Exiled

by fantasyra

In a world of parahuman superpowers teaming with hero's and villains, a teenage Taylor Hebert meet's a kind teenage man who, like her, is far more than he appears. What begins as the start of a promising career as an independent hero team looking for ways to make Brockton Bay a better place, quickly turns into a life of villainy, with the same goals, and enemies on all sides.

10. Southside 3

Southside 2.3

I unsteadily climbed off the back of Sebastian's motorcycle as quickly as I could without falling on my face. He was insane.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again! You almost got us killed! Where the hell did you learn to drive!" I yelled as I swatted at his laughing frame.

When he said he had a vehicle, I was slightly worried it might have been stolen, but he assured me it wasn't. Said he assembled it from parts he found where he was squatting. When I saw it was a motorcycle I was concerned. Riding tandem was dangerous enough for experienced drivers but he seemed confident enough that I climbed on back anyways.

When he hit the throttle, I was scared. Sebastian seemed to live under the assumption there existed only two speeds. Standing still, and all out. After our first turn, that fear quickly evolved into a terrified panic.

I stood looking at him through the visor of the helmet he lent me. Captains Hill generally took about an hour and a half on bus from Downtown due to traffic stops, traffic itself, and the roundabout distance the roadway was set.

Sebastian made it in twenty.

He paid no attention to the speed limit as we rocketed through the streets of downtown. I still wasn't sure if we avoided collisions with other drivers more from luck than any skill on Sebastian's part. The only thing I did know about driving was that from my own driver's license booklet. Sidewalks were not considered part of the roadway for motorists, you were supposed to stop at all red lights, and you were supposed to signal when changing lanes. That didn't include signaling just before using your powers to jump from an overpass to the roadway below because you missed the off ramp.

I was also pretty confident Sebastian never read that booklet. I lost count of how many near hits we had.

He was still laughing at me. It was almost worth it to out myself right here by sicing my bugs on him just to see the look on his face. There were a lot of bugs here. I could feel them with my power, all of them stilled, waiting for me to direct them. I struggled to calm down as I let the image wash over me.

It'd be totally worth it.

"Taught myself when I was fourteen." He said still laughing as he undid his helmet.

I followed suit. If only so he knew I was glaring at him. "That explains a lot! You're a menace!" I accused as I got free of it.

"In my defense," He stated as he placed his own helmet on the tank of the bike. "I'm a bit spoiled. Most vehicles I'm used to are V.I. operated or have inertial dampeners to cut down on G Forces. I haven't driven anything that didn't, at least, have a gravimetric stabilizing axis in a long time."

Still fuming at his antics I walked over putting my helmet down next to his. Captain's Hill was set up like a grand park. Duck pond in the middle to our right and a large expanse of fairly flat grass spread out over the area. The mountains grew larger the further west you went, which caused the place to get darker quicker as their shadows took over.

I released my hold on the bugs deciding to calm down in a more traditional method. Sebastian matched my steps as I led him over to one of the railings that overlooked the city. It was far enough from the parking areas that we shouldn't be overheard and offered a clear line of sight for quite a ways over the park itself.

I noticed there weren't many people in the park today. Just a couple of families and their kids. My outburst drew attention from some but thankfully none of them were close enough to hear what we said.

I used the same trick from earlier and 'tagged' everyone in my range to keep an eye on them just in case any of them got curious. "You are way too cavalier about this stuff. We could have gotten hurt. Worse, we could have hurt others."

Sebastian nodded to my points not seeming to be too fussed. "True enough, but we didn't. I barriered the one car that got spooked and ran off the road. The driver looked fine."

I sighed as we reached the railing. "He was puking his guts out the second his car came to a stop."

"Well, yeah, but that could have been the Barrier. Some people don't react well to mass effect fields. Other than that, he was fine."

"How can you be so...callous about other people like that?" I asked frazzled. Especially since he treated me completely different.

I watched Sebastian rest his arms on the railing taking in the view of the bay. The view was every bit as good as I heard about though I'd never been here before myself. I mentally snorted at the thought anyone would have bothered to take me, of all people, up here. Not without the trio's say so and only then to do something to hurt me. Not that after the last year or so I would have trusted anyone from Winslow to bring me here even if they had asked.

The landscape fell away showing the city spread out along the bay with the ocean serving as a backdrop. From here the city looked peaceful, idealic. The Docks even looked good framed in the fading light of the setting sun. You couldn't see the masses of unemployed, the slowly boiling cape drama between gangs or heroes, or any of the gritty realities that came with living in a city the size of Brockton Bay.

