Chapter Nineteen: Meet the Press
March 18, 2011
It was just after 4:30 pm when Glenn knocked on Contract's door. Armsmaster had tried to cancel the interview when the Wards patrol encountered Hookwolf, but Contract had simply given a small smile and asked calmly if there was any damage or dirt on her costume that she needed to deal with before she got in front of the cameras. Armsmaster had tried to draw her aside, but she'd given him a look and quietly insisted that she would be fine, and then she had left to write her report.
Armsmaster asked Glenn to cancel the interview anyway. He said the pressure was just too much, but Glenn was concerned that if they postponed the interview it would only continue to weigh on Contract's mind.
Instead, Glenn had given her as much time to recover and prepare herself as they could afford, before he knocked on the door.
She opened it with a smile that was so brittle it almost broke his heart. She was wearing thin from the stress she was under, and Glenn was concerned that he'd made it worse by pushing her so hard that past Wednesday. "Can I have five minutes?" she asked casually.
"We need to get on the road."
Contract nodded easily, and shut the door behind her as she stepped into the main Wards' base. "Lead the way."
They walked to the garage in silence, but when they got to the car, she visibly hesitated. "I don't suppose there's any chance of you letting me drive?" She asked quietly.
"You have a license?" Glenn asked.
"Yes. Both as Elizabeth and in my previous life," she admitted. Glenn rolled the keys in his hands. It was against PRT policy for a masked hero to drive in case they were pulled over, but it was his private car and the drive was just a little over five miles.
"Be nice to her," he said as he tossed his keys. Contract snatched them out of the air, climbed eagerly into the driver's seat, and whipped her mask into her back pocket.
Contract pulled out smoothly, even more smoothly than he sometimes did, since he'd only had the stick shift for a year. Immediately, she started up conversation. Glenn made a mental note that putting Contract behind the wheel of a car did wonders for her stress levels. "So the reporters names are Julie McWilliams and Roberta Cassidy. Julie is the funny one and Roberta is the griller, right?"
"That's correct." A car whipped in front of them, but Contract slid smoothly into a lower gear and changed lanes without a single hesitation. If he hadn't seen the car nearly side-swipe them, he'd never have known anything had happened.
"Roberta is the blonde?"
"Yes. But she won't be out to get you." He reminded her. He'd specifically chosen Julie and Bobby for their straight forward reporting. The Wards had enjoyed great success with their morning talk show in the past, and he was looking forward to an easy interview.
"Thanks for setting this up." Contract said, flashing him a smile as she looked over the check his side-view mirror. "I know I haven't made your job easy."
"You haven't been too bad. Just so long as you're not going to spring a surprise name-change on me," Glenn joked. Contract gave him a glance that, just for a moment, made his stomach drop. "Contract?" He pressed.
She glanced at him again, then sighed as she changed lanes. "I thought about it. I wouldn't have surprised you with it, but I did give the name change serious consideration. In the end, I decided you were right. I don't want to give in to it."
"You scared me there for a minute."
"Sorry." She turned into the studio and slid seamlessly into the closest parking space. She didn't move to get out of the car immediately, instead just sitting with her hands on the wheel and her eyes closed.
"Fi?" Glenn asked, remembering to use her civilian name this time. "You okay?"
She opened her eyes, looked over, smiled, and very deliberately moved her hands off the wheel. "I will be." She released inhaled deeply. "Let's do this."
Without further hesitation, she swung her body up and out of the car in a single, smooth motion. By the time she was vertical, she had her mask back in place and she immediately strode purposefully toward the entrance. Glenn followed in her wake, watching the reactions of the people she passed in the lobby and the receptionists as she approached.
Contract was as good as the promise she had made him: when she was trying to be a hero, no one would mistake her for a civilian. People stepped out of her path before they had fully processed who she was, heads came up to follow her, and she never glanced to either side. Instead, she strode right past the reception counter and swept to the elevators. Glenn moved behind her as his own pace, and by the time he'd crossed the large, quiet lobby, the elevator was dinging.
They got in together, and Glenn pushed the button for the fifth floor. "How do you do it?" he asked, amazed at the change in demeanor.
