Triumph sighed as he walked up to a secure area into the first of three safe-rooms. The young girl sitting at the table looked up, looking slightly worried. Then her face turned to confusion. "Why is there no chance of danger from you?" she asked.

"Officer Benson? Guys, if you don't mind? I would like a personal moment with Dinah. Then I'm off to Panacea before she leaves the building so she can fix my tooth," Triumph said to one of the officers.

"Are you sure?" the PRT officer asked. At the nod, he and his partner stepped out, locking the door behind them.

"That was so creepy and they wouldn't even talk to me," the young precognitive said plaintively.

Triumph popped his helmet off. "So how is my favorite parahuman cousin today?" His short brown hair was matted down.

Dinah just stared at him then jumped out of her seat and ran over to give him a hug. "RORY!"

"Hey, munchkin! Your mom and dad are on their way. I'm not going to tell them my secret ID until you are a Ward, okay?" Rory said as he hugged her back.

"Why not?" Dinah asked.

"You know how likely my mom and your mom are going to get into an argument the next time they meet-" he was explaining.

"0.0000 % probability they will have an argument today," she said. She frowned as she thought it over. That had never happened before.

Rory gave a low wolf whistle with a raised eyebrow. "Well that's some power. Precognition?"

"But it gives me headaches if I use it too much. It hurts so bad," she said in complaint. "Why is it impossible for them to have an argument?"

Rory shrugged. "Not sure. I've been here since early this morning. I really need to get some sleep." But emergencies awaited for no hero.

"There is a 0.0000 % chance that we will ever meet Aunt Ida." She looked up at her cousin. "I think something terrible has happened."

"Stay here." He was putting his helmet back on and heading out. "Don't worry, I will keep you safe. I promise."

He needed to talk to Armsmaster or Battery. And hopefully Miss Militia was awake, because something was very wrong indeed.

Marion Schmidt was studying two of her classmates closely as they left the classroom after the bell rang. They didn't really act like good friends and both of them seemed fairly unhappy, though that may be improving. The shorter girl with a rough bob haircut drew her scrutiny again.

The features of her face looked very similar, but she much shorter and less developed. An older sister? A mother? But Gigantica was in the Wards. She was a kid like herself.

Well, not exactly like herself. She was a supervillain, after all.

"Oh, it's Plain and Ugly," Emma Barnes said snidely as she happened to bump into Taylor's arm.

"Hello, Vapid and Dimwit!" Gina replied meanly with a grin on her face.

Madison's face turned an interesting shade of red. "You bitch!"

"Yes?" the newer girl in class asked in a drawl.

"Why, that was almost witty," Emma said with a sneer on her face.

"What is wrong with you, Emma? You are like some broken record," Taylor said heatedly, a flush of anger on her cheeks. "You used to be pretty and smart. Now I wonder what I ever saw in you as a person."

Marion snickered at that. Little Miss Locker had actually grown a bit of a spine.

"Well, I hope you like being stuck in the mud here at Winslow. Dad's finally relented and I'm going to be transferring to Arcadia," Emma retorted.

"I won't even be able to get away from you over there?" Taylor blurted out in surprise, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

"You're getting into Arcadia?" Madison almost screeched out.

"I've been on the waiting list since someone shoved me in a locker in January." Hard brown eyes stared down at her ex-best friend.

"Oh, so the pity transfer. You should really quit telling stupid lies and slander-"

An adult finally stepped in. "That's enough you two. Get on your way home." Mr. Oliphant did not look at all imposing, but the rake thin teacher in his button up pin-stripe shirt managed it with intensity.

The villain in their midst followed behind Taylor and Gina as they chatted on their way to their homes. Her blue eyes studied the shorter girl. There was a way to test her theory. She trotted down a back wall, touching several large rocks. They floated up behind her even as she pulled out a short hood and mantel that draped to her waist. You could still see her jeans and that her arms were bare, but it was enough of a 'costume' to count.

The rocks formed into a set of stairs as Rune ran up to the second floor roof of the building and across its flat roof. Rune studied the girls as the taller introvert appeared to be trying to start a conversation. She was severely tempted to just pelt them both with rocks, but hitting the invulnerable Brute and pissing her off would be a special kind of stupid.

Rune had to roll her eyes as Taylor pantomimed throwing a few punches. She must have figured out Gina's secret identity. She hated cape groupies. In fact, she hated them almost enough to follow Taylor and beat her up on general principle. But she continued following Gina to her home.

