AN: Sorry this chapter is a week late. To make up for it, I will be posting Chapter 16 very soon. I owe another huge thanks to SlowMercury. Without her help, this chapter would have been a disaster, or perhaps it would have been cut entirely.
Also, I have gone back and re-uploaded all the previous chapters to correct mistakes and typos. However, none of the story line has changed.
Chapter Fifteen: Saturday Morning Crossword
March 12, 2011
"It's finally Saturday!" Fi said emphatically as she dropped down in the seat next to Jason at the Ward's conference table. As was her habit, she kicked the chair out and put her feet up. Jason set his iPad aside, glad for the excuse to quit homework.
"You don't go to school," he reminded her mildly.
She waved a hand in the air lazily. "Doesn't matter. A Saturday is still sacred. Particularly after a week like this one."
Jason nodded, remembering that it had only been a week since Fi had frozen almost two dozen people, explained her powers, and somehow in the background still been orchestrating a conclusion to the bullying investigation. Sophia and her cohorts had been arrested on Monday, without any warning or indication that it was coming. When he had confronted Fi about it, she hadn't even looked up as she calmly told him that the expediency was Dragon's work, not hers.
"Any plans for the weekend?" Jason asked before he could get too caught up in his thoughts. Fi shrugged, and glanced away.
Jason forced himself to wait, to see if she would offer anything into the silence. After a long moment, he was rewarded. "I think there'll be a lot of work to do here."
"You live here now." He teased, but her gaze snapped back towards him, and her back stiffened. Jason forced himself not to react. Fi hated to be pushed, and he had been probing about her move since he found out about it. It was maddening to have to try to remember where all the boundaries were with her, especially because it sometimes felt like he was the only one making the effort.
Eventually, she shrugged again and relaxed a little, realizing that he hadn't meant to offend. "Kid Win still hasn't finished your gun for you, and I don't like you being unarmed." She played with the cheap watch she had started wearing, and Jason waited. "Moving here was the right decision. It's safer for me, and infinitely safer for my foster parents."
"That's not why you made it." Jason very carefully didn't make it a question. She gave him a glance and the tiniest inclination of her head. He decided that meant he could keep pushing, so long as he was gentle. "Does it have anything to do with why Clockblocker didn't take your head off on Wednesday when we met for the briefing on major villains and strategies?"
"I didn't master him, if that's what you asking." She shot back, which didn't answer the question. But in not outright denying it, it was a confirmation. She had done something for Dennis that softened their relationship, and it had cost her what little stability she'd found in Brockton Bay. Jason wasn't sure what he would do if he didn't have his home to relieve the stress of being a Ward.
Jason decided to change the subject, rather than keep pushing. "Do you really think you can help Kid Win? I mean, he's a Tinker."
Fi smiled at him, genuine and engaged, and put her feet down to lean forward. "I grew up in the backseat of a car built in the 60s. I'm no Tinker, but I know my way around an engine and I know how things break. I can act as a sounding board."
More and more frequently, Fi had been dropping hints of her past. Jason wasn't sure what to do with the puzzle pieces she was giving him, but each gem only emphasized that she'd led a fascinating life even before she'd erased Behemoth. Knowing she trusted him with those sorts of details helped make up for all the things she didn't tell him.
"Speaking of…" Jason trailed off, but she gestured him on. "What happened after Chris and I left?" On Thursday, Jason had come in for his shift on monitor to find Kid Win and Fi sitting at the conference table, surrounded by papers, graphs, and cardboard models. They'd spent the entirety of his two hour shift discussing technical terms he didn't understand.
During the fifteen minute shift change, Armsmaster had come downstairs and he and Fi had closed themselves in the Wards' office. Armsmaster had opened the door long enough to tell Jason he had to cover Fi's patrol with Kid Win, then he'd pulled the door shut with more force than necessary. When they got back from the patrol, the door was still shut.
"I made my point."
"Everything okay?"
"It will be. Armsmaster wanted my opinion, I gave it, and he didn't like it. We argued. I persuaded him."
"That required two hours?"
"He wanted explanations I couldn't give. And he let it slip that Company had his fingers in the pie in question, so I called him up and had words with him directly. Then I had to talk to Legend. Then Armsmaster and I argued some more." Jason wasn't sure exactly what Company's official PRT roll was, but he did know that Fi was coming to hate him with a passion, and despite her continual, obvious displeasure, Company was allowed to continue to harass her. He wasn't eager to put her in a bad mood, so he shifted the conversation.
