Her Name is Death 2.3
"I don't feel comfortable with this," Assault informed his wife. "Intruding on a cape's personal life like this."
"We need answers. Besides Samedi has shown that she doesn't play by those rules." Battery sounded less than convinced of that herself.
The two of them sat in a PRT van watching the Hebert's house. They had arrived early in the morning and were making a game plan when Assault had voiced his objections. Battery took a long sip of her coffee then spoke again.
"Look someone needs to inform her father. Doing it this way we can also ask him some questions. It's a win win."
"But doing it in costume? That's going to cause some questions for him. Ones that he may not be able to answer."
"Maybe, but we need him to see us as high enough on the food chain that he'll be open. We need to catch Samedi before the shit really hits the fan."
"She's just a kid," Assault murmured.
"I know. Her age caught me off guard too, but we can let that hold us back. Youth isn't the same as innocents. Look at monsters like Rainmaker or Bonesaw or-"
"Madcap?"
That stopped Battery short. The heroine looked away from her husband.
"That's different." Her voice was soft "You were different."
"Yeah," the reformed villain snorted. "I didn't have delusions of morality. I was in it for the money."
"You've changed."
"Why can't Samedi? If we burn our bridges without even talking to her." He shook his head. "She could be so much if we'd let her."
The van was quiet after that. The mood was broken a few moments later when Daniel Hebert walked out to retrieve the paper.
Assault sighed "Let's get this over with."
The two of them moved slowly to the front door, not in a rush to ruin the man's life. After a few knocks the door opened and Assault got a good look at Samedi's father.
Tall and rail thin Danny Hebert was spectacularly average looking. His hair line was receding and dark circles hung under his eyes. Blinking owlishly at the sight of two heroes at his door the man seemed struck speechless. Assault decided to take the lead.
"Daniel Hebert?"
"Um yes that's me." Daniel swallowed thickly "What can I do for you."
"You have a daughter named Taylor correct?"
"Oh God has something happened to Taylor? Please tell me she's alright." The worry in the man's tone was painful.
Assault wished he was anywhere else right now.
"May we come in?" Battery asked "We need to tell you something and it'd be best if you were sitting down."
XxXXxX
"There must be some mistake." If Daniel Hebert looked old before he seemed to have aged a hundred years since they sat down.
"I wish there was Mr. Hebert truly, but we've confirmed that Taylor is the cape the papers are calling Samedi." Battery had taken the lead since they sat down. Assault didn't envy her.
"I had thought..." Daniel paused, "When I got her note I had prepared for the worst. I hoped that I would wake up one day and she'd be downstairs eating breakfast. But I know this town, pretty young girl like her all on her own? I was expecting to hear they found her in a ditch somewhere or the hospital. This though, how do you prepare for this?"
"I-I don't know." Battery paused to gather herself "I won't say I understand. I can't. But with your help we may be able to help your daughter."
"How? What could I do?"
"We need to ask you few questions. If you don't feel up to it or want to stop we understand." Battery's tone had gained a crispness to it. Like she was trying to get some distance from all this. "We need to know if Taylor had faced any troubles recently."
"Trouble, why? What does..." Hebert seemed dazed.
"How much do you know about triggers?" Assault spoke up for the first time since they sat down.
The older man shook his head helplessly.
"Not much more than anyone else," He answered. "It's when capes get their powers right?"
"That's right. They tend to be traumatic moments. Moments of intense mental stress or physical danger." Battery informed him. "What we need to know is what may have caused your daughter's trigger. In cases like Taylor's it's likely emotional trauma. Likely long term."
"Her mother passed away a few years ago. Taylor, she never really was the same after that."
"That's likely too far back. In her interview Sa-Taylor indicated she triggered not too long ago. Think back. Is there anything more recent."
"She was having trouble at school. She didn't talk about it much."
Assault and Battery shared a look. That sounded promising.
