Tertiary (Worm)

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♦ Topic: Mar-28-2011 Discussion: Updated Regulations, Theory Into Practice Thread
In: Boards ► Places ► America ►Government ► PRT ► Verified PRT Agents (Private Board)
Yes,_THAT_Agent_Snow (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (Verified PRT Agent)
Posted on April 1st, 2011:

Discussion of Updated Regulations and tracking the repercussions of regulation changes published the Week of March 28, 2011.
Usual confidentiality rules for Private Boards apply.

MUST be a Verified PRT Agent to view discussion, MUST be invited to join discussion.

Log in to Private Sub-Board with alternate Account name and Password below:

Account: ► AfghanistanBananastand
Password:► ********

Access granted to Verified PRT Agents Private Sub-Board (Private Board)

(Showing page 14 of 14)

► Amuse-BoucheDag (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Ahahahahahaaaahaa! Yes! I told you! Get ready to pay up! First AND Worst!

► Delicate_F’n_Flower (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Dammit, I thought Atlanta would keep the lid on since it’s where this bullshit all started in the first place.

► Abercrombie_N’_Bitch (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

You’ll never go broke betting on the lowest common denominator.

► TabulaDeLaRaza (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

This is only going to end when everything's on fire and someone's lost their hat, isn't it?

► AntiSocialJusticeWarrior (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Not so fast. NYC is still in the running, thanks to the fabulous stretching powers of our own mischievous Martinette!

Video here.

► Cast_Iron_Scunthorpe_Problem (Verified PRT Agent) (Private Board Moderator)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

OK, I’m going to call it.

First fuck-up of the night regarding the ‘Wards Must Attend Dances’ memo goes to: Amuse-BoucheDag.

First third of the pot down, Most WTF-up and Biggest Fuck-up still to go.

► KissAss-ive_Aggressive (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011

Well... shit.

► GoatseInTheSkyWithDiamonds (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Hey, don’t go too overboard. We don’t want the betting pool shut down before we get to my timezone. Again.

► SnafuTarfuFubar (Original Poster) (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Eh, if that happens we’ll just roll over the pot like the Skirt Length revocation.

► AfghanistanBananastand (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Amuse-BoucheDag, you think you’re a number one hit? Lemme tell you a little somethin’ why YOU ain’t shit!

Video here.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 13, 14



(Showing page 15 of 15)

► KrispyKremeAbdulJabbar (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Please, please, PLEASE tell me that's one of the wards.

► Awful-some_Moment (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

...wait...is the track team going to pull a fucking Carrie Prom Night on a WARD!?! And oh shit for once the muckety-mucks have to actually going to do something instead of hope it works out in the end.

► AfghanistanBananastand (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Yes it is! Our own resident trouble magnet (video here) attracts it yet again.

► NotMyMonkeys,NotMyCircus (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Oh boy. That was a bad move. For everyone.

► PoopCasso (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Man, that takes big brass balls to do that, even IF he didn’t know she was a Ward.

► Angst_Hathaway (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Also, guts.

► Nicotine_Nincompoop (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

On the one hand, god damn this girl has no luck. On the other hand, at least this doesn't mess with her plans for the dance.

See? She’s found a guy to cuddle (his neck, but still…)

► Coach_Platitude (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Mwahahahahaha. FINALLY. Let's hope this time she doesn't perform a Karmic Houdini.

► Squid_Pro_Quo (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

To be honest, I can see that her getting away with what happened at the dance for a simple reason. She didn't start shit.

► Insecurity_Guard (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

If she did, I will be most annoyed!!!

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 15, 16



(Showing page 16 of 16)

► AfghanistanBananastand (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

I was off duty and on-site tonight as a chaperone at Immaculata.

By the time I twigged to what was happening it was too late. Glory Girl had already taken to the air and I was swamped by panicking teenagers.
Fortunately I avoided the cookie table.

► SquidProQuo (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Welp... an unexpected twist! Everyone is gonna be at Immaculata...

► Keyless_Chuck (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

So, let me guess…

‘Everybody was Kung Poo Fighting?’

► Bakini_Birista (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

‘That shit was fast as lightning.’

► Abject_Of_My_Expression (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

‘and just a little bit frightening.’

► Cast_Iron_Scunthorpe_Problem (Verified PRT Agent) (Private Board Moderator)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Seriously, fuck you old farts and your ancient song lyrics.

That said…

‘Whoa~ Ho~o Ho~ (disco pentatonic scale goes here)’

► Angst_Hathaway (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

What does morP mean? On the banner behind them.

► Little_Bo_Bleak (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

It's Prom backwards. Just realized it myself.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 16, 17



(Showing page 17 of 17)

► AntiSocialJusticeWarrior (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Actually, I’m rather impressed she didn’t resort to using her powers.

UNLIKE in Atlanta…

► Amuse-BoucheDag (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

Aww, somebody’s boo-boo butthurt.

But, I don’t care! Wooooooooo! Still FIRST!

► Cast_Iron_Scunthorpe_Problem (Verified PRT Agent) (Private Board Moderator)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

GTG, I have some uninvited company.

► RanDumbAreSole (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

But the house is such a mess!

► AfghanistanBananastand (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on April 8^th, 2011:

I gotta tap out too. My on-duty plain clothes counterparts just showed up.

► You have logged out of the Parahumans Online message boards.

Spoiler

Dramatis Personae:
► TabulaDeLaRaza Quijana
► KissAss-ive_Aggressive apeljohn
► KrispyKremeAbdulJabbar Asheram
► Awful-some_Moment Chojomeka
► NotMyMonkeys,NotMyCircus ilalthal
► Angst_Hathaway Hotdog Vendor
► Nicotine_Nincompoop IronLucario2012
► Coach_Platitude Dr. Mercurious
► Squid_Pro_Quo Biigoh
► Insecurity_Guard Captain Hunt
► Little_Bo_Bleak DinoHank

 

Here's the re-write that started it all. Plus, consider this an open call for Beta readers.
PM me if you want to keep unfortunate fic from getting released into the wild too early.

morP 3.7 (take 2)

“When clusterfucks meet other clusterfucks to debate which clusterfuck is the biggest clusterfuck, all the clusterfucks will agree tonight was the clusterfuck that proud clusterfuck parents want their newborn baby clusterfucks to be when they grow up.”

Chris said to Dennis, “Admit it, you just like saying clusterfuck.”

“And you don’t?” Dennis replied from where he sat on the curb outside of Immaculata. Three Brockton Bay Police Department cruisers in the parking lot sent red and blue phantasms chaotically chasing around the entire landscape.

“Besides, ‘shitstorm’ hits a little too close to the mark.” Dennis protectively cradled his abdomen with a sigh, the after effects of his earlier purging still made sympathetic echoes in his biology.

“At least you didn’t get hit on by a nazi.” Chris looked up at the sky and sighed. “Why did she pick me?”

Dennis raised an eyebrow as he twisted to look at Chris.

“Aside from the two who are ‘moving up to the big leagues’ and weren’t forced to be here tonight, just look at the choices available,” Dennis pointed to himself and then to each male Ward in turn around the parking lot and said, "Hair color which meant my ancestors were witches, Hispanic AND gay, and finally in a relationship or at this point, retaliation-ship."

“So you tell me,” Dennis asked, “who else is ‘Becky Honkyngton’ going to latch onto?”

“How dare you use logic and reason to make your point,” Chris replied with a smirk.

“And that doesn’t even count the new guy, who isn't through branding yet, who also doesn't fit into the perfect aryan mold.”

Chris let a frustrated sigh escape as he turned to watch the busiest area of activity outside Immaculata.

In the teachers’ parking lot next to the school Victoria and Dean kept Amy company by the lone Ambulance to respond. Even from this distance he'd practically memorized her standard speech where she had to tell yet another teenager that no, she couldn’t do anything about the impending doom from the laxative they’d ingested. Especially while there were still a few people with actual injuries waiting. It was triage, plain and simple. Fortunately the custodian for Immaculata had stuck around to lock up after the dance and so was able to unlock the rest of the schools bathrooms for immediate use.

Good luck finding an empty stall, though.

The BBPD had the kids from Winslow who had been behind all this in custody. Sophia was among them even though there was video showing her as their target for the evening, despite the righteous ass-kickings she had delivered. She had the back seat of a squad car all to herself despite the overcrowded conditions in the other two cruisers..

The kicker was that even though Sophia had assaulted multiple teens, she squeaked by on a technicality since she had obviously been provoked, although the guy she kneed in the crotch could justifiably say she had not used restraint.

“I bet Piggy’s getting ginsu dentures made and custom fitted for the ass-chewing Sophia’s going to get tomorrow.” Dennis opined.

Carlos walked up to join the conversation, "No, she's going to strike while the iron's hot, bet on it."
“Really?”

“You notice how the Limo hasn’t come back for us yet? I bet it’s just waiting up the block until Sophia’s released from police custody,” Carlos ventured.

“Well, speak of the devil….”

_____

Sophia took back her phones from the cops now that they decided to let her go. Neither they, nor any of her Ward teammates who had pulled her out of the fray, had let her clean herself up. ‘Evidence,’ they said. She was forced to stay in the squad car wrapped in a scratchy blanket while red paint and pasta sauce dried on her until all the Track Team members she beat down got fixed up by Panacea. They even asked her if she wanted to press charges. Press charges? Like she was some victim unable to handle things and seek vengeance for herself, although it would harm them far more than her... the very idea raised her hackles.

She wanted to get her hands Jesse again and keep crushing his windpipe until Panacea got the hint and stopped fixing it.

Sophia noticed there was still no sign of the Wards Social Worker. Here she was, left to twist in the wind by that bitch after all this.

Screw her.

Still, it gave Sophia the opportunity to sneak away from the crowds. That squad car was stuffy, and she felt a little woozy from the paint fumes. With a quick glance around to assure she would be undetected, Sophia used a shadow form assisted leap up to the gymnasium roof. She landed in the blast of exhaust from an air conditioner, and turned herself this way and that as it blew all those gum wrappers, lint, bugs, and most importantly, that disgusting cop car smell off of her while she flickered in and out of her breaker state. An unexpected side benefit to getting away from all those annoying assholes down below.

The red paint itched as it contracted and had pulled her skin while it dried.

Sophia pulled out her personal phone, checked her messages and had an inspiration.

Instead of targeting Grue, she would get that Merchant mercenary Butterfly to hunt down and kill Jesse so none of it got tracked back to her. She ought to have enough cash hidden away that she'd stolen from drug dealers to cover it.

Sophia brought out her phone, pulled up the message Butterfly had sent her this morning and texted a reply with a quick 'Hey, howzit?' then, pressed send. She had typed up the next message with details about where and when to meet up tomorrow when she took a moment to contemplate her surroundings.

