章 1248: 9
Oh? What do we have here? Glory Girl (Victoria Dallon), Brandish (Carol Dallon), and Flashbang (Mark Dallon) were here in costume.
"You have three days to think about our offer. After that you can try your luck in court," Piggot gave Brandish a challenging stare.
Glory Girl clenched her fists and looked like she was going to cry.
"Fine. Glory Girl, we're leaving," Brandish ordered authoritatively and turned around.
"What about Amy? Did you find anything yet?" Glory Girl cried out.
To the side of Piggot's desk, Armsmaster was standing stiff as a board in full armor.
"Nothing concrete. We tracked her scent to the boardwalk but it disappeared there," he answered succinctly.
"And the bastard that Mastered her?!" she practically yelled.
"Still under investigation. I've brought Dragon in to assist with the search, it shouldn't be long now," he replied calmly.
Then Miss Militia knocked on the door. Piggot called out, "Come in, we're finished here," staring at Glory Girl as if daring her to disagree.
Miss Militia opened the door, taking in the three New Wave members' stand-off with Piggot. She glanced around at them awkwardly before asking, "Director, the new heroes are waiting in the lobby. I can give you my report before you see them."
"No need. I already saw the recording. Just bring them in," Piggot replied.
"Understood."
Miss Militia closed the door behind her.
"What are you still doing in my office?" Piggot asked Glory Girl with a look of irritation.
Brandish was trying to pull on her shoulder to no avail. "Vicky!" she hissed.
"If…if you find Amy and take down that bastard, then I'll join the Wards!" Glory Girl suddenly said.
"You're not in any position to negotiate. What I offered is what you're getting. Nevertheless, we will find Panacea as is the duty of the PRT and Protectorate," Piggot answered flatly.
Soon enough Miss Militia came to us and led us to Director Piggot's office.
On the way, we came face to face with Glory Girl looking down with a gloomy expression, with Brandish and Flashbang beside her, both of them being escorted by Assault.
They looked at us curiously.
I noticed Araliac's posture stiffening as we walked.
"Busy night tonight! Three new faces? You must be heroes if you're coming here and not in chains!" Assault commented with a grin as he paused to look us over.
"Thanks to them, we have Lung and Oni Lee in custody. Very impressive for a debut," Miss Militia added warmly.
Glory Girl was visibly shocked when she heard that. Even Assault's jaw dropped. Both Brandish and Flashbang's costume had a visor and their mouths didn't particularly move so it was difficult tell what their reaction was.
"Don't be impressed yet. This is just the beginning. We're going to clean up this city. The villains have had free rein for far too long. Innocents are dying and enslaved every single day. Under the clouds of evil, the people have forgotten what safety and freedom even means! Brocton Bay has become a dark pit of misery and despair. But no more!" I spoke passionately and clenched a fist in front of me. "The villains will learn to fear the light of justice once again! We will change everything. We will restore this city to its rightful place in the sun!" I opened my fist and raised it high above me, as if trying to hold up the sun in my hand.
Everyone looked taken aback at my sudden speech. This was just posturing. The PRT didn't have PR in its name for nothing. But they weren't the only ones who could play that game. I've read more than enough books to know how this goes. Speak loudly, and carry an invisible stick. That's the way to win.
In this case, Agate had been my invisible stick, phasing in different spots to film the fights earlier from various angles in between spying on the Undersiders, on top of the recording devices on my and Araliac's person. Here, my recording devices were off and Agate couldn't be used in the open to capture electronic footage. Nonetheless, there was an audience and it was an opportunity to establish my "personality".
"You're certainly ambitious. I like it," Assault said with a smile.
"Well, there will be time for introductions later, the director is waiting," Miss Militia reminded us.
I nodded at Assault before we followed Miss Militia into the Piggot's office.
Armsmaster was standing at attention beside Piggot's desk. He was the leader of the local Protectorate branch, theoretically equal in rank to Piggot but because the PRT was technically the non-cape oversight for the Protectorate, he was really subordinate to her. In his metallic full body armor, he was an imposing intimidation factor.
Miss Militia was the deputy of the Protectorate and reported to Armsmaster. Even though Armsmaster was nominally in charge of the Wards as well, Miss Militia tended to be actually managing them because Armsmaster was less socially inclined.
The director herself looked haggard, irritated, and just about to keel over if she wasn't sitting.
Director Piggot was a fairly competent leader, but she hated capes. Thanks to her trauma with the Nilbog disaster a long time, she despised parahumans as a whole and refused to even let Panacea heal her liver problems.
