"This one is very shiny," Taylor commented, waving at a medium sized four wheel drive crew-cab pickup, about eight years old. It was a dark metallic blue color with alloy wheels and leather seats, which she liked the smell of, although she could also smell small amounts of gasoline coming from somewhere underneath. Amy turned around and inspected the vehicle.

"I'm not sure that 'shiny' is the most important thing you look for in a car," her friend said slightly doubtfully. Even so she came over and walked around the thing, looking at it thoughtfully. "It's very nice, though."

"I think shiny is good," Taylor grinned. "But I'd agree that it's probably not the main point. Unless you're Vicky, maybe." They exchanged a look and laughed.

"That's more true than it should be," the Dallon girl noted sardonically, running her hand down the side of the truck. "How much is this one?"

"Um, twelve thousand nine hundred," Taylor replied, looking at the tag hanging from the rear view mirror. "Says it's done about ninety-four thousand miles. I have no idea if that's good or not."

"Me neither," the other girl admitted. "This thing is huge. Bigger than I was thinking about."

"It's big enough to get a special project or two in, though," Taylor pointed out with a secret smile. Amy looked at her, then back at the truck, folding her arms and tapping her fingers on her elbows.

"True. Very true. You could get an awful lot of onions in the back," she grinned, talking in a low voice. Both of them looked back at Carol who was fifty yards away making the dealer look worried. This was the third place they'd tried, she'd decided after only ten minutes that the first one was an idiot who was trying far too hard, then the second dealership had nothing anyone liked. This one had quite a lot of nice vehicles, several of which were on the list Eric had given Amy, including this particular specimen, although it was marked down as 'Possibly a little large with higher fuel consumption than the others, but very rugged and reliable.'

"You think your mom would go for it?"

"No idea. But to be honest I can't see much else that's as nice as this one is. That SUV we were looking at is a lot more tired looking and nearly as much, but it's smaller."

"The red station wagon was nice."

Amy looked over at the relevant vehicle under a floodlight, then shook her head. "I don't particularly like the color, and the front end looks like it's sad," she giggled.

"Well, we can't have you driving around in a sad car," Taylor laughed. Walking around to the front of the truck she stepped back a few feet and cocked her head. "This one has a smug grin. Like Lisa."

"And you sometimes," Amy retorted, joining her.

"And, of course, you," Taylor snickered.

"So it would seem. Let's have a look inside." They opened both front doors and climbed in, Taylor poking around until she worked out how to move the passenger seat back enough to allow her tail to fit properly.

"I wish people would design car seats for tails," she mumbled, arranging herself, which made Amy laugh again as she was adjusting her own seat.

"I doubt that's high on the requirement list, all things considered. How do you… Oh, right, that's how." She sighed at the ceiling as the seat back went almost flat, making Taylor burst out into giggles of her own. With some effort she managed to get it set properly, then adjusted the mirrors, before putting her hands on the wheel and looking around. "Not bad. It's very comfortable."

"This side is nice as well." Looking over her shoulder, Taylor inspected the rear seats. "You could easily get three people in there, four if they were good friends. And the back is pretty large as well. That cover thing over it looks like it comes off if you need to carry something really big but even with it in place it's like a small van."

Amy nodded, fiddling with the various controls and switches, trying to work out what they all did. "This thing is ridiculous. What does that do?" She pointed at a particular control with an icon on neither one recognized.

After a moment, Taylor said in a dubious tone of voice, "It looks like a set of wheels. Four wheel drive or something like that?"

"Maybe," Amy muttered, bending to the side to look under the dash. "Is there a manual in the glove box?"

"Hang on." Shortly Taylor had retrieved a thick book. "Yep. Let's see… Hey, I was right! Four wheel drive select. That one is high and low ratio, whatever that is, that one is something called diff lock, no idea about that, um… lights over there, heater..." She read off a few more controls. "I didn't know driving was so complicated."

"Never done it?"

