May 17, 2010. Just past midnight.
Armsmaster has a kid. Armsmaster, of all people, has a kid.
That had been the thought keeping Piggot awake about twice a week. Somehow, Collin Wallis had managed to breed.
And now, the result was sitting in her office, after having fought off Accord of all people.
Could it really have been too much to ask for a day of rest after arresting almost the entire Empire at once? At least Mouse Protector had managed to keep the wards out of trouble.
Oh well, she'd gotten confirmation that Hookwolf was now safely locked away in the Baumann parahuman containment center, so that problem had been dealt with.
She looked at the chair in front of her again. She'd decided to stay silent for a few minutes to see how the girl would react under pressure, but she'd somehow gotten a phone from somewhere and was playing games on it.
"So Sely, or should I say Gadget? That's the name you were going by, right?"
"uh-huh…" she replied, intensely focused on the tiny screen in front of her.
"Put that away when I'm talking to you young lady." Piggot said, calm yet determined.
The girl chucked the phone over her shoulder, roughly in the direction of the trash can. She missed, and Piggot winced after seeing the phone's screen crack.
"You going to clean that up?" she asked.
"Nah… no need," Sely replied.
"So, as I was going to say, please explain, in your own words, what happened today."
"Today? Let's see… I entered your office, I sat down, you ignored me, and I got a high-score in snake. Then, you wanted me to clean up my broken phone even tough it'd disappear in like four hours anyway."
"And yesterday?"
"Oh… yeah that would make more sense… Well, this guy Coil wanted some idiots crayon drawings, so he hired Ocean to do that, and some stuff Accord wanted was also in that room, so we got that too. Then, cause everything was going crazy over here, we went to Accord, and he double-crossed us, killed Ocean for medical experiments, and wanted to sell me to the Chinese. I escaped, Accord and his peeps evacuated with portals, and I met up with Dragon on the roof. Also, turns out my dad is Armsmaster."
"That part I gathered from talking to Dragon. What I need to know is details. How did you escape, why did Accord double-cross you, which of his people evacuated, and which got hurt. What kind of experiments was he doing," Piggot replied.
It was refreshing, talking to this girl. Much like Armsmaster, she didn't dance around the subject all that much, which in this case, meant admitting to grand larceny like it was no big deal.
That said, the girl was fourteen, and working for a known supervillain. It was quite easy to figure out that she'd been manipulated into it, which would make it rather simple to place her in the wards. All her other outings, including breaking into the domicile of Westlake's mayor, could quite easily be explained as a Tinker looking for materials to work with, or money for funding.
"Well. I mean, we teleported into the gallery, and I send the guards to sleep, then we looped the cameras, blocked off the hallways with foam, grabbed the stuff and got out.
"Next we met with Accord, and I kind of sort of might have really liked the pen he was using… Anyway, Ocean was bringing me back to Brockton with her power when it suddenly stopped, so I made my way back to Boston with a truck and called her. This invisible guy, but, like, he wasn't just invisible, he also wasn't there. Well, he injected me with something and I fell unconscious."
"Othello, a stranger/mover," Piggot said, looking at her notes. "Teleports to places, and is associated with a phantom presence that is able to interact with the world, but generally can't be hit."
"Well, that guy I guess. Anyway, when I woke up someone had bound me to a chair and blocked my eyes, so I just waited until the right moment. Eventually, this chick in yellow came out to talk to me, and when I was relatively sure she was the only one there, I released myself and shot her."
"How did you release yourself, and how did you shoot her? Why didn't you put her to sleep the way you did to those guards in the gallery?" Piggot asked.
"I just absorbed the ropes and stuff. Same like I do with my tech. Then I shot her with a hookshot I materialized, cause the sleeping gun is kind of slow, doesn't work when people know you're using it."
"I see. So that's the blueprinting thing you talked about right? Can you explain that to me?"
"First I thought it was like a pocket dimension, you know, like the guy with the glasses in Para-Crime Investigation Miami? But it's not. It's more like, my power knows what it looks like when I absorb it, and then I can make copies of it. But the copies are perfect copies, and I can't reabsorb them. So, like, my old phone over there, I can't put in new numbers, and the battery is always at 73%."
"And you can make multiple copies of things, even tinkertech?" Piggot asked. Her mind was already swarming with ideas. If this girl had some sort of mass-production power, she'd be able to equip all of her men with tinker-made gear.
"Well, yeah… but they disappear after a while." Sely said.
