Chapter Five: TGIF

On Wednesday, they listened to Sophia for an entire lunch period and heard nothing but girl gossip. After school on Thursday, when they were the only two in the Wards' base, they heard Emma talk to Shadow Stalker and call her Sophia, but it wasn't illegal for a Ward to reveal their own identity. On Friday, Jason was feeling the pressure. When they came back to school, there would be more students joining their private study and the opportunities for spotting trouble would severely decrease.

March 4, 2011

It seemed that the school felt the tension too, because there was the first actual fight that Jason was aware of on campus. He'd barely sat down in his first class when he felt the band on his ankle buzz, and he raised his hand to be excused to go grab his book, which he'd not bothered to bring to class because it was a lecture. The teacher let him go anyway, and once out of the room he sprinted for the extra assigned locker which was empty except for his costume, then rushed to the nearest bathroom, and shrugged his cape on. He hid his clothes in a plastic bag in a trashcan in the hall. They would be safe until lunchtime.

His phone informed him the fight was on the top floor.

When Intrepid arrived at a classroom on the opposite side of the third floor from their study room, he found at least 20 members of the ABB and Empire inside. Four huge teens were in the center, all armed with knives, lunging at each other, while the others stood around and cheered. He stopped just inside the door out of reflex, to assess the situation, and immediately the spectators turned toward him. An couple of heartbeats later, the fighters had caught on, and Intrepid was still trying to figure out his next move. His throat closed up and he had no idea what he wanted to say in the first place. Where was the teacher who had seen the fight and tipped him off?

Another couple heartbeats had passed, and now a few spectators were drawing weapons too.

Heartbeats were becoming bad methods of keeping time; they kept speeding up.

"Halt."

Contract was directly behind him, was actually sliding to stand in front of him. Everyone in the room had frozen at her command. Completely frozen, unnaturally so, and Intrepid found himself really relieved she was here, but also really confused about her power set. Because seriously? She was starting to seem a little too badass to be real.

"Good morning everyone. Really glad you could make it here today." She crossed her arms over her chest, standing inches from the closest gang member, one of the ABB fighters who had his knife pointed directly at her throat due to their relative heights. Her voice was a little off, but he couldn't pin down how. "Here's how this is going to work. A couple weeks ago, I ate an Endbringer. It was a new experience, but very heavy on the gullet. Not something I'd recommend even to my worst enemy. So I decided to go back to being a little more old-school. In fact, I literally decided to come to school. And you are preventing me from learning. I really don't appreciate that.

"Now, I have just frozen you all for the rest of the day. We can wait for the police, whom I've already called, and you can all be arrested for attacking a Ward with the intent to murder. Or, we can go with door number too. You see, my name is Contract. And that is what I do; I make contracts. So you are going to make contracts with me. I am going to give you your freedom, release you from the all-day freezing and arrest that is otherwise in your future, if and only if you all agree, individually, never to fight on this campus again. Once you agree, you are free to go, much as I hate to say it. You'll continue to be free until you break the contract. At which point you freeze again, this time for 24 hours. Any takers? Anyone want their freedom today?"

Almost immediately, spectators started unfreezing. A few stumbled, caught off guard by the sudden return of movement. They slowly wove their way out past their still-frozen friends. Once they saw that it worked, a lot of other spectators followed, even some of those that had drawn weapons. As the first of these passed her, Contract held out her hand and the gangbanger dropped the switchblade onto her palm, looking like a little kid who'd broken a window. Every other armed spectator followed suit. It was incredibly eerie.

Soon she was faced with 6 gang members, the fighters and two others who might have been the guys in charge. She sighed, at looked toward the fighters.

"Don't be idiots. You're muscle. You can and will be replaced. You'll be moved to other schools and campuses where you can be useful to your gangs. Or you can spend 25 to life in prison for endangering the princess of the world. I saved millions of lives in New York. I will save millions more in the future. I can guarantee you, you will rot in prison. Go. I'll have a word with your leaders, and then they'll join you."

