What's the Frequency, Madison? [Worm, Time Travel]

[Hypervane]

(I watched a high school production of Grease today.)

Click to shrink...

If you think it was difficult for you, think about those poor high-schoolers! I certainly didn't appreciate being forced to act in plays at that age.

 

[Swordchucks]

I certainly didn't appreciate being forced to act in plays at that age.

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Forced? They specifically put a musical theater class on their schedules and then auditioned for parts in they play. Then they spent weeks practicing. They are all complicit!

I was only there because my daughter was in it. Nerd.

 

[Lement]

Watching Amy pretend not to have fun was more enjoyable than I would have expected. She rolled the ball down the alley and nailed the lead pin at a weird angle, leaving three pins down the right side for her to try to get with her next go. She claimed the ball from the return and managed to get two of them.

Click to shrink...

Mm. So, the date was...tbh, not exactly star of waff. They do like each other, but I think Taylor got a more romantic idea than this largely-friendly banter actually was - then again, maybe Madison didn't want to mention "Victoria was there too" to avoid jealousy right after Taylor mentioned a crush, nay, an obsession with emotion-manipulator Alexandria-lite her age that's also the first non-cluster power she copied and got to enjoy the first time joy, nay, exhilaration of flying with just the two of them.

Anyway, it left me less "aww" than wondering how little they'd actually like each other without power shenanigans.

Before she could make it back to her seat beside me, Victoria grabbed her by the arm. "We're going to go check out the snack bar!" she declared and sort of tugged her sister in that direction. Amy didn't put up much of a fight but gave me a little wave as she went.

Meanwhile, Dean came over to sit near me. "So, Amy's having a good time," he noted casually.

Click to shrink...

Smooth and casual secret agent Dean, in his inconspicuous trenchcloak and eye-holed newspaper. All the suggestive unspoken details here were particularly well-handled.

There was a bit more smalltalk before I finally just went for it. "Taylor, uh, I need to ask you a question. I mean, it's not a big deal either way, but how do you feel about girls?"

"Girls?" she asked and met my eyes in the mirror. "In what way? I mean, Emma's kind of a bitch right now."

"I mean, like, for dating," I clarified.

"Oh… I haven't really thought much about it?" she tried, but from the blush on her face I could tell that she wasn't telling the whole truth.

Click to shrink...

This bit here left me wondering whether Taylor was wondering whether Madison was interested in her now, in this intimate and private setting. Come to think of it, Madison's bites at Emma have consistently been about her supposed lesbianism, haven't they been?

Though Emma's sources are 'weird', in that dating a member of New Wave is easy fodder for gold digger insult and leaving that out both hurts her credibility and money on the table. Panacea doesn't have her heroic rep either atm, so...

 

[Swordchucks]

how little they'd actually like each other without power shenanigans

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A fair observation. The power shenanigans definitely helped things along and smoothed out any initial clashes that would have happened.

in that dating a member of New Wave is easy fodder for gold digger insult

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The simple explanation is that she didn't know who she was out with, just that it was a girl. If she had all of the information, she might have actually hesitated because Amy's the daughter of her dad's coworker.

 

[Lement]

The simple explanation is that she didn't know who she was out with, just that it was a girl. If she had all of the information, she might have actually hesitated because Amy's the daughter of her dad's coworker.

Click to shrink...

*looks at her treatment of Taylor*
*looks at fanon Danny/Alan interactions*
*looks at Amy not even going to same school*

...riiight. I'm a bit doubtful of that 'might' phrasing, myself. A sane, sensible girl who thinks about and fears possible long-term negative consequences would have, but for Emma it'd need something immediate like "if she's shitting on heroes she's probably a gangster" - Taylor aside, if she's going after Madison she's not going to fear that an older girl in another school hears about her in particular disparaging her taking a +1, then complains about it to her parents, who then complain to Emma's father, whose wrath about errant comment the entire rest of Winslow heard and not told him is a thing to be feared when he never punishes Emma in canon and doesn't insist on therapy either.

Anyway, it now also occurs to me if someone saw them it'd be like "3 girls and 1 guy went out" so food for slut accusations - not many people know that Madison and Amy went out without knowing Victoria & Dean were there, y'know? Sus.

 

[macdjord]

"Well, Madison, dear… the way you asked to talk to us, we thought one of you was pregnant," my mother gently offered.

Taylor made a high pitched squeaking-laughing noise and I sputtered some more. "What? No! Why?"

Click to shrink...

"But we're both girls!"

"Scary is a good word. She pulled off disintegration then she melted a rock before making it extremely cold." Amy seemed thoughtful as she listed it off.

"It's not that bad. That was just two kinds of energy. I have access to… well, lots and lots more. Some of them might be less… destructive." I shifted uncomfortably.

Click to shrink...

Honestly, I'd have been too afraid to try any more blind tests after that, for fear of, say, accidentally turning off the Strong Nuclear Force and suddenly having my target start fissioning.

 

[Swordchucks]

Following the directions that Carol Dallon had given me for Thursday made me feel like a spy.

The weather was turning cold enough that my nondescript hoodie wasn't out of place, even with the hood pulled over my head and down in order to make it hard to see my face. The bus trip was kind of long because I made several transfers to confuse my trail, in case it was necessary, and then headed for the alleyway I had been directed to. There was a nondescript door with a keypad which I pushed the buttons for with my gloved fingers and it clicked open.

The inside was mostly empty except for a section that looked like a small locker room and an old-style telephone hanging on the wall. I ignored the former and picked up the latter.

"Accounts payable, Marvin speaking." The voice sounded almost bored.

"I never got paid for the carpet we delivered on Tuesday." It was dumb, but apparently the PRT loved their cloak and dagger games for things like this.

"The check is in the mail. Call back in six business days if you haven't received it."

The line clicked as the guy on the other end hung up. What he had said was nonsense, but the important part was the number. Six minutes until pickup.

There was a mirror along one wall of the room, and I stared into it while I adjusted the ski mask I had on under my hoodie. Hood, gloves, mask. There wasn't a lot I could add to that to make myself look more suspicious if I were walking into a bank… but it kept my identity pretty well hidden and it wasn't too out of place on the bus given the weather. I'd reverse the hoodie and remove the mask after I made my first transfer on the return trip. Whenever that was.

Six minutes was just long enough for me to wish that Taylor was with me, but for obvious reasons, we were making our first visit to the PRT building individually.

