#9,988
Chapter 8: Pebbles
As a rule, Mrs Troy was not popular with children. She had a severe face and piercing eyes that made her intimidating, despite her best efforts. Rose's office served wonderfully as a comfortable, neutral space where the Wards could relax into an interview. Still, even under the best of circumstances, it generally took a few minutes to shake the 'just called into the principal's office' expression from the Wards she talked to.
Aegis looked less like a guilty child and more like a man defeated.
"So. You're here about Pisces?" he began, when it became clear that Mrs Troy wasn't going to start the conversation.
"The Youth Guard performs periodic random inspections on all Wards programs," Mrs Troy said, with what she intended as a reassuring smile.
Aegis snorted. "Nice dodge," he observed, then looked suddenly shamefaced as he noticed who he was talking to. "Sorry, sorry. I've been—I've been dealing with a lot of weasel words lately and…"
"That's quite fine, dear," Mrs Troy continued, writing herself a note on her pad. "I get the impression things have been a little tense lately. As it happens you're correct, the situation around Pisces has been the spark for this audit. That doesn't mean we only need to talk about her, of course."
"Okay." Aegis was silent for a long moment. Helena let him work through what he wanted to say without any additional prompting.
"So, this is pretty much my fault," Aegis said, his gaze fixed on a particularly ugly knitted doily on Rose's desk. "Pisces was… Gallant warned me that Pisces was angry at becoming a Ward. That seemed okay at first, I'd watched Triumph deal with Shadow Stalker and she's basically anger personified. I think Clock realised that my plan wasn't working first and tried to tell me, but I didn't respond fast enough. I made some pretty bad assumptions and everything went wrong from there."
Mrs Troy nodded along. "How so?"
"I spent far too much time tying myself down in the minutiae," Aegis said, still not looking up. "I overstepped my powers as Wards Leader to get her to do what I wanted her to do, rather than forging a real connection. I focused on specific rules I could use to get my way, rather than understanding the intent behind them. I relied too much on how I expected our interactions to go and didn't spend enough time thinking about why we kept clashing."
"Right." There wasn't a hint of anyone else being at fault in what sounded like a well-rehearsed speech. It was brave, but not very helpful. "How were you introduced to Pisces? What did they tell you about her situation?"
Aegis glanced up, furrowing his brow. "Uh… Well they told me that Pisces was a six-month probationary Ward and that she'd been brought in after an incident involving Shadow Stalker during school a few days before. She had a strong power, but didn't know much about using it, and would need a lot of training if she was going to fit in with the team. There was some investigation going on about the assault, but no one ever told me more about that."
Mrs Troy kept her expression deliberately blank. In summary, they'd told him nothing that wasn't on Pisces' cover sheet. "And who delivered this briefing?"
"Deputy Director Renick."
"When did he next talk to you about Pisces?"
Aegis thought about it for a moment. "The twenty-fourth."
There was a scratch as Mrs Troy's pen slipped. "Three weeks later?"
"Yeah, that's about right."
Helena shook herself. "And who else did you talk to about Pisces in that time? Did you consult Armsmaster for advice, or someone in the PRT hierarchy?"
"No. No, I should have done so much sooner."
"And you didn't bring your concerns up at your regular meetings?"
For the first time Aegis looked confused. "The Wards leader is not normally invited to departmental meetings," he explained, suddenly wary.
"Of course, but I mean your meetings with Armsmaster. He's responsible for the Wards team."
"Oh, no, I don't have a regular meeting with Armsmaster," Aegis explained. "We see each other as needed."
Mrs Troy frowned. "Right, but does he brief you regularly? Wards' duties have to be set and approved by someone."
"Ah, those." Aegis sighed in relief. "I email those in to Renick on a Monday and he sorts them out."
"Right—" Helena froze. "Excuse me? You are setting Ward duties? Patrols, training, PR duties?"
"Well, I consult with Renick, but for the most part, yes. I am the Wards Leader, it's my job."
Clockblocker was only barely in costume. He had donned a clock themed domino mask but was otherwise in civilian clothes and still red in the face from a run.
"You didn't have to hurry in," Mrs Troy began, taking note of his rumpled t-shirt.
"Oh, I was coming in anyway," Clockblocker insisted. "And when I heard you were doing interviews, I thought I'd get it out of the way early."
Mrs Troy didn't believe a word of it. "Thank you for your consideration. So, are there any concerns that you'd like the Youth Guard to be aware of?"
Clockblocker smirked. "Not since I last talked to our rep. Brockton Bay is a good place to be a Ward, there's not much for us to worry about."
"That's very good to hear. Though, I understand that things have been a little tense recently."
"Well, what's life without a bit of fun?" Clockblocker shot back, flashing a cheeky grin. "And yeah, the whole Pisces thing has Aegis on edge, and Vista, come to think of it, and Shadow Stalker has been more moody than usual if such a thing were possible. Things were pretty calm during my brief stint at the helm, though, so I don't think there's much to worry about."
