After that harrowing experience of getting through the security gate, along with telling a trooper that no, her missiles couldn't exactly be removed quickly, they reluctantly let her keep the armaments on her as Taylor went up the elevator to where the Director's office was. Knowing Paratube, a video of her tiptoeing sideways across the security gate was already being uploaded on it, and the worst part was that she wouldn't get any revenue from those views. If she was going to be embarrassed publicly, the least she could have gotten was some ad revenue in return.
"Just to make sure, you are a Canadian Citizen, right? It's just the whole accent thing-"
"Lived here my whole life, though I do go back to Oce-Australia every year or so."
"Really? And you still sound like that?"
Her 'real' accent was more toned down, pretending to be someone you weren't as a Cape was just as important as a good mask, and thankfully British Columbia had a large portion of British emigrants. Something to do with the better weather, other provinces to her east had much harsher winters in particular.
"Took after my grandmother a lot more than my mother."
Nodding, Castle remained quiet for the rest of the journey. Moving through monotone office spaces and a few more security checkpoints, Taylor finally arrived at the waiting area for Director Hui's office. A few others were already waiting there as well, mostly other people in work clothes, suits and the like, along with what appeared to be a few mounties. Distinct from the rest of the floor, the waiting area and presumably office were decorated just like the main lobby with wood panelling and floors, like an old Victorian-era country house. On the walls were watercolour paintings of what she recognised were B.C.'s natural sights, and also one particularly odd-looking piece. It was a concrete monolithic structure, its backdrop contrasted by natural mountains and free-roaming nature.
Castle, noticing Taylor's fixation on it, commented beside her. "That right there is why this department even exists, can you guess what it is?"
She had a good guess but decided to ask for confirmation. "The Birdcage?"
"Bingo. Canada's great contribution to world security, by hosting the largest Parahuman prison on the planet. And we in this humble department, are responsible for transport to and fro, as well as any potential escapees. I'm not called Castle for nothing." Castle did not hide his contempt for it at all, earning a curious raised eyebrow from her.
"What? Just because I work here it doesn't mean I agree with it. Besides, the painting's just an artistic representation, though it's not exactly that far off the mark either."
"Is that why you and Dragon…" Taylor began asking but trailed off only for Castle to shrug in response.
"Eh. It's just that she never really does anything besides bring us new Parahumans to put into the cage. Bit too eager to agree with the whole sending people locked away in their forever box, like that Canary case down south in the States. They're talking about putting her in there or something, or at least, definitely on the table."
"Hm." The Canary case was a hot-button issue right now, and despite accusations that the whole process was rigged, it was set to continue to trial regardless of any conflict of interest. Abby was ranting about it to her a few days ago, something about how it set a dangerous precedent, and due to Canada's unfortunate habit of picking up things from their southern neighbour, she was right to be worried about those sentiments spilling over.
"Don't worry about it Kid, it probably won't come to that. Come on, the Director will see you now."
As they began walking past the receptionist, Taylor couldn't help but take one last glance at the painting. Those structures resembled some Federation bunkers that were destroyed-
"You coming? I don't have all day!"
Facing forwards again, her wingspan was once again an issue, and she had to tip-toe sideways across a door again. At the end of a long, expansive and carpeted hallway, they reached two large ornate wooden doors, the seal of Canada's PRT division proudly carved into them. It was similar to the American one, only with the addition of a crown and maple leaves around it to make it look 'Canadian'. They could change it however they wanted, but the fact that the PRT of both nations was primarily American-dominated couldn't be changed. She guessed it helped to retain a sense of independence, however shallow it may have been.
"Wait, lemme knock first, she's gonna need to prepare."
Prepare?
Knock-Knock
"AAAH! She's here already?!"
Loud sounds of all kinds were then heard through those thick wooden doors, drawers being closed rapidly, cabinets flung open and closed just as quickly, and even what appeared to be the clinking of glass was heard by Taylor, who remained still throughout the entire thing. It sounded like someone was conducting close air support in there, what the hell was going on?
"Yeah, try not to comment on her appearance, she's trying her best."
Without waiting any longer, Castle flung open the doors. The office inside was spacious, and in keeping with the theme outside of it. Leather seating areas, meeting tables, and the iconic wooden furniture and decor that she still found weird for a Federal building. At the far back of the office, a woman sat behind a large maple desk, dressed in a formal business suit, Taylor took Castle's advice and did not comment on her dishevelled state. Her long black hair unfortunately emphasised the strands that managed to stick out, and as Taylor started walking in, she noticed her rectangular glasses were slightly bent as well.
Other than that, however, despite the sounds that came from the room just a few seconds ago, it looked nearly immaculate. She respectfully ignored the document that hung for dear life on a nearby cabinet.
