Colin was interrupted by a low 'ping' noise coming from his computer. He put down the component he had been working on, trying to make the power source just a bit more efficient, and focused on the computer. The analysis of the "Messenger" incident was apparently finished. Good, once he got this out of the way, he could focus more on his technology. An Endbringer attack was due this month, and he had to be ready to analize as much data as possible. More data was needed for the prediction program he was building.
Video starts up with the click of a mouse button. Recordings effortlessly edited together from various cameras, from the moment that the new cape entered the lobby of the PRT building, to when he had left through an office window. At least there was no property damage from this incident. But the possible PR damage to his Wards team? That was no laughing matter.
In the video, the new cape walks right up to the front desk and asks something. There was no sound yet, no point in wasting money on that feature since the lobby is always full of conflicting noise, too much to get anything usable.
The cape that had been code named 'Messenger' for now, walks to the waiting room following the receptionist, Clark Kent, and sits down.
"Your guide will be here shorty." Clark says cheerfully to the cape. TRUTH shows the green words under the video. Messenger looks around for a few seconds before waiting patiently.
Video shows Miss Militia entering the room 22.5 seconds later.
"Hello, I'm Miss Militia and I'll be your guide today." TRUTH
Messenger gets to his feet and nods, "Uh, hi. Wow, I didn't think you would be the one showing me around. I didn't think I would get more than maybe a PRT officer..." TRUTH
"So whats next?" QUESTION
"Well first we just have to go through a brief security screening to make sure you don't have anything dangerous on you." TRUTH
"It is non-invasive and I promise it can't tell us who you are, only if you have weapons on you." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Incidentally, it would be best to declare that sort of thing now before we go on." TRUTH
"This includes biological and explosive weapons, as well as mundane weapons." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Nope, nothing like that. Normally I'd have a small knife on me, but I figured it wouldn't be cool to bring it here." TRUTH
They walk down the scanning corridor. Messenger has that lanky walk of teenagers who have grown too fast. The height and limb analysis shows that despite the height, they are still young, not yet finished their full growth. This rules out the possibility of an adult cape attempting subterfuge, barring extremely competent shape-shifters. None of whom have ever demonstrated teleportation abilities, and there is not a single sign of technology or power emissions from Tinker tech that would allow mimicking teleportation or shape-shifting. This is unfortunate, as it would allow them to dismiss the accusations that are made later.
"Report is all clear Ma'am. No identifiable hazards." TRUTH
Nothing more is said until they leave the elevator.
"We are about to visit the Wards main headquarters. This tends to be where they hang out when on duty or on call. Each Ward has quarters here for when they need to sleep after a busy night and can't take the time to go home." TRUTH
"Debriefing after missions happens here, along with getting new ones." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"We are just waiting a bit to give them time to get masks on, in case any of them forgot that today was the meeting with you. The red light will turn green when we are good to go." TRUTH
They enter the room and the camera switches to a composite viewpoint, made up from multiple camera angles and audio feeds. The lie detection program is more precise now, with the added data. The confidence values to the side of the screen rise.
"Aegis is the current leader, next oldest is Clockblocker, then Gallant. Then we have Shadow Stalker, Kid Win, whom you have already met, and Vista. This is a new prospective member, currently no cape name." TRUTH
"You guys will be helping us test out his powers in a half-hour, after the meet and greet." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"I do hope you read the briefing Kid Win gave us?" TRUTH/RHETORICAL QUESTION
I am here mostly in a supervisory capacity, but I'll leave the rest up to you guys." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
Gallant speaks first. "Hey, lets not just all stare at the new guy. Come on over, take a seat." AMBIGUOUS
"I promise we don't bite." TRUTH
"So..." Asks Clockblocker, "Teleporter huh?" QUESTION
"Yeah, wanna see?" QUESTION
"Of course!" Vista replies. TRUTH
"Plus if we see it, we can maybe help you test stuff out better later-on right?" NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH/RHETORICAL QUESTION
Messenger demonstrates his power on screen.
