Chapter 21
Twenty minutes after Weld had left for his room, there was a second arrival on the rooftop.
This time, the person stepping out of the helicopter had a feminine silhouette, wearing a skintight suit and a visor. She carried a gym bag and a metal contraption I recognized as a large crossbow, and wore a quiver full of sharpened lengths of metal on her back.
That would be Flechette, the purple-wearing, crossbow-wielding Ward that I'd noticed with Shadow Stalker during the fight against Leviathan, the one who had tried to wave me over at the cafeteria shortly after, before Vista stopped her. On our earlier patrol, Miss Militia had told me that Weld and her would arrive tonight, and I'd been on edge ever since.
So far, Weld seemed nice enough, if somewhat misguided and uninformed about the current situation, and I was grateful that he hadn't pressed me about the other Wards, Shadow Stalker, or my past as a villain.
Flechette was more of a wild card.
I didn't know what Vista had told her to stop her from waving me over. It could be anything from a simple "please don't" to a vivid description of my actions at the bank and fundraiser. Not to mention the red flag of her apparent friendship with Shadow Stalker. She was most likely aware of the leak by now, but I had no idea how she would react. Would she try to distance herself from Shadow Stalker's actions, or would she resent me because Sophia wasn't on the team anymore?
I didn't feel ready to find out by the time the elevator brought her down to our level. Then, the alarm rang, and the door opened after a delay, allowing her to step inside.
"Hi," she said with a smile, approaching the console. "I'm Flechette."
"Apiary," I answered. "You're joining the team?"
"No," she shook her head, "just a temporary stay until you guys fill your ranks again. Maybe a few weeks, maybe as much as a month or two."
The radio crackled awake with Clockblocker's voice.
"Console, I have three unpowered who were setting cars on fire, ready for pickup."
"Acknowledged," I said. "Police is on the way."
Meanwhile, Flechette placed her bag on the floor next to the console, crossbow on top of it, and sat down beside me before removing her visor.
"It's Lily out of costume," she said. She was Japanese, maybe a few years older than me.
Should I reciprocate? I still didn't know where she stood in relation to Shadow Stalker, and part of me was worried that they would turn out to have more in common than just their weapon of choice. Then again, even if she turned out to be the worst kind of person, not much would change whether she knew my identity or not. My dad was in protective custody, and she was only here for a few weeks or months. At worst, with the Shadow Stalker scandal fresh on everyone's memory, I was pretty sure that any outright bullying would get shut down quick if I threatened to go to the media over it. At best, I might gain an ally.
I decided that the risk versus reward ratio was in favor of it.
"Taylor," I said, taking off my mask.
She offered a bright smile.
"I'm from New York," she volunteered. "But they move me around depending on needs."
"Welcome to Brockton Bay, then. Or what remains of it."
"Thank you. You're new, right?"
"I am," I said, playing it safe. "I joined after the fight against Leviathan."
"How are you finding things so far?"
I didn't especially want to bring up my past as a villain to explain the tensions with the other Wards. I settled for the same kind of answers I gave my dad and the Protectorate heroes when they asked similar questions.
"It takes some getting used to, but overall, it's fine."
"Glenn didn't traumatize you too badly?" She asked.
I shrugged.
"From what I've heard about him, I expected worse. I'm just glad he went along with my idea to use bees as a theme rather than butterflies."
"Oh, he would have loved the butterflies, trust me. I'm surprised he didn't go with that. How did you get him to change his mind?"
I hesitated to bring up the elephant in the room, but there was no tactical advantage to be gained by delaying the inevitable. The sooner I ripped the band-aid, the better I could adapt to her reaction.
"They gave me a few concessions including veto rights about my image to placate me after Shadow Stalker attacked me," I said.
She winced.
"Right. I heard about that," she said. "It's just awful all around."
"Weren't you friends?" I inquired, trying to sound casual.
"No?" She said, sounding surprised at my assumption. "What made you think that?"
"I saw you together during the fight against Leviathan."
She shrugged.
"We use similar weapons with a similar range, so it made sense to stick together, but I haven't really talked to her all that much."
I relaxed a fraction at that.
Awkward silence lingered for a moment as I searched for something to say, but she spoke before I could.
"So you can control bugs?"
I nodded. "I can perceive through them too, but that's about it."
"Cool! My thing is charging objects to change the way they're affected by the laws of physics. I mainly use it on darts and the bolts for my arbalest, and I have a few secondary powers that helps me calculate angles, timing and trajectories."
Lily continued to make small talk, telling me about the five different teams in New York, and that she was bounced around between them as needed. I didn't ask the obvious question it raised about her family situation, in case it was a sensitive topic.
Clockblocker's voice sounded from the radio. "Console, I'm stepping in to stop a group of looters near Florham and Turnberry."
"Roger that," I replied. "Relaying it to the police. Good luck."
After I sent the message to the police channel, Lily grabbed her visor.
"I should head out, get acquainted with the city."
"Clockblocker is on patrol if you want to join him," I told her.
"No, I should be fine, but thank you. Oh, I was wondering. I remember meeting someone when I was in town for the attack. What can you tell me about the cape with the stuffed animals?"
"Parian?"
She smiled.
"Yes, that's it."
"She's a rogue. A fashion student, from what I've heard. Sometimes she does promotions for stores downtown."
I opened the PRT's database and searched for her name, then skipped the portion explaining the meaning behind her alias.
"Let's see. Tentative rating of Master six, but she hasn't really been in a fight outside of the one with Leviathan. She's mostly been seen between the spot where the college used to be and the lake downtown. Vista ran into her the other night, but she's asleep right now, and the paperwork isn't on file yet."
"So you don't know exactly what happened, and I'd be going in blind," she said, frowning. "She's harmless though? This Parian?"
I hesitated.
"I wouldn't say anyone is harmless right now, but like I said, she only has one fight on record, and it wasn't against other parahumans."
"Right. How do I get there? I'd like to make sure she's okay."
I opened a map of the city on one of the screens.
"This is us, that's the lake, and this is where the college used to be," I said, pointing at various points on the map. "Taking into account the destruction and flood, the fastest way to get there is to take St. Charles Avenue to go around the north end of the lake. There's a block or two that are still standing there."
"Thank you," she said, putting her visor back on. "I'll tell you if I run into any trouble."
I nodded, and she left.
It was odd, after the past few weeks, having an actual conversation with someone around my age whom I didn't have a history with. After she'd confirmed that she wasn't close to Shadow Stalker, there was no minefield to navigate, no searching for hidden meanings and repressed truths, no over-analyzing her micro-expressions. She seemed nice enough, and didn't bring up my past as a villain.
The restless part of me, the part that was always expecting the other shoe to drop, wanted me to be on my guard, and I had to force myself to examine the thought.
Why was she nice to me? The simplest explanation was usually the right one, and in this case, it was that she was new and wanted to be on good terms with the rest of the team, myself included.
Except that being on good terms with me might come at the expense of being on good term with the others, if they thought that she was picking sides. It didn't tell me much about her intentions, and much depended on what Vista had told her that one time in the cafeteria. At best, she was genuinely friendly, and at worse, she was only pretending while the others weren't around. I supposed I would find out for good once I saw her with the others.
The next morning, as usual, I tiptoed out of my room while the others were still asleep, except that this time, I wasn't alone.
Flechette was waiting in the break room, and sprung to her feet to ambush me as I passed it on my way to the cafeteria.
"Good morning!" She said with the distinct pep of someone who hadn't been in Brockton Bay for the past couple of weeks. "Do you want to grab breakfast together?"
"Okay," I said. Since the other Wards weren't up yet, the risks of an awkward situation seemed minimal.
"Thank you for giving me the directions to find Parian last night," she said as we walked to the elevator. "I found her almost right away."
"Is she alright?" I asked.
