Mar 25, 2021
#2,042
I liked the flight scene in the interlude.
It's clearly Taylor bullshit of minmaxing and breaking assumed rules, but it is also clearly her first time flying like this and she is clearly feeling it out, not having reached peak bullshit potential.
Since her max acceleration method is falling, I see peak bullshit as Taylor armoring up and "surfing/skating" on forming and firming waves of Shields. Always turning vertical acceleration into linear acceleration, that she can then "boost" with her shields allowing Taylor to quite literally spin on a dime.
Most likely while also running decoys through the silver shoals to further obscure her form.
I imagine that she is going to end up looking rather terrifyingly like Leviathan in motion.
11
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Threadmarks Interlude: Dancing by Starlight
Threadmarks
billymorph
billymorph
Semi-professional
Mar 25, 2021
#2,043
Interlude: Dancing by Starlight
The water tower on Forty-Fifth and Market had one of the better views of the bay in all of Brockton. It was not open to the public, but there was little in the world that could stop a parahuman with the gift of flight from alighting on a rooftop. The layer of grime and moss, and the rather smelly seagull nests were a deterrent, sure, but the view was more than worth a little discomfort.
I sat on the lip of the tower, legs dangling over a four-story drop with my shields tracing lazy circles around me. The ground itself was lost in the gloom, giving the odd illusion of floating in an infinite void. Ahead, Brockton Bay was a collection of geometric shapes and harsh points of light, as if I were looking upon the stars from close enough to see the pixels. The wind in my ears drowned out the city noise, and for a few hours at least I could pretend it was merely a pretty picture rather than a city that seemed to be doing its very best to destroy me.
A faint blur to the scene had me reaching for a tissue to dry my eyes. I tried to keep my thoughts from circling my grief. Dad had a number of books that professed to help with trauma and loss, and even if they were mostly bunk, the breathing exercises helped. If nothing else, they kept me calm, a state of mind that was rare and elusive at the best of times. It was stupid to cry. A pointless gesture that merely made me look weak when I desperately needed to be strong. And yet it kept happening.
It was especially galling considering how well the day had gone. Aegis yelling at me, the PR event turning violent, the ridiculous overreach in the team's orders, they were all filed away waiting for the opportune moment which Dad assured me was very soon. We needed those meticulously documented grievances, and gathering them was the culmination of weeks of hard work and stress. I should have been elated, but regardless of the strategic victory it had still been a shitty day.
I liked the hero Aegis. He had a bright smile and had always come across as one of the more noble of the Wards on TV. In person, he was a jock with a martyr complex, but kind and supporting in the messed up way the Wards saw as being helpful. It had taken weeks of me at my absolute worst for him to snap, which said something about his character. I hadn't wanted him to scream at me—it put me back in Winslow, surrounded by people who should have been my friends but were actually just waiting for the best moment to spit in my face—but the plan had required it, and so I'd made it happen.
Sighing, I leaned backwards, resting on my shields. At least Clockblocker had been halfway decent. Still part of the system—and more a Gladly than an ally—but halfway decent was a world better than the rest of the PRT.
"Excuse me. Pisces?"
I let out a startled yelp. My shields exploded outward, ballooning up inside my hoodie before I could direct them out and upwards into the air. A shell formed around my head, a temporary mask which I realised a moment later was probably more suspicious than just my chilling on top of a water tower.
"Whoa, whoa!" The girl protested, darting backwards. My smallest shields—near invisible in the darkness—pressed themselves against her costume, tagging the flying cape. I scrambled to my feet, hoisted by the shields in my shoes and ready to run at a moment's notice. It was only then, as my head finally caught up with the situation, that I realised that it was Glory Girl.
"Time out!" She even made a T with her hands, which was so incongruous that I paused. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you," she said in a rush, as if sensing I was about to bolt. "Let me try again. Hi, I'm Glory Girl. Pisces, right?"
My eyes flicked towards the ground. I was not a terribly experienced flier but my shields gave me good area perception. I could run, hug the earth home and deny ever meeting anyone. That way it would be my word against hers and while I was sure they would believe the New Wave hero over me, they wouldn't be able to prove it.
"Huh, Gallant was right, you are the silent type." She flashed a wide grin that seemed to make the whole world brighter. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tattle. We have a villain for that."
I paused. What was Dad's saying, communicate, negotiate, litigate? If she wasn't planning to tell the PRT... well, running would only make it more likely she'd report me.
"Really?" I asked, my voice struggling to carry.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly," Glory Girl chirped. She landed on the tower, her white boots not seeming to even touch the grime. "We girls have to stick together after all."
Frowning I pushed myself forwards and landed back on the tower. I kept my shell up, no use giving away my civilian identity after all, but I let the storm of shields still and slowly fade.
"Thanks," I murmured.
"Oh don't worry about it, Gallant tells me you're having a rough time and I'm not here to make it worse." She frowned, tapping her chin in thought. "Free advice though, everyone wants to take a swing at Shadow Stalker but if you actually hit her you're going to be up shit-creek."
I rolled my eyes behind my shields. "I had figured that out."
"Fair enough. Also, you'll probably want to tell the team you can fly at some point. It sure as hell beats walking." She giggled at her own attempt at humour.
I shrugged. "Eh, they'll think to ask at some point."
Glory Girl snorted. "Yeah right. Seriously, I get that you're trying to give Piggot an aneurysm but they will throw a fit when you forget and take off one day."
A beat passed while I glowered at her. A slight benefit of my shields was how easy it was to hide my emotions behind them. After the flash of anger subsided slightly I continued. "What do you want?"
Shrugging, Glory Girl stepped up to the edge of the tower and looked out over the city. "Like I said, Gallant was worried about you, so I thought I'd help out. Especially seeing that you're at the designated brooding spot."
That caught me short. "The what?"
"Every flier in town comes here to brood," Glory Girl explained, as if it was something totally normal. "It's kind of a Brockton Bay tradition at this point. Crystal showed me this place when I was having a rough time, she learned about it from Aunt Sarah, Aunt Sarah learned about it from Night Owl, he supposedly found Whitestorm here one time sunning herself and got into a fight. It has a rich tradition."
"Seriously?" I stared at her for a long moment.
"Eh, some of that may have been made up, but not by me. The view is nice though, isn't it? Sit with me a moment." She hopped into the air and settled on the edge with her legs hanging over the rim. She patted a patch of concrete next to her. I eyed it sceptically for a moment before joining her, letting my shields thin ever so slightly.
"Kinda a rough first day on the job, eh?" She said with a little laugh.
I didn't say anything.
"You're internet famous, B.T.W. Well, we all are but you're the flavour of the day."
"Really?" I hadn't checked PHO or any of the other cape sites. I'd lost interest in much of the cape-watching trash when I'd been brought behind the curtain.
"Mmm, there's a compilation going around that makes Aegis look like he's a tinpot monster." Glory Girl rolled her eyes. "You have a lot of fans. Quite a few haters too, but that's the internet for you."
"Huh." It was weird to think that people I'd never met were cheering me on. I wondered if they'd still be cheering once the full story came out.
"You're a girl of few words, aren't you?" Glory Girl pressed, shooting me another warm smile. "My sister's the same, she hates the celebrity part of being a hero. She'd much rather just get the job over with and go home than go through the hassle of shaking hands and kissing babies."
