Chapter 2-4

I woke up at 6:28 to the sound of Dad's shower, like every other schoolday. Except this wasn't a schoolday, not really. Today I was going to join the Wards, get into Arcadia, and never worry about being bullied again. It was going to be a good day. I couldn't remember the last time I woke up feeling this happy. I even caught myself humming while making breakfast.

I should probably stop. Being giddy like a schoolgirl is going to be bad for my reputation.

Dad came down from his room with bags under his eyes. Apparently he didn't sleep as well as I did. It made sense, I suppose. It took me weeks to understand what had happened to me and Dad only had the bombshell dropped on him yesterday. Maybe I should have given him a little more time to think things over, but that would mean going back to Winslow until he figured out what to do. I love my dad more than anyone in the world, but that's too much to handle, even for me.

We ate breakfast in silence, as usual, before Dad said: "Just so I know I haven't gone crazy… About yesterday…"

"Parahuman, sound control, I want to join the Wards." I summed up.

"Right." Dad rubbed his eyes, trying and failing to look a little less disheveled. "You really sure about this?"

"Yes. I want this more than anything in the world, right now."

Dad nodded. He wasn't happy about it, but he'll cope. "Alright then. You got the PRT's phone number somewhere?" I handed him my notebook and showed him. He took the book and looked through it, skimming over all the information I'd gathered. "Wow, you really did your homework, didn't you?"

"It's important, Dad. The last thing I want is to make things worse for me."

"Good girl." He dialed the number, and with that, the die was cast. "Yes, hello? You're the Parahuman Response Team, right? I'm Danny Hebert. My daughter has triggered and would like to join the Wards, I was wondering if…Yes, I'll hold…Hello? Yes…One hour…Yes, she'll be there. Alright, thanks." Dad put down the phone and visibly exhaled.

"And?"

"They'll send a guy over in about an hour. Apparently, he'll be disguised as a plumber."

It took a few seconds before I realized why. "Right. Because if a PRT van shows up, everyone will know I'm a parahuman."

"Guess so." I could tell from his breathing that he had more to say, but he stayed silent. The fact that me joining the Wards bothered him so much rattled me a little, but I understood why he felt that way. To me, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Winslow was just a bad memory now and honestly, fighting supervillains couldn't be much worse than going back to that hellhole of a school. I doubt Dad would ever be comfortable with it, though. "I should clean myself up. Wouldn't want to look like a mess in front of the PRT guys."

I shook my head in response. "I'll be okay, Dad."

He snickered. "That obvious, huh?"

"You look like you've been awake for weeks. Honestly, did you sleep at all last night?"

"Taylor, it's my job to worry about you, okay. I'll be fine. Now, you better get ready. Big day's coming up, you know."

"Biggest day of my life, probably."

Dad smiled and kissed me on the forehead. For all his faults, I was lucky to have him. I went upstairs and called my armor to me, before going over every note and scrap of information on the PRT that I had. The PRT would probably repeat everything later, but it couldn't hurt to make a good impression. The last thing I needed is to give anyone the idea that I wasn't committed to this.

An hour after the phone call, a van pulled up, as promised. 'Joe the Plumber', it said. Probably an in-joke somewhere. I was just about to run downstairs to greet them when my dad stopped me.

"You're running out, looking like that?" He asked, referring to the armor.

"They're expecting a superhero, not a ratty teenager. Besides, most of my powers don't work if I'm not wearing the suit."

"Fair enough. Let me open the door, though. Don't want to blow your secret identity right away." I nodded in response. Being careful was going to be a lot more important now. If someone figured out who I was, things could get messy. I heard the bell ring and hid up the stairs, away from the windows.

"Danny Hebert, right?" A rich, masculine voice said. "Massani, Parahuman Response Team. Heard you called about your daughter."

"That's us. Will you come in?" Dad sounded a little nervous. Judging by the heavy footfalls, our guest was probably a very big man.

"'Course." The newcomer responded. "So, where's the guest of honor?"

"Oh, right. Taylor, you can come out now." I took a deep breath before walking out of the stairwell.

The first thing I noticed was that the PRT agent was huge. He's easily as tall as my dad, but much broader and more muscular. I'd put him in his forties or early fifties. Scars covered his face, but he somehow managed to look friendly. Or maybe that was just practice. The man looked at me with a piercing glare that kind of reminded me of that Tattletale girl I met two nights ago. I could imagine him being really terrifying if he wanted to. "Well, that makes my job a lot easier." He said to himself, smiling. "Biggest part of my job is figuring out if you're actually a parahuman." Massani grabbed my hand and inspected the armor covering it. "Your case, though, it's obvious. Either you're a tinker or a changer, and I'm guessing it's the last one." According to my research, a tinker is someone who can make gadgets years ahead of his time and a changer is someone who can shape-shift. Changer sounds right to me.

"Does that actually happen?" Dad asked. "The not being a parahuman thing?"

"Heh, more than you'd think. Not a cape myself, but from what I hear, triggering doesn't come with a flash of light or anything. Hard to tell if you're parahuman smart or regular smart. Oh, and you won't believe how many people think they've got superstrength when they really just work out a whole bunch. Some parents actually want their kids to be capes, even when they aren't. Superhero-by-proxy, I guess. Your kid, though, she's got nothing to worry about. Not with that suit she's got."

"Umm, thanks?" I answered, nervously.

"Don't mention it. Now, what's your thing, kid?"