"You wade through a couple of hell holes, and a building lobby isn't so scary. As long as you don't break rhythm, no one else will either."
"I meant, how do you contain all of that potential in a non-threatening shell?" Glenn had no doubt that it was the fading-in-the-background, quiet, cooperative face that was the mask. Confidence like Contract's couldn't be consistently faked.
"I was the youngest of five siblings. It was a long time before I was even close to being the tallest, fastest, or smartest. But I was always the quietest."
She gave him a conspiratorial wink, and he chuckled. It probably wasn't a completely true answer, but it was enough. She laughed with him, then the doors opened, and she stepped out and turned to the left seamlessly, though she had no way of knowing which direction the studio was in. She was correct however, so Glenn just followed her down the hall and into the recording studio.
Julie and Bobby were standing at a table set up with coffee and cookies, and Contract aimed for them as soon as she cleared the threshold, arriving several seconds before him. She extended a hand first to Bobby and then to Julie, greeting them each by name. When he reached them, he offered his own hellos.
"Cutting it a little close, Glenn," Bobby teased. "Your old wreck break down on you?"
Glenn chuckled, though he didn't find her funny. "No. Just a busy day."
"My fault really," Contract said as she reached across Julie to pick up a toothpick and stab a strawberry. "Hookwolf took a little longer to deal with than Clockblocker and I estimated. Glenn warned me about a patrol on the day of an important interview, and I really should have listened. He's the expert, right?" She grinned widely at Bobby, who was doing a poor job of hiding her surprise.
"Hookwolf?" Julie asked.
"Oh, don't worry, everyone's fine. It's just that booking a villain takes more paperwork than I realized. Hazards of being a new employee." She smiled innocently, as though she didn't understand the bomb she was dropping on the two reporters.
"You arrested Hookwolf?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Contract paused for just a moment, while her audience tried to reconcile her denial with what she had just said. "Clockblocker arrested Hookwolf. I arrested the three gang members he brought with him. Then we had to wait for the police to come and transfer custody of the non-parahumans to the appropriate officers and take Hookwolf back to be processed at the PRT base."
"The two of you took out four members of the Empire?"
"We couldn't have done it without the air support from Gallant. The three of us make a great mini-squad, if I do say so myself."
Before the women could dig for more details, one of the techs came over to usher them to the couch so they could start shooting. Contract gestured them to go first, popped the slice of strawberry into her mouth, and winked at Glenn. For his part, Glenn was impressed. She may not have wanted to do television interviews, but she didn't seem like she'd have any trouble with the reporters.
Bobby and Julie each took their traditional places on the left-most couch, and Contract sank gracefully onto the right-side couch, leaning back and putting on arm over the back of the low seat. While techs bustled around, checking lights and adjusting details, Julie leaned forward to talk to Contract.
"Have you ever been on camera before?"
"Nothing like this," Contract replied casually. Julie smiled warmly.
"Well, try to look at the camera whenever you remember to do so. You can look at us when we're speaking, but make sure you glance over to the front of the set several times a minute. You'll see Bobby and I do it too." Contract nodded to show she was following along as Julie continued. "This isn't live, so if something goes terribly wrong we can stop. But we want this to feel natural for you and for the audience. So don't over think it, and just relax."
"Thank you, Julie."
"We're ready, ladies," one tech said as the remaining ones moved behind the cameras. Glenn stole a seat near the center camera, closer to Contract than the reporters, where she would be able to glance to him for cues if she needed them. A tech clicked a movie slate, and the theme music played.
"Welcome back to B and J in the morning. Bobby and I are here with a very special guest today whom I'm sure you all recognize. Contract, would you like to introduce yourself?"
Contract turned toward the camera as it panned out to include her in the frame. "Hello everyone. I'm the teenager who erased Behemoth." She gave a smile that was almost shy.
Julie laughed a little while Contract smiled winningly, and Bobby spoke up. "I'm sure you've been asked this a lot, but how did you do it? The press release wasn't very descriptive."