Mrs Troy nodded, though not in agreement. "There was a fight in the Wards room a little over a week ago."
"Oh, that was just Shadow Stalker being her usual bundle of joy. I don't think it's anything to worry about."
"Pisces assaulted her," Helena pointed out.
Clockblocker snorted. "Well, we were all thinking it, Pisces is just the only one crazy enough to go through with it." He said it as a joke, but the forced smile didn't reach his eyes.
"So Pisces was the aggrieved party? Shadow Stalker deserved it?"
"Oh, umm." Clockblocker winced. "Well, it was a complex situation. Tempers were high right from the start. I wouldn't like to say anyone deserved it."
"Of course."
Mrs Troy pursed her lips. Clockblocker didn't seem willing to throw anyone to the wolves, which was a step-up from the Deputy Director but still not very helpful.
"Tell me about Pisces. You were in charge of her training last week, how did you find her during that time?"
"She was fine," Clockblocker insisted. "You just need to know how not to push her buttons. She's really up on her regulations and timekeeping, but I'm the master of the clock. I just had to triple the time between her sessions on my copy of the schedule, and we never had a problem."
"Ah, a clever loophole," Helena observed. Or at least, one that showed an awareness of the problem. "It worked better than before?"
Clockblocker laughed. "God, yes. Aegis once had to extend her hours three times in one day because he couldn't get it through his head that she'd just walk out if her time was up. That, and she started her watch the moment she entered the building rather than waiting until we started. She drove Aegis up the wall with that one."
"Can you speculate as to why she annoyed him so much?"
"Typical clash of personalities," Clockblocker said instantly. "Aegis is a real dedicated guy. He puts in, like, twenty hours a week on his paperwork—trust me, I've seen the stack and gotten the hand cramps—and that's before his actual patrols. I don't think he gets that not everyone's as dedicated as he is."
Helena's pen stopped cold on her pad. "I'm sorry," she said, keeping her voice deliberately level. "Did you say Aegis is working twenty hours a week on top of patrols?"
Gallant was out of his armour when he reached Mrs Woods' office. He was a bright young thing, although he had the very definition of helmet hair after his patrol. It took a few minutes of idle conversation before Mrs Troy managed to broach anything substantial. Gallant, it seemed, knew how to dissemble when face to face with an authority figure.
"I understand that your powers give you a sense for emotions."
Gallant nodded. "That's right. It's an interesting way of seeing the world. Don't worry, I rarely catch more than surface feelings."
"Actually, I was hoping you might have a deeper insight," Mrs Troy continued. "What was your impression on Pisces during her time here?"
A long moment passed as Gallant seemed to turn over the question. "Anger, mostly," he began at last. "Sometimes merely annoyance and sometimes fury, but the overall trend was the same. People are rarely one note, though, she could be anything from amused to despondent at times. I rarely got anything that positive from her."
"And were there any times when this anger was directed at something?"
Gallant shook his head. "I can only see the emotions, not the cause, but I never saw her as furious as when she was with Shadow Stalker."
"Yes, I have heard about that incident. What anyone was thinking, putting them in a room together, I doubt I'll ever know." Mrs Troy sighed. She was, however, going to do her very best to find out. "Were there any other touch points?"
There was a momentary pause, Gallant's gaze drawn above her by something unseen before it snapped back down. "She mentioned that she couldn't comment on a particular internal investigation a number of times. That infuriated her."
"Oh?" That was new information. "What investigation was that?"
Gallant shrugged. "I have no idea, I'm not cleared to know. That said, I am cleared to look at the logs and there's been an investigation open since January third, the same day Shadow Stalker was attacked. Perhaps it's worth taking a deeper look."
"Hmm, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Gallant."
"No need to thank me, I'm just doing what I can."
"Honestly, I've just kind'a kept my head down," Kid Win replied, when pressed on the Pisces situation. "It's been bad for everyone."
"I wasn't aware that Pisces had many dealings with the wider group," Mrs Troy said, checking her notes.
Kid Win shrugged. "Well, she hasn't, but Aegis has been on edge all month and that… it's just not something I like to deal with. I've got my own problems, I don't know why Shadow Stalker and Pisces' thing has to become my thing."
"That's a very mature way of looking at things. Sometimes one of the best things we can do is acknowledge we're not the person who can solve things and find the person who can."
"Thanks." Kid Win gave a shy smile. "I hope someone can sort them out."
"Can I just circle back to what you said, that you've got your own problems. Is that with the Wards, with school, home?"
Kin Win's eyes dropped. "It's… a Tinker thing. I've been working on a big project and it's not been going well. They never go well."
There was dejection in his voice, long worn with little in the way of hope that it would be fixed.
"May I ask what the project is about?"
