Discovery – Magic

Amy smiles as she clicks her fingers, and her bedroom is perfectly tidy. Heading downstairs, she clicks her fingers and each one of her chores is done as she passes. Heading to the fridge, she pulls out the ingredients she needs for a sandwich while her coffee makes itself.

Amy pauses for a moment, and then turns slowly to look accusingly at the kettle that's now on the stove, heating nicely while the French press hangs in mid-air, a scoop of freshly ground coffee suspended from the measuring cup.

"Taylor?"

"Yes Amy?"

"I thought we had to click our fingers to make stuff happen."

"Erm, that's what my memories show happening."

"Ow, fuck my head. Let me know when you've worked it out, as my power has just bombarded me with so many possible implications of this."

Amy looks confused, "Taylor, who was that?"

"That was Lisa, you might know her better as Tattletale."

"The person that shredded my world with only a few words in the bank?"

Lisa's voice comes back, seemingly more distant, "I'm sorry about that, I really am. I… Just look ok, it's not like I'm hiding anything here."

Angrily Amy replies, "I will."

There's a mental sigh from O'Donnell, "Take it to the ring girls, take it to the ring. Put on some gloves and body suits and beat the crap out of each other in the ring. Don't hold onto your anger like this."

"But she destroyed my life in a few words."

"She did, and with the right training and impulse control, she'd make a great therapist. It's why all PRT personnel have mandatory group therapy every month, why we all receive special training for dealing with thinkers. Finally, it's also why our handbook has 'Do not let them talk' in bold."

"Would you lot please shut up. It's Saturday, I don't have school, so I'm trying to sleep."

"Missy, what did you do that for, now they know you were listening… nuts I just did it myself."

Miss Militia joins in, "Missy Biron, Aisha Laborn, the Director will see both of you at 10am this morning. You better have a good reason for this."

Danny is the last to join the chattering, "Susan's right, take it to the ring and beat your frustrations out on something. Plenty of people will say it's not healthy to do that, but it's still the way we do it in the Dockworkers, and have been for as long as I can remember, and it was commonplace when I joined. If you can't do that, have a good cry with a close friend. Though it usually takes a few pints for the men to get to that stage. Shit, I didn't mean to think that."

As laughter fills the mental landscape, everyone turns their attention to what Amy was doing.

Amy shrinks back with stage fright, "Erm, a little space here?"

Taylor smirks, "They just want to know what you've discovered."

"Erm, well, the coffee started to make itself while I was making a bacon sandwich."

"Hmm, there is this."

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Minerva McGonagall looks at a student, "Aside from their ability to pass unnoticed, and apparate through nearly all protections, house elves can perform simple wish magic. Things like bringing things too them or sending them away. Levitating things, animating them to perform tasks that they know well, and their most often used ability, cleaning and repairing things. They can't do complicated things like transfiguration or charms like the cheering charm, that require understanding how to shape magic."

"So why are they servants?"

"Two reasons that I know of, the most important is that they genuinely seem to enjoy it. The second is that they live in a symbiotic relationship with us. They don't generate their own magic like we do, so they need to get it from their environment. Some time in the past they started getting it from witches and wizards by forming a bond where they directly receive magic from the witch or wizard. They can also form a similar bond with a highly magical location like Hogwarts."

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O'Donnell frowns, then pictures her sidearm disassembling as if she was maintaining it, to her surprise, it does exactly that.

"Everyone, look at this."

Exclamations of shock go out as they all try similar things, with varying results, Amy is the first one to ask, "How did you do that? As I can't get the coffee machine to dismantle."

"We are trained to be able to dismantle and rebuild our weapons for maintenance until we can do it even in stressful situations. I can strip down a containment sprayer in around 10 seconds to clear a blockage."

Danny hums, "So it's likely to be down to how well you know what you want to do. I wonder if you could disarm someone with this."

Hannah adds, "We have people coming down from central with the appropriate clearances to do power testing. So, let's wait until they arrive next week before playing around with this."

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Emily Piggot is current very much not a happy woman. Despite having had the required background checks and training to foster children, she never expected to need it on a personal level. But now she's looking after Dinah, who is surprisingly self-sufficient for someone that was a normal 11-year-old not so long ago. This however, is not the cause of her mood, just a contributing factor.

