Taylor woke up the next morning and made her way downstairs. Neither her father nor Uncle Jacob were up yet, but she was hungry and cereal was quick and easy. She took advantage of their not being up to finish up the rest of the dishes that hadn't been cleaned last night too, perhaps they would each assume the other had done them?
Just to be certain she had the information in them down she re-read the pamphlets that were still sitting on the table. Some of the unwritten rules were interesting and apparently a number of groups had compromised on the pamphlet as villain perspectives were included.
For example, killing was generally something nobody was supposed to do. This obviously went out the window entirely if a kill-order was issued on someone, but that was usually only done for those that were already running around killing. Beyond that, though, there was actually a small list of conditions for villains to reference wherein killing someone would not get the heroes on them for it. Things such as those who had repeated escapes from confinement where people had died during the escapes or certain kinds of human masters who were attempting to control or actively controlling the villain or those close to them.
More relevant to her were the specifics regarding identities and those with powers that could connect civilian and cape identities. The PRT and Protectorate apparently had internal rules that prohibited even asking such capes to identify other capes unless a kill order had been issued. Most larger villain groups apparently, at least publically, had similar policies. Human masters like Heartbreaker were one of the few overall exceptions, assuming they were still unknown, as they usually avoided having a cape identity until they were discovered. In that case, though, even the villain groups apparently recommended informing the PRT through channels dedicated for that kind of thing (one of the few sets of contact information actually listed) so that they could investigate, just in case.
Taylor supposed that even villains have standards. Though in this case it could also be pragmatic, nobody wants to fall under that kind of control themselves.
In addition, capes like her that could identify what powers other capes had were encouraged, even when working with the PRT or Protectorate, to keep most of those details between themselves and the cape in question, sticking to observed abilities only. At least for allies and neutrals. Everyone, probably rightfully, assumed that the enemy having such an ability meant that everything you could do was known to whatever group such a cape was a member of after you encountered them. But, and this was the important part, even the villains generally agreed that revealing information gained on someone else's powers only counted as acceptable if the cape being reported on had been in costume or actively using their powers. Getting a read on them while they were in civvies and, say, picking up groceries was considered a bad thing and should never be reported. Apparently whether or not you were in civvies didn't matter, though, only the status of the cape your power was informing you about mattered.
The final exception that stuck out to her, though, was identifying capes in civvies that were working with your group in a non-cape capacity. Sometimes that was merely identifying someone who did not know they had triggered, other times it was identifying someone who was infiltrating. At that point you reported them either to someone higher on the chain than you (ideally as high as you could reasonably get to given your own position in the organization) or, in the case of groups like the PRT and Protectorate, to dedicated contact points. The latter because you never knew when the cape was known to the higher-ups but not to the locals for some reason.
Huh, Uncle Jacob probably fell into that last group, now that she thought about it.
Taylor did wonder where you found the dedicated contact numbers, and a dozen others referred to elsewhere in the unwritten rules pamphlet. Presumably you got a list at some point if you joined up with the PRT or Protectorate, but given their likely rarity in being used where would you keep them safe? Having to go looking could very well tip someone off that you had noticed something they didn't want you to.
Taylor hopped up and grabbed some loose paper and a pencil to take some notes with. Questions like that would eventually bug her, better to write them down and ask. If she wasn't allowed to know Uncle Jacob would likely just tell her that.
After making note of her question she then thought about what they were likely going to need to discuss. She suspected that her father would want her to join the Wards for protection, but Uncle Jacob likely had a better overview of pros and cons there. She made a quick note about that, too. She was still fairly certain that she wouldn't be joining New Wave, though, if only to help protect her father. That and it would be even more of an issue if people made any connection between her powers and Uncle Jacob's.
It was about then that Uncle Jacob wandered downstairs. "Mornin Taylor."
"Good morning Uncle Jacob," Taylor responded. Huh, his snark appeared to still be sleeping. She didn't know they slept at all. "Did you hear if dad was moving yet?"
"I woke him up, actually." He looked at the lack of dishes to be washed. "And I guess I won't tell him that you dealt with the dishes." He then moved to make some tea.
Dang, caught. Oh well, nothing they could do about it. "Not like the dishes were difficult. Or strenuous. Or really any trouble."
"Yea yea, you're not disabled, just don't expect your father to agree." While waiting for water to heat up he checked the fridge. "Want any eggs? Oooh, bacon, that sounds good too."
