Interlude 7
In both of his currently active timelines, Thomas Calvert managed one of the three PRT field bases that were deployed in a five-mile wide triangle around Taylor Hebert's cursed hospital.
He still had no idea how she had done it, but the seemingly endless hallways were impenetrable. None of the men he sent in ever came back, and he had stopped bothering to waste timelines on it.
So far, the PRT and the Protectorate unknowingly agreed with his assessment. Hunter had specifically warned them not to enter her Hospital, and Tinkertech speech analysis indicated that she was being truthful. Short of bombing her lair out of existence, Thomas didn't know of a way to pierce her defenses.
Well, he was sure that she had a way, but he wasn't getting involved with them again unless he absolutely had to.
He was interested to see if the Empire managed to draw her out. Would Hunter come out because of the threat against innocent lives, or was she just happy to have all of her targets in one convenient location?
In order to avoid Hunter's Thinker awareness if at all possible, the field surveillance posts did not have direct line of sight to the Hospital. Instead, Armsmaster had produced several high definition micro-cameras. At less than an inch long and designed to look like cockroaches, the PRT hoped that the tech would remain undiscovered. They still positioned them several hundred yards from the action, though.
Additionally, Dragon had lent them a high altitude drone with a very impressive telescopic lens. They were less worried about Hunter seeing that one. Even Tinkertech firearms were unlikely to be able to shoot it down, and Hunter already knew they were watching her.
"We have eyes on the Empire," one reporting agent stated. Thomas leaned over to watch the procession. "Total of three hundred and forty one hostiles."
Impressive.
"What about their cape roster?" Thomas asked.
"Eight known parahumans identified. No sign of Victor or Cricket."
Which lended additional credibility to Emily's theory that Hunter killed them and took their bodies. It fit with the unknown blood samples found at her first two massacres.
It also fit with his mole's reports that Kaiser was keeping the slaughter of his parahuman forces close to the chest. He hadn't requested assistance from Gesselshaft or the Herrens.
In one timeline, he sent the encoded command to put his sniper in position. Armed with a Tinkertech ballistic rifle and targeting system purchased from Toybox, the hired gunman should be able to hit his target from almost two miles away.
Thomas wasn't necessarily planning to keep that timeline, but it was important to gather data. The last time he had run this test, Taylor Hebert could still be killed with a well placed sniper round. He wanted to make sure that was still the case.
"Hellhound's minions have spotted the Empire scouts," one agent reported.
Thomas could hear the eerie howling on the wind.
Let's see what you can really do, Hunter.
It would be nice to watch her kill someone else, for a change. Cathartic, even. No one else was aware of just how much brutal violence she was willing to bring to bear when properly angered.
Thomas knew. He was intimately familiar with her various methods of delivering death to her enemies.
He didn't have high hopes for the Empire's survival. Taylor Hebert had slaughtered his entire cabal of mercenaries enough times to prove that throwing more bodies at her was not a viable answer.
Still, it would be enjoyable to watch.
"We have eyes on Hunter. She just exited the Hospital roof access, camera A2," another agent reported.
Showtime.
Unfortunately, the drones and cameras weren't equipped with microphones, after the technical issues Velocity and Assault had when Hunter spoke.
Fortunately, they didn't need microphones to hear her. Even miles away, something about her unnatural, inhuman voice echoed within him.
"I am not afraid of your judgement, Kaiser. Your poisoned words have no value here. Tonight, we speak only the language of violence, and death."
Thomas shivered. He had heard that voice before, but never in both timelines. Never when he didn't have a way to undo whatever had drawn her attention.
At least it was aimed at Kaiser, this time.
Thomas almost pitied him.
And then the music began.
What the hell is that?
The unearthly choir floated on the wind and lingered on the edge of his mind. Hopefully Emily didn't make them all go through Master/Stranger protocols just for existing near the ethereal melody.
He watched the bank of monitors as Hunter hung in the air before the soldiers of the Empire, outright ignoring the combined fire of several hundred automatic weapons.
Par for the course, in Thomas's experience.
The stars, however, were not.
"Sir, are you seeing this?" the agent manning the surveillance drone said.
"Yes," Thomas replied faintly, except he wasn't looking at the screens anymore.
He didn't need to.
The agents followed his gaze to the spiraling tower of silver stars in the distance. Even miles away, it was more than tall enough to be seen over the desolate Trainyards. The blinding light cast stark shadows all around them.