"Uh…" Kid Win suddenly seemed to remember who he was talking to and tried to back peddle. "Well, it's a complicated thing. I wouldn't want to—"
Helena cocked her brow. "Kid Win, I understand that building things that go bang is a teenage prerogative. I won't judge as long as you're safe while you're building it. So, what's the project?"
"Oh." He relaxed an inch. "Well that's fair. I'm calling it an alternator cannon. It's… uh… I'm not sure I've wrapped my head around the physics yet, but it could be big. Really big. But I keep getting distracted. And using the components for the wrong things. And breaking things I shouldn't. And I used the last of Armsmaster's iridium, and I don't think he's forgiven me."
"I wouldn't worry, dear," Mrs Troy said, smiling fondly. "It's natural to make mistakes, and Armsmaster understands that. I'm sure he's just been busy, what with everything that's going on right now."
Kid Win returned her smile weakly. "Are you sure? It's been three weeks."
Mrs Troy frowned. "Three weeks?" she echoed. "Just to be sure, Armsmaster is your Tinker mentor, right?"
"Um, yeah? There's no one else. Why, is that a long time to go between meetings? He's left it more than a month a couple times now."
"So, Shadow Stalker," Mrs Troy began, matching the moulded gaze of Shadow Stalker's mask with an impassive look of her own. Brockton Bay's preference for full face masks was unsettling, but at least the other Wards knew when to take them off. "Let's talk."
"Nothing to talk about," Shadow Stalker said, with an exaggerated shrug.
"Really? Nothing? I figured you'd want to get your side of the story across."
Shadow Stalker scoffed. "Yeah right, I know how you bureaucrat types work. I just keep chat, chat, chatting until I give you enough rope to send me to juvie. I'm saying nothing without my lawyer."
Mrs Troy's brow rose. That was a new one.
"I'm not a cop, Shadow Stalker." Mrs Troy could only wonder who approved that name. It was a holdover but rebrands existed for a reason. "And you're not being prosecuted for anything, I'm just trying to get a handle on the situation. I would appreciate any help you could give me."
"Yeah, right." Shadow Stalker leaned forward in her chair. "The fact that you're here, that we're even talking about this shit, is because of her."
"Her? Who is her?"
"You know. But do you know how many of these stupid, bull-crap meetings I've been through because of this? She loved them. Whenever she flunked a test, struck out with a boy or just had a crap day she'd throw out all these wild accusations—generally against my friend, sometimes against me. No one ever found any evidence, but she never really felt she needed it, what use is the truth when you've got a good sob story?"
"And you believe this?"
"I know it," Shadow Stalker said, without even a glimmer of doubt. "And you would too, but you've made the same mistake everyone makes." She leant forward. "You let her get into your head."
"Right…"
Mrs Troy stalled by taking sudden interest in her notes. It was a curious line of defence, a deepening of the mind games that the 'trio' had played all throughout their reign over Winslow High. Played subtly, she could see it working. Schools were messy, fast moving places and inserting that seed of doubt into the teachers' heads would muddy the waters spectacularly. Once someone got tarred as the girl who cried wolf then no evidence that wasn't iron-clad would be enough. Even the PRT had been bamboozled by the reputation for a time.
"Interesting. You said something similar to the internal review board."
"Funny that, me telling the truth to multiple people," Shadow Stalker said with a derisive snort.
Helena conceded the point. Given the girl was lying through her teeth, it was amazing how calm she sounded. She was either brazen beyond belief or simply lived life without fear. It was a remarkably effective tool for selling her story; no wonder she'd run rings around the Winslow staff.
"They turned up some interesting things during their investigation. I can't tell you most of it, but I saw your phone had been destroyed during the fight with Pisces."
"Mmm." Shadow Stalker gave a warning hum.
"Seems strange it happened in such a short scuffle, but then I wasn't there."
"No, no you weren't. A lot of people who weren't there seem to have their opinions about that day."
"Yes. It's a shame they've been so slow with the investigation. They could have recovered your data from the phone network by now." Helena had to prevent herself smirking as, just for an instant, Shadow Stalker froze. Interesting, so there was something incriminating on there. "Actually, I can make this a Youth Guard matter and start chasing it down. I'm sure everyone would like to see what you said that day."
She met the eyes on Shadow Stalker's mask, waiting to see who blinked first.
It was Shadow Stalker.
"Fuck!"
The girl blurred out of her chair and sprinted for the door. She didn't pause to open it, instead breaking into mist and flowing through. Mrs Troy waited a long beat to make sure the girl was well and truly running for it, then shook her head in what could only be described as disappointment. Failing to properly chase down the evidence around Taylor Hebert's trigger could charitably be called incompetence, but it smelt more like wilful ignorance to Mrs Troy. She could forgive the troubled teenager for doing something so heinous—if only just—but the adults who'd enabled her were quite another matter.
