Miss Militia stood next to Armsmaster as they gazed at the enormous amount of greenery that had engulfed Winslow High School. It was really quite intimidating how the manmade building had been overtaken by numerous trees, vines, bushes and grass.
"A new Trigger, do you think?" she asked the leader of the NWN Protectorate.
"Either that or some Tinker has developed a bomb to create explosive plant growth." The armoured hero replied in perfect deadpan.
The female hero raised an eyebrow at that. Armsmaster was infamous for his lack of social skill and he had just made a joke, of all things.
"New filter." He explained at her expression.
Ah. Now it made sense.
"Dragon has used some satellites that the Simurgh hasn't destroyed to scan the location." Armsmaster stated, "The results…are inconclusive. The thickness of the foliage and the remains of the school building are somehow blurring the sensors. She can't see into that place to tell us if Shadow Stalker is still alive or not."
Miss Militia's mouth thinned into a line beneath the American flag bandana that covered her lower face. Winslow had had one of the Wards, Shadow Stalker, attending when this (whatever this was) had happened earlier on today. Just before the end of school, the entire school building had been engulfed in plants, with the students only having just enough time to flee ahead of the encroaching vegetation.
Except for Sophia Hess, otherwise known as Shadow Stalker.
With the Breaker ability to phase into a shadow-like intangible form, there should be no question about Shadow Stalker being able to flee…unless something or someone was preventing her from doing so.
"Has there been any expansion in diameter since the initial outbreak?" she asked him.
"Negative." The Tinker replied, "The outermost building, the gymnasium, was covered half an hour after the initial explosion of greenery. After that, the plant life settled in to fortify itself, possibly against attack."
"You think the one behind this is a Chlorokinetic." Hannah stated, "A plant manipulator."
"It almost has to be." Armsmaster retorted, "Either that or a Biotinker/Biokinetic on the same level as Panacea, Bonesaw or Blasto. As I am hoping that we don't have to worry about someone on that level, I'm going with Chlorokinesis."
Miss Militia frowned. The healer Panacea of the New Wave movement was the world's premiere healer, able to heal everything barring the brain itself. Bonesaw and Blasto were Biotinkers, able to twist and mould any biology to their pleasing within their specialities. She could see why he was hoping for a plant-user.
"What's the plan?" she asked.
"The PRT troops will hold position on the perimeter and await the delivery of the industrial-grade weed killer that I ordered in." the armoured Cape replied, "In the meantime, you and I shall enter the school and attempt to locate Ground Zero and Shadow Stalker. The rest of the Protectorate will be on standby, ready to move to reinforce or extract us as required."
"Roger that." The heroine nodded. She reached out and a gun appeared in it. Letting off a silvery glow and seeming to vibrate even as she held it, the gun was similar to but not the same as a Magnum Research BFR. Armsmaster drew and extended his halberd at roughly the same time.
The two Parahumans cautiously picked their way through the outermost defences of the wall of greenery, careful to avoid cutting or destroying the plant life. Chlorokinesis was an uncommon power, but the last person to have possessed it, the Green Giant in England, could feel the death of any plants within his range, which had driven him half insane.
He had had to be put down as he reacted violently to a farmer cutting down a field of wheat. It had taken all of the SW England Protectorate to kill him and he had ruined a considerable amount of farmland in the fight. Neither Armsmaster nor Miss Militia had any desire for that to happen in the middle of Brockton Bay.
As they reached the shattered main entrance, Armsmaster waved her to a halt as vines burst from the ground and walls to form a complex latticework gate barring entry to the school.
"What now?" Miss Militia asked in a low voice.
Armsmaster stepped forward and raised his halberd.
"This is Armsmaster of the Brockton Bay Protectorate with Miss Militia!" he announced, "Allow us entry."
After a tense moment, the vines retracted just enough to allow them to enter one at a time. As they squeezed through, Hannah muttered to Armsmaster, "Well that proves that this is definitely a Chlorokinetic. No Biokinetic could manipulate plant life of this number and complexity so easily."
Armsmaster nodded.
According to the reports, Miss Militia recalled, the plants had first appeared somewhere on the third floor, although it was unknown if the building was even separated into floors anymore with the sheen amount of plant life covering the interior and exterior of the building. She was surprised it hadn't collapsed.
