Helena Troy—who married for love, not the surname—had a bad feeling about Taylor. Well, not about the girl herself. Taylor Hebert seemed a fairly normal teenager, very much caught in that awkward stage of life where childhood innocence had long fled but without yet receiving the fruits of adulthood. Her expression was uncommonly blank and emotionless. After her encounters with Wards across the country, it was a look Mrs Troy was alarmingly familiar with.
Few children joined the Wards happy, healthy and well-balanced. Some were so emotionally compromised that they would oscillate between screaming rage and depression in the space of an afternoon. Others walked through their lives like zombies, responding only when verbally prodded into motion. Still more would be fragile, completely fine and normal one moment before lashing out the next, as if they'd been rendered into shards of broken glass by their experiences. They were the hardest to help.
Taylor seemed closest to the third type. She had a steady and studious air about her and her greeting had belied only a touch of nerves, but Helena still got a sense of troubled waters beneath her placid features. There was something deeply wrong with the picture, but how and why would take more than a handshake to figure out. Officially, Mrs Troy was there to serve as a mediator, but there was a reason they called her the Woman Who Launched a Thousand Investigations. Something was rotten in the Brockton Bay Wards program, which stood at stark odds with the regular, glowing reports from the Wards themselves.
Rose stopped at a nondescript meeting room and ushered Mr and Miss Hebert inside. Mrs Troy followed. Deputy Director Renick was already sat on one side of a conference table and the father-daughter pair chose seats opposite. Mr Hebert dropped an old and heavy briefcase onto the table as he sat. Mrs Troy frowned, having expected at least one member of the Protectorate to be present, but shook off the momentary confusion and took a prepared position at the head of the table.
"I'm just going to take a quick personal call," Rose said, still loitering at the door. "Start without me, I'll catch up."
Renick opened his mouth to protest, but Rose had already gone and closed the door after her, leaving the man to do nothing but let out a sigh and adjust his glasses. Helena tutted, but it didn't surprise her. Rose had never been one for confrontation back in Boston, and this promised to be nothing but.
"Well, in that case, I think we should begin," Mrs Troy announced. Reaching into her briefcase, she drew out a folio and a digital recorder. "This is Helena Troy," she said, her voice pitched to fill the small conference room. "Youth Guard Investigator acting as mediator for the dispute between the Hebert Family and the PRT East North East Department. The date is January thirty-first and present are Danny Hebert, Taylor Hebert—AKA Pisces—and Deputy Director Renick."
"Now." She clasped her hands together. "Mrs Woods was kind enough to give me the point-by-point summary of the events, but who would like to make their argument first?"
Silence greeted her. Mr Hebert and Renick stared each other down across the table, waiting to see who blinked first. To no one's surprise, it wasn't the local union's contract negotiator.
"Ah… well, the situation is rather simple overall. Pisces, during her initial introduction to the Wards team, was drawn into a verbal altercation with another probationary Ward, Shadow Stalker. While the language used by Shadow Stalker was not acceptable, Pisces proceeded to launch her shields at Shadow Stalker in an aggressive move. Shadow Stalker was forced to use her power to extricate herself from the path of the attack."
He paused, apparently waiting for an interruption, but none was forthcoming. Taylor sat with her hands crossed in her lap, looking across the table with a purposely blank expression. A few shields bubbled up on her arms like scales, joining the sparse orbit of shining discs around her.
"Ahem." Renick shook himself and continued. "Pisces destroyed a pillow and damaged the Wards couch, but it could have been a far more serious incident. Attacking a team member is never acceptable and we attempted to punish Pisces appropriately. Mr Hebert has refused to approve any form of punishment for the incident."
"Right." Mrs Troy nodded. "And what punishment have you suggested?"
"We want to impose an extra twenty hours of PR work over the next month. This is both a reasonable burden for a new Ward and will allow for a smoother introduction to the general public. It is a win for all concerned."
Once again he waited for a response, but none was forthcoming. Mrs Troy turned to address the Heberts.
"And you, Mr Hebert. What issues do you have with this proposal?"
