Exhibition 1
Officially joining New Wave was going to be a public event. The problem was that I had put off breaking the news to Dad for so long trying to figure out the best way to do it, I ended up having too little time to do it properly at all. At least I would be the one to tell him first... with a few hours' notice so that he could get dressed properly.
I was debating how to phrase it properly during my morning run on the day of the event. Dad was reading the paper when I got back, having prepared breakfast for both of us already.
"So, have you heard about this? It's all over the news. Another Empire cape captured yesterday. The Mayor's holding a crime-fighter fundraiser party and most of the heroes will be guests of honour there."
"Um... yeah. Dad. Uh, we'll be guests there too," I said.
Dad lowered his paper. "Haha, I must have misheard you in the silliest way. I thought you said we would be going to the Mayor's party."
"Um. We are. Surprise?" I said stiffly.
He put down the paper and stared straight at me. "I thought this was some kind of crime-fighting party. You know, for the police commisioner, the PRT director, and heroic capes."
"It is?"
"I thought you said you weren't going to be going out and playing hero! It's dangerous!"
"I can explain!"
"And I'm sure that you haven't joined the Wards, so what are you doing, going out alone or something?" His voice was starting to rise as I saw his face getting flushed.
"LET ME EXPLAIN!" I shouted back at him.
Dad took a few calming breaths and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Explain then."
"Okay, first things first. I've been skipping school," I said.
Dad sighed. "That's not a good start. Taylor... you know that education is important," he said.
I nodded. "That's why I'm skipping school, dad. I'm not learning anything there. You know the girl who broke in? She's not the only bully in the school. They all pick on me. Steal my homework, wreck my projects, and none of the teachers care. You saw the notebook. Now, I've been learning more and faster on my own than… well, in there."
"But you're still going to need a job eventually. Without even a high school diploma, no matter how smart you are, nobody will even bother with an interv..."
"I can manufacture diamonds," I said, cutting him off.
Dad blinked at me. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I can manufacture diamonds. Pure, flawless, gem-quality diamonds. I could easily get a job as a jeweler and support myself for the rest of my life," I said. "And that's only a small part of what I can do. It's a side project."
"And what's the main project? I thought we agreed that you wouldn't go out and fight the gangs..."
Abyssal was going to remain a complete secret. Only Lisa and I would know the truth about him. I would treat him like a complete stranger if anyone asked. Like Lisa had suggested, that hero would be completely removed from my private life. Eunoia, on the other hand, Dad would learn about, no matter what, I and would rather he hear it from me directly.
"Nope. Healing. Panacea's going to help me get a position in the hospital. She's already introduced me to some doctors and I've been getting both textbook and some practical learning with my bots. Maybe if all this works out I'll earn an honorary medical degree like Panacea did. Or at least a strong recommendation to get into medical school. That's why we've been invited to the party. I'm joining New Wave."
While he was busy staring at me like a gaping fish, I slid the form that Mrs. Dallon had given me across the table. "I need your permission to join New Wave officially and to do volunteer work at Brockton Bay General. They've been showing me around already, but I'm not allowed to touch actual patients yet."
Whatever I had been anticipating, it wasn't tears in his eyes. "I'm so proud of you, Taylor. I'm so glad you picked a safe and respectable way to use your powers. This is so relieving. I'm sorry for assuming the worst. I only wish Annette could see you now."
Mom. I hoped she would be proud. My mind turned to her flute, which had been polished to better-than-new perfection over the last week. I could only hope that I could do as good a job fixing people up as I did with the flute...
All other plans abandoned, Dad spent the rest of the day making sure everything went right. It had been years since he'd been to a formal gathering. The last one was... Mom's funeral. I don't think he'd touched his suit since then. He was busy trying to make sure it was clean and well-ironed before we went.
