Director Piggot sighed as she leaned back in her chair, happily taking the weight off her legs. The heavyset woman in charge of the PRT ENE knew that she only had a few moments before her scheduled call with Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown to relax, and after that, she needed to get to medical for her much-needed hemodialysis.
The last twenty-four hours had been very stressful for everyone at the PRT ENE, with many of its workers having to pull double shifts at the minimum, and Piggot had been non-stop herself since the beginning.
While the entire day hadn't been a complete disaster, it had come close at several points. There had been a massive failure in communications with both the PRT and the local authorities in dealing with the Winslow Event. A simple mistake, compounded by assumptions on both sides, ended with both the PRT and the local police force looking incompetent.
The issue began with the fact that the PRT troopers weren't fully trained for working with civilians, their only job was to deal with Parahumans and to support the Protectorate capes.
PRT troopers were more similar to SWAT then standard police officers; while their training covered the basics on working with civilians, how to speak to them, how to clear them from a danger zone, how to provide first aid, and how to contain them in the case of witnesses (largely due to M/S protocols), they didn't have the extended training that the police supplied to their people.
Some had linked the PRTs training to how soldiers acted when they were deployed in foreign countries, with most of the 'training' relying on common sense and previous training of the troopers (as most of them came either from military backgrounds, or similar lines of work).
Considering that the PRT was only really ever deployed to deal with capes and occasionally their gangs (or in rare cases, to help deal with riots and other large public incidents, like natural disasters), this meant that most dealings with the public fieldside were regulated to the local police forces after the incident had occurred and dealt with, with the PRT focusing on either moving them away, getting them into cover, or simply working quickly to resolve the situation above all else.
This wasn't to say that the PRT didn't assist matters involving the public, but if it could be pushed off to them to free up the troopers for other jobs, generally it happened.
Local police didn't really care for this fact, largely because it meant that in most cases, they had to deal with the gangs and hanger-on's of villain capes by themselves, unless there were clear examples of a cape power (or their tech) at work.
Part of this decision made sense, as if the PRT started dispatching to all the 'mistaken' calls about robberies, thefts, and public disturbances that people called in to them alongside all the possible and real cape calls, then they would quickly get swamped.
Unfortunately, the PRT needed to keep its limited lines open, as not every one of its calls had to do with someone thinking they doubled as the police. Sometimes someone actually did call about a cape fight happening.
There were other factors involved in the friction as well, the PRT often would intervene in anything that was deemed Parahuman related, and then kick the local forces out to serve as containment (at best). Sometimes however, that didn't turn out that will, with the PRT sometimes foaming a random bystander, only to then let them go later and have them complain to the cops and the government, causing a bolt of bad PR, for both sides.
But with Masters and Strangers roaming around, the PRT couldn't afford to take chances, there were protocols in place when dealing with capes for a reason after all.
Another factor was how the PRT dealt with non-powered capes after the fact, in that they didn't; generally, the PRT looked into them only to make sure that they weren't capes, had Tinker Tech on them, or were Mastered. After that, they would get tossed into the arms of the local police to deal with.
In the end however, an uneasy balance had been formed, where the PRT dealt with capes, and the police stayed out of their way or called them in to deal with things. Because any and every cop could recognize that a 9mm and a stab vest would do jack shit against someone like Hookwolf.
Only in this situation, all these factors and past decisions had culminated into a perfect shitstorm.
Due to the size of the event, police and fire didn't bother to contact the PRT as they had assumed that they had already known about it, and the PRT didn't coordinate with the police because many of them assumed that they would stay out of their way and help in the background, as it was obviously parahuman related. Both of these reasonings were sound, as given the size of what happened at Winslow, it was rather obvious that it was parahuman related.
However, without the local cops arriving first on scene to start clearing things up, the PRT forces ran into tons of frightened teenagers, as well as concerned parents and the common gawker all hovering on the outskirts of the area, preventing them from getting to Winslow and containing the situation.
The only reason that things ended as well as they did was because the two forces encountered each other on the way and managed to rectify the situation on scene as they followed on-site protocols; something that they should have been doing in the first place.
Emily had had a long talk with the police chief over that issue, same went with the rest of the heads of the city's emergency services.
There were some that followed the right protocols from the beginning, a bit of a bright spot for the ranks of BBPD and the PRT, but they were too few among the many that reacted to the situation to really affect things before it all got out of hand.
