The Web of the Weaver Book III: Financial Matters, Epilogue

I knew this would be unpleasant. I had researched anti-Master tactics, after all. Many Masters directly controlled their victims. Others utilized methods that changed the perception of their victims.

The PRT had two methods of checking for Mastered individuals. The first was brain scans using a variety of equipment, mainly to detect changes to the brain chemistry. The second was an interview, while being examined by a variety of equipment.

An interview that would be very, very unpleasant, especially since I had to drop control of my insects. I could stay calm, pushing out any outward reaction into my swarm… In most cases, an advantage.

Here, it would be like sending up a flare, letting everyone know there was something off about me.

I felt naked.

Especially since they knew who I was, and for this, I bet Emily Piggot was either overseeing the test personally, or had Armsmaster there.

I couldn’t even blame them. I could think of a half dozen cases, easily where “going easy” on the suspect had seen the PRT paying the price—often in blood.

“Please identify the following objects.” The monitor in my cell started flashing.

“Blue puppy.”

Another image.

“A child on a bike.”

Another image.

“A cartoon character.”

“Which one?”

I rolled my eyes.

“Bugs bunny.”

Another—My breath whooshed out.

A wrecked car, front crushed in where it had smashed into another car. A bloody arm dangled from the driver’s window.

“Investigator? Please identify the object.”

“I—“

Then the voice turned chatty. “Wow, bet that was a closed-casket funeral for the lady.”

I took a deep breath. I wanted to… I couldn’t press into my bugs. I took another deep breath.

“That’s… I would like another picture.”

A blue puppy appeared.

“Blue puppy.” I was still breathing fast. I hoped that nothing else appeared. I didn’t know if I … if I could endure it.

*****

“Well?” Director Piggot asked. The room was empty save for Armsmaster.  He glanced up at her, after making certain the voice changer was off.

After all, there was no way Colin would sound chatty normally, which gave him an excuse to tinker something up.

“Her readouts show that she is not currently mastered by any known physical method, especially those associated with Teacher. Her response to the question regarding the auto crash shows a high degree of independent emotional response. I’ve established enough of a baseline that I do not believe we need to ask about her former friend.”

“Good. I’m going to have to bring this up with her father and I don’t want him to try to punch you. Or Me.” Emily shook her head. “Even when they help…”

“Director?”

“We have a man in our medical ward with a decaying brain showing signs of long-term addiction to Teacher, and a mimicked parahuman power that should have worn off by now. If he had it, others might. I was on the phone with the Chief Director, and we’re going to be doing a lot of work on this.”

“The decay in his mental state…” Armsmaster paused. “It is well known that impossible orders from Masters can cause that, and given that Teacher was in the Birdcage…”

“He knew, on some level, he could never carry out his purpose.” Emily shook her head. “But this means that we’re going to have to go over any of Teacher’s former acquaintances, especially students, or others who might be quietly taking actions. This was luck.”

“I would say that The Investigator had something to do with it.” Colin paused. “With the sole error of not checking or considering a Tinkertech trap, she worked very effectively, and the recording she gave us…”

“Yes. And Orb Weaver?”

“I cannot say,” the hero said. “We found some insects in his mouth, and there was a claim by one trooper that he heard something, but if Orb Weaver was there, why endanger The Investigator? We know that Orb Weaver doesn’t shy from violence, and considered The Investigator to be something of an asset.”

“Orb Weaver is clearly a thinker. Maybe he realized The Investigator wasn’t in any danger—no, then why appear at all?”

“We do not fully understand Orb Weaver’s abilities. Perhaps a short-term precognition?”

“He arrived, then realized that you would be able to save her?”  Emily nodded. “It makes sense… Or perhaps he has better postcognition than precognition.” Or it could be something else.  Emily had a bad feeling that Orb Weaver wasn’t revealing half of his abilities. Not to mention a ruthless streak that might see someone like the Investigator as someone he could risk. She sighed. “I’m going to have to speak to her father. She’s earned a bounty, we’ll pay it via the normal methods but…”

“Are you going to try to convince him to place her in the Wards?”

“No. We would have never found this out if she’d been in the Wards.” Emily shook her head.  “And the Think Tank would poach her in a hot second. But he might want to talk with her.” She glanced at Colin. “I’m not in charge of her, but I think someone needs to explain that she got very, very lucky.”

“Are you going to use the Heartbreaker scenario?”