Today was my public debut as a hero. New capes in Brockton Bay were practically a dime a dozen; this area had the highest cape-per-capita rate of the entire country. However, a new healer, working under the world-famous Panacea, and possibly a revival of the New Wave movement? That was bound to make the news tomorrow. I didn't want to get plastered across the front page looking like... well, the old Taylor Hebert, pariah of Winslow High.
Especially if we made the debut during some kind of big-wig fundraiser. I didn't really know exactly what was going on, but according to Victoria and Amy, this happened fairly often. The mayor, heads of the police, PRT, a few CEOs or random rich and important people of Brockton Bay all gathered together for some kind of fancy dinner and such. Victoria had been to several of them before, as did the adults of New Wave. Since this was her first major outing after being grounded, she was adamant that she would be going "all out," whatever that meant.
I was glad that she knew what she was doing. I don't think neither me nor dad were comfortable with that type of party.
Apparently dad had been to one before, years ago. When the Dockworkers Union was important. When Brockton Bay's docks were busy, and the shipping industry was strong. That had been a long time ago. Maybe before I was born.
I didn't have many pretty dresses either, but I was able to make something using my bots. I basically started with something similar to what Lisa and I had decided for my Eunoia costume, and then made it more elegant. Less padding, more flowy, but similar colour and texture scheme. It looked fancy and expensive enough. Imagine if anyone found out it had originated from charcoal and sawdust.
Dad called for a taxi to take us down to The Gallery, because, well, we didn't want to show up in his old, rusted-out truck to that kind of event. It would be rather embarrassing. Aside from that, we had no clue what to do, but at least our names were on the guest list, courtesy of Mrs. Pelham.
Even better, Victoria was hanging out near the entrance and spotted us before we were inside. I finally figured out what she meant. She had an amazing, form-fitting white dress, her hair was done up with god knows how much hair spray, her shoes were a fashion designer's impractical dream (she didn't have to walk in them anyway, she was floating an inch off the ground), and her eyelashes and nails and everything looked professionally done. Maybe it was her aura, or her makeup, or maybe I was just imagining it, but I swear she was sparkling.
"Dean! Dean! Here she is! This is Taylor!" she said, dragging a boy who was almost, but not quite, as beautiful as she was.
Okay, I had to admit I was a bit jealous, but it wasn't a feeling that hurt me any more. I had long given up on the idea of cute boys being interested in me at all, especially after that time Emma convinced one of the football team members to ask me out as a prank. I'd just given up on the concept of having a boyfriend. And Victoria's was...
"Dean Stansfield. Pleasure to meet you," he said with a genuine smile. "If you're feeling nervous about this, don't worry. I can help you out; I've been to a few of these myself." ...fucking perfect. He took my hand. Was he going to kiss it or something? Wait, no, he just shook it. Okay. I felt so out of place, in a fancy setting like this with handsome boys in expensive suits, that I had no idea what to do. Or say.
"Where'd you get that dress, Taylor? It looks amazing!" Victoria gushed.
"Oh... I, uh, made it," I said.
"Oh my gosh, you sew? No wonder it fits so perfectly! Can you make me a dress sometime?"
I realized that would mean having my bots all over Victoria's body. I couldn't avoid receiving the sensory information from my bots. "Um... not really, it's complicated," I said with some embarrassment.
They guided us to the New Wave table, where everyone else was waiting for us. Most of them had been chatting amongst themselves, but their attention all fell on me when I arrived. Dean left Victoria for a few minutes to join his own family while we had our little "team meeting." I got to meet Crystal and Eric Pelham, the cousins of the Dallon sisters. Crystal was in college already, which was why I didn't see her around as often, though apparently she still found time to patrol the city on weekends. Eric was still in high school.
I felt extremely awkward while everyone was heaping praises and congratulations on me before I had actually done anything under my cape name yet. Even weirder was the fact that it was genuine. The only time large numbers of people had been congratulating me in the past year was as a setup for some kind of prank. It put me on edge more than I should have been.