Sophia peered beyond the edge of the roof towards the city lights on the horizon, her gaze swept down to the clusters of people in the parking lots below. Farther away unfamiliar students from different schools illuminated themselves in the darkness as they milled about and checked their phones. Closer by she recognized Emma and her friends getting into Mr. Barnes brand new car now that the settlement for their faulty driveway construction had come in. The Wards moved toward the PRT Limo which had just pulled up on the street on the far side of the gym. Sophia knew her time was short, but she paused when she recognized an unexpectedly familiar person weave through the crowds while texting to shelter behind the bushes.

"Hebert was here? When the fuck did Loser MacLoser-ton show up?" Sophia wondered.

Glow from a phone lit up Hebert's face like a kid with a flashlight under their chin telling ghost stories while camping.

"Since when did Hebert have a phone?"

Sophia knew the wuss had never had one at school. She would have snatched it away from the gangly geek and flushed it, or intentionally missed a three-pointer at a garbage can, or slid it down a crowded hallway like a hockey puck, or sent any of a million potential taunts and torments once they knew the number and could text her regular abuse.

She leaned over the precipice of the gym roof to get a better view. There was Hebert, her torso turned slightly away as she finished texting something, and hit send on her phone. Moments later Sophia's own phone vibrated in her hand. Butterfly had just texted her back. But she couldn't read the mercenary's response until she sent her own message which had been languishing on screen for the past minute while she'd been distracted by Hebert.

Sophia pressed 'send'. Below, the ghoulish light that had illuminated her thin face and too-wide lips went out as Hebert powered off her screen.

Only for it to flare into brightness again, which revealed the quizzical look on Hebert's underlit face.

As Hebert texted just one letter and pressed send, Sophia glanced at her own phone. Butterfly's previous message had asked for a time and location, which her just-sent message had answered.

The phone in Sophia's hand vibrated. Butterfly's response was one letter...

'K'

"What the fuck?!" Sophia thought.

Glory Girl descended from the sky and hovered next to the air conditioner behind Sophia. The blonde pointed at her and said, "Hey, Dean and sent me up here to tell you if you don't get in the Limo ASAP, I am to carry you there."

"Yeah, yeah," Sophia said with a last backwards glance, "Just let me finish this."

Sophia texted a quick 'KTHXBYE' and pressed send one last time and watched to see what would happen.

Hebert's phone lit up in response yet again.

"No goddamn way...." Sophia thought.

Glory Girl cleared her throat over-dramatically.

Sophia strode across the roof full of conflicting emotions; angry at herself for being duped, confused about how fucking Hebert was also Butterfly and had managed to pull it all off, and most of all pissed that she couldn't just leap down and kill the bitch NOW with a swift attack, not with Bimbo Barbie floating right there.

But as long as no one else knew that she knew... the 'unwritten rules' could go fuck themselves.

She just had to bide her time and plan out her moves, and do it in spite of the frustration and acidic reaction of her gut to the denied action. But now she had a target, a goal to achieve and the emotions to pack down and use as fuel to power her revenge.

Sophia ghosted to the ground, ducked into the limo, shoved Chris aside unnecessarily, and flopped to a surly rest against the upholstered seat behind the driver.

Dean scooted to one side for Victoria to sit down and said, "You seem upset Sophia..."

The snarling, disgusted glare of contempt Sophia threw his way surpassed even the hag mask of her costume.

"No."

Sophia extricated a congealed gobbet of pasta sauce encrusted with paint from her hair.

"Shit."

A contemptuous flick of her wrist sent the crimson glob in an arc across the interior of the limousine.

"Sherlock."

The resulting red splatter on Deans’ tuxedo merely blended with the other stains he had acquired as he had restrained Sophia from further injuring her fellow Winslow students earlier.

"Tell me, O Wizard, O Wise One… what was your first fucking clue?" the paint and pasta sauce stained Ward asked vehemently.

The long ride back to the Protectorate's Rig passed in tense, uncomfortable silence.

 

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■
♦ Topic: Girl ACTUALLY Goes Carrie, Like the Movie
In: Boards ► Places ► America ►Brockton Bay Discussion (Public Board)
AtlanticNorthLeast (Original Poster)
Posted on April 8th, 2011:
Watch this and tell me these guys disn’t get what was coming to them.
EDIT: Board rules say It’s supposed to be cape related. Check out in the video here at 2:37 in where Glory Girl flies abovethe crowd. Happy now?
EDIT 2: Tip o' the hat to XxVoid_CowboyxX for bringing up that video from last week here. Yeah, sure looks like the same girl.
(Showing page 1 of 24)
► Crap_O’Lantern
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
OMFG WTF is it with shit going down at school dances tonight?
All the NYC Wards crashed a Prom in Costume (Martinette swiping the Prom Queen’s crown was LOLs-worthy)
Then there was an explosion at that one in Atlanta, don’t know if someone just got their powers or what
And finally here’s Young Buck looking like a cocaine fiend (I know they say it was powdered sugar, but come on….)
► Window_Of_Negligence
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Did the Wards handlers all take stupid pills or something?
‘Cuz nothin' sez "low key, no stress environment" like a dance packed full of teens addled by carbonated hormones and petty dramas fuelled by angst.
► DoubleDepressoWithExtraFoam
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Here we go. This is going to be fun!
► WolfDog
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
And let the fireworks begin.
► lahtlali
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Oh boy. That was a bad move. For everyone.
► Commeune
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Here comes Carrie!
► Harry_Reality
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Hahahahahaha wow
► Zhonenmonsta
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Look at that guy on the left, you can almost see him thinking: ‘Just back away slowly dude, just back away slowly from the crazy people.' It might also save you from any other scary cape that might very well go Carrie on the entire school.
► Kolchak
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Won't save him from the inevitable shitstorm about to rain down on their heads though.
Edit: How precog of me, I just read the full description under the video about what happened next.
► Throw’N_Feces_At_Another_Species (Banned)
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
(message deleted)
User was banned for this post: Racist commentary will not be tolerated.
► XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Wow, I didn’t go to the dance at Immaculata tonight, I can't believe I missed it!
Hey! I know her, she goes to my school! Check out this video from last week
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 22, 23, 24
_____
Madison clicked the link and flinched as she watched the contents of her purse spill to the floor yet again. She stopped the video of her embarrassing performance in the Winslow cafeteria last week from playing any further. Madison was relieved she had not been home in time to react to that video in a more timely fashion. But with so many pages of commentary between the offending link, and where she could join the conversation the impulse to post in her defense was easily quashed.

She leaned back from the computer in thought. The last thing she wanted to do was let anyone close to those mortifying circumstances connect the dots, and even coincidentally link her PHO account with last week’s prank video. At least it wasn't the one put to music. Although her own first name was said, it wasn’t plastered on a banner which took up the entire screen as it did for Sophia.

Small favors.

Madison flopped back in her chair and stretched her arms to the sky.

"Ow!"

With a firm slap Madison killed the mosquito which had bitten her right in the crook of her left elbow. She looked disgustedly at the blotch of squashed insect anatomy, blood, and clear fluid which smeared her skin and reached for a tissue to wipe up the mess.

So goddamn annoying.

She tossed the tissue into the trashcan next to her desk and continued reading.
_____
(Showing page 2 of 25)
► AtlanticNorthLeast (Original Poster)
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Huh, lemmee see... Yeah, could be. XxVoid_CowboyxX, I'll add it to th OP
► XxVoid_CowboyxX (At Ground Zero: Brockton Bay)
Replied on April 8th, 2011
Woot! I'm Internet Famous!
► \nn/SafetyPunk\nn/
Replied on April 8th, 2011
Wait, wait, wait…
XxVoid CowboyxX didn't go to the dance with the kewl kids?
….ssssssssssssssssssssssssSSSSSShocking.
► XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied on April 8th, 2011
Dick.
► Tin_Mother (Moderator)
Replied on April 8th, 2011
Don't go down that road...
Only one hundred and fifty three days left to go in your probation, XxVoid_CowboyxX, don't start down that slippery slope now.
► woo'D'daWabbit
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Oooo and the pot stirs. You are all a bad influence on me
► Zhonenmonsta
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
...now I'm interested.
► OrganSystem
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Shit is about to get real.
► CitizenSun63
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
SOPHIA! Why do you set your self up always for failure! This cannot in any way end well for you... It doesn't help that as far as you getting dumped on, no one actually cares a single fuck about you! Lol
► maworker9
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
mm i dont no what to say here but fuck

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 23, 24, 25
_____
Madison stopped typing to slap at her elbow yet again. It annoyed her that practically every swat at the mosquitoes was dodged by the acrobatic insects, thereby not doing much good. The area felt kind of numb, so she couldn’t even react until it was too late.
Well, Sophia’s name had been posted and was now out in the wild. It would be easier to get pee out of a swimming pool than to take that back now. Probably was just a comment by one of the few Winslow track team members who avoided arrest earlier tonight trying to get their own pound of flesh.

While she felt a minor impulse to defend her friend, for right now anything remotely relating to her was just too toxic. As long as they kept on using just Sophia’s name and not her own, Madison decided Sophia could have all the attention to herself.

Another mosquito bit her in the crook of her elbow again. It didn’t really hurt, or it may have been she just didn’t care anymore.
_____
(Showing page 3 of 25)
► Naidono
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Ex Lax Fountain lol
► Gohbii
Replied on April 8th, 2011
Welp... an unexpected twist! Everyone was at Immaculata...
► Zhonenmonsta
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
And likely won't be immaculate for long I thinks.
► Oop
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Wow, that girl's popularity is going to be through the roof.
Wait, I'm not sure that's the right word.
Well, they'll all want to get their hands on her. That's popularity, right?
Right?
► Truthor
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Do It! If there are no witnesses left alive, no one can report what you've done!

This will probably end horribly, which saddens me. Hopefully the revenge will be at least a little satisfying to make up for being forced onstage and probably be humiliated.
► Inhandle
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
This prank has "too many cooks in the kitchen" written all over it. Dude being strangled needs some better conspirators.
► kittengal
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
This wasn't just poking the bear. This was kicking the bear in the balls, giving it fleas and then laughing at it from 3 feet away.
► BeardFrown
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Hahahahahahahahahah
► Harry_Reality
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Hehe well she maybe possibly might be getting ahead now? As in, trying to rip off the one from the guy who set her up.
► SorcerousSigil_Girl
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
OMG, I just got home from there? Who else was!
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 23, 24, 25
_____
Madison clicked past another two pages of what her mother would have called 'Mickey Mouse Roll Call.' If only Mr. Barnes had dropped her off first instead of Julie, she might have posted along with everyone else. It was OK to live in the moment, but now she would have to see where the posts of all the various reactions twisted and turned so she could come up with just the right angle to play come Monday. Come up with a fresh perspective so that she wouldn't be just one more echo in the voice of public opinion.

More mosquitoes, apparently drawn by the scent of blood from their crushed comrade, bit her again and again on the same spot. It was annoying, kind of.

