Miss Militia had taken off her scarf and her expression was midway between disappointment and frustration.
"Taylor, I know the agreement the PRT has with Dragon gives you the option to go on solo patrols and even work alongside other heroes but you should still try to keep us aware of what you're doing," she said.
"I was with Glory Girl and Panacea," I protested, "and I told the console I was going out."
"Yes. And scared the daylights out of the officer at the same time." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look Taylor, one of the reasons we have this agreement is to keep you safe. This city isn't safe, there were three incidents with Merchants this evening and another involving parahumans. We can't help you if we don't know where you are. You didn't even tell Dragon where you were."
"I'm sorry," I mumbled. I knew I should have radioed in while I was at the hospital, but I got caught up in Vicky's enthusiasm. Dragon can access my costume whenever she wants and I know she was watching the fight with the Merchants. Does that mean she saw us interrogate that guy? If so, why hasn't Miss Militia mentioned it? I'm sure we crossed a line somewhere.
"Don't be sorry, just try to think before you act," she said as she smiled faintly, "Though given who your mother was, I should have seen this coming. Did you know, when I first met her, she tried to hit me with a taser?"
She laughed quietly at the look on my face. Oh god! Mom tried to shock Miss Militia!?
"Now please, try to think about what I said okay?"
"Alright… Um.." I hesitated, I felt like I was getting off lightly but would that change if I told her what that Merchant had said? On the other hand...
"Those Merchants we caught? One of them, the dealer, said someone was supplying them with those new drugs." I repeated everything the Merchant had said to me and everything Amy had learned about the drugs, as well as my own concern that the fighting tonight was planned.
By the time I was finished, Miss Militia was frowning at her computer, looking as worried as I felt. About halfway through my explanation, she had started typing up everything I said.
I could see why, there were now two, possibly three, Tinker made drugs on the streets. A synaptic enhancer that made you smarter, but cooked your brain if you took too much; a drug that made you stronger at a cost to your body and possibly an enhanced steroid that could turn a five and a half foot nothing into a six foot plus linebacker?
##
When I returned to my workshop, Dragon was waiting for me.
"Your turn to tell me I was stupid and I should have told you what I was doing?" I asked.
"Do I need to?" Dragon's voice was noticeably cooler than usual.
With a sigh, I slumped down into my chair.
"Let's just chalk the entire thing up to youthful exuberance and move on okay?"
"Alright… Thanks. Can I ask you something? I know you were watching the fight. Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because some things you can only learn through experience and being able to work with others or on your own are important skills. That said, I was connected to Predaqueen the entire time and if I thought for even a moment you were in trouble I would have ordered her to attack."
"And Vicky's interrogation?"
"I can't say I'm happy with it, but giving people a harmless scare is a common method of gathering information. Keep in mind however that everyone reacts differently to fear and you can not actually hurt them."
Right, no beating information out of people.
"As for the Merchant, his injuries were the result of a possibly lethal attack against a parahuman. Some powers can be fickle, stopping one attack and not another. Glory Girl has been injured in the past so her reactions are understandable. Hopefully, the three of you will treat this as a learning experience."
I wasn't sure Vicky learnt anything tonight. Not if Amy's comments were any indication. On the other hand, learning that she had been hurt was a bit surprising.
Still, I guess Dragon and Miss Militia had a point. If something had gone wrong and one of us had gotten hurt, then what? Amy could fix me or Vicky up, but she can't use her powers on herself.
Looking back on it, there was so much that could have gone wrong, there could have been more Merchants that we thought. They could have been better armed. My armour had a force field that could handle small caliber weapons but it had limits and Amy's costume wasn't much better than a thick coat. Well, at least as far as I knew. It might be better than my own.
"I'm sorry," I said to Dragon, "I'll make sure you know what's going on from now on."
"Good. Now, tell me. Did you get any good ideas while you were out?"
"Hmm, I think so. Pred's great but she needs room to move, what I really need is something smaller or to unlock her T-cog..."
##
I was woken early the next morning by Rewind. The little bot was standing on my beside table making shrill whistling sounds.
"Okay, okay, I'm up. I'm up," I groaned. I tried to look at my clock but without my glasses the readout was just a blurr.
*Taylor! You need to get up. You're in the news!*
What!? The feeling of dread woke me better than any coffee.
"What's going on?"