"Yes please to both," Taylor answered. She might be pushing it after the cereal, but eggs and bacon? Hell yea. "Maybe you can make bacon omelets?"
"Hmm, good idea."
Taylor watched as breakfast, or second breakfast for her, was prepared. Her father wandered in, mumbled something about the dishes to Uncle Jacob, and sat down with the tea Uncle Jacob handed him. He might have preferred coffee, depending on his mood if asked, but the tea was already prepared.
After everyone had eaten their fill the dishes were put aside and Uncle Jacob went and fetched some stuff from the trunk of his rental car. Once again they collected around the table, probably to go over more cape-related things now that they had all had time to digest what they talked about the night before.
Oh, look, Uncle Jacob's snark woke up. Still wasn't being talkative, though. Uncle Jacob was probably trying to keep it from revealing too much by accident.
"So," Jacob started, looking at Taylor. "I can't help be curious, why 'snark'?"
"My snark told me that they metaphorically came from an island across a vast ocean," Taylor answered. "You can't find or capture them through anything resembling normal means and there isn't a true description of most of them."
Jacob and Danny looked at each other, then back at Taylor.
"What?" Taylor asked.
"Your power is a fan of Lewis Carroll?" Danny asked. "How is it a fan of Lewis Carroll?"
"Honestly I think it picked that to troll people," Taylor admitted. "Then used the metaphor as an excuse. But I am ok with that too, honestly."
"That makes a disturbing amount of sense," Jacob said. "Right, now that we have covered that I think we need to go over what options Taylor has going forward. Do either of you have any questions before we start on that?"
"I have one," Taylor said, poking her notes. "How do people in the PRT and Protectorate get and keep track of all the special reporting things the unwritten rules pamphlet mentions?"
"They are pre-programmed into the phones they are issued," Jacob answered. "And regularly updated with changes, actually."
"That should have occurred to me," Taylor said, crossing out the first entry on her notes. "I think the rest of what I have here will come up anyway."
"You have anything Danny?" Jacob asked, turning to Danny.
"Honestly the reporting contacts was bugging me too," Danny admitted. "Just hadn't thought to just ask you. Nothing else I don't think we are going to cover anyway."
"Alrighty then," Jacob said. "Options for Taylor going forward with parahuman abilities. Option one is to do nothing and attempt to go on as though you don't have parahuman abilities. Upsides include that you don't turn your life upside-down. Downsides include that you are almost guaranteed to snap at some point because you aren't getting any use of your powers in."
"That sounds like an undesirable downside," Danny admitted. "Though the dealing with trigger events pamphlet did basically say the same thing."
"Yea, it is a well-documented side effect of having powers," Jacob said. "Option two is to try and operate as an independent parahuman. Success at this will vary with powers, personality, and the local cape climate. Upsides include not being beholden to anyone else. Downsides include likely attempts at forced recruitment from gangs that find your abilities potentially useful and an increased chance of death if your powers drive you to actually fight, which most that have any form of offensive use do."
"That sounds just as unpleasant as the first one," Danny admitted. "Though that brings up a new question. Taylor, what do you know of your powers?"
"Huh," Jacob said. "I can't believe I forgot to ask about that. I guess I thought we already knew?"
"Well my snark says I have a couple of different abilities," Taylor said. "I can communicate with other snarks, obviously. That has side effects of being able to spot other parahumans and apparently while I have been doing things with line of sight I actually have about a four hundred meter range in which I can locate and communicate with snarks?"
"Your power measures in meters?" Danny interrupted. "Why meters?"
"Because it finds imperial units confusing," Taylor replied without any hesitation. Danny and Jacob just nodded, figuring that was as good as they were getting there. "Apparently I should be able to communicate with and somewhat coordinate between all snarks in my range at once without getting confused as well, provided my snark has enough bandwidth available for them all. Also assuming I am not in line of sight mode as well."
"I assume that the coordination would depend on the parahumans cooperating," Jacob said, giving it some thought. "Could still be quite useful if they are willing to act on prods from their powers. Could be useless if they aren't."
"True, that part would be situational, but I suspect a lot of things go that route," Taylor said. "I can also pull what amounts to your trick with blades and other edged weapons, just with blunt objects instead of edged. My snark also says that, like you, Hatchet Face would disable that bit but not my ability to communicate with other snarks. Apparently the communication bits are harder to turn off in general in snarks?"
"That is potentially a very useful piece of general information about powers," Jacob said, making note of it. "In fact, if it passes the PRT thinker checks it may be worth one of the cape information bounty payouts."
"The what?" Danny asked, beating Taylor by virtue of having just taken a breath.
"Oh, right," Jacob said. "That isn't well known, but the PRT pays out money for general information about the background behind how powers work and interact with each other. In this case it is information, likely not able to be acted upon, but probably useful for larger modeling of powers. Thus probably worth a few thousand dollars."
Taylor and Danny sat back for a moment. A seemingly innocent comment about the workings of powers worth a few thousand dollars?
"Right, so then," Jacob said after it was clear the other two were a bit stunned. "Taylor, anything else about your powers you haven't mentioned?"
"Er," Taylor said, blinking. "Not much? Apparently I can direct extra communication bandwidth at specific snarks if I want instead of just the single connection. Not sure what that means beyond having more bandwidth to communicate with, though. That's about it."
"Any specific needs for violence?" Jacob prodded. "Special requirements it wants you to fulfill? Other oddities that could cause problems?"
Taylor thought for a couple of minutes, or rather communicated with her own snark. Finally she spoke up. "I think I will have issues if I don't have snarks around often enough, but I don't have to hunt down new ones or anything. I need to occasionally hit things with the blunt object bit, but it doesn't need to be a living thing often and never needs to cause even minor injuries or damage. Beyond that my snark wants to troll other snarks, or maybe others with snarks? Though that is more of a hobby than a need. Or at least that is the impression I am getting."
"Er, right," Jacob said, blinking. "Usually that kind of thing would come out over a couple weeks of testing and you just asked. Can do you do that for others?"
"Only if their snarks are willing to tell me," Taylor answered.
"Right, right," Jacob said, making some quick notes. "Well, none of that would cause issues with joining the Wards, which I suppose is option 3. We did only bring up two options so far, right?"
"Wards is the third one," Danny agreed. "Upsides and downsides?"
"Upsides include a support structure, assistance with branding, and a decent trust fund," Jacob said. "Downsides include a command structure, assistance with branding, and in some cases annoying restrictions on use of your power."
"Er, why is assistance with branding in both lists?" Taylor asked. "I would think that would only be an upside, really?"
"They tend to have a very narrow view of acceptable," Jacob supplied. "The horror stories some capes have can be quite amusing from the outside."
"Right," Danny said, not quite believing him. Then again, Jacob should have more experience there and clashing opinions were a fact of life with him. "I assume there are more than three options for Taylor."
"Of course," Jacob continued. "She could petition to join The Guild, with most of the same upsides and downsides of joining the Wards. Though with the added downside of likely needing to move."
"Let's not go that route," Danny said. "If anything else, I would find it hard to hire people for the dockworkers here if I lived elsewhere."
"She could also petition to join New Wave," Jacob said. "Smaller support and command structures, more strict branding, no trust fund, and you have to go public with your identity."
"Not happening," Taylor said. "If only because that would paint a bigger potential target on dad's back."
"Moving on then," Jacob said as Danny gave Taylor a somewhat sad smile. "Taylor could also willingly join one of the more villainous organizations. Upsides would include a support structure, downsides include regularly assisting in illegal activities and being much more likely to be injured or killed."
"Not happening," Danny echoed Taylor's comment. "Especially as last I knew she wasn't a druggie, racist, or asian."
"I have been known to poke at video games though," Taylor said, causing Danny and Jacob to look at her. She stared back at the two of them. "What, I'm not allowed to joke now?"
"Yea, right, ok," Jacob said, shaking his head. "I think that covers the remotely realistic options, as Faultline generally only recruits minors that are both Case 53s and have no family, or so I have been led to believe. I am not going to let you decide on anything right now, though."
"Not that I am going to argue, but why not?" Danny asked, looking a little confused.
"Because I have other things that need doing," Jacob said. "Plus any option that ends up with power testing would be strenuous, and thus not implementable right away anyway. That and while I am out dealing with things the two of you should talk things through without me."
Uncle Jacob had, as he said, left to take care of who knows what. Snark detection in "area" mode apparently let Taylor know exactly where a snark-bearer was in relation to her, which would probably use useful, and let her monitor his progress for a couple of blocks as he drove away.
Still, unless she started going out in costume she should probably stay in line of sight mode. Maybe? If any capes were sent after her it would be a good idea to know in advance.
She made a quick note on her list to discuss that conundrum with others.
