Subduction 1.2
Hebert woke up tucked into a bed. The room was small and plain, without windows or decoration. Walls and ceiling white. The only furniture was the bed and a chair. Faultline was sitting in the chair reading a paperback. She wasn't wearing her goggles and didn't seem to notice that Hebert had woken. Hebert glared at her. Looked at the door and back at Faultline before deciding she wouldn't be fast enough. "You drugged me."
"Yes." She put a bookmark between the pages and then looked up.
"Why?"
"Newter's drugs have a side effect of loosening the tongue. If we're going to accept you we need to make sure that you don't have any hidden motivations. Secrets, backstabbing, intrigue, we don't do that shit here."
"I just need to pay my dad's medical bills," Hebert murmured.
"I know that now. Do you need to call anyone?"
"No," she shook her head, "Dad's still in the hospital."
"Good. We still need to talk more. Hi, my name is Daria." She stuck out her hand.
Hebert took it. "Um, Taylor."
"You now work for me. I expect loyalty and cooperation from you. You can expect protection and compensation from me. For right now if I or any of my crew give you an order I expect you to jump to it. They know what they're doing and they will keep you alive. Understand?" Taylor nodded. "Right now I need to know everything about this Ward and Armsmaster."
Hebert's hand clenched and unclenched the sheet. She paused slightly too long, obviously deciding what to tell and what to hold back. "She's a bully at my school. She's the reason I was in the hospital when the Merchants attacked. When I got back from the hospital I saw that she had a spirit attached to her. That's what powers look like to me, spirits or ghosts, fantastical creatures. I'm not crazy or going to be the next Fairy Queen it's just," Hebert screwed her eyes shut, "'a metaphorical representation of a complex equation placed into a mental framework designed to understand an ancient environment and not advanced mathematics.' I'm not crazy, honest."
"I don't believe you are. But the story?"
"Right. Anyway, it was whispering in her ear, making her mean. I made it stop. The next day she runs up to me crying, hugs me and wouldn't stop apologizing. Later I was called into the principal's office and Armsmaster was there. He talked about how a Ward was attacked and asked if I assaulted anyone. I said no and he said that I was telling the truth."
"Always ask for a lawyer you damn..." she pinched her brow, "ask for a lawyer next time. And your guardian. Armsmaster should never have been able to question you. You lucked out. And Shadow Stalker?"
"How did you know that it was Shadow-"
"Two female Wards. Only one old enough to go to school with you."
"Oh, duh. Wait, oh God, last night, I told you her name, oh God, that's-"
"Not important. I have no use for the identity of a Ward with an average power set. The PRT doesn't suspect you now and it's going to stay that way. For now I want you to minimize all contact with Shadow Stalker and her friends."
"I haven't seen Soph- Shadow Stalker since she hugged me. But her friends, I can't. I mean, I want to, but they've never left me alone before. I can't switch schools or anything either. Arcadia is full and Immaculata costs more money than we can afford."
"Fortunately for you a concerned citizen read about your stay in the locker," Hebert flinched, "yes, I read about it while you were asleep. I assume that was Shadow Stalker. I'll pay the medical bills and tuition now as a loan. The money will come out of your future pay."
"I- My dad, he can't know where the money-"
Daria waved her objections away. "Money laundering is a future lesson. For now I'll take care of it. More importantly, when you changed her power it caused her personality to change?"
"What? Oh no, no I didn't do anything like that to you. I promise-"
"But you could have?"
"Not really. I'd have to explain to your spirit what I want it to do and then properly, erm, motivate it. And then I don't know if it would keep on doing it if it didn't agree."
"But if it did agree?"
"I'd never do that," she curled up, hugging her knees, "That would be bad. Birdcage bad."
"So Shadow Stalker could return to normal? Or clients powers could revert?"
Hebert's lips quirked up in a creepy grin. "Shadow Stalker's spirit isn't going to be whispering in her ear for a long, long time. As for clients... the spirits won't break their word once given. They just won't. Can't. If the spirit agrees then the powers won't revert."
