After Stetson left I sat on that hill overlooking a clear Bay for a moment and really thought about what had just happened. In one quick movement he had taken an entire monument to the death of the city I had lived my entire life in and turned it into a tool for…some purpose. I didn't really get what launching a bunch of cargo containers into orbit actually accomplished when destroying them would have worked just as well, but what Nihilis had said just before throwing them did leave me wondering. At worst I could always summon it from the Dollhouse later and ask the question directly.

A part of me knew I was stalling, just glancing down to the docks I could already see PRT vehicles, news vans, and just assorted people out on their weekend off looking at the now empty waters. The police and dock workers were trying to keep some semblance of order but it was probably a bit of a mess considering what had just happened. Part of me wondered if dad was there, if he had called home to leave a message from me to stay away from the docks and that he would be home late. Maybe I could get food from one of the gardens in the Dollhouse, I was sure somewhere in the infinite storage space there were at least one or two Doll's who could make food.

I had tried Stetson's cooking, and I knew for a fact that the man would be dead if he had been cooking for himself. Though Riley might have been able to survive.

A sigh escaped me, I was getting off track again because I didn't want to consider what was in front of me at the moment. It was the one weakness that Stetson had made me aware of, how I would try and put off making a decision unless something was presented right in front of me. I would have spent weeks or months trying to find the right way to beat Lung, how to approach him and where the fight should happen. But once he was threatening to murder a group of kids in front of me I was in the fight before my brain could catch up with my feet.

By putting this in front of me and giving me a chance to make my real debut from a place of strength my teacher was saving me countless hours of worrying about what to actually do and forcing me to make a decision.

But I still had at least enough time to actually go over my options.

The first and most obvious was to go down and greet the PRT, apologize for the stunt and say I wanted to give a good show before asking to join. It would balance the display of power with a sense of humbleness about wanting to join the organization. It would make it extremely hard for them to bench me or put me to the side and would give me access to resources that I would have otherwise never had the chance to get.

Of course the reverse side would be that it tied me down to an organization, I would be a hero but I would have to go by their terms, and most likely they would feel the need to inform my dad about my status. Both would be limiting factors and the same part of me that had seen the Bludgeoning Angel fight Lung, Sister Mercy take on Hookwolf, and who had just watched Nihilis juggle shipping containers couldn't help but scoff at the idea of being limited to only doing what others asked.

I could make the same offer to New Wave, I was pretty sure I had seen Glory Girl flying above the heads of some of the people to get a good look at the now empty water. They would be less limiting, though they might ask me to unmask. But I might be able to talk them out of it if I could properly display how useful I could be for their group.

But both had an overarching issue, I didn't trust people in power to have my best interests at heart. Almost everyone with any position of power over me in my life had managed to fail me in some way. The staff at Winslow who turned the other eye to the threes bullshit, the police who actively took bribes from gangs, and my dad who had failed me when I most needed him.

I killed the tears before they could even begin to form in my eyes, I had spent enough of my life crying and had something to focus on.

Neither of those two were actual options, I lacked the fundamental basis of trust in either group to actually support me. At best we'd all become tools for each other in order to succeed, and that wasn't what I wanted out of my life. Being with Stetson and Riley for these last few months actually taught me the value of being around people who gave a shit. My teacher who would always listen to my concerns and taught me how to stand on my own two feet with the most powerful weapon in the universe at my back. Riley who despite her own issues always thought of me first whenever I came in.

"If you can't find something, build it." I gathered myself up and dusted myself off as I rose to my feet. The Undersiders had been grateful for saving their lives, and from what I had read most of their crimes had been on the level of Uber and Leet. If I could offer them what they wanted, odds were that I could get them on my side. Maybe I wasn't ready to trust in the goodwill of others, but I could guarantee them a better life than any of the gangs or groups in the city might otherwise. And if Stetson was correct odds were that I could probably pay better than most as well.

"Dollhouse, Inventory select."

Command from authorized user accepted

"Select Bludgeoning Angel." The doll appeared by my side, as beautiful as the first time that I had called upon it in order to combat Lung.

Bludgeoning Angel was beautiful to behold, radiating a sense of grace and calm that seemed to even still the air around it. Dressed in an immaculate white dress with a pair of wings and a golden halo above a head covered in silver locks it appeared the very picture of grace. Its face didn't appear painted on, and the material that had been used to craft her looked so close to skin that it was a surprise to reach out and touch a firm material.

