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Orthosilicic 2.x
(Director Emily Piggot)
March 6, 2011, early morning
"Do you want to tell me why you woke me at this god-forsaken hour, or should I just keep guessing while you shuffle on your feet for another minute?"
Rogue immediately stopped shuffling, standing still whilst looking to the top-right corner of the room.
It was nice to know she still had that effect on people.
Slowly gulping, Rogue finally faced the glaring Director of the PRT ENE and grinned cheekily.
"Well, uh… Do you want the good news or bad news first?"
"Bad."
"Othala escaped after Hookwolf left behind a piece of himself in Stevens' chest and stole one of our vans. The van had two Containment Foam guns and three extra tanks, a few pistols and ammo for them, and Othala unconscious in the back seat. Also, Velocity was clipped in the shoulder by one of Stormtiger's air blades but should recover within the day."
"Property damage?"
"A dew broken windows, nothing too bad. Oh, and some holes in the sidewalks and street."
"And the good news?"
"Victor is in custody on site as well as Rune, who is awaiting transfer out of state to an underage rehabilitation center at oh-four hundred. No civilians were hurt, and I, uh, made friends with a new independent team?"
"Fish and Crystal, correct? Team," Shuffling through the stack of paperwork that was slowly building up as the printer kept spewing out more information, the Director found what she was looking for. "Orthosil? Funny. Wasn't Fish the first solo independent cape to actually fill out the newest independent sign up forms correctly?"
"No ma'am, I believe that was Lock-On back in '09. Works out of Little Rock. Fish was the second though."
"And Crystal? Isn't he suspected of giving Empire drug dealers concussions?"
"The very same ma'am. He didn't seem like the violent type though. He might just be inexperienced."
"Rogue, I'm going to ask you a very direct question." Rogue nodded, and the Director continued "Do we have another Shadow Stalker situation? Was he friendly with Fish, or was he standoffish?"
"Ma'am, I don't believe this is the case. He just seemed like a confused young man to me. He clearly had experience with that teleport power of his, but all of his combat training seems to be 'aim for the head with my fists.' He seemed friendly with Fish, and both have told us that they were just trying out working together for the first time tonight. Er, last night. Sorry, ma'am."
"I'm tired too Rogue, I can excuse exhaustion."
"Thank you ma'am. Anyway, both Crystal and Fish have said that his goals were to help his family, and after he took a nap in the van, he awoke saying a name I assume may be his sister's."
Piggot let the tenseness flow out of her immediately. Instead of another 'hunter' (And Piggot mentally scoffed at that.) they just had someone without any experience. That was much easier to handle.
"Good. That's very good. Anything else to report before we join them in the meeting room?"
"Uh, not much. Unless you were in the pot for Fish's number of rules."
"I'll pretend I hadn't heard you mention betting on a prospective hero as long as you help me up."
"Of course ma'am."
Striding over to the other side of the desk, Rogue lifted up the crutches and helped Director Piggot to her one remaining prosthetic leg.
"What happened to the left leg, ma'am, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Couldn't handle my running regime. Broke after fifty seven miles, slacker."
"What's the record?"
"The right leg before this one lasted two hundred miles even. Of course it might have been because I was pushing it as hard as I could so I could get one with proper cushioning. I'm waiting for the new one to come in on Tuesday."
"Why don't you get Armsmaster to build you one? I'm sure he could make it last, especially if he convinces Dragon to help."
Piggot had stopped walking, causing Rogue to nearly bump into her.
"Ma'am?"
"I'll handle my own problems, Rogue. That'll be all for that topic."
"…of course ma'am."
The rest of the walk continued in silence.
Director Piggot walked into the comfortable debriefing room to find utter quiet. The new independent team, Orthosil, was staring at her prosthetic, while Dauntless sat next to Velocity, who had his shoulder wrapped up in gauze. Miss Militia was still manning the Console elsewhere in the building, but was ready to report on anything she had information on.
Piggot let Rogue lead her over to a chair across the whiteboard, and gave her permission to help her sit down.
"Thank you, Rogue."
"No problem, ma'am."
Rogue walked over to the whiteboard, finally dragging the curious eyes of Orthosil off of her absent legs.
She hadn't had time to notice this before, but Fish was practically a child, perfect for Wards age. Recruiting would be difficult, with the new team and previous attachments, but perhaps it wasn't out of the question for a later time. She would have to settle for shared patrols. For now at least.
The costume was very impressive for an Independent, Piggot had to admit. She could see the bulk of a ballistics vest under the outer layer, which had faint scratches from the fight, and while the details weren't very creative, she could see the practical aspects of all of it.
