Author's note: And the sequel finally arrives. Anyone who hasn't read Heroes Don't Always Wear Spandex, don't start here. You'll just be confused.

The Wearing Of Masks

SPD burned.

As an opening shot in the Meta War, it was about the most effective thing anyone could have done. Seeing SPD—the most powerful institution on the face of the planet—burning to the ground sent the civilians into panic while letting every Meta on the planet know that the war had come.

Isaac Mendez had been painting the war for five years. The Department of Meta Affairs, under Nathan Petrelli, had been founded in part to stop it. SPD themselves had been trying to prevent it, first from Earth and then, following Doggie Cruger's promotion, from Central Command. But even with all of their efforts, the war would not be averted. Delayed, yes, altered almost out of recognition, yes, but not stopped.

SPD's commander had time for one message, a scream for help from anyone who could hear. Central Command picked up the message and immediately dispatched every fighter they had on hand. SPD outposts around the universe sent manpower. And around the United States, five emergency beacons screamed and were answered.

All too late.

The five ex-members of B Squad, retired now for almost a year, found each other outside the ambulance where SPD's Earth Rangers were being treated. Sam, pale and shell shocked but mostly unhurt, had latched onto Z as soon as she'd arrived; he wasn't actually touching her, but was very firmly staying at her elbow. His team leader, still wearing the remains of her uniform—Sam was, too, but the green stripes had been smudged into grey by smoke and ash—was standing in the doorway of the ambulance, watching the remains of her team being treated. She looked much smaller than the last time Z had seen her, and she barely seemed to notice when Sky took her arm and eased her to one side so the ambulance could leave.

Bridge had gotten there before anyone, had been pulling cadets out until the firefighters had to pull him out, and now he was leaning against one of the few still-standing walls, coughing helplessly. The paramedics had checked him out—smoke inhalation, burns on his hands where he'd had to discard his gloves, cuts and bruising along one side where a support beam had fallen on him. Syd was hovering over him, offering her bottle of water every time he stopped coughing; he took it obediently each time, but the bandages on his hands made it hard to manage and any attempt at swallowing brought on another coughing fit anyway.

"Sam," Z said softly. "What's her name?"

Sam blinked. He was mildly dazed, but he didn't bother asking for clarification. "Nova."

"Nova?" Z repeated.

"She loves astronomy. She wanted to be posted to one of the outer planets."

"She still can, Sam," Z reminded him.

Sam's eyes, when he looked at her, were far too old for her liking. "SPD fell on her watch and half her team's out of action. Nova's never being reassigned anywhere. She'll never be a Ranger again."

Nova was standing behind Sam when Z looked up, but there was no anger or resentment in her eyes; only a terrible kind of resignation. Somehow that was even worse, and Z found herself on her feet and walking away without thinking about it.

Jack jogged across the road to meet her; there was a smudge of soot on his arm, a burn on his wrist and a fresh graze on his cheek. Jack had been looking for survivors long after the firefighters had declared it unsafe.

"DC's guys are gonna take everyone back to Central," he told her.

Z nodded, glancing at the huddled group of cadets and instructors. Even from here, she could tell there were far fewer than there should have been. "Jack…"

"Don't think about it," he advised her. "Think about what we're gonna do to this guy when we get him."

Z nodded. None of them doubted that a Meta had done this; the only doubt was could they stop him, if they could even find him. And if this was the start of the war Peter Petrelli had predicted, which side had just attacked them?

And all the time, above them, SPD burned.

In the year and a half since Nathan Petrelli had wandered through SPD and turned it upside down, Kat had come to appreciate something she'd been told then; that Peter Petrelli turned destiny on its' head without even trying.

As SPD's unofficial contact in the DMA—they had an official one, too, but he never learned anything from them—Peter had been in and out of SPD almost at will, usually accompanied by Matt and generally escorted within the grounds by Bridge. He tended to manage, without even trying, to be present when important things happened.

Like six months after Grumm's defeat, when Commander Birdie called to tell them he was retiring…and promoting Cruger to Head of SPD in his place.

To Kat, the move smelt of politics; even after settling their differences, Cruger and Birdie had never gotten on, each too set in his ways. But Cruger, who'd led his team to victory over Grumm and The Magnificence, carried more weight within SPD than anyone else. Maybe Birdie had simply bowed to the inevitable.

Or maybe, she thought, watching Peter congratulate Doggie, maybe he was bowed. It was uncanny how unnoticeable Peter had become; no one was ever surprised to see him anywhere on base, including sections that should have been off limits to him—although he always left when asked to, at least.