"You argued with Legend?" She smirked, self-satisfied, and Jason decided to take a risk. They were the only two in the base, so she might be willing to answer. "Is he in that third class of cape?"
Fi looked honestly startled, which made Jason feel a little more pride than was polite. Not much surprised his teammate. "I forgot that you heard me make that jab at Triumph. But how did you guess…" she trailed off in dawning understanding. "It was last Friday, wasn't it? You saw something there."
"So I'm right?"
"You are."
"What do they have in common?"
She shook her head, and Jason swallowed back the urge to press further, which was made easier when she explained. "I can't tell you. I really, really can't. Just knowing the answer could put you in danger." That made Jason flush cold. When an S-class cape was afraid of information, it was probably healthy to fear it too. That didn't kill Jason's curiosity, but it balanced it.
"Can you tell me about any others?" She had confirmed Legend, and she'd told him that she suspected Aegis weeks ago, so many knowing who qualified must be less dangerous than knowing the what tied them together.
"Why do you want to know?"
"It matters to you." That made Fi smile again, honest and open, but before she could answer, the elevator opened and Missy and Carlos walked out. Fi sat back in her chair and put her feet up again, and Jason knew that the conversation was over.
"Hey guys!" Missy greeted casually, dropping into a chair while Carlos silently pulled one up next to her.
"Hello." Jason answered her, trying to be friendly. Fi gave a little hand wave, but didn't speak. She was watching Carlos, distracted. "How was your week?"
"Busy. Made busier by three briefings. You?"
"Same. School's been in a tizzy over the arrests, but there's been no gang action which is good, all things considered." Jason carefully didn't look at Fi, knowing that he'd pushed her on the topic of her move already. He didn't want to criticize her right now, even if he really wasn't pleased to have been left alone at Winslow.
She used her foot to gently bump his knee under the table, which he took for apology, and turned her attention to Missy. "I've stranded poor Jason by moving into the Wards' base," she elaborated as the elevator opened again to admit Dean and Dennis, and her tone, too, was apologetic. Jason gave his teammates a smile and a little wave, while Missy answered Fi.
"I didn't know you'd moved. When did this happen?"
"Tuesday."
"You should have mentioned it on Wednesday night," Dean somehow managed to say without sounding like he was criticizing her. Dean seemed to be the only other Ward that understood exactly how fragile Fi could be.
"I didn't want to distract from the important briefings and discussions. And it wasn't official until Thursday night," Fi said as she waved away the concern. Jason wondered if that was all that she'd argued with Armsmaster over, or if there had been more than one topic of persuasion.
Before he could find a way to subtly ask, Rory came up from Chris' workshop, Kid Win on his heels, and they took the last two seats. After a momentary glance around the table to realize everyone was present, Rory awkwardly got back to his feet.
"Good afternoon everyone. Good to see you all. I know we usually don't hold multiple briefings in one week, but there's a lot of new information to pass on. First, a new cape has applied to be a Ward, and she'll be here in a little bit. Second, Aegis and I will be graduating early. We'll publicly leave at the end of next month, but Clockblocker will take over operations a week from tomorrow. We're working on press conferences and such, with more details to follow."
Intrepid glanced around the table to see how the others were taking the news, but no one was really reacting one way or the other. Clockblocker looked a little eager, though he was trying to be subtle, and Vista bumped him on the arm. Kid Win was definitely surprised, but he recovered well and offered a tentative congratulations to Clockblocker, who was sitting on his left.
"Are you guys okay?" Gallant asked.
"We are." Aegis assured him. "There's been a lot of discussion about our leadership over the past month, so we knew something might be changing soon. The Protectorate have a lot of reasons for the decision. For one, the new Ward means more manpower which means we aren't needed as badly.
"Also, this is partially a repercussion for not recognizing what was happening with Sophia. The PRT feels the team could use a clean break from everything that happened in that situation, at least as much as possible.
"There is a PR benefit to having one leadership transition, instead of two in six months. Finally, they feel that Clockblocker is ready for the position. Triumph and I both have several offers from various teams, so it's not like we're being hung out to dry. We'll have choices."
"Congratulations, again" Clockblocker offered sincerely, and Vista and Gallant echoed him.
"Indeed," Contract offered dryly. Nothing in her face betrayed smugness, but Intrepid knew that it was unlikely that the team would suffer a major shift without someone consulting her. Had she wanted Clockblocker for a leader specifically? Had she perhaps wanted anyone but Triumph?
