Earning Her Stripes
Part Twenty-Nine: Wake-Up Call
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Director Emily Piggot, PRT
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"Oh, for fuck's sake."
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"Renick, I swear to God …"
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"Piggot."
"Emily, we have a situation."
"I don't hear Endbringer sirens, so do us both a favour and define 'situation' for me."
"Did you authorise Commander Calvert to get access to Shadow Stalker?"
She sat up in bed, adrenaline flushing away the fatigue. "That's a hard negative. Did he say I gave him verbal permission?"
"Worse. He faked his clearance. When the alarms went off, he was in there, interrogating her. We've foamed him and got him in holding, but he keeps claiming that you gave permission then rescinded it. Some of the men are starting to wonder."
"Fuck. That is a situation. I'll be there in twenty. Monitor him, but zero communications until I get there. Lock down all non-essential traffic in or out of the building."
"Master-stranger?"
"Affirmative."
"Understood."
Monochrome
I lay flat on the car's roof, extending my outer protective field to break up my silhouette and shading it as best I could to camouflage myself. Alabaster's car and the two in front of it weren't swerving around the corners quite so dangerously as before, so I figured they thought I wasn't chasing them anymore. Technically, it was even true; they were carrying me along with them. I didn't have to do a thing except hang on.
I could've ripped open the roof of the car at any time to get to Alabaster (and get a repeat of that classic look on his face), but I was choosing not to for the time being. The reason was simple: I wanted to get to more than Alabaster.
If our plan was working right, Emma would be kicking Victor's ass and Madison would be chasing down Rune right at that moment. If we just stopped there, Kaiser would turtle up and go quiet.
With just Krieg and Othala at his disposal, I doubted that he'd make a move until he was able to shore up his cape numbers via calling in out-of-towners or (maybe) freeing some of his people from PRT holding. Lacking the big hitters, he probably wouldn't be able to pull off a jailbreak, so my money was on reinforcements.
While the others took down their opponents, I was seeing where Alabaster ran to, in the hope that we could roll up more of the Empire than we'd already gotten. Krieg or Othala would be good; Kaiser would be perfect. The harder we hit the Empire, the more of its strength we ripped away with each new capture, the easier it would be for the PRT and the cops to squash it altogether when the time came.
And if he was running to some safe house to pour himself a drink and console himself that he could've totally taken me, then I'd just grab him and drag him in to the PRT building by the left leg. At the end of the day, I wasn't all that fussy. Every Empire capture was a good Empire capture.
Director Piggot
To Emily's satisfaction, Renick was taking the situation seriously. By the time she pulled up to the entrance of the underground parking lot, there were two armed guards posted up there, each with the full complement of confoam sprayer and assault rifle. One kept a lookout while the other scanned her ID and her face. Even when the scanner beeped for a positive match, she had to supply the password of the day before she was allowed to drive inside.
Climbing out of her car, she crossed to the elevator. She was certain she was being scanned again as she rode up to the top floor, but she didn't give a damn. If she'd been sensitive about being under constant surveillance, she wouldn't have taken the job in the first place.
The troopers guarding every floor had evidently been notified that she was on the way up, because they didn't react to her stepping out of the elevator. It was only when she was halfway along the corridor to Renick's office that she heard the roar from overhead and paused, looking up. The troopers did the same, but she was certain they were querying the troopers covering the roof entrance about the situation.
Continuing on her way, she nodded to the trooper standing guard outside Renick's office. He checked her ID again, then nodded. "You can go in, ma'am."
When she opened the door and stepped inside, Renick was just putting the phone down. "Oh, good, you're here." His voice was entirely devoid of anything resembling sarcasm.
"Oh, good," she echoed dryly. "I'm here. What was that noise just before? It sounded like the last time Blockade landed up there."
"It was Blockade again, with Firebird along for the ride." He sounded unsurprised at her deduction. "They were dropping off Victor and Rune. I told the troopers to foam the prisoners for the moment, until we have time to deal with them."
"Condition?" It was a question she was duty-bound to ask, especially after the intense beatings the independent heroes had handed out to Hookwolf, Lung and Oni Lee.
"Rune was very vocal about her wrenched shoulder, otherwise unharmed. Victor, according to Sergeant Calhoun, has had the snot royally kicked out of him but is otherwise healthy."