Sebastian was quiet long enough I worried that in my anger I might have said something he took offense too. When he did finally start talking it was in a very measured tone. "Life experience I suppose."

"You're going to have to explain that."

He nodded frowning slightly. "Alliance recruiting ads are well known for their half-truths." He stated. I wasn't sure where he was going with that but I listened.

"They like to put the best spin on military life as they can. Want to travel? Join the Marines and you can travel the galaxy for free in state of the art Alliance vessels. Want to meet new and exciting races? Enlist and you could find yourself stationed anywhere from the Citadel Embassy Offices, to Elysium."

"What they don't tell you is that the Galaxy is not the wonderful epic we imagine it is. Just like this view. You know better than I do what the streets of this city is like. This view makes it seem like such a great, peaceful place to be. Yet we know how fragile that image is, and how misleading." Sebastian stated unknowingly echoing my thoughts from earlier. I didn't say anything just letting him continue.

"There's roughly about a hundred and twenty year's difference from my time and yours. You really think humanity evolves all that much in the next hundred and so years? Or that humanity has the monopoly on cruelty? Other galactic civilizations are just as messed up as we are. Most of them have been doing it longer than us and are just better at it. Actually one of the first lessons I learned just before I enlisted."

"That's...kinda depressing actually." I stated uncomfortably.

"Yeah, it is. I suppose I'm painting it a bit too black. There's a lot of good out there too. Good people, unbelievable sights to see." He stated confidently as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and his lighter.

I turned when I heard a kid squeal behind us. Must have missed him before. I corrected that as soon as I heard him. Couldn't have been more than six or so by the look of him. He was laughing being chased by his sister who was red faced angry about something. She was older than he was and gained on him quickly. They both tumbled into the grass while their parents looked on fondly.

"Like Mindoir?" I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. "What was it like?" That seemed like a safe enough topic.

"Not much different than here."

"Then Earth?"

Sebastian chuckled. "More like Brockton Bay. Grass was more blue than green and we had two moons. The sky was more violet. Other than that it wasn't that much different. Wild life excepting of course. The main hub of the colony was set into a bay like this."

He pointed outward. Even in the poor light of the fading dusk I could tell he was pointing to the Downtown area. "Some differences of course. Like there? That was where our spaceport was. We even had a place like this called Shaverson's Rest. Named after one of the shuttle pilots of the original landing."

He moved his finger pointing over to the docks area now. "Exogeni had their local headquarters about there. Huge building."

"Exogeni?" I couldn't help but ask.

"All colonies were sponsored by someone. Exogeni was the biggest. They offered pay and land grants to colonists who signed on. The better your skill set, the more you got. You still worked for them doing whatever they wanted you to, usually studying something they were interested in that the survey team discovered. For Mindoir, that was the Glitter Caves way out in the Sawthorn Mountains."

"Oh wow."

"Of course," he continued. "The colony itself wasn't much more than a collection of prefabs all strung together in grids. At least, there at the hub. I didn't live close to the port. Dad had a stake about three hours northwest of it. Grew up out there. Only came into town when Mom was on leave."

Sebastian was smiling around his cigarette which made me smile. It reminded me of when we watched the sunrise last week. "Your mom was military?"

"Second Lieutenant Samantha Shepard." He nodded. "Career Military in the Fleet. Had her heart set on sitting in the big chair one day. Her own command."

I noted the slightly sad expression on his face as he talked about his mother. "That had to be hard on you and your dad."

"It was." It was stated so matter of factually that it caught my attention. "Hardly ever saw her. Though every time I did, it was great. Ended too soon of course, but that's military life for you. Dad didn't want me growing up living on one ship or another. Worse, one posting to another. So, when they found out she was pregnant, dad signed on with Exogeni as a Xeno Botanist. Mom had me there when she was due."

Something about his voice was confusing. He had a smile on his face, but a sad look in his eyes that I couldn't figure out. "You didn't like it?"

"I didn't dislike it." He stated flicking the butt of his cigarette over the cliff face. It was quickly lost to the shear drop in front of us. "I understood why things were the way they were. I dealt with it."

I frowned at that. "I'm not following. What do you mean you 'dealt' with it?"

