AN: The side-stories spaced throughout are now in chronological order. They primarily weren't written by me, but I adore them all and they fit within the timeline, giving good background information. Some I've edited as well.

At the very end I've included a short timeline of where the chapters fit chronologically if case anyone was confused by the jumps in the first half.

Epilogue (About 3 Years Post-Main Story)

"I was thinking Modular," Chris said. He leaned back in the chair, staring down the PR man with a smile that a less well-inclined man would term 'predatory'. At the chair's feet, his dog also kept her eyes on the PR man, her doggy leer never dropping.

"That strikes me as far too on the nose and far too distant from your original name."

"There's not really any good Tinker names that aren't taken. I can't be Kid Win forever, I'm not a kid anymore. And besides, now that I know what my specialty is I want to embrace it. People are going to know my specialty anyway, there's no point in hiding it. I build two things and it's out there for the world to see as I swap stuff around on the fly."

"Perhaps we can workshop it. Something closer to -" The PR man was interrupted by the phone on his desk ringing.

Chris' lips stretched wider and he gestured towards the landline. "Don't you think you should get that?"

The PR man's mouth twitched, but he managed a smile - really a grimace - as he answered the phone. "Good morning, Sir. Yes, Sir. It's just that I was thinking - No, Sir, that's not what I - No I would never presume to - Certainly, Sir. Of course. Yes, that makes perfect sense. Right away, Sir."

As he hung up, Chris leaned forward, his smirk something that Lisa would be proud of. "So, about Modular?"

"Did you want that with a stylized 'u' or a regular one?"

Chris dropped into the couch in the lounge, chuckling, Brenda leaping onto his lap and curling up for a snuggle. He pet her fur as Missy peaked out of her room.

"So from your expression, I'm guessing the name change went well?"

"I'll debut the new name as soon as I graduate to the Protectorate."

"Nice!" One twist of space later and she sprawled on the couch next to him. "I love the new PR arrangement. It's hilarious watching them flounder! Did I tell you about how the guy nearly choked on his tongue when I got permission to carry a stun baton?!"

"You've told us all about thirty times now, Missy," Weld said, chuckling. He looked up from his book and rolled his metal eyes at her. "I still maintain you gave the first rep a heart attack with your rottweiler and that's why she never came back."

"Hey just because Rachel's therapy pup was big and mean and scary looking doesn't mean that it wasn't a therapy puppy. Heather is a big softie and wouldn't hurt a fly! Just like Brenda," she said, gesturing to Chris' - no longer so tiny - dog. The sparkle in his friend's eye put the lie to her words. He couldn't even really dispute Weld's claim as Missy's dog was terrifying. It was certainly well-trained, but it was terrifying all the same. Brenda wasn't nearly as intimidating unless she actively tried to look scary.

Thankfully, Rachel herself wasn't nearby to hear Weld's comments. She was with the Protectorate now. In all honesty, Weld probably should have been as well. The big man would never admit to it, but Chris was certain he'd quietly accepted someone fudging his official age to allow him to stay with the team as long as possible. It was good for them. After the sheer nightmare shitshow that had followed in Sophia's murder attempt and Taylor's rampage, with only himself and Vista left of the original group…It was nice being able to graduate with someone he had grown to trust again. Flechette was fun and all, as was the…um…Crap, what was his name?…He'd been…buff…sometimes…

Oh well, he must not have been around long.

That there was no way in hell Weld could pass himself off as Missy's age was the only reason they hadn't kept him in longer. At least, that was Chris' working theory.

"Oy! Wage slave! My taser died again."

Chris glanced over at Alec as the younger boy played his video game, raising his eyebrow. "Were you using it to poke the seagulls on the railing like I told you not to do?"

"No."

"He totally was," Missy stated. "Cackled like a little girl as the birds fell into the water."

"Alec!" Weld groaned. "We talked about this. I'm going to have to report it."

"Killjoy."

Chris sighed. "I'll replace the battery. I don't know why I'm supporting your one-man war against the avian interlopers on the Rig."

"Because I have a great singing voice and I'm beautiful and you love me."

"Because he's annoying and the birds are worse," Vista said. "Hey, I'm going to grab lunch. Dean's in town. He's doing an outreach program with the community college. Something about psychology. I was going to stop by and…say hello. For old time's sake."

