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A Devil Amongst Worms by Dellian

Worm & Chainsaw Man Xover Rated: M, English, Horror & Supernatural, Skitter, Makima, Words: 76k+, Favs: 556, Follows: 628, Published: Oct 28, 2022 Updated: Feb 19, 2024

182Chapter 7: (Interlude- Piggot)

Reviewed by: GMX, 2Scoopspleas, colorfull wanderer

Interlude - Piggot

The echoing silence was thunderous. Like a ripple in a pond, it echoed across the room with a gravitas that tied tongues and swallowed words.

"Dragon… Can you repeat? Leviathan is… where?" Director Armstrong asked, hesitance and disbelief cloying his voice.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Director Tagg followed, glaring at Dragon's monitor.

Emily Piggot doubted the greatest Tinker would commit to tomfoolery in a meeting such as this. Parahumans were hormonal manchildren prone to violence, but Dragon was dedicated to her job with a professionalism that made her more tolerable than the rest.

Nevertheless, Piggot could not blame her fellow directors for their skepticism. Even she was wondering if she was in a dream.

"I can assure you, Director Tagg that I am making no attempt at humor. As of yesterday afternoon, at the time 16:34, Leviathan was and is stranded in the remains of Mercury," Dragon reconfirmed serenely, as if she was repeating a recipe from a cookbook rather than transmitting information that would change the course of the world.

"Unbelievable…" Whispered one of her colleagues. Who it was, Piggot could not determine. But it did not matter. It was a sentiment they all shared.

They all had seen the footage of the battle between Leviathan and that red-haired parahuman. Uber and Leet had recorded the entire battle from start to end and had published it on their channel. That video was then spread to the rest of the internet, taking it by storm. Even now, every news channel, social media, and radio broadcast dedicated itself to covering and analyzing every inch of that fight. By the end of the day, she doubted there would be a single soul in the civilized world who had not, at the very least, heard of what had happened in Brockton Bay.

When all seemed lost, a hero had appeared and turned the tide, singlehandedly saving the day. It was a tale straight out of a movie. Like any good story, the public drank it in like ambrosia, transcending Makima from obscurity to that of a global superstar.

When Piggot first viewed the video, she had passed it off as a tasteless joke by villains who had never mentally matured past their pre-pubescent years. But when Dragon confirmed it to be genuine, she could not help but be impressed. Facing an Endbringer required admirable courage, and to have faced one singlehandedly was a feat to be applauded.

But even then, that was all there was to it. It was not the first time that an Endbringer had been driven off. The battle of Brockton Bay would be a sensation for the months to come, but it would remain only that and nothing more than a fleeting event.

That was what Emily Piggot had believed.

Until now.

Like herself just a few minutes ago, the public assumed this was the usual 'victory' where an Endbringer was driven off with most of the city standing and most of the population surviving. Since the emergence of Behemoth, Endbringer battles ended in only two ways. Total annihilation or partial destruction. There was never a reason to think of a third.

But this victory was just that—a total one.

Once the world learned of what truly happened to Leviathan… Once the people learned that the Sinker of Cities himself was stranded 48 million miles from Earth…

Dear god…

What was happening now would be a flickering ember compared to the conflagration that would erupt once the news is released.

Just the thought of the incoming chaos churned her stomach. While Armstrong looked like he was a song away from dancing and laughing, she could not say the same. An Endbringer being permanently eliminated was joyful news, but all Piggot could feel was trepidation.

From her experiences, she learned that life was an equilibrium. Where there was an up, there would be an inevitable down. The ups and downs may come and go in small ripples or colossal waves, but once everything was summed, the line would remain in the middle.

It was why she had never fully committed to destroying the gangs. It was inevitable that a critical victory would be followed by a disastrous defeat, undoing any progress previously made. Even if she had succeeded in culling the current infections, new diseases would move in, filling the open gaps and resetting the city back to the shitshow it was.

