Bob immediately called for evac. It was not like the authorities were immediately going to move based on a some unknown article, but there was a problem. Londyn knew enough about him to confirm a lot of the story, and with it out in public she wouldn’t be able to deny it to her Council. Once that happened, they would come for him, so he needed to get moving now. And you never know what a stray super with dreams of becoming a hero might do. So he called on one of his grav-jets nearby and was soon flying away.
He was more worried about Nemesis. He had to assume whoever this was knew where they were. There were factions out there, not least of which the ILS, who would have cause to immediately assault Nemesis if their location was also revealed. And the team would fight back if attacked, which could quickly escalate.
In fact, there were individuals on the team he imagined would immediately move to assist him, regardless of what conflicts that may result in.
So he needed to give orders and get them moving right away. He called Chris and had them start the emergency evac protocol. He then called Cikizwa, instructed her to have the team assist with the evac and avoid confrontation. That should buy enough time for him to regroup.
With the urgent issues handled for the moment Bob took a moment to think.
The sheer breadth of his activities revealed ruled out a standard spy or traitor. No one person in his organization had been present for all of the incidents in question. Hypothetically, post-Nemesis someone like Elise could have hacked his personal technology or tagged him with a small drone. But besides Elise’s personal loyalties, some of these events had happened before she was even born, and before that sort of technology had been available.
He had to assume something else was at play. A super at minimum. One who had managed to track him without his knowledge. Someone he knew very little about.
But not nothing.
The method chosen revealed a great deal, in fact. This person had the ability to track him unseen. So they certainly had the ability and opportunity to kill him. They had not, instead choosing to reveal him. They had manipulated some of the evidence, attributing to him some events that were not his doing but that he was involved with. He doubted a person of these capabilities could make mistakes of that degree so he assumed it was intentional. They wanted Bob known to the world as a villain.
And what they hadn’t revealed also spoke volumes.
They hadn’t revealed the full extent of his relationship with Londyn or Xiong Huang. They hadn’t revealed Nemesis. And they hadn’t revealed he had control over the AVS either.
What did all that say?
Clearly they wanted Bob and the rest of the world, probably the ILS specifically, focused on one another for the moment. Otherwise, why not just remove the threat entirely? Why leave him with several of his most loyal and powerful assets?
Which meant someone was doing something they didn’t want noticed.
And that someone was threatened by either Bob or the ILS, possibly both.
Which meant that no matter what happened next, Bob needed to find them. He was certain Londyn would realize all this and search for them as well. However, this person had already slipped past all his sensors. Elise’s advanced sensors, Saydaa’s mystic powers, Kiyosuke and Nana’s shinobi training, Arvid’s honed intuition. Nemesis HQ’s early warning sensors and magic wards. An entire global network of drones and spies. Baba Yaga. Xiong Huang. None of these had managed to catch any indication that something was wrong. And the opponent had deployed a compromising article to the web without being caught by Elise as well.
He felt it in his gut and all the evidence he had agreed. Londyn would not catch this foe. At least not before they had finished whatever scheme they had in motion.
Which meant he needed to find them.
While being hunted by the world.
He heaved a sigh.
Extremely annoying indeed.
“Director, I don’t think you understand the gravity of this situation.”
“I understand it better than anyone, Councilman.”
“Director, there are some on this council who wonder if you should even remain in office given these revelations. You let something like this go on unchecked? From what it says, you even knew this guy personally. Which means you either knew about all this and did nothing, or you had no idea while he acted right under your nose. We are not certain if either case is better.”
“And you believe everything you read online, Councilman?”
“Then tell us the truth, Director. How much of this is true?”
Londyn just shrugged.
“I would have reported it if I had concrete evidence on something like this.”
The Council glanced at one another. Dr. Fraser heaved a sigh and looked Londyn in the eye.
“Look, Director Green, while the Council does not all agree with Councilman Hayes’s tone, we are all concerned about this situation. If even a fraction of this is true, we could be facing a very dangerous player. So we need to know. What do you know about this person? Or what can you guess?”
Londyn paused for a moment, then heaved a sigh of her own.
