The stout form of Director Piggot stomped into the headquarters' processing entrance. She looked over all seven teens leaning against the walls, half of them handcuffed. "The Undersiders."

"Just like I explained, Director," Miss Militia said respectfully.

She ignored the new leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorates. "Sheila Henderson, that hole in the dome is coming out of your pay. Later, we are going to have a very long talk about the scope of your powers. I don't want any more surprises like shapeshifting not being in your official records. So that means you get to have a second physical along with biopsy tests."

"Right. The first part sounds reasonable. Do inventions and breakthroughs I create count for 'pay' as things I sell the PRT for a reasonable price?" she asked right back.

That got her a longer glare. "Yes. Skitter and Hellhound. You were in the company of villains after your pardon. You do realize that is not acceptable?" she said to them both.

"It's Bitch," Rachel said. "And Tay- Skitter had just brought me the papers. So that's not fucking fair and you can fuck off."

"Director, she is absolutely correct. And Skitter was the one that actually proposed to the Undersiders to not try and fight. They want the system to work, not leave under age kids in a position where they are forced further and further into a life of crime." Miss Militia's voice was stern and she did not sound like she was going to budge.

The two women took measure of the other. Piggot broke their deadlock first.

"Fine. You do realize that being a Ward requires that you give up your secret identities at least to the PRT and your team? And that you have to go to school?" the director asked.

"Don't have one. Do I get to keep helping my dogs?" Rachel demanded bluntly. "I can try school again."

"How are you helping your... dogs?" Piggot asked, sounding slightly interested.

"She rescues them from underground dog fights or bad shelters, tries to heal them up," Skitter said. "And... yeah, I knew that we had to give up our identities and go to school." She peeled her mask off. "My dad's actually pretty cool with things now as it stands." Her brown eyes were still guarded and wary, but she had hope. She suddenly crinkled her nose in distaste. "Damn. I forgot that Shadow Stalker was still part of the Wards. That is going to suck."

"Helping dogs and doing charity work will help alot with your image, Hellhound. So yes, we can see about still helping you with your dogs as long as it does not interfere with school and being a Ward," the director said bluntly.

"Deal." Fuck.

"And what is your malfunction with Shadow Stalker, Skitter? I know she hates Grue there because his power somehow messes up her powers. But she hasn't even fought you as far as I know." The director started tapping her toe.

The lanky and thin teen almost froze up at that point.

"You can do it, Taylor," Sheila said encouragingly. Did she need more than words?

Taylor nodded her head jerkily. "My malfunction is that she's a goddamn bitch that had made my life a living hell for eighteen months and caused my trigger. She's a bully that enjoys tormenting people out of some sick pleasure she gets out of it." She glared at Piggot defiantly.

The two adults just stared at her in shock.

"What? Miss Militia? Did you know anything about this?" Piggot demanded with a bit of loss of composure.

"I did not. I knew there were some issues, but she has not been suspended or even given detentions," the mistress of modern arms said even as her eyes narrowed. "I will be investigating."

Piggot clenched her pudgy fists for a second. "Now on to our delinquents. Any of you hurt?"

"Nah, Sheila patched us all up on the way over. Not even any bruises," Tattletale said with a smirk. Her face then went flat. "Did Miss Militia tell you that I do not want to deal with my parents at all?"

"Something about possible emotional abuse. We can probably convince them to release custody to the state. So that's a tentative yes. What is your power?"

"Thinker 6 or 7 based on Intuition, or as Sheila has dubbed it 'Intuitionpath'. The more accurate information I have, the better leaps of logic and understanding I can get. That's it. Nothing combat related at all."

"Nothing? Not even any basis in predicting someone throwing a punch?" the older woman asked. Thinker 7? Good lord, they had her pegged at a Thinker 3 or 4.

"Not reflexive enough to use like that. That would have been cool though." Tattletale nodded, sounding a bit morose and moody.

Piggot's eyes wandered over to Regent, then moved over to the dark skinned siblings. "Grue and sister."

"My cape name is Imp," Aisha said in a sulky tone.

"Not much to say. Broken home, abusive parents and crappy foster-parents. Once I triggered, I ran and then started to try and figure out how to get my sister out of a worse place than I was at. Because of what happened when I triggered, I ended up on the lam." Grue muffled voice turned slightly wistful. "I was almost there. Had an apartment and I think I was making headway on convincing them that I was in a better position to help Aisha."

