Examination 2
"So tell me again – why did you happen to have a frying pan?" Detective Salle asked as she scribbled on her pad.
"I didn't just 'happen to have' it. I was in the kitchen getting a drink of water when I noticed some movement outside. Someone was climbing up on top of the patio. So I grabbed the first thing I could think of to defend me and my dad and ran upstairs."
"And you heard them come in..."
"Well, technically no, I heard them already walking inside my room. I don't know how she got the window open so fast or so quietly." I was lying my ass off, hoping my acting was realistic. Although I stuck to the facts as much as I could, barring the fact that I knew the intruder was actually Shadow Stalker.
"And that was when you cracked her skull."
Dad stepped in between me and the detective. "This was an intruder in our home. My daughter was scared for her life. I will defend her to the ends of the earth for deciding to hit too hard rather than not hard enough."
"I'm not the judge, Mr. Hebert. I'm just collecting the facts. It was only a single swing?"
"Yes."
"Now, did you know the intruder prior to this incident?"
I had to choose my words carefully. I knew it would be really easy to paint the picture that I deliberately tried to murder her or something. "I didn't know who it was before I removed the mask," I said.
"But you did know her," Salle kept pushing.
I nodded. Best not to say anything about knowing it was Shadow Stalker. "Sophia Hess. She goes to my school. We're in the same grade."
"Have you ever had any significant interactions with her?"
I almost burst out laughing. I was only willing to give her the benefit of the doubt simply because I was sure the school never informed the police about what had been happening to me. "Wait right here," I said. I ran up to my room and grabbed my journal. For the past year, I had been recording each time that the Trio had been bullying me. I'd stopped in January, after being hospitalized from the dumpster incident. Not only had I given up all hope that the authorities would do the right thing, I had been distracted by my newfound powers.
I brought the journal down to the detective. "You can copy it, but I'm keeping the original," I said. I didn't trust them not to suddenly "lose" the journal.
The detective looked at the innocent-looking notebook and started flipping through. Page after page, I saw her look grow more intense, focusing more and more on the words on the page. Occasionally her eyes would flick towards me, and I only gave her a serious glare. Yes, everything there is true, I wanted to make sure she knew.
Dad was reading through with the detective as well. I could see his eyes widening as he learned the truth. "Taylor? This has been happening the whole time? I thought they stopped after..."
I shook my head. "They never stopped, Dad. They didn't even slow down after you went to school and talked to the administration. I thought it would change things, but… it didn't. I stopped writing it after the dumpster thing because by then I knew nothing would happen no matter what they did. So let's just say I'm not surprised she's gone from stealing things from my locker to breaking-and-entering my house."
"You should have told me!"
"And what would you have done, Dad? Talked to the staff again? They'd just ignore you again. The same way they ignore me EVERY. SINGLE. TIME."
"We could have sued them! Alan's a lawyer..."
I snorted in disgust. "A Lawyer? Mr. Barnes? Yeah, you really think he'd choose us over his own daughter? Suing the school would mean he would implicate his own daughter in the bullying. And he's just a divorce lawyer anyway."
"If not him, then..."
"Then who? Mr. Barnes and the school are on the same side! He knows all your secrets, dad! They'd probably use Mom's death against us and claim you were mentally unstable, and I was lashing out and making up things for attention or something. We'd go broke in lawyer's fees and they'd win anyways." I crossed my arms and avoided his gaze.
The angry, frustrating silence between us stretched between us for a while until Detective Salle coughed.
"Mr and Miss Hebert, rest assured that I'm going to treat this case with all the importance it deserves. Much of what you listed here can qualify as assault. What is this 'dumpster thing' you mentioned?"
"Back in January those girls stole my mother's flute, broke it, threw the pieces into a dumpster, and pushed me inside of it when I tried to get it back."
"That's assault and theft at minimum. Did you suffer any injuries?"
"They locked the lid. I was trapped in there until I passed out and I was hospitalized."
The detective's eyes bugged out. "And you didn't report this?"
Dad's shoulders sagged. "We couldn't afford the hospital bills. The school agreed to pay for Taylor's recovery if we didn't press charges..."
