The Protagonist System

214 Meetings And Greetings

“We know.” Emily Piggot said as soon as the very tall cape known as Narwhal entered her office almost bent in half to allow her horn to fit through the doorway.

Narwhal opened her mouth to tell her about her encounter and Emily turned on the television behind the desk and it showed security footage from the lobby of the hotel and Bad Canary leaving with her bags. Having Dragon around more often, really helped a lot with the surveillance issues they usually had.

“Her being here was an accidental consequence from a sting operation to figure out who destroyed the Birdcage and why.” Emily said and Narwhal nodded. “Have a seat and I'll explain more.”

Narwhal did so and listened as Emily told her about what Dragon had told her, the reasons for it, and why Paige Macabee had moved to Brockton Bay. “You're kidding.”

“I wish I was.” Emily said with a sigh.

“So, the newest cape on the scene, the one that took down the Dragonslayers in minutes and Heartbreaker in twenty, after somehow deactivating all of his hidden agents that would have wrecked half of Canada and most of Quebec in revenge for his death, is also responsible for the destruction of the PRT's only means of deterrence against villain capes?” Narwhal asked and Emily nodded. “Well, fuck.”

“I didn't quite say that in response when I heard it as well.” Emily said.

Narwhal smiled. “You thought it though.”

“No comment.” Emily said and Narwhal barked a short laugh.

“All right, I'll back off and won't go after Canary without cause.” Narwhal said and Emily nodded. “What's the plan of action against her and Atlas, assuming you have one in place.”

“Observation for now. If it turns out the new cape is as villainous as the worst capes to ever walk across the Earth, then we'll assemble to confront him and take him down.” Emily told her.

Narwhal raised her eyebrows at that qualifier. “You're kidding.”

“It's standard procedure to go after known threats, even if they're powerful.” Emily responded.

“Director Piggot... Emily.” Narwhal corrected herself. “You just told me he's as strong as Alexandria and has Legend's level of energy blasts. How in the world are you going to take him down?”

Emily gave her a knowing look and Narwhal sighed.

“I came her to relieve my stress, not quadruple it by attacking the guy I specifically came here to invite into my bed.” Narwhal informed her.

Emily leaned back from her as if slapped. “Excuse me? You didn't come here to lead the assault?”

“I didn't even know about it until you told me, so no.” Narwhal said. “I'm on paid leave for the next month while I'm on vacation.”

“And you came here, to the worst city for cape crime?” Emily asked.

“It was the worst, until someone removed the capes that the gangs had, and now they're the normal police department's responsibility.” Narwhal said and then caught her breath. “Oh. Oh, god.”

“What is it?” Emily asked.

“I just... I just got it.” Narwhal said. “Don't you see it, too?”

“No, or I wouldn't ask you about it.” Emily said, slightly frustrated.

“It's Atlas. All those miscellaneous reports. All the reported missing capes. All of the unknown attacks by ghostly capes we thought was Glastig Uaine. It's actually Atlas.” Narwhal said. “All of it.”

Emily looked shocked before she spoke. “Well, fuck.”

Narwhal nodded. “We need to approach this very delicately. If he figures out you're investigating him and are planning to fight him, it might set him off and he'll go after the heroes like he did the villains.”

Emily's lips formed a thin line. She did not like that conclusion. Not at all.

“I agree that you need to keep Paige under surveillance. As for Atlas, you need to be very careful about how you handle that.” Narwhal told her.

“Me? Aren't you going to help, now that you know?” Emily asked.

“Oh, don't worry. I'm going to do my part.” Narwhal said and stood. “If you have him under watch as well, then you'll eventually see what I have planned.”

Emily tried to not strain her neck as she looked up at the very tall cape. “You said you wanted to bed him.”

“It's a valid interrogation technique and has worked for thousands of years.” Narwhal said and walked over to the door, opened it, and bent almost in half to step through the doorway. “I'll need you to enact a privacy protocol if you catch me naked on camera.”

Emily opened her mouth to respond and chose not to as she nodded. Her office door shut and she sat there for a moment as she thought about the cape that just left as fast as her long legs could carry her.

Narwhal quickly left the building, because she had to get back to the hotel and claim the presidential suite after seeing the surveillance footage of Paige leaving the hotel with her bags.

