I wonder if this is the normal procedure, to have four parahumans to talk to one pissed-off Mom?
Claire didn't know, but at least this way, Ms. Sato would know that they were taking it seriously. She waited until Dauntless contacted the PRT agent, and then portaled them into Ann's apartment.
She saw Kim, sitting out of the way in the small living room, looking frightened.
Right, Vista said something about the elementary and junior high schools having a teacher day today.
"Why aren't you getting her?" Ann's Mom was holding a tissue to her eyes, part of Ann's costume strewn across the table. The PRT agent in front of her turned and glanced at the others.
"Ms. Sato, talking to a new cape is…" the PRT agent paused and looked over at the parahumans and Claire. "Well actually, Dauntless and Velocity can explain things, as well as um…"
"Orb Weaver!" Kim said, coming out of her shell.
"More? Why do we need more!" Ms. Sato said. "I need you to make her stop!"
"Ms. Sato," Velocity said. "That may not be possible. Parahumans usually need to use their powers, especially since all parahumans gained their powers due to a traumatic event, which your family has had no lack of."
"First Kenji, and now Ann. Does she want to die?"
"No." Taylor tilted her head. Ms. Sato stared at the girl, and Taylor continued. "But when you trigger, it's because you are trapped. You have nowhere to go. You don't think anyone can or will help you. And then you get power. But it's… usually not a simple power that solves your problem."
"Ann was terrified that Kenji would go to prison." Claire glanced over at Kim, the smaller girl flinching at the word 'prison'. "And she knew that there wasn't much people could do, but that Kenji was in prison because of the condition of the Bay. So she… Got powers that encouraged her to go out and try to do something about it."
But not powers that would solve her problem, because then she would stop.
Because stopping wouldn't serve the goals of the Entities.
Fucking Entities.
"You knew?" Ms. Sato was staring at Claire. "Why didn't you tell—"
"Would you rather your daughter run away?" Velocity said. "Ms. Sato, when new parahumans conceal their identity, we try to let them make the decision to talk. Because if we push it, they can run, or in the worst case fight and…"
"And Ann might do something everyone regrets," Claire said. "Not because she's wanting to, but because she panics."
"She has a difficult time with controlling her emotions," Taylor said.
"That's why Jim didn't let her go fight Leviathan—" Oops, Claire thought as Kim and Ms. Sato turned paper-white.
"She was—"
"Sis was going to fight Leviathan? Like you did?" Kim's voice ended on a squeak. Claire winced. Those damned videos were all over the web. At least most people respected her and Jim enough to not bother them at home, but the…
Well the hero-worship was getting sort of old.
"Like I said, Jim convinced her to stay here, in case we—in case we weren't able to come back." She felt a flicker of phantom pain on the side Leviathan's water-echo had hit.
"Endbringer fights are never mandatory," Dauntless said hastily, shooting Claire an annoyed look. "But the thing is now, your daughter has powers and she has shown some tendency to overreact. But that's fine. That's exactly what the Wards were set up for, to help parahumans who need a support structure."
"Orb Weaver isn't a Ward." Kim pointed, then squeaked again when Taylor turned her masked face to look at her, the sensor lenses above her eyes catching the light.
"My case is different," Taylor said. "I can work… behind the scenes. Ann has openly fought more than a few people, including Hookwolf, but without a team she has no counter to him, let alone Night and Fog."
Kim shivered.
Did Taylor know that Night and Fog are that—of course she does. Taylor probably had a list of 'most terrifying things in the Bay and how I can use them' on her phone.
"Ann's… really angry, and she isn't in control of her powers. Jim said that when she got attacked by Uber and Leet's gang, she just… reacted."
"Lethally." Taylor didn't say anything else.
"Right," Velocity said. "And we can help her with that—just as one example, Jim's capable of keeping up with Ann and he and Armsmaster could help train her so that she only uses the power she needs, rather than the power her reflexes demand."
"First Kenji, and then Ann—doesn't she know that she could die? I can't—"
Claire suddenly had a thought. How many parents trigger when they find this out? Kim was trying to squash her way through the wall.
"We can work—"
"Ann's coming," Taylor said, cutting Dauntless off.
Everyone fell silent, and a few minutes later, Claire heard the sound of rapid feet running up to the door. There was a fumbling and then the door flew open. Ann stood in it, staring at the four parahumans, her mother and sister. Her mouth opened.
No noise came out.
"Hi Ann," Claire said. "Wanna come in and talk?"
"I—you said you wouldn't tell them!"
"They didn't!" Kiyoko said. "I checked under your bed. I found this!" she waved the mask at Ann.
"Y-you looked in my room!"
"Yes! You were gone all hours of the day, coming back with bruises, what if you were on drugs?"
"Drugs? I'd never do that shit!" Ann shouted.
