Editing Alexandria (section)

==History==
===Background===
Rebecca contracted cancer in her teens and grew increasingly disaffected as a result of her perception that people were lying to her about her chances of survival. She was approached by [[Doctor Mother]] as an early test subject for [[Cauldron]] in exchange for service.

After gaining her powers, she spent two years guarding [[Doctor Mother|her doctor]] while earning a reputation as a superheroine. Alexandria first appeared in [[Los Angeles]].

Eventually, Alexandria would be introduced to the other members of Cauldron. She presented a proposal she had come up with: that they form a team that followed the regulations and stipulations of the United States government, led by [[Hero]] or [[Legend]]. She told them that it was part of an eight-stage plan to incorporate parahumans into society before telling them how they could set up the organization she was proposing. Her civilian identity would take a position in the government to quietly steer things.<ref name="15.z">[[Interlude 15.z]]</ref>

She lost an eye to the Siberian during [[Siberian Incident|the same fight that]] led to Hero's death,<ref name="I13">Invincible Alexandria was struck a glancing blow and had one eye socket shattered, the eye coming free in the midst of that bloody ruin.  Eidolon had healed her, after, but the scar was still there.  Alexandria now wore a helmet whenever she was out in costume. - [[Interlude 13]]</ref> and required [[Eidolon]]'s powers to heal her enough to use a glass eye to maintain a normal appearance.<ref name="I24.y"/> Even he was unable to reattach the lost eye.<ref name="15.z" />[[File:Alexandria by CyrixDrawsStuff.jpg|thumb|[https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/h7pcii/fanart_alexandria/fumfh9w/ Worm-Era Alexandria by CyrixDrawsStuff], based on personal communication with Wildbow.<ref name="Cyrix"/>]]

Shortly after this Alexandria had an incident where she publicly killed a villain during a desperate situation, setting a precedent.<ref>Around the time I joined the PRT proper, the Siberian killed one of the greatest heroes.  Alexandria publically[sic] executed a person with powers that wouldn’t stand down; controversial then, but nowadays we don’t think about it.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/06/29 Excerpt] from [[Breaking 14.z]]</ref> She also settled as the leader of a smaller team based in [[Los Angeles]].<ref name="R1">Around the time that they were a group, they were simply 'the Protectorate' or 'the guys at the top'. You could say, perhaps, that the loss of Hero splintered the team. They didn't hate each other or resent each other, but it was about time, and served as the catalyst to the group each going to their own individual cities - New York, LA, & Houston. - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/3koqyc/what_protectorate_team_are_eidolon_and_hero_a/cuz8v53 Comment by Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>

===Story Start===
Alexandria was an internationally recognized cape.<ref name="Cast1">'''Alexandria''' – An internationally known cape, she flies, is durable and has super strength, as well as some mental augmentations from her powers.  Member of the Triumvirate and runs the Protectorate branch in Los Angeles.  Wears a black costume with a helmet and heavy cape, with long, straight black hair. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/cast-spoiler-free/ Cast (spoiler free)]</ref><ref name="8.1" />
===Post-[[Battle against Leviathan|Leviathan]]===
Met at the oil-rig to discuss the situation of the world.<ref name="14.y">[[Interlude 14.y]]</ref><ref name="15.z" />

===Post-[[Slaughterhouse Nine]]===
Alexandria participated in the [[Battle against Echidna]]. She was duplicated, creating [[Apocrypha]],<ref name="19.5">[[Scourge 19.5]]</ref> whose appearance revealed her secret identity. [[Ignis Fatuus]] revealed her and her colleague's secret membership of [[Cauldron]].

She made a plea with her fellow heroes and heroines not to reveal the information. Surprisingly she was backed up by the warlord [[Skitter]].