My shields rustled as I shrugged. "I'm not that much of a fan of the 'hero work' at all, if we're honest."
The look Glory Girl shot me was a complex one, a mix of confusion, pity and guilt that I didn't really understand.
"What do you want?" I demanded, tiring of whatever social game Glory Girl thought she was playing.
"Nothing. I just saw you sitting here, thought there's a girl having a rough day and dropped in to help." A beat passed. "People don't help much, do they?"
That cut deeper than I thought it would and my shields swelled.
"God," she murmured. "You're really new to this, aren't you? When did you get your powers?"
A shudder ran through me and my swarm. "The third," I said, practically under my breath.
"Thought so." Glory Girl looked out over the city. "You know, getting powers sucks for everyone. The pamphlet says that things get better, but… there's still a couple girls at school I'd put through the wall if I thought I could get away with it. I'm guessing something similar happened to you."
My face fell. "I'm afraid I can't comment on an ongoing PRT investigation." I stated in a dull monotone.
Glory Girl's eyes widened. "Holy shit! Are you serious?"
That pulled me up short. I'd expected the disinterest of the Wards, not that level of enthusiasm. "Umm, yes?"
"They've classified your trigger event!" She shook her head in disbelief. "That's insane, half of the point of the Wards is so you can talk about that shit. What did you do, out yourself to the entire school? Wait, no that wouldn't be part of an investigation. Actually even if you'd killed a guy they wouldn't need to…" she trailed off, then burst out laughing. "Did you out Shadow Stalker?"
I froze, my shields locking into place at the same moment. "How—" I cut myself off, saying anything could be construed as breaking my probation.
"It happened on the first day of school, but not in Arcadia because I would have heard," Glory Girl explained in an excited rush. "You're already a Ward so they aren't still investigating you, that leaves only one other Ward they could be putting through the wringer. That it's still going on means she was actually involved and they're at best trying to cover their bases. Holy shit, this is big."
My mouth was hanging open.
"Of course, I'm saying all this and you can't agree with me because that would be breaking PRT policy and potentially your probation." Glory Girl frowned, pursing her lips like she was sucking on a lemon. "That's fucked up."
"Yup." That I could safely say.
She sighed deeply. "Okay If you give me your number, I'll have my mom call. She does some criminal law, she can help."
I think that was the second time someone had told me they could help for the better part of a year. It kindled a warm feeling in my chest. "You don't need to do anything. There's a plan," I admitted in a whisper.
"Yeah…" Glory Girl let out a long sigh. "Well, when that blows up my mom can help. Trust me, she'd love to air some of the PRT's dirty laundry. It's like a whole thing with her. Just give me your number and we'll get in touch."
"I-I guess that'd be okay," I said, patting my pockets. "Umm, I didn't bring my phone with me. It's got a tracker in it. Probably."
With a laugh, Glory Girl pulled a business card out of a pouch in her belt and held it out. I pinched it between a pair of shields and drew it into my swarm, much to Glory Girl's fascination.
"So how's flying treating you?" She asked, suddenly.
The sudden topic change caught me off guard, a feeling I was growing familiar with when dealing with Glory Girl. "Uh, it's fun?"
"Best thing ever?" she pressed, beaming.
"Uh…" To be honest there was something to that. Like every young girl I'd dreamed of being Alexandria. "It's a little scary, but I could like it."
"Want to play tag?"
I looked at her askance. "Aren't we a little bit old for tag?"
"You're never too old for aerial tag. Two rules, the Medhall building is safe and—" she rapped herself on the collarbone. "Tag, I'm it."
A beat passed, then I realised that she was serious. Dragging my shields around I placed most of them at my back and heaved. The sudden pressure launched me like a rocket, my limbs going heavy with the acceleration as I rose like a comet into the night's sky. With a whoop, Glory Girl followed hot on my heels, my tagging-shields crumbling beneath the force of her flight. For a few moments as I pulled ahead she vanished from my perception, but soon enough she was closing, the top speed of my shields clearly lower than her own, bulling through the thin cloud of disks as if scattering gnats.
I didn't look back. I didn't need to as every shield popped was like a little bell chiming in my brain to let me know exactly where the threat was. I pushed for every ounce of speed until, at the last moment, I twisted up and around, my shields dragging my body through a motion that was more than a little painful and likely to come back to haunt me come the morning. Glory Girl caught the twist in the swarm but didn't react in time, blowing through the dissipating cloud and tracing a tight circle below as I shot vertically into the sky.
"Ha! You've got moves!" Glory Girl exclaimed, rising like a rocket behind me as the city grew smaller and smaller. "I'm still going to get you!"
"Good luck!" I cried, pushing myself harder than ever before. It wasn't enough, even in a climb Glory Girl was just that slightest bit faster, but that just meant I needed to be tricky.
I let my shield cloud fall behind me, the shimmering disks catching slivers of moonlight and momentarily obscuring my position within the mass. With a sudden heave I hurled myself out of the protective shell but let the shell continue its headlong charge towards the stars. Glory Girl chased it, completly missing the dark haired girl in dark clothes falling invisibly through the night. At least until my shields hit the edge of my range and vanished in a wave.
"What the—" I heard her bark before the rising wind snatched away the rest.
The ground began to loom as I plummeted, still distant but alarmingly close given what hitting it would mean. The rising wind whipped me around, sending me into a dizzying spin that set my stomach in my throat. As my pulse pounded shields rose up in a tide, the little disks pouring from under my hoodie and down my pant legs like they'd been shot from a cannon. Their comforting embrace stabilised me, and I pulled up hard enough to steal my breath away a few dozen yards above the rooftops.
Rolling to look skywards, I could just make out a flash of Glory Girl's costume high above, the white fabric momentarily highlighted by light pollution. She was diving, not directly towards me but close enough that it was clear she'd spotted my shoal of shields. Turning my attention back to the city I saw the Medhall building looming a mere mile away and put on an extra burst of speed.
It wasn't going to work, I realised almost immediately. Glory Girl was both faster and far too close for me to reach the building in a straight shot. I'd have to find a trick. Gritting my teeth I ducked low, spreading my shields wide as I pushed myself closer and closer to the city lights, skimming the urban infrastructure of air-conditioners and machine rooms so close that I could have reached out and touched them.
That still wasn't enough to deter Glory Girl, who hit my shield swarm like a stooping hawk. She was braking hard, I guess to ensure that her tag didn't accidentally punch through me, and that moment's hesitation was enough for me to twist with my shields and drop below the rooftops. Glory Girl let out a yell of alarm, but I ignored her, diving into an alleyway between a pair of old apartment blocks. The space was near dark, barely four yards across and, as I quickly discovered, halfway down it was taken up by an old-fashioned wrought iron fire escape. In a split second I hurled my shields out to the very edge of my range, their impacts mapping out the space like some kind of ablative radar. I seized my own body in a vice-like grip, decelerating hard as I dragged myself though the gap between two landings of the fire escape. The ping and snap of shields bursting against unexpected obstacles sounded like a sudden burst of hail but nothing broke, not even me, and I burst back out into the light with a whoop of adrenaline fuelled joy.
