Chapter 3 – Interludes
[Danny Hebert]
"Is there any chance the BMA faked the video of the ATM theft?" Danny asked. "It seems awful convenient for them that there happened to be a Brute villain dressed exactly like Taylor committing a crime in the same vicinity at the same time as my daughter was shopping. It sounds suspicious."
"There are videos from several sources, not just the Boardwalk Merchants or the Enforcers," replied Quinn Calle, a handsome Latino man, sharply dressed and with styled black hair. Danny had hired him the day after Taylor's attack. Quinn was the best-known lawyer in Brockton Bay for cape cases, except possibly Carol Dallon, a.k.a. Brandish of New Wave. But she was a friend of Alan Barnes and would likely be part of the opposition team in the upcoming lawsuits.
"They could have faked the other videos too," Danny insisted.
"Not from so many different sources. I've also found several independent witnesses to the Brute attack. Also, the security guards were checked in to Bayview with real injuries consistent with the reports." Calle countered.
"They could have been bribed." Danny knew he was sounding petulant, but he needed someone to blame for what happened to his daughter.
"The PRT records show the Enforcers reporting the ATM theft and the attacks on their guards just after the timestamp on the security camera video. They formally requested Protectorate backup as is Enforcer standard procedure. Unless they have a cape that can time travel, I think we are going to have to accept that the villain Brute was real."
"But what about the clothes?" Danny hated the whine in his voice. It made him sound like a child. But he just felt so frustrated, so angry, so helpless. One reason so many people hated or feared capes is that they were physically helpless before them. Just like poor people were mostly powerless in dealing with wealthy corporations. The idea that these reckless capes were being protected by wealthy merchants represented all that was wrong with the world. Add in an uncaring government bureaucracy and you'd have the trifecta. The legal system was one of the few recourses available to normal folk. But even there the established powers had a tremendous advantage.
"Look out the window Mr. Hebert," Calle order, pointing to his office that overlooked the Lord Street Market. Danny did so reluctantly. "It's winter in New Hampshire. How many people out there are wearing blue jeans? How many have grey hoodies, or blue parkas? Without looking, I am guessing a lot of people are. I bet you can even see at least one, probably more, wearing all three. They're all common articles of clothes. The Brute wasn't wearing the exact outfit Taylor was. But their outfit was close enough that a vague description, followed by a false identification, might give rise to a reasonable mistake. At least that is the argument the Enforcers are making. And a jury is likely to buy it."
"So they're going to get away with it?" Danny demanded, his temper, always simmering below the surface, flared.
"No!" the lawyer barked, cutting his client's oncoming rant short. "Just because they had arguable justification for believing Taylor was the person they were pursuing; does not mean they are not culpable for their overreaction in response. The PRT is still deciding whether to press charges, but that doesn't stop us from going after them in civil court."
"And the girls?"
"They certainly bear a lot of responsibility for pointing the Enforcers at Taylor. Miss Barnes, in particular, made false and malicious claims of Taylor being a Master, which is audible on several recordings. Miss Hess' actual assault on Taylor also ups the stakes. They're not getting away with anything. We're still looking at the possible liability of Winslow and the Principal."
"Push it. I want them all to hurt as much as they hurt Taylor." It wasn't much, but it was the only thing he could do for his daughter.
[Emily Piggot]
"It was decided that Hess would settle the lawsuit against her and the PRT would secretly cover her payout," Renick reported. "That allows us to transfer her to New York. They've agreed to send Flechette in exchange. Hess should be gone before school starts on the eleventh."
"She chose transfer over juvie? I'm not surprised," Emily nodded and made a note to contact her counterpart in New York. She wanted to let him in on a few things about the psychotic bitch that shouldn't be put in official notes. She would rather have seen Hess behind bars, but the Chief Director had disagreed. "Thank you. Now talk to me about Taylor Hebert."
