Blueprint 3.8

Landing home I was still giggling about what I'd done. The bitch had messed with Taylor's head for years, see how she liked it. Checking my phone, I still hadn't gotten a call back from Panacea. Should I call again, or would that seem needy I worried. Is this one of those, I don't want to talk to you so I'm just not going to return you calls instead of being an adult and just saying so things? I mean, she's like fifteen or sixteen, so not technically an adult, but still, is it that? Deciding to just deal with it tomorrow, like a true adult, I headed inside, only to find Herb, Enter, and Boojack all sitting at the kitchen table, eating steaks.

As all three heads turned to me Boojack asked "Who the fuck're you?"

I mentally retracted my mask, grinning "Sup Boojack! This is Boardwalk, my secondary hero identity who is definitely not the love child of Skidmark and Purity," I manifested a Speed Zone and caused my palm to glow, "and not related to Shadow Stalker in the slightest! I finished, turning my other palm to shadow.

He laughed. "Nice, want a steak?" he asked, jerking his chin towards a pack of them on the counter.

"Sure!" I happily responded, nodding to BJ's Stand as it manifested. It gave me a lazy nod back and turned to start cooking. It had grey leathery skin instead of black scales, and seemed a bit broader and more muscular than Enter. Shrugging, I dropped off my ill-gotten gains, and returning to the table I accepted the plate from the Stand responding "Thanks. . . I'm sorry, I don't know your name." I said, indirectly asking Boojack.

The Stand gave a bovine snort before grunting "Jackhammer," To both Herb's and my shock.

"Well than thanks Jack," he gave me a gimlet eye, "hammer." I finished, making a note to call him by his full name.

"Why the hell don't you talk?" Herb asked his Stand incredulously. "I thought you couldn't but, what the fuck?"

His Stand smirked back, tearing into his steak with the air of a satisfied predator. "I think he hasn't because he hasn't felt like he needed to," I guessed. The Stand's smirk stretched into an evil smile. "Yeah, like that," I added. Trying the steak, it was really good, and I voiced my opinion to that effect, getting another snort and a nod from Jackhammer.

"So, how'd your night go?" I asked Herb. "I head you from halfway across the city."

He grinned happily. "Being a dinosaur is so fuckin' awesome. You wouldn't even believe! I was tryin' out shit and some Merchants tried to jump me!" Enter gave him a raised eyebrow. "Okay, they may have just been in the area, but same thing, so I turned into a T-Rex and roared, and they both passed out in fear, the pussies!"

"I saw Velocity on his way there, how did that go?"

He shrugged. "Didn't, I stole their wallets, turned into a Pterodactyl, and took off."

I cocked my head. "How did you hold onto their wallets as a bird?"

He grinned harder. "Didn't have to, when I change, I change the stuff with me!" his eyes went wide. "Shit, I need to turn back to get them."

"Wait," I said, holding up a hand. "Are you telling me you took their wallets, as a T-Rex?"

"Yeah, there was a security camera, so I thought I'd fuck with it!" he crowed. "It was harder with tiny arms, but worth it. How 'bout you?"

"Hit another Merchant safehouse," I bragged, informing them of my raid, finishing with my parting shot.

"I'm surprised you didn't fuck her up," Boojack contributed.

I gave him an offended look. "Not with Gallant right there. Boardwalk is supposed to be a bit more gritty, but he wouldn't attack a hero unless they started it, and with him there that wasn't gonna happen!" I smirked. "Besides, with the Bank Job tomorrow, I want them to act as close to canon as possible, so we can counter them. Getting into a scuffle might make Gallant more cautious, and if we're gonna keep Taylor's reputation salvageable, we need the Wards to mess up on camera."

Boojack raised an eyebrow. "How are you gettin' 'em on tape?"

I shrugged, "I was gonna drop the cameras off that morning."

He shook his head. "Fuckin' Idiot." I sent him a look of confusion. "If they're there, like you knew, could use your bugs."

I thought, deciphering his statement, and was forced to agree with him. "Yeah, that's better. I can claim to always have them on me because of how I've seen the 'heroes' here acting, and set them up as soon as things started to go bad."

Plan tweaked and dinner finished, the rest headed to bed while I stayed up, strengthening my force fields. I found that extending it over an item made it count as me for the purposes of tanking damage. With this new information, I casually shot a 2x4 I'd covered with a variety of weapons, finding out that the forcefield was particularly week to Speed Zone accelerated buckshot, as it gave each pellet enough force to take down the field individually, letting the rest shred the wood.

