For Better or For Worse

by rareID

Anna used to be the leader of the Protector League. "The hero of the people," they'd called her, until she murdered thousands of people including her Elite teammates and never explained why. Now the new League leader, Blizzard, seeks Anna's help; but can the infamous villain do that without outing the secrets she's kept buried?

37. Only Human

A/N: Thanks to my editors: Waela, Elsannity, Sneks, SexyMist, and Halladelle.

I provide story updates and answer story questions on Discord on a chill server you can join with this code: rA9UKwZ

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Nine Years Ago

Kristoff parks his car in his parents' driveway and rests his hands on the steering wheel. He sucks in a sharp breath through his nose and stares at the papers in the passenger seat. For all intents and purposes, he should be happy. He's a certified paramedic now.

With a sigh, he looks over and eyes Anna's car. Well, their father's car that he was kind enough to let her borrow for university. Kristoff gets the sickening feeling she won't have it for very long.

"Well, nothing's burning. I'll take that as a good sign." He collects the documents and exits the car. For a long moment he stands there, staring at the front door before locking his car and heading towards the battlefield. Sweat collects on his brow just thinking about the tension he's bound to walk into.

He enters the house and kicks off his shoes. "I'm home!"

Footsteps patter on the stairs in an instant.

Anna slides into view with a sparkle in her eyes. "Kris!" She goes to lunge at him—

"Anna-Ray Lehne!"

Anna redirects herself with fire mid-jump, something she never would have been able to do without meta training, then winces.

Gerda stares with a dark look of disapproval. "Now you're using your powers in the house?"

"Mom, no, I just— you didn't want me to tackle him but I was already—"

"Of course I didn't want you to tackle him. You're too strong to behave like a delinquent."

Kristoff forces a smile and holds the bundle of papers for Gerda to see. "Hey mom, guess who's a full-fledged paramedic?"

Gerda's expression flips into an instant smile. "My baby boy!" She rushes over and swoops him up in a hug. "You're going to save so many lives."

Beside him, Anna shifts uncomfortably. She meets his gaze and flashes him a stiff smile. Without a word, she slips off towards the kitchen. Kristoff's heart drops to his stomach.

It isn't fair. Anna is so much happier now that she's learning to control her powers, and her training means she's safer to be around. It's an injustice that their parents are punishing her for studying under heroes.

The worst part, neither Gerda nor Kai know that those heroes are a part of the League, and Anna's been too busy to explain that to them. The thing that really gets Kristoff, though, is the fact that he and Anna have no idea how their parents found out.

Gerda steps back. "Come on, we made a special meal for you."

"Can I change first?" Kristoff feels like he sweated out the armpits of his collared shirt.

"Of course! We'll get the table set up."

"Already done, mom." Anna stands in the archway to the dining room with a steaming cup of tea in her hands. She shifts from foot to foot. "It, uh, was almost done when he arrived. I just put the remaining food platters on the—"

"You did all that and had time to make tea?" Gerda stares at the mug in Anna's hand.

Anna frowns. "Yeah?"

"In less than a minute?"

Anna's cheeks flare. "I—" She clenches her jaw and looks away. "Sorry."

Kristoff's chest constricts. "You know, I haven't had much time with you since you've been off at school." It's a lie, but it's as good an excuse as any. "Care to spend time with your cool older brother?"

Anna's lips twitch into a forced smile. "And stand outside your door talking about coding nightmares while you change? Are you sure you won't just grab your pajamas and go to bed?"

Kristoff barks a laugh. "I'll be tempted, but the smell of food will always lure me out of the godsend that is my bed."

"Mhm." Anna heads for the stairs. "Say that when you're out cold and snoring in five seconds flat."

Kristoff shakes his head and turns to his mom. "I swear I won't fall asleep."

Gerda smiles. "I know your stomach too well to think otherwise."

From the top of the stairs, Anna snorts.

"See you in a minute!" Kristoff calls to his mom as he bolts up the stairs. He grabs Anna by the arm and drags her into his room. Anna goes along with it instead of fighting his weaker strength, which he can respect. "Jesus it's chilly down there."

Anna smiles and shuts the door. "I didn't think it would be appropriate to offer my heating services this month."

Kristoff snorts a laugh despite himself and throws his documents on the bed. "Little shit."

Anna makes finger guns and clicks her tongue. "Humour. God's way of telling you that my jokes are on fire."

"Like your relationship with our parents."

Anna's expression falls. She sets her tea on a textbook covered desk and scrubs her face with both hands. "So, uh . . . how did they even find out?"

"You— the League can't figure it out?"

Anna turns with a strange look on her face. "I can't use their resources for that."

"Did they say that?"

The tight smile that spreads over Anna's lips says it all. "I'm just a trainee, and our esteemed heroes are never around. So I don't have access to their system, and they're not here to do it for me. Not that they would." Her jaw muscles twitch. "They're halfway across the universe fighting monsters you and I can't even dream of. They don't have time for something as mundane as a family squabble."

"Oh." He doesn't ask for an explanation. They've already talked about it before, but not in detail. "Well, then I guess we have to do this the human way." Wait. "The mortal way." That's not any better. "The non-meta way— god, stop giving me that look."

Anna scrubs her mouth to hide the smirk. "Alright. What do we do?"

"You need to apologize."

For a moment, Anna only stares. "Excuse me?"

"Apologize."

"I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Shh!" Kristoff glances at his door and lowers his voice. "Look, I'm on your side. I think learning to control your powers is better than bottling them up and praying nothing goes wrong, but our parents don't see that. They look at magic as something that attracts unwanted attention from dangerous metas and they're right even if their way of going about it is terrible."

"But I'm not using my powers out in public."

"And yet, somehow, mom and dad still found out and they're not even metas."

Anna runs her fingers through her hair and grabs her bangs. "Someone told them, right? That has to be it."

"Do you think Jen or James would do it?"

"I— no. They might be absent, but they draw a hard line on keeping civilian and hero life separate in all regards. They didn't even want me talking about this shit to you or Hans, but fuck who else do I have? Certainly not them."

Kristoff rubs the back of his neck. "Maybe someone tapped into our calls?"

