After

Buzzkill sat quietly in place. It felt like high school all over again. In trouble for something she had nothing to do with. Director Piggot asked, "would you call them your allies?"

"Not really. We have mutual enemies. That's where the relationship ends."

"Buzzkill, please understand that what you say here will determine how we proceed with their arrests. If we don't get an accurate understanding of them, it will make all the difference in whether we punish them appropriately."

Armsmaster towered behind Director Piggot, gloating in size. His mouthline was flat, and his cracked helmet did more than enough to express his pent up agitation. He said, "Buzzkill, some people deserve the Birdcage. It keeps the world safer. If there's a testimony you can give that'll provide that, it wouldn't be wrong."

Taylor shook her head, "I haven't lied since you started questioning me. Of all the people who deserve the birdcage, they deserve it least."

Taylor looked over at the mirrored glass room. Vivan was on the other side of the reflection but he couldn't stare back at her. He was handcuffed, head down and not staring forward. His frizzled hair covered up his face, mask laid carefully to the table with a somber stare she'd never seen before.

He tried to stay numb, to hide any remorse he might've had. But they all knew better. Miss Militia said, "he almost killed her."

XXX

Present

Vivan and Taylor looked at each other wide eyed in terror. She yelled, "what the hell do you think you're doing?"

He was lost in shock. The smell of cranberry juice filled his nostrils, but the sound of liquid droplets from Taylor mortified him. He'd always admired Taylor's resolve, and thought she had a level of tenacity capable of overcoming shortcomings. But seeing her soaked wet and rancid in the smell of cafeteria juice, gave him a polar opposite of what he'd imagined Taylor.

Taylor gripped her soaked fist, "you're not supposed to be here!"

Vivan shook, "I was outside, I heard them laughing and thought-"

"You're not supposed to be here!" She marched closer to him, letting the air whiff into his face. "This is my school, my life, you don't get to be involved!"

"Taylor-"

"No, get a clue! We're not friends, we're allies. I don't need you getting involved in my actual life. You know that school is off limits, but you came anyway. Know your boundaries, and don't treat my life like a joke!"

Vivan's eyes furrowed. Taylor turned around to head towards the towel dispenser. To her dismay, the dispenser was out of paper.

Vivan kneeled on the ground and opened his backpack. He had a spare sweatshirt that he pulled out for Taylor. "Here."

Taylor glared at him, but took the sweater. She stepped into the stall to replace her soaked t-shirt for the sweatshirt. Taylor said aloud, "you don't get to barge into my life like it doesn't matter. Know your boundaries. I'm not the only cape that keeps their civilian life and cape life separate."

Vivan lowered his hands into his pocket. He looked over to the mirror next to him. Taylor was staring into it a minute ago, and Vivan had barged in when she was yelling at herself. He couldn't imagine himself in her shoes.

He and Aryana had long been on their own and away from civilian life. In middle school, he never faced the type of bullying Taylor did. He was the only tan skinned student in a private school, but that hardly mattered in Boston. A part of him wondered what could've happened to make Taylor a target, but he knew all too well that some people picked victims out of randomness than reason.

Taylor stepped out of the stall. The sweater fitted perfectly on her, which said more about Vivan's shortness than Taylor's size. Taylor asked, "why are you here?"

Vivan stared down at the wet floor, "how long has that been happening?"

"That doesn't matter. Just tell me why you came Vivan, I'm not going to act like you're here to be my friend."

Vivan fell quiet. Taylor said, "come on, I'll skip class. Just tell me what you need."

Reaching the bus stop, all eyes fell onto Taylor as people noticed that her pants were still wet from the cranberry juice. It didn't help that the stench was so strong that it filled the entire bus with a rancid smell. Taylor said to Vivan, "I'll give you the sweater back after I wash it."

"You can have it."

"No, I don't want it. Next time I visit you I'll give it back washed." Taylor's tone was stern. She wanted to show that she was still upset, and she wasn't going to accept a gift from Vivan today.

Vivan nodded in silence. And the both of them stepped off of the bus after a long ride. "Why don't…. Why don't you do something?"

"Like what? I'm not a villain, Vivan. I can't just take advantage of my gifts and use it to hurt people. I have to be stronger than that, I have to show that I'm better because of it. Otherwise, everything I've suffered through was for nothing."

"Taylor… How did you trigger?"

Taylor thought back to the Loser's vlogs again. Each of their members made an origin videos describing how they had all triggered. Uber triggered when he lost his parents in a car crash, Leet triggered from an alcoholic parent, Spitfire triggered from a house fire (which might have been faked). And Rush triggered from seeing her father commit suicide, and Light triggered from seeing Rush beaten up by criminals.

