"You wouldn't have had to plan on using it because you wandered into Fairyland and got vassaled by a fucking pollencloud. I don't know if Peak would have managed it or not but eventually someone would have had my name out of you, through me several hundred parahumans, and a clear shot to pick up a phone book and finish taking over as many Earths as they felt competent to handle and then some."

"Had they tried that, they would have failed. Earth Bet has more defenses you might think; there are thinkers prepared in case you tried something similar."

"Good for them. I didn't say Earth Bet. It'd be the obvious starting place to acquire more parahumans if the ones I have now weren't sufficient, but there are loads more, just as easy to gate to." She sighs. "Is there some -" She pauses. "Tell me honestly: is there some way in which this was not as stupid as it looks?"

Promise sighs. "If I let you go completely are you going to start attacking fairy courts again?"

"Not unless there's a specific one that needs attacking. I don't anticipate that coming up."

"Are you going to be in Fairyland for any other reason if I accidentally leave another gate open?"

"I don't have any other reason to, no."

"That power provides a path to any stated goal, and helps execute it. If the goal is knowing the answer to a specific question, it fills in the answer. There are blind spots, but none of them were relevant."

"No. I won't necessarily be able to pick up the specific one in the future; my own ability works in general results."

"Why did you ever drop that one?"

"Specific abilities, even important ones, matter less when they're replaceable." He doesn't shrug; he has unrestrained ability to speak, not move.

"...Even when they're that good?"

"The blind spots were more inconvenient than you might think. One of them was me."

"Oh." Promise sighs. "Well. Now I have this entire court to lock down so word doesn't get out that there are particularly useful vassals available for the taking if you gate to the right mortal world, and then I have some Fallen to absorb, and... hmmm... Anything else I would want to know?"

"Not that's relevant to this situation, with the exception of why I came through." In her position, Eidolon would have used orders by now on that question.

"Right then, there goes my hope that this could be conducted mostly in good faith. Answer all of my questions completely and honestly. You may warn me if this is about to cause you to disclose personal information of no legitimate interest to me. Who else knows my name?"

"Contessa. Number Man. The Doctor. Alexandria. Legend."

"And here I thought Alexandria and I had a cordial relationship. What are the predicable failure modes of sending you to find some amnesiac power and removing it from them?"

"Assuming I can find a power that would work on Alexandria, they might still manage to get away. Some of these are people who can compete with me directly."

"Do you know all their names?"