Interlude: Emily Piggot
The click of her heels on the white tiles of the hallway was the only warning Emily Piggot offered the Wards before she placed her hand on the panel to let it read her handprint, opening the door to the medical room just in time to hear Galant's voice directed at Panacea.
'You sure? Its not like her to not come to school and she sounded upset over the pho-" He cut himself off as she walked in.
Her eyes panned the pristine white walls and the Wards themselves who occupied the various seats available. Fresh cuts and bruises were recently healed, just now infact. She'd been somewhat timing her arrival for when Panacea would ultimately finish to avoid the need to stand around and wait.
This situation had just gone from complicated to dangerous and it was quickly becoming apparent that she had no time to spare.
"Panacea." She nodded at the world's most famous healer.
"Director. I was just finishing with Aegis now." She replied, standing up from where she'd been sitting at Carlos' side.
"So I see." She stepped aside. "Forgive me for being abrupt but I need a word with the Wards about the situation at the bank."
Dennis was the one that spoke up. Of course he would. "We already told Amy what happened at the bank while she was healing us Direc-"
"What I'm going to speak to you about regards more than just the Bank, Clockblocker." Her voice came out with the crack of a whip. They did not treat the Wards as a military unit and sometimes, particularly when friendships or relationships were involved like right now, it showed. Doubly so with Dennis, who had some issues with authority to begin with.
"Its fine. I'll see you all outside." The girl answered before marching out and past her.
She barely waited for the door to be shut before she turned back to the Wards and Aegis in particular who was standing up from where he'd been lying down.
"Your report." She demanded.
"Ma'am." Aegis took a cue from Miss Militia, standing at a typical parade rest stance as he spoke. It did a lot to demonstrate professionalism and hide nervousness. Militia, Aegis, and Triumph before him were the only ones to do it. The other Wards tended to fidget, giving away their emotions at times. So did the Protectorate Heroes sometimes for that matter. Battery laced her hands in front of her rather than behind her. Armsmaster was the only one who stood stock still. One hand at his side, the other gripping the Halberd that was tall as he was.
"As you know we were called out of Arcadia High approximately thirty minutes after our first period classes began because the Undersiders gang was holding up Brockton Central. We arrived on scene and proceeded to cover the entrances and possible exits as best we could. Browbeat was in the back covering one possible exit. Kid Win was on the roof." Brendan shrugged.
"They didn't come my way. Walked in and out the front door." Browbeat offered.
She nodded. "Yes. I also heard you had a plan to switch costumes with Clockblocker so he could freeze their team's dogs when they inevitably went after you. What happened?"
"Tattletale happened." The aforementioned trap/bait spoke up. "That thinker they got figured it out. Or at least, that's our guess. Told Hellhound to sick her dogs on 'me' and then one of them… err… the villains, not the dogs, kept making me trip all over myself. Barely got three feet before falling flat on my face and he kept on doing the same to Vista too."
She looked to the youngest Ward, who looked about as happy about the situation as if someone had made her drink vinegar. Her injuries were healed but the rather jagged crack that ran up the length of her visor indicated she'd taken a nasty hit to the face somewhere. Probably on the ground.
"Kept trying to get out of range-" She muttered sullenly. "-but every time I tried to stand he'd just trip me up again. Looks like he can target whoever he can see. Either that or his range can extend for miles, which I doubt."
Something to consider later, Piggot mused.
"Then Grue covered the whole Bank in that dark crap, us too, we couldn't see or hear anything." Dennis again.
"I still knew where they were-" Missy added "-and I kept trying to run interference with distance but this stuff was disorienting and they released a lot of the hostages all at once to add to the confusion and nullify my power. By the time I got everything straight in my head, Hellhound got her dogs to trample over Aegis, tear Kid's hoverboard, and rip Gallant's jetpack off."
"Then they ran." She drawled.
"Then they ran." Aegis confirmed with a grim nod,. "At that point, I was the only one that could still pursue… and I'd be outnumbered four to one. Seven if you count the dogs. And in the dark we would never have been able to communicate or coordinate with each other at all."
"Where was Taylor?" Dennis asked. Kid, who had been quiet up to now swiveled his head around to look at him. The clock themed cape held up his hands. "Hey don't get me wrong I'm not mad or anything. But she's one of our heaviest hitters. Could have probably punched out those dogs and covered the place in ash to match that Dark crap. Hell, where the hell is Sophia? Its been ages since we saw her stalking the halls around here like christmas misery come early or something. Didn't she have a grudge against that Grue guy?"