"Any questions?" Triumph offered, opening the floor.
"Who's the new kid?" Vista jumped in.
"New cape, never been out before, never even been in costume. She triggered months ago, but hasn't used her powers yet," Triumph replied, then he cleared his throat. "How do we want to handle identities?"
"I'm good to reveal, but that means much less for me than for all of you," Contract offered. Now she did sound smug, like she knew something they didn't.
"Is there anyone opposed to a universal reveal, assuming the new cape is also up for it?" Clockblocker asked with authority, and okay, Intrepid could see why they might want to trade Rory for Dennis. Everyone glanced at each other, but no one protested. Clockblocker nodded, satisfied, then continued.
"Why don't we go suit up in case she doesn't want to reveal, and then we can meet back here?" They scattered to their individual rooms to do as suggested, but Intrepid stayed at the table since he was already dressed for his patrol later. The others were back surprisingly quickly, even Gallant who had to climb into his power armor. Once they were all reassembled, Clockblocker turned to Triumph and asked him, "Did you have anything else you wanted to cover?"
"Well, there's the new protocols…" Triumph sort of trailed off, and Clockblocker picked up his train of thought, turning to the rest of the table.
"The PRT is taking this opportunity to introduce a number of new protocols. Some are in response to the situation with Sophia, and some are by my recommendation to generally improve communication among the team. We're going to be sending more alerts by PRT phone message, not just readiness alerts. So, for example, when there's an incident at Winslow and Intrepid has to respond, we'll all get alerts too even though we're across town so that we know there is something going on with our teammate."
"And when one of our own moves across town into the Wards' base on a permanent basis?" Vista asked pointedly. Contract rolled her eyes dramatically.
"My apologies. For the record, I now live in my bunk. Can we focus on the new protocols?"
Clockblocker obliged her and continued. "We are also going to move to three man patrols so that we can venture a little further into gang territory and do a little more good. There will be some new reports too, but those we can discuss later before they become finalized. I'd like to give you all some input in the decisions. The new patrol roster starts next Tuesday, and we'll send it out after this briefing. Finally, we are going to schedule regular briefings every week for everything from information update to general discussion. If you guys have other ideas that you think will help the team, please don't hesitate to share them."
To Intrepid, those all sounded like very good ideas, especially in a team this size. In Texas, there had only been four Wards, and they basically only had time to patrol together on the weekends so communication was easy, but with so many more teammates, more formal communication was necessary. Right now it seemed like they sort of gave information to each other haphazardly.
"When were you planning to schedule the briefings?" Kid Win asked.
"We can discuss that. I was thinking that Tuesdays are good for most of our schedules. It's after the weekend craziness and it's typically a slow day on patrols anyway."
"We should have two or three times and rotate every week so that we're not predictably missing from the streets at the same time each Tuesday," Vista proposed.
Contract nodded, looking thoughtful. "We all get out of school early, so we could meet during that last hour of "school" when everyone already expects the Wards to be busy. I know most of us watch the Parahuman lectures during that slot, but we can find time to watch one lecture each week independently instead of together. Otherwise I'm with Vista, I think we need to avoid predictability, or else be suited and ready to roll just in case."
Gallant threw his two cents in, "I'm game for either of those."
Clockblocker had been nodding to all this, and he made a note on his phone as he said, "I'll ask Armsmaster to ask the thinkers for their opinion. That's exactly the kind of feedback I appreciate."
Intrepid wondered if he should speak up, because he didn't want to sound petty. He'd gotten the impression that the Wards here in Brockton Bay took life a lot more seriously than his old team. On the other hand, he'd been sitting on the sidelines like a wallflower, so he really should contribute something soon. "I know we're a lot busier here than in Texas, but we used to get together once a month and just relax. It helped us build teamwork faster. We watched movies, or went bowling, usually in our civilian identities. We did it once in costume, too, but that wasn't encouraged."
Vista didn't look enthusiastic, but Gallant and Kid Win seemed to like the idea. Clockblocker took in the table with a glance. "Let's set up a calendar and all put our blocked and free time on it, and see how many hours we even have to work with. We can go from there."
Before anything else could be said, the elevator gave it's warning chime for civilian identities, and conversation paused while they waited. The system counted down, and then the doors opened, revealing Director Renick and a tall, slim girl with thick black hair. She was wearing a regular jeans and a sweatshirt with a domino mask over her eyes, so she was so new she didn't even have a costume yet.
