The Weaver's Web Book 2: Chapter 15

We were transported to the PRT medical bay by an ambulance, escorted by Armsmaster. I was, according to the statement, a close friend who would help Krewe.

Nothing at all to do with The Investigator. Still, sooner or later, I would have to considerr the possibility of that identity becoming widely known. The downside of my focus on “normal” crimes. Many normal criminals likely wouldn’t be reluctant to out me, since they weren’t immersed in cape culture, and I wasn’t drinking buddies with Kaiser, Lung, or Alexandria, so they would assume there were no powerful capes that might drop by for a chat.

I could use that, though. As a way to further distance myself from Orb Weaver, though it would require…

“Gmm!”

Time to think about that later. Aisha was coming to. I glanced at Amy.

“I’ve got her lungs fixed,” she said. “And I need her conscious to pull the tube out.”

I almost spoke. It seemed wiser to wait until we were at the PRT building, but maybe Amy had a good reason to do so.

She reached over and looked at Aisha. “This is gonna hurt a little.” Then with one move, she pulled the tube out from Aisha’s mouth.

Aisha rolled over on her side, and gagged. “FUCK! That hurt. Couldn’t you be a little more gentle?”

“No.” Evidently, Amy wasn’t big on bedside manner. “I did it because they said there are two kids that also need work, so I don’t want to waste time with you.”

“Oh, shit. Yeah, make certain those kids—“

“I will,” Amy said, in the same tone some people used to talk about the weather.

I didn’t say anything. Amy wasn’t the most cheerful individual at the best of times, always seeming to be a little overshadowed by her exuberant sister.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “They wanted me because I’m probably the closest acquaintance you have in school.”

“Yeah right, probably wanna find out if I’ve been keeping up on my homework.” Aisha glanced at Amy for a second.

Waiting to see if I was going to tell her Amy was in on the secret.

I said nothing.

“Well, I’m alive,” Aisha said. “Thanks.” She glanced at Amy. “What happened?”

“The gas you inhaled essentially started to dissolve your lungs,” Amy said. “That’s why we needed to keep the oxygenation line in—I cured part of your lungs, but it took time for the rest.”

“Shit… what about the kids?”

“They weren’t breathing as much.” Amy said. “Armsmaster stabilized them. You were the one who nearly died.”

“I’m gonna get yelled at.”

Amy said nothing.

“Probably,” I told her. “So before we get there, tell me everything.”

As she started, I came to a conclusion. She would get yelled at. She deserved to get yelled at. Not for the action. But if you were going to do something, you had to think ahead. We would work on that.

****

The PRT building was busy. Troopers were heading out, many of them equipped with foam tanks. Confoam was non-flammable, and could be used to immunize buildings from catching fire. We were escorted into the building, Aisha sitting in a wheelchair, looking grumpy as a trooper pushed her. Once we were inside—

“Aisha!” I glanced up. Brian. Brian actually leaking smoke from his ears.

“Hey Bro!” Aisha called. “You missed some fun—“

“F-fun!?” His voice, normally deep, cracked on that.

I felt some sympathy for Brian. If this kept up, he’d probably get a complex about letting Aisha out of his sight.

“You almost fucking died!” He took a deep breath. “You weren’t even supposed to be anywhere near—“

“Tenebrae.” We all looked up and there was Emily Piggot, Miss Militia by her.

Well, I’d known she was coming, but I looked up anyway. Miss Militia made sense—of all the Protectorate, her powers were likely least suited to the current situation.

“This isn’t the place for this discussion,” Piggot said.

He took another deep breath. “Right. Fu-right.”

“I didn’t expect to have something like this happen, in addition to a large portion of my city exploding, so this will be handled quickly. Armsmaster has dictated his part of the report, and he returned to duty.”

“What about me, Ma’am?” Brian said, still seething.

“The only Wards who are currently allowed in the region are Vista due to her willingness to remain out of the danger area, and the need to prevent any toxic gasses from escaping, and Aegis, due to his ability to handle said gasses. You are neither.”

“R-right.”

He doesn’t like it. He’s used to making his own decisions. That much didn’t require much of a detective’s insight.

“Now, come with me.”

But why does she want me in there? It was clear they wanted to speak to me, likely in my Investigator persona. Did they think I knew more about this?

Well, either way, I would take the opportunity to make more connections. After all, that is something the Investigator would do.