Tattletale raised an eyebrow at Piggot's non-reaction.

"And the sister. You have no record except the normal foster kid issues. As long as you play by the rules, you aren't in trouble. Trouble that you, Jean-Paul Vasil, definitely are." She was now staring at Regent. "Son of Heartbreaker. You claimed to run away from home. That you didn't want to be a monster, but you had already killed. But I have to admit, you have gone mostly out of your way to not kill your opponents. That counts for something."

Miss Militia shifted slightly in her stance as her uzis turned into a rifle that she set on her shoulder.

"Not a lot, but maybe enough. I'm not sure I see why I should go to bat for a supervillain who is a killer. Why I should put you in the Wards," Piggot said as she glared at them all.

"Well, first off because we are all underage and it would show that the Wards is a place where screwed up kids can go to get a second chance. Because the system is screwed up and innocent kids are getting ground up in the gears. Trigger when your dad is beating you and nearly kill him? Throw the book at both of them. And that isn't right," Sheila said in a strong, sincere tone.

"Not really. A lot of villains out there start there."

"And you don't want them to become villains. You know they are willing to fight to defend their homes. Everyone here but Imp showed up to fight Leviathan. They aren't irredeemable. And the people need to see that. That the PRT is able to take that step to make the world a better place," the young demigoddess said as she tried to reach out to them.

"Do you have any powers that mess with minds?" Piggot said as she felt a sense that there might be some hope, that the inspiration she was talking about might actually be true.

She gave a shrug. "A little bit. I pretty much suck at it compared to my cousin Janeka. I can counter fear or impose a terrifying aspect upon my enemies. Oh, and I can give a pretty good pep talk if people are down. Like really good pep talk."

"So you didn't use your power there?" Miss Militia asked in a flat tone.

"Not really. Some things I can't stop using like how strong or tough I am. Well, except for the looks thing." With a squint of her eyes, she suddenly became quite unremarkable without a single hair changing. "Useful for just disappearing into a crowd. If I met someone right now, they would be able to say I was a girl."

"God damn trump," Piggot muttered under breath. Then she glared at Sheila. "And that problem that you are having with Vista? She and Clockblocker reported it as some sort of binding thing. I'm already going to bat for one mind controller, I don't want to get blindsided because you are a Master and just not wanting to admit it."

"It's body control, not mind control," Regent muttered in frustration.

"Fate bonds are not under my control," Sheila said firmly. "It can suck at times, but it's how I ran into Skitter in the library. It was a fateful connection, so I was drawn to where she would be. I sort of have this Jason and the Argonauts thing going on. Or like Hercules and his buddy Iolaus. They always fall into their adventures. It's not just allies, but it can draw an enemy to become a nemesis."

"That's a lot of mystic mumbo-jumbo to take in. They don't really believe you," Tattletale noted with a bit of her old humor back.

Piggot looked at the girl off to one side and the 'arrested' group. "Imp, you are coming with Skitter and Hellhound to do some paperwork. You three are going to have to stay in a cell until I can find a judge to take up your case. As its a high priority, I suspect that we can get you released on at least a preliminary ruling."

"I am so glad I had that talk with my dad last night," Taylor said as she followed the woman moving at a charge out the door.

"My dogs?" Rachel asked Miss Militia.

"They'll be fine here. I'll get our canine officer to bring them some water and dogfood. How's that?" the woman said.

"Okay."

The side door to the Ward's central room opened and five people entered.

"Hi guys!" Sheila called out cheerfully. Hazard plastic cones were laid out directly under the hole. "Already got a tarp over the hole, hmm?"

"Miss Militia?" Dean asked in a strangled voice as she saw what he assumed were at least two (if not three) villains. His helmet was about ten feet away, but he still looked pretty imposing in his armor.

Behind him on the couch, Sophia was just staring in shock.

The older woman smiled slightly. "Who is all here?"

"Um, pretty much everyone, ma'am. We all wanted to know what happened before we had to leave. Only Kid Win had to get home," the teen asked. "Isn't a tour due later today?"

"I canceled their visit due to security reasons. We want to make sure we are all on the same page. Ladies?"

