I totally realize I left you guys in the lurch with the whole campaign ending thing. I'm not going to give you the details, cause, ya know, spoilers. But it was fantastic and dramatic and ended exactly how we needed it to. I'm excited for you guys to eventually get there too.

Anna speeds around a final corner and pulls the car to a quick stop next to their base. She and Po'boy jump out of the car and hurry inside, not bothering to keep a low profile. Dakota stands in the kitchen, already wearing her costume, staring at the TV, hands on her hips.

She glances over her shoulder at them. "Ya'll are makin' a bad habit of not answering your phones. Had us worried, all things considered." She jerks her head towards the TV. "Wardens are about to have a press conference."

Anna's brow crinkles. Why would they be having a press conference? They should already be out trying to save those cops! Bunch of bureaucratic assholes.

Leopold's door slams open and he emerges, zipping up his leather armor. He joins their huddle, turning towards the screen as Syzygy walks up to the podium. She wears a purple, armored bodysuit with dark green gauntlets that go all the way up to her elbows with matching boots. The green accessories look like tech, moving with her seamlessly and gleaming under the lights. Her mask is purple with a faint glow around the edges and covers most of her face, but is open in the back, letting long black hair flow down her back.

"It has come to our attention that a dozen officers from the San Domenico Police Department have been captured by the Triple Six Syndicate. These actions are a direct result of the capture of Sinner by criminal vigilantes. After careful consideration, I, as the leader of the Wardens, will be releasing Sinner to be delivered to Incarnate. Nothing is more important than the lives of the officers that protect this city and returning Sinner will ensure their safety. The transfer will be handled personally by Charles Sinclair as commander of the newly formed Parahuman Control Unit." The hero takes a beat and looks directly into the camera. "This specialized squad has been in the works for some time and is unveiled tonight with a singular purpose; to help quell the powered, criminal elements. I make a final plea to anyone out there who would use their powers for the benefit of the city join the Wardens. Continue your criminal behavior, including vigilantism, and you will not be granted any leniency when you are apprehended." She steps away from the podium and another Wardens official takes her place to answer the questions being shouted from the reporters.

Dakota mutes the TV with a shaky hand and silence falls. Anna's mouth hangs open and she blinks as she tries to process everything they just said. Holy fuck. This is bad.

Po'boy's voice, uncharacteristically serious, snaps her out of her shock. "So everything we did is just going to get undone. Man, this sucks."

Dakota shakes her head vehemently, brow furrowed. "I ain't lettin' this happen. That asshole isn't just going to walk free after everything he did. After all we did to get him off the street."

Leopold points to the TV. "There's no-no way they can d-do that. That has to b-be illegal."

So many people talking at once, Anna can't think. She puts up her hands. "Let's just…stop and think about this for a second." Everyone quiets down and looks at her. "First of all, we can't just take Sinner back from the heroes. If we want to recover him, we would have to attack Wardens tower or this new Parahuman Control Unit while in transit. Either way, we would essentially be starting a war with the Wardens, and that's not a smart thing to do." Dakota's eyes narrow a little and she frowns, but she doesn't disagree with her. "Second, there's absolutely no way that Incarnate is going to just let those cops go, even if he gets Sinner. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would just let people walk. If someone doesn't rescue them, they're going to die. Including Jenkins."

Po'boy's eyes widen. "Wait, Jenkins was one of the cops taken? Shit."

She nods. "Third, there's no way that Sinclair isn't involved in this in some way shape or form. He spends the last week lambasting us on every platform he can, and suddenly he's in charge of this Parahuman Control Unit? They may as well just come out and call it an anti-vigilante squad. There's no way this is a coincidence."

Po'boy shrugs. "I mean, yeah, but what can we do about it? It's not like we're gonna break into his house and find a journal labeled 'Evil plot to destroy all vigilantes.'"

There's a beat of silence and everyone looks at the surfer. Finally, Leopold shrugs. "Why not? We know he's not going to b-be there, and if there is some kind of cape pr-cape protecting him, they'll d-d-definitely be with him at the transfer."

She can't believe they hadn't thought of this yet. Breaking and entering is a risky move, it would be easy to be caught in the act. But if they ever want to find some concrete evidence, that might be the only thing they can do. "Ok, so it sounds to me like we have two focuses. We need to go rescue the cops, and we need to get into Sinclair's house to see if there's anything linking him to the attacks on vigilantes."

Her phone starts buzzing in her pocket. She pulls it out and sees a number she doesn't recognize. Dammit, she doesn't have time for this! She looks up at Leopold. "Can you call Watchdog? We're going to need some help finding where they're holding everyone."

Stepping away from the group, she hits accept. "Hello?"

A hushed voice sounds in her ear. "Crusade?"

"Yeah, who's this?"

"It's Sentry. We met a few weeks ago."

Her eyes widen and she waves to her team and points to the phone. "Sentry, odd time for a social call. Figured you'd have your hands full right now." She pulls the phone away from her ear and puts it on speaker. Dakota and Po'boy come over to her while Leopold walks down the hall with his own conversation.

The whispering voice comes over the speaker. "That's why I wanted to call you. Something's wrong and I don't like it."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing, and that's the problem. We've been told to stand down, let Sinclair and his squad completely handle the situation. It doesn't sit right with me."

Anna's shoulders relax a little and she breathes a sigh of relief internally. At least not everyone at the Wardens is completely off their rocker. "Well we don't intend on just sitting around. Do you have anything that can help us find where they're holding the cops?"

"No, I don't have clearance to any of the information about this operation." His voice is gruff, full of frustration.

"Can you at least tell us when the transfer is taking place? Or how long they'll be gone?"

"10 o'clock, on the edge of Old Towne. Best guess, the whole thing will take less than 45 minutes. That's all I know. I wish I could help more."

Po'boy holds up a finger. "Maybe you can help us with something else, then."

"I'm listening."

"Something's up with Sinclair. We haven't found anything solid yet, but we've got reliable-ish intel that he's not a great guy. If we could get access to his office we might be able to find something that'll stick."

After a long pause, Sentry responds, sounding more than a little unhappy. "You're asking me to smuggle a vigilante into the Wardens building to break into a government official's office to illegally obtain documents that may or may not prove he's 'not a great guy'?"

Po'boy blushes a little and rubs his hand through his short hair. "Well when you put it that way…."

"You realize that if we get caught we're both getting put away for the rest of our lives?"

Po'boy's brow furrows and tilts his head. "I mean yeah, but I'm not gonna get caught."

"Good, I'm in. I've always had a bad feeling about him anyway. Meet me at the coffee shop two blocks south of Wardens' at 9:30."

This is a really risky plan. Sentry is one hundred percent right; if they get caught there might not even be a trial before the Wardens lock them up and throw away the key. Po'boy is good, and with Sentry helping him he may pull it off. It still worries her, though. But, apparently, this is going to happen anyway. "He'll be there. Thanks Sentry." She ends the call and pockets her device. She looks over at Leopold, just hanging up his call too. "What did Watchdog say?"

Leopold nods. "He'll start working on it. Apparently, they have a new teammate, Cannis. She and Lamplighter will help us out when he finds them."

Anna nods. Good thing the Cardinal Alliance has her up and running already. Lamplighter could probably use some extra support if he's going back out in costume. "Po'boy is going to go to Wardens' to try and find evidence from Sinclair's office. We need someone to go to Sinclair's house to see if there's anything there. And the rest of us can go rescue the cops."

He shrugs a little. "I'll go to Sinclair's house. Might b-be better for me to sneak around than try and d-d-deal with Hellion again."

She looks over at Dakota. "That means we're going to extract those officers. You good with that?"

Dakota's lips purse a little. "I'd rather go take down Sinner, but you're right. It'd be startin' something we ain't equipped to deal with." She nods once. "Let's make sure those boys get home safe."

Anna looks at the clock. It's 7:43. Just over two hours until the transfer happens. They've gotta hurry.

~0~0~

9:26 pm

It's super quiet this time of night. This area of town is all skyscrapers with big businesses that closed hours ago. If someone saw him they might be a little suspicious of a guy in a suit just hanging out in front of a closed coffee shop. But with Dickwad standing on the sidewalk looking like a cop, he may as well be invisible.

Po'boy tugs at the sleeves of his suit and shifts in his seat. Man, this thing is uncomfortable. How the heck to people wear these all day, every day? He's been wearing it for less than an hour and he already really wants to take it off. Normally he wouldn't bother with a disguise for something like this, but he really doesn't want to get caught. If somebody does see him, the suit will help him look like he belongs. And it's a good thing he actually had one in the back of his closet. Never thought he'd need it for something like this. Funeral or wedding? Sure. Vigilantism? Not so much.

Dickwad looks up and down the street, keeping an eye out for Sentry. He's only been here for a few minutes, but there's no sign of the hero yet. It's down the street a ways, but even from here he can tell there's a lot of activity at Wardens Australis. Or at least there's a lot of cop cars and, like, armored trucks coming and going.