Of course, since this party was meant for "networking," whatever that was, we got up and mingled after the whole team had been introduced. I just kind of hung back behind Victoria and let her do all the talking. She was better at it than I was.
Everyone was dressed amazingly though, not just Victoria. It was a much fancier party than anything I had ever been to. There were hors d'oevres laid out at a table with an intricate (maybe cape-made?) ice sculpture and everything. There were several pieces of art up front, separated out from the usual displays in the art gallery. The starting bids gave a rough idea of how much they were worth – some of them had an expected selling price almost as much as our house. The proceeds would go to either the PRT or the local police force though, so it wasn't as if it was a pointless indulgence in excess.
People were milling about, champagne glasses in hand, though the underage ones like myself were relegated to the punch bowl. Not that I minded. I fit in. Nobody was staring at me like I didn't belong. Unlike Victoria, I didn't want attention.
"Does this happen often?" I asked.
"Yeah, this event happens annually. Though this year we have more publicity because of how well we've been doing against the Empire," Crystal said. "It seems like we were on the verge of an all-out gang war, but we stepped up our patrols, and so did the Protectorate, and we managed to capture four of the Empire capes, including Hookwolf. The mayor's also up for re-election this year, so he's using all of this for more publicity. It's... bigger than last year's was, for sure."
"Ah."
"But mom thinks it'll also be the perfect place to announce your debut. I mean, the Mayor's here. That's Raphael Bordano, the chief of police. That's Alexander Warner, the director of Brockton General Hospital. I think that one's the head of the Fine Arts Society, they own The Gallery. Forgot their name. Max Anders, CEO of Medhall. He might be interested in your tech if you can make a mass-producible version. And there's obviously a bunch of the Protectorate. Oh, and Vicky's boyfriend, his family is a pretty big deal in the radio and advertising industry, if I remember correctly..." Crystal said, pointing out each one of them around the room for me.
I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed, but at least nobody would give me flak for just sitting in a corner and quietly drinking fruit punch.
"Tay Tay!" Victoria waved at me while dragging her boyfriend over. "Can you get a picture of me with Dean? Isn't he the cutest?" She handed me her phone, and then she leaned down and smushed her cheek against his while smiling at me. Dean rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"Um... cheese?" I snapped the picture.
"So ," he said with a picture-perfect smile. Did he practice that kind of thing in front of the mirror or what? "How are you acclimatizing? It's not so bad, is it?"
I wondered what he meant by "bad," because I was still feeling a little overwhelmed, but he looked like he would be rich enough to think this party wasn't fancy enough. I just responded with a weak "mm-hm."
"So, Dean, why aren't your other friends here? I wanted to introduce them to Taylor," Victoria said.
"Ah. Um, apparently they all got into trouble, and had... detention. I'm only here because of my dad."
"Oh. Well, that sucks."
"Tell me about it," Dean said. "But would you like to meet some of the Protectorate? Assault, Battery, or Miss Militia? I've met them personally a few times, I could probably introduce you..."
"No thanks," I said quickly. I wasn't in the mood for meeting Protectorate members. They still hadn't apologized for arresting me after Sophia invaded my home. Apparently they had followed "procedure" and therefore nothing was wrong.
"What? Why? They're good people. Assault's pretty funny," Victoria said.
"I'll tell you about it later," I said. "Just... not a fan of the Protectorate at the moment."
Dean's eyebrows shot up but he said nothing. He just eyed me curiously. "Oh, well, I hope you enjoy the evening at least," he said finally.
There weren't many people our age – really, it was pretty much just New Wave's teenage capes. I didn't exactly want to chat up some CEOs and Presidents and Directors or whatever, so I just went back to the New Wave group. The parents were up and about, doing their mingling thing, but everyone my age was hanging out together.
"What do you like about these events, anyway?" I asked them.
"I don't," Amy said blandly. "But it's a PR thing."
Eric shrugged. "Free food," he said, popping a fancy caper-topped cracker into his mouth.
