Step 2.4
At least they didn't throw anything.
Not sure how easily my costume cleans.
Somehow the crowd seemed larger looking back. Cops lined the streets, and in front of the PRT building troopers carried containment foam sprayers behind their own barricade.
My grievances with the local heroes felt kind of small all of a sudden.
"You okay?" Kid Win half-shouted to be heard over the chanting.
"Fine," I half-shouted back. My eyes swept the crowd again. "I didn't know—"
"Yeah, there's a lot of them," Valiant said simply. He kept walking.
I started after him. The further I got from the protesters, the better.
"There's about twenty-thousand members in the city," Kid Win stated as we followed. "It's not as many as it looks."
Still more than I thought there'd be.
Kind of disheartening. Way I grew up, with progressive-minded parents and friends, I thought racists and bigots were outliers. Then you walk into a whole street full of them and start wondering how many there actually are. Nationwide protests, the news said. New York. Boston. Washington. There must be millions of them.
Certainly looked like millions of them.
Kid Win pressed a hand to the side of his head. The further we went, the less noisy it became.
"Yeah. We're fine. We cleared the crowd a block back…Right. We're crossing onto First Street now." He started to lower his hand, but after noticing my look he pointed towards his ear. "Vista's listening in."
"Okay."
Past the crowds the street looked a lot more familiar. A few people looked in the direction of the noise, but otherwise? Cars drove down the street. People walked on the sidewalk. A cop was asleep in his squad car at the corner.
Normal.
What do heroes even do on patrol? Other than the obvious. Watching the people on the street as we walked, I couldn't really make much of it. What does a drug dealer look like in Downtown? I knew the Docks well enough but Downtown lacked the gang tags. Everyone dressed in nicer clothes and didn't seem as concerned with gang colors. We passed a black guy in a red shirt and a white guy in a green hoodie. No one in the Docks wore green or red unless they were Asian.
"What are we looking for exactly?"
"A whole lot of nothing," Valiant answered.
Kid Win asked, "Have you ever patrolled before?"
I shook my head no.
"It's pretty simple. The Wards aren't supposed to get into cape fights, so they like to keep us on relatively quiet routes. We just walk the route, check-in with console every fifteen or so minutes, and keep an eye out. It's mostly about being seen."
And that's how I learned patrolling is boring.
Not that I minded boring at the moment. If anything happened, there wasn't much I could do. We definitely got seen. I found children pointing my way, a few people turning their heads as they went down the street, and at least two cars suddenly stopped at green lights.
The silence didn't last long. After Kid Win's first check in with 'console' he turned to me and asked, "So how does your sword work?"
"How does anything a tinker makes work?"
"You know what I mean. I tried making one once, but it got rejected by PR. No eviscerations, they said."
"More like no fun," Valiant whispered.
I raised my brow. "PR tells you what you can and can't build?"
"Well they just want everyone to be safe."
"By telling you not to build stuff?"
Sounded to me like they wanted to handicap him. If Sophia didn't convince me not to join the Wards, that did. I thought the PRT would at least have older heroes, or actual engineers, decide what tinker-tech was and wasn't safe. What did the guys designing posters for the lobby know?
"Well, I didn't really need it in retrospect." He produced a pistol; small, with a big lens on the tip. "This is way more practical."
I looked his armor up and down. "Where'd that come from?"
"Oh." He pointed to his belt. "Holster. It's bigger on the inside than the outside. You can barely notice it, right? I got the idea from Vista's power. I'm working on teleportation so that I can get stuff to and from my lab, but…my last attempt exploded and Armsmaster said no more. For a little while."
He showed me the "pockets" along the belt and described some of the gear he carried. Mundane stuff like a flare gun, a "swiss army tool," and laser guns, along with spare masks, energy packs, and a cell phone. I admit, I felt jealous. I'd tried the whole teleporting and pocket space thing after seeing Uber and Leet's zombots, but my power returned nothing.
One of those limits Dragon mentioned, I guess.
After seeing it work a few times I glanced at Valiant. "Like his pockets?"
"Yeah," Kid Win said. "I built them in when designing the armor."
"I thought Valiant was a tinker?"
