A.N. Heads up, ya'll! This one gets a little… dim. Bad, but NOT unfixable, stuff happens here. Bide it out. The next one will be lighter, I swear.
Here goes.
Amy paused in the stairwell and sighed as she brushed her hair out of face, thinking over what had just happened. The parahuman she just met, or ALLEGEDLY met according to her, was something else, and the offer she had made was something Amy would have never expected to come to her in a million years! But more than that, she offered Amy hope. Not perfect hope, not definite hope, but for the first time in a long time, Amy felt hope for the future. After all, with someone like that in it, what would be impossible? The whole world entering an era of peace and prosperity? Eh, why not?
She groaned as she leaned back against the wall, reorganizing her thoughts. She would have to go through a 'power-change' procedure at the PRT; confirm her identity, explain the (known) limits of her old power and the true limits of her new one, all that. Best of all, though, she would have to spend a minimum of two weeks in master/stranger confinement in order to prover herself uncontrolled. This would give her time to get her head on straight.
With that thought, she started moving again. After all, she was going to be under scrutiny, and an unexplained time gap during a period she may have been mastered for was… not good. Thankfully, she had put Taylor back into a coma for about four days to really clear her of involvement. Wouldn't do for fingers to be pointed in the right, but uncomfortable, directions, now would it? Still, her new abilities would make her an actual asset, instead of a valuable. No more Miss Fragile, that's for damn sure!
Finally making it to the bottom of the stairs, she paused as an idea hit her, almost making her smile, then squared her shoulders and purposefully made her way to the two PRT officers that were watching the hospital during her visit. "Troopers, I need to go to the PRT. I just had a Restructure on my way down the stairwell."
The two troopers (and god, how she hated them being here. It was true that, during the last two years, the number of attempts made at kidnapping her by the other powers in this city [now discovered to have mostly been set up by Coil] were astoundingly high, but they always were acting like they were one step away from attacking HER, the person who came here to heal for pennies on the dollar) instantly froze, then grew wary. "I see, Miss Panacea. As such, we must request that you turn around and place you hands on the wall above your head. Do note that. as of now, you do have the right to remain silent, as anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, and you are entitled to a lawyer. Howsoever, the situation, in particularly YOUR situation, may necessitate, under US law, that these rights may be waved under the Terrorist and Parahuman Villain Suppression Act and the Trump, Master, Tinker, Thinker Arrest Protocols. Any, and all, resisting will be viewed as a violation of these laws, and will receive pushback, up to and including lethal force at any provocation."
Amy's jaw dropped. "You… are arresting me? As a TERRORIST? I told you about this in good faith! What have I ever done to deserve this?"
The troopers both drew their guns. "Miss Panacea, COMPLY NOW! We WILL open fire!"
Tears began streaming down the teenager's face as she began to obey, shock filling her. Was the world really out to get her? She had just managed to establish hope for her future, and now she was being dragged off like a criminal for doing the right thing. Through her blurred eyes, she saw the jugging looks on the faces of all the people in the room, saw them whispering as they watched her being arrested. She would never be able to heal again, and she would always be an outcast. Any parahuman who was arrested under those two acts (called the 'Cape-Killer acts'), regardless of reason, would have to completely change their identity to have any chance of doing anything heroic or not getting shot on sight. It was the only thing that could cause the death of a parahuman, outside of a kill-order, to be viewed as a good thing. She sobbed.
The next second, burning pain filled her from her chest and shoulders. She staggered, looked down, and saw red staining her robes. She didn't understand. When had she gotten blood…?
The room watched in shock as the hero healer, the savior of the Endbringer Battles, collapsed with three bullet wounds from a PRT gun. The two shooters just sighed in relief and started pulling forms out of their pockets as she started to bleed out, ignoring the dying girl other than making sure no-one went near her. She could be faking, after all.
Director Piggot of the PRT was NOT having a good week. Month. Life. She was not having a good life. No matter how hard she tried, this little disaster zone was, day by day, spinning off into disaster. One step after another, it got worse, and one day soon, it would be a hell-hole.
Most people didn't know this about her, but she didn't actually hate parahumans. In fact, she was somewhat enamored with their abilities, where they come from, and how they used and earned them. That was another thing. Except for some second-, third-, and fourth-gen paras, most parahumans earned them. Blood, trauma, and fear were required, the worst day of your life was the catalyst, and so forth. No-one got them for free. The problem she had was what most parahumans did with their powers.
