Brockton Bay Tactics

Summary: It wasn't the Queen Administrator, but the Queen Tactician, and so Taylor's power is completely different. Well, at least she's playing with a full party now.

2.3 Thaumaturgical

"Why do I feel like I just sold my soul to the devil?"

Dad laughed as he saw me rubbing my wrist. He had to sign just as many papers as I did and on top of that he also had to sign on several of the papers I signed on because, you know, minor and stuff. I had always thought contract signing scenes in movies were at least somewhat accurate. You know the kind - lawyer says sign here, sign here, initials here and you're done, right?

Nope. It was more like "sign literally every page at the bottom".

But screw that, I'm excited, I'm a hero now! Officially! Okay, so I'm not gonna be the one going out to punch fools in the face, but hey, it happens because of me, so I've got that going for me.

"You'd be shocked how many times I've heard that joke," the Director said. What was her name? I think I can't remember my own.

"You wouldn't be the only one," dad said. "It's old as dirt, too," he added.

I looked at the director. Her face reminds me of a pig in a- oh, right, Piggot. Piggot something. Man that's an unfortunate name. I took a deep breath.

"I wanted to get that out of the way first so you won't misunderstand me," I began. "I have a question for you."

"I take it's important," Director Piggot said, shifting ever so slightly. This is where I need to engage my brain. Focus, Taylor! "And you seem to think I would misunderstand it if you weren't already provisionally a Ward."

"Provisionally?" I asked, actually curious on that. "Wait, no, explain that later, first I really need to know something. I attend Winslow," I began.

"If you're asking about a transfer to Arcadia, that would only take a month or two," she said, "at most," she added, probably looking at my own dissatisfied expression regarding that.

"No, not about that," I clarified. "I attend Winslow, and I know there's one Ward there already."

All of a sudden, she changed. It wasn't a transformation, it wasn't an overt and obvious change - it was subtle. She had been sitting somewhat placidly, leaning back against her chair and mostly being so neutral I wasn't really getting anything even resembling proximity to a read on her, but she doesn't seem to care that she's being fairly obvious with her tension now. "Shoot," she commanded.

"Uhm... How bad is it if I reveal her identity to my dad?" I asked.

"Bad," the Director said, "but not as bad as a stranger. How many people know?"

"Just myself and my troops," I said, honestly.

"How? Did she reveal herself or anything of the sort?" Piggot asked, her tone hard and somewhat accusatory.

"Archer?" I asked, turning to her. No, I didn't squeak that out.

"It didn't take long," Archer said, shrugging. "I've been playing lookout some of the time and I've got very good eyes," she said, somewhat smugly. "Good enough to see the scars left from someone who wields a small crossbow on both of her hands. I made an educated guess based off of that and the situation at Winslow and I was right."

"I see," Piggot said. "Unlikely to be problematic with the general public, and not really solvable, short of changing her choice of weapon," Piggot ultimately said. "And only few Thinkers will notice."

I cleared my throat. "Regarding what I was saying..."

"Yes, what's the matter?" Piggot said, now somewhat more calm, though still looking a little on edge. "What did Shadow Stalker do this time?"

I blinked. "Uhm..." I felt a bit silly bringing it up.

Seeing that I was floundering, probably, dad put a hand on my shoulder. "Just say it. Nobody's gonna think ill of you, Taylor, because you're a young girl faced with an imposing woman."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Piggot said, somewhat smugly.

"Well then, outright scary might be a better word choice," Dad said, cheekily. Apparently he's having fun. That's good I guess.

Breathing deeply, I decided to start again. "She's a colossal bitch," I blurted out.

"Yes," Piggot said, "but that's nothing new. She's on probation. What did she do?" she asked again.

"She's a bully," I said, "and it feels a bit silly to whine about bullying here of all places, but it's been more than a year of non-stop bullying."

"Let me make a guess," Piggot said, "you got your powers from something she did to you, didn't you?" she asked.

I didn't trust myself to speak without sounding like a whiny little shit, so I just nodded.

"Jesus christ," she said, leaning forward a bit. "Miss Hebert," she said, "I will admit I respect your willingness to join the Protectorate as a Ward despite the fact that the very same person who made you trigger is currently a Ward," she said, "but I have to admit I am curious."

"Me too," Dad said. "I know what we talked about in the van might've been part of your inspiration, Taylor, but this is big. I mean, we've already joined, are you really okay with working for the Protectorate like this?"

"Yes," I said, nodding. "Honestly, if I let Sophia keep me from doing what I want to do, if I allow her to be the reason why I don't do my best to help people and become a hero, then all I'm doing is proving her right."

"Interesting reasoning," Piggot said, "mind elaborating?"

"It's not really all that complicated or interesting," I admitted. "It would just be me saying that I can't be what I want to be because of her, and I won't give her that pleasure."

Dad looked at me oddly, but we both turned with surprise to Piggot, who was laughing, somewhat sedatedly. "Well you're right it's not complicated," she admitted. "Let me summarize it for you, girl," she said. "The next time someone asks why join despite her, the best answer you can give is "because fuck her that's why"."

Huh. "I like the sound of that," I admitted, freely. I can almost feel the smile drawing itself upon my face.