The most intriguing aspect of Fish wasn't her equipment or her outfit though, it was the training she had described to Rogue on the drive over. It was almost on par with what the Protectorate were made to go through, albeit missing some of the gymnastic activities, but if she had been doing this for as long as she'd said…
"Hello, everyone. Glad to see you guys could make it." She'll think about that later, then.
Piggot glanced at the Independents. They've both clearly never been in a situation like this, and she briefly wondered how this briefing would compare to ones with the Wards.
Velocity and Dauntless clearly shared her amusement, having smirked at each other before nodding to Rogue to continue.
Alternatively, Orthosil had interesting actions of their own. Crystal had seemed to lose all the tension that was wracking his body before, and was pointedly not looking over at Piggot.
Hmm. Something to ask about later. She deeply hoped Rogue was right about him not being another Shadow Stalker. They had enough problems with her as is.
Fish, on the other hand, seemed to have frozen up, back going rigid as she alternated her sights between her and Rogue. Guess Fish recognized her. Good.
"We'll start off with team Orthosil, and how this whole night started off."
"Umm, hi? I guess?" Fish coughed into her gloved hand while her partner leaned back further into the couch, clearly letting Fish do all the talking. "Well, do you want to start off with us entering the Empire house, or…"
"First we have to ask how you knew it was the Empire's in the first place." Fish glanced over at her, and Piggot could hear the silent 'What?' "The laws about this type of situation are a little… twisted… but as long as it was guaranteed to be theirs, we can assume the raid was 'legal'."
"Um, did you not get the report from the lady on the phone? I thought you already knew."
She hadn't gotten that report yet. She rapidly suppressed the glare that trying to form on her face. "Assume I hadn't received the report. What happened?"
"Right, umm." Fish immediately collected herself and proceeded to explain the events of the night.
Piggot left the briefing room alongside team Orthosil, nodding to the duo as they followed Rogue to the exit, and headed back to her desk to start her day.
She wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyway.
Piggot let her thoughts return to the meeting that just occurred and frowned.
For her first time debriefing, Fish did a remarkable job. She forgot a few details that weren't essential, which Crystal or Rogue easily filled in, and struggled with what exactly happened during her fight with Victor and Othala, but Fish handled her point of view with ease.
It was Crystal who had the most issues.
He hadn't known he'd been responsible for thirteen head injuries. He denied it initially, saying that he 'definitely hadn't hit them hard enough for that', but then she pulled out his file and showed him pictures of the men in the hospital. To say he was shocked was an understatement. She couldn't see his face under his armored crystal jaw, but his eyes showed an astonishment that she'd only seen a few times before.
And then came the shame. The head holding and gasping for breath, Fish holding his shoulder and trying to calm him down.
Emily Piggot was relieved.
Not by the fact that he was nearly breaking down, but that he hadn't meant to do it.
Incompetence was much easier to fix than aggression.
Training was cheaper than therapists, after all.
And didn't she know that.
Crystal had looked up after a few minutes of shaking and immediately asked for help to fix his actions, declaring himself unfit to stop crime until he could 'stop putting criminals in the hospital before a jail cell'.
His argument gave Piggot an epiphany.
Having Fish and Crystal train with the Wards, Protectorate members, or even PRT troopers could give her department influence over the newly formed team, hopefully recruiting them before...
Well… Emily Piggot didn't want either of team Orthosil dead, but Independents didn't tend to last long in this world, let alone Brockton Bay. Most were either forcibly induced into a gang or recruited into the Protectorate or Wards. Very few made it past three months if they didn't.
She knew they were good kids, and their honesty and optimism were refreshing to observe, honestly. But optimism tended to die in Brockton Bay, even if things have been turning towards the better after the Boatyard melted into the night a little over three years ago.
The parties held by the local Dockworkers reminded her of the night the Sphere finished being built around Mannsville and Ellisburg.
Her legs twinged at the reminder, and she sat down in her office to rub at the nubs where her legs ended. Pulling out the lotion, her mind wandered back to the towns full of monsters.
If it weren't for Captain Manson… Allison… She doubted she would have made it at all. Allison Manson was declared a hero by the PRT for defending her squad while the tides of goblins and horrors clashed at the edge of Ellisburg.
Fourteen soldiers made it out of that clusterfuck alive.
Fourteen soldiers missing limbs, organs, or their minds.
Fourteen soldiers left behind by the capes meant to protect them.
It would have been two if Allison hadn't sacrificed herself to turn the two hordes against each other, away from her men.
Emily Piggot sighed as she watched more paperwork appear on her desk, wishing it wasn't three in the morning.
She wanted a drink.