It was boring and normal... Rune leaned a bit further forward on the rooftop of the house she was on. Her eyes were studying the car in the driveway.

That was a PRT unmarked car by the plates and the discrete lights in the back window. So her 'foster parents' were part of the PRT. Not that it really changed much, but it did validate her suspicion a bit more.

Now that to do with it? Foster parents weren't as good as real parents. And Gina was nearly invulnerable. I mean, she got into slugfests with Lung for god's sake.

She headed out over the back of the house she was watching from. Maybe Kaiser would have an idea.

Battery looked over as a motorcycle drove up to the police line. Her eyes narrowed worriedly, moving over to intercept the lion-themed hero. "Triumph, over here."

He trotted over, but managed to keep his voice low. "I heard they found Ida Christner. I need to know-"

"Stop right there. You are too close to this. You should let the forensics-"

"I'm going over there. Don't get in my way," Triumph said in a low, hissed voice.

Never give an order you know won't be obeyed unless you were willing to stop the person afterwards, Battery remembered from her leadership training. Being second in command was hard. "It's bad, Triumph. It's a cold-blooded shot at the Protectorate."

"The Protectorate?" Triumph asked as he moved up to see what was in the alley. A hearse?

The white, elongated vehicle was parked back a bit, with its rear door open. A team of people in PRT jackets were taking pictures. The flashes were bright in the shadows.

Under his lion helmet, Triumph's eyes widened. Laid out in the back of the hearse lay his mother in a expensive and tasteful white gown. She was surrounded in thousands of pale and white flowers. Lilies, roses and more than he could name. She looked so peaceful, floating in a cloud of pale blooms.

She was also too pale and did not appear to be breathing.

"Nooo-Urk!" Windows were cracking before he was stopped.

His scream of defiance was interrupted by a fist hitting his stomach. Triumph held his arms over his stomach even while looking at Battery in hurt betrayal.

"Not. Here. Do you understand?" the new (and hopefully temporary) second in command of the Protectorate demanded.

"I- I got it. Sorry," he managed to gasp out. "Who?"

"Arachnos. This Lord Arachnos actually sent a condolence card, apologizing for having to use her in such an unseemly manner." Battery nodded to the card that was in a plastic bag as her charge finally disappated.

"What the fuck? Use her?" Triumph was laser focused, his gaze moving to each point even to the exclusion of everything else.

"Yes, used. I feel that something dire was done to her," a new voice intruded. Charged State's boots touched down, crackling energy covering her body still in blue waves on electricity.

"Do you know what was done?" Battery asked intently.

"No, I never dealt with her." Her glowing eyes were narrowed in the shadows of her face plate-helm. "Gitanica might."

"Why would a Ward know anything about this?" Triumph demanded.

"Because she used to be an Arachnos Enforcer. And fairly high ranking one, too." Her own history with Arachnos was more antagonistic during her time on the Rogue Isle. Charged State clenched her red-gloved fists tightly. She and Lord Recluse had nearly hated each other on sight, but he had allowed her to live as a potential 'Destined One'.

Battery pulled out her phone. "Dispatch, I need a priority recall on Gitanica. Have her meet us at the PRT Headquarters and ready interrogation room number one." She waited a second. "Thanks. Over and out."

"I want to be there," Triumph demanded, his voice causing the entire area to rumble as his control slipped slightly.

Battery was sure that if Miss Militia was there, she would have figured a way to tell him to step back. But she wasn't that good.

Lord Recluse stood over a huge pit, deep in his new main base. A massive tower, studded with stasis pods was coming together far below in the stygian depth of the metal framework. "Black Scorpion?"

"The control tower will be completed within two months. Operative Kalinda has been carefully checking the Fortunas. It appears a massive disaster will appear here. She thinks it will be one of the Endbringers." The hulking form of battle armor stomped over to his lord in the dimly lit control room. The bald face had a sadistic leer on his face. "But only if we don't warn the Protectorate."

"Really? An interesting cause and effect," the master of destruction said as he pondered. "That indicates that the Endbringers would respond to direct preparation, but only outside of Arachnos. So our replacement telepathic web appears to be helping us in interesting ways." His metallic arms on his back started to flex in and out, much like as spider's legs would.

"So we are going with that plan? Seems too tricky, for me. I think we should just smash this Empire Eighty Eight. Then start to take over the streets," Black Scorpion said with a snort of derision.