"That-" Emily spoke before anyone could continue the conversation, hopefully they'd ignore the question of Sophia once she spoke. "Is why I'm here. Taylor was called in but ran into… interference." She answered carefully. "Did the Undersiders mention anyone else they could be working with? Or for? Anything at all?"
"To be frank." Aegis answered. "We weren't exactly in a place to talk, or listen. Even if they were speaking the darkness Grue's power generates blocks out all sights and sounds."
She resisted the urge to curse as she sighed.
"This does not leave this room." She looked pointedly at Gallant. "While on her way towards the Bank, Ms. Hebert was approached by a recently triggered Parahuman whom we are under strong impressions, given the descriptions of our men that arrived on scene and Hebert herself, is a Precog. Quite possibly a Postcog as well. We're tentatively rating her a Thinker seven with the possibility of such a ranking going up."
Dennis whistled while Brendan's eyebrows shot up.
"This parahuman-" She continued, ignoring him. "Was, allegedly, under attack by a team of possibly powered individuals or unpowered individuals with access to Tinkertech. We've corroborated evidence gathered on traffic cameras and a handful of eyewitness accounts and can confirm that there was indeed a team of people after her. A team that backed off the second she intercepted the Heberts asking them for help."
She allowed that to sink in.
It was Gallant that spoke- "But that would mean-"
"We have a leak." The word tasted like bile at the back of her throat. "If it was just the bank robbery occurring the same day the Protectorate heroes would be out of the city that'd be fine, so to speak. Many organizations knew of our presence there, the leak could have come from them. But the fact that these men knew to back away from a Ward means that someone knows Hebert's civilian ID. Knows it accurately enough to recognize her in her father's car from half a city block away."
"That means all our Civilian ID's could be outed!" Chris near shouted.
Her features were grim as she nodded. "That's correct."
"B-But who would know that? E88? Another out of town gang?"
"We don't know yet." Emily cut him off. The last thing she needed were the Wards going off on wild speculations and distrusting everyone. "Rest assured, we will be running cross checks with all of the faculty in your school along with the agents and heroes here. Everyone will be under a microscope and the leak will be found."
The young Parahumans now looked concerned, nervous.
There were rules about this kind of thing. The penalty for breaking those rules always promised retaliation. But that tended to happen after the damage had been done.
And with this individual already targeting a newly triggered Precog with no alias he'd already proven to be willing to target civilian ID's
"If your parents agree, and if you wish it, we'll be assigning units to watch over your homes."
Her phone rang before they could answer here. "Piggot here." She said as she answered.
'Director, the Heberts and Ms. Alcott have just arrived.'
"Send them to my office." Her voice was a bit clipped as she hung up.
She was about to turn around when Aegis marched up to her. "Ma'am"
"What is it Aegis?"
"Requesting permission to conduct independent investigations into the Undersiders."
Even if she said no, none of them would listen, not with this. She couldn't really blame them either. And his logic was sound. Without an absurd level of coincidence the Undersiders were involved and knew who was pulling all the strings. "What you do on your own time is your business. Do as you like." She said by way of answer. "But you, none of you are authorized to act independently based on your findings. When you find something, come to me immediately. I don't care if it's at three in the morning or on Christmas morning or when the Endbringer sirens are blaring, you bring what you find to me. I am your first and last stop. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
The Ward nodded. Dennis gave a hand gesture of a the thumb and index finger connecting and said "crystal".
She turned and walked out, marching towards her office.
Time to find out just how valuable the Mayor's niece was that this puppeteer would go through so much trouble to acquire her.
(X)
The girl was a mess.
Bloodshot eyes, her knees and hands scraped where she'd fallen in her run, school uniform wrinkled and filthy.
She looked like she just ran through a backyard school brawl.
Hebert was in the room, covered from head to toe in her ash armor. As the Ward that had 'rescued' her she was, in essence, a material witness as much as a PRT/Protectorate agent. Her father was in another room, giving his statement.
Along with her was Rory, out of costume of course. The girl had clung to him like a lifeline and refused to let go.
They were currently waiting on her parents. Given that this was the Mayor's niece she was, in effect, walking on eggshells of a sort. The last thing she wanted to deal with was an angry Mayor to top her list of 'Shit I need to deal with' right below finding out who had leaked the Ward's civilian ID's and who currently was benefiting from that leak.
When her office doors opened, a man with a passing resemblance to Rory, who was sitting with the girl on her office's couch, all but ran in. "Dinah?"
"Daddy!"
She got up, running straight for him as he knelt and picked her up in a great hug, kissing the top of her head.
"Are you okay baby-girl?"
Evidently whatever wall the child had tucked her emotions behind came undone as she was held in her father's arms. She began bawling her eyes out as Rory stood and went to speak to his uncle.
