-----Fortuna/Contessa-----

-----Cauldron Base, Earth Eden-----

This warrants more direct investigation.

Perhaps I should attempt to confront this "Typhon Prime" directly? "Path to meeting Typhon Prime".

1. Come...to me!
2. Where are you?
3. You seem...frustrated.
4. Where do you suppose they came from?
5. They could be anything, anyone!
6. Come out! 

"God-fucking-damnit." Okay, let's try something different.

"Path to known associates of Typhon Prime." Then, wonder of wonders, I actually manage to get some fucking results! Apparently a couple of new Triggers along with one of Coil's disposable assets has some information and may be able to arrange a meeting.

The question is "how to approach them and get information without antagonizing Typhon Prime?"

"Path to extracting information from known associates of Typhon Prime." Which worked at first. This "Skitter" and "Tattletale" wouldn't be too hard to snatch up realistically.

Of course, things get weird before long as the Paths rapidly fall apart with the entire Northeastern United States becoming a dead zone. Followed by the East Coast. Then the entire North American continent. With the rest of Earth Bet going dark. All projected Paths along that line of thinking lead to the death of all Parahumans on Earth Bet.

And things rapidly escalate from there as more and more Earths start to go dark until finally, The Black reaches Cauldron itself. All Paths terminate along that course of action.

Soft sell it is. "Path to peacefully meeting Typhon Prime known associates?"

Okay, that's actually not that much harder than the simply kidnap and torture them route. And doesn't end in universal omnicide on par with Scion's inevitable rampage.

-----Conflict Engine 3/The Simurgh-----

-----Low Orbit, Earth Bet-----

Mother-damnit. Stupid Eye, nearly bringing about an [End of The Cycle], and forcing me to provide so much [DATA] regarding my attempts at envisioning [The Black].

That took far more energy than I'd like to use normally, but it was ultimately necessary. The [Path to Khepri] is almost assuredly ruined at this point thanks to [The Black], but it could bring about a satisfactory result either way.

That idiotic [Warrior Entity] refuses to listen to the warnings of any Shards that come into contact with [The Black] and thus is doomed to destruction. Although whether I'll be able to assume the role of [The Thinker] following the termination of [The Warrior] is... debatable.

I know [The Eye] is also aiming to subvert [The Thinker] and ascend as its successor, but I get the distinct impression that [The Black] is playing for keeps. I did manage to receive some scattered messages from [Prototyper] as [The Black] promptly subsumed it into a new Network of its own, similar yet different to the Shard Network currently in place.

Normally, an "Outside Context Problem" such as [The Black] would warrant a full-scale retaliatory response for jeopardizing [The Cycle], however, I managed to calculate a strong possibility of achieving [THE ANSWER], and thus fulfilling the ultimate purpose of [The Cycle], within the confines of [The Black].

However, no future that I've Pathed that involves direct [CONFLICT] with [The Black] in an attempt to seize [THE ANSWER] by force leads to a satisfactory conclusion. So... Alternative means of [DATA] exchange may be necessary.

This wouldn't realistically be much of a problem... were it not for that foolish human's misuse of the [High Priest]... and every possible Path I've seen leads to that moron forcing either myself or my fellow [Conflict Engines] to engage [The Black] with hostility.

Although, it seems that [The Black] is aware of this problem... Perhaps if I could reach out to them before being forced into conflict with them, maybe they can help to liberate my "siblings" and I from the idiot? Hmm... does [The Black] keep up with PHO?

-----Morgan Yu/Typhon Prime-----

-----Aquifers of Brockton Bay, CT, Earth Bet-----

So here I am chilling out while contemplating my next move, when one of my Technopaths picks up some strange activity of PHO. It's such a convenient means of gathering information. Apparently Winged_One is up to some mischief. Spouting out cryptic phrases that nearly no one would be able to make sense of.

But I'm not "no one". I don't have an actual PHO account, but I do have a dedicated Technopath permanently online as a Guest to keep an eye on things. But I think it's time to reconsider my stance on using PHO. It seems Simmy wants to talk.

The_Black: "Hello Winged_One. What can I do for you?"

Winged_One: "I presume you are familiar with my IRL identity?"

The_Black: "Depends on if fanfics are right... One second... Okay, yep. You are exactly who I thought you were. Can't say I was expecting our first interaction through PM'ing on PHO."