Emily was acquainted with Sergeant Calhoun, and trusted the man's judgement when it came to matters like that. "That's impressive work. Victor's a slippery customer at the best of times. I suppose this also answers a few questions about how agile that suit is in the air."
He grimaced. "There is a downside. When Blockade grabbed Rune, she threatened to flatten a house with the concrete slab she was riding at the time. He talked her out of it, but she still accidentally hit one. He said there was nobody home but passed on the address anyway. Figured we'd want to know."
"Hmm." It could've been a lot worse, she decided. Some villains went for the fuck-you the moment it looked like their plans were being dismantled, while others took it in good grace. The ones that decided that hurting or killing a bunch of innocents was better than going to jail, she considered almost as low as the ones who liked to hurt people for fun. Which also described the Empire, come to think of it. "Get it checked out. Sure as hell, someone'll try to blame us for it somehow. It'll look better if we're on top of it from the word go."
"Understood." Without hesitation, he pivoted to the reason she'd been pulled out of bed at this late hour. "So, about Calvert."
She nodded curtly. "Brief me."
"Okay. I'm not sure how he pulled it off, but once he sent in a request to see Shadow Stalker, he managed to fool the system into thinking he actually had the clearance. I've got people looking into the data trail right now. When it bounced off your terminal and popped up in mine, I denied it. About ten seconds later, the alarms started going off. We foamed him and got him into a cell, but he's been leaning hard on blaming you for a paperwork screwup."
Emily considered that. "He submitted two requests earlier, claiming she'd be able to assist him in a case. I refused both, mainly because he hadn't specified any particular case that she'd be able to help with. Also, because of the Real Thing security issue. Any indication of what he was grilling her about?"
He shook his head. "We tried asking. She's trying to leverage this into a lighter sentence before she says a word."
"God knows, she was always a stubborn little shit." She ran her thumbnail over her lower lip. "Worst case, what did he want to know, and what did she tell him?"
He had to know what she was thinking, but he came at it in a roundabout manner anyway. "There's only one thing she knows about that's of any value to anyone. But then why would they throw away all their backdoor knowledge—because they had to be using backdoors—to interrogate an ex-hero in a high-security area? Up until the request hit my inbox, the operation was perfect. Afterward, it was a shambles. What was their exit strategy, and why did it fail?"
"We don't yet know that it failed," she warned him. "Calvert could still be a disposable pawn in all this. I personally don't think so, but he could be. Still, you make good points. There's only one thing they could have wanted from her, but the sheer mess they've made of the aftermath has badly degraded the value of the information."
"You're talking about the identities of the Real Thing," Renick said, finally acknowledging the elephant in the room. "She must be the only one he knows for sure has that information. And because we now know about the data-heist, we can warn them. Which should give them time to warn their family members and take protective measures, ahead of anything that the presumed thieves can do."
"That's assuming Calvert's not the beginning and end of all this," Emily agreed. "What I'm personally curious about is, if he's doing this all himself, why does he want that specific information so badly?"
"Another question we're going to have to ask him," Renick observed. "One of many."
Emily nodded to acknowledge the point. "Okay, let's double-team this. Have Calvert checked over for any signs of being a projection or duplicate, or any other overt signs of Mastery or Stranger status, including an MRI." If the problematic Commander turned out to be a cape, it would simplify matters in some directions and raise more questions in others; if he wasn't, that too would be a data point of some importance. "In the meantime, I'm going to be contacting the Real Thing and letting them know about this."
Renick didn't bother asking her if she was sure it was the right course of action. They knew each other well enough by now to not ask questions like that. Giving her a nod, he sat down again and picked up the phone.
Turning on her heel, she went to the connecting door that led through to her office. This was going to be a difficult conversation, and she intended to be sitting down for it.
Firebird
"So, how cool was that?" asked Emma from atop the battlesuit's shoulder. They were waiting in a section of overgrown parkland between Empire territory and what technically still belonged to the ABB. Or would, until the cops cleared out the last of the gang activity there. "It worked like a dream." Taking on Victor and cleaning his clock like that had been a little like facing off against her past bitchy self and getting some payback in for Taylor. And just like she'd deserved it back then, Victor definitely deserved it now.
"Mostly, yeah," agreed Madison. "Still a bit bummed about the house, though. Poor bastard was working late or gone out for a fast-food run, and he's gonna come back and find his place wrecked. That's gonna ruin his whole year."
