12:10 pm

I lay on the motel bed, chewing the remains of a sandwich and staring at the ceiling, trying to use the soft sounds of the television as a distraction from my racing thoughts. I had a disquieting sense of being trapped on a high precipice, looking over the edge at the long drop to the ground, and knowing there was nowhere to go but down. And there was no one, not a single person in the world, willing to help me.

I was alone.

I had cut my ties to school. Everyone there was a bully or an enabler. Not a single one would take my side. So I left and never went back. I hadn't been there in weeks.

I had cut my ties to Dad, too. I had been lying to him for months. I had even moved out of our house just to get away from him. Just the thought of going back to him, of admitting my lies, brought an oppressive tightness to my chest and a sickness to my stomach.

And yesterday I had nearly cut my ties to the Undersiders. They were my friends, or they acted like friends...but they were okay with working for Coil, a villain who kidnapped children and drugged them into submission. And me? I wasn't okay with that. Completely incompatible.

Every one of those decisions had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. They were hard decisions, I felt guilty about every single one of them, but if I had to do them over I felt like I would still do the same thing.

But piece by piece, I had untethered myself from everything that made my life worth living. Without my family, without school, without my friends, without my team...what did I have left?

What the hell was I supposed to do?

The television wasn't working as a distraction. The news hour had reached the segment on crime, and all the top stories were ones I'd played a part in during my brief career as a villain. I had left the Undersiders in all but name, but I couldn't escape my responsibility for the crimes I committed.


The Brockton Bay police have announced the successful arrest of the last holdouts of the now-defunct gang, the Azn Bad Boys. The ABB collapsed when it's primary capes, the infamous villains Lung and Bakuda, were captured by the Protectorate and Wards. The villains are on track to be sent to the Birdcage as punishment for their crimes, with multiple counts of theft, drug-running, kidnapping, prostitution, murder, and attempted activation of weapons of mass destruction.

The ABB's remaining cape, Oni Lee, is still at large, but has shown no indication of reviving the gang. The PRT is offering cash rewards for information-


Hah. The news made it sound like the heroes saved the day. The same sort of story I heard over and over again as a child. The stories that inspired me to become a hero like them, fighting to improve the world.

But I knew it was a lie. The villains had done most of the work. I had fought with them. We had put our lives on the line, just as much as any hero ever did, and we won. Raided the ABB drug labs, stole their assets, destroyed their Tinker's workshops, cut off Bakuda's toes, shot out Oni Lee's knee, humiliated Lung in battle and cut out his eyes to keep him down. The heroes only stepped in after we brought the ABB to it's knees. But somehow it was the heroes who got the credit in the public eye. The same deal as my first outing as a hero, when the Undersiders and I took down Lung and Armsmaster bullied me into giving him the credit.

Had my dream of being a hero been a lie all along? How many of my childhood inspirations were feats done by villains and independent capes, people who were just as courageous as the heroes but didn't have a PR machine or didn't want recognition?


The Forsberg Gallery has made a public call for donations to help repair the facilities that were damaged two weeks ago in a vicious and unprovoked attack by the criminal gang, the Undersiders. Those who make donations of $50 or greater are being offered-


A stab of guilt. It wasn't that I felt bad about breaking their building, exactly. It was the realization that I had never felt bad about the damage I did to them, not even at the moment I was doing it. I had never even considered it.

I had taken the mission to get information about our mysterious boss. I had been entirely consumed by my thoughts about my undercover identity, getting the dirt on our boss, strategizing for the fight, fear of losing and getting captured. The damage we did to the gallery, and the fear we had planted in the innocents who attended, had barely been a consideration.

Had I pretended to be a villain for so long that I lost my ability to tell right from wrong?


The PRT is cooperating with the FBI to investigate the Medhall Corporation after it's CEO, Max Anders, was outed as the infamous villain Kaiser, leader of the white supremacist gang Empire 88. While many of the corporation's highly placed employees have been outed as gang members, sources close to the investigation say that there is no evidence that the company itself engaged in wrongdoing.

Medhall's shareholders issued a press release today insisting that the company is not liable for the criminal actions of its employees, and that they intend to continue business as usual during the investigation. Health care workers and consumer advocates breathed a sigh of relief at the news, as Medhall is the primary vendor of-


The news didn't mention that it was another one of Coil's plots. Taking down capes by outing their secret identities, getting the government to go after them and their families. The experienced capes had told me it was a dirty tactic, a violation of the 'unwritten rules'. And I could see why. The government had made the stupid decision to go after Purity's family and the villain had gone berserk, tearing down buildings, killing innocent bystanders, all in a crazy bid to get her infant daughter back. It was terrifying, the ugly violence that simmered beneath the 'cops and robbers' game we played.


This has been Nick Marshall, with the Crime and Punishment roundup.

Thank you Nick. Next up: fun in the sun! The sun is more fun for four than it is for one. Mayor Christner and the Department of Public Works have announced a new program to invigorate the beaches for the summer tourist season. As part of the program, participating beachside businesses will be offering family discounts to customers who bring their children with them to join in the fun...


I bit my lip. Left unmentioned on the news was the crime that weighed heaviest on my conscience.

Dinah Alcott.

It had been weeks since our bank heist, since Coil had used us as a distraction to do his dirty work. He sent in his soldiers, stole the girl away from her family, strung her out on drugs, all so that he could use her precognitive powers to build his criminal empire.

I had only found out what he had done yesterday. And ever since, I had spent hours online reading everything I could about the girl I was responsible for enslaving. Her life, her family, the police efforts to find her that I knew would be in vain.

Dinah was the niece of Mayor Christner, the daughter of Amos and Abigail Alcott. Twelve years old, soon to graduate from her sixth grade class as Greenwoods Elementary. Described by her schoolfriends and teachers as a bright and joyful girl. Nothing like the shadow I had seen in Coil's base. A pale-faced ghost, wringing her hands, picking at her clothes until they fell apart. Making a visible effort to hold back her grimaces when Coil called her his 'pet', trying to please her keeper so that he would give in to her incessant begging for another shot of her 'candy'.

I had done truly despicable things in my undercover career as a villain. Menaced innocents with black widow spiders and made them fear for their lives. Taken the world's greatest healer hostage and held a knife against her throat. Cut off a woman's toes, gouged out an unconscious man's eyes. Every time I had convinced myself that it was worth it, that I was in the right, that I was doing the shitty things I did for greater good down the line. That I would make it up to everyone, somehow, when I turned in the Undersiders and became a hero.

But I couldn't rationalize what Coil was doing to Dinah. That would never be right. I was going to save Dinah, if it was the last thing I did.

The problem was that I was alone. Against Coil's organization with money, soldiers, spies, and a dozen capes. Against my own friends, who knew me better than anyone.

What could I possibly do?

Accept the deal with the devil and keep working with Coil? He had made me an open-ended offer, said he would give me whatever payment I liked, within reason. There was a chance that I could convince him to release Dinah as his payment for my services, maybe even give up on kidnappings as a tactic altogether. Not likely. Dinah's power was too strong. Even if I sank into the depths of villainy, became his best cape and his right hand woman, I doubted I could offer him even a fraction of her value.

Attack Coil and steal her back? Even less likely. He kept Dinah close to him at all times, or sealed deep in his underground base. That meant I would have to beat his defenses in a head-on fight. But he had a small army of mercenaries and multiple teams of capes at his beck and call. The Travellers, Circus and Trainwreck, Faultline's Crew if he chose to hire them for the job...and worst of all, the Undersiders. For all that they had acted like my friends, they would fight me to secure a paycheck. Tattletale had admitted as much.

Tip off the PRT? That had been the entire point of my undercover career, after all. But Coil was far better at that game than I was, terrifyingly effective. He had agents in every parahuman faction in the city, even in the PRT. Hell, Tattletale got direct feeds from the PRT surveillance cameras! Coil would have countermeasures in place and he would know the instant I approached the PRT. Hell, with Dinah's power, he would know hours or days before I approached them. And even if I did run to the PRT and convince them to take me seriously, the combined forces of his capes rivaled anything the heroes could throw at him.

Looming over it all was Coil's own power to 'shape destiny'. I had no idea what the hell it was, other than some extremely abstract form of probability manipulation. I had never seen him fight but his costume was thin, skintight, unarmored, all speaking of an absolute confidence in his ability to avoid harm. There was no guarantee I could take him down in a straight fight even with the help of my bugs.