"Missy Biron, Aisha Laborn, do you two have any idea how much danger your put yourselves in? Obviously not, otherwise you wouldn't have even considered going anywhere near that house. The eggs that Miss Hebert lays come in two varieties. Symbiotic and parasitic. The reason why we haven't moved them yet is that there is a possibility that at least one of them is of the parasitic variety. We just don't know. Given that Taylor herself doesn't remember laying any of the eggs, we can't trust that she knows either." – Emily points at the large pile of paperwork on her desk – "This is all the forms, risk assessments, and failure plans that I am having to read through before we can move those eggs safely to a new location. Armsmaster has been busy for the last week designing a drone that can safely retrieve the eggs and place them into a van. We can't risk using people to do it, for the simple fact that the acid in their blood eats through everything we've tested it on.

"You could have died in that basement and the first thing we'd have known about it is if we found any part of you when we came to move the eggs. Missy, I expected better of you. You have been a Ward for 3 years, and excelled in each of the classes we offer.

"Aisha, I don't know you well yet, but you seem to be street smart. Would you have gone into a Merchant Den like this?"

Aisha shakes her head, "Oh hell no. There ain't no way I'd do that as I don't want to be forcefully inducted."

"Well, why did you go along with this then?"

"Let's see," – Missy tries to indicate that Aisha should just shut up – "risks wise, Merchants, they catch me, shoot me up and I end up like my Mum. Seeing the basement, something happens and I end up like Dinah, cool powers that will enable me to escape if I'm forced to go back to me mums, cool powers that will enable me to hide, and a sure fire way out of the cycle that's going on there as a Hero. See, here's the thing, knowing what I know now, I'd have tried to persuade Missy to go sooner. But I didn't actually know about those eggs, or that's how they got their powers. I just figured it would be a good way to see where Locker girl lived without painting a massive target on my back."

Piggots voice goes into a low growl, "Locker girl?"

"Yeah, Locker Girl. I've got the video on me phone. Ain't nobody stupid enough to post it online though."

"Phone!"

"You can't have it."

"Oh, but I can. Until 3pm today I am your legal guardian, now phone, and unlock it."

The two of them are left standing there for nearly 15 minutes while Emily reviews the film, transfers it to her own phone, checks that it transferred ok, and then transfers it to a secure server.

"Normally, I'd assign the two of you something unpleasant, like console duty, or mucking out the toilets. However, this was done in your civilian identity, and Aisha isn't cleared for console. Instead, you will both be escorted to Sargent Jones, who is giving a class on risk assessment. There you will listen and learn why what you did was so stupid. As I know that I will be seeing you both again, there will be a test on it later."

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"Colin, what are you doing?"

"I'm working on a drone, though I can't talk about why as it's classified."

"I have the same security clearances as you, and something about it is clearly bothering you."

"Believe me, if I could talk to you about it I would. You always seem to be able to explain things in a way I understand. But it's not you, it's the medium."

"The taps?"

Armsmaster nods, "Indeed, and the company we've contracted should be here in a couple of weeks, on the 16th May."

"When do you think the drone will be done?"

"I think it will be ready for testing on Monday."

"Colin, are you remembering to sleep?"

"I am, I got 6 hours last night, and I've scheduled 8 hours for tonight with a half work day tomorrow."

"Colin, what about how long you're working on stuff, you need to relax."

"Of course, Henry Ford pioneered the 40 hour working week after years of experimentation. He found that after an 8 hour shift, productivity drops due to increased mistakes. I ensure that no protectorate members are scheduled for more than 40 hours a week, including myself."

"That's supposed to also include other work as well."

"I tinker for fun outside those hours."

"Has there been any news about Bakuda?"

Colin grunts, "The kill order was denied because she stopped the bombings before it got to the judge. Instead we have an outstanding warrant for her arrest for 500 confirmed murders, 1,000 cases of GBH and countless cases of ABH."

"What about the deaths caused by Queenie?"

Colin just scowls, so she drops the subject.

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Missy sits quietly in the passenger seat of her mums car listening to her talk about the inanities of her life along with the latest list of things her father has done wrong. Instead, running through her head are images of truckers being found dead in their trucks after the uranium or plutonium burned their way through their bellies. Of horribly mangled bodies from companies cutting corners on safety and shelving units falling down, or having limbs cut off because the machines they were working on didn't have $20 guards. The material was the same stuff they'd covered in the Wards training, but this time it was accompanied with the dire consequences of just why the processes and procedures existed. What's worse is that Danny kept poking in and pointing out that he'd seen this happen time and time again, or stories from when his father had had the same problems.

To be honest, there's probably something wrong with her, as she never felt ill even once. At the same time some of the officers she was sharing the class with had to leave for that reason.

"Missy, are you listening to me?"

"Sorry Mum, I was just thinking about the course I had to attend."

"What was it for?"