Emily had somewhat mixed emotions about the girl. She was a parahuman, which meant she was at least a little mentally disturbed, while wielding the power of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. She was also the victim of rogue capes attacking a real human, much as Emily herself had been. Her powers effectively stripped other capes of their unnatural abilities, at least temporarily bringing them back to parity with her troops. That could be invaluable if used at the right time and place. She could be the check on the other capes Emily had been desperate for. Unfortunately, she wasn't fitting in with her team.
"Armsmaster, working with Dr. Yamada, has been able to quantify the emotional effect she is having on the other heroes. In every test case the subject within Hebert's trump field becomes measurably anxious within minutes. The anxiety effect increases at a linear rate over time. It is consistent across all the test subjects. So far only Miss Militia and our two tinkers have been able to remain in the field for more than ninety minutes, and both adults reported experiencing the anxiety effect, but were able to withstand it through mental discipline. Kid Win reported finding the anxiety was overcome by the relaxation of not having the 'tinkerstream', as he called it, constantly flowing in his head. Shadow Stalker and Dauntless were left out of the testing for obvious reasons."
"Is this a Master effect or something more like Glory Girl's aura?" Emily asked. Not that she knew there was a real difference between the two.
"It is a biological effect centered on the Gemma in the head of the … I hesitate to call them victims. Subjects, I guess. PET scans show increased activity when the parahuman is in proximity to Hebert's trump field. Yamada suggests that the range on the anxiety aura, as she calls it, may be somewhat larger than the trump field."
"Hmm…" Emily mused.
"What it comes down to is that almost all the other capes find it uncomfortable to be around Hebert for any length of time. And that the cause is biological rather than psychological." Renick offered.
He set aside his tablet and looked at his boss. Emily could see he didn't want to tell her the rest. "Between the induced anxiety and her powers interfering with the rest of the team in any sort of indoor or limited space exercise, Aegis has informed me that he does not feel Hebert is a good fit for the Wards. Unfortunately, other than having her only taking patrols with Kid Win or giving her a permanent posting to mission control, I have to agree with him."
"Putting her on control duty would be a waste of a heavy hitter." Emily said.
"Having her depower half the team in the middle of a fight is worse." Renick argued.
"What if we didn't have her on the team?" Emily mused. She spun in her chair to look out of her office window. It was snowing outside, though not too heavily. It seldom snowed heavily in Brockton Bay, an effect of the city's unique micro-climate tempered by its position between mountains and the ocean warmed by the northern sweep of the Gulf Stream.
"What are you thinking?" Renick asked.
"Licit and Dovetail." Emily replied.
"What about them?"
"They're both carried on the Protectorate roles, though neither is a member of the ENE team. They act as auxiliaries. Licit works on once specific task, while Dovetail works with various local PRT offices throughout the region. The point is that they are both officially assigned to this department for administrative oversight. Could we do the same thing with Hebert? Put her on the books as an auxiliary, but not a part of the team?"
"What would we do with her?" Renick asked. "I can't see Youth Guard being happy if we send her on solo missions."
"With her negation power, Hebert could be useful in dozens of ways," Emily said, feeling excitement rising in her. "Just moving her bedroom next to the holding cells would make them significantly more effective at keeping villains secure. Having her escort prisoner transports would stop most breakouts. Stationing her in Stafford to negate Damsel of Distress would probably be more effective than the two fuckups we have there now. Airdrop her on Ash Beast, though she might not survive to get close enough to him. I'm sure they'd love to have her on staff at the Asylum near Philly, but I want to keep her here."
"She's not all powerful, you realize." Renick reminded her.
"Yeah, a sniper with the right ordnance could probably take her down," Emily admitted, feeling more secure that there were ways PRT agents could deal with her if necessary. "Also, we have no idea how she would fare against a human master. But given the right training and support she becomes an anti-cape specialist."
"Is that what you want to do with her, set her up as part of some sort of cape hunter unit? I could see that. Have her working with select PRT assets and some support capes. She would be the spearhead, while they backed her up." Renick started getting excited. There had been specialized PRT strike forces in the past, but they had been deactivated over time. "Her age would still be a problem, but if we listed her as a Ward under the supervision of the support capes, I could see it passing muster with Washington."