Reaching out, she took up the phone and dialled the security desk.
"Hello, this is security."
"Hi. This is Helena Troy, the Youth Guard investigator. Shadow Stalker is attempting to flee the building. Could you detain her if you see her? Thank you."
She went to set down the phone, but there was a sudden clatter down the line. A man yelled in surprise, followed by the sounds of a scuffle, then the distinctive fwip-buzz of a taser going off and a blood-curdling scream.
Someone picked up the other handset. "Okay, we got her. Now what?"
Mrs Troy shook her head. That was definitely going down as her worst welfare check interview.
The room itself seemed to oscillate in time with Vista's restless leg. It was no mere optical illusion, the walls themselves were pulsing ever so slightly under the effect of the girl's power. It was a not so subtle reminder of the power and danger a parahuman could represent, even if that parahuman happened to be a particularly angelic looking pre-teen.
Vista was in no rush to talk and Mrs Troy saw no reason to press her for answers. Instead, they sat in a tense silence as Mrs Troy took the opportunity to go over her notes. She had plenty of material already, and there was no point trying to drag words from someone who didn't want to talk.
"You're not going to break me," Vista said suddenly, after ten minutes or so had gone by.
Looking up, Mrs Troy raised her brow. "I'm not here to break anyone. I'm here to help."
Vista scoffed. "Yeah right. I saw what you did to the others."
"Shadow Stalker tried to coldclock a trooper while fleeing the building."
"I meant us non-psycho Wards," Vista snapped. "You acted all friendly, then you twisted our words around on us. So, I'm not saying anything."
"Right…" Mrs Troy bobbed her head. That was a far more aggressive reaction than she'd expected. "I promise you that I'm only here to help."
"Yeah, right," Vista crossed her arms and sank deeper into her chair. The chair itself seemed to slide back from the desk half a foot as space distorted around her. "Everyone is 'only trying to help'. They're 'only thinking of my future' or 'doing what's best for you'. I don't want that kind of help. I don't need that kind of help."
"Of course, you're very mature for your age."
Vista's eyes narrowed. "Don't even try it."
"I'm not trying anything. I just want to wrap my head around things here. If you can assist me, that would be wonderful. If you can't, that's fine too."
There was a long silence for a moment. "I don't believe you," Vista declared, still giving her the stink eye.
"Why? Was it something I did?"
"No, because you're Youth Guard," Vista shot back, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You're the people who won't let me patrol with even a baton. You're the people who forced me to cut my hours, again. You're the people who keep going, 'oh, we can't let Vista walk home on her own' even if I'm the single most powerful hero in the Bay."
"I'm sorry you feel that way."
"Sorry she says." Vista's scowl deepened. "You always say sorry. Sorry, but we can't fix your parents for you. Sorry, we fined you again. Sorry, but we're here to help, definitely, we promise."
"Fined?" Helena repeated, sheer disbelief in her voice. The tirade was bad enough, but that word stood out like a sore thumb. What twelve year old worried about departmental fines?
"Yeah, another violation and yet again our wages get docked. Because you just love doing that, don't you?"
"The Director is passing on her fines to the Wards!"
"Helena?" Charles Zavier answered the phone on the sixth ring, sounding more than a little confused. "What are you doing calling at this hour?"
"We've got a major problem. Do you have a moment?"
There was a moment's hesitation before Charles sighed and spoke again. "It's eight thirty, Helena, are you still at the Brockton Bay offices?"
"Yes, yes I am." Mrs Troy sighed. "Charles... It's bad here, really bad."
"It always is."
"I'm not kidding around. I've declared a surprise audit of the ENE Wards—"
"You've done what?"
"—And just talking to the kids has flagged up a dozen violations of the Wards Charter," she continued, talking over him.. "I'm serious, Dirk has seriously dropped the ball on this one."
"Hmm." There was a creak on the line as Charles sat up. "He covers a lot of districts. I guess something might have snuck through."
"Snuck through? The Wards are practically running their own goddamn program, there's so little adult supervision. They're clocking nearly twenty hours a week more than the maximum allowable, and the Director is docking their wages for negligence. Worse, it's been going on long enough that they don't even realise that that's a problem."
"No. No, that's impossible," Charles said. "Even Dirk would have noticed that."
Mrs Troy scoffed. "Then he's even more blind than we thought. Charles, the local leadership let a Probationary Ward torture a girl from her class for so long the poor thing triggered!"
"Holy shit. What? That can't be—is she okay?"
"Honestly, she's the sanest person I've met all day. But then she's also had a full month to recover because the PRT buried the incident so that they wouldn't have to admit one of their Wards is a literal psychopath."
"Shit…Wait, why did you meet the girl? Did she happen to be there?"
"No, they made her a Ward and put her on the team."
Charles was silent for a long moment, and then asked in a tone of utter disbelief. "With the girl who tortured her?"