The detective shook her head. "Hush money is technically legal only when it isn't to cover up a crime. If the school paid this money to prevent you from reporting what is clearly an assault to the police, they've broken the law. If you had informed the police, we would have pressed charges."
"But... they had it in writing... we can't afford to pay the bills."
"First, as I said, an illegal contract is illegal and can easily be nullified in the courts. Second, the state prosecution is the one pressing charges, not you. Victims don't ever have to press charges, or else murder would be the easiest crime to get away with." The detective chuckled to herself at her own dark joke.
"I thought... god, how could I be so stupid?"
"I don't suppose you contacted a legal advisor with you before signing anything?"
"...Fuck. It was Alan." That was the first time I heard Dad swear in years.
After taking a few more statements, the detective was about to leave when the doorbell rang. Dad went to open the door.
"Mr. Hebert? I'm Armsmaster, from the Protectorate." I recognized the voice. My eyes flicked to the front door, where the hero's iconic powered armour was filling the doorway.
"Wait!" I shouted. That took everyone by surprise. "Dad, don't let them inside!"
It probably confused my dad a little, but I was thankful he trusted me. "I'm sorry, Armsmaster. If my daughter is uncomfortable with your presence, I'm going to have to ask you to leave unless you have some kind of warrant."
"May I ask why?"
"No," I said. I stared him down, waiting for him to just get a clue and go away.
He didn't. Dad shook his head and closed the door.
Detective Salle raised her eyebrow. "What... was that about?"
"I just figured out who the intruder was," I lied. I needed someone else to know, someone outside the Protectorate who could put pressure on them so they wouldn't just sweep it under the rug. I just had to come up with a quick excuse and pretend I was smart enough to piece together the clues.
"I thought we already identified her as Sophia Hess," she said slowly, waiting for me to elaborate.
"Yeah, but Armsmaster showing up? Did anyone call the PRT telling them a parahuman was involved?"
The detective checked her notes, then with her colleagues. No, nobody had even suspected that Sophia Hess was a parahuman, so there was no reason for the PRT to investigate the case. Nobody had called them in for aid – it was a simple break-and-enter case, after all.
"So that means Sophia's a parahuman." Or they suspect me, but I'm going to keep the heat in the other direction as much as I can.
The detective raised her eyebrow. "Well, my guess is she's neither a white supremacist or an Asian..."
"No, they got here quick. Just about as soon as someone entered something in about 'Sophia Hess,' right? She's not a usual villain, she's one of theirs. She's one of the Wards – she fits Shadow Stalker. They're here to cover things up," I said. Sure, I had actually figured it out weeks ago, but this was a good way of getting it out into the open.
"You know that revealing a cape's identity is a serious offense, especially if they are Protectorate or Ward-affiliated..." the Detective started. "And if that really is a Ward, then the PRT automatically has jurisdiction."
"Not when they're committed a crime out of costume. Like breaking into my house. And trying to hurt me. And doing all that shit to me in school," I said. I didn't actually know for sure, but I was hoping the law would be sensible in this case. "Don't hand over Sophia until you hear it from them. That Sophia Hess is one of theirs."
The detective sighed and massaged her forehead before flipping to another page in her notepad. "That's fair. And how did you come to the conclusion that Sophia Hess is Shadow Stalker?" The detective was rapidly taking notes again.
"First off, she got inside the house quickly without making a sound. Even if she could pick locks, I didn't even hear a window or door open. I thought that was weird, because I'm pretty sure we keep all the windows locked all winter, we have no reason to open them. But Shadow Stalker can phase straight through the walls, no problem. It also explains how my homework kept getting stolen and how they always managed to get inside my locker. I kept changing the locks and everything, they always got in," I explained.
The detective nodded and started taking notes furiously but said nothing. I waited for her to finish.
"And then there's how she always got away with everything she did. No matter how much I reported her bullying to the school, she got away with it. They never even tried to investigate. And rumour has it at least one of the Wards was attending Winslow. It's Sophia. Everything fits. The PRT has been covering for her. I don't know what they were planning to do here, but I wouldn't be surprised if they tampered with the crime scene and helped Shadow Stalker get away scot-free again."