Lord Recluse chuckled. "You think too locally, Scorpion. The Protectorate is the national super-hero team. If we make such a direct, simple action it will force them to deal with us as an S-Class threat. They will call up hundreds of heroes and villains. We are not yet that powerful. So we must play a more cautious game."

"Whatever you say, boss."

"That is not to say we are taking the easy way, Black Scorpion. If we succeed here, we will do something that no one on this Earth would have even thought of. And the world will fear us. And rightly so, for we shall prove to be the master." He turned away from the construction below. "Get back to supervising Arbiter Sands. Project Dominion must be completed on schedule."

"Right." Black Scorpion lumbered off with heavy, metallic footsteps.

"Speak," Lord Arachnos ordered the darkness in the room once Black Scorpion was gone and the blast doors closed.

Captain Mako stepped out of the shadows. "Lord Arachnos, I await new orders."

"Why should I give you new orders, worm?" The Incarnate of Hades spun on him and took two steps to then loom over him, red eyes glowing furiously in hate filled anger. "What makes you think that I am even slightly tolerant of you and your failures?"

"My lord?" Mako asked, tensing in worry.

His lord and master rushed forward in a blur, a mighty hand grabbing Captain Mako by the neck and slamming him into back wall, denting it in two feet. The shark-man tried to wiggle free, but then screamed in pain as two of Lord Arachnos's spider arms pinned his hands to the wall. In a cold sweat, the assassin felt two more pinpricks on the sides of his head and then two more on the sides of his chest.

Lord Arachnos could kill him with a mere thought, he realized.

"I gave you an order: Kill the leader of the local Protectorate. This was not a complicated demand, something even within your understanding. I would have forgiven you if you had actually killed his second in command in his place, but you could not even succeed in that." Spider arms retracted, leaving Lord Recluse to throw his assassin across the room. "Crawl away, worm, and do not return until Armsmaster is dead."

Captain Mako hissed, showing his mouth of shark teeth at his master. "I obey." For now, he thought angrily.

Lord Recluse was already walking back to watch over his latest scheme take shape. He would show this world his power. And they would fear him.

And obey.

Size 19 female boots slammed into the ground as Gitanica arrived at the PRT headquarters. It must have been important, as she had two heroes at the door to greet here. "Hey, Aegis! And Velocity, right?"

"Right. This way, kid." The speedster walked off towards the PRT side of the building.

"I'm here for you, Gitanica. I don't know what's going on, but if you are in trouble, you can always ask for help." He awkwardly put his hand up on her shoulder.

"What the hell?" she asked.

"Armsmaster, Battery and Triumph want to see you in Interrogation Room One."

"Aegis, that's enough. She's not being accused of anything, we just want her to try and explain something." Velocity called out, sounding a bit peeved though.

Gitanica ducked through the door and followed him into the interrogation room. Armsmaster was sitting on the other side of the tempered armor glass partition. Triumph and Battery were on either side of him. She did feel a bit of relief at seeing Aegis follow her in.

"Gitanica, you can revert to your normal size. Can you tell us why Arachnos would murder a politician's wife without leaving a mark? They left a card claiming responsibility for murdering the wife of the mayor," the leader of the Protectorate asked brusquely.

The teen girl shrunk back down to her normal five foot two and sat down. "Probably a telepathic attack or some sort of magic, but why is a lot harder." She shrugged at their startled looks.

A cough caught her attention next to her. "Magic isn't real. Even Myrddin's powers aren't really magic," Aegis said carefully.

That got a chuckle out of Gitanica. She then started chanting as shadows swirled in her hand. "By the power of Mu, heed my call to bind my foes." She then tossed the black ball of energy at Aegis's feet. Black tendrils shot up and bound his feet to the ground.

"The hell!"

"I pretty much suck at all but a few spells. I do throw a mean negative energy explosion though-" She stopped when she looked at them. "I put it into my power assessment. Don't blame me if you just thought I was nuts."

"So no idea on the why? Nothing at all?" Armsmaster pressed her on the point while ignoring her comment.

"Not enough information. Has anything else unusual happened recently?" Gitanica asked curiously.

"Mostly just solo villains, as the Empire has laid low. Arachnos has attacked Coil, even though he's not a major gang. One of his men was picked up and bargained for his freedom. He mentioned a scary intangible woman that killed a whole bunch of Coil's mercenaries during the attack," the leader of the Protectorate informed.