Balance was the natural order of the world. So what would happen if an event disrupted that balance on a global scale? An event such as the removal of an Endbringer?

"If Leviathan was launched from here to Mercury… Jesus… Dragon, what is the state of the planet? Do we need to worry about any apocalyptic-level asteroids in the future?" Director Hearthrow worriedly asked.

"A large portion of Mercury's mass has reached escape velocity following the impact, but it is unlikely that anything will reach us. Even if there are millions of pieces flying in space, it is statistically unlikely that anything will travel in Earth's direction due to the distance. Furthermore, any debris must escape the Sun's gravitational pull which is improbable. In the unlikely event that something does come our way, we will have seen it coming from a million miles away."

"What of the global ramifications? Would the… God, I can't believe I'm saying this… Crippling of a planet have any environmental consequences for us?"

"No, Director Hearthrow," Dragon responded. "Mercury is too far and too small. Unlike the moon, its gravity has a near-negligible impact on Earth."

The man sighed in relief before allowing a small smile to take hold.

"Damn… Never thought I would see the day…." He said with a chuckle.

"Are we done? Hmm? If we're finished celebrating, let's address the elephant in the room," Director Tagg surlily said in a tone devoid of joy, earning scowls in every direction. But he ignored his peers and continued. "What do we know about this… Makima? Who is she? Where is she from? Is there even anything we know for certain?"

"Any and all information we possess pertaining to her background comes from the person in question," Piggot replied with a calmness that she did not feel. "Whether she is telling the truth however, is unknown. We have no way of confirming the verity of her words."

"I believe she was honest about her origins from a parallel Earth. Her behavior during the Endbringer battle suggested she was unfamiliar with the Triumvirate and Leviathan, which is nigh-impossible for a resident of our Earth. The current theory is that the seven-fingered hand was a trans-dimensional mover ability," Dragon remarked.

"Should we be expecting more visitors? What else does our illegal alien… claim?" Tagg questioned, not bothering to hide his skepticism.

"If you are asking if Makima is a prelude to an invasion, it is unlikely. She would not have fought so hard if she was. There are far better ways of earning our trust while weakening our forces than eliminating one of the greatest threats to our world. Unfortunately, Makima herself is uncertain of what brought her here, but I hypothesize that it was a ploy to remove her from the board."

"With power like that, small wonder," Hearthrow snorted. "Parahumans of her world seem to have a habit of throwing troublesome things out of their world. Speaking of which, why the hell didn't we do the same to Endbringers?"

"Production and research into trans-dimensional tinker tech are illegal, and we have no recorded case of a parahuman with a similar ability. Furthermore, the Behemoth is diakinetic, and the Simurgh is a precog. No amount of force or strategy will be enough to trap them in space. Leviathan was by far the easiest of the three to eliminate in that manner," Dragon explained.

"While I am grateful, I find the woman rather… disturbing," Piggot said, frowning. "Even when she was torn and crushed, her expression never changed from a smile. Even if she has a power that mutes pain, I can't imagine being disemboweled and beheaded being pleasant."

"Makima claimed to have been a division head of the Bureau of Public Safety, an organization similar in function to the PRT and Protectorate but without the separation between parahumans and the rest. Her calm may come from experience."

"That's a recipe for disaster," Piggot scoffed. "Parahumans can't stay in the same room without starting a fight, much less lead an organization without a stable hand to guide them."

"If that's the case, do you think she will be amenable to joining the Protectorate?" Armstrong asked. "Her addition would be a massive PR boost and would resolve the… problems to our reputation."

"My heroes have already offered. She refused, saying that while she enjoys superhero movies, she has no desire to dress like one. She also mentioned that our heroes look ridiculous," Piggot parroted derisively.

"Her world's heroes don't wear costumes?"

"According to her, every member of the Bureau was required to wear a specially woven suit and tie regardless of gender, similar to what she had worn when arriving at Brockton Bay. The terms hero and villain were not used to differentiate the moral alignment of parahumans."