All of them were vocal about their stories. They did it so that it couldn't serve as a weight for any of them. Taylor wished she could feel that same way. "I'll tell you another time. First, you have to tell me why you came to my school."

Vivan nodded in agreement, "there's a girl I want you to meet. She's a precog."

XXX

Lisa whispered, "she knows."

Sabrina's face blushed hot red. The mall food court was mostly empty. It was a weekday morning and the noises came mostly from the vendors than from the customers. What was meant to be a meeting place for heist plans quickly turned into Lisa's pestering for gossip. Sabrina asked, "she knows what?"

"What happened between you and Vivan." Lisa crossed her arms, "Aryana knows, Vivan knows, you know. I'm the only one who doesn't know. I'm really not used to being blind here."

Sabrina sunk back into her chair, "so in a way… That makes you the dumbest person in the room?"

Lisa grumbled. It had long become obvious that calling her stupid was the easiest way to annoy her. Drilling it at a time like this was especially grueling. "All I'm saying is, if I don't get the info out of you, I'll get Vivan or Aryana to say it. And I don't think you'd like the way they tell it."

Sabrina scrunched her lips. She really didn't want to admit the truth, but she also didn't want Vivan or Aryana to say it. Sabrina put on her black hoodie to try and hide her face. She tightened the string to cover her head, "you're the worst."

Lisa only laughed, "I wouldn't be a villain if I weren't."

"Just give it up," Aisha said on the fourth chair. Sabrina jumped up from the sound of her voice.

"Jesus christ," Sabrina shouted, "warn us when you're here!"

"Nah," Aisha said proudly. "You guys never say the juiciest things when I'm around."

Sabrina groaned, "because you keep annoying us! You're the worst fan girl ever!"

Lisa commented, "she's actually around a lot more than you think. She just goes invisible whenever she says something awkward."

"Argh," Sabrina pulled at her cheeks. "I'm walking on glass here. You read minds, and she's eavesdropping whenever I'm around. Can't you guys just let it go?"

Aisha raised an arm up, "sorry you find me… In-furher-ating."

Sabrina leaned forward and pulled down at her ears, "I'm not racist but I'll still kick your ass for those shitty puns!"

Aisha shouted, "Help, I'm being oppressed!"

Lisa leaned forward and slapped Sabrina's hands away. As soon as they both sat down, Lisa said, "stop that. Aisha, can you go invisible for a few minutes? I really wanna get this info out of her, but she won't talk as long as you're around."

Sabrina's jaw dropped, "wait, please don't-"

"Got it," Aisha said with her thumb up. "See you later racist!"

"I'm not-" Aisha dropped from their senses. With that, Sabrina looked back at Lisa, oblivious of Aisha still sitting there. Sabrina put on a feeble smile, "So… Aryana knows what happened?"

Aryana placed a hand on her shoulder, "yup." Sabrina jittered in fear. Aryana returned with four smoothies at hand.

Lisa asked, "what's the fourth smoothie for?"

"A precaution," Aryana answered. She sat on the chair across from Sabrina, "I'm guessing she's annoying you?"

Sabrina nodded. "Vivan told you?"

"No, I actually had to backtrack on Leet's audio files to find out what happened. I was going to act like I didn't know, but the dumbass blonde over here told you the truth."

Lisa puffed her cheeks. Sabrina asked, "you backtraced it?"

Aryana nodded, "sorry I did, but I sort of had to. You and Vivan weren't talking to each other that day. It was weird. I thought Tattlehead planted a wedge between you both. But after listening to that audio, it was more personal than political. So… Sorry."

Sabrina let out a loud sigh.

Lisa grumbled, "Aryana, pity me for a bit. I've never been in so in the dark since before I triggered. Can't I at least get a hint to what happened? This wouldn't even damage anything, I'm just dying to know."

Aryana rolled her eyes, "it's not up for me to say. That's up to her."

Sabrian looked down at the table. With a deep breath she said, "I kind of fucked up."

XXX

Vivan held the beagle in his hands. He petted it calmly when Sabrina said it, "why don't we go out?"

Vivan looked over to the side. Sabrina continued, "and its not because the internet keeps shipping us, we really would make a good couple."

"There it is," Vivan spoke quietly. "Sabrina, are you sure you're not just saying to piss off your parents?"

Sabrina froze in place.

"Are you sure it's not… Because I'm brown?"

XXX

"Jesus christ," Lisa said. "He said that, to you?"

Sabrina stayed quiet. Lisa continued, "holy fuck, he was right. You just wanted to go out with him to piss off the E88. Make him a token boyfriend, to make your parents look bad and show people how much you've-"

Aryana pulled at her ear, "hush dumbass."

