Enjoy!
Shadow 2.a
PRT ENE Director Emily Piggot was not having a good day.
She didn't have a chance to get many good days in Brockton Bay to begin within. The few good days that she did get were days where her city wasn't being burned down by a flaming rage dragon or having literal Nazis marching down the streets as if they owned the city. And while she didn't have the displeasure of having to deal with those groups at this very moment this was still a very bad day for her.
Her fist slammed down on her stainless-steel desk with enough force that the entire structure and everything on it shook. She was already starting to regret her decision as her hand throbbed in pain, but she needed to make sure that their entire focus would be on her.
"How the hell did this happen, Colin?"
She could practically feel her rage boiling her blood as she stared the world-renowned Tinker down. She hadn't given him or Hannah the option of sitting down and getting comfortable, nor had she given them the luxury of coming to the meeting in their heroing costumes. Instead, they were wearing a pair of standard PRT uniforms. She wasn't going to give them the chance to relax with the magnitude of what they were facing lying before them.
She wasn't so petty to relish in the slight flinch from the Tinker, but it still made herself feel a bit better considering the FUBAR of a situation that had landed on her desk this morning. She could feel the tips of her nails start to cut into her skin as she glared at the Protectorate hero who looked like he was trying to figure out the best way of explaining the situation without pissing her off even more.
"Director, if I may," Hannah tried to butt in, no doubt sensing that her superior was floundering for an answer in the face her anger. She turned her furious gaze to the Blaster who closed her jaw with a click. Piggot could appreciate wanting to help a friend in need, but now was not the time for social niceties, not when she needed answers now. She took a deep breath and stared at the Tinker.
"Colin," she said again, her voice completely level and flat in comparison to the near blinding rage that had laced every word not a few seconds before. "What happened to Hess?"
"It appears that after leaving last night Shadow Stalker elected to make a route through the defunct Merchant territory despite numerous warnings," Colin said. To anyone who hadn't known the Tinker that well they might have mistaken his tone for one of disinterest or boredom, but Piggot could feel the simmering rage underneath his words. They way that he was biting the inside of his jaw, the fact that arms were ever so slightly trembling, he was just as angry as she was.
Good, they would need that anger once they had determined who the perpetrator was.
"Obviously," Piggot responded as she tried to keep her voice as flat and toneless as possible. "What I want to know is how she was missing for almost eight hours without anyone realizing."
That was what concerned Piggot the most. The Wards got roughed up all the time in this city, and despite the obvious brutality, there was nothing really new about that. But the fact that it had apparently lasted for a very long period of time without anyone realizing that something was wrong with Shadow Stalker was very concerning. If there was a large enough gap in their security that they missed something as obvious as this, who was to say that there weren't other, subtle breaches of security hiding under their noses?
"Judging by what little we've been able to piece together there were a number of factors that prevented us from realizing what was happening," Colin said with as much professionalism as he could muster as he tried to keep his emotions over the situation from bubbling over.
"Such as?" Piggot asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Neither Mrs. Hess nor Agent Smith reported anything amiss last night. Mrs. Hess assumed that her daughter was out patrolling late and would return in the morning while Agent Smith assumed that Sophia had already returned home and simply failed to call in - as she has in the past," Colin reported. "That said, Agent Smith chose to inform her superior that Sophia had in fact arrived at home without any difficulty. At this time, we are still trying to determine whether this was malicious on her part or if she was just not doing her job."
"Another thing to bring up later," Piggot muttered. It always pained her to have to place any suspicion onto one of her subordinates, but if what the news was saying was true then Agent Smith was going to have a lot of explaining to do. "Go on."
"In addition, Sophia apparently chose to leave her Wards phone behind to avoid being tracked and moved into an area that had very little foot traffic. It is likely that there were no witness to the event, and even if there were I doubt that anyone who would willingly live in Merchant, former Merchant territory anyway, would choose to contact the PRT. At the very least we can assume that this entire debacle wasn't entirely our fault," Colin explained, clearly trying to put a somewhat positive spin on the events.
