The Bargainer 20 (Patreon)

The Bargainer
Chapter 20

-VB-

Instead of heading to the next destination, target, or Saath, I returned to Earth Bet. I did need to show up and give reports and whatnot. I was an owned man, after all.

I stood before the PRT Board of Directors, but only a select few of them through teleconference. There was Rebecca, who I am supposed to refer to as Chief Director Costa-Brown in public settings. She was the “hardhead” who would push me to do more, both in Cauldron and during PRT meetings. She was sorely unsatisfied with my contributions, or lack thereof in her eyes, in Earth Bet. She told me time and time again that I needed to do more. “It’s been almost a year since you’ve become a Protectorate hero. You need to do more to show the world that the Protectorate is untouchable.”

I, however, did have friends among the directors.

The weakest in power yet the kindest of them all was Director Armstrong, PRT Boston’s director. Unlike Rebecca and the hardliners, he was a very likeable man. He treated each parahuman he met as their own independent individual, which was something I couldn’t say about all directors. However, I didn’t underestimate the man simply because he was kind and gave respect. He was a director of the PRT; one did not simply become one because they were kind or skilled. He needed to be skilled in politics as well as whatever field he was part of. Considering that his record showed he’d been part of the marines for two decades…

Yeah, he was not to take lightly. Don’t let that eye-smiles, jolly attitude, and walrus moustache fool ye.

My other more influential friend was, surprisingly, Director Tagg.

The aggressively combative director considered me in good standing for two reasons: my retrieval of advanced technology from the multiverse and willingness to “brave” their dangers.

He may or may not have been traumatized by the sight of the Tyranid in one of my earlier video reports. He was still aggressive like I remembered reading about him, back before I got my powers and everything, but he put that focus not on parahumans, criminals, and villains, but to campaign and push for USA to develop new technology and upscale the military.

Of my two allies, only Tagg was here right now, and he seemed very interested in what I was doing, simply because I was the only one with access to other worlds (that he knew of).

The other two directors plus Rebecca were just unhappy with me. The last director…

The PRT Director of Alaskan branch looked up from her reports.

The woman didn’t care; she had too much shit on her hands to deal with to get involved in whatever I did. Despite how nonchalant this woman was being, Jasmine Ho was definitely not a woman to mess with (just like the rest of the directors).

A normal person does not earn a name like “Cape Killer” for no reason, after all. Anyone that wasn’t top tier fighter feared her.

The only reason she was in Alaska was because … well, Congress wasn’t too happy with a woman like her in charge of Norfolk. The brainwashed and ill-informed politicians thought that she was too violent and would escalate the status quo to the point where Washington’s own capes might be caught in the blast radius of her influence.

Well… It did happen. About a year before I came to Earth Bet, she led a campaign to eradicate an especially violent parahuman gang. Over the course of a week, a hundred died, thousands injured, and a quarter of a billion dollars in collateral damage ruined the southmost tip of the city. However, she failed to wipe out that gang. Instead, they fled Norfolk and dove straight into New York City. With a dozen members, they outnumbered most of the smaller gangs and caused a five-way gang war.

It was what led the Slaughterhouse Nine to come by New York City and lead to Hero’s death.

Sufficed to say, a lot of powerful figures blamed her, but her successful track record up to that point saved her from any harsh punishment. Instead, she was sent off to Alaska to cool her heels.

Considering that Anchorage’s cape population fell from forty-five to ten and that those five were Protectorate heroes with the rest being independent heroes and non-villainous rogues, she hadn’t cooled her heels.

She was what Tagg could be if he pushed that soldier mentality harder than he usually did.

According to Rebecca during Cauldron’s meetings, they intended to keep there permanently.

So.

Why was she on this small board meeting?

It’s because despite all of her faults, failures, and successes, she was still a decorated director of the PRT and one of its most insightful and dedicated leaders. Her role here was to be an advisor, nothing more and nothing less.

“We will now begin the Beast’s report,” Rebecca spoke up. “Today’s date and time for this debrief is April 9th, 2001, 8:31 PM. I am Rebecca Costa-Brown, and the Chief Director of the Parahuman Response Team. With me are PRT Director Tagg, PRT Director Ho, PRT Director Tyler, and PRT Director Rennfield. We will be debriefing the Beast on his activities in the past month that he has been missing in action. Beast?”

“This is the Beast,” I spoke up for whatever recording device was in the room I was in here in this New York City’s Protectorate HQ (The Protectorate HQ) meeting room. “I can confirm that today is April 9th, 2001 and that it is now 8:32 PM.”

She glared at me. I annoyed her by adding that extra one minute there, and did so by slowing down my words just a bit so that it became 8:32 PM just when I was about to call it out.

I just smiled right back at her.

Tagg grunted. “So where have you been?” he asked.

“In a mostly human inhabited world in search of a good location for an alpha site.”

“...An extraction point, huh,” he muttered.

“It’s very far from Bet’s universe, so whatever force that does manage to end Bet’s USA will not find the alpha site.” I frowned after saying that. “Unfortunately, my plans have not gone according to plan. I had agents there, and tasked them with making a city capable of housing at least one million. Instead, they took the technology and power I shared and ran, leaving only seven out of fifty-ish behind to take care of the city.”

“Is this one of the projects approved by the chief director…?” Ho asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” she replied tersely. “I was not, however, aware of complications.”

“Is that all you have been part of in the past month?” Tagg asked.

I wanted to grumble, but kept at least the professional blankness over my face. “It is. I didn’t know at the time, but the flow of time between that universe, let’s call it Planetos, and Bet is not linear. From my perspective, only a week had passed.”

“Does that not exclude that universe from being a proper alpha site, then?” Director Tyler asked. “Unreliable communication and connection would mean that situation might change and we will not know of it until we directly encounter it. That is unacceptable for what is supposed to be a ‘vault’ for America.”

“I agree,” I sighed. “Compound with the desertion-” Tagg’s eyes narrowed into a glare, but it wasn’t aimed at me. “-I am reconsidering Planetos. However, there are very few planets that I came across that can do the job without my constant supervision.”

“I see,” Rebecca hummed. Though she didn’t look it, she had to be disappointed. We only had so much time before Golden Morning happened, and more time we lost was less preparation we could make.

And the debriefing continued on from there with questions about this world, its resources, and the peoples.

-VB-

When I came out of the meeting room, someone slammed into me as they threw their entirety at me. Arms wrapped around my neck and shoulder, and I found myself with a distraught woman.

I wrapped an arm around to my back and patted her head.

“Did you miss me?” I asked softly.

“T-They said you died!” Jennifer wailed.

“Sorry. I didn’t expect to be gone for so long,” I replied as I pulled her around. Thankfully, this particular corridor was empty right now.

And then there was a dim flash before we were no longer in the corridor. Instead, we stood inside a bedroom.

Wait, was this-?

Jennifer pulled my mask and hoodie off and kissed me passionately. It lasted for all of four seconds and then she pulled back.

She glared at me.

“You and me. In bed. Now.”

… How could I say no?