I'd originally hoped to maintain decent relations with the PRT at least until Leviathan hit, but now that Araliac ditched New Wave and they knew, conflict was inevitable. Nilbog was a cape that had the power to create living and thinking creatures, monsters you could say, with powers of their own. He was an S-class threat that captured a whole city, and the Protectorate abandoned it, walling it off from the outside world while Nilbog was content to rule his city of monsters as a fantasy king. And Piggot was right in the middle of Nilbog's attack, so she hated capes with powers related to control of biology and making creatures. To her mind, Araliac's absolute biokinesis was just a nightmare waiting to happen.
And with things as they were, her nightmare was about to come true. I needed Araliac's power and nothing would get in my way. They'd figure out sooner or later Araliac's true identity no matter how we try to hide it, unless we just didn't make use of her power, which was not acceptable. If that meant the PRT thought me a dangerous Master to put down I would need enough strength to put them down first.
If Piggot was aggressive then it'd be all the better for me. Even if she wasn't, I had enough dangerous intel to force the issue. Both of the girls with me had major biases and vulnerabilities that could be manipulated.
Amelia tried her best, but at the end of the day, I knew she hated the world for making her life so terrible. There were no shining examples of heroism in her life, and her attachment to her rules and avoidance of villainy were pathological rather than some kind of true moral fibre. Sooner or later, this world's natural darkness and her shard's influence would push her beyond the brink.
Skitter, on the other hand, turned to villainy canonically, and was an expert at rationalizing. Now that I had gotten to her first, I had the feeling that she was already ripe for recruitment. I was dangling her dream of being a hero in front of her at every step, praising her for her contributions and acting generally like her mental impression of what heroes were supposed to be. Piggot and Armsmaster would probably piss her off even without my prompting. Then I'd reveal the truth about Sophia at an opportune time.
"So you're the three new heroes I've been told about," Piggot said.
"Good to meet you, director Piggot, Armsmaster." I said pleasantly, nodding at them. Of course, with the voice changer making me sound like a Sith Lord what was 'pleasant' was merely not disturbing.
They both nodded back.
"I have been informed that you three managed to take down Lung by yourselves. Then you ambushed Oni Lee when he arrived and defeated him too. That's very impressive for your first outing. We've had a lot of trouble with those two in the past," she started acknowledging our achievement. Well, maybe I was being too harsh to her. Or perhaps she was being cautious not to antagonize us without knowing our full capabilities?
"Thank you. Araliac and I weren't planning on fighting Lung as our first public action as heroes, originally. We knew that fighting someone strong enough to sink Kyushu would be a very tough fight, even for us," I explained. I wanted to show that we were not rash and foolish newcomers. And to imply that we did have the ability to match Lung at full power. We actually would though, once Araliac really let loose and had some time to prepare, so it wasn't a total bluff. "But when we saw that a fellow hero was in danger, we knew we had to act. Fortunately, Skitter did enough damage that it made things a lot easier for us."
Skitter looked over at me again. I bet she was thinking now that I really meant what I said before, if I was willing to give her credit in front of a major authority. She had to have been a little suspicious in the back of her mind about all the praise I showered on her. That girl was a ball of wariness and low esteem. After Emma set up a few fake friends to betray her, she had wised up to pretentious people.
Piggot slid her gaze over to Skitter, almost in a deliberately slow movement.
"I thought you didn't know each other before tonight? How did you recognize her as a hero? Her costume doesn't quite look the part," Piggot commented curiously. There was no judgement in her tone. She was just fishing for information on my capabilities, and I'm sure she meant no offense. Sadly for her, neither did Armsmaster when he made a similar comment in the story and it still hit Taylor's insecurities.
"That's…not intentional," Skitter spoke up rather defensively. "I was more than halfway done putting the costume together when I realized it was looking more edgy than I'd intended, and I couldn't do anything about it by then."
A small but more than sufficient opening. I stepped forward to seize it, for victory goes to the bold.
"Our own costumes are also purely functional. People must be judged not by appearances but by their actions. What kind of villain would stand and fight in the face of a monster like Lung with mere pepper spray? A cowardly villain would have just run when they realized they were outmatched and alone, having nothing but their own lives to protect. But I saw her on that roof, mere inches from a monster covered in fire, spraying into the bastard's face like she had nothing to fear. I knew then that she was a true hero." I felt goosebumps on my skin as the sheer passion of my acting took over.
"She wasn't fighting for herself. She was fighting for something deeper, something greater, something worth putting her life on the line!" I spoke strongly and increased my voice as I built to a crescendo and Skitter stared at my back. The words felt hypnotic and self-evident to my ears.