"No, not yet," she replied, handing Amy the manual open to the page with a diagram of all the controls when her friend motioned for it. "Never seemed to come up and recently it's not been very high priority," she added with a grin. Amy nodded, smiling, as she read the relevant part of the book.

"I can imagine." Glancing over her shoulder she made sure her mother was still talking at a safe distance. "You're faster than this thing is on foot anyway."

"And can carry more," Taylor smirked, making her friend chuckle.

"True, but I bet you get more funny looks. This is pretty nice. Look, it's got heated seats and everything."

"Interested?"

"It's one of the best possibilities so far and it has some potential good points as you said," the other girl replied thoughtfully, closing the manual and handing it back. She looked around the inside of the cabin. "It's roomy, has all the toys, nice seats, I like the color… Let's talk to mom."

"OK."

Shortly they were standing next to Carol, who had somehow made the dealer look like he desperately wanted to get rid of them even if he had to give them a car. Taylor was very impressed and Amy was trying to hide laughter. "Mom, we think that truck over there is worth looking at," Amy said, pointing.

Carol looked at the vehicle, raising an eyebrow. "A pickup? That's… not exactly what I was thinking of."

"I know, but it's got as much room as that SUV thing we were looking at a while ago, but it's in better condition, there's more space in the back, and it's a nicer color."

"I see." Turning to the dealer, she asked, "How much?"

"It's on the books at twelve nine, but I could let you have it for twelve," he said immediately. She looked steadily at him. "I mean eleven five." An eyebrow went up. "Eleven."

"With a full service and new tires?"

The man blinked. "Um..."

"Let's have a look at it, girls," Carol said briskly, turning away from the man who looked both relieved and puzzled, heading over to the thing with Amy and Taylor following, exchanging a look of amusement. She walked around it twice, looking at it very carefully, then bent down and inspected all four tires, poking one with a manicured nail slightly dismissively.

"It definitely needs new tires," she said to the dealer who had followed them. "This one is barely legal and the others aren't much better. There's a crack in the rear passenger side window, I can smell fuel leaking somewhere, and the rear left fog-light is damaged."

Before he had a chance to reply, she opened the driver's side door and got in. "The interior is nice, I'll give you that," she added after a look around. Wiggling the steering wheel, she nodded. "Keys?"

He wandered off with a helpless expression and returned shortly with a set of car keys that had a tag on with the license plate number written on it. She took them from him and started the truck, which sputtered a little then settled down to a contented rumble. "The engine sounds reasonable but I can still smell fuel," she said, gently revving it. "That would need to be dealt with."

"We could do that," the dealer quickly replied.

"Get in, girls, we'll see how it drives. You don't mind, do you?" Carol said to the dealer as Amy and Taylor climbed in, smiling at each other.

"No, not at all, ma'am," he said, looking like he did a little but didn't know how to say it.

"Wonderful. We'll be right back." As soon as Amy and Taylor were belted in, she closed the door, put her own seat belt on, then put the vehicle in reverse. Twenty seconds later they were pulling out onto the main road.

"That was really funny, Mom," Amy laughed. Carol smiled a little.

"It was quite amusing," she replied apparently happily. "The trick is not to let them have time to think of an answer other than the one you want. It takes practice." Accelerating to match the speed of the other vehicles on the road she headed down town. "To be honest, this is rather nice. Better than that car we tried at the last place." She drove for another couple of minutes, deliberately finding a few potholes to go through, then nodded. "Not bad at all. Very comfortable, runs smoothly, everything seems to work." Amy had been trying every control in the cab to see what happened while Taylor watched from the back.

"Are you sure you'd be happy with something like this, Amy?" she asked in the end. Her daughter thought for a while.

"I think it would do pretty well," she finally said. "And I could always sell it again and get something else if I decided it wasn't for me, right?"

"Certainly," Carol agreed. "I am concerned about the fuel leak, that needs to be set right, and it really does need new tires, the ones on it are in a shocking state, but other than that it seems all right. We'd need to get it checked out properly, though."