Piggot gave the Tinker a dry look saying, "Yes, Colin, the public will be delighted to know that one of our Wards was brutalized and it was only partially our fault." Colin flinched from the venom dripping off her voice, his bright blue eyes avoiding her gaze entirely as his jaw clenched in anger.
"I cannot begin to describe the magnitude of the screw up that we've found ourselves in," Piggot said as she tried to keep a sharp note of fear from entering her voice. The Wards program was founded on the pitch that the Protectorate and PRT would make sure that your kids would be kept safe and learn how to use their powers in a productive and nurturing environment. She knew that the second half of the pitch was utterly useless in a place like Brockton Bay, and if the gangs truly decided that the Wards were being too troublesome there would be little they could do to stop them, but it was the illusion of safety that was more important. So long as the gangs and the parents of the city thought that hurting a Ward would bring too much trouble down on their heads to deal with they would use their kiddy gloves with them and let them play at being heroes. It was a system that Piggot tried to exploit without mercy in an effort to get as much mileage out of her Wards as she could.
The fact that Shadow Stalker had apparently not only been traumatized by her attack but the knowledge that nobody in the PRT or Protectorate had any notion of what had been going on would be a black mark on the Wards program for decades. If things really spiraled out of control Piggot could have her Wards being pulled off the streets, which would effectively cut the number of heroes she could field in half. Ward programs all over the country could very well come under review for this, and that wasn't even bringing into account the bullying campaign that every news outlet seemed to be blasting out.
Piggot sighed, pushing that out of her head for now. While certainly concerning, there were more important issues to deal with. "Do we have any idea on who did this to her?"
Both Colin and Hannah exchanged looks that did little to ease the tension that she felt churning in her gut.
"We don't know," they said simultaneously.
Because of course, it wouldn't be that easy.
"The Empire are the most likely suspects," Hannah said, her lips twitching somewhat to sneer at the aforementioned Nazis.
"I agree, but this is outside of their normal operation procedure," Colin added. "Kaiser wouldn't risk the wrath of the Protectorate over something like this. Not to mention if it really had been the Empire then they would have already claimed responsibility by this point."
Piggot had to agree, as much as it pained her to admit it, the Nazis were probably innocent in this.
"This aggressive behavior doesn't fit in with any of the other gangs, and if it was supposed to be a frame up it's a very poorly executed one at that," Hannah said, earning a slight nod in agreement from Colin.
"There is one individual who could fit the profile- Boogeyman," Colin said. Piggot frowned as she contemplated the Tinker's words. It certainly made sense when she considered it. The new parahuman clearly had a pretty big chip on her shoulder in regards to the Protectorate if her interaction with Velocity had been anything to go by and had certainly demonstrated violent behavioral tendencies with her dismantlement of the Merchants. If she thought that Sophia was breaking the law by torturing civilians for her amusement, then she could have very well viewed her actions as some sort of retribution. It hardly made what she did right, but it would certainly give the situation some much need perspective.
That said, if it was Boogeyman then it couldn't have happened at the worst possible time. Boogeyman's brutal dismantlement of the Merchants had been circulating on the PHO boards for the past few days and had grown and not so insignificant following from those that lived near the former Merchant territory. The was a good amount of fear mixed in with that support, but as a whole, a lot of people believed that what she had done had benefited the neighborhoods greatly. There was quite a few post talking about how she needed to be Birdcaged or killed, but that happened with almost every new cape in this city, she would have been more concerned if it didn't happen.
If they tried to move against Boogeyman now they could get some serious public backlash, which was not what they needed with a full-blown gang war on the horizon. Whatever the truth on the Shadow Stalker bullying campaign was it wouldn't change that the public's perception of the girl would be tainted for the rest of her tenure. The people who supported Boogeyman's actions with the Merchants would probably be willing to support her if she claimed responsibility for Sophia's condition as well. With the media painting Shadow Stalker to be the next Slaughterhouse 9 recruit, the populace would be all too willing to gobble up the story to throw their support behind their "savior".