That got a grunt out of Rachel, a titter out of Aisha and a small sigh from Taylor.

"We're the new wards! We're gunna show the world what we can do," the youngest ex-Undersider called out. "I'm Imp!" She actually pumped a fist in a classic victory pose, as if she was playing football.

Clockblocker and Aegis had both stepped in from a private area, masks pulled on. Aegis' mouth just dropped open in shock.

"I'm Rachel, but you can call me Bitch in combat," the almost brutish looking girl said. She was in full glare mode.

Taylor did not want to remove her mask. She desperately wanted that barrier between her and the world. She pulled her mask down around her neck. "Hello. My name's Taylor." She was frowning at the girl in armor on the couch.

Sophia's mask-helmet and cape-cowl was draped next to her.

"Sophia, you and I are going to have a very long discussion about what happened at Winslow and at a minimum, your immediate transfer to Arcadia where we can keep a closer eye on you. As it is, you get to try and convince Legend and I that you did not break your probation. There will be no more bullying. Or I will personally throw you so hard into your new jail cell that you will bounce." Miss Militia was giving the girl a very hard glare. "Are we clear?"

"Fucking Taylor had to go tattle to the authorities-" Sophia said even as her glare at Taylor looked to be of lethal intent.

"Shut. Up. If I can find enough evidence that you did bully her for over a year, then managed to cause her to trigger and get sent to the hospital because you caused a psychotic episode, you are gone. Do you understand?"

Sophia glared right back.

"You will give a verbal response to my question or you are going down to the holding cell now. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Sophia looked like she would rather eat a worm than state that.

"Come on. It's time for your interview. You can leave your mask and weapons. You might not need them again."

The door barely closed before Clockblocker started dancing a victory lap around the couch. "Ding dong the witch is dead! Yeah!"

Behind him, two younger girls were watching from the passageway that led to their room. The girl in armor was grinning.

Rachel just stared at Clockblocker as if he'd sprouted feathers like a peacock. "-the hell?"

Imp pulled her full mask back off her head. "I'm Aisha. Or that kick ass girl that took Kaiser down!" She had an absolutely pleased smile on her face.

That got Taylor to give the two girls a wan smile. She then looked at the rest of the Wards. "I guess we are all going to be working together now."

"Indeed. Sadly, that is perfectly normal for him. I'm Carlos," Aegis gestured over to Clockblocker and said as he pulled off his mask. "The dweeb over there is Dennis."

"Not cool, man!"

"You were going to tell them anyways. I'm Dean," the helmetless Gallant said with a smile. He was looking between the three of the new girls. Rachel got a raised eyebrow for some reason. "Welcome to the Wards, ladies."

"I'm Missy," Vista said as she pulled off her helmet. She looked like she might be twelve or thirteen.

"Hi guys! Been a hectic week, hasn't it?" Dinah called out.

"I wondered what had happened to you," Taylor said in happy surprise. "We heard about that nasty fight with the Travellers and Protectorate. We didn't hear what had happened."

"Sheila rescued me. Then we had to get the rest of the Protectorate to possibly fight Noelle. Then they jumped her. And then she got that pardon. When did you get here?" the precognitive asked curiously.

"A couple of hours ago. Just got finished with my dad signing my papers," Taylor explained.

"You guys came in the same time as the criminals the Protectorate bagged? And you took down Kaiser?" Gallant said, sounding impressed in spite of himself.

"He'd already been stabbed through the chest and swarmed. So the taser to the face was just icing. Stupid racist dick." The black girl seemed slightly ill at ease, even with her over the top antics.

"What is your power?" Vista said as she took a step across the compressed space to stand next to the new girl.

"I make people forget I'm there. Sorta like mental invisibility, except people will knock into me. I just found out that some people with weird senses might spot me. That chick with the scythes cut me up good," Aisha explained.

"So the Undersiders are down to what, three members?" Carlos asked as he sat on the couch.

"They are downstairs, waiting for a judge to see if they can do time in the Wards instead of prison," Taylor said in a flat, bitter tone.

"All as new Wards?" Dennis said. "We're going to need more rooms up here. I hate it when the construction crews have to come up here. It's a pain wearing our masks all the time in our quarters. That's why they have these movable walls for most needs."