"Woah, hey, you said you teleported, but there were two of you for a bit there!" Kid Win exclaims. "You didn't do that last time!" TRUTH
"Yeah, like I told you, I've been busy testing and figuring stuff out. Turns out I can leave a sort of 'afterimage' behind." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"It doesn't last long though." TRUTH
"Well, Kid Win said you were having trouble coming up with a cape name, how about Afterimage?" Aegis suggests. QUESTION
"I actually was seriously thinking about it," NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"but then some cape in the UK took it, literally a day before I met Kid Win." TRUTH
"Talk about heartbreaking." JOKE/LIE
"Ooch, that does suck." TRUTH
Shadow stalker speaks up. "Oh boo-hoo, who cares what name message boy picks?" NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH/RHETORICAL QUESTION
"He might not even get to keep it in the end." TRUTH
"Hey, it's not his fault that the higher ups decided that you needed a bit of a more 'family friendly re-branding'." TRUTH
"In a week she's getting re-branded as 'Myst Shadow'. She was really insistent on keeping the 'Shadow' part," TRUTH
"but they wanted to ditch the Stalker bit, said it sent the 'wrong message'." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Needless to say, she is getting a whole new, less scary costume to go with it and is not pleased." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Sooo... Do you want to know anything about the Wards program? They said you were only considering joining?" QUESTION
"Yeah, I want to keep my options open for now. I already know the basics of it, I did my research." TRUTH
"Wards program has lots of benefits, but also lots of problems." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Ok, we can talk about that later then, maybe after we've shown you how cool our power testing facility is?" TRUTH/RHETORICAL QUESTION
"What other stuff can you do? Any current limits so far? QUESTION
"Just so we don't duplicate anything you have already tested..." NOT COMPLETE/LIE
"Ok, so I think I have a mass limit, no more than 120lb, or thereabouts." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"It includes my costume too. TRUTH
"So realistically its more like 110lb." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"I only have to touch it to be able to take it with me," TRUTH
"and I can leave up to 3 afterimages at once, if I teleport fast enough." NOT COMPLETE/LIE
"I can choose not to leave them behind too." TRUTH
"They aren't good for much yet, but they do carry out actions that I was about to do, or want them to do, for the few seconds until they melt into ash." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Oh and so far, everything is just line of sight only. It's one reason why I'll be happy to test things with you, to see if there are ways of extending my range. I know its kind of short range compared to some teleporters who can go anywhere they have been before, so I'm hoping I can extend it with some tinker-tech." TRUTH
"Oh, I can probably help you test that!" TRUTH
"I'm also kinda curious about momentum and injurys, and plan to test that here too since I'm sure you have stuff I can use safely. Otherwise I would have had to try some tricky and dangerous experiments alone." TRUTH
"I figure better to do it when I have people who can stop me from getting hurt too badly if it goes wrong. NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"But no other powers that I know of." LIE
Colin pauses the video for a moment to think freely and not miss anything. Hmmm, so there is at least one other power that the Messenger has not demonstrated, and is keeping a secret. Must be something subtle. Thinker perhaps? Or Trump? Likely something sensory, to aid the teleportation.
The video continues and a few seconds into it, Gallant speaks."My idea is, what happens if we, aka Clockblocker, time-freeze an afterimage?" AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION
"It probably won't tell us much, but it could prove interesting." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Power interactions are always neat to explore." TRUTH
"Oooh, lets try it!" AMBIGUOUS/EXCITED
"We don't even have to go down to the exercise room for this one!" NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Ok, lets try it." AMBIGUOUS
Shadow Stalker interrupts again. "Really? What's the Frikking point?" AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION
"Messenger boy is useless! NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"He can't move people around," TRUTH
"he looks like a beanpole so he can't fight worth a damn." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"All he can do is teleport into the waiting arms of an enemy and die. Horribly." NOT COMPLETE/LIE
"Probably the most useless teleporter I've ever heard of. All he'd be good for is delivering packages." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Heh, Messenger... That's all you are." AMBIGUOUS
"Maybe you should give up this notion of fighting villains and go home, get a job with FedEx." AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION
The messenger surrounds Clockblocker with afterimages, and as one is frozen in place, he tilts his head slightly to the side, as if in thought, looking in Shadow Stalkers direction.
As the first afterimage melts into ash (after 3.50 seconds from being left behind by the teleportation), the Messenger's posture stiffens suddenly. Then he teleports again around the room, all of his new afterimages looking at Shadow Stalker and with that same stiff posture. Gallant's notes indicate that at this point he had felt immense shock and anger from the subject.
"Perhaps this has something to do with that power the Messenger kept secret?" Colin asks himself idly, making a mental note to send this part to a few PRT Thinkers later, to see if they can decipher what exactly it is. Only once they decide to release this video to the analysts of course, since otherwise it could be a breach of security, or worse, a PR nightmare if it leaked.
The Messenger is visibly agitated and angry on the screen, and all the afterimages give out a little simultaneous shudder, barely noticeable. That part is interesting... I wonder what caused a simultaneous reaction? (3.46 seconds after the first burst of teleportation) Another burst occurs, creating a new set of afterimages once again, spread out around the room. Their body language changes after a few seconds more, and this time as the afterimages fade away (after 3.39 seconds), they are not replaced.
The Messenger focuses on Gallant as he asks, "Uh, dude, whats wrong? You ok?" QUESTION
"What is wrong is that I figured out who she is," TRUTH
The Messenger points right at Shadow Stalker, "and as such, I cannot believe that you would accept a bully and an accessory to assault and attempted murder." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Explain." QUESTION
"I know who Shadow Stalker is. As much as I am tempted, I won't tell anyone. Even I know that you don't go around exposing secret identities without consequences. But I cannot even think about joining a team that has her on it.
