Chapter 6-9

My mind kept racing as I made my way through the city. Miss Militia dating my father was too suspicious for me not to act, but I needed to be sure if there was malicious intent. What did I know? Well, I'm a small part of a very large machine that is the PRT/Protectorate organization. The people running this machine aren't afraid to remove or replace a squeaky wheel to keep the whole thing going. I'm also both an asset and a liability to the PRT as a whole and to Director Piggot personally.

What was I supposed to do? Play along? It'd be the easiest and the safest route. Whether I'm right or wrong, I won't really lose anything. Miss Militia is a nice person, or at least good enough to fake it. She'll treat my dad well enough, I think. However, if I say or do nothing now, I might give off the impression that people can just walk over me. I'd risk creating a new Emma in the form of Piggot and allowing myself to become a victim of another bully was something I couldn't bear to think about.

I could investigate myself. It'd be good practice, considering my line of work. However, I don't really know where to start. Using my power to eavesdrop on Piggot was probably my best bet. However, any evidence I gather like that would be questionable at best. It'd be my word against that of an authority figure and that's never ended well for me. On top of that, if I was found out before I uncovered a smoking gun, there'd be consequences. I was already a liability. God knows what would happen to me if I actually became a threat.

Bringing in Armsmaster was another possibility. With his lie detector, it'd take about five minutes to uncover the truth. However, if I was wrong, bringing in Armsmaster could backfire spectacularly. Simply put, he wasn't subtle. If I told him what was going on, he'd barge into Piggot's office demanding to know what's going on. I had to be absolutely sure that I was right before contacting him and the simple truth is that I wasn't. Yes, Miss Militia meeting my father in a bar is extremely unlikely and even Hannah acknowledged that Piggot could totally arrange it, but was the director really willing to risk so much just to make sure I wouldn't talk? If this went wrong, she'd not only lose my trust, but also that of the Protectorate's second-in-command. Not to mention that the rest of the Protectorate might have issues too. At any rate, telling Armsmaster would inevitably cause things to escalate. If I was right about Miss Militia and Piggot, I'd have to tell him anyway, but I'd rather make sure that things don't spiral out of control first. I needed another source of information.

There was Lisa. If her power worked the way I thought it did, it'd be a piece of cake to find out what was really going on. However, could I really trust her? She was a probationary Ward. That effectively made her Piggot's bitch. If I forced her to choose between me and the person who could send her to prison on a whim… On the other hand, Lisa might want to get rid of Piggot and hope the next director is nicer than the current one. Either way, she could have ulterior motives and it's hard to trust a defector, even when they're on your side.

Fuck.

I shook my head. This wasn't working. I sighed and picked up the pace. Let's worry about what's got Armsmaster running scared. When I arrived at the PRT's headquarters, I snuck in an empty room to get changed before running over to the armory and getting some new equipment. The last batch went into the incinerator this morning, as per biohazard protocol, and I needed a replacement. I should consider myself lucky: at least I'm not wearing a costume. Glory Girl looked absolutely heartbroken during breakfast.

After getting some directions, I found the other Wards. "Dude, this wasn't your fault." Dennis said. "No way you could've seen that coming."

"I should have." Dean muttered. He sounded angry, but I got the impression he was angrier at himself rather than at someone else. "We're a team. This isn't supposed to happen."

"I saw the video, Dean. That giant robo-panther pretty much hard-counters your power. No one's blaming you. Not even Chris."

I stepped through the door. Dean was sitting in a corner, looking somewhere between livid and depressed. Dennis was trying and apparently failing to comfort him. Missy stood by, looking pensive. A couple of Protectorate members were here too. "What happened?" I asked.

"Those sick Boxhead fucks took Chris!" Dean yelled. Clearly, he wasn't taking this well. "We were patrolling, then this giant robot…thing comes out of nowhere, grabs him and runs away while shooting rockets at me. They…"

"Easy." Dennis said. "Not her fault."

"I know. I know. Just…"

Before the conversation degenerated further, I said. "Okay. How are we going to get him back?" The others looked at me funny. "We already know who took him, right? So, let's pay the Boxheads a visit. Drag Alad over here and have Dean hit him with guilt-beams until he sees the error of his ways."

"Yeah, my power doesn't work right on psychopaths." Dean admitted. Interesting, but also irritating. Regardless, he looked a little better now. Anger was replaced with determination, which I suppose is a good sign.

"Okay, then we skip that part and toss him straight into the Birdcage. I'm pretty sure shooting PRT officers, human experimentation, and kidnapping a Ward gets you that."

"I think Armsmaster's working on that, dear." Battery said. Right, of course he was.

Eventually, Carlos and Lisa showed up, both looking rather concerned. I'm guessing they must have been planning with the big wigs. I'm also guessing that they weren't happy with whatever plan they came up with. Here's hoping that Lisa's better at planning rescues than she is at planning robberies.

"Everything okay?" I whispered to Lisa as she sat down next to me.

Lisa sighed and looked at me almost pityingly. "Let me put it this way: I think I just signed your death warrant."

Well, that wasn't ominous at all.

I squashed the sense of foreboding in my gut and asked: "Why?"

"Why kidnap Kid Win? He's a Tinker. Boxheads want him to build stuff for them." She said, simply.

I rubbed my brow. "I get that, Tinkers being valuable and all that just…why go after a Ward? Unwritten rules aside, kidnapping one of our own is pretty much the stupidest thing a villain can do. I mean, we will come after him. We have to. If this doesn't end with Piggot sticking Alad's skull on a pike outsider her office, I'll eat my shoe. I just think it's hard to believe that the Boxheads are too stupid to see that."