"Scarlet! Welcome, I hope that getting here wasn't much trouble for you?"
In a somewhat peppy voice, Director Hui welcomed Taylor with a bright smile. She had seen her a few times on television before, but it was a first for meeting her up close and personal. Her appearance could have been anywhere from mid-20s to late 40s, which was common for East-Asian women according to Abby. If it wasn't for her few strands of greyer-looking hair sticking out like a sore thumb, Taylor would have even said she looked like she was in college.
Sitting down on a wooden stool provided for her, she made sure to tuck her wings in as she sat in front of the Director. Come to think of it, she never actually did weigh her weight when her rigging was deployed, hopefully, that chair was sturdy enough to handle an entire fighter jet. The creak she heard upon sitting down on it didn't give her a vote of confidence, however.
"Weather wasn't bad."
"Mhm. We didn't expect you to come in today of all things, so imagine our surprise when Dragon contacted us out of the blue half an hour ago!"
"Didn't you say I could come in at any time? I could come back if it's inconvenient-"
"Ack!" As if she just bit her tongue, Director Hui made a sour expression on her face before jolting upright in her chair. "No, no, I did say that. Well, let's get onto why I asked you to come in today, shall we?"
Taylor nodded. There were a couple of reasons floating around her head, such as her powers, arguably illegal flying, definitely illegal smuggling of military equipment into Canada and the videos she posted on Paratube. Could be any one of those, or it could be all of them if she was extra unlucky.
"I am not sorry for the videos."
"What?"
Huh, so it wasn't that.
"Nothing."
Beside her, Castle was shaking as he put a hand over his mouth, looking away into a corner as he did so.
"...we're here to ask how might you feel about joining the Protectorate North-West-"
"Not interested." So it was her powers after all, and it was the pitch that government-aligned Capes often gave to prospective recruits.
Jotting down something on a piece of paper in front of her, Director Hui wrote something down quickly before putting her pen down just as fast. "...not interested. That was quick. Alright! We're done here, thank you for your time-"
Eh?
Castle stepped in, sighing as he leaned in beside the Director. "Still need to ask her why not, don't skip out on the procedure."
"Oh, so now you care about procedure?! Remind me what happened the last time you deployed-" As the two began arguing, Taylor wondered if this was some psy-op designed to lower guard and join the Protectorate. The awkwardness of being the third wheel in some argument between two people was enough to make the most social of people feel like they weren't supposed to be there, let alone for someone like Taylor. She wasn't exactly known for her extroverted personality at school. Clearing her throat once, the two stopped arguing almost immediately and went back to their professional expressions.
"Right, we would still like a reason for your refusal to join, perhaps the PRT could help solve whatever concerns or worries you may have?" Despite the helpful nature of those words, Director Hui asked it in a way that was less like a genuine question, but rather more like a formality she didn't want to follow. Regardless, Taylor scoffed, there were very good reasons why she didn't seek them out immediately after triggering, and they were all on her rigging's hardpoints.
Gesturing towards her wing that she stretched out, her air-air, air to surface and unguided bombs were clearly shown. "There's my reason. I don't know any hero who patrols with enough firepower to take out everything within a large blast radius." Or take down an airship solo, it had been done before.
"So Legend isn't someone like that? King of flying arty capes?" Castle jabbed in, causing Taylor to gesture with a wave of her hand in dismissal. He didn't count, Legend was part of the triumvirate, she wasn't, therefore no similarities.
"Hm. I expected something like this…ah screw it! I wasn't the one who wanted you here, it's those assholes back out East-mmph!" Stepping in before anything offensive or too controversial could be said, Castle replied to Taylor in place of the temporarily silenced Director.
" What our good Director means is that we originally were fine leaving you completely alone. However, the powers that be…even above Director Hui's authority have noticed your little stunts, and would like to…"
"Reign me in." Taylor's voice came out a little harder than she intended, but hearing that still caused her wings behind her to flare up and extend.
"I wouldn't put it like that." Director Hui spoke again, eyes slightly winced and having pried Castle's hand off. "But, the Directors in other departments have noticed your videos for quite some time now, and they are concerned it undermines the PRT's authority in the eyes of the public, stupid and petty, I know."
"More like those bastards out East trying to mess with us again…" Castle mumbled quietly, but Taylor had heard him just fine. Many non-Canadians didn't know this, but there was a divide between the 'Western' provinces of Canada and the richer and more populous 'Eastern' provinces. It was the first time she had heard of any conflicts between Directors from the different departments though.
"I'm just some…pawn for some political thing?" Taylor didn't deny being a bit angry at being used this way, and she very rarely had strong opinions about things. She lived her life with a 'go with the flow' attitude most of the time as it helped her to adjust to all those dreams she had.