"A purpose and calling that gave her a different kind of strength, an inner power fueled by courage and righteousness, demanding her to be more than she was, to be…a superhero!" I ended with a thundering statement that put the rest of the room into silence.
With Agate's senses centred a ways behind me, I saw Skitter fidgeting in embarrassment. Araliac shook her head and shrugged as if silently answering Piggot's questioning gaze towards her. I thought I might have heard a giggle from Miss Militia too. No that can't be right.
'She really did.' Agate helpfully corrected me.
"I…see," Piggot slowly nodded with scrunched eyebrows. She was obviously not happy with my useless explanation. She must be irritated that I was one of those hammy capes like Mouse Protector. I was pretty sure they thought I was a Thinker already with the information I told Miss Militia about the PRT spies, but I wasn't going to give them any hints as to the exact nature of my knowledge if I could help it. Plus I could reframe Skitter's suicidal inclinations as something admirable, reinforcing the way she rationalized her behavior, making myself the source of her good feelings while the PRT became a source of bad feelings. It helped that she didn't know the "kids" she saved were the Undersiders yet.
"You certainly did a good thing tonight, I won't deny that. Let's get to the main point of this meeting then," she pressed on and cupped her hands together in front of her face with her elbows resting on the desk. "I'll be frank. Your success and devotion to heroism are commendable, but your methods were questionable. The three of you used lethal venoms and guns, took a defenseless man hostage, and attacked a member of the Protectorate when he was just performing his duty under the law. Just for that last one, I could have you arrested and charged with a crime."
Skitter immediately tried to argue. "What? But—"
"If you're saying that, that means you don't plan on it, right?" I countered. Skitter fell silent.
"You're a smart one, aren't you?" Piggot let out an amused huff. "You're right. If you had failed or did any serious damage to Velocity, I wouldn't hesitate to bring the law down on you. But you succeeded very well and I can't argue with the results. You clearly knew what you were doing, executing efficient take downs of powerful villains with minimum damage to yourselves and property. You even defeated Velocity without any actual harm to him. In light of that, I'm more inclined to see your actions as taking measured risks and responses to the circumstances, rather than impulsive newbies stepping over the law once they were in over their heads."
I nodded at her. I bet the public would say the same thing once they saw our video.
She folded her arms together on the desk and gave me a stern look. "For now, I remain optimistic that you will be a blessing rather than a danger to this city. God knows we need more effective and committed heroes out there, especially now that the balance of power has been broken. You've just created a power vacuum, and the coming days will see the other gangs jostling to fill it. A storm is coming, and we need you to help Brocton Bay weather it."
"We won't shy away from the danger, director, you have my word. No, we'll be right in the middle of this storm; with the fury of the heavens we will wash away the stain of super-powered villainy and protect the innocent," I declared lining a fist to my chest as if giving a solemn pledge.
"Agreed," Araliac finally spoke up for the first time in this meeting, crossing her arms in front of her chest as if in indignation.
She actually chuckled in response to that. "I'm not worried about your commitment." No she was worried my zeal would turn into a crusade. And she was right to be worried.
I was feeling a little disappointed that she wasn't more antagonistic. Truthfully I didn't think Piggot was actually letting me go that easily. If I could act, so could she. What was her angle? Did she really not suspect Araliac of being Panacea? Not even going to question us about it?
"I'll help as much as I can too," Skitter said with a nod.
"You could do a lot of good with the Protectorate and the Wards," Armsmaster added. "We've been outnumbered and stretched thin by the villains for too long."
"I'm sure we could, but you know why we can't," I said good-naturedly while turning towards Miss Militia meaningfully.
Piggot glanced over as well.
Armsmaster turned to look at Skitter, as if expecting a separate answer from her. She stayed silent and pretended not to notice. Were they trying to act nice to give a good impression to Skitter?
"What you told us is indeed very troubling. It would be helpful if you could give us something more specific. I understand the need for information security but keeping things too close to your chest will make it difficult to cooperate. You haven't even told us your powers so we couldn't verify your identity if an imposter appeared."
"That's true," I admitted. "For our identities, there's not much we can do about that. It's not as if cape powers can't be faked either, and some powers are nearly impossible to detect. As for your moles, well first, let's agree to keep what I tell you next off the record, alright? I hope this room is secure."
"It is," Armsmaster assured. Piggot nodded her agreement.
This was it. The reason I deliberately acted so paranoid and uncooperative was right here. I wasn't going identify any moles for them. The ones I knew by name I had no proof of treachery, and the PRT likely wouldn't find any hard evidence at this point either. I had something entirely different in mind.
Piggot thought she could get something out of me pretending to play nice, but she just fell into my trap.
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