Chapter 51 (Patreon)

February 7th, 2011

10:16 AM

Protectorate-ENE HQ

Rebecca Costa-Brown was many, many things.

A warrior. An intellectual. A political figure. A daughter. 

A hero, and, in some ways that rankled her in a place otherwise completely invulnerable, a villain.

But, beyond all of that, what she truly considered herself to be at her core… was a protector.

Some would see the role of a protector as being synonymous with being a ‘hero’, but she had been one of the very first heroes crafted into existence. She knew the difference. Saw it everyday of her life. A hero could just as easily be the very root of violence and destruction in a city, just as a villain could forge itself into the very thing society needed in order to persevere and flourish. Being a protector wasn’t something that just anyone could take on, not to the degree she took the role, but the important distinction to make was that if you had the wherewithal to handle it… it didn’t matter if you were a hero or a villain.

Evil or good.

Humanity needed its protectors, and although Rebecca - no, Alexandria knew that she would forever be one of them, she also knew that she couldn’t be the only one. And, very specifically, they needed a particular flavor of protector. Not to be the sole one of their kind, of course, but to act as a… proof of concept. Proof that, when everything went to Hell in a handbasket and humanity fell to its knees, on the verge of collapse, these protectors could rise up and lead their people into a new era.

Feudalism. A world led and protected by Parahumans.

Coil had been their original dark horse. Intelligent and ambitious to an extremely high degree, with a very fortunate power that seemed tailor-made to lead him into a position of prestige and leadership. He’d wanted Brockton Bay to be the foundation of his kingdom, and although Cauldron did not dare sully the integrity of their experiment - the Project Terminus - with assisting him with his rise to the top, they had been fairly confident in the moves he’d been making. Confident that he would be a successful test subject. 

Confident that he would be the proof they needed to know that humanity would survive after Scion razed Earth Bet to the quick. 

And then… Jason Black appeared. Or Avalon, as he quickly dubbed himself.

A natural trigger, according to both him and their own surveillance. Further digging into his background showed a significant and concerning lack of anything noteworthy - he was like the ultimate blank slate. No family members to speak of, no friends, no medical records, no anything. The only constant that they had found out about him was that he apparently got his state ID and driver’s license, with records in the system denoting such, but no official government facility recognizes his face or name when asked personally.

He was a ghost, a wildcard, and as he quickly showed in under the month he was active in Brockton Bay…

A powerhouse. Officially designated a ‘Trump 8’ under the official PRT Power Classification Ratings, but in reality, the truth was potentially much more ominous.

Growth. The term they were using to describe his unique powerset. According to Avalon, he ‘never stopped growing’. He gained powers at a staggering rate, powers that ranged from Shaker-like abilities to corrode metal to flight to super strength to golden laser beams that had the ability to turn fully grown men into desiccated husks. 

In the span of a month, he went from barely surviving against a gang of unpowered white supremacists to fighting Lung, making it look easy, conjuring forth a storm of lightning that shifted the weather above the entirety of Brockton Bay, and bypassing all known Manton laws and effects in order to turn Lung into an unliving golden statue. He went from battle to battle, high-stress situations occurring around him with reckless abandon, and each and every time, he came out of the danger with shiny new abilities and even more confidence.

Avalon wasn’t Eidolon - hadn’t yet shown the same raw, destructive versatility the strongest member of the Triumvirate could bring to bear with his virtually endless choice of powers - but he was more consistent. He seemingly had no limits to how many powers he could possess, many of which she was absolutely certain were paying dividends beneath the hood. 

Contessa claimed to not be able to Path anything regarding him over two weeks ago. Clairvoyant, too. Before that, it had already been spotty. So in his repertoire was definitely a couple of anti-Thinker abilities that made tracking, predicting, and controlling him frustratingly difficult.

In a way, Avalon was terrifying. A young man of possibly infinite potential for power, let loose as a free agent in the world. A young man who could not be tracked, or predicted, or, honestly, told to do anything he didn’t explicitly want to do. A young man who has shown himself, time and time again, to not trust authority, and hate the idea of being commanded or controlled in any way. He was a wildcard of the highest degree, and given a few more months of his particular brand of ‘growth’, he had the potential to completely outscale the Triumvirate entirely, if he didn’t have something in his pocket that did it already. Avalon was scary.

But, in another way… that made him all the more desirable. For Cauldron, that is.

