"Miss Hebert, since you have come to your senses, could you remove your ... Projection?" - a voice from somewhere beyond her line of sight made Taylor twitch.
She was agonizing in pain, and her limbs barely moved. It was almost impossible to her head. But almost immediately the headboard of her bed began to rise, giving her better viewing point. At the same time, she felt that the tubes in her throat removed so she could speak again. Or maybe try to speak
In addition to [Persona] there were two more. First was a woman dressed in some kind of military uniform — high army boots, pants and jacket. American flag wrapped around the waist, same pattern balaclava, covering the lower half of the woman's face.
It took Taylor about half a second to identify Miss Militia, Brocton Bay Protectorate Member..
Heroes? Here? In her room?
But then... they knew her identity! They saw her! Were looking at her right now!
Madison. Sofia. Emma. «Winslow.» Trigger.
Everything inside Taylor seemed to freeze. Thoughts, emotions, air in her lung seemed frozen into the solid state
She felt safe with him here.
They wanted him gone?
Make him leave?
Leave her alone. No protection?
Madison. Sofia. Emma. «Winslow.» Trigg...
"No!" she barely managed to croak, marveling at the weakness of her voice.
She wanted her voice to be as loud as it was... the last time she saw the doctor. And he... whatever he was, he reacted, opening his terrible wings even wider and uttering a cry that sounded to her as a lullaby.
She… wanted to feel protected.
But the reaction to her words was immediate. Some kind of taser appeared in the hands of Miss Milita. Something similar to those things that Taylor saw in the stores on the Broadwalk when she still was trying to find some kind of protection from...
Madison. Sofia. Emma. «Winslow.»
They want…
"Calm down... please", — came from her right.
Overcoming the infernal pain in her muscles, Taylor managed to turn her head enough to see the second visitor sitting in her blind spot. Her body covered by a spacious white hoodie with red medical crosses and schematic symbols of paramedics. A red scarf tied around her neck, covering the lower part of her face, the upper part was hidden by a deep hood. Sitting next to the couch, she was holding her hand
Taylor felt as if some spring inside her relaxed for a moment, and the panic attack receded, leaving a nagging feeling of irrational fear…
But looking at Miss Militia, looking at the weapons in her hands, Taylor realized that she needed to act.
"I... h-okay. B-but why? He... he makes me feel good."
There was a gloomy silence, interrupted by a rare knock of coffins levitating in the air on the ceiling. Militia raised eyebrow, showing a mere degree of surprise at her words. And the gloomily observed:
"For you - maybe, but the others are... a little uncomfortable. In addition, in order to continue treatment, we will need to move you to another hospital. And with your... projection, that would be... somewhat problematic".
That... seemed logical? Taylor heard Ms Militia words and at the same time did not want to hear them. Some part of her, some important part, denied the idea of being without [Persona] to protect her.
"Be calm, Daughter of Eve. Let Thanatos go. In a moment of danger... he will come again."
Again her insides were frozen. But this time it was different. A voice in her head. Not the voice she didn't understand, not the voice that was woven from the howling of the icy winds and the wailing of thousands of souls.
No. That voice... It was enchanting. Ideal. Every word she heard was like the most beautiful music you hear in the distance and try to remember, but the melody eludes you, leaving you wanting to hear it again. Symphonic utopia, Audio Catharsis - no word would be enough to merely attempt to describe what she was hearing inside her head right now.
Flattery is not the worst of sins, but you have only confirmed the obvious, Daughter of Eve.
"What... Who are you?!"— she tried to shout mentally — "And maybe I really am crazy".
No more than the rest of the world, his child. No more. As for who I am — All in due time. Until then, let Thanatos leave your side, it is unnecessary to irritate those... Remnants more than they already are.
She... she felt truth in those words. Yes, heroes looked at her, expecting something. He... that Voice, he was telling the truth. But... Why she feel so scared? Why does she think she should let Tan... That's his name? Thanatos?
She peered into the grinning skull of his. Somehow she knew - there were no face under that mask. Only Nonexictence gathered in material form.
...that if she let him go, this nightmare will begin anew...
Madison. Sofia…
Do not be Afraid, Daughter of Eve. If these... Remnants betray thou so soon, so Mote It Be. And I Will Come, The Star of Dawn.
Something... those words were significant. Something... something. It was as if a mere piece of presence that very ancient had leaked through the keyhole.
"I... H-okay" — she croaked the words before focusing on the... [Gate] mechanism. That was the best description she could give. Like... Like she's the gate. A gateway beyond real world and somewhere. Or someone. And now, concentrating, she could feel the remote control. She was so lame in describing that kind of things.
With the last whistle, Thanatos disappeared in a motes of blue light, as if shattered, and Taylor felt as if some part of her had returned to its place. And simultaneously with this event her headache, that was tearing her skull from within, virtually disappeared, leaving only fatigue.