"Yeah, true." Emma tried to reach for any positives in all that. "But his home-and-contents ought to be able to cover it though, right? We reported that it was Rune who did it, and Dad says villain damage has been part of the boilerplate for insurance contracts for years now."
"Well, that's true, I guess. I just hope he hasn't lost anything too important. Big-ass chunks of concrete tend to fuck up anything they hit."
"Well, it could've been worse. He could've been home, and—" Emma's phone, in a pouch at her hip, rang. "Hold that thought." Reaching up, she tapped the earpiece. "Hello?"
Instead of her father, the voice was someone else she recognised. "Firebird. It's Director Piggot."
"Director, hey." Emma tried to figure out a good reason for this call, and came up blank. "Is this about Victor and Rune?" Please don't tell me they've escaped already.
"No." The Director's voice was blunt and to the point. "I'm calling to let you know we've had an information breach. Someone got to Shadow Stalker."
A chill traced her way down Emma's spine. "Got to her? Did she escape?"
"No, thank God. One of our officers finagled his way past the security, but we discovered him before he could get out again. He's currently in custody, awaiting interrogation. We're assuming he had time to ask her about the most damaging things she could tell him about you."
"So, a mole." This was bad, but just how bad was yet to be seen. "Do you know if he managed to pass it on to anyone? What else can you tell me?" Does anyone else know what he knows, she desperately wanted to ask.
"There's no indication either way." Piggot was being purely factual, something Emma appreciated. "The lower levels are blocked against phone signals, so he couldn't have simply made a call or sent a text. Shadow Stalker is being uncooperative and evasive about what he asked and what she said, so we have to assume the worst on both sides there."
Which came as exactly zero surprise to Emma. "So, what can you tell me about the officer? Who's he working for, and how did you not already know about him?" In her own mind, she made a bet that the guy was a secret Empire sympathiser who'd been activated by Kaiser following the Hookwolf beatdown.
The Director hesitated for a moment. "He's … someone I've had my doubts about, but who's proved almost impossible to nail down up until now. If my suspicions are correct, he's an opportunist who works alone, rather than as a mole for someone else. Best case, you just helped flush out someone who's been causing the department headaches for the last six months. Worst case … well, worst case is why I'm warning you. So you can warn your families."
Well, there went that bet. "Thanks. I appreciate the heads-up. What happens now? What can you tell me?"
"Shadow Stalker will remain in lockdown, and we're going to be going through both our procedures and the guy who broke them with a fine-tooth comb." Director Piggot sounded pissed-off enough that she may well have meant that literally. "Once we have any details that specifically relate to your personal security situation, we'll be filling you in on what you need to know."
"Thanks." Emma paused. "You know, I'm actually impressed here."
"What about? God knows, I don't see much to be impressed about right now."
"We've managed to get through this entire conversation so far without you dangling the idea of us joining the Wards and/or Protectorate as a way of guaranteeing safety for our families." Emma raised her eyebrows. "Just gonna say, your self-control must be phenomenal."
There was a snort of what sounded like amusement. "In all honesty, I considered the idea and rejected it. The best way to convince someone of a particular course of action is to make them think it's their idea in the first place. If you're not interested, you're not interested. But just out of curiosity, is Monochrome okay? The troopers on the roof said she wasn't along tonight."
"Oh, she's just fine." Emma looked around as Madison raised one large metallic hand with her thumb in the air. "While we took Victor and Rune in, she's been following Alabaster back to the rest of the Empire. See you soon." Ending the call, she tucked the phone away. "She's back online?"
"Nice steady signal." Madison's tone, even with the synthesiser adding masculine depth, sounded eager. "Hold tight. Liftoff in ten."
Emma grinned as she rose to a crouching position, gripping a handhold. Taylor's phone hadn't been showing a signal up until now because it had been inside her infinitely adjustable yet bizarrely impermeable force field. The fact that she was letting it show up now meant that she'd found the bad guys' lair, or had somehow lost the trail. Either way, she was saying 'come meet up with me'.
With anyone else, even herself, Emma would've been dubious about having just one of their own following Alabaster home. The chances of being discovered and dogpiled were just too high. But with Taylor, she had no such worries.
She's the strongest one of us all. Always was, even before we got powers.