"It's good if you're planning on going into business and getting a management degree. Networking's important," Crystal said.
I saw my dad talking to Miss Militia. She wasn't eating anything, on account of her mask covering her mouth. And she apparently had a more formal version of her clothing than her usual tank top – it was a businesslike suit-dress, but coloured green like her usual clothes. I shed a few bots from my dress as I walked by, and had them attach to my dad's clothing to eavesdrop on his conversation.
"I get it, Alan's been putting some legal pressure on the school to keep quiet about the bullying. I can see it happening for two or three incidents at most. He's just one lawyer. He's not that famous or anything," Dad was saying. I guess he was right, since Mr. Barnes wasn't at this dinner.
"Like I said, it was just one factor. The other factor was… well, the school administration itself. You know that Winslow High has a high number of gang members, and teenage gang violence, right?" Miss Militia said.
Dad nodded. I nearly rolled my eyes at the rhetorical question, but I was pretending to pay attention to Eric at the same time.
"When we place one of the Wards at the school, we have to let the administration know. Just in case we call them for emergencies, it allows them to skip class without it appearing on their records. Teachers know they need to cover for these students, and so on. Well, the administration noticed that, as soon as there was even a rumour that a Ward was attending Winslow, gang violence went down significantly."
It was what I already expected. That had been the rumour and my suspicion, and now I was hearing it officially from a Protectorate member.
"They wanted to keep her as a deterrent. With my daughter being considered acceptable losses if it meant Shadow Stalker wouldn't get taken away from them." Dad glared at Miss Militia. "Is that Protectorate policy too?"
"Believe me, if we had known, I would have yanked her straight out of there and put her in juvenile detention myself," Miss Militia said forcefully. "Mr. Hebert, I grew up in a lawless land. Where street justice was the only justice, and might made right. When I came to America, I swore to uphold the law, and do things according to law, because it is so much preferable to anarchy. Even if the law isn't perfect."
"And you'll just allow things to fall apart around you until then?" Dad shot back.
"If laws are insufficient, then they can be changed. It can take time, but it is absolutely better than the alternative."
"Hmph." Dad just grunted back at her.
"Again, I apologize. But there was also a third factor," Miss Militia said.
"I'm waiting."
"Shadow Stalker's probation officer considered herself overworked, but chose not to notify her superior officers. Instead, she took the extra pay and assignment, and simply chose to falsify the reports. On top of that, since she worked closely with the school administration, they all agreed to simply… not do any of the paperwork to make their jobs easier."
"You're kidding me..."
"Which is also why I want to promise you that Taylor will see justice eventually, but it will be very slow. We have literally no paper records of any of the abuses Taylor suffered at school, because the administration and our probation officer conspired against her. However, Armsmaster and Dragon herself are both working on this case personally, digging through Sophia's multiple phones and her personal computer for evidence. We're working on warrants for others."
"Promises are easy to make," Dad said. "Cheaper than dirt. Talk to me when you have results." He turned and walked back towards our table.
"Hey Taylor."
"Hi dad. Did Miss Militia apologize?" I hadn't caught the beginning of their conversation.
"She did," he said. "Spent more of it making excuses, though. Come on, let's sit down."
The actual dinner was starting soon, and everyone else was making their way back to their respective tables. There were speeches by a couple important people that I didn't particularly care about. This is the part I hated, almost bored to death.
That is, until Mrs. Pelham stood up and all the attention turned to her. "...and I believe Lady Photon has an announcement to make," the mayor was saying.
"Thank you, Roy." Mrs. Pelham stood up and someone handed her a microphone. "I have an announcement to make. I know that Brockton Bay has had more than its share of parahumans on our streets. But today, I have great news. I want to announce that we have a new hero joining our ranks. I'm proud to introduce you to Taylor Hebert, who will be joining New Wave under the cape name 'Eunoia.' She's being mentored by both Panacea and the good doctors of Brockton Bay General Hospital as a healer."
