"That depends on what exactly it's capable of, doesn't it? At this point, it is mostly curiosity which motivates me."

"You likely would not be able to collect powers direct from the source. I do have an alternative proposal to pass on."

"And that is?"

"Among our other plans, we are building an army of the physically mutated variety of parahumans. Some mutations are extreme enough that they simply die. If you would care to collect their powers, I believe it would be more parahumans and a greater variety of powers than you could collect by sequentially assaulting cities."

"That may be amusing." For a time.

Contessa notices the "for a time" part, of course.

"We don't have such subjects ready to hand, but I can bring you to our facility when we do. Say the day after tomorrow?" 

"It's a date. I assume you'd prefer I not cause trouble between now and then?"

"I'd prefer you don't kill capes, yes. Other kinds of trouble are not really our purview."

"And you'll know where to find me, I'm sure."

"It won't be a problem."

"I look forward to it, then."

"Door to Cauldron." An opening appears in the middle of nowhere, a rectangular hole showing a dull white corridor. Contessa steps through, and it disappears behind her.

Neat trick, that.

Back to Bet with her. Portal.

Contessa, meanwhile, is talking with her boss.

"She's honest about helping, at least temporarily."

"Good. We can go back to higher-variance experimentation for a while now that the waste is less wasted. A bit late, but this changes the calculus."

"But when she leaves— you were right about what she wants."

"Can she do it?"

"You know I can't see that. But she's a natural trigger, and if she could her power would never have existed."

"Then you just have to ensure she leaves peacefully."

Which is an easy task, of course.

Two days later, Ellie is in the midst of tinkering with her drones.

Contessa reappears. She never did specify a time, but happens to arrive while Ellie is at a convenient stopping point. "We have the subjects. Is there anything you want to bring with you?"

She taps a button, and the completed drones flit back into place.

"Just what I have on me."

She nods, and leads the way back through the gap in space she came from. "Ordinarily you wouldn't be cleared for this, but since you already know more than you should there's comparatively little harm."

They're someplace with the look of a temporary hospital, or emergency accommodations or something along those lines. It's crowded, mostly with people who look injured but stabilized. In a few cases they are instead sick. Sometimes nothing is visibly wrong, but no one looks happy. Or threatened. They're very diverse, in every way from skin color to accent, and the background noise is in several unfamiliar languages.

"Where did you find them?"

"Very far afield." She glances around the room. "War zone, hurricane, earthquake, fire. They all volunteered, at least in the sense that they would have died otherwise and correctly guessed that this gave them better odds."

"Your concern for experimental ethics in the face of apocalypse is heartening."

"Availability of subjects has so far never been our bottleneck."

Speaking of bottles, a supply of vials gets carted in from the next room over. Contessa starts speaking in tongues while white-coated Cauldron employees distribute them.

Ah, this must be what she's here for.

"It will be disorienting to be around. It also may be dangerous; I would recommend using some defensive powers."

"I am aware."

She fills out her array of five with more defenders, including a barrier generator.