Glory Girl was waiting for me there with a smile on her face. For all my shields' ability to throw me like a rag-doll it was no use when I was flying straight into her outstretched arms. We didn't hit in mid-air but only because Glory Girl flew backwards in sync with me, a hand reaching through the swarm and resting on the inner layer just above my shoulder.
"Tag," she declared. "Probably. You are under there this time, right?"
I let out a shuddering breath, whole-body shakes sweeping over me. "Yeah. I'm here."
"Cool. Time out before round two, though." Glory Girl began to rise and I followed. Soon we were above the skyline again and out of sight of prying eyes and nestled between the rooftop clutter. Just to be certain I drew my shields in close, hugging my outline like a suit of scales.
"So, a few things. First, you're crazy, you know that right?" she continued, the amused lilt in her voice turning it into a complement. "We're going to have to put an altitude rule in place otherwise someone's going to die."
I shrugged. "My shields keep me safe."
"Mmm, but no one else." She broke into another one of those heart-warming smiles. "Don't worry, though, that's something you can learn. Just listen to your big sis Vicky, and it'll all work out."
Well that I didn't believe, but I admired her optimism nonetheless.
Jul 1, 2021
#4,334
Chapter 5 - The Trap
Three weeks as a Ward parent had taught Danny Hebert that the organisation had not been designed for him. It was questionable just who it was intended to prioritise but the parents were so far down the list it was frankly alarming. Just getting permission to go into the PRT HQ was difficult; requiring a background check, security pass and a two-hour briefing on discreet behaviour while parking. Even then he was still escorted at all times and, as near as he could tell, was expected to close his eyes and hum when not within designated areas.
Unwelcoming was the word that sprung to mind, tending towards hostile the more time Danny spent mired in the PRT's bureaucratic mud. Danny was unsure how much of that hostility was intentional and how much just the outgrowth of the bizarre game the cape world played when it came to secret identities. Parents didn't fit the mould of the PRT, which given it was an outgrowth of the military was understandable if not forgivable. Once one read past the toothless promises of parental engagement his formal responsibilities boiled down to signing off on Taylor's hours and punishments, making sure that she made it to the PRT building at designated times, and otherwise getting the hell out of the way. There was no network for Ward parents—more secret identity concerns—and no hero-parent evenings to discuss his daughter's progress. Even Taylor telling him how her day went was skirting dangerously close to a number of legally enforceable limits.
Honestly, if Taylor hadn't been flagrantly breaking those laws he wouldn't get more than a 'my day was fine' each evening. That was a situation that he never should have tolerated before and sure as hell wasn't going to tolerate again.
He paused before Mrs Woods' office and drew in a deep breath, fighting down a familiar stab of hot rage. It was a familiar friend given the events of the last few weeks but an unwelcome ally. He'd spent too much time in contract negotiations to harbour any illusions about shouting his way through such a problem. If he wanted to break Taylor's contract then he needed to be cold, furious, but cold.
Raising a fist he rapped his knuckles on the door. A few moments later Mrs Woods opened the door.
"Ah, Danny," she said, with a welcoming smile. "I was surprised to hear you were coming in today. Come in, take a seat."
"Thank you, Mrs Woods." Danny took a final steadying breath before stepping into the room. The office was sparsely decorated, a few photos had been placed on the desk and some books huddled at the end of a bookcase but otherwise there was nothing personable in sight. "New office?"
"I still need to unpack a couple boxes from Boston," Mrs Woods explained, with a pained smile. "It's been very busy lately. Mrs. Stewarts' absence was rather unexpected and there's been a lot to catch up on." She sank into her desk chair and gestured to a narrow seat opposite. "Now, how can I help?"
Danny took a seat, sitting up straight enough that he was still forcing Mrs Woods to look up. Height was the most basic of negotiation tactics but no less effective because of its simplicity. "Thank you. I thought I'd come in to discuss Taylor's punishment personally, and talk about my concerns about the PR event on Sunday."
Mrs Woods winced. "Ah, yes, that was a nasty day for all concerned. Let me get my files." She reached down into her desk, pulling out a small manilla folder and a pair of square-framed spectacles. "Let's see, you got my message about the unfortunate altercation with Shadow Stalker on Friday?"
A grimace twisted Danny's features. Taylor had been distraught after that. "Yes. Yes, I'm aware that Taylor was out of line. I would like to question why those two were put in a room together."
"Uh, I'm unsure on the face of things. I believe that Aegis underestimated the level of animosity the girls shared. It won't be happening again until tempers cool, I assure you."
Danny had to remind himself he was not there to yell. Nor would Taylor be with the Wards long enough for tempers to cool. "And why," he pressed. "Is the Wards Leader making decisions like that? I was under the impression that it was Armsmaster's job?"
"That…" Mrs Wood paused, frowning to herself. "Is a fair question. The Brockton Bay Wards team typically gives more authority to its senior most members than I'm used to. I'll find out if Armsmaster was involved in the decision, I'm sure he signed off on it."
"So you're saying both Armsmaster and Aegis were responsible for putting my daughter in the same room as the girl who caused her trigger event?"
He enjoyed the look of sudden alarm on Mrs Wood's face a little too much. There was a certain magic to the word trigger in the cape world, one that always got a response from those who worked with capes.
"That's not entirely fair," Mrs Woods began.
"Then was it Aegis' screw up or Armsmaster's? If it wasn't both." Danny resisted the urge to smirk as he watched Mrs Woods sputter over the false dichotomy.
She took a deep breath. "That's not really my place to say," she settled on at last, before swiftly pivoting to the attack. "But also somewhat to the side of our point. Whatever the provocation, attacking a fellow Ward is never the appropriate response."
Danny nodded. "Of course, I quite agree," he said, affecting an amiable tone.
"You do?" The sudden shift took Mrs Woods off-balance. "Oh, wonderful. I thought—"
"And I looked over your list of suggested punishments yesterday," Danny continued, barrelling through. "Given the circumstances; the first offence, the verbal provocation, the lack of any serious harm and the systemic errors of my daughter's direct superiors, I'm willing to suggest an hour of physical training to be reasonable."
Mrs Woods did a double take. "An hour? Mr Hebert, for this kind of offence a Ward is generally given ten hours of recertification work, additional unpaid duties, the cashiering of wages, or many, many hours of PT. One hour is completely inappropriate."
"I'm her father, I have final say on what is or isn't appropriate for my daughter," Danny said sharply. "But I am new to the organisation, how much physical training would you consider reasonable?"
"That's—" Mrs Woods took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Leaving aside that PT is not the punishment I'd recommend under these circumstances—she'd do far better with additional time to bond with her colleagues rather than supervised gym time—twenty hours."
"I understand, five."
She winced. "Mr Hebert, this is not a negotiation."
Danny spread his hands, it very clearly was. They both had to sign off on any punishments before Taylor served them.
"Let's put a pin in this." Mrs Wood flicked through her notes. "We also have to discuss the consequences of Sunday's PR event and that's a good deal more serious."
"Patrol," Danny interjected. "Patrols are defined as traversing an area where crime is known to occur to or with the express intention of suppressing criminal activity. PR events are to raise awareness of the Wards program or other pro-community activities.