She gestured to me and everyone else around me ushered me up. My eyes darted every which way, feeling completely lost while they pulled me to the front. The entire Gallery full of people were clapping, and their eyes followed the spotlight on me. I stood, but froze like a deer in headlights. I just tried to make sure I didn't let my dress fall apart and leave me standing in my undies in front of everyone.
I was only vaguely aware that Mrs. Pelham was holding the microphone just in front of my mouth.
"Hi..." I tried to wave. I could feel my face getting redder.
I quickly sat back down amidst some muted chuckles.
"She's a little shy," Mrs. Pelham offered.
I don't know how I survived that, but I almost tried to eat dinner under the table. At least the food was good enough to distract me, and everyone else, from my embarrassing showing on stage. After the dinner, there was more mingling time, as well as the charity auction. Those who weren't as interested in the actual auction started approaching me. I couldn't just keep dodging them, but I decided to hang around near Amy for moral support. Center of attention time, round two.
"Eunoia, how does your power work? Are you a Striker like Panacea?"
I didn't want to reveal all my secrets, of course. "It's Tinkertech. I can do things on the microscopic scale. Amy believes I would be best utilized in various forms of microsurgery and brain studies." I glanced at Amy behind me, and she nodded in support. That felt good, actually.
"Have you gone to medical school?"
I shook my head. "I'm still studying medicine under the guidance of Amy and a few doctors. The way my tech works, I need to learn more about how to adapt my designs to medical needs. There aren't any textbooks or schools for that exactly. It's half engineering and half medicine."
The man seemed not very impressed. I suppose some people would be nervous about being treated by someone who hadn't actually gotten a degree in medicine. Or even nursing. All I was certified in was first aid, officially.
"Don't worry, I'm in full confidence that she will be a great asset to BBGH," came a deep voice from behind me. I turned to see Mr. Warner. I was glad that the hospital director was supportive. Then again, a hospital with TWO healing capes, one of which was Panacea, was bound to be world-famous if it wasn't already. He would certainly take some credit for that.
"I'll be working under the supervision of the doctors of Brockton Bay General for quite a while," I said.
"Will your technology be available for sale for others to use?" someone else asked. I think that was Mr. Anders, the Medhall CEO. Of course he would be interested in medical technology.
I shook my head. Unfortunately, most of the robots I designed still required my Master power to actually direct. Trying to fit in processors and memory and radios would have massively increased their complexity and bulk. "It only seems to work when I use it, like a lot of Tinkertech. I'm hoping that my contributions can still lead to further advancements in the field of medicine for everyone, though."
"I'm curious why you didn't join the Protectorate as a Ward," Dean said. He asked in a calm, gentle tone, but even so, the words felt accusatory.
I knew this question was coming. It was the one I had rehearsed the most, to prevent my emotions from getting the better of me. "I'm having some... personal issues with the Protectorate. I found that New Wave's dedication to accountability to be more agreeable."
"Wait, does that have anything... no, never mind," Dean said. Suddenly, his head whipped to the right. "What's that?"
There was the sound of engines revving, and not from the street. They were coming from the back of the building. The doors to the kitchen suddenly burst open, and a rainbow-patterned stream of hard-light streamed out of it. It was as wide as our dinner table, flat but not sharp. It swept through the room, knocking aside people, tables, and even some of the artwork on the wall. It did a wide loop across the floor and walls and continued through to the upstairs area.
While everyone was still recovering from that rainbow ribbon, four go-karts suddenly shot out of there. They raced on the rainbow track they had just created. The drivers were masked, but not in regular cape costumes. They were video game characters.