"That's a pretty serious accusation you're leveling against the Protectorate. Corruption? Possibly even obstruction of justice? Damn, we're normally supposed to hand off any parahuman crimes off to the PRT, but in this case... I might have to contact the FBI."
"Well, I hope someone can get to the bottom of this, because I don't trust the Protectorate to do it," I said firmly.
The detective got up and closed her notebook. "Thank you, Miss Hebert. You've given me quite a case to work on. If you won't let me have that notebook, could you make a photocopy and drop it off at the police station later today? Preferrably after sunrise?"
I nodded. I couldn't let yet another authority figure sweep Sophia's crimes under the rug. I wasn't entirely clear on the law on this – were the police allowed to arrest Protectorate members if they commited a crime? Surely the PRT and Protectorate weren't allowed to just investigate themselves, were they?
Most of the officers left by then, some escorting Sophia to the hospital. Some officers were still upstairs in the hall and my room to collect evidence, so I couldn't go up there yet. I had to try to get a bit of rest on the couch.
Unfortunately, I didn't get much of a chance to rest. Even though I was tired, the excitement and adrenaline had given me a burst of energy. I didn't fall asleep quickly enough before there was another heavy knock on the door.
This time, Armsmaster was back and holding up a warrant. They must have had some kind of fast-track system for this. Or maybe it was something special that Wards got.
"Daniel Hebert and Taylor Hebert. You will come with us for questioning for possible assault involving a parahuman."
I narrowed my eyes at him as I tried to play dumb. "What parahuman?"
"Don't lie. You knew she was a parahuman." He said it with absolute certainty. Had he already talked to the detective? When did he find the time?
"What parahuman?" I repeated. "You tell me which parahuman was involved, or else you're just making things up."
"You don't need to know that," Armsmaster said as he took a step closer towards me.
My dad, to my surprise, stood firm in his way despite being looking like a twig compared to the power armour Armsmaster was wearing. "You're evading the question. Answer it."
"We don't owe you any answers," Armsmaster said, pushing my dad aside like he weighed nothing.
"See how corrupt they are, dad?" I said as Armsmaster forced my arms behind me and handcuffed me.
The ride to PRT headquarters was stressful, to say the least. I brought as many bots as I could with me without being detected. I didn't know how they could really help, but it was better to have them than not, I thought. I only kept the absolute minimum on my body, but a bunch attached themselves underneath the PRT paddy wagon as it drove through the neighbourhood. They were easily disguised as dust and dirt. They were my cheap bots; not the nice ones I kept in the basement I had been intending to use for medical purposes.
I said nothing to them. I knew they must have been corrupt. Letting Sophia get away with that shit, and then charging us with a crime? Covering their own asses. I wouldn't give an inch.
It didn't make it less scary, though I think the sense of... righteousness helped boost my courage. The blocky, imposing PRT building did have the kind of look of an evil lair. A modern, corporate evil lair, if you ignored the friendly and colourful gift shop at the entrance.
We went in through the back.
I let my bots fall off the truck as it drove through the underground garage and immediately started searching for air vents. It was funny how small air vents actually were; movie heroes would never be able to fit in real air vents. But they suited my bots just fine.
I wouldn't be able to cover the entire building with how few bots I had brought with me. But enough to, say, overhear some conversations would be nice. I wanted to know what they were planning to do to me behind closed doors.
Predictably, they pulled me into an interrogation room, complete with one-way glass and an otherwise spartan interior. I sat on a metal chair that was bolted to the ground in front of a metal table.
They left me in there to stew quietly for a while, presumably to make me more nervous. I calmed myself by navigating my bots through the ventilation system until they were near me. I managed to find dad in the next room, who was fuming as the others interrogated him first.
He wasn't saying anything at all, even as Armsmaster, in his full suit of power armour, grilled him. I'd seen him lose his temper before, and he was loud when that happened. But this was entirely different. I knew my dad was a negotiator for the Dockworkers Union. Not only had he dealt with the government and corporate interests, he also dealt with gangsters threatening the docks territory.
I suppose that was why he held firm. He wasn't angry at someone who failed, he treated them like yet another gang. No point in getting angry at criminals, after all. I was able to draw on his example and not give an inch.