"OK, now was there anything big. Something that might have been the tipping point. Around three months back?" Assault prompted.
"There was something. Right after New Years. She went out to the mall with some friends. When she came home she was crying. Locked herself up in her room for days. I let her skip the first few days of school to give her a chance to recover."
That sounded promising.
"Mr Hebert I need you to think back, is there anything more you can tell us about what happened?"
"I don't know. I just thought it was the girls at school again. Taylor would just clam up if I asked. She seemed to bounce back a few weeks later I...Hadn't..." Daniel's eyes widened "That's when she started killing people isn't?"
It certainly fit the time line. Taking their silence as a yes Samedi's father seemed to wilt more.
"I should have seen it." He murmured to himself. "I should have known."
The hero duo shared a glance. They weren't going to get more out of him. It was time to go.
"Thank you for your hospitality," Battery said. Daniel Hebert merely nodded absently. The two of them let themselves out.
"OK, so that sucked," Battery commented.
"Yeah." Assault ran a hand through his hair. "Let's head to Winslow. This bully thing is going to be our best lead."
XxXXxX
Assault felt more than a little awkward sitting in Principal Blackwell's office. It was eerily similar to his high school pricipal's office. He wondered if they had the same decorator.
Principal Blackwell herself was a thin woman in all black attire. Assault almost thought about bringing Sammy here just to watch her reaction to the principal's dress sense. It might drive her to drink. Well more than usual. The woman was currently going through her filing cabinet. Standing she pulled a file out.
"Ah here we are. Miss Hebert's records." The principal placed a thin file on the desk. "What exactly were you looking for?"
"Incident reports, complaints, we heard from her father that she was the victim of bullying." Assault used the same dull tone for the paper pushers back at the PRT offices.
"Ah well let's see." She flipped through the file "hmm well I see some reports filed by a few of her teachers. It seems that she was having a few issues with her classmates. Beyond that I'm not seeing, oh."
"Oh? Oh what?"
"Hmm, well there was an incident a few months back. Shortly after our Winter break. Someone had filled her locker with refuse. I didn't realize this was the same student." The principal furrowed her brow.
"Locker filled with garbage? How did she take that?"
"If I recall correctly she was absent that day. Many students tend to miss the day after break."
That meant it was after her trigger. Assault absentmindedly rubbed his eye. This was starting to sound like a wild goose chase. Still better a thin lead than no lead. "Can you give the names of the students involved in this prank?"
"I would if I could but unfortunately we never turned up any names."
"None?" Assault really wished that this shit surprised him more.
"Well many of our students come from...less than advantaged situations. They develop a certain degree of mistrust of authority. It can be difficult for us to get them to cooperate with us. In situations like this, where there is little lasting damage, we find that it is more productive to simply move on."
Translation: it was hard and we gave up. Hopefully Battery was having better luck getting info from the teachers directly.
"Can I at least get a copy of her file? It may help." He was willing to take any bread crumb at this point.
"Sorry. Student records are confidential. If it were up to me..." Principal Blackwell shrugged. A bureaucrat to the end. Assault wished she at least feign interest in her students. He'd seen enough of her kind to last a lifetime.
The hero nodded. He expected that. Hopefully Battery got something useful or they'd have to waste more time getting court orders. That's really the last thing he wanted right now. Getting up he tried not to let his frustration show. This day was getting worse all the time.
As he headed for the door the principal asked, "If I may, what exactly is your interest in Taylor Hebert?"
"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss." He answered without turning around.
"Oh? Does that mean that we can expect a new hero?" Her tone turned gossipy.
Assault paused with his hand on the door. "I hope so."
Exiting the office he saw his partner leaning against the opposite wall. If he had the energy he'd point out that she looked like a student that got sent out of class. Her face scrunched up in the cutest way when he mentioned how young she looked.
"Have fun?" She teased.
"Please tell me you got something."
"Oh yeah. I got us a name." A slow grin appeared on her face.