"Maybe Eric would do that for you?" Taylor pondered out loud. Amy glanced back at her and nodded a little.

"That's a thought. I'd happily give him some money to do that."

"Who is Eric?" Carol asked.

"A friend from school. He's the one who gave me that list of cars to look for, his dad is a mechanic and he knows a lot about them."

"I suppose that's not a bad idea, actually," Carol said after thinking it over. "All right. You try it behind the wheel, and if you're still interested, we can go back and negotiate properly."

"You got him to drop the price by nearly two thousand dollars just by looking at him," Amy giggled.

"I haven't even started yet," Carol smiled grimly, as she indicated and pulled over into a gas station to allow Amy to take the wheel. She and Taylor exchanged another look, then grinned, before the shorter girl got out and walked around to the driver's side as her mother slid across.

Amused and impressed, Taylor settled back to enjoy the ride and learn how a lawyer negotiated. It seemed like it could be interesting.

She only just avoided laughing out loud at a pithy comment from the Varga, who seemed to find the entire thing hilarious.

Roy checked the number Danny had given him earlier, then picked up his personal cellphone and dialed it, relaxing in his chair while looking out the window into the early evening, the lights of the city spread to one side and the bay on the other with the Rig in the middle foreground. When the other end was picked up, he smiled.

"Über, I believe? This is Roy Christner. I wanted to talk to you if you have a minute..."

Picking up his teacup with his free hand, he sipped from it. "Yes, I'm aware it was you two, and while normally your activities are somewhat… irritating, albeit often rather amusing, this time I'm quite pleased. I think we should probably arrange to meet soon, unofficially you understand. The city can't be seen to be dealing with villains, even ones as low key as you are, although personally I am a little more flexible. You deal with all sorts of people, being a politician, you see, although even so I have standards."

He listened, then laughed. "Exactly, my young friend, exactly. I'm glad to see we understand each other. You did a good thing yesterday, and I'd like to see that sort of activity more often. We need all the people we can get if we're going to pull our city out of the hole it's been heading for and oddly enough, I think you both are on the same side as I am from that point of view. Despite your unusual hobby."

The response went on for a little while, during which he smiled, sipping his tea again.

"Oh, don't worry, my friend, I've met people far worse than you, trust me. Far worse. And overall probably a lot more dangerous, or at least destructive. This city is full of them as you're aware, not to mention other places near and far. We live in a regrettably hazardous world these days."

Nodding, he finished the tea and put the cup back on the saucer.

"I agree. You have a good point there. But it can't be helped, not at the moment. In the meantime we all do what we can to try to keep a lid on things. I'd prefer not to have you two be one of the things under that lid if I could avoid it. It would be much better to have you helping than hindering."

There was another pause, during which he chuckled. "No, that's not a threat at all, believe me. If I wanted to threaten you, you'd be left in no doubt about it."

"Yes, precisely. I suspect that would be exactly what would happen."

"Indeed. So, overall, it would be best if we avoid such things, don't you agree? Good, good, that takes a load off my mind. Now, a couple of things. One is that I expect Danny Hebert will be getting in contact with you soon. Yes, he gave me this number, he told me what you did for the DWU, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to call first. Well done, by the way, that's exactly the sort of thing we need around here. He seemed impressed and he's not easy to impress. When he calls, I suggest listening carefully, you will probably find it's in your own interest."

He smiled.

"Oh, I won't spoil the surprise but you'll like it. The other thing is about that remarkable sound system your colleague came up with. I have a suggestion about that which I would like you to consider carefully, although I suspect Leet might take some convincing. Tinkers can be a little possessive I understand."

Roy snickered, then laughed out loud again. "I see. Yes, that's probably best. Anyway, what I had in mind is this..." He explained in some detail, making a couple of notes on a pad, which he then tore the top sheet from, putting it in his pocket. "So you'll consider it? Fantastic. I hope we can talk again soon. Give my best to Danny when you see him. It was nice to have this little chat. Based on how this goes, we'll have to discuss some of your other activities. I may have some good news for you on that front."

