AN: Another of anothvortex's epilogues.

Side-Story: An Arctic Welcome: Boston

Bastion looked at the door like it held his doom. He had only been back in the city for a few hours before the summons from Armstrong had come. He had worked with the man for years, and had seen him lose his temper only three times. Once when an attempt at brining in Damsel of Distress had failed massively. The second when a local news report on Weld had turned nasty. The third after that stupid angry rant that had been following the hero for months. So, while unusual, he could have dealt with the man's anger.

Instead, it was a tranquil fury that reminded the Parahuman far too much of his confrontation with Brandish after the death of her child.

Steeling his nerves, the leader of the Boston Protectorate knocked on the door before entering. Armstrong's look was enough to make his shields surge. "Sit down, Bastion. We need to have a talk. Immediately."

Reflexively swallowing at the sheer rage in the older man's voice, the Parahuman tried to speak up. "Sir, if this is about..."

Then, in one of the most uncharacteristic bursts of emotion he had ever seen, Director Armstrong smashed his fist into the desk. The hero actually heard the synthetic material crack from the impact. "Sit you ass DOWN, Bastion. NOW! Or I will sit you down with a god damned bullet to the fucking knee!"

With that declaration, Bastion sat.

The two stared at each other in silence for a moment before the Director pulled out a folder. "I have been going over a number of reports concerning the whole mess in Brockton Bay. Especially the after action reports concerning my people. Out of respect for your many years of service, I'm going to give you a single chance to explain what the hell was going through your head when you were threatening civilians or taking on nearly a third of the goddamn Empire solo, leading to the fatality of a teenager! Please, be eloquent, convincing, and clear. I want to be assured that you are not the complete idiot every page of this garbage says you were."

Swallowing, the hero gathered his thoughts before replying. "We arrived at Brockton Bay and were given a comprehensive briefing on Braid. A Striker and Trump who could bestow enhancements on people over time. Only, she had been holding back or obscuring her powers, and it turned out she could take energy just as much as she could bestow it. A fact that was only made apparent when she drained Shadow Stalker to death with a touch. It also came out that she had entered into a relationship with a known villain named Tattletale, and after apparently wiping out the criminal organization of another villain Coil they were in the wind. Given her body count and combined threat rating with her accomplice, our goal was to locate the two with extreme prejudice."

The report was short because the events had been straightforward. Braid's threat rating had been enough to make every single department on the east coast have a panic attack and send bodies as quickly as they could. Their briefing had mostly consisted of standard tactics for dealing with Parahumans with Striker, Thinker or Trump ratings. Something that, in hindsight, would have been completely inadequate for the teen if they had actually faced her in combat.

Still appearing furious, but somewhat mollified by his description, Armstrong spoke in a more reasonable tone. "Tell me what happened at the Barnes' residence."

Concentrating on maintaining his professional demeanor, Bastion continued his debrief. "The family had been taken into protective custody but kept on site in their home. Weld and I came on afterwards and took command. The family was unhappy with their treatment, but we had to maintain maximum security protocols. However, maybe half an hour after we appeared, the mother started lashing out. She claimed that the PRT were just trying to protect their personal PR after abusing Braid for months, or some such nonsense. Things got heated, but the central console contacted us with new instructions before anything besides words were exchanged. Myself and most of the trooper detachment went, under orders, to back up Hellhound against the Empire while Weld and a smaller detachment stayed behind."

Eyes narrowed, the Director's response was notably colder. "How did backing up Hellhound turn into you soloing four of the Empire's Parahumans, including their leader? Before Glory Girl came as your unofficial backup of course."

Teeth gritted at the memory of the beat down, Bastion replied. "Hellhound and the troopers were led off by Hookwolf and Stormtiger. I stayed behind to contain the others, but I underestimated them and was being overwhelmed. Glory Girl came independently of any request made by me, and refused to coordinate or listen during the entire encounter. They only withdrew after her...death. Afterwards Brandish... strongly suggested that I stay out of any further fighting." He had not enjoyed the sensation of an energy blade being pointed at his nose, but Bastion had a kid to. He was willing to cut the mourning woman some slack after all of that.