Chris looked up, fixing her with a careful stare. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yeah. I think it'll be good to see how he's doing now. I talked to Taylor, she was planning to stop by also. I don't think they ever actually talked after…everything happened." Her fingers momentarily clenched in Heather's fur, the giant dog curling closer against her side. Breathing out, Missy continued, "Anyway, this should be good closure for me. And worst case, at least I can be a buffer."

"No, worst case is the dork drains him dry and turns into even more of a nightlight."

"Alec!" three voices cried out in unison.

"I swear, it's like I never left the Undersiders. I love you guys so much."

"You know, if you at least pretend to emote sometimes, people would find you less creepy," Weld said.

"Whatever you say, boss."

Chris dropped his head into his hand with a groan. As Weld turned to argue with their most problematic member, Missy stood and Chris reached out, grabbing her hand and meeting her gaze. "Hey, if you need backup, just call. I don't really have any desire to see that jerk. I know he suddenly grew up after getting some training over the past few years, but…I get it though. And if you need me, just say the word."

"Thanks, Chris. Just keep your phone nearby for a few hours, okay?"

"You got it, girl."

She gave him a hug and hurried to her room. Scratching Brenda's head, he fell into silence. Things had certainly changed around the Wards.

Taylor stared up at the clouds as she laid in the grass next to her old friend, the two of them both just quietly staring up at the blue sky.

"You didn't come over to cloud-watch with me, Taylor," Emma said.

Of course all quiet moments had to end. Taylor shrugged without lifting herself from the ground, an impressive feat if she did say so herself. "I can't just visit?"

"I mean, you can. You can do whatever the hell you want if even half the things I've seen on the news are true. You really won the lottery with your power, Taylor."

She grimaced. "All it takes is killing to use it effectively."

Emma tried to reach for a reply, but nothing filled the void of silence between them for several seconds. Taylor appeared to have realized that she might have gone a bit too far, but clearly couldn't find a way to verbally backstep. Thankfully, Emma finally managed to come up with an appropriate reply.

"…I can recommend good doctors if you need them."

Taylor sighed. "I already have one, but thanks. And really it's not so bad. I mostly eat the things that give us powers, which is…let's just say that if I run out of energy, we're all in a lot more trouble than me and my squeamishness. Plus, when I do hurt people, it's mostly bad people now. Really bad people. I check my sources."

"I don't think I want to ask," Emma murmured. "I used to ask for all the details when I was friends with Sophia. I wanted to be involved, feel like I was part of it - like I meant something. But I know that I was just propping her up with my praise. I was soothing her ego and feeding her obsession and…Please don't give me details. I want them. God I still want them so bad." Emma whimpered. "I don't want to get back into that habit though. It doesn't matter how much I beg, Taylor. Don't give me details. You can allude to things all you want, you can tell me the outcomes in broad strokes, if I can find it on the news, but please don't go into detail beyond that. I don't want to start pumping you for information and…"

"Become that monster again?" I whispered.

"I drove you to hang yourself, Taylor!" Emma gasped. "I - I can't let myself do anything that felt right while I was listening to Sophia. Some of it still feels right! The doctors' say that I don't need to stay at the asylum anymore, but shouldn't I still be there if I can slip like that? I shouldn't…I don't want to be that thing wearing my face…"

"Emma, you can't hide away from the world forever. You have friends, you have to trust them to slap some sense into you. That's what my friends keep doing to me whenever I start to spiral again."

"I know. I know." She took several gasping breaths before her breathing evened out again. "I'm sorry, it's just terrifying. But you didn't come here to listen to my problems. What did -"

I rolled over and fixed her with a withering gaze. Emma trailed off under the power of my golden eyes. "Emma. I am your friend. Yes, you hurt me - badly. But you also saved my life. We started over years ago. Stop beating yourself up, you've done that enough. We're not kids anymore. If you need to unload, I'm here for you. If you need ice cream I'll go get it. If you want me to talk, I'll talk. But don't just assume that I don't care about your problems. I do. Because you're my friend."

Emma sniffled. "I really don't deserve you."

"Probably not. I hear that a lot. Lisa keeps telling me I'm too nice and I need to be ruthless. My reply is that I've killed a god, so, you know. I think I've hit my ruthless quota for a lifetime."