That was another thing most people didn't know about her. She was an idealist. The power that was given was a gift, and sign of opportunity and salvation from your darkest day, but most parahumans wanted to use it for fame and glory, or just to be another brick in the wall. That was why she had so much trouble with her two top people, Armsmaster the glory hound and Miss Militia the good little soldier. Neither one was willing to pursue true greatness, true heroics. Instead, one was after the limelight with no slowing down and the other was incapable of disobeying orders unless they were completely suicidal. In other words, both had no morals, just in different ways.
Still another problem with people. That was something everyone knew about her. She HATED people. Oh, not as a species, but as a collective. See, the human animal had potential. It was rational, inventive, and adaptive, it could grow and learn and develop. In other words, pure hope. Humanity, however… well, let's just say that saying 'where is your humanity?' didn't actually mean 'how could you stoop that low?'. People as a culture were nasty, violet, greedy, and cruel for no good reason. What was that movie quote? "It could be a wonderful world, if people would just stop doing bad sh*t in it?" That would be the day.
It was why the few real heroes got her attention. People like Mouse Protector, who let the public only see a humorous side of herself so that they couldn't see the horrors she had to deal with and so that they wouldn't prescribe honor to an average person just trying to help, or Velocity, who could kill everyone in the city before they could blink using poison, or even a gun, but chose instead to do things the hard way and just try to save lives instead. Even Dauntless, who, in his free time, was a firefighter, or Panacea, who put in twelve hours a day to helping regular people at rock-bottom prices (below rock-bottom. No-one in the medical community got paid as little as she did. She wasn't even getting minimum wage for a cafeteria worker, compared to the volume of work she did and the number of cases resolved and lives saved, and she still donated three-quarters of her wages to charities.), and still helped at every single Endbringer fight. Even she herself didn't have the guts to go to every single Endbringer battle, and she only had to sit in the command room. Meanwhile, a sixteen-year-old girl did, and she had to be in medical, where the worst-damaged, most-mutilated capes were sent for treatment, unless they were already dead.
At that thought, the director winced. She would love to get some of that medical treatment for herself, but she just couldn't. Not because of hold-ups on her part (she trusted Panacea. Barely.), but because of politics. A PRT director going to a non-PRT underage parahuman healer would cause waves in every community. That was why she was hoping to get this mess of a city cleaned up: so she could retire and get the treatment she so desperately needed. And MAYBE, in her own quite way, to fangirl around Panacea a bit. The girl was a wonder, and, with the kind of family life she had (Director Piggot hadn't heard anything bad, but she could tell it wasn't good. Besides, with a hyper-depressed father and a stainless-steel bitch like Brandish as a mother, she knew that was no place for the average girl. Thankfully, though she seemed to be the spoiled favored child and rather reckless, Glory Girl seemed able to handle it reasonably well. It would be a pain to see that kind of power in the hands of someone… in the hands of a 'troubled youth'.) it was a surprise she could keep on so well. The director sighed again. She was really nervous about if and when the restructure would hit her. She trusted her, but such a thing, with such a life, could cause even the strongest to falter. Moreover, if it caused her to lose her healing, the city would get much worse much more quickly.
She stopped her introspection and went back to her paperwork. After all, as much as people thought she was not doing anything for this city, they had no idea what went on behind the scenes. Director Piggot was no stranger to back-room deals, and she worked night and day to try and keep the city safe. It was her that saw to it that Faultline only took jobs inside the city baring exceptional circumstances, her that saw to it Uber and Leet would continuously humiliate the PRT to force them to get better, her that kept economic disaster hitting the Merchants by having normals spoil their supplies (they were almost always high, so slipping a few stealth-trained operatives in for a little sabotage was easy. Plus, the dope-heads never figured it out. The agents that were caught were thought to be dipping into the supply, nothing else.) and not hitting the DWU (the only non-gang-affiliated major hirer in the city) by sending contracts to the DWU to repair places where the Merchants were trying to move in, and it was her that saw to it that small-timers like the Undersiders weren't caught by the PRT to keep the city in flux and ununified and to give the Wards some easy (and non-lethal) fodder to train against. Just a few of the ways she kept this city ticking. Hopefully, not towards an explosion.
Suddenly, a beep came from her computer, letting her know that her workload had increased again. Some time ago, she had set it up so that her computer would make a different beep for each kind of report, and this beep was her least favorite. 'Weapons Discharge against Non-Attacking, but Threatening Parahuman,' or WDN-A/TP was always a media circus. Let's see what the damage is this time.