"Blood Brain Connection."

Confirmed

The doll came to life before my eyes, a smile on its face as it turned toward me and lowered its head. "I don't suppose you've called me to cast judgment on the evils of this world today, have you?" The voice that flowed out of the doll was feminine and touched with a hint of sorrow. Having seen the personality she had displayed fighting Lung I knew that behind the beautiful appearance lied a sense of sadism that would put most villains to shame.

I managed to suppress any shiver from her presence and gave a shake of my head. "I need your help, please take me down near where the cameras are," I pointed toward one of the clear spaces around where people were gathering.

"Understood," she wrapped her arms around me from behind and her wings flared, launching the two of us into the air before descending down in a controlled fall. I could hear some shouts from beneath and saw people beginning to tense. Moving through the crowd I saw the familiar armor of Armsmaster and the scarf flag of Miss Militia. Part of me had to wonder where the rest of the team was, though if I had to make a passing guess they were probably working crowd control, or simply couldn't make it past the sea of bodies.

When we finally landed the Bludgeoning Angel let me out of its grasp and stepped back behind me, wings lowering to its side to await any new orders. I could see some of the braver news outlets try to get a good shot of me while maintaining a safe distance. My first words here would set a precedent for my future, but I wasn't exactly a master of public speaking so I went with the first thing that came to mind. "I'm sorry for scaring everyone, I got carried away." Even through the many layers of sound modification the hint of sincerity was clear in my voice.

When I had spoken with my teacher about being a hero the only thing I had really wanted was to make a place where no one would end up with the kind of life that I had to deal with. That I could protect people from at least some of the misfortune that seemed to rain down upon the world. Even if it wasn't me who had performed the action it was still in a way my responsibility.

That seemed to draw some confused looks from the people, but before anything else could be asked Armsmaster and Miss Militia were already in front of me. "Are you saying that you had a hand in this?" The gruff voice of the armored hero gave no indication about how he felt about the situation.

"Are you doubting her words?" the Blungegoning Angel focused its eyes on Armsmaster and suddenly the hero went stiff. I could see the constantly shifting weapon in Miss Militia's hands become a dangerous looking revolver, but also noticed her hands shaking. "Then again, a liar is always the first to accuse aren't they?"

Bludgeoning Angel- Classification Absolute Terror Weapon

This Doll was designed to act as both a powerful vanguard fighter and beyond this has the ability to override the emotions of others through the sheer intensity of its divine crafting. Its main weapon is the halo atop its head which can become a one handed warhammer that along with the doll's strength can crumple most material with ease.

"Dollhouse, end contact!" I quickly severed the connection between myself and the Bludgeoning Angel before things could get much worse, letting out a small sigh as both of the heroic capes regained their footing.

Within a moment Miss Militia had her weapon aimed at me, and despite the inherent threat I made no move to defend myself. It was actually Armsmaster who put a hand on the heroine's arm and made a motion to lower her weapon. "She just tried to master us," I could hear the dangerous edge in her voice.

Armsmaster turned his head to me, and despite not being able to really see the man under his helmet I knew what he was thinking. I had handed over credit for the defeat of Lung and Oni Lee that night, no doubt giving him quite a bit of credit within the Protectorate for the actions taken by both my teacher and myself. "Explain." There was no missing the threat behind that order.

"Dollhouse, quick access Junktooth, Blood Brain Connection."

Confirmed

In a flash a new doll appeared before me, standing only around four feet and dressed in brown clothing that looked like it had been pulled from an old movie and worn every minute since then appeared. It lifted a hand to draw up a hat atop its head to show its wooden body, painted eyes, and mouth full of jagged metal teeth. This had been the doll I had called up to deal with Squealer during one of my walkabouts with Stetson around the Bay. There had been plenty of recorded evidence of the miniature doll devouring the car/tank that had been rampaging around downtown. Thankfully it didn't talk, which would probably save me a slight headache.

"That was one of my dolls, it only acted because it thought you two were threatening me." the fact that I had removed it the moment I realized what was going on would hopefully stand in testament to the fact that it wasn't my intention. But the only doll that Armsmaster would have seen me use was the Bludgeoning Angel, thus it was the only way to ensure he didn't immediately jump to the idea I was a villain.