"Or two," Emma said, a small smile cracking over her features.

"Or three."

"Cheater."

"Totally." Taylor grinned at the redhead and flopped back to the ground. "Feel better?"

"A bit. So what did you come to talk to me that you couldn't do over the phone?"

"Hmm? Oh I was mostly coming to say hello to your mom. Aunt Zoe's been helping a lot with teaching me how to get everything set up over at my place. I'm trying not to bother Kurt and Lacey since they left on their vacation."

"Taylor!" Emma whined. "You can't tease me like that!"

She laughed. "I'm not lying."

"But that's not your big news!"

"Nope," she said, popping the 'p'.

"Tayyyy!"

Taylor rolled her head to the side and fixed Emma with a wide smile, pulling off her mitten and holding up her hand. "I'm engaged."

The resulting squeal could probably be heard a block away.

All of the giddiness she had felt earlier from sharing her news with Emma was fluttering away as she sat down in the chair opposite her father. Danny looked up from his crossword, meeting her gaze with a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. It almost would have been better if he hadn't tried to force it.

Taylor forced down a wince as she leaned over to hug him. "Hey, Dad."

"Hi, Taylor. I saw your concert the other day. They taped it for us. You girls were really good."

She rolled her eyes. "I beg to differ. People like us because we're a parahuman band made of zombies with a zombie mascot. Lisa's violin is cool and unusual and Vicky has a great voice, but my keyboard skills are not fantastic and we aren't amazing by any stretch. When Canary joins in, those are the only performances that are really worth noting."

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit, honey." He was going through the motions, and his face was making all the right expressions, but none of it had any feeling behind it and his reactions were just a hair's-breadth too slow.

"I wish I knew why I can't heal you," she whispered.

Danny sighed, his eyes closing and his head shaking, a small, sad smile on his lips. This one at least, was real. "You gave me my mind back, sweetheart, but even you can't dole out miracles."

"Actually I can. I have several times already," she grunted.

"Bringing back the dead is one thing. Rewiring the brain is something entirely different, Taylor. The doctors are helping. One day, hopefully, I'll be the man you grew up with again. I don't know when that will be though, kiddo. I'm trying here."

"I know, Dad," she murmured. "It still sucks."

"On that we can both agree."

"Oh, I have news." Taylor licked her lips, pulling at the ballcap with one hand before pushing up her sunglasses. She didn't know why she was so nervous. Danny was so apathetic about so much, the odds of him reacting to this were minuscule.

"What's up, Little Owl?"

"Not so little anymore, Dad."

"That's true. You'll still always be my little girl though."

"Well, um," she twisted the ring on the hand she had been holding against her thigh, and lifted it into the air, her grin shaky. "Surprise! I'm engaged!"

Danny stared, his eyes wide as saucers.

"Lisa's really great. We technically moved in together months ago, but now I officially own my own place, I have the title and everything."

Danny's mouth was hanging open.

"I was the one who asked her, but she had a ring already in her pocket. I think she cheated. Her power lets her do that sort of thing. It was really sweet though. Amy teased the hell out of us. Missy too. Vicky made them both stop. I could've kissed her after that. We were all really drunk. I think Alec was there too? Oh and Rachel. Wish I could remember how the hell Missy convinced Rachel to come…"

"You're eighteen!" Danny gasped.

Taylor groaned. "Dad, just because I'm engaged doesn't mean I'm getting married tomorrow! It's just a symbol, a label!"

"You're eighteen!"

"We've been dating for almost four years and we've lived together for nearly half that. I think I'd recognize if I wasn't interested in something long term by now."

"You, are, eighteen!"

"Dad!" Taylor lifted both hands and chopped the air in exasperation. "I literally brought her back from the dead! I think I'm kind of attached to her!"

"YOU. ARE. EIGHTEEN!"

The door to Lisa and Taylor's small home slammed behind her as Vicky stormed inside, her face red and her scarf flapping behind her.

"I can't stand that self-righteous asshole!" she shouted. Throwing her gloves onto the nearby island Vicky barely resisted the urge to punch something, instead choosing to throw herself onto the nearby armchair, crossing her arms and scowling.