The fact that Victoria Dallon had started walking around again was still something he was trying to process. Heh, him and the rest of the fucking world.

Armstrong maintained his angry demeanor in silence, digesting the report with a sour look, before sighing. "Well, that tracks with what I have read. Congratulations, Bastion, your favors have officially run out. There will be consequences after this fiasco."

Eyes narrowing at the tone, the hero barely kept his composure before speaking. "Director..."

The older man did not even let him finish. "The Barnes family has filed a complaint against you. We believe that they are seeking full accountability, and are not interested in any sort of settlement. Based upon the initial review, it appears that their complaint will have merit."

That set his temper off like a supernova. "Those god-damned, self-righteous fucking assholes are doing what!? How dare they! Who the fuck do they think they are fucking messing with!?"

Unphased by his outburst, Armstrong removed a piece of paper. "Let's see, I believe that they went with, "Bastion demonstrated an unprofessional, antagonistic attitude and threatened both physical and psychological assault due to a lack of personal decorum. This included, but was not limited to repeatedly threatening civilians under his protection verbally and with modulated expression of his Parahuman powers." Tell me, Bastion, that you didn't do that stupid shifting shields trick when the angry VIPs spoke up in defense of their OLD FAMILY FRIEND? Particularly when you claimed that she deserved to die, no matter what their objections? An attitude that also led to Glory Girl ignoring your orders and dying in the process?"

Swallowing back his first retort, Bastion bit out. "Braid killed a fellow Ward and went traitor. They were saying nonsense about a pattern of abuse that lasted months. No department would get away with half of their claims. It was ridiculous!"

With that, the Director slumped. "Actually, they were understating it. After hearing the complaint, I managed to get my hands on the initial results of their internal investigation. The sheer scope of this fuck up is gutting the Brockton Bay PRT leadership. Armsmaster is not in great shape either, and half their remaining Wards team is either being transferred or demoted. I helped Weld with some of the initial background for his new position in their Wards team, and he was not amused."

The Protectorate leader felt like Behemoth had punched him in the gut. "But, why the fuck didn't anyone tell us before we hit the streets? It had a direct impact on our mission! How the hell did they justify keeping that shit quiet!"

Armstrong's temper actually flared again at that. "A political bait and switch, coupled with a gag order phrased as identity protection. More or less a case of closing the barn doors after the cows had fled. The locals were trying to keep the outsiders from actually finding Braid so they could run damage control. Hopefully talk her down before things devolved into a blood bath. Instead, Piggot thought to use the whole thing as a casus belli to deal with her gang problem. Unfortunately, Kaiser had the same fucking idea."

Trying to wrap his head around the cluster fuck, Bastion focused on the one part of the conversation that should make sense but did not. "I was sent into a potential S class threat with fragmented misinformation. How the hell could their complaint actually have merit with all of that taken into account?"

Narrowing his eyes, the Director's reply was absolutely deadpan. "Nothing in that situation was sufficient grounds for you to threaten civilians through word or action. It WAS enough to keep you from being retired and rebranded. However, PR has had it's fill and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Pack your bags and settle your affairs. The National office wants you in Anchorage as their new second in command by the end of the week."

It took everything the heroic Parahuman had not to scream in frustration.

Leaning back in his chair, Armstrong seemed to deflate. "If it makes you feel any better, things will be much worse for a lot of those involved in this mess. Piggot and Renick are both gone, and won't be invited back to any Christmas parties anytime soon. Thirty percent of their legal department, forty percent of their PR department and at least a dozen extra associated supervisors are either demoted or dismissed in disgrace. The Youth Guard took a major hit, and word is that Alexandria might be apologizing in person, just because of a possible childhood crush. Braid, now Isis is being given everything that they can think of to keep her friendly. Hell, I have to help Weld come up with a plan to make up for his negative association with this incident as their new Wards leader. Your demotion won't even be in the top fifteen cases of collateral damage from this mess."

Looking away, Bastion felt his emotions surge once again. "You're not the one who has to explain this fuck up to their daughter or their bitch ex-wife."

To that, the Boston Director had no reply.