Five minutes later, I started looking out the little window set beside the other door to the room. It led out to a street on the opposite side of the building from the alleyway and it wasn't long before I spotted an unmarked white van pull up outside.

Trying my best to calm my nerves, I stepped out the door, pulling it shut behind me, and walked up to the side of the van. The door slid open revealing a fully kitted PRT trooper in the back. He gave me a quick glance and nodded, moving aside so I could get in. Once I was seated and the door closed, he gave two raps on the cage separating us from the front and I felt the van go into motion.

It felt a little tense, but I decided against trying to make small talk. Fortunately, the ride wasn't that long and I eventually felt us lurch to a stop before the door opened to reveal more troopers and a man in a red suit that I would recognize anywhere.

"I hope the ride wasn't too rough," Velocity said and offered me his hand. He had one of those costumes where only the top half of his face was covered, so I could see the strong jaw line and easy smile that went with it.

"No, it was fine," I managed and shook his hand in return. My tiny hand was almost engulfed by his, but that was nothing new for me. "Nice to meet you."

"And nice to meet you. I'm supposed to give you a quick tour and then get you up to the suits for the real interview. Your lawyer will be meeting you there," he said, that same smile still on his face. I couldn't tell if he approved of me bringing my lawyer along or not.

"That sounds good," I admitted. I'd taken the public tour one time in middle school along with pretty much every kid in the Bay, but we'd just seen one of the Wards and none of the Protectorate heroes on that visit. This was obviously going to be a better experience.

The tour was interesting, in a general sense. The PRT building was a confusing labyrinth of corridors and security checkpoints by design, it seemed. It was also one of the buildings with the most sublevels in the entire Bay area.

The sublevels were taken up with the extensive motor pool that the PRT commanded - supplemented by several response stations around town - and a few low security cells for criminals awaiting transport. Much of the rest was a mix of offices, training facilities, conference rooms, armories, and all of the other things that it took to keep the PRT running from day to day.

"Protectorate ENE is structured slightly differently from most divisions. Normally, the Wards are under the direct command of the Protectorate commander, who in turn answers to the Director of the local PRT, and the two chains of command don't really mingle in between. Because of the impracticality of getting Wards out to the Protectorate base on a regular basis, the Wards are stationed in the PRT headquarters and most of their day-to-day operations are under the purview of the local PRT. Technically, the chain of command for the Wards still goes through the Protectorate and the PRT is being afforded a professional courtesy, but it seems to work well enough."

I tried to make sense of that and thought I mostly had it. "So, even though the Wards aren't really under the PRT, they're sort of in charge, anyway?"

Velocity nodded. "That's it, in a nutshell. We all answer to the PRT director, one way or another, so it's mostly just formalities and a concession to convenience. There are ways to go above the local division Director, but you had better be sure you know what you're doing before you try that."

I fidgeted nervously at the idea. I wasn't really intending to rock the boat, but it sounded kind of daunting.

"That's not really why you're here, though. Let's see if any of the Wards are in. They're always interested in meeting new people." He stopped in front of a door with a complicated-looking panel beside it. He hit a few buttons and a little yellow light started flashing. "There's a thirty second warning for those inside so that they know they need to mask up if they aren't already."

"The Wards unmask to each other?" I asked as that idea settled in. I didn't know why that was surprising. I'd been led to believe that every aspect of identities were kept as closely guarded secrets, but that also seemed like it would be very awkward within a team.

"It isn't required, but it is allowed. I would urge you to get to know them a bit and then make your own decision." It sounded reasonable and if I did end up spending a lot of time in the building, it would almost certainly be more convenient. As long as I could trust them, anyway. A nasty little part of my mind reminded me that Sophia had been a Ward and she had been the last person I would want to trust with my secrets.

"I'll keep that in mind." I didn't know yet what I would do, but I couldn't remember any serious incidents with the local Wards being unmasked to the public in the other timeline, even with an obvious bad apple amongst them.

"There we go," he declared as the light shut off and the door slid into the wall to the side like something out of a sci-fi movie.

We walked inside and my first thought was that it looked like a slightly more comfortable version of half of the break rooms I had been in while working retail and odd jobs in my last life. There was a sofa, a television - no, two televisions - a gaming console that looked like it was well used, a small kitchen area, a series of computer terminals along one wall, a couple of large tables, and a lot of chairs. There were some other things I couldn't immediately recognize, as well, and a couple of doors leading deeper into the area.

The only two people inside were immediately recognizable. Triumph's lion theme made him stand out as did the short stature of Vista who seemed to be alternating between bouncing around and looking deadly serious.

"Wards, I'd like to introduce you to a prospective new member," Velocity said and gestured to the two in turn. "This is Triumph, the current leader of the Wards East-North-East, and Vista, who is one of our newer members. Team, this is Frequency."

"Name subject to change," I mumbled, which got me a grin from Vista.

"Yes, name subject to change, though I suspect they'll let you keep that one as long as the PR team doesn't find an obscure villain that has been using it for a while. In any case, I'm going to go check on things and give you guys a few minutes to say hello." Velocity bowed out and left the room.

"Are you really thinking of joining?" Vista asked with so much hope in her voice that I almost laughed. "The guys on the team are great and all, but…"

"But it gets awkward being the only girl, I'm sure," Triumph cut in neatly. "It is nice to meet you. I hear that you're coming straight to us instead of doing the normal routine of being a vigilante for a while, almost dying after a takedown went wrong, and then deciding that maybe the Wards are a good idea, after all."

That made me chuckle. I was never entirely clear on how Sophia had been a Ward, but I wanted to believe she'd almost died as part of it. It was more likely that she'd gotten caught committing some serious crimes and needed a way to stay out of jail.

"Yeah, I make good decisions occasionally. I… well, I almost died once this year, so I didn't want to repeat it." That earned some serious nods from the other two. One thing I'd picked up about cape culture in general was that no one liked talking about the trigger event that gave them powers. A vague reference was all you needed and most capes picked up on it and wouldn't ask followup questions.

"Anyway, what do you do? Music powers?" Triumph asked. "Or something with sound waves, maybe?"

"No, it's a little… I can see lines attached to things and if I adjust the way those lines move - change the frequency of the waves, for instance - stuff happens. Or it doesn't happen. I can use it defensively to stop stuff from changing. Oh, and I can manipulate air to let me fly, sort of. I'm not very good at that, yet."