At exactly 9:30, Sentry comes around the corner from the opposite direction of the heroes building. Huh, wonder where he was. He looks around all stealthy like, completely glazing over Po'boy, and spots Dickwad. The man with shiny metal armor comes up and gives a small nod, his features tense and wary. "Evening officer. Anything I can assist with?"

Dickwad smirks. "Dude, relax. It's me."

Sentry rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I know. It's called being professional, we're trying to stay under the radar. At least you look convincing."

Dickwad chuckles a little. "Don't worry about staying under the radar. I got this on lock. Even you missed the big trick, Mr. Professional." Sentry's eyes narrow and he looks around. "Don't worry about it, just focus on me. So what's the plan?"

Sentry looks him up and down. "Given your disguise, if somebody asks, I'm helping with your investigation. You need to figure out if you're dealing with a powered person or not."

Dickwad nods. "That works. Where's Sinclair's office?"

"We'll go to the consultation area. From there, go up the stairs two levels and make a right, it'll be at the end of the hall."

"Up two, make a right, end of the hall. Got it. Let's do this!" He gives Sentry a thumbs up.

The hero takes a deep breath and nods. "Let's do this, Officer…" he glances at the nametag on his chest and his brow arches. "Smith? Really?"

Dickwad starts walking down the street towards Wardens Australis. "It's a generic name. People forget generic names."

Sentry walks along beside him, quietly chuckling. "I suppose so."

Po'boy follows just behind them, keeping his hands in his pockets. Sentry seems like a pretty cool dude. He wasn't, like, famous or anything as a vigilante, but he didn't have a bad rep either. He seems to legit care what's right and wrong, not just following the rules. A little weird for a hero, but he's not going to complain about it since he's helping them out right now.

The glow of the street lights gets replaced by bright white lights as they walk up the steps to the hero headquarters. The steps are shiny stone leading to big glass doors that are propped open. Sentry walks through, nodding to a guard at the top. The guard eyes Dickwad, but then turns front again. Po'boy weaves in and out of the people coming and going careful not to do anything too crazy. Cops, people in suits, guys in tactical gear, all running around looking seriously stressed out. This whole Sinner thing has the whole city in a panic.

Dickwad and Po'boy follow Sentry up a set of stairs off the main lobby a couple floors to an open space with lots of cubicles and a long conference table off to one side. Sentry weaves his way through the maze to the conference table and gestures to Dickwad. "Wait here a moment, I'll grab those files you sent me." He disappears through a door at the far end of the table. Guess that's his cue.

Po'boy turns back to the stairs and starts climbing again. Two floors up, make a right, end of the hall. As he starts climbing the second flight of stairs, Sentry comes back out and takes a seat next to Dickwad, placing a file on the table.

"It seems to me like this is an open and shut case, really, but let's review the details."

Po'boy gets to the end of the hall and sees a door labeled C. Sinclair. Bingo. He sets Dickwad to just nod along and give affirmations whenever Sentry stops talking. He turns the doorknob and pushes the door open gently. The door swings on silent hinges to reveal a corner office with big windows and a heavy wooden desk. Oh good it's empty. He hurries into the office and quietly shuts the door.

The office is pretty empty, the desk is neat, and everything is set up to say 'I'm in charge and important.' Po'boy crosses behind the desk and shakes the mouse on the computer. Damn, it's locked. Gotta figure out the password. Staring at the blinking cursor, he types the first thing that comes to mind. The computer buzzes angrily at him and a message pops up; 'Invalid entry. 4 attempts remain.' So it's not Guest. Maybe Password? He tries that and the computer buzzes at him again. 3 left. Ok, maybe he has his password written down somewhere.

Looking around, there's a notepad on the desk. Po'boy grabs it and flips through the pages. Nothing there. He opens the drawers, finding pens and pencils, a stack of post-its, but no notebooks or anything. He's gotta find something. Where else would someone hide a password? Pushing himself out of the chair, he kneels on the floor and looks underneath the desk. No, nothing there.

Po'boy stands, looking around the surface of the desk. There's nowhere else to hide anything. Except…

A jolt of physical contact brings his attention back to Dickwad.

Sentry is turned halfway in his chair talking to someone else. "– didn't know you were back. How did it go?"

Dickwad turns to see Siphon standing behind them, a tired smile on his face. "Dr. Neutrino has been neutralized." He laughs a little at his own pun. "Just got back in when I heard about the situation. Figured I'd come in and help instead of going home. Why are we all here?"