"Well… Then I guess our world would be a bit of a culture shock," Rennick chuckled.

"This is unacceptable!" Tagg roared, slamming down his fist on the table. "We can't allow such a dangerous parahuman to roam free without supervision. There needs to be a way to collar her!"

"Watch your mouth, Director Tagg!" Armstrong rebuked. "Makima is a hero, not a dog to be put on a leash!"

"While Director Tagg could have phrased himself better, he has a point. Villains have consistently fought against the Endbringers. Just because she participated in one battle doesn't make her a hero," Piggot countered.

"How many villains would stay behind to save a city they had no connection with even after the battle was lost? If that is not the definition of heroism, then what is? Makima broke no laws and committed no crimes! She does not deserve to be treated like a dangerous criminal," Armstrong rebuffed angrily.

"Director Armstrong, we know nothing about this woman or her motives. It hasn't even been a full day since she arrived in the Bay. Which side of the law she chooses to stand with remains to be seen. If we act too hastily, we might end up giving good press to a villain," Rennick countered.

"People are helpful to those who support and like them," Armstrong said, shaking his head. "If we treat her like a hero, there is a good chance she will become a hero regardless of her past. Makima has done more than enough to earn that treatment. Even if she never joins another Endbringer battle, participation will skyrocket now that the whole world has hope!"

"Hope…" Chief Director Costa Brown muttered, speaking for the first time as her eyes gazed at something distant.

"Chief Director?"

"It's nothing, Director Armstrong," she said. "Director Rennick, any news from Watchdog? What do they have to say about her?"

Rennick grimaced. "The results are less than subpar. The best they could do was check the veracity of her statements. Attempts to gather information into her past and future ended in disaster with multiple thinkers suffering from aneurysms and bouts of insanity."

"That is… troubling news," Piggot worriedly said. "Is she a blind spot like the Eidolon and Scion?"

"No, if she were a blind spot, they wouldn't see her at all. Watchdog collectively reported that analyzing Makima was like running in water with half your weight's worth of sandbags attached. Some of the thinkers swore they learned something but were unable to remember what they learned after suffering from a backlash. The current theory is that she has an anti-thinker field."

"Are you telling me that we can neither control nor track her? She's a fucking Endbringer!" Tagg growled.

"That is completely uncalled for Director Tagg," Hearthrow rebuked with a frown.

"She cut a biblical wave in half. What the hell do you think will happen if she uses that kind of power in a city? Endbringers, at the very least, fight with limitations and in predictable patterns. But that woman? She doesn't need to play fair. Her blaster power has a fucking range of a million miles. She can flatten the entire United States if she ever reaches a high enough altitude! What do you think will happen if she gets mastered? What if the Simurgh gets to her? Hero or not, we need to have a counter for her!"

"While I disagree with Tagg's tone, I concur that we require a plan of action if Makima ever turns hostile," Rennick mediated, tapping his finger over the desk. "Dragon, what are her current threat ratings?"

"Upon preliminary investigation, the parahuman Makima's ratings are as follows: Brute 7, Mover 6, Blaster 10, Master 5, and Trump 12. But due to her Trump abilities, all current and future threat ratings may be inaccurate."

Every decibel of sound was drowned in a tidal wave of silence.

"What?!" Tagg hissed, interrupting the quiet. "Trump 12? Where the hell did that come from?"

"Even putting aside that ridiculous Trump rating, her mover and brute ratings should be higher. Leviathan was a brute 9, and she was manhandling him towards the end." Hearthrow commented.

"During the battle, she told my wards that she had a power that allowed the sharing of abilities between herself and another," Piggot explained.

"Then her threat scaling is meaningless. She could have any number of abilities she never displayed. Did your wards…?" Renick asked hestiantly.

"No, Miss Militia stopped them before they could."

"Good. Power granters come with too many strings attached. The last thing we need is for our wards to be mastered," Tagg muttered.