Glad I'd been testing it out on something other than my own body, I went back to using an enhanced pistol while I read up on the base's defenses, nearing the halfway point of the manual. Turning them on was easy enough, though I'd not be able to slide into base in Shadowform anymore, but keeping Sophia from doing the same thing was worth it.

This continued monotonously, using a variety of weapons on the shield until I felt the oddest feeling of expansion and reformation, as if something had shifted, or a soap bubble had split into two, still sharing a side but separate. After nothing else happened, I shrugged and shot my current target (my eighth 2x4), but only the shield on the piece of wood to drop. Looking at it and then at my own body, I reinforced the glove of my costume with armor, then shot it. The second shield then dropped, the one on my body started recharging, but the one on the wood coming back online first. Letting go of the ad-hoc target, I felt the completed shield shift back to me, and, while difficult, I was able to shift it across my body, covering my hand, heart, and head in turn, the second shield coming back and covering the rest. As I shifted and stretched it, I felt, but couldn't see, it getting thinner and thicker as I did so. Grabbing the structured stick again, I shifted the zone to a 3-inch circle of the plank facing me, the field thickening quite a bit. Following this intuition, I dismissed the Speed Zone on my pistol and sighted down, hitting the target easily, nearly dropping it in shock. The 9mm pistol round didn't drain the shield.

Widening the target to 6 inches, I shot it again, feeling the field straining but holding. Widening it to cover a full foot I shot it a third time, feeling the field drop, my second shot punching through the board easily, stopping at the back where it hit the second shield and stopped, draining that one as well. I considered this. Moving the shields took time, taking out my phone and using a stopwatch app, I clocked it in at two minutes twelve seconds to drag the second shield and use it to cover my head, just in case. I tried to see if I could double layer the shield, but they didn't seem to want to do that, moving one pushing the other out of the way. Shelving that plan I shrugged, extending my body shield over the plank and picking up where I left off, enhancing my gun to drain my shield more effectively, glancing over at the bugs I had counting money while I worked, trying to split my focus to fully handle three tasks at once, to limited success, bringing in my equipment when it started to rain, and having to count the money by hand, since I was trying to be good about bring bugs in the base.

The next morning I'd had some success, having to switch off fields as only the one I drained gained in strength, for some reason. Making breakfast I checked my phone again, still nothing from Panacea. Oh well, I'll deal with that after the bank, I thought, making breakfast for everyone as the gentle impacts of rain made the villain base seem almost homey.

The smell of waffles, coffee, and bacon roused my friends, Herb coming in first, followed by Boojack who still smelled faintly of weed. "So," I told them cheerily. "Today's the day we help rob a bank, you guys ready?"

"Ready to go punch some Nazis," BJ grunted, crunching on bacon. "Ready every day, but didn't want to fuck up your plans."

"Yeah, and getting jacked up had nothing to do with that," Herb snarked.

I cut in before the replicant could respond, "Well I appreciate the thought Boojack!" I insisted. "So-" I was cut off by the sound of my phone ringing, checking it I saw that it was Panacea calling. But it's almost ten, I thought. Shouldn't she be in school? I answered it, "Good morning Panacea, how are you?"

"Hi," responded the healer, sounding much better than she had before. "Just got your message. I've been sick, and mom called me out of school, again. I'm better, and you said you needed help?"

"Yes," I told her, making a 'be quiet' motion to the others. Herb oh so helpfully made kissy faces in reply. Turning around I continued, "I wanted to set up a bank account at Bay Central for my hero identity, but I've heard that can go badly. I was wondering if you could help me out, vouch for me as it were, so they didn't call the PRT as soon as I walked in the door."

She made general sounds of thought, before shifting to agreement. "I can do that. Needed to go there anyways. Meet you there at 12:30?"

That was far too close to canon for my liking, statements made last night be damned. "I'm free right now, I could pick you up and get it done in time for lunch." Does that sound needy? I think it does.

She laughed, a tired but happy sound. "I remember last time you wanted lunch. I've got some other things to do, 12:30 really is best."

Well, Shit, I thought. If I push again she'll get suspicious. Better just play it by ear. That's what half your plans end up as anyways Lee. "12:30 will be fine. Should I come in full regalia, or cover it with plainclothes so I don't attract attention."