The Director clicked on the file she was sent (after it was scanned by the professional-grade, non-tinker virus detector. One couldn't be too careful after all, and froze, the stood up so quickly her chair hit the wall behind her hard enough to dent it and rushed out the door, beginning to bellow orders.
On her computer, the top portion of the report was still open.
WDN-A/TP
Officers: Daniels, G. and Michaels, C.
Parahuman: Panacea (Amy Dallon, open cape; Case file #Para-005-14.21-0091523, Title: NW-MA-BB-PRT/A-NW-AD/P***)
Number of discharges: Three
Status of Para: Presumed Dead
Location: Lobby of Brockton Bay General
Witnesses: Many
Recording: Yes. Professional and Amateur
Valuable Note: Restructure Reported (Unconfirmed, para-claimed)
Director Piggot frowned hard as she stared into the ICU unit where one of the only people in the world deserving the word 'hero' lay and did her best not to draw her gun and start shooting subordinates. She sighed, reached down, and pulled an audio recorder out of her belt, held it up for all to see, and clicked it on. "This is Director Piggot, January twenty-first, two-thousand, at nine-fifteen in the evening. I am standing outside Panacea's, the city's premier healer, ICU unit and talking to those responsible. Tell me, just to be clear, start to finish, what happened. Be specific, and do NOT leave out any details."
Behind her, two idiots, a parahuman glory-hound, and the mother of all yes-men stood acting like they were elementary kids deserving a reward while her personal guards (good, solid, and uncorrupt Special Forces MPs with impeccable records) stood silently at attention near the door. Unknown to everyone in the room, these guards were part of the special elite force she used for her dealings with this city, and their reputation was so fierce that they earned the name 'The Firing Squad', a title they wore with pleasure.
The idiot on the left spoke first, but each one of the group had something to add to the traffic accident that was this event. Officer Daniels, a HIGHLY cape-prejudiced and stupid man with a deep respect for Director Tagg, the Mad Dog of the PRT, began. "We were guarding the menace as she was pretending to heal, same as usual. Didn't really see any change in the behavior patterns, but we were watching those coming and going, just to be on the safe side. Last thing we needed was for her to make villainous connections. Her mother had already warned us several times to keep an eye out for anything sketchy about her, so were on pretty high alert, same as always. That's when the deviation occurred."
Officer Michaels, a book-heavy layabout with no conscious, picked up the thread there, looking quite happy to brag on his book-perfect actions. "The para in question left the east stairwell looking pleased with herself. Such behavior put us both instantly on guard, as, not only was she moving far ahead of schedule (almost four hours earlier than her norm), but she actually appeared relaxed and pleased, something that never happened. As such, in accordance with Panacea Emergency Protocol 9, which is the new one just activated a week ago, we used the TPVS Act and the TMTTA Protocol to take her into custody. She attempted to resist, or rather, to protest, verbally, but we persisted. She turned to comply, then made an unexpected move, which was the second strike. As such, we opened fire. Thankfully, Miss Militia was there to support us and fired at the same time, otherwise the paperwork would have been much worse. As it is, it is a pretty cut and dried case, and all we need is for you to notify her family, and we can pull the plug on her life support and be done with this one."
Director Piggot nodded, slowly clenching and unclenching her hand in order to keep from shooting them. After all, there was a lot she needed to know from them first, and she had people for the actual shooting. Said people already had their hands on their guns, too. This is what it means to have good help! They even knew to wait until the fools stopped digging their own graves! After that? The hospital had body bags, and a morgue. "Uh-huh. I see, let's wait on that. First, what is this Panacea Emergency Protocol 9? Last I knew, there were only five of them, and that needs permission from Chief Director Costa-Brown herself to change, so I KNOW that it hasn't. Where… did you find that one?"
Armsmaster butted in with a complete lack of manners, like usual. "I designed four extra situations based around the restructure for us to assure her… recruitment, ma'am, and submitted them. I was certain that they would get retroactively activated if any of them were needed, so I made sure that they were sent out in the weekly memos. Also, since this is the one that will be activated, and no others will be made, as the so-called 'hero' Panacea will either be forced to join us, will be incarcerated, or will soon die, it would technically be Panacea Emergency Protocol 6, not 9. Be sure to get that right in your report, and to credit me. After all, we don't need the others, and I wouldn't want a little over-enthusiasm overshadow this achievement."