Danny cleared his throat. "One large issue, really. I consider it completely inappropriate that Shadow Stalker and my daughter were allowed into the same room. Further, that the Wards organisation did so without an adult present was unforgivable given their knowledge of their prior relationship. That Shadow Stalker was allowed to verbally abuse my daughter uninterrupted in front of the entire Wards team without a single one of them leaping to her defence is unacceptable. And the idea that, after this blatant and sustained harassment, my daughter is the one who should be held responsible and punished is frankly insulting. Furthermore," he held up a hand. "I have not opposed all punishment for my daughter, merely this obvious attempt to force her to spend more time in a transparently hostile environment."
There was silence for a long moment as Mrs Troy double-checked that she had caught all that. She'd met many aggrieved parents in her time, but few matched the level of cold fury Danny Hebert possessed.
"Right…" she said, shaking herself. "Mr Renick, did Mr Hebert offer an alternative punishment?"
Renick blinked. "Umm, yes, but it was completely out of proportion."
"So, you were not being accurate when you said that all forms of punishment had been rejected?"
Frowning, Renick merely adjusted his glasses.
"Mr Renick? I'm afraid we're not wired for video."
"Ah. Yes, I suppose I exaggerated a little. My apologies."
"Okay, do you wish to contest what Mr Hebert said about the situation?" She pressed.
"Naturally… all of it, really. First, the PRT is aware of no reason that these Wards should be kept separate and doing so would be a serious detriment to Pisces' development. Second, multiple attempts to intervene were made—"
"Without any actual success," Danny countered.
"—And your daughter was the one who physically attacked another Ward!" Renick finished, scowling across the table.
"Hmm. So, you're saying that the PRT has no reason to believe that there would be any hostilities between my daughter and Shadow Stalker?"
"Mr Hebert—"
"That was a question, Deputy Director," Danny continued, stressing the subordinate title. "Did you have any reason to believe that it would be unwise to put my daughter and Shadow Stalker in the same room?"
"Well, obviously there was some reason for concern," Renick began. Shuffling in his chair. "Mr Hebert, do you really want me to explain?"
"Please do. I'm sure our mediator would like to hear the whole story."
"Anything you can tell me would help me solve this crisis," Mrs Troy said, steepling her hands. "That's why you called, after all."
"Right, well, given Shadow Stalker was previously assaulted by your daughter—" he paused, waiting for the interruption, but none came. "—we of course were concerned, but Aegis talked with Shadow Stalker and determined that she was happy to be in the meeting."
"Excuse me," Mrs Troy cut in. "Aegis talked with her? Not Armsmaster?"
Renick cleared his throat awkwardly. "No, Armsmaster is rarely involved in the day-to-day operations of the Wards."
"So, not a senior PRT agent in that case?"
"Ah…"
Mrs Troy's eyes narrowed. "It is official procedure that, when a Ward might face an emotional trigger, the incident is broached by a senior staffer or the on-site therapist," she said, her tone icy. "Why was this duty assigned to Aegis?"
"I… am afraid I don't know." Renick adjusted his glasses again. Mrs Troy wished the man luck at poker with that obvious a tell.
"Hmm." She shook her head. "Okay, apologies for the interruption. So, Shadow Stalker alone was consulted."
"It's news to me," Danny observed. "I was under the impression that it was not considered at all. Next question, why was the meeting not supervised?"
"It… it is not standard procedure to monitor all Wards' activities."
Danny cocked his brow. "Not even the introduction of a new Ward? Even when you were aware that there was a hostile relationship between the two of them?"
Renick was silent for a long moment, hard in thought. Mrs Troy leaned in, it would be interesting to see how he spun that particular lapse.
"Aegis made no additional request for support."
"Aegis," Mrs Troy cut in. "Is a child. While he has the role of Wards leader, that does not give him carte blanche. Following procedure, you should have at least had the on-site therapist overseeing the meeting, if a senior member of the PRT/Protectorate was not available."
Pisces scoffed. It was the first sound she'd made all meeting and all eyes snapped to her. "We don't have a therapist."
Mrs Troy rounded on Renick, who flinched backwards.
"We're currently resolving an issue with the duty rotation."
"How long has this department been without a therapist for its Wards team?" Mrs Troy demanded.
"I—don't see how that's relevant to the question at hand," Renick said hastily, pushing his glasses up his nose.
Mrs Troy's scowl deepened. "You don't see how it's relevant that there wasn't an adult in the room to stop the events escalating to violence?" she continued in a low and threatening tone.