Besides, Coil refused to play by the unwritten rules, and that gave him a scary amount of leverage. His investigators had found out the secret identities of the Empire, an entire team of capes, and he had proven his willingness to exploit that knowledge to the full. He could do the same to the PRT. If I tipped off the authorities, would he simply blackmail them by threatening to out their capes to the public?

And...what if he came after Dad? Just thinking about it made my gut twist into knots. The Undersiders knew my civilian identity. I had shown them my face, told them my name and life story. I was pretty sure that Grue and Tattletale wouldn't tell Coil my identity, but Regent and Bitch struck me as the types who would sell out my family for a few thousand bucks of hard cash.

It was...the whole situation was...damn it. No matter how I turned it around in my mind, there wasn't a single point of weakness. There wasn't a single opportunity. I refused to leave Dinah in his clutches, I could never bring myself to accept it, but, but...

I closed my eyes, pressed my palms against face and rubbed my forehead. Damn it. My feelings were a mess. My thoughts were running in endless circles. My head was aching, and I was starting to hear a faint, high-pitched buzz interrupting my thoughts, like a tinnitus at the back of my mind.

I got up from my bed and staggered to the bathroom. I got out my emergency medical kit and downed a dose of extra-strength tylenol. I looked at myself in the mirror, saw dark bags under my eyes. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

When all this was done, I swore that I would retire from being a cape. I would go back to Dad, get private schooling, and get on with my life as a normal woman. My career as a cape had been a giant mistake. I had followed my stupid, naive childhood dreams, and I had done far more harm than good.

My last act as a cape woud be to save Dinah. Somehow. I wouldn't abandon her. It was my fault she was kidnapped, and I was going to make it right.

That was the thought on my mind when the air raid sirens went off.

The news broadcast was abruptly cut off, replaced by an emergency broadcast. A set of three images, displaying in a cycle.

Leave your homes. Evacuate the city. Follow the directions of local authorities.

The ground shook under my feet, in time with a series of muffled crashes and thumps from outside. Whatever it was, it was something bad enough to threaten the city. Another one of Coil's plots? A cache of bombs from Bakuda, left over as a final 'fuck you' after we took down the ABB?

I drew upon my bugs, searching for a source of the commotion. I had more range today for some reason, almost twice as much as usual, but my insects didn't find anything out of the ordinary in my vicinity, except for scores of people rushing about in a panic. Wait, there was a pattern. Most of the people were running in a certain direction, fleeing from something in the vicinity of Downtown.

I rushed outside to the parking lot in front of the motel to get a view of the threat with my own eyes. As I watched, a skyscraper in the distance shook, warped, and split in half, its top ten stories ripped off of the foundation. The skyscraper-top hovered in place for a second and then shot through the air to smash against the roof of the Forsberg Gallery, caving in its top floors and sending a rain of glass and debris to the streets below. Then, from behind the gallery, the cause of the disturbance floated into view.

A giant, pale woman clad in angel wings. The Simurgh.

I stared, paralyzed at the sight. I felt myself begin to shake. My headache throbbed and the high-pitched buzz in my head grew louder as a torrent of thoughts raced through my mind.

Oh God. I'm going to die.
No. It's the Simurgh. Death is the least she can do to you.

Why is she here? What target could she possibly have in Brockton Bay?

Dad! I need to go to him, help him evacuate-
What can you do for him? He's on the other side of the city. You'll never get there in time to help him.

I'm a cape, I'm a hero! I have to fight to protect my city.
What can you do to the Simurgh? Harass her with mosquitoes?
I want to join the Protectorate one day. They'll never forgive me if I run away from an Endbringer.
The Protectorate would tell you to evacuate. You can't hurt her, you'll just be another victim.
I can help. I can use my bugs to find downed capes, do search and rescue-

I was brought back to reality by a massive barrage of missiles rocketing from the Bay. The space around the Simurgh was filled with explosions, clouds of shrapnel and superheated air. After a few seconds the smoke cleared to show that the Simurgh was barely damaged. The only sign that she had been attacked at all was a faint plume of smoke rising from one of her wings.

The Simurgh turned to face the attack and flew toward the source of the missiles. They must have been fired from Protectorate headquarters, their high-tech base floating in the water of the bay. Miss Militia's power, or conventional weapons stockpiled for an emergency.

I saw their strategy. Instead of fighting the Simurgh in the heart the city they were trying to lure her into a fight over the ocean, to buy time for the evacuation. Every minute they drew her away from the center of the city would save thousands of people from her curse.