Piggot took a breath, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She wasn't entirely unsympathetic to the girl's emotional rollercoaster. Anyone who had gone through her ordeal, especially at her age, would probably do the same. But time was more important right now. Every second wasted was another second for the villains to cover their tracks. Or for their mole to decide to pack up and go.
As such she barely waited for the crying to be reduced to hiccups before she stood, pointedly clearing her throat. "Mr. Alcott."
The man looked up, maneuvering his head to look over his daughter's mop of hair that was resting on his shoulder. "Y-yes?"
"I'm director Emily Piggot of the PRT. Please, take a seat."
"I-I don't...Should we call a lawyer?"
She refrained from rolling her eyes. "That's not necessary. You're not under arrest and your daughter is not in trouble…" She almost amended the statement with 'From us' but held herself back.
"Well what's going on? I was just called from work and was told you had Dinah and that she'd been attacked. Now she's here and crying and-"
One could almost hear what little patience she still had, audibly… snap.
She had a mole in her organization, the threat of every Ward's, and possibly every Hero's Civilian Identification in the hands of a criminal. One who might just upload those identifications to a public database out of spite. Mercenaries chasing children through the street, her Wards publicly bested by a small-time gang that managed to escape with at least five to eight hundred thousand dollars in cash, a PR catastrophe currently brewing in the media with every Hero being out of the city when all of these situations went down, the Mayor ringing her secretaries phone off the cradle with calls every fifteen minutes.
She was not exactly in the mood to humor this civilian's fears and play the soft ball game.
She opened her mouth.
The door to her office hissed open.
She was sure the clack of her teeth could have been heard on the floor below.
She glared at the most unwelcome intruder.
"Yes Calvert?" She all but bit out.
The man looked at the assembled group in her office, Rory, the Alcotts, and Hebert before turning his eyes to her, pulling a file out from under his arm. He cleared his throat. "Forgive me for the interruption" He said drolly, not looking the least bit put off by the curious glances or her heated stare, marching past the lot of them to hand her the file. "But I thought you should know, that situation with Shadow Stalker has not been resolved."
Her gaze spoke volumes. 'Oh for fuck's sake Thomas.'
He continued, unperturbed or oblivious. "Apparently there was an error with the paperwork."
She grabbed the folder and tossed it on her desk without a second glance. "I'll deal with it myself later."
He tossed a look Hebert's way.
What the fuck was wrong with him!?
"Understood." He said before he marched out with a sharp about face.
Her eyes could have cut stone, she was sure. If she were to trigger right now it'd be with a blaster power out of her eyeballs to kill him where he stood.
She made a point not to look at Hebert for a while longer as she decided to delve into the proverbial fray with Mr. Alcott's concerns.
(X)
That night
"So...we have a traitor amongst us." Armsmaster mused as he scratched at his beard with one hand, the other holding the Halberd. He was the only hero present, in part because Emily knew he was too much of a glory hound to go rogue. Miss Militia was another Hero she had on the very short 'highly unlikely to be the traitor' list. Nearly everyone else was fair game as far as she was concerned.
"We do." Emily growled as she looked out the window towards the Bay. She turned towards the Tinker Hero. "Given everything we know, its very likely someone relatively high on the chain… or worse, multiple people."
"Your tone suggests you have no idea who. "
"None." She growled. "I take it you haven't had time to read the transcript of the Alcott girl's interview?"
"Not yet. I was informed she could tell numbers, hard percentages of event probability. Useful. Especially since they can cover both pre and post cognition."
"She can." Emily nodded. "Once we figured that out we laid out pictures of Coil, Faultline, Lung and Kaiser. She fingered Coil immediately."
"Hmm…" His lip curled. She couldn't blame him.
Out of the four primary criminal powers in the bay, Coil was the biggest enigma of them all. They know the Merchants were doped out of their minds and only wanted to sell more drugs and 'recruit' more people to make up for everyone they lose to overdoses on a weekly basis. The Azn Bad Boys had their Big Three in Lung, Bakuda, and Oni Lee, especially Lung. The Empire 88 has Kaiser and was the most pressing threat to the Bay, what with the number of parahumans he had under his employ, plus the greatest amount of raw manpower out of any of the gangs.
Faultline's crew wasn't technically a villain group. They were mercenaries. Kidnapping children and paying other mercenaries didn't fit their M.O.
But Coil was one giant mystery. All they knew was that he employed mercenaries. They didn't know if he had any other parahumans in his employ, or if he even was a parahuman himself.