"I told you I was a latent Biotic, remember? Well, back then Biotics were pretty new to Humanity. We didn't know anything about it until after we joined the galactic community. At first we thought it was a quirk of alien biology, but when humans started manifesting them things got dicey. Studies were done, and not all of them exactly legal. It wasn't unheard of back then to hear of people dosing pregnant women with Eezo or causing accidents in orbit that dumped it over colonies. Those were just the most common, there was a lot worse done."

"I don't think I completely understand that either. 'Eezo'?"

"Element Zero. The catalyst for generating mass effect fields. For every biotic that was born healthy from exposure to eezo, ten were born deformed or had cancerous growths. Of those, maybe half made it to adulthood. Most wished they hadn't. With our expansion beyond the Sol System, humanity was going through a population boom. Just so you know, humanity did a lot of colonizing before the First Contact War. We went from only living within the system of our birth, to colonizing dozens of worlds. So I'm sure you get the idea of the kind of numbers here."

I felt a shiver run down my spine at the picture he was painting. It reminded me of some of the horror stories that came up every now and then. People doing horrible things trying to force people to get powers or doing certain things to try and create certain powers in people they experimented on. It seemed that the more people learned about powers the more horrific the stories became. Not to mention, in those rare times when it actually worked, the tragedies that usually followed when the newly powered went on a rampage. That was actually more common that I liked to think about.

The sun had set far enough behind the mountains that it shrouded us in darkness without me noticing. The lights of the bay were alive all throughout the city. In a way, it felt like we were all alone up here. I turned away from the view to take in Sebastian's solemn expression. "How old were you when you started showing powers? Um, you call them biotics right?"

"Yeah. About four, my dad said. I was angry and threw my cup. Luckily I missed my dad, but it cracked the plexiglass window of our house. You probably don't understand that, but let's just say plexi is pretty strong stuff. Think transparent, industrial strength plastic. I think the equivalent you have here is roughly about six inches thick for the half inch we used."

"Fuck." I breathed as images started rolling through my head. "I only got my powers a few months ago. I can't imagine what I would have done if I had them at four."

Sebastian nodded understandingly. "Yeah. So dad called mom, and mom took leave so they could talk. They decided to not say anything but dad kept watch on me after that. By the time I was seven, my control was enough I was experimenting. Mom took leave again."

"I'm guessing that's not very common?" I asked getting a feeling where this was going.

"No." he agreed. "By that time others had also shown potential, but didn't have nearly the control or the power I was showing. Things changed after mom showed that time."

I watched as Sebastian kept his eyes looking over the city. I was sure he wasn't seeing the view anymore. "I remember being excited because mom was home earlier than she was supposed to be. Couldn't sleep so I snuck down finding my parents arguing. It was the first time I realized what my abilities were doing to them."

I swallowed not liking the picture that was forming.

"I was too young to fully understand everything but what I did understand was that they were afraid. Afraid of me and what I could do. Afraid of the control I had. One of the things I haven't mentioned was that in order for most biotics to use their abilities, they needed to have an implant installed. It helped the biotic harness and control their powers to create desired effects. At least, according to the Asari. They pretty much wrote the book on biotics so that was that. Everyone conformed to their way of doing things since it worked so well."

"But you didn't need one?" I asked.

"I got one later when I joined the Alliance, but back then? Nope. Granted, I wasn't strong enough to challenge a Battlemaster but I was strong enough to spook my parents. Enough so that mom took a week of family leave when she didn't have it."

I watched as his eyes seem to harden. "I gave it up. Stopped using them all together. Tried to pretend I couldn't. Dad noticed right away. I figured he knew, or at least knew enough to guess I overheard some of what was said."

He gave it up. Ever since I got my powers, they were all I could think about. I even began hinging my future on them and what I would do to help people as a cape. I thought of my dad. If something happened, and he found out, could I do that? Was I strong enough to just not use them anymore if he asked me? Could I do that? Just be like everyone else?

I didn't like the fact I couldn't answer those questions.

I followed Sebastian when he turned from the railing taking a seat at one of the overlook benches behind us. He leaned on his elbows cupping his chin. Eyes still looking lost as he continued. "Through myself into schooling when I got older. Didn't have many friends. Community was pretty close knit and there was a prejudice against biotics because people were afraid of what they could do. Either by design or accident. So I studied. Found I had a knack for mathematics and machinery. Pleased dad to no end. He bought me my first Omni-tool when I was twelve and a rebuild kit for a Skyliner."

His mood lightened as he talked and I was happy to see his smile return. "Skyliner?" I prompted him. This was probably the first true smile on his face the entire time he had talked about his growing up.

