The video screen flickered on, showing the computer generated female avatar of Dragon against a bland white background. "Hello, everyone."
Director Piggot nodded in greeting. "Thank you for joining us today, Dragon." She made a subtle jerk of her head to indicate the presence of Miss Militia and Armsmaster in her office. "Now, let's get to business. What is the status of the thaumaturgical projects?"
Armsmaster frowned at that. "Strictly speaking, the unique energy used isn't actually magic-"
"But it will suffice for now." Director Piggot interrupted firmly. "Thus, we will refer to it as such internally and informally until someone else can think of a better name for, as you and Dragon said, a completely new branch of unexplored science."
Armsmaster frowned at the rebuke, but kept quiet. Dragon took this opportunity to speak up. "The wands doubling project is going well, and we will have a surplus soon to distribute to other PRT branches throughout the United States. On the behalf of the Guild, I earmarked several wands for the Guilds branches in Canada as well. Starburst's submitted matrices are on stored on the databases accessible by these branches as well."
Director Piggot nodded. "Good. The further we have the means to manipulate thaumaturgic energy distributed, the better I rest. I don't want all thaumaturgic research and knowledge lost because all the wands are in one place and Behemoth decides to pay a visit."
Miss Militia chimed in. "We have sufficient Shield Watches to outfit two squads. Training of its use is underway amongst the troopers so we'll have two available squads equipped with it at all times. We just need the official go-ahead on the field testing."
Director Piggot looked at the BDU-clad heroine. "The approvals for the deployment are in the works now."
Dragon 'raised' her hand. "Speaking of approvals, Armsmaster and I would like to request for a transfer. From Boston PRT in particular."
The portly Director raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why?"
Armsmaster cleared his throat. "Dragon and I have been working with the anti-master matrices submitted by Starburst. We would like to test the Mind Shield and the Lockdown types with an actual human-Master that could affect a large area."
Dragon nodded. "Yes. I'm planning to outfit several squads with the Mind Shield matrices to move against HeartBreaker, and the plans for both Mind Cure matrices and restraints incorporating the Lockdown matrices are already in the works. But we rather test the equipment first before committing."
Director Piggot hummed. "I see. Who do you have in mind?"
Dragon display a picture of a young woman, with a few feathers in her hair. "I wish to utilize Paige McAbee aka Canary for the testing."
"Unusual choice" Director Piggot commented. "Why her?"
"To summarize," Dragon answered. "Paige McAbee is Master that could affect humans over a large area via her singing. Most importantly, she had been compliant and non-violent with her arrest so far and had been cooperative with Boston PRT. I am sure we can secure her willing collaboration with this project in exchange for a lighter sentence than what the judges there were pushing for."
"Reasonable." Director Piggot made a note on her blotter. "I'll contact Boston PRT and push for a prisoner transfer. I can dangle the wands in front of Director Armstrong for the exchange." She then continued. "Armstrong has always been interested in insights into parahuman powers."
"Now, on to other matters." Director Piggot started. "What of the local situation?"
"Quiet but terse." Miss Militia answered. "The ABB is suspiciously quiet so far with the non-appearance of Oni Lee over the last week. We and the troopers are prepping additional fire-retardants and containment foam in case Lung finally decides to makes a move. The E88 and the smaller gangs seems to be adopting a wait and see approach, though a few probes have been done by the E88 into ABB territory."
Armsmaster cut in. "I have developed new anti-Brute sedatives especially formulated against Lung if needed. Furthermore, I have incorporated some additional..." Armsmaster sighed. "thaumaturgy-based shields into my latest armour in case of need."
Director Piggot sighed. "That's the best we can pray for." She leaned forward in her chair. "Now, we have to discuss about something longer termed." She looked at the assembled capes. "Starburst's thaumaturgic tech, so far as we can tell, presents an unprecedented leap forward in several fields. This means, she might be a target for more... unsavory groups. Like the Slaughterhouse Nine."
Miss Militia and Armsmaster shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the infamous wandering sadistic villain group. "Yes." Armsmaster said. "The amount of clear quartz, which is primarily silicon oxide, used in the thaumaturgic tech would make us particularly vulnerable to Shatterbird's Scream."
Director Piggot nodded. "Yes. Her in particular. The rest are still a concern, but devising a counter for her and maybe Mannequin are a priority."
Miss Militia spoke up. "Perhaps we can ask Starburst? Something to counter Shatterburst's silica-based wide area telekinesis? I had just spoken to Starburst earlier, and she mentioned that her 'Trump' power isn't working on anything at the moment."
Director Piggot looked at Miss Militia. "Yes. We should pursue that venue as well."
"On the subject of wide area specialized telekinesis," Dragon cut in. "Perhaps we could see if whatever Starburst comes up with could be adapted to work against hydrokinesis. Leviathan is projected to be the next EndBringer to strike within about 3 months or so."
Armsmaster continued. "The compilation of the database of matrices is coming along nicely. The chances of us independently of Starburst adapting pre-existing designs to new functionality is pretty good, if we maintain the current rate of development."
Dragon chuckled. "To be fair, Starburst's power seemed to be outright eager to teach us how to do so."
Director Piggot leaned back. "Good to hear. But the current counter to Shatterbird is still a higher priority. Miss Militia," she said to the heroine. "Please request Starburst to start working on a power that could neutralize Shatterbird's silica-telekinesis over a large area."
Director Piggot then looked over the capes. "If there are no other concerns, you're dismissed."
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Later that night, Taylor slept peacefully in her bed at home, a part of her mind working on Miss Millitia's request.
Suddenly, a poker card sized window of light appeared directly over her bed.
**************************
Elsewhere, as Shatterbird lounges on a sofa and toys with a few shards of glass, a similar window opened unnoticed under the sofa. Shatterbird twirled the pieces of glass-
[QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR: INVOKING ADMINISTRATOR PRIVILEGES: DATA REQUESTED!]
-when her head suddenly rocked back in mental pain, as if someone swung a sledgehammer into her noggin. The pieces of glass fell as she lost her concentration.
The window closed before the shards of glass even hit the ground, its purpose of spatially linking two distant locations together temporarily now fulfilled.
**************************
Taylor didn't notice the window as it disappeared, instead snuggling into a more comfortable position in her bed.
Her dreams, however, took a turn to the strange.
In it, Taylor was suddenly lavender in colour and wearing a yellow sundress. She's alternatively giddily dancing and happily prancing in a circle as a new shipment of books rained down from above; the new [DATA] having been delivered by a large crystalline figure that's munching on a slice of cake.