Not that it all mattered to the eyes of the public. The PRT was currently getting the shaft because of the fact that they failed so hard in the initial reaction upon getting there, never mind that once the initial confusion was dealt with, the PRT and police contained the situation quickly and smoothly and got the injured the help they needed.
The simple fact was the citizens of Brockton Bay wanted answers to what happened at Winslow. Answers that Piggot didn't have (or more accurately, they didn't want to hear).
The only saving grace to the day was that it seemed none of the other local villains made any major moves; well, other than a scuffle between the ABB and the Merchants, but that was mostly contained to the Docks.
Now the PRT had to deal with the fallout of such a public Trigger. While the Public Relations teams of both Brockton Bay and the PRT in general had plenty of experience in dealing with such Triggers (it was a sad fact that there were plenty of public Triggers caused from day-to-day life), this one was proving to be… difficult.
Mostly because of the background that had been gathered after the fact.
But then add in the ice-tree that was still looming over the city with no signs of it moving anytime soon, meant that they had their work cut out for them.
Dragon was still doing research on said tree. She had told Piggot that it would be a few hours until she was ready to present her full findings, but both Emily and the Chief Director had been sent the preliminary report.
Luckily, the internal PRT issues were slightly easier to deal with; the investigation into who dropped the ball on proper commutations was proceeding, both in the PRT and Brockton Bays own Emergency Services. By the looks of things, several people were going to lose their jobs.
The fact that Miss Militia of all people had to contact Armsmaster to let him know what was happening was a failure of massive proportions, and while the Director could see from the report on how it got to that point, the fact that it did happen was inexcusable. Far too many people failed to contact their supervisors and/or console during the initial rush, so while the reaction time to the Event was (relatively) top-notch due to its size, the lack of coordination between everyone bit them all in the ass.
Things were slightly better involving the Wards that showed up. While they took matters into their own hands (which would be investigated and then they would be disciplined later, Piggot was going to make sure of that), them showing up was a small boon to PR and very helpful in getting many of the kids to calm down, other than the issues with Glory Girl's power acting up and causing a minor panic.
While Clockblocker was getting forced time-off due to effectivity losing an arm (Panacea regrew it later), his preliminary psych report was showing that he was taking it rather well considering. The fact that Panacea had forced his heart to calm and had in effect given him a small chemical high had likely helped separate him from what had happened as well.
Shadow Stalker was gone, sent straight to juvie with the barest of trials after she was caught by both Miss Militia and Dauntless trying to run. The fact she had broken her probation so hard, coupled with what happened because of her and her own actions before and after 'joining' the Wards meant that she didn't even get to take a stand for her defense; in the end, she just wasn't worth it, and was shipped off to juvie before the day was even done.
Something that Piggot was very happy about. She was never a fan of Sophia, despite what questions and possibilities the Thinkers had about her power, the fact that it was paired with someone like Shadow Stalker severely hampered its usefulness.
In fact, Piggot had pushed for sending her to prison, to be tried as an adult given what she did, but she knew that it was going to fall through. Too volatile of a situation, too many questions to be asked that no one wanted answered.
A side effect of all this, however, meant that the PRT had actions to back up their words for possible reparations to Brockton Bay's newest Parahuman, given that Armsmaster didn't seem to be budging in his plan on telling her what exactly had happened, but there were still plenty of other issues to deal with involving her.
Including the PR problem that was her father.
Danny Hebert. Deputy Director Renick knew that name, anyone that worked a form of HR in Brockton Bay knew him, or at least had heard of him.
The de facto head of the Dock Workers Association (though that was only because the actual head was much more of a politician and constantly away either lobbying with the city or even the state), Danny was the main reason the DWA was still afloat and still recognized as part of the city services.
Even though his actual job was 'just' the head of hiring and the main spokesperson for the Union, Renick knew from experience that the man was a shrewd negotiator, even managing to get a contract with the PRT in using the Union for helping with the reconstruction of the city after a few cape fights some years back; not to mention dealing with the aftereffects of Tāwhirimātea passing by the city.
He was also a man with connections, the center of a spiderweb of personnel built up over years of working with the city's blue-collared workers. With Brockton Bay being a former major trading port, most of those same workers had some kind of links to the DWA. Add this to the sense of community to the group, formed by the shared experiences of struggling in the economy, the bonds formed by their hard grueling work, and Danny's own tenacity in working hard to provide them the jobs and benefits they need, the diminished DWA was just as tight-knit as any military group was.
