"Right," Tattletale said. "So, the first thing to do is get ready to meet with the Protectorate." She looked around. "Now, one thing we can…" Her gaze fell on Adrien.

"Holy… Holy shit," Tattletale said.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Marinette asked.

"No, it's just that your powers are bullshit, to quote a certain individual." She paused. "You can destroy anything?"

"Anyone, yeah," Adrien said, and winced. Marinette glared. Didn't Tattletale remember that Adrien had killed someone?

"Knew that from the fight," Tattletale said. "But I'm not talking about a who. I'm talking about a what."

"I… I must be slow," Nino said.

"Everyone is when I'm around," Tattletale said. "But I'll spell it out. If Chat's cataclysm can destroy anything, that includes effects. That includes effects like time stop and time loop fields. He might be able to break a Grey Boy Loop."

Taylor blinked in shock. "You're kidding," she finally said.

Marinette didn't say a thing. She'd read about Grey Boy. If Chat could… she glanced over at her friend. No. If Adrien could…

"But we don't know," Taylor said. "Everyone thinks they can break a Grey Boy loop."

"But we have a test case, right here," Tattletale said. "Dauntless."

"Who?" Marinette asked.

"He was a Protectorate Hero," Taylor said. "During the Leviathan fight, he was caught by a time-stop grenade."

"Uh-huh," Tattletale said. "And it'd be a great peace offering to the Protectorate. Get us on board and—"

"No."

Tattletale stopped and looked at Adrien.

"No, you won't do it?" she asked. Marinette got the feeling she didn't need to ask, she already knew the answer.

Marinette did as well, and she didn't need any know-it-all power. She just knew… Both Adrien and Chat.

"No, I'm going to do it, but I'm not going to demand a deal," Adrien said. "I read about those people, and I'm not going to demand payment to free them."

"Some of the Grey Boy victims are mad," Tattletale replied, some of her attitude vanishing. "You can't save them all."

"Then I'll save some."

"Cool," Tattletale said. "We need to get in touch with the Protectorate." She glanced up and Marinette caught the gleam in her eyes.

That—she knew that Adrien could do this from the start. Why did she… Marinette looked over and saw Adrien, the way he was starting to move with the nervous, excited energy he had back in Paris.

Oh. That's why.

"What about the deal?" Queen Bee asked. "If we just call—"

"Won't be a problem," Tattletale said with an airy wave of her hand. "PRT really wants those style of effects gone, so anyone who claims they can break them gets Truce protection, like they were trying to cash the bounty from a kill order. We just have to arrange the time and place. Probably about three days."

"Why so long?" Marinette asked.

"The PRT is going to need to provide security," Tattletale said. "And a little bit of secrecy."

"Secret? Why would they want to keep this secret?" Alya said. "It's a good thing!"

"It's a good thing if it works, and every Tinker, Trump and Thinker tries to figure out a way to break these bubbles. The PRT started handling the attempts in secrecy to keep from always disappointing people."

It turned out that Tattletale was wrong. The PRT didn't need three days—they offered to let us try in six hours. With the exception of Marinette, all of my guests' clothes were still pristine, evidently being protected during their transformation, so we agreed that we'd leave about two hours before, in time to check out parts of the city.

That gave me time to talk with Nooroo. He seemed to be chipper and happy, though when I asked him about Gabriel he became quiet.

"My former Master was… not always as you knew him." I decided to not ask anything else about that.

"I'm not your master, Nooroo. We're partners." I paused. "But I have some questions—how much control do I have over who I… Empower."

"Empower?"

"Nooroo, this world has had some really bad experiences with people granting power, especially people who combine that power with control. So I want to avoid any Teacher comparisons."

"Ah. Well, it depends on the emotions you use, and how you use them. Normally negative emotions are associated with Akumas, but that is not always the case."

I nodded. I could see a few butterflies fluttering around, evidently the one I'd rescued had some form of reproductive ability. I reached out and I could feel them… But they were different from my normal bugs."