"One of them?" his voice lost a bit of its edge, being replaced with something akin to curiosity.

I left the obvious question unanswered and instead focused on Miss Militia, lowering my hood slightly so she could get a clear gaze of my eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to try and hurt anyone. I wanted to come down here and explain myself. Starting a fight with someone I consider a real hero is the last thing that I want."

She met my gaze for a moment, as if looking into my soul before lowering her weapon. "Apology accepted." she let out a small breath. While she still seemed on edge she wasn't directly aiming for me anymore, so I would have to take it.

On the edge of my vision I could see countless people who were being held back by police, dockworkers, and the Wards all seemed to breath out in relief as well. Nobody wanted to be caught near a fight with someone who had claimed to casually juggle multiple shipping containers.

"So, why did you do it then?" she waved to the now empty waters as a way to supplement her question. Armsmaster seemed to want to press further on the subject of my dolls but seemed to think better of it, just standing silently behind his partner.

"Because I believe it's better to get underneath a problem first, examine it from all sides and then work to find the best solution." the first line didn't need to make perfect sense, I figured it would reach who it needed to. "Sometimes you have to go back to the beginning to deal with any problems, and this is about as close as I can get." with the final bit of the message conveyed I could instead focus on what I really wanted to say now. "The Boat Graveyard was a constant reminder of how far the city had gotten. I want to help make things better, so I figured I should start here."

"Well, it's the flashiest introduction I've ever seen," while I couldn't see her mouth I couldn't help but feel like Miss Militia was smiling at me. "If you're looking to join the Protectorate I'd at least be willing to vouch for you."

Despite my earlier decision I couldn't help but feel that comment warm my heart. While I couldn't deny that I had lost faith in a lot of the adult world over my time, part of me wanted to believe that the patriotic cape would actually have my back. But my cynicism had the benefit of time and volume in both cases. "I wouldn't mind helping the Protectorate, but I'd rather do this myself." the sheer arrogance of that would no doubt turn some heads, but if Armsmaster was half as smart as people gave him credit for he would take the existence of my multiple dolls and the fact I had managed to defeat a number of high profile villains by myself as a sign that I knew what I was talking about.

"I think you should reconsider, being independent can be danger-" before she could continue, Armsmaster simply shook his head.

"We aren't going to change her mind," he looked straight at me, and I didn't need to see his eyes to know he was practically glaring a hole through my body. "Are we?"

There was a lot I wanted to say, but instead I simply shook my head. "No, I have things I need to do by myself. But if things ever get really bad I'll try to be there to help out." there was no way I could open a line of communication or trust them to offer one without wrapping it up in string. Now that I had gone public there was no chance that I could ask for aid from them without being in a position of strength, and the Bludgeoning Angel had already removed any initial goodwill from this situation.

"Excuse me?" one of the newscasters had managed to move closer to the three of us, holding up a microphone toward myself. "Bay News, I was wondering if we could get a name?"

I had to admit that it took some level of bravery to approach a brand new parahuman in the middle of a discussion with two of the Bay's most celebrated heroes, but it gave me a fine opportunity at least. "Thread," I turned to the two heroes and gave a small nod. "Dollhouse, reverse summoning." In the blink of an eye I was gone from the middle of chaos and brought to the calm of the Dollhouse itself.

It felt awkward removing my hero uniform for the first time, because it honestly felt more comfortable then my actual clothing, but still I needed to go home and get some rest before tonight. And homework, I probably needed to make an attempt at pretending I still cared about my education despite the Trio making any attempt a moot point. I could honestly just have a doll specialized in teaching go over any subjects and in a matter of months I might be at an expert level.

Somehow I didn't think my dad would go in on that idea.

I was about to have the Dollhouse send me somewhere close to my house, but before I could leave a question burned in the back of my mind. Whenever I had called a doll before I had just had to give a name and they would appear. But Stetson had mentioned something different before calling upon Nihilis, the Black Box Collection.

"Dollhouse, open search."

Search opened for authorized user.

"What is the Black Box Collection?"

"Search results withheld due to sub-user status."

That was new, anytime I had a question in relation to a doll or a function of the Dollhouse I had always received either a description or a list of possible search subjects. The only other time I had been denied access to information was in regards to questions regarding the Dollhouse's creation.