"What the fuck…" one of the agents muttered.
Then the tower collapsed, and the Empire died.
Thomas let his eyes idly wander from screen to screen. He didn't really need to see it. He already had, in a number of different ways.
Taylor Hebert slaughtered them like animals. They never even stood a chance.
A voice spoke over the general coms.
"Armsmaster is being deployed to make contact. We have received reaffirming orders from the Director. Do not engage. Do not interfere. If Hunter becomes hostile to Armsmaster, deploy Protectorate forces only."
Hunter landed on the rooftop across from Armsmaster. He wasn't equipped with audio surveillance equipment, unfortunately, for the same reason the drones weren't.
It was the only reason they were sending a living person at all.
This was as good a time as any. If he was successful, he could observe the fallout and Emily would have a mess to clean up if he decided to keep the timeline.
In one timeline, Thomas sent the order to terminate Taylor Hebert.
On three different screens, he watched the armor piercing sniper round hit her directly in the side of the head.
And from three different angles, he watched it bounce off her skull.
She even reached out and casually caught her hat before it could hit the ground.
Thomas cursed and allowed himself the outlet of shooting the other agents in his surveillance post.
As the stars began to fall again, he dropped that timeline.
In the timeline where he simply watched Armsmaster complete his relatively calm conversation with Hunter, Thomas clenched his fists.
He was too late. Taylor Hebert may no longer be killable by any convenient means, and he had yet to find any feasible way to control her. He would have to work on acquiring something more… exotic.
She may not be actively hunting him right now, but the existence of yet another force that could potentially destroy his plans was simply not sustainable in the long term. He would need to end her eventually.
He just wasn't quite sure how, yet.
…
Emma still didn't sleep at night.
The psychiatrists that her parents hired all had their own opinion, but she didn't care.
What did anything matter, anymore?
She was just so, so empty.
An eldritch glow filtered through her uncovered window. She couldn't bring herself to close the curtains, anymore. The moonlight was soothing.
And maybe…
Maybe she would see the Hunter's shadow, again.
The light called to her and she stumbled out of bed on trembling legs.
Emma smiled at the shining silver stars that spiraled in the north. Such a beautiful galaxy, dancing around the full moon.
Glorious, and terrifying. Just like the Hunter herself.
I did that.
It made her happy, and just a bit less empty, knowing that Taylor was doing well.
…
Emily's scowl was even more pronounced than usual in the dim light of her multiple computer screens.
It was well after midnight, and most of the office staff at the PRT headquarters were long gone. The field agents continued to report, and she had several live lines going through her phone.
There wasn't much left to report, now.
On one screen, she reviewed the recordings from several cameras and the drone.
On the other, she watched the live footage of Hunter and Hellhound gathering the bodies of their victims. Sometimes in pieces.
It was frustrating to sit back and watch, but she needed the footage. Anything to get Hunter verified as the threat she truly was.
It was obvious, in hindsight.
Hunter was hunting parahumans in order to copy their powers, like some kind of bastardized, bio-tinker combination of the Butcher and Glaistig Uaine.
It didn't matter how she did it. All that mattered was that she did.
A light-based Blaster/Shaker power from Purity.
An air-based Blaster/Mover power from Stormtiger.
A sound based Master/Shaker power from Cricket.
A Thinker power from Victor.
She must have picked up a Brute power from somewhere, given how she shrugged off Krieg's attack and Crusader's ghosts. Either that, or a different kind of Tinkertech enhancement.
As for the short-range teleportation…
Oni Lee was still alive, last Emily checked.
She mentally ran down the list of potential targets. Rune didn't fit the bill. Emily didn't know what Hunter acquired from the telekinetic Striker, but it probably wasn't temporary intangibility.
Shadow Stalker.
Sophia Hess had gone missing right after one of Hunter's rampages. It was too much of a coincidence to ignore, now that she knew what Hunter was after. The chain of events was entirely plausible.
Somehow, Hunter and Shadow Stalker met outside of a standard Ward patrol.
Hess was prone to rash decisions, and Hunter was a trigger-happy murderer who had a vested interest in harvesting parahuman blood.
After watching Hunter rip the Empire to shreds, it wasn't surprising that Shadow Stalker lost.
