The Protagonist System

Having to stay in bed all morning sucked. The call from the PRT just made it worse after what they told mom. Because of that, my mom kept coming into my room at random times to check on me to make sure I wasn't up and around. I needed to recover in her eyes and that wasn't going to happen without lots of chicken noodle soup and bed rest.

“You shouldn't have stayed home from work, mom.” I said when she brought me an early lunch.

“It's only for half a day, sweetie. There's an important meeting this afternoon and I can't miss it.” She said and put the tray on my lap before she checked around the bed to make sure the blanket was tucked in and I wasn't going to get out of bed quickly.

“Geez, mom. If you weren't so cute, I would have tried to escape already.”

She let out a soft laugh and lightly patted my head. “You make sure you eat all of that and I'll be home as soon as I can sneak away.”

I shook my head and caught her hand before she could pull it away. “Please don't miss any more work on my behalf. I have my phone here and if I need anything, anything at all, I'll call you. I promise.”

She gave me a searching look and let out a breath. “All right, I'll stay at work.”

“Thank you.” I said and gently pulled her down and kissed her cheek. “And thank you for taking care of me. You're the best, mom.”

She blushed and mumbled something I couldn't hear, patted my head again, and left the room. I did my little farseeing trick that showed me something within the next five minutes and I saw that she would be on her way to work. I waited for a couple of minutes and heard the car start up, confirming my vision.

Just in case, I opened a tiny portal on the inside of the car on the underside of the roof. I watched her put the car in gear and closed the portal when she started to drive away. I had already checked it for explosives and traps, too. You could never be too careful with criminals targeting you and I kept an eye on her as she drove to work.

I knew her route, because she always took the shortest one, and I opened a tiny portal at each intersection to watch her and it was high enough up that no one noticed it. I checked the time after mom was safely at work and smiled. Amy would be getting out of class around this time and would be heading to the cafeteria for lunch.

I quickly ate my own and set the tray aside, checked the note she gave me about the safe times to call her, and nodded. She should have bought her lunch by now, assuming she didn't bring one, and three, two, one. I hit speed-dial and waited for only a single ring before it was answered.

“Hi, Greg.” Amy said and I could hear footsteps.

“Heaven must have great customer service. I only heard one ring and now I'm talking to an angel.” I said and she chuckled. “Hi, Amelia. How was school this morning? Did the teachers suck all the joy out of learning yet?”

Amy laughed. “I'm seventeen, Greg. School hasn't been fun in years.”

“Whoa, you're almost legal?” I asked, my voice full of hope.

Amy made an odd sound. “You are so not.”

“What if I said I had an old soul?” I asked and she laughed. “No chance, huh?”

Amy went quiet for a moment. “I wouldn't say that.”

I smiled at her not shutting me down completely. “Then a spark of hope shall stay in my heart until you decide.” I said and she didn't say anything. “Speaking of future relationships, how are Vicky and Dean today?”

Amy groaned. “Don't get me started.”

“Oh? Is the tumultuous couple on again or off again?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Off right now, so Vicky's sitting with the hangers-on this week.” Amy answered.

“Not you?” I asked.

“God, no. I used you as an excuse to escape the vapid airheads.” Amy responded. “Thanks, by the way. I totally planned for you to call me at the exact moment I said you could, so you're lucky that you did.”

I had to chuckle at that. “I'm at home for the rest of the week, so you can rely on me to be your phone buddy.”

“Thank you.” Amy said and then caught her breath. “Wait, only the week? Are going back to that hellhole? Didn't they arrest that bitch or what?”

“Nope, it was ruled an accident. Even my statement said so, corroborating her claim. It apparently doesn't matter if Sophia intended to kill someone else, because I wasn't supposed to be the target and got caught instead.” I said and heard Amy make a very nasty sound. “Did you just curse?”

“Yes.” Amy said, her voice full of venom. “Leave this with me, Greg. I'm going to make a few calls and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. That bitch isn't going to get away with it, I promise you.”

“Amelia...” I started to say she didn't have to do that.

“Carol should be eating lunch right now, so I'll call her first.” Amy said and cut me off. “I'll talk to you later.”

“Bye.” I said and hung up. I looked at my phone for a moment and put it down. “I don't know if I should be happy about that or not.”

*

“Amelia Fleur Dallon, are you joking?” Carol asked her adopted daughter.

“I wish I was.” Amy responded, her tone flat.

“And you know they dropped the case?” Carol asked.

“Greg just told me about it and I hung up on him and called you right away.” Amy said.