Together with the disappearance of [Persona] heroes visibly relaxed. Weapon in miss Milita hands immediately disappeared.
But it was only thing that Taylor saw before she felt that her eyelids poured lead, and the mind started to float away, plunging her into the Kingdom of Morpheus.
The last thing she heard was miss Militia's voice.:
"Panacea, what are you..." — but she was asleep before she heard the ending.
Sleep well, child. My presence is enough to make some debts pay themselves…
Miss Militia
Watching the cause of mass deaths and the main headache of the day immediately fall asleep after Recalling her projection, Hannah was displeased.
"Why did you put her down?" she looked at Panacea sitting next to Hebert.
"Did you see how scared she was when asked to remove her projection?" Dallon girl asked.
Miss Militia nodded.
"She's probably influenced by her own projection powers, whatever they are, but what's the point?"
Panacea turned her head, releasing the patient's hand.
"I don't know how to treat, fix and read minds, but the emotional state is another story. Emotions to me is like a slightly sodden newspaper. I could be wrong in the letters, but the essence will always be correct" There was a bit of pride in her voice. "So, after a request to withdraw her projection she panicked. I don't know who or what she was afraid of, but I had to synthesize a massive dose of sedative right into her bloodstream to calm her down and not order... whatever it was to attack. That's why I decided to put her to sleep, in her waking state she's... unsafe, in my opinion."
Hannah nodded, agreeing with the reasonable conclusions and fears of the Panacea. In her opinion it would be good to at least try to fish some information from Hebert about this whole incident, but the actions of Dallon girl fully fit within the PRT protocols.
"Alright. Thank you for your help, Panacea. You may leave. I think in the next few days, PRT will send Brandish a request for your presence in Hebert's treatment."
When Panacea said goodbye and went out, Hannah touched his ear, activating the radio.
"Militia to PRT. Projection perished, Mortician is stabilized by the Panacea and ready for transportation."
A moment later, the radio came alive with an answer
"PRT to Militia. Understood, transport on your way."
Protectorate tower. Director's office.
Emily already managed three times regret her words about the day, which cannot become even worse.
First time — when she learned about the source of extinction in the "St. Brutus".
Second time — when she learned the circumstances of what exactly was Taylor Hebert trigger event.
And the third time — when she learned that the member of the Wards was somehow responsible for it.
And now she regretted her words for the fourth time.
"So, Armsmaster. Am I correct in thinking that after you announced the M-S protocol — you told Hess that I wanted her to come to you, and then you gave her the reason for the meeting, along with the disclosure of information about Cape's civilian identity?"
Armored man didn't move. Thanks to the visor, Piggot could not discern his facial expression. However, this was not needed. She knew her subordinate very well.
"Ma'am, I'm not…"
But Piggott interrupted him.
"Shut up. Colin, it's not my first year at PRT, and yours also. That's my fault I didn't say that Hess could be the cause of Hebert's trigger. But did I have to say that when the entire protectorate Department was on the line? You couldn't put those two facts together? Damn it, Colin, couldn't you wait till the base?
Armored man once again was silent. However, she was one to blame. Piggot could not but admit that despite the Armsmaster remained one of the best Tinkers in the service of the Protectorate — sometimes he sorely lacked common sense.
Taking a deep breath, Piggot continued.:
"And what do we have now? Hebert is a tickling PR bomb. The rhing is that we cannot simply assign KO or put her in a Birdcage without trial. Youth Guard and media will eat us alive. She's not a Canary, still a minor, but with a trigger like that... And now a runaway Hess. How do we explain that one of our Wards going AWOL? What happens if she goes rogue? — Piggott went on to say, already for the most part not paying attention to her standing in front of the Armsmaster, who was more like a piece of furniture. Leaning on it per day required output.
But in a moment the words ran out, and Emily was finally able to collect the brains in the bunch. Looking at Wallis, Emily, mentally damned that man in front of her. But damage control was necessary
"So. You've made a mess, you're the one who has to deal with it. You go to the Barnes' and do the search. All warrants will be in half an hour. I need ALL the evidence you can find. Next. Stalker, of course, will try lay low, but I doubt that she is so professional to hide everywhere. Analyze where and to whom she could go, you have data on her. I want every CCTV, every drone looking fo Shadow Stalker, Colin. We need to get her before anyone gets wind of what's going on here. I'm already accountable to Director Costa Brown for everything that happened today. You understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am" the Armsmaster said sullenly.
"You may be free" said Piggot.
As soon as he left the office, the Director picked up the phone and, finding the right number, pressed the call button. There was so much things that needed to be resolved.
AN: Well, it's alive. Praise the Frankenstein. My grammar is still horrible, punctuation nonexistent, and i really struggle to find someone who could edit this into proper form. But i'll try to get better