"...kinda. Sorry Kid, most people don't come to the PRT and get told this stuff. But, the good news is, for us anyway, we can now make those ass-idiots out east shut up now that you've been interviewed. Not so tough, right?"
"I guess. What would you have done if I said yes?"
It was a hypothetical question, just to sate her curiosity. Curiously enough, a sharper glint was then reflected off of the Director's glasses, an entirely different demeanour washing over her.
"Then I would have been put into a bad situation, Scarlet. You have been on our radar for months, literally. We have a rough estimate of your abilities, as listed in your file. Don't be surprised, we make files on most Capes that appear publicly, better to have them early than later when you might need them, no offence."
Taylor didn't take any, so she shrugged.
"I assume you are Wards age, yes?"
A nod, followed by a Taylor feeling a lot more conscious about her appearance.
"Then it's even worse. We would have had to put you into a team, and just considering your powers alone, it would have been a nightmare figuring out your place on them. As you have said, your powers do not come with a less-than-lethal option, and I am not sure you want to be bashing with your wings instead of using your armaments, correct?"
Also…correct. Though the image of it was odd and hilarious, Zaitsev may have had a lot of things to say about that, however.
"Because you aren't a Tinker, making modifications is going to be impossible, and that's not even considering the PR nightmare we would have. The PRT has spent the last two decades trying to wipe the image of child soldiers away from the Wards, and having you there…complicates things, a lot."
Again, she had no response to that, being a 'Jetgirl' may have seemed cool, but from a PR-friendly perspective, especially from a Wards one, was a disaster waiting to happen. Castle then spoke up, rubbing a hand behind his neck.
"Look, kid, I'll give you the simpler explanation, we simply ain't looking to hire right now, especially for someone with your powers. Sure, they're damn powerful and could turn me and every other Hero in this building into ash, but for what we do normally? And the villains we deal with in Vancouver? Overkill, so we decided that the best thing was to just leave you alone. You didn't do anything too disruptive, aside from messing with Dragon every once in a while, so we just let you be."
British Columbia was considered one of the safest provinces in terms of Parahuman crime. It was primarily due to a couple of factors, though the primary one being that it housed the North-West department, which specialised in Capes with powers that could recapture Birdcage inmates if something went wrong. That already made it a very unpopular destination for prospective Villains, who usually hung around large urban centres. This was much different from all those Cape T.V. shows starring PRT heroes that played every so often, the message about needing 'every Hero they could get' was a lie.
"Hey, take it from me, being a Hero is not exactly what you think. I spend more time doing paperwork than actually punching Villains, the cartoons lied to ya. Don't even know why we still fund those damn things."
Now leaning on the desk, he crossed his arms before continuing. "Look, that online personality thing you've got going on right now, it's working. It works for you, it doesn't bother the PRT, nor does it break any laws. Unlike our southern neighbours, we don't have any stupid laws preventing you from making a career out of something like that. You could make it your entire thing, hell, you could even start making songs or something like those Japanese Cape idols coming here for a concert in a few weeks. What I'm saying is, there's more to caping than Heroes and Villains, lots of people don't even take up the costume, they just continue with whatever thing they had before and pretend they didn't have any powers."
Abby was someone like that, even though she kept herself up to date with a lot of 'Cape news', she had no grand dreams of becoming a spandex-wearing hero of justice herself. There were those kinds of people, not that well understood by the public, but they were there.
"So, that's it? Is that everything?" Taylor asked, the information she just processed being somewhat of a downer, but then again, she had no intention of being a crime-fighting Hero or whatever they did in the first place.
"No, but we can assist you if you ever need it. Despite public perception, we are the Parahuman Response Team, we aren't just for Heroic Capes. Like Castle mentioned just now, we also help Parahumans who don't take up the costumes, we help with everything from government aid, employment and mental health as well. If you ever need assistance, our doors are wide open for you to come in and have a chat with us. Castle could have worded it a lot better, don't be discouraged by him, Scarlet."
"Making me sound like a real piece of shit here, ya know?"
Sighing, that was one potential career path marked out of her plans, even if it wasn't high on her list. Still stung a bit, even if she wasn't looking to join the PRT at all.
"I see. Thank you for your time, but I think I'm going to find Dragon now, I want to get home soon."
Director Hui nodded, it was a reasonable enough request. "I'll let her know we're done, try and get along with her, from the conversations we have, she does care for your wellbeing!"
Looking outside her window, Director Hui saw two smoke trails heading towards the direction of the Guild Headquarters, presumably to Dragon's lab situated there. Castle still stood beside her, humming to himself while watching the same sight outside.
"Y'know, part of me still thinks that air support would be nice, makes hunting down escaped Villains a lot less terrifying when you have someone who can launch missiles up in the sky watching your back."
