“How do you think that would go, Victoria? Hey, guys, I’ll give you this thing if you promise not to go after this member of the Fallen you have really good justification for hating. For no reason, I promise, I’m totally not on his side. Come on. They do have some humanity. For Snag, a few choice words at the moment he was about to pull the metaphorical trigger, as that tiny part of him screamed that it didn’t want to do it? Would’ve worked.”

“Love Lost?” Rain asked.

“Angrier. Hurting more. You would have needed to bleed first, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as bad. It’s why I told Cradle that if he and Operator went after you, she shouldn’t be there. She would have been too hard to hold back, and what I told him was that she would have snapped and killed you in a very unsatisfyingly quick way. I could have steered her away with the right words, right timing, but I didn’t want to gamble it. Cradle is pragmatic. He got it. She wasn’t invited along.”

“And Cradle? He was there and you couldn’t stop him.”

“Like I said, I needed to prove I could deliver, to maintain the professional relationship, but I didn’t have to deliver if I could make a better offer. I think someone beat me to it, offering him something.”

“Who? What were they offering? What were you?”

“I don’t know who or what. They exist in hypothetical. As for me, I was offering a way out.”

“A way out,” Rain said. “Of the—the rotation.”

“There’s a cape by the name of Goddess. Also the Blue Empress, Blue Lady, the Woman in Blue. Once situated on Earth Shin, she was brought here for the fight against Scion by a strange, unnamed player who has since been classified as a threat on par with any Endbringer. Or with Goddess, as it happens. Unfortunately, this anonymous figure didn’t put her back.”

“A strange, unnamed player?” I asked.

“So it happens,” Tattletale said, with a grin. “With only a select group of top Wardens and major players really tracking what really happened. But we were talking the woman in blue. She got powers and was relocated to Earth Shin before she could… grow to full potential. Relocated by a certain secretive agency.”

“Cauldron,” Sveta said.

“Yep. She proceeded to take over Earth Shin, with all other parahumans acting as her lieutenants. All other parahumans on that world, mind. No exceptions. Which the organization deemed fine, because they got to keep her in their back pocket, even while they couldn’t control her. She is, or was, a grab-bag, she found a way to pull free of her cluster, and she came out of it with a set of powers that would each be world-class on their own.”

“What happened to the others?” Rain asked.

“Dead?” I guessed.