"Ah, but just because the Wards were in motion doesn't mean that they weren't on PR duties," Mrs Woods replied. "I'll admit the line between the two can sometimes blur, but Wards being active within a retail area is completely normal."
"Normal does not mean permissible." Danny gave a deep sigh. "But that is an issue well beyond your remit. I will have to bring that up with the Deputy Director in my meeting with him on Wednesday."
Mrs Woods looked momentarily like she'd dodged a bullet. "That would probably be for the best. I'll admit that mistakes were made across the aisle in this case, but why don't you tell me what you'd consider reasonable with your view of events?"
"Of course." Smiling to himself, Danny began. "I want him immediately placed on suspension without pay. I want him removed from all leadership positions over other Wards pending a full investigation. I want a written apology for my—"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on," Mrs Woods waved her hands in a vague attempt to stem the cavalcade of demands. "Are you talking about Aegis?"
Danny adopted an expression of surprise. "Of course I am, my daughter did nothing wrong."
"Nothing…" Mrs Woods shook herself. "Mr Hebert, she walked off in the middle of a patrol."
"As would be within her rights as she has not received my permission to actively patrol as the PRT defines it."
She winced. "I meant PR tour, and regardless—"
"PR tours have official hours and require either my permission to extend beyond their designated time slot or the direct instruction of PRT senior staff. Given my daughter had just been explicitly ordered to, 'Not move. Not speak. Not touch anything.' and abandoned by the only supervising elements of your 'PR tour' she had no recourse but to follow the rulebook. And the rulebook says that when a Ward's time at a PR tour is up they go home."
Mrs Woods met his eye for half a moment before ducking her head. "I'm not saying Aegis was blameless," she began after a long moment. "But leaving without telling anyone is dangerous. If Clockblocker hadn't thought to call her then we would have had no idea what happened to your daughter."
"That that was even an option was a complete and utter failure on the part of the PRT and the Wards organisation," Danny pressed with just a twinge of guilt. Mrs Woods was a pencil pusher at best and clearly had no idea what to do in the face of an irate parent with no intention of being calmed or meeting the PRT half-way. "I want a full investigation into the circumstances that allowed my daughter to be put at such risk, again, by your organisation."
"I…" Mrs Woods closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'll put it into the system, but that's a decision made above my level."
Danny huffed. What was the point of a Wards representative that didn't even have the authority to investigate problems? "It had better be fully investigated. I'm not letting my daughter set foot in the PRT building until Aegis is removed from his position as team leader.
Wincing, Mrs Woods worried her pen for a moment. "I'm not sure that's really commensurate with the circumstances."
Danny leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Oh?" he demanded, his tone low and threatening.
"Wards Team Leadership is considered a preparatory role for Protectorate membership. It is assigned by age to give everyone an opportunity to shine and it is… unusual in the extreme to be removed from the role and will affect his heroic career going forwards."
"And?" Danny drawled.
Mrs Woods sighed. "Please be reasonable Mr Hebert, while I admit that the circumstances were regrettable, losing his position is well beyond the scale. Some unprofessionalism aside, no one got hurt and at most I'd expect my counterpart to assign him additional training."
"That is not in the slightest acceptable," Danny snapped. "In the course of a single day Aegis: gave my daughter the aforementioned unreasonable and endangering orders. He yelled at her against all professional standards. He ordered my daughter to appear in public with no form of identity protection, in direct contradiction of half a dozen of the Wards' own statutes. He failed to issue her with the bare minimum of equipment, not even a radio to request help in an emergency. He illegally ordered her to attack a civilian, despite the fact that my daughter is neither certified to do so and it contradicted his previous instructions. And that's not even starting on the deceptive practice of calling a patrol that engaged in police action a PR tour. In short, I want him fired. I will accept his suspension."
For a count of ten the only sound in the small office was the ticking of a clock and the gentle murmur of a distant voice on the phone.
"Pisces was certified, I signed it myself," Mrs Wood said, her voice struggling to fill the hole Danny's tirade had left in the conversation.
"The physical certification, yes. She failed the written portion," Danny continued waving the objection off. "That is irrelevant to the matter at hand. I am not letting my daughter back into this building when there is even the possibility of Aegis' abusive leadership further harming her. If you do not remove him from his position then I'm going to file complaints about the PRT perpetuating a hostile work environment to everyone from Child Protective Services to the Better Business Bureau. Understood?"
Mrs Woods closed her eyes. "Understood," she admitted with a sigh. "I'll talk to my superiors."
"Good. Call me as soon as they can bring themselves to make a decision. If something is not done by the end of the day then you will not be seeing my daughter again as a Ward."
That earned an actual blanch. "Mr Hebert, you can't refuse your daughter access to Ward services," she protested.
Danny huffed. "What services? My daughter is a Ward because your organisation assured me it was better than a trip to Juvenile Hall. Aegis' actions are making me reconsider that assessment."
"I promise you, Mr Hebert, it will not come to that," Mrs Woods said, drawing herself up. "I'll see that this is fixed. It is my top priority."
"Good." Danny stood. "I expect to have news by the end of the day." He turned to leave.
"Oh, but Mr Hebert," Mrs Woods interrupted. "About the punishment for Friday?"
Danny paused, turned slowly on his heel and fixed her with a look. "One hour PT, that's all I will agree to."
Mrs Woods winced. "It won't be accepted."
"Then call in a mediator."
Danny left, closing the door behind him just hard enough to make a bang without truly slamming it. He glanced around and, seeing his assigned minder watching, restrained his wild grin. Instead, he restrained himself to a mere self-satisfied smirk. Score one for the good guys, at last.
Aegis only realised just how badly things had gone wrong when he received the call to Armsmaster's office. Armsmaster didn't keep office hours in the PRT building, nor was he particularly fond of snap meetings or even casual chats. A summons just after the utter catastrophe of the Sunday patrol was not unexpected, but the suddenness was the first toll of the doom-bell.
"Ah, Aegis. Take a seat."
Armsmaster's office itself was small, unadorned and in an out of the way corner of the PRT building. It was easily missed save for Armsmaster's name on the door and the large silver chair behind the desk built to hold a suit of power armour. Armsmaster did not look up as Aegis entered, fiddling with a set of screwdrivers as he dug through the guts of one of his eponymous halberds.
Dropping stiffly into the seat Aegis fought down the adrenaline shakes and leant on his enhanced biology to keep his expression neutral. It didn't pay to look like an overly emotional teen. "How bad?" he asked, his voice catching slightly.
Silence stretched between them. Finally Armsmaster finished whatever Tinker task he'd been attempting, and set down his tools. He looked up. "One week's administrative leave while your interactions with Pisces are reviewed."
Aegis pinched his eyes shut. That was bad, and had the potential to become worse, but it wasn't the end of everything. "Okay… Okay."
"Do you understand why we have to do this?"
Biting down on the honest answer, which was Pisces' attempts to destroy the Wards program from within as far as Aegis could tell, Aegis fell back on his prepared response. "I lost my temper. I gave bad orders. I missed the obvious loophole."
There was another moment's silence. Armsmaster wasn't a man who spoke without thought but the anticipation was killer. Aegis was pretty sure he was developing a second heart to beat in his throat.
