The Doom that Came to Winslow: 5

Don’t raise the pressure, lower it, is the foundational principle of any negotiation with a newly triggered parahuman. Triggers occur at moments of high, usually negative stress, and many parahumans do not fully understand their powers. Unless civilians are at direct risk, PRT and Protectorate agents should do everything possible to reduce the psychological stress of the situation…

New Triggers, PRT Handbook.

Colin saw the issue long before he got to the house.

There were clouds and shoals of bugs just flying around it, rising, falling. BBPD was evacuating the area.

Taylor Hebert. The target of the original master.  Colin had read the hospital records. First shock, horror, then changing, asking if maybe she deserved it or was lying. The reason she was discharged was that the week she’d spent in psychological confinement was clearly an example of Munchausen Syndrome. 

Was it because they were in direct contact with Taylor? Julia would have no authority to talk to medical professionals. But right now they were all being interviewed to see if she had slipped in. Maybe sat at the same cafe…

Her journal was light on many details of her power. She could put a mark on someone, but Julia had mentioned that she had to reinforce it. People who weren’t directly connected to the individual often responded with indifference, and a tendency to distrust them. Those more closely associated…

Well, they only needed to look to Ms. Barnes. But even there Julia had written she couldn’t always be certain.

And now they had a second Master.

The locker incident, almost certainly. Julia had in some ways recreated her own trigger event with Taylor, a long period of isolation and torment, followed up by an inciting incident.

“What happened?” he asked Triumph as he got off his bike.

“I was interviewing Mr. Hebert, when Ms. Hebert found out about the situation at Winslow.” Triumph shook his head. “She panicked, bugs started coming out from everywhere and I decided to retreat.”

“Good.” I need to put a commendation in his file for this. Glancing at the house, Colin noticed bees, wasps, walls covered with spiders and ants. “And her father?”

“He told us to go. He’d try to calm her down. I didn’t want to…”

“Understood, but given the amount of insects, provoking her would be very dangerous. Evacuation status?”

“All houses for two blocks,” a PRT trooper said.

“Push it out to four.”

“Yes, sir.”

Colin called them, using his helmet systems. The phone rang, once, twice, three times, and then a male voice sounded.

“H-hello?”

“Mr. Hebert? I’m Armsmaster, are you okay?”

“I—yes, but… God, how could I have not notic—“

“Mr. Hebert. You need to listen to me, and try to remain calm. You heard about the Winslow situation?”

“Yes.”

‘That Master had a very wide-ranging power. If you think you were behaving atypically, I’m afraid it might be because you had been influenced—but, the Master is deceased and their power is no longer affecting you. Now, how is your daughter?”

“She’s… panicked. She says she a Master and she’s afraid she’ll be Birdcaged. She’s in her room. She told me nobody will believe her.”

“Nobody did. Another aspect of the Master’s abilities.” Colin frowned, then nodded. His armor was air tight, and if he lowered his visor he could get out of there with her Father, if things went poorly. “Mr. Hebert, your daughter is in no, literally no, danger of the Birdcage or any form of incarceration. She is a victim in this affair.”

“What… what do we do?”

Another voice popped up, screened from Mr. Hebert’s hearing. “Armsmaster, this is Agent Howell.”

Ah. Our hostage negotiator. Colin used his eyes to control the virtual keyboard to send a confirmation without having to speak.

“Ask Mr. Hebert if his daughter is willing to talk to you. In the living room. Living rooms are common space. If she’s in her bedroom, that’s usually seen as private so you don’t want to go barging in there. But make certain it’s her choice.”

Understood.

“Mr. Hebert, could you ask your daughter if she would be willing to meet with me in your living room, with you present? I would like to explain what happened, but I think it is best that her guardian be present.” And if things go badly, I can get you out.

“Let… I’ll have to put the phone down.”

“Very well.”

Colin waited, listening to the continued reports from Winslow and other regions. Some issues at local hospitals—the usual aftermath of a Master, with everyone who had snapped at their child that morning suddenly wondering if they were a ziz bomb.

“Hello?” The voice was female.

“Ms. Hebert? This is Armsmaster. Do I have your permission to enter?  At any point, if you wish me to leave, I will.”

“I… Am I going to be arrested? I wanted to be a hero…”

“That is very praiseworthy, and no. Please understand that you were the victim in this case. If you want I can explain…”

“Um, yeah. Sure… do you like tea?”

Colin raised his eyebrows at that. “Yes, I have drank it.”

“Oh. Good. Um, you can come in, but watch the step.”

His visor picked up the damaged step and he nodded. “Thank you.”

And was he walked in, he noticed that the insects were less agitated. Tied to her emotional state? Regardless, it was time to have a conversation