"I'm assuming you're referring to Teacher. But he is just one parahuman, and there are not enough power granters to establish a pattern. Just because Makima is a power granter does not mean she will face the same drawbacks as Teacher," Armstrong argued.

"Similar powers have similar drawbacks. Eidolon and Glasting Uaine are limited to the three abilities, and I'm betting Makima has a comparable restriction. I see… I'm getting the full picture now… She must have mastered Lung," Tagg theorized, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Based on what evidence?!" Armstrong exclaimed, scandalized.

"Makima was easily defeated during her first fight, and the second went similarly to the first. But all of a sudden, she overwhelmed Leviathan twenty minutes in. If she was always that strong, why hold back?" Tagg said as he thought. "Also, it's odd that Lung joined the fight when he refused to do so, even when offered a pardon. It doesn't make sense that he would break out and kill the guards just to fight Leviathan… unless she mastered him and gained his power… That's why she was so much stronger at the end."

"That's circumstantial evidence at best," Armstong challenged. "You forget she's from another world and could have gotten a similar ability to Lungs during her career. You're also leaving out that she never displayed pyrokinesis or turned into a dragon."

"Then how do you explain that Master rating?! Lung is human garbage," Tagg sneered. "There is no way he would have fought unless he was forced to! I bet Makima was the one who broke him out in the first place; there's no way those two could have met in a city as large as Brockton Bay otherwise."

"Director Tagg," Dragon interrupted. "I'm afraid I will have to agree with Director Armstrong. The possibility that Lung was mastered was something I considered and investigated. Due to my resistance against mind-altering powers, I questioned Makima about the matter. She admitted that she possessed a Master power but was limited to controlling 'lower lifeforms,' meaning that she could not have Mastered anything beyond animals."

"And you took her at her word? She could have lied!"

"I ran her statement through Armsmaster's lie detector and Watchdog. No falsehood was detected."

"Then how do you explain Lung's behavior?" Tagg insisted.

"Makima claimed that she found Lung through one of her abilities and convinced him," Dragon explained.

Tagg scoffed. "As if pretty words would convince a thug like Lung."

"The wards mentioned that she was charismatic. We do not know if her charism is power induced, but if she really is as convincing as they claim, it is not outside the realm of possibility that she persuaded Lung to fight. Furthermore, I had every one of her statements analyzed, but I couldn't find a single lie. There were omissions and partial truths but based on the results, I believe she is being honest."

"One parahuman couldn't have fooled all of Watchdog and our best tinker," Armstrong added. "Lung fought for his home in Kyushu. While he never joined another battle, is it so strange that he was willing to fight for his home once more? Men like Lung refuse to bow before authority out of spite, but he may have been willing to fight Leviathan if it was on his terms."

"This optimism is going to ruin us," Tagg sneered. "Fine… Have it your way. But what happened to him after the battle? That bastard will probably get a pardon, but we still need to recapture Bakuda and Canary. Have we found them yet?"

"Unfortunately, they all disappeared in the chaos. It seems they went into hiding," Dragon replied.

"This just keeps getting better and better… Even if we lose Canary, Bakuda must-."

"We should release her threat ratings," Piggot interrupted.

Renick frowned. "Are you talking about Makima's? PRT threat ratings are classified and only publicized for villains."

"Then make her the exception that she is. I'm sure the public will want to know as well."

"But… Why?"

"We are not the only ones wondering about Lung's strange behavior. He acted oddly during the fight as well. If we publish that she has a Master rating, what do you think some would assume?"

"What?!" Armstrong exclaimed in disgust. "Dragon and Watchdog already confirmed that Lung wasn't mastered. What the hell would that accomplish?"

"The truth doesn't matter, only what the public believes. Let's face it, the PRT and Protectorate's reputation is in ruins for fleeing the battle of Brockton Bay while an unknown and a slaver are being hailed as heroes. Once the world learns that Leviathan has been eliminated permanently, our reputation will crash even further while theirs's skyrockets. If we press the Master story, we can whittle down Makima's reputation."

