Issue 9: The New Protectorate

General Summary

While Battery chipped away at her mountain of paperwork, our heroes discussed the bizarre events that just unfolded, and what they might mean for the mission.   Abe theorized that if Ebony Maw's powers only work on natural capes, it stands to reason that Infinity might not be able to get his "lobe stones" from capes who ingested the formula. And if that's true, they need to revisit which capes are on their to-do list.   With that idea in mind, they turned their attention to Dinah Alcott. The party asked her to use her power to find out how to stop Infinity, but she explained that because there is so much information to sift through; her power can only look to see whether a specific thing does or does not happen. That said, Infinity's plan was currently sitting at an 81,7% chance of succeeding.   Pivoting back to the recent developments with Ebony Maw, the party asked Dinah for her opinion on which of the top capes - or "Omega Capes" - might have ingested the formula.   Dinah ruled out Magnus, Allfather, Apex, Imp, and herself; but thought there was a very strong chance that Geomancer, Legend, and Laserdream were all "bottle capes". She couldn't decide on the Beast, Iron Maiden, Grey Boy, and Siberian; saying there were convincing arguments both for and against the idea.   Remembering that they had an unconscious Ebony Maw to deal with, our heroes piled into Dinah's Monday Escalade and returned to PRT HQ. They were greeted at the front desk by Kenzie, aka Vortex; who was most impressed with our heroes victory. She was dismayed however that most of the Protectorate - particular Chevalier - appear to have quit the team.   After the clean-up crew took their alien prisoner away, the party headed to the 3rd floor to meet with the Director. The Directors pursed her lips in disapproval as she read, her knuckles whitening and teeth clenching with every word she read. But Director Emily Piggot is a professional, and she collected herself before addressing the our heroes.   "Mmm. Well. It seems you four will be our new...Protectorate. This is very surprising indeed. You four aren't exactly...what we are used to working with. Still, by all accounts you have performed very well, and I suppose we're lucky to have you. Do you accept?"   Our heroes eagerly agreed, and were promptly presented with contracts so thick that they thudded as they hit the table. They signed without hesitation; and with that they became the new Brockton Bay Protectorate.   The Director explained that there are some mandatory requirements that must be seen to right away. They need to see PR to go over costumes and code-names, attend an orientation class, and complete a training assessment. Naturally, PR came first, and the New Protectorate headed to the 5th floor.   When they arrived, they were greeted by a totally inoffensive and completely culturally appropriate representation of fashion designers named Aldo. Aldo had a costume designing program ready, and he invited the team to give him an idea of what they were looking for. Here is what they came up with.