowbroker.
Both incidents have been widely reported on and investigated by the media. Nothing she claimed was ever corroborated by a trustworthy source.” He finished his narrative. It was cleverly done, I had to give him that.
“Well, the attack was here, on the Island, right? We know who is on the Island and the cameras should have caught some corroborating evidence, right?” Pheronica suggested.
After I gave them the building where the attack had occurred, Mr. Glind made a phone call to the security department and I was allowed to give my rebuttal to the Ambassador. Sadly, while I could provide more information, the Greene-Family had been very, very thorough to erase all publicly available connections, making what I presented unverifyable. At least without thorough investigation, which would take time. But I had to try anyway.
Maybe ten minutes into my version of the history between Battlemaster and me, Mr. Glind was called back by the security department and after listening for a moment, he frowned.
“There was a malfunction, the cameras in the area did not record anything from yesterday, five p.m. to nine p.m. Whether the malfunction was caused by deliberate sabotage or coincidence is currently under investigation. However, Clark Greene travelled onto the island Thursday evening and left two hours ago.”
“Young Mr. Greene was my guest, he thinks about transferring onto one of the Island’s schools next semester. It is not hard to find information on that, he gave a statement to that effect in a local newspaper in New Brunsburg. And what a surprise. A clearly tech-savvy Powered is attacked and the neutral surveillance oh so coincidentally malfunctions, giving us only her own version of the story.” the ambassador mockingly stated.
Now, Mr Glind was frowning and what little of Metanite’s body language I was able to see, showed discomfort.
Suddenly, the door opened and a figure in grey armour entered. The armour was overall similar to mine, functional power armour could only be made so many ways, but some differences stood out. It seemed to be more polished compared to mine, a few details were better thought out and I would shamelessly steal those.
“Councilor?! I was not aware you were involved in these proceedings.” Mr. Glind exclaimed in awe, his voice perturbed for the first time. Pheronica and Metanite suddenly seemed very stiff and Ambassador Hoffman frowned.
“A young Powered, on our Island to learn, was attacked. I felt it is my duty to at least look into it. You will investigate Clark Greene and take appropriate measures.” she announced. And it was clearly a female, the armour made that obvious and even her voice-distortion made her sound feminine. “Now, you.” she turned to me, “I officially invite you to join the Powered Human Cooperation Guild as my personal apprentice.” she announced and I could hear a shocked gasp from the three Guild-members.
Unless I was wrong, that was one of the most powerful Powered on the planet, a member of the council of five. Who else would would have such an effect?
“Thank you, I accept. What should I call you?” I asked. It was a no-brainer, really. Just seeing her armour told me I could learn from her and I had wanted to join the Guild for a long time. Now, I had a chance to get in, not at the top but very close to it.
“My official title is Councilor Technica. That will do in a formal setting. Now, follow me, please.” she turned and we left the four others behind, before they could break out of their stupor.
I followed the councilor, silently walking behind the clanking armour, thinking about what had just happened. We got to an elevator and, without either of us pressing a button, the elevator moved downward, despite the fact that there were no buttons indicating such a possibility. I almost felt obligated to make a joke about not being in Kansas anymore.
The elevator stopped and Technica stepped out, into a comfortable foyer.
“You know, I’m not sure if I wanted to meet you like this.” I frowned at her statement while she raised her hands to her helmet.
“Alexandria” she said, just as her hands pulled off the helmet and I looked into a face with many familiar lines and eyes that I saw in the mirror every morning. “I am your mother.”