His chuckle made my smile wider as my mood seemed to lift with his. "It's not that much different than the motorcycle back there. Except, no wheels. Uses mass effect fields to keep it up. Took me a year and a half to build it. Spent the next eight months modifying it with every mod I could get my hands on and some I had to cobble together. Must have explored half of Mindoir on that thing. By the time I was sixteen it was barely recognizable from the standard package."

If anything his smile got wider. "I would escape into the outback every chance I could. Eventually led me out into the Roclaws." Sebastian turned to me with an animated expression. "A vast stretch of canyons and cavernous mountains some of the locals would race through for kicks. It was addicting back then. Pushing the limits of the bike and my skills at high speeds. Knowing if either failed I'd be shredded long before I knew it."

"When I was running the track, it was like the volume got turned down. Nothing mattered anymore. All that existed was the next turn, the next stretch. Would I be able to ride the wall enough to cut a second off my time, or would I clip one of the protrusions so that I'd lose control and crash? Could I cut that corner enough to be inside of that guy, or would we both end up as paint on the wall?"

"Eh, truth be told, I wasn't very good, but I loved the feeling I got doing it. Always a new challenge to out think. Pushing my skills and mortality to the edge. Out fighting the other racers around me. Felt like being free. I never won a race, think the best I ever did was come in fourth, but I really loved doing it."

There was something in his voice as he finished that jarred me. Something final. "Something happened." I stated. It wasn't a question really. I could tell that much. He didn't answer right away, instead pulling another cigarette pausing only long enough to light it and gather his thoughts.

We were too far from parking area for the lights to do more than intensify the darkness around us. His words were smoky in what little light there was. "I learned what I was really good at."

I swallowed. His tone sounded dead, emotionless. Even his eyes were hard. Seemingly to be holes of blackness in his face. "Like I said before, the galaxy isn't what the vids paint it as. I just finished installing an upgrade to the Skyliners thrusters and was testing them out when we found out the truth the hard way. Colony was attacked."

"Fucking Batarians." He growled. "The Alliance and the Hegemony had been butting heads for years over expansion rights. The Batarians firmly believed that the Attican Traverse was theirs and that Humanity did not have any rights to settle there. In the clash that followed the Citadel Council sided with us, and the Batarians closed their embassy in protest. This was all news back then, but it didn't feel real enough to bother about it. It wasn't like it would affect us after all."

"Tensions had apparently ratcheted up enough by this point. They attacked. But it wasn't enough to destroy the colony, they wanted slaves. Wanted to add insult to injury I guess. I was halfway through the track when I heard the first explosion."

His chuckle as he paused was bitter. "Almost killed myself when it hit. Thought I clipped the wall and was crashing before I realized I was fine. I shot out of the canyon to get a look to see what had happened thinking maybe a transit shuttle went down nearby. That was when I saw three skimmers over the Stockton's stake. The explosion was their rover getting disabled. The survivors were already being rounded up."

"There was nothing I could do about it except get caught myself. So I fled. Pushed the bike harder than I did during the races trying to get home. Make sure dad was alright. By the time I got there, it was already over."

"Dad apparently had put up a good fight. When I got there half the house was burning. Several Batarians were dead outside, shot. Never did find anything substantial of dad left. They must have figured he wasn't worth capturing and blew the house up just to get rid of him."

Sebastian's voice was calm. Like he was giving a report on events and not something he lived through. In contrast my breathing was anything but as I listened. Horrified by his experience. "At first, I was in shock. It just didn't seem real. No idea how long I stood there watching my house burn but it was a while I guess. I didn't break out of it until I heard another explosion not far away from the McKinnon stake. Then I felt the something. Anger. I found a rifle on the ground, picked it up, and raced over there."

He flicked the cigarette outward so it flew over the cliff. I kept my eyes on him as he leaned back on the bench. "I didn't even slow down. Just awkwardly balanced the rifle on the handlebars and fired. Actually the first time I ever fired a gun, dad didn't approve you know? Anyways, I manage to drop two before they knew what hit them. One of them got off a close shot with a grenade launcher. Close enough that it threw me off the Skyliner. The bike ended up killing one of his squadmates as it barreled into him, and I was thrown close to the house."

"Lost the rifle in the fall but I was alive. Surprised the hell out of me when I didn't find anything broken. Didn't realize it at the time but I used a barrier to protect myself. Mass accelerated rounds were neutralized as I ran behind the house where I found John. They shot him up pretty good and he was bleeding out when I threw myself behind the cover he was laying behind. Must have happened right before I got there."