What better person to take over as their savior - the test subject of Project Terminus - than the man who eliminated the original? More personally, and biasedly, Alexandria was simply pleased that he was, by all means of the illusionary word, an actual hero. One not afraid to eliminate threats with a burning, fervent prejudice. In all the ways that truly mattered, Avalon was perfect for their plans. Almost scarily perfect.

But that was why Alexandria decided to make the flight to Brockton Bay, wasn’t it? To properly meet and assess the young man herself, and gauge whether or not he was the best fit for Project Terminus. She would no longer be able to intervene with his career as a hero as Chief Director Costa-Brown, not if the experiment would continue to be a non-biased, hands-off affair, but the others - Doctor Mother especially - deemed it prudent that they establish some sort of personal connection to the boy.

And who better to establish said connection than Alexandria, member of the world-renowned Triumvirate?

“U-um, ma’am-” the mousy-haired receptionist eyed her nervously from behind her desk, and Alexandria turned her gaze away from the double-doored front entrance, a placid frown forming on her lips.

It had taken her only a couple seconds of thought to properly sort everything out in her head.

“Yes, Marie?”

“Are you sure you want to wait here all morning? I-I’m not sure if Avalon’s coming, but if he is, I’ll just… buzz him up? That way you don’t have to just, uh, float there.”

The woman - no, girl - was nervous. Extremely so. The sweat dripping down the side of her neck and into the collar of her light gray blouse, the way that her eyes wandered everywhere but to Alexandria’s helmeted face, and the way that her voice tremored ever so slightly at the edges - all examples of complete and utter anxiety. It wasn’t surprising; Alexandria knew that her presence was a heavy one, and she could probably count on her left hand the amount of times she’d visited the Brockton Bay PRT HQ in the past half decade.

Even still, she needed to be the one to greet Avalon when he came in. And he would come in. It only made sense; the young hero had a bleeding heart, no matter how much he tried to prove otherwise, and the odds of him having killed every one of the Empire Eighty-Eight was low. He spared Rune for a reason, after all… possibly for her age. Possibly because he had a soft spot for girls. Possibly for other reasons that nauseated her to entertain, but considering his track record so far, she doubted that would ever be an issue.

Regardless, he would show up. And she would be ready. She’d already been waiting for four hours, after all. She would take a break at noon, work on some other projects, and return to the lobby to continue waiting.

The waste of one day was comparatively tiny when put beside some of her more shameful sacrifices.

“I’ll be fine, Marie,” Alexandria responded, floating down to the smooth linoleum floor and landing gently and silently on her feet. “But you’ve been manning that desk for, what… three hours straight? Go, take a five minute break. I’ll act as stand-in receptionist for the time being.”

Marie’s hands drew back, covering the shiny plastic of her nametag. She almost looked affronted. “Ma’am? I can’t - y-you’re Alexandria. I would lose my job if I-”

It was almost humorous, the irony. 

Alexandria stepped closer to the receptionist desk, the calm steps of her boots echoing quietly in the otherwise barren lobby. It had been easy to make a simple call as the Chief Director, ordering all available personnel - outside of the essential security guards and emergency responders - to mandatory seminars for the first half of the day. Less potential variables to mess everything up.

“I can assure you, on my honor as a Triumvirate hero…” she spoke quietly, a solid and stable confidence to her voice, as she placed her gloved hands on the desk and peered directly at Marie. “That you are, indeed, allowed to go use the bathroom as a member of the PRT.” Her lips twitched at the edges, a small part of her constantly working brain debating whether or not smiling at this point would help her case or not, but it was an unnecessary thought-

Marie smiled, shakily, yet genuine. “Are you sure? I-I really have to go to the bathroom. And it’s close to lunch break, but Stacy hasn’t clocked in today…”

“Scout’s honor,” Alexandria promised, allowing herself to smile - nothing more than a slight upturn of the corner of her lips, but as expected, it solidified whatever burgeoning confidence and comfort the young woman was feeling. She stood from her office chair, grabbing her baby blue mini-purse and frantically pulling her phone off of its charger.

“O-okay, I’ll be quick! Thank you!”

Alexandria merely nodded her head, stepping to the side and watching as the girl power-walked away in her three-inch black high heels. There was a tension in her shoulders and in her gait as she gained distance, signs of lingering uncertainty, so as Alexandria moved into position behind the desk and sat down, she kept her eyes on Marie, waiting for-

“Um, do you want anything? F-from the vending machine?”