Vista pouted and I was reminded that she was probably younger than me. I didn't remember exactly, but I recalled that she was a Ward for a long time in the other timeline. "No fair. I want to fly… the best I can manage is taking really big steps."

That caused Triumph to chuckle. "Vista is underselling herself, but I agree that flight is one of the powers that absolutely everyone wants and all of us that don't get it are jealous of. It sounds like your power is versatile, which is great. There are a lot of resources that the Protectorate and PRT can offer to help you get the most out of your powers, including connections with the Parahuman Studies division at Brockton Bay University. If it's something too complicated, they can even call in help from Boston. They might sell it as doing you a favor, but the universities fall all over themselves for a chance to study powers. The main thing the PRT contributes to the arrangement is to make sure that you can get them involved without accidentally giving away your identity."

I smiled and gave Triumph a nod. He was trying to find ways to sell the Wards to me, and I had to respect that. It was certainly more respectable than any of the times I'd had to try to upsell someone on a warranty package they would never use while working retail. "So, uh, how do you two like being in the Wards?" I asked, intentionally giving them an opening for something I genuinely wanted to hear them talk about.

"It has been a great opportunity for me," Triumph declared. He had to have had classes in public speaking at some point because he was good at it. "I'm already looking forward to transitioning to the Protectorate once I'm of age and the Wards program has helped me make that decision. There are challenges to being a professional hero, and not all of them are much fun. The Wards program lets you experience a lot of those challenges in a relatively safe environment so that you can learn the ropes and make decisions on your later career with better information."

"It's a bit boring," Vista grumbled, and I raised an eyebrow at her. I don't think she meant for me to hear that and when she realized she'd blurted it a bit louder than intended, I saw the exposed parts of her face redden. "I mean, he's right that it's safe, but sometimes it's a bit too safe. They don't let us take patrol routes in the parts of town where most of the crime happens, and they rarely let us engage even if we walk right into something."

I filed that away in my head. "That's… I can see why that would be frustrating," I offered. Not that I would personally mind much if I didn't get into many fights, but it seemed pretty common for capes to seek out conflicts. I had to look no farther than Sophia to find an example of that.

"That's not a bad thing, though," Triumph defended. "The statistics show that injury rates for Wards are only thirty percent of those for teenage parahumans as an overall group, and the rate of serious injuries is even lower. Protectorate members that spent at least a year in the Wards program are also eighty percent less likely to be seriously injured within their first year on the job. So, while there are protocols in place that mean we don't get into every fight that we could, there are good reasons for that."

It wasn't anything I hadn't heard before, really. PHO was littered with statistics that showed exactly how dangerous it was for independent parahumans, though there weren't really good numbers for gang members. I assumed it varied a lot by gang, but if it was bad, there was no way that they would want prospective recruits knowing about it.

There was a noise and several computer terminals in the room flashed yellow for a moment. "That'd be the visitor alarm. Someone's coming in, so if you're unmasked, you have time to get one on before we have visitors," Vista said. "There are also some private rooms in the back where you can take a nap or whatever. You can hear the alarm back there and there's an indicator on the inside of the doors until visitors leave in case you're taking a nap or something." She gestured vaguely toward one of the doors leading back deeper into the space.

The visitor was Velocity and after I said my goodbyes to Vista and Triumph, I followed him up to the office where Carol was waiting along with a man in a suit.

Spoiler: Notes

In my head, the PRT goes all-in for the cloak and dagger stuff. How effective it ends up being, who knows.

 

[Swordchucks]

Honestly, I'd have been too afraid to try any more blind tests after that, for fear of, say, accidentally turning off the Strong Nuclear Force and suddenly having my target start fissioning.

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Bold of you to assume that Madison payed that much attention in science class

 

[HearthBorn]

That or she figures out how to trigger a false vacuum decay.

 

[Shard_486]

Her shard will probably stop that kind of stuff.

 

[Faralis]

Her shard will probably stop that kind of stuff.

Click to shrink...

Or not, those are incredibly random, even in canon...

 

[Shard_486]

Or not, those are incredibly random, even in canon...

Click to shrink...

Which is why probably is important. As a Scion cape, she is at lower risk.

Somewhat.

*Eyes Ash Beast, Sleeper, Tinker 15*

For the most part.

 

[Lement]

Ya, she's Manton-limited but Stilling wasn't supposed to be given out in first place and did demonstrate ability to affect Entity's life and death in opening chapter.

There was a mirror along one wall of the room, and I stared into it while I adjusted the ski mask I had on under my hoodie. Hood, gloves, mask. There wasn't a lot I could add to that to make myself look more suspicious if I were walking into a bank… but it kept my identity pretty well hidden and it wasn't too out of place on the bus given the weather. I'd reverse the hoodie and remove the mask after I made my first transfer on the return trip. Whenever that was.

Click to shrink...

Ah, instead of going incognito she's testing how good their spy game protocol actually is in practice.

Bold of you to assume that Madison payed that much attention in science class

Click to shrink...

Plus, having a class as generic as "science" is overwhelmingly simplified stuff anyway. Shame; even knowing there are quantum fields would be great with this power.

 

[Mastersgt]

With the cloak and dagger setup, I feel like you missed a golden opportunity for some shenanigans...

Have Madison and Taylor be warned before hand how the PRT handles this stuff... Then decide they want to Ham it up. So they both dress up in suits, Fedora's, code names, etc... Meet up before the interview...
Madison: Moose...
Taylor: Squirrel.
Madison:*sigh*, lets get this over with...


I wonder how far the MC's string manipulation goes...
Can she manipulate time still? Reverting people's minds to a time before they were mastered, waking Coma patients, reversing/undoing damage... Maybe even, with enough experience, and kept secret so she does not get swamped, being able to restore dead bodies to the living... Annette FTW(Hero too)... Though that would be difficult to explain.
Altering somethings state or controling it enough to be able to basically make someone/something immune to damage? If her powers work on herself... or if it would work with it applied to the space/air around someone without them suffocating.

 

[macdjord]

That or she figures out how to trigger a false vacuum decay.

Click to shrink...

That seems like the sort of thing the Entities would actually care about, and thus would configure Shards to prevent, similar to, say, unrestricted AI or FTL travel. Host accidentally nukes herself? That's fine. But a host accidentallying the whole experimental universe is A Problem.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

Or not, those are incredibly random, even in canon...