And for all they knew now, the most they could figure out was that he had hired the Undersiders. They didn't even know if it was a one time deal or a permanent basis kind of thing.
"The Central Bay heist was a diversion. Coil hired the Undersiders to do it. He used them to distract the Wards and sent in his mercenaries to kidnap Dinah while you and the rest of the Heroes were outside of the city. He knew exactly how long it would take us to scramble the Wards and get them to the bank, and knew exactly how to counter Vista's power with a mass group of people to allow the Undersiders to escape. That information is highly classified."
" It could have been the Undersiders' Thinker. Tattletale. Still, should we do interviews?" Armsmaster straightened up. "I can talk to some of-."
She shook her head. "You can, but not yet. Coil's mole could very well be a parahuman, or someone with Tinker tech, or even under Master-Stranger influence. I want every damn base covered, so we're going to using Dinah to help us. I don't want to tip them off at all. As of now, only four people know what we're discussing. You, myself, Ashburn and Triumph. No one else knows and no one else needs to know… Clear?"
He nodded.
Piggot leaned back in her seat. "Now. Here's the troubling part. I questioned Miss Alcott earlier, questions in regard to her safety. She answered that there is only a fifty-eight percent chance she's safe inside PRT HQ."
Armsmaster reeled.
She nodded. "Specifically within the next thirty two hours. It rose after that."
"That means Coil's going to act very quickly. He knows Dinah's power and knows that if he waits for much longer his mole is going to get exposed."
"That's what I'm assuming."
"Did you ask her anything else?"
"If she was in her home. The answer there was abysmal but not unexpected. Twelve percent if she returned home to her family. More troubling though is that if we took her to an out of state safehouse her chances of being safe were only twenty-seven percent."
Armsmaster frowned. "That would suggest that he either has the ability to track her-"
"Or the infiltration is so deep and so widespread that even newly classified information can practically reach his desk the second it hits ours."
The man shook his head.
Coil's network was bigger than any of them thought. They'd been so fixated on the Dragon and the self styled Emperor that they never noticed the Venomous Snake slithering up behind them.
"Why did you stop questioning her?" He suddenly asked. "We only have a window of a few hours before Coil makes his move against us. If we can narrow down the location of his base with a map we can-"
"Don't insult the both of us Armsmaster." She cut him off. "You think I wouldn't have this girl in a room right now if I could? I got as much out of her as was possible."
"What do you mean?"
"Unfortunately, she never explained that she gets thinker headaches with repeated use." She looked like she just drank curdled milk. "I… wasted so many questions before that!" She rubbed her forehead. "Even the specialized pills our pediatrician offered only managed to ebb the pain for one or two more questions after I realized the mistake. She's been utilizing her power all day in order to escape. When she got a nosebleed after the last question her parents stepped in. Her power puts a strain on her brain in putting in the numbers and probability. Right now, she's in the Wards dormitory. Her father went back home to get a change of clothes, we sent PRT agents with him. Her mother is in one of the… jail cells actually."
Armsmaster's incredulous expression was obvious even behind his helmet. Emily would have laughed if not for the situation at hand.
She shrugged. "This is the PRT. Not a hotel. Its all we had to offer without placing her in the barracks or the Protectorate rooms. Both of which would be a high breach in security that we simply do not need more of. She took it. The door's unlocked and she's close to a bathroom with a shower. At any rate, if Coil plans on trying to get to Miss Alcott again within the next thirty two hours he's going to have to go through every member of the PRT to do it."
"Hmmm… we should have one Hero stick by Dinah at all times." He said.
She nodded. "Already ahead of you. Assault and Battery volunteered for the first watch. We'll also be keeping patrols to a minimum." She continued. "Unless Lung is blowing up the city, or Kaiser declares some holy war against all minorities we all stay firmly put until Coil is dealt with."
"Understood."
She expected him to walk away at that point. It was how her meetings usually went after all. This time though, much to her curiosity, he stayed standing in front of her.
"Something further?"
"This isn't the best time to bring this up." He admitted and Emily felt her eyebrow hike its way up to her hairline on its own. "But if I leave with this whole situation I'll likely forget. We need to discuss the situation with Hebert and Sophia Hess."
Ahh. That headache.
She leaned back in her chair. She needed a drink.
"Talk then."
He frowned. No doubt in consternation that she was actually making him talk this out rather than simply deducing what he wanted to bring up on her own.
"This… situation, is growing increasingly precarious. Gallant has already figured out that Hess is connected to her Trigger. Aisha Labourne, a non powered friend they've made in Arcadia, is aware of the relationship between Hess and Hebert, our involvement is unknown to her as of yet. Between these two things, it won't take long for the rest of the Wards to find out, and from there there is no way that Miss Hebert will not find out as well and the situation will become unsalvageable."