Another volley of missiles fired and the Simurgh began to dance, swooping and twisting in the air at high speeds, evading the glowing missiles and the explosions blossoming around her with graceful twists of her body and gentle fluttering of feathers. The missiles pursued her relentlessly, an uninterrupted stream, but less than one in ten of them made a solid hit.

For seconds I could only stare. I had never seen anything like it. It was beautiful, almost mesmerising, a display that belonged in a ballet performance instead of a city-shaking battle. The Simurgh was practically taunting us with her untouchability. She seemed to relish in her display, flying toward the source of the missiles far slower than I would have expected, as if she wanted to prolong her performance...

...No. My mouth went dry as I realized where the Simurgh was hovering. When the first volley of missles was fired, she had been practically on top of the construction site where Coil had built his underground base. And as she danced in the air she was diverting missiles into the construction site behind her, either dodging them or deflecting them with her telekinesis.

As I watched she narrowly dodged a pair of missiles, nearly brushing against them with her largest wing, and they were deflected into the middle of a skyscraper to her side. The top floors of the building slid off of their foundations and fell with an earthshaking crash, landing on the construction site and showering it with debris. The Simurgh didn't give it a single backward glance. She was making the damage look haphazard, incidental, as if it didn't serve any higher purpose.

The Simurgh was going after Coil? I thought the Simurgh targeted the greatest sources of hope and stability in the world. Did that mean that Coil was what he had claimed all along, a positive force for improving the city? Or was the Simurgh simply playing the same game as Coil, trying to take control of powerful capes like the Travellers, the Undersiders, and...

Dinah.

With a shock, I realized that this was it. Here and now. My first and last, my best and only chance to rescue Dinah. She might have been killed by the redirected missiles and collapsed buildings, but if she survived...then Coil was weaker than ever before. He was dead, or trapped, or organizing a panicked evacuation. My bugs would give me an advantage in the chaos, letting me search the buried ruins of his base in seconds to find the survivors, letting me track the soldiers and capes as they evacuated and pick the perfect moment to snatch Dinah from their grasp.

I took a slow, steady breath to center myself, to try to calm my nerves. Right. My first instinct had been a good one. I would help in the fight, use my bugs for search and rescue. And the first person I was going to rescue was the poor girl who my conscience told me deserved it the most. I couldn't save Dinah from Coil, back then, but I was damned if I would leave her to be a victim of an Endbringer.

I ran back to my motel room and put on my costume in record time. Knife, baton, pepper spray, burner phone, all the rest. After a moment's hesitation, I unlocked the closet and pulled out my duffel bag of cash. I didn't have a car, but even during a Simurgh attack I bet I could find someone willing to give me a five minute car ride for the two hundred and fifty grand I had earned as a villain.

As I hurried to the door I heard a series of cracking sounds in the distance. More buildings being demolished. The sounds were quieter than before, but accounting for muffling from the walls of the room, the damage was probably just as bad-

Wait. The walls of the motel room muffled sounds from the outside. The collapsing buildings, the explosions, the air raid sirens, all of it. My headache was gone, too, banished by my rush of adrenaline.

But the faint, high-pitched buzz, the tinnitus in the back of my mind, was still going at full volume.

My blood ran cold. The Simurgh's scream.

She was speaking to me. Speaking into my mind from a mile and a half away. And if I went to Coil's base I would have to get closer to her. Her scream would get louder and stronger. Strong enough to drive me to insanity in minutes. If she got to me, I...I didn't know exactly what would happen, but I wouldn't be myself anymore. The heroes would kill me, or seal me in quarantine, put a dove tattoo on my hand and treat me like I was radioactive waste, a danger to everyone around me.

I didn't know exactly how much time I would have. I wished I had read the PRT fact sheets more carefully. As far as I remembered, the time limit for exposure was in the neighborhood of an hour at long range and twenty minutes at close range. Which meant that in the worst case, once I got to Coil's base I would have twenty minutes to get inside, rescue Dinah, and make my getaway. That was cutting it close. I had already used my bugs on my first visit to his base, gotten the lay of the land, but...

I clenched my fists. It might be hard. It might even be impossible. But I didn't have any other choice. I had had enough of moral compromises, dirty deals and undercover work. For the first time since I got my powers, I would act like a true hero. I would save Dinah, I would defend the city, or I would die trying.