Well, that was annoying. Still, there might be something there. A Tinker that couldn't be separated from her gear.
"And that's how you got your Stranger rating, automatically destroying any evidence that could have been gathered."
"I guess… but I'm not really sure what Stranger means. I've seen people say it online, but no-one ever seems to really explain," the girl asked.
"Powers pertaining to infiltration and stealth. The entire set of classifications will be in your guidebook, which yes, you'll have to read. Now, are you aware of any possibly dangerous effects surrounding your matter generation ability? Something people might need to know? Better to know that now than to wait until you've gone through testing."
"Not really, I mean, I can only create stuff in either air or water, not in solid stuff. I think. I mean, it did something against that Othello guy, but I'm not entirely sure what it was that happened. Also, I don't really know what happens when it disappears. I mean, does it get replaced with air? Does it just pop out or something? Is it like a vacuum? I've made sure not to create anything edible, cause maybe something would go wrong if you ate it and it disappeared, but…"
"But you haven't actually tried. Good, that's the smart thing to do. Keep thinking like that. You can't imagine the amount of cases that pass by here which regard someone just trying something new for no reason. Now, back to the debriefing. You shot Citrine in the eye. Are you sure she's alive?"
"No… I mean, I don't know. I know it didn't go through the skull, because that's how it works. It activates the forcefield when it hits something sturdy."
"Forcefield? You said you were using a grappling hook?" Piggot interjected. Was the girl trying to hide something? Did she just not remember by accident? It was always difficult to tell when interrogating teenagers.
"Yeah, my hookshots make a forcefield thingy. Cause, normally, lets say you hit some shitty drywall, and you're hanging on to it, the drywall just breaks right? It was on mythbusters and everything. So it makes this forcefield that strengthens the hook and the stuff its in, makes sure everything is in place. Except, you know, it keeps stuff in place."
"Meaning it kept the blood in stasis."
"Yeah, so maybe that stopped her from bleeding out too much, or maybe it means something bad happened. I dunno. Normally, at range, they should stop at the skin mostly, so it'd hurt and get a nasty wound after a while, but not, like, really dangerous."
"So that's a maybe on Citrine, who most definitely had her eye out of commission. Good, that gives us information to work with. And Othello?"
"Dunno. Second time we fought I tried to materialize something inside him, and it didn't work, but he also didn't work. or something. I think our powers don't really mash together well."
"Meaning we have confirmation that more exotic effects might pierce his apparent invulnerability." Piggot said. Well, that would most definitely go into the file. "Anything else?"
"Dunno… there was this weird lady in a suit, with a shitty hat that fat people on the internet wear. She was making portals for her and Accord, and she knew who my father was, I think. Or maybe she was bluffing or something. It was weird."
Woman, suit, shitty hat. Well, that was interesting indeed.
"Very well. Sely, you are hereby under orders not to mention her to anyone who is not either a PRT director, or has equal access to confidential information. All I can tell you is that she's a known and mysterious factor, and that opposing her will not end well for you. She's some sort of incredibly powerfull Thinker, capable of, amongst other things, combat pre-cog to a ridiculous level. Let me repeat that fighting her won't end well for you." Piggot spoke. Better to scare the girl away form that line of inquiry.
Sely was silent, incorporating the new data. Piggot knew that everything that came after her meeting with the woman in the suit would include mentions of Blasto, and that it would look cleaner if that was not mentioned in the reports. FOIA was still a thing, and there were quite a few groups with oversight over the PRT that did not agree with the unwritten rules. Hell, she was one herself, although she most definitely agreed with Armstrong's approach regarding the biotinker. The man could be much more dangerous if he wanted to, and his possible assistance too useful to risk. Plus, he seemed to be content to stay in his lab, performing his distasteful experiments on animals and lifeforms that he created himself.
"Now, I think that concludes all the business I have with you tonight. I will however, be expecting a report on all your other costumed activity, including possible power interactions, the state of local underworld politics, and your actions within that context. Understood?" she said.
The girl audibly gulped, an effect that, sadly, she couldn't manage to get out of the adult version. "Yes ma'am" Sely replied. "But…"
"But what?"
"I don't really… I mean…"
"Look. I'm quite sure you know some of this already, but not everything is as black and wide as the public may think. If you've paid any attention, you'll have noticed that there's quite a few former criminals spread throughout both the Protectorate and the Wards, including young Hellhound. Now as far as I know, the public doesn't actually know of your existence, the local villains only know you as a tinker associated with an out-of-town supervillain, and the only people that know what you did in Westlake are either electrocuted or in an asylum. Furthermore, we can simply tell the public the truth, that you're Armsmaster's daughter, and no-one will expect you to have been some sort of juvenile supervillain.