She gave up on PHO for the moment, stood up, grabbed her nightshirt, and went down the hall to the bathroom. Once or twice she stumbled and had to place a hand against the wall for balance. Her head felt a little fuzzy. She wondered if someone had spiked the punch bowl like at that dance last Halloween, and she had only noticed it now. Maybe.

It only took her a few minutes to get ready for bed, as she followed her usual routine on autopilot. Her thoughts drifted as she brushed out her hair. She idly remembered overhearing some guys talking at school when they didn't know she could hear. One thing had stuck in her mind, the almost mythical properties they conjured up about the girls locker room off the gym, and how one guy thought about the girls changing clothes inside and said he was so jealous of those lucky walls.

It was so pathetic when she first heard it, but now she couldn't stop giggling at the very thought. How worthless a loser would a guy have to be to wish he was drywall? A glance at the light switch made her snort out loud with laughter as she exited and returned to her room.
She made her way back down the hall, and steadied herself with one hand brushing the wall the whole way to stave off vertigo. Madison giggled softly again. The walls in the hall. Those lucky, lucky walls are totally, totally tall.

She plopped down roughly in her chair and continued to read where she left off.

The next mosquito on her arm didn't even bother her at all. She just waved it away, but it came back.

Eh.

(Showing page 5 of 26)
► woo'D'daWabbit
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Oh no!
► Salvation931
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Yea, there comes a time when playtime has to end: that time is now.
► BillyJoeJimPeasant
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
yes give in to the hate!
► Ebullient92
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
While I see a number of people cheering for the girl covered in paint here, I'm afraid I can't. The guy she chokes may have gotten a measure of what's coming to him, but there was too much collateral damage for me to be rooting for the girl on this. Too many people who were expecting to have a nice night, one they had earned in their efforts at setting up parties for others, but had their night ruined by laxatives, the shenanigans on stage, or the near riot.
► Sotsuak
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
The laxatives were setup by the track team and the riot is due to Glory Girl's involvement. Unless you think the girl on stage was capable of precognition and puppeteering others, she had no way altering those outcomes without endangering herself. Admittedly, she did intensify the bit on stage.
► Tungsten_Uranus
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Also, and I do realize how often it is used as a prank, but I'm pretty sure the Ex Lax thing is illegal
► Humblehawk
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Wait really, I've got to look this up...

*scrolls through internet*

.... Okay, then. I'm just going to lie low for a small bit. Hoping no one realizes that I at least knew of such a thing happening at my school last year.

P.S. For a little more info, the prank backfired off onto the guy who tried it in the first place.
► Winged_One
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
This is like watching a trainwreck in slow motion and it's either the really fun or the not fun at all kind of trainwreck.
► Tacitsaga
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
I think that's all of the possible trainwrecks, unless there's some kind of boring ho hum trainwreck I'm not familiar with.
► Winged_One
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
There are definitely unremarkable trainwrecks; you see the crash coming, but the consequences are neither particularly aggravating nor amusing.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 24, 25, 26
_____
Everything was kind of floaty and she felt a contented warm, liquidy sensation in her entire body. It was like she just knew that every molecule that comprised her was in perfect synchronicity with the universe. Like how the mosquitoes kept landing on the same spot on her arm. Or the pattern in the speckled plaster on the wall was sort of like one of those pieces of art where a 3d image appears if you stared at it the right way…

Madison shook her had to clear it and skimmed past page after page of conversation, which had somehow turned from being about the dance at Immaculata into a wide ranging discussion about the perils of transporting oil by railcars and the occasional explosive accident versus the rarer sabotage of pipelines. She realized she was barely even reading one word in three as a sensation of contented wellbeing overcame her that felt as if she were wrapped in an electric blanket after playing outside in the snow.

Madison jolted awake as her elbow slipped off the desk and she came within inches of banging her head against the flat surface.

Hmm? When had she logged on to PHO?

Oh, right, right. Got home after the dance and…

Eh. Whatever.

Blearily, she resumed reading.

(Showing page 14 of 28)
► Blue_Ballroom (Moderator)
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
What in the blue blazes is going on here? Tin_Mother goes away from her keyboard for like fifteen minutes and this forum is literally derailed talking about, of all things, trains derailing.

Users are NOT free to make posts with the intent yelling at people and making them verbal punching bags. I don't care how strongly you feel, you are not helping.

Everyone is to pull their head in and have a damn good think about what they post and why.
► XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied on April 8th, 2011
Yeesh. How many pages of ‘Dudes, I was there’ interwoven with a discussion of oil train explosions does it take to get a moderator involved?
User received an infraction for this post.
► Tin_Mother (Moderator)
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
I’m back.
XxVoid_CowboyxX, what did the other Moderator just say?
► PlatonicSolidLad
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Yes, a lot of collateral, but...Aside from that girl snapping and almost killing someone (which is more on her than anyone else), nobody was in danger of dying.
► Gohbii
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Really? I guess that girl COULD go to the cops now... something about blood everywhere? Because getting deluged in red stuff is more impressive than multiple assault?
► Lahtlali
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
She could.

But it appears the girl has run out of fucks and chosen plan B (as in choke-a-bitch).
► DoubleDepressoWithExtraFoam
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Always nice to see bullies get what they deserve.
► Bai
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Yes! Hahaha! Fuck you dude! May the cops tear you a new one, that you can show off in Juvie. Well. Not literally, of course.
►Sotsuak
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
This will end in blood, fire, and tears.
► WolfDog
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Come on, KARMA!

End of Page. 1, 2, 3… …13, 14, 15… …26, 27, 28
_____
Madison recognized her focus was shifting in and out, making it practically impossible to read. She must have been more tired than she realized. It felt like her head was stuffed with cotton balls. Every move took conscious effort.

She just skipped to the last page and would post a barely relevant comment and get back to it tomorrow. Read it with a fresh point of view and find out whether the comments tended more towards the sympathetic or the hostile. That would let her know how to handle the situation going forward.

The unexplained euphoria from earlier had faded a little, so she shook her head and powered through.

More mosquitoes landed on her, unnoticed.

(Showing page 28 of 28)
► Tungsten_Uranus
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
And she tried to strangle a guy.
► beedelzed (Original Poster)
Replied on April 8th, 2011:
Oh no... Jesse's gonna die, isn't he?
► Hoohoogrrl
Replied on April 9th, 2011:
Didn't she break or dislocate another guy's knee when he tried to pull her off the dude she was strangling?
► Spanktimus_Prime
Replied on April 9th, 2011
Nah, that healer chick from New Wave got to him (even if, IMNSHO, he didn’t deserve it)
► LoudlyUnobservant
Replied on April 9th, 2011:
I can't see this ending well for anyone.
► H.G.Wails
Replied on April 9th, 2011:
It's cause young people are all crazy. He need to look outside his age group. He should totally ask Panacea on a date. Florence Nightingale syndrome for the win!
► SpecifcProtagonist
Replied on April 9th, 2011:
No c’mon.... Don't be stupid. As far as you know, she hasn't done anything to him....
► PreviouslyEarnedWagesOwed_Are_A_FemaleDog
Replied on April 9th, 2011:
Well besides... Oh, y’know… Existing. Inhaling. Exhaling. Being too ugly to live, that sort of thing.
Bullies don’t HAVE to have a legitimate reason in order to bully, the Bullying itself IS the reason
► SpecificProtagonist
Replied on April 9th, 2011:
|
End of Page. 1, 2, 3… … 26, 27, 28
_____
The blinking cursor on screen pulsed silently as Madison sat in front of her computer in the darkness when cold insight cut through the fog in her mind. That last quote seemed really familiar, but she didn’t recognize the user name. Since there were kids from every school in Brockton Bay at Immaculata tonight, it made sense to have some unfamiliar names, but that one…

It seemed like a puzzle.

Madison fumbled for a pen and left an illegible scrawl across her notepad as she attempted to write it down. Figure out that screen name. The pen slipped from her grasp only to leave a streak of ink behind before it rattled across her desk to fall to the floor.

Her eyes lagged after the pen, as she turned away from the computer and futilely searched for where it fell in the shadow cast by her desk on the floor. Madison’s dulled reactions were insufficient to overcome her momentum as she continued moving, and she pitched off of her chair to collapse face first on the floor.

Madison generated an ever widening patch of drool soaked carpet, oblivious to her surroundings.

From under furniture and out of vents swarms of bugs poured forth.

User has been Idle for over one hour. Automatic Log Out.
► You have logged out of the Parahumans Online message boards.

Dramatis Personae:

Spoiler

► DoubleDepressoWithExtraFoam JamesBCrazy
► WolfDog TigerCat
► lahtlali ilalthal
► Commeune Asheram
► Harry_Reality Draco Oblivion
► Zhonenmonsta Chojomeka
► Kolchak Night_Stalker
► woo'D'daWabbit BretheBabbit
► OrganSystem Mechanical
► CitizenSun63 OperativeRain36
► maworker9 jdboss1
► Naidono Muroshi
► Oop Ack
► Truthor Consequences
► Inhandle outwrangle
► kittengal serpentguy
► BeardFrown RazorSmile
► Salvation931 Forsaken139
► BillyJoeJimPeasant Kingbob
► Ebullient92 Deadpan29
► Sotsuak Kaustos
► Tungsten_Uranus Schielman
► Humblehawk Smugraptor
► winged_one KaneTW
► Tacitsaga Sagacitas
► B1ue_Ba11room Sky11ian B1itz
► PlatonicSolidLad fractalman
► Bai Hye
► beedelzed cedeelbe
► Hoohoogrrl Wootmannen
► LoudlyUnobservant Silently Watches
► H.G.Wails ZecoreZecron
► PreviouslyEarnedWagesOwed_Are_A_FemaleDog: Taylor Hebert throwaway account.

Author's Note: I'm still looking for anyone who wants to be a Beta Reader and help spot typos and the like.
PM me if you are interested in reading over the next chapter (and politely pointing out mistakes) before anyone else.

 

Jishin 4.1

Taylor got off the bus and walked through the dark residential neighborhood. More insects entered into her radius of control as she approached her destination. She saw her target ahead when she detected the bugs she'd planted in Mr. Barnes car as it approached to drop off Madison at home.

She walked across a lawn and crouched out of sight behind some bushes as Mr. Barnes car drove past. Now that Emma was sure to have another hair-loss freak out tomorrow morning and more inevitable fruitless doctors visits and the associated expense she could move on to the next phase of the plan.

Taylor knew she had to keep the pressure on and not lose momentum this time. Before Madison had even undone her seatbelt Taylor sent swarms of insects inside to retrieve the items she had previously stashed there gradually over the course of many weeks of early morning jogs. It was less work than it took to undermine a driveway, anyway.

Madison said goodnight to her parents and clomped up the stairs in her platform shoes. When she powered on her computer, Taylor had already stilled her swarms out of sight. Madison massaged her feet after she removed the cute, but overly tight, foot crushing lifts. Gnats and tiny insects had already flown into her keyboard underneath the keys just like she'd practiced in Ms. Knott's class earlier in the week. Madison logged onto Parahumans Online, Taylor kept track of the girl's keystrokes, leaned her back against a fence where she sat behind some bushes, created a throwaway PHO account, and shadowed what the petite teen was doing on the computer with her own phone.