In fact, the PRT had a lot to fear from Danny Hebert; some of the current PRT troopers that came from the DWA even had him look at their contracts to double-check them, and had even gotten others to do so as well. Renick even met the man once, a few minutes with him and Renick knew he was outmatched.
While Danny didn't know the ins and outs of all the legal systems that the Deputy Director knew for the PRT and all that it associated with, he knew enough of the local and regional laws that he was able to stonewall the PRTs attempt to undercut the DWA in their deal with the city and the PRT attempts to save on costs.
Plus, there was the absolute dedication the man had to his people; extending to the point that he was more than willing to fight tooth and nail to make sure they received what they were worth.
Renick had viewed the flak he had gotten from his failure to lessen both costs and having to deal with making sure the Union workers got their dues from the PRT as the lesser evil then what would have happened if he had pushed the official PRT position.
Politicly, the DWA didn't have any power; unofficially however, the fact the group was still around was a major reason that a gang war hadn't broken out over control of the Docks yet.
The DWA controlled the few remaining docks and piers that allowed something more than a small sailboat to moor in the Bay proper, which was the only thing stopping gangs from pulling in more drugs, supplies, personnel, and anything else in from the waters (with exception of the Merchants, as they would likely just end up ripping it all apart for cash).
While there were already protections and protocols in place to help prevent seaborne smuggling, there was only so much the coast guard, Watchdog, and Sentinel could do to stop people from getting on land from the ocean.
The Empire, in particular, would have an easy time falsifying records, greasing palms, and hiding everything from drugs, to guns, and even new capes among the few ships that still did come to the Bay.
But as long as the DWA kept control of the area (backed by limited BBPD and PRT assistance), then none of the gangs would get such a power shifting resource in their hands, both in terms of distribution and territory size. Which in turn meant that no gang wars would break out over trying to control it.
The entire gang situation in the Bay was a balancing act, one built up over years of activity. With the sheer number of capes, their assortment of powers, and the limited assets available to the PRT, it had been ruled that, to avoid another Boston Games, the PRT would avoid upsetting the status quo unless they were ready to deal with the aftermath of the gangs moving in for more power.
Luckily for the city, Danny Hebert wasn't the type of man to allow the gangs to take over the Docks, especially since after Tāwhirimātea passed by there had been a short resurgence of the industry in the area, prompting the ferry to be reopened on a limited basis, temporally stopping the decay of the DWA and allowing them to network out members and jobs to stay afloat.
Sure, there might be a few bad eggs in the DWA, but the threat of fighting the other gangs (plus the PRT) over the Docks, coupled with the risks of trying to remove the workers there (the only ones that really knew what they were doing, and how to keep things legal to avoid the government coming down on their heads), meant that Danny Hebert was more important than he seemed.
As for the dock workers themselves? Most of them would fight tooth and nail to keep their jobs and would do the same for Danny if he asked them for it.
All of this combined meant that the PRT needed to deal with Hebert carefully, because while a single spiderweb could be pushed aside, a dozen working in concert could stop even an elephant if it was built up enough.
If his daughter hadn't have Triggered because of the actions of a Ward, then the PRT wouldn't have had to deal with the possible repercussions of an angry DWA. That it had happened in such a massively public way didn't help matters; the PR department had its hands full just trying to keep what really happened there a secret.
This did mean the PRT did have some leverage with dealing with Danny, but if it wasn't handled right, the DWA could practically cripple the city given the sheer range of the unofficial DWA cardholders that they had picked up over the years as the they sought out any and every job to stay afloat.
Because it was amazing what could happen to a city if all of its janitors, plumbers, electricians, air condition techs, temp workers, and handymen just took a few days off, all at once.
Not that Renick thought that Danny would do that, nor would it actually come to that if he tried given the state of the DWA in the current climate, as it would result in the organization basically committing suicide. But the powers that be didn't want to even risk it, because to say that the gangs would see it as an opportunity would be an understatement.
A perfect storm, Renick mused. Danny had power, even within the PRT ranks, but they never really needed to deal with him, and vice versa. Now that his daughter Triggered however, the PRT needed him on their side, mostly because of how she Triggered, added into the fact he had just enough power to scare the powers that be.