"If they did, they'd have to be able to outsmart Computer."

"There's a lot of different metas out there. It's possible."

"It is, but it just . . . it doesn't feel right."

Kristoff's eyebrows lift. "Is that"—he fakes a gasp—"hero's instinct?"

Anna chuckles. "Fuck off. And at least change your shirt so mom doesn't think we're conspiring."

He throws his tie on the floor and starts fiddling with the button on his collar. "Legit question though. Are you going to be a hero?"

"I don't know yet." She crosses her arms over her chest. "I thought it'd be cool, but so far it's just lonely and takes up all my spare time."

"You enjoy it more than the computer shit you're studying."

Anna frowns. "Being a hero isn't a job. You don't get paid for it. How would I even live?"

"Ask Jen?"

"Mm." Anna pinches the bridge of her nose. "That would imply I get to talk to her more than a few minutes every other week, if that."

"Fine, okay, let's just deal with the thing we can tackle then." He tosses his shirt over his shoulder and grabs a sweater. "When we go down there—"

"Are you going to wear a shirt under that?"

"Wasn't planning on it." He pulls it over his head and straightens out the hood. Not very well, but he tries. "We go down there and you tell them that you're wrong for going against their suggestion. Clearly"—he adds before his sister can interject—"they were right if they were able to figure out about the training you're receiving from heroes."

Anna grabs her still steaming tea and downs it in one gulp. Kristoff winces even though he knows heat doesn't hurt her.

"Okay." She sucks in a breath through her nose. "So I suck it up, then what?"

"Then they won't feel like their belief system is being threatened and you regain the ability to ease them into the idea of you using your abilities. Uh, maybe not inside the house again though."

Anna puts the mug behind her as if it hides the evidence. "In my defense, no one has been telling me I couldn't use magic indoors."

"Told by who? Your absent supervisors?"

"Shut up." She cracks her neck. "Time to go down there and take full blame for something I shouldn't need to for the sake of the family."

Kristoff's fingers twitch. "They'll come around, okay? They just need to be put at ease first so they'll listen."

"One step back, two steps forward sorta deal?"

"I'm pretty sure you said that backwards but yes, basically that."

Anna smiles and pats Kristoff's shoulder. "Easy peasy. Acting is in my genes."

"You mean like acting that you're good at computer sciences?"

"It's not my fault people can't memorize things as well as I can."

"You don't even understand half the shit that comes out of your mouth."

Anna smirks. "It doesn't matter if I understand it or not, just that it looks like I do." She raises her arms in surrender and heads for the door. "What can I say? I'm good at what I do." She leaves before Kristoff can respond.

With a sigh, Kristoff changes his slacks with sweatpants. "Pretending can only get you so far." He stares out his door. This wasn't the celebration he imagined for his graduation. He sucks in a fortifying breath. "Time to face the music."

When he gets downstairs, he's greeted with dead silence. "Promising." He walks into the dining room. Anna and his parents are all sitting in their regular spots with empty plates. "Hey, this looks great!"

Kai grins at him. "Hey, my big man, congratulations! How did the testing go?"

"Thanks, dad." He takes a seat and starts filling his plate. Everyone else follows his example. "Testing was fine. It wasn't as stressful as saving someone's life in the field, but I suppose that's too high a bar to compare it to."

"Those are two different stress types." Anna's expression is quizzical. "That's like comparing apples to oranges. Sure, they're both fruit, but they're not the same thing."

Gerda gives Anna a sideways look an hums. "Like having powers and being a hero. Same family, different tree."

"Okay!" Kristoff laughs and sets his plate down before he finishes filling it up. "Let's all face the elephant in the room without dancing around it." He points at Anna. "She's getting meta training."

Anna gives him a look, a mix between surprise and pride.

Kai sucks in a long breath through his nose and places his own plate back on the table. "Alright, Anna, why did you go against everything we ever taught you?"

Anna frowns at him. "I didn't— I never wanted to— dad, please understand, I stuck to your rules to the best of my ability, but they never told me how to control my magic, just how to not use it."

Kai's eyes soften. "Learning how to use your abilities encourages use of them, which puts you and this whole family in danger. What you're doing is painting a target on our backs."

"And what I was doing before endangered other people."

Gerda raises an eyebrow. "Says who, your meta teacher?"

"Says the student I punched into a tree." Anna closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. "My powers keep growing and, at that time, they kept getting further out of my control to the point that I finally hurt somebody. It's a miracle all his injuries were treatable."

"Why did you punch him in the first place?"

This is a story Kristoff's heard before. He also doesn't agree with how that interaction played out but he's also aware that, without it, Anna's powers would have gotten worse. Maybe to the point that she'd end up on the bad side of the League's attention. Then what? There's no way an untrained meta could hold their own against two people who are all but gods.

"I shouldn't have." Anna's lips curl into a tight smile. "It was a choice I made in the heat of the moment and it could have destroyed our family."

Kristoff tilts his head. Guess Anna isn't interested in justifying herself.

"That's why I took up the training offer," Anna continues. "Everything you ever taught me was to protect us, and I failed in that protection so I sought another way. Maybe I was wrong in my approach to that, but I . . . I just wanted to keep you guys safe from me."

Kai scratches his stubble. "I can understand your need to better improve the core lesson we were trying to enforce, but how does protecting us have to do with using your powers to heat up tea?"

Anna flushes. "That was one of the first things they taught me: how to use my magic in a confined space without destroying the surrounding area, like heating water but not the glass. I normally only do it in training, but I forgot myself when I came home. That's my fault and a grievous error on my part. I'm sorry."

"And the heroes?" Gerda spoons more mashed potatoes onto her plate.

Anna's eyebrows furrow. "What about them?"

"What do they expect out of this? I don't imagine heroes go around training random metas without having a purpose for it."

"They . . ." Anna's eyes flick away in thought. "They're not around much. It's hard for me to tell what they want."

That's a lie. The League is training Anna to be a hero. The only real question is whether or not Anna accepts full membership when it's offered to her.

"Assume they want you to be a hero. What then?"

Anna stares into her mother's eyes. "Then I say no."