I could practically hear her shrug. "Whatever you think works best. See you then." She hung up, and I turned to see Herb smirking at me.

"As close to canon as you can?" he asked smugly.

"Shut up Herb!" I snapped. This was not how I'd wanted this to play out. "For that, you're doing dishes."

"Worth it," was his only response.

Herb and I walked down the street, both of us holding umbrellas, him wearing his full costume, attracting some looks while I covered my skintight getup with a created dress shirt and slacks. "You ready for this?" I asked as we strolled, approaching the bank ten minutes early.

"Definitely," was his immediate response, "It's the next thing that's gonna suck."

I looked at him, waiting for him to elucidate.

"Bakuda's bitch fit. That's gonna be an asshole fight for both of us."

That phrasing made absolutely no sense to me. "Okay. Define 'asshole fight'."

He leaned slightly back, hands raising into what I was quickly designating his 'explanation pose'. "So Bakuda, being mentally unstable as shit, still creates some of the most interesting bombs. Bombs that could still fuck us up!"

I nodded. "If we're not careful, yeah. She likes the terror thing a bit too much so if we're fast enough and pay attention we should be able to dodge the worst ones. You always have a chance to get away from them. I can fly, and super-strength translates into super-speed if you're creative enough, thank you Deku, so as long as you've been fighting you're good. You have Enter on you?" I asked, continuing when he nodded, pointing at his breast pocket. "It'll still be a knock-down, drag out, let's fuck some shit up fight. Question is: do we step in and save the Undersiders?"

"Yes!" he responded without hesitation. "That's where we become something more than just the outsiders to them."

I nodded, seeing his plan. "More than just actors on the periphery. It's when we take the first step to co-opt them. I think that happening on the fifteenth. That's tomorrow night."

"I'll have Boojack and Curtis with me for that one," he reasoned.

I did the math in my head and winced. "I'm assuming Curtis is your next replicant, in which case: Boojack yeah, Curtis no. it takes a week to recharge, so you'll get him the day after this happens."

"Fuck, you're right," he swore. "Stupid asshole 'Worst Day Ever' throwin' off my fuckin' rhythm."

I shrugged, countering, "The points'll be worth it in the long run."

He nodded. "Doesn't mean I have'ta like it. Your date's here," he commented, pointing at a girl wrapped in a heavy raincoat, standing outside of the bank.

I rolled my eyes. "Dude, don't be creepy. You know the plan? Stay low-"

"-until Kid Win blows his little canon, then beat his ass before he gets another load going," he finished.

My judging stare met his innocent expression. "Phrasing man, Jesus," I admonished, shaking my head as he walked away. Waiting for the signal, I crossed the street and approached her. "Panacea?" I inquired.

She was looking in the opposite direction, and shook her head. "Sorry, waiting for someone." She responded, glancing at me, before double taking. "Vejovis?"

I took off my large sunglasses, revealing my thin domino mask hiding underneath. "In the flesh, you're early." Does that mean something? I thought. Why am I second guessing myself here, I didn't with Taylor.

The corner of her mouth quirked, "So are you," she reposted.

"Touché," I conceded. "Either way, let's head inside." Stepping past her I opened the door, indicating she should go in.

She nodded and entered, with me following as we approached a bank representative's desk. Introducing myself and tipping my shades, the older woman started to panic until Panacea introduced herself, defusing the situation. I sat down with her, surprised that that had started to go badly, as I'd just used it as an excuse to talk to Panacea. After answering a few questions, the pause I gave when asked if we were opening a joint account got me a sidelong glance. As the person escorted us to a private office and went to go get the paperwork, or more likely find out what paperwork they needed to get first as apparently "Capes never come down in person", I gave Panacea a look. "What was the stink eye for?" I asked, smiling.

"Joint account?" she inquired dryly.

I shrugged. "It surprised me. We literally explained why you were here. Some people just don't listen. Makes me wonder if it's worth it opening an account for the Penumbral Defenders."

She leaned back in her chair, regarding me. "How does that work?" she finally asked. "I'm part of New Wave, but I've never done anything with them."

Probably because your adopted mother thinks you'll stick a knife in her back the second you get the opportunity. I wonder if it's projection I pondered. "I'm still figuring it out to be honest," I admitted. "Though it helps if you consider the reason I made it. The PD," her eyebrow raised, "Yes, I get it, police department, I didn't notice it until my friend pointed it out. My original name was Twilight Protectors, but the PRT nixed that, saying it was too close to Protectorate. Either way, my purpose was to help find people who were truly heroes and help them, no matter what others claimed they were."