"That would make me a nerd," Valiant said.
"He's just jealous," Kid Win retorted. "Valiant's a master."
A small chill went down my spine. Sue me, the Simurgh just set the Middle East toward a war.
"What does he do?" I asked.
"Nothing fancy," Valiant answered. "I make people twitch."
"Twitch?"
"It's not that cool a power."
"It's more useful than you'd think," Kid Win said. "Good luck running away when your legs suddenly start trying to go two different directions."
I thought about that and I'll admit, that is useful.
"So, no mind control?"
In response to my question, Valiant raised his hands and wiggled his fingers. "The power of Valiant compels you woooooooo."
Stopping to wait for a green crosswalk light carried us through the silence. Valiant pushed the button. I couldn't see his eyes, but from the way he kept his helmet turned to me I felt them.
I couldn't stop myself from asking, "Are you twelve?"
He scoffed. "I wish. Vista gets to sit behind a desk most of the time."
"He can't mess with heads," Kid Win said. "Autonomic nervous-system either."
"Shame. Force choking people sounds pretty sweet…Hey can I have a lightsaber?"
I wanted to face palm, but actually doing it felt over dramatic. I swore he asked just to annoy me. "Why does everyone want a lightsaber?"
Valiant glanced back over his shoulder. "Because they're awesome?"
"And I still want to know how it works."
I checked the clock on my heads-up display. We were stuck together for a while, why not? I started explaining how the blade wasn't projected so much as gathered into an electromagnetic field shaped like one.
"I modified it to be more like a baton than a blade," I said. "No eviscerations."
Kid Win grinned. "The Director wouldn't like that. What's the power source?"
Valiant groaned. "It's going to be like this for the next hour, isn't it?"
"It is now," I answered.
"Damn."
We followed a pretty straight route. East toward the Boardwalk. The shop talk helped pass the time. Kid Win had interesting ideas about gravitation, not that he called it that. Dragon might have a point about my power having a thinker component, because when he said "anti-gravity" my brain thought "graviton."
"What if you get flipped upside down? The board won't slam you into the ground, right?"
Kid Win shook his head. "The way I'm building it the disks work both ways and redirect in the direction of gravity."
I nodded. My power produced something else entirely. A sort of repulsion system that couldn't go very high but enabled hovering of a sort. Didn't work both ways though.
"What about keeping your balance? Can you make a small enough gyroscope?"
"I was thinking of a liquid one," he answered. "Magnetically charged so right side up is clear."
That's a good idea. "You could run it along the length of the board, but how would you keep the solution variable over time?"
"I'm still working on that."
I nodded. "What I don't get is the mechanism for lift. You can't negate gravity, technically, but weakening it can be done in a bunch of ways."
And I know that somehow….
"Because tinkers are bullshit," Valiant offered.
"He's just jealous," Kid Win said.
"Hardly. If I spent all that time building stuff like you do I'd never get to play any games."
I barely heard the chanting anymore. Occasionally I picked some words up in the occasional lulls of traffic. The crashing waves helped. Once we got to the Boardwalk everything seemed almost normal.
I held mixed feelings about the place. On the one hand, businesses there did well enough to hire private security to keep out the gangs. Pretty impressive in its own right. A shame all the shops catered to tourists more than residents, and the Enforcers might as well be a gang.
I'd take it any day over the crowd in front of the PRT building.
"We just crossed into the Boardwalk, console." Kid nodded to something Vista said, and then turned to Valiant. "Aegis says not to go back to the PRT HQ. The crowd is blocking the streets. They don't want a scene."
That took me back. "Is it bigger?
He nodded. "Yeah."
How much bigger can it be?
We stepped aside and huddled together by one of the shops.
"What will you do?" I asked.
"Finish up and head to the Rig. There's facilities there for us."
"The PRT can't make the protesters clear the street?"
"Blue Cosmos isn't a parahuman organization. The PRT can't do anything."
"Then who—"
"BBPD."
"Good luck with that," Valiant chirped.
"What about you?" Kid Win glanced around. "You're okay not heading back to the HQ?"
"I'll be fine," I said. "How much more in the patrol?"
