Amy Dallon

Director Tagg looked at me and then at Vicky.

"Everyone, leave the room."

The other PRT agents did so, he sighed.

"These accusations are very serious, incredibly so."

He frowned.

"And right now we're low on personal so it couldn't have come at a worse time."

Vicky frowned.

"So you're just going to let her get away with this?"

Tagg shook his head.

"No, but I do have to do a separate investigation, I'm not saying you're lying but neither of you have the kind of training that detectives need and use. Overall just looking at it, you have done a damned good job for high school students, but if you're operating from false pretenses this whole things going to fall apart."

He frowned at Madison's Diary.

"You read that."

"Yes I have, and there's a good chance that Shadow Stalker has broken her parole. That Emma Barnes did those goddamned things to her best friend, clearly this Madison girl is a sadistic F.."

He paused.

"A bad girl, some of your ideas make sense. If Shadow Stalker was a traitor, or a mole for the Undersiders that would explain a lot of their get aways, but the Undersiders have a Thinker on board so it might just be that Tattletale is that good. I'm also not convinced that this Barnes girl is Skitter, I'm willing to entertain the idea but I need actual proof."

Vicky looked angry.

"We gave you proof."

"Yes Glory Girl you did, proof of a systematic bullying campain, proof of assault, theft, harassment, and attempted murder. Pretty much no matter what happens, Emma and Madison are going to either jail or exile."

"Pluto?"

Vicky sounded confused, I was too, that was a little harsh for a minor.

"No Mars, there are programs for troubled kids, a little hard labor would probably do these girls some good."

"And Sophia?"

He frowned.

"I'm invocking doctor Patient confidentiality."

Vicky sighed.

"Yeah I get it I'm gone."

She left and he stared at me.

"The Youth Guard f... messed with her medication, they have her on red pills, her doc wanted her on blues."

I frowned.

"You think this might be red pill rage?"

"Don't know, but any decent lawyer is going to argue that. The problem is she has been writing a letter every goddamned week trying to get back on the blue pills."

"So she's just going to get away with doing that."

Tagg frowned.

"Probaly, there are a lot of ways for fuck ups to get pardoned, or their records expunged, but if she actually is a traitor none of that matters. As for this Emma girl, do you have proof that she's even a parahuman."

"Vicky-"

"Your sister runs with her gut, not her brain, not an insult by the way she's gutsy but this requires brains not guts. So?"

"No I dont, but If I scan her..."

Tagg massaged his temples.

"Cool your heels in the lunch room, I'm going to pull some strings, we're going to get this Barnes girl here."

I nodded my head and walked out the door.

"So?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about it, but he wants me to scan Emma."

"Good, take her down."

I grabbed some tea and sat down eventually a PRT agent picked me up and I saw her. She was stunning, I understood why she was a swimsuit model. I shook her hand and smiled.

"Wow Panacea, well I have to go meet other people bye."

She walked off and Tagg looked at me.

"So?"

"She has a Corona Pollentia."

Tagg frowned.

"Lots of people have Corona Pollentias."

I blinked.

"Your kidding, that's proof she's-"

"Currently 1 in 20 people alive have a Corona Pollentia, that number is rising, the number of people who actually do trigger is very small but that number too is growing. We just haven't released those stats to the general public."

He paused.

"Office?"

"Sure."

I followed him and the door was shut.

"So your saying that doesn't prove she's Skitter?"

He brought a photo out of a drawer, it was signed and showed him standing next to Woody.

"I wanted to kill him you know."

Tagg looked at the photo wistfully.

"Umm."

"It was my first response after the defection you know, 'kill it, kill it, kill it' I was wrong but that was my role at the big director meetings, say what no one else wants to say, be the asshole."

He shrugged.

"I was wrong of course, I'm man enough to admit it, but contrary to popular belief I don't just run off and act like a thoughtless renegade all the time."

"Really?"

"Yes, sometimes I'm a thoughtful renegade... so in your opinion knowing your teacher, what's the most important thing we got out of him?"

"Project Phoenix."

He nodded his head.

"Going to disagree with you there."

"Ok, then what?"

He leaned back in his chair.

"You're young enough that you don't remember the context of the bad old days. You have to remember we didn't know anything about Shards, about the Endbringers, about powers. We had some ideas, some hypothesis but nothing concrete and that... that's terrifying. We felt powerless and out of control, powers might as well be magic."

He looked at the photo.

"Information, the most important thing we got was information. It wasn't good news of course, but now we knew. We knew what gave people powers, we knew about the enemy and once that veil of secrecy was lifted we knew we had a chance, not a good one but a chance."

He took a sip of water.

"Shadow Stalker has been through a lot of action during her life, and sometimes red pills speed up the budding process, not as much as a blue pill can but they do, buds go for people who are close to the parahuman."

"I know that."

"Yes and right now it's possible that Emma is Skitter in which case she's fucked, or she could be a parahuman that's not official in which case she's fucked, or she can be someone who hasn't triggered yet, a sleep walker in which case she's still fucked because seriously goddamned."

"You cussed."

"I'm very very tired right now Panacea, I cuss like a sailor."

He opened up his wallet and put a few coins in a nearby jar.

"It's a struggle, look I'm going to do a full investigation, because what happened was unacceptable, but there's a good chance some bean counter is going to overrule me, or some slick lawyers going to fuck it up, but I promise you that I'm going to try, ok?"

I nodded my head.

"Thanks."

"I know it's hard to trust us at times, the PRT has some notable fuck ups in its' history."

Another quarter in the jar.

"But we really are trying to save the world."