Emily didn't know what she could do with this information, though, even if she could prove it. It was damaging to Hunter's reputation and would undermine her assurances that she wouldn't attack heroes, but Emily got the feeling that Hunter simply wouldn't care if they released it. Disrupting their ceasefire benefitted Hunter far more than it did the PRT. She was looking for more parahuman blood, after all, and it was only some skewed kind of morality that kept her from harvesting heroes.
Aside from Shadow Stalker, of course, but that was most likely an outlier. Hunter had made no attempt to kill Assault or Armsmaster, even though it was abundantly clear that she could have.
The Empire had only existed because their cape roster was too robust to be easily defeated in a head-on assault by the Protectorate. Doing so would have left them wide open to an attack of opportunity from Lung, not to mention Gesellschaft. The local PRT and Protectorate simply didn't have the manpower necessary to bring the Empire down directly.
Except, they had fallen regardless. Slaughtered by one cape.
And Emily had to deal with the consequences.
However, the new status quo was not necessarily worse. Just… more potentially damaging, if it fell apart.
On one side, Lung and the ABB. A single powerhouse with a litany of unpowered minions, and Oni Lee for support.
And on the other, Hunter and Hellhound's beasts. A power stealing Tinker with a penchant for murder.
Either Lung would fall for the same trap as Kaiser and march on her Hospital, or they would spend the foreseeable future slowly chipping away at one another.
In the meantime, Emily would do everything she could to keep the situation from devolving. Clearly, Hunter could not be overcome by direct force, but Emily had far too much practice working around unstoppable forces. Every parahuman had the potential to become one, under the correct circumstances.
But they were still human, and fundamentally broken ones at that. There was always a way around, if she couldn't go through.
It would start with Shadow Stalker. They hadn't looked too deeply into her disappearance before, but now they had an angle.
There had to be something there. It was an outlier to Hunter's pattern. Even if Shadow Stalker attacked her, Hunter said she wouldn't kill the heroes. It didn't make sense for Hunter to compromise her moral code for one person, a Ward significantly below her level of prowess, unless…
Unless she somehow knew what Sophia Hess was really like, under the mask.
Emily opened a new email to Armsmaster. They had some interviews to revisit.
…
"You did what?"
As usual, Rachel didn't appear to care about the consequences of her actions in the slightest.
Does not care about the consequences. Does not believe there will be consequences. Is certain she is able to avoid all consequences.
This time, Lisa was happy to let Brian take the lead while she continued to review the PRT reports from Hunter and Rachel's murder spree. Alec lounged in his recliner and nibbled at the remains of a pizza he ordered yesterday.
Hunter is able to copy powers from parahuman blood. Hunter has accumulated six additional parahuman abilities. Hunter's physical enhancements are not the result of blood tinkering. Hunter has access to other methods of enhancement.
Rachel shrugged.
"Hunter showed up to kill the Empire for me. Figured I'd return the favor," Rachel said.
Views Hunter as a stronger leader than Brian Laborn. Is willing to leave the Undersiders if necessary. Would rather follow Hunter. Trusts Hunter.
"This is different! I know she fought off Purity and Hookwolf, but you killed hundreds of people!" Brian shouted.
"They asked for it," Rachel scoffed.
Does not regret killing her enemies. Hunter has inadvertently encouraged Rachel Lindt's power-induced lack of conventional human morality.
"No. No, we can't just let this go, this time. Hookwolf's fighting rings were one thing, I get it. They were torturing those dogs. But you sent your dogs to kill the Empire wholesale while Hunter executed their capes!" Brian exclaimed.
"Wasn't about to sit back and watch, when Hunter showed up for me. What'd you expect me to do?" Rachel demanded.
Views bystander effect to be inherently immoral when applied to people she considers part of her pack.
"Something else! Anything else. We can't…" Brian trailed off. "We can't have a mass murderer on the team. It's just too risky. We all have things we don't want the PRT digging up, and they'll be all over us after this."
Rachel narrowed her eyes.
"That's how it is, then?" She said coldly.
"We'll vote on it, but-" Brian said.
"Don't fuckin' bother. I'm out. You can keep robbin' fucking convenient stores or whatever," Rachel growled. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed.
Calling Hunter. Hunter has the means of locating and retrieving Rachel Lindt from any location. Hunter is able to penetrate any and all defenses.
"I need a door," Rachel spat into the phone.
Hunter is here.