*Someone told the press about that boy and the Tinker drugs. It's all over the news! Along with the fighting last night. The press has linked it all together!*
Sitting up quickly, I tried to force my thoughts into some kind of order.
"Have they mentioned me specifically?"
I put my glasses on and grabbed Rewind. I was wearing an old pair of pajamas so I rushed downstairs, past a surprised dad, and turned the TV on.
"The trial of popular singer and parahuman, Canary, is set to continue today with the defense expected to-" I switched through the channels until I found what I was looking for on a local news station.
"Our top story again this morning; There was more violence last night fueled by the newest designer drug. The drug, dubbed 'Surge' by the police, had been linked to a rise in aggression amongst the city's gangs."
The rest of the report wasn't worth listening too. The anchor spoke about how the gangs were running rampant with the police helpless to stop them. The PRT was also called to task for not doing enough to control the Parahuman elements of the same gangs and allowing the situation to get this far. Scrolling text at the bottom of the screen were words about 'public outrage at the PRT'.
There was a brief mention of me, thankfully by my cape name, along with a blurry picture of me, Glory Girl and Amy talking to the police.
"In related news; tragedy struck Arcadia high school yesterday when rising football star-" A picture of Ethan appeared in the corner of the screen. It must have been an old picture, from before he starting taking steroids. "-Ethan Woodstock collapsed at school due to a reputed cocktail of performance enhancing drugs. Authorities have refused to comment but an inside source believes the substances to be related to Surge. According to witnesses, Ethan collapsed at the start of the day. He received immediate first aid from another student until Panacea could reach him, but still remains in a coma."
What followed were more 'opinions' dressed up as facts as the press did it's best to make Ethan sound like a great guy and popular student who was merely the victim of the pressure placed on him by an overachieving school. There was also a teary interview with his parents who outright blamed the PRT for not stopping the city's drug problem. The scrolling text contained tributes to the school's fallen star.
One thing I did notice was the claims that 'dozens' of people had been hospitalised by these new drugs. Everyone knew the news networks exaggerated, misquoted or 'speculated' but they couldn't outright lie.
There was not much I could do, so I got dressed and went for my morning run.
##
Dad drove me to school and I spent the ride checking PHO or news sites on Rewind or sending requests to Jack.
Most of the local stations were playing up the 'lost youth' with a helping of 'PRT are useless'. One of the smaller local papers actually took a moderate view. Pointing out that Ethan chose to take drugs and had nobody but himself to blame and that the PRT and the police were doing their best.
When I arrived at school, I barely had time to say hello to Lori when we were all pulled into the school's auditorium.
The principal was standing on what must have been a foldout stage. There was no other way they could have put it together so quickly. For the first time since I met him, his happy demeanor was gone and he was pacing up and down the stage like a caged lion. Huh, that's an idea.
"I've been the principal of this school for years now, and while I'd be the first to admit it's not perfect. It's damn close! What happened to Mr. Woodstock was a terrible tragedy, but I refuse to let it drag this school down-"
I tuned him out and focused on the latest reports from Jack. Dragon had asked Perceptor to help her and Armsmaster with modifications to a statistical modeling program.
"After lunch, the faculty will be conducting searches of all the school lockers. If any of you have anything you shouldn't, I am setting up an amnesty box near my office. Anything you put inside will be taken away and destroyed, no questions asked, and there will be no investigations."
I met up with Amy after classes were finished for the day. The principal's 'amnesty' and locker search turned up nothing, but gave the school a way to cover its ass if anyone asked.
I know more than a few students were disappointed when a search of my locker revealed nothing of interest. Did they expect me to keep bits of random Tinker-tech in there? Or maybe my costume?
None of the Wards were allowed to bring a costume to school. That was just asking for someone to find it. The PRT would bring a costume to us if there was a reason to wear it.
Amy and I got on the bus to the Boardwalk and we didn't really talk on the journey although a few people did try to discreetly take pictures of us. Most of them were close to our age, but Rewind highlighted a middle aged guy who gave me the creeps.
It was mid-week so the Boardwalk was quieter than usual. Amy and I passed the time talking about the series I was trying to complete. There were three book stores on the main promenade and we slowly made our way from one to the other.
As we were just leaving the first, we passed an electronics store that had a couple of TVs in the windows. The news was again talking about Ethan.
"Ugh," Amy rolled her eyes. "The hospital director is going ballistic over this."
"Really?"