After all, how did the old saying go? Anything you say can and will be used against you. Emphasis on the latter. They weren't here to investigate Sophia, they were here to protect her and use my own words against me.
Armsmaster was done with my dad, and he was walking over to my room. I closed my eyes and took a few calming breaths as he stepped inside.
"We have your fingerprints on the frying pan," he said.
I glared at him. No shit. Unless it was suddenly illegal to leave fingerprints on my own property...
"If Sophia Hess dies, it will be treated as a homicide."
That almost irked me enough to shout back at how unreasonable he was, but I reminded myself. They were corrupt. They weren't upholding the law, they were only protecting themselves.
I said nothing.
"If you would like to say anything in your defense, now would be the time."
Why did I need to say anything in my defense? I was the victim. Why the hell was he treating me like I was the one who committed a crime?
I continued to glare at him.
"As you may have already guessed, this case is being handled by the PRT because Sophia Hess is a Ward. Assaulting a Ward is automatically upgraded to aggravated assault. You're already in trouble, Miss Hebert. You can make this easier on yourself."
Bullshit.
"I know you were aware of her parahuman abilities beforehand. How did you find out?"
I looked away. Maybe breaking into my locker without touching the locks was a clue, huh? Hell, I was almost kicking myself for not finding out sooner.
"She claims you have parahuman powers. And that you assaulted her using those parahuman powers," he said.
I tried to hide my surprise. Wait, did he know about my nanobots? Had I accidentally left some hair-cutting bots on her after she left school? No, I may have cut more hair than I intended, but I made sure the bots all crawled away before they left the building.
There was that time he had walked into my range with some of my old bots I put in her clothing – but they were an early design. Completely different from what I had now, and I had them destroy themselves. My range encompassed the entire PRT building, I had every single bot accounted for. No functional bots that were stuck in some kind of machine or tube. Did he know, or was he just fishing? Did he know I had bots in the building right now?
Best to stay quiet.
He slammed his fist on the table, which was nearly enough to dent the thing. I jerked back involuntarily. A power move. Threatening me? Wait, could he actually kill me here? Did the PRT have enough power to cover it up? Fuck.
"Miss Hess had recently expressed concern regarding your alliances and behaviour. Two days later she's unconscious in your home. Did you lure her there? How long have you known her cape identity?"
Me? Lure? Why would I want that bitch anywhere near my house?
A few minutes of him trying to grill me and me giving him the stone wall treatment, Miss Militia walked into the room.
"Armsmaster. The director wants to see you," she said.
"Understood," he said with gruff annoyance. He left the room. I immediately decided that my bots should follow him to his meeting with the director and see what they were plotting.
Miss Militia took the other seat and sat down. "Taylor," she said. "May I call you Taylor?"
Ah. The good cop, bad cop routine. Or, since they were both just trying to cover up their own crimes, it was more like nice bad cop and mean bad cop. I wouldn't fall for their tricks.
I said nothing to her. Instead, I concentrated on the conversation that the director was having with Armsmaster.
"Director Piggot. Ma'am." I had enough bots to hear, but not enough to see into the room. Not that I wanted bots in visual range, in any case. Who knew what crazy sensors that power armour had.
"Armsmaster." Piggot said his name slowly. She sounded like an old, annoyed woman. The kind that could spend hours complaining at the customer service desk until she got what she wanted.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Are you familiar with the phrase, 'I want it yesterday?' As in, 'I want that report on Shadow Stalker, and I want it yesterday?'" Piggot asked. Correction, she sounded like the kind of person who could spend minutesat the customer service desk and be complaining to the manager immediately.
"Yes, ma'am. I am. I'll have that report-"
"It wasn't a figure of speech, Armsmaster. I mean it. Literally. Why wasn't a full psychological profile and review of Shadow Stalker's activities and behaviour on my desk yesterday?"
"With all due respect, ma'am-"
Piggot ignored Armsmaster. "In fact, why was it not here last week? Or last month? Because something is so amazingly rotten within the Wards program that I have no choice but to start from digging from the top."
Huh. At least she was about as impressed with Armsmaster as I was now. But only because the responsibility fell back on her.