After another short pause as he listened, he smiled. "Probably. Goodbye, Über."

Disconnecting the phone, he spend a little while deleting the dialed number history, then put it away. Looking up he met the eyes of the other person in the room.

"I think those two will go along with it, Phil."

"Excellent." His old friend looked pleased, a small smile coming and going. "That is indeed good news. I suspect we may find it works out very well all around." Sipping his own tea with great care, he put the cup down soundlessly in the exact center of his saucer, which was balanced on his other hand. "This has been a most enjoyable little diversion from normal life, I have to admit. Thank you for involving me."

"I'm glad I could, Phil. I missed our talks."

"As did I." Phil looked around the room again. "I have some suggestions for making your room more aesthetically pleasing if you'd like to hear them."

"Of course I would, you've always been far better than I am at that sort of thing." Roy smiled. "Plan away. I'm more than happy to make the changes."

Putting his cup and saucer down on the desk, then producing a sketch pad and a pencil, Phil began drawing with incredibly precise strokes, looking up every now and then to check some detail or other. "Now, the next task will be making discreet contact with Dragon without initially involving the PRT. I have some ideas for that..."

Roy listened with interest, watching his friend work and very pleased with the way things were going.

Randall looked at his phone for few seconds, a slightly bewildered expression on his face, then got up to look for Kevin. Finding him on the other side of the main workshop, upside down under some piece of machinery he had no idea of the purpose of, he poked his friend's foot with his own. Only his legs were visible.

"Hey. You'll never believe who just called me," he said, sitting down on an upturned wooden crate.

"Who?" came the muffled response, accompanied by a metal on metal sound and a slight sizzle. A smell of hot wiring came wafting past.

"The Mayor."

There was a long pause, then Kevin slid out from under his piece of machinery to the point he could look up at his friend, his eyes slightly wider than normal. "The Mayor? Our Mayor?"

"That's the one. Mayor Roy Christner himself. He wants to meet at some point."

Kevin looked more surprised, then thoughtful, then calculating. "Ah. About our little addition to the big event, I guess."

"You got it. He seemed pleased. More than I'd have expected, actually." Randall lifted a leg and propped the heel on the crate, putting his hands around his knee. "It was a little weird in fact. He was in a very good mood. He also said that Danny Hebert will be contacting us soon and it would be in our interests to talk to him."

"Why?" Kevin looked a little suspicious.

"I'm not entirely sure. But he did also mention that he has a financial backer who would like to commercialize that audio field generator system of yours."

His friend sat up, staring at him. "Really?"

"Really."

The other man thought for a moment, then sighed. "But I can't duplicate it, of course. I'm amazed how well it worked, to be honest, there were none of the normal troubles at all. I don't think I'd want to risk making another one even so."

"Dragon could duplicate it, he thinks."

"Well, probably, I suppose," Kevin muttered absently, looking like he was thinking about something, then his eyes focused on Randall's face. "Dragon? Why the hell would she help?"

Randall smiled. "The Mayor thinks that she could be approached through BBFO. His backer has suggested that we license the design to them, they approach Dragon to reverse-engineer it, with your help, they sub license production to Dracotech, and everyone wins. BBFO is a cutout for us, so no one gets upset about 'villains' profiting from their ill-gotten gains, because no one is going to be stupid enough to annoy Kaiju. Not after yesterday. He says that even with cuts for everyone down the line the amount of cash that we'd end up with would be pretty significant."

Kevin looked intrigued. He thought some more.

"That… might actually work. Cool. It's way past anything commercially available, and I'm sure it could be redesigned to work in a smaller area, like a stadium, or even a room."

"That's the sort of thing his backer is interested in. That and going the other way as an emergency broadcast system. He thinks both applications are very saleable." Randall studied his friend. "Interested?"

After a moment Kevin nodded slowly. "I think I am. I have to admit that it felt very good to do what we did yesterday, more than I thought it would. It was as much fun as our normal work, but no one was shooting at us. I like that."

