Post 2: Aron Ralston 2

3pm, January 3rd, Conference Room, PRT Headquarters

An overweight, unhealthy looking woman sat at the head of a table. To either side of her were a man with a goatee in power-armor and a buff man in red holding hands with a woman in a black suit decorated with blue glowing lines. A young man, also in red, was next to the man in power armor. At the far end of the table sat a younger, fitter woman in a cheap suit, another woman with careful if not particularly prettily arranged hair and a pale pink cardigan, and a man in a khaki blazer and colorful blue and red checkered shirt.

The overweight woman at the head of the table reached over and toggled a switch.

“Initial meeting concerning the events of Monday, January the third, which occurred at Winslow High School,” she began speaking, the rage audible despite the practiced way she rattled off the details, “Brockton Bay relating to Taylor Hebert, and the deaths of Sophia Hess, Emma Barnes, and Madison Clemens.

“Present are PRT ENE Director Emily Piggot, Protectorate ENE leader Armsmaster, Protectorate members Battery and Assault, Wards ENE leader Aegis, Shadow Stalker’s handler Agent Webstone, PRT ENE head of imaging Tiffany Richards, and staff psychologist Henry Smith. This discussion is confidential, and any disclosures outside of those cleared, in other words personnel present and Miss Militia, who is still onsite aiding in the PRT investigation, is both a violation of your contract and the law.”

“Now that the niceties have been observed,” she continued, levelling a glare at Armsmaster, “Armsmaster will bring everyone up to speed on today’s epic clusterfuck. Armsmaster?”

Armsmaster licked his lips then began to speak in a quick, measured, and formal manner. “Around 8am this morning, Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, Madison Clemens, and a few other girls, all students at Winslow High School, forced Taylor Hebert, a fellow student, into a locker filled with trash, used feminine products and other refuse. They were recorded doing so, and the footage was leaked publicly sometime after the events that followed. It is not certain, but considered extremely likely that these girls were also the ones to fill the locker with the filth, and were responsible for an extended bullying campaign.

“Hours later, near 10:42 am, Ms. Hebert managed to escape the locker. Judging by the force with which the door had been hit, the fresh blood on the floor, and witness testimony she did so by smashing her hand against it hard enough to splinter the bones in her hand and cause sever compound fractures in said hand.

“She then proceeded to the classroom of one Mr. Anton Toby, an English teacher at Winslow High. It was her normal classroom for that time period. Also in that classroom were Ms. Barnes and Ms. Hess. Ms. Hebert assaulted Ms. Barnes, pulling her out of her chair, straddled her body, and began to rain down blows using both fists.

“It is unsure at this time what Ms. Hebert’s mental status was, but given the previous damage to the hand, and the subsequent damage such blows inflicted, she either has some sort of Brute rating allowing her to ignore pain, or was in the middle of some sort of hopefully temporary mental episode.

“After landing several blows, Ms. Hess tackled Ms. Hebert. In the process, the right arm radial bone, the same arm that was previously damaged, received a compound fracture. Ms. Hebert then proceeded to stab Ms. Hess with the sharp end of the broken bone in the throat, causing significant damage to the carotid. Ms. Hess went into her shadow state to try and survive the wound, but quickly fell unconscious then expired due to the blood loss.

“Ms. Hebert then proceeded to stab Ms. Barnes in a similar location before leaving the classroom. She was heard to say “Sic semper tyrannis,” translated into English as “ever thusly to tyrants,” as she left. The exact meaning of that phrase, whether it applied to her victims due to bullying her, or was aimed at Ms. Hess’ identity as a Ward, is unsure though currently the subject of much debate online.

“After leaving the room, Ms. Hebert called 911 and requested an ambulance while walking to Ms. Tasha Hendricks US History classroom. Once there, she proceeded to approach Ms. Clemens, yank her head back by the hair, and stab her in the throat in a manner consistent with how she killed Ms. Hess and Ms. Barnes.