"The stairs should be this way." Armsmaster pointed to his left with his weapon, "Keep alert; there's no telling how long the controller will hold off on attacking us."
"If they were going to attack, we would have been attacked before now." Hannah demurred, "I'd lay a year's pay that this is a fresh Trigger we're dealing with here; he or she has no idea how to fully control their powers. Let me talk; you know how you are with this kind of situation."
The Tinker grumbled, but nodded in acceptance even as he led the way.
The corridors were covered from floor to ceiling with roots, vines, moss and various other kinds of plant life. Hannah recognised some from all over the world; tropical, desert and even a few artic plants.
"Do they just create the plants out of nothing?" she wondered aloud as she ascended the steps, "The variety seems to suggest so!"
"If the person behind this can be convinced to turn to agriculture, we could solve some major food shortages." Armsmaster mused.
"MMMMPPPHH!" a muffled yell drew the attention of the two leaders of the Protectorate to a nearby wall, where Sophia Hess was strung up. She was held to the wall by several thick vines wrapped around her waist, wrists, ankles and neck and she also had a ball-gag made out of plants shoved into her mouth, forcing her jaws wide open to their limit.
"Shit. Looks like the perpetrator went after her specifically." Armsmaster rumbled, his grip on his weapon tightening, "Why hasn't she…ah. Those vines have an active, albeit minor, electrical current running through them somehow."
"How?" Miss Militia asked, stunned, "No plant can use electricity!"
"But every animal has bioelectricity in the form of an active nervous system." The Tinker countered, "Some animals, such as the electric eel and electric ray, even harness bioelectricity as a weapon. The question is, how did our unknown perpetrator know that her Breaker form is vulnerable to electric currents?"
"We can find out later; for now, we should get her out of here." Miss Militia said grimly. She shifted her weapon into the form of a knife with a rubber hilt and approached Sophia, who looked relieved at the chance to finally get cut down.
In short order, the Ward was spitting out the gag and cursing up a storm.
"Shadow Stalker, report." Armsmaster demanded.
"I dunno!" Sophia retorted waspishly.
"That's a lie." The Tinker observed, relying on his helmet-mounted lie-detector, "Let's try this again shall we? What. Happened. Here?"
The girl wilted at his tone. "Some girl was trapped in her locker and she Triggered." she replied sullenly, "One minute I was walking then next I was flat on the floor and plants were everywhere. I tried to get out and got trapped here. I escaped the first set of plants used to hold me but this lot caught me not long after. I've been trapped here since."
"A panic attack due to claustrophobia?" Miss Militia wondered with a wince. Phobias were a very common cause of Trigger Events, so it wouldn't surprise her.
"Lead us to where it happened." Armsmaster ordered the girl.
"Are you fucking nuts?!" Sophia yelped, "One, I'm not in my gear and Two, Heb-…this person known how to shut me down completely! No damn way am I going near her!"
"The first is easily solved." Armsmaster said, pulling a bundle of clothing from a section of his armour, followed by a mask. He tossed them at the stunned girl, "The second point is fair, but you'll have Miss Militia and myself with you. There will be no need to worry about being caught by plants, so get changed and lead us to the epicentre of this disaster."
Cowed by the glare she was receiving from the Protectorate Leader, Sophia changed into her costume and donned her spare mask, becoming Shadow Stalker and leading the two heroes through the school.
"If the Youth Guard catches wind of this…" Miss Militia muttered to her leader.
"This is an emergency situation, requiring extraordinary measures." Armsmaster countered, "The fact that Shadow Stalker was here in her civilian guise beforehand was a fortuitous coincidence that we took advantage of."
It disturbed Hannah somewhat when she realised he had either made that justification up on the spot or he had prepared an excuse for this sort of situation occurring at Winslow in advance.
As they reached the third floor, Miss Militia noticed that the plants had gotten much denser and populous. It also seemed to be moving slightly, even as they walked over it.
"The locker should be just around that corner." Shadow Stalker said at last, pointing to the nearby corner to her left, "Now I am out of here."
Miss Militia was about to stop her when Armsmaster shook his head slightly.
"The last thing we need when dealing with a traumatised new Parahuman is an acerbic and rude Ward." He said in an undertone as the former vigilante turned tail and fled as fast as she could.
Nodding, Hannah reformed her gun and carefully stepped around the corner with it raised and pointed forwards, Armsmaster at her side. What they saw made the two stop cold.
