Well, here we are. Next chapter, honestly, I imagined it going a lot differently when I first started envisioning it. I wanted to a type of tense atmosphere, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that was unrealistic. Another thing is portraying Piggot, the woman is a gruff anti-cape person, who has almost no faith in them thanks to Ellisburg. To suddenly have this indepedent mucking around and being effective would likely stick in her craw, especially since said independent is making waves and calling into question her leadership in a roundabout way.
So, I'm not sure if I got it all down, probably didn't, but it's a matter of I don't think I can do it any better so I'm going to post it. Even if I'm unhappy with it.
Next chapter will be the final chapter of the Awakening Arc, and the ending will give you a good idea on what the focus is going to be.
Awakening 1.z+1 Emily
The room was silent as a grave, all eyes set upon a single person sitting at the head of the table, her steel-grey eyes still locked upon the screen that had just finished playing Dauntless bodycam footage of his encounter with Tenshi.
They couldn't tell what she was thinking, her face a visage of implacable calmness, when many would likely be anything but calm after tonight's events.
If they only knew, Director Emily Piggot, her supposed calmness anything but. The silence was merely a cover as she mentally organized what needed to be done, and she put a lid upon her boiling fury that was just begging to be unleashed on this clusterfuck.
Because it was irrefutably a clusterfuck. She could have accepted intelligence dropping the ball on the Merchants, if that was the only thing. But what she couldn't stand was the collective shitstorm currently buffeting her office because Tenshi decided to publicize perceived malfeasance within her ranks.
And her fury wasn't necessarily directed towards Tenshi, even if she did take offense professionally at the rogue's broad trust issues with the PRT and, by extension, the Protectorate. But she could understand where the papyrokinetic was coming from, especially in light of her testimony. Realistically, what had the Brockton Bay PRT done to instill any faith in the general populace of Brockton Bay? Sure, they had one of the largest presences in Brockton Bay, but when you got down to the brass tacks of it all, they were, by every definition, a paper tiger. And no matter how hard she implored Washington for additional support and capes to take the fight to the ever-expanding gangs, she was either met with either silence or some form of tepid response that amounted to nothing, leaving her undermanned and stretched far too thin to do anything except hold the line. And even if she did wish to attack the gangs with everything she had, her hands were tied politically by the local government which would prevent her from taking any calculated risk, lest she fail.
It was this inability to do what should be done that led to her investment into the local Ward Program, in spite of her misgivings on raising child soldiers and depending upon capes in general. If Washington wasn't going to give her what she needed to do the job they gave her, then she was going to play the long game, slowly build up her forces, and cultivate the local talent until she could make the decisive action necessary to take back the city.
In addition to this, she had taken a softer standpoint on turning rogues and villains. Under normal circumstances, the only place she would have accepted Sophia Hess in would have been in a jail cell: The vigilante's usage of lethal munitions and contempt for others would have made her too much of a liability. However, it was one more body, and Armsmaster believed they could rehabilitate Shadow Stalker and turn her into an asset, she gave her okay, with the belief that Hess would be monitored for any relapses.
It seemed that somewhere along the road of reformation for Hess there had been a failure. One that she, and the Brockton Bay PRT, were now reaping the whirlwind for.
And one she was going to fix, starting right now.
She wasn't one to shy away from taking decisive action when it was warranted (and she had the opportunity to), and this was one of those. Maybe ruffling enough feathers would get some people to actually do something for once.
"Armsmaster, I want Sophia Hess in a containment cell, and I wanted it done five minutes ago."
She knew that the moment Colin Wallis' expression tightened, she was going to get resistance on the command and she honestly couldn't blame him. The Wards were technically his responsibility as the local head of the Protectorate, so Shadow Stalker's actions would reflect negatively upon him if the accusations were found to be true.
But it wouldn't be just him.
"Director," it was Deputy Director Marcus Rennick who was the first to speak, "are you sure it's wise to take the word of an unaffiliated rogue? All we have is hearsay, no physical proof, and even the hearsay would be flimsy at best because the person in question admitted they broke the Unwritten Rules. However unwittingly she claims she did so, she did violate them."