Contract smiled widely, turning her head to Bobby for the slightest of moments. "It's hard to describe. Most powers change the way parahumans perceive the world to some extent or another. Mine are like being able to smell the color red and make it blue by feeling for taste of marble. It's an entirely separate sense that isn't easy to describe. I wish I could be more help, but I don't know how else to say it." She looked back to Bobby. "I converted Behemoth's mass into energy and used that energy to facelift New York City."
Contract shrugged casually, as she so frequently did after saying or doing the impossible. If Bobby hadn't already had her next question ready, it might have been enough to throw her off her game. Glenn could sympathize - it was unnerving to hear a 16 year old girl talk about that level of power.
"But you can't just convert any mass?"
"No. I've given this a lot of thought and exploration. Behemoth was dynokinetic in a very unique way. Given the destruction he wrecked in the past, I think it's possible that he was actually converting his own mass, just as I did. I'm pretty sure my power tapped into his. That's why I haven't repeated my trick twice over already."
Julie picked up the conversation next. "I think I speak for everyone when I say we are just grateful for what you've already done." Contract's smile grew into a genuine grin when she heard that. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you choose your name?"
"It's a funny story, really. It's actually a nick name that was given to me as a civilian. The person who gave it to me died in a car crash about the same time I got my powers, and I decided to dedicate my career as a hero to his memory. Before he died, he always said that a hero didn't have to be special, a hero was just anyone who decided to stand up and step out. I wanted that legacy to live."
"You've made several comments to that effect on Parahumans Online. It seems very important to you."
"I think our society is ready for a change. Criminal capes outnumber the good ones 5 to 1 globally, in the kindest estimate. In some of the worst areas, it's 33 to 1. If people wait for the heroes in capes to do all the heavy lifting, there's a long line of too many things to do. But if people help each other, then I believe there's no limit on what we can do."
"Not everyone can stop an Endbringer." Contract didn't flinch at Bobby's wording, even though it was the phrasing she had expressed such hatred for. Instead, she rolled with the punch.
"But anyone can stand up to a bully. Or a mugging. Or a kidnapping. Anyone can call child services. Anyone can be a designated driver."
"Indeed they can," Julie put in diplomatically. "Thank you for sharing with us. How are you settling in to Brockton Bay?"
Contract relaxed back into the couch, losing some of the intensity that Glenn hadn't even realized she'd picked up. She was good at this, naturally and easily playing to the audience. "It's not too bad. I've made some good friends on the Wards team, and Armsmaster is an awesome boss. School is going well, though obviously I can't tell you which campus I'm on." She smiled conspiratorially at the two hostesses, who smiled back.
"Even if you can't tell us where you take classes, can you tell us anything about the events at Winslow?" Bobby asked slyly.
Contract pretended to consider it, then leaned forward as though telling a secret, though her voice didn't drop in tone or volume. "Which events?"
"Any of them!" Julie encouraged.
Contract relaxed back into the couch again, and smirked. Something in that smirk set off a warning in Glenn's head, but there wasn't anything he could do. "Alright. Winslow. What can I say? The school is a disaster zone waiting to happen. Yesterday, a kid was trapped in a dumpster on school grounds for an hour and a half. The Empire didn't like his good grades. The day before that, two senior girls stole textbooks from a freshman, to try to pressure her into joining the Merchants.
"On the Tuesday before last, four girls were put in suspension after a sustained bullying campaign that went on for 18 months and left a student hospitalized. The day before, three more girls were arrested in connection with the same case. Two weeks ago today, I confiscated nine knives and a set of brass knuckles from a score of teenagers trying to kill each other." Bobby tried to open her mouth and zone in on the story lurking there, but Contract didn't pause even to take a breath.
"The staff is overworked, underpaid, and without the resources they need for protection, enforcement, and counselling. The dropout rate is 68%. In a good month, no one gets sent to the hospital.
"I was placed in proximity with Winslow because they needed me. It is a sad, sad commentary on a city when one of their public schools needs cape intervention. It is a sad, sad commentary on a city when everyone who can, gets out and goes to a school with a Faraday cage, while less than an hour away kids are fighting for their lives.