There was a long pause, and Intrepid thought Contract had failed to persuade them. Then, nearly all at once, they stumbled forward and handed her their weapons. She handed several to Intrepid, unable to hold them all.

"You two. Mr. and Mr. Ring Leader. Here's the deal. I won't interfere in your recruitment, or your verbal posturing, or whatever. But I will interfere in your fights. Every, single, one. So you can stand here, be arrested, go to prison, serve your gang, and be easily replaced by your bosses with whoever you biggest rival currently is, or you can accept my truce and go free. No fighting on campus, that's all I ask." She took a breath. "Obviously if one of you agrees and the other doesn't, you're at a disadvantage. So I'm going to release just your neck muscles. You want to cooperate, look each other in the eyes. You want to be idiots, keep glaring at me." Not surprisingly, they both turned their heads, then were released.

"Excellent. On your way." She stepped out of the way, and they walked past grudgingly.

Intrepid was floored. He found himself touching down lightly, which meant he'd been accidently hovering again. Once the gang members were gone, he forced himself to find his voice. "Is that really how your power works?"

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and typed for a bit, then showed him the screen.

Sort of. I do make deals, but only rarely with other people. As part of the "cost" to get them to freeze, everything I say out loud must be to some degree false, and everything I communicate through written language must be to some degree true. We need to go to Blackwell and turn in a list of participants and put these weapons in her custody to give to the police. There may crimes out there related to these blades.

"How long will this last?"

I'm not certain. It's more art than science. Highly likely it will be more than a week. Also, I'm deaf, so face me when you talk. I'm going to avoid talking when possible for the foreseeable future.

Intrepid followed her quietly down to Blackwell's office on the ground floor, thankful the school wase still in first period and no students were in the halls. As they approached, he tapped Contract's shoulder to turn her around.

"What should I say happened?"

She smiled at him and pulled out her phone again.

Tell the truth. You should tell them what I said about the cost too. I know I'm putting you in a tough position, pulling your loyalties in two or more directions between myself and the Wards and what you believe is right. I appreciate that you feel torn enough to ask. I knew the nature of my ability would come out eventually. I was just enjoying a little peace while I could. I'm sort of glad you get the credit for the discovery.

"Peace?"

I can't defeat another Endbringer. There are some sacrifices you can only make once, and right now I have nothing of sufficient magnitude to give up. The Protectorate will realize this soon. And then they'll start trying to find someone who has enough to lose. I don't want to be a part of that process.

"What did you pay?" As soon as he asked, he knew it was the wrong thing to do. Her face shut down and that dangerous-ness suddenly pinged on his mental radar and he felt himself flinching. "Sorry, sorry. That was stupid." Surprisingly, this seemed to calm her down. She regarded him for what felt like a half a minute, but was probably less.

You are a guy. You can't help it.

She bit her lip, then wrote another sentence.

There is a reason I'm not contacting my family.

He didn't know what to say to that.

The de-briefing took longer than the encounter itself. They went over it with Blackwell in person, then with the officer who showed up, then wrote it out for the police, then filled out the computer paperwork for the PRT. Intrepid took a moment to be thankful that Contract was currently dishonest out loud (and almost completely silent) and honest on paper. Paperwork might have been difficult otherwise.

By the time he thought he might be able to go to lunch before the afternoon classes, they instead got texts calling them to PRT HQ. There they walked into a conference room and were introduced (unnecessarily) to Piggot, Renick, Triumph, Armsmaster, and Legend. PRT Director Costa-Brown and Dragon were both attending by computer conference-call. A very unattractive, balding older man was also present and introduced himself only as "Contract's translator."

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Contract suddenly started moving her hands. The translator seemed a bit bewildered as he spoke for her, but it seemed like he kept up alright.

"Let's not be falsely polite. You want me to explain what I did today and in New York City. Fine. Since I've already explained to Intrepid, I might as well tell you directly. My name is very literal. I write contracts with the world. I trade my energy, my body, my possessions, anything I have and do not wish to lose, I can trade it for anything I want. I can trade a day of being able to talk for a few minutes of invincibility. I can trade 24 hours of refusing to communicate in any way in order to heal a teammate who is hurt, but not critically. It depends on how much I want the thing I am asking for, and how much I am pained by what I am giving up."