"Woow, someone's got her panties in a twist," Lisa drawled, peeking over the balcony.

Vicky glared at her. "I hate that phrase. I'm not even wearing panties! I'm wearing shorts. I flew here."

"Stop wearing skirts and you can start wearing panties again."

Vicky grumbled. "I got used to the shorts. Panties are for lingerie."

"Which obviously isn't happening tonight." Lisa padded down the stairs and draped herself over the back of the chair. "Tell Friend Lise what happened."

"Like you don't already know."

"Contrary to popular opinion I don't actually actively dig into the private lives of my friends. Vic, seriously, what did the jerk do?"

Vicky slumped into the cushioning, staring off into space and shaking her head. "He used to be fine. At least I thought he was. He was nice, he was funny, he seemed like he cared."

"But he was just saying what you wanted to hear so he could get in your pants?"

"Worse," Vicky muttered. "Yeah, sure, he kept staring at my tits when I took my jacket off, but I'm used to that."

"You do have nice tits."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. So, what was worse?"

Vicky shook her head. "As soon as the food came he started asking me about Taylor, and if I could get him an autograph, or if she was going to be at the fundraiser thing next week. The kicker - when I realized just why he was barely talking about me - was when he asked when we were 'finally' going to meet up with her."

Lisa winced. "Emphasis not exaggerated."

"No."

"Ouch. Okay, so Brandon is definitely a skeevy asshole who was only ever just using you for your connections. I don't need powers for that. Tell me you kicked his ass as you dumped him?"

"I threw my wine in his face," Vicky mumbled.

Lisa blinked. "Can you repeat that?"

"It was really expensive wine. He had a nice suit on too." Vicky's face was red now. "The evening wasn't supposed to be this fancy. I'm not even sure why he had me dress up. I'm glad he did; now he had a dry-cleaning bill too, but still…"

"…I may have insinuated something in passing and he may have gotten the wrong idea that Tay and I had a date tonight there…"

Vicky grimaced. "Thought you didn't intrude on your friend's private lives."

"I didn't do anything except talk loudly in passing to my fiancé while on the street. I didn't dig, I didn't pry, I didn't do anything except set a dinner date. Hell, I actually planned on keeping said dinner date, Tay was the one who had to cancel."

"You know, sometimes I'm really not sure if you're a fantastic friend or a horrific bitch," Vicky sighed.

"It can't be both?" Lisa shrugged. Picking herself up from the armchair's back, she moved towards the kitchen. "You haven't been able to keep a steady partner for years, Vic. Nothing longer than a month max, sweetie. You should just call it quits, move in with Tay and me."

Vicky performed a suitable impression of a fish for several moments as she gaped, wide eyes staring at the fellow blonde who had long since become preoccupied by something in the fridge. By the time that Vicky was able to cease her sputtering and gasp out words Lisa had emerged from the depths with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"What did you say?!"

"Hmm? Oh Vic, girl, you gotta stop lying to yourself sweetie."

"I - just - what - you - Taylor - No!"

"Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that. I give it another four months. Missy and I have a pool going by the way. Try not to hold out for more than another three please. I start losing money at that point."

"You are horrible!"

Lisa shrugged, pouring out their glasses and marching over. "Yes. But you love me anyway. Here. The good stuff. Have I mentioned how much I adore that someone wised up to the drinking age by the way?"

"You can't just change the subject like that!" Vicky yelled. She still took her glass.

"Sure I can. I mean really, if they expected us to fight Endbringers as teenagers, we should be able to get legally drunk. It's only fair."

Vicky growled. "You are impossible."

"Yes." The vulpine smirk was present in full-force now. "Bet you forgot about your awful date, huh?"

"Oh don't you even -" Vicky cut off, her eyes narrowing. She had completely forgotten for a few minutes about Brandon and how much of a jerk he'd been and how used she had felt. And now…now she didn't care as much. Huh. "You're still a bitch."

"Not arguing your point." Lisa clinked her glass against Vicky's and took a sip, uttering a sound very close to a moan. "Sometimes I forget how much I love being rich. Then I drink this stuff and I remember again."

"It is very good," Vicky conceded, savoring her own glass. "So, on a safer topic, where are we going for the next gig? I saw something on PHO about Tennessee?"