"That's the highlights of the recent events at Winslow." There was a moment of stunned silence, then Contract continued in the same steady, level, forced-casual tone. "Was there any of that specifically that you were looking to discuss?"
Julie got her feet back first. "What are you going to do to change it?"
"I'm going to keep talking about it. I'm going to go on the air and call the city out on the fact that it is dumping kids into a black hole and walking away. I'm going to point out that the ferry hasn't run in 15 years, and until it does, more than 40% of the city's real estate is serving as a breeding ground for criminals and gangs, while the good people who live in these neighborhoods are being left to the wolves, like sacrificial sheep. I'm going to keep showing up on Winslow campus. And as of today, the Wards are adopting a new patrol pattern that will take us into the areas where we are needed."
Contract held a hand up towards the camera, and smiled apologetically directly into the lens. "I know, I wasn't supposed to announce that today," her hand dropped and her face turned a little sheepish, as she looked straight at an audience that didn't exist yet, and kept talking as though she was addressing him alone. "I guess I got carried away. I just want to make a difference."
Bobby laughed a little nervously. "Some would say that erasing Behemoth made a difference."
Contract broke eye contact with the camera to turn back to her, shifting tone to match Bobby's casualness. "But what is the point of being an S-class cape if you don't keep doing good in the world?"
Bobby and Julie glanced at each other, and Glenn's heart sank again. They were going to ask one of the forbidden questions, and he had no idea how Contract would react. She'd done well so far, all things considered. He hadn't expected a passionate appeal to town politics, but nothing she had said was too horrible. Again, he was helpless to do anything but wait.
It was Julie who spoke up. "Are you still an S-class cape, if you can't, as you said, repeat the trick twice over?"
Contract breathed in deeply. It wasn't even enough to be called a hesitation, but Glenn got the sense that she was restraining herself. "I guess that's a question for my bosses." She shrugged, but the casualness was more forced now.
Bobby followed up immediately. "What do your parents think about your new status?"
"My parents are dead," Contract answered easily. "Only the living got healed in New York. Those that Behemoth had already killed, stayed dead." Both hostesses leaned back involuntarily. Contract didn't lean forward, but her tone became intense. "I do still have living family, but I haven't seen them since before- well, before. When I woke up after I destroyed Behemoth, my first instinct was to go home. Alexandria reminded me of what I had just done, and the target that it put on my back. And I knew, in that moment, that I had already said goodbye to my family. I can never go back to them."
Neither hostess responded. They probably hadn't expected a response, and they didn't know what to do with the answer they received. Surprisingly, it was Contract who let them off the hook. "It's okay. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said all that. I'm still coming to peace with it. I'm okay, really. Sorry I flipped on you guys." She scoffed at herself, inviting a touch of self-mockery.
Julie reached out across the couches and grabbed Contract's hand. "Thank you for sharing." Contract did a good imitation of laughing like she was trying not to cry, and Julie glanced at Bobby significantly, passing some silent message to her partner.
Bobby picked up her cue, and asked, "So, what's with the new mask?"
Contract gave another wet little laugh, then extracted her hand from Julie and turned to split her attention between Bobby and the camera. "Well, I wanted something a little bit older and bolder. And, to be honest, the white one was a couple years old and it smelled like it. Leather can hold a lot of sweat-smell if you're not careful, and I wasn't." She put on a forced smile. "Plus, get a load of these boots."
Glenn reviewed the edited clip the minute it hit his inbox, but he needn't have worried. The first half of the interview was uncut-the only editing the studio had done was to switch between camera angles where appropriate. The second half, discussing costumes, favorite songs, and hot actors had been clipped to about two thirds of the original length, but nothing was misrepresented.
After he'd watched it twice and was certain he was happy with it, he packed up his laptop and took the elevator to Armsmaster's lab. Contract and Legend were both there when he arrived, despite the late hour.
Glenn could tell from the tension that he had interrupted something, but he decided it wasn't his business. "I think you're going to be pleased." He opened the laptop lid and all four of them watched the interview together. Afterwards, Contract radiated smugness. Neither of her superiors were as happy.
"A little heavy-handed, don't you think?" Armsmaster challenged her immediately. Contract shrugged, but met his gaze seriously.