Her father had suggested they move into the living room and the more comfortable seating there, and she had agreed. She had grabbed a soda for herself from the fridge on her way by while her father called into work to check up on things. Apparently upon finding out that she had been hospitalized he had been told, in no uncertain terms, to take the rest of the week off. He still wanted to make sure everything was ok, though.
Finally he wandered in and collapsed into his preferred chair. "So Taylor, given that all of this will have the most direct effect on you, what do you think about the various options?"
"Obviously I don't intend on joining any of the gangs," Taylor said, finding it hard to imagine being a member of any of the big three in the bay. "Though if they were more about showing off and less into crime then joining up with Über and Leet could have been interesting."
"Not sure how well your powers would mesh with that kind of thing."
"True, still could have been fun to try. New Wave is out because I don't want to paint a target on you, as I said. Pretending to not have powers is probably out as well, if anything else I suspect that I will need more than incidental contact with other parahumans. Which generally leaves being an independent or joining the Wards."
"That sounds about right. What are your thoughts on those?"
"Well, if I go independent then I have no real parahuman support structure, would have to actively look for other parahumans to satisfy my snark, and as a consequence would likely end up in a lot of dangerous situations or, in effect, doing my best to hang out with the Wards. The Wards would give me the support structure and I would automatically be around them fairly often, likely beyond what I could accomplish on my own."
"Not to mention you could meet Armsmaster and Miss Militia, amongst others."
"Trying not to let my inner fangirl influence the decision."
"Right, right."
"You just want me to join the Wards, don't you?"
"Mostly because I think it is the safest option for you right now."
"Well, there we have it. I was leaning that way, you are leaning that way. Why are we discussing it again?"
"To make sure we are on the same page and understand each other?"
"Well, since that is out of the way, I might want to come up with a cape name. Any ideas?"
They would spend a couple of hours discussing possible names from the mundane to the ridiculous and a number in-between. They came up with nothing they were happy with, or thought that the PRT would be happy with, but it helped pass the time.
Uncle Jacob had called and said he would be bringing a slightly late lunch. True to that he showed up with a bag full of subs and chips, a six-pack of soda bottles, and a box he said was for after lunch.
Over lunch they discussed little things of no real consequence to cape dealings. Apparently the news, which Taylor and Danny had not been watching but that Jacob had listened to in the car, was reporting that Winslow may never reopen and that students likely needed to be moved to other schools in the meantime. Apparently the attempt to clean up the 'biohazard spill' had revealed exposed asbestos behind the lockers, which led to a revelation that the building's foundation was damaged due to a minor sinkhole under it.
After lunch the box was placed on the table, and Uncle Jacob paused before opening. "First up, did you two come to a decision regarding what to do going forward?"
"We think I should join the Wards," Taylor answered. "If nothing else that will ensure I don't have issues with having to go hunting for parahumans to be around."
"Good, good," Jacob said. He then opened the box and pulled out two smaller boxes, handing one to each of the other two. "After some discussion with Danny I took the liberty of purchasing a cell phone for each of you. These in particular are now paired and can be used to locate each other, as well as provide information on the last twenty-four hours of location data. Note that if either phone is used for that purpose an alert will come up on the other, offering the option of denying permission, and it will take half an hour for permission to be automatically granted. The PRT, Protectorate, and police all have codes that can be entered that will bypass that time period."
"These look a bit more expensive than I was thinking," Danny said, looking at the box with a 'D' on it. Taylor's had a 'T'. "I am not sure how long it will take me to pay you back."
"You won't be," Jacob said. "These are a gift, from me. The service on them has been pre-paid for the next five years." That was a lie, technically they were being paid monthly from his PRT account. He wasn't telling them that, though. "I ensured that they have a number of contacts entered ahead of time, including the landline here and the other cell phone, plus my cell phone. I also have an easily installed car kit ready to install in your car, Danny, and we can work on installing that in a bit."
"Jacob," Danny tried, only to get a glare. After a moment he sighed. "I guess I deserve that, given that I kept ignoring your calls and letters."
"Right. Now pull those out of their boxes and I will help you set up the security on them," Jacob said, pulling his own phone of the same model out so he could show them where things were.
Twenty minutes later both had set up passwords, screen locks, fingerprint checks, iris checks, and their voicemail. He trusted that neither of them had enough knowledge of smartphones to realize that some of that was because these had tinkertech included. He also had provided each with a nearly stealth earpiece that they paired to their phones, admitting that these were tinkertech and that Taylor would be able to pair hers to both this phone and the phone they would issue her in the Wards.