"Primary user has authorized access to boxes Crimson-Magenta to sub-user Taylor Herbert."

A small breath of relief escaped me at that moment, it seemed that Stetson had given me the okay for whatever information was being withheld. When it came to the creation of the Dollhouse he had explained why he couldn't tell me yet and though it irked me slightly I had accepted it. But I didn't like the idea of holding back a ton of secrets, especially since I had to trust that the Dollhouse would be enough to protect me when I used its various residents during fights.

"What is the Black Box Collection?" I asked again.

"The Black Box Collection contains a number of highly dangerous Doll's categorized by ability to disrupt fate on a micro and macro scale. It is listed as the second most dangerous box, under Magenta and above Azure."

The information left me more confused than anything, Nihilis had seemed powerful with its ability to open portals, but I wasn't sure what opening portals that could throw cargo ship around had to do with 'disrupting fate'. I could have kept pressing the Dollhouse for more information but it would probably continue to give me vague half answers rather than something to work with.

"Dollhouse, summon Nihilis.'' While within the Dollhouse itself I didn't need to form a connection with any of the Dolls, which was how Riley was able to have Trauma Bear follow her around as a personal guardian.

In a flash Nihilis appeared before me, but the moment it did chains appeared from the floor and wall and wrapped around the Doll's body, rendering it unable to move. "Oh that was a silly move," the Doll spoke in an almost sing-song voice, its inky mouth stretched into a wry grin. "You have to be careful with us, you know, we aren't toys." a laugh exploded out of it but it still remained trapped by the chains.

"Why are you being chained?" I looked around, this was the first time that anything like this had happened. When Stetson and I had trained within one of the Dollhouse's rooms it had never reacted on this level, but the mere summoning of Nihilis showed a side of this place I had never seen before.

"Because I can be quite dangerous to my user if allowed to linger without a purpose," Nihilis seemed to pay no mind to the chains that bound it, almost as if they were an afterthought. "But I bet my genius clown brain can guess why you'd call a humble entertainer from his sleep. You want to know why the Puppeteer called me of all of the Doll's to perform?"

Regardless of the danger that the Dollhouse might have thought I was in, my curiosity only burned brighter. "Yes." there was a slight pleading to my voice.

"Well then allow me to explain in a bombastic and suitably dramatic fashion," it was odd to see the Doll in chains, I kept expecting some sweeping gesture or pose, but instead it was held perfectly in place. "Surely you know that we Doll's are not bound by rules such as 'they can only have one power' or 'the ability must be a physical one'."

I nodded along to the explanation. Bludgeoning Angel had amazing physical strength and could summon a warhammer, but her ability to manipulate a target's fear response by overwhelming presence was the main ability that had drawn me to her.

"Well just the same with myself, portals are a nice trick but my most grand ability is domino denial," the smirk on its face became almost dangerous. "Normally the world is controlled by cause and effect. You tip over the first domino and by virtue of doing so you have already ensured the last domino will fall. My ability lets me pick up a bowling ball and knock a big hole in the middle of the pile. The cause will never reach the effect."

My mouth went dry for a moment, because despite not fully understanding the implications of the ability being described I could still get a gist of it.

"The more complex the events between the first and last domino, the more room I have to disrupt and change things. Now say you were the smartest person in the world, with plans within plans and a hundred step guide on how to get there. Anything that wasn't how you wanted you changed until everything danced to exactly how you wanted it," a laugh buzzed from the Doll. "Against things like that I could transform, for instance, a bunch of rotting ships into bowling balls."

There was nothing I could say to that, and the Dollhouse seemed to detect I was finished and placed Nihilis back to wherever it was that Dolls went to when they weren't summoned. If I had gotten half of what was said correct, and the implication of his last words on that hill overlooking the graveyard then things were about to get really complicated for the world.

But as much as I wanted to be I knew that the world stage wasn't somewhere I could stand at the moment. Even with the full strength of the Dollhouse I was still new to this, and a lack of experience would only end up with me being the world's most powerful corpse. I'd start with what I could do and then go from there.

"First schoolwork, then meet up with a group of teenage villains, and maybe if I'm lucky I get a few hours of sleep tonight."

For whatever else might be said of me, I at least dreamed big.p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode',