AN: Thanks again to my beta Grey Raven 09 for his assistance!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Worm. If I did, I would be FAR more productive.

Please enjoy and let me know what you think in a review if you feel like it!

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TinDueler

Max stared out the high-rise's window with his hands clasped behind his back. He could just barely see Theo's reflection in the glass as the boy stood, staring at Brad. Max couldn't even blame Theo for his slack-jawed expression. Had he not been turned away, he'd likely be momentarily disturbed by Brad's report as well.

And if not by the report itself, then by the utter…deference that Hookwolf was displaying. The man was a brute, not just in the PRT's records, and it was exceedingly wrong to see him acting like this.

"So, you just…walked them home?" Theo asked, waving his hand in the air. Max cleared his throat. Theo stood up straighter and dropped his hand to his side. "I mean, why did you just walk them home?"

Brad snorted and crossed his arms as he leaned back. "That girl fell over three stories and cracked her head open. I know Panacea's limits. I know Othala's limits. People don't come back from that. She came back. Her bug thing bent down, touched her head, and she woke up. And it was still her. A confused and disoriented her, but her. That bitch just broke so many fucking rules of how things work…I ain't getting in the middle of that."

"I don't understand why you didn't just let them leave by themselves though."

Max bit back his sigh. That could have been stated better, but at least it was an improvement. Aster would've been so much easier to mold. Theo was already too set in his ways and too nice. He didn't have the backbone for this work.

"I don't know how much of the Empire business you picked up on previously, Mr. Anders, but I wasn't exactly a stellar supporter of Rune back in the day."

Theo scowled and his fists clenched. Oh, a reaction, interesting. Friendship or something more? Cassie had never seemed like the type to be interested in Theo and rumor had it she was rather taken with Taylor Hebert now…but perhaps he could work with this anyway? Theo had gone to her for help after all, and she had been the one to convince the boy to return in order to keep the peace.

"No, you weren't. You also spent a lot of time insulting her after she left for being a 'useless dyke'. I may not be Kaiser, but I have friends who hear things too, Brad," Theo hissed. Oh yes, Max could definitely work with this.

"Yeah, exactly. I was harsh on the girl. She needed toughening up. But now, with her girlfriend resurrecting like that? Fuck that. I need to get into their good graces or I'm liable to wind up splattered across the pavement the next time we meet."

Theo blinked and Max resisted the urge to groan. "You're made of metal. They are flesh and blood and you are scared of them?" Theo asked.

"Damn right I'm scared of them, kid. You should be too. Hell, Cassie turned Shatterbird into a blood smear on the docks, and besides resurrecting, Hebert managed to eat Jack Slash's arm off and kill Shadow Stalker! And, if this press release is right, she's adopted Burnscar and is barely even bothering to hide it! At least when she took in Canary there was plausible deniability or some such bullshit. This is just…yeah, just no. I'm terrified of those people. I'm not fighting them. If we weren't trying this 'New Leaf' thing, I'd be on the first bus out of town."

Theo raised a finger to speak and after a few seconds of failed words he let it drop. Changing his hand into a dismissive wave, Brad nodded and left the room. Theo collapsed into the chair behind the desk, his head dropping into his hands. "This is insane."

"Which part?" Max asked, finally turning from the window and raising his eyebrows. "The part where you are trying to learn to lead an organization of reforming Neo-Nazis or the part where your friend apparently resurrected via use of previously unknown powers?"

"Both?" Theo wiped a hand down his face. "I've never even met Taylor, Father. I only know Cassie. I was going to meet Taylor before you said you wanted me to come back or the Empire was going to stay evil assholes." He paused and picked at a calendar on the desk for a few moments before continuing wistfully. "She sounded nice though from what Cassie was saying."

"She is quite an impressive individual, all things considered." Max sighed and moved to claim his own seat pouring himself a drink and taking a sip. "But this is…I'm glad I made that deal when I did. They would have wrangled far more concessions out of us if I tried to do it now."

Theo looked up, frowning. "You really believe all this?"

"After what I saw at the docks?" Max slowly nodded his head. "That girl is dangerous. More dangerous than she knows. But enough about that. Let's go over what you can improve on, Theo."

"Yes, Father."

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Fanfic Rec: 'Case' by maroon_sweater (On SB. This is a completely hilarious fic! It's fairly short and will hopefully be picked back up one day. The basic premise is that the Simurgh decides she wants to raise Eidolon's clone and to do that she needs job. So she pretends to be human, wearing a paper-thin disguise and claiming to all who will listen that she is not the Simurgh while clearly being the Simurgh. And she recruits Tattletale as her partner in a detective agency. Tats decides to go whole hog on the noir aspect because if crazy is the name of the game, might as well have fun with it. Legend, Miss Militia, and Dragon's reactions are all priceless. Beyond hilarious!