Miss Militia was still questioning me. Same questions, friendlier tone. "Taylor, we're concerned about what happened between you and Sophia." Yep, not falling for friendly routine. If they had any concern at all, they wouldn't have given Sophia a free terrorism pass at school.
I looked at the American flag she was wearing as a mask. She didn't deserve it. I closed my eyes and concentrated on what Armsmaster and the Director were talking about.
"..Shadow Stalker may have been lured."
"Are you familiar with the phrase, 'innocent until proven guilty,' Armsmaster?"
"I'm familiar with the phrase, ma'am."
"Right now the media's going to see the exact opposite. So I don't care what your damn sensor suite or lie detectors are saying. A Ward on probation was involved in a home invasion. And the damn victim is now in the interrogation room. You know what that's going to do to us?"
Huh. So Sophia had already been on probation. They knew she was a criminal. As much as I enjoyed watching Armsmaster being grilled by the portly desk jockey of a woman, I focused on her last question. Of course. She was more angry about her image than anything.
"A Ward was in danger. I had to use the Emergency Rapid Authorization Sys-"
"You abused the ERAS. There's a difference between a Ward in danger, and a Ward being the danger. And now I've been informed by the BBPD about a case of assault by Sophia Hess from back in January. What the hell have you been doing since then? Or before that?"
"Ma'am, I was not informed of-"
"Is it not your job to be informed of the activities of your Wards? ESPECIALLY the one that's on probation?"
"Yes ma'am, but-"
"So it looks to me that you haven't been doing your job. And if you're not doing your job, I have to start wondering what the hell we're paying you for. Now get out of my office."
My bots followed him out.
"Armsmaster to console. Contact all Wards. We're having a general meeting, stat. Attendance is mandatory."
Back in the interrogation room, I could see that Miss Militia had gotten the message too. "Sorry, Taylor. I have to step out for a little bit. Can I get you anything, at least? A cup of water?"
I may have been thirsty, but I wouldn't put it past them to drug the damn water they gave me. Maybe some kind of Tinkertech truth serum or whatever.
I just glared at her and kept my mouth shut as usual.
She sighed and stepped out of the room.
It took half an hour to get all of the Wards in. The time worked to my advantage, as I could move my bots slowly to the area, not enough for anyone (or anything) to notice. Deeper into the base, I had noticed some kind of tinkertech sensors inside the vents as well, but moving as slow as they did, I was pretty sure I hadn't set off any alarms. The vents were surprisingly clean, but not perfect. There was enough dust for my bots to hide among it.
"What's the emergency? Not another bank robbery, I hope?" Aegis asked. All the other Wards murmured as well.
Armsmaster stepped up up in front of the team. "Four hours ago, police were called to a private residence. The people inside reported a break-in, during which the burglar was subdued by the resident of the premises."
"Can't the, uh, police handle that one?" Clockblocker asked.
"Or if it was a parahuman... Miss Militia or Velocity? They're on night shift, tonight, right?" Kid Win added.
"Sir, should we be starting this meeting without Shadow Stalker?" Vista asked.
"This meeting is about Shadow Stalker," Armsmaster said. "After a case of breaking and entering, Sophia Hess was found unconscious in the bedroom of another teenage girl, with a knife, chloroform and a mask on her. The girl had managed to hit her on the head with a frying pan hard enough to fracture her skull."
"Who was it that-" Gallant began to ask.
"I'm withholding her identity as she is a minor, but Shadow Stalker has expressed... concern regarding this individual before."
There was a short silence, followed by a shorter round of whispering
"Uh, are we talking about the hostage at the bank...?" Gallant asked.
Armsmaster's silence probably confirmed everything for them.
"Even if she was a villain working with the Undersiders... isn't it kind of, uh, a no-no to go to their home at night and get them when they're sleeping?" Clockblocker pointed out.
"Yeah, whywas Shadow Stalker there?" Vista asked. "You didn't send her..."
"I did not send her there. She, like the rest of you, is still grounded until you finish reviewing the engagement and tactics courses. She went against orders," Armsmaster said. "I know she does not like speaking to me. I want to know if she has mentioned anything to you."