How generous.

“I’m fine, Marie.” She raised one gloved hand, making a gentle shooing gesture with her fingers. “Now go. Before you have an accident.”

“Yes ma’am!”

And as the girl scurried away, the sound of her heels click-clacking against the floor replacing the silence of the lobby, Alexandria leaned forward on her elbows, steepled her fingers beneath her chin, smoothly ignored the Sudoku game pulled up on the receptionist’s computer, and stared at the front entrance. She had a plan, and although she wasn’t as stringent on following her plans to the exact letter like a certain hat-wearing killer, Alexandria was very confident in her strategic and intellectual prowess. 

Avalon was young. He was rebellious. He was passionate, and charismatic, and strong. Approaching him as Alexandria, the unrelenting and authoritative Triumvirate brick was the wrong move. In order to establish an actual rapport with the boy, and get him open enough to actually reveal more about himself to her, she needed to make a first impression that both surprised and softened him up - not push him into a defensive shell.

So… she waited. One minute, and then five, and then ten.

When, on the twelfth minute, the door flew open and she caught first sight of the tall, broad-shouldered, aggressively handsome black man with his arm tossed over the shoulders of a much smaller Asian girl in a pink, blue and black latex suit and holographic visor, her surprise almost registered on her face, but Alexandria kept a tight lid on it.

Instead, in the face of both of their surprise, she stood, opened her arms, and allowed another smile - this one bigger and more genuine - to form on her lips.

“Welcome, Avalon, Iris,” Alexandria spoke, her strong voice light with a casualness that many would consider ‘friendly’. “Usually I’m not on receptionist duty, but when nature calls, it calls. Come on over and I’ll get the two of you signed in here and fitted with your name tags.”

The Asian girl, Iris, pushed out from beneath Avalon’s arm and stared blankly at her. “Holy crap. A-Alexandria? In Brockton Bay?!”

“The one and only,” she inclined her head, though her eye never strayed from Avalon’s lidded gaze. He’d already fixed his face into a mask of coolness, but whatever powers he possessed, he didn’t have any way to hide his emotions completely. He was good, very good, but not any better than any normal young man experienced with masking. 

He was surprised that she was here. Very surprised.

But, as he stepped forward, subtly moving Iris behind him in order to approach the receptionist desk, what Alexandria could not figure out… was why he also suddenly seemed so cautious. Perhaps he didn’t realize it, but his shoulders had tensed completely once he registered just who she was, his face going lax and stoic in what had to be an instinctive desire to school his expression. Even his steps felt cautious, like a wolf approaching a fellow predator. 

It was possible that he was simply paranoid about dealing with heroes, considering he’d just gotten done breaking the Unwritten Rules and murdering villains in their civilian identities. Anyone would be cautious after that. But with the way he walked inside, so relaxed at the idea of dealing with the PRT up until the point he saw just who she was…

It could have been anything. Perhaps she was reading too deeply into it.

But trusting her gut had saved plenty of lives before, including her own, and Alexandria didn’t plan to suddenly stop doing so.

There was more to Avalon than meets the eye, and Alexandria would find out what.

_________________________________________________________

Alexandria is cautious. Alexandria is curious. Alexandria is impressed.

Alexandria knows that you know something.

‘I fucking get it, Intuition. Bitch is cold reading my ass…’

I watched the tall, statuesque form of Alexandria - otherwise known as Chief-Director Costa Brown - as she slid her fingers along the smooth plastic surface of the conference table. After playing the role of friendly receptionist, signing Cassie and I in, giving us our shiny new PRT-issued name-tags, and escorting us downstairs to properly lock away my Caucasoid Captives - a process that went surprisingly quick and smooth - Alexandria offered to give us a brief tour of the PRT-ENE Headquarters.

My powers had hinted that she wanted to talk to me about something. Privately. So, going with my gut and ignoring the very real possibility that I was about to get sucked into a fucking Cauldron plot, I decided to entertain the woman and go along with it. Cassie, unsurprisingly, was simply overjoyed at the opportunity to snoop at all of the patented PRT tech. 

If Alexandria cared, she didn’t show it. 

In the end, after buying hella Armsmaster merchandise at the gift shop (not because she was an actual fan, but because she wanted to draw penises on his forehead), we had left a pouting Cassie in the break room, sipping suspiciously from a Big Gulp slurpee as she watched us walk away into an attached conference room. She didn’t ask questions, but at this point, I didn’t feel like certain things needed to be vocalized for the understanding to be there.