She made a point to keep her gaze on him even after he finished his point.
Marcus was the velvet glove to her iron fist, able to navigate and work within the local politics and able to soothe the feelings hurt by her directness. His political skills had been a considerable boon, but he honestly didn't have the spine to make the hard choices that came with the position of Director.
It also didn't help him in her view right now that he had also been involved in the Shadow Stalker situation, being part of the rehabilitation camp, as well as the one being in charge of the assignment of her handler. Which if Tenshi's word was true, was likely where they were going to find the heart of the systemic failure once Hess was excluded from the equation.
"Miss Militia, outside of Armsmaster, you have had the most interaction with the Wards. Would you agree with me that there is possible veracity in Tenshi's claims."
"There is Director," came the response after a moment's hesitation from the military-fatigue wearing second-in-command of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, "despite efforts to curtail some of Shadow Stalker's more negative aspects, she still remains verbally abusive and dismissive to her peers. Considering her previous record of violence, it's possible, even likely, that the claims may have merit."
She let that linger in the air, her gaze coming back to Renick and Armsmaster.
"Under normal circumstances, I would not give a rogue, even one with heroic leanings, the time of day, let alone be an audience to the claim that one of my own may be guilty of criminal action. However, these are not normal circumstances."
"What we have here is a cape whose power set classification seems to increase every single time she sorties to where they are talking about scrapping her current classification and rating her a Trump. This same cape has landed the likes of Squealer, Mush, and Hookwolf in our containment cells, crippled the Merchants as an effective gang, and upset the balance of power in Brockton Bay all by herself in the span of a month."
"The fact of the matter is we cannot ignore these accusations she has leveled against Hess, even the evidence we have so far is hearsay. Tenshi has amassed too much public goodwill for her to throw it away by making up a lie, nor would she make an effort like this unless she had evidence that she could use if we choose to ignore her accusations or act against her. This excludes the fact that she may take a hostile stance against us, which, considering her power set, would make her a significant unconventional threat that would be difficult to contain."
And to be grudgingly honest, it was a brilliant, if underhanded, move. By publicly airing wrongdoing by the Brockton Bay PRT in a public forum, she was limiting the actions they could take to minimize the damage. If they chose to ignore her, or go against her, then she could take what evidence, which was likely rather damaging, public, and any action that she took against the local PRT could be construed as justified. Just the idea of a cape with Tenshi's known skills, and quite a few that they were guessing, would be a security nightmare.
No, as much as she loathed the idea of catering to any parahuman, they could ill afford the negative publicity and burning bridges with a skilled independent hero at the same time. It was better to take a black eye over Hess, find a scapegoat, and move on.
"We're going to do this by the book. Hess is too much of a flight risk to leave her free, I want her in a cell, Armsmaster, now," her gaze shifted as Armsmaster got up to fulfill her order, "Miss Militia, I want you to take an investigation team to Winslow first thing in the morning. Find out who it was that Hess put in that locker. I want to know how deep this goes: who was involved, was Winslow's administration covering it up, don't leave a single stone unturned. Then I want you to track down the alleged locker victim and interview her as well."
"What about Tenshi's admitted ties, should we investigate the business that supposedly hired the purported victim, " Renick asked, writing on a notepad, obviously preparing for what needed to be done since she had set her mind to this course of action.
It was a good question though, while there was nothing illegal in what Tenshi did, it could be another possible insight into the mysterious cape's identity.
"Don't dig too deep," she finally conceded, "but see if there may be something there."
It was a long shot, of course, but you never knew what you may find unless you looked. Not that Tenshi could be offended if they looked in on it, she was the one that revealed the information in the first place.
"What about if the accusations are true about Hess," it was Renick again, "how do we break it to the press?"
That was an excellent question, but one that was left with very little flexibility on what could be done. In this case, as much as it pained her to day this, direct honesty would probably be the best path to take.
