2.1 Miss Militia
Hannah is sprawled on her couch enjoying a late night movie binge with a freshly made cup of hot cocoa, and the movie is finally starting to get good.
Her protectorate issued work cellphone begins to blare. She glances at the clock on the wall.
2:32 AM
She lets out a long groan.
/* - */
It's not often that Hannah has had a headache before three in the morning, but here she is.
The PRT agent on the other side of the phone has outlined the basic details to her.
Not an emergency, he clarifies immediately, but you need to come in ASAP. Stormtiger captured, and a strange blind girl asking to join the Wards. He had said something about a "resume" a bit hysterically, but Hannah hadn't bothered to ask for clarification.
She's made it to the footsteps of the HQ in her full hero get-up by 2:54 and as far as she's concerned, she deserves a goddamn medal.
One of the PRT agents intercepts her on arrival. She prepares herself for the debrief she knows is coming.
"Good morning, Miss Militia," he starts, and Hannah immediately gives him the stink-eye. He seems amused at the reaction.
"Go on, then. Let's hear it."
She says this as she stops at the bottom of the steps, waiting.
"Not much to say. Girl comes in with Stormtiger slung over her shoulders at around 2:25 and drops him at the receptionist desk. Says he's her resume for applying to the Wards. It's obvious she thinks the whole thing is funny, if that matters to you. Been compliant, though. Does whatever we say. She's still sitting at reception, we told her to hang out until you got here."
The agent adds as an afterthought, "Oh, and don't worry about Stormtiger. We had him handcuffed and escorted to one of the reinforced holding cells right away."
Nothing too different from what she had heard, but at least the resume comment from the panicked PRT agent makes sense now.
Hannah nods her head and thanks him as she starts to walk up the steps.
She swings open the large glass doors and mentally braces for whatever she might find.
The girl is lounged out on one of the lobby couches, almost arrogantly at ease, and she's playing with a long black knife.
The agents she had spoken to had mentioned that the girl was strange looking, but even still, Hannah is unprepared. With white hair, pale skin, and white cloth wrapped around her eyes, she looks like something out of a story book. The black hoodie and gray pants she's wearing at least marginally helps to set Hannah at ease. She notes with amusement that the girl isn't wearing any shoes.
Noticing Hannah's arrival, the girl slams the dagger into its sheath in a too-fluid motion that screams of long proficiency. Hannah just finds herself sad at the action. The girl looks maybe seventeen. She wishes it weren't so common for kids to have long proficiency with any kind of weapon.
The girl swings herself off the couch and says,
"Sup. You big M?"
Hannah's headache grows.
"Yes, I am Miss Militia," she says politely, trying to set the tone of the conversation. "First off, I'd like to thank you personally for bringing in Stormtiger. Can I ask your name?"
"Call me Val."
Sounding like a potentially real name, Hannah asks, "Is that an alias, or?"
The girl just shrugs.
She waits for an elaboration, but nothing comes.
"Right. Well, let's head into one of the meeting rooms while we wait. Director Piggot has been called in as well, but it'll probably be a bit before she arrives. Just follow me, please."
The girl trails behind her without complaint. Hannah scans her badge to open up the door that leads deeper into the headquarters and walks for a few moments with the girl following behind.
"I like your bandana."
The statement seems surprisingly genuine. Hannah replies,
"I like your shoes."
The bad joke pulls a laugh from the girl and Hannah finds some of the tension in her shoulders draining away.
They arrive at the meeting room and she gestures for Val to take a seat. She does so.
"Before we begin, I just want to let you know that all of these meeting rooms are recorded twenty-four-seven to be reviewed by our analysts later if needed. I don't want you to find this out later and feel misdirected."
The girl nods her head, unconcerned.
Hannah continues, "Do you want anything to eat or drink? We have some bottles of water and granola bars just down the hall. I know this must have been a rough night for you."
The girl shakes her head. "No, thank you."
"Okay. Great. I won't be asking anything too important until the director gets here, but I'll ask a few questions to get a feel for who you are as a person. You've made it clear that you want to join the Wards. Can you explain your motivations a bit?"
"It seemed like the best option available."
No gushing statements of altruism, but Hannah doesn't blame her for that.
"I see. Have you been thinking about this for a while?"
The question she's secretly asking is: Have you had your powers for a while?
"No. I decided a few days ago."
This doesn't rule anything out, but a different answer might have. No luck there. She doesn't ask outright, because obtaining powers is obviously… sensitive, to most parahumans.
"Can you give a brief overview of your powers? This won't affect your application to the Wards, of course, but I'm curious."
"I'm faster than normal, stronger, and have good reflexes. I can make my daggers sharper than they should be."
It's a simple answer, and a useful skillset. The wards don't have any generic heavy hitters. Victoria helps out when she can, but she isn't an official Ward. Aegis can serve as a low-level brute, but he's certainly not a 'heavy hitter'.
"Can you elaborate on the daggers bit? Is this any weapon you hold, or just your daggers?"
"Just my daggers."
She doesn't elaborate. There's no need to push, though Hannah thinks that maybe the girl isn't being entirely honest. She moves on. She thinks about how the girl is answering in short sentences that don't say much and wants to ask something more likely to force something meaningful out.