Click to shrink...

Which is why probably is important. As a Scion cape, she is at lower risk.

Somewhat.

*Eyes Ash Beast, Sleeper, Tinker 15*

For the most part.

Click to shrink...

Scion prevents the Shards from autokilling their hosts. Its only after his death that the safeguards start failing with triggers going forward...doesn't mean she couldn't cause a nuclear explosion that her Shard will make her immune to though

 

[Shard_486]

Scion prevents the Shards from autokilling their hosts.

Click to shrink...

He actually does not prevent broken triggers, they were a thing before. All the examples I mentioned, that effectively killed their host (but the shard kept going), were a thing before Scion died. It's just reality hasn't been turned into swiss cheese before Gold Morning, and they happen far less frequently.


Also potentially it's because Contessa can't deal with them in the background as well anymore after Gold Morning, on account of Doormaker's death and being stuck in Teacher's torture basement.

 

[Swordchucks]

Somewhat surprisingly, the actual meeting with the Deputy Director was the least interesting part of my visit to the PRTHQ. Deputy Director Renick was… fine? I had the vague feeling that he was the kind of guy that would wear his suit on vacation. Like, he would be on the beach in a full suit and tie with his slacks rolled up to his knees so he could stand in the water just a little.

Because we were working through a lawyer, the process was streamlined compared to what it would have normally been. The details of payment and support and all of that were mostly agreed upon before I ever came in, and there would be no need for my parents to directly visit the building. Despite some concerns I had about the Wards unmasking to each other, the rest of the PRT took as many steps as possible to isolate identities and leave as few breadcrumbs for outsiders to follow as possible.

In large part, that was why Taylor and I had come in separately. Having two people decide to join the Wards in a similar timeframe wasn't unheard of, but having two people that clearly knew each other beforehand do so would dramatically narrow down the number of events that could have caused us to get powers. We weren't hiding it, per se, but we were making the trail harder for others to follow.

For the first year after joining, I would be considered a junior member of the Wards. It was standard practice, and in a city with as many gangs as ours I could understand why. Junior members had limited access to classified information, couldn't lead teams, and were generally kept away from sensitive operations. Even Protectorate members had a probationary period like that, but one of the interesting quirks was that if you served out your 'junior' year as a Ward, you went straight to full Protectorate membership if you joined the big leagues. You didn't have to do the 'junior' term twice.

Wards got paid two ways, too. First, there was the trust fund, which got a base yearly allotment of fifty grand plus a nineteen percent locality adjustment. I wouldn't be able to access the funds until I turned eighteen, and then I'd only have access to a quarter of the funds each year until I turned twenty-one - at which point I'd have all of it. Most of the sources of additional income Carol had been negotiating for us would be added to the trust funds and available later.

The second form of payment was a stipend that was indexed to the most that a person my age could legally earn from a minimum wage job. As I was under sixteen, eighteen hours a week at the state minimum wasn't a ton of money, but it wasn't bad, either. It was also not a real hourly wage - it was just a salary calibrated to look like one if someone tried to look into my finances. After my junior year was over, I'd get a 'raise' which would double the stipend.

There were provisions for the stipend to be 'docked' as a disciplinary measure, but that only saw those funds instead directed toward the trust fund. While the Protectorate was a paramilitary organization, the Wards had more limitations on that front and we thus had a few more rights.

There were also allowances for things like Tinker budgets, should we have a Tinker aspect to our powers. That was more a concern for Taylor than it was for myself, though.

The single biggest item up for discussion was the prospect of transfers to Arcadia. The school was notorious in the Bay for being the school the Wards went to, and apparently that was because most of the Wards did go there. It was a 'magnet school' that pulled kids from all across the greater Brockton Bay area for a wide variety of reasons - which made it easy to disguise exactly which students were Wards - and it offered a flexible schedule that worked really well for the Wards. It was also just a few blocks from the PRTHQ which greatly simplified many of the logistics.

Almost every aspect of going to Arcadia made it easier to conceal who the Wards were, up to and including the fact that they only enrolled about eight-five percent of their students at the start of the year and added the rest in small waves at the start of each semester. No doubt there would be a bunch of short and tall brunettes finding themselves winners of the Arcadia Lottery for the next couple of semesters if Taylor and I accepted the invitation to go.

The only weird thing about that was that I knew Sophia had been a Ward and still went to Winslow in the other timeline. Had she specifically fought to stay there? That seemed a bit insane, but if you were a violent thug looking for acceptable targets Winslow did make a degree of sense.

In the end, I answered a few questions, offered a few opinions, and largely just watched Carol do her job. Eventually, she shook hands with Mr. Renick and we parted ways so that I could do the whole cloak and dagger routine in reverse to return home. All of the paperwork would go to my parents through Carol afterwards.

It was an exhausting but productive day.

oOoOoOoOo

Time passed, as it is prone to do. I didn't get suddenly attacked in the streets or anything - even with crime as bad as it was in the Bay, most people went their entire lives without being mugged or assaulted as long as they paid attention - and the process of joining the Wards slowly worked its way out. Taylor - current codename Match - had a meeting similar to mine on Saturday where she got to meet Miss Militia, Aegis, Gallant, and Vista.

There was an essay contest announced in our English class which we were quietly instructed to submit to by the PRT. It was apparently open to all high school students across the entire Bay and the rumor was that some of the winners would be getting admission to Arcadia. I strongly suspected that quite a few of the winners would be girls that looked a lot like the two of us from multiple grade levels.

Meanwhile, I didn't actually see Amy, but I did text her. A lot. She was pretty chatty over text and a little less cynical. She also seemed to be opening up to me, which was nice and I found myself looking at my phone and smiling entirely too often.

On the Saturday at the end of the second week of December, we were actually sworn in to the Wards program. There was an oath and a small ceremony with several Protectorate capes in attendance, including Armsmaster, though we only talked to them very briefly. Armsmaster, in particular, was very polite and generally nice to us, though he didn't have a lot of time to chat. He seemed like the kind of man that valued his time very highly, which was what I would have expected from a Tinker and the head of the local Protectorate.

After the swearing in, we were each assigned a PRT liaison to coordinate our activities over the next few months.