"Yea, it was someone at the hospital that leaked the information. After you dropped me home, I typed up everything I could remember about the drugs and sent it to the hospital so they would know what to look for, and it ended up in the press."
I winced in sympathy. "Ouch, you aren't in trouble though right?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Though Carol wasn't happy with Vicky."
"I take it she wasn't happy with Vicky bouncing that guy off the wall?"
"No, she doesn't know about that. Not that she would care," Amy muttered the last bit quietly before carrying on in a normal voice. "Actually she got in trouble for dragging you into a fight. You?"
"Dragon told me that I need to tell them before I go out on patrols."
We stopped at a glass fronted coffee shop so we could get a drink. Amy had a strong coffee while I stuck with tea. Too much coffee makes me jittery.
We ended up sitting at a table close to the glass with our drinks. I noticed a blue M painted on the side of one of the nearby shops. I pointed it out to Amy, who nodded.
"Yea, they tried to tag the hospital the other day, which was stupid. The hospital is neutral ground."
"Really?"
"Yea, one of the older nurses explained it. The Marquis declared all hospitals in the city neutral and refused to fight, or allow fighting, near the hospitals. The idea just stuck over time, even when he ended up in the birdcage."
I'd heard of the Marquis before. People talk about how dangerous the city is now, but there was a time where it was even worse. Marquis, the Teeth and the Empire Eighty-Eight were the major gangs with lots of smaller gangs, many of which got subsumed by the Azn Bad Boys when Lung took over. They nearly tore the city apart.
I would have to look him up to be certain, but I think the Marquis was obsessed with a code of honor that he tried to make others follow.
"They probably think if they tag everywhere it will make them a real gang," Amy said, with as much sarcasm as she could manage.
Moving on, we stopped briefly in the same electronics store I found Rung in. They had a small remote plane that gave me a couple of ideas. It was a desktop toy and made from foam so it was of no use to me, but the black and red paint scheme looked cool and the fans built into the wings would make it really maneuverable if they could rotate.
Discretely I took a picture of it and send it to Jack. I would have to do some redesigning but if I scaled it up, i could make another six inch bot out of it.
I was just explaining my ideas to Amy, who looked equal parts amused and confused, when my phone went off at almost the same time Amy's phone rang.
The message was a simple, automated affair. [All Wards report to the PRT HQ immediately.] Thankfully, I didn't need to hurry too much. I had been tasked with memorising all the different messages and their meanings when I first joined. This one was just a general summons that meant someone needed to talk to the Wards.
I quickly called Dad and let him know what was going on and sent a message to Dragon.
By the time I was finished, Amy was off the phone and looking a little grossed out. "Gallant just got called in while he was on a date with Vicky," she explained, "That was Vicky calling to complain and see if I need a ride."
I sighed, "Yea, actually they just called me in too."
"Don't worry about it. One of the few advantages to not wearing a mask is you don't have to lie when you get called away. You go ahead, Vicky will give me a lift.
The PRT headquarters was located downtown, not far from the Boardwalk. I could probably jog there before the bus could make it. After making sure Amy would be okay, I took off.
##
I hadn't been back to the PRT HQ since I tentatively joined the Wards. At the time I'd come in through the entrance in the covered carpark.
The foyer was exactly what you expected it would be. A counter with a couple of receptionists stationed at it, a guard in a PRT uniform by the door and two more standing by the door that led further into the building. Off to one side was the PRT gift shop. There was a sign stuck to the window saying they were sold out of Matrix robot figures.
There were people in the shop while a few were waiting for the next tour to start.
If a Ward enters the building through the public entrance, out of costume, they are supposed to walk up to the counter and ask to speak to an officer and claim to be a relative. In response, they would be escorted out of sight.
Once out of the public areas their identity is checked and they are taken to the changing rooms.
In my case, I could simply walk up to the reception area and present my phone with its ID function active. The receptionist checked it and pressed a button on the counter.
The agent, after offering me a blank temporary mask, escorted me through the building. He didn't take me to the changing rooms like I expected. Instead I was taken to a large meeting room on the upper floors where Armsmaster was busy setting himself up.
The room was huge, with a great view of the bay. There was a long table in the middle of the room and they had wheeled a couple of whiteboards into the room. There was a large map of the city on one of them and Armsmaster was busy pinning notes to it.
He was in full 'don't bother me mode' when I arrived. I'd seen it before when I interrupted his work on some new project or another. "Good, grab a pen and write everything you know about these new stimulants," he said, waving an arm towards the second whiteboard.