"I'm not too keen on being shot at either," Randall chuckled. "Hey, if it actually works, you should look at doing the same thing with the tricorder. You said Armsmaster didn't want to give it back. I'll bet that thing is worth a huge amount of money."

Still looking thoughtful, Leet shrugged. "I suppose so. I don't want to lose it but if we had a guarantee that I'd get it back whether or not she could really copy it, I'd be prepared to lend it to her. She's one of the only people on the Hero side I'd actually trust with my tech." He thought for a moment, then added, "Oddly enough, Armsmaster is probably another one. Whatever else he is, he's an honorable man."

"Great." Randall beamed at his old friend. "I have a good feeling about this. Getting on the right side of City Hall, the DWU, and BBFO could open all sorts of paths to interesting things. Fun ones, too. Maybe even as fun as some of the other things but without all the shooting and explosions."

"I kind of like the explosions," Kevin sighed. "As long as no one gets hurt."

"I know what you mean, my man, and I'm sure we can think of something. But we seem to have lucked into a real opportunity here that we should probably jump on." Randall shrugged. "We've been lucky, but sooner or later luck runs out. I'm pretty damn good but I can't do everything and even you will run out of cool toys one day."

Kevin sighed, flopping down on his back onto the concrete floor of the old building and staring at the roof. "I know. We've been too close to something nasty happening a couple of times in the last few months" He transferred his stare to his companion, looking appalled. "God, are we... growing up?"

"Might be. Horrible, isn't it?"

Shaking his head, the Tinker looked at his friend. "I'm only twenty-one. Way too young to grow up."

With a laugh, Randall hopped to his feet then hauled his friend up to his. "Me too, man, but it gets most people in the end. We still have a lot of fun left, though. I bet we can get Taylor Hebert involved in it if we do this. That girl is nuts, and likes a joke, pretty damn obviously. With yesterday, and this thing as well, it gives us a good excuse to talk to her and see what she says. I'd guess it will be a lot of laughter then some crazy ideas."

Now grinning, Kevin nodded. "That, I could definitely go for. I suspect we'd get Panacea involved somehow as well. That is another weird girl."

"You're not wrong there. Don't upset her, I got the impression that she could be a real handful as well. Not like the Hebert girl, more subtle than that, but..." He shivered slightly. "The expression in her eyes for a moment was really scary."

"I noticed," Kevin replied, looking slightly worried. "Girls are very strange and sort of terrifying, even when they don't turn into huge reptilian monsters."

"They all turn into monsters sometimes, Kev," Randall snickered. "You just hide until it's over. Come on, I need something to eat."

His phone rang, making him pull it out and look at it. "And I need to take this." Pressing the call accept button he put the phone to his ear. "Hello, Danny. Been a while."

Following his friend to the kitchen, he listened, smiling to himself and in a good mood.

"Eight thousand four hundred dollars?"

Amy stared at her mother, who looked pleased, then Taylor, who looked impressed. "How the hell did you do that? That's nearly a third off."

"He was open to negotiation," Carol replied calmly. "Eventually."

"And you got a full service, five new tires, and an extended warranty out of him." Amy shook her head in awed respect while Carol firmly entered into territory best described as 'Smug mode enabled'. "Wow, Mom, I'm really impressed. Slightly scared as well. Did the poor man make any money on it at all?"

"Oh, undoubtedly," Carol replied. "Nowhere near what he wanted to make, of course, but if he wanted more he should have negotiated harder."

Both girls laughed, and even the older woman chuckled. "Lots of respect, Mrs Dallon," Taylor giggled. "That was amazing to watch."

"Now all you have to do is have your friend check it over, and if he's satisfied, you can collect it on Friday after school. I'll pay him then if it all works out. Please drive it carefully, I don't want to have to either buy a replacement or visit you in hospital, dear," Carol said.