"For the most part. I'll see if I can deliver some supplies to her during my next patrol, to help things along."
We made our way to the canteen, where I grabbed my usual bagel and coffee, while Flechette took some yogurt with berries and granola along with a coffee. We brought our food to a table in the corner, and sat across from each other. I removed my mask, revealing the domino mask I wore underneath so I could eat, and put my glasses on over it.
We ate in companionable silence for a moment, then she began asking me questions about the hives on the rooftop and how I used the bees in the field, and I reciprocated by asking about the difference between a crossbow and an arbalest, and life in New York.
Eventually, I felt Clockblocker, Kid Win and Vista arrive, making their way to the canteen.
Flechette was in the middle of telling me about some training games where she'd fought against Weld's team in Boston when the other Wards left the canteen with their food.
She raised a hand to wave them over.
They stopped on their tracks, exchanging a few words, then Clockblocker tentatively waved back before following Vista and Kid Win to their usual table.
I cringed, bracing myself for an awkward explanation of why they didn't want to sit with me, or worse, for Flechette to get up and join them.
She frowned, gaze lingering on them for a few seconds, then she turned back to me and resumed talking about the training games like nothing had happened.
Relief melted away part of the tension in my shoulders and jaw. I nodded along, asking a few questions here and there while nursing my coffee, until the bugs positioned on the hands of the clock in my workshop indicated five minutes to eight.
"Sorry," I interrupted her, "but we'll be late to class if we don't leave soon."
"Class?" She asked. "They told me school was out during the state of emergency."
"Apparently, it's not a good enough reason for us not to go to class. Piggot is coordinating our shifts so we can spend a few hours every day getting some form of education in the meantime. We're watching recorded lectures from a college course about parahumans."
"Which one is it? I already took Parahumans 101 and 102 this year," she said.
"We finished 102 yesterday, so we should be starting 103 today."
She smiled. "Then I guess I won't be too disoriented."
I removed my glasses and put my mask back on, then we stood to walk down the rows of tables. Flechette stopped at the other Wards' table as they were getting ready to leave, while I hung back a few feet away.
"Hey guys," she said with a smile.
The others mumbled a greeting.
There were a few moments of awkward silence as the Wards rose from their seats, Clockblocker putting his helmet back on over his domino mask. Flechette appraised them, with their lack of energy and visible injuries, then she spoke again.
"So, I've read some of the reports, and I did a solo patrol last night, but that doesn't tell me much. Just how bad are things out there?"
She couldn't have picked a better topic to break the ice, and that may well have been on purpose. They treated her to a detailed description of the most notable and outlandish incidents as we walked to the rack in the corner to leave our trays and dishes, before moving to the elevator.
I didn't contribute anything. The incidents I encountered all tended to end with "and then I covered them with bees from several hundred feet away," which, as Assault had pointed out multiple times, made for boring storytelling compared to actual fights. Unlike the other Wards, I could fight from a distance and didn't suffer injuries as a result, something I felt contributed to their exhaustion and the divide between us, and I had my goal to find Coil's base and Lisa's forget-me-nots to focus on when things felt hopeless.
Not to mention that me speaking up might kill the conversation altogether.
Still, this was the most words I'd heard from Kid Win and Vista in close proximity to me, especially in a casual setting. I wondered whether I'd been shooting myself in the foot by trying to give them space this whole time, or if the presence of a neutral party made mine more tolerable. Or maybe they were just relieved enough to have someone new to vent to that it overshadowed my presence.
"…and then he threw the Molotov cocktail at Vista, but she had twisted space to send it right back at him," Kid Win recounted. "Then, some of his buddies try to do the same, and so they all end up setting themselves on fire. There's a couple inches of standing water in the street, so they jump out of the window to flop around in the water like beached fishes to try and extinguish the fire."
"And that's about it for the first week," Vista concluded as we arrived to the makeshift classroom.
As Clockblocker opened the door for the rest of us, I found someone inside whom I'd hoped not to cross paths with ever again.
Glory Girl.