Sentry shrugs, but his voice is hard. "Orders from Syzygy. We're letting Sinclair handle it, apparently."

Siphon doesn't say anything, just shakes his head. He turns to Dickwad. "Sorry, officer. Didn't mean to talk shop in front of you. What case are you working on?"

Shit, he doesn't have the focus for this. He needs to figure out computer things.

"There's been a string of bank robberies by the beach, trying to figure out if powers were involved."

Po'boy lifts the keyboard. Jackpot! He gently pulls at the post-it taped to the bottom of the keyboard. Once it's free, he sets the device down and types in the series of letters and numbers. No wonder he wrote this down, it's like 15 characters. The computer gives a happy beep and opens to the desktop.

Siphon sounds surprised. "Wow! I guess I missed a lot while I was out of town. What makes you think they're powered?"

"Oh, you know, they were really fast."

Po'boy clicks around, opening up files to see if there's anything interesting. Ooh, a folder about the new squad. There's a bunch of invoices here and personnel records. Might be useful. He hits the print button and the printer in the corner springs to life. Nothing else in the documents seems like it would be related. Better check emails. He clicks the browser and Sinclair's email opens.

"Fast how?"

"They were in and out in like a minute."

Siphon nods. "That is pretty fast, not necessarily speedster fast though. What else do you know about them?"

"They all wear, like, Halloween masks. The rubber ones that look like famous people."

Nothing in these emails. Though he probably wouldn't have anything too bad where other people could access it. Anything in the deleted folder? Nothing at all. Huh.

The tinker puts a hand to his chin. "Hmmm. That's an interesting tactic. Those masks are easy to get and would throw off facial recognition and eye-witness testimonies."

"Yeah, they sure did."

Sentry raises a hand. "But it was really the speed that caught my attention. People who are practiced at this can get themselves in and out quickly, but under a minute hardly gets you anything. And they were getting into the safe, right?"

Just as he clicks the internet browser closed, a notification pops up in the corner of the screen. The window is labeled 'Device Management' and says 'Status?' Po'boy moves the mouse to click on it, but it disappears. Weird. Looking around the desktop, there's a phone icon that's called Device Management. He clicks on it, opening what looks like a mirror display of a phone.

"Yeah, they sure did."

Siphon tilts his head a little. "When did these heists happen?"

"Last night." Shit, he's not paying enough attention.

"A string of bank robberies just last night? Maybe this is powered. Any suspects?"

"Surfers."

Sentry groans just barely audibly.

Without Po'boy touching anything, the mirrored screen shifts and messages open up, sending a text. 'Package en route. ETA 10 minutes.' Po'boy takes a screen shot and sends it to the printer. Just in time too, because as soon as it's sent, the text is deleted. He waits and watches the screen for a response.

"What led you to that conclusion?"

"Sand. There was a lot of sand."

Sentry stammers a little. "What he means to say is, they're leaving a calling card. A…" He glares at Dickwad, the muscles in his jaw flexing. "…pile of sand."

A notification dings and he hits the screenshot button in time to capture the message. 'Good. Don't keep me waiting.' His eyes bulge as he hits print again and closes the window. Fuck, he must be messaging Incarnate directly. There's no label for the contact, but there's a phone number. Maybe someone can track it?

Siphon looks at Dickwad, hands on his hips. "What did you say your name was? I haven't seen you around before."

Sentry waves his hand. "Officer Smith here is new to the force. In Oceanview."

Po'boy locks the computer screen and puts the post-it back under the keyboard. He stands and looks around. There's got to be something else here. He walks over to the printer in the corner to retrieve the documents. The printer is sitting on a discrete looking file cabinet. He pulls on one of the drawers, but it doesn't budge. Of course it's locked.

Siphon looks at Sentry. "Don't we have protocols for this? Liaisons with each precinct?"

Sentry nods. "Yeah. I happened to run into Smith here while he was on a call and he asked my opinion. Figured since we're not going to be helping with Sinner may as well try to help someone else."

Po'boy runs back to the desk and grabs a couple of paper clips out of the drawer. At least he knows how to jimmy this kind of lock. But he needs to hurry, Siphon's already plenty suspicious.

The tinker holds his gaze with Sentry for a moment before turning back to Dickwad. "What kind of call were you on?"

Shit, police codes all start with a 10, right? He tries to think back as he twists the paper clip in the lock. He can't remember any of the ones he's heard! Just gotta make something up.

