Chapter 2-9

I was at a loss.

So much has happened in the last two days, and I couldn't wrap my head around it anymore. I nearly died. I became a superhero. I had friends, hope, and something to be proud off. Now? Now I didn't know anymore.

I hate Sophia. I hate her and anyone associated with her. Part of me wanted to burn every bridge with the PRT I had. To run to the director's office and punch Piggot's lights out, consequences be damned. Another part didn't want to go that far just yet. Why, I wondered. Why am I not running away from these people? Sophia fucking Hess was on their team, dammit! How could anyone work with someone like her and call themselves a hero, knowing what she's capable off? It doesn't make any sense. The PRT would have to be run by supervillains or complete morons for them to even consider working with an unrepentant bully.

Maybe the answer was right in front of me. Maybe they really didn't know. After all, the bullying usually stopped the moment I left the school premises. If the school never said anything for fear of Emma's father, the PRT would never have known. If they didn't know…

I shook my head. When had I become this analytical? A Ward had hurt me, and I couldn't bring myself to hate the people responsible for her behavior. I was looking for excuses for them. Was this part of my power too? I remember keeping my cool surprisingly well when I fought Lung. Maybe that same mentality was bleeding into my civilian life. Or maybe I had been hurt so often that I no longer cared. That pain had become the norm and anything else too strange to even consider. What does that say about me?

Exactly on what level of fucked up am I?

I did my best to dry my tears. I'd probably look like a mess, but honestly, I was beyond caring. Even if Piggot really had no idea what was happening to me the past few months, she should know how much her inaction hurt me. Assuming she even cared. Even then, what am I supposed to do? If I walked away, I'd have to go back to Winslow and face Emma again and…

My dad was waiting for me just outside the director's office. His face looked perfectly neutral, but his heartbeat told a very different story. I hoped he hadn't shouted anyone down or got in trouble. He had a temper, after all. "A moment alone with my daughter, please." He told Kid Win. The hero respectfully nodded and gave us some privacy.

"They told you."

"Yes. Oh, god, I'm so sorry. If I'd known…"

"You couldn't have. This isn't your fault." I reassured him.

"I know, but that doesn't change the fact that it shouldn't have happened."

I nodded. "They aren't all like Sophia. Some of the Wards are really nice, and…you didn't do anything yet, right?"

"You mean like shouting at the director and telling her you'd join the Wards over my dead body? No. God help me, I wanted to, but I didn't. This is your choice and I'm not going to make it for you."

"Good. I…I want to hear what the director has to say first. Then I'll make a decision."

My dad chuckled. "You really need to stop sounding like your mother." He said, before fixing my hair a little. "C'mon, let's go."

We walked through the door and the director motioned us towards our seats. She looked…grim. Tired too. Armsmaster just stood in a corner, looking more than a little frustrated. I got the distinct impression that they were as upset about this situation as I was.

The director spoke first. "Let me start off by saying that I'm truly sorry this happened. Shadow Stalker was our responsibility and we…failed to keep her under control."

"How?" My dad asked. "We aren't talking a small prank or a little teasing. Systemic abuse for nearly two years, trapping someone into a locker…I'm not an expert when it comes to law, but what Sophia Hess did to my daughter couldn't have been legal. How can someone like her even join the Wards? Are you that desperate?"

"Yes, we are." Armsmaster said, ignoring the murderous glare Piggot gave him. "Villains outnumber us two to one. That number gets even worse when we take Protectorate losses against the Endbringers into account. If we want to keep our city safe, we need everyone we can get."

"Armsmaster…" The director warned.

"We took a gamble with Shadow Stalker, and we lost. We gave her more freedom than she could handle and Taylor is the one who paid the price. At the very least, we owe them an honest explanation." Armsmaster turned to me and said: "Sophia Hess used to be a vigilante. One day, she got too violent and nearly killed someone by pinning them to a wall with her crossbow. We arrested her soon afterwards and gave her a choice: either she went to juvenile detention or join the Wards as a probationary member. She chose the latter."

"Probationary membership? What makes you think she even deserves that?" I asked.

"Because she had a character witnesses who said, under oath, that Sophia just wanted to clean up the streets and that she never meant to do the damage she did." The director answered. "A situation not unlike your own, if you don't mind me saying." I suppressed the urge to glare.

Wait, character witness? Sophia didn't have many friends. Unless… "One of the character witness didn't happen to be named Emma Barnes, right?"

Piggot twitched, just a little. "Suffice it to say that the witness may not have been so reliable in hindsight. Regardless, we'd rather have Sophia working for us with some restrictions than sending her to juvie and risk having her turn villain the instant she gets out of prison. Also, I would like you to know that even I don't have the political clout to accuse a respected family of perjury without ironclad evidence."

"I see." It sounded like the director was all but forced to take Sophia on without knowing what she really was. They tried fixing her, but it didn't work. I wanted to believe her, but I got the distinct impressing that she was just running damage control and telling me what I wanted to hear.

"What about the locker incident?" Dad said angrily. "Surely that must have been the last straw."

"Winslow never mentioned it to us." This…actually sounded like the truth.