Sabrina's eyes almost watered. It was nothing she could deny, but still something she was ashamed of. Sabrina murmured, "I didn't know it until he said it. I kind of liked the idea, without liking…"

Aryana gave her a plain look. She could've had plenty of reason to be mad at her, but she knew better than to drill into something that someone was already ashamed about. Aryana turned to Lisa, "happy?"

Lisa was completely lost in thought. She'd completely misread Sabrina's queaus. Those weren't signs of attraction, it was signs of opportunity. She assumed Sabrina had changed, and it threw off all of her interpretations. "Holy fuck."

"Yeah," Aryana and Sabrina both said together.

Lisa asked, "wait, you aren't mad?"

"Eh," Aryana said with a shaky hand, "I'm more proud of Vivan than anything else. There's not much left Sabrina can do to offend me. No offense."

"None taken," she smothered her face against the table.

"Offense taken," Aisha said appearing next to them.

"Jesus christ," Sabrina and Lisa both said.

Aryana raised the fourth smoothie, "got this for you."

Aisha sipped the smoothie triumphantly. "Trust me, I will never let you live this down."

Sabrina stepped back from the chair, "I gotta go."

Aisha took her by the hand and pulled her back in. "Sit, Nazi. There's something I gotta say to you."

Aisha noticed that Sabrina's hand was trembling. It was bad enough that Aryana knew the truth, but Aisha was something different. Aisha was a stranger, and that confession wasn't something she wanted her to hear.

Sabrina returned to the chair again, feeling more like being a culprit facing a jury of peers. Aisha rested her hand on her chin with her elbow rested on the table. The boring stare she gave to Sabrina lacked sympathy, while Sabrina's face was red hot from shame.

Aisha said, "I'm gonna give you some advice, stop fucking trying. I've been watching you for awhile, and you always act extra nice whenever me, Vivan, and Aryana are in the same room with you. It makes me wanna puke."

Sabrina stayed quiet. Aisha continued, "like, am I pissed you were in the E88? Yeah. Am I pissed that you thought Vivan could be your boy toy? Yeah, I'm mad about that too. But you know what annoys me even more? That you keep on pretending to be nicer than you actually are. That fakeness pisses me off the most. As soon as you stop pretending, maybe I can start actually liking you."

Aisha pointed her smoothie at Sabrina's forehead, "if I dropped this smoothie on your head, would you let me?"

In a low murmur, Sabrina answered, "probably."

Aisha tapped her forehead and pulled away. "Stop faking polite. Maybe then you'd actually learn to like Vivan."

Sabrina looked over at Aryana. Aryana looked to the side and said, "yeah, it's pretty obvious you're trying too hard. I was just never sure how to say it."

Sabrina fell quiet, reflecting harder on herself. She was still ashamed in herself, but the people around suddenly felt less hostile. Lisa commented, "wow, Aisha finally said something she didn't have to mind wipe."

Aryana leaned over and hugged Lisa's head, "oh my beautiful little school girl, I can't wait till you fall in love and mess it up. Then the three of us will hold it over your head like the monsters we are."

XXX

The girl who answered the door was still in her pajamas. She was scrawny, and her eyes were tired both from just waking up and recovering from a fever. Upon looking up at the taller teenagers, she immediately looked over at Taylor and spoke in a croaked voice, "I've been expecting you."

Taylor looked over at Vivan. He admitted, "I told her to say that."

He gave her a high five. After which, she clutched her head to sedate the headache. "Ouch," Dinaah said with her voice sounding normal.

Vivan raised up a plastic bag and said, "I brought noodles! And not the cheap college brand either."

Dinah's eyes beamed up. She took the bag and invited them inside. Dinah laid back on the sofa with her bed sheets while Vivan and Taylor sat on the living floor. The three of them ate cooked soup together as they spoke together.

"Dinah contacted us after Uber and Leet got frozen," Vivan started. "Since we couldn't use tinker phones to call her, me and Aryana offered to be her french tutors to stay in contact."

"French?" Taylor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This poor plebe doesn't know that we know French, Dinah," Vivan said in perfect French.

"Yes yes, tis a shame," Dinah replied back in French.

"A little bit of cheese."

"A little bit of cheese."

Taylor raised an eyebrow, "omelette du fromage?"

"It's complicated," Dinah and Vivan said together.

Taylor asked, "so you were getting help from her the whole time? Did she tell you what would happen with Lung?"

"No, that was just stupid luck," Dinah said pouting her lips. "I kept trying to help them, but they never let me."