Intrepid wondered if signing counted as speaking. It certainly wasn't written communication. A loop-hole, maybe? Allowing her to as honest or dishonest as she wished?

"Today I gave up certain abilities for at least a week but not more than two weeks. I am deaf. That is not the whole story. I won't tell you the whole price for today. I believe that is my right." He realized suddenly that they hadn't told anyone about the truth and lies. Getting adults to believe she was deaf had been hard enough. He also realized that his testimony was no longer necessary, so he kept from fidgeting so that hopefully he would be overlooked and not dismissed.

"I also won't tell you what price I paid in New York. I can't talk about it. Not yet. What matters is that the price I paid to erase Behemoth is not one I can pay again. Like your virginity, some things can only be given up once." The old man blushed when he said virginity. It was unnerving, to watch her determined facial expressions match his halting words. Intrepid could imagine the fire with which Fi would say these things. It was even obvious in her gestures, which were crisp and confident. But the man broke her phrasing awkwardly, and his cadence was at least as bad as Contract's had been, the first day he met her.

"Now, are there any questions?"

There was a sort of stunned silence while they all processed. Intrepid wondered if they could guess the magnitude of the cost that she'd paid. He was still having trouble understanding it.

Finally, Dragon broke the silence. "What would it take to erase another Endbringer? Could other people pay the cost instead?"

Contract's hands were moving before her translator's had fallen still. Intrepid noticed that this time she was going slower, emphasizing her motions even more. It was possible to guess what some of the motions meant, now that the translator was in sync with her. "I cannot be sure. I didn't know that I could defeat Behemoth until I saw him and gaged the cost of stopping a single blow. If the others are like him, it might be possible. If they are stronger, I'm not sure my contracts can beat them. Moreover, you cannot ask others to pay this price. It would be evil."

The Director Costa-Brown saw the loop-hole right away. "But it might be possible."

"I would consider it morally wrong, evil." The translator seemed uncomfortable disagreeing with the other adults. Intrepid wondered if he was a PRT employee or a local temporary translator from a disabilities service.

Legend spoke up next. "Is there anything we can do to help you? You're obviously bearing a lot of weight, just given your encounter today. Can we mitigate anything? Either from today's contract or from Behemoth's?"

Contract watched Legend as he spoke, ignoring her translator completely. Intrepid wondered if reading lips let her understand how gentle his voice had been. Legend was seeking peace, even if it wasn't an overt apology. This time, she signed very slowly.

"Thank you very much for noticing. For offering. You can help by trying to understand. I cannot tell you about my family, my past, my…" the translator paused when she didn't, and Contract glanced at him contemptuously and said "trigger event" out loud in her own voice. She turned back to Legend, and went back to signing. "I will try to work with the heroes to discover how I can destroy the next Endbringer. But right now I am grieving. I can never go back to the life I once had. Please try to understand that."

The whole room was quiet for a minute after that. Then Dragon suggested that, since there were months until the next Endbringer attack was expected, Contract be allowed to grieve for a while. At least until her hearing came back and she could speak for herself. Armsmaster agreed quickly, more quickly than Intrepid had expected given his usual stand-offish-ness. Maybe he had underestimated the Protectorate leader. Renick stood up, and Legend came around the table to Contract.

"If you need anything, please call me. I want to help you." It was incredibly sincere, and yet for a moment, as she shook his offered hand, Contract looked like she was sucking on a lemon. The expression disappeared in an instant, and Legend gave no sign of noticing, but Intrepid catalogued it. He had a sudden, horrible suspicion that Legend might be a particular kind of cape.

"I will call you if I need anything." She said aloud, her cadence nearly unnoticeable, but now that Intrepid knew what he was listening for, he was pretty sure he'd be able to tell her deaf voice and normal voice apart. Legend smiled at her, then followed Piggot out of the room. In a moment, it was just Contract, the translator, Intrepid, Triumph, and Renick still there.

