5.2
"Good evening, are you Ghost Step?"
'Wow' was Madison's first thought. It was one thing seeing Armsmaster from a distance and in all the press briefings, interviews and shots on PHO, but in the middle of the night with his armor and halberd he was downright intimidating. If she didn't literally have the ability to disappear then she would have probably started running right then.
"Um yeah, that's me. Sorta!"
He stood there, examining her and she couldn't help but marvel at his armor. She knew he was a tinker, the tinker if you asked some people (though Dragon would always be her favourite). But there was: 'Stays in their workshop and makes cool stuff' and then there was: 'Dresses up as a cyber knight in a literal suit of armor, rides around on a badass sci-fi motorcycle and looked about ready to try and stab her at any moment if she moved or said the wrong thing.'
"The police said you are a Hero, is that correct?"
Well that explained why he'd stopped at the doorway after he'd spotted her and wasn't getting any closer. It also explained the nagging question she'd had as to why there weren't any PRT or police swarming the building and still setting up outside, especially if they weren't sure if she was actually Oni Lee lite. Madison had to give him credit for that, even if she wasn't sure she cut that much of an intimidating figure to someone like Armsmaster, nodding with her best attempt at a welcoming smile to hide the nerves she felt behind it.
"Yep, I'm a new Hero." She started, relaxing a little as he made a visible show of standing down at her declaration. Whilst it was obvious he could still be ready to go at a moment's notice, she appreciated that he had at least made it look like he wasn't about to spring forward and try to impale her with his halberd and she was definitely grateful for that much consideration.
"I was um going to call this in" she continued awkwardly, gesturing vaguely to the... Everything around them. "But when I got back you were already here so... Yeah."
He only nodded, stepping into the room proper and taking in the scene with a slow sweep of his head and Madison wondered if he was recording everything he saw as evidence, very glad she'd managed to grab almost everything not nailed down before she'd heard his boots clunking up the stairs. "That matches what we were informed by Brockton Bay General, were you responsible for instigating this incident tonight?"
"No!" She yelled a little too indignantly before catching herself, noticing the sound of people moving about below and wondered when and how Armsmaster had signalled all of the police and troopers waiting outside it was safe to enter. "I was only scoping the place out, I wasn't even going do anything before the Merchants showed up in their invisible tank."
"And at that point you became involved?"
"Exactly." She nodded, "I evacuated a few people from the bar and then engaged all the gang members inside, before anyone else could get hurt." She paused, reconsidering her words. "Well first Squealer tried to blow me up and actually the gang members were attacking me at basically every point, but that's essentially what happened."
Armsmaster nodded curtly. Though with only a split visor covering the top half of his face, she could see his mouth curl into a grimace as he replied. "Yes my attempts at pursuing Squealer were unfortunately unsuccessful in that regard, however it's fortunate that you weren't injured during the events that I understand to have transpired. What you did tonight was extremely dangerous and it's clear that you could have been injured or even killed at multiple points, acting alone and as untrained as you are."
'Harsh' she thought in annoyance even if she knew damn well he wasn't wrong and bit back the first retort she wanted to make. She was the one who had fought Squealer and secured the building and then Armsmaster just turned up to lecture her?! Madison took a breath, because if a comment like that was almost enough to set her off then she was way more tired than she realised.
"I managed" she offered blandly instead, stealing back a smile at how Armsmaster clearly wasn't happy with the response, but as much as she was trying to be a better person she could still have her moments of harmless pettiness.
"Very true." He conceded after a pause. "You clearly have a large amount of potential and it would be a waste if something happened to you on your next encounter, have you given any thought to joining the Wards? I would be happy to take you through the process."
She had known it would come up at some point, but it still took her by surprise to have Armsmaster himself giving her the pitch right then. "I have." She nodded slowly, "but I don't think it's something I want to consider just yet, sorry."
It didn't surprise her that Armsmaster took the declination in stride, even if he didn't look particularly pleased to hear it, though she imagined it was a swing and miss more often than not.
"Very well." He allowed before reaching down, a slit on his armor appearing and a card slipping out, which he deftly picked up between armoured fingers and handed to her. "If you change your mind at any point, this card has both the general PRT hotline and a direct line to my office if you would find myself more preferable as a point of contact when you do decide to join. I hope I don't need to tell you that misuse of my direct line will have consequences."