"Good morning, everyone." Director Renick greeted them, and some of the Wards mumbled hello or good morning back to him.
"We've agreed to fully reveal, if you'll reciprocate." Triumph said with gentle authority, addressing the new cape directly. It was the best impression of leadership that Intrepid had seen from him yet. She nodded her agreement. "You understand the consequences of revealing the secret identity of any cape, right?" The new cape nodded again, and Triumph waved her over to the two chairs that they'd added to the table after they changed. She and Renick each took a seat, then Triumph started the introductions. "I'm Triumph, and also Rory Christner." He took his mask off and smiled at her disarmingly.
Aegis went next, and then they continued around the table. "Aegis, or Carlos."
"Vista, Missy Biron."
"Clockblocker, Dennis."
"Contract, but I wildly prefer Fi." The new cape didn't react to Fi, so she must have been expecting to meet her, which wasn't impossible, but it also wasn't how Intrepid himself would have reacted to an S-class cape introducing themselves so casually.
"Intrepid, Jason." The new cape looked a little startled, and he wondered if she had encountered him in his civilian identity. She did seem sort of familiar.
"Kid Win. And Chris."
"Gallant, or Dean." He was sitting next to her, so he reached over and shook her hand. She smiled and blushed under the mask.
"I'm ah, Taylor Hebert." She took of the mask, and Jason felt his jaw drop a little. "I don't have a cape name yet." Jason forced himself not to blurt out anything that would embarrassing for either of them.
After barely a beat he managed, "Hey Taylor." He grinned at her and she smiled back.
"Um, hi Jason." Taylor seemed to be shocked, which was good because it meant she hadn't guessed his identity. He glanced at Fi, but she was grinning like the cat who had caught the canary, which reminded Jason that she had already spilled her secret to Taylor three weeks ago. Had she known then that Taylor was a cape?
The moment stretched awkwardly, and Jason realized that he had no idea what Taylor did or didn't know about Sophia's full story. When she had talked to himself and Fi at school, she had focused more on Emma Barnes. He tried to catch Fi's eye, but it seemed like everyone was glancing at each other, trying to figure out how to approach the elephant in the room.
As usual, Contract decided to take the bull by the horns. "It's good to see you again, Taylor. Do you mind if I help the rest of the team catch up a bit?" Taylor shrugged, and Contract immediately turned toward Clockblocker.
"I revealed my cape identity to Taylor at the end of February for my own reasons. On Thursday, the father of one of Shadow Stalker's co-conspirators confronted Taylor about the PRT involvement in his daughter's case, thinking that she might be a parahuman and thereby responsible for the trouble that Emma was facing. That data was all Taylor needed to figure out Shadow Stalker's identity.
"Yesterday, she brought her suspicions to me. I didn't confirm anything, but I couldn't exactly deny it either. I went to Armsmaster and convinced him to get special permission for full disclosure. Then I got together with Taylor. Once she had all the facts, Taylor decided to join the Wards."
"So what do you do?" Vista asked, while the rest of the team reeled under the information dump. Jason at least knew most of the names, and he was having trouble following the obviously condensed version of events. He made sure to smile at Taylor, at least, since he was glad to see her.
"I control bugs." Taylor waved a hand and eight lady bugs drifted out of folds in her clothing and started following the tip of her finger. After a moment, she dropped her hand and the bugs kept performing clearly unnatural acrobatics, until they each landed in front of a different Ward. "Everything in a block radius."
"That's awesome," Kid Win said, leaning forward to investigate his bug.
"So you don't have a name yet?" Vista asked.
"Everything I've come up with is taken, villainous, creepy, or some combination thereof. I'm considering Buzz or Weaver, but they don't really feel right."
"PR can probably help with that," Intrepid offered, wanting to put Taylor at ease. In addition to the fact that she was the closest thing he really had to a friend at Winslow, she was a nice girl and he genuinely wanted to help.
"PR is going to have a field day." Vista countered, laughing slightly. "Don't worry, we'll help where we can, but your power set is going to cause headaches for marketing. We'll work it out, but I'm looking forward to the challenge." Intrepid had noticed that Vista tended to enjoy bucking authority in non-harmful ways. He wondered if it was just her frustration with being the youngest but most experienced, or if there was other factors he hadn't learned yet.
