Orb Weaver: Interlude, PRT

Emily Piggot treasured the times when the Bay didn’t feel like it was about to catch fire. But now wasn’t one of them.

We didn’t lose anyone. That was the good news. The bad news was that Youth Guard was breathing down their neck, wanting an in-depth analysis about how a bunch of Wards ended up fighting Leviathan, and why Alexandria was on record giving orders that delayed the response.

And I can’t even say it’s some wet behind the ears college student. The Youth Guard rep they’d sent was an old guy who knew all the tricks.

“I’m gonna be blunt, Emily,” he’d said. “Everyone knows Endbringers don’t give a damn about age. But we’re gonna be making damned certain nobody had the bright idea that maybe the Wards could be used as a speedbump.”

Which meant interviews and reports and talking to everyone, especially Krewe, who was the girl of the hour…

And let’s not forget that Image wants her played up so that Kanshi and the Investigator don’t get to hog all the glory…

But right now she had another issue. Madison Clements. Which was why she was here with Armsmaster, Assault, Dr. Yamada, Legend, Glen Chambers, and Costa-Brown, the last three on secured screens.

“She saved over 400 people,” Legend said. “I think we can safely say that she’s reformed. That removes one of the reasons for keeping her out of the Wards.”

“She’s still highly fragile,” Dr. Yamada said. “Yes, she’s trying to do better, but take her base strength and couple it with the strength of her changer form…”

Costa Brown nodded. “During her time with Assault in the testing grounds, well…” she showed an image. The recording was of PRT test drones charging Madison. She timidly shuffled forward, all eight feet of spiky parahuman, and enfolded one in her arms, carrying it to the “police station,” ignoring the other bots as they beat on her.

“Funny, until and unless she runs into something that can bypass her invulnerability.” Armsmaster shook his head. “But she is…”

“We couldn’t even get her to punch the ‘crawler drone,’ which is about as ugly as anything you’d find,” Assault said. “But I’m not seeing the worry here, given that she’s a Ward and we aren’t going to be tossing her into the ring with Levi any time soon.” He leaned back, oddly serious. “Look, of everyone in this room, I’m the only one with a civilian body count, even second-hand. And I’m gonna say that it’s pretty fucking good that the girl who could punch out an Endbringer is really aware that she can punch out an Endbringer.”

“But there’s still the bullying,” Glenn said. Everyone stared at him. He shook his head. “I’m not saying she isn’t trying to reform, but bullying… that hits people on a really deep emotional level. In some ways, If you asked me who was easier to rebrand, Madison Clements or Hookwolf… It’d be Hookwolf. He’s a murderous bastard, but man he turns into a metal wolf which looks cool, and didn’t get his face splashed all over the Bay as someone who bullied a girl. That’s a combination of nasty, cowardly, and ‘it could happen to me’ that is really hard to wash off.”

“Hookwolf,” Emily said.

“Yeah. The guy who runs dog rings and kills minorities.” Glenn nodded back, no smile on his face.

“Her parents are dead set in staying in the Bay.” Emily shook her head. “If the damned E88 hadn’t burned down their house, they might be willing to leave, but not looking like they’re running from a Pogrom.”

“Fortunately, my own sources indicate that Taylor Hebert has buried the hatchet with her,” Costa-Brown said.

Emily looked around and nodded. “I take it we’re all aware of her… side job?”

Legend shook his head. “Of course not, Emily, Taylor Hebert is a totally ordinary young girl who would never dream of shooting Leviathan in the face. That’s The Investigator.”

“The main problem isn’t that people aren’t willing to forgive,” Dr. Yamada said. “The question is whether or not Madison is willing to forgive herself.” The psychologist looked at the others. “She’s internalized, on a very deep level, just what kind of harm she did. Just how easily she fell into it, and she’s refusing to cause harm again. But that can easily slide into the kind of self-loathing that can be utterly self-destructive, and can warp around to backsliding. ‘If I’m just a monster, maybe I deserve to act like one.’ I know that one proposal is that she be stationed in a containment zone, possibly Eagleton, since the Machine Army has no humanoid forms, but I would disagree with that in the strongest possible terms. She needs to be with peers.”

“Peers who are willing to ignore the fact she could kill anyone short of the strongest brutes in the world?” Costa-Brown asked.

“Hell, I could do that,” Assault said. “Ms. Militia could pull a Davy Crockett out of her pocket and pretty much end us.”

“We could have her stationed with the New York Wards,” Legend said.

“Only if you promise to fight Youth Guard,” Emily replied. “They’ll argue that’s an obvious form of exile, and could be harmful to her.”

“Well, it sort of is,” Assault said.

“Or possibly a way to keep her from running into a Nazi,” Glenn replied. “Unless the Empire is a lot stupider than normal, I expect they know that she doesn’t want to fight. So they’re gonna try more provocations like the last one, only this time without risking killing the Investigator.”