"Oh god, it's Uber and Leet," Victoria said, looking more disappointed than anything. "I'll deal with them." Maybe she was hoping her first return to heroing after her grounding would be someone less pathetic. She shot out of her seat towards the lead driver, who was dressed as Mario. He was clearly driving better than his partner, with fancy skids and spins that threw sparks from the tires. Despite being restricted to driving, Uber controlled his go-kart expertly and managed to evade Victoria's initial attack. She slammed into the hard-light path, and L33t ran over her. She was unharmed, but the tires left behind a rainbow paint pattern on her dress.
It wasn't just Uber and L33t, though. Those video-game themed capes were dressed as Mario and Luigi respectively. Easy enough for even a non-gamer like me to recognize. Behind them were two others, one with a mushroom cap/helmet and the other in a Bowser costume. I couldn't see their faces properly, but the Bowser was spewing a familiar black smoke behind him.
The Undersiders. That meant Tattletale – Lisa – was probably here. What the hell? At this point it felt like she was just taking advantage of our so-called friendship. How strange was it that Grue's smoke was starting to become a familiar sight to me?
Then again, as I looked around the room, it seemed like nobody was seriously hurt. Maybe a few bruises so far. Things had better stay that way, or else I'd hit them back right at their hideout.
There wasn't much I could do right now. Not like I had enough bots in the area. The Gallery was in the nice part of town, with less litter and garbage, and pretty far from my house. I didn't think of bringing all the bots that could make up Abyssal with me. I only had the bots I was wearing as clothes. I couldn't stop them if I wanted to.
The smoke only rose about shoulder-high on most people, even standing up. It seemed like they wanted to let us see, but we'd trip all over ourselves if we tried to move. However, at least two more heroes followed Glory Girl and sprang into action.
Assault and Battery were quick to jump into the fray, along with most of New Wave. But with the smoke spreading so quickly, and the fast-moving go-karts, it was hard for any of them to target them without risking the other partygoers. They mainly targeted the parts of the rainbow and attempted to guess the timing to intercept them, but Grue and Uber seemed to work well enough together. Grue obscured their vision at the last minute, while Uber's driving skills kept him safe.
Not that they were unarmed, either. Turtle shells sprouted around the karts, and when either of the heroes landed on the pathway, they shot away, bouncing back and forth. Battery was struck with one of them and got splattered with rainbow-coloured paint.
Miss Militia seemed to have the same problem as the rest of the heroes; even if she loaded her guns up with rubber bullets or beanbag rounds, it was far too crowded. The risk of crossfire hitting people or extremely expensive artwork was too high, especially when Grue was deliberately maneuvering the smoke to mess up her aim.
Above the smoke, I could see Uber's go-kart driving across the walls and ceiling, where the rainbow pathway led. It made him a target, though. Victoria flew out of her chair and shot straight towards him. Uber then hopped with his cart and drifted sideways, causing Victoria to miss again. She chased him as he descended down the wall, but L33t fired a big, blue, spiky shell from the other side of the room. It smashed straight into Victoria and she and she crashed into a wall, also splattered with rainbow paint.
I winced. The broken wall was bad enough, but if she had been just a foot to the left, she would have smashed straight into a piece of artwork that I was sure was worth five figures minimum. She needed to be more careful if she didn't want to be grounded for life. At least the villains could be blamed for the paint damage.
The rest of New Wave rose to the challenge as well. Eric started putting up shields along the track to block the drivers, but the track itself changed shape to avoid them. I couldn't see where Grue went, he was probably keeping safe and managing the shape of the smoke, while Uber, and L33t seemed to be primarily concentrating on the Protectorate heroes. Regent seemed to focus on making sure the others missed their targets - a quick jerk of the hand from Crystal or Mrs. Pelham was the difference between a downed villain and a downed civilian. It only happened once this fight, but the threat of that alone made everyone hesitant to use any long-ranged powers.
Suddenly, lightning struck everyone in the room except the villains. We shrunk to a quarter our size.
I'm sure more important things were happening around me, but getting hit with some kind of lightning shrink ray wasn't just bewildering. It was inspiring.