"Director Piggot, are you even listening to yourself?" Armstrong decried, aghast. "This kind of duplicity will only hurt us in the long run! We need Makima on our side, lying will only alienate her!"

"What lie?" Piggot scoffed. "All we are doing is releasing her threat ratings. If the public sees the Master rating and comes to the wrong conclusion, that is their fault. Not ours."

"She's right," Tagg agreed. "Makima's greatest weapon right now isn't her parahuman abilities but her fame and prestige. If we can't control her, we need to crush her influence before it grows further."

"A lie by omission is still a lie! Makima put down a monster that slaughtered millions, and you want to stain her image? Just so that we could recoup some of our lost pride? This plan isn't just stupid. It's cowardly," Armstrong disparaged in anger.

"You don't live in Brockton Bay, Director Armstrong!" Piggot snarled, nearly shouting. "You have no idea what it is like in that city. The Protectorate and PRT lost all credibility when they fled and the gangs are using that rhetoric to strengthen their own positions! Even as we speak, Coil, Merchants, Empire, Undersiders, and even the Travelers are carving out more and more of my city every minute!"

"You're aiming your gun at the wrong target Director Piggot! Going after Makima won't restore our reputation nor weaken the gangs. You should be working with her to subdue the villains, not alienating allies!"

"Makima will rule Brockton Bay in everything but name if we don't stop her! Nobody can match her in power or prestige and the lives of 300,000 people will be under the whim of a single parahuman! Who do you think the public will support if she becomes a villain and clashes with the PRT? We won't be able to act against her in public without consequences! She will literally have free reign to do whatever she pleases without restraint!" Piggot insisted.

"Agreed," Tagg nodded approvingly. "Makima is too much of an unknown and has far too much power, both hard and soft. She could easily build a superhuman army if she can also give power to non-parahumans."

"This… I can't believe this… Whether we succeed with this plan or not, our reputation will only sink further. Not everyone is stupid enough to fall for this ruse, and those who don't will despise us even more!" Armstrong argued."

"Our water is already pitch black. No amount of ink will make it blacker. If we can weaken Makima's support, it will be worth it," Piggot said.

"That doesn't justify-."

"Enough!" Costa-Brown interrupted.

"Chief Director, this is-."

"I. Said. Enough," she interrupted once again, slowly articulating every word. "Director Armstrong, if you cannot listen… Leave."

"… Very well," Armstrong spat, reluctantly agreeing before sinking back into his seat.

"How should we deal with Makima, Chief Director?" Rennick questioned. "If we attack her reputation, it may put sufficient pressure on her to join the Protectorate."

"We will do nothing."

"WHAT?!" Piggot cried out in outrage.

"Leave Makima be. Do not support her. Do not undermine her," Costa-Brown ordered

"But Chief Director, if we leave her be, she may take control of Brockton Bay!" Piggot argued.

"Perhaps that will be for the best, Director Piggot. Considering your record of failures to curb the gangs, perhaps Brockton Bay is due for a change in leadership.

Piggot flushed in anger, her complexion morphing into an unhealthy scarlet as her nails dug into the table. "I've kept this fucking powder keg from exploding! I maintained peace and stability in this fucking city for a decade!"

"Peace and stability? Hmm…" Costa-Brown intoned. "I wonder if the victims of the gangs will agree with your definition of… peace."

"Better that than engulfing the city in an all-out gang war! If I try anything, the casualty count will skyrocket!"

"Then you will do well with your next assignment. Do not attack the gangs. Do not attack Makima. Do what you have always done. Nothing."

Next Chapter is the PHO interlude. The chapter was shorter than usual but please review/comment as usual. Also, a note of thanks to the consistent reviewers: alexc, Wicked.A, Megami Elric, maskedkeeper, kukuhimanpr, LawlessWriter, ramul, CykaBlyaintestines, ML Siegfried Neri, and everyone elsew who reviewed/commented

Chapter 195 - 7