"Interesting," Nooroo said. "Most wielders do not have that much control over the butterflies when they are not transformed."

"It must be associated with my status," I told the kwami. "I couldn't control the one Hawkmoth used on the child."

"Can I influence what types of powers are granted?"

"I… Normally, the choice is up to the recipient." Nooroo frowned. "But…"

"Something to try in the future." I'd have to set up some controlled tests before I used the power in combat. But I wondered… I could project my vision through a bug clone, see through my insects use them as extensions…"

"Mistress?"

"Call me Skitter in public, or Taylor when we're alone."

"Yes, Taylor," Nooroo said. "What are you thinking?"

"I can multi-task," I told the Kwami. "It's an aspect of my native power. What if I could push this power into my swarm, and use it directly, like a projection? A master with projections would trigger less hostility than a master who controlled or influenced people."

"Nobody has ever tried that before." Nooroo fluttered around my head. "Not even the Order tried that."

"Want to give it a shot?"

"I—yes, Mi-Taylor."

"Good. Dark Wings Rise!"

The transformation felt strange. I could feel myself getting stronger, and this time I felt something that I could call. Moments later, I was holding a walking stick, a golden Ankh on the top of it. On an impulse, I twisted and pulled with my left hand, holding the lower part with my right.

A sword? That would come in handy. Not many people expected masters to have close combat tools. But then I put it back, and called my normal insects. They came pouring into the room, forming a humanoid shape. I could sense their minds. I wasn't certain how to go about it, but I held the butterfly in my hand, and sent it to them. It wanted to veer off, but I forced it to fly into the swarm…

Protect… Obey… There wasn't any sense of self about the swarm, but I…

Suddenly my vision just snapped, and for a second, the swarm took another form, golden gleaming armor, a mace, the bugs seeming to—

And then I woke up on the floor, a pillow under my head, Nooroo frantically fluttering around, my insects buzzing around in random patterns.

"Taylor! Are you well?"

"Yes," I said. "That was… strange. I felt like…" I shook my head.

"You were passed out, and the… being the swarm had become put your head on the pillow and then just… vanished."

Had it obeyed my order? Maybe it realized I wasn't in any real danger? Then I shivered. What if someone else had walked in?

"Did it say anything?" I asked.

"No…" The kwami seemed nervous. "But it didn't… I had the sense that there was something behind it, but nothing I've ever felt before and that is unusual. I have lived a long time!"

"Well, I'll have to keep working," I told Nooroo. "I know I can use this on people, but like I said, we really need to keep that quiet."

"Maybe if you found willing allies?" Nooroo said. "Warned them that they should remain quiet?"

"That might work, but their powers couldn't be obvious." I didn't want to think of what the PRT would do with a Bubbler style incident. "Maybe a low brute rating, or a minor precog…" I trailed off. "More stuff to experiment with. But first let's see how things go on the town." Lisa had left and would meet us later, so she didn't see everyone in their civilian identities.

Granted, she probably knew who everyone was, but until they felt comfortable unmasking to her, it was important to keep up appearances. I made certain the Butterfly was safely on my person, grabbed a small purse for Nooroo, and looked at myself. My costume was in my backpack and I was going out as Taylor.

It had been a long time since done that with… people who weren't the Undersiders. I shook my head. Time to go.

The bus terminal was crowded, as people got on and off the transports. Everyone paused as the woman got off the bus, her voice loud. She was wearing a brightly colored hat with jewels on it that drew the eye.

Valefor saw her. Saw her and the image of Mama that was looking at him. "Well, get over here to help your mother, boy," it said to him. Valefor nodded, then leaned over to the teen aged girl selling the "Brockton Bay, Tougher than Leviathan" shirts.

"From now on, you will always feel fat. No matter how little food you eat, it will be too much." He smiled and turned to walk away, heading towards Mama.

"Hello," Valefor said. "I hope your trip went well, Mama?"

"It was wonderful. So many people talked to me and looked at me." Mama smiled. "But I think I should stretch my legs. Let's take a walk and… mingle with the crowds."