The App 4 (Patreon)

The App

Chapter 4

-VB-

The defeat of the Slaughterhouse Nine and their sudden disappearance gave the nation a cause for celebration.

The movers and shakers, however, did not miss how a simple question asked in a simple way led to the Nine’s defeat at Harrington. This wasn’t just the USA, Canada, and Mexico who saw this, the victims of the Nine’s continued existence, but beyond in the likes of Eurasia.

Now, for all of the focus the western media (read: American media) put on Gesellschaft and the CUI, there were more powers at play than the two regional powers. Yes, regional. After all, why was the CUI still stuck ruling over only China when they supposedly had one of the best parahuman operatives? Why was Gesellschaft still stuck imitating a dead artist in a small part of Germany?

Because they were regional powers surrounded by equally strong powers.

CUI claimed control over all of China on the international stage, but in truth, they had an unending guerilla warfare in the west against a single cape, open rebellion in the south, and refused to touch Manchu lest they burn their hands against the resurgent tribes.

Gesellschaft held the record for highest turn over rate among the big powers of the world. Combined with hatred of Neo-Nazis and Nazis among the legitimate governments, they fought an undeclared war on all sides.

None of these competing powers held a regional subscription with Ask Mel!, and this was intentional. Anyone with a brain can take the time to think about it.

“The people behind Mel profits from low scale conflict,” the Director of the CIA Emmanuel Katersburg spoke up in a meeting with Chief Director of the PRT Rebecca Costa-Brown, Secretary of Defense Abraham Carter, and the President of the United States Vincent Obama.

This meeting here? This meeting was a place without politics. President Obama didn’t bring his republican agenda here. Secretary Carter didn’t growl about modernizing the military. Emmanuel himself didn’t point out the wealth disparity that was sure to upend American socioeconomic scene into a violent outburst like it did everywhere else in the world. The Chief Director of the PRT for sure didn’t talk about getting more funding.

No, this meeting was how each factions within the United States of America maintained its position as the bastion of democracy (republic) and superpower, which was still something that existed but in an ever declining importance.

It was, however, still important enough to help bring in rebel Congolese cobalt, Pan-Peruvian lithium, and cheap Brazilian meat for America’s future.

“But it’s not to our benefit,” Costa-Brown spoke up as she glared at the documents in front of all of them.

“No,” Carter responded with a huff. “It’s very closely aligned, but there have been some instances where our agents have died for seemingly no reason.”

“Is it because they got too involved with wherever they were stationed?” Emmanuel asked. “If someone asks Mel a good enough of a question, then you know what kind of answer they get.”

The bisection of the Slaughterhouse Nine, a long hated murderhobo villain team, stood as an example of Ask Mel!’s overreaching power. To be safe from Ask Mel!, one had to be proactively using Ask Mel! themselves. It was why for this meeting, each of them had friends, associates, and subordinates using that damned app to provide subterfuge.

The consensus among them was that there was a Thinker 12+ behind Ask Mel! There was no other way a single individual or even an organization could have access to information to the future, past, and present. Not even CIA’s vaunted intelligence network could provide what a person thinks to another.

And Regional Subscription Emmanuel held could do that.

“No,” Carter grunted irritably. “A retired US Navy marine was asked to deliver a simple message to a cartel he was tangentially involved with through marriage. We were intending on supporting them to remove the rest of the violent cartels. Instead, the marine died less than five minutes after he stepped foot on Veracruz, some one hundred miles from his destination. He had no document or other evidence that could give away his position, and didn’t even know who he was going to be talking with.”

“Huh,” Vincent muttered. “So Mel could be our enemy.”

“Could be, yes,” Rebecca said blandly. “But so could the Guild if we push them enough. No, Mel is obtaining something from all of these skirmishes, but not even my Thinkers can figure it out.” She paused. “Well, except for a data trend that makes little sense.”

The other three, including Emmanuel himself, turned to look at her.

She sighed. Although violence is escalating especially where parahuman capes are involved, the number of Trigger Events that should be occurring has been on the decline.”

Emmanuel frowned.

Trigger Events and powers were horrible. He would know because his own granddaughter had triggered when she was sexually assaulted (none of the boys involved lived through the month), and worse, her power that summoned six burly male Brute projections with similar proportions and facial shape as her assaulters always reminded her about how she got her power, no matter how useful it was for her to have them as a hero.

It was why he handed over all of CIA’s parahumans over a decade ago when he took over as the new director of the CIA.

Even with therapy and support group, parahumans would eventually have moments of outburst that would make keeping them not worth it. The damages they inflicted on their own allies during such an outburst was bad enough when they were surrounded by other capes, but when surrounded only by squishy normals, the damages could be catastrophic.

Even something small as sleep walking could leave a dozen injured or dead.

Emmanuel wished he could ask these very questions at Mel, but that was like alerting to an enemy that they were onto them.

Personally, Emmanuel didn’t think that “Mel” and whomever was behind the app were enemies of the state.

“What about the perpetrators after the fact?”

Rebecca looked at him. “Sorry?”

“The cartel leaders, warlords, war criminals, gangsters, and more. Whatever about them after the inevitable escalation?”

She paused. “Cut down in half.”

Emmanuel grunted. “Are you sure Mel isn’t working for world peace?” he asked sarcastically. “If what we think is right, then she’s taking the duties of the jury, judge, and executioner to cut down on the ‘evil’ of the world.”

He knew this because he knew of four people who had the Regional Subscription: the most recent Pope in Rome, a mild tempered Brahmin priest in India, and the second generation Emperor of the CUI, each of them working towards to stabilize and reform the society under their umbrella.

And the fourth person was one of them within this meeting itself.

Rebecca Costa-Brown.

Emmanuel didn’t bother to ask her to have Mel answer some questions for him. That was a hidden rule for how Ask Mel! Worked for the Regional. The president there had it at one point, but answering one question for someone else got his privilege revoked and money refunded.

Yeah, Vincent was salty about losing that subscription and hasn’t forgiven his vice-president since.

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Carter spoke up. “It’s the opposite over in Japan.”

“Japan? That chain of islands nearly done for.”

“Nearly,” Carter agreed. “But Mel did something to bring it back, and the local warlords are fighting tooth and nail to keep the resurgent economy there for themselves. More and more capes are produced there every day… but not as much as Korea.”

“What’s happening over there?”

“People are rising up against the military government. All of the details of the atrocities committed have been more or less being discovered left and right with evidence to boot. One of the recent cases I’ve read up on was an old Korean War veteran who got a regenerating Brute power after discovering the remains of his family. No relatives left alive in the peninsula, though we do have a branch over here in the States. He basically went berserk after getting his power and took down an entire loyalist brigade to the last man before he keeled over.”

“Jesus Christ,” Vincent muttered and o-.

RRRRRRRAAAAANNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!!

They all froze. Emmanuel froze as fear, not for himself but for his granddaughter, ran through his vein.

Because that was the Endbringer alarm.