Cassie could apparently read like me an open fucking book. The handholding, the soft squeezes of my hand as we followed behind Alexandria. The drawn-out glances and fluttering of eyelashes. She knew that something more was going on, and didn’t question me when I left her out of the proceedings. 

God, I loved that girl.

“Avalon,” Alexandria finally spoke up, sliding out a metal chair - uncomfortable and generic - and taking a slow, composed seat. “Please, sit. We have a lot to discuss, you and I.”

Right, back to the present.

I eyed the chair on the opposite side of quite possibly the most powerful woman this side of America. We had passed by multiple interrogation rooms during the tour, and she hadn’t even casted them a sideways glance. Hidden Intuition was working in overdrive, scanning for each and every little minute shift or change in her countenance, but there were no warnings. No whistles. No annoyingly amused voice whispering that I was about to be blindsided by the Triumvirate. I-

“If you’re worried that I, or the PRT, will be taking action against you for what you’ve done tonight, then you can rest assured that that is not the case. I would just like to get to know the young man who has turned this city on its head completely, all in the span of a month’s time. Is that fine with you?”

Alexandria is curious. Alexandria is cautious. Alexandria is telling the truth.

I had thought that I was doing a good job of masking my emotions, but clearly my poker face needed more work. Things were happening fast, I was reacting instead of taking the initiative, and that was throwing me off my game. I couldn’t let myself be fucking dragged around by the nose like this.

If things went to shit, I always had my red button. And with As Long As You Mean It, I no longer needed the full chant to pull people into my Reality Marble. I had nothing to be scared of.

Force of Spirit coalesced its magic around my tongue, its familiar tang cooling my paranoia, and I slid into the proffered seat.

“I’m afraid I’m a borin’ person, Miss Alexandria,” I responded casually, relaxing back into the uncomfortable chair and crossing my right ankle over my left knee. “But depending on the questions, I don’t mind answering. ‘Long as you don’t mind doing the same for me.”

“Just Alexandria is fine,” the stoic woman smiled, but the gesture looked too flawless on her beautiful face. Too perfect. I tilted my head lightly to the side, and although I could barely see her eyes through the shade of her steel visor, I could feel her gaze scan me in return.

She had an intense ass stare.

“Sorry,” I grinned - a crooked, charming smile. “Force of habit.”

“Mm.”

There was a brief moment of silence, neither comfortable or uncomfortable - it was just there. I could definitely see her eyes now, beneath the glare of her mask. They were a very bright, pretty hazel, flecks of brown intermingling with an emerald-like green, and the old scar slashing its way through the left one did absolutely nothing to detract from her overall beauty. Tan, with full, soft-looking lips and a definite Hispanic look to her features, Alexandria was…

Fucking hot, in an almost unnatural way. Like a chiseled statue of some Goddess of War, eternally composed and focused. I didn’t even think she was fucking blinking.

Why the hell did that turn me on?

She shifted, then, her emotionless countenance fracturing into a puzzled, thoughtful frown that pulled her pretty eyes into an unintentional glare. 

Alexandria is confused. Alexandria is flattered. Alexandria is perturbed. 

Shit, she could read my-

“Ahem,” Alexandria coughed into her fist, knowing full well that the gesture was unnecessary. “Then I think I will start, Avalon. Know that you are not required to answer these questions, just as I am not beholden to answering yours. I simply find myself… curious about Brockton Bay’s new hero. The same hero people are, as you may know, comparing to my beloved teammate and friend, Eidolon. High praises all around.”

That got a snort out of me. “Eidolon, huh? I guess I can see why.”

Her eyebrows raising, Alexandria leaned forward, resting her elbows on the surface of the conference table. “And that amuses you? To know that there are very real comparisons being made between you and Eidolon?”

Alexandria is curious. Alexandria is fishing for information. Alexandria is accentuating her bust to make you more susceptible to her questi-

I glanced down, and sure enough…

God damn was she in killer fucking shape.

“Not in the way that you may think,” I replied calmly, slowly dragging my eyes up from the form-fitting expanse of what had to be D-cuppers and making a point to meet her gaze once again. The corner of her lips twitched, but whether it wanted to go up or down was anyone’s guess. She noticed that I had noticed what she was doing because of what she noticed about me.