Mine was a blond woman with a short haircut in her mid thirties that introduced herself as Agent Lawson. She walked with a cane, which left me with questions I didn't feel like I could just outright ask.

"We're going to be very busy for the rest of the year," she declared as she handed me a folder. "This is the handbook and the paper forms you need to review and sign off on before we can get you properly into the access system. You'll have to go through that before we can do anything else. You would think they would include this in the sign-on package, but for some reason they never do."

I got a feel for the weight of the folder and groaned. Agent Lawson grinned. "Let's go find a cubicle somewhere and get started. That isn't going to read itself and frankly, there's a lot of stuff we need to go over before the end of today."

There was a lot to go over. Once I had the IT handbook reviewed and the paperwork submitted, she walked me through the major items on my schedule for the next few weeks. I was going to be meeting with the Branding group several times, first for a general introduction, then for costume fittings, and then for human relations and media training. That would all culminate in a press conference at some point to introduce me as a new Ward.

The other side of things was a series of classes on the law, patrol procedures, operational procedures, basic criminal investigation, firearms safety, vehicle safety, defensive tactics, emergency medical training, and a wealth of other legal and procedural topics.

"The basics go by faster than you'd think, but you're encouraged to schedule more advanced training on these and more specialized legal subjects over your time with the Wards. It's paid time and it'll help you keep from screwing up on the streets." Agent Lawson tossed me a printed out packet with a summary of the available courses and who to contact about scheduling them. "You're required to get twelve hours of general training a year, minimum, plus more if you're issued a weapon or vehicle. Doing more always looks good on performance reviews, though. If you're aiming for the Protectorate, you probably want as many of them as you can get."

I looked down the list and spotted titles like 'Drug Law Enforcement' and 'Handling Arrested Persons'. I had never really considered that Protectorate members having arrest powers made them, basically, cops, and cops needed certain skills to do their jobs without getting into trouble.

"You're also likely to spend some time running the console they have set up in the Wards area. It's something we set up to help you Wards get used to seeing things from the big picture. It's easy to get caught up in things when you're out on patrol and understanding how dispatch works is supposed to help you appreciate the importance of following procedures and communicating with the console. In practice, it ends up being pretty boring most of the time, so it gets used as a punishment detail sometimes, too. All the calls going through it are also going through the main switchboard, so you aren't likely to actually screw anything up while doing that."

I frowned at the idea. I wasn't used to being punished for much of anything, even when I deserved it. Well, I'd punished myself pretty extensively, but I hadn't had it imposed on me from the outside. It was… kind of weird, actually. I'd always been a good kid, up through middle school, and then when I had gone bad in high school, I had largely been insulated from the consequences.

"I'll try not to get punishment details, then," I noted and went back to looking over courses.

"Sometimes, there's no good choice and you will do something wrong through no real fault of your own. Mandatory console duty is a slap on the wrist that you can get from that kind of thing, so don't feel too bad if you land it. Just try to do better. If you really screw up… well, don't."

I nodded. I very vaguely recalled some Wards getting involved in high profile screw ups in my other life. It hadn't been pleasant for anyone involved, but those were all big, willful things. I wasn't going to try to get in trouble or anything.

Around then, someone showed up with a packet which included a temporary identification card, my new user credentials, and a phone.

"You'll have to set passwords for everything after the first time you use them. The phone you need to keep on you at all times and read the manual because it's a little complicated. They go out of their way to make the phones appear normal on the surface, but if you use the embedded features, you can contact the console here on a priority line and a bunch of other stuff. There's also a panic feature which you really do not want to set off by accident, but you do want to test out with the approval of the console." Agent Lawson got up at that point, leaning awkwardly on her cane. "However, now I think it's time I stopped bothering you and you got to go meet the other Wards."

"I've met a few of them," I noted, though it really was different to meet them as a Ward and not just as a prospective member.

"They'll all be on base later this afternoon. Saturdays tend to be when the Wards do any group activities like training or welcome parties." We made our way through the hallways towards the Wards area. "My number should be in your phone somewhere, so feel free to contact me if you need anything arranged. I can coordinate your schedule which will probably make your life easier than calling the console before every time you need to be picked up and all of that. Just send me a text - but if it's an emergency, call the console. That's what they're there for."

Eventually, we made it to the door I had been through before. Agent Lawson put a code into the door and paused. "The alert goes off any time someone comes in, which I'm sure gets annoying, but it's better than the alternative."

When the yellow light stopped flashing and the door opened, I wasn't surprised to find the room was much, much more full than it had been the last time.

 

[Ashley9469]

Oh, I can't wait to see Emma and Sophia's reactions to Taylor being a Ward.

 

[RandomPassersby]

Can't wait for them to meet the others and eventually get their costumes.

Though I do wonder what happens if Sophia gets probation and becomes a Ward in this timeline as well. I'm actually hoping she doesn't and just goes straight to juvie.

 

[macdjord]

Scion prevents the Shards from autokilling their hosts. Its only after his death that the safeguards start failing with triggers going forward...doesn't mean she couldn't cause a nuclear explosion that her Shard will make her immune to though

Click to shrink...

The safeguards mean you won't get a power that's automatically self-destructive - Spitfire doesn't burn her own face off, Velocity doesn't injure himself from air resistance running 200 km/h. It doesn't mean Capes are automatically immune to damaging themselves with their own power in general.

 

[Ashley9469]

No, Scion was the Head honcho. The safeguards are internal.

Its pretty well obvious that Ward on is the shards duking it out.

 

[Faralis]

Oh, I can't wait to see Emma and Sophia's reactions to Taylor being a Ward.

Click to shrink...

AFAIK this soon in the TL Sophia wasn't a ward yet.

 

[Swordchucks]

The room felt full, but that was really just in comparison to before. The Wards team in the Bay was fairly small before we joined - just Triumph, Aegis, Gallant, Clockblocker, and Vista - and I couldn't for the life of me remember when the other people I vaguely recalled had joined or left the team.

Despite the whole thing having some military trappings, non-probationary Wards could separate at any time. There were some hoops to jump through and some restrictions that would linger for years, but no one was forcing a Ward to remain a Ward. Between that, the ability to transfer between cities, and the everpresent march toward 'graduation' from the program, it resulted in a sort of revolving door for the team.

"Welcome!" Triumph half-yelled as I came through the door.

"Call me if you need me," Agent Lawson declared from behind me and didn't bother stepping inside before the door automatically closed.