"What if they don't take no for an answer?"

"Then they're not heroes and I wouldn't want to ally myself with them anyway."

Kai breathes a soft sigh of relief. "Well, at least you won't be wasting your education. Could you imagine dropping out? I'd never hear the end of it."

Anna's expression falters, just enough for Kristoff to notice. "No worries, dad. I'm going to graduate just like Kristoff did. Congrats again, by the way."

Kristoff's heart aches. He's had multiple conversations with Anna about her wanting to change degrees or drop out entirely.

"I'm not smart." Anna sniffs on the other end of the phone line. "I'm just good at memorizing and throwing facts back differently enough to make it look like critical thinking. I don't understand any of this."

"Why don't you tell mom and dad?" Kristoff flashes a tight smile at his EMT partner as they come back with a fully stocked medical bag.

"And then what? Have them ask what I am good at? What I do understand? Because I don't— I tried— Kris, I've looked at other majors. I don't want any of them. I don't want any of this."

"Thanks." He swallows the lump in his throat.

Kai smiles at Anna, bright enough to rival the sun. "After dinner I have some business cards to give you. I've been scouting businesses who'd be interested in the talents of a child genius."

"Genius?" Anna laughs. It's heavy and awkward. "I'd hardly consider it genius level, you know?"

"What else would you call yourself?"

"A socially awkward quick learner, probably."

Gerda's eyes light up. "That's right, you are a quick learner. Meaning you'll be done with your meta training before you know it and you'll be free to live a normal life again."

"Yup, you got it!" Anna's smile is so fake it gives Kristoff second-hand anxiety.

"And if those heroes insist you stay, you can just give them a good bump on the head."

"Mom," Kristoff intercedes. "That—" A look from Anna makes the words freeze in her throat.

"I'd rather not fight at all if I can help it." Anna smiles at Gerda. "Don't worry, my training is more precautionary anyway. It's the only way they'd let me do technical services for them."

Technic— oh, my fucking god. Anna, are you lying out your ass? Kristoff takes out his phone and, under the table, sends Anna a quick text reading, 'just tell them it's the League.' Anna's phone buzzes. She pulls it out and reads it beside her thigh with a frown.

Kai sighs. "I'd much prefer if you two didn't message each other at the table. You're right beside each other."

"You're right." Anna clicks a couple settings on her phone and puts it away. "There, I'm on silent. Now family time won't be interrupted."

Kristoff purses his lips and places his phone on the table. If you want to play it this way, so be it. "I have a mouth, too."

Anna flashes him a dark look. "We'll talk about this later."

"Right now is the perfect time!"

Kai looks back and forth between the two before settling his gaze on Kristoff. "You knew about this. Her training."

"I—" Kristoff rubs his forehead. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it wouldn't have made a difference?"

Kai sets his fork down. "Young man—"

"No!" Kristoff throws his hands in the air. "It doesn't matter if you knew because it wouldn't have changed anything except you judging Anna harder because she'd have had no progress to speak of! Anna still would've accepted training and I still would've supported her and you two still wouldn't be happy about it but—"

"Don't assume what our opinions would have been when you didn't even give us the opportunity," Gerda intercedes.

"You were given the opportunity right now and all I hear is a lot of hate when you don't even know which heroes Anna's training under!"

"Kristoff!" Anna glares at him.

"What? You want to wait until a later date so that they can find out from another third party source instead of directly from us so they can ask questions about it."

"I told you, they're not even around much! A freaking computer named Computer is teaching me through training programs. It'd be a stretch to say the heroes are involved at all besides allowing me access to their ships and building."

"Kids!" Kai runs his hands through his hair. "Okay. Obviously this is important if you're both so animated about it, which means it's something your mother and I probably need to hear."

Anna's mouth tightens. "If it's redundant in the end anyway I don't think it matters. I'm going to be sitting at a desk for the rest of my days never telling anyone about this aspect of my life."

"Anna—"

"No!"

Gerda huffs air through her nose. "Anna, you will be respectful and courteous inside this house."

Tears burn in Anna's eyes. "I'm trying."

"Perhaps you're not trying hard enough?"

Anna pushes her plate away and stands up. "I get good grades. I don't do drugs. I help the family out whenever I have time, and it just— it's never— you'll never love me as much as you love Kris." She heads for the door. "I can never stop being a meta and I wish you'd accept that."

"Anna-Ray Aesgrad Lehne, don't you—" The door shuts before Gerda can finish. "Oh, that child will be the death of me."

"Maybe not if you listen to her." Kristoff shakes his head and sends Anna another text. 'Holding up?' "If you weren't so defensive, maybe she would've been more comfortable talking to you about this and coming up with compromises instead of figuring everything out on her own."

"If she wanted a compromise then her talking to us should've been the first thing she did."

Kristoff's phone buzzes in his hand and he looks at it. 'No. Wanna go for ice cream? I'm at your car.' "How could she when the only open conversation you have with her about her powers is how to better suppress them?" He heads towards the door. "And she loves you despite everything. She never would've went against your wishes if the other option wasn't promising."

Kai scoffs. "Promising? Interesting choice of words."

Kristoff slips into a pair of flip-flops. "Athena and Hades are interesting people." He leaves before his parents can respond. He takes a deep breath and smiles at his sister, who still looks like a force to be reckoned with even with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Hey, stranger, want some sugar?"

Anna tilts her head and smiles, weak and teary. "Enough to make me melt in the rain."

"Time to buy out a goddamn treat store then." Kristoff unlocks his car and gets in. "We're going on a road trip on a top priority mission, get moving! Time is of the essence!"

Anna laughs and hops into the passenger side. "I love you, you stupid goof."

"I love you too, little shit."

---

Present Day

Kristoff stares at the monitors through a shop window with ringing in his ears. It's the official League announcement they made yesterday to finally address a blaring issue: what are they doing with Arson?

There was a lot of speculation in the three days of hero silence following the battle that turned Earth upside-down. Most thought of death or torture. No one thought the League would allow her back into their ranks. Everyone is angry, distraught, and watching looping news feeds as if it'll change the facts.