****

Inside her office, there was the whisper from several monitors. I could keep track of them, and evidently so could Director Piggot. Whispers of FEMA getting involved, the governor declaring the Bay a disaster area, appeals for blood donations… The city had been harmed worse than I had believed—if not for Vista…

Other screens, news channels, were playing that on loops—a cone of twisted space, channeling the force of the explosion and the toxic gases into the sky, a shot of a single street suddenly stretching out, somehow containing the explosion. I caught a glimpse of Piggot’s sour face at one news channel and focused on it. Why was she—

“It’s plain that we’ve discounted the power of the cutest ward,” one well dressed man said. “That’s literally the kind of power you’d expect out of Eidolon…”

Ah. I guess I wasn’t the only one trying to conceal my power.

“Normally, Wards only have one near death experience a month,” she said in a dry tone. “You however seem to be working to excel.”

“Hey, the kids needed help,” Aisha said. She made a dismissive gesture. “And you know, I got out.”

“By luck,” Piggot said. “The report of Panacea is clear. You came close to death. Very close.”

I could see Brian’s knuckles whitening as he clenched his fists.

“Yeah, what was I supposed to do?” Aisha said, looking annoyed. “Say, sorry kids, it’s dangerous so I’m gonna go off and do stunts on the Boardwalk?”

“You should have notified Arms—“

“And he would have said stay put and the kids would be dead—“

“Aisha, you’re more im—“

“Don’t you more important me, Bro!” Now Aish was angry. “I ain’t gonna be a hero just ‘til it’s risky! I ain’t gonna run!”

“Ai-“

“How did you inhale so much gas,” I said. “Didn’t you bring a breather?”

“Um, yeah,” She said. Brian fell silent.

“Then why don’t you tell us what happened?” Piggot asked.

And Aisha told the story.

By the end of it, Brian looked white, and deep under the building, bugs were tearing each other apart as i was reminded of how close one of my only friends had come to dying. 

Again.

“So you didn’t know how to use the breather,” Piggot said. “And then, because you didn’t bring more, instead bringing a cutting tool you had no idea how to use, you had to share it with the children.”

“Yeah, Um, Amy said they’re okay, but she’s really fucking grumpy—“

“They are fine,” Miss Militia said. “You did prevent them from inhaling too much, and they were mostly on the ground. And then they didn’t have time to breath when you were porting them.”

“An interesting use of your power,” I said.

“Yeah, well it’s like you said in math tutoring. Think around the problem.”

I couldn’t help it. I chuckled. “Not exactly what I had in mind. But I’m happy it helped.” Then I changed my tone. “But you were lucky, very, very lucky. And that’s not something you can trust on.”

“If you’d fallen unconscious,” Piggot said. “IF Armsmaster hadn’t been able to locate you as you were teleporting. If Bulwark hadn’t charged in—if a dozen firefighters hadn’t risked death.”

“What should I have done?” Aisha said.

“Taken three breathers,” I said. “You couldn’t know what else you might need, but the nature of the disaster meant that you would need breathers.”

Aisha’s gaze was a mixture of understanding and betrayed.

“Regardless, you’re the heroine of the day,” Piggot said. “And officially I probably can’t punish you. So, for that reason, we’re going to give you an opportunity.” She clearly didn’t like the fact that PR was forcing her hand.

Now, Aisha looked worried. “Um, what?”

“You’ll be working with Trooper Stevens. He’s our main disaster relief training officer. I believe his nickname is “The Fourth Horseman”. Since you obviously don’t want to risk injury in any future rescue operation, you won’t need to worry about anything other than PR patrols until the Trooper certifies you as fully qualified.”

Ouch. Aisha was not going to enjoy this. But…

Piggot had me in here, listening to things a normal student shouldn’t. But Brian and Miss Militia didn’t know who I was—she had held up her side of the bargain. But… I believe she was offering a suggestion.

“Forgive me, Director. Is Miss Militia in your confidence?” I asked.

“She is, and there’s no need for this conversation to be recorded.”

“Ah.” I took a moment, letting the persona of The Investigator fall over me. “Brian, Miss Militia, I am The Investigator.”

The two looked at me, and I shrugged. “If we are to keep Aisha among the living, we probably need to be able to coordinate our operations.”

“Hey!” Aisha’s voice was betrayed, but Brian burst out with a surprised laugh, and even Emily Piggot looked slightly less annoyed.

Good. Brian had been on the verge of an explosion, and now I’d distracted him.

And I was quite interested in why Piggot had given me this opportunity.

**** 

And we're back. The second part should be up by Friday.