He also showed, but did not yet go to install, the car kit that would show who was calling, provide a couple of basic controls on the steering wheel, and could be used instead of the earpiece. The earpiece would, however, be more private if Danny had passengers he didn't want hearing both sides of the conversation. The installation would be a bit complicated as it would need to be attached to the radio and a couple other points, but Jacob insisted that he was up to the task.
"Next up we have the paperwork needed to join the Wards," Jacob said, pulling out a thick stack of paper and then removing the top third. Taylor was dismayed that she was handed the bottom two-thirds. "Yea, the stack I kept is for registering as an independent parahuman."
Taylor was then left to start looking through the forms while Jacob and Danny went to install the car kit. The first few were easy, basic information including her name, her father's name, their address, phone numbers (she had to double-check her new phone for its number and her father's new number), dates of birth, social security numbers, etc. A couple covered a basic description of her powers and any requirements she was aware of, though indicated that formal power testing would be required to establish official ratings.
She got to skip a dozen forms for "established" parahumans joining the Wards as she was not, according to the definition on the first of them, considered "established". She did have to fill out a form indicating that Panacea had informed her of her parahuman status and the approximate date of trigger event, though no description of the trigger event was asked for.
She set several forms aside that needed her father to fill in details or sign and moved into what was apparently the "branding" section of forms, required for those not already established with an existing cape identity. Oh, or for those that wanted or were being required to re-brand. The first couple asked about preferred names, another basic description of her power for purposes of branding (and stating that she could exclude anything she didn't want branding to know about). She filled out the correct forms based on their descriptions and, where available, included checklists. This included filling out that she had no specific costume or cape name preference. She set the pile of specific forms she didn't need aside.
She absently noticed Jacob moving away from the house with her snark sense, possibly leaving with her father to ensure that the car kit was working correctly.
Next up were a pile of combination waivers and permission forms, some required, others optional. She filled in and signed the required ones where she could, all of them going into the pile for her father to look at afterward as her signature either wasn't required or wasn't enough on all of them. She then flipped through the optional ones, which included participation in non-local Endbringer fights (local was a required one, even if only as part of crowd control in the shelters). That was actually split into "in region", "in country", and "international" categories. She didn't think that she wanted to be anywhere near the Endbringers unless they came to her, though, so put the entire stack in the "unneeded and/or used but not to be turned in" pile. No need to even show them to her father, really.
She then found the forms for "parahuman community service trips" where she could go on trips for varying lengths of time where her powers could be helpful elsewhere. She thought that might be neat, though she wasn't sure if it would happen. Like the Endbringer forms these had different categories, she filled them all out and put them in a new "to discuss" pile. The similar forms for "cross-region training trips" were filled out and added to the same pile.
She was just making it to the last group of forms when she was surprised by a beeping in her ear. It took her a minute to realize it was her new phone ringing, at which point she tapped the multipurpose button on the earpiece.
"Hello?" Taylor said, hoping she had this right.
"Hey kiddo," Danny's voice came through loud and clear. "We have the car kit working, tuned, and all that."
"That's good. This is going to take some getting used to, I think."
"That it will. Jacob noticed that we have no ice cream in the house and we are picking some up. Any flavor preference?"
"How about double chocolate chunk?"
"Alright. See you soon."
"Bye." The earpiece beeped, indicating the call had ended. Yep, that was going to be weird for a bit.
Taylor went back to the forms and found that the last bit was actually a single longer form. Reading through she found it was a non-disclosure agreement, covering all Wards and Protectorate identities that she may become or made aware of. It didn't name anyone by name, intended to be a blanket agreement. Which made sense, given the number of individual agreements that would otherwise be needed. She read through the entire thing and signed at the end, apparently with wonderful timing as Uncle Jacob's snark just appeared on the edge of her range.
She dropped the NDA into the pile for her father to look over and stood up, stretching from having sat there for so long going over the paperwork. She made an effort to pocket the phone that had been sitting on the table and wandered into the kitchen to get a glass of water.
A couple minutes later the front door opened and her father came in, followed by Uncle Jacob. They quickly put the shopping they had brought in away, and Taylor pointed her father at the pile of paperwork he had to look over. She figured she would let him decide which, if any, of the community service/cross training forms to sign.
"Before you get into that," Jacob said as Danny went to start working on the paperwork. "I have something I want to talk with the two of you about."