"Risk assessment, after a friend and I did something the director thought was stupid."

"So why did you do it then?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time?"

"Missy, we raised you to be more responsible than this. How could you be so irresponsible?"

"I didn't do it as Vista if that's what you're worried about."

"What? No! What would the knitting circle say if you ended up in hospital, or worse made the news?"

"Would it really matter?"

"Of course, if they think we've raised a hellion then it would affect both your fathers and my own business. Then who would pay for your schooling, or your food and clothing?"

"I would?"

"You need to save that money for your graduation. Beside, we're going to the Stanfield gala at the gallery tonight, so you need to be ready at 6. The Barnes, Dallons, and Anders will all be there. Though you should be careful of how much time you spend with Emma tonight, as there's rumours going around that the Barnes are in trouble for some reason. We don't want to get tarred with their trouble if they are. Of course, I've got your favourite pink dress out, and the teddy bear bows to put in your hair. It's a shame what happened to the Alcott's, as it means Dinah won't be there. The Mayor should be though. I hope that I don't have to remind you not to double dip again."

Missy mourned the fact she couldn't just head to the Wards quarters as she felt trapped in the car with her mother.

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"Mrs Watts, court normally doesn't open on Saturday afternoons. Can you please explain what we're doing here?"

"Your Honor, we removed one Aisha Laborn, seated to my left, from her mothers custody after testimony in a closed hearing brought her living conditions to Law Enforcements attention. I was brought in from out of town, and following the standards we use in my office, I made the decision to remove Miss Laborn into emergency care."

"I see. Mr Laborn, what are you here for?"

"I would like custody of my daughter."

"I see, given the state of her mother, why didn't you have custody before?"

Aisha watches stone faced, as her father who has always been a hard ass to Brian, and stifling to herself, breaks down and starts to cry. "Your Honor, I took some wounds in my youth cage fighting, and couldn't afford to get them fixed. They healed bad, but I was still able to teach. Over time I developed pain in the bones and joints affected. I…I used alcohol to make the pain go away. I'm a hard man Your Honor, always have been, probably always will be, and when I'm drunk I can lash out. Mrs Watts is helping me with the paperwork for disability and Medicare, and she thinks that I can have proper relief in a few weeks."

"And the mother?"

Esme speaks up again, "We tried to contact her multiple times over the last three days, including two home visits. There was no answer at the door, though we could clearly hear that someone was in."

"I hope that it didn't put you out, having to come all that way for a failed visit."

"Not at all, I've found my workload in the area as become quite heavy. Though the state police have needed to be my escort rather than the PRT."

"I see, I hope we don't have to meet too often then. What about her future accommodation?"

"We would petition the court to remove custody from Miss Laborn's mother, and grant custody to Mr Laborn pending a review in 6 weeks to see how he's alcohol use has changed."

"And in the meantime?"

"I propose that guardianship should remain with the PRT for the duration, with Mr Laborn visiting to discuss her educational and social needs."

"Miss Laborn, do you have any thoughts on this matter?"

Aisha shakes her head, "Only that it was getting very uncomfortable at home, I'm happy to stay at the PRT where I don't have to worry who's going to open my door. Course dad would be better, when he's sober."

The judge nods, "Then, I'm glad this has been a relatively painless hearing. Mr Laborn, I hope to see you here in 6 weeks time."

20 minutes later, they're both sitting in the back of a PRT car.

"Ashy, are you ok?"

"Yeah dad, I'm doing great."

"Did anything happen at your Mum's?"

"Brad tried to get handsy a couple of times, but I'm quick me."

"I should have fought harder to keep you, I'm sorry."

"It's ok dad, it was probably the best choice when I was 4. Ain't no one look at me twice then, and Mum weren't so bad. Course, the 88 weren't such a problem either then."

"True dat."

"I didn't think you knew how to cry."

"My da beat it out of me, like I beat it out of your brother."

"How's school?"

"s'ok"

"Do you have any friends?"

"One or two."

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Emily heaves her bulk out of her chair and walks around the desk to shake hands, "Mr Laborn, thank you for coming. I'm Director Piggot, and one of the qualified carers here."

"Mrs or Miss?"

"Director."

Mr Laborn looks surprised, "Director Piggot, first of all, thank you for looking after Aisha."

"You're welcome, though we don't tend to make a habit of taking emergency cases, we are listed as such."

"What I don't understand is why Aisha is still suitable for your guardianship."

"Take a seat, and I think we should let Aisha explain that."