"With the girl who tortured her. I don't know what the hell happened here to make any part of that the logical solution, but I do not intend to leave until I've found out. We need to call everyone, find out who could even plausibly drop what they're doing, and get them on a red-eye flight, tonight."
"God, Helena. This is not going to make you popular, you know that?"
"I couldn't care less, I need all the help I can get. I've managed to accidentally get a Ward arrested, and they're going to figure out I don't have the authority to do that any minute now
#11,427
Chapter 9: Dawn
Missy was waiting for them in one of the booths, already halfway through a quarter-pounder with extra-cheese. Dennis wasn't particularly surprised to see her. Carlos was surprised and significantly more angry about the situation.
"Missy, what do you think you're doing here?" he hissed, as the pair sat down opposite her.
"What, I'm not part of the super secret club now?" she shot back, pointing a fry at him. "Maybe if you didn't want me to find out you shouldn't have arranged it in the group chat."
Carlos scowled at her. "I mean, you're supposed to be in school. How did you get here?"
"I ditched. According to the girls I snuck out with, it's officially the coolest thing I've ever done." She rolled her eyes. "So, what's the big news?"
"Missy, you should—"
Dennis put his hand on Carlos' shoulder. "Let's not make a scene," he said softly, gesturing subtly towards the scattered lunch crowd. The McDonalds was too far from Arcadia to see much school traffic but there was always a risk of running into someone. "We're not supposed to be meeting out of uniform anyway."
Carlos grunted but dropped it, instead contenting himself with glowering at Missy. Dennis left them to it and got a hamburger. By the time he got back Chris had slid into the booth and was doing his best to appear invisible while Missy aggressively sipped her soda.
"So, I'm sensing a little bit of tension," Dennis began, fixing his most punchable grin to his face.
"Shut up, Dennis," Missy shot back. "Your big news had better be that we're going back in."
"Right…" Dennis drew in a sharp breath. "Maybe, don't pin your hopes on that happening right away."
Fortunately, he was spared Missy's death glare by Dean arriving with Vicky in tow.
"Hey guys, hope you didn't start without us," he said brightly, then paused as he took in the table. "Missy, how did you get here?"
"It's a mystery, that chain link fence around my schoolyard could trap Lung." She paused to give Vicky the stink eye. "And what's she doing here?"
Vicky flashed a radiant smile. "I'm just here supporting a friend."
Missy sniffed, but didn't protest as Dennis shuffled over to allow Dean and Vicky space to sit.
"So, what's the big news?" Missy demanded the moment everyone was situated. "They've told me nothing since Tuesday. As usual."
Dennis frowned. "What did you hear on Tuesday?"
"That we weren't being allowed back into the building until further notice." Missy pulled a face, scowling through her lunch. "Same as everyone else?"
There was a general murmur of agreement, though Carlos added. "They mentioned that it came down from the Youth Guard, but they couldn't say how long it would be before they'd let us back on base."
"Yeah…" Dennis began, rubbing the back of his head. "So, about getting back in—" He managed to drag out the pause a little longer by fumbling for his phone. He hated delivering bad news but sometimes there was no other choice. "The Youth Guard posted a press release this morning. Let me read it out. So, 'The Youth Guard Agency, official oversight for Wards teams across the country, under the direction of Mr Zavier yada-yada-yada… here we go. Effective immediately, due to systemic mismanagement, abusive working conditions, and reckless child endangerment the Wards charter for the Protectorate and PRT Offices in the East North East administrative area is officially revoked.'"
There was dead silence around the table for the longest moment.
"They what!" Missy roared, slamming her hands down on the table hard enough to make the plates rattle. "They can't do that!"
"Easy, easy," Dennis hushed her, gesturing to keep it down as far too many eyes focused on their gathering. "We're supposed to be being stealthy."
"Fine," Missy hissed, then repeated in a stage whisper. "They can't do that."
Vicky cleared her throat. "Actually, the Youth Guard can and do dissolve charters. Though, usually they only do so when they're shuffling departments or because the host town got wiped off the map by an S-class event."
"Oh, good. Brockton Bay is officially an S-class catastrophe," Dennis quipped, in a vain attempt to relieve the tension. "I always wondered if we'd make it."
No one laughed.
"So what does that mean?" Missy said, scowling at Vicky. "When are they going to let us do our jobs?"
"It's going to be a while," Dean replied, and gave a heavy sigh. "I looked it up, it takes a couple months for a department to certify a Wards program. Usually they provide a provisional charter, but who knows if they're going to grant one."
"They won't," Carlos said softly. "When I was talking to Mrs Troy there were a… few issues to say the least."
Missy scoffed. "Yeah, right, like Piggy is going to let them keep us in barracks for months. I bet we'll be back on the streets as soon as the investigators go home."
Her declaration was met with silence.