But there's nothing to change. Arson is Beta Rho now. The League threw all her crimes out the window and reinstated her as an Elite.

Boom!

And now cities are burning.

Kristoff shakes his head against the dizziness and stumbles to his feet. His left leg is bleeding and his right leg is weak from pain. He sucks in a harsh breath through his nose and limps down the damaged sidewalk.

Thunder rumbles above him. Heat smothers the air in a humid blanket. Rain patters down from a cloudless sky.

The whole situation screams 'third Incident', and Kristoff can't honestly figure out who he's more angry at: Anna or the League.

"Help! Someone, help!"

Kristoff turns. Someone is trying to pull rubble off a child. He walks over, kneels, and checks the kid's pulse. He doesn't find one. Tears blur his eyes as he stands and stumbles away without a word.

"Wait! Please help me! She's my child!"

"I'm so sorry." He isn't even sure if she hears him over the heavy rumble of battle and collapsing buildings.

A crash into the road has Kristoff thrown onto his back and gasping for air. Blood dribbles from his mouth. It takes him longer than he likes to come back to his senses and even longer to stand, and he almost regrets it when he does.

Laying in a crevice is none other than Mechanical Warfare. He's all but Scar's plaything and is decked out with the strongest meta destroying technology at Scar's disposal. Most people wouldn't know that, he supposes, but Hans still tries to keep him updated when he can.

Only, Warfare isn't moving. He's trying to, but his parts have been too damaged. At least Kristoff assumes that's the case. He's never had to treat a patient who didn't have fleshy insides.

He should run. Kristoff knows that. But he can't stop his legs from walking towards the hulking man with protruding metal gears that, oddly enough, look like they belong there. He wonders if that causes Warfare any pain.

Kristoff stops beside the meta. One of his legs shake, but he can't be sure if it's from fear, blood loss, or the injury on his thigh.

"Why are you a villain?" Kristoff must be crazy; the only other explanations would be subconscious suicidal wishes or emotional shock.

Warfare's eyes snap to Kristoff and he hisses smoke out of his nose. "Target acquired."

"Does it make you feel better ruining people's lives, or does it not matter— huh. I wonder if all villains are sociopaths or if they just have an underdeveloped frontal cortex. No, that doesn't make sense." Anna's emotional range was far too advanced for that to be the case. Unless . . . she was pretending with that, too.

Warfare's arms twitch with a horrible grinding noise and blood squirts out of one of his wounds. "Orders confirmed. Target locked."

Kristoff huffs air through his nose and digs a vial out of one of his secure pockets. He lifts it closer to his face and inspects it. It hasn't taken any damage, which is a miracle in and of itself with what he's been through today.

"Target locked. Target locked. Target locked."

"Yeah, I know." Kristoff shakes the vial and stares at the dark murky liquid slosh around like a light syrup. He's been carrying it on his person for almost two years now on the off chance Anna would come after him. There's not much he could've done with it if she didn't give him the chance to administer it, but carrying it around gives him a sense of security.

Now Kristoff has to face facts. Anna is all but a god, and he can't do jack shit to stop her. But he can stop somebody.

He kneels by Warfare's head and fiddles with the cap. "If this shit stops at least one villain—" He pauses to watch a skyscraper tilt with a deafening screech. His heart sinks. How many people are in that building? "I'm not making it out of this one. Maybe . . ." He stares at the vial in his hands. "Maybe I should take a villain with me."

"Scar has your family. I am to take you to them."

Kristoff grits his teeth. "So I can die with them?"

"Comply and you shall not be mutilated."

"If you're willing to bring me there like that, then I don't have high hopes of your plans for me." He opens the vial and slowly pours it into one of Warfare's open wounds. He thought about the mouth, but if the villain can still speak then it means he can still spit. "I suppose I should feel guilty about this, but Arson—" He shakes his head. "It's about time I do what I can to fix the mess she's made."

Tears well in Kristoff's eyes as he tilts his head back to the sky. His parents are going to die and he's gone against his duty of saving people to commit murder. Somehow it feels like the first Incident all over again, as if he's losing everything.

"You ruined my life." The mysterious rain that's soaked him to the bone comes down in a short downpour before returning to a light sprinkle. "Anna, please, just stop. Stop fighting them."

Warfare shudders and begins shaking violently. A choked sound gurgles up from his throat.

"I'm sorry, Warfare. I'm not equipped to help people like you." Kristoff stands, stumbles to catch his balance, and walks away. Even if today's the day he dies, he won't just sit around and let it happen. He eyes the vial in his hand once more, sighs, and lets it clatter on the broken pavement.

And with it he releases any hope he may have had defending himself against his sister.

"I found him!"

Kristoff jumps and spins around. Between the raging sky battle and the damaged city he hadn't heard anyone approach. Then he sees that the figure doesn't care about him. He takes a hesitant step forward. "Decryption?" That can't be right, she's an intelligence meta not a front-line fighter.

"Oh, damn it! Crossroads I need you on me right now! Our lead to Scar needs immediate medical attention." She pauses for a few moments, perhaps to listen to a response. "It's okay, Zeus, I know you didn't mean to cause this much—" Her head tilts and she touches around the wound that still has lingering traces of the suppressant despite the weather. "What the hell?"

Kristoff stares at Warfare's convulsing body. Is it possible the League has the means to negate the effects? He shakes his head and walks closer to Decryption, because he owes them after everything Anna's done. "It's Arson's suppressant."

Decryption's eyes snap to him and her hand goes to her hip. Kristoff didn't notice she was armed. "Who administered it? Did you see them? How do you know for certain?"

A spike in dizziness has Kristoff collapsing to his knees with a deathly groan. "It was given to me a long time ago by an old friend in case I was ever attacked. I was told it was a suppressant that could bring the mighty Arson to her knees."

"Do you know what you've done?"

"I do."

"Are you sure? Do you even know why it was classified specifically as an Arson suppressant instead of—"

"She has poisoned blood. So a dose high enough to get to her would be enough to kill anyone else."

Decryption blinks. "How do y— wait a minute." She crosses the distance between them faster than Kristoff can register and wipes some of the filth from his face. "My god. You're Kristoff Kissinger. We thought they captured you after your cell phone went dark."