“In her base form, Madison is more… manageable,’ Armsmaster said. “Brute 4, Mover 4. Her appearance is also less off-putting.”

“Which plays into her trigger trauma,” Dr. Yamada said. “The cute look that she used to get away with tormenting a fellow student.”

“Might be able to use that,” Glenn murmured.

“Mr. Chambers?” Costa-Brown raised her eyebrow.

“I’ve got the files on her,” the man who had a higher clearance than some directors said. “’You gotta own it.’ Fine. We can use that. If she’s upset about her bullying, let’s help her make a difference by talking to other people about it, and we can help show her that just sitting and stewing in misery doesn’t help anyone else. She helped all those people in the shelter because she acted.”

“Or was kidnapped by Krewe,” Legend said, a smile on his face. “I don’t envy you for her, Emily, Armsmaster.”

“We are working on her… respect for the chain of command,” Armsmaster said. Assault stifled a laugh.

“That could be difficult, but,” Dr. Yamada nodded. “better than telling her nobody blames her while we station her in a containment zone to destroy robots.”

Emily was an old hand. She knew there was no way Madison was going to be moved out of the Bay. Which means I get to worry about a teenage parahuman who could wreck the Rig by accident. Joy.

“I agree,” She said, no sign of her thoughts on her face. “But I think we’ll need more funding for psychological assistance…”

“We will try, Emily.” Code word for rummaging around the couch for spare change, but Emily would take what she could get.

Later, after most of the others had left or signed off, Emily looked up at Costa-Brown’s image, she and Armsmaster frowning at her news.

“New Empire capes?”

“The FBI picked up chatter and shared it with us. Some neo-Nazi capes from Northern California have gone missing. Mostly low level but…” She called up an image. The man was wearing crude armor, swastikas on it. “Lebensraum.”

What is it with Nazis and stupid names? Emily shook her head. “I saw the brief on him, but didn’t have a chance to look at it in detail. Armsmaster?”

“A Master-Trump combo,” the hero said. “He can mark individuals, filling them with rage, some degree of coordination, and siphon off their strength and either share it with the collective, or use it to bulk himself up. I believe the last analysis indicated that this ability tops out at Brute 6. As yet, nobody has been able to verify whether or not he can also siphon parahuman powers. If so, his threat would be… considerably greater.”

Terrifying, you mean.

“Kaiser’s looking to bulk out his forces,” Emily said.

“And find a counter to Orb Weaver,” Armsmaster replied. Everyone else looked at him. He shrugged. “Orb Weaver uses psychological attacks. A Master would be the most logical counter.”

“Lovely. And of course, I hear this right after we decided to send our Brute 9 into the Wards, could they be aiming to provoke her?”

“Or Lung.” Armsmaster muttered. “The Empire is hurting right now, if they could provoke him into a rage…”

And thank you for that nightmare, Armsmaster.

“Lastly, Emily, I know that you’ve been using The Investigator for off-books work.”

Emily didn’t bother to ask How Costa-Brown knew. It was an article of faith in the PRT that she just knew, not to mention the whole Teacher fiasco hadn’t been exactly secret.

“And?”

“Try to see if you can convince her to enter into a more formal relationship.”

“That would force her into the Wards,” Emily said.

“It would also let us integrate her into the Think Tank. She’s far from the minor thinker she sells herself as.”

“I’ll… try.” And help you poach another Thinker? Yes. Emily would ‘try.’ From the flicker of a smile on the Chief Director’s face, she didn’t think she was a subtle as she could have been.

“Lastly, Armsmaster, you’re going to need to clear your schedule. You and Dragon are going to get Presidential Medals of Freedom.”

“Ma’am?”

“This was one of the best Endbringer attacks on record, perhaps the best if we discount the times the Endbringers just left. The President wants that recognized… Also, you may want to brief your second in command—you and Dragon are going to be working very closely with the PRT and other government agencies to hopefully ensure that the next attacks will have as much warning as this one did.”

“I have responsibilities in the Bay—“

“You do, but our estimates indicate that the warning you and Dragon gave us saved over a million people’s lives and allowed us to drive Leviathan off before he could do irrecoverable damage to the region. Don’t take this wrong, Armsmaster, but that single act saved more people than everything you’ve done to date, by an immense margin. We need you.”

Armsmaster straightened and nodded. “Very well, Chief Director.”

Emily didn’t bother to say anything, just cursed in the back of her mind. On the one hand, Miss Militia was better with people than Armsmaster, but it’d mean shifting the chain of command, and would also leave  them without full-time tinker support, because she expected he’d be focusing on the thing that could ‘change the world’.  And this was happening at the same time the ABB got a cape who was too smart for Emily’s comfort, the Empire was getting new capes, and oh, of course, she was having to fit in the fusion of a teenaged girl and an Endbringer into the Wards, who were already gunshy due to the Sophia fiasco.

“Thank you for your assistance, Chief Director,” was all Emily said.