“As she left this classroom, Ms. Hendricks asked her “what did you do?”, to which Ms. Hebert replied “be badass.” At that point, she left the school, and departed on the ambulance before the police arrived. She remained at the hospital and is currently being treated. Hospital staff have refused to administer an MRI until she has been treated and decontaminated. Evidence of her clothing and injuries has been taken, and her father contacted. Panacea has been requested to come and administer healing, as well as check whether Ms. Hebert is a parahuman, and should be by after she gets out of school. After she has been treated, Miss Militia and I will question her.”

As Armsmaster had been talking, the other people present were looking more and more shocked.

“Jesus Christ,” Assault breathed out in horror.

“Somehow,” Piggot said dryly, “I doubt that He had anything to do with this. Webstone, what the fuck were you doing? How did things get this bad?”

The younger woman grimaced. “Look, it wasn’t that bad until now. Just, you know, a bit of school-girl nastiness. Since-”

Piggot slapped the desk, interrupting Webstone. “School-girl nastiness? A major biohazard and three deaths, just school-girl nastiness!? What does it take to be worse than that then, mass casualties? The whole city on fire? You moron, Hess wasn’t allowed any school-girl nastiness! She was on probation, a probation that you were meant to be enforcing! Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

The agent was silent, looking down at the table.

“No? Nothing? THEN GET THE FUCK OUT!” Piggot yelled. “You’re on indefinite unpaid suspension while this is investigated and I decide whether we should be charging you. Corporal Jones will take your security credentials and weapon, and escort you out of the building. Don’t leave town. Now get the hell out of my sight.”

Piggot panted, catching her breath as the agent fled her presence.

“Tiffany, how bad is the fallout going to be?” she asked after calming down.

Mrs. Richards grimaced. “I’d rather be dealing with the PR for Chernobyl. Hess being Shadow Stalker is already public, and has been picked up by the media. As has everything that led to this sordid mess, and its outcome. It’s already going national. I’m not expecting a minor squall, or even a storm. We’re going to be buried under the avalanche of shit flowing our way.” Assault cracked a half-hearted grin at the imagery.

“Wonderful, but nothing unexpected given the situation,” Piggot groaned.

“What am I meant to tell the other Wards?” Aegis asked.

“You can tell them that Sophia broke her probation in the worst way, and that she and her two co-conspirators died for it. Tell them that Ms. Hebert’s situation is under investigation still, and it is to be determined whether she was a fresh trigger, undergoing a temporary mental break, simply on a spree of rage-fueled homicide, or something else.

“Will we be recruiting her?” Aegis asked incredulously as he read between the lines of Piggot’s statement.

“That’s still to be determined,” Piggot answered with a frown.

“You can’t expect everyone to work together after…” Battery protested, pausing for a moment as she searched for the words to encapsulate the situation, “after all of this.”

“Well, to be fair, we work together after everything. And more, right puppy?” Assault leered, but everyone could tell he was just going through the motions. Battery elbowed him anyways.

“I’m more concerned about how the gangs will react,” Armsmaster interjected. “Both to the possibility that Ms. Hebert is a parahuman, as well as what the Empire Eighty Eight will do given Ms. Hess’ race.”

“Doubtless nothing pleasant,” Piggot agreed. “The PRT is already at enhanced readiness, and Shadow Stalker’s family are in protective custody. Dauntless is currently guarding Ms. Hebert, with a squad of PRT at the hospital to support him. Battery, Assault, you will be reinforcing him, and trading off with him when his shift finishes. Miss Militia will try to talk to Ms. Hebert when the doctors clear her, but don’t press her. I don’t want to be burying any other capes, and would prefer to avoid burying any more high school girls as well.”

“Yes Ma’am”/ “Got it, boss-lady,” the two replied.

“Alright. Well, I’d like a brief update from everyone when they’re done for the day. If nothing else happens, we’ll meet again tomorrow at four pm to continue dealing with this situation. Doctor Smith, I’d like you to stay behind so we can discuss the effectiveness of the current counseling program, and how to improve it. Thank you.”