Vivan said, "we never actually used her powers. It goes against the whole 'agents of chaos' shlick."

"That's insane," Taylor said.

"Thank you."

"No, that wasn't a compliment. There is literally a precog who wants to help you, and you refuse it? Are you seriously telling me you're alright with what happened back at the casino?"

"To be fair, that was a spectacular story to tell after we survived."

Taylor's mouth wrinkled as she stared back at Vivan in bewilderment. Dinah growled, "see what I deal with? I keep asking to help them, but Aryana only asks me what the lottery numbers are, and never cashes it in. And Vivan only asks me if the chicken gets burnt!"

"To be fair, I take my cooking very seriously," Vivan's face came out stern. "Also, I've burnt the chicken several times just to prove you wrong."

Dinah raised her hand out, "see? They don't know how to use my powers!"

Taylor said, "then why did you contact them? There are plenty of teams that would love to have you."

Vivan said, "that's the problem. The more people that know about her powers, the riskier it gets. Precogs are valuable, and the chances of Dinah getting kidnapped is pretty high if she joins the PRT."

Dinah started, "I ran through the numbers. If I join the PRT, there's a 97.3% chance I get kidnapped and disappear forever. Joining other villain teams brings the chances of me dying towards the 60s. Only the Losers brought the chances of me getting kidnapped down to 10%."

Taylor's eyes widened. Vivan shrugged, "I don't get it either."

"There's a catch," Dinah continued. "If I had contacted them before Uber and Leet were frozen, there was a 67.9% chance I'd get killed too. So I had to wait until they were gone to tell them."

She asked, "You knew they were going to get frozen?"

"No, I just knew that if I revealed myself before a certain date, I was put at a high risk. So I had to wait until after a certain date. I didn't know it was because of what would happen."

Vivan asked, "hey Dinah, what were the numbers for if you told the Mouseketeers about this last month?"

Dinah murmured, "the chances of me disappearing rose from 32.1% to 69.0%"

"Nice."

"Not nice," Taylor protested. She wondered how the Mouseketeers could've put Dinah at greater risk. Would Mouse Protector give her to the Elite? Would Theo have told his father? Taylor said, "then let me get this straight, you're only telling me this now because… It's safer to let me know after my team broke up?"

"I guess so," Dinah admitted. "I don't see how things happen, only how they play out. I knew that waiting gave me the best results. I didn't know it would be from you guys breaking up."

Taylor rubbed at her chin. She was impressed by Dinah's powers but also mortified from it. If they were as accurate as she said, she could cause a lot of damage under someone's custody.

Vivan said, "which finally brings us to the main question."

Dinah asked kindly, "Taylor, will you adopt me?"

Taylor tilted her head, "eh?"

Dinah said, "I need an agent. Not just someone who can check up on me, but someone who can actually use my powers for good."

Vivan said, "me and Aryana really really don't want her help. It feels like… Cheating? And it wouldn't be right to make a good guy help us villains."

"You guys don't feel like villains," Dinah protested."I wouldn't ask this if you guys just listened to me!"

"Compromise," Vivan said, clasping his hands. "Aryana doesn't let us use her powers, but you can. In other words… Wanna own a slave?"

Dinah threw a pillow at Vivan. "Don't say it like that! It'll make her say no!"

"Same difference!"

Dinah and Vivan bickered some more. The noise was cancelled out by Taylor's thoughts. How can I say no? Every cape in the world wants a precog backing them up. And now one is begging to help me be a hero.

But something didn't sit well with Taylor. It seemed as though things were too conveniently falling onto her lap, especially after having just broken ties with the Mouseketeers, in exchange for an official alliance with the Losers.

Taylor asked,"guys." They both paused to look at her. "Who's idea was this?"

Vivan looked over at Dinah. She murmured, "I wish you didn't ask that…"

Vivan answered. "Mine? Does it matter?"

Taylor asked, "Does…. Aryana know I'm here?"

Vivan looked over at Dinah again. She had a worried look on her face. Vivan answered, "no, but does it matter? Like I said, this was my idea."

"Uh huh… Vivan, can you go outside for a bit? If I'm going to agree, I'll need to talk to Dinah alone."

Vivan glanced over at Dinah. With a heavy nod, he stepped outside. Dinah looked closely at Taylor. "What else have you made happen?"

Dinah's eyes furrowed. Taylor said, "this can't work until you tell me the truth. If not the whole truth, then just enough for me to trust you."

Dinah sat up on the sofa and looked down at her feet. "I like them a lot. They visit me twice a week. Whenever my powers scare me, they help me. I don't want bad things to happen to them."

"Then why have you been lying to them?"