"Yup, Springfield."

Vicky slowly lowered her wine glass and fixed Lisa with a hard look. "That's strangely close to Eagleton."

"Hey I can't help where the gig requests come in from," Lisa said, mischief dancing in her eyes and a grin on her face. "Some people just love the Zombi-nettes. I blame it on our mascot. He's too adorable."

"So I'm coming back to the hamster who definitely should have died of natural old age in a minute," Vicky stated.

"Oh yes, he definitely should have. I'm glad he hasn't though. Don't know what I would do without my therapy pet. I adore that hyperactive little tyke."

"Hamster later, Lise. Right now I'm far more interested in how everywhere we go there seems to be one fewer S-Class threat around after we leave the area."

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uh huh. Just like Insight Investigations doesn't have a far too helpful Canadian secretary who has a thing for Protectorate members with beards?" Vicky asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Why Vicky! I am shocked, simply shocked, that you would imply Dragon of all people was working undercover at my business!" Lisa gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. She giggled a moment later, her smirk not even covered by her fingers. "She filed all the proper paperwork and hasn't made any attempt to hide her work at all. Just nobody bothered to check my secretary's aliases on her resume. Because who does that these days, am I right?"

Vicky groaned. "Taylor was supposed to be a good influence on you."

"Hey, I heard that!" her other friend's voice called from the front door as the sound of it closing drifted down the hall to them. "I'm a great influence on her! You should hear all the evil schemes she thinks up that I have to shoot down." Taylor wandered into the living room shedding her jacket along the way, though she left her sunglasses on. It didn't do anything to diminish the golden halo that was nearly permanently radiating from around her these days. "Just last week Lise tried to convince me to extort Eidolon!"

Lisa nodded. "She bargained me down to simply blackmailing him into retirement."

Vicky stared, blinking repeatedly. "You two…are joking…right?"

"Hardly." Lisa's teasing lilt from earlier had completely dropped away and she was scowling now. "That jerk owed my girl big time - let alone the whole fucking world, ungrateful asshole. Taylor, you didn't hear his comments after the fundraiser or see what he was thinking about you. He didn't care at all about what happened with Leviathan or Behemoth, he doesn't care that you just showing up in the same zip code makes Ziz run the fuck away. All he cared about was that you upstage him. Fucker deserves to eat crow until the cows come home."

Taylor sighed, shaking her head. She sat down next to her fiancé and pulled Lisa into a one-armed hug. "Let Eidolon be a jerk. I don't care. Legend is wonderful and Alexandria is…well, I mean, at least she's…honest?"

Vicky winced. "'Hi, I'm Alexandria, I lead an interdimensional cult and regularly perform horrific humanitarian abuses. We want to kill an alien godling. Want to get supercharged by eating our secret power stash and then go drain our arch-nemesis dry? Also maybe resurrect my dead boyfriend while you're at it?' Ugh! Sure. Honest. Tay, I have no idea how you are so nice."

Taylor's face lost nearly all expression as she stared at the wall between Lisa and Vicky. "If I wasn't," she said, her voice devoid of all inflection, "I'd have killed a lot more people by now and I would have a lot fewer friends."

Lisa twisted enough that she could cup Taylor's cheek and pulled her attention back. "But you are nice and you do have friends and you have us." Leaning up, she locked Taylor into a kiss that was only briefly resisted before melting fully into it. They stayed locked together at the lips until Vicky was forced to clear her throat to remind the girls that she was still in the room with them as Taylor's hand had started to wander south.

Blushing, Taylor licked her lips and glanced away. "Sorry, Vicky. So, um, we're going to Tennessee for the concert on Friday. Canary's joining us this time…"

Vicky nodded. "Lisa told me. Will you at least let me help this time?"

"Ah." Taylor winced. "Yeah, I suppose I wasn't subtle. I do actually like our band. It's just…you know…two birds…"

"Taylor! The Machine Army is no joke!"

"You're not invulnerable. Not in-perpetuity at least. I might as well be. Besides, I've been practicing. If they've converted a building into a trap, the whole building should count as a single organism and I can drain it at once. I'm basically their worst nightmare."

"Besides a nasty computer virus," Lisa said. "But hey, Dragon isn't able to help without risk on that front soo…yeah."

