Inside the convention-center, the earlier feeling of incongruity returned. While there were not many people around just yet, after all the actual convention had yet to start, the people who were around exhibited a rather strange contrast. On one hand, there were the costumed Powered, mostly dressed in colourful, often tight, outfits, many with capes, some even with a strange underwear-above-spandex-look that made me question the sanity of the wearers. On the other hand, there were the mundane law-enforcement officials, dressed in either dark suits or their official uniforms, which were tailored similarly to the suits. Yet, both groups seemed to work together and mingle, which was the whole purpose of the event.

“Do you know the schedule for the next few days?” Mordred quietly asked me, while Technica and Bidzill were walking a little ahead of us, talking to a couple uniformed officers who had approached them.

“Certainly.” I nodded, “You probably know that the first couple days are only for those invited, Powered and Law-Enforcement, mostly both. There are various presentations and talks in the back, while the front-area contains numerous booths from different local groups. Those booths are partially recruitment, partially information-exchange, though I do not think either will be of interest to me.” I elaborated, using the cameras in my costume to look around without moving my head. It was one of the biggest advantages of my mask, using cameras instead of my eyes to see, while having Galatea pay attention to the feed as well, allowing us to have vision in all directions, at the same time.

“My understanding is that we are mainly here to show presence, not to actually get involved with things. While the Guild’s mission is partially to lend expertise and powers to local law-enforcement in times of crises, another major part is to be a neutral party between Powered on both sides of the law. As such, it would not do, to be too involved in the procedures here.” I added, voicing a few considerations of my own.

Before either of us could continue our discussion, I turned around, to give a nod of greeting to the approaching Anath.

“I missed you.” I quietly told her, using a highly encrypted communication-channel so nobody but her could hear me. At least in theory, in practise I had warned her that while I was almost certain of the security of my encryption, there could always be Powers that could render an impossible to decrypt-encryption into clear text, so we would have to employ communication-discipline.

“Missed you, too.” she replied the same way, before adding that everything with the Chariot had worked out and the plane was securely parked in the hangar. I was already aware of that, having kept an eye on it over my link, but the report was appreciated.

“Anath, good that you join us.” Mordred remarked, when Anath joined the two of us. For a minute or two, I shared some of the topics that would be discussed, ranging from a focus on pure law-enforcement procedural to purely Powered-related topics with a great deal of focus on the intersection of both. Curiously, there were quite a few presentations that focused on actions of mundane law-enforcement officers against Powered as the other way around. Given that the conference was hosted by the Superheroes’ of America, that felt a little off, but it was what it was. Maybe it was an application of the idea that you needed a thief to catch a thief, though I was not too happy with that idea.

Looking further, I had to momentarily mute the microphone within my mask, muffling the amused chortle that escaped me when I realised that the company I had worked with a few years ago, to produce some personal defense equipment, had a booth here. They were still sending me money, as per our contract, but I had not actually produced anything new for them in some time. Partially that was because my focus had changed, partially because the original project had been to give plausible deniability if I was ever caught with some of my concealed weapons, which I no longer needed.

Our discussion came to an end, when Technica and Bidzill stepped up, with two of the officials in tow. A quick check in my database gave me their name and I realised that I had exchanged documents and mail with both of them, during the planning of the convention. Stepping forward, I shook hands with both of them, greeting them with as much decorum as one could show when one’s face was covered in a deliberately artificial mask. The look on their face made me grin, luckily concealed from them, as it was showing fear, caution but also a strange elation, almost in equal measures. Maybe using their full name to greet them had been a little over the top, but it was what it was.

After exchanging a few more words with the two officials, I stepped back, letting Mordred take over. It was mostly due to a covert message from Technica, reminding me to help with local surveillance and security. While I had created some coverage with overhead-drones, those were mostly useful for the greater picture, less so close to the ground, due to blind-angles and covered areas. Giving her an affirmative reply, I excused myself soon after, following one of the security-officers to their operations-center, with Anath following along.

“Good afternoon.” I greeted the people inside the operations-center, curiously devoid of any costumed Powered. “You can call me Metis, a member of the Powered Guild and here to link into your systems.” I explained with my introduction. They looked at me a little suspiciously, but also with confusion in their eyes.

“Good afternoon. Could you explain what you mean by link into?” one of the operators asked, voicing their confusion. Giving a nod in response, I began explaining, while Anath stayed near the door, playing her role as a bodyguard to the hilt.

It was interesting to watch the tone in the room shift the more I explained. Where before, the ones paying attention had been the people in charge, the ones who made decisions regarding deployment and organization, they soon took a step back, leaving the field to the technical personnel. My conversation with them quickly switched to a purely technical level, discussing how to best allow me access to their systems, without compromising security of said systems or taking up a large amount of resources.

While I had made some plans, the situation on the ground was slightly different from the one I had planned for, forcing me to adapt and improvise some of the things I had prepared. The changes were not major, which was most likely why they had been made without reporting up the line, but changes they were, creating further changes in a ripple effect.

Still, after a good hour of integration, I had a dedicated link into their system, independent enough that an attack on their systems, either by direct physical force or an electronic, remote one, would not influence my side of things. At the same time, the link was set up in such a way that I was unable to directly influence their side, either, essentially giving us double coverage.

Once everything was set up, I retreated into a nearby, empty office with Anath and organised the streams of information coming into my system. While Galatea allowed me to compute an incredible volume of data, there were limits. Priorities needed to be set, filters and automated processes configured and generally order imposed.

It took me an hour of sitting in that empty office and seemingly staring into empty space as I was busy within the electronic parts of my brain, setting all that up but by the time I felt prepared, I was able to keep an electronic eye on the entire conference-center and the nearby areas, the surveillance lessening with distance.

While setting up, the biological part of my brain had often taken short glimpses at the cameras I was working with, and the more I looked, the more my understanding of humanity crumbled. I had always been aware of the privileges bought with my family’s money, from the high-class private etiquette-lessons to the massive mansion we had been living in but looking at the feed from my drones became a stark reminder about humanity’s nature.

In some areas, the gap between an expensive pent-house apartment, with a roof-top pool, which the owner apparently used for rather intimate pursuits under the open sky, and what I assumed was a homeless person, pushing a shopping-cart full of cardboard was just a few meters, if measured horizontally, though a good hundred meters is measured vertically.

In other areas, I could watch two groups of people viciously beating on each other, while just a few hundred meters away from their battle, a police-officer was kindly helping an older woman across the street.

There was little I could do, but shake my head.