"No." Armsmaster shook his head and sighed. "Those are all problems, but they aren't why you're being suspended. You broke at least seven individual regulations sending Pisces out on patrol, endangered her secret identity and members of the public ordering her to restrain a suspect without certification."
Aegis' mouth formed an 'o'. "What?" He demanded. "She was certified. I put the paperwork through myself."
"She has not yet passed the written portion of her certification."
"The—" Aegis sputtered indignantly. "Everyone passes the written portion!" he exclaimed. "It's open book!"
Armsmaster merely gave him a flat look. "There is also no provision for sending a Ward onto a PR tour without their costume."
"No, no, no. There is. I found that one myself. 'At the discretion of the Protectorate leadership or Wards Team Leader, a Ward may appear out of costume if their power effects provide sufficient protection of their secret identity.' It's right there in the handbook."
"Indeed, but that rule is from the section covering deployment to emergency situations when a costume is not available. It has never been used in a PR context, nor was it intended to circumvent the process of a Ward receiving a costume all together." Armsmaster sighed, lacing his fingers together. "Aegis, you have a good head on your shoulders. Why did you persist with the PR tour when you saw that Pisces had not yet been issued with a costume?"
"Why?" Aegis shot back, indignantly. "Because I knew that she wasn't going to have her costume! For two weeks we've been training, we have not once started on time due to a hundred petty excuses. Further, she has taken bathroom breaks every fifteen minutes during my lectures. She has deliberately broken training equipment and called it an accident. She once wandered off after a meeting with Mrs Woods and was found in the third floor break room reading Catch-22. That was forty minutes later and we were about to raise the M/S alarm. I knew she was going to do everything in her power to make the patrol as difficult and aggravating as possible and prepared appropriately."
"Huh…" Armsmaster cocked his head slightly. "I haven't seen any complaints about this in the system."
Aegis glowered. "None of them were considered substantial enough to see any official response," he ground out. "Sir, she is a menace. She is actively sabotaging us."
A beat passed. "I wouldn't say that in the formal review," Armsmaster observed. "It would give the impression that you have something against Pisces and—" he held up a hand to forestall an angry interruption. "—whether or not that is true you can not present yourself as anything but an impartial Wards Leader who made an error in judgement."
Drawing in a sharp breath Aegis accepted that as technically good advice. Not particularly comforting advice but good for his long term career. "Okay…" he murmured, his voice low and defeated. "I can say— I don't know what I'll say."
"You do not need to worry overmuch, you are a Ward and are not held to the same standards that a full time hero would be," Armsmaster assured him. He picked up his tools and began to adjust one of the unidentifiable widgets in his halberd. "When asked you should emphasise that you were acting in the perceived best interests of Pisces and the Wards program in general, and that it was only after the incident that you realised your error. Stress that Pisces was the one who left a PR event without instruction. Stress that you were in hot pursuit and didn't have the time to consider your actions."
Aegis frowned. "That makes me sound irresponsible."
Armsmaster shrugged. "You are a teenager, so a degree of irresponsibility is expected. Play up the angle that this was a learning experience and you'll be fine."
"Sure." Aegis shook his head, wishing that he could believe that. Silence descended between them as Armsmaster continued to tinker, it was usually a sign that one was free to leave but the hearing wasn't the only issue.
"Sir, what do we do about Pisces?"
Armsmaster looked up suddenly from his tinkering. "Do?"
"Yeah, do. Sir, she can't be on this team. Not with Shadow Stalker, not with me."
"The Wards organisation is open to all young parahumans, no matter where they come from and no matter what they need," Armsmaster replied, quoting chapter and verse from the handbook.
Aegis drew in a pinched breath. "Then send her somewhere else."
"Pisces' parents have refused a transfer offer."
He threw up his hands. "Then move Shadow Stalker! New York has an archer, we could do a swap."
A dark shadow passed over Armsmaster's face. "Brockton Bay is not considered a safe location for transfers, particularly in Fléchette's instance. Besides, Shadow Stalker's family have also refused relocation."
"One of them needs to go, sir," Aegis pressed. "I don't know what happened between them as civilians but Shadow Stalker can't keep her mouth shut for five minutes, and Pisces is barely above attacking her on sight. I can't keep them apart forever, the Wards do too many events as a group and they share a common room."
Armsmaster nodded slowly. "It is our hope that Pisces will restrain herself in the future, attacking another Ward is never acceptable, particularly not for a parahuman as dangerous as Pisces is. Shadow Stalker has also been warned not to interact with Pisces given that their relationship as civilians is under investigation."
"What, they've tried to kill each other in civvies as well?" Aegis scoffed.
There was a poignant pause and Aegis' eyes widened.
"They tried to kill each other in their civilian identities?" he demanded, his voice peaking in alarm,
Armsmaster ducked his head. "I should not comment on an internal investigation before it is completed."
"God damn it!" Aegis dropped his head into his hands and fought down the urge to scream. "Sir, I can't fix—" he fumbled for the right words. "Whatever the hell those girls have between them. Shadow Stalker barely listens to me as is and Pisces listens just enough to screw me over. I have tried everything I can think of to get Pisces on-board. About the only option I have left is to throw the book at her for yesterday and hope that at least some of it sticks."
"I would suggest focusing on her actions in the group meeting," Armsmaster began after a few moment's thought. "You have fewer conflicts of interest and Pisces was clearly in the wrong. Once you've established your authority in this matter she will hopefully be more willing to listen going forward."
Aegis pinched his eyes shut. It was not a very good plan if he had to be honest. Pisces had proven that she knew the rulebook better than Aegis and was willing to use it as a rapier. However, if the stick was the only option she'd give him, then the stick was the only option he'd use.
"Okay. I can work with that. When is my hearing?"
"We've booked time for Monday next week. Take the time off to prepare your arguments and an apology for Pisces. Clockblocker will be handling affairs in your absence, but I'm suspending patrols until your return regardless. You can start with a fresh slate then."
"Understood, Sir," Aegis stood. "And, er, thank you for the advice."
"You're welcome. And remember, if you need anything my door is always open."
Aegis nodded sharply and left the office. The door slammed behind him, dragged shut by the overly tuned closing arm.
Last edited:
Jul 14, 2021
#7,935
Chapter 6: Doom Bell
Director Piggot's expression was foul. It often was by the end of the week; the constant roil of Brockton Bay sometimes ebbed and sometimes peaked, but the city was never peaceful. Just that week there had been seven deaths in the borderlands, thirty-five assorted break-ins and robberies, heaven only knew how many fights between non-powered gang members, and Stormtiger had broken every window on Key Street between Fourth and Sixth. It was—on balance—not a bad week but still the Director seemed drained by the struggle, as if she had been propping up the city with her bare hands.
"So, will someone tell me why the hell Pisces' file is still on my desk?"
Mrs Woods and Deputy Director Renick both looked for the other to speak first.
"Well?" Piggot continued, her chair creaking as she leant backwards and interlaced her hands. "I'm waiting."
"We've hit a deadlock with Mr Hebert," Mrs Woods admitted at last. "He is not satisfied with our proposed punishments for Pisces."
The explanation did not visibly improve the director's mood. She looked over at Renick, who merely shrugged.
"Mr Hebert has been… protective of his daughter ever since her Trigger event," Renick explained with a pinched expression. "I believe he's overcompensating."