Renick started. "The PRT will provide a translator until this deafness passes. Afterward, however, we would like to discuss other possible alternatives that won't affect your civilian life."

"I appreciate your concern." Contract said, again speaking out loud. "But I have put extensive time into generating alternatives and I vastly prefer deafness. I am also quite capable of coping with the consequences of my contracts. A translator, while convenient, is not necessary. I will speak with the teachers, I'm sure they won't mind providing me with notes."

It was amazing to realize that none of that could be completely true, and yet it all seemed correct. Renick was obviously made uncomfortable by her speech, but eventually just said, "I expect we'll talk more once you can hear." and left the four of them standing there. Contract turned to her translator, had a short conversation in sign, and then the translator left, looking relieved.

Contract waited for Triumph to speak, so Intrepid decided he would too. After a deep breath that hinted at nervousness, he finally began. "You two did a good job today. I don't know if anyone told you that. When I heard you'd dealt with over 20 gang members already engaged in a full fight with no additional blood, I was proud to be your team leader." The praise felt hollow. Intrepid hadn't done anything, and a quick glance at Contract showed that she probably cared more about the best method to fry an egg than she did about what Triumph was saying. She didn't seem upset, but she was sort of blank.

After receiving no response, he hurried on. "Contract, I didn't realize what you were dealing with. And I know my questions probably made it harder. I'm sorry. Please, in the future, tell me if I can do anything to help. We are a team. I know you're new, and you don't really know us yet, and we've had a few rough patches. But please, let us support you."

She was quiet for a long time, but breathing just a little heavier, and she kept taking in a deep breath like she was about to start. Triumph waited her out.

"I'm not good at trusting." She said, then paused. He let her think. "If you're really sincere, then I forgive you. You didn't know that you were making it harder for me. We can start over." She held out her hand and he shook it, beaming. She smiled back, and it looked real from where Intrepid was standing. "Intrepid and I will catch up in one minute." He nodded and took a step away, bowing out gracefully. "Actually, there is one thing that I really, really, appreciate. I need Intrepid around, and you letting us stick together keeps me from feeling cornered."

Triumph grinned again, nodded to both of them, and left them alone with a parting shot, "Who am I to break up the team that erased Behemoth?"

Intrepid waved at Triumph, and as soon as the leader was round the corner, out of sight, he turned back to Contract. She was already typing in her phone. She typed for a long time.

The key to a contract is the exact working. I cannot speak a complete truth out loud. I cannot communicate a complete lie by the written word. When I say, "we will be along in a minute" the chances of us following exactly 60 seconds behind is nearly zero. When I tell him that being with you makes me not feel cornered it's not completely true because even with you in the room I still feel ganged up on and cornered, just not as badly. The key to speaking for the next week is that I will use a lot of figurative language, which is not actually true, and make a lot of absolute statements, which are only partially true, and I will ask rhetorical questions, which are neither true nor false. And I will try to type in front of Armsmaster, who is working on a lie detector. I can communicate at least a little. In the same way, not everything I write is what is seems to be. Sign language is of course completely free game.

It made him feel a little better about what he'd heard, but not perfect. He wished he had a transcript of everything she'd said to the gang and to the heroes just now. Intrepid knew he was being paranoid, because people lied and told the truth every single day and he never invested much effort into figuring out which was which. But somehow knowing that she was limited in these ways was screwing with him. He tried to shake it off.

"I guess I have to at least thank you for getting me invited to more interesting meetings in the future." She smiled, then showed him her phone again.

Out of everyone I know or suspect to be in this building right now, I trust you the most. Out of everyone I know or suspect to be in this building right now, I like you the most.

Intrepid stared at the text for a long time, before he finally looked up. There didn't seem to be any loopholes in that statement. "Thank you."

It occurred to him, much, much later, that he had nothing but her own word that she was limited as to lies and truth and in which circumstances. But even as he thought it, he didn't believe that she had played him. There was something about Fi that he liked, and even trusted. He wasn't sure why, but there was.