She raised an eyebrow. "And you've come here to… what, inform me that we need to tell her?"
He nodded. "It is my personal assessment of the situation… yes."
She almost wanted to laugh in his face. She stopped herself though, settling for shaking her head instead. "You really are the absolute worst with people."
He frowned. "If you believe I'm wron-"
"No-" She cut in sharply. "I don't think you're wrong. You're right. We do have to tell her. Its just sad its taken you this long to figure that out."
She leaned forward in her seat. "Did you actually think this was going to be a permanent secret? That it could remain a permanent secret? I cut Sophia a deal because Sophia was still useful to me. And can still be useful to the Protectorate as a whole. She's a hard counter to many capes that rely on some form of armor. Even here in the bay, her phasing ability would let her get past Lung, Hookwolf, and Kaiser's defenses. Three very heavy hitters she could tranquilize in seconds with her bolts. Potential disasters neutralized."
She snapped her fingers. "Just like that. But the others? Emma Barnes, Madison Clements, Blackwell, a good portion of Winslow's old faculty, the security guards of the school. I hard pushed all of these cases in the DA's office and in civil suits to get them seen as fast as possible. Get some of them jail time or get the civil charges to land some decent payout that we can forward to the Heberts. I even called in a few favors and twisted some arms in the clerk's office to get them seen before judges whose own children or relatives out of state have had bullying or similar problems. All of this has been in preparation to mollify her when we eventually speak with her about the situation. To show her that we do have her best interest in mind even though we had to brand Sophia as a necessary evil and cut her a far more favorable deal than the others."
The frown was still on his face. "Why didn't you inform Miss Militia about this? Or me?"
She shrugged. "Frankly? The first name that crossed my desk, understandably, was Sophia Hess. That was the first situation I dealt with. After Sophia walked out that door I started making phone calls. And neither you nor Militia brought the situation up again. The situation was under control."
"So when is it that we tell her?"
She frowned in thought. "If the situation is already known to Gallant then we can't wait much longer. He's never been one to sit well with lying, even lies of omission." She closed her eyes and thought. "Thirty two hours is the time frame we have on Coil's attack. Lets deal with one hydra head at a time. That first. Then Hebert. A day and a half or a day if we deal with Coil fast enough."
"There is… one possibility." He ventured. "If Coil is aware of Sophia's identity… and her connection to Hebert…" He trailed off.
Emily smacked her own forehead. "Mother fucker…" When it rains it bloody well pours. She picked up the phone and dialed.
"Security here."
"Send Ashburn up to my office immediately! This is urgent!"
"Ahh I'm afraid Ashburn has left with her father Director. So have most of the Wards. I believe Vista is still in the dorms however if you-"
"No…" She sighed, aggravated. She should have known. With the crisis about their Civilian identities the Wards would go to see their families safe. Vista's relationship with her parents was abysmal. She would be the only one there.
She had to make phone calls, get the families to stay in a hotel or something nearby. It was easier to guard one building than it was to guard five or six across a town. Gods damnit why didn't she think of this before! Too much crap to keep straight in her head. Too much bad news in the span of a few hours… She rubbed at her forehead. Another goddamn headache. 'I am getting so drunk when this crisis is over or I'm taking a bullet to my brain...' "Thank you."
She hung up the phone, looking up at Armsmaster. She looked at the clock and frowned. Two AM.
Nothing for it. She wasn't going to risk Coil twisting this story to be even worse than it already was.
She picked up the phone a second before it started to ring.
She cursed, pushing a button to accept the call "Piggot speaking."
She listened. Her eyes going wide "What!?"
(X)
Within his base, Thomas Calvert, now with his mask and black body-suit in the visage of Coil, looked at the myriad of monitors arrayed in front of him and his grudging employee, Lisa.
It'd been a busy few hours since he'd left the PRT. Hours that had cost him a considerable amount of money and resources. And a negotiation where he'd had to lay down assurances and assuage fears.
But worth it if all went according to plan.
Which he'd make absolutely certain it would.
"Status?" He called.
"We're ready." Was Grue's darkness-warped voice, he could hear the crunching of bone and the whimpers of dogs in the background.
"This is Trickster. Are we doing this some time today?"
"Faultline here… you have one shot Coil. This plan of yours doesn't go exactly according to plan and we're gone."
"Of course." He nodded. All the pieces were in place. Now it was time to call check. "Tattletale."
Lisa stepped forward, her eyes panning over the cameras for a second. "Trickster, you're going in first-"