Doggie had taken Kat with him, promising her that this time, she could get her hands as dirty as she wanted. His last official act as Earth's Commander had been to promote Boom to Kat's old position; without crises to fluster him Boom did admirably well, regularly calling her with ideas for upgrades or completely new devices.

Unfortunately, his call two months after the mass promotions hadn't been so happy. Like yesterday, she could remember the fear in his voice when he reported Sky had been attacked, and the seemingly endless list of his injuries.

Kat and Isinia had been on a shuttle within ten minutes. Doggie, trapped by his responsibilities, listened and worried from Command HQ.

The new Earth Commander—Kerovan, she thought, or maybe Eltaran—had replaced or shuffled a lot of the staff, and Kat spent twenty minutes arguing over whether or not she was even allowed to look at Sky's chart. Z solved the problem by walking past, snatching the chart, dismissing the nurse before she could complain, and passing it to Kat without stopping or even slowing down.

Sky hovered near death for four days; long enough for his mother to be notified, for quiet words about wills and last wishes. When he opened his eyes to Syd it was brushed off as wishful thinking, at first, until he did it again while Kat was standing over him.

His hip was the biggest concern, once he woke up. It was crushed, and even after surgery he needed extensive rehabilitation. Which should have been no problem; the best medics on twenty planets worked for SPD. Unfortunately, the fussy little Eltaran had, for reasons unknown, decided that the best thing to do was dismiss Sky, leaving him totally unable to get the help he needed—though Peter offered it, and was refused. Even injured, Sky had no wish to be indebted to Nathan Petrelli or the DMA.

B Squad, or what remained of it, had threatened to leave if Sky wasn't reinstated. Their Commander, who really should have known better, had called their bluff, and they'd walked. Boom, Sam, and most of SPD had been ready to follow them; some hasty negotiation on Kat's part had prevented that just in time. Cruger did his best, but by that stage Sky wanted no part of an organization that would turn its back on its own, and the others refused to return without him. Cruger couldn't overturn the dismissal—he couldn't overrule internal matters—but he could and did increase their pensions, making sure Sky got the help he needed.

As though it had been an omen, Earth's SPD was suddenly unable to keep Rangers; they were promoted, or quit, or were injured and had to be taken off duty. The longest anyone had held the position now was three months, and that was Sam's squad, currently serving. Still too young, but luckily untested—Earth hadn't been attacked since Grumm had been defeated.

Until Earth's Commander had appeared on HQ's screens, screaming for help…and once again, Kat found herself in a shuttle, hastening towards Earth. This time Doggie was with her, silently looming behind the cadet assigned to fly them, tension all but visible in the air around them.

SPD was visible from space, or close enough, still burning fiercely even three hours after the attack. They'd been in touch with Jack, who was on the ground, and knew that the five ex-members of B Squad—including Sky—had returned to help; that something just over half the cadets and staff had been rescued, Boom included but not the Commander; and that it was now a total loss. Nothing else would be salvaged, the fire burning too hot for anything to remain.

Jack met them when the shuttle landed, quickly running through what had happened with Doggie. Kat ignored the recitation, scanning the area quickly. It was early morning, here—a shock to her system, coming from late afternoon at HQ—and the area was eerily lit by the fires behind them. The firefighters had given up on the building, concentrating on making sure the flames didn't spread instead. Though that didn't really seem to be a danger; the base was set far away from other buildings anyway, and the fire wasn't spreading as they'd expected it to.

Z was standing nearby, talking to Sky. Or at least, at Sky; Kat didn't think he was listening much. Syd and Bridge were just beyond them, Bridge staring at his bandaged hands, Syd prattling nervously in his ear without getting or looking for a response. Sam sat on Bridge's other side, filthy but obviously unhurt, and his team leader, the girl Nova, was standing with her back to him, face blank as she stared at the ambulances. As Kat watched, Sky stepped around Z and gently pulled Nova out of the way as the ambulances left.

Z watched for a moment before crouching to talk to Sam; Sky deposited Nova behind them, startling Z when she turned, and she headed away across the road. Jack excused himself to Cruger and chased after her, drawing her into a huddle in the nearest out-of-the-way spot, talking quickly and urgently.

Doggie paced up to her, hands clasped behind his back. "We are preparing to remove the survivors to headquarters," he told her. Kat nodded absently, still watching B Squad.

"What's the count?"

Doggie growled before answering. "We have lost almost half our personnel."

"Half?" Kat breathed. "Doggie…"

"Every outpost in the galaxy is sending manpower. We will rebuild."

"What about them?" Kat gestured towards Sam and Nova. The girl still didn't seem to fully realise where she was or what was happening.

Boom stumbled up to them before Doggie could answer. Never exactly ruddy, he was now deathly pale and, like everyone else, covered in grime.