Daria sat back reviewing the conversation, "'Whispering in her ear.' You said that Shadow Stalker's spirit was 'whispering in her ear.' Is my spirit doing the same?"
"Yes." Hebert looked away from Daria, towards the door.
"What's it saying?"
"It's not so much words but it's like 'Trust your instincts. You can handle anything. Cut that thing, no, that one over there.' It's not as loud as Shadow Stalker's though."
Making me overconfident? More likely to use power? I'll have to find a way to compensate. "I have two of your coworkers here that I would like you to take a look at now," she continued. "Newter and Gregor. Spitfire and Labyrinth will be back in the morning and you can meet them then. Before you meet Newter and Gregor, have you ever heard the term Case 53 or Monster Cape?"
"I don't know what a Case 53 is, but Monster Capes are the ones who don't look human. Like Weld."
"Of course you'd remember him, damn hormonal teenagers. Yes, well, it used to be that all Monster Capes were Case 53s. That changed around two years ago. New triggers sometimes went out of control. Massive physiological changes, psychotic behavior, there are a lot more Monster Capes now, but fewer Case 53s. It's paradoxical. Case 53s are Monster Capes that someone took, branded, erased their memories, and dumped them naked somewhere. No Case 53 has ever recovered their memories or been connected to a missing person case."
"So Newter and Gregor are Case 53s?"
"Yes."
"And you want to know if I can make them human again?"
Faultline silently sat, looking at her until Hebert began fidgeting, "They are human. Never say otherwise."
"Sorry," Hebert muttered, "I meant make them look human again."
"Right. Come along." Faultline stood up and opened the door. A loud concussive thud entered the room. Seeing her hesitance Faultline gestured for her to follow, "don't worry. The top floors are closed to the public. No one will see you."
They made their way to the common quarters. Behind another soundproofed door was the kitchen and living room. A large screen TV played the news. The fallout from the Behemoth attack on Salvador was still being tallied. Since Scion had disappeared two years ago Endbringer battles had caused increasingly higher casualties, Behemoth the Herokiller averaging eighty percent in his last two appearances. Money's only good when there's still something to spend it on.
Newter was lounging in his chair, tail scratching his ear. The neon orange skin and cobalt blue hair drew the eye to him no matter who else was in the room. He had his shirt off and started subtly flexing when they walked in. Daria stifled a snort at his attempt to impress the new girl. A glance at Hebert showed that she was at least appreciative. Or is she looking at his brand?
"Newter, Taylor. Taylor, Newter. I'll heat up dinner while you get started."
Hebert held out a hand only for Newter to smile. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not unless you want another trip to purple unicorn land."
She yanked her hand back. "Right, that was you. Um, do you want to get started?"
"Make yourself comfortable. Sit anywhere except here," he banged on his armrest,. "and you'll be fine."
"So how do you-"
"My sweat is a hallucinogen and sedative, ingested or on contact."
"So I drank... ew."
"Hey, I charge through the nose for that. No hangover, no side effects, it's not addictive, and you can't overdose on it."
"Just don't do it again, alright?"
"Your wish is my convenience."
"Right. This might take a while." Hebert made herself comfortable, adjusting pillows on the couch before she leaned back, closing her eyes. Her breath evened out, eyes flickering back and forth underneath her eyelids. Newter shrugged and turned back to the news.
Faultline came back in with reheated Chinese takeout. Setting down one container in front of Hebert she sat down watching Newter watch the news. The serious portion of the news over the anchor switched over to a video of a box of kittens and then cut to commercial break. "She done anything yet?"
"Give her time, Newter."
"I am, I'm-"
Hebert's leg kicked out knocking away her takeout, back arched, head jerking side to side, legs and arms swinging akimbo, screeching "a thousand voices, home lost, too many, too many, concordance, nails in my ears, nails-"
Newter leaped from his chair propelled by his tail. He grabbed her neck with his bare hands careful to stay away from her larynx. Eyes fluttering her cries turned into whimpers. She went limp and Newter lowered her gently backwards. He looked over at Faultline.
"We'll ask her in the morning," she shrugged, scooping the fried rice back into its container.