The first mosquito of many sucked in its liquid cargo and took flight to transfer it to Madison.
_____

Eventually Madison was face down on the floor and Taylor moved her swarms to stage the scene of a drug overdose. It had taken more dosing by mosquito than she had planned until Madison finally fell unconscious.

Insects wrapped and loosely tied a length of surgical tubing around the prone girls left bicep. More bugs maneuvered a large syringe into position and punctured her skin inexpertly, which disguised where so many drug-transporting mosquitoes had landed and injected her over the past hour or so. Other swarms of bugs dragged crumpled paper lunch bags which held samples of all the finest product Winslow’s drug pushers had unwillingly and unknowingly donated to the cause one joint or pill at a time.

Even with the knowledge gained as she observed the stoner community at Winslow, Taylor had to admit to herself she didn't know that much about drugs. However, she figured as long as she dosed the girl incrementally and stopped when the petite pest passed out it would be fine. Madison was young and healthy, so there shouldn't be any long lasting after effects. Probably.

One of the faked up paper bags of incriminating evidence included a list of drug dealers with names like Smoothy, Shifty, and D-Money and a schedule when to pick up more ‘supply’ to distribute along with several old fives, tens and twenties. Taylor had already planned how to complete the frame of Madison as a druggie with the contraband she had pre-positioned behind the girl’s locker over the past month.

It was the difference between the possible, the probable, and the practical. When Madison's parents entered her room in the morning, what would they believe? The protestations of their drug-addled daughter spouting denial after denial, or the grim narrative laid out in evidence before their own eyes and literally at their feet. As good parents they would take whatever action to rescue their poor unfortunately rebellious daughter from her pursuit of the life of a drug addict.

All the flyers and brochures for out of town recovery centers and addiction help programs Taylor had stuffed into their mailbox every few mornings while jogging past over the past month had been like planting seeds. Taylor had no doubt that Madison's parents would make the connection and enroll their daughter before the weekend was up and reap what she had sown.

She hefted her backpack filled with the selection of bugs from Immaculata, the ones she hadn’t fed to each other immediately after Sophia got splashed with paint and pasta sauce to keep the useful parts of the swarm alive anyway. Her duffel of black widows was also weighed down by the lengths of silk she’d had them braid into strong, useful short lengths to be joined together as needed.

Madison’s neighborhood faded from awareness as Taylor walked back home ready to put an end to this day.
_____

Taylor awoke, her body still ached too much to resume her morning jogging routine.

Taylor lay in bed and plotted where her most likely successes and failures from last night would come, and then set up other plans with fallbacks and options to take if setbacks occurred. She had to let the dominoes fall where they may, but now that she had more experience and better ideas, she could better plan ahead for when things didn't go her way.
Taylor had been caught by Emma’s bitches coven just as she was setting up the last bit of the paint pendulum on stage. She had used her own height to estimate where the swing would end up. If only she hadn’t had to pop the top off the can of paint with a screwdriver by hand, it all could have gone smoother without exposing herself.

The problem had been that over the previous week she had let up on the pressure and allowed Madison, Emma, and Sophia to adapt to the disruptions she’d worked so hard to arrange and they naturally had pushed back. Sophia’s stepped-up threats in the restroom came from her having a week in detention to stew, marinate in her resentment of the situation, and plot and plan her own revenge. Taylor recognized now she had to keep up the pressure and disrupt whatever Sophia tried to come up with. The best defense was a good offense, after all.

Taylor paused, and realized she really had to stop eavesdropping on the history class for jocks taught by the Football Coach. The man couldn’t seem to go a minute without a sports metaphor or ten minutes without one athlete or other getting him to segue into reminiscing about his own glory days. There was a reason his nickname was ‘The Rock’, and it refereed to ‘as smart as one’ rather than the Earth Aleph action movie star.

A memory from last night intruded into her consciousness, Taylor relived the regret of how she spilled her guts to that redheaded guy, but she’d been caught up in the moment.
Why had it been so easy to tell a stranger about what was going on in her life, and yet so much harder to talk about the same things with her own father?

She heard the muffled bangs of cookware from downstairs as her father made breakfast.
_____

Taylor was still in her pajamas when she walked downstairs and leaned in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Good morning Taylor,” Danny said, “Penny for your thoughts?”

Taylor walked next to refrigerator and dragged the five gallon water bottle half filled with coins across the floor and said, “That ought to cover it.”

Danny turned off the burners on the stove. He could tell there was a lot on her mind, and it would be best if she could get it out without being interrupted. The pancakes could wait.

With how much Taylor had been out of the house these past couple of weeks he had finally realized that parenting was more than just making dinner.

Taylor held back tears as she said, "I feel we’re not even a family anymore, we’re just pretending. Ever since Mom died."

Danny slumped into a chair, the words hit him with more force than any fist ever could.

Danny got misty eyed and explained, "How it felt to have lost your mother, it... it felt like it had pulled the heart out of my chest, threw it on the floor in front of him and stomped on it, then something put it back in and forced him to keep going.”

He sighed deeply and said, “After your mother died I had to be your shoulder to cry on when I need one to cry on myself. I had to take responsibility for all the day to day mundane things I had just taken for granted but now could not be ignored. So I just buried myself in attending to all the minor details, only trying to get through five seconds at a time. I removed all the highs and lows of everyday existence because if I felt more up than usual it felt like a betrayal to the memory of your mother, and if I was lower I turned to those same memories and tinged them with sadness. I just couldn’t handle the big picture, but that also shrunk my worldview too small to see how it was affecting you."

Danny sniffed, wiped the welled up moisture from his eyes and said, "I guess I can’t wallow in old miseries anymore just because they’re familiar."

Taylor asked, “How did we get this way?”

“I just became resigned to it all,” Danny said, “and resignation is just confirmed desperation.”

"Wow, dad… that was existential." Taylor said.

Danny lifted an eyebrow over the top of his glasses a s he looked at her. “You’ve been taking a Philosophy class in school haven’t you?”

Taylor thought of all the classes she’d ‘audited’ by listening in with her bugs. “Kinda, how’d you know?”

“Something your mother told me once,” Danny said as he smirked at the memory, “She said she could always tell the ones in philosophy class, because they were the only ones who used the word ‘existential’.”

Taylor said, "I wonder what Mom would have said about this."

Danny said, “It’s like that song... ‘She’s gone, tell me how did things go so wrong.’"

“Trust you to quote something with a guitar riff, Dad. It should be ‘So it goes’. Vonnegut, it’s a little more highbrow.” Taylor said.

“Kiddo, it was your mother that was the English Professor, not me.”

“Yeah, well I guess I picked up a lot through osmosis, then, didn’t I.”

"So tell me, what brought this on?" Danny asked.

"I guess the final straw was last night when Emma taunted me in front of her friends with how I cried after Mom's death."

"That's... that's horrible. Emma's... wait a minute, Emma taunted you in front of her friends? Not your friends?"

"No Dad, we haven't been friends since..." Taylor continued on and explained to her father how when she arrived home from Camp almost two years ago things turned for the worse and kept going.

It took quite a while.
_____

"So even after all that, you still went to the dance?" Danny asked, "Why?"

"Enough kids at school were talking about not going, so I figured it would be a chance to at least experience what other schools' students were like." Taylor lied, "It turns out I couldn't escape the worst of Winslow even there because Emma tried to emotionally destroy me, and as I pulled myself together in the bathroom the Winslow Track team dumped paint on a girl onstage, and the place went nuts."

"How did you even know all this if you were in the bathroom?" Danny asked.

"Just try and keep a gym full of teenagers from gossiping afterwards... it can't be done." Taylor said, "I even talked with a boy who found out the hard way there was ex-lax in the snacks."

Danny nodded and asked, "So, this boy you talked to.. was he real or a 'Canadian Boyfriend'?"

Taylor rolled her eyes, "Daaad... His name was Dennis, I think, but he was with his own group."

“Do you want me to come to school on Monday? Help straighten things out?”

“No, I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on things…”

"Okay, Taylor. I'll support you in this, but trust me enough to ask for help from now on, OK?"

She hugged her Dad. For a long time.
_____

Later in the morning after breakfast and further conversation with her father, Taylor caught the bus to run errands and shop for her cape persona’s needs. She felt, not lighter, but cleansed after the morning reconnecting with her Dad. Catharsis was a good thing. Who knew?

She planned to stop at the drug store first and get more painkillers, but she could tough it out until then. Today was all about the future, being prepared and making redundant contingency plans so that what happened to her on Friday at school would never happen again.
_____

Taylor asked at the desk at the Library for the Physician’s Desk Reference in order to look up maladies that would fit Emma’s symptoms. She included page numbers in her notes to incriminate Emma once Taylor planted them in a laundry basket to be discovered by Emma’s mom.

It didn’t take too long to type up her list, search online for medical journal articles about the diseases to print out and add to the few she’d already stashed in the ceiling of Emma’s house.

It still rankled that she was caught by Emma and her tag-alongs after she went onstage to give her bugs a human sized target, adjust the swing of the pendulum for aim, and remove the top of the paint can for transport by swarm back to the overhead lights. Taylor resolved to practice fine manipulation with her bugs more so that in the future she would be forced to personally take a hand in the same way again.

Perhaps she should practice to figure out a way to sew all the seams on Emma's clothes just a little tighter. That way little miss fashion model would think she was getting fat. It would be a lot of work, but it was something to consider adding to the plans.

Maybe she should see what delights the section on infectious diseases held in store for Emma's soon-to-be-exposed fakery.
_____

After an hour Taylor finished her research at the Library and walked towards the bait and tackle store. She’d had an inspiration that plastic fishing beads to scatter for area denial would be something light, compact, and good to have in an emergency. She could browse the aisles and see what else leapt out and said 'buy me' while she was there.
_____

Taylor left the post office after another bus ride where she had mailed a copied set of all the evidence against her tormentors to herself. As she walked she noted another set of unused voids in the apartment building beside her left by construction. It was probably just easier to drywall over the eighteen inch wide floor to ceiling gap between the bathtub and the sink than it was to figure out how to turn it into useable space.

It was similar to the places as she had used to stash the ghosted camera and further copies of her evidence, at different locations in her neighborhood of course.
The parable about keeping all your eggs in one basket existed for a reason, after all.
_____

On the bus ride back home Taylor directed her dispersed Black Widows she had made scatter to converge again at her house when she received a text from Squealer. She just woke up? It’s after two… The Merchant Tinker wanted to meet Sunday evening, and when tried to get more information, all she got was a text that said, ‘got a surprise for ya. L8R’. It looked like she was heading out in costume Sunday night, then.