"Great, another Vista," Piggot grumbled. At Mrs Woods' curious look she continued. "Her parents also experience bouts of overprotectiveness, generally when they want her for a custody hearing."
Mrs Woods frowned. "That seems a cynical way of looking at it," she said softly. She didn't deny the accusation; she'd had the misfortune of meeting Vista's parents already.
"So, what does Mr Hebert want for his 'precious' daughter?" Piggot drawled.
"One hour's PT," Renick replied, shrugging.
Piggot snorted. "No."
"That is what we told him, but he isn't budging."
"Let me guess? His daughter gave him a long sob story about how Ms. Hess said mean things about her so she had no choice but to try and kill her for the second time this month?" Piggot rested her elbows on her desk as she regarded the pair with a heavy glare. "I don't have time for this. Inform him that against a normal girl his daughter would have shattered her ribs and now be facing a murder charge. She is to perform twenty additional hours of PR work at our convenience and apologise to Ms. Hess in writing. Understood?"
A beat passed.
"We've already suggested that," Renick pointed out. "He rejected the offer."
"Then—" she began, but a sudden buzz from her intercom interrupted her. "Yes?" She snapped, slamming her hand down on the abused device.
"Mr Truth to see you, Director. He says it's urgent."
Piggot's eyes narrowed. "I'm in an important meeting. He can wait fifteen minutes."
There was a moment's silence. "He says it's about this meeting."
"Fine," she declared with a thunderous glower at the door. "Send him in."
Mr Truth stepped through the door a moment later. Truth—no one had ever figured out if it was an adopted name or not, but it was far too on the nose for a lawyer—was a well aged fifty-something man with slicked back hair and a pressed grey suit. He flashed the occupants of the room a winning smile before pulling up a chair to the desk and taking a seat.
"Good afternoon, all. May I say, Director, you're looking hearty today?"
The director merely regarded him like he'd just fallen off the sole of her shoe.
"Now, I believe we're here to discuss the latest ray of sunshine in our midst. Pisces."
"We are," Piggot said, stressing the exclusivity.
"Oh good, well I thought I would offer my team's expertise. Perhaps even preemptively this time, rather than after the fact."
The air in the room seemed to grow a few degrees colder and Renick drew in a sharp breath.
"What?" Piggot demanded.
"Well, Pisces has represented somewhat of a fly in our happy family's metaphorical soup. She's already managed to get two people suspended pending investigation." He chuckled to himself. "It's a better record than most of the Youth Guard reps, so I have to admire her for that. But given the young lady seems to have a talent for putting us in no-win situations, I figured I'd offer my advice, legal or otherwise."
Piggot drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Mr Truth, don't you have more important things to be seeing to? I know you're a very busy man."
Truth flashed another one of his courtroom smiles. "Extremely, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Now, I'm sure I interrupted so do go on. Pretend I'm just a fly on the wall."
"I can swat a fly," Piggot grumbled but turned back to address Mrs Woods. "Now, we were discussing bringing Mr Hebert to his senses?"
"Yes, Director. I think the biggest problem is that he hasn't really had the chance to see much in the way of, well, not justice but impartiality. I'd like permission to tell him how we dealt with Shadow Stalker for her part in the incident."
Director Piggot furrowed her brow. "Renick, what exactly did you have her doing?"
"Ah…" Renick nervously drummed his fingers on his knuckles. "I believe we had her wash the motor pool for a few hours."
"Ha!" Piggot snorted. "I was wondering who'd washed my car. Good choice."
Mrs Woods, however, looked less than pleased by the announcement. "Are we really sure that's fair?" She began somewhat hesitatingly. "Shadow Stalker was the instigator from what I heard."
"Technically speaking, no. We should have been far more reasonable according to the regs," Piggot explained with a shrug. "But given that Miss Hess is so deep in the doghouse she's mucking out for Hellhound I don't think anyone is going to complain."
"Oh, we are punishing Shadow Stalker?" Truth interjected, leaning forwards. "I was wondering. Nothing crossed my desk, after all."
"The matter is being handled internally," Piggot snapped, fixing him with a withering look.
"Well, I assumed so but internal problems do have their way of becoming external problems at such short notice. It's nice to be kept in the loop."
Piggot's glare deepened and Renick stepped swiftly into the gap in the conversation.
"Miss Hess is currently suspended from patrols, has mandatory sensitivity training across a range of topics until July, and has been separated from the negative influences in her school life."
Truth snorted. "I read Pisces' diary. Is that all?"
"Those events occurred before Shadow Stalker became a member of the Wards program," Piggot asserted. "For the most part."
"What diary?" Mrs Woods interjected, raising a hand to interrupt.
Truth laughed. "You haven't shown her, Emily?"
"No, I have not. It is part of an internal investigation and not to be shared without authorisation," Piggot said, scowling at her lawyer.
"Which you can grant. Come on, Emily, she's our advocate for the Wards. You need to tell her what they've been getting up to."
With a huff, Piggot conceded the point. She reached into a desk drawer, pulled out a slim Manila folder, and passed it over the desk along with a pen. "This is to authorise your access to internal investigation one-one zero-zero five and evidence collected under its mandate. Please sign, and heaven help you if this goes beyond these walls. Understood?"
"Yes, Director." Mrs Woods' eyes flicked back and forth as she scanned the cover page. She glanced over the standard boilerplate on the next page before swiftly signing beneath the other signatures. "And the report itself is—"
There was a heavy thump as the actual investigation hit the desk. It was at least six inches of paper. "I would recommend just reading the summary," Piggot drawled.
"Ah…" Woods slid the report over and began to read. It didn't take long for her to scan the summary for the pertinent information.
"My God..." The words escaped her in a quiet breath. "It was all Sophia?"
"It is still unclear if Miss Hess was the instigator for Pisces' trigger event." Piggot's tone was hard and clipped as she recited the line like a mantra. "And unless we blow her secret identity questioning the entire school I doubt we can ever be certain."
"No, no, we can't do that." Mrs Woods shook her head. She began to leaf through the bundle of evidence. Most of it was photocopies of a journal written in Pisces' neat, looping hand. Her face fell further as she read through the litany of petty cruelties. "But surely there's something?"
"We already are doing everything," Renick said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We've hit her with the book twice over, and Shadow Stalker won't be getting away with anything like this under your watch, will she?"
Mrs Woods shook her head. "No, no, I'll keep both eyes on her. But this means that Pisces—"
"Still assaulted a girl in a busy hallway, broke her jaw in three places and revealed her as a Ward to two dozen chatty teenagers," the Director cut in before she could go any further. After holding Mrs Wood's gaze for a moment, Piggot relaxed. "I'll admit that I understand now why she has been quite so fixated on Hess, but a sob story does not make her actions any less of a crime."
"Actually, Director, there is this thing called provocation," Truth cut in with a sharp smirk.
She shot him a withering look. "Truth, you're not helping."
"Still…" Mrs Woods worried her lip for a long moment. "Mr Hebert must know about this. He's not going to accept anything we do to Sophia short of having her arrested."
Director Piggot scoffed. "He'll be waiting a long time. I can't send a Ward to juvie over some schoolyard vandalism and harsh language—the Youth Guard would eat us alive."