===Post-[[Echidna]]===
After [[Tagg]] unsuccessfully tried to have [[Skitter]] captured by outing her secret identity, Director Costa-Brown threatened to go to [[Saint]] to get the access to [[Dragon]]'s technology just as Dragon and [[Colin Wallis|Defiant]] were threatening to withhold the same from the PRT.<ref>“No.  We’ve been in contact with an individual who has a proven track record with Dragon’s technology.  He feels equipped, <em>eager</em>, almost, to step into Dragon’s shoes should she take a leave of absence.”<br/><br/>“Saint,” Defiant said.  “You’re talking about the leader of the ''Dragonslayers''.  Criminal mercenaries.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/interlude-20-donation-bonus-1/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 20.x]]</ref>

Following the revelation that she was a parahuman, she was demoted to deputy director while she trained her replacement.<ref name="22.3">[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/cell-22-3/ Excerpt] from [[Cell 22.3]]</ref> She had no authority, but rather obeyed the new Chief Director's instructions. Alexandria gave her notice that she intended to resign, but continued with the Protectorate until that time.<ref name="22.4" />

She confronted [[Skitter]] after she turned herself in to the PRT. In order to properly control the teenage villain, Alexandria tried to engineer a situation that would make Skitter try to attack her. This would then allow her to arrest Skitter and shore up her standing in the PRT, while secretly recruiting her as an agent of Cauldron in exchange for leaving the Undersiders alone.<ref name="SB1">'''Wildbow:''' Alexandria set up a perfectly arranged situation, aimed at cornering Taylor and effectively gaining control over her as a playing piece. It had nothing to do with moral event horizons. Her psychoanalysis and read of Taylor was perfect, but she wasn't dealing with just Taylor.<br>'''Wildbow:''' This is explicitly stated in story.<br>'''Logos01:''' I... can't agree with that tbqh.<br>'''Wildbow:''' This is explicitly stated in story.<br>'''chc4:''' Are you talking about the bug emotion offloading, or just not being able to anticipate her reaction to her friends "death"?<br>'''Logos01:''' I get that, and I recall reading it.<br>'''Logos01:''' But it doesn't *fit*.<br>'''Wildbow:''' Taylor defies being read, and actively fools powers and senses, because of the way her mind works.<br>'''Logos01:''' It's not about being *Read*.<br>'''Logos01:'''' I'm talking about profiling. In the forensics sense.<br>'''Wildbow:''' It fits fine, Log. Had it not been for this, Alexandria would have won with her approach.<br>'''Wildbow:''' 100%.<br>'''Wildbow:''' Nah. See, look at it from Alexandria's perspective. She wants to provoke a reaction, push Taylor to the state she was in pre-undersider, where Taylor is withdrawn, beaten down, and desperate. She wants a degree of lashing out, but in the ineffectual 'Carrie school shooting' sense that Taylor was approaching in chapter one. Alexandria and the tools were in place to deal with that.<br>'''Wildbow:''' Had taylor broken, raged out, in the sense of chapter one, they would have had a scapegoat for everything that happened in Brockton Bay. She could have tapped Cauldron resources and been on the alert. But Taylor offloaded all cues to her shard. She appeared far calmer and more subdued than she was, Alexandria calibrated her approach with this in mind, and things tilted off differently<br>'''Wildbow:''' Taylor was absolutely not a killer at that stage, unless she had a reasonable target, and Alexandria presented herself as that target. Alexandria looked at Taylor, talked to her, and saw someone different. All of the profiling and information worked -against- her.<br>'''Wildbow:''' Much like Contessa stumbling when her path to victory fails her.<br>'''Marcy:''' basically although alexandria is a powerful thinker, she wasn't the right thinker for the job<br>'''Wildbow:''' Well, she was, but leaning too heavily on a thinker power can screw one up when the thinker power isn't equipped to analyze a problem.