Carol paused for a moment and thought about what she could do. “All right. I'll take the case provisionally. I don't know how much I can do without showing the firm I have a retainer set aside for a new client.”

“Crap.” Amy said and then gasped. “Would it help if he asked to join New Wave?”

Carol sighed. “I can't let you convince him to unmask, just so he can get some closure.”

“No, no. That's not it at all! He asked me if he could join after I healed him yesterday. He even asked about an application and a face-to-face interview, too. The PRT officer tried the hard sell to make him join, with his family's safety at risk, and it blew up in his face.”

Carol chuckled. “Serves them right. They can't threaten capes like that.”

“I was shocked when he did it right there in front of me and Greg said he was glad he had a witness.” Amy added. “That's why when the case was closed, I knew they did it to spite him for refusing and not bothering to talk to one of the capes from the Protectorate.”

“That was a smart deduction, Amy.” Carol said and missed the gasp Amy let out at receiving praise. “I'll add that he's desperate enough to come to us after the PRT threw him to the wolves. I know a good judge that can get me a writ of censure for how they mishandled the case. They might even be forced to reopen the investigation if they won't hand over their case files for review.”

Amy let out a sigh of relief. “That's good news. I'll call him back and let him know.”

“Call Sarah first and get the ball rolling on that. I don't know if the family will vote to let him join or not; but, as long as it's in process, it can help give the case legitimacy.” Carol said. “Ask Sarah to arrange a meeting with him at his home this evening and I'll add it into my notes.”

“Okay, I'll do that. Thank you.” Amy said.

“You're welcome.” Carol said and then fell silent. Neither of them knew how to end the first cordial conversation they had in a while. The silence stretched on for several moments before she thought up an excuse to hang up. “I need to finish eating my lunch.”

Amy blew out the breath she didn't realize she was holding in, glad for the excuse. “Me, too! Bye.”

“Bye.” Carol said and hung up. She stared at the phone and felt surprised that they hadn't devolved into an argument, probably because Amy wasn't as belligerent as she usually was. It was kind of a relief. Amy having a friend outside of school might be a good thing? She asked herself and then smiled.

Another idea had just popped into her head and she started typing on her computer. A filed school transfer request to get away from his attempted murderer, a public announcement over his assailant not being charged for such a blatant crime that was caught on camera, and then a personal notice that the PRT were not going to protect his family because he didn't join the Wards.

Yes, this was going to become a very nice club for me to slug those idiots in the PRT with. Carol thought with satisfaction and kept typing.

*

Director Emily Piggot of the Parahuman Response Team, East-North-East division, had just sat down to eat her supper at home when a shit-storm she had no idea was developing hit her in the face. Her house phone and her cell phone rang at the same time and she sighed, because both were across the room and she had to get up to answer one of them.

It took Emily a moment, since her slightly overweight body and a few aches and pains slowed her down. She answered her cell phone and the house phone stopped ringing. “Speak.”

She listened as she was filled in on the situation and she tried to keep her emotions in check and managed to not yell at the idiot talking to her. It wasn't his fault, because he wasn't the PRT officer that caused the mess that was already on the news. She still calmly ranted at him for not contacting her sooner, since he was the agent on watch and should have noticed what was going on in his department.

Emily hung up and went back to her meal and settled down to eat. Rushing to close the stable door after the horse had already escaped, wouldn't do anyone any good. She had to think about how to handle the situation and she did so as she ate the bland food in front of her. It wasn't the first time she regretted not having functioning kidneys.

As she went over the details of the case in her head, Emily admitted to herself that she believed Veder. He had no reason to lie, not after surviving what happened. She used her cell phone to check one of the many videos of the incident that had been posted on the cape message boards, PHO. It was a hot topic and very easy to find, unfortunately.

Emily's blank face slowly changed into a scowl at the proof that one of their Wards had tried to trap someone in that locker, only for that boy to save them and get caught himself and then left inside. The intended victim had fled as soon as she could and didn't look back, disappointing Sophia by the look on her face, probably because she didn't have to chase the girl away.

The clip sped up on its own to the relevant part, thanks to someone editing it, and Emily watched as a muscular body pretty much exploded out of that tiny space. The change that had happened to the skinny kid was kind of impressive and in no way was going to be covered up, even if there had been no video evidence to document it.

Anyone at the school near there would have known he was a cape after that, so no one could claim it was the PRT that compromised his identity. Thankfully, the video didn't expose their own Ward, only that some black girl had tried to assault a white girl and assaulted a white boy instead. That was going to be a problem she could do little about.