"Ghost Widow? That sounds like her type of attack. I would have thought her soul would have been lost when Arachnos was lost with Earth Paragon." Gitanica unconsciously tensed her grip on the edge of the table.

"You know this Ghost Widow?" Battery asked curiously. "Charged State mentioned you used to be an enforcer for Arachnos."

The teen girl licked her lips nervously. "I guess you could say that. I was her lieutenant for about six months. Shit, I'd hoped she was gone."

Battery leaned a little closer, studying Gitanica's barely masked face. "You are scared of her?"

"I got the drop on her once and managed to defeat her. Every other time I've gone against her I've had a team on my side. And we still lost at times. It's not like you can kill her." The edge of the metal table was bending with a slow creak of stressed metal under her unconscious grip.

Triumph's eyes had narrowed at that under his helmet. "What do you mean, 'you can't kill her'?"

"She's a fucking ghost, fettered to this world in willing service to Arachnos. Unlike what Lovecraft would have you believe, you really can't just kill a ghost even more dead than it already is." Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Battery was starting to get creeped out by the girl's fear. "You are afraid of ghosts? You seemed pretty fearless against Lung and he could probably destroy Brockton Bay if he got going."

"No. Most ghosts are easy to dispel for a while. Ghost Widow is a unkillable death machine. And-" Gitanica closed her eyes for a second. "And she hold grudges. Now that I'm not part of Arachnos, she's going to come for me."

"You are part of the Wards now, so she will have to deal with us all. And I don't think Arachnos is that powerful yet," Armsmaster said as he stood up. "Head back to school. If you can remember anything that might help, let us know."

"Oh, right. The murder of the woman." Gitanica stood up, a frown on her face. "She might have been used as a sacrifice for a ritual."

"Next you'll be telling us that we have to deal with zombies," Aegis quiped.

"Zombies are easy, they just go squish when you hit them hard. They are pretty low on the supernatural totem pole. It's the demon lords and liches you have to worry about," the shortest person present said seriously. "Just ask the others if you don't believe me."

After she was gone, Battery turned her head to look at her boss. "Armsmaster?"

"Gitanica didn't lie even once. She was terrified and worried, but she believed everything she said," the premier tinker of the team noted calmly.

"So what does that mean?" Triumph asked.

"It means we need to be a bit more flexible on what we consider impossible." With that, the armored leader stood up and walked out the room.

"Well, shit," Aegis said. "I'll see you guys later.

"-so I figure that Gitanica is actually this girl in my class I know. Just not sure what I'm going to do with knowing that," Rune was telling Kaiser in his Empire 'office' down in one of his warehouses.

At his sides were the twins, Menja and Fenja standing eight feet tall (so they could still fit in the room).

"Nothing." His eyes narrowed in the shadows of his helmet made of blade. "You know the unwritten rules. They exist for a very good reason." He leaned back in his sturdy wooden throne. "You were aware that we were the first ones to take advantage of New Wave's coming out?"

"Yeah. Sort of why I figured you'd want to use this-"

"It nearly destroyed the Empire. Killing Fleur may have been Krieg's initiation kill, but the heroes went on the war path. That was when the Protectorate actually came to Brockton Bay, moving in with that base off shore. They started a major war on the Empire that cost the Allfather everything. So no, we are not going to do anything. You are not going to mention her-" Kaiser was saying.

"We're just going to ignore her? Fuck that shit-" Rune's words were cut off as she felt blades touch her neck. She tried to pull back, only to find that two more blades from the ground had boxed her neck in.

"Fenja, I leave you to impress upon Rune the seriousness of my orders. Don't mark her face or arms. As she's acting like a child, use a leather belt. Twenty lashes. I will inform Othala that she is not to heal the wounds." Kaiser stood up and walked out with Menja.

The door closed behind him with a heavy click.

Fenja walked over. "You idiot, didn't anyone ever tell you about this rule?"

"I thought it was just a stupid rule that we only 'mostly' followed," the red-robed girl said. "You're really going to use a belt on me, aren't you?"

"Pain is a teacher that makes you remember your lesson. You would do well to remember that," the valkyrie said as she slipped out one of the belts on her costume, laying the pouches on the desk. Her shield was leaned against the same desk.

Rune closed her eyes. "I need to be able to go to school tomorrow."

"Gym?"

"No."

"Then I'll just mark your back," Fenja said as she snapped belt in the air.