The side door opened to admit three more and different people. The director, a strong looking young man in black leathers and a girl in a jester's outfit.

"Everyone but Regent," Carlos noted to himself. "Director Piggot. I guess the judge made a preliminary call?"

"Ruling, but yes. Tattletale and Grue here will be undergoing a trial run to see how they do under adult supervision," the stout woman said. "Okay, you two. Introductions." Let's see if they removed their masks without being told. They did not have to, after all.

Tattletale beat Grue to getting his helmet off, peeling her domino mask and the temporary adhesive she had used. "I'm..." She stopped for just a second, looking at Piggot. "Sarah. Nice to meet you without having to get into a fight." Her smile, to those that actually knew her, was more than a bit flat.

"I'm Brian. You been staying out of trouble, Aisha?" the big teen asked his sibling.

"Like I'm going to do anything. Jerk. You're not my dad. I can take care of myself."

"Oy! Siblings? We're going to be a reality TV show," Dennis said while slapping his forehead.

"Is he always like that?" the larger, dark-skinned teen asked with just a hint of a smile on his face.

"Unfortunately, yes. Why do you think he has his codename?" Gallant said with a stern look at the other teen that just got him to smile and wave back.

Sheila was typing away at a fast pace, filling a screen with commands and modifiers the next afternoon. The second and third screen were scrolling down web pages.

"Why can't I figure this out?" Chris said in complaint as he worked on a new device.

The young goddess looked over to start studying the device. She had to pause a second to make sure that did not lose her place and have to backtrack. "You are leaving jigsaw gaps in your design. Were you looking to add another function or multiple devices to it? You may have to do both designs at once."

The young Tinker blinked, then looked at his design again. He started to rummage around. "This would fit those missing parts, wouldn't it? So my power was trying to combine them? Huh." The larger device was suddenly taking shape as Chris dropped into a manic, zen state.

One of the screens suddenly popped up with the face of a woman wearing a mask. "What do you think you are doing?" Dragon demanded.

"I'm poking holes in all the security to write up how to fix them? Which you could see because you just read my list of issues that I'm documenting?" the demigoddess said with a raised eyebrow. Then she stopped typing and looked hard at Dragon's image.

"Why?" the woman demanded.

"I was bored and I didn't want my information on an unsecure system. You guys have a pretty complete profile of me now." Her eyes were ticking very quickly across the image. "This is Dragon, right?"

"Yeah, that's Dragon," Chris asked, as he'd wandered over once the distraction had appeared.

"Yes, I am Dragon. Who did you think would use my face inside the PRT headquarters here?" the woman said in a guarded tone.

"Oh, I figured someone might have been using a masking program to do the scut work of maintaining security. Part of your team that you have help with the basic stuff," Sheila lied blandly.

"I take my security seriously. Most people would not notice that they aren't looking at me directly," the AI said carefully.

"Oh, it just didn't quite come across true," she said blandly. Which was quite true.

"Interesting," Dragon said after a moment's consideration. The AI had thought quite furiously at that point.

"I wonder if there is this cyber war between capes and villains?" Chris asked as he thought over things.

"To a degree. Which is why I take my security very seriously. You really think the firewall has an issue like that? That's a very high end, Thinker created piece of software." Dragon was reviewing the code, which was harder than it should have been. It was quite dense and very elegant.

"Some of the hardware can be exploited if you don't fix those sixteen things- Oh, my super-molecule is back from being crunched on the PRT Tinker mainframe! Hey Dragon, who do I submit my cure for diabetes to have actually assembled and tested?"

Chris had already wandered over to his bench again where he was assembling his multiple function gun.

"Dr. Everette Johnson in the bio-division down in Florida. He would be very interested in that. Do you mind if I sent that to him?" Dragon asked the girl. "Then I'll get that on the way. Do at least ask for my permission to fix the security next time, please."

With a blink, the screen turned back to the Paranet article on a parahuman in Nebraska. Sheila stared at it for a long time, then turned back to the computer. That was something to think on.

Half an hour later, she shut everything down. Only about one third of Paranet profiles to finish reading. "Chris, I'm headed down to the medical labs for my physical. I guess everyone else finally finished their full work up."