She hums and asks, "Is there anything we should know before you join the Wards?"
The girl hesitates for the first time, and Hannah thinks: score.
Val says, "Uh. Yeah. I have no memories of a life here prior to about four days ago."
Not what she was expecting. A cape with amnesia? Her mind immediately goes to the Case 53s. She sees no visible mutations, though. Maybe they're under the cloth that she's wrapped her eyes with? Or her clothes, and simply aren't noticeable? She supposes that could make sense.
Hannah asks the question less likely to offend. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you have any tattoos?"
"No."
What? That's strange. No tattoo means almost certainly Val isn't a Case 53. But amnesia is such a rare thing. Hannah's first instinct is to be suspicious, but it fades quickly. If this girl was trying to sneak into the Wards, why argue amnesia? It's not like cape's identities are linked to their civilian counterparts.
She could easily have just told the truth about her civilian life and have been accepted into the Wards under almost any circumstances. She'll assume it to be likely the truth unless evidence is provided that indicates otherwise.
"Where have you been staying, then?"
"I've just been wandering the streets learning what I can. I didn't even know what cars or cellphones were."
Hannah finds a trickle of suspicion return at the statement. Does regular amnesia take away memories on how life in general had worked? She supposes such a thing could be normal, she doesn't know.
Empathy replaces suspicion. This teenaged girl has been wandering the streets of Brockton Bay, alone? She's clearly not in any danger from most people, after having taken in Stormtiger by herself, but still…
Speaking of which, "Do you mind explaining what led up to you taking in Stormtiger?"
For the first time, the girl seems vaguely embarrassed. "Ah. I might have, well, forced his hand, there."
Hannah waits for an explanation, but as is becoming a recurring trend, nothing comes. She prompts,
"Forced his hand…?"
"Yes."
She resists slapping her hand to her face.
"How did you force his hand?" The direct approach is the only thing that will work here, she's decided.
"I was hanging out in his territory, I guess."
She doubts this is a full explanation.
"And did you do anything while in his 'territory'"?
"Yes."
There's no way these responses aren't intentional.
"What did you do in Stormtiger's territory to force his hand?"
The girl is shifting in her seat, now. "Things that made him angry."
"What things did you do while in Stormtiger's territory that made him angry enough to confront you?"
There's no way she can deflect this one, right?
"Uh."
She waits patiently.
"Well, I don't think we should worry about who did or didn't do what. It's great news that Stormtiger can longer terrorize the great, upstanding citizens of Brockton Bay, right?" She's saying this in a too-bright tone.
"Answer the question, Val."
She coughs. "Look, I needed money, okay?"
Hannah doesn't like where this is going.
"Have you been stealing from Empire Eighty-Eight gang members, Val?"
She says nothing for several long moments. "I'm not saying I didn't steal from Empire Eighty-Eight gang members, but if I did do such a thing, wouldn't you say they maybe deserved it?"
Silence, for several moments.
Hannah glances at the camera in the corner of the room.
"Official policy dictates that crimes committed against known criminals do not somehow become justified."
"Good thing I haven't officially admitted to anything, then."
Hannah narrows her eyes.
"Yes, good thing."
Neither of them say anything. The clock is ticking loudly in the background.
"Moving on. Do you know how old you are? The Wards are for parahumans under the age of 18, but I realize how amnesia might interfere with this."
Val brightens up at the obvious peace offering.
"Not a clue. But I think I'd like to join the Wards, regardless. I'm serious, I know close to nothing about life here. Trying to be a Protectorate hero seems dumb."
The small amount of suspicion Hannah has held onto drains away at the statement. Compared to the Protectorate, a Ward is privy to close to no valuable information. She doesn't think Val is any kind of plant. She's still going to be appropriately cautious until she's proven herself, though.
"I don't think that will be a problem." Hannah says.
Her phone buzzes. "One moment, Val."
She looks at her phone and reads a text message:
Director Piggot here. Told her you and subject are in one of the meeting rooms.
She looks back up to Val.
"Looks like the director is here. I'll be right back, okay?"
Val nods her head, and Hannah makes her way into the hallway to wait for Piggot.
It takes a minute, but she arrives through the same double doors she and Val had. Her expression is thunderous, and Hannah does her best to hide any amusement. She had been in similar circumstances not fifteen minutes ago, after all.
"It's three in the fucking morning, who does this girl think she is?"
Her resolve to not laugh is being severely tested. With a straight face, Hannah says,
"Good morning, director." She knows how this went over with herself not long ago.
"I can and will reassign you to the night shift, you know."
Hannah is just glad her bandana is covering her mouth because she can't stop her smile. She hopes it doesn't show in her eyes.
Piggot just says, "Whatever. Let's get this over with. What have you learned?"
Hannah is long used to efficiently condensing important information down. She says,
"Uses the name 'Val'. Unknown if alias. Took Stormtiger in by herself, likely provoked him into defending Eighty-Eight territory by robbing gang members. Unknown why. Claims she needed money, but doubtful that's the full explanation. Claims amnesia. Seems genuine in attempts to join Wards. Is obviously holding information back. Tentative personal opinion is that she has no malicious intent despite odd circumstances."
Piggot absorbs this with professional silence. She nods once, and says,
"Let's finish this up, then." And moves to walk into the meeting room.