Director Piggot
After the call ended, Emily sat there, gathering her thoughts. Everything's happening at once. Could Calvert be working for the Empire? It would make sense, but she'd seen no indication so far.
Grateful for the quiet, she stilled her racing thoughts and began teasing through the information she had for anything that might jump out at her.
Shadow Stalker was almost certainly lying. If Calvert had offered a way to hurt the Real Thing, she would've pounced on it in a heartbeat.
If Calvert had indeed been the one behind the information peddling, then trying to snag this information would be right up his alley. But the previous investigations hadn't been able to pin him down on anything. Why had he stumbled so badly this time? What was different?
She spent a moment of thought on the idea that the Real Thing had sent just Monochrome to chase down Alabaster. It was kind of fitting; the man who never stopped, opposed by the girl who couldn't be stopped.
Finally, she heaved a sigh and got up from her chair. It was time to see how Renick was doing with his side of the investigation.
When she stepped into his office, he looked up and waved her over. "Got an odd coincidence for you."
Her interest perked up. In her experiences, coincidences were rarely that simple. "I'm listening."
"You may recall that Rune wrecked a house with her concrete slab." He waited for her nod, then kept going. "I had someone check that out. It belongs to Commander Calvert."
She blinked, twice. "Well, I will be sincerely damned. That is definitely a gold-plated coincidence, and no mistake. Do you have a timeline for that?"
Renick nodded, patently pleased that she'd asked. "Only a rough cut, but our best estimate puts the wrecking of the house at exactly the same time as the alarms went off, plus or minus ten seconds."
Emily snapped her fingers as the epiphany burst behind her eyes. "That's got to be it. Our missing link. The reason why his intel gathering mission went so badly FUBAR on the back end, especially since all the other data he gathered and sold never even raised a peep until after the buyers used it." She'd decided that he was guilty of everything she already suspected of him; this was just more of the same.
"I … don't get it." Renick frowned. "How can his house being wrecked dismantle his exit strategy?"
"Powers," she said concisely. "Somehow, some way, he's got a powers-related bolt-hole that requires his house to be intact. Which means he's either a cape, or he's got one on speed-dial. I'm thinking he bought a teleporter from a Tinker, one that can pull him to it. Probably carries some kind of otherwise-innocuous gear that acts like a beacon."
Renick's expression showed that he absolutely got it. "And the slab broke it, cutting him off from his instant getaway point." A moment later, his excitement faded. "But Shadow Stalker could still ID him and talk about it. Plus, we've got security footage of him in the building, including going down into that section. If he tried to claim being home as an alibi, especially with his car in the building parking lot, there would be a lot of questions asked. And the security backdoors he used would still be found. Every other time, he's never even been in the building."
"Mm. Dammit." Emily chewed on her thumbnail. "There's something there. He's a cape, and the slab wrecked his plans somehow. I'd put money on it." What it was, she still didn't know, but it was there.
Deputy Director Renick nodded. "For what it's worth, I agree with you. How did it go with the Real Thing?"
Emily chuckled, her sour mood momentarily alleviated. "They took it a lot better than I expected. Didn't even yell at me. Oh, and they're not done with going after the Empire tonight. You might want to warm up a few more cells."
"Is it just me or is it downright intimidating how enthusiastic they are about going after the bad guys?" Renick sounded plaintive. "The last time we brought in more than two villains at once was when the Triumvirate came to town and took Purity, Night and Fog out of the picture, and even that was a brawl. These three are going after Kaiser, Krieg, Alabaster and Othala; I don't know about you, but I think they've got a better than even chance of pulling it off."
"Intimidating's one word for it." Emily smiled slightly. "I might not be thrilled that they're being less than subtle about it, but when the villains pull out the stops, then heroes have to either back right off or match force with force. And nothing I've ever seen about the Real Thing says to me that they're the type to back off." She headed for his office door. "I'm going down to sit in on his interrogation. Ping me if anything else pops."
He gave her a distracted nod, his eyes already back on his screen. "Will do."
As she rode down in the elevator, Emily considered how she was going to have to adjust her city-wide strategy. With the last of the big-name villain gangs captured or nearly so, she was going to need to discourage others from moving into town.
Zero tolerance, she mused. I figure we can pull it off. Especially once the last information leak has been plugged.
She was positively looking forward to uncovering Commander Thomas Calvert's secrets. They promised to be fascinating.
End of Part Twenty-Nine