Dennis cleared his throat. "That was the other bit of news that I thought we needed to hear. I talked with our punny friend in the big leagues a few hours ago and… Piggot's gone, indefinite suspension pending investigation. The beard man's also on the bench for a few weeks while everything is being sorted out."
"Wait, seriously?" Missy demanded. "For what?"
"The Youth Guard revoked the charter," Dennis explained, struggling to find the words to explain just how big a deal it would be for the PRT. No one had ever screwed up a Wards team so badly that the Youth Guard had just pulled the rug out on them. That included departments which had been infiltrated by Masters or even departments that had seen half their roster wiped out in an afternoon. It wasn't just an indictment, it was a declaration that the Youth Guard had zero confidence that ENE could clean up it's act.
"Half the PRT brass is descending on the Bay to figure out how the hell it happened," he continued. "Rumour has it Costa-Brown got teleported over specifically to chew Piggot out."
"The PRT building's been surrounded by news vans since seven AM," Vicky added. "I think it's safe to say this is beyond anyone local's control."
"That's insane!" Missy protested, throwing up her hands. "Where are they getting all this from? We were doing just fine. Better than fine. We're the best team this side of New York!"
Her attempt at a rousing speech was met with only awkward silence as everyone tried their best not to meet her eyes. Deflated, but making up for her disappointment with rage, Missy glowered at them one by one and only Vicky met her eyes. "You're unbelievable! You really believe any of this? We had our problems, but we're not the worst team in the country!"
Carlos sighed. "Missy, do you know how many people there's supposed to be in a Wards department? Not the team, the department." Missy looked at him askance. "Mrs Troy explained it to me. We should have an advocate per two Wards, they should have a manager, we should have our own armourer, a physical trainer, a handful of people to run the console during patrols—and not just assign the job to whoever is on Piggot's shit list—a tutor, maybe even a tutor for each grade, a damn therapist…" He shook his head. "I've had a lot of time to think over the last few weeks, and I'm beginning to worry if things were ever okay."
"We didn't need those people," Missy protested. "We were fine. Better than fine. Right?"
Again, her assertion was met with silence.
Chris coughed. "I… I could have really used that tutor," he said, almost under his breath.
"Whatever, traitor—" Missy glared at Carlos for a long moment before continuing. "—But that's no reason to get rid of the entire team."
"No, but the whole… financial crimes thing probably was," Dennis said, running a hand through his hair. "Turns out, the whole underreporting hours thing we were doing with a wink and a nudge? It's flat out illegal in this state to ask a minor to work for more than thirty hours a week. And then there's the issue that Sophia was technically being paid less than minimum wage…"
Missy glowered at him. "Did you blab to the inspector?" she demanded.
Dennis held up a hand. "I plead the third."
Vicky snorted. "You refuse to quarter troops in your house?"
"That too."
"Gargh! Did anyone not screw us over?" Missy demanded.
Dennis snorted. "Well Sophia definitely did. Assault says she tried to flee the building after the Youth Guard audit started, failed to beat up a trooper and landed herself in the lockup. Destination unknown, but probably a containment zone."
"And I may have been the one who got Armsmaster in hot water," Chris said, hesitantly. "Apparently he never mentioned that there's a really good national Tinker mentorship program I could sign up for. They do remote learning, and they've got Hijinx on tap who does some really great stuff involving throw away tech that I think could really—" He finally noticed Missy shooting him the evil eye. "—I'm going to stop talking now."
"Great," she spat out. "Everyone but Dean betrayed us. Thanks a lot, you asholes."
Carlos sighed. "Missy, I really don't think that's fair."
"You're right, why am I blaming you idiots when I should be blaming that bitch Pisces? She's the one who managed to do in a month what the villains have been trying to do for years."
"Pisces never intended to bring anything down," Vicky said, suddenly. "She'd admit she was being a bitch but it was never the plan to take down the team."
All eyes snapped to her.
"You've been working with Pisces?" Missy demanded.
"I've lent her an ear," Vicky continued, playing off the sudden scrutiny with a casual shrug. "Mom is her lawyer and we've had a few chances to talk. She's quite a sweet girl once you get her out of her shell."
Missy shook her head in disgust. "Sweet?" She spat the word. "She flew off the handle and tried to kill Sophia first day we met."
"They have a…" Vicky pursed her lips and drew in a breath before speaking. "Sophia triggered her."
There was a moment's shocked silence. Then everyone spoke at once.
"She did what?"
"Why didn't she tell us?"
"Ugh, figures."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Vista shouted all down. "Why does that matter? She still took it out on us! She still took down the Wards, are we forgetting that?"
"Missy," Carlos began, hesitantly. "Have you tried dealing with the person who caused you to trigger, because I haven't yet."
Missy scoffed. "Yes! It's part of being a grown up. It's part of being a hero. It's part of not being such a whiny little bitch that you don't ruin things for everyone."