"We admit we made a mistake," she started simply, before expanding upon it, "make it clear that despite her interactions with her peers, which we can write off as a quirk of her personality, we had acceptable reports from the officer put in charge of the oversight on Hess' civilian persona and Hess hadn't done anything that we were aware of that could be construed as a violation of her rehabilitation. If it wasn't for Tenshi we would have been unaware of the actual truth."
"If the investigation reveals the truth, do we want to push the severity of the crime?"
"Yes," she admitted, causing Renick to look up from his notes, while Miss Militia seemed to focus more upon her, "You've both looked at the reports of each of Tenshi's actions, it's obvious she has military training. But outside of the few encounters she has had with the Empire 88 and the ABB, she has focused almost solely upon the Merchants, to the tune of almost a dozen different confrontations that have been reported."
"Originally, it was thought that her focus upon the Merchants stemmed from some personal animosity she had against them. Now, with revelations of this evening on her ability to maintain a surveillance network, I think the likelier reason was because she was using those encounters to gather information and make the Merchants play into her hands. We need to start thinking of Tenshi as a capable tactician and strategist who also has powers. If she's willing to take a risk in making accusations against the PRT, she likely has a lot more than just her hearsay to back it up. It puts her in a disadvantageous state otherwise that would do away with what goodwill she has built with the local populace. If we aren't transparent and thorough in our investigation, then it's likely she will release this information."
And it was galling, because they were caving to an independent, the only salve to this entire shitshow was it might provide some inroads to Tenshi herself. It was not exactly the most optimal of scenarios, as she would very much prefer Tenshi be under her command, but she could live with an independent hero that was suitably more effective than what she was currently saddled with.
There was still the chance, albeit rather small, that this was still a long con by Tenshi to lower their guard. However, her gut instinct was telling her that it didn't make sense as she would have incurred more damage if she were to join the PRT than continue to choose to operate outside it.
But that brought her back to another thought, a long shot, but maybe they should look into Tenshi's military training itself. And it was military training and not any sort of amateur mockery of it. Considering her cape name, age, and race, it may be that she was a former member of the JSDF, it'd fit the time frame considering the exodus from Japan in '99 after Leviathan sank Kyushu brought a lot of Japanese expats to the United States. There was also a significant amount of illegal entrants from Japan as well. It may well be that Tenshi was one of those. It was a long shot, but the relationship between the two nations was strong enough that if asked right they may be able to run facial recognition to see if they could get a match.
But it was certainly better than fumbling blindly in the dark making guesses on what Tenshi was planning to do with incomplete information. Her non-answer at intentionally starting a gang war was worrisome.
Which was why it was becoming more important that they discover her identity. With that sort of information it would cease being guesswork and they would be able to maybe get ahead of the game instead of simply reacting.
"We will need Tenshi's testimony as well," she turned to look at Miss Militia, "see if you reach out to Tenshi in order to get her to come in."
And they could use that to ask other questions of her. Like what her overall intentions were, outside of the blatantly obvious, but also how she intended to achieve it. If they could get ahead of it, maybe they could at least liaise with her. She didn't like the idea of taking a step back from another cape, but they could not exactly detain her according to law as long as she was following the law. Even if the incident with the brothel owner was excessive, it was still within the mandate set by the Parahumans Act, further codified by subsequent court rulings.
"I'll probably have to contact her via PHO, if you're okay with it Director."
Because it's not like they could predict the next time they would see her and ask her to come in, was left unsaid.
"Do it. The sooner we can get her testimony, the better. Dismissed."
WIth that, Miss Militia got up and headed out of the conference room. It was now just Renick and herself, but for this it would likely be the best anyways.
"We need to get back ahead on this, Marcus," she admitted, "I don't like dancing to the tune of a cape, let alone an independent. What can we do to change the optics?"
"Not a lot," was her deputy director's response, "I have a feeling I'll be receiving a phone call from the Mayor's office first thing in the morning demanding an explanation on the Hess thing, and it'll probably get louder once it goes public what happened last night with the Merchants. They may have been a small-time gang, but they were hated by everyone, even the other criminals."