Taylor knew it would take time to put all the armored panels in her costume back where they belonged. She wanted to watch a movie with her Dad like they had and reconnect a little.

In the meantime she would have her spiders continue to make short lengths of silk rope she could connect as she needed. She could start on a new silk bodysuit for more general wear at school on Monday anyway.
_____

Taylor arrived back home, brought her supplies upstairs, and logged on to Parahumans Online. The original post of the Immaculata thread had been updated.

She clicked the link to the video. An image of Sophia behind a podium in some elementary school classroom filled the pop-up window as the video buffered and downloaded.

When it finally played, from her speakers issued, “How we treat each other matters…” Taylor watched the rest of the speech with an expression of shocked disbelief on her face.

Taylor wondered just how big a gun the PRT had to hold to Sophia’s head to force her to go through with that speech? She had missed so much of it when she metaphorically picked her jaw up off the floor she just had to watch it again.

 

Author's note: This chapter has been finished for a month, but I have not had any un-interrupted time to get the formatting right.

So my car decided to 'help' me and now I'm sitting in a Mechanic's waiting room and figuring it all out on low-speed wifi and a wanna-be laptop tablet. If you're reading this within a few hours of posting (whoops, my cursor just disapperared) there may be errors.

BOLD text is happening AFTER all of the 'flashbacks' in regular text. It's probably worth reading through twice in one sitting if this chapter is confusing.

EDIT: Super spotty wifi, my cursor keeps disappearing when I type, five times so far in this sentence (seven actually)

Edit 2 - Not a fan of how the Chessboards break up the flow of text? Try reading it here instead: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11708999/26/Tertiary

Jishin 4.2


“What the fuck is this?” Sophia asked as she angrily stormed back into the Wards' quarters on the Rig. Instead of all the Wards she had expected to be there, the common area was empty except for Dean.
“A way to take your mind off things after your speech,” said Dean, “focus on something else so you’re not obsessively ruminating until you drive yourself insane.”
“I’d rather go to the gym and work out until I’m too tired to think about it.” Sophia said while she paced back and forth.
“Can’t. Vista’s in there with the new guy doing anti-cape scenarios with a couple of PRT squads.”
“Plus," Dean ticked off his fingers, “Clockblocker is in Leadership training, god help us, with Triumph and Aegis until our unexpected guest’s ride gets here. Kid Win is in his lab tinkering up a storm. We’re all banned from electronics so no Console duty, video games, or movies, and I can’t call Victoria and so I’ve got her needy bitch-out to eventually look forward to.”
“So unless you want to do homework…” Dean gestured at the chessboard.
“Nah,” Sophia crossed her arms and answered grumpily, “I doubt they want my thousand word essay to just be ‘Fuck You’ repeated five hundred times.”
“We could do checkers, if it’s more your speed?”
“…and ‘Fuck You’ number five hundred and one.” Sophia flopped down in a chair across the table from Dean and said, “Ugh… fiiiiine. Since you have it set up anyway, okay.”
“Great! You can go first.” Dean said, with a spin of the board to put the white pieces closest to Sophia.
Dean watched Sophia’s aura, and took mental note of her roiling emotions as annoyed streaks of orange gradually blended into the simmering, dark, angry red that Sophia constantly projected, so that he could report back to Director Piggot on Shadow Stalker’s state of mind after the events from this morning as ordered.


1Nf3 Sophia made a bold opening move with her Knight and Dean could see her emotional turmoil as he asked, “Sure didn’t expect this after being locked down on the Rig last night…”

When the armored limousine pulled away from the dance Friday evening, the first clue of just how serious the Director was about the whole situation was when the vehicle turned not for the PRT HQ downtown, but instead drove downhill towards the Bay. There was none of the usual wait for transit to the Rig, they just drove straight on and were immediately off to their destination.
The waves of the bay reflected light from the city as they moved closer to the Protectorate fortress.
Sophia’s thoughts turned to Butterfly. The mercenary she'd just set up a clandestine meet with was actually that loser Taylor Hebert. How the hell had she missed it? How had Hebert pulled the wool over her eyes? That wuss must have set her up in the hallway, goaded her until that punch right in front of two teachers… just like a Master, sneakily weaselly manipulating, never up for direct confrontation. Butterfly also claimed she had been injured by the Undersiders last night, and then today Hebert gimped around like she was hurt.
Sophia considered maybe Hebert used bugs to blackmail the track team against her? Sure, she's a track star, they need her and Hebert’s jealous, there’s no other reason. "Why not just swarm me?” she thought, “It’s what I’d do. Coward’s just not up to it, I guess."
Sophia's thoughts were interrupted as the limousine transitioned into the hangar deck of the Rig and came to a halt.


1Nf6 Dean mirrored her opening move and said, "It sucks that the first thing you were ordered to do was to go straight to Medical, but they did need to collect the evidence."

As soon as the door to the hallway opened Vista pointed to a basket next to the console which already held her own PRT issued phone and said, “Everyone drop your phones here, Director’s orders.” When the Wards filed past in order to enter the on-duty area of their quarters Missy singled out the teen hero known as Clockblocker and asked, “Hey Dennis? Were either of your parents previously married?”
The non-sequitur caused him to come to a halt. “No, they’ve only been married to each other…” he said confusedly.
“Really?" Missy said as she projected video of his ignominious encounter at the dance on the largest monitor, "Because that short girl sure beat you like a red-headed stepchild.”
Dennis laughed. “Yes! Misdirection! Clever wordplay! And it was personal, you went there!” 
The time-stopping teen gave the distance warping Ward a high-five as the rest of the heroic teens filed in to their quarters.
Sophia faked a stumble over the police blanket still wrapped around her as she approached and ghosted her personal phone through the back of the couch in the common area, dropped her PRT issued phone in the basket and continued on to Medical.
In the examination room the medical technicians scraped the paint and coagulated sauce off of her, which yanked some hair out by the roots in the long, boring process.
"Are we done?" Sophia asked grumpily.
"Yes, you can finally hit the showers." the on-duty doctor told her, "Don't forget to put your clothes in an evidence bag."
"Yeah, yeah..." the sullen teen muttered as she left Medical and the door closed solidly behind her.
The doctor opened the bag of scraped off paint and tomato sauce, extracted as many hairs with tweezers as she could find and placed them into a sample dish. "Take these to the lab for a full toxicity screening. Director's orders."


2c4 Sophia advanced a Pawn aggressively out into the midfield on the left and said, "I know, but Panacea was right there, and they kept me away from her while the Track Team got healed up."

Sophia dried off and dressed after her shower. Finally one damn pair of socks where the elastic hadn't gone, and they were the ones she practically never wore. Typical.
She expected to join all the other Wards in their quarters, but instead a PRT Agent lurked outside the door and said, "The Director wants you meet with you ASAP. I'm your escort." He held out his hands for the evidence bags Sophia held.
Whatever she did to Hebert she deserved for not standing up for herself. Now that the loser actually was pushing back, it just confirmed her resolve to shove the wuss back down even harder. Sophia could rely on Emma, Madison and the rest in their social orbit for support. What she really wanted was to go dish out some street level justice as a way to let off steam.
Instead she was stuck here.
During the winding walk through the corridors Sophia considered how Piggot and the PRT would go after Jesse and the rest of the Track Team with their full force. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn't irrevocably arranged a hit on that smug asshole.
Yet, anyway.



2e6 Dean gave his Knight a Pawn wingman and said, "Yes, but then we wouldn't have the physical evidence of what the Track Team did to you, while any injuries from your reactions are long gone thanks to Amy. It looks worse for them that you're still injured."

In the Immaculata parking lot, half a dozen Winslow Track Team members were crammed in the back of two police cars.  They had languished there uncomfortably for what seemed like hours, their hands cuffed behind them, stuck shoulder to shoulder breathing in the same stale air.
A bulky white van pulled up nearby. People more armored than any SWAT team got out and opened double doors in the back of the van.
Jesse saw one of the cops sign something on a clipboard then walk to the squad car he was in.
“No skin off my nose if you want to take ‘em,” said the cop as he opened the door right next to Jesse.
A PRT Agent jerked his thumb at the van behind him and said, “You three. Get in.”
Jesse asked, “Hey, why are we being handed over to the PRT? There were no capes involved. What the fuck?”
The PRT Agent held his hand out to his partner. An angular rifle with a long yellow lightning bolt on the side slapped into his open palm. A laser targeter slung underneath the ridiculously wide barrel lit up and swung to point at Jesse’s crotch.
“This’ll put a cape down. Now get in the fuckin’ van or I’ll cook your dick, motherfucker,” the PRT Agent said matter-of-factly.
Jesse got in the fuckin’ van.


3g3 Sophia gave her Knight a Pawn wingman like Dean had done and said, "Those assholes deserved what was coming to them."

While she followed the PRT Agent, Sophia ran a hypothetical conversation through in her mind. If she just went to Piggot and said, 'So I think Butterfly goes to Winslow.' Piggy would ask 'Why do you think that?' Then she would say 'I recognized her in the crowd.' 'How did you recognize this Mercenary Merchant scum?' her Pigginess would ask. 'She answered my texts when I tried to hire her to assassinate someone for me...'
Yeah, no.
Sophia knew she would only be free to act only so long as no one suspected she knew Butterfly's identity.
The PRT Agent knocked on the door to a conference room and was immediately replied with a stern voice that said "Enter."
Sophia opened the door to the conference room and entered. Director Piggot stood off to one side as a teleconference camera was set up in front of a monitor.
On that screen was Glenn Chambers.


3d5 Dean advanced a Pawn to challenge her control of the center of the board and noted the teal of guilt mixed with deep rose of frustration, unusual emotions coming from Sophia as she had apparently remembered something. Perhaps she had just re-lived an unpleasant memory. He said, "C'mon it's not like school can be all that bad, even if it is Winslow..."

Jesse awkwardly climbed into the PRT van and sat where another PRT Agent pointed. As his teammates clambered in to take seats beside him, he glanced out the door to see the cops usher the other three Track Team members from a squad car and remove their handcuffs.
“Hey, why are they...” Jesse began to ask before he received a punch in his solar plexus. It felt like all the air vomited out of his lungs all at once as he struggled, and failed, to draw a breath.
Jesse pitched forward involuntarily, only to have the PRT Agent who sat opposite him plant a combat boot against his chest and kick him back into his seat.
“No talking.”
The doors closed and the van drove away.
Jesse had managed to resume breathing normally by the time they had arrived at the PRT HQ building downtown.



4Bg2 "Yeah," Sophia said as she moved her Bishop to support her right flank, "Winslow's not the problem. It's just that I didn't start this shit, but it all hit me just the same. It was all their fault."

Sophia considered ghosting through the floor for a moment, but instead stood her ground in front of the teleconference camera and monitor.
On that screen Glenn Chambers wrapped up another conversation on his phone, “…how'd he get the Harley up on the high dive in the first place?”