"She wanted to pass on her apologies for how things shook out," Vicky said, in a vain attempt to redirect the conversation.
"Well, we don't want her apology!" Missy snapped, voice peaking in her agitation. "You can tell her from us that we never want to see her again. Isn't that right?"
Once again she was met with silence.
"Isn't that right?"
Dennis coughed.
"You lot are unbelievable," Missy snarled. "She betrayed us, and a second hand sob story is enough to win you all back." She stepped up onto the bench and then up onto the table, stomping between the trays as she escaped the booth. Jumping down she rounded on them. "Sophia was right, you're all a bunch of weakling losers!"
"Missy, wait—" Dean began, rising.
Missy ignored him. She spun in place and stormed off, almost running into a girl who'd just walked through the doors.
"Okay…" Vicky turned back to the table. "So, she took that much, much worse than I thought she would."
Dean took her hand in his. "She was always the most dedicated to the Wards," he explained. "Give her a bit of time, I'm sure she'll calm down eventually."
"Yeah, we're really good at calming down and not holding grudges as a community." Vicky let out a long sigh. "Anyway. Carlos, I do also have a personal message from Pisces for you if you want to hear it."
Carlos frowned and took a few moments to consider his answer. "I really don't right now. I'm still too close to all this." He put back his head and stared at the ceiling. "Actually, I think I'm going to go make sure Missy doesn't run into a mugger."
"Dude, I think she can handle a mugger," Dennis said, sniggering.
"It was the mugger I was worried about." He stood and, after some nonverbal negotiation, escaped the booth. "I'll let you guys know if I hear anything from work. See you around."
He stuck his hands in his pockets and followed Missy out the door.
"And then there were three," Dennis said, shaking his head. "So, Vicky, burning question as you've got the inside track. What was Pisces' plan?"
Vicky shrugged. "Well at first, to be as much of an ass as humanly possible—"
"Yup, that checks out."
"—in an attempt to get the PRT to quietly dismiss her," Vicky completed, shooting him a pointed look. "Though after actually meeting the director, she and her father went for plan B which was just to document all the workplace violations and put them in front of the Youth Guard ASAP."
Dennis winced. "Ooo, yeah don't mention that part to Missy. She hates the Youth Guard."
"She does what?" Chris did a double take. "Why?"
"Eh, Dirk probably called her 'little Miss' or something."
"Dennis, she's not that bad," Dean said, in meagre defence of his teammate. "She just wants to be part of the team."
"Well, that's not happening now." Dennis shook his head and sighed. "The team's officially dead, and who knows where we'll all end up. That's if we stay in the program. Mom is already talking about pulling me out until Dad's through with his next round of therapy."
Chris groaned. "Oh god, I just realised I'm going to need to set up a whole new lab."
"It's going to be… it's going to be an interesting few weeks," Dean said, squeezing Vicky's hand.
"Well you're all welcome to join New Wave," Vicky said, flashing a smile at all of them. "We have great dental and the only requirement is that you're dating one of the members."
Dennis snorted, he reckoned he lacked a certain pair to date Panacea. "No thanks. I've met your sister and I choose to live."
"Coward."
"Some say cowardice, some say wisdom." Dennis smirked. "After all I'm the only Wards Leader to survive Pisces' rampage unscathed."
Dean let out a long sigh. "You assigned her nothing but one-oh-one training programs for a week."
"And survived."
Vicky rolled her eyes at him. "So, want to meet her?"
Dennis froze. "What?"
"Pisces, do you want to meet her?" Vicky held up her phone. "I left her in a bookshop around the corner. She won't have gone far."
"Uh…" Dennis thought for a long moment before shrugging. "Sure, why not? You only get two chances to make a good first impression."
Danny always read the paper over his lunch break. It was one of those little habits he'd picked up as a young man. Along with a cup of tea—Annette had never developed a taste for coffee and her preference had spread to the family—and a deli sandwich, it helped him get ready to face the rest of the day. If nothing else he needed the break from the paperwork.
Outside spring was slowly poking its head above the parapet, but finding work for the union hadn't become any easier with the turning of the seasons. At least there was one welcome addition to his office compared to the winter. Taylor was sat at a folding table set to one side of the room, with a stack of schoolwork in front of her and a packed lunch.
The clock ticked steadily, filling the silence between the pair. The calm had a far better tenor than before, and Danny was privately amazed he'd never noticed how bad it had gotten. They'd somehow ended up caught in a pensive limbo, one without words, with everything to say and no ability to say it. They were still quiet, they'd never been a loud family, but the void between them felt smaller than it had in years.
"Huh, Piggot is going to Washington," he said suddenly.
Taylor looked up. "Really, I thought they fired her?"
Danny chuckled. "Very much so. But the congressional investigation is still going strong. Did you hear they shuttered the Wards Department Thirteen?"