"I, umm, I control sound. I can hear everything in at least a hundred feet radius. I'm a bit stronger and faster too." I probably shouldn't have mentioned the last part. I was much stronger than I used to be before I triggered, but that didn't say much. Was I strong enough to impress someone like that?

"Parahuman strong?"

"I think… Not Alexandria strong but…"

"Think you can beat this old marine at arm wrestling without breaking my bones?"

My mouth moved before I finished thinking. "Maybe…I guess?" Oh god, what did I just get myself into?

"Show me." He commanded, before sitting down at the table with his arm stretched out. I grabbed his hand and we both started pushing on some unspoken signal. To my surprise, my arm didn't snap like a breadstick. Also to my surprise, neither did his. I was winning, though, albeit rather slowly, even when I put effort into it. Massani was stronger than I thought. "Not bad, if this's the best you've got. Brute 2, maybe 3. Definitely parahuman, though."

When the back of his hand touched the table, he let go. "Thanks, Mr. Massani."

"That's Sarge to you, kid. It's what everyone else calls me on the Rig anyway."

"The Rig?"

"Protectorate HQ. The giant, floating oil rig down in the bay. I teach the capes power-free hand-to-hand combat there."

A normal willingly fighting capes with nothing but his fists? Even if it's just training, that took some serious balls. My respect for the man just went up a notch. "Doesn't that get you beaten up all the time?"

Sarge laughed in response. "Kid, most capes don't actually have superstrength. Besides, they don't get to use powers in hand-to-hand training, remember? Kind of hard to learn from dear old Massani when he's ground to a pulp, now is it?"

"Ahem." My dad grunted, trying to get our attention. "As much as I like seeing my daughter bond with a man three times her age, I have to ask: What happens now?"

"Hmm. Well, we don't really have a standard procedure when it comes to recruiting Wards. Every parahuman is different and trying to figure out some sort of protocol is just gonna lead to a mess. Instead, we pretty much make things up as we go along and hope for the best."

"And that works?" Dad asked incredulously.

"Most of the time. A thorough background check and a few face-to-face meetings generally weeds out the bad apples. Not to say that there aren't gonna be any problems, but we deal with them the best we can." I mentally frowned a little. I knew it'd be stupid to pretend that all superheroes are shining paragons of humanity, but I was kind of hoping they were. Massani must have been able to read me somehow, because he continued: "I know that isn't what you wanna hear, but it's the truth. Capes are people too, for better or for worse."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I haven't had many good experiences with people."

"Right. Lemme guess, trouble at school?" I tensed a little. How did he know that? "Before you ask, it's easy. You don't trigger unless something really bad happens to you. Your dad's here and he obviously cares about you, so it's not parental abuse. Your mom's not here, but I'm still seeing pictures of a woman around the house, so I'm guessing she died but that both of you've been able to cope with it. My condolences, by the way. Finally, you're not in any gang trouble, because if you were, you'd either go villain or ask us for protection." His analysis was right on the money. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. He had done this before and I couldn't be the only one who triggered because of a bullying campaign. "So that leaves us with school. I'm guessing that you've been bullied a lot and that your trigger's been a prank gone bad. How am I doing?"

"Pretty much." I admitted. Didn't see a point in trying to lie to him anyway. "Couple of months ago, a bunch of girls stuffed me in a locker full of used tampons and left me there for hours. They got away with it too."

Sarge's eyes widened. "You're goddamn shitting me!" His sudden swearing startled me a little. Apparently he didn't care about his language anymore.

"One of the girls is a model and has a lawyer dad. The other is a track-team star. Nobody came forward so it was my word against theirs. Winslow just paid the medical bills and sent me on my way." I didn't know why I was being so open about this. Had to admit, though, it felt good, even if Massani was a stranger.

"Hell, kid, I've got nothing witty to say to that." He turned to my father and said: "Why the hell you letting your kid go to a school like that?!"

"Arcadia's got a waiting list a mile long and Winslow promised they'd take care of her after the locker incident. She only told me yesterday that they didn't. Along with the fact that she'd triggered."

"You've got enough to worry about, Dad." I interrupted. "If I told you, you'd only waste a bunch of time and money trying to fix this."

Massani shook his head. "Well, ain't you a goddamn saint. Anything we can do about it?"

"No. I don't care about the girls getting what's coming to them anymore. I just want the bullying to end. A transfer to Arcadia High would be enough."

"Hmm. I guess we can arrange that…"

My brain needed to do a double take. And then a triple take. And then a quadruple take. "You…you would do that? For me?"

"Kid, when a cape goes bad, things go down the shitter fast. Hell, just look at the Merchants. Even a bunch of drug addicts can be a goddamn nightmare when they got superpowers. So yeah, we've got plenty of incentive to keep you on the straight and narrow. Getting you to a school that's worth a damn's a small price to pay. 'Sides, you seem like a good kid. Be a damn shame to let a bunch of teenagers ruin that."

If I had a visible mouth in this form, my dad would probably say something about catching a fly. Sure, I'd been hoping that the PRT would do something like that, but hearing it actually happen. "I…thank you. I don't know what to say."

"Hardly the weirdest thing we've done for a Ward. We take care of our own. Now, onto business. Right now, I'm going to take you to the Rig, okay? The director will probably want to talk to you in person. After that, we're going to make your dad fill out the paperwork, and we'll get started on testing you properly. Might even get to meet some of your new teammates. How does that sound?"

I smiled. "Sounds good, Sarge."