4Be7 Dean moved his own Bishop up to a more central position and said, "Y’know, it’s like the therapists say, ‘When you point a finger in blame, three fingers point back at you’.”

"Good, good. Well, that’s Seattle handled.” Glenn said as he put down his phone.
Glenn said, “Come sit down Miss Hess. This little adversity breeds opportunity. With you, we have a chance to sway the court of public opinion to our side."
"What… the hell are you talking about?" Sophia asked confusedly.
"My dear, in my job it's not reality, but the perception of reality that matters." Glenn said.
Sophia said, "Listen, I've had a long night of getting crap dumped on me, just say it more plainly, Yeah?"
Glenn sighed and said, "You're going to turn our lemons into lemonade. Tomorrow morning we're going to have you give a little 'how bullying comes in many packages' anti-hazing speech."


5 O-O Sophia said, "Oh yeah? How ‘bout just one finger then?” as she flipped him off. Then she Castled her king into a strong defensive position.

"Are you fucking high?!?"
Director Piggot looked down her nose at the foul-mouthed Ward and said icily, "Language."
Sophia's voice rose angrily, "There's no goddamn WAY I'm going to agree to have you trot me around in front of the cameras as your little show-pony victim."
"Well, we all have our illusions, far be it from me to take away yours. But..." Glenn paused.
The screen split in two and showed some legal paperwork. Her own signature was circled in red.
Glenn turned his head slightly with a sardonic grin and said, "Your contractual obligations say differently."


5 O-O Dean also Castled, as he seemed to again mimic Sophia's chess moves. Then he said, "Oooh, touchy. Don’t let Victoria see that, it might make her jealous.”

Glenn straightened and said, "In recognition of the lateness of the hour, let me lay it all out for you, Miss Hess."
"Your speech tomorrow will successfully accomplish multiple goals for the PRT. Ward program outreach. A sympathetic anti-bullying campaign. But most of all it finally gives us something concrete we can use to push back against the bureaucratic overreach of the Youth Guard."
Glenn then leaned back and casually flicked his wrist with each option he mentioned, "Or, if and only if you say no, we could do down the other route. Guard duty outside a Simurgh zone. Rebranding and transfer to another city. There’s that new PRT department forming in Alaska looking for new recruits. Or, given your record, there's serving out the rest of your sentence in juvenile hall."
Glenn leaned forward with his elbows on the table, laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them like a hammock, "But before you answer, let me calm your fears. The rumors that you would be sent out on the wall surrounding Ellisburg with a dinner bell around your neck are patently false."
Glenn turned his right palm and shortly after his left palm up and said, "Rock. Hard Place. Your decision, Miss Hess? I still have to read the riot act to all the Wards nationwide and the clock is ticking."


6b3 Sophia advanced a Pawn on her left and said, “I wasn’t bullied or hazed or any of that. Track team dumbshits picked the wrong target is all.”

Sophia zoned out during the speech broadcast to all the Wards across the country since she already viscerally understood the repercussions. They had her over a barrel, and they knew it. One of the few things that made all the associated Ward bullshit bearable was her social connections at Winslow.
It felt good to be the big fish in a small pond, even if it overflowed with pond scum.
She had been forced to agree to what they wanted and then hit the hay since it was already after midnight. Even though every other Ward on the continent were locked down as of now, she still had to go to that ankle biters meet and greet tomorrow and give whatever damn speech Glenn Chambers and his battery of PR flacks came up with while she slept.
Except this time the brats would be outnumbered by TV cameras.
Shit.
Sophia slid between the sheets and tried to catch what sleep she could.


6a5 Dean aggressively countered with a Pawn into the midfield and said, “How dare they consider you a mere mortal, to drag you down to stoop to their level, is that it?”

Jesse stepped into the cell bare footed, the blaze orange prison jumpsuit clung to his body in places where he hadn’t been able to dry off from whatever that chemical wash was the PRT Agents had put him through. The towel he had been given seemed a step below regular fabric when it came to absorption, not to mention the ten seconds of constant shouts to hurry up had hardly been enough time to dry off in any case.
The door hummed closed and sealed with a series of ominous clacks.
The speaker in the high ceiling blared to life with feedback, “Attention, you are under observation for the next twelve hours as part of Master/Stranger protocols to detect any possible influence. Follow all instructions promptly and answer all questions immediately.”
The speaker turned off with another high pitched electronic tone.
Jesse walked over to the thin mattress on a bench of concrete, he wouldn’t even dignify it by calling it a bed, and sat down.
He thought he heard some yells, followed by some muffled thumps from the cell next to his, but after a noise like a can of whipped cream going off, the other noises stopped.
He lay down on the plastic wrapped foam rubber and closed his eyes.
Not five seconds later, the speaker in the ceiling loudly blared to life, “Stand and place your hands on the red square on the wall.”
On the otherwise blank wall across from him, three illuminated shapes appeared; a blue circle, a green rectangle, and a rosy pink square.
Jesse stood up, placed his hands on the pink square and said, “Like this?”
A multi-barreled turret dropped from the ceiling and swung to point right at him.
The speaker squealed to life again, “I said the RED square!”
Jesse looked around the room and saw a small red square that glowed on the wall behind where he had sat down.
He turned around and put his hands on the red square with a sigh.
“No talking,” the speaker blared.
Jesse knew he was in for a long night.


7Nc3 Sophia brought the Knight on her left flank forward and said, “Nah, the only ‘stoop’ they had going for them was stup-ID.”

In the morning Sophia practiced the speech with Miss Militia yet again.
Apparently Glenn Chambers leveraged the Protectorate heroine's perfect memory to his advantage, and to Sophia's detriment.
She had to learn the damn speech word for fucking word, and Miss Militia would pounce on every little mistake. Like saying 'these' instead of 'those' really mattered.
And the worst part was that the Protectorate cape was constantly with her, drilling her on the speech as she got ready for the event.
All while getting dressed, brushing her hair, through the cracked-open bathroom door, even while in the elevator to the hangar. Over and over and over again. No cape and cowl to hide her usual look of disgust she had when dealing with brats, it wasn’t her cap identity which had been hazed on stage last night after all.
Sophia sighed with frustration as she realized Miss Militia was going to ride with her and force her to practice all the way there as well.


7c6 Dean pushed a Pawn forward and said, “Nice turn of phrase. It wasn't in the speech, was it?”

Jesse was exhausted, and it seemed like every time he tried to sleep they would wake him up and force him to recite the alphabet backwards, or stand on one foot, or figure out a mathematic word problem, or different variations that kept him from getting any sleep in the tiny cell.
By the time they started using tongue-twisters he knew they were all just fucking with him.
He could tell by the voices there were at least three different PRT Agents taking turns at the microphone.
Maybe it was just the chance to use all the stuff they wouldn’t dare if it were Hookwolf or Oni Lee or some other cape in the cell, but since it was just some high school student, they probably figured ‘Why the hell not?’
It’s what he would have done in their situation. Hell, he even had piled it on like that during Track Team hazing last year.
However, this was different. The turret that followed his every move had unnerved him, and more than a little.
He was so damn tired, though.
He didn’t even get completely horizontal before the speaker in the ceiling squawked and yet another command to follow was yelled at him.
Jesse couldn’t take it for much longer.



8d4 Sophia said as she shoved a Pawn in the middle of the board, “Nah, but that speech was a lot harder than I expected.”

Sophia rode in the car with Miss Militia to the event and pondered how to spin it to her advantage. Once she was up there actually giving the speech she would be able to alter what she decided to say a little.
Make her seem like less of a victim, at least. Say what she would do to the Track Team if they ever pulled something like that again.
Yeah.


8Nbd7 Dean brought his Knight from the flank to the center and said, “How so?”

Deputy Director Rennick reviewed results from the blood testing ordered for all Wards by Director Costa-Brown. For most of the mandated screening of the Wards under their care there were no surprises, but Shadow Stalker's report raised some concerns.
Sophia’s toxicity screening was still being worked on in the lab. The tests on her hair follicles would show what, if any, substances she had put into her body over the amount of time her hair had grown. Panacea could reset anything and everything except brains in a body, but she usually didn't touch cosmetic features like hair unless it was part of the injured area.
He pulled up some older reports from Shadow Stalker to look for corroborating evidence of his suspicions.


9Qc2 Sophia freed up her Queen to strike later and said, “There I was, the only Ward allowed out and about in the whole country…”

Sophia plotted how to take down Butterfly now that she knew the cape was actually Taylor Hebert. Maybe she'd just blurt it out during the speech and let the chips fall where they may.
Still, Sophia considered if that she outed Taylor's cape ID, it raised the question of how she knew. It would also raise too many questions about how Sophia used her powers against Taylor, and Juvie's jaws would open wide in anticipation. 'I figured it out when I texted the Merchant's Mercenary to assassinate the teenager who pranked me... y'know, as you do... perfectly normal, perfectly healthy.'
Yeah. That wouldn't fly.
Then Miss Militia interrupted her thoughts when she said, "Okay, take it from the top..."
Oh god. Not again.


9b6 Dean advanced a Pawn to support the side and said, “Internationally. Think about the neglected Canadian branches.”

Dragon’s sub-programs sifted through data in specific geographic areas this Saturday morning  to flag events which may have had a trigger event behind them, with last night’s nationwide Wards mandated ‘social event outings’ as the cause. Suspicious hospitalizations, arrest incongruities, reported absences, unusual news reports were all sieved for previously unknown capes.
It was a small part of the Endbringer prediction software she ran constantly anyway, so the forwarded information to the PRT branches used barely any of her run time.
She returned her regular project queue to begin to build replacement systems for the ones lost in her latest confrontation with Saint.


10e4 Sophia finished her Pawn wall in the center of the board and said, “Oh, cry me a river. Who gives a shit about Canada? So, there I was, the only Ward let out of lockdown and…”

When their PRT transport finally arrived Sophia finally had some time to herself.
It was the usual hurry-up-and wait, with camera crews adjusted lighting and local reporters primped for their own time on camera.
The speech? Whatever. In these chaotic surroundings there's no way Miss Militia would be able to stop her from saying jack shit.
She felt confident she could do what she wanted. Just the way it should be.


10Ba6 Dean moved his Bishop to potentially enfilade and break up Sophia’s defenses and said, “…and?”

With a rush of air Strider appeared in the unused cafeteria used as a briefing room with a large group of people. From her own dealings with the PR department Sophia dimly remembered some of the lackeys who bustled out to accomplish pre-appointed tasks.
Left in the center of this expanding human wave of PR professionals stood Glenn Chambers.


11Nd2 Sophia recognized the threat and pulled her Knight back defensively and said, “…and I had less freedom than any of you suckers still under house arrest.”

Glenn talked with Miss Militia briefly while one of the interchangeable interns explained the new cue cards with colored accents and inflection marks to Sophia as her makeup was done by two more PR staff.
She looked off to the side and briefly saw PR people rearranging lights and disconnecting cameras over the objections of TV crews before her head was forced back by the makeup artist.
"I said DON'T MOVE. You almost looked like a raccoon. Now stay still and let me finish."
Sophia concluded, okay maybe she COULDN’T do whatever she wanted.