Sebastian's voice lowered so I had to lean in to hear him. "I've never forgotten that moment. John laying there, blood running from his mouth. Gaping wounds to his chest, missing arm. Voice so hoarse I could barely make out the words he said. Never forgot those either. 'I fucking hate you Shepard. You're a biotic freak… A monster… but you're OUR monster… I don't care what you have to do, I don't care if you die… you don't let them get my sister..."

Sebastian was quiet for a long time after that. I had no idea what to say and just stayed quiet next to him. I still struggled trying to wrap my head around how horrible that must have been when he started speaking. "I don't remember a lot of what happened next. Gunfire and smoke. Explosions and screams all jumbled together. By the time the Alliance finally arrived I had the Mckinnons out front under sheets. The area was littered in smoking craters and broken skimmers. M… Marleen was the only one to make it from her family. She sat huddled not far away. Just watching me as if I would attack her next but not willing to be away from me in case the Batarians came back."

"Found out later the Batarians managed to get about two-thirds of the colony. Some fought back for all the good it did. When the Alliance Response Team hit the ground they got bogged down in a ground war they couldn't win. Batarians had dug into the colony hub where they were processing the slaves they had gathered. They used the colonists as a shield as they stuck control implants into the backs of their heads. Marines tried to free them, even managed to get a few. Not many, and it cost a lot of marines their lives. As it happens, Mom was one of those. Ever since that night she came home to talk to dad about my abilities, she kept herself attached to whatever fleet was closest. Just in case something happened. She thought I was with the other colonists in the slave pens. Gave her life trying to free them."

"Oh god, that's so horrible. Is what happened, that's why you see people the way you do?"

"Sort of." Sebastian said. "It was the first time I learned the underlying truth to the galaxy. Good things don't stay good by themselves. Inspiring sights will get blown up. Good people get killed all the time. When you're thinking galactically? The numbers really start getting terrifying. Good things have to be protected by someone or there won't be anything left for anyone to enjoy. That day, I managed to save only one. Afterward things didn't make sense anymore. Half the reason I joined the Alliance was I was looking for a way for it all to make sense. I was in basic when things clicked."

"My Drill instructor in Basic was known for two things. The first was a saying anytime he thought we were not giving all we had. Accused us of 'GoldBricking' and harassed us until we got back to work."

Sebastian paused to take out another cigarette. "The other was one that didn't come up often. Probably never more than once or twice a training rotation. Always when someone would ask why he pushed us so hard. Someone always did."

"Gunnery Chief Ellison would look at them and say, 'This is a simple game of numbers people. Fact is, they have more. If humanity is to stay in the game with any hope of success, then we have to be better. For every one of us that falls, we take twenty of them. Marines exist for this purpose. To make it so costly to kill us, that they have no choice but to coexist with us instead. We maintain peace, because any alternative is too costly to contemplate."

"I remember thinking back to Mindoir. I saved one, and according to the reports, I killed over a dozen in the first round. They sent reinforcements and I killed them. There wasn't a third. That was an equation that made sense. I built on it, based my career on it. Someone had to step up and be the monster that kept the other monsters at bay. Someone had to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Someone who was able, willing, to do what was necessary to see it done. Anyone could have done it. Just so happened, I found I was really good at it."

"What the fuck am I doing..." Sebastian muttered tossing the half burnt cigarette away before putting his face in his hands. "Sorry, not the conversation I had planned to have with you."

I tried to comfort him by awkwardly putting my hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. I'm guessing you don't have many people to talk to like this, even before you ended up here."

With his head still in his hands he shook it slightly. "Not really. I had a good squad who were all good people. Friends. All of us united in purpose for the things we were trying to do, but when you're facing extinction there isn't time to think about the past or maybes. You just deal with it, keep going. I told Tali the most, but there never seemed to be time for any honest 'heart to heart'."

"Maybe when you find a way back?" I tried to console him.

He finally looked up. "Won't matter even if I did make it back. They're all dead. I was the only one to make it to the Citadel in the final push. Tali took a hit right at the end. I don't see how she would have survived. As for the others, they were scattered all over the planet. Some of them might have survived, but I wasn't as close to them as I was Tali. Garrus maybe, but he was with me. He fell before Tali did."

