Stars. Expanding and shrinking. In mirrors. Rotating like a dance. There were many. No destination yet with a purpose. Jumping around and slivering between masses of people. So many people. An obstruction of humanity passing by. Faces being seen in the thousands of the thousands of a millisecond. Everything could be seen. Everything once. For a second's worth of a second. Everything had become clarity.

Purity looked down at her hands, dazed at what had just happened. She was still floating above the building looking down at the capes with her glowing power surrounding her body. She thought she could take out Lung, Rush, and Light conveniently at the same time, but her charge had come to a complete halt.

That vision… Was unexplainable. And the more she tried remembering it, the less she could understand it. But as she looked down through the rooftop of the warehouse, some sense came out from her vision. "Theo… Triggered."

Stone golems had formed all across the warehouse. One had held Oni Lee by the neck, in a position that said the statue pried Oni Lee off from Theo's body. Another statue trapped Rush in a bear hug from behind. Rush had her head low. Only the statue's torso was above from the ground, giving the impression that the statue was trying to pull Rush into the earth.

Mouse Protector was just getting up from her collapse. She yawned, like she just had the craziest night of her life. Mouse Protector is in over her head!... Why does Mouse Protector always think in third person view?

She saw Purity floating to her ground level. Recognizing her as a villain, Mouse Protector wanted to shout, 'halt right there evil doer!' But still recovering from her vision, the only words that came out were, "buzstop... wut dah hel waz dat?"

Purity raised an eyebrow at the mouse eared cape. She only noticed that she was a minority, and wasn't sure whether to deduce if she was villain or a hero. Theo looked over to Purity, shocked by his own disbelief. "Kay-" he almost called out.

"Stop." Purity interrupted, before he could say something he'd regret. They all looked over to Rush, hugged by Theo's power. Light was in front of her chiseling away the rock that grabbed at her.

"We're all so small." She spoke quietly. It was eerie, almost like she was talking to no one. "Do you get it? We're all so small. Like tiny pieces of sand making up a vast ocean beach, so similar that no one can tell the difference. So un special. So tiny droplets, in a massive ocean."

"Aryana," Light said in quiet tone. He removed the golem arms that had grabbed his sister, "can we go home now?"

"None of this matters," Rush whispered. "It's all so beautiful. I don't have to be afraid, because none of it matters…"

Lung's transformation was still in effect. Conveniently, none of Theo's statues grasped at Lung. With the arrival of Purity and Theo triggering, there was nothing to gain from dragging out this conflict any further. He gave a signal to Oni Lee.

Oni Lee's body withered away to dust, causing the stone golem grabbing him to break apart from lack of command. Oni Lee teleported to Lung's side, and took a flashbang from his jacket. "Stop right there ninja!" Mouse Protector shouted in crooked tone, "even anime tropes cannot escape our justice!"

Oni Lee gave her a menacing stare. It was a stare that Mouse Protector was all too familiar with. 'Yay, another arch enemy!' Oni Lee lit the flashbang in the air and blinded everyone for a long moment. Bombs went off, and the building collapsed as the two ABB villains made their escape.

Light instinctively launched a plasma wall up, covering all of them with a thin shield to hold back the heat. Rush shared his stress by using her powers to keep the building intact. Mouse Protector ran to the thugs beneath the shield, she carried three of them out the building to prevent them from dying.

Browbeat followed her lead and did the same. Purity lead Theo out of the building. To everyone's surprise, she returned to help pull out the thugs out. After fifteen minutes of dragging ABB gang members out of the collapsing building, Light and Rush let go of their powers. Letting the warehouse collapse behind them as they made their escape.

XXX

They all met together on a rooftop at an abandoned apartment building. Morning had come. Purity assured them she was only there to save Theo, and that she was only doing vigilante work, and not trying to recruit Theo in anyway. They were skeptical given her E88 reputation, but Mouse Protector decided not to try and arrest her given that their fight with Lung was more than enough action for one night.

"Join the dark side!" Rush yelled at Theo's face. "We have money, drugs, and bitches! So many bitches! You will drown in pussy if you join the villain's side!"

Taylor turned to Light and said, "you're sister is a bit…"

"And air fresheners," Light added with blind innocence. "So many air fresheners."

"Nevermind," Taylor stopped herself from commenting.