"Honestly, it makes more sense than you think." Lisa said. "We don't know that much about them, but the Boxheads are basically from a place where the whole unwritten rules, or laws in general, don't really exist: Africa, South America, someplace like that. They're used to the whole 'might makes right' mentality. That, and their boss is a money grubbing psychopath."

"So? Lots of people want to get rich."

"Most don't turn it into a fucking religion. To the Boxheads, money is god and morals are a mental deficiency. Everything has a price to that Alad guy and he has a lot of trouble remembering that not everyone thinks that way. They make Scrooge McDuck look like a fucking philanthropist." Lisa sighed, rubbing her forehead. "He probably thought that we'd think rescuing Kid Win is too much of a hassle because he wouldn't have bothered if he were in our shoes. I'm guessing he thinks that we won't risk losing a few of our capes just to rescue a mid-rated Tinker. He doesn't realize that we'd do it anyway as a matter of principle, whatever the cost. In fact, I think he genuinely doesn't understand why we'd move heaven and earth to bring Kid Win home."

That made a disturbing amount of sense. "I guess heroes make crap businessmen…" I muttered. The more I heard about that guy, the more I wanted to feed him his own eyeballs.

"Yep."

"Big mistake on his part."

"Yep." Lisa said. "He's gonna be real big surprised when we come knocking at his door."

"Still…why Kid Win? Aren't there other Tinkers he could go after first? Like Bakuda, or…" I couldn't miss Lisa twitching. "Oh God, he's got Bakuda too, doesn't he? That's why we hadn't heard anything from her the past couple of weeks." Now my blood really started to run cold. Boxheads with superbombs? That couldn't possibly end well.

"90% chance, I think, which is the real problem. If he's managed to turn her already, the base we're hitting is probably going to be rigged to blow. I won't know for sure until we get there. So yeah, fun times."

"And if we don't stop him now, he's going to 'recruit' other Tinkers as well." I realized.

"Probably not in Brockton Bay… Squealer's tech is hard to sell, Leet's too unreliable, and Armsmaster is fucking Armsmaster. Still, I'm sure he'll make a pretty buck out of anything Bakuda and Kid Win put together."

"Assuming they're willing to work for him."

"He's got ways to do that…" Lisa said with a gulp. That pretty much killed any desire for conversation either of us had.

We waited for the others to arrive. I saw Miss Militia sneaking in, trying very hard to not look my way. I would have found it funny if it weren't so serious. Lisa disagreed, if her smirk was anything to go by. I ignored her, pushing the thought out of my mind. Whatever personal problems I might have, they could wait. The life of one of my teammates was more important.

Armsmaster cleared his throat, calling us to attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, what I'm about to tell you will not leave this room. At six-thirty this afternoon, Kid Win has been kidnapped by the Boxhead gang during a routine patrol. We are going to get him back." He paused, letting the murmuring quiet down a bit. "The Boxhead gang are a well-equipped group of Tinkers that we're been tracking for the past few weeks. Data recovered from our earlier raid on one of their holdings has shown that they are armed with energy weapons and shielded exosuits. Their lower-ranking members also appear to have been brainwashed through an as-of-yet unknown means, making them little more than tools. If our previous engagement is anything to go by, they will probably fight to the last man. In addition, they will be supported by Tinkertech attack drones along with other surprises we haven't seen yet."

Well, so much of a uplifting speech, Armsmaster.

After a moment of silence, he continued. "Our mission is to recover Kid Win and subdue the Boxheads by any means necessary. Director Piggot has authorized us to use lethal force and given the temperament of our opponents, there's a good chance we'll have to use it. I'm telling you this because you deserve to know what we're up against. Wards, I need to know how many of you will be joining us. Considering the danger, you are allowed to opt out of this one. We won't think any less of you if you choose to stay behind, but I sincerely hope you won't."

Kill or be killed was the unspoken message.

Dean immediately raised his hand. Of course he'd want to fight. The idiot felt responsible for Chris' capture.

Carlos and Dennis raised their hands soon after.

Should I join them? It's a good question. I wanted to save Kid Win and I wasn't afraid of the Boxheads but… What Armsmaster said about 'lethal force' scared me a little. He wanted us to go all-out. I understood that it was necessary. I've seen what the Boxheads have done and the kind of firepower they were packing. They killed seven people the last time we fought and that was during a surprise attack. We couldn't afford to take it easy with these guys. Not when we were about to launch a dedicated assault on one of their strongholds. However, the thought of going all-out scared me. The last time I did that was when I fought and nearly killed Lung. The Boxheads were a lot squishier than he was, so if I didn't hold back…

If I didn't sit this one out, there's a good chance I'd be walking away with blood on my hands.

I joined the Wards because I wanted them to keep me in check. To keep me from killing someone because my power made it so easy. Now…now they're pretty much asking me to do just that. To kill. Could I still live with myself when this is over? On the other hand, could I live with myself if I sat this one out and someone got hurt because of it? Would I be able to look my teammates in the eye if something bad happened because I was afraid of losing some sleep?

No, I wouldn't. I'm a hero and my friend is in danger. I raised my hand.

Lisa raised her hand as well, but I suspect that was more of a courtesy thing. She was already helping in her own way.

Missy also raised her hand. I got the impression she didn't want to do this, but wouldn't sit this one out. To be honest, I was kind of glad she didn't. She's one of our best assets.

John slowly and uncertainly raised his hand. I wasn't sure what to think about that.

Armsmaster nodded in approval and started going over his plan.

Twenty minutes later, I knew I was going to regret this.