Taylor sat down with her glass and nodded to her uncle.
"The two of you are aware that Bonesaw is an associate of mine," Jacob continued. "If you are willing to trade civilian identities I can have her come and visit. Two of her major non-slaughterhouse activities are assisting those who have been severely injured and granting otherwise normal people enhancements. For example, she has given me a few extras." He demonstrated this by lifting their couch without any apparent effort, something that shocked both Taylor and Danny. "I think Taylor could benefit from something similar. And before you ask, these would likely be officially off the books. They need not be reported as they are not a result of Taylor's powers."
"This would increase her ability to stay safe, right?" Danny asked. It was obvious that was the metric he was using as a baseline for a lot of decisions lately.
"It would," Jacob admitted. "If only because nobody will expect her to have the boosts. Also, if her power is in fact like mine, being stronger means that she will be able to hit harder with it. Otherwise any hit with her power would be the same as if she, right now, struck someone."
"You said Bonesaw doesn't need to inflict pain for things she already knows, right?" Taylor asked.
"That is correct," Jacob answered. "In fact, when she last worked on me I came out feeling better than when I went in."
"I'm ok with it if you are," Taylor said, turning to her father. He sighed and just nodded.
"Alright, I'll give her a call," Jacob said, pulling his phone out and heading for the living room. "Hopefully she isn't too busy and can come before we want to submit the paperwork to the PRT."
"Why would it matter that we get it done before the paperwork is submitted?" Danny wondered, reaching to pick up the first form on the stack for him to review.
"Probably the form that says once you join the Wards you need to have things like that approved," Taylor said. "I think that is five or six forms down in your stack."
"That is disturbingly logical," Danny admitted after a moment of thought. Then he sighed and started reading through the form he was holding.
It turned out that Bonesaw would be able to visit in two days, but it would be the day after that the work was done. Further, this was being arranged by the PRT as a way of getting Panacea to look at some things that Bonesaw could do, so there would be no questions of why Bonesaw was here.
Which brought up that, amazingly enough, Panacea was the only cape other than Taylor that lived in Brockton Bay and was aware of the truth of the Slaughterhouse Nine. In fact, until Taylor and Danny were informed no other person of any description living in Brockton Bay was officially in the know. Technically, by the NDAs, Panacea was still the only one officially in the know, actually.
The fact that Taylor would be serving as a "parahuman volunteer already read into the true purpose of the Slaughterhouse Nine" and not actually named was Jacob's method of min-maxing loopholes. Jacob had been careful to ensure that no mention of the individual being officially informed and having a signed NDA on file was included because neither Taylor or Danny met those criteria. Due to the wording of Jacob's contracts that didn't matter for the purposes of the visit, though. As such, anyone who found the paperwork and went looking for who Bonesaw had "improved" would be looking in the wrong places. They hoped, anyway.
Jacob was annoyed that he had failed to get Danny listed as a "non-parahuman volunteer already read into the true purpose of the Slaughterhouse Nine" though. Apparently those authorizing the trip only cared about what Bonesaw could do to a parahuman this time around.
Starting the process of joining the Wards would happen a little over a week later, if you didn't count some of the "get it out of the way" stuff they were going to do in advance. Such as taking advantage of Panacea's presence to have her run Taylor through a PRT-approved physical.
Most of this was relayed over dinner, where Taylor was instructed to eat as much as she could until after the procedure at a minimum.
After dessert Jacob showed Taylor how she could use her cell phone as an internet connection for her aging desktop computer, something he said she probably shouldn't mention to her father. She took advantage of this almost immediately, checking the local news first to read up on what was going on with Winslow. Which turned out to be pretty much what Jacob had already told them. She then decided that, as a parahuman, she should be keeping up on the goings-on at PHO.
It had nothing to do with anything else, really. Probably. Yea, nobody is believing that excuse. She is still sticking with that story.
Some quick checks and she found that the only thing of interest in Brockton Bay since she had last visited the site was Winslow's closing. There were a lot of insane theories, including parahuman involvement in placing the asbestos (which was apparently known to be there, just not known to be exposed, throwing that theory out) and that a parahuman had been responsible for the sinkhole. Oddly nobody was blaming a parahuman for the supposed 'biohazard spill'.
No, wait, that apparently had a dedicated thread. Nevermind.
She spent another hour poking around online before deciding she should get ready for bed. She almost forgot to remove the earpiece, but seeing the little charging cradle for it next to the one for her new phone was enough of a reminder.