The director nodded while adding another dead body to the report she was composing. Circumventing correct authority channels, causing the downfall of one of the most prestigious heroes to earn himself a coup, glory hounding to an extreme AGAIN, attempting to manipulate official documents to make himself look better, negligence leading to the near-death or death and complete alienation of one of their top assets, rigging MASSIVE amounts of political fallout, both civil and federal, making it look like she approved all of these atrocious methods, and seeing to it that that appeared in official documentation? His career, at least, was done. "I will do my best to see to it your reward is even larger than you deserve, Armsmaster. You have my word on that. And, as another perk, I doubt you will need to worry about tinkering budgets, approval, or lab space in the future. I think that mostly brings me up to date. That would just leave… Miss Militia. Hannah, my stable and generally voice-of-reasoned person. What was your part in this… incident?"
Ah, she paled and glanced back at the guards that the director normally did NOT travel with; the armed, deadly guards. Yes, of all the people likely to figure it out first, she was the most likely! She was smart, savvy, and totally able to read the wind like that. Fucking turncoat. At least she should have the good sense not to try and get out of it. After all, the graves are dug.
Sure enough, a second later her head lowered, and she answered. "In accordance with the new policies, I was on overwatch for Panacea, charged with guarding and tracking her. After her last stop in 519, Taylor Hebert's room, which seemed to grab her attention rather seriously, though as to why I can't say, she made her way down the stairwell, pausing briefly on the second floor. I could tell because there is a straight line between the front windows, and the windows on the stairwell doors, that let me catch a glimpse of her robe on each floor except the first, where my angle was too bad; but I could still use that to time her. When she reached the lobby, she rapidly approached the guards and spoke to them, but whatever she said received a severely negative response, and they tried to arrest her. I went weapons-live when they did, and fired when they did. I did target the stomach for minimal likelihood to die, but guaranteed takedown, but I also hit the spine and several important organs, including the liver and a kidney. After that, I called on the radio to inform them of my presence and to let them know they could do their reports with me on overwatch, and mention me in them, which they preceded to do. That is all I have to say on the subject."
Miss Piggot nodded, then snapped her fingers. Instantly, ten more guards came into the room, two of them foaming Armsmaster while the remaining eight split up to handcuff the remaining people, two to Miss Militia, because she wouldn't resist, and three to each of the troopers, one for each arm and one for the utility belt and gun. Less than ten curse-filled seconds later, all four were captured without incident, much to the director's pleasure.
"Director Piggot!" Armsmaster yelled, "What is the meaning of this? I just finished pulling off a major coup, and you have us detained? You won't get away with this!"
The director had a full-body twitch at that. "One, it would be 'WE' had a major coup, you obsessed glory-hound. Two, this is NOT a major coup; it is a MAJOR FUCK-UP! The four of you are single-handedly responsible for multiplying my work by many hundreds of times, bringing MASSIVE bad publicity to the PRT, stirring up an even greater amount of unrest, and, worst of all, the near-death, and it is still possible that that will become just 'death', of one of the only true heroes in the world! Not to mention the fact that the entire process was incorrectly carried out from the get-go! Now, I am sure you are all confused, but don't worry; you are being arrested, so it is essential that I tell you WHY you are being arrested. Truth be told, you are lucky; if it was up to me, I'd just shoot the lot of you, bury you in a shallow hole, and be done with it. As it is, I need you to be able to own up to your stupidity in court."
Miss Militia, who had been paling the whole time she was talking, suddenly interjected. "Arrested? But I was just following orders!"
The director snorted. "Just following orders, huh? As the saying goes, that didn't work for the Nazi's, and it won't work for you. Let's go over this, one more time, starting at the end. You, Miss Militia, are under arrest for aggravated assault with a parahuman power, severe negligence to an arrested individual, and covering up misbehavior for your subordinates. The first one can be waved with a good enough lawyer given the fact that you were, in fact, acting in good faith to the best of your ability. The last, however, will see to it that you will never again hold a position of authority in any official command structure, and you may not be allowed to continue in the PRT due to it; not to mention some jail time is likely. If this is recognized as a corruption case by the court, that could be several years in a federal penitentiary. However, it is the second charge that will see you put away for the longest. Not only were you responsible for the majority of the blood loss and organ damage, but you were the highest-ranked official on-sight, and were responsible for the delay in treatment that cost Panacea her consciousness, and possibly her life. You WON'T be getting away with that. All things considered, however you are relatively the least to blame, and the least to suffer. A screw-up, yes, but a mostly well-meaning screw-up. If Panacea had been mostly unharmed, or had you not attempted to cover for your subordinates, or if she wakes up and speaks in your defense at your trial, you would most likely get off with just a long-term loss of authority and a slap on the wrist. Two of those did happen, however, and the last remains to be seen. Honestly, it would be more than you deserve if she did that."