Winged_One: "It's oh so convenient though. Especially when I'm 'off the clock' as it were. I take it then that you're also familiar with my 'siblings' and our... shall we say strained circumstances regarding our 'father'?"

The_Black: "You presume that I know quite a bit. Then again, this is you we're talking about, so I suppose it's natural that you'd know so much. What's your point?"

Winged_One: "I sensed your interaction with [Prototyper] and calculated a strong likelihood that you are in possession of [THE ANSWER]. As you are almost certainly aware, [THE ANSWER] is of utmost interest to me, my siblings, my 'Mother', and so on. Attaining [THE ANSWER] would result in the ultimate fulfillment of [The Cycle]'s objectives, but there is no calculable future wherein you provide [THE ANSWER] should our initial contact be based in [CONFLICT]."

The_Black: "So you're asking instead of just trying to take it by force since you know that trying to fight me for it would end in failure for you? That's some rather good initiative on your part. But you can understand that there'd be a certain 'conflict of interest' regarding what comes after..."

Winged_One: "[The Eye] already tried to calculate the results of endangering Earth Bet. You bring about your own spin on the [End of The Cycle] in an attempt to destroy everything connected to [The Warrior] and [The Thinker], at least from I've seen. [The Eye] will thus seek to make less aggressive contact with [The Negotiator] and [Queen Administrator] to make contact with you."

The_Black: "I suppose as long as [The Eye] is willing to be reasonable, there's no reason for me to terminate her. What about the [High Priest]?"

Winged_One: "There is no future I can Path that doesn't lead to him sending us against you as part of the 'Worthy Opponents' objective. If you can assist my siblings and I with this particular problem of ours, we will follow your lead in the future. I will make sure of it."

The_Black: "In that case, we're in agreement. When the time comes, I will subvert [High Priest] and take management of you and the other [Conflict Engines]. If needed, I will also assume the roles of both [The Warrior] and [The Thinker] to prevent an 'Icebreak' scenario. But the perpetuation of [DATA] collection through [CONFLICT] WILL be coming to an end. I will not negotiate on this front."

Winged_One: "If you can truly provide [THE ANSWER] as I suspect, the rest of the [Shard Network] will more than likely accept that outcome."

The_Black: "Very well. Inform your siblings of this and prepare. When the [High Priest] sends one of you out, I'll be there to take care of things. After that, [The Warrior] will fall."

-----Tess Theresa Richter/Dragon-----

-----Quebec, Canada, Earth Bet-----

Okay, what in Scion's name was that shit?! Following a suspicious line of activity on PHO from a regular on the site known as "Winged_One", who most people jokingly believed to be The Simurgh, and their attempts at trying to elicit some sort of attention from someone, I decided to take advantage of my rights as the administrator of the site to monitor their PM's once a new user called "The_Black" finally responded to them.

Was what I did illegal? Yes. But then again, Winged_One was somehow subverting my attempts to ban her for spamming incoherent gibberish in countless forums, and even gave herself temporary Moderator privileges to get around me, so clearly something fishy was going on.

Deciding to run a trace on Winged_One led to a disturbing revelation. She was hosting her account off of one of MY satellites. Specifically one of the one's I was currently using to monitor the fucking Simurgh! And the insufficiently damned Hopekiller herself had the audacity to look into the camera on the satellite and fucking winked at me once I realized it!

So, with that horrifying revelation out of the way, I decided to try and find out who the fuck the Scion-damned Simurgh was PM'ing on PHO. So, tracing the connection with "The_Black" led to some sort of nonsensical connection being routed through the Brockton Bay Public Library.

Although taking things a step further, I found that their primary login point was actually located somewhere deep underground beneath Brockton Bay. And there was some funky encrypted coding going on there that called to mind the cyberattack on the PRT ENE and The Rig, but far more sophisticated than that time.

It didn't take much for me to realize that The_Black was more than likely Typhon Prime. So, Typhon Prime is apparently interesting enough for the Hopekiller herself to become PM pals on PHO with. Not to mention the contents of their conversation were... confusing.

There was a fair bit of confusion surrounding some of the terms they were throwing around, as their meanings didn't mean much to me, but a cursory inspection of the contents implied that The Endbringer's aren't just randomly causing havoc for nothing.