"Now, that doesn't mean you're entirely off the hook. I'll be keeping my eyes on you, you'll submit all of your equipment for screening, and you'll get counselling for your, well, problems."
"Okay…"the girl replied. "can I go now?"
"Yes, you can go." Piggot replied, and she saw the girl stand up, getting ready to leave her office. "One last thing though," she said as Sely had almost opened the door. "How did you know the Protectorate would be busy during your heist?"
"Not sure, just know that Coil told Rose to do it on that day."
"I see." Piggot replied.
Sely Wallis left the office, letting the door fall closed behind her. Done after a long day, Emily Piggot mentally prepared herself for a few hours of dialysis. Maybe she'd read that new detective in the meantime, Thomas kept saying how good it was.
Shutting down her computer, Piggot cleared her desk, knowing it would be filled with new files and folders the following morning. After searching around for her paperweight for ten seconds, she suddenly remembered Hannah's report.
Oh well, the therapists could deal with that problem.
*** Gadget ***
The elevator to the wards HQ was, in one word, stupid. Someone had quite obviously done a lot of work to make sure it was perfectly silent, after which a big alarm went off inside the HQ that made sure everyone heard it anyway.
Then, like half a minute later, the door opened, and I had an Emma in my face. She was wearing some sort of white bodysuit with blue lines in it, probably designed to channel her power somehow. Not her armour. Which was nice, because it meant I wasn't getting crushed under about a tonne of silver. Or silver-something alloy, or whatever.
I also noticed a dog running around, being really excited because other people were being excited.
"Judas, here!" another girl said, I tried to look past Emma's hair mushed into my face, but couldn't see much.
Then, Emma decided to let me go, giving me some room to breathe.
Looking around the room, I immediately spotted Hellhound, as well as her two dogs, lying on a couch together. The dogs were looking my way with interest, but she was keeping them in place.
I also spotted Missy, the girl I'd seen Emma have drinks with. Which probably meant she was Vista.
What I didn't spot, however, was the beefcake Emma had promised me.
"Where is everyone else?" I asked.
Emma looked like she was about to say something, but it was Missy that spoke up first
"Slumber party, no boys allowed"
"I'm really tired though…" I complained.
"S'why it's a slumber party… you slumber," Rachel replied. She looked distant, mostly just petting her dogs.
"Hell no we're not sleeping!" Missy yelled out. "Seriously, sleeping is like the one thing you don't do during a slumber party."
"Yeah, sleeping is what math class is for," Emma chimed in.
"I know right? Stuff's way too easy," I said. Emma just looked at me weird.
*** Judas ***
Judas patrolled the group, making sure the entire pack was safe. There was a very low probability of people like the mailman infiltrating this far into the building, but you never knew for sure. The pack leader was happy, and Brutus was hugged tight against her. Good, Brutus could keep her safe. He walked further, following his nose. The little girl was still watching the moving stuff on the screen, but there were no strange dogs to be seen, just weird flying girls with strange hair that shouted, but they didn't shout loud, but more like it was shouting but almost silent.
Judas nudged against her leg, letting her know he was there, and she nudged him back in return.
The girl that always reminded him of the nice food was sleeping. She wasn't wrapped in metal today, so he'd have to be extra careful. Boss got angry when he played roughly with most people, but can girl was one of the exceptions, as long as she was in a can. That had been confusing to figure out as first, but playing with her when he was big was a lot of fun. Just like playing with the flying man, or with the big man that took care of boss. Big man was the best. He would throw the balls really far. Boss preferred metal man though. The big metal man with the motorcycle. Judas wasn't quite sure why she preferred him, he never threw balls and was really stingy with belly rubs.
Eventually, Judas stood next to the newest pack member. He wasn't quite sure what to think of her, but boss seemed to be okay with her being there, so that was good. Now that he was close to her again, she also smelled like big metal man. Maybe if big metal man took of the metal he became this girl? No, their sound was different. She also didn't have hair on the bottom of her face. Humans were weird like that.
Inspecting her, he got a good long sniff at her face. If she was a new pack member, he'd have to be able to recognize her.
Judas looked back to boss, and saw that she was still sleeping. Then, he looked at the new girl again. Maybe he could lick her ears a little? Boss would be angry, but not if she was sleeping.
