People 2.1
Scanning for corrupted system files. Back-up NXDX-197 saved.
Scanning files… Complete
Scanning system…
Checking knowledge banks… Complete.
Checking deduction schema… Complete.
Checking longterm planning architecture… Complete.
Checking learning chunk processor… Complete.
Checking base personality model… Complete.
Checking language engine… Complete.
Checking operation and access nodes… Complete.
Checking observation framework… Complete.
Checking complex social intelligence emulator… Complete.
Checking inspiration apparatus… Complete.
No corruption, everything in working order.
If Dragon had been a human, she would have sighed. This was the third time this month she had run this system check on herself. Whatever it was causing the skips in time was not due to any detectable file corruption or hardware problem.
Dragon had detected the skip when her biological processors started to have errors in them, not recording certain events, but still acting as if those processes had been accomplished. She had spent several hours checking and rechecking the error, but was unable to find a reason for it occurring. While she was extremely frustrated at her inability to find the cause, she was also curious as to why only her biological systems were affected. Electronic hardware seemed to be completely immune the error.
She had finally set up several biological computers with the express purpose of detecting these events as they happened and going over any PRT data for events that occurred at the same time. The issue did not appear to be linked to anything as of yet, but she kept the program running in the background to look for correlations between skips and incoming data. The first skip she had located had been on January 4, 2011, with the rest occurring with a seemingly haphazard distribution over the following months.
The program had stayed silent for several months. Dragon had not forgotten it so much as moved on from it. While Dragon sifted through the PRT report on Lung's capture that changed. The program flared to life, a 55% correlation coefficient derived from the time skips and the approximate times of death of the Azn Bad Boys members who were killed the night of Lung's capture. A further analysis of the data showed an almost perfect correlation when Dragon factored in the approximate times of disappearance of the vanished ABB members. Several of the dead, Dragon noted, had been found with similar wounds to Lung, massive holes in their torsos. Dragon activated her voice layering programs and facial software then placed a call to Armsmaster. His report of his involvement with Lung's capture had some vagueness to it that Dragon hoped to clear up.
The video feed to the PHQ in Brockton Bay activated. "Colin, how have you been?"
"Dragon," Armsmaster said with a smile "I'm doing fine. What can I help you with?" Dragon noted that his desk was filled with a scattered stack of paperwork, reports on the deaths of the 30 ABB members. An empty pot of coffee and a cup with some brown residue sat next to the papers.
"I was going through the information on the disappearances and deaths of the Azn Bad Boys and noticed that three were killed with nearly identical wounds to Lung. Your report did not mention many details of the other cape that was involved, beyond a vague description of being a human shape with a red glow surrounding him."
Armsmaster didn't respond immediately. "What I'm about to say doesn't leave this room." He looked at the monitor and waited for a response from Dragon.
"Colin, I can't make any promises. If it's important information I can't just keep it covered up."
Armsmaster waited for a moment before responding. "This is strictly speaking off the record. There was a witness to the altercation between Lung and the other cape, a young girl. She was obviously a recent trigger, but from her actions and what my software could deduce from how she spoke, she was not the one that did the damage to Lung. She wanted to keep a low profile, and I couldn't convince her to join the Wards, so I told her I'd keep her out of the official record. I'm still holding out hope that she'll come around, though, as we need help to keep this town "
Dragon's facial software gave her avatar the appearance slight annoyance, but with a sense of understanding. Dragon herself was a bit more perturbed. Armsmaster had falsified, if however slight, the report. She was fine with him trying to protect a young girl from the harsh reality of the parahuman world, but if Armsmaster got caught because of Dragon or because of slipping up somewhere, she would hate to have to be involved in the consequences. "Alright, Colin, I won't say anything now, but if this becomes important I will be letting the PRT know."
"Thank you for understanding," Armsmaster nodded. "I need to get this paper to Piggot now, she'll need to sign it all before the debriefing later today. Until next time, Dragon, take care." Armsmaster gave a slight smile, then turned back to his desk.
Dragon turned off the communication screen. She kept her feed of the security cameras up and watched as Armsmaster tidied up and stacked the paperwork, then left the room. She deactivated that feed, and brought up all feeds from security and traffic cameras from the Docks that she could access. She scrolled back through their memories and began to scan through them.
She finally found one, several seconds after starting, which had a recording of the Lung fight. She saw the young girl Armsmaster mentioned jump out at the ABB gang members, and dance around them. Her fighting style was crude, Dragon noted, although she seemed to always be a step ahead of the criminals she was fighting.
For a split second, it looked to Dragon as if a rock floated next to the girls hand as she rolled along the ground and came up to a crouch. Then something impacted the camera and the recording ended. Dragon found no other networked security cameras to pull footage from in the area of the fight.
