Adversary epilogue - Four voices

Emma Hunter-Hull is no longer an Enforcer. But she's still doing the job of managing world peace. Sometimes that means listening in on private conversations. Sometimes that means that means accessing restricted files. And on a good day, it means getting to do that all too rare activity: telling the whole truth. It feels like lifting a weight off old shoulders.

Without preamble she shuts off her listening device and approaches where Judson and Leo Snow are talking, noting the presence of Leo's assistant Pneuma and Agent Ted Waters standing off. She subtly gestures for the old ACTION agent to come closer, and he acknowledges with an equally subtle nod.

Leo and Judson look up as she approaches. Good, no need to waste time getting their attention. "I've been reviewing the files. Tanner Bane was the CTO of Touchstone Solutions from 1976 to 1982. During that time he brought in a lot of his own people and put them in key positions. He was well situated to hear about new developments at the company, and to influence things to go his way. It was his policy that influenced the contract terms you and Miss Kotobuki had signed. And it was his policy to suppress information, like the transformation Miss Kotobuki was already undergoing."

Judson looks distinctly surprised. "What? What're you talking about?"

"In short, Moleculon did nothing out of the ordinary. Leo's mother was already slowly dying due to the experiments they were doing on her in secret. Experiments into the transmission of all sorts of things. Technological attempts to replicate the same sort of 'passkey' power I have, for example. Her cyber-telepathy was just the tip of the iceberg if these reports are accurate."

The implications of this wash over Judson's face in an angry wave. He's on his feet before he can say anything else, and his fists are balled, but Emma expertly pushes him back down into his seat. "Bloody hell, calm down. ACTION knows, or will know. We'll see that justice is done."

"No!" Judson yells. "I saw it! Moleculon attacked her!"

"He was using his power to restrain you. From what I've read of his report - and he did file one - he felt an unexplained energy feedback. Probably Miss Kotobuki's powers resisting the attack instinctively. Well.. I'm no science expert, and you are. See for yourself."

She hands over a data pad, and watches Judson's hands carefully as he thumbs through the data. She watches with narrowed eyes as he cross-references the same Touchstone data sources she was reading earlier. And she reads him easily enough that when he drops the pad in shock, she's there to catch the hardware so it's not damaged.

"Your former boss, and his picked men, did this to your lover, Mr. Snow," Emma announces calmly. And while Judson starts rubbing away hot tears with fiercely-curled fists, she watches Leo stretch out a tentative hand and finally place it on his father's shoulder.

"May I see that, Emma?" Pneuma asks. Emma nods, and absent-mindedly hands over the data pad. Why not? She's part of this too.

----

Pneuma browses the data pad. So much of her own history is wrapped up in this incident. Leo's birth, the creation of "the Gnome", a life-long hatred that she inherited from Leo's memories. His ghost lives on in her head, advising the person she has become. But something jumps out at her, and she re-scans the pad a couple times to be sure. "Leo.. look at this." She highlights a section of data and extends it.

Leo accepts, and as he does, Pneuma becomes aware that Judson Snow is crying. Every fiber of her body rebels at his presence. To him, she imagines, she is nothing more than a fancy toy created by her son. She remembers the abductions. She remembers the Shadow Syndicate. And she's still remembering these things when she finds her arms wrapped around the little man and holding onto him.

As Judson mourns the loss of his wife and the attendant betrayal, Pneuma glances over to see Leo's eyes widen. He stands slowly. "These.. Hey.. Hey, Pneuma, you're right. Gnome. Dammit, no. Judson? Dad. Crap. I have no idea what to call you now. Hey, old man, listen!"

Judson looks up with puffy red eyes. Leo waves the data pad in his face. "These readings. These are neuro-hologram values. Synaptic matrix calculations."

"Yeah, I was studying that stuff for the company," Judson replies. "That's how I was able to build your neurochip." Slowly the source of that data dawns on him.

Leo nods. "This is Project Tesla. This is the energy field that Touchstone has upstairs. Yeah? This isn't some random energy field. This is a mind. There's one like this in her, and him, and her--" Leo points at Pneuma, Otto, and Niki.

Judson grasps the implications immediately. "You built a neuro-holographic extraction algorithm? And a parallelizing quantum axon emulator?"

Leo shrugs. What kind of question is this? ".. Yeah?"

Judson presses. "So you have an extraction device?"

Leo nods again. And both men lock gazes as they realize the same thing. "We can bring her back!"

They start to run, together, for the exit. And Ted Waters is there, pressing his hand gently but firmly against two chests. "We'll take my car, gentlemen."