"Sure, whatever. You are still waiting on that delivery of raw materials you said you needed for a couple of items? I want to see what you do," the young Tinker said.

"I'm not sure that's a great idea, but up to you," Sheila said very specifically. Piggot couldn't complain if she warned people off.

"Sure."

The trip down the super-tinker elevator was painfully slow, but she'd been yelled at for using the stairs or just dropping from the roof. She stepped out of the elevator in front of a large group of schoolkids. "Oh, hello."

The tour guide was turning pale. "Um, did you lose your tour guide?"

"Good recovery there, John, but I don't wear a mask. So no problem." She gave a wink to the older school kids and then jumped over them in a forward spin to land across the room in front of the security checkpoint.

"Er, no hard feelings for that fundraiser?" she asked the PRT officer on her left.

"Better bruises than what could happen. Besides, that was Tattletale and Skitter that took my sprayer away," the woman replied. "We actually had specific training for that afterwards."

"Well, I'm on my way to Dr. Lier for my physical."

The other officer tilted his helmeted head slightly to the side. "Your ID should allow you to pass through with no problem."

"I'm pretty sure that Piggot is watching everything I do like a hawk right now. I may be here for a few most of the rest of the day." She gave them a shrug.

Her keycard, implanted tracker and retina were all scanned, along with a very lengthy five hundred character passkey were all required for her to enter. Which was incredibly, stupidly paranoid. It was everyone else that would need to have those same restrictions for security to matter. But, whatever.

The receptionist sent her down to the lab works for her blood and toxicology.

"Did you have a preferred arm?" the phlebotomist asked in a soothing tone.

"Not really, but you need to start with your heavier titanium steel needles and the impact gun. I'm sorta bulletproof," Sheila explained as she held out her left forearm.

"Let me verify that first."

Tunk. The needle was not jabbing into the skin, just bending it in a little bit.

"All right. Verified. I wonder what sort of structure that is," he mused aloud.

The impact gun stabbed her arm and into her vein to start the drawing of blood. He filled three little vials in short order.

"Do you have one more?" she asked casually, hiding how miffed she was at the whole thing so far. Her fingernail tore the tip of a finger on her other hand.

He held out another one. "Sure."

She poked her bleed fingertip up against the rubber sealed opening, where it suddenly filled with a strange black liquid that somehow still showed an oily rainbow pearlessence. "There's a little bit of ichor. It should have them scratching their heads for a bit."

He just held it up to the light. He labeled it rather than try to think about it too hard.

Next was the MRI, which said that her brain and body was free of defect. Yet something was missing, as they kept looking for the Corollis Potentia.

She had told them that she wasn't a parahuman, but they did not appear to believe her.

Two hours later she had broken their high end treadmill she was looking very dubiously at the 'strength gauge' while was a flat metal bench and a round, very thick bar. It looked like it was mounted a very heavy duty frame.

"You shouldn't be able to break it, so just get under it and push up against the bar," Dr. Lier explained.

"Laser interferometers in the walls?" she asked curiously.

"Ah, yes. I guess I don't need to explain that it measures how much you can flex the titanium steel bar."

She got under it and then pushed, hard, without drawing on her legend.

"You bent it a little bit, but that's pretty good. Over a hundred tons, pretty easily. Was that going all out?" Lier asked curiously in that was that slightly stooped over, older scientists seemed to take on.

"Yes, but that's probably not really the best idea," the young demigoddess. She was looking at the bar in interest. She was sort of catching up to Dolph.

"Just go all out. If you break it, it will just give our tinker division some joy in making an even bigger lift-bar," the doctor said.

"I would suggest that you take cover and watch through the observation room over there with Director Piggot," Sheila said as she sat back under the bar.

"Ah, right." He quickly stepped out and over to the observation room with its plain door.

"She knew I was here. I don't like that," Piggot was telling Dauntless.

"I'm not sure I see the problem, Director," the hero in armor said.

"It means she will likely actually know when she's not being observed." The director of the PRT in Brockton Bay really did not seem happy.

"I'll recommend to Miss Militia that we just be forthright and tell her that we are observing her as a security precaution. She's not the only one that tell when they are being spied on. Superhuman senses, as Missy would say, are a thing." The new second in command of the local PRT was slipping into his new role.

Piggot left it at that.