One locker was wide open, the door lying crumpled and broken on the floor. The smell coming from the contents made the heroes recoil in disgust. In the centre of the floor was an enormous red flower bud. It was glowing with an inner light and Hannah thought she could see a human figure, curled up into a ball, inside of it!
"Armsmaster…this is…!" she said in shock.
"Yes…we've found our Parahuman." He agreed, awe filling his voice, "What the hell is that smell?"
Miss Militia forced herself to peer into the locker before backing off, disgust in her voice as she reported, "Biological waste; old tampons, sanitary pads, used toilet paper, all left to rot and fresh vomit on top of it. Someone filled up this poor girl's locker with this stuff, probably for a few weeks, and then someone shut her in with it. This is disgusting, on more than one level!"
Armsmaster agreed. This was malicious bullying of the worst sort. If it was bad enough to cause the girl to Trigger, then he would happily arrest whoever was responsible for this for attempted manslaughter. With all that…filth in the locker, it would be a miracle if she hadn't caught an infection of some sort. She could have been killed.
"Why did Shadow Stalker not intervene?" he muttered as he used his helmet's sensors to probe the giant plant in front of him, "If she knew about her being locked in, why was she moving away from the locker and not helping her?"
Miss Militia suspected that Armsmaster already suspected the answer; that Shadow Stalker had deliberately ignored the girl's plight. This would earn her quite a talking to after this incident was resolved.
"It's blooming!" the Tinker said sharply.
Indeed. Slowly, ever so slowly, the petals of the flower were cracking open. Miss Militia changed her gun from a pistol to a semi-automatic combat shotgun, but kept it pointed at an angle away from the flower, but still close enough to bring it around to blast whoever or whatever emerged.
It took a couple of minutes, but the flower fully opened and, lying on her side in the centre, was a naked girl, still curled into a ball. Hannah estimated that if she stood up, she would be tall and willowy.
What made the two heroes sit up and take notice was the fact that the girl's skin was a light shade of green.
"A Case-53?" Miss Militia wondered, "No…she doesn't have the mark on her body."
She was referring to the mark that appeared somewhere on the bodies of the so-called 'monster capes.' It was a fancy version of the letter 'c' and showed up on all Case-53 Capes.
"We've only seen one side of her." Armsmaster countered.
"Yes, and she is naked!" Miss Militia hissed, "Turn around when she wakes up, damn it! The last thing we need is for her to freak out because a man old enough to be her father is looking at her!"
"I'm not that old!" the Tinker grumbled, but turned away obediently when the girl started to stir.
"Miss? Can you hear me?" Hannah called softly as the girl groaned and started to prop herself up on one arm.
"Dwa…huh? Where…?" the girl asked as she shook her head groggily, the long brown hair shaking with her. Then she looked down and 'eep'd' rather cutely.
"Why am I naked?!" she yelped, covering her chest and groin with her hands "And why am I green?!"
"A good question." Miss Militia said, drawing the girl's attention. She was startled by the girl's eyes when she turned her head to face her. The girl's right eye was a luminous neon green that glowed eerily, while her left eye was a warm brown reminiscent of freshly turned earth.
"Miss…Militia?! And…Armsmaster?!" the girl squeaked in shock.
"Indeed. A pleasure to meet you, miss…?" Hannah said with a smile.
"He…Hebert…Taylor Hebert." The girl stammered.
Hannah's heart went out to the poor girl. She'd been bullied, locked in a locker with biological waste and Triggered on top of it all.
"Well then Miss Hebert, let's get you away from here and cleaned up, shall we?" she said softly.
Later
Conference Room, PRT Building, Brockton Bay
"A Biotinker?" Director Piggot asked flatly.
"Only partially." Armsmaster replied, "I would Rate her as a Master, Shaker, Breaker, Striker and Thinker, in addition to a Tinker rating."
"Explain." The obese woman ordered.
"She is a Shaker due to the fact that she can create her plants anywhere within fifty meters of herself, and multiples of them at that." Miss Militia stated, "We've tentatively rated her at Shaker 7, but with practice, she might extend her range and flexibility, so she might top out at Shaker 10."
"She's a Master because she can control any and all plant life around her, not just plants that she has created." Armsmaster continued, "Her range is approximately three square blocks. Again, her initial Rating is Master 6, but could increase to Master 8 or 9 with practice."
