"If you ever are tempted, remember that the truce is the only reason there are so many people battling Endbringers in the first place."

"We understand this. Are you going to repeat yourself a third time, or will that be all?"

"Just wanted to ensure it was explicit."

"You have achieved that objective."

She turns away from Alexandria, studying the city below.

Alexandria lets her go, and goes back to handling whatever was next on her list.

So. A secret organization dragged off Legend's unconscious body in Boston. Weeks later, he appears in Miami, behaving much as he normally does. And there is also a secret organization with control of an entity's derelict husk. For two secrets of that scale, it's implausible that they are not somehow connected. In support of that hypothesis, the man in Boston pointed her to a group that contained more mutations than typical. Is this exploitable? Maybe, maybe not. She's likely going to need access to the corpse at some point. They might contact her to remove another cape somewhere. Possibly she'll be able to divine more information then.

Second point: powers come from the entities. Therefore, it is likely some of them have uses other than that to which they are currently being put. Such as Jack's. With the connections his shade has, it may have stood as some sort of communicative/coordinative aspect. As demonstrated by the case of Crawler, the shades are close to being the whole of a person. If Jack knows what you do as or before you yourself do, small wonder he has been so successful at evading death. That also helps explain how he has maintained control of the Nine for so long. He knows just what buttons to press to keep each of his followers in check.

So if she wants to kill him, it can't be by her own hands. Less satisfying that way, but ultimately, the fact of his demise is more important than the specific method. Easiest for her would be to construct an army with her tinkers, and sic that on him. But that requires time to set up, and knowledge of where he will be. Any of her thinkers have insight on where the Nine's travels might lead?

They can make guesses. Most need some kind of information to go off, and she doesn't have very much of that. But they do think they'll be able to track them down eventually.

She'll have to see about getting some information. She's spent time with the group, has an idea of their decision patterns. Could look for past instances, see where and when they've struck in the past.

Could ask the heroes for help. 'Hello Eidolon, I would like to kill the Slaughterhouse Nine, would you care to supply me with the information I need to do that?' Probably wouldn't go over well.

Yeah, if Eidolon thought that would turn out well he could have assembled whatever thinkers he needed and tried it himself. And they're a bit too alive for that to have happened very often.

He, presumably, never tried an attack which his shade could not telegraph. Still, likely better not to inform the heroes of that vulnerability. She doesn't want them to move without her.

Once she leaves everyone is relieved at the lack of incident.

It's not until the next day that there's a voice from behind her. "Me again. With more time to answer questions; are we safe enough here?"

She turns.

"So far as I know. Though perhaps I should be asking that question of you; your organization seems well-informed."

"Extremely. In particular, I imagine you're probably planning to go after the Nine?"

"I am."

"We could find them. But we did mean to include some of them in one of our plans later."

"Oh?"

"We're trying to arrange for humanity to survive the end of the world. We suspect Shatterbird and the Siberian might be useful in that fight, and would rather they stay alive. Same goes for you, incidentally."

"The fight after Scion inevitably tires of whatever inscrutable game he is currently engaged in, you mean?"

"That one. Right now, Eidolon is the best card we have on the table. We could do with another ace."

"I'd prefer to survive that too. It's not pressingly necessary that I kill those two."

"Thank you.

Jack was taking them to New York to take advantage of Legend's absence, but they'll leave before getting there as soon as they hear he's back. They'll be lying low in Fishkill for a bit, pretty easy to find once you know they're there."

"I'd best be moving soon, then." Headtilt. "Are you the same group that distributes powers in cans?"

Well, she does already know about Scion's partner, or he wouldn't be here.

"Yes. My employers call themselves Cauldron. Selling powers is one of the most direct ways of arranging for there to be more capes to fight him with."

"Why send me after Labyrinth?"

"Had to rescue Legend without it being a total loss for you; you could have just said no. Why Labyrinth in particular instead of some other parahuman about equally powerful...her team was on its way to exposing us. This way it's multiple birds per stone."