"What…" My father couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "But they told me that…"

"Sophia got away with it because she is a Ward." Armsmaster interrupted. "Schools want superheroes, Mr. Hebert. A Ward presence usually means that the gangs can't move openly without risking Protectorate retaliation. They make the school safer just by being there. I'm sure you can understand that the Winslow staff would do almost anything to keep Sophia, even if it means having to cope with her behavior."

"So Winslow just looked the other way because Sophia was more valuable than my daughter?!"

"In all likelihood, yes." The hero bluntly said.

"And you people don't even bother to double-check?!"

"We can't do that without spying on our own people." The director said. "Legally speaking, that is very difficult, even with someone on probation. On top of that, most Wards tend to object to being treated like criminals. Trying anyway usually does more harm than good. We had no choice but to rely on Winslow High. Your trust wasn't the only one they betrayed, Taylor."

I could hear my father's teeth grind together. "So, what happens now?" I asked.

"I'm going to sue them." Dad growled. "Maybe the PRT isn't accountable, but Winslow certainly is."

"I…would actually prefer that you didn't." Piggot said, carefully choosing her words.

"You want me to let them get away with it?!" My father said, angrily.

"Of course not. I just want you to understand the ramifications of such an action. If you do this, Shadow Stalker's secret identity will almost certainly be compromised, not to mention your daughter's. I don't need to tell you what that means for the both of you, or the Hess family. You would risk everything for a minimal gain."

If I wasn't doing it before, I was seriously considering punching the director now. Still, she was right. If we couldn't beat Emma in a court of law, we certainly wouldn't stand a chance against Winslow High. Even if we won (which we probably wouldn't), what would we get out of it? A formal apology, some money, and satisfaction? In the mean time, we'd probably be broke, Sophia's family would be endangered, and I'd have lost my chance of ever being a superhero. No, it wouldn't be worth it. "So, what's going to happen to her?"

"We're going to handle this internally. I will probably send her to a Simurgh quarantine zone. We have people there that specialize in 'reeducating' unruly superheroes. Best case scenario: she'll realize what she did to you and become a hero worthy of the title. Even if she doesn't, she'll be trapped in an inescapable hell, surrounded by very unpleasant people who will beat her down on the slightest provocation. To me, that sounds like the closest thing to karmic justice you're going to get." I nodded in response. In spite of everything, I still wanted to be a superhero. The PRT and the Wards…they had their flaws, but they never claimed otherwise. Like Massani said, capes were people too, for better or for worse. I wasn't naïve enough to think that the Wards were infallible. When I didn't say anything, the director added: "Look, I'm angry too. My job is to keep parahumans from bullying normals and what happened to you is exactly what I'm afraid of. Worse still, Sophia would have gotten away with it if it weren't for an extremely improbable series of events that led you to us. Needless to say, we will be watching unruly capes a lot more closely now to make sure that this sort of thing never happens."

"What about Emma?" I asked. If anything, she deserves punishment as much as Sophia did.

"Miss Barnes is…beyond my reach, I'm afraid. We can't go after her directly without outing Sophia in the process…"

"…and I can't go after her because of my 'lack of evidence'." I sighed. "I just want the bullying to end."

"And it will." Piggot said. "I will still have you transferred to Arcadia High, even if you decide not to join the Wards. Consider it an apology for not reassigning miss Hess to Antarctica sooner." For once, I was willing to believe her. She was still running damage control, though. I could almost guess her next line. "That said, we still want you in the Wards."

"Even if you know that I won't fully trust you?"

"I've worked with worse."

I believed her. I knew that ever word she said and every concession she made was just to keep me from talking to the press and causing a PR disaster. Still, there wasn't a lot I could do. Walking away and doing nothing would just put me back in the same shit situation. Declaring war on the PRT would end badly for me and my father. Coming after Winslow or the Barnes family wouldn't be much better. All in all, I still genuinely wanted to be a hero and the other Wards…Even if I couldn't really trust Piggot, I was willing to trust them. God help me, I needed this too badly.

"The bullies…they've pretty much taken everything from me." I said. "I can't let them take this too."

The director smiled. "Then I hope there won't be any more surprises like this, for both our sakes."

We left about an hour later after finishing up the paperwork. The PRT would handle the rest, they said. Good. I was drained, physically and emotionally. The past few days have been dizzying and now that I was a superhero…I didn't know what to think anymore. I should be happy. I've accomplished my goal of becoming a hero and finally rid myself of the bullies. Why did I still feel like crap?

As we were sitting in the rear seat of the plumbing van, Dad put his arm around me. "Hey, you okay, kiddo?"

"No. No, I'm not."

"Why?"

I looked out the window, unable to meet his eyes. "I'm a coward. Piggot was just feeding me a load of shit to get me to stay, and I went along with it because I'm too scared to go back to Winslow."

Dad looked at me thoughtfully. "I don't think so. If you were really a coward, you wouldn't have gone out in the middle of the night to beat up Lung. You wouldn't have tried to talk me into this. You're a lot stronger than you think, Taylor. Just like your mother. If she were here, she would have been so proud of what you're doing."

I wanted to believe him. I really do. Not sure if I could, though. "Thanks Dad."

"Hey, I'll always be there for you. Remember that."

I smiled in response. At least Dad was a good thing in my life that no one could touch.