My bots had shrunk with me, and very suddenly received an upgrade. They were the size of what would take another five or six generations of refinement to get to this size. I could sense, through my bots, how much more precise they were, how I needed to adapt them for moving at this size. Everything from heat to molecular forces to air currents, things kept working differently at that scale.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long enough for me to do anything useful with my newly-shrunken bots. We all grew back to normal size at the same time. I heard a lot of tables and chairs falling over and dinnerware breaking as everyone expanded back to normal.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you... the Protectorate!" came a voice over the loudspeakers. A voice I had heard recently. Tattletale walked out, not wearing her usual uniform, but a pink princess dress and a small crown, high above the smoke on a rainbow platform. Princess Peach. Of course.
The Protectorate members were partially stuck in their own containment foam and splattered with rainbow paint; I don't know where the villains had managed to grab the sprayers. Maybe from the PRT guards outside the building. Mario and Luigi both had backpacks on and nozzles at the ready.
Most of New Wave had been foamed up as well, but not as badly. All the ones who had been fighting had been sprayed as soon as they grew back to normal size. Victoria was absolutely covered in the stuff, while the others just had enough to stick them to the floor or furniture. Amy and I had been spared.
"What do you want?" Mrs. Pelham shouted at her. She and Crystal had good long-range attacks with their lasers, but the villains all had containment foam sprayers pointed at the guests. Non-lethal, at least, but it would create a very expensive mess.
The carts themselves had now stopped on the upper floor on the balcony overlooking the dining area. Turtle shells circled around them, and the big blue spiky shell hovered above, implying an additional threat if they chose to escalate. It looked like Mrs. Pelham was choosing not to, for the moment.
"To spread the joy of Mario Kart to the masses!" L33t shouted from up above.
"Ignore him," Tattletale said. "We just wanted to welcome Brockton Bay's newest healer!"
It almost sounded genuine. I glared at her.
"We won't let you hurt her," Lady Photon said. The rest of New Wave took positions around me and Amy.
"Hurt her? Us? Never. Can't say the same about the Protectorate, though," she answered back, playing up the dainty pink princess look. "After all, we never broke into her home to try to attack her in her sleep, did we?"
I gaped. Wait, why was she airing out all my dirty laundry out to the public? It... well, it didn't compare to what Emma did. She wasn't making fun of me for it. She was lambasting the Protectorate. The others looked at me for confirmation, but my lack of denial was telling enough. The Protectorate members couldn't argue; their mouths had been foamed.
Even through the muffling of the smoke, I could hear the murmurs of the others at the dinner. It also had the benefit that nobody could Tattletale continued. "Yes, that's right. One of the so-called heroes attacked our dear Taylor in her sleep! It was only due to luck that she wasn't in bed at the time and managed to defend herself. It must have been quite the traumatic experience."
Without realizing, I found myself nodding and agreeing with her. She wasn't lying.
"And when I hear that our Mayor is hosting a fundraiser to hand more money to the dastardly villains that would inflict terror on such noble, young healer? We just couldn't allow that to stand." She laughed. "Clearly, they don't deserve the money, so we've decided to liberate these pieces of art."
Suddenly, the smoke filled the rest of the room, covering everyone's head plunging all of us in darkness and muffling all the sounds. Even sitting back down in my seat, I almost lost balance. I just ducked down and hoped nothing bad would happen.
I heard muffled shouting, the sounds of a few crashes and another lightning bolt. I could feel myself shrink again. There were revving engines, and by the time the smoke cleared, some of the auction items were gone. The tables were a mess, food was everywhere, as was broken glass. By the time we popped back up to regular size, the villains were long gone.
Amy and I did our best to check on all the guests. At least Lisa kept her promise. It didn't look like anyone was hurt particularly badly. And now I had even more questions to deal with.
Author's Note:
Sorry about the delayed post. Combination of a ridiculously busy week and being unsatisfied with this chapter and doing multiple revisions.