Alternatively, if Boogeyman wasn't the one who put Sophia in the hospital then they could alienate a new vigilante with baseless accusations. Officially speaking she was being considered a villain for the murders she had committed, but unofficially the PRT were going let her slide for the time being to try and take a chunk out of the bigger gangs. She was certainly a destabilizer that Piggot didn't want in her city, but the situation had already been destabilized with the death of the Merchants. At this point, the best thing to do would be to let Boogeyman continue to operate and draw the gang's attention so the Protectorate could get some real damage in, and at best if they managed to capture her then it would give them even more negotiating power to try and force a deal of some sort.
"Has Shadow Stalker woken up?" Piggot asked. At this point, all of this was conjecture and theory. Until they found proof that Boogeyman was responsible for the attack on her Ward then they were going to have to wait to take any action.
Colin shook his head. "Doctor Jones is keeping her under sedation or the time being. She also demanded that Sophia remains in the hospital for the next 72 hours under suicide watch given her previous…attempt."
A stark and tense silence filled the room. Piggot watched as Hannah's green projection flashed through an assortment of weapons before resting on a large machete. In any other circumstance, she might have reprimanded the woman for creating such a large weapon in her office, but at his point, she was willing to let it slide. She knew Hannah's history and how the brutalization of children hit her right at home. Taking away her coping mechanism would be a petty cruelty that would serve her no real purpose.
"…what are we going to do?" Hannah asked as the silence carried on. Piggot could tell that the woman was more than ready to march down to her motorcycle and hunt down the one who had done this to Sophia if she gave the go ahead. Honestly, Piggot couldn't blame her, but this wasn't the time for such single-minded actions. Not when the whole city, and likely the whole nation, was watching them with a calculating eye.
Piggot sighed heavily. She could feel her shoulders slump in an uncharacteristically weary manner as she considered the Blaster's question. "For now, nothing." She raised her hand to silence the half-formed protests on the lips of the heroes' mouths. "Until we know exactly what happened, any response could very well be our undoing. So, unless one of you can provide me proof of the perpetrator's identity then…"
Piggot trailed off as the door to her office slid open as her Deputy Director Renick stepped through, his normally tan face ashen and colorless.
"How bad?" Piggot asked. She had sent him after the local news companies to try and find out what exactly was going on and who sent the videos. She had also told him to keep it quiet, if the public thought they were trying to suppress information then they would turn on them faster than a pack of rabid weasels, regardless of the information's authenticity.
"Bad," he said, which was enough to make Piggot's stomach churn. Renick wasn't one to exaggerate things, and he was a good judge of character. If he thought that the situation was bad, then it was bad. Renick held out his hand with a single flash drive to give to her.
"How much did they have?" Piggot asked as she took the nondescript looking flash drive from her subordinate. That was the question that had been burning in the back of her mind since the news report came out. She had no idea how much information the media had. They hadn't revealed Shadow Stalker's identity yet, the threat of legal action was more than enough to keep the more legitimate news outlets in line, but that would mean little for some of the shadier journalists looking to make a quick buck. And in the end, it would only be a matter of time before the more legitimate news outlets started to put possible publicity ratings on the classified information as they considered letting it loose, laws be damned. She trusted Renick and his men to do their jobs, but each station probably already had made multiple copies of the information, and it would be almost impossible to confiscate them all. At this juncture, all they could do was find out exactly what was out there and what they could do to lessen the impact.
"Enough," Renick said, his face etched with concern as she plugged the flash drive into her computer. The screen flashed as it scanned the contents of the drive for any malware looking to worm its way into the system. Finding none, Piggot opened the file and clicked on the first document at the top of a very long list. The document in question turned out to be a video as her player opened on its own accord.
As the video started Piggot tried to make out where exactly it was being filmed, but the background was too dark for her to make anything out other than a couple of run-down looking buildings that could have been anywhere in the Bay. She managed not to flinch as a young woman's face filled the screen with a wide unsettling grin. Her off yellow eyes seemed to glare into the camera, as if she personally despised whoever was watching the video. Her pitch-black hair ran down her shoulders and became almost indistinguishable from her dark robes. Her bone structure seemed to brush up against the uncanny valley, not quite unsettling, but not nearly normal enough.
"Hellooooo Brockton Bay," she said with an upbeat tone that was completely at odds with the vicious looking grin she was giving the camera. Piggot held back a shiver at the unsettling glint in her eyes, a glint that she looked far too young to have.