"Nice place. Love what you've done with it. Stale pizza isn't exactly my first choice in home decor, but it definitely lends a certain 'teenage rebellion' chic," Hunter said casually as she stepped out of their wall.
Brian immediately flooded the room with darkness.
Except, it wasn't dark.
In the center of the room, Hunter held an old fashioned lantern that gave off an eldritch purple-white light. It was strange, seeing the face of the girl in the wheelchair looking out from under the brim of Hunter's hat. She didn't have her scarf on, this time.
"Nice try," Hunter smiled. It wasn't a nice expression, in the eerie lantern light. "But being a terror in the night is kind of my whole schtick."
Were her eyes even darker than before?
Hunter is not afraid. Hunter wants to die. Hunter does not want to die. Hunter is certain that death is not permanent. Hunter has died before. Hunter is not dead.
Shut up, power. Not helping.
"What do you want?" Brian demanded.
"I'm just here to pick up Rachel, since she asked so nicely," Hunter said. "However, I do want to ask a favor, while I'm here."
"A favor," Brian said stonily. "After you just show up uninvited-"
"Rachel invited me. Try to keep up, please. Besides, I don't need a favor from you," Hunter looked past Brian and stared into Lisa's soul.
Would like a favor from Lisa Wilbourn. Believes Lisa Wilbourn has access to resources Hunter does not.
Lisa cleared her throat and put on her best confident face.
"Why should I do you a favor, then? I thought we weren't friends," Lisa said carefully.
"We aren't friends yet," Hunter replied. "But we could be. And I could be a very… useful… friend to have."
Hunter can access any location on the planet. Means of transport is outside of physical reality. Hunter can access any location in any reality.
Hunter can penetrate the Birdcage.
Well… shit.
"Let's say I'm interested," Lisa said. "What are you offering? And what do you want?"
Hunter cocked her head to the side. The gesture would have been kind of cute if it weren't absolutely fucking terrifying.
"I would like a professionally crafted false identity. Fake ID, passport, birth certificate, the works. I need it to be able to stand up to potential scrutiny from both the PRT and other… motivated… parties," Hunter said. "In return, I will offer you one favor of commensurate value. Anything you want, as long as it does not actively harm me or mine, and I will see it done. You can claim it now, or later. I don't care."
Is being genuine. Will attempt to honor any request regardless of difficulty. Hunter is suicidal. Hunter is not suicidal.
"This seems like a bad idea, Tats," Brian whispered.
"Naw, do it," Alec said. "Sell your soul or whatever. Sounds like fun."
"Shut up, both of you," she hissed.
Hunter laughed.
"You don't want a get-out-of-jail-free card in your back pocket, Lisa? Or a kill-anyone-you-want card? Get me what I need, and you'll never have to fear being caged again," Hunter said.
Hunter is willing and capable of freeing Lisa Wilbourn from captivity of any kind. Hunter will kill anyone that does not deeply offend her moral sensibilities upon request. Hunter has very few moral sensibilities.
That was… reassuring. Sort of. But God, Hunter was just so fucking creepy.
She did have a point, though. And it was generally better to have a monster in one's debt, rather than the other way around.
"Fine. I'll save my favor, but you'd better deliver," Lisa said.
Hunter's eyes glinted in the unnatural light.
"I always keep my promises, Lisa," her smile widened. "For better or worse."
Lisa remembered what she promised to do to Coil.
"Of course you do," Lisa sighed. "Alright, then, deal. I'll need a picture for the documents. And a name."
Does not care about showing Lisa Wilbourn her face. Does not currently have an active civilian identity. Needs a new identity in order to interact with PRT related assets.
Who the fuck was Hunter meeting from the PRT out of costume?
Unfortunately, her power didn't offer any magical insights on that front.
Hunter considered for a moment.
"Let's go with… Anne Callahan. I'd prefer to be eighteen, if you don't mind. Cuts down on the questions quite a bit."
Purposefully picked a name with ties to vampire hunting. Finds it humorous to evoke imagery of both a vampire and a hunter simultaneously.
Great. Hunter was also a drama-queen. And a literature nerd. Fantastic.
"You don't want to be twenty-one?" Lisa snarked.
"No. I can steal my own fucking liquor, and blood tastes better anyway," Hunter chuckled.
Is not lying. Prefers the taste of human blood to hard liquor. Has drank more human blood than hard liquor.