"Draw up an initial proposal," Emily ordered. "Call it Project Nemesis. Include a list of potential control and backup agents and support capes. Pay particular attention to gear. Her field doesn't negate tinkertech, so think about armor and weapons to help her fight opponents outside her field. What does she need to take down someone like Purity, for instance? Maybe even have different loadouts for different targets."
"Nemesis – Greek goddess of retribution," Renick pronounced. Emily had long been aware of his particular interest in mythology. They'd had a few late-night discussions on whether the ancient gods were simply parahumans. If so, the question of why the powers disappeared for so many centuries only to reappear with Scion was a matter of significant speculation. "Is that Hebert's new name?"
"It is now, unless she really objects." Emily stated. "Get me that proposal. I want to get this started ASAP."
[Amanda Blackwell]
"Damn her," Amanda muttered as she looked at the notice from the district attorney. "It had to be Hebert."
Taylor Hebert was one of her least favorite students, not because she was a gangbanger or even much of a troublemaker, but because she was a constant reminder of how powerless Amanda was as the principal of Winslow High. Given a choice, she would never have let anyone be bullied like Hebert was. The problem was the girl had attracted the attention of two students Amanda really couldn't discipline. Emma Barnes' father had handled Amanda's divorce and knew far too much that could get her fired. He had demonstrated he had ways to get word about her peccadillos out without risking trouble with the Bar Association. Sophia Hess was a Ward, backed up by the fucking PRT. Her handler had made it plain that Hess was outside the rules and anything she did was to be ignored. At first Amanda had assumed she only meant Hess missing classes for Wards activities. But when Amanda had informed the handler that Hess was fighting with gang members in the halls, the principal had been told they would handle it and to keep it off the record. She understood Hess was untouchable.
Hebert simply chose the wrong enemies and Blackwell had no choice but to leave her hanging.
Now that the girl had powers and a lawyer of her own, she was blaming Amanda for all her problems. According to the message from the attorney, Hebert was suing both the school district as an organization and Amanda personally for neglect, malfeasance, and creating a hostile environment.
It wasn't her fault. There was nothing Amanda could do.
Ever since the girl's 'attack' hit the net and Hebert had told her tale of woe, sympathy and donations had been pouring into the Heberts' legal fund. She was the new golden child. The district would throw Amanda under the bus in a second if they could lessen their own liability. Barnes would destroy her reputation just to shift attention away from his precious darling daughter. And there was nothing she could say in her own defense. No jury was going to take her word over the current media charity case. Amanda knew she was screwed no matter what.
So, she decided to take them all down with her. She had kept records of every complaint against Barnes and Hess, every attack or act of harassment – and not just against Hebert. She was their main target, but certainly not their only one. Passing those on to the Heberts' lawyers through a third party would damage the bullies' defense in their lawsuits. It would even implicate the PRT, which would throw a wrench in their attempt to recruit Hebert.
Amanda was going to expel Hebert.
Barnes had managed to get a restraining order on Hebert. It helps to have friends on the bench. This meant that Hebert and Barnes could not be in the same school building. One of them had to go. She just had to make the argument that Hebert, a known cape with a grudge against several students, was the logical choice. While Hess was already gone – thus in no danger from Hebert – Clements, Idle, and Crane were still around and had all been implicated in one or more of Hebert's complaints since she started at Winslow. She might easily target them, and they weren't covered by the order. Sure, Barnes was an accused bully, but as a normal human she was the lesser danger to the school. Therefore, Hebert was the logical one to go.
Amanda knew her expulsion recommendation would never make it through the whole process. The Heberts would fight the decision. The Board would overturn her. But it would take time and the troublemaker would most likely end up in a different school. It was not much of a revenge, but it was the best Amanda could manage in the situation. Sometimes a small injury was all you could do.
Amanda suspected she would be pilloried in the press for the decisions, but she was out of the job anyway. She would probably have to leave the city, maybe even the state. And she was unlikely to ever get another job in a public school. Maybe she could get a job with her brother in Chicago. At this point she just did not care anymore.
She was screwed and it was all Hebert's fault.