Which was probably part of the reason why Tenshi targeted them in the first place. It was a public relations coup for her to cripple them, especially in a city that was as wracked by crime as it was, and they were small enough for her to work over quickly. It lent credibility to her belief that it was part of a larger plan that was beginning to ramp up.
"What are your thoughts on her not answering Dauntless' question on instigating a gang war? Do you think she's aiming for that?"
In her mind, there was no doubt. Tenshi by herself was unlikely to be able to roll up either of the gangs by herself, and since she wasn't turning to the Protectorate, that meant she likely had some sort of plan in place. A plan that was rather obvious, when you thought about it, getting the two major gangs in Brockton Bay to bloody and weaken themselves on one another would provide opportunities that would normally not be there.
Of course, if one was willing to dismiss the collateral damage.
"Emily, no matter what, sooner or later, Brockton Bay was going to see a full-blown gang war," Renick finally responded, causing her to be surprised, normally he wasn't this blunt, "either we were going to instigate it by hitting them, they were going start it by just deciding to hell with the status quo or they believe they have some sort of advantage that they didn't have, or there was going to be a third party that did it. Either way, you and I both know that we as an organization have merely kept Brockton Bay on the precipice by showing the flag and making the idea of war unpalatable rather than being flung off it. No matter how much we beg and plead with Washington for additional resources, they ignore us even as the situation worsens. It's only been a matter of time before we reached this state."
He then sighed, running his hand through his hair.
"If what you're asking me is if we can take advantage of all of this: The answer is I don't really know. The hopeful part of me prays that we can with minimal casualties, but the realistic part of me, that knows this damned city, knows I'm just lying to myself. If the Empire 88 and ABB go at it, all we can do is try and limit the damage and force them back into their holes. Maybe we'll score a few victories, but the fact of the matter is, regardless of what happens, it will be another pyrrhic victory for us, if we're lucky."
But he wasn't done yet.
"I know what you're thinking Emily, I've worked with you long enough to know just what you're planning if Tenshi comes in. Maybe we can get her to slow down, maybe we'll get lucky and she'll work directly with us. The intelligence she could gather by herself with those paper clones of hers are the sort of thing that our intelligence would give their firstborn for. But that still doesn't solve the matter of Tenshi herself. Dauntless called her a zealot, and he's right in a way, but he's got the context of it wrong. Zealots are obsessive to the point where they are unwilling to compromise, or even work with others that don't share her beliefs. I don't know what happened to that young woman, but whatever it is, it has made her committed to this course of action, the best we can do is make sure that whatever happens, Brockton Bay is still standing after she's done."
"And if we choose to step in and stop her."
He looked back to the display that still showed Tenshi.
"You keep making a point that she's a soldier, Emily. Do you really want our capes pitted against someone like this? Especially one we still haven't figured out just what she is capable of?"
No, was the honest response. And it was a galling thought, to say the least, but she didn't have faith that any of the capes under her command could win in a stand-up fight with Tenshi, and that situation would only be on the off-chance they were able to deprive Tenshi of the advantage of surprise. Left unsaid would likely be the public upheaval of going against a heroic cape, even if she was independent. There were plenty of conspiracy nuts out there who played on the idea that the PRT's entire charter was a thinly veiled attempt to place all parahumans under their control, and if they refused, they would be caged or killed.
Going against Tenshi, especially after tonight, would only add fuel to that fire, despite her own feelings on the fact that honestly, that should be the PRT's goal. But she wasn't the one calling the shots in Washington.
It was as she was about to answer Marcus on her feelings that her phone rang. She picked it up almost immediately, having a bad feeling about this, as a call directly to her was a serious matter.
"Director Piggot."
"Director," it was Armsmaster on the phone, which only caused the lead balloon in her stomach to sink further, "Sophia Hess is no longer in the building, Clockblocker confirms that she signed off about twenty minutes ago to go to the restroom and security tagged her leaving the building eight minutes after that. I'm currently recalling all Protectorate members to begin a manhunt for her."