But then add in the public nature, the questions, the fact of what caused the Trigger, taking care of that, the current state of the city, the questions from the public…
Everything got complicated real fast.
And it all fell onto the Deputy Directors lap to work out a plan of attack, or at least support the Director in the plan of attack. He didn't have to directly deal with it all, Director Piggot had that honor, he just needed to work the logistics of this Triggers aftermath with the other middlemen.
Speaking of which…
"Her name is Taylor Anne Hebert, DOB June 12th, 1995; age fifteen," Dragon supplied from her monitor in Armsmasters workshop. "Father is Danny Hebert. Mother, Annette Rose Hebert, deceased two years ago in a car crash. Records show that she had good grades, right up until around two years ago, when they began to steadily drop. That's likely due to the bullying that in time lead to her Triggering."
"Bullying perpetrated by Shadow Stalker," Armsmaster pointed out. The hero was currently bent over his workbench, reintegrating several components that were damaged by the effects of the tree, while Dragon reported her findings that he missed during his stint in M/S Screening.
The readings came back clean, through Armsmaster wasn't able to account for why he went off-grid, something that the PRT wasn't happy about. They had pulled him off active duty for a few days pending reviews of his report and the screening.
"Yes, it does fit the timeline. Records pulled from Shadow Stalker's personal phone shows that at some point one Emma Barnes, Taylor's former best friend of over a decade, and her father, encountered Shadow Stalker when they got saved from a mugging/assault from some ABB members by her. Emma apparently had difficulties recovering from it until Sophia stepped in in a civilian nature. This is backed up by testimony from her father, both for the mugging, and how his daughter and Sophia became 'friends.' From there one Madison Clements, one of the other girls involved in the bullying campaign, supplied information on how Hess directed the others, including on how to keep Taylor isolated for the two years that she was bullied."
"… Two years… it's amazing that she lasted that long without anyone reporting or taking action against it," Armsmaster remarked. He paused, there were a few improvements he could do with this circuit board, and if he did that he could further compress those parts here…
"Taylor did attempt to seek assistance in the matter. According to the paper trail, she reported the bullying several times in the beginning. However, due to the fact that without proof and no one other than Taylor was stepping forward, there wasn't much the school could do without acting on the words of one person. And at some point, she just stopped trying."
"Understandable," Armsmaster grunted. "Schools need to be impartial, like the courts. With the amount of issues that Winslow had, on top of the normal drama that occurs when a group of teenagers are stuck in one place, I can see how Taylor would fall through the cracks. Just like if someone is accused of a crime; if there is no hard evidence, then it would be only hearsay. With no evidence, Winslow, of all places in particular, would be hard-pressed to do something about it. Not without taking the words of a single girl at face value."
Dragon sighed. "It's sad that things work that way. With what happened to Taylor, and with how many people have stepped forward now, one would think that someone would have done something more before it got to this point."
"It's a byproduct of society," Armsmaster clarified. "Not everything can be taken at face value, largely due to people being… well, people." Somehow, without changing his tone, Armsmaster managed to put a certain inflection that carried his ire on that last word.
"Sarcasm, for example. It isn't something that most would use in serious conversation, yet some would happily use it in those very situations."
"Like when someone jokes about having a machine gun in the back seat?"
Armsmaster grunted and went back to his soldering.
Colin knew that at times he had a hard time interacting with people casually, as well as understanding when people would choose to mess around or just not take things seriously. Part of it stemmed from his personal beliefs, as well as his dedication to his work.
His 'fans' for example; while he easily understood holding someone in high regard, as well as using his image and actions to promote various things (the PRT/Protectorate, as well as selling 'merch'), it somewhat confused him how many times he would receive mail from people talking about their personal lives, or have someone ask if he could be the father of their child.
Oh, he understood the whys. Having a hero to look up to, or even viewing him as a good father figure, both were based on the image he had crafted as Armsmaster, and it did… please him, that people would view him in that way, but at the same time…
They didn't know him, and while it was nice to hear about someone that had used his poster and ideals as a rallying point for getting through school and life, taking the time out of his day to read about it sometimes just wasn't worth it; he could be fixing equipment, building new gear, or even training to make sure that people still could send him those messages.
As for the… child, one? Colin firmly believed that that was an undertaking to be done with someone one trusted, had confidence in, and knew well.