"Thanks." Taylor grinned at Vista and she grinned back. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Intrepid. He wondered if she was having a hard time reconciling him with her school friend, because he was struggling to picture Taylor, the bullying victim, as a cape.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear any of that," Renick tossed in. "Before I leave you in Triumph's hands for orientation, I want to discuss deployment with all of you. With Taylor we now have two Wards at Winslow again, but Taylor won't be ready for the field for a few weeks at least. Besides the PR issues, she's still making her costume. Additionally, Contract has requested to be based out of the Wards headquarters, which has been granted for now."
Renick sighed, "Unfortunately, all this leaves a gap at Winslow. Even once Taylor is active, the past weeks have shown a need for more presence at Winslow. So we will be looking for another Ward to volunteer to transfer. We will also be looking into rapid deployment options for Contract to get to Winslow or anywhere else in case of need. The gangs have been quiet, but that won't last forever. I'll let you discuss it among yourselves, but I need an answer by next Sunday afternoon or I'll have to decide."
With that, he stood and left the room. In Texas, the Wards' deputy director had been much more active in the leading of the team, but Renick was either too busy or else trusted his team leader.
Once he was gone, Triumph took control again. "Well, Taylor, do you have questions for the team before we move into your orientation?"
"Um, not really. I mean, I don't really know that much about anyone except the basic power information that I read last night after I decided to join, but I guess that will come with time, right?"
"Right. We'll have time to chat later. Come on." He lead her over to the private office that was attached to the main room and shut the door behind them. As soon as the knob clicked, Clockblocker turned on Contract.
"You should have told us when you compromised your identity."
"As I understand cape law, my identity is my businesses, as is my decision to disclose it."
Normally, Intrepid would tend to support Contract over Clockblocker, but in this case the soon-to-be leader was right. "But we're your teammates. How can we have your back if you're out taking unnecessary risks?"
"Especially when you don't care about the risk, and we don't know about it," Clockblocker tacked on.
"Jason knew," she snapped out.
"After the fact!" Jason defended, "After it was too late to do anything. And when I asked you about it, and you said you had it under control. I thought you had a personal reason to trust Taylor. But I have to agree with Clockblocker, it sounds like you didn't care about the risk."
"I cared about the risk. I just cared more about the information it conveyed." Contract held up a hand when Clockblocker opened his mouth to interrupt. "Hear me out." He sat back a little, and Jason forced himself to swallow his response too. "From the minute I met Shadow Stalker, my gut said there was something wrong. And as soon as I went into Winslow, I knew she was targeting Taylor. Any of you would have, if you'd seen what I did. She had no reason to hide what she was doing like she did here on the Wards. Jason certainly agreed with me.
"So I knew a Ward was harassing a single individual, and that's all I knew. I sought out Taylor to get a read on her, and when she told me that she was the victim I believed her whole sale. But I could also tell that she was keeping a secret. I couldn't just stand by and watch the situation. Maybe Taylor was an Empire member, and Sophia felt she had to strike first to protect herself. Maybe Sophia was a sociopath. I didn't know, but I needed to find out. So I poked the status quo. I gave Taylor my cape name just to see how she'd react."
"And she gave you the bullying records," Jason put in, remembering the first time he'd been introduced to Taylor. Contract nodded.
Clockblocker pulled them back on track before they could start to tangent. "So why not tell us then? Why not warn us that you were compromised, and talk to us about Sophia?"
"For one thing, you didn't hear me out two weeks ago when I tried to raise the issue. For another, at that point I had already guessed that Taylor was a cape. That was the secret that I had picked up on, and the reason I gave her my name in the first place. I couldn't risk breaking the law by exposing the secret identity of a minor. I was hamstrung. So I worked around the obstacles. I'm sorry for the way it happened, but I didn't enjoy it any more than you're enjoying hearing about it. I just didn't know what else to do."
"Next time, trust us," Clockblocker insisted.
"Like you trusted me?" She shot back, a little viscously. Clockblocker cringed, then got angry, but Contract was already lifting her hand again in the same 'stop' motion as before. "I'm sorry, that was unfair. You took your leap of faith."
She dropped her hand and looked away from Clockblocker, encompassing all of them. "I'm sorry. I'm trying to trust you." She met Intrepid's eyes solidly. "I am."
Intrepid nodded solemnly, believing her. As much as Contract hadn't told them, Jason did believe that she was trying, and she was sharing some secrets, at least with him. Before he could decide what to say, Vista spoke up. "I'm glad. You can trust us. And you know it goes both ways. We trust you too."
"I know. And I'll get better."