"Boom." Kat laid a hand on his arm. "Are you ok?"

"What?" Boom's voice was too loud, and he looked oddly dazed. "I can't hear you!"

"Boom was down in the labs," Z explained as she joined them. Behind her, Jack was heading towards Sky. "There were some explosions when the fire reached chemical storage, he and a couple cadets were temporarily deafened. He's been checked out, though."

"What?" Boom said again.

"You're ok!" Z said loudly, and he nodded quickly.

"Yeah! Commander…" He looked at Doggie. "DMA representatives just arrived!"

"DMA?" Z repeated, frowning. "Why would they be here? As far as they know there's only Sam still here."

"Because everyone knows we've been working with them," Kat pointed out. "Boom, who…Boom!"

"What?" Boom jerked, startled. "I can't hear you!"

"We know. Who's here?"

Boom shook his head helplessly and Z repeated the question, louder. "Oh! Peter and Matt. Hiro brought them, but he didn't stay."

Kat's attention was caught by Jack and Sky, arguing loudly. Boom, who couldn't hear them, continued, "Nathan's ready to send anything else we need. Medical help or manpower to rebuild or whatever."

"We need no help from Nathan Petrelli," Cruger said. "Where is Peter?"

Boom frowned. "Where's Peter?—they're over there." He gestured towards the cadets, still waiting patiently to be taken to headquarters.

Doggie headed in that direction; Kat went towards Jack and Sky, who'd progressed past yelling to shoving. Boom, finally realising something was wrong, followed her. Z and Syd were already trying to break them up; Bridge, still unsteady on his feet, was leaning on Sam's shoulder, watching the fight. Nova stood next to him, eyes still blank.

"Stop!" Kat yelled, catching Jack's arm and heaving him away. Z stepped in front of him, blocking him from getting back to Sky, and Syd slipped in front of Sky. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing." Sky shook off Syd's restraining hand, taking a step backwards. "We're done. I'm leaving."

"Sky…"

"I'm leaving, Kat," he repeated evenly, and after a moment she nodded.

"Ok, Sky. Keep in touch?"

Sky laughed, but there was no humour in the sound. "Yeah. I'll do that."

"Sky," Syd protested, but he'd already turned away and was gone.

Bridge swayed, leaning suddenly harder on Sam, and Jack moved to steady him. Kat realised for the first time that his gloves were gone, replaced by bandages that didn't cover enough of his hands to be safe, and that he was probably as sick from the emotions swirling around him as from his injuries. "Bridge?"

Bridge broke into a coughing fit but waved her off when she went to check on him, pantomiming that he was ok. The girls took over from Jack and Sam, steering him to sit on the nearest intact wall and watching him warily.

"He rescued Boom," Jack told her. "He breathed in all the chemicals down there. But he's gonna be ok."

"The same chemicals that deafened Boom?" Kat asked, more sharply than she'd meant.

"Yeah." If Jack was bothered by her tone, he didn't show it. "Heads up," he added a moment later.

"Heads…"

Kat cut herself off as Peter Petrelli stepped into her peripheral vision, looking beyond her at the fire. "Wow," he murmured, studying it for a long moment before turning to look at her. "Dr Manx."

"Mr Petrelli," she answered, nodding at Matt as he joined them. Once Matt had been Nathan's bodyguard. After Peter's first abduction, almost five years ago, he'd been reassigned as Peter's but maintained the illusion of protecting Nathan. In the last year that had ceased; he only ever worked for Peter now, while Nathan went through bodyguards at a steady pace. He was a hard man to deal with on a regular basis; only Mohinder Suresh, his advisor, had stayed with him for any length since Matt left.

"Mr Petrelli." Peter laughed softly. "Peter, please."

"Peter," she agreed, looking around for Doggie.

"He's over with the cadets," Peter told her. "Dr Manx, he won't accept any help from us. Can you…"

"SPD takes care of its' own," Jack said from Kat's other side.

Peter looked around her at Jack, eyebrows raised. "SPD's ashes."

"SPD Earth is burnt," Jack corrected him.

"The off-planet offices will step in." Kat was deliberately vague; Peter, and the DMA, had absolutely no jurisdiction within SPD and had no reason to know how it was organized. "There's people on the way right now, and we're taking the displaced cadets and instructors back to headquarters."

Peter nodded as though he'd known that, reaching out of habit to brush away the bangs he no longer wore. "Ok. What about you, Jack? I mean, your team? I know Syd and Z don't live in town, at least. The DMA has offices and housing here, we could put them up."

"They can stay with me," Jack said instinctively.