"Frequency, come in and meet Aegis, Gallant, and Clockblocker." Triumph gestured to each of the others in turn. Everyone was wearing what amounted to civilian clothing with a cloth mask of some sort on top. The masks were helpfully color coded to their normal costumes and styles. " We have chips and sodas to celebrate getting new members.

"Hey, fresh meat!" Clockblocker declared, only to get a Vista shoulder in his side. "They didn't even scare you off with the boring paperwork yet!"

"Behave," she almost growled and I gave her a smile. It seemed like a pretty normal group of teenagers, so far. I could deal with normal teenagers.

"Any idea where Match is?" Aegis asked, looking toward the door like mentioning her name would make her suddenly appear.

"They split us up after the swearing in. She is probably still waiting on her credentials to come through," I offered. "It took a while."

That got a groan from Clockblocker. "Those things take forever, and do not, I repeat, do not forget your password. Or lose your phone." He leaned forward, making a face the effect of which was almost but not quite ruined by the half-mask he was wearing. "The forms… the horrible forms…"

Vista opened her mouth like she was going to interject again. Then she closed it and continued in a more even tone of voice. "Yeah, he's right. I think they make it as painful as possible so that you'll be more careful next time."

"Anyway, it's good to have you on the team," Gallant said and extended his hand. I gave it a firm shake, which he returned. There was something vaguely familiar about him.

I chatted with the team for a bit. Vista was still very excited to have more female Wards, Clockblocker was prone to turning everything into a joke, Aegis was the silent type, Gallant seemed to be genuinely nice, and Triumph tried to keep everyone in line. I kind of wondered where I would fit into the whole dynamic.

After what seemed like forever, but was really just half an hour, the visitor alarm went off and Taylor - Match - joined us. She seemed pretty frazzled but in good spirits.

"Alright, since everyone is here," Triumph declared as he got up in front of the crowd which had mostly taken seats around the room. "I just wanted to officially welcome our two new members to the team. Last year, when I joined the team, there were only two other members - Flytrap who has since moved on to the New York Protectorate and Cornerstone, who moved out to the west coast with his family. Since then, we grew to five, and now we're up to seven. We're finally big enough that we can have proper group training exercises and I can build a regular patrol schedule for the team. I believe that there are a lot of challenges that we will face as we all grow into our roles as heroes, but I also believe that we are up to those challenges. As a team."

He wasn't the most polished of speakers, but he did project a level of confidence and assurance that I found nice. As he wound down, Clockblocker started clapping enthusiastically, but soon we were all joining in - mostly unironically. Triumph blushed at the attention and gave a little bow.

"Ahem!" He raised his hands, palms facing toward us and made a 'keep it down' motion. "As I was getting to, because we work together closely, we have so far been revealing our identities to each other. This is strictly voluntary and you shouldn't expect the same from Protectorate heroes, but I think it builds trust within the team. We've all been through the background checks and sworn the oaths, plus most of us share a school."

He reached up and pulled off his cloth mask in a smooth motion. I didn't recognize him, but that wasn't really unexpected. He was handsome enough. "I'm Rory."

The rest quickly followed suit. Aegis was a powerfully built Latino named Carlos with longer hair than I would have expected. Clockblocker was named Dennis and was a bit younger and scrawnier with red hair that somehow managed to be entirely different from Emma's red hair. Vista was named Missy and was even younger than I expected, even if we had a similar height and build.

The only one that was a real surprise was Gallant who turned out to be none other than Dean Stansfield - Victoria Dallon's boyfriend. Knowing that made up my decision for me. I had been on the fence about revealing my identity up until this point, but my life would get entirely too complicated if I added these secrets into it. It was a risk, but it seemed like a small one.

"Well, that's a surprise," I said and reached up to take off my own mask. "I'm Madison."

I didn't think Dean's surprise was at all fake. "Well, that's… huh," was his intelligent reply.

"You two know each other?" Dennis asked, looking between the two of us with keen interest.

"A little," I said. "We met because I'm friends with his girlfriend's sister."

"It's a small world sometimes," Gallant - Dean - agreed as he quickly recovered from his surprise. "Does Victoria know?" When I nodded, he laughed. "I think we had a conversation where I told you she was good at keeping secrets, didn't we? Well, this would be proof of that, then. She never even hinted-"

"Uh, Taylor," Taylor interrupted and I turned to see that she'd pulled her mask off. As everyone turned to look at her, she blushed and I gave her a reassuring pat on the knee. "I mean, I'm Taylor."

"Sorry, we were breaking the flow there," I apologized. We'd kind of stepped on her turn to do the reveal thing and she'd just blurted it out impulsively.

"You two know each other, too?" Dennis asked. "I know you joined on the same day and all, but coincidences do happen."

"We both go to Winslow," I said, falling back on a version of the truth. "We both contacted Carol Dallon to represent us in negotiating our contracts."

"Negotiating your… contracts?" Dennis asked, seemingly confused by the very concept.

"The contracts that spell out the terms under which you join the Wards?" Triumph asked, looking at his younger teammate in mild confusion, as well.

"You can negotiate those?" The shock on Dennis's face would have been funny if it wasn't also a little tragic.

"Not a lot, but there are some things they're flexible on." I tried my best to smooth it out. It was likely too late for him to do anything about it now and making it seem like a big deal would be cruel. "We were mostly just making sure that our parents' wishes are known on a few things."

"I didn't know there was anything to negotiate," Carlos said with a shrug. He didn't seem at all concerned about it.

"Me, either," Vista supplied, also indifferent.

"Ah, why does no one ever tell you these things beforehand?" Dennis moaned and those of us who had thought to ask instead of jumping straight in wisely kept our mouths shut.

"Anyway, powers!" Triumph interrupted with a clap of his hands. "I imagine that you know what we do, more or less, from the PRT's public record, but in case you don't… I manipulate sound and have a minor Brute rating."

"I'm a flying Brute," Aegis tossed in. "The mechanics aren't straightforward, but that's the end result."

"I can mess with the space between stuff," Vista added, though what I'd read about her powers made them sound much more impressive than that.

"Time freezing touch," Clockblocker declared, cheering up a bit. He held his hand out. "Want to try it?"

"Not right now, Clock," Triumph rebuked. "That kind of stuff needs to be reserved for training sessions down in the gym."