She looked at me with suspicion, but didn't say anything so I continued. "Take the other founding member, Break, and tell me if this sounds like a hero or villain. You have a person who doesn't respect authority, likes the thrill of combat, but restricts their bloodlust to those deserving, the criminals, be they super-powered, or the pimp who's forcing women to work for him under threat of death. Is that a Hero or Villain?

"Do they break the law?" she asked right back, not missing a beat, probably seeing where this was going.

"Everyone breaks the law," I retorted just as fast. "People speed, people litter, people jaywalk, what matters to what extent do they break the law. Let's say this person has not broken any of the really hard laws, hasn't stolen, as the law defines it, hasn't murdered, as the law defines it, and hasn't attacked anyone that cape law hasn't already defined as a fair target. Are they a villain, or a hero?"

"The law's the law," she responded simply. "And they like hurting people, they're a villain."

I put a hand to my chest, "How could you say such a thing? I can't believe you just called Brandish a villain!"

"What?" she sputtered, losing her cool. Really, I thought. No one's tried that trick with you? "She's not-"

"She's a lawyer, and no one who respects authority becomes a lawyer." I interrupted. "The law? Possibly, but never authority." I ticked off one figure. "After I met her, I looked her up. The videos of her fighting? If that sword of hers was real she'd have killed a lot of people, and her expression was one of righteous bloodlust. My friend has the same thing going on, as do a lot of heroes, it's not inherently a bad thing." Two fingers, "As far as I know she's restricted herself to criminals, but I might be wrong, nor has she stolen, killed, or attacked someone illegally, as far as I know, but she's human, so she's broken at least one law, hell, anyone who flies is probably breaking some set of laws about air traffic. Just because no one calls you out on breaking a rule, doesn't mean it isn't broken. It's why I respect those with personal codes they don't break, because they're usually the type of people whose word is actually worth something." I held up three fingers, deciding not to go for the 'three strikes' comment. It would be especially effective against a lawyer, but lost on Panacea.

"Mind you, everything I've outlined probably applies to my friend, a quarter of the Wards, most of the Protectorate, and most heroes in general. The problem is, public perception matters far too much to people than actual facts. Let's go extreme, and take Oni Lee of the ABB for example, his pseudo-suicide bombing sprees terrify people, and with good reason, but let's look at his power. It's teleportation that leaves behind a body that quickly degrades. Compare that to Brandish who uses plasma weapons. I know she keeps them constrained to blunt instruments against most, but that doesn't stop them from being what they are. What are weapons made from the same stuff as the sun against mere teleportation when weighed on the 'should I be afraid of this person' scale, and leads to some thinking that bad powers equals bad people. Thing is though, that's not what happens, because it's what people think about you that matters most. That's why Brandish is seen as a Hero, because she uses her superpowers responsibly, while Oni Lee is seen as the Villain he actually is."

Panacea watched me explain with a guarded expression. "What, am I supposed to turn on Victoria now because everything is relative?"

I looked back at her, confused. "What? No, Glory Girl's definitely on the side of the angels." I bobbed my head in a thinking gesture. "Mind you, as someone with super strength I know how much work it takes to control that, and she doesn't seem to move like someone with that level of caution," I tactfully ignored her wince, "But yeah, definitely a good person at heart. My point is that there are some people who are either labelled, or consider themselves to be, villains, that really aren't. For example, say you've got a teenage kid who hasn't learned to swim, so his asshole father in law decides that he needs to learn, so takes him to a lake, walks him down the pier, and tosses him in, sink or swim style, ignoring of course that sinking is an option, and that option means death. The kid is trying his best to stay above water but is panicking, trying to get back to the pier, but every time he struggles over to it his dad pushes him back out." Panacea leaned forward, raptly following the story. "The lake is ice cold, the kid has inhaled a lot of water, is losing feeling and energy, and thinks he's going to die, and Triggers, but powers are weird. If they made sense, he'd get water control and save himself, but they don't. Say instead he gets a breaker/blaster power that lets him turn into a high-velocity fireball, which he uses to get to shore. However, in his panic, he goes in the direction he's been trying for the past half an hour, and hits shore by going through the dock, burning and exploding it along the way, killing his father-in-law in the process. Now the kid's convinced he's a murderer for killing his dad, and decides he's a villain. If someone calls themselves a hero, everyone questions them unless they have someone in authority backing them up, just look at what just happened." I gestured towards where the teller had gone, getting a reluctant nod.