Matt shook his head. "Your shelter's full, Jack. You have people sleeping on the floor. There's only a housekeeper and one worker in the DMA office, it's no bother to put your people up."

"Kat!" Boom said suddenly, still overloud. "I'm going to stay here! They think we might be able to get back in later this morning, we need to see if there's anything left. Or if we can find out who did this."

"You should go back to headquarters," Kat said half-heartedly. Boom didn't hear her—or pretended he hadn't; he'd followed what Peter was saying well enough—and turned to Bridge, talking loudly about his theory.

"You know this was a Meta," Matt said, quietly enough that Boom didn't hear it. Jack did; she could feel him tense beside her.

"Do you know who it was?" she asked mildly, deliberately calm.

Peter shook his head, reaching for his bangs again. "Nathan's going through the List now. Anyone with any kind of pyrokinesis, anything, they're all being pulled in for questioning."

"Headquarters are going through our profiles as well," Kat agreed. "There are some aliens who could have done this."

"Are you pyrokinetic, Peter?" Jack asked. Matt hissed in a long, slow breath, because that went against the quiet agreement between SPD and the DMA; SPD pretended they didn't know about Peter and Nathan, and the DMA pretended the ex-B Squad weren't really Meta. The official contact existed only because on paper, active Rangers were considered Meta because of the extra abilities the Power granted them.

"I've never tried," Peter said unconcernedly. "I've probably met Pyrokinetics; I meet almost everyone, sooner or later." Ignoring Jack's next question, he added to Boom, "We'll put you up too, if you want. What about the kids, are they going?"

"They're Rangers, not kids," Kat said sharply.

Peter blinked, falling back a step instinctively. "Rangers. Sorry. Is…are they going with you to headquarters?"

"Are you going to headquarters?" Jack asked quietly. Kat shrugged, still watching Doggie.

"I haven't spoken to Doggie yet. We'll have to, we'll have to co ordinate the repairs, but…" She shrugged, glancing at Peter as she added, "…Probably not yet."

She caught the odd look Matt was giving her and smothered her smile; it hadn't come up last time, but because Felinod brains worked differently than Humans, Matt was unable to read anything from her. Doggie was similarly protected.

Bridge and the girls joined them; Bridge still looked pale and shaky, but he was very determinedly not leaning on anyone. Syd's water bottle was clutched awkwardly in one hand. "What's going on?" he asked, looking from her to Jack to Peter and back again. Kat was surprised at how ragged his voice was; Boom, who must have breathed in just as much mess, didn't sound nearly as bad.

"Peter's just offering us some hospitality at the DMA centre in town," Jack told him, and then repeated himself, louder, for Boom.

"Why?" Bridge asked in surprise, glancing at Peter. "Everyone's going back to Command Central, aren't they?"

"You aren't," Matt said. "Boom isn't. The ki—the Rangers, they aren't."

Bridge glanced around for Sam and Nova; the boy was talking quietly to his leader, apparently unfazed by her lack of response. "No, I suppose they aren't," he murmured. Looking back at Matt, he added, "But I'm going home."

"Bridge, you can't go on your own," Syd protested. "You can't even stand up."

Bridge shook his head stubbornly. "I'm going home. I'll come back tomorrow and help, but I…" He broke off, coughing harshly, and Jack braced him quickly.

"I'll go with you, then," Syd said firmly, and Z nodded quickly.

"Yeah. We'll go." She bumped Jack lightly out of the way, replicating to prop Bridge up from both sides. Peter took a step back, shaking his head, and Matt moved quickly to his side.

"No, I'm fine," Peter murmured, watching the girls lead Bridge away. Refocusing on Jack, he asked, "What about you?"

"I should go after Sky," Jack said, but he was talking to Kat and Boom. "I'm sick of this loner thing he keeps doing, I thought we were over that."

"It's different now," Kat reminded him.

"Yeah, he screwed with everyone's careers, I know," Jack said impatiently. "They didn't do anything they didn't want, and he didn't do anything to my career anyway, I was long gone by then. Kat…"

He looked pointedly at Matt and Peter, who took the hint and immediately began talking loudly about rebuilding and drifted away slightly. Lowering his voice, Jack continued, "If this is the war, Kat? We need him. We need Sky, and I want him back on our side. This—what he's doing—it's no good for anyone."

Kat nodded quickly. "I agree, Jack, but I don't think he will."

"Doesn't matter. I'll beat it into him if I have to." He glanced over her shoulder. "I'll just talk to DC, and I'll go. I'll be back tomorrow, ok?"

"Yeah." Kat smiled at him. "Be safe, Jack."