"If Brockton Bay continues in its current path, there is a good chance that we will see an Endbringer within the next two and half years. We are on the top ten list of America's worst cities in terms of illiteracy, villainy, crime, gang membership, income disparity, teen pregnancy, and kidnappings. That has to change."
"That's not really your place," he pushed back, but with less force than before. It was clear that he disagreed with the delivery much more than the message.
Glenn jumped in to give his opinion. "Perhaps not. But I think there is an opportunity here." And it wouldn't do to let that opportunity be wasted because a teenager had failed to get the proper clearance. "Contract should have cleared this with all of us before the interview, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater."
He could see that he had Armsmaster's attention from his posture, but Legend was more difficult to read. Regardless, Glenn continued. "The interview itself is prime material: Contract is very earnest, open, and the comments flow naturally as part of the dialog. The key is in the message itself. Contract isn't an S-class cape that will magically change Brockton Bay. Instead, our message is that she provides a unique, outside perspective that is giving us a fresh chance to address existing problems. It's a reinforcement of the efforts in Brockton Bay, not an undermining of it."
"You think you can control this?" Legend asked mildly.
Glenn nodded. "Over the next couple days, we will have statements from various heroes across all available media subtly reinforcing the party line. Then a joint interview with the new Wards and Armsmaster himself." He turned toward the local leader. "You'll do most of the talking, to reinforce that this is not about Contract."
The Ward in question rolled her eyes but didn't speak up.
"You believe this is for the best?" Armsmaster asked, and Glenn smiled.
"I do indeed."
The two heroes nodded, then Legend spoke for them both. "Run it." He turned to Contract. "This doesn't excuse your attempt to dictate terms to the Protectorate."
Contract scoffed and straightened up from where she'd been leaning against the side of a table. "I wasn't attempting to dictate terms. I saw an opportunity to make a statement and I took it. It was a no-cost risk. If you wanted to cut the material, you could have. The misdirection with my family was juicy enough to satisfy the news cast. If you liked the statement, as it turns out you do, then you leave it in. No risk, moderate reward."
The defense was the same one Contract had used on the drive back, but she delivered it far more belligerently now. The logic satisfied Glenn. The tone was sure to irk both heroes.
"You should have discussed this with us before you went in front of a camera."
"Because you've been so understanding!" she shot back scathingly.
Armsmaster stepped in. "Did you honestly think we wouldn't support a simple awareness campaign? You do realize we've been heroes just a little longer than you have."
"I figured you might. You see the cancer that is infested itself into the Bay. You're out there fighting it day in and day out. Your superiors?" She shot Legend a dirty look. "Not so much."
"We have bent over backwards for you," Legend protested, but Contract took a step forward and spoke over the rest of his statement.
"I'd hate to see what you'd look like obstructing me. You forced me into joining this little fanclub. You refused to station me in Texas and insisted that I draw a random city. You licensed my image without asking or even notifying me of the fact. You refused to transfer me to an international team. You failed to tell me that the bounties on my head now top two million dollars, cumulative."
Glenn guessed that the last statement surprised Legend, but it didn't throw him off. "We are professionals who have been in the business much longer than you. This is not a fanclub. It is not a joke. And whether you believe it or not, we are not out to get you. Every decision we have made has been in accordance with protocols that are designed to save lives." Legend's voice wasn't completely calm, but it was steadier than Contract's.
She met his gaze with a harsh glare, but didn't immediately reply. Legend didn't wait for her to speak. "Did you or did you not go into that interview without discussing your full agenda with Glenn beforehand?"
Contract's jaw tipped up. "I did not." Legend arched his eyebrows and Contract swallowed heavily before continuing. If Glenn had to speculate, she was swallowing her pride and anger. "Glenn and I agreed that I would be open, friendly, and as honest as was reasonable. They asked me about my name, and I told them an honest answer. They asked a follow up question about my beliefs. I answered it. I didn't attempt to engineer the statement. It was a spur of the moment decision."
Legend glanced at Glenn had he nodded. That had been his read on the situation at the time, and he believed Contract now. Legend glanced at Armsmaster next, and he nodded as well, though the bottom half of his facial expression didn't look happy.