"Huh?" Kristoff takes out his cell and stares at it. The screen is shattered and the whole thing is bent, just enough for him to know he can't salvage any data from it. Not when water has been soaking through his pants and getting through the tech. He throws it over his shoulder. "I just paid that thing off, too."

Decryption hums and turns away. "New plan, everyone. Mechanical Warfare is a bust, but I found Mr. Kissinger. Vikke, route the ship around this city to pick everyone up. We're retreating."

"What!"

"Rho, you listening? Good. Clean up the rest of the villains here and meet us back at base. Take as long as you want, but minimize civilian casualties, got it? Alright." She turns back to Kristoff. "You'll be safe soon."

Kristoff can barely hear the words over the ringing in his ears. "I— Beta Rho? She's actually working with you? I don't— you mean she's not actually behind this?"

"This destruction? No. If anything her cooperation made this confrontation far less messy than the villains intended." Decryption crouches and rests her forearms on her knees. "I know your history with Rho is . . . complicated, but she's one of the good guys. Never stopped. Or, at the very least, she never stopped trying to do what's right even if she stopped cooperating with us. It's taken the League a very long time to realize this."

"What about all the people who are dead because of her. How was that 'right'?

"If you're talking about the Incidents, it wasn't. That was . . . well, those were the reason the suppressant was made in the first place. By Colonel Reeves, no less. At least the original one. I shiver to think about what added features were put into the one Scar made." She waves at Warfare, who's since stopped moving. "That's where your batch came from, right?"

"His labs, yes, but not from him." Kristoff shakes his head. "I thought— no. It's stupid to think he didn't know about me."

Decryption pats his shoulder. "It's better not to think about it." She looks up. It's stopped raining. "Our ride's here." She lifts Kristoff bridal style and jumps into the elevated ship with ease.

Before Kristoff can process what's happening, he's strapped into a seat and facing two other heroes. Decryption sits beside him.

Zeus stares at him with her hands folded in her lap. "So. You're her brother."

Kristoff's heart sinks. "Technically? I mean, we were close before the first Incident, but she dropped contact after that. The only other time I've been in contact with her in the past four years was when I disowned her." He regrets how that whole situation went down in retrospect. She was opening up to him, then he brought in Jen's parents and boom. In one second he burned a bridge he didn't even know still existed.

Zeus quirks an eyebrow. "You did that to her face?"

"I did."

"That takes balls."

Kristoff shakes his head. "No. She was weak. Puking and spitting out blood, and she didn't even have the strength to punch out a glass door."

Poseidon stops staring into space to send Kristoff a look that sends chills down his spine. "You were in Arson's presence when she couldn't fight back and you didn't take advantage of it? Why?"

"I don't—" He squeezes his eyes shut and clenches his jaw to hold back bile. "I need medical attention. If you want me to find Scar—"

"You won't find Scar, he'll find you." Decryption stares at him with an impassive expression. "As for health care, you needn't worry. Crossroads will take care of you after she's done in other cities."

"Other— will she get here in time?"

"She is utilizing a fast transportation method." She nods at Poseidon. "Answer her question."

"Uh, okay?" Kristoff closes his eyes against his blurring vision. "It was soon after the Blizzard kicked her ass in battle. A couple days, maybe? Anyway she was sleeping off the suppressant in a place I knew about."

Zeus's jaw muscles jump and her eyes harden. "That happened after the second Incident."

"I— um, yeah, it did— I'm sorry, I thought you were working with her? Why do you sound like she's still your enemy?"

Zeus flashes him a tight smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "She hurt us as much as she hurt civilians, so yes she is far from being my ally in my eyes. Do you view her as a friend?" Her accent thickens the more she talks.

"I used to."

"And now?"

Tears well in Kristoff's eyes. "No. She's not anything except the pain she left behind." Not all that pain was solely Arson's fault, he'll admit, but too much of it was her.

"Mm." Zeus' eyes lose focus. "She didn't even spare her family. Somehow I'm not surprised."

A lump rises in Kristoff's throat. "She was such a sweet kid." He isn't sure why he's trying to defend her. "She wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone anything else."

Decryption tilts her head. "What happened?"

"The League did." He all but curls in on himself. "I couldn't see the damage back then because I was so fucking proud of her, you know? The Athena and Hades were training her and I thought— I don't know. I thought they'd keep her on the right path but the power got to her head, just like ma said it would."

Decryption's eyes soften. "Oh, I really wish that was the case." She unhooks her seatbelt. "Crossroads, I need your assistance with Mr. Kissin—"

"Kristoff is fine." He says it so low he isn't sure anyone hears.

"—with Kristoff. He's bleeding all over our ship and I don't know how much blood he's already lost."

Poseidon turns to Zeus. "Go. Before she gets here."

Zeus grits her teeth. "She won't be done with the villains in all the cities, not yet."

"I doubt that'd deter her if she wanted to check in." Poseidon turns her attention back to Kristoff. "Then again, Rho isn't Anna. I don't know what her priorities are anymore."

"Wait, I thought you said—" He gags and spits out blood. "Ugh. If Arson isn't Rho, why did you make the announcement?"

Ariel taps her fingers on her leg and watches Decryption exit the vehicle. "It's Anna's body but not her mind. As far as I'm concerned, the woman who was Anna and Arson is dead, and that isn't a good thing."

Zeus scoffs and stands. "That, fish little, may be the only thing we will ever agree on in regards to her." She leaves before waiting for a response.

Poseidon sucks a sharp breath through her nose. "It's little fish."

"English is hard to learn." It's never been announced that English isn't Zeus' first language, but it isn't hard to guess.

"I know. I had to learn it, too." Poseidon stands and heads after Kida. "Crossroads will be with you in a moment."

"Wai— wait!" Kristoff struggles with his seatbelt but he can't get it undone. He isn't sure if it's because it's complicated or because of the lack of strength and coordination in his fingers.

"This is him. Kristoff." The voice is deep, manly, and dangerous enough to send chills down his spine.

"Healed. Next location."

"There is no next location. Good work, Roads, let me take care of the rest."