"Just through the Boardwalk and then a swing through the south end of the Docks."
I nodded. "I can go my own way after the Docks." I quickly asked, "If that's okay?"
"Should be."
Kid Win confirmed the information with Vista and nodded. We continued on our way. The Boardwalk crowd gave us a lot more attention than those in Downtown. People took a lot more pictures, and instead of continuing on as they saw us, they stopped and whispered.
"You really don't like crowds."
I glanced at Kid Win. "No…"
"I was pretty nervous starting out too. You'll get used to it."
"I suppose."
Almost over.
It didn't turn out as bad as I feared. Valiant was…something between a jerk and a weirdo, but Kid Win seemed alright. Nothing like those catty, conniving girls gathered around the Trio at school. I considered that one time someone pretended to be my friend just to dump on me, but looking back, I think I knew the whole time and ignored it. I didn't get that vibe off the two Wards beside me.
Which just made it stranger.
I could ask.
Except I didn't want to give away my secret identity and asking about "Shadow Stalker" almost certainly would. Maybe they'd already figured it out, but shouldn't more people than Calvert know what Sophia did? If they didn't know…well, how? I thought maybe I'd piece some of that together by the end of the day, but no.
I felt more confused if anything.
And sleepy. Collapsing into my bed and napping for a few hours sounded pretty nice. Except for the part where Dad came back from work and wondered why I turned in early in the afternoon. Great. And they might ask me to patrol again tomorrow.
I'll just think of an excuse.
I did wonder how the Protectorate expected anything to get done, operating like this. Patrols made sense to me logically. Be seen somewhere and criminals will steer clear, but that just means they don't commit crimes where people who will stop them happen to be. They'll go commit crimes somewhere else, or be at a place when they know the good guys aren't.
Tying down a limited number of heroes to mere prevention? Wasteful came to mind. Thank Veda for Haystack. If the Protectorate wanted to do patrols, fine. Soon as I finished the suit I'd spend my time being more productive.
"…Blue World!"
The words jolted me from my thoughts. The chanting was back and getting louder. I looked over my shoulder to see if some group of protesters followed us, but the sound came from the other direction. Turning back forward, I saw the pickets first.
The group stretched across most of the Boardwalk, leaving only a narrow passage between them and the buildings.
Pedestrians and tourists gathered along the edges of the crowd, some just standing and watching while others turned around and went back the way they came. A group of men in suits with sunglasses loitered around the area, all maintaining a good distance from the two dozen chanters.
Valiant and Kid Win stopped well before that point, and me just a few steps later.
"Console. We've got a group of protesters on the Boardwalk…I don't know. It wasn't in the briefing was it?"
I glanced at the buildings, wondering what on Earth drew Blue Cosmos out to the Boardwalk on the day of their big event. The protesters formed a curved line of sorts, the tips framing one shop. A nice boutique showcasing a variety of dresses in the window, along with all kinds of antiques and old dolls. The letters over the door were written in a Victorian fashion.
Doll House.
Then I remembered.
"Parian."
"Parian?" Kid Win glanced at me. "What about Parian?"
"There was a guy the other day," I said. "He handed out fliers for some protest at one of Parian's shows."
"They're protesting the doll girl?" Valiant chuckled. "You'd think—"
"The thought crossed my mind."
"What should we do, console? Well yes, but we'd be walking within breathing distance. Yeah, they're that close…I see Enforcers yes, but they aren't doing anything."
Enforcers?
I glanced at the suited men with sunglasses. Five I saw, maybe others I didn't. In all the years I'd never actually seen any Enforcers.
"Why aren't they stopping this?"
"Because lawyers are bullshit," Valiant answered.
"It's a kid's puppet show," I argued. "They're protesting a kid's puppet show."
"Console. Do we have anything on Parian doing a puppet show for kids? Now?"
Now?
My heart skipped a beat. Less than a foot between the crowd and the door, kids inside, and—Could the door even open enough to let everyone out?
I didn't look hard at the group in front of the PRT building, but I looked hard at this one. In the crowd ahead, I saw a huge man red in the face as he chanted. A woman who looked drunk. A guy in the back of the group, just watching silently with a sharp gaze.