"I, well, er," – The normally smooth Aisha finds herself tongue tied in front of her father – "Missy found out that there might be something interesting in Locker Girls basement, so, erm. I kinda already knew where she lives, only so that I could avoid it. And well, I may have suggested I had a Benjie, and we could get a bus there."

Mr Laborn nods, "And where did you get the money?"

Aisha glances at Emily, "Um, I found it."

"Where?"

"On the boardwalk?"

"Oh, Aisha, I thought I taught you better than that."

"You also taught me that survival was more important than morals."

Emily furrows her eyebrows at that, but files it for later, "What Aisha may or may not have done in the past is probably a conversation you should have in private. Anyway, Aisha, I believe you were telling us about your adventure."

"Erm, there's not much to tell, we, er sneaked around the back of the house and into the basement, there we fell asleep and Missy's phone woke us up."

Mr Laborn gives her that look, "Aisha, even I know you're missing out the important details. Such as why you would just fall asleep in a basement."

"I have powers Dad. I have powers alright. And they're not sucky. Even better, I'm not the only one with those powers either. They're my ticket out of the rat trap, and ending up like mum."

"You didn't need to do that, you could've got a good education, moved out west and made a career of it."

Aisha laughs, "That's a joke right? Good education at Winslow, worst school in the state. Where the only way to get ahead is to be one of the popular girls, and then get onto a sports team. And there ain't no way they letting another nigga on the team after Sophia, not till I'm too old anyway. The 88 would break my leg fore that would happen."

Emily nods and makes a couple of notes, "Mr Laborn, we are going to be giving Aisha placement tests for Arcadia, and subject to her passing them, she will be joining Arcadia Middle school after the spring break."

Mr Laborn looks at her, "What's the catch?"

"She has powers, and she needs to learn how to use them responsibly. There are also clear indications that they are going to be impossible to hide long term, so we're not going to even try. Instead, we've started a new Watchdog ENE, for your information, Watchdog is a joint PRT and Protectorate that deals with internal affairs and counter intelligence. The youth part of the department will be focused on learning how to use their powers to judge situations, evaluate information, and also when it is appropriate to use their abilities for those purposes. It will be much like the Wards in that aspect, and we expect that there will be a lot of cross training involved. What there won't be is any sort of showing the flag patrols, and they won't have even the limited powers of arrest that the Wards do."

"Will they be taught to defend themselves?"

"Of course, alongside the Wards. They will also be taught the ins and outs of citizens arrest."

"How would we afford to send her to Arcadia?"

"It would be part of her membership of the Watchdog Youth, as a good education is a must for any sort of intelligence or internal affairs position."

"What sort of hours would she be expected to attend?"

"During Middle school, she'd be scheduled as if it was an afterschool club, so one or two hours three or four nights a week. Obviously, she'd still be able to come in to socialise when she's not scheduled. Once she reaches high school, she'll be using this as her career option, and be expected to handle minor assignments on her own. In Aisha's case, I suspect that we will be looking to hone her existing skills and teach her ethics."

With a mounting sense of dread, Aisha realises that her father, and the PRT are going to actually be keeping an eye on her. So she's traded safety for her freedom to do whatever she wants as long as her mother thinks she knows where she is.

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Missy is so bored that she's worked out how to watch cartoons with Aisha. This event at the Gallery is, about as exciting as having to choose between console duty, or homework.

One bright spot is the second hand schadenfreude she's getting from Taylor as Emma looks absolutely terrible. Oh, her outfit, hair, and makeup are still perfect. However, her smile keeps slipping, and her eyes are puffy. Additionally, someone has filed her fingernails right back to the quick, instead of the elegantly long perfectly manicured nails she'd normally sport. The final thing, and the one that would have torn at her heart strings if she didn't know what Taylor had gone through, is the haunted expression and hyperawareness that she's exhibiting. Almost certainly a PTSD response, according to Vivian's memories, which spoils her enjoyment of the look.

She can't help herself as she giggles during part of 'The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy' that Aisha is watching.

"Are you ok there?" Missy looks up sharply to see Dean.

"Oh, what, I'm fine."

"Oh, good. Look, I'm sorry for shouting at you the other day."

"No worries, I needed the wakeup call anyway."

"How are you doing?"

"Busy, I'm supposed to be socialising, so I thought I'd corner you rather than wait for my brain to start leaking out my ears."

"Well, if you want some entertainment, double dip a carrot stick."

Dean shudders, "No thanks, I have no desire for everyone in the room to find a reason to tell me how unhygienic it is to double dip."

"So what's this gala for?"

"Officially? Humanitarian relief for Canberra."

"And unofficially?"

"The usual, networking, fishing for investments, and showing that your still alive."