"Don't you— Rho get your ass back here! Rho! Civilians still need me!" No response. "Fuck!"

Kristoff takes a moment to process his returned senses and looks up to see Crossroads pacing back and forth. "You used to be Golden Flower, right?"

"Yeah." Her tone is curt.

"Cool. Can you help me out of this? I can't open the latches."

"Hm? Oh, they're designed for metas." She crosses the distance and removes his restraints. "Just head out that way. There are heroes waiting to escort you."

Kristoff shifts and pulls at his wet clothes. "Is there any chance of a drier being there?"

Crossroad turns to him. For a few seconds she doesn't do anything, but Kristoff isn't sure if that's because she's not talking or because she turned off her helmet's speaker.

"I'm sure your friend will have some clothes ready for you when you see him." She nods to the exit. "Come on."

Kristoff trips over his own feet to follow the hero. They're all faster than he expected, which makes him appreciate the effort Anna used to go through to move at a normal pace.

"Decryption!"

The intelligence meta turns to the healer. "Sup?"

"Rho dropped me here and refuses to teleport me anywhere else. Which ship can get me to each city the fastest?"

"Any of them, I suppose, but none can bring you to the areas requiring your aid the most because it isn't our system keeping stock, it's Chel."

"Is Chel updating Vikke in real time?"

A hand lands on Kristoff's back and he yelps. General smiles at him through the slits in his helmet. "Let's get you somewhere nicer."

Kristoff obeys the insistent nudge on his back and follows the Leaguer. As they walk, he examines the extraordinary vehicle bay and various heroes exiting different ships. His heart leaps into his throat when his eyes land on Shadow and Colonel Reeves leaving a nearby craft.

"Shadow!" The squeal leaves Kristoff's mouth before he can stop it. He claps his hands over his mouth when the woman turns his way.

General chuckles quietly beside him. "Looks like you got a fan, friend."

"I see that."

"See what?" Reeves lifts her arms and stumbles back and forth. "Help the elderly! I'm blind!"

"Knock it off, you old bat."

Kristoff recognizes that voice. "Calhoun?"

Reeves bursts into laughter and removes her helmet. One of her eyes is covered with a patch, but her other one is shimmering with mirth. "It's been a long time since you've heard my voice. I'm surprised you still remember it."

"Anna said you were an AI."

"I kind of was." Calhoun slings an arm over Shadow's shoulders and drags them both into pace with General. "So what's this about me not being your idol?"

Heat rises to Kristoff's cheeks. "It's not that, you're great, really! You kicked Arson's ass and that's astonishing, but Shadow has— she's just— Anna used to talk about her and she's been a guiding presence without fail since she joined the League. I can relate to that."

"Really?" Shadow sounds genuinely curious, and it makes Kristoff's chest swell with pride. "Who have you had to guide?"

Kristoff's heart falls. "Anna, back in the day. She came to me for advice, especially when my parents—" His eyes widen. "My parents! Scar has them!"

Calhoun taps her knuckles on Kristoff's head. "Don't worry, we know and we plan on finding them. That's why we need you."

"How do you figure?"

"He'll either want to capture you or use you as a weak point for Rho." Calhoun hooks her helmet on her lower back. "Either way he'll reach out in a way Decryption or Rho will be able to source him. Easy."

Kristoff purses his lips. "I don't think that'll work."

They walk into a waiting elevator, and Calhoun positions herself in front of the civilian. "Why do you say that?"

"Anna and my parents have always been at odds about her powers. They still don't know that she was dating—" He clamps his mouth shut with a click.

"Jennifer, AKA Athena. We know." Shadow leans in a corner with a broken overhead light. Or maybe it's turned off on purpose. "What about it?"

Kristoff raises his hands in surrender. "To my parents, Jen was a minor meta. That's what Anna told them. Even when they got engaged she never— god, it was such a mess. Anna wanted to amend her relationship with my parents by presenting Jen as a normal working citizen who couldn't be easily hurt. Then things started getting better between the three of them and she . . . she just threw the idea of telling the truth out the window. At least that's what it felt like."

The elevator opens.

Shadow nods at Calhoun. "I'll go ahead and make sure Hans is ready." She's gone before Kristoff can blink.

"God, that's such a cool ability."

General chuckles at him. "Come on, champ."

"Wait, did she say Hans?"

Calhoun fiddles with a gouge in her armour. "Yes, she did. Rho brought him into our care before we announced the villain extinction. We've been keeping him safe."

Tears blur Kristoff's vision. "Thank you. He means a lot to me."

Boom!

General grabs Kristoff's arm and yanks him back.

In front of them, Rho slams Ares into the floor and turns to Calhoun. Blood and guts cover her uniform from head to toe. "Here's your chance, Diane. Do you swear fealty to the Protector League?"

Ares struggles to her elbows and hacks out a mouthful of blood. "F-fuck you."

Rho punches her in the back of the head hard enough to make it bounce back into Rho's waiting hand. She pulls Ares' head back by the hair. "If you were anyone else you'd be already dead. I'm giving you a second chance here, and I don't offer that to everybody. All you have to do is give your loyalty to Reeves."

Ares chokes and more blood pours over her bottom lip. "But Lyle—"

"Is a cripple thanks to me. Correction, was. I made sure to cut that tie before confronting you." Rho chuckles, low and dark. "You don't have an oath holder anymore, so you either have to make it one of the Elites, or I'll kill you so you can't find somebody else."

"You expect me to choose minutes after my last oath holder's death?"

"I crippled him days ago so you knew this was coming. You had time to think about it, process it. Now it's time to act on it." Rho pulls Ares up enough to get her looking at Calhoun. "Will you swear your loyalty to her?"

Calhoun's lips quirk into a curious smile. "Don't you need my willingness, as well? I've been overseeing some noble-as-fuck heroes the last four odd years. Maybe I'm too righteous to accept a villain's oath."

Rho's helmet over her eyes disappears long enough to show off her deadpan expression. "I brought her to you for a reason, old Elite. I know the newer heroes would say no."

"You're not a new hero. Why not get her to swear to you?"

"She'd never do that. I'd been undermining and controlling her and Lyle too long for her to accept me." Silence. "So, Reeves? Will you bare her oath?"