Okay. What the actual fuck.
Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to this.
Rachel Lindt agrees with Hunter's statement. Rachel Lindt has also consumed human blood recently.
Jesus Christ.
Fuck it. If there was a monster out there who could put Coil down, it was obviously this bloodsucking abomination.
"I hope you don't mind if I get your number from Rachel's phone. For the picture," Hunter said.
"No, that's… fine," Lisa said weakly.
"Alright. I'll be in touch, but I do have to go. I was kind of in the middle of something," Hunter smirked. "You ready, Rachel."
"Was ready when you got here," Rachel grunted.
"Thanks for being patient, then," Hunter said to Rachel before surveying all three of them. "See you around, Undersiders. You know where to find me if you need anything."
Rachel and Hunter stepped through the wall again, and they were gone.
The darkness faded and Brian collapsed onto the couch with a groan.
"What the fuck was that?" He complained to the room at large.
"I think we just got outclassed, oh fearless leader," Alec said with a crooked grin. "Do you think she's hiring?"
Hunter is not hiring. Hunter would not accept Alec's services. Hunter has better methods of Mastering her enemies.
Where the fuck did her power pull that from? Also, what?
Just what have I gotten myself into?
Lisa sighed and got to work on the false identity. It wasn't even all that difficult a favor, really. She already had the necessary backdoors set up in the PRT's network.
Still, this had better be worth it. She hated paperwork.
…
Armsmaster stood at the head of one of the PRT's larger conference rooms.
Instead of wearing his full power armor, he wore a blue jumpsuit and his visor. It was sufficient to hide his identity, but allowed him to move freely without breaking any furniture.
The room was crowded, but not overly so. His Protectorate team were all present, along with Aegis, Lady Photon, and Brandish.
"Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming on such short notice," Colin said, quieting the low conversations. "I'm sure we're all aware of the ultimatum delivered by Kaiser yesterday afternoon, but in case anyone missed it: last night, the Empire Eighty Eight assaulted the lair of the villainous Tinker previously known as Carpenter, who has now chosen the self-assigned name, Hunter."
"Did she wear the pirate hat when she handed them their asses on a silver platter?" Assault asked.
Colin glared at him, even if he couldn't see it behind his visor. Hopefully, Assault got the memo, regardless. Not that he would care.
"No. Hunter and Hellhound did, however, kill all of the Empire's remaining capes, along with one hundred and ninety four unpowered members of the gang, for a total of two hundred and two fatalities," Colin said.
Well, two hundred and one, technically. Alabaster might still be alive, somewhere in there.
"Jesus," Velocity muttered, along with a general murmuring from the room in response.
"Due to Kaiser's broadcast, we were able to prepare and record the incident with the goal of gathering information about the new faction rising to power in the Bay. The Director and I agreed that it would not be beneficial to interfere with the conflict unless civilian lives were at risk. Here is the unedited footage of the conflict starting just before midnight," Colin hit play on the projector.
He had already watched the recording several times, of course, but it was no less impactful. Hunter was as versatile as she was dangerous. The long-range Blaster power alone put her at a high threat rating, not to mention the litany of other powers she displayed.
She certainly wasn't a grab bag. She was a Tinker, but high level Tinkers could quickly become indistinguishable from powerful Trumps.
And Hunter had managed to reach that level with a bunch of stolen supplies in an abandoned hospital. Colin almost wished he could see what she would do with proper resources and equipment.
Almost.
The heroes watched with varying degrees of stoicism as Hunter shot Crusader, destroyed Krieg, tore the Valkyries apart, murdered Othala, and burned Kaiser alive.
Assault chuckled when she cut Hookwolf in half, and Battery kicked him under the table.
The video ended and the room was silent for a long moment.
"Now," Colin reclaimed control of the meeting, "we must review and revise our approach to both dealing with Hunter and the parahuman organizations in the city at large. Does anyone have any feedback at this point?"
"Do you still want to recruit her?" Assault asked with a crooked grin.
Not in the slightest.
"If Hunter decides to revisit our offer, we will determine her viability at that point. However, we have no reason to believe that she will," Colin said.
"Do we have a Birdcage order yet?" Brandish said. Her expression was stony and unreadable.