"If someone calls themselves a villain, even if they're just scared or confused, people tend to believe them. So, back to my example, say he goes and tells somebody what happened. If they're an intrinsically good person they'll see what actually happened, they'll contact the PRT and ask for help, and, if the person who shows up does their job, he'll get help. But if the person he talks to, or the PRT officer that gets called in doesn't care about the circumstances, assuming they listen at all, and they just hear 'I killed someone with my power', when any fair court would not only not charge him, but probably press negligence charges against the mom for letting her new husband's attempted murder of her son go on without trying to stop it. But," I held up a finger, "the kid doesn't get a fair hearing, hell, he probably doesn't get a hearing at all, just people calling him, and treating him like, a monster and saying how he's going to go to prison forever for his crime of trying not to die when someone was trying to kill him, maybe even the Birdcage. I've heard a member of the Protectorate threaten a new hero with that when she didn't do anything wrong, just to bully her into doing what he wanted. So, this kid is being threatened with jail, and maybe they may go into graphic detail about the abuse, maybe even the violent rape he'll suffer there, convincing themselves that by making this parahuman, this criminal they've convicted with no evidence in the court of their own mind, this other suffer, they're morally righteous. Those are the 'villains' I seek to redeem, and I only say redeem because that's how a lot of them think, not that they have always done something requiring redemption."

"But, but that doesn't happen!" she insisted, pale. "And I don't believe you about the Protectorate, they wouldn't do that!"

"There's at least three in this city alone," I responded calmly. "Rune, Bitch, and the provisional member of our team, The Lady, Bug, who was the one threatened."

Panacea blinked at me, focusing on the first name. "The white supremacist?"

I waggled my hand in a so-so gesture. "By socialization and upbringing, not religion like the really bad ones. What do you know about her?"

The healer shrugged, "Just that she's a Neo-Nazi, what do you know about her." She froze. "Wait, do you know who she really is?"

I nodded, but before I could explain, the bank representative came back. I calmly filled out some paperwork, feeling Panacea stare a hole in the back of my skull as I waited until the representative left before wrapping us in a sound bubble, mentally berating myself for forgetting to do so the first time. "So, Rune, who's real name I don't actually know, was the daughter of a group that splintered of from the Empire Eighty-Eight, family name starts with an H, not important. Still white supremacists, but more of a 'Let us set up our own enclaves in the country and leave us alone' type. So young Rune, before she is Rune, hits teenage rebellion, like a large percentage of teens do, and seeks out an uncle who was more of the mainline faction of Neo-Nazi, the 'Whites are superior and should rule over all' type, which makes no sense but again isn't important right now. So, he takes her along, and eventually they both get caught doing something illegal, but she's arrested while he gets away. Her parents want nothing to do with her for 'betraying' them and working with the main line E88, so disown her, but don't have enough class to tell her. I know, I shouldn't expect them to, but still. So, all she knows is that they never showed up to her trial. She's put in prison, not sure what for, and has a hard time dealing with the mixed population, having been raised on a steady stream of white supremacist bigotry. However, instead of getting her counseling, like they're supposed to with juvenile offenders, they throw her in solitary confinement instead and just 'neglect' to ever let her out, because it's not worth the hassle to them." I saw her look of dawning horror. "Yeah, that's several kinds of illegal and the warden himself should have been jailed for it if it could be proven that he knew it was going on. Not even the Birdcage is solitary, and you can talk about gender equality all you want, solitary confinement is far harder on women than it is on men, and harder on teens then on full adults. So, she's effectively left to be tortured with isolation until she goes insane, and starts to do so, but Triggers first. Remember how I said powers always help, but are weird? Her power lets her break out of her cell and escape. If she'd known her family had abandoned her, she probably would have developed a Master power instead, but she most likely thought that if she could just get out, she could go rejoin her family. Thing is, she does get out and finds out her parents have abandoned her, and in her desperation, turns to her Uncle, the only other person she has in the world, even though he's really the reason she was in prison in the first place. Uncle sees her, not as a person, but as a way to get prestige in the E88 by giving them an asset. He likely convinces her that her family was inferior, and couldn't recognize 'the truth' or some BS like that, but the mainline E88, they'll be her family, they'll take care of her like her family didn't. And there you go, someone who has been raised badly, and screwed over by those in power, and then blamed when they react badly."