"Everything will be -"

"Don't!" Both Lisa and Vicky hissed.

Taylor frowned and stared at both of them.

Lisa was the one who spoke first, snapping, "You will fucking jinx it! I don't know how, but you will. Don't finish that sentence, don't even finish that thought, Taylor."

"I have seen this movie, I have read this book, I have watched this cartoon," Vicky agreed. "You shouldn't ever throw up a red flag like that."

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry." Taylor leaned away from the onslaught, holding up her hands to ward them off and laughing. "Truce, truce! So, what are we drinking?"

"The good stuff." Lisa handed over her glass, still surly. "Drink. Be merry. The goal is to get Vicky drunk."

"Hey!"

Taylor lifted her eyebrows. "Bad date?"

"I threw my drink in his face," Vicky grumbled. "He was a leech."

"Okay. Drunk it is! Should I call Missy?"

Lisa shook her head. "She's still busy. Now, less talking, more drinking girls! I didn't open this bottle for nothing and we are damn well going to savor it!"

Both Vicky and Taylor rolled their eyes, though they raised their wine glasses in mock salute, chanting in unison, "Here, here!"

As Lisa curled up against Taylor, and Vicky wiggled deeper into her armchair, the three of them settled into easy conversation. The concerns of the day melted away along with the minutes and the hours.

Vicky didn't care about her horrible date anymore. She was able to spend her time with her friends instead. The people who actually cared about her, the ones who had dropped everything to come and save her after she was already gone. Groupies were nothing.

Her friends, though, they were everything.

Chronological Order:

-Chapter 1 (Meetings 01)
-Side-Story: A Cry for Healing
-Chapter 3 (Meetings 02)
-Chapter 4 (Meetings 03)
-Chapter 5 (Meetings 04)
-Chapter 6 (Interlude: Lisa 01)
-Chapter 7 (Friends 01)
-Side-Story: A Cry for Comfort
-Side-Story: A Cry for Closure (a few days after 'Comfort')
-Chapter 10 (Friends 02)
-Chapter 11 (Foes 01)
-Chapter 12 (Foes 02)
-Chapter 13 (Foes 03 [beginning segment])
-Chapter 6: Forward (Immediately following Sophia's death Alec brings Taylor to Lisa, concurrent with beginning of Chapter 13)
-Chapter 7: Forward (More or less concurrent with Chapter 6 Forward, Coil at the meeting going over Sophia's death and starting a search for Braid, but not the focused search)
-Chapter 10: Forward (The morning after Sophia's death, Lisa brings Taylor to the Undersider's lair)
-Chapter 11: Forward (Travelers kidnap Vista)
-Chapter 13 (Foes 03 [middle segment])
-Chapter 12: Forward (Coil base, immediately prior to the Massacre)
-Chapter 13: Skip (Coil's Base Massacre)
-Chapter 1: Forward (immediately after Coil's Base Massacre, Armsmaster's briefing)
-Chapter 3: Forward (shortly after Armsmaster's briefing, start of the Protectorate's focused search for Braid/Tattletale)
-Chapter 4: Forward (more or less concurrent with Chapter 3 Forward, Vista's talk with Yamada following Coil's Base Massacre)
-Chapter 5: Forward (more or less concurrent with Chapter 3's Forward, Piggot's sitdown with Renick following Coil's Base Massacre)
-Side-Story: A Cry for Justice (12 hours past Coil Base Massacre)
-Chapter 15: Lisa 02
-Chapter 16: Breathe 0.5
-Chapter 17: Interlude Vicky
-Side-Story: No More
-Side-Story: A Cry for WAR
-Side-Story: A Cry for Peace
-Chapter 21: Breathe 01
-Chapter 22: Breathe 02
-Chapter 23: Breathe 03
-Chapter 24: Cleanup
-Side-Story: A Lukewarm Welcome: New York
-Side-Story: A Cold Welcome: Los Angeles
-Side-Story: A Cold Welcome Interlude: Making a Point
-Side-Story: An Arctic Welcome: Boston
-Side-Story: An Unusual Recruitment
-Side-Story: A Warm Welcome: Miami
-Side-Story: No More Tears (roughly three months past the last chapter)
-Chapter 32: Epilogue (about 3 years past the last chapter)