“It is true he was a significant source for the ILS until recently, and that I knew him personally to a degree. I was aware that he was working with villain organizations to get that intel, to what degree I didn’t know but given the nature and timeliness of the information I have to assume he was deeply involved. I will admit that I trusted him further than I should have, but let me state that his intel was critical to the ILS’s early successes. For example, I don’t know to what degree he was behind the rise of villains like the Atomic Herald, the Necrosaurus, or Miss Le Blank. What I do know is that he was the one who gave me their locations and helped me prevent disaster. And that is something this article did not seem to mention. I cannot speak to the allegations about the super serum or the kaiju, only that he gave me as much warning on the super serum as he could and the casualties would have been worse if he had not. What I can say is that the part about him attacking the ILS and kidnapping me are blatantly false. He specifically worked to put a stop to that in that instance, something I saw with my own two eyes.”
She glanced around, looking each member of the Council in the eye.
“And that is something the Council should take note of. Whoever dropped this article is picking and choosing to create a specific picture. We need to consider all the angles on this before we leap to conclusions. I personally am more concerned about whoever sent the article than its subject.”
The Council exchanged glances before Councilman Hayes spoke once more.
“That may be, Director, but the fact remains this Bob is a serious threat, and one that we know about. I do not see why we shouldn’t deal with him immediately.”
“Xiong Huang.”
“Excuse me?”
“Xiong Huang, the immortal Mistress of the Eternal Night Sect. The one who destroyed the Vophae and their fleet by hand. That person is in love with this Bob. In fact, I believe he is the only person she cares about at all. So what do you think she will do should something happen to him? Should he die in some sort of drone strike or an arrest gone wrong? She will make us miss the Vophae, Councilman.”
Londyn heaved a sigh.
“I’m not saying we should let Bob walk free. We should bring him in and have him give an account for himself. I intend to oversee the operation personally, in fact. What I am saying is that we should take care in how we go about it. And we certainly should not jump to deadly force purely off of allegations by some unknown party. And we very much need to consider all the consequences of our decisions here.”
Londyn leaned against the wall after the meeting. Captain Hot Devil walked up to her.
“Director.”
“Captain.”
“Good work in there. You feeling alright?”
She just sighed once again.
“Not really.”
Captain Hot Devil stood in silence for a bit, slowly opening his mouth. Londyn heaved another sigh.
“It’s what you’re thinking. He’s the one from Kayserling Tower.”
Captain Hot Devil frowned, his face scrunching up for a bit. Eventually he sighed as well.
“...I see. Then we both owe him, don’t we?”
Londyn just stared forward, then looked down at her hands.
“...I’m not sure, to be honest. He saved my life, several times in fact. He helped me build the League, helped me find myself. He helped us save the world time and time again. But he may have been the one to put it in danger in the first place. He also had Linda spy on me all that time, and manipulated me. Used me to achieve his own goals, of which I am still not entirely certain. So I don’t know if he’s a hero or a villain, if I should be protecting him or hunting him down. I’m not sure if he was a friend or if I was just his pawn all along. But I do know one thing.”
The Captain waited for her to continue.
“We should be the ones to bring him in.”
Captain Hot Devil nodded.
“Oh, and that Xiong Huang will kill us all and most likely destroy the world if anything happens to him in the process.”
Captain Hot Devil groaned at that.
Londyn made her way to a private room. She took out her phone and took a deep breath.
Here goes.
She dialed the number.
It rang for a bit.
And then…
“Hello Londyn.”
“...Hi Bob.”
“No.”
She heaved a sigh.
“Look, Bob, I know. We need to find whoever did this. But the jig is up. I can’t just let you walk away now. I’m not sure I can keep them from hunting you either, and we both know what will happen if you get hurt. So please, come in. I promise, we will work something out, and I will do everything in my power to hunt down whoever this is. But I can’t help you if you won’t work with me.”
“I can’t do that, Londyn.”
“...Bob if you don’t, I will have to come after you. Come in, and I can devote my attention and resources to finding the culprit.”
“You won’t find them.”
Londyn’s eyes narrowed.
“You don’t know that.”
“I know that I’ve been compromised and you likely were as well. I know that they left both of us in charge of our organizations and have pointed us at each other. So I know that something terrible is likely to happen if we don’t do something. Find them, and we can talk, Londyn. Until then, I’m not leaving anything to chance.”
And with that, he ended the call.
Londyn heaved a sigh.
And started to give orders.
She couldn’t say she didn’t expect this.
Which meant now she had two mystery masterminds to hunt down.
😑