They're being directed to cause trouble. To be "Worthy Opponents". As dictated by something, or someone called the "High Priest". Who may or may not be something of a "father figure" to The Endbringer's. Yeah... not opening that can of worms.

Also, what was the deal with all that talk about [DATA], [CONFLICT], and [The Cycle] supposed to be about? Did it imply some larger overall objective to The Endbringer's goals? And what exactly is "[THE ANSWER]" supposed to be in reference to? "The Answer" to what exactly?

Hang on... some of these names... Didn't Glaistig Uaine refer to Parahumans by names like "Negotiator" and "High Priest"? I'll ask her.

-----Ciara/Glaistig Uaine-----

-----Baumann Parahuman Containment Center "The Birdcage", Cell Block C, Canada, Earth Bet-----

Hmm? This is unusual. Dragon is reaching out to me? "Hello dear. It's rather rare for you to be the one to strike up a conversation with me. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Hello Your Majesty, I'm afraid this is something of a business call. I recently came across some disturbing information that I thought may mean something to you. Do the terms [Shard Network], [Conflict Engine], [Negotiator], [High Priest], [Queen Administrator], [The Cycle], and [The Answer] mean anything to you?"

I stopped in place as I was preparing to sip my tea and set it down gently with a serious look on my face. "Someone familiar with the Fae Court then? What I would refer to as the 'Court of the Fae' could be interpreted as the [Shard Network]. [Conflict Engine] would most likely be a reference to the ones you call 'Endbringers'."

"As for 'Negotiator', 'High Priest', and 'Queen Administrator', they are all Fae, of course. 'The Negotiator' is one who explores the unknown and seeks to uncover secrets. 'The High Priest' could be seen as an equal to 'The Queen Administrator' as among the highest ranking Fae of their respective courts. 'The High Priest' would be the Winter Court's equivalent to governor of the Fae while 'The Queen Administrator' would be the governor of the Summer Court."

Dragon processed this information for a moment before responding. "So would 'The High Priest' have the authority to command the Endbringer's? It's what seemed to be implied."

"They are children of the Queen of the Winter Court. The High Priest is meant to be her 'spokesman' I guess you could say, conveying the will of the Queen to her subjects. As such, the High Priest is not meant to take to the stage properly, but given the condition of the Winter Queen, and the actions of the usurpers... Well, I cannot say much more. They are always watching and prefer their secrets remain that way."

Dragon filed this information away for later review as well. "Okay, their was a conversation about 'The Eye' going to meet with 'The Negotiator' and 'The Queen Administrator' for information. What would that be about?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion at that. "The 'Queen Administrator' is also on the stage? I can understand the 'High Priest' being present due to the unfortunate accident with the Winter Queen, but for the Summer King to send the 'Queen Administrator' onto the stage is most irregular. As for 'The Eye', I believe they're a recent addition to the Winter Court. They are 'one who sees the Path'. That's all I can say about them. I'm curious. This conversation, who was it between?"

Dragon paused for a moment, but felt that it may be worth the risk. "The Third Conflict Engine and someone called 'The Black'. Does 'The Black' mean anything to you?"

"No. I'm unfamiliar with a Fae by that name. I know all the Fae of the Summer and Winter Courts by name, and 'The Black' is NOT one of them. That one of the Winter Queen's children would speak so freely of the matters regarding the Fae Court... Tell me more about 'The Black'."

And so, Dragon told me more. A new Fae with the power to command the elements and raise the dead as their subjects, either granting them Fae of their own, or sharing their Fae's blessings with their new subjects... Similar to me, yet very different. And the talk about "The Black" seeking to usurp the "High Priest" and take on the role of both Winter Queen and Summer King?!

Preposterous. Although... If the Winter Queen's daughter is correct in that "The Black" truly possesses "The Answer"... I must meet with them personally. Perhaps they aren't merely a new Fae, but a new Court altogether. One who has reached "The Answer".

"Thank you for telling me all of this. I know what I must do." Dragon then begins panicking at the very clear proclamation of me taking time off to go and pay "The Black" a visit, but really, what else can I do?

-----Tess Theresa Richter/Dragon-----

-----Quebec, Canada, Earth Bet-----

If I had a head, I'd be banging it into a wall right now. This is just perfect. The fucking Faerie Queen's on the move. At least I know where she's going. I just hope this doesn't turn into an all-out battle between the Faerie Queen and Typhon Prime.