"And we can't just give up on her," Mrs Woods murmured, more to herself than the rest of the room. She glanced down at another page and shuddered. "She needs help."
"Exactly," the Director said, the scowl on her face making it clear just what kind of help she through Shadow Stalker needed. "So with that distraction out of the way, can we please focus on this goddamn deadlock."
Mrs Woods shook herself, drew herself up and adjusted her glasses. "This is only going to make things harder, Director. If Mr Hebert has read a fraction of this—"
"He was present when it was given to us," Renick supplied.
"—Well, he's not going to accept Shadow Stalker's word over his own daughter. He might even see her actions as…" Mrs Woods bit her lower lip. "I hesitate to say justified."
"I would have hoped that family had had their fill of revenge already," Piggot said with a grumble. "But if he isn't seeing things clearly, that does leave us in a quandary."
"We could just drop it, no one actually got hurt," Mrs Woods pointed out.
Piggot scoffed. "Yes, let's let the girl who committed assault get away with it a second time just because no one got hurt. No, that is not an option, if not for the sake of the rest of the Wards who have to share facilities with her then for her own sake. We can not give this girl the impression that she can punch who she likes and then bat her eyelashes at daddy to make her problems go away." She paused and then turned to Truth. "Can we argue that her father isn't acting in his daughter's best interests?"
Truth snorted. "You can argue whatever you like, but if you're talking about asserting parental rights over this girl, you're going to have to do a lot more than that. We might be able to arrange an in-loco-parentis agreement, similar to what we have with Vista, but that would require Mr Hebert's consent."
"And that isn't going to happen any time soon." The director shook her head. "Okay, in that case we're going to have to be more blunt. Inform Mr Hebert that we always have one way of punishing a probationary Ward that doesn't require his consent."
Both Renick and Truth grimaced. Mrs Woods was too distracted by the report in her lap to notice at first but the words soon penetrated. She looked up suddenly.
"I'm sorry, what are you implying?" she demanded, a sudden, uncharacteristic undercurrent of steel in her voice.
"That Probationary Wards who refuse to 'get with the program' have one very clear alternative."
Mrs Woods sat up straighter in her chair. "Director, we are here to help and guide young parahumans in the Wards program. Sending them to prison—even suggesting that we might have to do so—would be an utter failure on our part."
Piggot merely shrugged, spreading her hands. "I know that. You know that. But Pisces and her father do not seem to have realised the reality of the situation. So far Miss Hebert has done her very best to do the absolute minimum required of her while antagonising and attacking her teammates. I fail to see the progress needed to maintain her Probationary status at this time."
"Director." Rose's fingers tightened around the folder. "If this document is true, then the whole reason why she can't work with the team is Sophia."
"And?" Piggot let the syllable hang in the air like a lead weight. "Her personal feelings about her colleagues are irrelevant to her job. She refused the offer to relocate. I can't get rid of Shadow Stalker without more evidence, and even if I had that evidence, why would we remove the Ward who is actually doing her duty? So, Mrs Woods, communicate to Mr Hebert that he is not attempting to bluster his daughter's misdeeds past some high-school principal and that there will be real consequences if the pair continue to be implacable."
Rose was silent for a long moment, her eyes fluttering as a dozen thoughts raced behind them. Suddenly, she burst into motion. "Mediation!"
The director cocked her head.
"Mr Hebert said he'd be happy to deal with a mediator on the matter," she explained in a rush.
"Hmm…" Piggot nodded. "That's something. Renick, Dirk Connor is our usual Youth Guard contact, how soon could he be in?"
Renick furrowed his brow. "Uh, I believe he's on vacation in Florida."
Piggot—who'd not taken time off in five years—scoffed. "Typical."
"I know a woman, she helped us a lot when Weld started," Mrs Woods interjected. "I could give her a call."
Piggot looked torn for a moment. "Is she reliable?"
"Extremely. I can get her here Monday."
"Good." Piggot leaned back in her chair. "Let Mr Hebert know, and ensure that we get at least some PR time out of Miss Hebert from the mediator. If there's still a problem this time next week, heads will roll. Understood?" There was a round of nods. "Good. Dismissed. I apparently have another meeting."
Renick and Mrs Woods, after placing the investigation report back into Piggot's waiting hands, swiftly left the office.
"Well, are you satisfied?" Piggot snapped, fixing her gaze on Truth.
He shrugged, his smile fading as he let the persona drop. "Moderately. You need to be careful, Emily, this whole situation is getting legally dicey for both you and the department."
"And what exactly is illegal about what I've done?"
"Nothing yet, but law is nine parts presentation to one part litigation and the Heberts have one hell of a sob story if they need it. That and I'm worried that they might try to break the contract."
Piggot snorted. "They won't. The man is too protective of his daughter. He knows Pisces would be in jail by the end of the day."
"But out by the end of the week," Truth countered. "Shadow Stalker's possible involvement looks bad, Emily, very bad. If they appeal the plea, a good lawyer could get Pisces off on any number of technicalities: self-defence, temporary insanity, entrapment..." He held up a hand preemptively as Piggot's face reddened. "I'm not saying that would happen, but it's an option we need to be aware of if we push too hard."
An angry huff escaped the director. "Consider me warned. Is this something we're likely to be dealing with?"
"Well, Mr Hebert left a number of 'Intent to Inform' documents with my department this Monday. It was the usual fare for the most part, grandparents, godparents and the like. One name stood out: Carol Dallon."
Piggot's face was unreadable for a long beat before she reached the only conclusion she could. "Well, fuck."
Vista let out a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the armoured car, breathing in the sulphurous air of the PRT motor pool. She was already in costume, having changed on the ride over, and bounced on her heels in anticipation. It had been a long week but she was finally back.
Quite how Pisces had screwed the pooch so badly she'd gotten Aegis and the rest of the Wards benched for an entire week eluded Vista. Adults rarely bothered to explain such things to her. All she knew was she'd been shuffled quietly onto the school tour circuit until someone figured out something for them to do. Suffice to say, it had not been a good week. School was already Vista's third least favourite place to be, and other people's schools were not much of an improvement.
"Hey, Vista," Dean called out, waving from where he and Kid Win were loitering by a PRT van. "How was your weekend?"
Vista made a face as she was forced to remember her weekend but banished it behind a professional mask. With a snap of tortured space she was next to the boys.
"Dull," she lied, with a casual shrug. Dean was buttoned up in his full Gallant outfit, which made him hard to read, but he still managed to carry himself with a friendly air. Vista felt a flutter in her stomach as he looked down at her. "How about you guys?"
"Kind of nice to have the weekend," Dean said, nodding sagely. "It was like a little vacation."
"Yeah. Great." Vista fought the urge to roll her eyes, she couldn't imagine anything worse. "Does the get-up mean we're back on? Like, on-on?"
Dean cocked his head. "I'm not sure what that means, but we're patrolling again. Carlos got a demerit and a fine but he's still Wards leader." Dean sighed. "He's still pretty angry at Pisces."
Vista snorted. "Who isn't?"
A long beat passed. Kid Win coughed awkwardly.
"Vista…" Dean began slowly. "I may have pointed Vicky in Pisces' direction. She…" he dragged out the pause, changing his mind on his phrasing even as he spoke. "It's complicated."