“You mean,  ask him what would have happened if she’d opened the door and it had been Heartbreaker?” Emily shook her head. “No, I want him to caution her, not be terrified out of his mind. Don’t forget to delete all the records.”

*****

I walked out of the building in my normal clothes, wearing a domiono Mask. The corridors had been empty, save for Armsmaster.

A nice gesture, but it was plain that anyone in the PRT who wanted to know who The Investigator was could tell.

I had planned on that.

But right now, under observation, consciously keeping my power from controlling the bugs around me, I felt…

Helpless. 

I hated it.

“Taylor!” Dad was walking up to me, and he looked as bad as I felt.

“Dad.”

“I’ll leave you now,” Armsmaster said. “The bounty will be deposited in an anonymouse account that you will have access to.”  He paused. “That was… well done, Investigator.”

I took a deep breath and recovered some my poise. “I am pleased to have been of assistance.”

“Let’s go, Taylor.” Dad said.

I got into the truck and we drove off. Well, I wonder if he’d believe me when I said that the man wasn’t technically a cape and I just ran into a Birdcage inmate at one remove…

Yeah. That sounded like the time I tried to tell Mom that Marquis had been behind me leaving the door open all night—after he’d been Birdcaged.

“Bad day?” he asked.

“Sort of,” I didn’t look around, but I’d sent some bugs over the truck and they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. “But the PRT knows who was causing issues with the company.”

“A Master, and Director Piggot said he might not be the only one.”

“The Protectorate… underestimated Teacher’s power,” I said. “The assumption was that it would last, at the most a few months. Not years.”

“And you?”  Dad had spoken to Piggot, from his expression…

“I didn’t consider the chance of a tinkertech booby trap.” Stupid, stupid, stupid, Taylor.

He shook his head. “You had a thought that he might have been a master. You wouldn’t have been prepared the way you were, not waited until he left. Why didn’t you call the Protectorate?”

“I—“ I closed my mouth. I had many reasons but…

Maybe I wanted to solve it myself. That would have cemented my reputation. Or maybe I didn’t even think about it, that much. “I didn’t think.”

“I…” Dad kept driving. “It can be hard, getting confident. There was a kid—about seventeen, back about 10 years ago. He came from a home, not the best.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t now where Dad was going but…

“And he was great. Good mechanic. A little young, but you know, sometimes paperwork gets fudged if someone needs the money. Great mechanic. Started out doing everything by the book, but you know, you get experienced, and nothing goes wrong, and it takes forever to do a lockout-tagout when you’re trying to get something working.”

I knew what was coming, but Dad… he was seeing something else.

“Until one day… Ten seconds. Enough time for him to scream. Enough time for him to feel it when he was dragged into the gears… Enough time for all of us to hear it, see it, but not enough time to save him. His family never saw him after that—what was left didn’t even look human.”  Dad sighed. “He wasn’t bad, or stupid…but he was used to winning and forgot that you can win a thousand times, but you only have to lose once.”

“I won’t forget.” I looked out the window, once again  ruthlessly keeping from the… easy thing, shoving my thoughts into my bugs so my words would be entirely steady. But Dad… was trusting me. “When I was sitting in that chair, unable to move, my body not working… That was terrifying. It had just been one little mistake and… everything could have ended. If he’d been more businesslike I probably wouldn’t be here now.”

“Yeah. But you also saved a lot of people—including that poor man. I doubt he expected that Teacher…” Dad shook his head. “Well. According to Director Piggot they’ll be going through his known associates even those who weren’t directly working with him. I hate to say it, but from her expression, you’ve put them through some work.”

“Heh.” I shook my head. “Well, we’ve solved the issue of the chemical plant. A leftover bomb from a guy who has been in prison for years.”

“Yeah. Taylor…about the Wards?”

I tensed. “Yes.”

“I don’t think you would be a good fit. If this man had been allowed to stay free—it wasn’t so much a matter of if he’d self destruct as how many people he’d hurt. You saved a lot of people. The fact that it was parahuman related means… more funding may have opened up, and it was all because you were working as a free agent. But…” He took a deep breath. “I don’t think I could survive losing you. So be careful and… Could you take a break, just for this weekend?”

“I—“ I could. After all, he didn’t know about Orb Weaver….

But Dad was trusting me. He was trying. And what did it say about me that my first thought was how to abide by the letter of my agreement, while violating the spirit?

No. Dad was trying.

And I would as well, and for this weekend, both Orb Weaver and The Investigator would take a break.

“Okay, Dad,” I said. “I can do that.”