Maybe this would be fun.

Her eyes seared into mine. “Then explain it to me.”

“Yes ma’am,” I grinned, flashing another handsome grin. 

This time it was unmistakable.

Alexandria is amused.

“I snorted because I had known it was only a matter of time before someone called me some dumb shit like ‘Eidolon-lite’, or ‘Black Eidolon’. People see a Trump with a plethora of different powers and immediately come to that conclusion, which - fine, right? I get it. But…” I rolled my neck, hand reaching up to cup my mouth as my eyes darted up to the ceiling in thought.

“But…?”

“He and I - we’re not really similar at all,” I continued, shaking my head. “I’ve said this before, and I’m sure you’ve probably heard the recording - it’s why I feel comfortable reiterating it. I. Keep. Growing. No matter what I do or how much time passes, I will gain power. It could be small or large. Useful or useless. But I grow - in all kinds of ways. You feelin’ me?”

Alexandria shifted again, but this time, it was to lean in closer, resting her full weight on the table as she watched me with rapt, full attention. “Go on.”

Instead of verbally responding to the command, I merely shot her a wink and continued my mini-tirade. “Eidolon, though… bro’s at the peak of the world because of his powers, right? No offense to you, but he’s the most powerful superhero in the world because he apparently has an infinite amount of powers that he can call upon at will, but he has to cycle between just a few at a time. Correct?”

“I don’t see how-”

I raised a finger from my mouth, holding up the universal sign for ‘silence’, and surprisingly… Alexandria acquiesced, the corners of her lips twitching down in that unique way they did when she was debating whether or not to act on a certain emotion. 

A wry smirk formed on my face. “I’m not sure how much more blatant I can make this. I’m not like Eidolon because I’m limitless. My powers don’t work on logic, they ain’t powered by triple A batteries like the energizer bunny, and lady, I got enough Thinker juice in my brain to give Eggman a fuckin’ heart attack. Is this room secure?”

I had thought about it throughout the discussion. Why the fuck was Alexandria of all people singling me out, but promising me things like complete and utter amnesty, the sincerity that I didn’t have to answer any questions despite the fact that she could just as well push all she fucking wanted, and clearing out damn near the entirety of the PRT HQ for mandatory seminars… all at the very same morning I’d be coming back from hunting down Kaiser and Coil? 

Not to mention the very genuine interest she had in everything that I was saying, the woman hanging off of my very words like a catfish dangling from a hook.

I didn’t consider myself the smartest tool in the shed by any means, but I was decently observant. Hidden Intuition wasn’t completely infallible, but I knew that I could trust its observations, and it had been practically confirming every single thing that I’d been feeling throughout the tour and this one-sided discussion. 

In layman’s terms…

Coil is Cauldron’s secret love child.

Coil will be king!

Coil is bad. Coil dies to Overpowered Trump.

Overpowered Trump is so sexy and strong and charismatic.

Avalon be king…?

They wanted me to be their new Project Terminus guinea pig. Cauldron had its eyes on me, and possibly my Cassie, Amy, Sherrel, Imp, and Trainwreck. If my hunch was correct, they didn’t mean me or anyone I cared about any harm… but since when the fuck was Cauldron trustworthy or hyper-competent by any possible stretch of the words? I was cautious, sure, but I damn sure wasn’t scared of any of them, and so, I would do what I did best, and-

Stare danger in the face, grin, and tell it to get on its knees. ‘Cause Jason Black wasn’t anyone’s bitch.

Alexandria knew, too, that I knew. Or, if not exactly what I knew, then the fact that I was onto something. In the brief couple seconds it took me to go back over everything in my head, what small amount of casual comfort that had built in the room burned away into cinders, replaced by a heavy, stiff pressure that would have shook a lesser man. She didn’t stand, but her lips pulled down into a severe frown, her brow furrowing into deep grooves as she scanned me with brighter, more cautious eyes.

In response, I merely placed my hands in my lap, feeling my ocean of mana churning beneath my sternum, and stared back at her. 

“... Well, is it? I don’t know if you want a buncha random IT nerds hearing about-”

“Before you continue, Avalon,” Alexandria began slowly, her voice deeper, gruffer, “I must ask you to be sure - absolutely sure - that you are ready to take responsibility for the next words that come out of your mouth if they prove to be misinformed and half-assed.”