"I haven't lied to them, I just… Tell half truths. Uber and Leet were never going to be freed. I saw a lot of paths, but each path had Aryana refusing to contact the villains needed to save them. She has a lot of rules that she never breaks, so I had to… Push her into changing her principles..."

"Push her? Push her how?"

Dinah bit her lip, "remember the brawl? Why do you think Vivan wasn't there? I told him he should give Sabrina a gift. That turned into a date, and then they were away for the whole day. You and Emily saw how reckless Aryana was, and Emily forced Aryana to reflect. When the casino heist went wrong… It broke her. Between Emily leaving and you no longer seeing her as a villain, it forced her to break the principles she laid out for herself."

"A deal with Undersiders," Taylor said quietly.

Dinah nodded. "Also, the pokemon theme was my idea. But they would've survived with or without that."

Taylor asked, "Dinah… Did you break up the Mouseketeers?"

Dinah's eyes furrowed in guilt. "I'm sorry…"

Taylor spelled out her thoughts as they came, "Sabrina normally opens the lab portal for me, but since she was with Vivan, she asked Emily to escort me that day. If I hadn't seen Aryana go reckless that day, I wouldn't have snapped at Mouse Protector when she offered to let her go. The Mouseketeers could still be together if that never happened."

Dinah shook her head, "even if you hadn't snapped that that day, it would've been something else on another worse day. Your team lied to you and you hated them for it. I did know it would break up the team, but it was better to happen earlier so that there would still be a chance you'd get back together with them later."

Get back together with them. That was hard for her to imagine. Taylor tapped a thumb to her chin, "so where does that leave us?"

Dinah asked quietly, "do you believe that one person can make a big difference?"

Taylor thought for a moment, "to certain degree, yes. It's the only thing that ever does."

"What about two people? Vivan and Aryana ask me useless questions, but I've been running the numbers. If the right people are in the right places at the right time, it'll make all the difference. Right now, the Losers won't survive the path they're headed towards. Even if they listened to me, I can't steer them in the right direction. But you're better than them. You're the only one who can get them on the right path."

Taylor said, "Dinah, you can't keep me in the dark like you do with Vivan and Aryana. Can you promise to keep me in the loop no matter what?"

"I… Can't. Because you knowing some things makes things worse. It leads to you second guessing yourself, and making mistakes and not getting the best results…. Taylor, I promise that for everything I don't tell you, it's for the greater good. All I want is to help everyone."

Dinah raised up her hand, "be my guardian?"

Taylor took her by the hand, "sisters. I'm not a parent, but let's treat each other like family. Open up to each other when it's needed."

"I like that, that sounds better than what I said."

XXX

Taylor and Vivan talked on the walk home. Taylor told Vivan her trigger event, and how the trio had treated her since then. Vivan was quiet the whole time, listening closely as she told everything.

Taylor finished by saying, "I guess this is why you guys made those origin videos. You're right, it really does take a load off your shoulders. It kind of feels a lot smaller now that I've finally told someone."

Taylor looked over at Vivan. Water ran down the side of his cheeks, "Vivan?"

He shook, and quickly rubbed the tears from his eyes, "uh, sorry, I just… Really didn't expect that."

His reaction surprised her. Trigger stories were common in the cape community, she didn't think her own story would make him emotional. "Hey Taylor, today you said you didn't want to be my friend. And I'm okay with that. But um… If you ever need anything, just let me know. I'll come running."

"Sure thing, Vivan."

Vivan stopped in place. Taylor turned around to see him more closely. It was dusk out, and the skylight dimly lit his face. For the first time since she'd met him, he gave her a serious gaze. It was the first time she'd seen his eyes and mouth completely firm.

"Taylor, I don't think you know what I mean. I'll leave my team if you say so."

Taylor tilted her head back. Vivan repeated, "you just have to ask, and I'll stop being a villain."

Taylor wasn't sure what to really say. She couldn't really make that choice for him on a whim, especially if he didn't want it. "Do you mean that?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, we can talk about that on a future date. I don't think your team would be happy if you went home today as a hero."

Vivan's face shifted to a warm smile, "yeah, that's true. If you ever decide to flip that switch though, just say so, alright? I'll come running."

Vivan bidded Taylor farewell at the front of her house. Upon returning to her basement, she opened her backpack and was distraught to find that her journal was destroyed by the cranberry juice.

Well, at least I got a precog out of this shitty day.

After shaking her bag's contents down at the ground, a yellow strip of paper slid out from one of the side pockets. The slip color let Taylor know that it wasn't hers. Upon opening it, she saw that it was a message from Dinah.

Vivan lies too. - Dinah.

Taylor lowered the paper down. And so it begins.