11c5 Dean advanced another Pawn to oppose Sophia in the center of the board and said, “At least you’re going to go to a better place.”

Jesse awoke after a practically sleepless night in the Master/Stranger screening cell. They had finally backed off and let him catch a little shut-eye. They said he was just about free to go and would get lunch just before he was processed out.
A slot in the cell door opened and a tray was pushed through.
Scrambled eggs, an English Muffin and a frozen solid pat of butter was all it held.
Jesse looked to the ceiling and said, “Um, hello? Could I get a fork or a knife or something?”
The lights in the room turned red. The turret on the ceiling hosed him down with a thick, viscous, and sticky foam that hardened as it grew.
The speaker blared to life, “Subject has requested a weapon, lockdown initiated.”
Jesse found himself submerged under the expanded spongy lattice, unable to move or see, but still able to breathe and barely able to hear.
That was how he heard two voices on the speaker.
“Told you it’d work. The breakfast tray works every time.”
“Yeah, yeah… here’s your twenty bucks. How’d you guess it was him we’d get to foam last?”
“My kid goes to the same school, told me what these Track Team numbnuts did last week. I figured their captain would be a tougher nut to crack.”
Jesse simmered in frustrated rage. ‘Were all PRT Agents douchebags, or just these ones?’ he wondered.


12exd5 Sophia claimed first blood as she captured a Pawn of Dean’s and said, “Ugh, don’t remind me.”

Deputy Director Rennick had started to pull it all together. The evidence was there, it just was just too subtle to notice unless looked at with the proper perspective. But what he had was just not actionable, unfortunately.
He needed more information on Sophia's behavior at her school, so he considered his options. Maybe replace a teacher with an undercover PRT Agent to watch things? No, Sophia could recognize every PRT guy on sight anyway. It would be a huge waste of resources to have one of the Protectorate capes do it, with the same recognition problems as well. Can’t even pull a PRT squaddie to be a student either, they’re all too old. All the Wards besides Vista were at the dance and unmasked, so not only would they be recognized, any of them would be an unprecedented transfer student from Arcadia to Winslow which would fuel the rumor mill in and of itself.


12cxd4 Dean captured one of Sophia’s Pawns in return and threatened her Knight and said, “I know it didn’t turn out like you planned.”

Jesse found out the containment foam release agent did even worse things to his hair than the chemicals from the delousing shower last night. He was able to compare and contrast since they put him through the de-lousing chemical spray a second time before they gave back his clothes.
At least they’d given him an actual towel this time, but even with no mirrors, he was sure his head looked like he had worn a fright wig.
Printed on the door in large letters was ‘No Talking To Other Detainees’.
Jesse pushed the door open once he was dressed in another orange jumpsuit and walked through to an unadorned waiting area.
Mike was already there. The boy took a step towards him and said, “Hey, man how are…”
A turret dropped from the ceiling as a voice sternly said, “No talking to the other detainees!”
Mike stepped back and said, “Okay, okay. Just don’t fo…”
The turret ejected a thick stream of containment foam on Mike, which entombed the teenager in an expanding shell.
Jesse wisely stayed quiet.


13Nb5 Sophia felt annoyed with the way she was forced to move her Knight or risk its capture to a wimpy Pawn and said, “Like I planned? Hell no, nothing went the way I planned.”

Sophia walked up to the podium to give the speech. Glenn raised a tiny dinner bell up by his neck and the delicate ‘ding-a-ling’ made her blood unexpectedly run cold.
From out of camera frame Glenn cleared his throat and stood with arms raised. An intern knelt in front and was obscured by the colored and accented cue cards. Glenn was actually going to ‘conduct’ her speech.
Her voice rose and fell slightly in pitch as she read the cue cards and followed Glenn’s hands in her peripheral vision, “How we treat each other matters…”


13exd5 Dean captured another of Sophia’s Pawns and said, “You still have your friends to support you.”

Deputy Director Rennick decided that now he'd shot down all the things he couldn't do to observe Sophia at Winslow, it was time to go out on a limb and think of what he could do.
Maybe we could ship in Young Buck? He's experienced, but if a kid with a Texas twang accent showed up at the same time as a Ward from Houston transferred in for just-this-side-of punishment duty, kiss that secret identity goodbye. What about the new guy? He hasn’t been through branding yet and so is unknown to the public, and more importantly he hadn’t unmasked to Sophia. But his biggest drawback is that he was untested and inexperienced.  
Still, a crap option to present to Director Piggot was better than no option.


14Nxd4 Sophia captured one of Dean’s Pawn as she brought her Knight to the middle of the board and said, “For now, until the repercussions from that speech happen.”

Jesse walked from his detainment cell with his PRT escort to an empty interrogation room, where she left him alone.
It was just like the ones he’d seen in TV shows. Nothing more than a bare dingy white room with a one-way glass window on one wall.  In the middle of the room was a sturdy table bolted to the floor with a ring for handcuffs to be secured in the center. One metal chair that faced the mirrored window was also bolted to the floor. Two metal folding chairs flanked the chair bolted to the floor, and one folding metal chair occupied the other side of the table.
Small security cameras graced the corners where the walls met the ceilings. A circular hatch in the ceiling he recognized was for a containment foam turret placed directly over the lone folding chair closest to the one way glass.
He sat down in the chair bolted to the floor, and knew he could have been handcuffed to the table.
He resigned himself to wait, certain that he was about to get his ‘Come to Jesus’ meeting.


14Rc8 Dean repositioned his un-castled Rook and said, “I think more good than bad will come out of all this for you.”

Sophia’s hair follicle toxicity test finally landed with a leaden thud on Deputy Director Rennick's desk.
The file was at least twenty sheets thick. Coupled with her blood screening, he had enough evidence to warrant a PRT a squad to get dispatched to Winslow right now and see what other evidence they could dig up.


15Re1 Sophia maneuvered her own Rook to strike deep into Dean’s territory and said, “Good… Bad… I’m the girl with the crossbow.”

“…with understanding for each other and hope for the future.” Sophia ended the speech as Glenn’s hands finally came to a rest.
Glenn said, “Good enough to not need a second take, but let’s look at the on-the-fly editing before we send it out and plan for the follow-ups.”
A cluster of his ever-present staff and interns worked at laptops and industriously edited the raw footage as the TV station crews took a smoke break outside.
“Insert video montage number three over her left shoulder. The color scheme matches the room better.”
"A relatively easy one for once," Glenn said, "Okay, let’s watch it through and if we don’t encounter any showstoppers we can send it out to the media."



15b5 Dean put Sophia’s Pawn into double jeopardy with a Pawn of his own and said, “Oh come ON, you complained the whole time when we watched Army of Darkness.”

Jesse’s parents and some tiny blonde woman with short hair whose demeanor just screamed ‘Social Worker’ entered the interrogation room and seated themselves on opposite sides of the table.
“Mr. and Mrs. Case, Jesse, my name is Marcia Darcy and I am your PRT Arbiter,” she said as she crossed her hands on top of a folder on the table in front of her, “Your son has cleared screening for Master/Stranger influence, and none has been detected.”
Jesse noticed his parents visibly relax at that statement, but he waited for the other metaphorical boot to fall.
“However, this raises the question of why your son and his accomplices conceived of such a prank and implemented it against one of their own teammates last night.” PRT Arbiter Darcy looked Jesse in the eyes and asked, “Can you tell me in your own words how this all happened?”
“Shouldn’t we have a lawyer, or something?” Jesse asked his father.
PRT Arbiter Darcy interrupted, “No need, I already explained to your parents that if you did choose to obtain legal representation, now that no Master/Stranger influence is involved then the PRT would be forced to return this matter to the Brockton Bay Police where charges against all of you would most likely be filed.”
“Such a charge on your record, even as a minor, would have quite the negative impact on any applications you have made to universities and colleges,” PRT Arbiter Darcy said as she opened the folder in front of her and fanned out his college application forms on the table. Some were copies, while others he noted were the originals.
Jesse’s gut clenched with fear as he realized that if he didn’t play ball, they were going to destroy his future over this.
“In my own words?” Jesse confirmed.
PRT Arbiter Darcy nodded and gestured at him to continue.
“It all started on April Fool’s Day, when Sophia body slammed Tommy into a wall when she chased us down after someone made those banners fall from the cafeteria ceiling.” Jesse said, “The entire Track Team had to run laps for three hours in the rain because of that bitch.”
“So you don’t like Ms. Hess, I take it?”
“OF COURSE I don’t like her! But she’s a member of the Track Team and she’s my responsibility as Captain.” Jesse ranted, “As good as the thing with the banners was, no one on the team claimed credit for it even when I offered fifty bucks to whoever was behind it. No takers.”
Jesse leaned forward and said, “Then I found out yesterday she had gone after the girl she’d punched again, so I figured Sophia needed to be taken down a peg.”
PRT Arbiter Darcy scribbled down a note and asked, “She’d gone after her? What do you mean?”
“Well, it was yesterday during lunch….”


16Bb2 Sophia advanced her Bishop to a better angle on Dean’s Castle and said, “It was the only way to get Kid Win and Clockblocker to shut up and stop reciting lines with the movie.”

Sophia sullenly drove back to the Rig with Miss Militia and tried to figure out how to manufacture evidence against Butterfly using her powers in school, or how to lure her out so she could deliver a righteous beat down.


16Re8 Dean moved his Rook to more firmly defend the center and said, “Anyway, you’ve got time to wrap things up the way you want.’

The PRT unmarked white panel van arrived at Winslow High School. The driver saw the Exterminator vans outside, and observed the plastic ‘airlock’ tent haphazardly duct taped to the peeling paint around the entrance. A man in coveralls with rubber gloves, a gasmask, and a tank of chemicals on his back walked around the perimeter of the school and sprayed the vents in the foundation.
“Good thing we always have these,” his partner said after she pulled out a pair of gasmasks intended to hand out to civilians.
With toolboxes and a clipboard with a realistic looking work order in hand they entered the school.


17Qd1 Sophia saw the threat of Dean’s Rook against her own and moved her Queen back to compensate and said, “I’m finding out I can’t always get what I want.”

Sophia felt her guts clench in terror as she realized Hebert may already have evidence of her using her powers at school.
That camera she ghosted the film out of in the third floor restroom.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.


17bxc4 “Yep. Life sucks. It’s the first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, also the first acknowledgement in a 12-step program.” Dean captured yet another one of Sophia’s Pawns and said, "You know, you just lost that Pawn wall, better start to pay attention."