The Enforcers grew in number. Two more came up from behind us, giving our small party passing glances. They joined one of the other Enforcers already watching and started whispering to each other.
"Console says we need to go around," Kid Win said. "The Deputy Director doesn't want us sparking anything by getting too close."
Valiant shrugged and stepped back. Kid Win followed, but my feet stayed planted exactly where they were.
I couldn't believe it. No. I definitely believed it.
"You're just going to leave?"
"Um. That's what console told us to do?"
I hissed, "And you're just going to listen?!"
Walking away. Walking away and leaving everything to whatever might happen to those kids trapped inside, alone.
"Let the Enforcers handle it," Valiant said. "Not our business."
My heart started pounding.
Again.
"It's happening right in front of you!"
Valiant looked right at me and asked, "So what?"
"So what?!"
"Yeah. So what? Blue Cosmos are normies. Unless they're committing a crime, it's not our business and even if they were, capes busting Blue Cosmos members is more trouble than I want."
He kept on walking.
Kid Win stood between us, looking left and right. "Uh…Console. Newtype wants to stick around. Y-Yeah I said that but—" He frowned, and turned to me said, "Vista's saying we need to turn back. Aegis too."
"Turn back then," I snarled.
Spinning on my heel, I found a spot that let me watch but kept me hidden in the crowd. I didn't want to spook the bigots, but I couldn't just leave those kids in there either. Slipping one beam saber into my hand, I watched. Kid Win and Valiant disappeared the way we came, and I felt a familiar disappointment with the "heroes."
My hand lightly slid over one of my sabers.
Maybe because I felt more invested, or because the group seemed less nebulous, but they scared me more than the huge mob outside the PRT building. I kept wondering if they'd see me and switch focus.
I'm just here to make sure those kids are okay.
"You going to jump in on that?"
Beside me a girl stood. Tall and thin, though not rail thin like me, in a fashionable top and designer jeans. Her hair was dark, with a single red streak dyed in. Pretty. Not gorgeous like Emma, but pretty in the typical way a girl is pretty.
"Only if those kids are in trouble," I said. "All I care about."
"Not very heroic of the other two to leave." She smiled like Emma. Like she knew something.
She's not Emma Taylor stop being paranoid.
I decided to feign reasonability just to avoid any scene that might draw eyes my way. "Their boss told them to. Not their fault."
The words surprised me. I believed them? They were told to leave, and they left. I didn't like it, but oh well. That's the way it was.
"Well don't mind me," she said. She stepped aside and smiled. "I'm just here for the show."
That was weird.
She seemed nice enough, so I just shrugged. The girl walked off to take a spot closer to the beach. She watched the protesters with an intent gaze. She really seemed to be interested in the show—Show?
Radical members of Blue Cosmos like confrontation.
Calvert said it, and I damn well believed it as the scene played out. I recognized the entire ensemble. The bullies lined up on one side, the victim backed into the corner, and all the bystanders expected to just sit back and enjoy. Authority figures standing to the side not doing anything to stop it.
Staged. Just like Winslow.
I considered the worst outcomes first. The chanting gives way to violence, and the assholes storm the store. Hurt the kids. I started to see red at that thought. My heart beat faster in my chest when I realized I couldn't stop that. Beating them all back with the beam saber seemed a bad prospect. I'd come up with a stun grenade design, but it needed chemicals I didn't have.
If I brought my gun with me I'd be able to use that to scare them off, maybe.
I started to shift between fight and not-fight. My legs tensed, ready to run, only loosening as I forced myself to stay calm. Rushing in might cause the very thing I feared, except they just made me so angry. I couldn't get the image of shattered glass and red out of my head.
Fingers pressed into the hilt of my saber till my knuckles turned white. Nestled in my hiding place, I waited. A few faces, on closer inspection, didn't seem so enthused. Some actually seemed annoyed. They kept giving some of the louder members of the group nasty looks. Like they resented their presence.
Maybe they won't put up a fight?
The plan formed. Rush the group, scare off the ones who didn't want to be there, and—
The door cracked open. My heart stuttered like the engine in Dad's truck as the worst filled my mind again. I started to move, stopping only when a small figure stepped out of the door.
