The Terror that Came To Winslow: 1

Julia was happy. I wonder what Sophia and Emma will think up next for Taylor.  Her dad had visited after the prank but it didn’t matter. In fact…

You know, if I could visit him, tell him I didn’t know why people were so nasty to her… I could bring him around…

Julia smiled at that. When she’d gotten her power, she’d been pissed. Daddy liked to have special time with her, and nobody listened, and all she got was the power to make people not like someone?

But then she’d realized just what she could do with it. Daddy wasn’t a problem anymore. Not to anyone. Mom couldn’t even explain why she’d knifed him… and now Julia was with another foster family.

She hadn’t started on them. Not yet. It was such a thrill, waiting, deciding who to put her mark on, but it was hard to do it to more than one person. Nah, Let little Taylor keep going until maybe she killed herself or Emma killed her…

The thrill was better than anything, better than se—

Julia, lost in her thoughts, stepped off the sidewalk. She had the light.

But the drunk driver didn’t care, and her power had no Brute Rating.

She was dead before she hit the other side of the street.

*****

Ward’s quarters.

Missy was annoyed. She was here, waiting for her turn on Console, and Shadow Stalker was being a bitch as usual. She’d been talking about how maybe Missy needed a kiddy chair for the Console, for the last ten minutes, until she finally shut up. In fact…

“Vista.” It was Shadow Stalker but… “Vista.” The voice repeated. Missy turned around to see Shadow Stalker, only her face was… How did it get that pale? Sweat was running down her face, and she was shivering.

Did she eat something that made her sick?  No way, she always goes on about how you need to eat healthy and I’m never gonna let her—

“Call… Call a Master-Stranger Alert. Now.”

“What?”

“H-hurry! Call the alert and get out of the room!” Now she was violently shivering. “Please.”

And that convinced Missy. Sophia never. Ever. Said please.

She reached down at the button, the one under the safety shield that had numerous warnings of what would happen if you pushed it. Even Clockblocker didn’t push it for a joke.

She flipped the shield and pushed it.

ALERT, ALERT. LEVEL ONE MASTER-STRANGER ALERT, WARD’S QUARTERS.

“Vista, what is going on?”  The voice was computer generated. Vista remembered—Master-Stranger alerts automatically triggered sound filters.

“It’s Shadow Stalker. She’s freaking. She asked me to push it… I don’t think she’s kidding. She wanted me to leave but—“ she blinked. “Oh, the outer door is locked.”

“Get into your room and lock the door. Now.”

“But Shadow—“

“Now!”

Vista got.

*****

If this is one of Sophia’s little games I swear I will—Emily Piggot shook  her head. They could find that out later, and Sophia had never pulled anything like this. Probably it was a mistake. Nearly ninety percent of PRT Master-Stranger alerts were someone sick, who convinced themselves that an upset stomach was a mast—

“Director Piggot?” Renick said. “We just got a Master-Stranger from Winslow. The principal.”

Shit. “Okay, stand by—“

“BBPD is tying us in. They’re getting multiple 911 calls. Master related. Students and faculty.”

And suddenly Emily realized that Sophia wasn’t kidding.

“Declare a Master-Stranger quarantine around Winslow. Are we getting any calls outside of the region?”

“Wait one… 911  call center says two but…” Renick nodded. “Both students who weren’t in school today.”

“Quarantine, full quarantine. Tell the police to establish a perimeter. Nobody gets in or out. We’ll send the PRT services as soon as possible.” She took a breath. And Sophia was in the PRT HQ. “Contact Costa-Brown, and inform her that we are possibly compromised. So we need oversight. All troopers and Protectorate Members maintain full Master-Stranger protocols.”

And to think she’d been worried that Sophia had been playing games. Now she wished she was. This was so much worse.

*****

 It may be a surprise to some, but the greatest terror of the PRT and Protectorate is not a rampaging Brute. It is a Master, especially one who is quiet, who can sink their claws into an entire community, sometimes winning the war before the local authorities are even aware they are under attack…

Parahuman! A history of Law Enforcement in the Era of Demigods.

UCLA press, 2009.

 *****

one of my started stories on Spacebattles before I took my break*, but the idea of this just won't let me go, and since it's short, I'm gonna finish it. It won't be long, mind you, but my goal here is to try and answer the questoin: "Why are Masters so terrifying in the public mind, that a judge was able to literally say: "the law says this, but I'm doing that" and ram it through vs Canary..."

*and again, some asked, there's absolutely no bad blood there. It's just that the political convos and such were stressful, I was doom scrolling and after a few cases of 'my, my BP is no 170-180/120 ('which is get thee to the ER' for those not in the know), i had to ask: "if I swear to just stay on the CRW forums, can I?" (probably not), and "Do I need a break given some of my reactions?" (yes.). I don't know if I'll come back as an active poster, probably depends on the political issues, but again, I'm not pissed at anyone, it's just that at least for right now, a pragmatic look at my own mental health and general health came back with: You really need to take a break.