Resurfaced 1.2
It was a point of pride for Director Emily Piggot that among both her peers and the public, she was considered as an unflappable stalwart. It was something that had served her well in the face of the horrors that was the Ellisburg Incident. Where others broke and ran, she had held firm, never retreating until injury forced her to be medevac'd. It may have cost her her health, but she had held.
It was why, even as she stared at the monitors on the wall, faced with was implausible in spite of the world that they lived in, that she met it with the same cold, business-like manner that had made her into a minor celebrity.
"Give me the rundown," she demanded, watching 'Taylor Hebert' on the monitor, sitting in a holding cell, her body posture relaxed in spite of the fact that she was clad in PRT-issued prisoner sweats and her hands were secured with brute-rated handcuffs. Everything about the prisoner's posture and bearing was entirely wrong for the situation, yet the answer seemed unforthcoming even as she stared her image down.
Deputy Director Timothy Renick cleared his throat, shifting a few papers behind her.
"At 1358 Local Time, Subject Azure walked into the Brockton Bay PRT Headquarters. Identifying herself as Taylor Hebert at the security checkpoint, she then requested a meeting with you. Due to the age differential of the Subject and Miss Hebert, Cheshire Master/Stranger Protocols were initiated and as per the Landry Act, Subject Azure was detained under unauthorized use of Master/Stranger powers in a federal facility."
Of course they'd name her after the eyes, she thought irritably. She had also seen the inhuman eyes that only made her feel uncomfortable. However, standard operating procedure for Cheshire Protocols was to identify the subject by a defining characteristic until confirmation of their identity. This was doubly so for Strangers.
Nonetheless it rankled her.
"Do we have Subject Azure identified, yet?"
There was a shifting sound of armor, metal abrading against metal, which hinted at a strange bit of nervousness from the usually stoic Armsmaster.
"Follicular, blood, mucosal, and fingerprint analysis using evidence gathered from the Hebert household and Subject Azure's processing indicate a ninety-nine percent match. I've requested Dragon's assistance in fast-tracking a telomeric analysis, however the nearest facility capable of it is in Boston and it will take until tomorrow before we likely have a result."
Grunting softly, she was unhappy with the fact that they were still flying blind. Even with telomeric analysis, a means to identify if the subject was a clone or not, it still likely wouldn't answer the burgeoning question if Subject Azure was not a clone but the real thing.
And even if it did, she wasn't sure which answer would be worse.
What her gut was telling her, however, was through some sort of cape bullshit, this was the real article. A Master or Stranger wouldn't walk into a PRT building bold as brass when it's well established exactly what they wanted.
Unless they wanted to be captured, but that went against the nature of what was generally accepted as a personality trait of a Master or a Stranger and their need for control. Allowing themselves to be captured would be akin to nails on a chalkboard for them. They wouldn't be sitting perfectly relaxed in a containment cell.
Taking a breath she made a decision.
"Let's make the assumption that Subject Azure is somehow the real article. What do we have on her again, Dragon?"
Two of the screens were replaced with a school photo of Hebert.
"Taylor Anne Hebert. Born June 12th, 1995. Mother, Annette Lauren Hebert, nee Astor, deceased. Father, Daniel Sébastien Hebert. On the morning of January 7th, PRT received a phone call from Winslow High School reporting a possible cape-related crime."
A photo was brought up, showing a line of lockers, only the center was an empty void where everything in the vicinity was simply gone. The void was large enough to where the classroom behind the lockers was exposed to the hall.
"Investigation of the incident site detected trace amounts of Hawking and Cherenkov radiation, suggesting the possible creation of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge—"
"Sorry to interrupt Dragon," Assault piped in, "but an Einstein-what?"
Emily could almost hear Armsmaster's teeth grind, "A wormhole, Assault."
"Oh."
Dragon maintained the pause for another moment, awaiting any further questions before she continued.
"Upon further analysis, it was determined that the origin point for the possible Einstein-Rosen Bridge was the locker of Taylor Hebert. Both Protectorate and PRT assets were then deployed to the Hebert household in order to detain and interrogate Miss Hebert, only to find that she was not on the premises, and had not been seen by her father since the previous morning."
It was then that she decided to interject, intent on not allowing Dragon to share further information on the investigation. Even if the Canadian cape was under strict orders not to divulge or discuss the contents of the journals found in Hebert's bedroom. There were only a handful people who were aware of Sophia Hess's involvement in the possible triggering and actions of the teen, and that's what Emily was going to limit it to, with the principals quietly handled in-house.
"That was four months ago. Hebert has been a cold case ever since. Until today. So what do we have now?"
"Clothing is custom. No labels. The only thing on her person other than her briefcase was the bifold with identification papers," Renick said.
"And the briefcase?"
"It contains a series of journals," was his response, his gaze coming to stare at her, "journals that are exact duplicates of the ones currently in evidence lockup."
What?!
"You're positive."
"I went and confirmed it personally, Emily. Word for word, page for page, even the writing is exactly the same."
That was not exactly what she was expecting, nor was it something she wished to revisit. Though that led to larger questions: like how there existed a carbon copy of something locked in evidence storage and also if Azure/Hebert had an exact copy and was flaunting it as evidence in a roundabout way, what was the goal of it.
"What journals, Director," It was Miss Militia that spoke up.
It was best to nip this one in the bud. The last thing she wanted there to be too much digging into the situation. It wasn't that what was done was illegal, the optics of it however were not exactly inspiring.
"Investigators found in Miss Hebert's room a series of journals containing testimony and physical emails of incidents of bullying, harassment, and assault, along with negligence and corruption at Winslow. The matter was investigated further and has been handled."
It wouldn't take much for them to draw lines between that and the sudden change in Shadow Stalker's handling, but they were wise enough to keep it quiet. If the matter was handled, then they knew better than to question any further. It wasn't what she wanted, but it seemed that whatever Azure/Hebert was doing, it was a ploy she was not going to let work out.
"So we're left with no answers, only more questions," she asked, staring down the occupants of the room,
"That's the gist of it Emily," Renick offered, "and the only person who can answer any of our questions is in that holding cell."
"What about the father," it was Battery that spoke now, "if we are assuming that this is Taylor Hebert. Why not bring him in and leverage him against her?"
"Because Daniel Hebert is in a coma at Brockton Bay General. He was caught in the fighting between the ABB and E88 last week," was Renick's rebuttal. Once he said his piece he brought his focus back to her, "Orders, Director?"
"Armsmaster, you've been testing an improvement to your lie detection software. How accurate is it?"
There was a moment's pause before the answer came, "With Dragon's assistance, I can get it to a ninety-two percent accuracy with a variance of four percent."
"And can you link it to the systems here in order to monitor it remotely?"
"Yes."
"Then do it. Miss Militia, you'll accompany DeVries to interrogate Azure and be first response if she tries anything."
"Yes, ma'am."
LeT
They are making their move.
Eyes slowly opened to reveal molten blue.
Good. I was wondering if I was going to have to do something a bit more drastic. How are things on your end?
The pace stagnates, but progress is measurable. Within calculated and accepted temporal/spatial parameters at this time however, taking into account currently analyzed local variables.
If she were still the gangly teenager she had once been, Taylor Hebert would have released an impatient sigh. Not for the first time, she wished that her partner of sorts was just a little easier to communicate with. Instead she simply closed her eyes again.
Back to work again, I guess.
Indeed. Current projections depict an estimation of eighty-one point six six six percent likelihood of success. Tentatively acceptable. Very tentative.
Taylor almost considered smiling.
Relax. We've been preparing for this moment. The strings are all lined up. Now, all that's left is to begin tugging to start moving things to their places.