"Oh yeah, Vicky mentioned that. There was a big hazing scandal, apparently. Nice to see some other city dealing with a dumpster fire for once."
"I feel I should speak up in defence of my home town," Danny said, without actually defending Brockton Bay. Shaking his head he turned back to his paper and continued reading. "There's some speculation that they might spin the Wards program off into its own agency after all the scandals, less conflict of interest that way. Although, Costa-Brown is against it."
"They won't change." Taylor sighed and glowered at her book. "They let Piggot get away with all that shit for years, and they only fired her because the Youth Guard forced them."
"Taylor," Danny said suddenly, drawing her attention. "They never change willingly. But that's why we have places like this…" He gestured at the union building—Old, fading, but still fighting the good fight. "But that doesn't mean we can't force them to be better. After all, we won."
Taylor looked skeptical for a long moment but then her expression softened. "We did, didn't we?" she said with a smirk. "You know, I never really expected to."
"You didn't?"
"No, I thought… I don't know, I thought it was worth trying at least," Taylor said, staring at the far wall as shields bubbled against her skin. "It was going to be something rather than just knuckling under again. I didn't expect the Wards to break before I did."
Danny smiled fondly. "I suspected they might, you've got your mother's stubbornness."
Taylor shot him a pointed look.
"And I suppose mine. But you'd be surprised how often it's the big guy that blinks first. When you start bringing in proper strike tactics like work-to-rule, walkouts and picket lines, things get very tricky for management. There's a lot of pressure to fix things before the media catches wind, or before the bottom line gets hit too hard. Of course, usually these end in settlements rather than congressional hearings."
Snorting, Taylor shook her head. "Leave it to Brockton Bay to overachieve in all the worst possible ways." She paused, furrowing her brow. "Dad, did I say thanks?"
"For?"
She shrugged. "All of this. For all the help memorising regulations. For all the speech coaching. For having my back…"
"Taylor. I'm your Father, there's nothing I wouldn't do to make you happy. I'm just sorry it took me so long to realise you needed help."
A bitter chuckle escaped Taylor. "Me too… Thanks. Dad. I couldn't have done it without you."
"You also wouldn't have needed to do it without me, so why don't we call it square?"
Taylor laughed, it was a rare sound and she reminded him so much like Annette it hurt. The moment was broken by Taylor's cell phone going off.
"Damn," she swore softly. Pulling it out of her bag she flipped it open. "Taylor," she began.
"Hey Tay'," Vicky's voice came through the speaker, loud enough for Danny to hear as she shouted over the wind. "Got a moment?"
"Yeah, I'm just at the union." A wave of shields spilled from Taylor's forearms and, taking care not to be visible from the hall, she used them to push the office door closed. "What's up?"
"Our little oracle has a hot tip," Vicky began. "There's going to be a fight on Ninth and Warf before one, and it's likely Vista will be on the scene."
Taylor's face fell. "Shit, really? Why didn't you call me sooner?"
"Hot tip, girl, hot tip, Anyway, I've been keeping an eye on things but I've already flown over three times and I'm going to spook someone at this rate. Can you go on watch for an hour or two?"
She glanced over at Danny, somewhat guiltily.
"Who else do we have?"
"Chariot and Browbeat are around, but the rest of the Indy League are either in class or at the wrong end of the city. Even with the four of us it's not a good idea to try anything more than breaking up the fight. It's Hookwolf's stomping grounds and we do not want to get bogged down."
"Oh great, so if Vista shows she will definitely have Hellhound with her." Taylor huffed. "I'll be there in ten minutes."
She hung up and looked around guiltily. "So…"
Danny smiled fondly. "I heard. Don't worry about your old man. Do what you need to do."
"Thanks." Taylor hurried to her feet and rushed to the door, but paused there. "Are you sure? You fought so hard to stop me doing things like this."
"We fought for the right for you to choose what kind of person you wanted to be," Danny corrected, with a fond smile. "If you want to be a hero, then go."
A broad smile spread over Taylor's face. "I love you Dad."
"I love you too. Now hurry, someone needs to save out that poor girl."
Taylor shook her head. "Wish me luck, she does not want to be saved." And with that she was gone.
Danny sighed and tried to get back to his paper. The words kept jumping around, though, even if his daughter was almost invulnerable he still worried. Perhaps it was a parent thing. Perhaps it was the thought of his baby girl possibly fighting Hookwolf in the next half hour. Sighing he stood and went to the window.
It usually took a few minutes for Taylor to get from his office to the old storm drain hatch. From there it was a short walk and an even shorter flight to the sea. Danny stood silently as he waited. A sudden burst of light shot out over the glittering waters of the bay, Starlight's shields shining in the bright spring light. She completed a lazy half loop before shooting towards the city proper, dwindling to a mere a bright speck in moments.
"Oh, Annette…" he said to himself, in the well worn silence of his office. "If only you could have seen her."