Doll House's name fit. Parian stood on the short side, curly blond hair tied into pigtails framing a white porcelain mask. She wore a beige and creme dress in Victorian style with lots of embroidered frills, and long stockings and riding boots that went up to her knees.
The chanting abruptly stopped as she closed the door and faced the crowd. The scene struck me. A small girl in a pretty costume standing less than a foot from a mob of people who hated her.
She didn't shake. Much.
"Can I help you?"
When did it get so quiet?
She spoke in a calm tone, almost welcoming. The crowd across from her didn't seem to know how to respond to it. Her head turned slightly. The older, balding man, one of the Enforcers, shook his head minutely, and Parian visibly tensed.
They're not going to do anything.
Shifting her attention back to the crowd, Parian continued, "Well, if there's nothing I can do for you at the moment, would you mind stepping back a bit? The school kids inside want to leave—"
"We'd rather you left!"
A wave of shock rolled through everyone watching. You could see it, hear the contempt and the spite in the words. The man in the back. The weirdly serious one I noticed earlier. He looked red as a beet, and when he raised his hand there was a bottle in it.
Drunk?
Enforcers started moving subtly through the crowd.
"I'll go back inside after the kids leave."
"Think you're so much better than us?"
Even the Blue Cosmos protesters started moving away from the guy. He looked crazed, mad. I slipped closer, using other bystanders to avoid being seen.
Parian stumbled over her words. "I don't think that."
"Sure you don't!" someone else shouted. Another guy in the protesting line. He didn't look as crazed as the first guy, but almost. "You're a hero." Sarcasm filled that last word.
"I'm not a hero, I'm a rogue."
"Same difference!" another voice said.
"I don't—"
The chorus of shouts drowned out Parian's response.
"No more capes!"
"Take off the mask!"
"My sister's dead because of you shits!"
That last one angered me a lot. As if every cape was responsible for what the gangs did.
I held my saber at the ready. The Enforcers closed in enough I reassessed, confident they'd act if the protesters became violent, but they lined up less than a foot from Parian. They'd tear her apart before anyone stopped them.
The bystanders whispered. Some already held phones out with fucking smiles on their faces. I spotted the girl with the red streak watching from her spot with a smile I could only call sadistic.
"You just want to master them!"
"I'm not that kind of—"
Someone shouted, "Inhumans!"
Parian lost it.
"You want to protest cape violence, invite me and I'll show up," she said with a tired edge. "You want to protest people just for being different, expect me to be standing on the other side of the picket line!"
The sudden outburst surprised me enough that I didn't see the bottle.
I did see the shards shower around Parian's head after it shattered right in her mask.
She stumbled back and hit the window of her shop before sliding to the ground. The Enforcers surged forward in a wave from all directions. Red Face in the back got thrown to the ground and dog piled.
The other protesters divided. A few fought the suited men who came at them only to wind up on the ground in Nelsons and choke holds. Some held their hands up and backed off. To one girl's credit she looked at Parian and asked if she was okay.
I didn't even realize the beating of my feet against the ground until I reached her.
My knees slid over the stone tiles of the walk, and I quickly rolled Parian onto her back. She groaned, one hand moving weakly to her mask. I stopped her before she pulled it off.
"Who—"
"Newtype." She managed to sit up on her own. I brushed some of the glass off of her, but little pieces remained in her hair and in the embroidery. "Are you okay?"
"Get them out of here!" the Bald Enforcer shouted.
Someone tried to argue back, saying, "We have a right to pro—"
"And this is a riot. You're all being removed for public safety!"
Glancing back to the crowd, the Enforcers ended up handling everything. Three of the men lay on their stomachs, arms cuffed behind their backs. The Enforcers split between dispersing the crowd and holding the other protesters against the wall like a line up.
"She alright?" The Bald Enforcer approached and crouched down. "Sorry. The Association says we can't break up protests without cause as long as the permit is valid."
"S'alright," Parian grumbled. "Think I'm okay. Just dazed." She sounded dazed. Slurred words and uneven volume.