There was a crack as the supports on both sides snapped and with another break, a piece of metal was imbedded three inches into the bulletproof glass.

"Well, she's at least two hundred tons. And we need a stronger test." Dr. Lier sighed. "We are probably going to need to take her outside for some testing."

"Just get a list of her powers. Have her write it down and send it up to my office."

Sheila sighed. She could not win this for losing, stuck in a trap of hatred for just having power.

"Mr. Livsey on line one," her personal assistant said on her phone's intercom.

"Thank you," the director said. She picked up the line. "This is Director Piggot. How can I help you, Mr. Livsey?" Best to start polite.

"What you can do, Director Piggot, is return my daughter and drop these laughable charges of child neglect. I have my lawyers here and I'm not going to let you push me around," the man on the other side of the phone in a quite angry tone.

"Mr. Livsey, you have to understand that I am just acting on behalf of your daughter. She made it very clear that she has no desire to return to her home that drove her to the life of crime. Is your lawyer aware of the particulars in her case? There are confidentiality issues." Piggot started drumming her hands on her hardwood desk.

There was silence for a long time, then he came back. "He's not in the room right now. What are you up to?" Livsey demanded harshly.

"Mr. Livsey, we have gone out on a limb for your daughter. We're willing to to let her into the Wards, even forgive her for her crimes as she really only roughed up some of our people. She has asked us to ignore certain improprieties that she mentioned before she ran away. I do not want to shut down Troy Amia Inc. for the illegal use of a Thinker. I believe the minimum sentence is ten years in federal prison." Piggot's voice was quite pleasant as she laid out a very ugly scenario for him. "It would be in everyone's best interest that your stock's increase of 15 % at that time... not become a public scandal. Don't you agree?"

"Are you blackmailing me?" Livsey demanded in a hoarse shout-whisper.

"Of course not, sir. I am a law abiding law enforcement officer that is just looking to get the best out of an ugly situation. Consider this the best way to help your daughter. You can call and send letters, but contact is at her discretion."

The swallow could be heard over the phone. "I need to talk to my wife. But that may work out. She just wants to see her daughter."

"Please give me a call. I hope we can come to a mutual understanding. Have a good day." Piggot stabbed the disconnect button on her phone. "Damn bastard."

"Director, we may have a problem," Doug said as he opened the door and stuck his head in.

"Oh?"

"We just got a tip about a murder scene. Definitely parahuman involvement. Three bodies, all mutilated and killed in different manners," the assistant said.

"Great. A new psycho on the loose. Who do we have available?"

"Assault and Battery, along with Triumph. I'll get them moving." He pulled the door

Piggot frowned, tapping her pen on the desk for a second. A bleep from her computer jarred her from her attempt at remembering a fact that felt familiar about the scene.

The PRT armored patrol cruiser with dark tinted windows rolled up to the police cordon. The doors popped open and three heroes stepped out.

"I don't see why we're here. I mean I might know one end of a forensic bag from the other so I don't spill it, but that's about the most of my expertise," Assault noted in a joking tone.

"Obviously for your supreme sense of humor," Triumph shot right back with a grin. "As soon as you quit your day job."

"We're just to secure it until the evidence people finish up, guys." Battery started tromping angrily into the abandoned warehouse. She was easily twenty feet in front of the other when she stopped to utter stillness.

"What?" Assault was suddenly very tense. When Battery froze, it was usually in preparation to jumping into combat.

Triumph was looking around carefully himself as he caught onto the tension. Assault moved up, his full mask hiding his features so it was hard to tell what had happened.

"Oh." It was all Triumph could say as he finally entered.

Chained on three walls were three people. On had been taken apart and then sewed back together but with most of the torso's organ visible. The second did not have a mark on his pretty Latino or Italian body, other than a look of pure, abject fear on his face. The last one had been tied to an I-beam and then flesh clawed and gouged. The claws marks continued on right through the metal strut.

"Fuck. We're in deep shit. I heard they did something like this in L.A. a couple of months ago," Assault said with a total lack of his obnoxious off-brand humor.

And that unnerved the younger Triumph quite a bit more. "Who?"

"The Slaughterhouse Nine. They've come to Brockton Bay. And that's bad news for somebody. And us heroes. Wonder if the Legend will let me change my mind?" Assault muttered to himself.

