A/N: This likely goes without saying, but views of characters in this story are not those of the author. The main character (I will not call her a protagonist) is not a nice person, and says and thinks some very not nice things. The author does not condone or support racism, nazism, or other such ideologies.

I frowned as the ringing of the phone on my desk interrupted my review of the file in my hand. One of the main things I hated about this damn job was how I always seemed to be scrambling from one crisis to another. I never seemed to have any downtime to just take a breather, to carve out a bit of time for myself. I sighed and picked up the receiver of the infernal device, holding it to my head.

"Piggot here."

"Director, it's Armsmaster. We have a situation."

I held in the sigh as he paused to await my acknowledgement. He was always so precise and exact that it almost hurt to deal with.

"Go ahead Armsmaster."

"There is a situation at Winslow High School involving Shadow Stalker's civilian identity. It seems that she and a group of her friends were likely involved in causing the trigger of a new parahuman."

Just fucking wonderful. If I'd had my way that fucking negress would have been strung up and left out for the ravens, as opposed to having been sent to San Diego for Boot Camp. But no, either some fucking bleeding heart in the Protectorate wanted to give her a 'second chance' due to her 'disadvantaged life', or someone else had decided that more bodies with powers was more better, and didn't give a damn about her prior crimes. So, of course, after Boot she'd been sent right back here to be my problem, and I was stuck with a subhuman Ward who got her jollies hunting her betters.

"I see. Do we have a lead on the new trigger?"

"We do, she is currently being held in the hospital under psychiatric observation. The situation she was discovered in was extremely vile, and involved bodily waste and likely bio-toxins. She has been treated by Panacea, but is still unresponsive."

"And where is Shadow Stalker?"

"She was on patrol until 20:00 hours, after which time she departed for home."

"We'll come back to that shortly, then. So what the hell happened? What do we know?"

"At 18:58 a Janitor at Winslow High smelled something extremely foul coming from a locker as he was cleaning the halls. The regular Janitor had called in sick, so the school district had sent a replacement. As the replacement did not know who to contact about the problem, he chose to open the locker, and a mass of used feminine products, other bodily waste, and insects fell out, along with a teenage girl who was in very poor physical condition and non-responsive. The Janitor immediately called 911."

"Wait, are you telling me some girl had been stuffed in a locker at least since class was in session and no one noticed?! And how does Shadow Stalker factor in to this? How do we know she is a new trigger?"

"The girl in question is indeed a student at Winslow, and was last seen this morning by her father heading to school. She obviously arrived there, and according to school records for the day she was in her first period class at least. We cannot confirm just how long she was in there until she wakes up or someone who saw what was going on comes forward. As for Shadow Stalker, the girl was clutching a notebook to her chest with what the paramedics termed 'some sort of death grip', and it somehow survived being in there, though I did have to take precautions examining it's content for health and safety reasons. The notebook in question was a journal kept by the girl that detailed, in precise and exact detail, a systematic campaign of harassment and bullying against her at the school. One of the primary perpetrators of this campaign was apparently Shadow Stalker's civilian identity."

"Is the girl in a gang? Was this some sort of racial thing?"

"While the victim is Caucasian, from the contents of her journal it would seem that she is a loner and not a member of any gang."

"And the trigger? How do you know the victim is parahuman?"

"The notebook had been specifically covered in insects to keep it's contents safe and dry. They simply would not remove themselves from the exterior of it, and would attack and bite anyone who attempted to remove it from the girl's catatonic grip. This caused the paramedics to contact the PRT, I was dispatched, and was able to effect the removal of the insects and extraction of the notebook. Upon reviewing the notebook's contents, I came to the conclusion that Shadow Stalker was quite likely involved in how the girl wound up in that locker."

I rolled my eyes at this. Of course Armsmaster would never miss a chance to let me know how efficient and effective he was. The man was so needy it was a wonder his little Canadian girlfriend could stand dealing with him. Then again, they'd never met in person, so perhaps that had something to do with it. Time to stroke his ego, to keep him content and well-behaved.

"Very nicely handled, Armsmaster. It would sound like the girl perhaps has some sort of insect related ability, as from what you've said about the contents of the notebook it would no doubt be very important to her. Here is what you will do. Make sure that there is a PRT guard on the girl in the hospital 24/7 until she wakes up. Have someone go and collect Shadow Stalker from her home and bring her in, but do not let her know what we know. In fact, tell the officer that you send to collect her that there's been an incident with the Empire Eighty-Eight that relates to her. That ought to keep her from being suspicious of us knowing about her extracurricular activities. Tell no one else what you know at this time."

"Do you suspect some sort of internal problem, Director?"

"Shadow Stalker has a handler assigned to her. If what you've said is accurate, and there has been an ongoing campaign of bullying against a student at the school, there should have been at least some complaints or reports made involving her, and I should have been immediately notified of those as Stalker is still on probation. I've heard nothing until now, and as such her handler will need to be thoroughly investigated."

"Very well Director, I will do as you say."

"Additionally, send Miss Militia to speak to the girl's parents-"

"Just her father, Director. The mother is deceased."

"Fine, send Miss Militia to speak to the father – I presume he is at the hospital with his daughter?"

"He is."

"Good. Send her to speak to him. Explain that we suspect she has triggered. Have her – tactfully – explain our stance on the subject of new capes and their life expediencies. Make sure that he is aware that we are doing a thorough and complete investigation of this situation and that the perpetrators will be punished. Understood?"

"Crystal clear, Director. I'll get right on it."

"Excellent. Keep up the good work, Armsmaster, and keep me in the loop."

I hung up the phone and leaned back in my chair, a grin coming across my face. While I hated this fucking pathetic charade I'd been living since my little brother had done his best to have me killed, days where I got to use my authority to nail a nigger to the wall almost made it all worthwhile. Speaking of charades, from the slight itching sensation I had been feeling under my skin on and off today, it seemed that I'd need to make time soon to see my 'Dialysis Nurse' to refresh the shaping that I'd had done. We couldn't have my actual face coming to the fore in the middle of the PRT building one day, after all.

My playacting as Emily Piggot for all these years after her little Nilbog incident would soon bear fruit. Plans that had been nearly a decade in the making were beginning to come to fruition, and this little Shadow Stalker incident was just what I needed to keep me motivated while I waited for everything to become ripe and ready.