"I suppose you could consider this my manifesto if you will." The girl paused and turned to someone off screen and asked, "Manifesto, right? That's what they're called?" There was an equine sounding snort from off screen that made the young woman shrug helplessly before saying, "Whatever, the point is that I'm telling the world what I'm going to do."
The woman's unnerving smile suddenly melted away, leaving nothing behind but a single stern line that somehow made her appearance even more unsettling than her smile.
"The. Gangs. Are. Done."
"As of this moment, every gang is a dead man walking. The time of the PRT and Protectorate throwing the city to the mercy of the gangs is over, because when I'm done there won't be any more gangs," she said with a completely straight face as if she hadn't just declared war on two of the most powerful organizations in the city. "What happened to the Merchants will happen to them. I don't care if they're hiding behind a newt whose only real achievement was to lose to Leviathan, or if they're working for a group of broken people who hide their inadequacies by taking their frustrations out on those they deem as lesser, I will end them."
"Now I know what you're all saying," she said with a heavy sigh. "'But Boogeyman, what you did was brutal and people died'. Yes, people did die, but I'm done playing games." Her lips curled into an angry snarl that revealed her off-color fangs that seemed to glint in what little lighting there was. "I am not soft or safe. I'm not going to coddle the criminals of this city just because they're wearing spandex like the Protectorate do. I'm not going let criminals escape because the PRT is too scared to change the status quo. I'm not going to let their fear subdue me, and tonight I'm going to prove it. Tonight, I'm going to show you all that it doesn't matter who you hide behind. I will get you."
"So, I'm going to let you in on a little secret," Boogeyman said with a faux whisper. "Shadow Stalker is a very naughty little girl. It seems that she's been tormenting her classmates in her civilian identity as Sophia Hess. And I'm not just talking about name calling or anything juvenile like that, though she still does to that. No, I'm talking about shoving a classmate into a locker that's filled with nothing but used feminine products and other garbage and leaving her in there for hours. All for her own amusement."
Piggot could feel what little hope that this bullying campaign was all one big hoax die in the back of her throat. There was too much hate, too much resentment for this to be anything but genuine. These weren't the words of a woman who was trying to sell some grand deception, but of one who had finally had the last straw, someone who wanted to lash out at the world and everything in it. She had felt that rage before at Ellisburg when she had watched her comrades and friends being torn apart by monsters while the "heroes" ran away like scared little children.
"Some of you are probably getting pretty upset right now," Boogeyman said with a small humorless smile. "I know I was, but that's not what really gets my blood boiling. Do you want to know what really gets me? The school, Winslow, did absolutely nothing to stop her. In fact, they pretty much ignored what she was doing because it was easier for them than having to take care of a girl that nobody cared about. Her PRT handler covered up what was going on at the school because it was too much effort for her to actually do her job. And doesn't that really demonstrate the way the city works? So long as you're powerful, nobody will stop what you're doing, and if you're weak and useless nobody will give a damn about you." Boogeyman's face was twisted into a rictus of anger as she stared into the camera lens. It gave Piggot an up-close view of the absolutely murderous look in the young woman's eyes. It was unnerving to see someone who was this young to have that much hatred in their life, to know that she was more than willing to commit murder to achieve her goals.
What the hell did Hess do?
There was far too much hatred for this to be anything but personal. This wasn't some random girl who was angry at a nebulous enemy that she had never actually met. She had focus, drive, she knew exactly who she was targeting any why.
"So tonight, my Nightmares and I are going to show her what it's like to be on the other side of the fence for once," she said with a wide bloodthirsty smile. "And you're all going to watch. Because this is what will happen to the those of you who work for the gangs or perpetuate the suffering of the innocent for your own amusement. I will find you, and I will break you."
The last words were spoken with such vitriolic anger that Piggot couldn't help but flinch reflexively. Hannah's weapon flashed through a variety of forms, her power betraying her neutral poker face as she listened in. Even the normally in control Colin clenched his teeth as the young woman spoke. Renick looked even paler than he had when he'd walked in. A shade or two more and he might have been able to substitute for Alabaster.