Panacea just stared. "How do you know all that?" she asked weakly. "That's, that's, how?"

I smiled. "That my dear, is not something that can be shared in a crowded bank, but later, if you really want to know, I'll tell you. Either way, I'm trying to help those who've never been truly helped, and could do good if given even a first chance. It'll be hard, I mean, Break is black, so getting Rune to join won't be easy, but it might be worth it. The amount of good she could do in search and rescue, let alone straight construction is quite impressive, it's just getting her to that point that's the issue, along with seeing if she is savable, or a lost cause like Alabaster. Thing is, I'm only trying to save the ill-treated, and the damaged, like Bitch a.k.a. Hellhound. Long story short her power lets her enhance dogs, not control them. When she triggered she enhanced one, it got attacked because it looked downright monstrous, it attacked back and killed a number of people, including her abusive foster-mother. Crimes the recently triggered commit are supposed to be considered as done by someone in a state of temporary insanity, given what makes people trigger, but for whatever reason, maybe because she was a problem foster child because her foster parents were criminally negligent and abusive but who cares about that, so someone determined she was bad, so the crime that she shouldn't be held accountable for stuck. Now she's on the lamb, so obviously a villain, as there's no possible reason a scared teen would ever run away from something horrible, and she's treated as evil even when all she wanted was to be left alone and to care for her dogs, which are actually just normal dogs when not empowered. Is it any wonder she got recruited by someone who was actually evil?"

I shook my head sadly before continuing, Panacea watching me, mouth agape. "Oni Lee on the other hand, is broken, and I will not hesitate to match force for force. He tries to kill me, and that's the only thing he ever does to people anymore, and I'll try to kill him right back, as I am within my full legal rights to do. It's all a matter of degrees." I sighed. "The true villains, those among us who are actually evil love to hide behind the 'unwritten rules'" I told her, making finger quotes.

"Don't use lethal force, don't rape, don't use mind control, and so on. Thing is, whenever they think they can get away with it they do so anyways. One of the ABB's main income streams is whorehouses, and Lung has been known to 'test new merchandise', so unless you think 'don't rape' just means 'don't rape capes', and I don't, that's him down right there. If any of the gangs acquired a Master, they'd be using them with impunity, and don't kill? Are you serious. The only gang that doesn't have at least member that tries to kill their opponents straight away is, maybe, the Merchants, and that's probably from lack of applicable powers rather than lack of desire. If they held to their rules the entire villain community would turn on Oni Lee, Lung, Hookwolf, Cricket, Stormtiger, Alabaster, and a lot more, and that's just in this city alone. The only well-known group that has the capability, but not the inclination, in Brockton Bay would be Uber and L33t, and I've seen the videos. For their GTA one alone they should have gone to jail for years, but I wouldn't use lethal force against them unless they initiated it." I leaned back. "That's two main ideals of the Penumbral Defenders, help those heroes and potential heroes who deserve it, and fight the true villains on their terms."

"But doesn't that make you just as bad as they are?" she asked, with a speed that had to be a canned answer, and made about as much sense those gotchya soundbites the thoughtless loved. The fact that it was coming from Panacea, who'd always seemed so thoughtful in canon, even if she was working with incomplete knowledge, surprised me. The fact that it was such a simplistically wrong thing made it all worse, as I'd dealt with people like that all through high school and college, high off their own self-righteousness, and expected her to be better than that.

I looked at her scornfully, oddly hurt. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I was dealing with an idiot. Do you think soldiers are murderers, because both groups kill people, and cops are criminals because sometimes use violence? Leave your primary school philosophy at the door Panacea, I know you're smarter than that, and if you think about your answers instead of just regurgitating the you likely just learned as a child you'd see why what you're saying makes no sense. I'm not the one who would choose to try to kill people who've done nothing wrong, to kidnap them, torture them, rape them, and I wouldn't torture or rape my opponents, I'd try to redeem them, or turn them over to stand trial, and if I'm sadly not strong enough to capture them, I'd put them down like the mad dogs they are."

She looked outraged at my response. "What do you mean, 'sadly not strong enough'? You don't sound that sorry about it!"

