//------------------------------//
// Interlude 3 
// Story: Shard of Magic [Worm crossover] 
// by blake0831 
//------------------------------//

"Good morning, Assault, Analyst Hunt" the woman in military fatigues and  wearing a USA flag bandanna over her lower face greeted the man holding  a headphone set to one ear as she entered the observation room.

The black and red skinsuited hero shifted and waved at Miss Militia, not  getting up from his position of leaning against the sole table in the  room. "Hey, MM. Come on and sit in on this." The woman manning the audio  recorder on the table that the headset was headset was plugged into  nodded wordlessly at the heroine, her seated form focused on the  transcribing the highlights of the conversation she's hearing through a  second headset onto paper.

"Is this the potential new Ward?" Miss Militia asked, seating herself on  the one of the other chairs in the room, looking at the skinny  bespectacled girl through the one-way mirror into the meeting  room/interrogation room on the other side. Said girl was accompanied by a  man, who she presume is her father and a sharply dressed professional  looking woman. A lawyer maybe? The meeting with the prospective Ward was  being handled by Assault's nominal field patrol partner Battery.

"Yup." Assault answered. He then gestured to the girl. "The girl got  some Brute ratings across the board. Strength, Toughness, Faster  healing, the usual package. A bit of Thinker as well. Better  perceptions, stuff like that." He chuckled, feeling a little amazed.  "Get this. That's only her basic powers. The real clincher?" He gestured. "She's a Trump/Tinker combo."

Miss Militia blinked in surprise. "Trump/Tinker?" she parroted, looking  at Assault. "Usually don't see those two threat ratings together..."

Assault nodded with a smile. "I know. But that how the girl's power  works." He looked back to the window. "She can ask her power for any  power, and that power would assemble and customize the power." He shook  his head. "She's an Eidolon-lite here. The only drawback so far was the  power needed time to put it together."

Miss Militia looked at the girl with a contemplative look. "And the Tinker part?"

"Actually, more Tinker-like." Assault corrected himself. "The girl,  after getting the asked for power, can take it apart and put it into a  separate thing. Using crystals and copper wires." He pointed at the  crude watch thing on the meeting table in the other room, next to the  ring binder. "That thing over there. It's a personal shield maker.  Battery tried it, and it made a glowly white Riot Shield." He let out a  quick laugh. "The new girl even documented how the thing works. Halbeard  is going to love her."

"Impressive." an impressed Miss Militia commented. "This Trump power, did she demonstrate it?"

Assault shook his head. "She couldn't. Said her power is working on  something she couldn't remember asking for. Been at it for about five  da-" The skinny girl suddenly straightened, apparently surprised by  something. "Huh. It just finished. And it just gave her three powers.  She said that was unusual." He listened a bit more. "Geez, those are  some long names her power had given them. Definitely Armsy vibes here.  With a touch of Myrddin."

"Three?" Miss Militia asked curiously. "What kind of of powers are they?  Can the girl describe them?" She paused, as something just occurred to  her. "What is the girls name? I haven't got it yet."

Assault shook his head. "Long-ass names. All three have 'mental' in  them, so I guess it has something to do with the mind. The girl doesn't  know right off the bat what they do. She usually has to figure it out  either from the name, or from the original request." He blinked as the  second part of Miss Militia question filtered in. "Oh? The girl's name  is Taylor. Taylor Rose Hebert."

Miss Militia stiffened. "Did you say... Taylor Hebert?" she asked.

Puzzled by her reaction, Assault looked at her. "Yeah. Why?"

"Remember the Shadow Stalker case? Where she was caught bullying and everything else?" Miss Militia asked cagily.

Assault frowned. Shadow Stalker aka Sophia Hess. That was a hard one.  Where the ad-hoc Probationary Wards program the PRT had quickly thrown  together on a moment's notice had failed. Where a violent, angry  teenager and an unscrupulous school principle had pulled the wool over  the PRT's eyes. Shame that Hess had wasted her 'soft' second chance like  that. "Yeah? why?"

Miss Militia gestured towards Taylor. "I think that's the main victim."

Assault's eyes widened. "....crap." he succinctly put it. "...and Taylor here triggered from that?"

Miss Militia shook her head slightly and shrugged, her eyes not leaving  the sight of Taylor in the next room. "You have to get the details from  Armsmaster about that."

Silence reigned between the two heroes before Assault spoke up.  "....we'll have to tell Taylor about Hess." He gestured to Taylor. "If  we keep this quiet from her.... It'll blow up in our faces in the worst  possible time. With her powers...."

Miss Militia let out a resigned breath. "Yes. We should." She looked at  the scene in the next room. Of Taylor and her father signing the papers  for the daughters' official inclusion into the Wards. "Damn. Battery  didn't know about the case details." She grimaced. "I really hope that  Taylor doesn't think we're entrapping her by with holding the info until  after she signed the papers." She sighed. "I'll tell Taylor soon after  this."

After a moment or two of silence, with only the sounds of the tape  recorder running and the scratching of the writing by the silent analyst  filling the room, Miss Militia asked, "Speaking of papers, was there  any special conditions the Heberts asked for?"

Assault startled out of his quiet musings. "Ah... Yes. There is. The  Heberts asked for help to transfer out of Winslow and admittance into  Arcadia. And maybe sponsorship into university later on."

"The admission list for Arcadia High School is rather long." Miss  Militia muttered. "But the PRT can swing in to get Taylor into there.  The sponsorship shouldn't be an issue as well. Considering her past and  her powers, PRT would really need to at least make amends if they wanted  the Heberts to keep them in a favorable light."

Assault let out a sigh and a small nod. "Yeah." He rubbed his head. This  kind of thing is really not what he wanted to be faced with so soon  after returning from Canberra...