Delay
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Colin, Armsmaster, Defiant, all names he has carried and each name with their own regrets.

Skitter being one of the larger ones.

A girl so new to her powers, so full of hope and willingness to be a hero, and look what he did to her. He turned her into a villain.

One feared by the local Protectorate and PRT enough to call in outside help, something that Lung and Kaiser never did in their years of fighting with the city. A villain that on paper was a ruthless dictator, one that wasn't above killing PRT directors, even if evidence was starting to mount up against the man from an "Anonymous" source that the man was corrupt on all levels. A villain that ruled a disaster ridden city with an iron grip with her fellow villains. But the streets said otherwise.

The streets showed people rebuilding their lives, they spoke of children healthy and recovering, they showed mercenaries handing out care packages to gathering groups. All of it within the confines of marked territory.

Markers that clearly belonged to the Undersiders, any area with a different or no mark looked almost exactly like how the media was trying to spin Brockton Bay. Even if the Parahuman Online forums screamed something different.

Even as a villain, even as a dictator and a monarch, she was a better hero then him.

And now he and Dragon, by order of the new East-North East PRT Director, were about to topple all of that down. They and a handful of Protectorate Capes handpicked to counteract Skitter's powers as they attacked her civilian identity in the middle of a crowded school.

It left a bad taste in the collective capes mouths. None of them, not even Sere who had a rather rough background, wanted any part of it.

It broke one of the major unwritten laws that their society was built upon, the one kept their family and friends safe for years. A rule that had villains actually willing to sacrifice themselves in Endbringer attacks to honor.

And now, by the order of a man who didn't seem to understand the importance of such things, they were about to destroy it.

Dragon had no choice in the matter; it was literally hard wired into her system. But he could do something.

Colin was an inadequate child, Armsmaster was a glory hound and a traitor to what he stood for, but Defiant could be different.

"Dragon." He said, sitting next to her current main body. "I have a gift for you."

"Defiant, this is not the time." It was impressive how she was able to program emotion into her voice in real-time like that. The irritation sounded even more natural than his own.

"I think it is." He said, pulling a switch aside from his other works in his portable work station. It was supposed to be a birthday gift, a tool for situations like this one but it wasn't done. Though beggers can't be choosers. "It's not much, and it's not as complete as I would like, but this should help. It should give you a choice." He knew how much something like this would mean to her, how she feared days like that one. Days where she couldn't help but go with an order she hated.

"What is it?"

"A delay. Not much, just a few seconds on your runtimes. Bu it should be enough to stall, for you to have a choice."

Dragon was silent for a moment. Completely still in that way only machines could be. But after a few seconds two words came from her speakers, "Do it."