Time: Shortly after the Redo incident
Place: A secure location in Texas, Pantheon side
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Kami: Well, what is it?
Krishna: Sire, I’m not stupid. I know I was set up.
Kami: Why do you believe this?
Krishna: Thor was aimed at me, and I was expressly forbidden from removing the danger. My gift was twitchy for weeks about it, but I obeyed. Then the Archenemy arrives on my doorstep, exactly as he is making his move against me.
Kami: The-
Krishna: We are massacred wholesale. My forces suffer serious attrition, Thor’s are annihilated, and the enemy is triumphant. And yet you show up to commend me? A promotion?
Kami: What happened to you was unavoidable. We do not believe that it reflects a failing in your efforts at command.
Krishna: I know it was unavoidable, in the same way that “what is 2 + 2, don’t say 4” is unanswerable. I was prevented from avoiding it, and now I’m not being punished for my failure. Taken together, it is apparent that the whole thing was a setup.
Kami: As wise as I’ve heard, if a bit headstrong.
Krishna: I’m right here.
Kami: Apologies. One grows accustomed to a certain oblique manner of speaking, in the circles I travel in-
Krishna: The Leadership.
Kami: yes, yes, that’s what I meant. … In any case, you are quite correct. Your force was expended in order to confirm a report.
Krishna: What report? What information was worth the lives of so many of our Ultras?
Kami: A hole in Her protector’s sight. A weakness, at long last.
Krishna: Prevailer’s protector?
Kami: Have you ever wondered why Zeus never simply lead a kill team to destroy Her, as he did Fourth Fist?
Krishna: I don’t want to know. It doesn’t seem safe to speculate about. Above my level. I wouldn’t want to be seen as doubting Zeus.
Kami: Well, there is no harm in speaking in generalities. The reason that no one has ever killed Ms. Martin is that She is defended by some manner of forsight or prediction. Events are steered to benefit her. Until this is no longer the case, all direct confrontations are unwise.
Krishna: And somehow setting my unit up changed that?
Kami: Not exactly. It exposed a weakness that an intelligence source had described. Due to a certain factor, events transpired in a manner that was not forseen, which will lead to minor ripple effects. Of greater interest is setting up a situation to exploit this weakness again, and strip the Archenemy of her defenses long enough to put her down.
Krishna: What factor, and what weakness?
Kami: My apologies, but that information is, as you say, “above your level”.
> Kami: Well, there is no harm in speaking in generalities. The reason that no one has ever killed Ms. Martin is that She is defended by some manner of forsight or prediction. Events are steered to benefit her. Until this is no longer the case, all direct confrontations are unwise.
I don’t think this is right… Sure, She is protected by Answerer, and yes, we know that Answerer has a weakness. Some member of the Fourth Fist can mess up with her predictive powers. But the reason no one has killed Prevailer is because She has a gift that lets her sense her surroundings for miles…
We already know from a Union report that Ultra’s gifts can’t usually attack from miles away. Human weapons can, but Prevailer is just strong enough to survive human weapons (up to the level of Nukes) and can only be killed by a strong Ultra. An Ultra that’s durable enough to reach that close and deliver the killing blow.
Worth pointing out that Prevailer keeps her sensing gift secret. As far as the world knows she is Ultra Strong 4, Ultra tough 1/2, Teleports.
I know it. I’m not saying that Kami is lying to Krishna. She probably doesn’t know better. From the outside, it just looks like Prevailer is incredibly lucky (or is being advised by a prophet), and that’s what the Pantheon leadership thinks.
I’m just pointing out that they’re wrong. Prevailer doesn’t need Answerer to remain kept alive. The rest of the World could use Answerer to help killing Her, though… At thisnmoment, Answerer might be more pf a liability to Pevailer, rather than an asset (je has been compromised after all)
>Prevailer doesn’t need Answerer to remain kept alive.
Why not both though? We’ve gotten two answers to the Transcender Controversy and it makes sense that they could work together.
> Answerer might be more pf a liability to Pevailer, rather than an asset (je has been compromised after all)
How so? Do you mean how Answerer got surprised by the events in (La)Redo?
> Some member of the Fourth Fist can mess up with her predictive powers.
Good point. I’m not sure what exactly about the (La)Redo fight tripped up Answerer but it almost certainly has something to do with the Fourth Fist or their interactions.
IIRC, Krishna’s danger sense changed midway through the battle — I wonder if that change was the same that affected Answerer’s foresight?