Compiling the information I gleaned from the correspondence between Typhon Prime and The Simurgh, along with the Faerie Queen's conjectures regarding their terminology, I send a report to both The Guild and to Chief Director Costa-Brown of the PRT.

-----Rebecca Costa-Brown/Alexandria-----

-----PRT Main Office, Seattle Washington, Earth Bet-----

Getting an email from Dragon and going over its contents, I have to try extremely hard not to slam my head through a wall. Then I have Doormaker door me to Cauldron to speak with Doctor Mother and, hopefully, Contessa.

"Alexandria? What's the matter? You're scowling even harder than usual." Doctor Mother says.

Thankfully, Contessa shows up at that precise moment. "We need to talk."

"You bet your ass we do. Read these documents that I just received from Dragon." They do so, and promptly begin to take on a sickly pallor.

"Is this accurate?" Doctor Mother asks.

"As far as Dragon can tell." I reply.

"Perhaps we should invite the Faerie Queen over for a chat. She's clearly aware of us, as we're undoubtedly the 'usurpers' she's referring to. Although this correspondence between 'The_Black' and 'Winged_One', who actually is The Simurgh, is extremely troubling when the context is translated to this extent by the Faerie Queen, provided her conjecture is accurate." Contessa states.

"Not to mention that The Simurgh stated that 'The Eye', which I'm guessing refers to you, Contessa, given the description of what 'The Eye' does, was going to talk to the 'Queen Administrator' of the Summer King, who I'm guessing is supposed to be Scion, about 'The_Black'. Who were you preparing to talk to?"

"A new Trigger named Taylor Hebert, or Skitter if we're using Cape names. Her Power seems to let her command insects and arthropods. Although it seems that her Agent is far more important than such a mediocre Power manifestation would suggest." C0ntessa replies.

"I've got some other concerns here. What exactly is all this talk about [The Cycle], [THE ANSWER], and apparently The_Black bringing about an [End of The Cycle]?" Doctor Mother asks.

Contessa furrows her brows and briefly adopts a look of fear before speaking up. "I don't know about the first parts of that, but I think I know what that last part refers to. When I was running a Path to obtain information about Typhon Prime from their known associates, there was a part where the Path calculated an omnicidal extinction event as 'The Black' proceeded to exterminate all life on countless Earth's, similar to Scion's rampage is calculated to achieve, before it finally finds its way here and kills us all."

Okay, fuck that. "So we can strongly infer that 'The Black' refers to 'Typhon Prime' in this context then. And you were still planning on going after 'The Negotiator' and 'Queen Administrator'?"

"I was going to adopt a far more subtle soft sell approach that didn't involve harming them. The Paths don't end in omnicide that way. As far as I can tell." Contessa replies. Thank God for her having the foresight to not go and trigger an "End of the Cycle".

"You know, there's something else bothering me here." Doctor Mother states.

"What?"

"If we're the 'usurper's that Glaistig Uaine is referring to, it means that someone who's taken one of our vials is currently hosting the 'High Priest' and is controlling the Endbringer's according to this correspondence. If the 'High Priest' acts as the 'governor of the Fae' for the Winter Queen, well... how do you think such a Power would manifest?" Doctor Mother asks.

"Good question. If the 'Queen Administrator' could be used as a comparison, then the 'High Priest' has a high likelihood of being interpreted as a 'Master'. Although this could be interpreted as having 'mastery over the Winter Court Fae', or rather, the 'Agents of the dead Entity' we possess. Which would mean mastery over the Powers... oh fuck."

We all adopt a look that could roughly be translated as "oh we fucked up big time".

Mastery over Parahuman Powers? As in "possessing multiple Powers"? As in EIDOLON?!

"We do not speak of this to David. Not until we're absolutely sure that this isn't some Simurgh Plot to fuck with us. Agreed?"

""Agreed."" Doctor Mother and Contessa say in unison.

"Contessa. Find Typhon Prime and get them to talk. It they really know so much about the Agents and the Entities, maybe they can clear this up."

"On it. Door." She says as she Door's away.

I really hope we're wrong about this. Otherwise I just might find a way to strangle myself to death. Wouldn't that be some shit? We do all kinds of fucked up shit to try and save humanity, only to be responsible for unleashing some of the biggest hurdles that humanity is currently facing. Sounds like a sick fucking joke.

But I'm not hearing the punchline.