The newest member of the Brockton Bay Protectorate had to squash the urge to narrow his eyes at Assault. He was pretty sure that Assault did not know he had a very mild ability to hear better than humanly possible. Triumph was pretty sure that no one knew about it in the PRT or Protectorate.

It was a long wait for the parahuman forensics specialists showed up. They talked quietly in the cold as rain started to fall outside. The drive back was mostly silent as they listened to the police radio. Battery dropped Triumph off at a secured drop off point near his father's house so that he could change

Unlike the PRT Headquarters downtown, the Protectorate's base was offshore. So they had to either take a boat from the dock or wait for a helicopter. They slipped into a large power boat and headed out. The security check point (one of the few areas with PRT security) did not take long to bypass and then entered in the quarters and meeting room proper.

Reports finished up, the filed their assumption on what was going on. It was grim and terse, especially after they heard of two more 'slaughters' in the city.

"We'll do a patrol tomorrow, puppy?" Assault called out, a smile visible under his helmet that covered the top of his face.

She punched his shoulder. "Sure. I'm headed home now though."

An hour later, she saw a large envelope right inside her front door. It had likely been slipped under the door. She felt her stomach clenched at the sight of the 'C' on the front.

It must be time to pay the devil's third tithe. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to 'charge' up the paper to read the hidden message.

Siberian and Shatterbird. Her mouth was dry, feeling as if she had swallowed dust or ash. Keeping them alive until they left Brockton Bay would be fairly easy, as far as she could tell. The tricky part was not dying before they actually departed.

Taylor took in a deep breath and then stepped out of her car. "I'll see you tonight, dad?" She pushed up her fake glasses on her nose. She was so doing the Clark Kent thing.

"Sure. Did you want me to pick you up?" Danny asked as he leaned over in the front seat to look out at her on her side.

"No, I have to take the bus to 'work' for a while after school. Have to figure out the schedule finally." It had been over a week so far and in another week she was going to be coming out as a public hero in the Wards. Well, along with Bitch.

Rachel had been brought to school in new clothes last week, slotting into a special education class with a lot of tutors. She had lasted about four hours before demanding one of her dogs (any dog, in fact) be brought in. She immediately calmed down with the quite ugly mutt who seemed to be quite happy to be petted by her.

Arcadia High School was being quite the shock for all of them. For Taylor, it was incredibly clean and new looking. She was already reaching out to 'touch' all of the school through her insects and spiders even as she walked through the crowd. Her curly black hair was pulled back into a messy hair tie. So she had a near poof past the tie. It did make her look very different.

Bumbling around, she finally got directed to the office where she was given her schedule and barely made it to her first class.

"Everyone welcome Taylor Hebert. She's transferring in from Winslow after some very poor treatment there," her new home room teacher called out. "Can you tell us anything?"

Her cheeks were quite pink, hating her cover story. She just shook her head.

"Why don't you sit behind Tom there."

That was generally how her day went. At lunch, she found a place off by herself. So she was surprised when two girls and one guy walked over.

"So I heard through the grapevine that you were transferred here for bullying problems?" the lighter skinned girl asked.

"Well, yeah. Basically." Stupid cover story which had to use too much truth.

"Did you really get shoved into a locker and had a freakout?" the redheaded girl with freckles asked.

"How did you-? Yes, but I don't want to talk about that. That was the past. So please, can you just drop it?" Taylor said, mortified and shock on her face.

"See, George? I told you it wasn't likely? Dimwit here thinks everyone transferring in has to be a cape in disguise. I bet you that the PRT is smarter than that. I'm Clara. The redhead is Isley."

"I'm Taylor. Just trying to get by and get a new start."

"So who do you think is the hunkiest Ward?" Isley asked.

"Well, Aegis has that flying thing and he's really buff looking," the ex-villain said, hedging her bets. Her actual answer would be 'tall, dark and dangerous' but she had not actually gotten her courage up to talk some more to him about that can of worms.

"Which means he has to be one of the jocks here," Clara said.

"No way. He would be missed too much if he had to go to a fight during a game," George argued.

"Do you guys do this with everyone?" Taylor asked carefully.

"Sure, it's fun."

Oh, fun. Great.