"Well, that's all I wanted to say on that matter," Boogeyman said with a smile. The attitude flip was so jarring it was disturbing in and of itself. If it wasn't an act then it could very well hint at some instability in the young parahuman's mind, which wouldn't bode well for the future of the city. "So, sit back relax and enjoy the show. I know I will."
The video feed cut off into static for a brief moment before reforming an image of Shadow Stalker staring down Boogeyman with her crossbow aimed directly at her. Piggot paused the video, there was no point in watching the whole video herself, she could let her techies deal with that and send her the important bits.
Still, that little intro painted a very bleak picture of what was going on. She allowed herself a cursory scan of the other documents in the file. Some looked like a multitude of emails, copies of text and far more incriminating evidence than one would expect from a hoax. She would let her investigators determine if this was all legitimate or not, but for the time being she was going to assume that this was all real and not some hoax perpetrated by Boogeyman for some publicity.
Which meant that she had a huge headache to deal with.
"Colin, Hannah," she said, bringing the two capes' focus back on her. "Brief the others on the situation. As of this moment, I'm going to place an arrest warrant out on Boogeyman, but hold off on trying to track her down until we understand what we're dealing with." The two capes gave her varying signs of agreement, a grunt from Colin and a nod from Hannah.
"Renick," Piggot said as the two capes left her office space. The man flinched somewhat at the harsh tone that just dripped with barely suppressed anger, but he nodded. "Get Agent Smith down here now. I want to know what the hell is going on."
If there was one word that could describe Jessica Smith it was average. Everything about her just screamed plain or uninteresting. Her entire appearance was one that had no real highlights, no attention grabbers to make her stand out from the crowd. Her plain mousy hair was pulled back into a loose bun that she clearly didn't put much effort into, her eyes were a dull unappealing brown. She was someone who would go unnoticed by everyone. Most people probably would have tried to change their appearance or personality to become more attention grabbing, but for Ms. Smith, she appeared to enjoy the anonymity that came with her average appearance.
Piggot really didn't care about her employee's appearances so long as they did their jobs. The fact that she had to work with people who dressed up in fancy Halloween costumes was a testament to this fact. What she did care about was when her employees didn't do their jobs.
"So, tell me Ms. Smith, why you didn't bother to report what Shadow Stalker has apparently been using her free time to do," Piggot said in a tone that brooked no disobedience. She pinned the young agent with a heavy glare that only made her shrink in on herself even more. The woman's skin was almost bone white as the full realization of how much trouble she was in came crashing down on her.
"Well,half formed…you see…I didn't," she trihalf-formedexcuses and explanations falling from her lips like a waterfall.
"Ms. Smith," Piggot growled out, her already finite patience wearing thin from the woman's hemming and hawing. Piggot didn't have the time to get to know every single one of her employees and the few times that she had met Sophia's handler she seemed like a quiet but hardworking woman. Only now could she see that it had all be an act. Records that Renick had pulled revealed that Ms. Smith only did the bare bones of her paperwork, if that, and regularly spent her time at her desk reading through news articles instead of doing her job. Phone records had shown that the handler had been making far more frequent calls to Principle Blackwell of Winslow High School than one would expect for a 'well-mannered student' like Sophia Hess.
Ms. Smith jaw clicked shut, her eyes nearly bulging out of her skull in fear at the near blinding anger that seemed to drip off her superior's words.
"I know you haven't been doing your job," Piggot said with an extremely unfriendly shark-like smile that made the young woman flinch. "I know that you've been apparently covering for Shadow Stalker's transgressions ever since you've been assigned to her. I know that in doing so you've opened the PRT to more bad press than I can ever remember, and have apparently caused a young girl to trigger." Piggot paused and raised herself from her seat. She leaned over her desk, pinning the young agent with a very stern glare. "What I want to know is why."
"They- they're just kids," the stricken agent murmured so quietly that Piggot could barely hear her.