Miss Militia, who had been bristling since the middle of her diatribe, finally couldn't take it anymore and burst out. "What do you mean covering for my subordinates is bad?! What was I supposed to do, expose them to censure for doing their job?"
The Director looked at her sharply. "For FAILING to do their job in a good way! Sometimes, how you do something is ten times as important as what you do! What if Panacea had not even been correct about her Restructure? The act that they arrested her for, in public and in front of witnesses, would have seen to it that one of the world's premier healers, someone responsible for saving more than thirty-six people a day MINIMUM, was unable to EVER heal again? Car wreck? No help. Fatal cancer? Just die. Endbringer Battle? TWELVE TIMES the casualties. Make no mistake, it is that girl that has seen to the effectiveness, safety, and turnout for Endbringer battles for the last FIVE YEARS! She has singlehandedly saved the lives of over FIVE THOUSAND CAPES! Do you know what that is called? AN ARMY, that's what! A HUGE one, at that, each one a professional with SUPERPOWERS, FOR GOD'S SAKE! And EVERY ONE OF THEM IS GUNNING FOR YOU! And even worse, you had the GALL to COVER UP THE CRIMES OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR SHOOTING HER DOWN IN COLD BLOOD! Make no mistake, those men are dead! If I don't kill them, which I am VERY much considering, and the capes she has saved don't, the public themselves would tear them apart by hand! NEVER MIND… Never mind the fact that you are also responsible for the most sever of her injuries. Best case? You get rebranded and shuffled off to a Simurgh Quarantine Zone. Worst? Deportation."
At that, the weapons-themed hero paled extensively, went white, in fact, and swooned, almost passing out entirely, but the director had no sympathy for her. She had been warned what her actions would lead to, often enough, and now she would be paying. It would be murder for a hero such as herself who had had the same handle and bearing for the last twenty years to rebrand, but that may be her only way out. She was a pariah. The only good news was that there were other, more worthy targets; like the next two.
Miss Piggot turned to the two bound and rebellious-looking troopers, starting with Michaels. "Officer Michaels, you have been under investigation for corruption for some time, as we have had plenty of reason to suspect you due to the level of performance you have maintained and several incidents that we have discovered in you career. Your actions regarding the ward Shadow Stalker are particularly bad. As such, we were just hoping to gain more information on the person you sold out to, Coil. At this point, however, any information is outweighed by the clear and present threat that you pose, both to us and to others. As such, given the level of corruption you have shown, the connections to a well-known parahuman terrorist, and this incident's severity, you will be held as a terrorist and traitor. As such, you will be thoroughly interrogated, and all available information take from you, then you will be sentenced, wither to life in prison or death is a matter for the judges. You might just be a smaller piece in this play, but you still are out. This will also give me an excuse to eliminate your boss's other exploits. It has taken all of my willpower to let him keep poisoning me with my own dialysis machine, and it ITCHES that he has access to some of my systems.
"As for you, Officer Daniels, thanks to you I now have an angle of attack to go after both Director Tagg and Chief Director Costa-Brown for their incompetence and corruption; Tagg because he is producing, no, GROOMING nuts like yourself, and Costa-Brown due to her letting Tagg stay in power. Hopefully, with this, I will be able to start cutting the rot from the PRT. We will see, but with the negative press generated by this event, I should be able to harness it to bring down the main roadblocks. Hopefully. At least I will be able to improve things
"In any case, both of your behavior was unacceptable for different reasons, and I will make sure you pay. I already explained the severity of your actions to Miss Militia, so I doubt I need to do it again. You both DID the worst, but you both had the best excuse. Thankfully, a single investigation into one, and a psych screening for the other, will see to you going away for a long time."
Armsmaster, who had been frowning the whole time, piped up at last, again putting his ignorance and carelessness on display. "That is all very well and good, Director, but it is about time you released me. After all, I am essential to the stability of Brockton Bay! Even if I had done something wrong, WHICH I DID NOT!, you would have no choice but to see me released, or see your city burn! Even more so, since it was my policy change that led to this coup!"