"You're putting words in my mouth."
Taking a deep breath, Mrs Troy sat back in her chair. "That is fair. In that case, let us say there were no adults present to intercede as the situation grew heated. Does that seem reasonable?"
"Aegis was in command of the situation," Deputy Director Renick grumbled. It was unclear if it was a protest or an attempt to shift the blame, and Mrs Troy's eyes narrowed.
"He was obviously not, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation. And with the argument spiralling, it was then that Miss Hebert attacked Shadow Stalker?"
Danny nodded. "That is correct."
Mrs Troy nodded, watching Renick lean forwards out of the corner of her eye.
"You're not going to try and deny it?" Renick demanded.
Danny just met his eye, a look of utter contempt on his face, as if Renick had disappointed him by even asking the question.
There was no motion between the pair, so instead Mrs Troy kept the meeting moving. "Pisces, if you'd please, could you tell us what pushed this from an argument to a fight?"
"Sure." Drawing in a deep breath, Taylor looked across the table and spoke directly to Renick. "She said, 'Good to see you back in your place'." Derision dripped from her voice, and there was a particularly vicious lilt on the word place that suggested that place was under a foot of muck and mud.
Mrs Troy nodded. She really had to schedule a meeting with Shadow Stalker before she left. There was definitely something missing from the girl's file if she was that willing to threaten another Ward quite so brazenly. Still, it wasn't her job at that moment to delve into another Ward's case, no matter how much she wanted to pull that particular thread.
"And you considered that sufficient reason to escalate to violence?" Helena checked herself. "Or rather, do you now consider that sufficient reason to escalate?"
That question actually seemed to catch Taylor off guard for a moment. She glanced at her father, who simply gave a little nod, before continuing. "Yes," she said simply.
Helena frowned; it was an odd line of defence.
"Given my previous interactions with Shadow Stalker, I knew full well that if I let her leave with that as her parting word, she'd never leave me alone. It would start with backhanded insults, then grow to pushes and shoves and little 'accidental' injuries, then would come the naked abuse and destruction of property, then the sabotage and blackmail, and finally the attempts on my life."
One could have heard a pin drop. Even Mrs Troy was stunned. No girl had ever claimed they feared being murdered by a fellow Ward in her presence before. Well, none save a paranoid schizophrenic, and Taylor showed no signs of that.
"That is ridiculous!" Renick exclaimed, rising to his feet. "How could you possibly claim such a thing? No Wards would ever—"
"Mr Renick," Mrs Troy cut in before he could get going. "Shouting achieves nothing. Sit down."
Still looking thunderous, Renick dropped back into his chair.
"Still, Pisces," she continued. "That is a very extreme assumption. Did you believe that anyone else present would behave that way?"
She shook her head. "No, the rest of the Wards seem like okay people." She paused, then shrugged. "Most of the time."
"Then what about Shadow Stalker prompted such an extreme reaction?"
Taylor drew in another steadying breath. She glanced over at her father who merely reached out and gave her arm a comforting squeeze.
"I'm sorry," she began. "I cannot tell you with my father present, as he is not cleared to receive this information."
Mrs Troy's brows rose. That was a hell of a statement. It suggested a secret identity was on the line; no fresh Ward could possibly know any other Protectorate secrets.
"I understand," she said, giving the pair a measuring look. Mr Hebert was too calm for this to be a surprise announcement. No doubt whatever Taylor was about to say he was already well aware of, but the legal fiction was important. "Mr Hebert, I understand this is extreme, but would you be willing to leave the room while we discuss this further?"
A final glance was shared by the family but neither changed their course.
"Of course," Danny said, standing. "I'll just be outside when you need me." He slid his briefcase across to his daughter before walking calmly to the door and stepping through. He did not look back and Taylor did not watch him go.
Renick relaxed slightly, which Mrs Troy considered premature in the extreme. She elected not to warn him. "Very well, Miss Hebert, in your own time."
"Thank you." Taylor clasped her hands together and breathed. Her shields vanished in an instant leaving the girl laid bare. "Sophia Hess, AKA Shadow Stalker, has been bullying me in our civilian identities for sixteen months. This sustained and brutal campaign began shortly before I entered high school and continued well past her recruitment into the Wards. The only reason that she stopped is because the PRT transferred her to another school on January tenth of this year."