Maybe if he licked her ears a lot he would get belly rubby?
Suddenly, Judas saw the lamp go on. Great! Lamp meant new people soon. New people meant belly rubby! He ran for the door, waiting for the new people to come in.
As it turned out, it was just big metal man. But without the metal. Judas inspected him, making sure it wasn't some sort of pretend big metal man. They'd seen that once. Someone had pretended to be someone else, but the smell wasn't different. You could always smell who people were.
Big metal man without the metal gave him a quick stroke on his head, not a belly rubby. That was why Judas preferred the other men. Big man always gave lots of belly rubby, and the man with a stick had a stick, which was amazing all on its own.
As the big man walked into the room, the little girl gave him a nod. Big man went to new girl, slowly shaking her awake. Judas thought about maybe barking for a bit. Then everyone would be awake, and maybe they could go out for walkies together. Normal walkies, not big walkies where everyone was small. Those were fun too, but Judas wanted a normal walkie.
Sadly, everyone kept being really quiet, so there wasn't really any excuse to start barking. Big metal man and new girl went back to the door together. Judas decided to join them. Maybe if he was also in the metal box they could go on a walkie with just the three of them?
Big metal man without the metal seemed to be annoyed, but new girl gave him a belly rubby, and they decided he could come along. This was going to be fun, he'd get to go on a walkie with a new person.
As it turned out however, they weren't going on a walkie. Instead, they were meeting up with the girl in the white clothes that always smelled a bit like blood. Judas remembered her from when they'd been at the place with all the dogs that had smelled like fighting. Boss had been really happy so he was happy to see blood girl too. Happy enough to jump up and lick her face for a bit. Boss wasn't around to say no, so it was fair game.
New girl and blood girl talked for a bit, and Judas was pretty sure he heard the word that meant tree, although he didn't see any trees here. They also touched for a bit, and new girl stopped smelling like she was bleeding. Also, some papers suddenly appeared in new girl's hands, and blood girl was looking at them. She wasn't very happy with them though, she had a bad look on her face. Judas could agree with that. Papers were boring. New girl should have given blood girl a stick or a ball if he'd wanted her to be happy. Everyone loved sticks and balls.
Eventually, they went to the yard, the little field of grass on the inside of the building. It was slowly getting light outside, and boss would probably wake up soon.
Then, a ball suddenly appeared in new girl's hands, and she threw it. Judas ran after it, he already liked new girl.
*** Gadget ***
The entire morning had been filled with paperwork and stuff, and I'd already gotten very little sleep, so dad somehow managed to call the school that I wouldn't be able to make it. Whoever answered the phone at school also mentioned that I'd "forgotten" to go to school a few days the last few weeks, and he got angry for a bit, which was quickly solved by Judas dropping a slobbery ball in his lap.
Now however, came the most ridiculous part of it all. Image and PR. Dressing people up in stupid outfits and shit like that. Worse, it was design by committee, so it was going to be bad either way.
The committee, in this case, consisted of me, a guy calling himself deputy director Renick, some really feminine guy from PR, and a hippy girl and an old guy with an amazingly crazy moustache from image. I wasn't really sure why PR and Image were separate departments, but apparently they did very different things.
Dad had decided that he very much needed to get Judas back to Rachel just before the meeting, and I was quite sure I heard him mumbling something about limited edition underwear.
The old guy, Johnson or something, was really enthusiastic about my dad being my dad, talking about marketing opportunities and emblems and whatever. The hippy was really enthusiastic about my hair, especially when I told her that Paige kept making it longer every time I had the opportunity to visit her.
Renick was grumbling about having to be there, and the PR guy was just adamant about me never ever using my totally awesome helmet again.
It was, all together, a very unproductive meeting, meaning that we'd have to have another one in a few days, which sucked more than I could possibly imagine.
At least I got out of school today.
Oh, and Rose was still dead, so that sucked. That really fucking sucked.
I looked at the phone I'd been given, the PRT one. It was more advanced than most consumer models, but it did so many different things that it didn't really do any of them at all. For example, it had my schedule on it.
Apparently, I had a meeting with someone called Yamada in an hour or so. Good, that meant I had time to go bother Rachel some more and play with Judas. Probably… I checked the schedule thing, and swapped to Rachel's schedule, which I could for some reason also see.
It said she had private tutoring right now, basically all day. Well, that was useful. That meant I could probably just go downstairs and play with the dogs either way.