Calhoun shrugs. "Sure. We need more hands on deck."

Rho's head downturns. "Diane. What do you say?"

Ares' gnashes her teeth. "Reeves, do you fear comets?"

Calhoun's eyes harden and her shoulders tighten. "Comets themselves? No. Things being turned into comets? Sometimes."

Kristoff side-eyes the hero. He smells history in those words, but he can see the trauma it caused. He keeps his mouth shut.

"An honest answer to a manipulative question. Are you—" She sneezes, and blood sprays from her nose. She clears her throat twice. "Are you an honest woman?"

"I am honest to myself." Calhoun kneels to be on Ares' level. "Are you honest?"

"Shh." Rho places a finger over where her mouth would be under her mask. "She's gauging you." She releases Ares' hair. "I have other villains to tear apart. Do me a favour and kill her if you fail her test." She doesn't wait for an answer. It must be a Leaguer trend.

"Mm. Good talk." Calhoun glances at General. "Get him out of here. I'll look after our dear Ares."

General shakes his head. "Don't we have enough villainous people in our ranks? Must we add another?"

"Those two are victims of self justification through public support of this organization. Villains are just people who do actions they want to do. That's what Black Dragon and Bear were, and they turned into essential assets."

"Wait, Bear was a villain?" Anna had never mentioned anything besides needing to 'recruit dangerous metas.' Kristoff isn't surprised about Black Dragon, though. Even as a civilian he could tell she was a sociopath.

"Debatable. General, go."

General sighs and drags Kristoff along. His shoes slip in Ares' blood, but General keeps him upright. Kristoff looks over his shoulder. His stomach lurches at the villain struggling to her knees without any assistance from Calhoun. "She needs medical attention."

"Not the kind you can provide. If whatever Rho proposes happens then Crossroads will take care of her."

"Huh. The story of my life, I guess."

"I'm sorry?"

Kristoff turns his eyes forward when they take a turn and he loses visual of the bleeding out meta. "I became a paramedic because of how clumsy Anna was. Her powers weren't as strong back then, so she got hurt from things that would be hard to imagine, seeing who she's become."

"Oh? Like what?"

Kristoff's eyes flick to the ceiling. "She once cut her palm open by grabbing a knife by the wrong end. That's how we found out her blood was poisonous. Thankfully she was only three and her blood's toxic levels were low enough for us to survive."

"How do you know she didn't cut herself due to her own super strength?"

"The metal wasn't bent. The amount of force she'd need nowadays would've broke the metal before it cut into her." He shakes his head. "Maybe that's why I thought I could help her, you know? Even a human can assist minor metas. So I became an EMT after graduating high school, thinking I could be there for her, but she was only ten at that time. By the time I was a full-fledged paramedic she was sixteen and . . . so far out of my realm of expertise it wasn't even funny."

"That must have been hard."

"A little, but I could still help by talking to her, you know? Then she started talking to me less and less, and the confidential information kept piling up, and I knew she wasn't going to need me at all at some point. That hurt worse."

General sends him a pitying look. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It's in the past, right?"

General shakes his head. "No. I'm sorry that you'll never get the chance to get it back."

"It's fine. I don't want it back." He wants an explanation. Anything to shine a light on the mysteriousness of Anna's one eighty after the first Incident. That's all he wants now.

"That's good." General doesn't sound confident, but Kristoff doesn't call him out on it.

They walk in silence after that. Kristoff wishes above all else that he still had his phone so he could take pictures of this place. It's magnificence is hidden by a plain exterior, which shows in every lock, security measures, and door mechanic.

Then they're both exiting another elevator and General is gesturing to one of two doors, the one with a middle finger symbol over it. "That's Hans' room. He knows his way around so if you need anything let him know and he'll help you out."

"Okay, thank you." Kristoff walks up to the door. He pauses and turns to the elevator in time to see it close behind General. "I— alright. That's fine." He knocks on the door.

The next thing he knows, he's on his back.

"Kris! Oh my god, it's so good to see you!"

Kristoff blinks the stars out of his vision. He smiles at the sight of an ecstatic Hans above him. The CEO is all but wiggling with excitement. "Hey, bud. It's been too long."

Hans laughs and flops down to trap Kristoff in a hug. "You have no idea how nice it is to see another friendly face."

"Another?"

"Oh! How rude of—" Hans sits up and picks at his clothes. "Why are you wet?"

"I was in one of the cities taking siege. It was raining." He frowns. "Or maybe it was Poseidon? She was one of the heroes there."

Hans' eyebrows furrow. "Ariel, eh? Was she friendly or distant?"

"Distant. Are you on a first name basis with the heroes here?"

"They don't really care to hide it and I've been here for two weeks-ish, so yeah." Hans offers his hand. "Come on. Let's get you into some fresh clothes."

"They don't hide it, huh? That's a new one." Kristoff takes the offered hand, stands, and follows Hans into his room. He pauses mid-step when he sees a woman sitting on his friend's bed. "Who's that?"

"Huh? Oh! That's the other friendly face I mentioned." Hans bounces over and gestures to the woman as if she were on display. "It's my pleasure to introduce Aurora, otherwise known as Sandman."

Kristoff taps the back of his neck and forehead. "What are those?"

Aurora touches the metal bands in the same locations Kristoff indicated. "Courtesy of the Elites. They prevent me from using my powers so I'm as helpless as the two of you."

"When will they take them off?"

Aurora flashes him a tight smile. "They never said, and I've been here a while. Three weeks, maybe? I stopped counting."

"But what about your life? Is anyone waiting for you?"

"Somewhere, probably. I'm more of a lone traveller."

"You don't have a home?"

"I have my ship unless the League commandeered it, which I doubt, so I have that going for me."

"She doesn't live on Earth," Hans supplies as he picks up and throws items of clothes at Kristoff. "She's a, how did you word it again? A galaxy wanderer?"

Aurora smiles. "Yeah, you got it."

"Nice." He makes a shooing motion at Kristoff. "Go on. Change or you'll turn into a prune."

"Ugh. Fine, dad."