Which was current a very small list.
And while he was… flattered, that some would consider him worthy of such a feat, the simple fact remained that he did not know these people, nor did he have the time needed to properly raise a child (nor the wish to).
"Still," Armsmaster continued, ignoring Dragons comment of a past mistake. "You bring up a valid point; with what we are now learning about the situation, it amazes me that nothing was done. Did not a single student bring up the bullying, or did the teachers not see it? No, they did, they must have," Armsmaster muttered.
"Something social-based then, fear of reprisal and standing. Add this to the fact that the teachers can't take full initiative in some situations, or force a situation to change (it's unlikely they would have stopped if they were simply told to), then that would explain how it got to this point. Still, if there was a paper trail of complaints and requests, then someone should have looked into it."
"Several teachers did in fact bring it up," Dragon supplied. "But with Sophia being a member of the Wards, the school was getting incentives to keep her there, so some were… overlooked. Principal Blackwell did send some of those reports to the PRT, but with her position on the Wards meant that they were underplayed to those in higher authority due to the increases in the budget they received. At the same time, Sophia was a good student. Her grades were good enough to keep her in track, she never missed a check-in or a shift with the PRT, and she wasn't gaining any more interest or attention than any other black female student at Winslow. This all just built up until, as long as Sophia didn't do anything provable, she was untouchable."
It was suddenly very hard for Armsmaster to keep working. A set of loopholes, orders and simple mistakes in judgment involving a member of his Wards had caused someone to Trigger. Furthermore, he knew nothing of it.
Granted, there were supposed to be checks for this kind of thing, Shadow Stalker's handler should have notified him of these reports, and while he was aware of the PRT and Protectorate offering her a spot in the Wards because of the tactical strength of her power (and the fact the PRT ENE was undermanned in capes), the fact simply was that he should have watched her better.
He was the leader of Protectorate East-North-East, this was the very thing he should have been looking for; after all, he was the one that didn't want her on the team in the first place due to her previous activities and general attitude.
He knew of her past, of her interactions with the Wards with her being less than… polite, with the rest of the Wards. How Sophia only was on the team because it was either that or juvie. He was also aware of the fact that she regularly went off on patrols on her own, even when she was with a teammate.
The only reason he hadn't pushed as hard as he could have, was because he had been ordered to try and keep her in the Wards rather than get rid of her, a condition he found acceptable because it also meant that she wasn't out as a borderline villain. Add the fact that her power was both useful and strong, capable of even possibly doing damage an Endbringer, or even Alexandria (baring further testing with how her power phased though things), was a bonus.
He had however, made several logs and notices on her behavior to the higher-ups in an attempt to get them corrected by someone with the authority to do so permanently, as he himself didn't have the authority to just get rid of her, and needed to follow the protocols; or to at least get her transferred out of the city if nothing else.
That wasn't to say that he didn't try and guide her down the right path, with her power and skills (refined through age and experience of course), coupled with some of the 'good' parts of her personality, Shadow Stalker would have a perfect fit for the Guild. She would have been excellent in the role of scout, tracker or as a breacher, and her limited ties to people would have allowed her to easily stay on the move with the Guilds strike teams.
But there was only so much one could do if the person they were trying to help refused to listen; he couldn't force Sophia into being a better hero any more than he could talk most villains out of doing crimes.
Armsmaster had just assumed that the PRT was dragging their feet because her actions were not that severe compared to what else was going on in the world, nor were they as visible as needed to warrant actual action against.
Colin leaned back in his chair, his work abandoned as he pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed. It wasn't something that he would like to admit, given that he was a part of it, but the irony of the situation was not lost on him.
Nor was his place in it.
"… Colin, are you alright?" asked Dragon.
"Fine," Armsmaster replied. "Just thinking. Processing it all."
It could have been a few moments, it could have been several minutes, Colin didn't know, but when it passed and he got back to his welding, the hero couldn't shake the words his Double had said to him with a smile, largely, because as much as he didn't want to admit it, it was true.
"This is all your fault Kiddo."
-Worm-In-Waiting-
Even though I know he's still around, he still scares the shit outa me when he shows up. You get done with a mission and start walking through the ship and he's right there.
He's like a bad houseguest that won't leave you alone, I want to play a game damn it!
Echoing Laughter
… no wait I don't want to Play a Game!