<br>'''Wildbow:''' (See basically every thinker in story)<br>'''Wildbow:''' By presenting herself as a target, knowing who Taylor was [note: broken knowledge], gauging Taylor's state [note: broken gauge] and being able to anticipate the attack as it came [note; broken thinker power/read, again] she would have turned the situation around into a massive victory.<br>'''Wildbow:''' There was no Imp-like read on Taylor where "The bugs act funny around you while your emotions are riled up" came up and the PRT took particular note of it and put it in the files.<br>'''Marcy:''' yeah it's pretty subtle<br>'''chc4:''' So if Taylor actually had a swarm with her in the room, Alexandria wouldn't have died. That's...ironic<br>'''Marcy:''' i think tattletale might have commented on it once but otherwise people didn't notice it<br>'''Wildbow:''' Anyway, I'm not saying I wrote that part perfectly, but it's the furthest thing from the idiot ball. You aren't carrying the idiot ball if you do everything right and then the unanticipatable happens.<br>'''chlorinecrown:''' wait, so in the other universe where alexandria, idk, has a tinker tech bug zapper on hand to prepare for the attack, what happens<br>'''chlorinecrown:''' the attempted murder charge is really easy to prosecute, she goes to the bird cage, undersiders discredited?<br>'''Wildbow:''' Evacuate the area, Taylor focuses on Alexandria, so it should be doable. Disable security cameras remotely, "Door." Nullify powers & bugs without room for counter-tactics. Taylor sentenced to the Birdcage. Alexandria reinforced in status, people reminded that the PRT is in power and has control, villainous takeovers elsewhere are discouraged, Taylor sentenced to the Birdcage. She...<br>'''Wildbow:''' ...doesn't actually arrive, and gets brought on board with Cauldron, who tell her the ruse, that it was a setup to achieve certain ends and a plausible finish, and so long as she cooperates, the Undersiders are left alone.<br>'''Wildbow:''' They then have a resourceful parahuman for one of their squads dealing with alt!earth scenarios and issues.<br>'''Wildbow:''' Not the first, second, or even third priority, but better to make use of her than to just Birdcage her.<br>'''Teller:''' Would Taylor "escape" during transportation? Or would they just pretend they caged her?<br>'''Wildbow:''' The latter, most likely.<br>'''Teller:''' I wonder how Dragon feels about all this. Probably cranky.<br>'''Wildbow:''' Probably. - [https://spacebattles.com/posts/22604409 Conversation with Wildbow on IRC, archived on Spacebattles]</ref> What the heroine failed to account for was Skitter's ability to offload her emotional responses to her swarm, much as Alexandria did with her own mental abilities, causing Alexandria to misread her body language. Skitter snapped after thinking that Alexandria had butchered one of her friends, and suffocated the fallen heroine with bugs, leaving Alexandria brain-dead.<ref name="22.4">[[Cell 22.4]]</ref><ref name="I24.y" /> She was widely reported to be truly dead.

She later seemingly returned from the dead in the [[Battle against Behemoth]], where it turned out that her invulnerable body was possessed by [[Pretender]].<ref name="I24.y">“She’s yours for keeps?”<br/><br/>“Brain dead. Her body’s peculiar. Doesn’t really age. Hair doesn’t grow, nails don’t grow. Wounds don’t really heal or get worse. She used cosmetics to look older, to throw people off. Only the brain was left pliable, adaptable. Even then, most of it was hardened, protected, those duties offloaded to her agent.”<br/><br/>[[Satyr]] studied Pretender’s new body without shame. His eyes rested on Pretender’s forehead. “I see. And with that plasticity, the brain was left more vulnerable.”<br/><br/>“Only a little. Enough to be an Achilles heel. She’s a case fifty-three, I suppose. All of us may be.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/interlude-24-donation-bonus-1/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 24.y]]</ref> She also participated in the battle against [[Khonsu]].<ref name="25.4">[[Scarab 25.4]]</ref>
===[[Gold Morning]]===
Her body was finally destroyed during [[Gold Morning]].<ref name="30.5 e5" />