----

The drive to Leo's lab feels interminable to the men in the back seat. To Agent Ted Waters, this is just another day on the job. From what he can glean, Snow pere and Snow fils intend to recover a person, somehow, that both thought was dead. The kid's got the science to turn the result into a living mind, while the dad has the know-how to do something with the original energy field to make that possible. Waters has learned not to ask unnecessary questions. Right now his job in this equation is to keep an eye on the Gnome.

The back seat has quieted down. Emma and Pneuma are riding along as well. Neither woman seems inclined to talk more. Waters is surprised when it's Judson who speaks up.

"You're Agent Ted Waters, ACTION. I remembered you. You were always there, every damn time. How'd you track me down, anyway?"

"That might compromise operational security. Sorry, sir, I have to decline to answer." The words flow smoothly from Waters' lips. And they're true. He goes back to driving.

"And you're the guy who raised my son to be the man he is." That earns a slight waver on the steering wheel. But at least the conversation seems to be on safer grounds.

"No, sir. Leo was placed in a succession of foster families. We made sure the son of a supervillain was being adequately protected, as well as the foster family." No need to mention that every new abduction disrupted the boy's life. If Snow pere hasn't figured that out, it's meaningless to explain.

"But you had a hand in pickin' them."

Waters composes his features. His fingers tighten on the steering wheel. "I had some authority over that selection."

"Yeah? Well then. I guess you're as close as I'm gonna get to say this. Ya did a good job with my kid. He's been a royal pain in the posterior, too. Well, that's gotta be how it is, I figure."

The lab is just ahead. Waters pulls in and gets out. Plenty of time between the time he leaves the car and when he opens the back doors to use the handkerchief on his eyes. He's got to keep up appearances.

----

Zeta is the only one in the lab. The Aleph Team went off to help Link and his friends. Most of the workshop is locked down, and Zeta finds that none of his old codes work. He tries a few attempts to break through the security, with no success. Small surprise, he thinks: he and Leo have plenty in common mentally. Of course he'd anticipate what Zeta would try.

He's surprised to hear the door open. He's more surprised to see Leo and the Gnome enter together. Every hateful emotion comes rushing back in a moment. Before he knows it, he's sprung across the room, only to be expertly grabbed from behind by somebody who shouldn't be there. Who--?

Emma's voice comes over his shoulder as a firm pair of hands pinion his arms and force him down. "Ease down, soldier." Of course, thinks Zeta - the teleporter Mirage.

"Hey, Zeta." Leo's voice. "Yeah, bro, I heard you got betrayed by someone you were working for, who took away your hopes and dreams. Meet my dad. Same thing just happened to him. So I reckon you two have a lot to talk about."

Emma releases him, and Zeta rises to his feet. Something is absolutely amiss, and he tries to orient himself. "But you're enemies."

"We're family," laughs the Gnome bitterly. "Bein' enemies comes with the territory. Yeah, the kid is right. Tanner Bane did me dirty. But that son of a bitch is gettin' his. There's no more Unitron either, Solar Girl saw to that. Probably Rex Mundi's doin', that connivin' chiselin'.. anyway. Tanner Bane wanted to see if Leviathan could brainwash a digital mind. Spread that around the network, turn the whole world's computers into intelligent slaves. Then I helped him get his hands on Unitron. Which, y'know, probably was the end result of that for all I know. Whoops."

"Anyway. You want to help save a life?"

Zeta reels mentally. This is all too much to take in. But the final question shines a much-needed light through the fog. "... Yes. What do you need me to do?"

----

Zeta hauls the heavy halo apparatus out to the car. Leo follows, hauling a spare shell and a handful of other equipment. Agent Waters hits the pedal. The car peels out, hot on the way back to Touchstone.

The two inventors work feverishly. The mind-extraction technology is familiar to Leo, while Judson is a veritable whirlwind with the rest of the gear. Waters and Emma watch the elder man like a hawk, though Leo seems too engrossed in his own half of the problem to worry about the risk.

The last connection is snapped into place. The last power cable is plugged in. Judson throws the switch, sending arcing currents through the Touchstone lab's equipment. And Leo steps forward, facing the AI machine.

"Before the omnipotent witness, I pledge never to use this power for evil," he declares. And the final switch is thrown.

The entire lab lights up. Streamers of energy - the same type that struck Circuit when she was last through here - reach out and around, seeking a home. That home has been prepared: a feminine shell, sculpted originally for Pneuma. Through the AI machine, a torrent of data flows. A human mind, reduced to digital information by a power gone out of control, captured by a soulless super-science, now frees itself and flows back toward the light.

The power fades from the room. The meter dials swing back to zero. And Kaguya Kotobuki opens her eyes.