“I can't believe she's still going to screw him after figuring out he caused so much chaos.” Emily said a couple minutes later.

Dragon's face replaced the footage of Bad Canary's limo stopping at a random warehouse near the waterfront. “Chaos is a good word to describe the aftermath. There are several towns and restricted zones that have been gutted of both people and infrastructure because of his actions.”

“Infrastructure?” Emily asked and caught her breath. “Eagleton and Ellisburg!”

“Exactly, director. Once Narhwal said he was responsible for the cape disappearances, it was a basic extrapolation to connect him to the larger mysteries as well.”

“Why?” Emily asked.

“Armsmaster filed an updated report on Atlas and his power classifications early this morning.” Dragon said and Emily's laptop changed to show the added powers, including teleportation and his 'joke' about not having a range for it. The lie detector readings from Armsmaster's helmet did not register it as a lie.

Emily sighed and rubbed her face with her hand. “Is there anything else you know about my latest headache named Atlas?”

“Quite a lot.” Dragon responded.

“Tell me.” Emily ordered.

Dragon complied by providing cell phone recordings of conversations, then showing camera footage of Atlas disappearing from Brockton Bay and appearing at the Parahuman Asylum and then popping back again, the time difference between appearances severely exceeding his known flight speed. She also showed the registry with his sign in and sign out times and who he visited. A multiple murderer.

Emily was not happy about that. “What's your assessment about his threat level after compiling everything he's done and can do?”

“If you'll excuse the language as I put things succinctly?” Dragon asked and Emily nodded. “We're completely fucked if he goes villain.”

After everything was pointed out to be caused by Atlas, Emily fully agreed with her. That meant her plans needed to be changed, because the last thing they needed was to make him think he didn't need the rest of the capes around. Losing the main villains was one thing, losing all the capes before the next Endbringer attack would be an unmitigated disaster.

*

I had a really hard time not laughing as my mother had an absolute ball digging her toes into the practically frozen sand for several minutes, demand I clean them and rub them and make them warm for her, then she would frolic around on the beach to dig her toes into it again.

After a few more toe dipping dances, my mom came back to me one last time and I cleaned her little toes and rubbed them to warm them up. She put her socks and stylish boots back on and we walked back to where she parked the car. We had already done some shopping on the boardwalk and she had been quite pleased to not bother checking the price tag as she picked up a few things for herself.

She acted like a giddy teenager as she carried on and smiled happily, giving me a glimpse of what she must have been like as a carefree teenager without a care in the world. It made me realize why my father had fallen for the girl and I couldn't fault him for grabbing her up as soon as he could. Letting someone like her go would have been the biggest mistake of his life.

As we drove off to find somewhere to eat lunch, I told her I was extremely lucky to have her in my life. It made her blush and she knew I was sincere about it, because I would never lie about something that important. Plus, she could see through my lies like clear glass and always called me on it.

We pulled into the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant and went inside to eat. Take-out might have been better for privacy; but, we wanted to eat in for once and enjoy the atmosphere of the place. Also, the smells were making our mouths water and we ordered quite a bit more than two people should reasonably eat in one meal.

Just as we sat down and were about to dig into the food, an eerie silence fell in the restaurant as the door opened. Both my mother and I turned our heads to look and we saw the cause. Bad Canary had just entered and everyone had stopped to stare at her. She looked like she was used to that reaction, though.

I somehow had the feeling she didn't like that kind of negative reaction, so I decided to do something about it. “Paige!” I said and waved, making my mother gasp. “We're sitting over here!”

Paige turned her head to look over at us and saw me waving. She looked both surprised and happy, and the customers started chatting and whispering again, so I figured my ploy had worked.

“Greg, she might have plans to eat already.” My mom whispered to me.

Unlike what she assumed, Paige Macabee walked right over to out table and smiled at us. “It's so nice to finally meet you.” She said and then tilted her head slightly. “I'm not sure if I should use your cape names if you're in civilian clothes because of the unwritten rules and other such nonsense.”

“The names are usually kept separate for a reason, even if we're open capes like you. Costume, cape name. Casual clothes, normal name.” I said and waved for her to sit beside me. “You can call me Greg and the beautiful woman across from me is my mother, Diane.”

“I need to go order.” Paige said and sat beside me anyway. “I'm Paige... and you knew that already.”

