Devilfish:Ashton PRT
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Devilfish:Ashton, Washington is home to the second-largest Devilfish:PRT department in the state, after the Seattle office. With ten PRT squads, it along with the Devilfish:Portland PRT is responsible for all operations in southwest Washington.
History
Like many of the original PRT departments, the branch has its origins as a field office of the former PPAC. While Seattle was home to the PPAC's official field office, due to an early influx of capes a satellite office was opened at the Devilfish:University of Ashton in order to research and study the local parahumans. When the PPAC transitioned to a paramilitary organization, the Ashton lab was spun off as its own independent department.
Like most of the new PRT departments, Ashton took the controversial step of federalizing the local Parahuman Crime division of the Ashton Police Department. This, along with resources transferred from the FBI and Washington State Patrol, resulted in an early staff of about twenty.
Perhaps due to their origins as a research facility, Ashton elected in 1987 to join a pilot program creating local hero teams, becoming one of the original seven cities of the Devilfish:Protectorate. This first team was headed by local hero Devilfish:Cogknight out of a former APD precinct office near the Ashton Boardwalk (the site of which is the current Protectorate Headquarters).
While the Devilfish:New York Protectorate is today credited with the expansive marketing efforts the PRT undertakes, Ashton was also an early experimenter in the then-unconventional marketing strategy. The TV program Devilfish:Troops shot their groundbreaking first season in Ashton, with camera crews following both the Protectorate and the PRT officers that assisted them. Between Ashton and New York's efforts, the public perception of parahumanity was pushed positive and allowed the flood of PRT and Protectorate expansion that occurred in the 90s.
However, the department has not been free of controversy. In 1996, the Devilfish:SWORDFISH initiative uncovered corruption in the leadership of the department, which resulted in racketeering convictions of the Operations Deputy Director and several officers under his command. More recently, in early 2018 many low-level members of the department were found to be moles for local villains, most notably the Devilfish:Cult of Paracelsus. This resulted in summary dismissal of the entire leadership and a thorough vetting of existing and future employees.
Staff
Ashton has a sizable staff on payroll due to the nature of cape crime in the city. Nationally, the department is lead by Chief Director Jennifer Allen, and regionally Ashton is under the supervision of Deputy Operations Director Jarrett Hibbert from the Devilfish:San Fransisco regional office.
In total, there are approximately two hundred PRT employees in Ashton, not counting the parahuman employees under the Protectorate and related organizations. About half of these are members of the Operations division, the so-called "boots on the ground" of the PRT.
Operations Roster
Facilities
The PRT maintains three main facilities throughout the city of Ashton, as listed below:
PRT Headquarters (PRTHQ)
The PRT Headquarters (HQ or PRTHQ) is located in the heart of downtown Ashton. This location serves as the command and control center for all PRT and hero operations throughout the city. Due to its status as a mostly-administrative facility, it doesn't see much tourism besides those heading to its ground-floor gift shop.
The PRTHQ is a ten-story tower opened in 1996. Due to a surplus of space, the PRT leases out several of the floors to other agencies. It is officially known as the Lauren Acevedo Federal Building, after an Ashton PRT officer who was killed in the line of duty shortly before the building opened.
Protectorate Headquarters (PHQ)
The Protectorate Headquarters (PHQ) is located on the western side of Ashton, and is the primary location for the local Protectorate team. A three-building compound in secured area. The main building is five stories tall and is home to Protectorate Forces while the other two are dedicated to administrative and recreational purposes for the city's heroes. In the center of the courtyard centered within a stone circle is a statue dedicated to its founding. This is by far the most popular of the PRT facilities, with the Image divsion running regular tours.
The site was originally an APD precinct station which was purchased by the PRT in 1987. The facility suffered severe damage during the Devilfish:Endbringer attack in 1992, and was completely razed and rebuilt in the recovery.
Wards Headquarters (WHQ)
The Wards Headquarters (WHQ), operated to the east of downtown on the Devilfish:University campus. Although no longer used by the Devilfish:Wards, this facility (like the PHQ) is still used extensively by the PRT for their operations, and acts as a "Precinct HQ" for this section of the city. The Wards themselves train and operate with their elders at the PHQ.
The WHQ is the oldest PRT facility in Ashton, as it served as the original PPAC research laboratory which later became the Ashton PRT. In 1996 after the PRTHQ was opened downtown, the majority of the building was signed over to the Wards, as it was deemed that the low-crime area around the University would prove safer. However in 2018 it was decided to transfer the team to the PHQ.
Other Facilities
A small gift shop is operated at the Devilfish:Fair Pines Mall west of downtown. In a few cases, it's served as an adhoc holding cell while reinforcements showed up from downtown.
Finally, the forests east of the city are home to a small section owned by the PRT, reserved for practicing the more-destructive abilities and other things they'd rather the public not see. The Wards have their annual campout there every summer.