Purity was leaning at the building's ledge. She was only staying to get the chance to speak with Rush and Light alone, away from cameras. I'll talk with Theo later, she told herself. But why are people always okay when they try and recruit people? Purity wondered. Even though Rush and Light were considered villains, Purity was labelled a bigger threat than either of them. Which was ironic, really. Purity did everything in her power to portray herself as a hero, the Losers did the exact opposite, yet people treated herself like she was the only monster.

Rush said, "Come on dude, you and I totally had a connection back there. Like, really great sex. Only better." She pointed to Browbeat, "vouch for me bro, you watched."

Browbeat stood with his arms crossed, "you tried cutting him."

"Irrelevant," Rush argued. "Bug girl, you were there too. You saw it right? The netherworld?"

"I really don't know what we saw," Taylor answered. "But I don't think that means he needs to be a villain."

Mouse Protector rubbed at the templates of her nose. She was truly annoyed for the first time in years. Even though she wanted Rush and Light to shut up, she'd rather talk down their points than have them resort to their video tape recruiting methods. "Okay, real talk," Mouse Protector stated. "You're just a kid. You're more likely get killed if you're a rogue hero. You're even more likely to get killed working as a villain. My suggestion? Become a ward, and then decide whether to go hero or villain after you graduate." Mouse Protector glanced at Bug Girl and Browbeat. "And the same goes for you two."

Theo's voice came out hollow. "I can't," his face was contorted. "I can't tell you why… But there's no way I could ever become a Ward. You just have to take my word on that."

There wasn't much more to say. If Theo wouldn't join the Wards, none of them could guarantee his safety. Light said, "you know the dark side isn't so evil. We have burrito Tuesdays, because taco Tuesdays are bullshit."

"No, you don't understand," Theo said. "This isn't a game, I can't just be a cape for fun."

"I know that." Light said with a changed tone. "I know its not a game, us joking around is just us killing time while we're doing this. I get how you don't want to be labelled a villain, but not everyone can be choosy. We're tying to offer you a team. Because that's something everyone always needs."

"No," Theo said stressing the point, "I'm not going to live my life like I'm a criminal."

Light curled his lips, somewhat offended.

Rush broke the silence with a hiss, "biiiiiiitches," she said as a faint whisper. "Droooowning in puuuusaaaayy!"

Theo finally snapped at her, "After you nearly butchered me to pieces? Do you really think I'd ever join you two psychos!?"

Rush paused, and blinked at him. The word 'psycho' had a ring to it. The nail on a coffin of what Accord had done to her. She'd always done her best to distance herself from the man, but Theo regarded her in the same regard as Accord's sociopathy.

Without arguing his statement, Rush quietly stepped away from the group, aware that she didn't belong there. She stepped to Purity's side and excluded herself from the conversation.

Bug girl read Theo's posture, noting that he was becoming more and more doubtful of his own abilities. She asked, "Mouse Protector, couldn't you serve as his mentor? I've seen other capes do it."

"I don't do sidekicks," Mouse Protector answered. "Sorry guys, but I'm only staying in this city for a short while. And I'm better soloing than mentoring."

The other teenagers fell quiet, unable to find a solution for Theo. Browbeat said, "you can't make a decision today. You'll need more time. Layout your options for now, and let's all meet here tomorrow before it gets dark."

"I'm guessing that doesn't include me," Light shoved his hands in his pockets, disappointed this might be the last chance he'd get to talk with them.

They all nodded, agreeing to outcast the villain. Sighing, Light walked over to Light and Purity.

Rush stood at Purity's side. "Sabrina told us you left the E88." Rush looked over the building ledge, wondering what falling felt like. "I can respect that. It takes a lot more strength to change an ideology, than to protect it out of blind pride."

"I did leave them," Purity admitted, "but now I'm ruling it."

Rush raised an eyebrow. Light tilted his head.

"Your team did a heavy toll on Kaiser. The E88 almost fell into civil war before he agreed to step down." It was a simple plan. Kaiser didn't want to concede power to Hookwolf or Krieg, so he offered the position to Purity, someone he believed he could control. She knew that, and she took the offer anyway.

"Now you're in charge?" Light asked.

Purity nodded. "I have a different vision for the empire. I want us to become vigilante focused. Only fighting other villain cape, and leaving the white gangs strictly to protection rackets."