"Yes, yes, son, now fuck off."

Kristoff laughs his way to the bathroom. He looks into the mirror and startles himself. There's muck and blood all over him. "Okay that's . . . fine." He peels out of his clothes, takes a quick shower, and dries off with the first towel he sees.

When he leaves the bathroom in clothes a tad too small for him, he sees the other two have settled on the bed with tablets. "What're you guys doing?"

Hans looks up with wide, curious eyes. It's been a long, long time since he's been relaxed enough to look this innocent. "We're playing 'spot the stupid.'"

Kristoff quirks a small smile. "Okay, you got my interest. What is this game?"

Hans pats the bed beside him and Kristoff joins him. The CEO tilts the tablet so that they can both see it. "Basically, we sift through news articles and news channel clips and call it out when they make wrongful assumptions about anything related to metas."

"Why?"

Aurora quirks an eyebrow. "What else can we do that'd burn this much time?"

Kristoff thinks about all the news about meta activities lately. It would take countless hours to sift through them all. "Good point. What's this one about?"

"This is about the new Elite announcement. They're trying to draw connections with the old Elites for some reason? Like, 'Shadow is most like Athena' which is stupid, because Jen was an abusive bitch. God these people don't know anything."

The gears in Kristoff's brain jam. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Humanity is stupid."

"No, the thing about Jen."

Hans' eyes widen. "Oh. Right. You don't know." He sets his tablet aside and shifts so he's sitting facing Kristoff. "Jen was an abusive partner who gave Anna major injuries on multiple occasions and almost killed her once, not to mention all the physiological shit."

Kristoff's heart drops into his stomach. "Why didn't she say anything?"

"Maybe she couldn't?" His eyes glaze over. "If it was even remotely the same as what I've endured working under Scar I can't discredit her silence. You're both in control and have no control at all, and it's a fine tightrope balance that keeps you from tipping in either direction."

"Shit, I'm so sorry to hear about that. I knew it was hard for you, but—"

"It's okay. I choose that path and I paid the consequences. So did Anna." Hans closes his eyes and sucks in a sharp breath. "But all that's behind me, I hope. I'd think my debt is paid in full."

Kristoff sucks on his bottom lip and considers his words. "This may sound . . . odd, but what's going on with Anna? The Protectors have been saying strange things."

Hans' eyes soften. "From what I understand there are three personalities in Anna's head, and she lost. I suppose we should be happy that Red Arson lost, too, but the cost feels far too steep."

"Wait, Red Arson was a . . . split? Seriously?"

"Oh, wow, there is so much you don't know."

Aurora clears her throat. "Don't be too harsh on him. None of us, not even the League, knew a lot of this until recently. Anna is extremely good at withholding and suppressing information."

"She's a good actor," Kristoff says without thinking. He shakes his head. "Okay. So if Anna and Red Arson lost, who won?"

Hans takes a pillow and cuddles it to his chest. "This is where it gets weird because as far as I'm aware, no one knows. She has an AI in her head named Chel, but it's unclear if Chel is in complete control or if there's a ratio of Anna and Red Arson's influence intermixed into it."

"That's why everyone's calling her Rho instead of Anna, isn't it?"

"Normally, no. The heroes make of point of only using hero names while in costume even if everyone knows everyone, but in this case? Yeah. Even in civilian clothes they refer to Anna as Rho. They don't know who she is or who's in control or what her agenda is."

"Do you think they will? Figure it out, that is."

Aurora bursts into laughter. "The League couldn't figure out Anna was acting in Earth's best interest for four whole years, and that was before she had a super computer in her head."

"I'm inclined to agree." Hans winces. "If the League couldn't figure out the previous situation without it being spelled out for them, I doubt they'll wrap their head around what is by far a more complicated situation."

"The League has Allure, though? Can't she just look into Anna brain and find out?"

Aurora winces through a full-body jerk. "No one could get far enough into Rho's head to do that. Even if they did get in enough they'd be dead before they could tell anyone what they learned."

"How is that possible?"

"Hellfire smoke." Hans pats Kristoff's leg. "Trust me, nasty stuff. None of the current leaguers can resist it."

Kristoff rubs the back of his neck. "Jesus. There's so much the public doesn't know."

"Trust me, it's better that way."

"But—"

"Kris, I worked with Scar." Hans sends him a flat look. "So just trust me, it's a good thing the public doesn't know much."

By the haunted look in Hans' eyes alone Kristoff is inclined to agree. "Right. So what's the food schedule? Do they feed us or are we responsible for ourselves?"

"Oh, it's a free-for-all. The heroes are too busy bouncing from place to place to have a dedicated cook."

A slow smile spreads over Kristoff lips. "I'm surprised they haven't tried to hire you two for the job."

"God, no," Hans says at the same time as Aurora's:

"I hate cooking."

Kristoff gives the meta a strange look. "How can you travel around galaxies by yourself and not cook?"

"I cook, but that doesn't mean I like it. Besides I don't need to eat all that often." She pats her stomach. "Slower metabolism. Makes long distance traveling far more convenient."

Right. Aliens. "That's fair. Do you have another tablet so I can play this game with you?"

Hans bursts out laughing. "Do you think you can considering your extensive knowledge?"

"I swear to god, I will pants you."

"I swear on Arson that I'll stick my finger up your ass if you do."

Aurora looks over with a raised eyebrow. "Mind if I watch?"

Kristoff blinks at her, then grins at Hans. "Does it count as gay if we fuck each other with a woman watching?"

"Not at all. Totally straight."

Kristoff points to Hans' quivering lip. "As straight as your face?"

"As straight as a motherfucking mountain."

Boom!

Aurora glances at the ceiling as the tremors settle. "I suggest not getting food for a while." She hands her tablet to Kristoff. "I'll share with Hans."

Kristoff takes the tablet and stares at it. It's a poorly cropped image of Arson looming over the members of the League. The article is titled 'Hostile Takeover.'

"Just remember key points and mention them to us after you're done reading and we'll help you out." Aurora picks up Hans' tablet and settles beside him.

"Huh. Okay, sure." Not how he expected to spend his evening, but considering how it started, that's probably a good thing.