1.1

He awoke to his communicator.

"Armsmaster here." He answered, his training allowing him to awaken at a moments notice.

"Colin, they got her." Miss Militia responded "The Wards got Samedi."

That got his attention. The newest bogeyman of the Brockton Bay cape scene, she was responsible for 15 murders. All parahumans. Each had their corpse mutilated and most disturbingly had their brains missing. The thing that set her above all other cape killers was the fact that several of the crime scenes had evidence of previous victim's abilities. After Glastig Uaine the PRT wasn't taking any chances. She had been priority number one for weeks, and now they had her in custody.

Armsmaster rolled himself out of bed and dressed. He moved with a purpose toward the lower levels where the interrogation rooms were.

Arriving quickly Armsmaster nodded to Miss Militia. He looked out the one-way glass at the girl sitting there.

"How they get her? She has been quite elusive." He asked frowning slightly. Samedi had been registered a class A threat, the Wards shouldn't even engaged her.

"By chance it seems" the scarfed hero answered. "She was engaging a group of minor villains called the Undersiders. The fight attracted the attention of Kid Win and Vista who were patrolling nearby. The actual take down goes to Shadow Stalker. She got a tranq dart into Samedi. She was even able to ID the girl."

"What of the Undersiders?"

"They fled during the fight. Kid Win prioritized Samedi's capture."

"Hmm." Armsmaster frown deepened. It was a good call, Samedi was too much of a threat to let get way. It did irk him though that she was brought in by several junior heroes by near accident.

Another thought nagged at him. Why the Undersiders? On the surface it fit with much of her MO. All previous victims of Samedi were low level criminals. Most were only set apart by their powers, and most only barely. Low rent thugs with low rent abilities. The Undersiders were bigger fish, and she had never gone after a group before preferring to take her victims while they were alone. Was this a sign of escalation? Confidence in her strength? Or something else? So much of this case was filled with blanks. Hopefully now that she was in custody he would get some answers.

"Director Piggot is going to do the initial interview" Miss Militia informed him.

"I'll admit she doesn't look like a Samedi." He noted, truthfully she didn't look like much to the armored hero at all. Pale and drawn. Her hair was greasy and matted, unevenly cut. It was evident that she had been on the streets for several weeks. Far younger than they had anticipated too. Still in their world appearances could be misleading, dangerously so. The veteran hero had seen his fair share of good people die from underestimating the threat they were faced with.

"Where she get that name anyway?" A voice from behind him asked.

Turning the head of the Protectorate saw Dr Phillip Jones leaning on one of the walls. Middle aged and pudgy, Dr Jones was one of the psychiatrist attached to the PRT. He was competent enough Armsmaster supposed though he wondered why the doctor was here. His confusion must have been evident to Miss Militia as she answered.

"The director wants to get a ruling on the sanity of the girl before handing her over to the courts."

"And I told the director that it would take time and likely several one-on-one sessions with girl before I made a call one way or the other. Watching the Director interrogate the girl will help to give me good starting point. You never answered my question by the way. Where does as skinny white girl get the name 'Samedi'?"

"The grandfather of one of her victims" Armsmaster flipped thought the files to find the relevant picture "A Claire DeBrois. Her grandfather was an immigrant from Haiti. Senile. He wandered into the middle of the crime. He was understandable upset and confused what he saw. Told the papers that it was the Baron Samedi that killed his granddaughter and preformed some ritual to steal her soul. The press ran with it, called her crimes 'The Samedi Murders'" He paused to shake his head at the absolute circus the papers made of the whole thing.

"So the name stuck hmm?" Dr Jones said to himself.

XxXXxX

Once again Director Piggot marveled at the insanity of this world. Entering the room she looked at the murder of over a dozen people. Tall and whisper thin, the girl didn't look like she would be a threat to a fly much less some of the most dangerous people on the planet.
The girl seemed to be looking at the manacles on her hand in almost a daze. Had she not know better she may even had felt bad for the girl. As it was she merely took the seat opposite the girl. It was time to get this farce over with.

"You can't break those. They're made to withstand an anything someone like you could throw at them." The girl nodded.

"I could tell. They're pretty heavy. Feel like some kind of alloy. Rather simple lock though." She said with a slight smile. The girl was rather nonchalant for someone who was as deep in shit as she was. The director decided to shake her up.