Purity turned to fully face Rush. "I wanted to form a truce with you. I'll promise to prevent E88 members from performing hate crimes, and in exchange, I'd like for your team to stop making fools out of our members."

Rush frowned, "but... If you stop being nazis... How else could we make nazi puns?"

Purity cocked her head back. "Excuse me?"

"Anne frankly, your final solution makes me fuhreroious. No geneva deal."

Purity's mouth gaped open. "Don't... You even care about your people?"

"My people?" Rush spat over the roof, "'Why should I give a shit about strangers? I'm more offended, than anything, that you think I'm somehow responsible for brown people everywhere."

Purity stared at Light, noting that he was slouching with his head staring at the ground. "Are you really alright with this?"

Light swallowed, "You do what you do, we'll do what we do."

XXX

"They said no?" Tattletale asked in disbelief.

Purity had her arms crossed, gripping her arms as she sat at the round table across from Coil and Tattletale. "She was very vocal about her refusal, too."

Coil looked over to Tattletale. Tattletale shook her head in daze, "I don't get it, half the reason they attack the E88 is to prove a point. I thought they'd love making a deal like this."

"Apparently you were wrong," Coil said, adding insult to injury. "It happens to the best of us."

"But not to me!" Tattletale yelled, "they should've agreed to this. Purity, tell me exactly what she said!?"

Tattletale was now more upset than Purity. Purity chuckled, "Rush took the time to say a barrage of nazi puns at me. When she started making jokes about my mom, I left before I could lose temper."

Tattletale's mouth gaped open. "But… That doesn't make sense… How could she be so…"

"Psychotic?" Purity said.

"No, no. It's just…. Did you talk to Light?"

"It was plainly obvious he didn't agree to it," Purity explained. "but he didn't contradict Rush."

Tattletale twiddled her thumbs. "But…" He should've spoken up… He would've loved this plan, and Rush would've listened to him….

"That's enough then," Coil said. "Thank you for keeping us informed, Purity. We'll stay in contact for anyway in which we can help the empire."

Purity gave a respectful nod, and left Coil's base. Coil turned to Tattletale as soon as the door closed. "Lisa," Coil said, using her real name to try and keep the conversation more personal. "Was Purity hiding anything from us when she debriefed us?"

Lisa was still dwelling at which point she was wrong. Without hesitation, Lisa answered, "Max Ander's son triggered. She didn't hide it to try and deceive us, she just wants what's best for Theo. She'd rather he not get involved with the rest of us."

Coil nodded, accepting the explanation. Purity was his tool, the same way Max thought she was his puppet. Purity knew the web she'd tangled herself in, but it was all worth it to her. If she could truly turn the empire into a vigilante organization, then she was willing to follow Coil. Besides, it was like Tattletale said, Purity trusted Coil, more than she trusted Kaiser.

"What are the chances of a civil war occurring?" Coil asked. He picked up the files in front of him, scanning through the secret identities of the capes he'd been collecting.

"It just went down again," Tattletale explained. "As long as we keep orchestrating crimes for Purity to stop, the empire will keep gaining approval of her. It'll reach the point where not even Kaiser's charisma can kick her down a peg. We just need to toss more curveballs to make her look good."

Coil stared at a snapshot of Sabrina, sitting on a park bench out of costume listening to music not knowing she was being watched. "I can think of more scenarios to orchestrate. Now onto the Losers. Accord contacted me to assassinate them."

Tattletale blinked. She didn't like them, but it was against her principle to flat out murder capes. "I refused the request." Coil said. "I'd rather the Losers be used as tools, instead of completely going to waste. They're certainly experts when it comes to propaganda, and I'm considering hiring them."

"Er, that's not possible," Tattletale said. "Money isn't an object to them. The only real way to win them over is to offer interesting jobs that require creativity."

"Do you have any suggestions at how I can turn them into portraying the PRT as inadequate?"

Tattletale nodded, "they don't typically humiliate the Protectorate, but we can arrange for something to go wrong in one of their heists. They aren't perfect.. If we need them to make the PRT look bad, we just need to force the right confrontation to occur."

Coil nodded. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Tattletale nodded, "sure, I'll just invite them to our next heist." Although she didn't know it, the Undersides were on the verge of making a permanent alliance with the Losers.