"She has spent the past year and a half bullying this girl called Taylor at school mercilessly, along with two other girls. It culminated in Taylor being shoved in a locker, one filled with used tampons, pads, and other assorted filth. Taylor almost died." TRUTH
"She would have died if I had not let her out of the locker when no-one was looking." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"After I realized that no-one else was going to. That is one of the reasons why I want to be a hero, to stop people like that." TRUTH
"I can't be on the same team as her." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Either the PRT knows about this and does not care, or it is too incompetent to know what it's Wards get up to." AMBIGUOUS
"Either way, I do not want to be a part of this organization." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"I want to leave now." TRUTH
"Please let me out." QUESTION
"Oh please..." Shadow Stalker speaks up. AMBIGUOUS
"You don't honestly believe this nameless beanpole?" AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION
"It's clear that you must be one of my rejected suitors." NOT COMPLETE/LIE
"You probably got all worked up over asking me out, only to get rejected." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Heart broken, crushed, and stomped." AMBIGUOUS
"Now you want to get revenge on me for turning you down for a date? AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION
"Pathetic." TRUTH
"How could you use poor Taylor's horrible attack against me like this? LIE/RHETORICAL QUESTION"
"It's beyond pathetic. I am a great hero," NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"much better than you ever will be, and you are just jealous." NOT COMPLETE/LIE
"You just want to knock me down a peg." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH
"Well good luck with that. I'm a Ward." AMBIGUOUS/TRUTH
"Without any proof of your baseless accusations, there is no way they will get rid of me." TRUTH
"Plan failed, loser." NOT COMPLETE/LIE
"I want to go now. Please let me out. I don't want to talk about this any more." TRUTH
As everyone on screen hesitates to move, Messenger teleports around in a frenzied burst, and all his afterimages shout, "Let me out!" QUESTION
Gallant notes that at this point he felt immense desperation, panic and fear from the subject, so he flew to let the Messenger out before he could turn violent.
The last thing said on video is Gallant apologizing up in the office, "I'm sorry. I thought this might be a faster way for you to leave than going through security again." TRUTH
The Messenger simply nods and melts away, presumably having teleported out.
One minute and thirty-seven seconds after the Messenger has left, the afterimage in the Wards room melts away. Careful examination of the video shows that the afterimage unfreezes and simply stands there for a few seconds, consistent with the behavior of the other afterimages created from the same burst of teleportation. Likely because it only had instructions to stand there.
Colin sighs and runs through the video two more times before he is finished analyzing it. This is not good, he decides. The Messenger was telling the truth as far as he knew it, and Shadow Stalker didn't outright deny the accusation. Only tried to discredit him. And she has always had a problem with never telling a simple outright lie or truth. There is always ambiguity, half-truths, half-lies, leaving information out, answering with a question, and so on. Makes it harder for me to catch her at breaking her parole, and she knows it.
Colin decides to investigate the school, to confirm if this incident did or did not take place. He even has the name of the main victim, so it won't be difficult.
Even if he cannot get undeniable proof of Shadow Stalkers involvement, it will be enough to let him ship her off to another PRT district. This would at least prevent any more bullying from taking place, and hopefully entice the Messenger to reconsider joining the PRT Wards.
There is no way he is letting Shadow Stalker ruin his reputation and dirty the reputation of his Wards with her little bullying problem. They will hush this up fast, ship her off somewhere she can't continue her behavior, and hopefully that will be problem solved. Best to relocate her quickly, so she has little time to try to track down the Messengers civilian identity. Colin wouldn't put it past her to try, given that they seem to share the same school.
It's a good thing that he decided to become a hero, to stop that kind of thing. Colin thinks to himself. I shudder to think of what would have happened if the girl pushed into the locker had been the one to gain powers. Likely a villain, possibly might have tried to retaliate against the entire school.
Colin puts on his armor and helmet, grabs his halberd, and lastly he pockets the data stick with the fully analyzed video. Armsmaster exits his lab, nods to the PRT guards outside, and heads off to Director Emily Piggot's office. He has a report to make.
AN: Muahahahah, I'm kinda evil aren't I? This is just another rehash of a previous chapter, cunningly disguised as a new one! So evil! :P
(Sorry!)
Oh and just FYI, The Australian Simurgh attack is coming up, and since my timeline for Taylor starts a bit sooner than the original story, you guys get to learn more about it! Problem is, there is precious little info about what it/she did there, only that they lost and had to put up a dome. Makes me wonder, what could have possibly have happened that requires a dome, instead of say, nuking it or burning it or something? Oh well, I'll figure something out.
Oh and I've fixed all my 'wont' into 'won't', thanks to technoninja1 pointing out my embarrassing mistake. Thanks dude! :)
And condensed down the multiple "TRUTH"s in a row, to be less annoying.