'Holy crap a direct line for Armsmaster?!' Was the only thought in her head at that precise moment and she nodded automatically as she took the card, both awed and a little amused at how over the top it's production value was. The card was a metallic blue sheen just like the rest of him, with an inlay of some kind of actual metal substituting for silver... It wasn't actual silver was it? No that would be ridiculous... Probably.
She slipped it into her trouser pocket and with a glance down confirmed it was snugly tucked away out of sight before she stored it directly into her Inventory. She wasn't into Hero merchandise like some people were, but that was a collectible even she wasn't going to pass up on.
"I passed several bound gang members on my way up and I can see there are more here, I assume this was your work?" Armsmaster asked as she looked back up and she nodded with a glance towards the few remaining gang members in question before replying.
"Yup. There were more here, but I thought I should get them medical attention as soon as possible since they'd roughed each other up pretty badly before I arrived."
"A prudent thought," Armsmaster replied consideringly and Madison couldn't help the little swell of pride at the genuine sounding praise. "It is an unfortunate commonality that most Vigilantes don't consider the wellbeing of their captives, which can lead to numerous exacerbations of what may have otherwise been simple injuries."
"Independent Hero" she interrupted to correct him without thinking and froze after realising what she'd just done.
"Excuse me?"
"Um, I'm not a Vigilante, I'm an Independent Hero."
Not being able to see the much taller man's eyes made it very difficult for Madison to judge just how awkward the brief ensuing silence was, but she was going to go with some variation of the word 'very.'
"You do understand that to officially become an Independent Hero, you must be registered with the PRT and as I understand this is something you have yet to do?"
Okay, he wasn't technically wrong, but she was trying to be a Hero and even though it had only been a few weeks, it was something about herself she could finally be proud of and she wasn't going to let some legalese bullshit get in her way. That's how you ended up with people like Taylor, people like her.
Madison gave him a flat look. "I'm a Hero, or at least I'm trying to be with what I'm doing, I will register with you guys at some point though I promise." Eventually, she added in the privacy of her mind, after she'd gotten a costume and thought of an actual Hero name and probably ran a whole social media campaign so no one thought she was a Villain. Oh Scion she just remembered that ghosts were Crusader's thing and if she'd just realised that, then there was probably already a whole thread on PHO labelling her as another Empire cape. Shit.
"Very well, let's move past the matter of your current legal identity for the moment." Armsmaster replied in the tone of voice that told her that it was something that would be addressed in due course as he continued with a gesture to the room at large. "If you would walk me through what happened and the actions you took?"
The next few minutes were a lot like when she'd given her statement to the nice police operator the previous night, except completely different in every conceivable way. She found herself pausing and backtracking at several points to go back and add details or other things she'd suddenly remember that she'd outright forgotten to mention. It made her recounting far more haphazard than she would have liked and only added to her mounting nerves as Armsmaster just listened impassively.
Whilst he did ask her to clarify points a couple of times along the way, she might as well have been talking to a stoic brick wall as he listened to her painfully ramble on, making her feel a lot smaller and far more embarrassed by the time she'd actually finished going over everything.
"And that's about it I think..." She trailed off, wondering what else she had no doubt missed and briefly wondered what his own after action report was going to look like after her less than stellar showing so far.
"Hmm, good work" Armsmaster replied after a moment's consideration and from what she'd seen of the man's expressiveness thus far, Madison was going to take his words as glowing praise and a pat on the back unless he decided to contradict her.
There was a pause where Madison wasn't sure if Armsmaster was expecting her to say anything else or if he was looking at something on the heads up display he obviously had. Sure Armsmaster never confirmed to the public what most of his tech did, but who built a suit of power armor with a visor and didn't include a heads up display?
"As on the ground floor I can see there is a significant amount of contraband on the premises, however there appears to be significantly less cash than one would typically expect for an operation of this scale and sophistication. Especially for a group known to flaunt both their contraband and money in order to attract recruits and new business."
Madison gave her best innocent face, though if it didn't work on her mom, she wasn't sure it was going to work on the professional Hero in front of her either.
Said Hero fixed her with a look that was pointed, even without being able to see his eyes. "Tell me Ghost Step, is the money secured in another room?"
Well at least she knew what he'd been looking for in the awkward pause when he hadn't said anything. 'Time to see how much of what I've read online is true' Madison thought to herself, buoyed by the fact she had absolutely nothing incriminating on her.