Hello to you, too. I said to myself.
Grabbing a marker, I made a grid with three columns. In two of the column I wrote the names of the known drugs 'Surge and Flash'. In the third, I added 'Steroid?'
Under each, I listed the all the effects and side effects I knew. Rewind was standing on the table, helpfully providing me with anything I missed.
I was just finishing up when the other Wards started arriving, followed by Miss Militia and Director Piggot.
Like me, the rest of the Wards were in casual clothes and maskless. The only exception was Dennis, Clockblocker, who was wearing a temporary mask and a grin. I shot Missy a questioning look and tilted my head towards him.
Catching me, his grin widened, "Some of us want to keep our identities secret, thank you very much." There were various groans from the other Wards.
Note to self: Kill Clockblocker.
Once everyone was seated, Wards on one side of the table with the director and adults on the other, Armsmaster began.
"Within the last few weeks, there has been a sudden rise in aggression from the Merchants. Originally, we thought this was the result of the growing tensions between the gangs. Now it seems the cause is the influx of a series of designer stimulants." He waved an arm towards the notes I had put up.
"Given the effects these stimulants have shown, we suspect they are the creations of an unknown Tinker. As we don't have anything on file, we suspect they are either new to the city or a recent trigger."
Gallant raised his hand, "Don't the Merchants have a Tinker?"
Chris snorted, "Yea, but Squealer builds cars and trucks. Thats a long way from drugs."
Chris had shown me pictures of some of her creations. most looked like she had just driven a car or truck into a junkyard and welded everything she could carry to it. The end results were often large, ugly, armour plated monstrosities.
"Thats right. This is a level of precision and expertise that doesn't match any of Squealer's past creations," Armsmaster said.
Director Piggot frowned at the information I had written on the board. "The Mayor is very concerned about this. The Merchants were bad enough when they were just peddling normal poison, now they have something Tinker-made and are purposely going after the other gangs? He wants this off the streets, before they spark a full on war between the gangs."
"Well yeah, but that's easier said than done. The Merchants don't really hold territory for more than a week. They're not like the Empire, you can't just say 'oh yea, don't go down Woodrow Street at night unless you're white because that's Empire territory'," Dennis said, rolling his eyes as he did so.
Nodding, Armsmaster retook control of the room. "To that end, Dragon and I have repurposed a statistical modeling program to identify the most likely locations of Merchant bases." He indicated the map behind him.
"As far as we can tell, the Merchants are trying to take territory across the entire city."
There were dozens of circled areas on the map and they were dotted all over the place with no apparent rhyme or reason. Something about it didn't look right, something I couldn't quite put my finger on…
/Inefficient/
"How are they planning to hold all this?" I flushed when I realised I had spoken out loud.
Miss Militia smiled at me, "Go on Taylor. What do you mean?"
Getting various polite looks of puzzlement from the other Wards, I tried to push down my blush and focus on what had bothered me.
"T-there's no pattern to any of this. None of the territories they have grabbed border each other," I picked up the laser pen that was on the desk in front of me and pointed at the only two circles that were 'close' together.
"To get from here, to there, they would have to cross Empire territory." I remembered something Dad had taught me once, when he was explaining global trade. "The logistics are wrong. The Merchants mostly deal in drugs but there's no safe routes to move drugs or for help to reach them. It's like they just decided 'here looks nice' and put a stake in the ground."
"They probably did, have you met them? Not a lot going on upstairs," Dennis said with a grin.
"I expect they think Squealer's armored transporters will be sufficient," Armsmaster said, "However, I don't intend to let them get that far. We need to search these areas for any sign of the Merchant leaders. Once they are arrested the Merchants should quickly fall apart. Hopefully they will be willing to give up the identity of the Tinker supplying them."
"That's a lot of ground to cover," Carlos pointed out.
"Yes, which is why tomorrow you will-"
Miss Militia cleared her throat and sent Armsmaster a meaningful look.
Setting his jaw, he carried on. "Which is why I am asking for volunteers to help search these areas. We will be breaking into smaller groups of two or three and each searching an area. If anything is found, it is to be radioed back to the dispatch, who will decide what actions are to be taken. If nothing is found then we will simply move on to the next area."
Dean volunteered almost immediately, closely followed by Vista then me. Carlos and Chris were next, followed by Dennis.
Armsmaster just nodded, "Good, report to the rig after school tomorrow."