She touched her mask and flinched. Through the holes in her mask I saw a pair of dark brown eyes look at me thankfully.
"Don't mention it," I said. A good hit to the head and I might instinctively try taking my mask off without thinking. Not hard to imagine.
"I have contacted the authorities."
Veda's voice in my ear made me jump a bit. All the excitement, and she'd been so quiet. I nodded and helped Parian get up to her feet.
On the inside, Parian's store looked part clothing boutique, part doll shop. Fitting for the name, I guess. Mannequins bore dresses in different styles, while dolls and stuffed animals filled shelves along the wall.
The kids huddled inside with terrified expressions, save for one older woman who seemed to be staring off into space.
A pair of Enforcers followed in behind us as we entered. One, a woman, looked to the chaperon and said, "We're sorry for the disturbance. The crowd is being dispersed, and as soon as the protesters are cleared out we can escort you to the bus stop."
The chaperon nodded and drew all the kid's attention to herself. They were all young. Five or six. Probably kindergarten or first grade.
"Is Parian okay?" one asked.
"I'm a'right," Parian said with a weak smile in her voice. "Sorry teh end of the show got ruined."
The off word here and there didn't seem to upset the kids. They relaxed, and fifteen minutes later the two Enforcers ushered them out the door.
I stuck back and waited. The red haze of anger I experienced standing outside waiting faded completely. In its place I just felt exhausted.
"Why were you around?" Parian asked.
"Hmm? Oh. I was patrolling with Kid Win and Valiant. The PRT wanted to do some 'heroes still around' thing with the Protectorate away."
"I see. Are they—"
"They left. Didn't want to start anything with Blue Cosmos."
Not that I ended up doing much. The Enforcers handled everything. All I managed to do in the end was prevent Parian from removing her mask without thinking.
"Thanks again…I felt like I couldn't breathe and…"
"It's fine." We sat in silence for a second or two and I added, "I thought it was really brave, how you stood up to them like that."
"Really? I was scared out of my mind." She shook her head. At least her voice cleared up. "I have a few 'not-Empire' guys show up now and then, but Blue Cosmos has never bothered me before."
"Yeah. I don't know what they were thinking either…Not that I ever know."
"Yeah."
"Do you want to go to the hospital?"
"No. No, I think I'm alright."
"You could have a concussion."
"I—" She sighed and nodded. "I'll take care of it."
"Do you need any help getting there?"
"No. I'll call-I have a friend. She can come pick me up. I probably shouldn't drive."
Glancing around the store, I felt pretty out of place. Lots of nice pretty dresses and dolls and I looked like an Alexandria wannabe in a jacket. She got up and made a phone call. I stuck around after Veda reminded me that you should never leave someone alone with a possible concussion. If they fall down or close their eyes complications can follow.
We made small talk.
"I made it myself," I said about my mask. "Ordered some parts online and made the rest in a printer I put together."
"It looks good. Call me weird but I always wanted to talk to a tinker. Most capes don't put their own stuff together."
"Do you make costumes?"
She shook her head. "If I made costumes the gangs might associate me with heroes, and I don't want them snooping around. As long as I act neutral I can be neutral."
That made sense.
"Would be fun though," she added. "Every time I see a hero in the news I have all kinds of ideas. It's frustrating that I don't get to do much with them."
I could relate to that. "They just stick in the back of your head?"
"Yeah. Nagging like my aunt."
The bell by the door rang about ten minutes later. Pretty fast I thought. A pretty blond woman rushed into the shop like the wind, almost singing "Saaaooobering succotash Parian."
She didn't chance a glance at me, stopping at the doll cape's side. She wore a skirt with tall boots, sweater tied around her waist and a top with a wide collar that hung from her shoulders.
She frantically looked over Parian, asking, "Are you okay!?"
"I'm okay, Louise. Just got clocked in the head by a beer bottle."
"Those jerks!"
She thrust her hand in the air in one of the most exaggerated gestures I'd seen since…Well, I saw Valiant about an hour ago. Most exaggerated gesture I'd seen in an hour.
"We'll sue!" she announced. She turned to face me. "Who are you?"
"Newtype. I'm a hero."