Jack studied her quizzically; she waved him off, shaking her head, and he clapped a hand on Boom's arm before heading towards Doggie. The extra shuttles from headquarters were starting to arrive, and the cadets were beginning to move at last.

"What's wrong with him?" Boom asked, still too loud, and Kat shook her head wordlessly. "Sorry," he added, slightly quieter. "I can't hear how loud I am."

"It's ok," she said loudly, glancing at where Peter and Matt were still loudly discussing how best to rebuild from the skeleton that was left of SPD. Catching her gaze, they started back towards her, and she added to Boom, "Get Sam and Nova and bring them over here."

Nova! How had she come upon that nickname? Kat did not believe in coincidences; the girl who had come to bring Sam home had been dark haired, too, bore a striking resemblance to his squad leader, and had identified herself as Nova. Kat hadn't shared that bit of information with anyone; but while Boom worked, quite openly, on the Omega Morpher, Kat worked quietly on its mate, the Nova. She had worried, for a while, because Nova led a six-man team; but two of her cadets would never fight again, too badly broken though they'd live, and while the other two would fight it was unlikely they'd do it for SPD.

Everyone reached her at the same time and she turned to Sam first. "Sam, Peter's offered you somewhere to stay. Jack did, too, but I think he's a bit full at the moment."

"Stay with Peter?" Sam repeated.

"Not with Peter. In the DMA centre in town. Boom's going too." Kat elbowed Boom. "You're going too!"

"Going where?" Boom said blankly.

"Is he still deaf?" Sam rolled his eyes. Kat smiled faintly; Sam was very fond of Boom, but the eye-roll was so normal for a teen dealing with an adult.

"I could get a doctor to the centre," Peter offered. "Take a look at Boom. Make sure he's ok."

"I've been looked at!" Boom rubbed absently at one ear and added, not as quietly as he probably thought, "he had bloody cold hands, too."

Nova was smiling when Kat looked back at her and she blinked in surprise. "Nova?"

"Yeah," the girl agreed quietly.

Sam grinned. "Hi."

"Hi," she murmured.

Matt took a sudden step forward. "You know what? Why don't we just go over here a bit, ok? Just for a couple of minutes."

Nova let him steer her away, but not before Kat had seen the tears spilling down her cheeks. Sam, looking as anguished as she'd ever seen him, chased the pair as they went.

"Matt's good at that," Peter assured her. "Look, let me take the kids…"

"Rangers," she and Boom corrected him automatically.

"Kids," he repeated firmly. "Let me get them somewhere to sleep, something to eat and a shower. Then take them back. I'm guessing if you take them to headquarters now there's going to be debriefing and stuff, right?"

Kat grimaced, sharing an uneasy look with Boom. "I'll stick with them," Boom promised quietly.

"Get Doggie," Kat said, just as quietly. Boom nodded, heading away, and she wondered for half a second if his hearing had cleared or if he knew her that well.

Or he was reading her lips. Hard to tell with him.

Peter was watching her when she turned back. Beyond him, Nova was sitting on the nearest piece of wall, sobbing quietly. Sam was sitting beside her, curled against her, and Matt was crouched in front of her, one hand on her knee, murmuring softly.

"You still don't trust us?" Peter asked conversationally.

"It's not a question of trust, Peter. I'm responsible for…"

"You're not even based on Earth anymore." He honestly sounded curious; it was the only reason she hadn't simply walked away from him.

"It doesn't matter. They're SPD." She studied him for a moment. "Isn't there anyone you feel responsible for?"

"Yeah." Peter's eyes darkened and he looked away, ostensibly watching Matt talk to Nova. "Yeah, there is."

"It's not personal," she added. "But…I don't want the DMA near them right now. Not in this state."

"Fair enough." He still wasn't looking at her. "Nathan won't know about it, then."

"Peter…"

"I don't work for the DMA, Kat. Just help Nathan out, sometimes; makes him feel better if he knows where I am." He reached for his bangs again, scowling when he touched nothing.

"When did you cut them?" Kat asked, deliberately using the non-sequitur to try and ease the tension.

"Cut…oh, I don't know. A while." He shrugged, trying to tug on them again. "Easier this way."

"Yeah. I suppose."

Doggie arrived then, and she quickly explained what was happening. Mildly distracted, Doggie cut across her explanation to thank Peter for his offer, accept it on the Rangers' behalf, and order Boom to stay with them. Then he took Kat with him to help with the evacuation.

Slightly stunned by the speed, Boom retreated behind his semi-deafness again and babbled loudly—and increasingly panicked—at Peter until Matt came to rejoin them. Peter's car, dispatched by Nathan even as Hiro was bringing them his way, was waiting, and the five left SPD burning behind them.