All of the Wards were quiet.
"She seemed pretty angry after the bank job," Clockblocker said. "I mean, I didn't even realize she cared about her hair that much."
"She's been more angry after the haircut, but she's always been angry."
"Are we still going with the theory that she's a hair-cutting Shaker?" Clockblocker asked.
"We don't have any conclusive evidence yet," replied Armsmaster.
Holy crap, was that the working theory about my powers? Back in the interrogation room, I almost laughed. I realized I shouldn't do that. Especially if they had cameras and figured out I was reacting to things they were saying in the other part of the building.
"Has she actually committed any crime?" Vista asked.
"Given the situation, she does have a clear case of self-defense, but we may be able to hit her with charges of excessive force. This may match with Shadow Stalker's report that she is a loner and troublemaker. But what I want to know is why Shadow Stalker decided to seek her out on her own, against orders."
"I mean, going solo isn't exactly strange for Stalker. That's basically what she was doing for the first few months that she joined us anyway. She always goes off-route, looking for more action," Aegis said.
"She didn't fit in, but maybe that was the problem," Gallant said. "Maybe if we tried harder to consider her major concerns, she wouldn't have thought that she needed to go solo."
"Her concerns? Why just her?" Vista spat out. "Every time we're out on patrol with her she considers it a chore. Then she does solo patrols afterwards because she thinks we're slowing her down. When she does it, everyone says, 'oh, that's just Shadow Stalker.' When I say I want to take down more criminals, everyone's all like, 'oh no Vista, you can't do that, you'll get hurt!' Why does she keep getting a free pass?"
Gallant tried to make peace. "Look, all I'm saying is that maybe we should have been nicer to her, and she might have warmed up to us."
That was clearly the wrong thing to say. Even through my bots I could feel the tension in the room suddenly rise.
"Oh yeah? You try being nice to someone who calls you stupid and weak every day!" Kid Win shouted. "I'm engineering weapons a thousand years more advanced than that shitty crossbow she uses, and she calls me useless and stupid just because I'm bad with numbers?" His voice was cracking from emotion.
I heard chairs being shoved back, a little bit of shouting, but it was Vista's voice that cut through the loudest. "I tried being nice. You know what she called me? A weak little kid. She threatened me, said that if I slowed her down she'd just kick me out of the way. I've been one of the Wards longer than she has. What the hell does she know?"
Whoa. My bots suddenly changed in distance from each other, and the sound and sight I was getting from them was warped and unintelligible. Vista, a known space-warper. And now I knew she could probably disrupt my bots, or at least confuse me.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Vista. Calm down," Clockblocker said. "Nobody's saying Shadow Stalker wasn't an asshole."
"Yeah? It's just when I said it, nobody listened! You thought I was just a weak little kid like she was! You guys were just as bad as she was. You thought I was complaining just because I was young and whiny! Carlos, you never fucking listened to me!"
Huh. Okay, so maybe some of the other wards didn't like Sophia either. That was good to know, but the amount of teenage drama in the room made me even more certain that I had made the right decision not to join them. Even without the bullying, I didn't want to be part of that catty infighting.
Aegis was on the defensive. "I'm sorry Vista, I was doing my best to keep the team together. I really thought we had a few successful missions with her."
"Successful isn't the same thing as good, Carlos," Clockblocker said. "You know, I rarely give a shit about these things but half the time, I was trying my best not to just freeze Sophia on the spot every other day. She's such a glory hog. Every mission, if we failed, it was our fault for not keeping up with her. If we succeeded we were just getting in her way and she could have done it better herself. I only got through the last year by ignoring her, mostly."
"At least you could ignore her," Kid Win muttered. Vista nodded in agreement.
"Was she really that bad to you two?" Aegis asked, looking between the two of them. "I never got that sense from her."
"That's because you're strong," Browbeat said. For a guy that large, I almost forgot he existed. He was definitely the quiet type. "Look, I'm new to this team, and I haven't worked very much with Sophia, but I know that type. They stomp over anyone they think is weaker than them to make themselves feel bigger than they are. The first time I met Shadow Stalker, she looked at me like I was trash. It wasn't until I used my power and beat her in a sparring match that she just… ignored me instead."