"I didn't see anything in the other rooms" she shrugged, lying through her teeth. She hadn't had long, but she'd had long enough to give them a quick once over and only found a couple of small stashes compared to the veritable pile that had been in the main room.
The only reason there was still cash left at all was that she'd simply ran out of time and had decided to leave all the... Stained notes around them until last, which meant she hadn't ended up getting to any of them before Armsmaster had arrived.
"Is that so" Armsmaster replied with a leading pause, but Madison had lost enough arguments with her parents to recognise it for what it was.
"Yep, feel free to check yourself" she offered. For all she knew she'd missed a giant stack of cash under a floorboard or something and she wouldn't have been at all surprised if Armsmaster had proceeded to punch a hole in a random wall to reveal several million dollars she would have had no way of knowing was there.
"Hmm" he grunted, gaze inching towards the two Merchants she'd propped up against the wall, who were probably only keeping quiet because she'd gagged them after they'd started insulting her mom. "And if I talked to those two individuals over there, they would corroborate your story?"
Madison smiled despite herself. "I highly doubt it." Even if she hadn't been the one to arrest them, she had no doubt they'd throw her under the bus first chance they got, just on the principle that she was a cape and wasn't one of them. "They're gang members, they'll tell you exactly what they want you to hear right?"
"There are certainly enough individuals present that I'm sure at least a few will be cooperative for the chance of a better deal."
"Well some of the Merchants did try and make off with a big bag of money, maybe that was everything they had?"
She could feel the eyebrow raise from the Hero in front of her as she suddenly had his full attention and Madison belatedly realised that she may have made a tiny mistake as she replayed her own words back to herself in her mind.
"And where is that bag now?"
'Crap, backpedal, backpedal!'
"It was downstairs the last time I saw it" she definitely didn't rush out very unconvincingly. No sir, she did her best lying at what was probably three in the morning hopped up on adrenaline and exhaustion.
"And if I return downstairs I will be able to locate this bag?"
Her silence as she tried to find an answer that wouldn't dig her hole any deeper was long enough that Armsmaster decided to keep talking.
"Stealing evidence from an active crime scene is against the law Ghost Step, if you return anything you have taken now, I will not be forced to take any action to detain you."
She couldn't help but take a step back even as Armsmaster didn't move a muscle himself, the excuse tumbling from her lips before she could stop it. "I thought Independent Heroes could claim petty cash and materials?!"
He frowned at her, though she was grateful he didn't do anything else, she'd had enough fights for one night, even if all she would have done was flee. She'd known going in that she'd probably get accused of theft, but it was one thing to think of it as a hypothetical that might happen and another to be looking up at a man in a suit of tinker-tech armor, who looked like they were one step away from trying to detain her regardless of any proof of a crime.
"Ignoring the fact you do not yet qualify as an Independent Hero. Whilst it is true there are provisions within the law to allow for such Heroes to make certain claims of spoils in the pursuit of their heroic activities, these exist within a strict framework of rules."
He crossed his arms and she gawped at the still standing halberd, if he was trying to show off then that by itself was more convincing than the whole Wards speech he'd already given her.
"As you are by all accounts demonstrably new I will provide a lesson in full, so you do not run afoul of the law and cannot claim ignorance at a later time. Firstly material claims are limited to non-tinker-tech technologies and do not include weapons of any kind."
Madison briefly had a thought to the two guns she'd ended up storing in her Inventory and decided it was best never to mention them to the man in front of her.
"Secondly." He continued with a nod towards the main pile of drugs on the broken table at the side of the room. "All contraband and stolen goods must not be moved from the scene of the crime due to their nature as illicit substances and evidence respectively, unless reasonable cause can be provided for their displacement."
"For significant acquisitions." He continued and Madison didn't miss the fact he was considering their current situation as one of them. "A limited amount of monetary compensation may be provided at the discretion of the local enforcement agency. Whilst I do understand the BBPD no longer provides this due to past abuses, the PRT may offer a percentage of any seized funds under specific circumstances."
Madison almost wished she could retrieve one of her notepads and start making notes, but overall it was roughly what she'd been expecting from her own research on the subject. In the end it always seemed to boil down to: 'Don't take anything illegal, tinker-tech or stolen.' Whereas the amount of money you could take (if any), seemed to depend on where you were and even then the stories she'd found could be completely contradictory.