Dennis was mildly surprised he was called to Deputy Director Rennick’s office.
He figured it had to do with that leadership training he was scheduled to do before Glenn Chambers left town. Like he needed another conflict with the PR department after the many mandatory meetings he’d had regarding his cape name. But at least it broke the tedium caused from lockdown.
His knock on the Deputy Director’s door was answered by a curt “Enter.”
“You wanted to see me, Deputy Director?” Dennis asked.
“Yes, I just got some information that touches on something from your debriefing,” Deputy Director Rennick said, “You said you met a girl that said she had problems with Sophia?”
Dennis answered, “Not just problems, she showed me a scar on her head she claimed came from a glass bottle Sophia had thrown at her after threatening to throw her out a window.”
“This girl threatened Sophia?”
“No, sir… Sophia threatened her. She was the same girl Sophia punched last week, apparently.”
“I see…. Thank you for coming in, you may go,” said Deputy Director Rennick.


18bxc4 “So what? Pawns are the weakest and therefore the suckiest pieces.” Sophia said as she re-took the space with her own Pawn, "Besides, no one in my family ever went in for all that 12 step stuff."

Sophia plotted when and how to ransack the Hebert’s house. Bet the loser either hid it between her mattresses or in a shoebox on the top shelf of her closet. How imaginative.


18Qb6 Dean moved his Queen on the flank to prepare for later and said, “Oh, why is that?”

Glenn Chambers smiled slightly as he watched his assistants pack up their gear as the last of the copies of the speech were distributed to news organizations around the country.
The reception to the packaged speech had leaned their way in every media market so far. The official spin on the entire situation had worked, a job well done.
Time to log into PHO and see what the public reaction was, and steer it if necessary.


19Rb1 Sophia repositioned her Rook to prevent Dean from taking her Bishop and said, “They never took the steps seriously enough to make it to any of the reward.”

Sophia planned how she would be able to push Hebert around at Winslow, wear bug repellant, carry bug spray, get Hebert to use her powers and then hold her off until the PRT arrived. Maybe she could get her hands on a containment foam grenade.
Wait. How would she get the bug spray? She’d have to requisition it. How would she explain her need? ‘I got to frame Butterfly?’
Shit. Forget about the containment foam grenade.


19dxc4 Dean captured the last of Sophia’s Pawn wall and said, “Couldn’t keep the eyes on the prize, huh?”

Jesse waited in the lobby as his parents completed the seemingly endless paperwork which released him from PRT custody. With an evidence bag of personal belongings, he returned his wallet, loose change and keys to their respective pockets of his rumpled rented tuxedo. Finally, he pulled out his phone, turned his back on his parents and texted ‘Hi Yuudai, looks like the MC PP concert is on.’
He slid his phone into his pocket and rejoined his parents.
_____
Across town Yuudai Yagi read the text from his Captain, and texted another two Track Team members who would each text another two until everyone was on the same page.
He downed the rest of his soda and saved the bottle. He’d fill it up again later, along with thirty or so other members of the Track Team.
He hoped Sophia looked good in yellow.


20Nc6 Sophia saw a way for her Knight to kill Dean’s King in two moves. She advanced her chess piece and said, “Nah, it’s more like they could never see how their own actions dragged them down time and time again.”

Sophia figured she would just have to cape her way to victory, draw Hebert out until she did something with her bugs, and nail her for terrorist use of powers. Corner her in private and then beat her ass down. There was no way Hebert’s bugs could even touch her in her breaker state.
It wouldn't matter because the Merchant mercenary scumbag would be sent to the Birdcage by the time she was done with her.


20Rxc6 Dean captured Sophia’s unsupported Knight with his Rook and said, “Can’t see the forest for the trees, right?”

The PRT squad returned from Winslow, with evidence bags of the contraband they found behind Sophia’s locker.
“You would not believe what a shithole that school was. I wouldn’t fumigate it, I’d burn it down. The smoking ruins would be an improvement.”
Deputy Director Rennick asked, "You didn't leave any traces of how you got this, did you?"
"No, once we saw something on the scan behind her locker we tore through the back of a vacant one two doors down and reached over to get it all."
"It won't get noticed?" Deputy Director Rennick asked.
"With gang graffiti on the walls, I doubt a duct-tape repair of an empty locker would even raise an eyebrow."


21Bxf6 Angry at herself over the loss of such a powerful piece, Sophia captured the Knight right in front of Dean’s Castle with her Bishop and said, “More like couldn’t see any other tree than the one whose bark they were smoking.”

Sophia realized she would be able to get away with a lot more at school now that she was considered the poor little victim.
Go ahead and give the Wolf some Sheep's clothing and see how it turns out.
Sophia sat back and smirked in smug satisfaction as the PRT car arrived back at the Rig.


21Qxf2+ Dean made his big move, a Queen sacrifice and said, “I see. Check.”

Deputy Director Rennick looked at the drug screenings, bags of evidence, stacks of patrol reports and interrogation notes from this morning on his desk.
He had her. Hook, line, and sinker.
He picked up the phone to dial Director Piggot when he was alerted that Miss Militia's car had returned.
He dialed the Console so Velocity could put him through to Miss Militia instead.


22Kxf2 Sophia said, “How the fuck did you… Mother. Fuck.” She was forced to capture his Queen, but in the process it dragged her own King out of her Castle and into the dangers of the wider world.

Miss Milita tilted her head slightly as she listened to her earpiece.
Miss Militia said, "You're not done yet, Sophia. One more debriefing".
The Protectorate cape led the Ward to a conference room to wait. She then left, and the doors closed.
Two PRT guards with angular taser rifles took up position outside.


22Bc5+ Dean repositioned his Bishop to force Sophia’s hand again and said, “Check.”

PRT ENE Director Emily Piggot hung up on Rennick and called Glenn Chambers, “You know that Titanic PR move you just made? We’ve got multiple icebergs...”


23Kf3 Sophia just now realized how limited her options were and said, “Shit.” as she was forced to move her King forward again.

The silence of the empty conference room echoed around her.
Sophia thought, “Just Great. Even more pointless hurry-up-and-wait.”


23Rxf6+ Dean captured Sophia’s Bishop with his Rook and simultaneously closed off any hope of retreat and said, “Check.”

Glenn Chambers joined Deputy Director Rennick in Director Piggot’s office.
Sophia Hess’s Human Resources contract had joined the evidence gathered by Rennick spread out on the PRT Director’s desk. On top were bagged paperweights which had recently been hidden in the wall behind the troublesome Ward’s locker.
“I knew our poster child was an ‘infant terrible’,” Glenn emphasized the phrase with a French pronunciation, “but this is ridiculous.”
Glenn Chambers buried his head in his hands.


24Kg4 Sophia hated being pushed around more than a snowplow after a Nor’easter, but moved her King to the only available space and said, “Goddamn it.”

Long minutes passed as Sophia sat in the empty conference room and watched the clouds and the waters of the bay.  
'Does forced boredom equal torture?' she wondered.


24Ne5+ Dean brought his Knight into the attack as well and said, “Check.”

Deputy Director Rennick, PRT ENE Director Piggot, and PR Director Glenn Chambers solemnly entered the conference room.
They quietly sat.
Deputy Director Rennick placed a stack of printouts she recognized as her patrol reports on the table. They were joined by what looked like two folders from Medical, another binder of paperwork, and was topped off by a couple of small glass medication bottles and some still wrapped syringes in an evidence bag.


25Kg5 Sophia took the least poor option available to her to move her King out of Check and angrily said, “You buttfucking sonofabitch.”

Sophia said, “I… uh…


25Rg6+ Dean casually tapped his Rook to the side and said, “Check. And, no, that would be Carlos, actually.”
He blushed as he realized what he had just said about his teammate and added, “Allegedly.”

Director Piggot placed an evidence bag which held a quarrel of crossbow bolts with bladed tips on the table.



25Kh5 Sophia finally moved her King out of check and said, “Okay, okay… Jesus. How did all that happen?”

Sophia said, “It’s not what you think…”


26f6 Dean moved a Pawn to take up the slack for the Knight he saw he could use as a lure and said, “Forethought, planning, and a charming smile.”

Glenn Chambers placed the tiny, silver dinner bell from earlier on the table.


27Rxe5 Sophia took the bait and captured his Knight with her Rook and said, “I think I can still get out of this, give me a minute…”

Sophia said, “I’m too valuable for you to just throw away…”


27Rxe5+ Dean captured Sophia’s remaining Knight with his Rook as he boxed in her King yet again and said, “Check. Take all the time you need.”

Glenn picked up the dinner bell on the table in front of him and gave it a delicate little ‘ding-a-ling’.


28 Kh4 Sophia retreated her King and said, “God fucking damn it. I can move... no, maybe… no... shit.”

Terror gripped her as Sophia thought to herself, “I am sooooo screwed…”


28Bc8 Dean moved his Bishop to close off one more escape route in his hunt for Sophia’s King and said, “You’ve delayed pretty much all that you can, Sophia.”

Director Emily Piggot steepled her fingers, leaned forward, and then encompassed the items on the table in front of her with a sweeping gesture.
“If we knew all of this before the speech, you would have earned a one way ticket to juvenile hall until you turned eighteen, where more charges of what we uncovered would move you to prison for years. We can only show so much favoritism for so long. However, the Wards program in its’ entirety needed a win on this one. Needed it so badly PR Director Glen Chambers was forced to personally get involved for you.”
“And yet… somehow, in some way you, Miss Hess, through your previous callous actions and disregard for the rules have managed to sabotage even this eleventh hour effort to save your bacon.”
“There’s a business analogy,” Deputy Director Rennick said, “If you borrow a thousand dollars and you can’t pay it back, you’re in trouble. If you borrow a million dollars and can’t pay it back, then you’re in serious trouble. If you borrow a billion dollars and can’t pay it back, then the Bank is in serious trouble.”
Director Piggot continued, “It is excruciatingly obvious that you require supervision which is constantly present if the PRT as a whole is going to push past this unfortunate discovery and maintain the narrative from this mornings' PR event..”
“So, this will have to proceed through normal channels. We can only appear to grease the wheels the absolute minimum. It must look as if the court of public opinion has forced the PRT’s hand in this matter.”


Sophia gut turned cold with hatred. She had been outmaneuvered in this stupid game and she knocked over her own King and conceded the game in a huff.

“Therefore, Miss Hess, you are going where we can keep a much closer, and stricter, watch on you.”

Sophia said, “Oh my god, that came out of nowhere.”
Dean said, “Well, not if you're looking three moves ahead, but with THAT game play….”
“Asshole. Ugh... Just how could this day get any worse?” Sophia wondered.
“We’ll just have to play again, that’s all there is to it. You’ll never join our chess team at this rate.” Dean said

Director Piggot intoned, "Enjoy your last week at Winslow, Miss Hess. Monday after next you’re transferred to Arcadia."


Author's Note: The chess game played came from the Chess for All Ages website here http://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/aa07k17.htm and is worth a look if you have even the tiniest interest in Chess (the game, not the Musical)

Piggot saying 'maintain the narrative' sounds so much better than 'cover it all up', don't you think?