"So before we start do you prefer Samedi or Taylor." That got her attention "Yes we know your name. An old friend of yours from school helped us to id you. Also helped to take you of the missing persons list. I doubt this is the call your father was hoping for though." The girl didn't respond beyond glaring. "We'll start with why. So why did you kill all those people? Were you power mad or do you like killing?"

"What!? No that's not it." The girl seemed genuinely upset "I'm going to be a hero."

That got Piggot's attention. That was not what she expected.

"OK that's a new one. I've never heard of a serial killer wanting to be on the other side of the law." She shook her head "I was so hoping that you weren't crazy"

"I'm not a serial killer and I'm not crazy!" The girl was becoming hysterical

"Fine you're not crazy, but you still killed a lot of people and I think that deserves an explanation." The girl started to shift uncomfortably.

"It all started when I first triggered. I was so happy to get powers." she gave a bitter chuckle "Turns out I wasn't as special as I thought. My power let me see how things worked. I was so disappointed. I tried for weeks to find someway for me to do some good on my own. Fixing things, even trying to build things of my own. It wasn't enough. I need to do more. Eventually I tried to find someone who might be able to help me. I got this message from someone who said they could help. Said she wanted to meet at her fathers antique store. She was the first."

The PRT director looked at the relevant file. "Elisabeth Vanhousen aka Rune. An up and coming member of E88. Took a while for us to pin her on you. I'm guessing that's where you got the telekinesis." Samedi nodded "So why did you kill her?"

"I didn't mean to. I was just so angry with her. When we met all she did was try and recruit me into the Empire. I didn't even know she was a criminal. All that power and all she wanted to do was hurt people. I couldn't believe that someone with her power would abuse it like that while someone like me got stuck unable to do anything." The girl took a shuddering breath before continuing "I didn't mean to kill her. I just hit her that once, but she fell and hit her head on the counter. It split her head open. I saw it then, how my powers could do some good"

"How exactly?"

"With her powers." The director raised an eyebrow. "I knew then what made her special. How she was able to do what she did and what she could be capable of. Things she didn't even know she could do. The limits that were holding her back. It was so simple to make me just as special as her, better even."

"That explains murder number one but not the other 14. Not exactly the resume a hero would have."

"I need to be able to do more. Be strong enough to help people. Telekinesis wasn't enough. I needed more. Something to make me a real asset. I made sure to restrict myself to criminals. People who only abused their powers." She looked away "Bullies." She looked back at the director "It would balance in the end wouldn't it. Maybe not right away but if I save enough people, was as good a hero as the Triumvirate, as Alexandria, then I would make up for it. Right?" She sounded like she was holding back tears.

Director Piggot marveled at the girl. Her detachment to what she had done was astounding. The world must truly be mad if a lunatic like this could have so much power. She stood then having heard enough. Marching out of the room she decided to enlighten the girl. Turning to face the girl.

"You are a monster." The killer's eyes widened in shock her mouth falling open. The director continued

"I don't know what will happen to you, but if there is even a sliver of reason in this world you'll be buried in the deepest hole we can find and left to rot. "

She left her sitting there wide eyed seemingly uncomprehending what was happening.
XxXXxX

"That went well"

"Can it Jones I'm in no mood." Piggot sat down looking at the girl though the glass "So in your opinion: nut job?"

"Well she certainly would benefit from having psychiatric care, but legally?" he shrugged "She is sane."

"Truly?" Miss Militia wondered

"She understands her guilt, and wants some form of absolvement. Her insistence that she is a hero despite her crimes and her need to be validated creates something of cycle. She hates herself for hurting others so she resolves to do better, to help more but in order to do that she needs more power, and the only way to get more power..."

"Is to hurt more people." The director finished "Christ. Well at the very least she'll fit in at the Birdcage"

"Is that wise?" Armsmaster asked "She has shown no resistance at hurting people she sees as evil and
seems unable or unwilling to stop. Putting her in the Birdcage is like locking an Alcoholic in your wine cellar"

"Well let's hope she meets a bigger monster in there. We'll have to be careful when tran-"

"NO!" a yell interrupted the Director "I won't go"

"She can hear us!?" Armsmaster yelled. As the girl took several deep breaths a name came to the armored hero, Jewel Standford, 'Banshee' "Cover your ears now"

A piercing scream filled the air. The sheer volume staggering everyone in earshot. A large crack split the mirror before them. Then the scream slowly ended the girl pulled her hands free of the now ruined cuffs.

Armsmaster held on to consciousness long enough to watch her pull the door off wither mind and flee down the hall before darkness filled his vision.