Helena pursed her lips. Bullying was a difficult matter, difficult to define and harder still to prove. It was never, however, easy to be the victim. "Thank you, Miss Hebert. That must have taken a lot to say. Mr Renick, was the PRT aware of this?"
Renick nodded, apparently back on solid ground. "The PRT was aware from the start that Shadow Stalker had a troubled school life. This was believed to have been brought under control during her tenure as a Ward, but her supervisor at the time, Mrs Stewarts, has been dismissed due to her poor handling of the events."
"That didn't exactly answer the question," Mrs Troy pressed.
"We had no suggestion that Shadow Stalker was bullying anyone during her tenure as a Ward." Renick cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses.
Taylor's eyes narrowed, she pulled out a thick sheaf of paper work from Danny's briefcase and dropped it onto the desk with a thud. "I'd like to submit some material evidence to the record. A little over a year ago, when it became clear the school would not respond to my complaints, I began to keep a journal detailing the bullying. I hoped, one day, that it might end up on Armsmaster's desk so that he could fix… everything, really."
Renick winced. That was a low blow, but an effective one.
"I'd like to read a few excerpts, if I may?" Taylor continued. Mrs Troy gestured for her to go ahead. "Monday the eleventh: Encountered Sophia Hess on the west wing stairs, was tripped, fell down three steps and sprained my wrist. No witnesses, despite a full stairwell. Tuesday the twelfth: Notes soaked through with orange soda during gym class, Sophia threw the rest at me when I returned. Wednesday the thirteenth: Found out the school secretary gave out my new email address again. My inbox is already full."
Taylor turned over a sheet and sighed. "Now reading from selected emails received during that week. 'Why don't you just jump off the roof, you bitch?', 'Everyone hates you, even your "best friend" knows how much of a worm you are.', 'Why don't you sell yourself to The Farm and make something of yourself for once?'" She paused and looked at Mrs Troy. "Oh, for reference, The Farm is an urban legend. It refers to a supposed ABB facility that they use to break young girls for their brothels."
"Miss Hebert, is this really necessary?" Renick interjected, sounding pained. "We don't need to hear every message."
"Those are just a few of the messages from Sophia's school email address," Taylor snapped. "From one time they filled my email account. Now, continuing from my journal. Thursday the fourteenth: Was cornered in the second floor bathroom by the trio—that's Sophia Hess, Emma Barnes and Madison Clements, by the way. Sophia slammed the door in my face, and Emma told me I should drown myself. Friday the fifteenth: Skipped school, received a call from Sophia asking if I'd slit my wrists in the tub and, if not, when was I getting around to it. Sunday the seventeenth: The trio cornered me at the library and tried to frame me for destroying a book. Mrs Olsen saw through them, so at least I still have my library card. This is one week of incidents, and only the ones where Sophia Hess was directly involved in front of witnesses."
"Miss Hebert, please!" Renick snapped, finally pushed too far. "What is this in aid of?"
Taylor met his eyes with a look of utter derision. "Have you read this?" she asked, tapping the stack of papers. It wrenched Mrs Troy's heart to think how many moments of heartbreak it took to fill a binder's worth of pages. Renick clearly didn't want to think about it.
"I have… been made aware of it."
"Then answer me," Taylor demanded, her voice rising in fury. "Why the hell anyone in your organisation thought that putting me in the same room as Sophia Hess wouldn't result in us trying to kill each other?"
Renick scoffed. "Basic human decency?" he suggested.
"This is no joking manner, Deputy Director," Mrs Troy cut in. "The Wards organisation exists to protect young parahumans, including from each other. If your organisation knew this bullying had occurred, why did you not address this?"
"There was… while Pisces' information was extensive, very little was actionable. Shadow Stalker's school had also raised a great number of complaints against Pisces during this time, which led us to believe that there was more to the story."
Taylor's nostrils flared. She lashed out at her briefcase and drew out another sheaf of paper, slamming it down on the table. "Here, a dozen signed statements from Winslow teachers attesting to Sophia and her cronies being the instigators. I also have as many as thirty reports from other students who were very happy to reach out when they heard I needed their testimony."