"Due to the medical Miss Hebert submitted to, it has been determined that when threatened, her body unconsciously enters into a Breaker state, one that transforms her body into something indicated by the shade of her skin, that of chlorophyll. She literally turns into a plant, one that can regrow lost tissues and limbs even in seconds. It essentially makes her immune to conventional weapons, even flamethrowers. I doubt that even Panacea could do anything to her while her Breaker state is active." Miss Militia said, "We've assigned her a Rating of Breaker 5."
"A Changer Rating seems more appropriate." Piggot commented.
"She enters into this plant state for two reasons." Miss Militia disagreed, "First, to protect herself from harm. Secondly, to use any of her other powers. Essentially, she has to consciously repress her powers in order to resume her normal appearance."
"Very well, continue." The other woman sighed, "Why a Striker rating?"
"It has been discovered that her nails secrete a powerful toxin when in her Breaker state." Armsmaster replied, "Limited testing has proven she can alter the makeup of this toxin from anything from a deadly neurotoxin to a mild sedative to a paralyzing agent. It earns her a Striker 5 Rating."
"She also has the ability to perceive what plants perceive; she can 'see' for a lack of a better term, through her plants, but she can only perceive temperature." Miss Militia continued, "Additionally, Miss Hebert instinctively knows the inner workings and mechanism of any plant that she has seen, even pictures or paintings of them. This earns her a Thinker 5 Rating."
"And the fact that she is a Biotinker?" Piggot asked quietly.
"She is a Tinker 5, limited to plant life." Armsmaster said smoothly, "She has no knowledge of human biology outside of her Highschool-level Biology classes and no desire to find out. She is not Blasto, Bonesaw or Nilbog."
"You're saying she has the same level of expertise with plants as Hero had with wavelength manipulation?" Piggot's eyebrows shot up at this.
"Director, she took a houseplant away for twenty minutes and turned it into a Biotinker device that makes high-end painkillers as a thank you to the Wards for being so nice to her." Hannah said plainly, "Which I find extraordinary after she discovered who Shadow Stalker is."
Piggot's brow turned thunderous. "Yes. What have you found out there?"
"Shadow Stalker has not just broken her parole; she has murdered it, stomped on it, torn it to shreds and scattered it to the winds." Armsmaster said plainly, "She tortured Taylor Hebert and a few other students for over fifteen months, culminating in yesterday's locker incident. Miss Hebert's 'Bully Diary' only starts last September, but considering Shadow Stalker became a Ward less than four weeks after that, we have enough circumstantial evidence to justify kicking her from the Wards and into juvenile hall."
"From what I've read, she used her Breaker state to steal things from Miss Hebert's locker, such as her classwork and her deceased mother's flute, so she could destroy them." Miss Militia added.
"Throw the book at her." Piggot growled. She despised Parahumans, but hated them even more when they abused their abilities to hurt others, "As for Miss Hebert, is she open to the idea of joining the Wards?"
"Not after it was discovered that Shadow Stalker who bullied her and caused her to Trigger." Armsmaster shook his head, "I think she's going to ask New Wave if she can join them. Keeping a secret identity is going to be close to impossible for her thanks to her Breaker abilities."
"At least she's not going independent or villain." Piggot muttered, "OK, I want an improved oversight system on the Wards ASAP. We cannot allow something like Shadow Stalker to happen again. More to the point, HOW did she get away with what she did for so long?"
"Apparently, Principal Blackwell and Shadow Stalker's PRT monitor decided it was for the best if a Ward was kept on campus in case of gang activities getting out of hand." Miss Militia scowled, "They wrote Miss Hebert off as a necessary sacrifice to keep a Ward present."
"Whoever did that in my organisation is fired and I want the book thrown at them too." Piggot scowled again, "The local Board of Education has concluded that Winslow is not feasible to recover due to the…resistance of Miss Hebert's plants. They are looking for another property to refurbish so the students do not have to leave the bay, but it will take time."
She shuffled her notes for a moment before something occurred to her.
"Has Miss Hebert chosen a pseudonym to use or will we have to assign one to her?"
"She saw all the choices that the Wards gave her and didn't like them much." Miss Militia offered, "She chose to call herself…Avatar."
So yeah…in this one, Taylor is Poison Ivy from the Arkham series of games without the eco terrorism bent.