"Just run around and hurt people!"
"I'm protecting our community!"
"Ms. Sato," Velocity said. "Maybe we should—"
"And attacking those child—"
"They were part of a gang!"
"And that gives you the right to kill? That's what Lung said—"
"I AM NOT LUNG!"
Okay, I need to apologize to my parents, they handled this a lot better. On the other hand, 'goblins' weren't exactly in the same league as blade wolves and Endbringers. But this was getting—
Suddenly the entire room just rumbled. The sounds of buzzing wings, endless wings, filled it, as the windows darkened.
"I think we should all calm down," Taylor said. Moments later, the windows brightened again and the sound of bugs vanished.
"Right. Thank you, Orb Weaver," Dauntless said. "Ms. Sato, your daughter isn't like Lung. She's trying to help, even if I think she might do better in a more… social setting."
"What if the Empire attacks?" Ann said. "What do we do then?"
"A lot more than we did," Velocity said. "You remember Coil being arrested?"
"Yeah…" Ann said.
"Turns out he had a lot of… agents inside the PRT. He played a major role in hampering our response, which is why Cricket and Stormtiger were captured. We also have Jim and Claire handling things alongside us, and that will play a big role in keeping non-whites safe."
"But Night and Fog…" Kim said from her corner.
"Jim helped organize an evacuation that saved over 5,000 people who would have otherwise died. He fought Lung." Then Dauntless pointed at Claire. "She fought Leviathan. Fought an Endbringer, head-on, and survived. Shadowdancer's part of a pretty exclusive club, very exclusive. Eidolon and Alexandria are also members, I'm told."
I don't know, Alexandria and Eidolon probably weren't as terrified as I was.
Not that Claire would say that. Dauntless and Taylor had broken the tempo of the family fight and Claire knew that he was trying to prove that Ann didn't have to fight alone.
"And everyone knows what happened to Lung when he broke the rules," Taylor said. "And since the Protectorate now has Marquis' heir as part of it, that name still has power."
"And then there's everyone else," Claire said. "With Lung gone, the Teeth gone, the Bay's in pretty good shape."
"And lastly," Velocity said. "You can do something else. You're right. Asians in the Bay have suffered from a good deal of prejudice, and a lot of that had to do with Lung. Kaiser is already trying to brand you as following in his footprints, but…"
"If you join the Wards, that would be turned on him." Taylor nodded. "In a direct fight, he wins, because people are programmed to think of Asian vigilantes in the same light as Lung. But as a part of the Wards and later, Protectorate…"
"You could be a symbol—someone from town, not someone brought in by PR."
"I…" Ann looked over at her mother and Kim. "What about Kenji? If I join, can you help him?"
"Yes." Dauntless didn't hesitate. "At the very least, as a relative of a cape, he'd have a higher level of security granted him if he was incarcerated, and the PRT would pay any legal costs."
"Would that… Keep him out of jail?" Ann asked.
Dauntless shook his head. "We can't promise you that, Ann. I think it would help, but I can't promise you outright that the PRT could just quash those charges."
But I know someone who could… No. What if path to freeing Kenji takes the place of path to saving a city? On the other hand…
"I and Jim could testify on his behalf," Claire said.
"Would the court…" Ms. Sato paused.
"Like my boss said. Fought Lung. Fought Leviathan. We've got our fifteen minutes of fame," Claire grinned as she remembered her mom telling her about that when she'd taken Claire to the hospital after an unexpected faceplant off the jungle gym in 4th grade. "So, I figure we can use it."
"I…" Ann sagged. "I just wanted to help, to help Kenji."
"I know," Velocity said. "And believe me, by doing this, by trying to help," he shot a quick gaze at Ann's mother, "you've already shown that you have what it takes because you took the hard road."
"Do I… Join now?" Ann finally asked.
"We can take you down to HQ to talk to Director Piggot and show you around the quarters while your mother meets with Armsmaster and the rest of the staff."
"I—Armsmaster?" Ann stared. "Um, Okay…"
"Can I come?" Kim asked.
"I'm not leaving you alone here," Ms. Sato said.
Claire saw Velocity glance at Kim.
Right. Siblings have a higher than normal chance of triggering. Not as much as the children of capes, but statistically higher. Claire didn't envy Director Piggot that particular conservation.
"I need to be off," Taylor said. "I should let my sources know that you're joining the Wards. It should make certain that Kaiser and Bastard Son don't get… ideas."
"Right," Claire said. "The usual place?"
"Yes." Claire raised her hands, and Taylor nodded to the rest, then just stepped through the portal.
"So, ready?" Velocity asked. Ann nodded doubtfully, while her mother gave one firm gesture, and then Claire was opening a portal to the PRT.
Well, this did go better than Amelia's little tiff…