There had been an equal amount of Vigilantes and Independents, not all of whom had stayed in their respective careers who had talked, or sometimes ranted about how angry the cops and Heroes had gotten for any amount of money they thought was missing, even when the poster said they hadn't taken anything at all. And then on the other side of the coin there were people saying that both organisations would be happy to let things slide as long as you weren't taking 'too much.' Not that 'too much' ever had any real definition she could find.
"Allowances are made for registered Independent Heroes to claim petty cash in order to facilitate their continued activities." Armsmaster continued. "However all claims must be declared to the local PRT branch at time of seizure and failure to report this, or to provide proof of claims if requested by your local PRT branch may result in legal action against your person and forfeiture of your title."
'And that answers that question' Madison thought to herself as Armsmaster returned the full force of his frown to her.
"For an operation of this size and with the amount of drugs and firearms present I would have expected at least several thousand dollars in the premises, if not an even greater amount following a recent delivery or the raid of a rival faction." He held out a hand expectantly. "I would ask that you hand over what you have taken and a share will be allocated for yourself to collect at the PRT ENE headquarters pursuant to ENE operating protocol."
Madison couldn't help but return a flat look of her own as she easily connected the dots that had gone unsaid. 'Just turn up and collect the money, oh while you're here let's have a quick debrief, perhaps you'd like to do some power testing whilst we give you the soft sell on the Wards.' They probably wouldn't actually let her have any of the money they'd set aside for her either. Since she was a minor she'd no doubt need to get her parents involved or it would go into trust until she turned eighteen, which meant she'd be screwed either way.
She had to respect the hustle the PRT were playing, but it wasn't like she'd stolen the money. Well she had stolen the money, but it was drug money so it definitely didn't count!
'Wow, Quest is really rubbing off on me isn't she?' Madison couldn't help but think to herself in slight exasperated amusement. Come to think of it her power was being suspiciously quiet she noticed and Madison decided to interpret the continued silence as approval, considering how Quest had reacted when she was about to screw herself over last time.
She gave a helpless shrug to Armsmaster as her thoughts returned to the man in front of her, trying to project the nonchalance she almost believed she felt. "I don't have it, sorry."
The frown from the older Hero only deepened. "Please do not lie to me Ghost Step, I would prefer not to have to arrest such a promising Hero aspirant over such a minor matter."
"My name isn't actually Ghost Step!" She blurted out before she could stop herself, though something about the rest of Armsmaster's response sat poorly with her. Sure she was obviously lying, but he'd called her out with a strange amount of certainty for a man who famously dealt in cold facts and logic more than any social grace.
He paused, apparently as thrown off by the non-sequitur as she was. "You provided the name Ghost Step to the BBPD and responded to it affirmatively when I referred to you by this moniker when I arrived. Is that not your Hero name?"
Madison groaned, was this going to happen with every Hero she met until she had a real Hero name?!
"It's not my Hero name, it's temporary okay? I'm working on it." Though having said that, she realised she had no idea what she should call herself if he did ask for an alternative instead right then.
'Am I really going to be stuck with an Empire sounding name for maybe a whole other month or more?' Madison couldn't help but lament, though trying to think up a Hero name on the spot was exactly what had gotten her into the mess in the first place!
Why couldn't her power have given her a quest to pick a Hero name before it sent her out to fight and commit crime?! Madison almost expected a quest to appear at that very moment and wasn't sure if she was disappointed or not when nothing did, returning her attention to Armsmaster who looked almost affronted by her answer.
"Temporary? It does not speak well to your judgement that you would begin your heroic activities without a persona and brand firmly established, it invites others to define your actions and create a name and message in your stead."
The embarrassment of being called out on it like she had was quickly overcome by the annoyance she felt as she glared back at him. "We don't all get a government budget to make our own costume, it's a temporary name until I have an actual costume alright?"
Armsmaster paused. "You're correct, I spoke out of turn and I would apologise for that. However if you were to join the Wards then you will as you put it 'have a government budget' for a costume. One that will keep your identity and your person safe, as well as providing the structure and training the Wards program offers all who sign up."
Madison didn't roll her eyes, but it was a close thing. "Thanks but I'll pass on the Wards pitch for now. I'm not saying no to the Wards forever" she stressed, not wanting to burn bridges with the Hero who had captured more Vigilantes than she could name. "But I want to establish myself as a Hero first so I can at least get Shadow Stalker's deal if I joined."