Vista's eye twitched. It was always complicated between Dean and Vicky. That was why they were so obviously wrong for each other. Love was supposed to be simple.
"I mean Pisces' situation is complicated," he corrected hastily. "I think. I think Pisces might need a friend right now more than she needs a senior Ward. We passed her in the common room. Could you—" He let the sentence hang.
"Oh, come on..." Vista groaned. "Really, why me?"
"When it comes to being a hero, the question is 'who else?'"
Vista's stomach did a backflip and she shivered. There was suddenly no way she could say no, not when Dean pulled out the heroic one-liners.
"Heh heh… okay." Vista bounced on her heels. "No promises, though."
"Thanks, Vista. I can always count on you."
"You can me count too!" Vista declared, then went bright red as she realised what she'd said. "I mean—bye!" She let the space behind her collapse and fell backwards and away. From outside it was almost like the ground had opened up and swallowed her, which was the intention.
"You can me count too?" She demanded of no one, standing alone in the elevator. "Damn it Vista, grow up already!"
She was still reliving the embarrassment while she walked into the Wards common room. It took her a moment to even notice the girl sitting at the study table, let alone recognise her. She was a tall girl, lean to the point of malnourishment with long dark hair that fell in waves down to her waist. She wasn't in costume; she wore a simple white shirt and a pleated skirt that would have worked for a PRT intern or for a schoolgirl. It was only the mirrored shades that gave her away, that and the few tiny glinting shields that orbited her like snow caught in the breeze.
"Holy shit," Vista murmured. She'd been wondering if there even was a girl under Pisces' shell. It looked like she owed Chris a Coke.
Her promise to Dean echoed in her head and she pulled a face. Slowly, she made her way across the room, not wanting to spook the apparition with her powers.
"Hey Pisces." She hopped up on the bench opposite. A sprawl of paperwork was laid out across the table along with the Wards handbook and a folio of rules and regulation. Vista really didn't know what else she'd expected.
Pisces looked up from her notes briefly. "Hi."
She couldn't seem to think of anything else to say.
"Sooo…" Vista drew out the syllable as long as she could to fill the awkward silence. "What are you working on?"
"Just some certifications. They keep putting them back in my queue." Pisces shrugged, clearly not bothered by the extra work.
Vista snorted. "Still? Wow, I don't remember them being that hard. I passed them as soon as I hit my eleventh birthday."
Pisces paused, looking up at Vista and frowning. "You took your arrest certifications at age eleven?"
"Yup!" Vista beamed. Triumph had been so shocked when she'd pinned that dummy in five seconds flat. "And I'd been studying all month, so the exams were a breeze."
It had been easier to stay in the Wards room than face her parents after her trigger and there'd been painfully little else to read.
"I could help, if you like. You know, if you're struggling," Vista continued, fixing her best welcoming hero smile in place.
Once again Pisces was silent. Vista really wished she'd take the glasses off. Pisces was more expressive without the shield shoal but the girl was still hard as hell to read.
"You really love this, don't you?" Pisces asked at last.
Vista snorted. "What, exams? They're not my favourite thing."
"No, I mean this." She gestured at Vista's costume. "The hero thing. Being a Ward."
"Umm, duh." Vista gave a little shrug. "Who doesn't? Didn't you play at being Alexandria as a kid."
"Well…" Pisces looked a little embarrassed at the memory.
Vista smirked at that. Finally, a positive reaction! "See! And sure, the Wards can suck most of the fun out of it with all the rules and debriefs. And the school visits—god I'd rather face down Hookwolf than a room full of nine-year olds, but apart from those you get to live the dream. It's awesome!"
The only response was a grimace, however.
"Oh come on. Don't you want to be a hero?"
Pisces paused, her brow furrowed. It was as if it was the first time she'd encountered the question. "You know, I think I actually might. Funny."
Vista cocked her head. That was the weirdest way anyone had ever said that. "Well…" Some instinct told her that saying 'you've got a funny way of showing it' would destroy all the progress she had made. "I can help you with the test, if you want. It's all open book anyway, no one cares if you get a little help."
"No thanks, I'm just filling time. I've got an appointment in a few minutes anyway."
"K'." Vista cast her eyes around for something to keep the conversation going. Wonder of wonders, though, Pisces spoke.
"Don't you find it strange having to do all this? I mean, we're just kids. And are you even thirteen?"
Vista bristled. "I've been a Ward nearly two years!" she protested. It was a reflexive response at this point.
"Doesn't that make it worse?" Pisces pressed. It was odd, usually when people called Vista young, or cute, or any of a number of annoying adjectives they had the same condescending smirk. Pisces just looked sad.
"Make what worse?"
"That they're making us fight crime."
"Oh no, no, no!" Vista protested. "They're not making us, it's the best thing about Brockton. Do you know how many Wards just get sat on until they finally age out to the Protectorate? We get to actually make a difference right from the start. We get actual experience, not just do cardboard cutout work. It's great."
"Great…" Pisces did not sound convinced, and to be fair Vista very much doubted the girl was going to change her spots just because of one impassioned speech. It was progress, though. And that was more than anyone else on the team had managed. Dean was going to be so impressed with her.
The door alarm cut through the happy fantasy like a buzz saw. Vista startled and reflexively went for her mask, only to mentally berate herself when she realised she was still wearing it. Pisces also spun out a few extra shields, although it was still nothing compared to her usual blizzard.
With a hiss the door opened. Mrs Woods led the way, looking more harried and on edge than normal. Not that Vista was in much position to judge, Mrs Woods had been running around after Pisces like a dog on a string trying to fix every little thing, leaving little time for Vista. Behind her was a tall man wearing a simple suit, his height and wide mouth marked him as Pisces' father at a guess. Behind him was an unknown woman. She wore a pantsuit, a serious expression and carried a heavy briefcase. For a moment Vista wondered if she was Pisces' mother, and if that's where Pisces inherited the stick up her ass, but there was no family resemblance. Instead, a sinking dread pooled in the pit of her stomach.
"Pisces, are you ready?" Mrs Woods asked, even as Pisces rose. Her shields swept the papers into a waiting rucksack. "I'd like you to meet Mrs Troy. She's from the Youth Guard."
"Hello, thank you for coming," Pisces said softly, almost shyly.
Vista realised all of a sudden that she was staring. "You're not the usual Youth Guard rep!" she exclaimed without thinking.
"No, I'm not," Mrs Troy said, smiling sweetly. "Vista, right? Don't worry, Mr Connor is just on vacation. I'm sure he'll be back soon. He speaks very highly of you all, you know?"
"Oh… good. Let him know we miss him!"
Mrs Troy smiled, that adult smile that said they wouldn't remember a word you'd said in five minutes.
"Thank you for keeping me company, Vista." Pisces said, turning to face her. "And," she added in an undertone. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
With that, she joined the adults and the party disappeared back into the PRT offices. Vista waited three heartbeats to make sure they were gone, then ripped her phone out of her belt pouch.
'RED ALERT!' She hammered into the ENE Wards private chat. 'YG in the building. NEW REP!!!'
She paused. What the hell had Pisces meant about being sorry?
'Shes talking 2 Pieseas. get here now