“That you confirming that this room is secured, then?”

“Yes.”

“Then yeah, Miss Alexandria,” I smiled thinly, leaning forward and tapping my finger on the table. “I’m absolutely sure about everything I saw. And while I’m not joining your lil’ shadow organization, I don’t mind lettin’ you in on some of the stuff I know. Really fucking deep shit. Stuff that some people would be blind to. Assuming you can do a couple favors for me.”

“...”

I could see the way her eyes almost sparkled beneath her- wait, no, they were sparkling. Hidden Intuition overlaid gleaming sparkles of light in the Hispanic woman’s glaring gaze, directly contrasting with the stoic and determined lines of her severe expression. Her body didn’t move, and neither did her head - only her gleaming eyes did, looking me up and down with a new consideration.

Alexandria is wary. Alexandria is anxious. Alexandria is interested.

Alexandria desperately wants to introduce you to her ‘little shadow organization’.

‘Not fucking happening.’

A second passed, and then fifteen, and then a full minute. Emotions flashed across her face at a breakneck pace, but Hidden Intuition sensed no immediate hostility or aggression - just a bunch of worry, curiosity, and, oddly enough, desperation. A lot of desperation. 

“... List your terms before revealing any information, Avalon, and we can properly barter.”

It might as well have been a verbal surrender.

Cracking my knuckles, I looked up at the stone-faced woman and grinned. “‘Ight, bet. First off, about these Number Man accounts I stumbled across last night…”

…

...

...

I ended up staying in that conference room for one and a half more hours, and when I finally left, it was to the sight of a scowling Cassie glaring at me with eyes that practically screamed ‘you’re in the fucking doghouse, mister’.

When I glanced back into the room, there was no one inside, but Alexandria hadn’t walked out behind me. Her destination was obvious - Cauldron's base. She left through a Doormaker Portal.

But that was fine.

With Purity’s Birdcage imprisonment confirmed, any future money problems permanently taken care of, and a cute noobie sorceress of a girlfriend to teach… today was proving to be a remarkably resourceful day already.

Were there potential ramifications of my actions this morning?

Almost certainly yes.

But were there also potential advantages for humanity as a whole for Cauldron to know more about what they were going to fucking fight against anyway?

Fuck yes.

Let the eggheads and scientists bust their asses figuring out the nitty gritty, my plans hadn't changed. Empower and establish Invictus as a deterrent against villains, kill Jack Slash, delay Golden Morning, and fuck off to Arendelle for a fucking vacation having hot threesome sex with Elsa the Ice Queen.

No Cauldron plot could disrupt that.

But, for now, what was the next course of action for one Jason Black?

‘Think I might pay the Dallon Residence a visit…’

Amy wasn’t our girlfriend yet, but going off of the groupchat texts, she’d been crying…

And no one made my (future) girlfriend cry.

Heh… at this point, I was getting pretty damn good at kidnapping young women.

Was it bad that I didn’t mind it?

____________________________________

A/N:

Sorry, no rolls here. With the new Grimoire, there's a lot of new perks, which means a lot of duds that Jason would simply decline without much fanfare. We got one such roll this chapter.

Now, for the elephant in the room: It was a long time fucking coming, but he had to meet a Cauldron representative eventually - in this case, Alexandria. I did my best to write her in a way that I personally liked, but mileage may very. Maybe some of you fucking hate her. That's fine - she's not the most likable character in Worm.

Some people are 100 percent going to be upset at Jason giving Cauldron information, but honestly, guys... he's trying to save the world. If he knows that he can defend himself, Hidden Intuition is telling him that Alexandria is a 'friendly', and he knows that giving them some of his meta knowledge could help humanity... why the fuck wouldn't he do it? Hidden Intuition and his own cleverness saw through Alexandria and he came to the correct conclusion that they needed him, so he used that.

Cauldron's not an enemy in this fic, but neither will we be seeing much more of them. They're a shadow organization for a reason, and the point of their project is to see if their subject can climb to the top on their own. Jason, in their eyes, is already well on his way to being a warlord. The fact that he's an extremely powerful thinker that can see through Blindspots, apparently, is just icing on the cake.

Anyways, if you don't like Cauldron, don't worry - like I said, they won't be showing up more. Next chapter, we move on to some Cassie and Amy fluff. God I fucking love Cassie and Amy fluff.

Oh, and magic. Maybe Amy gets magic? 🤔