Renick startled. "You investigated another Ward?" he demanded. "Miss Hebert, that is completely unacceptable. The—"
"This!" Taylor slammed her hand down on the paperwork. "Has nothing to do with the Wards! This was all gathered as part of a civil suit against Winslow High for gross negligence. The bare minimum of investigation would have completely validated my side of the story. Was that even performed?"
"The—the—the PRT has limited ability to investigate non-parahuman disputes," Renick protested, recoiling. "And in cases where a Ward's identity may be put at risk—"
"So, no. You did nothing. You believed the girl who has been lying to you deliberately and consistently for months over me, putting both our lives in danger when the obvious consequences of your actions occurred. Further, you persisted in this futile farce that somehow I was the one responsible for all the problems in your own program, assigning me punitive duties long past the point where it was even vaguely justifiable. This culminated in a set of decisions so petty and stupid that my own secret identity, health, and legal status were put at risk only one week ago!"
Helena did a double take. "Pardon?" she exclaimed, incredulous.
"None of that is true!" Renick protested. "Your own obstructionism has been the only thing—"
"Seventeen times the PRT has extended my hours, without warning, in my twenty-seven days with the Wards," Taylor shot back, pulling out still more paperwork to back up her point. "Seven courses I was ordered to complete despite them being listed as either voluntary or requiring parental permission, which I lacked and you knew I lacked. Nine instances where I was assigned punishments for simple misunderstandings, such as going to the wrong floor when I was unfamiliar with the building. Four times when I was ordered, in writing, not to go to the bathroom even though this is in clear violation of OSHA standards. I informed Aegis of this at the time, by the way."
Taylor cleared her throat, a shield wiggled out from under her collar but she dismissed it as soon as she noticed it. "Finally—in what I can only describe as an attempt to force me to resign in protest—I was ordered to perform a Wards patrol, against my parent's wishes, and perform an illegal arrest on a member of the public. In this patrol, I was not even issued a costume nor any form of communication equipment in case of an emergency."
"Excuse me, what?" Mrs Troy demanded. Watching Taylor verbally eviscerate a man three times her age had been darkly amusing at first, but putting a Ward in the field with no safety equipment or a costume was far beyond the pale. "Deputy Director. What do you have to say about this?"
"Pisces' assignments have been neither onerous nor unexpected for—"
"About the patrol!" Helena snapped, fixing him with a glare.
"It was a PR tour," Renick began, already sounding uncertain. "Aegis overstepped his authority in ordering Pisces to attend without her full equipment, but—"
"Deputy Director!" Helena slammed her hand down on the table. "That is the third time you have tried to blame one of your own Wards for making a decision that shouldn't even be their responsibility. Who is running your Wards program, you or the Wards?"
The silence that greeted her said much.
"What is the matter with this department?" Mrs Troy demanded of no one.
Taylor smirked. "Would you like the list?" She drew out a final sheaf of papers, the briefcase finally empty. "I prepared one for every breach of regulations I observed during my time here."
"That is utterly beyond the remit of this mediation!" Renick protested. "All of this is completely besides the point. We are here to punish Pisces for attacking another Ward!"
Helena drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "You're quite right, Deputy Director. A rather large amount of material evidence has been submitted in the last few minutes, and it will take time for me to review all of it. I'd like to call a recess here and reconvene at a later time. Does that sound reasonable?"
There was a dangerous glint in Taylor's eyes that spoke of far more to say, but, to be honest, Mrs Troy had already heard enough for one day. Renick looked like a man thrown a life preserver.
"That sounds like an excellent idea. I must see where Rose has gotten to, anyway."
"I can wait," Taylor said simply.
"Wonderful." Helena picked up her recorder. "This is Helena Troy, closing the first meeting between the Hebert Family and the PRT East North East Department."
She clicked once to stop the recording and immediately started a new one.
"This is Helena Troy, Youth Guard Investigator, declaring an unannounced audit of the Wards program in the East North East district. Attending is Deputy Director Renick. Deputy Director, in your own time please inform your superiors. Once you've done that, get me every scrap of paperwork you have. Thank you."
"Oh, and Pisces," she continued, turning to address the girl who—while not smiling—was wearing a certain vicious smirk at the sudden turnaround. "If you'd leave that list of those regulation breaches with me on your way out, I'd be very appreciative