"Aegis. Why didn't you report any of this to me?" Armsmaster asked.
"I… I thought I could make it work. You know… be a good leader," he said glumly. His shoulders dropped and he avoided the gaze of the rest of his team. "Chris… you never mentioned that she was bullying you."
"What would have come of it? Nothing I do is ever good enough. Sophia was right. Everything I make isn't good enough, or it gets confiscated, or it's basically useless. I can't figure things out like Armsmaster can. At least it's just my inventions that were useless. I didn't want to be the whiny kid who couldn't keep up with the rest of the team."
"Armsmaster, you should go," Miss Militia said. "If we don't have any actual evidence against the Heberts, we have no reason to keep holding them here."
"I have a duty to defend the Wards –"
"That's the lawyers' job, Armsmaster. What Shadow Stalker needed was guidance, not defense."
"I think with more discussion, we may still understand the reasoning –"
"There's no reason to think Shadow Stalker was acting heroically tonight," Miss Militia said firmly. "And look at them. There's no discussion to be had. Go, apologize to the Heberts, and send them home."
Armsmaster took five minutes to let me and my dad out of the room. He didn't apologize.
After getting my much-needed rest at home, I needed to know how public the whole thing had been. Had Sophia revealed to the public where I lived? Should I expect villains, or rabid Shadow Stalker fans at my door?
I opened up the PHO forums to look for any sign in the news forums about it. I scrolled around for both popular and new posts in the past few hours. There were a few posts regarding a police incident early in the morning that involved Armsmaster, but there were no real details. It could have been about me, or some other incident in town. They weren't uncommon. There were some dedicated cape-chasers that posted just about every potential incident they witnessed. Thankfully, their dedication also worked against them; most people ignored them because 99% of the time, their sightings were nothing of note. Of the one or two posts that could have pointed in my direction, nobody had replied.
But suddenly, I received a private message. I wasn't expecting that. I hadn't interacted much with the online community. Who would want to message me?
You are logged in as: Backburner. [You have 1 new private message!]
From: AllSeeingEye on 07 Mar 2011:
Good morning from your friendly neighbourhood blonde! Now that you're all better now, want to meet? Remember where we first met? Two blocks west of that intersection. 3pm. Plainclothes?
Well, that was succinct. I had no doubt that Tattletale was the one who had messaged me. She was a villain. Given how I had started to make inroads with Panacea and Glory Girl, I didn't really want to be associated with a villain.
Then again, Glory Girl and Panacea weren't the leaders of New Wave. In fact, they were probably the youngest. Their parents and aunts ran the team, and I think their cousins were older than they were, either in University or senior year or something. Even if they put in a good word for me, there was no guarantee I would actually be able to join New Wave. It was a family thing, anyway, and I would be the weird outsider butting in.
That would feel even weirder than the Wards.
And as much as I respected and appreciated Panacea... how much did her healing help the day-to-day crime problems of Brockton Bay? People praised her for the Endbringer fights. But I bet half the time she was just healing gunshot wounds from the gang fights. Wouldn't stopping the gang fights in the first place be better? Prevention was better than the cure, and I didn't want to get pigeonholed into being a healer when my power could be used to actually fight crime, once I built up enough bots of the right design.
Not to mention the fact that I would be revealing my normal identity. If I joined New Wave, where would that put dad?
Ugh. The nicest team to me still had been the Undersiders. Villains. But hadn't Tattletale said she needed my help at some point? I didn't exactly want to trust her, but I did sympathize a little. I mean, she needed help, but wasn't willing to come clean with the Protectorate and join the Wards. Given my recent interaction with them, maybe she had a good reason not to trust them. Maybe she was in a bad situation like me? Only one way to find out.
Maybe I shouldn't be associating with villains. Heck, the PRT had been willing to call me a villain at the drop of a hat. But she wasn't that much of a villain, right? A bank robbery with no deaths? And I wasn't discussing a robbery with her or anything. We were just meeting, right?
Author's Note:
I realized I forgot to give a shout-out to Thaumaturgic Awakening, the fic that first brought me into the Worm fandom.