"Hunter has never been captured and tried, so there is no confirmed sentencing at this time," Colin answered. "However, Hunter and her followers have been officially declared a potential Class A threat. I'm sure everyone will agree that it would take a coordinated effort from all available assets to subdue her, and even then we would not prevail without severe losses, if we won at all."
"So she just gets to do whatever she wants, then?" Brandish demanded.
"No. But it does mean that no one is to interfere with her unless civilian lives are presently in danger. Any assault against Hunter and her Hospital must be a well organized operation, not a haphazard brawl. We will continue to monitor her lair and encourage civilians to avoid the area, but attempting to bring her in without proper preparation would be a disaster," Colin said.
He took a deep breath before he continued.
"Hunter has admitted to using customized Tinkertech to copy parahuman powers. She stated previously that she is a blood Tinker. Somehow, she is able to utilize parahuman blood to mimic our abilities. I don't think I need to overstate how important it is to avoid falling into her hands, dead or alive."
"If every cape she kills just adds to her powerset, why aren't we taking her down before she gets any stronger?" Brandish grumbled.
"Because we can't." It tore at his pride to admit it, but none of his current equipment was up to the task of bringing down the monster in the recording. He would need time to find a customized solution to the Hunter problem. "An enemy like Hunter must be handled with care for a reason. The Empire found that out last night. It is too late to remove her; she is already a potent threat. Powerful parahumans who are both willing to kill their enemies and avoid targeting civilians and heroes put us in a very difficult position. How many lives are you willing to risk against an enemy who only avoids killing us because of her own inconsistent moral code?"
Colin forced himself to stop ranting and took another deep breath. All of this had been bouncing around in his head since his conversation with Hunter, and the realization that she could and would kill him if he forced her to.
"We will do what we can to mitigate Hunter's influence and her access to parahuman blood, but backing her into a corner will cause significantly more harm than good," Colin said in a lower tone. "We must ensure that the people of the Bay continue to trust us. While we work on fixing the damage Kaiser's broadcast did to our reputation, we can't afford to lose any heroes in a fruitless attempt to bring Hunter to heel."
He didn't say that Brockton would be one step away from becoming another Ellisburg if Hunter turned on them and succeeded in exterminating the PRT presence in the city. Some places simply weren't worth losing more heroes to reclaim in the eyes of the Chief Director.
"Are there any more questions or concerns?" Colin asked tiredly. It had been a long night, and he was now getting close to thirty-six hours without sleep. He had a customized sedative cocktail waiting for him in his lab.
The silence was heavy.
Colin sighed.
"Significant changes to the established power structures are always concerning, but I remain hopeful that a new equilibrium will be reached without further loss of life," Colin said. "Please contact us if anyone sees any sign of Hunter outside her Hospital. Thank you for your time and attention."
The low hum of voices resumed as the heroes began to file out.
"New Wave, a moment, please," Colin called to Brandish and Lady Photon.
The independent heroes made their way to the front of the room as the rest of the Protectorate left.
"Dragon and I have been researching a donated sample of Hunter's work," Colin began carefully. "Our analysis has indicated that it is stable, but we are hoping for independent verification before we attempt any human trials. Would Panacea be willing to lend us her expertise for an afternoon?"
Brandish's face turned sour.
"How can you be sure it's safe? I doubt it's worth the risk of exposing Panacea to an unknown Tinker's experiments. Especially a villain like Hunter," Brandish said coldly.
"It's not required, but she is the closest thing we have to an expert on parahuman healing. Hunter claims that her solutions heal without significant side effects, but Panacea may be the only way to verify that claim," Colin reasoned. "She made no move to harm Assault or myself, so it seems unlikely she would leave a trap for us intentionally."
"It doesn't have to be intentional to be dangerous," Brandish countered.
That was true. There was a reason that he and Dragon had run so many tests, despite the lack of success.
"We'll bring the request to Panacea and let you know. We certainly won't ask her to do anything she's uncomfortable with," Lady Photon said.
Brandish didn't look particularly happy about that, but it was probably the best that Colin was going to get.
"Thank you," he said. "We appreciate any assistance your team is willing to provide."
"Of course," Lady Photon replied. "We all must be flexible in the face of upheaval."
From the look on her face, Brandish didn't agree. But then again, she might just always look like that. Colin would have to run the conversation through his analysis program to ensure he didn't miss anything important.
In the meantime, he had breadcrumbs to follow. Winslow High School's computer system was archaic, so he may have to actually visit in person.
…