A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay 70: interlude (Patreon)

A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay

Chapter 70: Interlude PRT/Protectorate ENE

-VB-

Director James Tagg

He did not think Rabbit would go ballistic over a mere hour of waiting. PRT’s profile on the independent hero, fact-checked and added to by WATCHDOG Thinkers and regular analysts alike, and the PRT personnel and Protectorate ENE heroes all agreed that Rabbit was a calm and patient man.

What he had intended to do by making him wait was to get the point across that PRT as a whole does not appreciate any parahumans going out of their way to cause chaos in the scale that Rabbit did by bisecting the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Though most people did not realize it because there was media censure on the matter, Rabbit’s battle with the Slaughterhouse Nine resulted in one of the biggest non-Endbringer-related cape movement, outshadowing even the “Coalition” that came in the defense of Panacea earlier this year.

The Coalition… It was an abnormal event even by PRT’s standard. Capes just didn’t congregate together outside of their organizations for multiple reasons. They certainly didn’t move to defend someone who wasn’t part of that organization. Maybe one would. Maybe a couple.

Not several dozens.

The Caerbannog Night, as the internet was starting to call Rabbit’s “hunt” of the Nine, caused nearly fifty capes from the region to enter Massachusetts backwoods to find and kill the last of the Nine’s members that Rabbit failed to kill before his retreat.

On just the first day.

That number climbed to nearly a hundred as even capes as far as Albany and Syracuse came in to try to cut off the Nine’s escape. An unprecedented dozen Thinkers were employed by various organizations. The Elite wrangled two of their branches to work together, and they nearly killed Crawler by employing some kind of Tinker weapon that disrupted biological regeneration.

Oh, and Jack Slash wasn’t dead. That was a gut punch to many but what soothed the ache that fact caused was that Jack had half of his brain removed, and couldn’t fight back properly. The fact that the Nine didn’t kill him off when they killed off former members who weren’t as hurt as him led credence to Rabbit’s theory of Jack Slash’s underlying power.

That was something that unnerved a lot of people. After all, if a Master like Jack Slash who was in the limelight and spotlight so often could so easily hide their power, then just how many more capes were Masters and just hiding it?

In Tagg’s mind, this also put Rabbit into question as well. How did someone who came out of nowhere get two different mobilizations of capes? The Coalition and the Hunt for the Nine had widely differing causes, and frankly could not have happened without external driving forces. The capes involved were also not all related to each event. Not all capes who partook in the Coalition took in the Hunt.

But they did all meet during the Endbringer Battle in Brockton Bay.

In his eyes, that sounded like Rabbit himself was capable of Mastering people like how Valefor of the Fallen worked.

Making Rabbit wait was to see if he might have a power like that.

Instead, what happened was a small PR problem.

“It is not a small problem, director,” Dragon, who helped PRT with digital solutions, spoke up.

He looked up.

“What do you mean?” he asked her. With him in the current meeting was the better spoken half of the Protectorate ENE and most of the senior ranking members of PRT ENE.

“Currently, videos related to Rabbit’s formal complaint submission request have reached seven million cumulative views in the past two days.”

“... So?” he asked. “It’s just videos and views.”

“Director, the governor of New Hampshire is a fan of New Wave, and he saw the video. He has been extremely vocal about your sudden appearance and ‘meddling of affairs’ in Grapevine posts.”

Ugh, fucking Grapevine. It was a society-ruining website where rumors of all kinds ran rampant, but the fact that officials and influencers could get acknowledged with a purple check in front of their name made it popular with younger generations.

His daughter wouldn’t shut up about it.

“So?” he asked again.

“There is a very high chance that this will soon become a political issue that brings PRT’s trustworthiness into question.”

He narrowed his eyes. “If idiots decide to conflate the issue, then that’s not my problem.”

“Director, while Grapevine itself is not an issue, it tends to become mainstream media’s focal point when controversial subjects reach mass media. Due to its simplistic nature and ease of access where anyone could say anything, it creates a polarization effect in viewers who do not get the full picture of the situation at hand, and sometimes even when the full picture is available,” she explained. “While this may not affect PRT immediately, it will cause future capes to distance themselves from PRT in fear that they, who are weaker than someone like Rabbit, might be left with the bag and unable to fight back against injustice.”

“So what? People are already predisposed and won’t change their mind? That’s nothing different from old TV and radio news,” he snapped.

“Sir, if I may…” Miss Militia spoke up.

He liked Miss Militia. She was a firm hero who understood that there was an order to all things. She didn’t have to like it like he didn’t appreciate many of his orders, but she carried it out just as he did.

“Go ahead.”

“There are multiple ways we can solve this issue. We can state that it just took a longer time than we thought for the payout to come and you were upset by something else.”