I chuckled and motioned to the overloaded tray on the table. “We bought extra to take home afterwards. Go ahead and help yourself and we'll pick up more on the way out for later.”

Paige smiled and picked up a steak burrito. “I love these things.”

“We do, too.” I said. “It's the best bang for your buck and it's delicious.”

“Which is a huge plus for people on the go.” My mom contributed. “It's cheaper to eat these things instead of trying to make them at home.”

“It's also a heck of a lot easier to clean up afterwards, too.” I said and both my mother and Paige nodded. I finished off my burrito and started digging into the large order of nachos and chili cheese, only for my hand to touch Paige's as we reached for the same chip.

Paige blushed and moved her hand back to let me take the one with the biggest lump of cheese on it, so I picked it up and carefully twisted it to catch the cheese as it tried to slide off, and offered it to her.

“Th-thank you.” Paige said and daintily took a bite, then another, then opened wide and her lips closed on my fingertips.

I let the chip go and she didn't pull away right away. I felt her tongue lick my fingers once before she pulled back with a bright blush on her face and she quietly chewed on the mouthful of the best nachos on the menu.

I did not miss the knowing look my mother was giving the both of us. I didn't call her out on it, though. We were there together to have lunch and Paige just happened to join us. It wasn't planned or expected, even though I had been warned that Paige was in the city. That gave me a valid question to ask her, too.

“If you don't mind me asking, why did you come to Brockton Bay?” I asked.

Paige had just swallowed, so she didn't choke over me asking her so blatantly.

My mother on the other hand, just laughed. “Subtle, you're not.”

I shrugged. “I doubt either of us likes having people lying to us or treating us differently.”

My mom nodded and smiled at Paige. “If we're going for honesty right off the bat, then Greg was warned you were here looking for him and lying about it won't work.”

“Who's the one not being subtle again?” I asked and she grinned at me.

“I'm the one who is going to bow out and let you two talk in private.” My mother said and stood as she picked up her purse. “I'll see you back at home whenever you're done.”

“No.” I said firmly and both my mother and Paige caught their breath. “We talked about this being our day off and we have plans to relax and spend the day together, doing whatever we wanted.” I turned my head to look at Paige. “I hope you don't mind a rain check? Maybe for tomorrow?”

Paige looked surprised, so I continued.

“We don't mind sharing a meal with you, since we're out in public and it's expected to possibly see or meet someone else we know. However, this is my mom's day and I'm not going to disappoint her by cutting it short halfway through.”

“Greg...” My mother started to say, probably to warn me about antagonizing a cape.

“Even though you know who I am, you would speak to me that way?” Paige asked with a calm expression on her face.

“Would you rather I give up the small amount of personal time I have with my mom, just to talk to you?” I asked instead of directly answering.

“Greg!” My mother gasped.

Paige lost the calm look on her face and smiled warmly. “No, Greg. I fully expected you to ignore me instead of inviting me to eat, because I didn't want to intrude. You asked me to join you for the meal and nothing else, so I expected nothing else.”

I smiled and took out my cell phone. “Can you give me your number? I'll call in the morning to see if you're busy and we can meet up somewhere.”

Paige took my phone and quickly entered her number and something else, then handed it back. “I look forward to it.” She said and stood, gave my mother a little wave, and walked over to the counter. She picked up a very large bag of take-out and left with the smile still on her face.

“Greg.” My mother said and sat back down.

“It's fine.” I reassured her. “If I just rolled over for her and ignored you, I think she would have been more upset with me than you would be.”

My mom opened her mouth to refute that, then huffed instead. “You don't have to play dangerous games with potential villain capes, you know.”

“No, I don't have to.” I said suggestively and offered her a nacho chip.

My mother scoffed at me and then leaned forward to eat the chip just as daintily as Paige did. She didn't repeat the kiss and lick my fingers thing that Paige did, though. I pouted at her and she laughed, breaking her out of her contrary mood, and we dug into the remaining food.

We finished it off and went to the counter to grab more for later, just like Paige had, and we went home to relax and watched television. Wearing pyjamas and lounging around on the couch was an important activity that we both enjoyed on our day off and we saved the take-out food for supper. Storing it had kept it hot, so it was just as good as it had been in the restaurant.