"Right," Tattletale said. "First off, I've secured some legal representation for us." They'd made it back to the apartment, which was looking a little crowded. "But before that, Ladybug, I got the feeling you weren't liking us showing up in your working costume, especially since it can vanish on you, so take a look in the spare room."

I watched as Ladybug opened the door and then squealed in delight. "A full tailoring set up—how did you?"

"I'm psychic," Tattletale replied. "It was delivered by my people while we were out. You can wear the official costume, transform into your… changer form, and even if you can't get isolated before you switch back, you still have your secret ID."

"Right," Marinette came flying out. "I have everyone else's measurements, Tattletale, you and Skitter stand up right now!" She had her phone out, snapping picture after picture.

I looked over at Lisa and suddenly she didn't look quite so confident. "A Tinker fuge? You're not—" She blinked as Ladybug turned her around taking more pictures. Me as well.

"I don't…" I shrugged. "I look like an upright frog—"

"What?" Marinette stared at me. "No you don't! I just need to work out something to work with your theme and you like your hair, so…"

Evidently Tattletale had brought sketchbooks because Ladybug vanished and returned, her hands full of one, a pencil moving faster than Velocity ran. "You're a little formal when you're nervous, so we need something that will…" A few moments late, she vanished into the room.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"Ladybug does two things when she's nervous. Cook, or create award-winning fashion statements," Alya said. "Guess which one she chose. So, lawyer?"

"Quinn Calle. He's an attorney specializing in parahuman affairs." Tattletale looked over at the others. "You have no crimes, are planning on helping out the Protectorate, so that should be easy. We'll go over plans." She glanced at me. "But we're likely to have some more problems," Tattletale frowned. "They might want your father on board. Of all the Undersiders, you're the only one with a father who might be a problem—or who would show up. Brian's older, my family is… well. Ditto for Alex and Bitch has no family."

I didn't want to do that. Dad and I… I didn't want to have that conversation yet. I guess Lisa noticed, because she let it drop.

"And us?" Chat asked. "We're minors—we're actually 16."

"You have something the Protectorate wants—and something they need. I think you have a lot more flexibility—but, just in case, we'll talk about it with Quinn. We'll be meeting him before the meeting—not a lot of time, but this is moving fast and I think it benefits us more than it does the PRT."

And Lisa was also keeping things tight to her chest for another reason. I didn't know much about lawyers, but what I'd learned from Mr. Barnes didn't give me a high opinion of them. A fast meeting meant that he couldn't tell the PRT about us.

It was smart.

For the rest of the afternoon, we stayed in. I sent my bugs to check on things, talked to a few of my lieutenants, but I didn't want to risk a confrontation, not so close to our meeting. Tattletale left, and when she did, everyone else unmasked. Adrien and Nine flipped through the TV, frowning at some of the stories, then settled on a soap opera with the others.

"Wait," Chloe said. "She just got married… And the guy at the door is her husband, and the guy in her bed is a clone? Whose being teleoperated by the creepy dude, who wants her money, because her father's will says that she can only have sex with her husband?"

"Yeah," I told her. Greg had cornered me about it one time. "She gets disowned, and then her husband divorces her because he was in it for the money as well, and then she triggers as a woman who hunts down her enemies."

"That's… twisted," Nino said. Several minutes later. "Wait. Her dad is a mind-controlling cape who was puppeting her husband into divorcing her?"

"Yep."

"Are these real capes?" Chloe asked.

"No, not since Days of Our Capes ran a Slaughterhouse Nine Arc. Jack took exception."

"Do I want to know what happened?" Chloe asked.

"Probably not, but you can visit the memorial in Hollywood."

We all paused as sounds rose from the closed room. "No, no, no! That won't wor—" I got up.

Alya stopped me. "Don't do that. Trust me, when she's in this kind of mood with a time crunch, bugging her can lead to lost fingers."

"What will we do when it's dinner?"

Alya grinned. "Slide food under the door. It's safest."

One thing Mama had impressed on her son, sometimes painfully, was never to reveal everything about his power. Like the fact that he could layer, he could enhance commands. Valefor understood, but he didn't like it. Mama walked in front of him, looking into the eyes of the people. Running her fingers over them. Putting her fingers on their tongues so they could taste. Talking to them. Making certain that they could never be free of Mama. And behind her came Valefor. He looked into their eyes.

"Mama is love," he said. "Mama is everything. Listen to Mama. Dream of Mama. Obey Mama. Remember if you disobey Mama…" Mama paused and suddenly everyone whimpered. A petite girl with sky-blue pins in her brown hair screamed, the sound choking off.

Valefor didn't know what Mama was doing, but Mama had spoken to them, touched them, let them see her, let them taste her fingers. Whatever a person could feel, Mama could do it.

Whimpers died down. "Remember what will happen if you disobey Mama…" Valefor paused. "And never talk to anyone else about this."

"Now go," Mama told them. "Mama loves you and will be with you forever."

"That's the last for now." Valefor said. "Tonight, the ones you chose will let us into their homes for the rest."

"Good. The rest of the families are coming."

"Mama, why…" Valefor looked down. "Why so many? The new capes aren't…"

"That's your problem, son, you never think, and you love flaunting your power." She smirked. "I have people in the PRT. They only think of me because of their jobs. I don't show up in their faces, and I don't make it obvious, but now… The PRT is moving. The protectorate is moving. They're desperate to secure this portal."

"To an empty world."

"It didn't start that way, empty headed boy! First it lead to another Paris. They moved it to another world, because they fear what is happening here. But we'll take this city, and once we control the gate, we can make those kids open it back into Paris. A world where there are no parahumans—where nobody knows about us."

Suddenly Valefor saw it. A world where nobody knew about Masters. Where everyone looked him in the eyes. Where the family could control its bloodlines, creating more parahumans with nobody to fight them…

It wouldn't take long, and if they got through… The Protectorate was already afraid of war with Earth Aleph…would they follow, or would they just close the portal, perhaps sighing in relief that they no longer had to face the true faithful?

"A whole world…" he murmured.

"As long as you don't screw up, boy." Mama smacked him. "And don't get any useless fantasies in your head. I didn't raise a Heartbreaker. We do what we do for the holy Endbringers!"