If even a quarter of his life was like what I'd learned so far, was it any wonder he was the way he was? How much horror could anyone take before they simply started going through the motions? Desensitized to the point that caring took effort.

I was broken from my thoughts when he spoke. "What I really wanted to talk to you about was this trade with Leet, and maybe what we could do afterward."

"What do you mean?"

"If things go right with Leet, I'll have something that's going to change the scope of the game. It looks like I'm stuck here, so I might as well make the adjustments necessary and cope. I was curious if you wanted to team up?"

"Seriously?"

"Sure. You want to help people but you said that you didn't want to join the Wards, so I assume that means you're not going to join the Protectorate later. This city's overrun with crazy ass people hurting civilians. Like that guy we took out."

That was true. More so than I think he understood. Lung was scary, and his gang was practically psychopaths, but they weren't the worst in the city. "This is your world and you know the city," he continued. "I know how to fight and win. We'd make a good team."

"First of all, assuming we tried to do that and lived, never mind succeeded in taking out the leadership of the city's gangs, they'd unite to take us out. That kind of thing has happened before, in other cities." I cautioned him even if I was starting to like the idea.

"So we start smaller, and don't get caught. I'm going to need a lot of resources if things go well Friday. We can hit their storehouses, pick off the lower membership. Without a sponsor, like your PRT, we'll need a way to add to our inventory. I'm going to have to get it from somewhere. Might as well be the criminal element of the city. I've been doing that anyways but if you wanted, we could do a lot more."

I nodded agreeing with him. He did have some good points. My next thought had me frown slightly as I looked up from the grass I was staring at. "No killing. I mean it."

He frowned but I continued on trying to get him to see my point. "Look, it's just too...permanent."

"Permanent is pretty effective though." He stated with his frown still in place.

I winced. "It is but it's going to make the local heros come after us. Eventually, we'd have every cape in the city targeting us. We won't survive like that."

"True enough." He acknowledged. He stayed quiet a moment while thinking things out. "Okay, how about this then. Since this is your city, you call it."

"You want me to be the leader?" I asked pointed at myself stunned. He couldn't be serious about that.

He was.

"Sure. In a way you're right. This isn't the same thing as what I'm used to. The Alliance utilized me in a much more straightforward fashion. They had a problem they wanted gone, they sent me and I made it go away. I wouldn't say they outright encouraged my methods, but they didn't curb them either. I learned what lines I couldn't cross, which weren't many mind you, and those they would turn a blind eye too. By the time I attained my N7 designation and received my officers' commission my career was built on that. The Alliance knew the value of a good monster. Especially if it followed orders and stayed in the bounds they imposed."

He smiled at me. It wasn't his nice smile. "Don't get me wrong, monsters have their uses, and people can even tolerate us for that reason. But let's be honest here. Monsters don't make 'good people'."

The causal way he referred to himself got to me. I found myself going over what he told me earlier and what he was saying now. "I don't think you're a monster, Sebastian."

His smile softened. Apparently appreciating the sentiment. "We both know I'm not exactly what you would call a 'good' person. If I was, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

I smiled back at him hearing the words tumbling out of me before I knew what I was saying. "You're good to me."

My words make him blink. In the night that was around us his smile was harder to see but it looked like he was bemused by what I said. I didn't say anything more on it. Just turned away before he noticed my blush. Looked out onto the city spread out before us thinking of the things he said, and his idea.

Even with everything he told me so far, I couldn't wrap my head around the things that happened to him or how people used him afterward. And that was what it looked like to me. His 'Alliance' took someone who just lost his home, both his parents, got lost in a powered rage, and then basically said, 'Good job. You should do that more often. Join us and we'll let you. We can teach you how to do it better.'

So wrong I thought. No wonder he acted the way he did. Between not being from this world and having no ties to it, and all that, was it any wonder he came out all callous and cold? My following shiver had nothing to do with the evening chill.

The thought that hurt the most was that Sebastian was probably more broken than I was, and I had no delusions I was a model person. I had my own bag of tricks, as people say. What said more was that even through all of that, what he thought of himself, all the things that happened to him, he still tried to protect people. He wouldn't have given me his sweater otherwise. Wouldn't have jumped to help a stranger in trouble by fighting Lung either.

I don't know how long we sat there, looking over the city quietly before I voiced my conclusions. Everything crystallizing before me. "I suppose if we're going to team up, I'd best figure out a name for myself. It's not going to look good for our rep if everyone is calling me 'Bug Girl' or something equally stupid. Any suggestions?"