“PRT is not incompetent, and I will not suggest otherwise,” he told her.

She nodded. “Then we could silently give Rabbit his bounty money and remain silent on the matter. Social media tends to forget about the second latest news because the latest news will always grab more attention, and there will always be something new each week if not each day.”

“... And other options?”

“We can ask Rabbit to speak out in our favor. Though he may have been belligerent with us, sir, from his perspective, there was reason to do so. So if someone else were to ask with your assurance that you will try to be more cordial next time, then he will be very likely to act in our defense.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I like the second more than this.”

“It … would ensure that he works with us in the future instead of going off on his own as he will be more likely to listen to us if we give him even an inkling of apology.”

“Fine. Any other option you can think of?”

“... we can contact New Wave’s leader, Lady Photon, to speak up in our favor. Doing so would inevitably cause issues within New Wave but the muddled message from two sources within New Wave will also defuse the situation. However, I highly suggest against this as not only will other organizations see this, there will be members of our organization that will see this.” He noted that she specifically said members instead of capes or heroes. “Furthermore, this is a move that will ensure that none of New Wave will work with us in the future unless absolutely necessary.”

He grunted. “So a stupid move.”

“Yes… but one that PRT has used before.”

He frowned as he tried to remember…

“Ah. You’re talking about Uppermost.”

Uppermost was Elite’s former name and structure. This was before his time within PRT.

“Yes, sir.”

“Yeah, no. I’m not that aggressive or stupid. Pissing on Uppermost was not the way to go about that,” he snarked. He turned to look at the rest of the people in the room. “Does anyone else have suggestions and recommendations?”

There were.

And at the end of it…

“... Yes, this is my mistake,” Tagg gritted out, realizing that there wasn’t a good way out of this. “Let’s just deal with it as silently as possible.” And hope that some other scandal will come about.

And a new scandal did pop up. Something about a sex scandal involving a state senator and his half-sister…

-VB-

Director Emily Piggot

When she heard the news from the PRT (because she was still its director and Tagg was only here temporarily), she wanted to get out of her chair and strangle Tagg.

Why did he needlessly create problems for her?!

Just because the world forgot it didn’t mean that the capes didn’t! Those parasitic, vindictive assholes were going to hold it over her head once he’s gone.

Rabbit and New Wave were going to be insufferable once she took back the position, and it would be expected of her to soothe the ruffled feathers that Tagg caused.

She sighed as she crashed back into her chair.

What was it about Brockton Bay that caused so much headaches? Was there something in the water that made everyone hostile and prickly?

She paused.

She wasn’t that prickly herself, was she?

… No, she was just a product of all of the bullshit she had to deal with.

-VB-

Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown

She wanted to throttle Tagg.

The PRT was not the IRS. The latter was a necessity of governance but the former was a luxury that could be overturned if enough people got pissed.

And not paying out the Slaughterhouse Nine bounty promptly and on time was a way not only to have the organization’s trustworthiness questioned but also piss off everyone who survived a Slaughterhouse Nine attack.

Like now.

“Senator McKinsey, I understand your … position in this matter,” she spoke without even a hint of emotion. “But this is still an internal matter. The bounty itself has already been paid out the moment I caught wind of it.”

The elderly statesman, one of the few who was (somehow) able to keep himself clean in this wretched world, tutted. “It shouldn’t have had to reach your ears in the first place,” he replied with a smile that made all of his wrinkles stretch. “I know that you’re in a lot of pressure right now, chief director, and I’m trying to help you out right now. My colleagues and the people will feel better once they have a better civilian oversight.”

Yeah, right. The last civilian oversight that the government forced on the PRT was the Youth Guard, and they were frustrating to deal with on a good day and nightmarish whenever a kid got so much as a scratch.

Outside of Brockton Bay, of course.

Something about that city warped people, even the zealous Youth Guard.

“Oversight of a similar nature as the Youth Guard will only add more red tape, senator. It is not necessary and will be even detrimental to PRT’s functionality for me to allow more oversight. We are already bogged down by red tape as it is to the point that we are called incompetent.”

Yes, the PRT was not incompetent. An organization of this size and scale might have a few bad apples, sure. It might even have many bad apples. But incompetence? Not yet.

“... I do not think a lack of oversight will be something the public will accept, chief director,” the senator replied with a sad smile as if he was the one hurt by this. “Not after Director Tagg’s indiscretion.”

Rebecca thought about it.

“Then we will simply have to cut him out before he can taint the rest of the PRT,” she replied decisively. “I won’t risk the entire PRT for the sake of a director who broke the people’s trust.”

She was more than happy to burn a director if it meant that the PRT would achieve the previous status quo.