Once more, into the breach. I wondered, just how often would I have to drag my broken body out of bed, how often would I have to link into the cybernetic parts that allowed me to move and live. I was so tired, so very tired, day after day, incident after incident, each time wondering if I would lose another part of myself and have to replace it with another part, powered by my nature but how long could I continue like that? When would my power start to fail, when would I have lost too much of my body to keep my power?
A quick thought linked me to my computer, showing me the tasks for the day. Mostly paperwork and some lab-time scheduled but one meeting was flagged as interesting. A grievance, filed by someone attending the Academy in a civilian identity, attacked by an outside-agent? Metis, that was the one who Pathfinder told me about, some sort of tech-based Powered, using gear similar to mine. But she only did one potentially remarkable thing and nothing ever since. Some tussles with a local gang but those were just street-level.
After keeping busy with paperwork, I looked into the proceedings. One of the Guild-bureaucrats, Metanite the super-straight-arrow and Pheronica were taking care of proceedings, so it should be fine.
They were presented footage of an attack and what I saw caused my mind to instantly grind to a halt. That face, so very like mine and those eyes. With trembling hands, I grabbed one of the few pictures I had on my desk, a picture of better times. Of times past. Those eyes…
Linking with my computer, I ran an image-comparison and the eyes on the screen were an almost perfect link to the eyes on the picture. The eyes of my daughter, left behind so long ago.
Before I considered more, I jumped to my feet, running out of the room. As I ran, additional information about that Metis trickled in, now cross-referencing them with everything I could find about Alexandria King. The day Metis showed just how much she could do, Alexandria died in a random house-fire? Ruled an accident? That smelled rather… coincidental.
When I got to the conference-room, they were still in the process of information-gathering, even if some starched suit tried to derail everything. Well, two could play that game. I had scanned the footage and it was authentic and that Metis was attacked was clearly visible. There was no ambiguity, no doubt. I wondered how she was even able to stand after such an attack. Maybe she had some sort of healing-factor.
We councillors seldomly involved ourselves with events on that level, so when I entered the room and gave orders, it was a highly unusual event but at the end of the day, my orders would be followed. And then, the first, real meeting with the one I was certain was my daughter. I hadn’t seen her since she was a toddler, in the beginning I had tried to look in on them, but quickly I had realised that it was just too painful and stopped.
Introducing myself, I was not quite sure what to expect. What to say. I was good with technology, with clear rules that gave a predictable result to a defined stimulus but how to talk to a child you left behind years ago? How to explain, how to make her understand.
In the end, I went with a straightforward approach and the result was probably as good as I should have hoped. There was a moment of denial but I guess she was too much my daughter to deny reality when it stared her into the face. And the similarities between us, especially our eyes, were striking, making it impossible to deny.
I should have expected her anger, especially once I realised how she had survived, by using a highly experimental technology into her own body in a desperate hail-mary. To further our talk, I brought her into my sanctum, the most secure place I had access to. Probably one of the most secure places on the planet.
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Watching her, the similarities between us were truly striking. Part of me wanted to teach her as best as I could, wanted to watch over her until she was ready to take over my position from me, watch her surpass me. I was quite sure she would be capable of so much more compared to me. But another part wanted to make her get as far away from the Guild as I could. I had sacrificed so much on the altar of duty, had dedicated my life to the cause and now my daughter might follow a path that would probably lead her into an early grave, maybe right next to mine. Councillor of the Guild was a prestigious position but I was one of the best examples that it was not a safe position.
But those thoughts went out of the window when she told me about her daughter. At first, I was shocked to the core that she had gotten pregnant as a teenager. And that I had missed it in the search I had done before meeting. I briefly wondered just what Martin had done to our daughter. I had seen parts of the damage before and I wondered what had changed the kind, loving man into the creature she described.
The truth shocked me even deeper, I had wondered if she would surpass me, given time. Maybe, there was no need to give her time. Maybe, she had already surpassed me in knowledge and ability, only lacking in experience. Was it hubris to ask her to be my apprentice?
Talking with that daughter, my granddaughter, showed me quite a few interesting aspects about my daughter, some insight into her mind. It was enlightening.
Over the next couple of days, I learned more about both, Alexandria and Galatea, especially that my first instinct, to let them come to me, at their own pace, had been the right one. I wanted to get to know them better, wanted to get to know my daughter but she was not ready, or rather, not willing, to engage me on that level. It would take time to build the sort of trust needed for such a relationship, to mend the damage I had caused by leaving. By doing my duty.
She surprised me a couple of times during those days so when I got a priority-message in the middle of the night, I wondered what was going on. The answer wasn’t what I had expected. She was telling me that her former partner, a word she said with so much emotion that made it clear she was not just a partner in crime or a team-mate, had been attacked and abducted. My first impulse was that it was not Guild-business. But I curbed that impulse and heard her out.
Hearing her, I wanted to help her and it took me a moment to realise that I could. Only few Powered were as bound to the Guild as I was, I had literally been recruited straight out of school, not because of deeds I had done out in the wild, as some called it, but because of my accomplishments in a lab-environment. That meant, I was not used to work outside of the Guild’s mandates, as so many members did. Even some of the councillors did, having a main-job so to speak and only wearing their councillor-mantle when necessary. So, I could simply take off the mantle I was wearing and use my own resources.
And, I wanted to help her. So, I asked for a compensation, not that I truly planned on collecting. The only compensation I wanted was one that had to be freely given, to mean anything. I wanted her forgiveness.
Sadly, the first thing I wanted to do failed, an attempt to get local cooperation for us, but no, the locals were stubborn, as they so often were. They often resented outside-involvement, only asking for help if they saw the writing on the wall, if they knew that a lot of people would die without outside help. I just couldn’t understand the need to set up tribal boundaries and protect them.
When I went to get Metis, what I saw shocked me, once again. Seeing her with blood running down her face and the smell of cooked meat in the air drove home how desperate she was to save her partner. I was not quite sure how she had found out where to go and I was sure I didn’t want to know so I ignored the obvious hints. But, now we knew where to go and I had my helicopter to go there.
The attack itself was not really worth mentioning, we hit them hard and fast, using superior information and technology to finish the combat before it could start, taking them down within moments. There was a magical formation, but I had a couple of goodies up my sleeve to take care of such annoyances. Inside, I just had to finish the few remaining, before taking care of the planted bomb. That one was surprisingly sophisticated with multiple detonators and hidden triggers that would have gotten a less experienced person but I had been defusing bombs for years so it was nothing I hadn’t seen before. The only thing I did, was linking one of the detonators to a frequency I could use to detonate the bomb, erasing the evidence of what had happened here.
When we got back to the helicopter, Metis, or rather Alexandria, did something I had wished she would do, for the last few days. She called me mother. That title, and later listening to her, softly speaking to her partner, both showed me what I had been missing for over a decade. Maybe, I was given a second chance.