"Aw, you're no fun," Clockblocker grumbled, but he didn't seem at all upset.

"I'm actually a blaster," Gallant cut in over top of his complaining. "I wear a Tinkertech suit because I don't have any defensive powers, and it seemed like a good idea to present me as a Tinker in the official releases because of it. It can pay to be underestimated."

I nodded at that. Gallant - and Dean - seemed so honest that I never would have pegged his power for something other than what it appeared to be. Still, the difference between a Tinker and a Blaster was mostly academic as long as he had his armor on.

"I copy powers," Taylor announced. "I always ask first, though. Unless you're a bad guy, I guess. After the first time I copy it, I can turn on any given power once a day, but I can only have one active at a time. I'm probably going to pick just one or two as my 'real' power and be like Gallant so that people don't expect it."

Triumph looked suitably impressed and nodded. "That's a very strong power, if you- no, let's not get into the specifics today. We're going to have to do a bunch of training together in the next few weeks, anyway, so we'll find out then."

That just left me.

"I control a lot of stuff in a certain range around me. It's… painfully complicated, but I can do a whole lot to anything inside my range. I've worked out how to use it defensively, but I'm still figuring out how to use it offensively without killing someone." I felt a little lame with just that much of an answer, but Triumph had already indicated that now wasn't exactly the best time for in-depth power discussions and mine was pretty complicated.

Triumph gave me a big smile. "No need to worry about that. Half the point of being on the Wards is that you can figure out your powers in a safe environment. We have free access to a small gym you can get through from this area, and we can reserve time in the larger facility the troopers use if we need it. The same goes for the various firing ranges if you have a power that needs you to work on accuracy or the like."

I sagged a little in relief at the offer. A firing range was almost certainly a good idea for me. My experiments with tossing rocks in the woods had shown me that my range past my bubble of control needed practice. It wasn't really the kind of thing I could work on in a populated area, either. A firing range was probably best.

"I'm looking forward to it," I declared, feeling more confident in this whole hero thing than I had in a long time.

oOoOoOoOo

The winners of the 'essay contest' were announced at the start of the third week of December, just seven school days before Christmas break started. Taylor and I, along with a half dozen other lucky people, were getting transfers to Arcadia after the break. It felt a little crappy to be getting one that I didn't really earn, but I understand all of the very good reasons for the PRT to structure things that way. If some other students lucked into transfers because of us, that seemed like a net positive in the end.

By Wednesday, I was starting to look forward to leaving Winslow behind me. My high school career had started with so much hope - and a tinge of desperation - but now I was just happy to be going to a better place. The other Wards went there - except Vista who was too young - and so did Amy. I was also bringing Taylor with me as I left, which was a good thing.

I had other friends at Winslow, but I wasn't really close with any of them. It would kind of suck to start over again, but I was really starting to find that high school politics didn't appeal to me. Without the pressure of bullying, I wasn't even sure I wanted to play politics anymore. It was awkward with my wonky perception of my age, to say the least. Even though I felt like I was my physical age in most ways, I definitely had perspective that I had lacked my first time through and so many of the things high schoolers cared about just weren't important in the grand scheme of things.

Of course, things couldn't go smoothly. News of the contest winners wasn't on everyone's lips or anything - Winslow students largely didn't care about 'nerd shit' - but the results were posted on the bulletin board outside the English classrooms and at least a few people read them, given the handful of congratulations I had received.

It was a given that Emma would find out at some point and I didn't expect that her twisted mind would let Taylor 'win' so easily. The problem was that I didn't know exactly how she would react in this timeline. Before, she would have had her social dominance to rely on, but I had done my best to make that impossible for her. Instead, she would have to attack from a different direction, and I wasn't entirely sure which directions were still open to her.

The first indication I received that something was up was when I got a text from Agent Lawson right after lunch on Thursday. It was a simple request for me to call her immediately, and I made an excuse about needing to go to the restroom to get out of class so that I could do so.

I checked all of the stalls to make sure no one was hiding inside before pulling out my PTR-issued phone and giving her a call.

"I just got word that a friend of yours got swept up in a routine locker search a few minutes ago," she stated and I knew immediately who it was and had a strong suspicion of what had happened. "Are you aware of any issues your friend might be having?"

"No, and we both know that she's not on anything," I stated flatly. We'd both had to take drug tests as part of signing up for the Wards. Failing the test wouldn't have disqualified us, but it would have meant a ton more mandatory classes and programs. "I'm pretty sure it's related to a parahuman operating around the school. Goes by Shadow Stalker and she can supposedly phase through solid objects, like lockers."

"I see." There was typing on the other end of the line. "Yeah, she's a piece of work. Eight cases of aggravated assault in the last six months, and those are just the ones that would talk to the cops. Small time bounties from the major gangs, though they're still at 'we'd prefer you to lead us to her alive' level on those. Any idea on the civilian ID?"

"If this is her work, then yeah. My friend has exactly two enemies, and I doubt one of them could throw a punch to save her life. I'll send you a name. Is T-my friend alright?" I asked, realizing I had gotten distracted with the revenge part when I should have been worried about what was going to happen to Taylor.

"She'll be fine. She's probably going to be suspended from Winslow, but we can fix that from the Arcadia end and pick up the jacket from the BBPD as part of an ongoing investigation into parahuman activities at the school. It won't be suspicious. She'll have to go for another drug test, but as long as it's clean, there should be no repercussions."

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. If Taylor was suspended for the rest of her time at Winslow, that would deny Emma her target. Emma would probably be a gloating bitch about it for the rest of the semester, but when Taylor still went to Arcadia after Christmas break, she'd probably freak out. I was kind of sorry I was going to miss that part.

That reminded me… I really needed to talk to some people before I left. Just leaving the high school jungle to her control sounded like a terrible idea. I couldn't do a ton from Arcadia, but I could do a little. If nothing else, I could ask a few people to look out for each other and ask them to call me if they needed me.

If I got that call… well, I'd figure it out.

Spoiler: Notes

Just when they thought they were safe...

 

[RandomPassersby]

I wonder if Charlotte also got a transfer.

Also Emma got her short-term victory, but in the long run Taylor and Mads still win. Hope you're happy being the queen of a big dump, Emma. I'll give her a week or two before everyone realizes that without Taylor to pick on she's just a bitch.

Good riddance Winslow.