Hui shook her head, remembering just whose idea it was to act this way to Scarlet. "I followed your script, and made some adjustments on the fly, but I feel like it worked."
Deceit was an art form, and in her five years as Director, she had damn near mastered it. However, it still did not feel nice to lie to Scarlet.
"Wasn't all lies, more like half-truths. We can finally get those assholes to shut up in the next meeting with that. One video goes viral and suddenly all hell breaks loose I swear…"
"And what would have happened if we didn't? If she went to somewhere else…"
"Like the ENE department?" Castle quipped, causing Hui to scoff.
"Ugh, never liked Piggot, still don't know how she became Director of that city."
"Yeah, and someone like her would have ordered her to be arrested in a heartbeat or something. You've heard the rumours, right?"
Yes, every Director had by now. An unfortunate part of the PRT's history was that many of their earliest heroes were essentially press-ganged into service. Usually, it was through subtle threats or blackmail like charging a Tinker with breaking some bullshit laws that wouldn't stick, then manipulating them into signing a contract. That practice faded a lot come the early 2000s, but some of the more troublesome departments still did that, the ENE division being rumoured to do it the most.
"If you ask me…I can sleep better at night. Kid wouldn't have been a good fit for the PRT, too many of her types get tossed around by the system we got going on. Eventually would have shuffled her into some hellhole like Madison or the Machine Army site. Don't think whatever's left of my conscience would have taken that one lying down."
And also because she was Wards age, and did not live in Vancouver. When deciding on Wards teams, great pains were taken to ensure that they at least had a semblance of a normal life, like getting friends, going to see movies and all other things that young adolescents these days liked to do. However, because she lived somewhere not in Vancouver, her current guess was somewhere near Kamloops or Kelowna, which was not so easily arranged. Sure, they had a PRT field office in both of those cities, but they didn't exactly have enough Parahumans for a full team, let alone a Wards one.
"Think she'll keep posting on her…Paratube thing? A lot of Capes make a living on that site now." There was a CBC article that came out recently about changing Parahuman dynamics, and how the traditional routes for Capes to earn money were being more challenged as time went on. It used to be that non-PRT Capes relied on their exploits to make a living, either robbing banks or receiving donations from the general public. Scarlet was part of a new generation of young Parahumans that broke from that norm and established tradition, it caused some controversy, primarily among old-fashioned Directors that they would get less fresh blood into the grinder that was being a PRT Hero.
"I think she'll at least keep going at it. Hey, if it doesn't work out, she can go to media school, some of those shots were gorgeous, almost made me want to take up theatre again."
She snorted at the thought of her longtime friend reciting Shakespeare like he was Romeo.
"And I'm sure it'll sell out…I can see it already. Castle, former PRT Hero cast as Romeo!"
"I think I can still pull off that look, besides, since the war we've gotten a lot of that budget which would have gone towards them, more PRT-funded cartoons and aid programs are better than a new fleet of jet fighters. I'd want a better world for Scarlet and her generation to grow up in, let them have another option, y'know?"
Even twenty-six years after World War Three, it remained in the minds of most people. But then again, how could she have forgotten it? Her ancestral home in what was now Nationalist-controlled China was destroyed during the fighting, and she came to Canada on a half-broken cargo ship as a refugee. Many in Vancouver had a similar experience, whether it be air-raid sirens of Soviet Tinker-enhanced bombers over the North American West Coast, or the Parahuman-derived weapons used that made the Canadian weather more dangerous, its scars remained to be felt by everyone who survived.
"Funny. Scion stopped the Nukes from hitting, but he didn't do a damn thing when we started fighting the old-fashioned way instead."
Castle grunted, this conversation probably happened countless times across the world since the war ended.
"Yeah. Wonder if it may have been better if he just let them land, given us all a chance to start over or something."
'What if' was always asked when talking about the war, but thinking about it in detail always resulted in some form of argument breaking out. In the end, however, it didn't matter. They lived in its aftermath and had bigger things to worry about, such as the Simurgh, who was due to descend soon to some random unlucky place on Earth.
"A chance to start over…"
It made for some interesting thought exercises at least.
AN:
The original outline included a power testing scene until I realized something. Why the hell would they give a non-PRT Cape power testing? It's something that comes up a lot in Wormfic, yet I can't remember anything about it in Canon, and checking the Wiki reveals next to nothing about it. Guess it was a Fanon thing I tricked myself into believing was Canon.
I did foreshadow the bombshell about this particular AU in the previous chapters, not a lot of Wormfics play around with how the Cold War might have gone with Parahumans in the mix, so this is my take on it. I don't want to hear any comments about Cauldron or whatever, make up some random reason yourself why they didn't stop it or whatever.
Be civil in the comments below.