"You're referring to how she kept the broad strokes of her costume and Vigilante name?"
"Yup." Madison nodded back. "She may look like a brooding edgelord, but she was obviously smart about it if she came out of the rebrand keeping her whole persona."
Armsmaster hummed contemplatively at her argument. "A reasonable perspective I suppose, having designed my own armor myself I cannot typically commiserate with some of the complaints fielded by other Heroes. Nonetheless, despite your stated motivations I cannot allow you to acquire your costume funds through theft of a crime scene."
"I never admitted to that!" She immediately threw back, she was pretty sure she hadn't admitted to that at least.
"True, but of our conversation thus far it is the most reasonable assumption as to why you would attempt to abscond with almost the entirety of the funds this establishment no doubt held."
"I definitely didn't admit to absconding with drug money" she returned evenly, frowning suspiciously at the older Hero as she tried to figure out what his game was.
He sighed. "I would prefer not to have to arrest you on suspicion of theft on your first week out, however your lack of cooperation is becoming problematic."
'Seriously?!' Madison wondered if Miss Militia or Velocity would have given the same surrender or die speech- 'It was a lie detector!' She realised with a start, that's why he was so certain about everything! He was a tinker in tinker-tech power armor who arrested and interrogated criminals and Villains on a daily basis! Obviously he had a lie detector built into his suit along with the rest of his gadgets!
She squinted at him, suspicions coming into full focus as she thought carefully over her next few words. "But Armsmaster" she started, trying to pointlessly gauge the man's reaction through his opaque visor as she spoke. "I don't even know where any of the money is."
It was technically in her Inventory, but just where the hell that was she still had absolutely no idea.
"You're trying to beat my lie detector" he responded matter-of-factly, arms uncrossing as his hand found the shaft of his halberd once more.
"Is it working?" She couldn't help but ask, though she was surprised he'd admitted it outright, watching the halberd warily in case he was serious about the trying to arrest her thing.
"Your last statement read as a partial truth."
"That makes sense" she nodded back.
There was a beat where neither of them said anything, Madison wondering and rather hoping she was quick enough to evade if he did try to tase her, definitely not willing to trust in a purely hypothetical force field she wasn't sure she actually had.
Then he sighed and all the tension seemed to evaporate with it. "If I ask you to return the money you're going to tell me you don't have it and it's going to read as at least partially true isn't it?"
"Yup."
His glare didn't have anything on Panacea's Madison decided, but she still felt it all the same before he finally seemed to come to a decision. "Very well, consider this a warning as well as your first formal infraction. New Heroes are given some leniency to make mistakes, however should evidence of your responsibility in any theft come to light, your status as a Heroic aligned Vigilante may be subject to change without formal notice."
"Wow." She chuckled in giddy relief, because that was all but a tacit admission she was getting away with it. "I'm really glad you have absolutely no proof I took anything."
He scowled and Madison realised to her amusement that her previous statement had no doubt read as 'True' on his lie detector.
"Beyond the outstanding circumstantial evidence, that remains to be seen Ghost Step. Unless of course you would like to return the stolen funds now and a record of your cooperation in this matter will be noted in your official file?"
She grinned back at him. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
"Of course not." Came the dry response.
"So... Can I go?" She asked slowly, Madison knew she had already pushed her luck enough for one lifetime and didn't trust herself not to slip up and faceplant right when she was at the finish line.
He nodded after a moment that dragged a little too long into uncomfortable. "You may, I will assume you're not interested in returning with me to HQ for a debrief in full at this time and I will provide your statement of events in addition of my own to the BBPD." He paused as she nodded her own agreement to his excellent sounding plan that didn't end with her talking to even more people for probably several more hours in a small room.
"However," he continued with emphasis that she couldn't help but pay attention to. "If we meet again under similar circumstances, then I may be forced to detain you if you refuse to cooperate."
Well she appreciated the warning, but there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen if she could help it and gave him a mock salute as she took a quick step back. "So noted sir! It was nice meeting you Armsmaster!" She chirped with a genuine smile and with that teleported out of the room and onto a rooftop several blocks away.
As much as she wanted to jump straight to her bedroom, she was not teleporting directly back home probably smelling like an ashtray that got drowned in hard whiskey, no matter how much she wanted to go straight to bed just then.
Truly the work of a Hero was never done.