Piggot could feel a sneer forming on her lips as she sat back down. "I'm so angry because that they are 'just kids'. Do you understand the magnitude of your screw-up? Because of your actions, we didn't know that Shadow Stalker was being brutally attacked for eight hours. Because of you we didn't know that Shadow Stalker took part in the disappearance of a student. Because of you a young woman triggered and has now committed multiple accounts of murder and assault with a parahuman power."
Honestly, she didn't care that much about the Merchant's deaths. They were scum of the earth that she had been forced to live with in her city to prevent an all-out gang war from sparking. She wouldn't lose any sleep over their deaths, but that didn't mean that Boogeyman was going to get a free pass. But what angered her the most was the overwhelming stupidity of Ms. Smith and the fact that something of this magnitude had been hiding under her nose for the past six months.
"Do you understand that one of our Wards could have been in danger at Winslow and we would have never known because you were too lazy to do your job," Piggot snarled. The young agent said nothing, only swallowing in fear as the director's furious gaze bored into her. Piggot took a deep breath to calm herself down and prevent herself from crawling over the table and strangling the young agent.
"Internal Affairs is going through your files with a fine-toothed comb as we speak," Piggot informed her. "If we had managed to keep this in-house then you might have had the chance of simply being assigned to a Simurgh Containment Zone for the rest of your career with half pay. As it is, because of the public nature of this PR catastrophe we'll be using you as a scapegoat. You'll most likely go to prison for the rest of your natural life."
Jessica Smith slumped in her seat with a stricken expression as Piggot explained her future. Piggot had to sigh as tear started to form in the corners of the woman's eyes. "That said," the PRT Director managed to keep herself from smiling with dark amusement as the woman's head shot up like a meerkat's, eager to hear what her boss had to say. "We'll also be bringing the Winslow administration up on charges, if you give them up we might be able to downplay your involvement in the cover up."
"…but I'll still go to prison," she said with a small voice.
"Most likely," Piggot replied without a trace of pity. This woman's idiocy had brought this on herself, she wouldn't get a tear from her. "But it might be the difference between a life in prison or a few decades."
For a long moment, the young woman said nothing, instead blankly staring at the floor as she twiddled with her thumbs. Piggot sighed and clicked the intercom to her secretary outside who was waiting with two agents to escort Ms. Smith to a cell. "Sarah, please send in-"
"Wait!" Jessica screamed, her expression wide and panicked.
"Hold that," Piggot said, clicking the intercom off. She stared at the agent with a neutral expression. "Well?"
The agent fidgeted for another moment before she spoke, this time her voice quiet and subdued. "Both Abigail Blackwell and I siphoned money from the Wards Program funds that were supposed to go to the school."
Piggot felt her eye twitch at this knowledge. She might have screamed if she hadn't been beyond furious. "I see," she said, her voice as neutral and blank as she could manage given the circumstances. "Is there anything else that I should know?"
The young woman shook her head, looking anywhere but at her superior, her shoulders slumped in apparent guilt. Piggot doubted that the woman felt guilty for her actions, more likely she simply felt sad that she had been caught apparently outright sabotaging the Wards program.
Piggot clicked her intercom on again, and this time Jessica Smith made no move to stop her. "Sarah, send in Jenkins and Campbell to escort Ms. Smith to the holding cells." There was no verbal reply, instead the door to her office simply slid open and two agents armed with a pair of handcuffs and service pistols stepped in to take Smith away.
Piggot rubbed her temples as the soon to be ex-agent was escorted out of her office, the reinforced door closing with a click. One of her Wards down for the count and possibly on her way to juvie and a good chunk of her time and energy would be forced to deal with the impending PR crisis instead of trying to capitalize on the gangs' weaknesses. It meant that the Protectorate heroes would have to spend valuable time patrolling the city to make it look like they were doing instead of actually taking the fight to the gangs. She would have to deal with a possible investigation from the higher ups which could lead to having her entire hero roster benched.
All because one woman couldn't be bothered to do her job.
Piggot sighed. Whining about what was happening wouldn't do her any good. At the very least she could use the possible internal investigation as a cover to purge out any spies and moles that had wormed their way into her ranks.
This is going to be a long week, Piggot groused as she started to mentally browse through the list of PRT agents she knew she could trust without reservation for such an investigation.
It wasn't a very long list.
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