Dickwad waves his hand. "Oh nothing serious. Just a 10…91…h."

Siphon's head tilts. "A 10-91h? I'd like to think I know most codes and I haven't heard that one before." He raises his shielded arm and a screen pops up all while muttering to himself. He taps a few times before he stills, staring at the screen. "You were on a call for a…stray horse?"

Sentry brings a hand to his head and leans his elbow on the conference table. Dickwad nods. "Yeah, just showed up out of nowhere. Weird, right?"

Got it! The lock clicks and Po'boy yanks the drawer open. There's a lot of paper in here, no time to go through it all. He's just gotta grab it and go. He grabs the three thickest hanging files and shoves the drawer shut again. Holding everything to his chest, he hurries to the door.

Siphon opens his mouth to say something, but Dickwad talks over him. "Well I gotta go." He stands and waves at Siphon. "Bye."

Sentry stands too. "I'll walk you out, Officer." The hero puts a hand on his shoulder and steers him quickly and calmly away from Siphon.

Po'boy opens the office door and peeks his head out. Thank god the hallway is empty. He closes Sinclair's door behind him as he casually makes his way back down the hall and down the stairs, only a couple flights behind Dickwad and Sentry.

They all make their way out of the building and back into the darkness of the night. Away from prying eyes and listening ears, Sentry releases Dickwad and asks in a low, frustrated voice. "Were you seriously using the plot of Point Break for the case you're working on?"

"Oh shit, that totally was Point Break. Huh. It was honestly the first thing that popped into my head." Sentry crosses his arms and fixes him with a stern look. "What? I was busy. I didn't hear you coming up with anything better."

The hero sighs. "Did you at least find what you were looking for?"

Dickwad smirks. "Do you really want to know?"

Sentry snorts a laugh. "No, I probably shouldn't. Just hope it was all worth it. Now I need to go do damage control with Siphon." The muscular man starts walking back towards Wardens', waving over his shoulder. "It's been weird, Jackass. Hope I don't see you." He walks right by Po'boy, oblivious to his existence.

He laughs under his breath. "You won't."

Po'boy walks back down the sidewalk towards his car, files in hand. He pulls out his phone and checks the time. 9:54. Snap! He got that done quick. He can head back to the base and figure out if the files he grabbed will be useful at all.

He makes his way back to the team hideout and parks around the corner. Hopping the fence, he goes in the back. May as well stay outta sight for now. In the main living area, he plops his haul on the table and starts pulling off the suit. He doesn't have a room here, but Leopold let him put a backpack of clothes in his room, just in case. Po'boy doesn't need a lot, he's fine just chilling. He changes real quick before grabbing a soda from the fridge and sitting down in front of the files.

The screen shots are definitely important. If they can somehow trace that number to Incarnate it's a smoking gun. If not, it's still pretty bad. He puts them in the pile to his left. Next up, the invoices. Looks like a lot of guns and ammo from somebody named Bandito. Tinker tech maybe? He puts it in the pile with the screen shots. Then there's the personnel list. He doesn't recognize any of these names, maybe they can run background checks and see if any of these guys are crooked? It joins the pile on the left.

Po'boy opens up the first of the hanging files in the pile. Looks like it has a bunch of blueprints for Wardens tower and schematics on their security. Also blueprints for another building, looks like it could be a jail? Yikes. Maybe they should, like, burn this or something. It doesn't seem weird that Sinclair had this, he is one of their head honchos. But this could be bad for anyone else to have, though. He closes the folder back up and shoves it off to the right.

The second file has a bunch of manilla folders in it, all with names of vigilantes on them. What the hell? He flips through, seeing just about every name he knows here. He sees his team, finally a folder labeled Jackass. He opens it and there's a picture of him taped to the inside cover. There's a bunch of hand written notes, including theories about his power, thoughts on who he could be, notes on places he's spotted most, weaknesses observed. They pegged him as a changer. He chuckles to himself. Close. If this is the type of information he has on all the vigilantes, no one is safe. He closes it and moves it over to the left. Definitely need to show that to the team.

The last file is small, only containing a few sheets of paper. It's a handwritten list of 12 names with times and locations. Wait a second…Jenkins is on this list. Are these all the cops taken by the Trips? He flips to the other pages. Each page is printed from SDPD with assignments for each the names, including Captain Collins' schedule. No way. He looks at the top. This was for yesterday. Shit, they're not just working together, Sinclair must have planned this whole thing with Incarnate.

Po'boy looks at his phone. It's 10:42. He probably should have heard from the team by now. Hope they're ok.