The Empire 88 were already blasting the internet and the news with quotes about the filthy blacks attacking wholesome white people for no reason, which was why Emily thought it was a problem she couldn't handle. They were right. Sophia Hess had bullied that Hebert girl for no reason and now it was all out in the open.

“The moron didn't even find out what Veder's powers were before he ostracized him.” Emily said out loud as she mulled over what she had to do first.

She finished eating and used her cell phone to call in the order to bring Sophia Hess and her family into protective custody. The irony was not lost on her that it was the reason the new cape had refused to even listen to the offer to join the Protectorate. She even agreed with him that it was just a temporary stopgap measure for immediate safety and not meant for long-term protection.

The PRT officer should have offered passive surveillance and a response team ready for any attack, since they were the parahuman response team and that was their job. Instead, the idiot thought he could force the hard sell on a recently traumatized teenager. It was a stupid move, because he was underage and his parents were the ones that needed to be pressured into signing him up. Now they had no chance at all of getting him onboard.

Emily called for a ride and sat down to wait. It was going to be another long night as she went over the paperwork herself and she knew it was going to be a bigger headache than she thought it was going to be. Her phone beeped at her and she looked at the new notice about a lawsuit filed on behalf of a minor over the PRT threatening his family and allowing his assailant to run free to keep trying to kill him.

“Fuck.” Emily said with a sigh. “Of course Carol Dallon is a part of this.”

The car arrived and Emily rode in the back in silence. She was taken to the PRT building downtown and dropped off by the elevator in the underground parking lot. She thanked the driver and rode the elevator up to the top floor where her office was and greeted the night secretary as she was handed several file folders.

Emily entered her office and sat down to get to work. The mess was a huge one and was getting bigger after that announcement. She checked her phone and sighed, because the lawsuit was trending already and had hundreds of supporting messages.

She opened the top folder and saw the writ of censure and cursed again, because it was dated for just after lunch and she wasn't told. She could have been all over this long ago and now she was playing catch-up from so far behind that it wasn't funny.

It didn't take long for her to check who had received it and she cursed yet again, because the stooge was one of the Empire's plants they had been using to feed the gang false information. That was biting her on the ass now by letting the PRT stew for half the day as the Empire used the opportunity to hammer them over it.

Unfortunately, Emily couldn't have the man shot. Legally, anyway. However, she could do something else. A quick phone call later had the man arrested for interfering in an ongoing case and he would be interrogated before being dropped into Master / Stranger protocols for 24 hours, after which he would be fired for cause. Having a false mole around wasn't worth the trouble after this latest fuck-up.

Emily went through the files that she had only received a briefing about and the details were maddening. The PRT officer had done the interview of the victim in front of Panacea, after confirming Veder was a cape, and that explained how Carol had gotten wind of it so soon. The reason he wanted to join New Wave was because of his treatment by the PRT, which was a harsh blow to their public face.

She grumbled about being surrounded by idiots as she finished reading the closed case against Sophia Hess, whom wasn't apologetic and said it was an accident. She had wanted to put the Hebert girl into the locker and Veder wasn't supposed to be there. It was his fault he was caught and she wasn't responsible.

The victim's own statement confirmed this and the video showed Sophia didn't even realize he had been shoved in instead, until someone else pointed out that she had missed the Hebert girl, who was already running away from the scene.

Greg Veder's statement was the concerning one. He was right that just reporting that one incident would do nothing, because no other incident had been submitted. The records from Sophia's handler were squeaky clean and Emily now knew they had been doctored. Everyone, even the good kids like Gallant and Vista, had spots on their records with incidents. There was never 'nothing to report' written on any of the other records.

Emily pushed the intercom button. “Sarah, please have Shadow Stalker's monitoring agent come to my office.”

“They've left for the day, so it might be half an hour.” Sarah replied.

“That's fine. Have Armsmaster and Aegis report to me as well.” Emily said. They were the respective leaders of the Protectorate team and the Wards team.

“Both are in the building, ma'am. I'll send the order right away.” Sarah responded.

“Thank you.” Emily said and let the button go. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, because the glaring hole in the incident was why no cape response had been ordered when the civilian identity of a Ward had been mentioned. That was a huge red flag in her mind and she would have her answers, or heads were going to roll.

Emily hit the intercom button again. “Sarah, if Shadow Stalker's handler doesn't answer her phone, send a patrol car and have them picked up.”

“Right away, ma'am. I already tried and there was no answer.” Sarah responded.

“On second thought, send a tactical team instead.” Emily ordered. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome, ma'am.” Sarah said and felt glad that it wasn't her that had her boss on the warpath.