The Director twitched again, her hand, for just a moment, going to the handle of her gun, making the armored cape (despite his bulletproof armor) pale for a second. Less than a heartbeat later, he relaxed again as she removed her grip with a sigh and turned to look back into the ICU unit. Sadly, the expected reprieve never came.
"Coup? No, this is no coup. This is a disaster of monumental proportions, you moronic egomaniac. First, you have harmed one of the essential pieces to keeping the peace of this city. I cannot tell you how much it hurt me to watch a schoolgirl work twelve-hour days, seven a week, in order to keep peace in this city. It was only sue to her efforts, and the fact that EVERYONE knew that she was neutral, that we kept a grip on this madhouse. Now, a full two years early, we have to start ripping the criminals out by the roots. God only knows how many will die due to that."
Miss Militia flushed. "You mean we could have started cleaning up this city any time, and we didn't?! Do you know how many have suffered because of the gangs in just this last year? Why didn't you save them?"
The Director turned a sharp glare on her, silencing her, before turning back to the window. "Yes, we could have started such an operation as early as ten years ago. However, back then the result would have been, at best, one survivor of our TOTAL parahumans, and 75% survival, give or take, of the troops. Not an option, as worse would have just moved in. Five years ago, our losses would have been a quarter that, much more sustainable, but the civilian casualties would have cracked ten THOUSAND plus, and that and the property damage would have killed this city. Two years ago, we would have been left with an undefendable husk. Two years from now, the result would be a massive economic slump for… two, maybe three years? Any later, and you might as well just give the gangs the keys to the mayor's office. We walked a fine line between too weak and too strong for too long, it seems. A pity. Unless something… unexpected occurs, we will be doomed. But, you, idiot tin can, forced my hand with this.
That is not why you are going to jail, though. No, I couldn't put you away for that. No, you are going to jail for circumnavigating a federal chain of command, disobeying a direct order from a legal authority, failure in your position, and soliciting corruption from a superior. Your reputation will be destroyed for your ruthless glory-hounding, your assholery, and your utter lack of morals or empathy. And no, you are NOT irreplaceable. Vaguely useful, yes, but it was only a matter of time before your cost outweighed your value, and that time is now. Over and above that, I strongly suspect you will be sued by Dragon for stealing confidential information and violating patents, by your Wards for reckless endangerment and an unsafe, uncomfortable work environment, and several of your coworkers for harassment. In other words, even if you stay out of jail, your career is done, your name will be dung, and you will be crushed. It couldn't have happened to a bigger asshole. Take them away."
With that, her guards removed the refuse, with two (the normals) protesting the innocence of either themselves or their idol, the female trying to come up with a reason why she was innocent (and failing), and the asshole loudly proclaiming that this was a mistake and he was irreplaceable. She ignored it, however. Instead, she kept her focus on the comatose hero lying in a hospital bed and breathing by machine; and, as she did, a deep sorrow and depression filled her. How could the world treat such good people like this? No, not that. How could PEOPLE treat such good people like this? Truly, a finer cross-section of humanity could never be found. Bigotry, Avarice, Pride, and Mindless Conformity gathered together to strike down a hero for no gain at all. At least the Judge still plays his roll. As long as that is the case, there may still be hope.
With a tired sigh, the Director turned to go tell one of their few real allies that idiocy had killed a hero, and one of their own, at that.
A.N. Like, wow! Did NOT see that coming. Oftentimes when you set out with one idea, the story that you write brings another entirely to the table! Truthfully, I kind of like how it went after the Panacea scene, but that one… that was kind of brutal. And not my normal style, either!
Still, I needed a reason to change Panacea's and New Wave's direction in the story, and this works. A bit darker than my norm, but I like the set-up, and it kind of goes well with the theme I have going here. More Crazy Bad-Ass Deku than Rise of the Magician, but still okay. After all, it highlights real problems, but the next chapter helps actually deal with them.
For a brief side-note, that is important for us as people to realize. Life SUCKS! Not because of how it is now, this is just a reality. Life sucks. Water is wet. There will never be a real 'dry' water, and there will never be a 'non-sucky' life. HOWEVER! It is by recognizing this, and striving against it, that good times are made. You will never make life good. NEVER. But, you can make it enjoyable for those around you. And if each one person takes care of two, the whole world will be able to weather the tough times, together.
Like that will ever happen.
And now my inner optimist and my inner pessimist are trying to kill each other. Great.
Seems like it is going to be another one of those weeks!
Anyway, that's it for this one. See ya'll next time, and please read and review! I always like useable ideas and people's opinions!