"I'll be careful, Mom, don't worry. I don't want to dent it." Amy was feeling slightly disorientated. She was going to have a car in a couple of days! Grinning from ear to ear, she hugged her mother, who returned it. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, Amy," the older woman replied quietly. "And I'm sorry about the other day. I'll try to be better in future."

"You're doing pretty well at the moment," Amy snickered. "You can always buy my favor. Or at least rent it."

"Good to know," Carol sighed, although she was smiling. "Come on, I'll drop you off at the hospital. I can take you home if you'd like, Taylor, as well, it's no problem."

"Thanks, Mrs Dallon," Taylor said. "But would it be possible to drop me at the DWU? Or anywhere in that general area if it's out of your way. I told Dad I'd meet him there."

"Of course, it's not too far out of the way. I'll take you right there, it's not safe in the docks for a young woman."

Taylor nodded, but gave Amy a sidelong glance that made her grin again.

Shortly they were back in Carol's BMW heading for Brockton General, the two girls discussing the entire car buying experience and laughing about it. Carol seemed in a good mood as well, smiling slightly the entire way.

"You're quiet tonight," Missy commented as she looked up at Dean, casually bringing the end of the street closer in the process. They stepped forward, instantly covering a hundred yards in moments.

Dean looked at her, dragged from his thoughts by the comment. The petite blonde girl felt both curious and slightly concerned to him. Smiling at her, touched by her feelings, he shook his head. "Nothing serious. Just thinking about a conversation I had at school. Someone I know who is a bit strange said something that left me confused. She wasn't trying to upset me, thinking about it, but..." He shrugged a little. "She's an odd girl, smart, but odd. I'm never sure exactly how to take what she says, like whether I should accept it at face value or look for a hidden meaning."

Missy nodded slightly, looking around them carefully for any trouble, then repeating the action she'd performed. They were patrolling the commercial sector of the city, covering a lot of ground in a grid pattern just looking for problems. So far they'd only seen one small incident with a not very good thief who robbed a liquor store and got about fifty feet before a random passerby tripped him. They'd zip-tied him and waited for the cops. The store owner thanked the pedestrian effusively, who then asked for their autographs, smiled, and proceeded on his way once he'd given his statement.

"OK. Do you think there is a hidden meaning or are you just getting worked up over nothing?"

"No idea. Like I said, she's confusing. And likes word games." He shook his head. "Probably nothing."

"You should ask her, if it's bothering you that much," Missy laughed. "She's probably doing it just because it confuses you. Like the way Clockblocker does weird things to make people wonder if he's nuts. Which he is, of course, but at least half of it is because he thinks it's hilarious."

"It can be," Dean admitted with a smile. "Although I wish he'd learn when enough was enough."

"He'll never learn that," she giggled. "Not even if we got attacked by an Endbringer. He'd be cracking jokes at the end of the world."

"True." He shrugged. "Very true. Hopefully we never have to find that out, though."

"Have you recovered from seeing Kaiju yesterday?" she asked after another half dozen block long strides. "I'm still trying to get my head around it, but it was amazing to watch. I wonder what Legend talked to her about?"

"He probably wanted to know more about her, I think," Dean replied. "Recovered? I'm… not sure. It was sort of a shock."

"You're telling me! I nearly fainted. She makes Behemoth look small and I never thought I'd say that!" Missy looked impressed and worried. "I'm damn glad she's friendly." After a moment, she giggled again "A Friendbringer, maybe?"

Dean groaned. "Oh, god, don't you start making puns as well. I get enough of that from Clockblocker and Kid Win. Not to mention Kaiju now."

"Mr Foot," Missy laughed, shaking her head. "That was brilliant. Poor guy."

Unable to stop himself, Dean laughed as well. "I have to admit that was one of the funniest things I've seen or heard for a while. PHO went mad with it, they've got hundreds of puns based on that now. Clockblocker nearly passed out he was laughing so hard reading it last night."

"He was adding new ones as fast as he could think them up," she said, grinning. "I came up with some good ones as well."

"I think everyone did," Dean told her, amused. "I hope he doesn't get upset by it."

"He won't, I think. He's too nice."