"So, now you've told me why you're still joining, despite her presence," Piggot said, "and you know that I believe you when you said that Shadow Stalker made you trigger. However, I know there's something more."

I nodded. "I want to know that she's not getting away with her actions in Winslow because you're covering for her. I guess... I want you to tell me that you're not just forcing the school to keep quiet and not discipline her just to keep her content and working for you."

Piggot seemed to fall into thought for a few moments. "I will be frank with you, Miss Hebert," she said. "We need every available parahuman we have. Especially in Brockton Bay. I cannot call in more Parahuman resources from the Protectorate without Armsmaster's approval, and even when I do have it, then I must deal with the bureaucracy on both sides, and when I'm done with that, all I get is either Legend telling me he can't spare anyone from his overstaffed New York teams or Chief Director Costa-Brown telling me to just employ more PRT squads."

"So that's it?" I asked, somewhat hurt. "She gets off scot-free because we're understaffed?"

"Hardly," Piggot said. "Much as I need every parahuman I can get my hands on to stay in Brockton Bay, a rambunctious, uncontrollable sociopath is just as bad, if not even worse, than nothing at all. I explained that to you so you understand why I am not going to send Shadow Stalker to juvenile detention, nor am I going to dismiss her from the wards, regardless of the break of her probation."

I nodded. She's going somewhere, I can tell.

"But," she said, "I agree with you that she cannot walk away from this unscathed. I guarantee that she will be punished for her actions."

"Is she only getting punished because of how versatile Taylor's power is?" dad asked, unknowingly voicing a concern of mine.

"No," Piggot said. "The only difference is that your daughter will hear of it, instead of not knowing anything's different until, if we're lucky, she has a resultant attitude change."

"I'm surprised you've been so open to us and believed my daughter," dad said. "It's nice but more than a little strange. After all, my daughter, an outsider, just told you that one of your employees, for lack of a better term, was harassing her."

"It's a variety of factors," Piggot said. "We will carry out an investigation, but at this point, it's more to see how bad the damage is. I had considered the lack of reports of disciplinary problems regarding Shadow Stalker's civilian identity to be strange, considering her disciplinary record when her mask is on, so you are merely confirming some of my own suspicions."

"I see," dad said. "Well, that'd explain it."

I nodded. "So... that's basically it, I think. We're done here for now, with the legal side of things?"

"Mostly," Piggot said. "Armsmaster needs to review and sign off on quite a few of the forms, we'll send a copy to the Youth Guard, who will be contacting you as well. As soon as we conclude our investigation on Shadow Stalker, we will discuss reparations for her behavior."

"Reparations?" I asked. "Honestly, I'd just be okay with her being made to scrub toilets with her toothbrush or something like that," I admitted. I wasn't really thinking of the money. "I'm more interested in seeing justice be done than in being paid to shut up about it."

"There's no point in being noble here," Piggot said. "Justice will be done regardless. Consider the money an apology."

"I dunno," I said, leaning back. "Taking the money just feels dirty somehow. Like if I was suing someone just for money, instead of because they genuinelly wronged me. I mean, that's always bothered me. I see those big cases where the people suing just seem to want money instead of to put the person they're suing in jail."

"What you see on TV is frequently a very small fraction of what really happens and even then, phrased and reworked in such a way as to turn it into something completely different," Piggot explained. "For that matter, most of those lawsuits you hear about are usually settled out of court, most of the action is the parties' lawyers meeting up and discussing the terms of the settlement and more importantly, it's a different kind of lawsuit that can result in someone being given jail time or even community service."

"It's a bit confusig," I admitted. "A bit too much for one day maybe."

Piggot nodded. "Get some rest. We'll contact you when it comes time to test your projections' powers. It'll also give our PR team time to come up with a few ideas regarding your identity, and time for others to brainstorm your place in the Protectorate. An educated guess? You'll likely be coordinating from a console, so get ready for that."

I nodded. Honestly, just being able to help by coordinating people was more than I'd expect to be able to do without powers of my own around here. with some luck, I might be able to learn to fight and not be completely useless, but until then, I'm probably a liability on the field. No, scratch that, I'm definitely a liability on the field as I am right now.

But... I have to admit.

Things are definitely looking up. Are they perfect?

No, not even close. Some part of me, deep within, has a visceral yearning to see Sophia's head mounted on a pike. Some part of me wants to lash out against Piggot for refusing to throw Sophia completely under the bus.

But that part of me is ruthlessly squashed. I can feel Knight's hand reassuringly on my shoulder, opposite the shoulder Dad had squeezed earlier.

With my eyes closed, my imagination fills in the gaps. Knight smiles approvingly, Chemist nods seriously, Monk gives me a confident grin, Squire seems content and Archer seems grudgingly approving.

Even if everything isn't going exactly perfectly, I can't complain.

I'm not alone anymore... I'll do my best to be worthy of the trust they've put in me.

I'll be a hero that everyone can be proud of!

Yeah, yeah, short chapter I know.

Also fun fact: We got our first troll reviews! They're precious. It's like a milestone for every story. You know you're somehow inexplicably more popular than your skill says you should be when people come into the story purely for the purpose of trolling.

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