Contract read that unhappiness as well, and huffed. "Look, Glenn talked to me about being invested in my future as a hero. And as far as I can tell, that's what you all want from me too. So I'll be straight with you: this is what it looks like when I decide to be a hero. I care about Winslow and the Docks and the people in this city, and I can't stand by and watch them rot. I don't know what the solution is, but if you want someone to bare silent witness you came to the wrong doorstep."
Legend pursed his lips, but changed topics. "It seems we'll have to talk about this more later. Right now, let's talk about the misinformation you released about your family."
"The more incorrect information I release about my past, the better protected my family is."
"Lying to the media is dangerous," Glenn put in mildly, before Contract could work herself up to another full head of steam.
"Perhaps," she conceded. She took a breath to keep going, but Glenn jumped in first.
"No perhaps about it. Being caught in a lie can be disastrous. You made it sound like Behemoth killed your parents. If this is untrue and it comes out, your reputation will take a direct hit. You'll be seen as insensitive, untrustworthy, and dishonorable."
Contract jerked her head up and down once in response. It was obvious that her pride would not allow her to admit anything further. Glenn was disappointed. Despite the acumen and maturity she'd showed on Wednesday and in the interview, she'd been extremely antagonistic tonight.
He glanced at Armsmaster, but all three of them knew that the conversation wasn't over. Fortunately, Legend stepped forward to ask the question that had to be asked. Contract was already upset with him.
"You need to tell us the truth about your parents."
Contract stared at him, and Glenn felt certain she paused mostly to swallowed all the crude answers she couldn't say to the head of the Protectorate. "That's none of your business."
"It was none of our business," Legend corrected her. "You made it our business when you chose to discuss the matter on national television."
Contract glared for another moment, but she seemed to understand that they wouldn't back down on this. "I never knew my parents."
Legend's eyebrows descended, which was enough for Glenn to read that he was dismayed with her answer. "The people who raised you then."
Contract sneered, leaning back and crossing her arms in front of her. Even with part of her face covered, Glenn sensed that they had pushed her over a line and wouldn't like what she had to say next. "I was found on the side of a highway. I was passed from house to house and adult to adult. I raised myself."
There was too much suppressed anger in her words to believe she was making it up, but it contradicted her concern for her "family."
"They hardly seem worth protecting," Armsmaster said mildly, voicing Glenn's own thoughts. Contract shrugged, but it was obvious that she was still tense and the motion was forced.
"None of them ever claimed to be my parents, and I never asked them to be. They helped me when they could. Just because they didn't raise me doesn't mean they're not damned good people. They may not be parents, but they're family. Aunts, grandfathers," her voice choked for as she tacked on, "siblings," trying and failing to make that word as casual as the others.
So Contract had had peers, but not parents. It was these siblings, and possibly their families, she sought to protect.
"You never found out how or why you were abandoned?" Armsmaster gently probed. Glenn made a mental note that Armsmaster had learned subtly at some point when he wasn't looking. It would make his next TV interview much easier.
Contract gave another shrug while her posture remained taunt as a piano wire. "I never cared. Never looked." The first was obviously a lie, but Glenn suspected the second was true.
There was no good explanation that ended with a child abandoned by the roadside, and Contract probably understand that well enough to know she didn't need the details.
Legend glanced at both Glenn and Armsmaster, checking that they didn't have anything to say. Then he spoke. "We will obviously need to have several more discussions about your PR footprint and Protectorate policies." If possible, Contract leaned back a little more. "But as I understand it, your teammates are currently waiting on you. You're dismissed."
Contract nodded once, sharply, before she turned and fled. Glenn sighed, suspecting that the good report he'd built with Fi had just vanished.
"Indeed," Legend responded to his heavy sigh. "What a mess."
"The interview wasn't bad," Glenn pointed out.
"But it could have been," Legend responded. "She has no respect for the Protectorate. We're lucky that her personal opinions are manageable."
Armsmaster replied before Glenn had decided what he wanted to say. "Are there really bounties on her?"