Hearing a shot echo out of the alley they were nearly at, both young people stopped dead, going alert and tense. Dean could feel waves of violent emotions coming from that direction suddenly, while Missy immediately used her abilities to warp space around them in such a way that any projectile coming at them would be redirected into the ground. They crept forward and peeked around the corner. "Two E88, two Merchants, I think, a drug deal gone bad or something," she said in a low voice. "Call it in."

"OK." Seconds later he was on the comm system talking to the console, Sophia's voice sounding distracted but professional. The girl had been in an odder mood than normal since yesterday, which he could understand. "Backup en-route," he reported when he'd got the acknowledgment. Missy was peering around the corner once more, making a little gesture with her fingers. He looked to see that the four men were staring wildly around, obviously wondering what the hell was going on. The alley had turned into an Escherian nightmare, all the walls and the ground forming impossible angles with each other, trapping each of them in his own little zone.

"Wow. You've been practicing," he said admiringly. The emotions coming from the trapped men were mainly of panic now, having switched from the anger and hostility of when they'd first spotted them.

"Yep," she grinned. "After seeing the way Saurial seemed to be learning so fast, coming up with new things whenever we met, I thought I should try harder to put as much effort into working out more stuff I could do with my powers. It's a little tiring but it seems to have paid off." She watched the four men try to escape without success. One of the Merchants pulled out his gun and fired the entire magazine into the distortions surrounding him, every round embedding itself in the ground a few feet away, with no danger to himself or anyone else. Or any hope of doing anything useful.

Disgusted, he threw the gun at the warped wall next to him, yelped in pain when it somehow hit him on the back of the head, then gave up and sat down with his head in his hands.

Missy looked very pleased.

"Why do you think they throw the gun when they run out of bullets?" she asked. "Does that ever work?"

"I doubt it," Dean snickered. Hearing a siren approaching, he looked over his shoulder to see a BBPD cruiser pull up, Assault and Battery appearing seconds later. The former walked over and looked down the alley, then grinned.

"Good work, young one," he said grandly, patting Missy on top of her helmet, which made her giggle. Battery slapped him on the back of the head, which made her giggle harder.

"Idiot," the other blonde sighed. "Well done, guys. Impressive use of your power, Vista, and you didn't put yourselves at risk."

"Thanks, Battery." They watched the two cops cautiously approach the four trapped men, Missy dropping each barrier in turn as they pointed their guns at the suspects. Shortly all four were restrained, a second cruiser arriving just at that moment and the new arrivals taking charge of a pair of captured gangers. Missy let go of the last of her warped space, watching everything slowly revert to normal with a sigh of relief.

"That was getting tiring," she muttered, rubbing the back of her neck. "It was sort of complicated keeping track of everything."

Dean put his hand on her shoulder. "Really good job," he said quietly, smiling. She peered at him and blushed a little.

"Thanks."

All four capes watched as the BBPD officers finished reading the suspects their rights, stuffed them into the two cars, waved, and drove off with an air of satisfaction. "Not bad. We'll get you kids working well together eventually," Assault snickered. "Except maybe Clockblocker. He doesn't take it seriously enough."

He produced a bag of chips from somewhere and opened it, stuffing a handful into his mouth and chewing loudly. "Not nearly seriously enough. Caping is important business, you know."

The red-clad man offered the bag around while his wife put her hand over her eyes and groaned, Missy helping herself, then Dean, both of them grinning.

"You're impossible," the older woman sighed sadly, turning away from them.

Assault merely smirked, tipping the last of the contents of the bag into his mouth and crunching them up.

Dean watched with a faint grin, feeling the well-hidden amusement Battery was experiencing, and the humor Assault was radiating.

When the two older Protectorate members headed off on their own patrol route, he and his companion went on their way. As he walked next to Missy, he pondered her words.

Perhaps he should talk to Taylor.

Very, very carefully.

Not knowing how she saw him was almost worse than knowing she considered him a threat. The suspense was keeping him up at night.