Cane Toad (Worm)

[Ack]

Director Piggot: "Sit down, Renick. We need to talk."

Deputy Director Renick: "Yes, ma'am."

Piggot: "I take leave for one week, and I come back to this? What the fuck, Renick?"

Renick: "I can explain."

Piggot: "I certainly hope so. Start talking. How did Hess die?"

Renick: "She apparently ate a poisoned sandwich. There was enough belladonna in her system to kill three grown men."

Piggot: "And how did the poison get into her sandwich?"

Renick: "It ... uh, it wasn't her sandwich. She apparently beat up another student and stole her lunch."

Piggot: "And who was trying to kill the other student?"

Renick: "Uh ... nobody? The Hebert girl has apparently been experimenting with taking greater and greater doses of deadly nightshade for the past few years. She makes the jam herself. When we raided the house, we found the apparatus she uses to make it in the basement, and the plants in the back yard."

Piggot: "Do you have any evidence at all that the Hebert girl tricked or forced Hess to ingest the sandwich?"

Renick: "... no. Unless ... well, apparently Hess has been bullying her for some time, and maybe she just wanted to get rid of her bully, and used reverse psychology ...?"

Piggot: "First, unless Hebert is a time traveller, by your own admission she started this experimentation long before she ever met Hess. Second, how long have you known about this bullying?"

Renick: "It ... uh, it came out while we were investigating her phone after her death."

Piggot: "Indeed. I'm going to need to talk to her Wards liaison after this. But for right now, what in God's name prompted you to shanghai the Hebert girl into the Wards in her place?"

Renick: "She, uh, she shows superhuman capability --"

Piggot: "She's spent years training her body to resist one specific poison. Tell me, how exactly is this going to assist her in her Wards career? Take your time. I'll wait."

Renick: "It, uh, it could be the result of a parahuman power--"

Piggot: "Did you check? Do I have the results of an MRI scan on my desk?"

Renick: "It all happened so fast --"

Piggot: "And her father's signature? Do you have that too?"

Renick: "He didn't want his daughter tried for murder--"

Piggot: "Which we both know it wasn't."

Renick: "But we'd just lost a Ward!"

Piggot: "And you replaced her with one who not only doesn't want to be here, but has an unknown supply of deadly poison that she might just share with the rest of the Wards! Do you understand the situation yet? Am I making myself clear?"

Renick: "But she has an ability ..."

Piggot: "Which she's going to use how? Do we have any villains who happen to use belladonna in their crimes? A deadly nightshade spray, for instance? Or perhaps she can share her delicious belladonna jam sandwiches with Hookwolf in the middle of a fight?"

Renick: "So I should start expediting the paperwork releasing Belladonna from the Wards...?"

Piggot: "Immediately. Now get out of my sight."

<phone rings>

Piggot: "What!?"

PRT Officer at other end of phone: "Uh, Director? We have a new villain in town, calling themselves Nightshade. They've taken the Brockton Bay Central Bank hostage, and they say their deadly nightshade spray will kill any hero who comes close."

Piggot: "Are you fucking with me right now?"

Renick: "You see? She has a useful ability--"

Piggot: "AEGIS CAN STILL DO IT BETTER, YOU FUCKING MORON!"

Renick: "... oh."