She nodded, turned back to Parian and repeated herself. "We'll sue and—"
Parian raised her hands. "Sure Louise. We'll sue. But maybe take me down to a hospital? I'm still feeling kind of woozy."
"Oh. Yeah. Right, I borrowed Saji's car."
"Why didn't you bring your car?"
"Because Saji's is nicer?"
Parian shook her head as she rose from the chair. Louise helped her up.
"Thanks for sticking around," Parian said. "Sorry, but I'm going to change out of my costume before…"
Sad to say I needed a second to realize what she meant. "Right. Sorry. I'll just head off."
"Thanks for helping."
"If you want I can walk by over the next few days. Make sure those bigots leave you alone."
She waved her hand. "No. Best to let it rest and hope they don't come back."
Louise thanked me, and I left the shop. The Boardwalk looked absolutely calm, as if nothing happened. Even the glass shards had been swept up.
It felt weirder walking around without Kid Win and Valiant with me, more lonely. Deciding the patrol was over, I pushed on. I left the Boardwalk on North Street and then swung back around to the garage. If I hurried, I had enough time to change out of my costume and get home before Dad wondered where I was.
The sirens flashed as I approached the end of the Boardwalk. A half dozen Enforcers kept some of the former protesters corralled to one side, while a pair of police officers cuffed the guy who threw the beer bottle and another who tried to fight the Enforcers.
They all stood around one of the squad cars, its door wide open, while an older woman shouted at them.
I nearly fell over and hit the ground when my feet came to a sudden stop.
"What were you all thinking?! I told you no. Everyone from Mr. Stansfield to the deputy treasurer told you to call it off!"
Even as I slowly walked forward again, I couldn't believe she was there.
"If the world is going to have parahumans, she's the exact kind of parahuman we want! One who minds her own business and doesn't cause trouble for anyone else! She entertains children with puppet renditions of Peter Pan!"
"But Mrs. K—"
"Don't you sass me! I know you're upset about your sister, and I'm sorry for you, but Parian isn't with the Merchants and throwing a beer bottle isn't going to change anything! What on Earth possessed you to do that?!"
"I…I…" The guy got this defeated look on his face. "I don't know. She just stood there like she wasn't scared, and I got so mad thinking about Sierra…I'm sorry."
"Well I hope a little time in lock up will teach you a good lesson. And when you get out I want two letters. One apologizing to Mr. Stansfield for disobeying him, and another to Parian for hitting her in the head. She's not invincible, Bryce, you could have killed her!"
"Yes ma'am."
"You can take them now, officers. I've said my piece."
My voice trembled as I asked, "What are you doing here?"
Mrs. Knott turned away from the two men as the police pushed them into the back of the squad car.
She looked me over, her shoulders easing slightly. "I heard what happened and Mr. Stansfield asked me to come see. We're very disappointed in Mr. Kiley…You're that new cape, the one from the mall?"
"Yes."
I didn't really follow the conversation. My mouth gave answers, but my mind kept trying to wrap around what was in front of me.
"I heard someone saw you here. You helped Parian, yes? Is she hurt?"
"A friend is taking her to the hospital."
She frowned. "I'd apologize myself, but I don't think she'd appreciate the visit." She smiled, which only increased my confusion. "I read about what you did at the mall. Very noble to wait with that poor woman till help came. Most capes would just go running after those scallions and have a fight."
That's…a compliment?
"Surprised? I don't hate capes, dear. I hate the special rules that let them hurt others without consequence. Far as I can tell, you haven't done anything like that yet."
She took my hand and smiled.
"I know it's probably strange, but could you tell Parian how sorry I am? The local chapter doesn't support what some of our members did today and we're very sorry she got hurt. I'll make sure Bryce sends a real apology, even if I have to chase him down and force him to write it myself."
"A-Alright."
She nodded and released my hand. Her smile turned warmer, and her eyes solemn. "I'm so sorry."
My eyes widened behind my visor. She recognized me?
Mrs. Knott turned and walked away. She approached the group of protesters standing along the street with the Enforcers guarding them, and immediately set in to scolding them exactly like she scolded the other two. I turned and left as the police cars drove off.
I found an alley and collapsed.