"Yes," Legend admitted. "2.3 million dollars confirmed, and another 6 to 8 rumored. Some for her kidnapping, some just for her death."
"You should have told me."
"Would you have told her?" Legend sounded curious, not accusing, which was good. Armsmaster had been improving his relationship with Contract, but at the cost of occasional tensions with the leadership.
Armsmaster shook his head solemnly. "No teenager should have to bear that burden."
"She's probably more upset about the omission," Glenn put in his opinion mildly. "At least, right now. She didn't seem at all shook up when she rattled it off. Any idea how she might have found out?" Glenn had heard about it through the office gossip, but since no one in Brockton Bay seemed to have known, he doubted Contract had found out the same way.
"No idea," Armsmaster admitted.
Legend sighed. "It doesn't really matter. The bottom line is that we're facing yet another uphill battle to reach her." He massaged his temples.
"Speaking of which, about Clockblocker…"
Legend waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, of course. Technically, it is your jurisdiction to promote whomever you choose to lead your Wards team."
After a moment of awkward silence, he elaborated. "And on the whole, you seem to be doing a better job of reaching Contract than any other adult has managed expect perhaps Dragon. We'll have to trust your judgment." He hesitated, then continued, "But you should know that Company initially identified him as being hostile toward Contract. He was nearly moved off the team entirely."
"Contract doesn't think much of Company," Glenn volunteered. "In fact, I'd avoid mentioning him to her if at all possible."
Legend grimaced and Glenn guessed that he was torn. On one hand, allowing a teenager to dictate any piece of Protectorate policy had to rankle. On the other, the teenager in question was a walking nuke.
Armsmaster nodded to show he'd heard, but addressed Legend's concern instead. "Contract alerted me to the tension a week ago. Since then, she has also assured me that they are now working together flawlessly. She claims that she understands the reasons for his previous hostility and respects his leadership in a professional capacity. She also believes that their working dynamic will continue to improve. She said that previously existing barriers have been removed to the satisfaction of them both."
"We have nothing but her word?"
"Clockblocker corroborated her statement, although neither offered specifics."
"I hope you know what you're doing," Legend said, but he sounded tired, not doubtful, and Armsmaster didn't take offense. Legend turned to Glenn. "Always a pleasure. I appreciate your insight tonight."
"Of course. Anything to help," Glenn said smiling as he shook Legend's hand. The two heroes shook hands too, then Legend headed for the door.
Armsmaster waited until he was gone, then turned to Glenn. "I need help to draft a press release."
"Of course." Glenn had already resigned himself to not getting any sleep that night. Clockblocker as the leader of the Wards; the heroes of Brockton Bay calling on the people to step up; helping Contract play a part in a potential social revolution without letting it be succumbed by her image…
Armsmaster removed his helmet to make himself more comfortable. "Legend wasn't just here to deal with Contract. We were also finalizing a change in the local Protectorate. Miss Militia is going to step up and co-lead the ENE team with me."
That caught Glenn flatfooted. "What?"
"I am putting significant time into mentoring Contract and running interference between her and the rest of the PRT and Protectorate, Company in particular, as you noted. And I've never been good at the political side of things. Miss Militia has been helping fill in the gaps, and we talked about the possibly paths forward over the course of the last week.
"Legend's concerned about moving too fast, but Miss Militia and I want to get in front of any potential problems. I need to be able to devote enough time to tinkering and Contract, and we can't afford to make even the slightest error. So she is going to become my co-leader."
Glenn forced his mouth to not hang open in shock. Even a month ago, Armsmaster would have fought tooth and nail against any threat to his authority, real or perceived. Glenn had actually been a bit concerned about what lengths Armsmaster might go to in order to prove himself. It seemed that being given a worthwhile cause and capable ally had done him a world of good.
Glenn wondered if this maturity had always been hiding in Armsmaster, waiting for an excuse to emerge, or if it had been due to Contract specifically. He suspected the former. Armsmaster wouldn't have been appointed a Protectorate team leader if he wasn't suited for the job on some level.
He shook off the rumination and mentally rolled up his sleeves. Tonight would be challenging, but worthwhile - the best kind of long night possible.