"Okay," Director Piggot said, once things had calmed down a bit. "So… what exactly happened?"
"As near as I have been able to reconstruct," Armsmaster began, "one Taylor Hebert was put into her own locker on the first day back from the school Christmas holidays. Her locker had been filled with used sanitary products and other similar items before the break, resulting in biohazardous material inside the locker as part of a deliberate prank."
"That's not really a prank, at that point," Renick objected. "That's somewhere closer to attempted murder."
"True, but not really germane," Piggot said. "No, I take it back – that might actually matter here. God, but school children can be such bitches… I don't think I was ever that bad."
Armsmaster, displaying his political savvy, did not say anything in response to that.
"Sophia Hess, Shadow Stalker, was claimed by some to be involved and by others to not be involved," he went on, instead. "I believe it is quite likely that she was involved, but I did not state that in my investigation one way or another."
"One of the ones who was claiming her to be involved was Hebert herself," Renick said. "It's hard to come up with a reason why a victim of this kind of… murder attempt… would accuse someone else who was innocent of the whole thing."
He frowned. "And I should point out that it's about the only way for the perpetrators to have gained access to Hebert's locker. But please continue, Armsmaster."
Armsmaster nodded.
"Around half an hour later, there was a major accident involving a bus and a tanker truck," he continued. "Consequently, Panacea was requested urgently, and her sister Glory Girl helped ferry her from Arcadia High to the location of the accident, around one hundred yards outside Winslow High School, where Panacea commenced healing of the burn victims. Both girls were still in the area at ten zero five AM."
Renick winced slightly.
"Problem, Renick?" Piggot asked.
"It's never a good sign when the timestamps get specific," Renick replied.
"I can't disagree," Piggot admitted. "Continue, Armsmaster."
"Four minutes prior to the incident time, at ten zero one AM, an ongoing gang battle between Empire Eighty-Eight and Azn Bad Boys unpowered individuals escalated by the arrival of parahumans from both gangs at about the same time," Armsmaster said. "Cricket and Alabaster became engaged with Oni Lee, while Lung engaged Stormtiger and Menja. Menja was quickly disabled, but Stormtiger drew Lung away from the disabled Menja in the direction of Winslow High – which is where both capes were at ten zero five AM, along with Hookwolf who was just about to engage in a clearly pre-planned attack on Lung as part of a coordinated strategy. I cannot determine when exactly he entered the area."
He paused, then continued when there were no immediate questions. "This, based on my analysis, is the moment at which Hebert triggered, as the normal trigger proximity reaction was recorded for Stormtiger, Lung, Hookwolf, Panacea and Glory Girl. We can presume that Sophia Hess was also affected, though this is not actually verified."
"And then when that wore off is when Hebert broke out of the locker," Piggot said, rubbing her temples. "All right. So you're fairly sure that Hebert's subsequent actions were with provocation?"
"Director," Armsmaster began. "Permission to speak freely?"
"Go ahead," Piggot said.
She appreciated the man's ability to follow protocol, even if there were things about him that got on her nerves at times.
"If I had had the means and opportunity, shortly after my trigger event, I probably would have acted aggressively towards the cause of my trigger," he said. "And, though I don't wish to speak about it, my one involved less clear personal malice."
"Understood," Piggot decided. "Well, I suppose that at least explains her powers. Dragon from Lung, metal blades from Hookwolf, shadow drop from Shadow Stalker, fear from Glory Girl's aura, wind from Stormtiger… though I'm curious about the poison aspect. It would have to be Panacea."
"Something to be answered in further testing," Armsmaster suggested. "Assuming she's willing to join the Wards? A cape that versatile would be convenient."
Renick laughed. "Do you seriously think she'd accept being on a team with Hess?" he asked.
"Fuck that," Piggot declared, her voice grating. "We kept that girl from going to prison and all we've got out of it is attitude. Hebert has shown more perspective so far today than Hess has shown since we brought her in. And if we can Hess immediately then we can at least demonstrate that we're doing this properly."
"There may be a legal problem with Barnes," Armsmaster warned. "Hebert named her as a co-conspirator."
"Fuck them as well," Piggot said. "Barnes senior was Hess's character witness. He thinks he's a big shot because he's a divorce lawyer? This is an obvious case of wrongdoing on his daughter's part, and on Hess's part. He's going to lose this case, and if he drags it out with appeals he's going to find out that the Federal Government has deeper pockets than one lawyer."
She exhaled. "All right. Now, we can't keep using her real name, not when there's still even a chance of keeping her cover ID, so please tell me we have an alias assigned?"
"Tentatively, we've got one based on how she's a black dragon who doesn't breathe flame," Renick said, checking the paperwork. "Cynder."
AN:
Because of course that's the name that made sense.