Why wasn't she listening to what I said? "Mercy is the gift of the strong Panacea, for it means that not only can you take someone down, you are prepared to do so again on a battlefield of their choice. If I could capture Alabaster, I'd have him stand trial for his crimes, but Kaiser? I'm not strong enough to lock him down and keep him from killing others, and if we fought, I'd kill him, just as surely as he'd try to kill me without a second thought, for if I let him get away when I had a chance to stop him, I'd a least be partially responsible for what he did after that!"

She stood up, flush with anger. "Then maybe you aren't the hero you claim to be!"

I was up in an instant as well. Disappointed that despite what I thought, she was a blithering idiot, only listening to the parts that she wanted to hear, ignoring the context and reasoning entirely like so many others and was about to respond when I was reminded of where I was, who I was dealing with, and what pressures were in place, so bit back my retort. "Fucking Scion shards," I muttered under my breath as I calmly sat back down. Simply telling her, in as a matter of fact way as possible, "I absolutely, positively, fucking hate mind control."

She stood there, not sure what to do, watching as I took a deep breathe. "What, are you saying you've been Mastered? That doesn't make your opinions right!"

I took another breath, sighing, catching sight of the employee at the door, looking in. I held up a hand, mouthing '5 minutes'. She nodded, looking a little frightened, but left us alone. "There are two main ways to get powers, most people Trigger, but some are given theirs, bought for money and favors."

She stood there, blinking at the non-sequitor. "What?"

"Those who Trigger, like you, have one type of power source. It helps your power evolve, change, adapt, and grow in power. However, it also pushes you to conflict, as powers are usually used in fights, and in new and interesting applications, which is ultimately what the powers want. Almost every power is a combat power in some way, and that is not an accident. That means that you are pushed, ever so slightly, by your power, by your. . . passenger, to get upset, to fight, to not think when you could react and then use your power in new ways. I'm sure you were thinking about how you could take me down, given that my only exposed skin is my head and neck, giving me an advantage. It does not matter that all I had done was say some things you didn't like, your reaction when pushed, and I apologize for doing so, it's one of my less favorable habits, was to use your powers against me in a physical confrontation. Coma, paralysis, or simple sleep?" I inquired politely. "I'd prefer sleep, but that's just me."

She looked at me with wide eyes, before turning her eyes down at her own shaking hands. "I, I, oh god." She said as she slumped down into her chair. "What's going on? Are you a Thinker? How do you know this!?" she demanded.

Looking at her as I casually shook the foundations of her world, I wanted to give her a hug, but it was safer to stay out of touch range. "Again, I can tell you later, but not now. Your powers aren't evil Panacea, just non-moral. To use them responsible is a burden placed solely on us humans, but it's one I shoulder gladly, for it means that I am a good person because I am a good person. The problem is that it makes talking with natural triggers much harder. Pro-tip, if you are dealing with a parahuman known for their cool head, there's a 60% chance they've bought their powers, and a 25% chance they're actually insane. 15% are actually that controlled, usually having a non-standard moral code they follow, as the rules of society we learn as children don't count for super strength or laser vision, so one has to create their own hard limits." Like you I added mentally, glancing at the clock on the table, displaying the time as 12:59. Running out of time.

"So, take a deep breath and think about what I've said. I don't harm innocents, and I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I believe that mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. Now, I know it's not exactly going to help with the entire 'I'm not a villain, I'm just a different kind of hero' thing, but, well, remember how I mentioned there were three people that I was trying to help?" I asked.

She looked up at me, eyes blank. "The third one was the provisional member of my team, The Lady, Bug. Not enough time to go into, but before I met her she wanted to infiltrate the Undersiders, like an undercover cop, so she could get info on the truly bad ones and turn them over to the Protectorate. The Undersiders are a teenage villain team, of which Bitch is a member, and their boss is, unknown to them, a violent sociopath who has killed and likely raped children, but used his power to make sure no one ever found out. Thing is, he almost never leaves his base, so Lady Bug offered to go undercover could find the Intel I needed to bring him to justice. Understand?"

She looked at me in horror, before nodding once, this new predicament pushing aside the horror of the previous revelation, possibly with the help of her passenger.

"I say that because they're going to hit this building in about thirty seconds and I need your help to make sure no one gets hurt by them, or more likely, the heroes who are going to come charging in to stop them, unthinking of their collateral damage." I dropped the sound bubble as I stood up, the sound of frightened screams and someone yelling in the lobby coming through the closed door. "So, ever been in a bank robbery?"