 

[Lement]

"Ahem!" He raised his hands, palms facing toward us and made a 'keep it down' motion. "As I was getting to, because we work together closely, we have so far been revealing our identities to each other. This is strictly voluntary and you shouldn't expect the same from Protectorate heroes, but I think it builds trust within the team. We've all been through the background checks and sworn the oaths, plus most of us share a school."

He reached up and pulled off his cloth mask in a smooth motion. I didn't recognize him, but that wasn't really unexpected. He was handsome enough. "I'm Rory."

The rest quickly followed suit.

Click to shrink...

Peer pressure much?

Vista was named Missy and was even younger than I expected, even if we had a similar height and build.

Click to shrink...

Insecurities or goals? Madison generally goes for appearing cutesy i.e. younger, though typically people in that age range put even more substantial importance on height than adults, what's with growing older = taller, wiser, surpassed your previous challenges, etc.

I nodded at that. Gallant - and Dean - seemed so honest that I never would have pegged his power for something other than what it appeared to be. Still, the difference between a Tinker and a Blaster was mostly academic as long as he had his armor on.

Click to shrink...

Sounds surprisingly sinister when talking about empath. Look underneath the underneath, eh eh?

Even though I felt like I was my physical age in most ways, I definitely had perspective that I had lacked my first time through and so many of the things high schoolers cared about just weren't important in the grand scheme of things.

Click to shrink...

Not necessarily directly related to story, but reminds me of how teenage parents speak of how having to prioritize their child makes their classmates' concerns seem banal and less mature.

Applying that to Madison...eh. End of the world but she doesn't really think about it much? Taylor is bigger concern to her, Amy is even bigger and (I assume from tell) pretty typical teenage chatting....

But she's somewhat isolated by being only one who sees all those waves everywhere. Not a minute of her day is not affected by parahuman powers, and she has no hobbies in her free time outside of that....Unless one counts makeup & hanging out, I suppose.

I wonder if Charlotte also got a transfer.

Also Emma got her short-term victory, but in the long run Taylor and Mads still win. Hope you're happy being the queen of a big dump, Emma. I'll give her a week or two before everyone realizes that without Taylor to pick on she's just a bitch.

Good riddance Winslow.

Click to shrink...

I don't think that checks out. Madison was nominal member of her posse before who she only met in said school, and she turned on her pretty soon, making it 2 friends she has turned on that the school knows about, and she's still charming enough to have people listen to her. Plus as we can see she's not above framing someone for criminal punishment; consider what'd happen when the local heroine Shadow Stalker gives police tip about heroin dealer in her school? It's not even suspicious if she's always the one reporting in that case....

On that note, Shadow Stalker is most likely going to be a thing, here, what's with this being another minor crime scene to circle the vans on getting her in. So it's not like she's going to disappear from story.

Anyway, getting away from her is indeed good riddance, but it's leaving charismatic serial betrayer (or self-imagined predator) alone with victims to prove her strength over. Yes, we know nobody outside named characters really exists in Winslow, but that's not how Madison perceives things. And as for Emma, having them leave school is win for her since she considers them opposition, and she is going to go on 'winning' unless there's something checking her.

 

[The Froggy Ninja]

I checked all of the stalls to make sure no one was hiding inside before pulling out my PTR-issued phone and giving her a call.

Click to shrink...

PRT-issued

 

[RandomPassersby]

I don't think that checks out. Madison was nominal member of her posse before who she only met in said school, and she turned on her pretty soon, making it 2 friends she has turned on that the school knows about, and she's still charming enough to have people listen to her. Plus as we can see she's not above framing someone for criminal punishment; consider what'd happen when the local heroine Shadow Stalker gives police tip about heroin dealer in her school? It's not even suspicious if she's always the one reporting in that case....

On that note, Shadow Stalker is most likely going to be a thing, here, what's with this being another minor crime scene to circle the vans on getting her in. So it's not like she's going to disappear from story.

Anyway, getting away from her is indeed good riddance, but it's leaving charismatic serial betrayer (or self-imagined predator) alone with victims to prove her strength over. Yes, we know nobody outside named characters really exists in Winslow, but that's not how Madison perceives things. And as for Emma, having them leave school is win for her since she considers them opposition, and she is going to go on 'winning' unless there's something checking her.

Click to shrink...

It was stated early on that Emma had built up her own little posse before offering Madison to join them. Madison mitigated things which prevented her from sinking her claws on everyone by (unironically) being nice. Also it WOULD actually be suspicious if Sophia as SS keeps reporting to the police, especially if it turns out that the tip is false. That is a one time incident that evidentially (as the chapter shows) backfires right away since actual competent people are on the case. So Taylor might have gotten suspended, but it just ends up in their favor since she gets out of school and away from Emma's petty antics, but Taylor still goes to Arcadia after Christmas Break. And if Emma and Sophia still messes with her then, the others (being Mads and possibly the other Wards) will still be there for her. They don't have a lot of pull in Arcadia (and I'm pretty sure that school has security cameras at least) and they don't even go there. So again, it's still a win.

I agree, SS might still be a thing. She could still get probation and be forcibly inducted as a probationary-Ward. But by that point, she would be the black sheep of the Wards and people will trust her even less if Mads and Taylor tell the others what she's like in Winslow. And as agent Lawson told Mads, SS already has a bad reputation. No (reported) fatalities yet but assault is not something people just write off. Who would you believe? The two Wards who have thus far shown nothing but cooperation or the vigilante who is known for being excessively aggressive?

I also agree that leaving Emma alone in Winslow might be a bad thing (Mads herself acknowledges that at the end of the chap). She's more likely to pick another victim after Taylor leaves, but Emma will definitely not consider it a "win" when she finds out Taylor has gone on to Arcadia. Her entire self-worth in hinged on the fact that Taylor should be lower than her because she thinks she's "weak". So when Taylor ends up in a better school, Emma will surely freak out like Mads stated.

 

[Swordchucks]

Also it WOULD actually be suspicious if Sophia as SS keeps reporting to the police,

Click to shrink...

Anonymous tips are a thing for when she specifically wants to frame someone, but if she has more time, she could just break into the office and take a look at the schedule for 'random' searches and plant stuff based on that. I'm sure the security on the Winslow office is top notch.

 

[FirstSelector]

Having them all go to school together sounds like a lot of fun! I can't wait to see more of Taylor and Amy interacting.