Vin didn't react as Elend pushed the needle through her arm, pewter taking any pain away from the needle. He had little experience with sewing a wound but he had seen it done enough during the conquests he'd led. Rusts, the pair had sworn their marriage vows as Vin had her wounds treated and sewn.

Vin sat perched on the bed with him beside her. She had used a strip of cloth from Elend's shirt to wrap the wound until they returned to their apartment. It would do no good to run out of pewter only to realize she had bled out minutes before without knowing.

"What was it like?", he asked. They both knew what he meant.

She took a breath and spoke.

"I could turn the planet on its axis and change its orbit around the sun. I knew the distance to the sun from Scadrial in inches and the weight of the planet in grams. I knew of every mineral deposit and the age of the planet. I was nearly omnipotent. Nothing happened on Scardial I didn't know about. Given time I could have fixed everything."

The fake identity cards were laying on the nightstand with Vin's remaining dagger, along with the remaining vials. Not many left. They'd made sure the people they had rescued got to a safe place before returning to the motel.

"And for all of that I was helpless except to watch.", Vin continued. She had been quiet on the walk to the apartment after they had helped that couple.

"Elend, I watched from almost every angle imaginable the deaths of thousands as they died by fire, ash, drowning, earthquake, koloss or some other threat. And I felt their souls leave somewhere. So many of them filled with fear and afraid.", Vin said, her voice trailing for a moment and going hollow.

"A part of me wanted to stop and comfort each soul as they died to let them know why and how and that I was trying to fix things, but if I had given any focus away he would have destroyed even more. I was a god. I could have saved all of those people yet I was powerless."

Vin paused and stared down at her hands. Elend reached across the bed and took her hand, the wound on her arm sewn closed.

What could he say? What possible experience could compare to godhood? Swallowing the bead at the well was the closest yet it had to pale to becoming a god. Could anything compare?

oOo

Officer William Blair felt sick looking at the body. The head had been crushed by the cage surrounding it leaving a pile of gore splattered on the cage and on the surrounding floor. Picking himself off his knee he went over where a pile of gangbangers had been killed, likely by the same person who killed the woman dressed as Cricket. Not that he had any doubts about it being Cricket.

However facial ID was a bit on the difficult side as there was no face left. Hell, her teeth had been shattered and crushed by the cage taking away that avenue of IDing the subject. Hopefully she had committed a crime at some point without powers and had been booked, otherwise this would likely be a permanent Jane Doe unless the E88 confirmed Cricket was dead.

Still as nice as it was almost certainly having a nazi dead, this was brutal, and a death Blair wouldn't wish on many. Blair walked over to his partner, Rudy Brown, who was studying a dead gangbanger on the floor. The site had been easy enough to secure after a panicked 911 call and now they just had to wait on C.S.I to come and look over the site professionally. Or, more likely, until the PRT showed up to act like buffoons since a cape had died.

Blair tapped his partner's shoulder, getting a jump from the overweight officer. Blair had never been a fan of the stereotypical police image. For one he was a diabetic and donuts had never been very appealing, and despite it likely being some form of police heresy he found coffee to be disgusting. Brown on the other hand seemed to find it his duty to live up to each and everyone of those goddamn stereotypes. Especially the fucking donuts.

Brown turned his thick moustache dominating the lower part of his face. Well maybe not all the stereotypes were bad. Blair sported a thinner version of Rudy's and spent far too much time tending to it.

"Find anything interesting?", Blair asked.

Brown pointed to the chest. The normally talkative man was focused fully on the work in front of them. Likely the only time he did shut up was at a crime scene.

"Angle your head. Light's failing but you can still see it at the right spot," said Brown. "Piece of glass embedded in his chest. Sides look like they've been sharpened."

As Brown mentioned it Blair twisted his head to the right angle and saw the shine of glass. The thing was nearly fully embedded in the man's chest leaving only the peek of glass to remain out of the body. At the peak of the glass Blair saw jagged edges.

William questioned himself. Who the hell bothers with glass instead of a knife? Some calling card, maybe? A cape power thing?

"Think the glass snapped in his chest? Or the perp grabbed some glass as a defense?", he asked.

Honestly he had no idea the motives of attacking this place beyond the natural disdain for nazis. Could have been some poor minority who had some powers after arriving. It was around the time of the month the empire fully recruited their members. For most it was random killings but for favorites of the capes, they got a public ceremony to kill in front of everyone.

Or it could have been a random attack or a sign of a new gang moving in. William had no idea.

"Find any other glass on the rest?", he asked.

Rudy had checked most of the others during the time he checked Cricket. He was used to blood and fucked up shit but that was a new level of fucked.

"Nah. One of them has a hole in his chest that doesn't look like a bullet hole, but looks like it punched through the chest too hard to be a knife. One of them had his skull cracked on the cement.", Brown said, and Blair gave a questioning look.

Rudy was rather notorious for over exaggerating. A fantastic trait when he was William's wingman at a bar but rather terrible in other situations.

"His jaw looks like it was nearly snapped in two and he has blood coming out the back of his head. I say it's broken." Rudy snapped at him.

William raised his hands in mock surrender.

"I believe you, just checking. Anything else?" William asked, feeling self conscious with Rudy doing most of this.

"Looks like a couple are unarmed. So either…" he trailed off, giving William a look to continue.

"Either they were unarmed neo-nazis at a dog fight and stayed around to fight a cape, or someone took the weapons off them." William finished.

Looking up at the holes in the roof, William wondered if he cared enough to be bothered by a gangbanger being killed. The blare of sirens signaled the arrival of either C.S.I or the brightly colored morons.

"Either case this isn't going to be good. Nazi's are going to ty and get back at whoever did this." Brown said, standing and inspecting on of the broken bodies.

William looked down and gave a frown.

"You see this blood trail?" he said, pointing to small drops of blood leaving the building.

The trail ended at the door, the wound either having stopped bleeding or been covered. Rudy shook his head and went to the door and followed the trail back. A streak of blood laid on the ground.

"C.S.I will be the judge of it, but it looks like either our perp got injured or let someone leave wounded."

oOo

"I think the worst part was that if I hadn't been fighting him those deaths would have been painless. Scadrial would have turned to ash in an instant. No pain, no suffering. Just the end. A part of me hated myself for not being able to stop the suffering."

Vin paused, taking a breath.

"But him? I've never hated anyone as strongly before. Nothing stopped him. He was my equal but he had Lord Ruler knows how long to learn his powers. When I was Preservation and I saw him, his mere existence seemed to be an insult to me. The antithesis of everything worth holding onto."

Vin paused and tried to remember the name that kept slipping away in her mind.

"And a piece of something more. I feel the number sixteen in my mind. I think it's more than the number of metals we can use. I think someone came before Ruin and Preservation. Or something. I don't know." Vin said before continuing.

oOo

Hookwolf picked up his phone and saw the name of the person calling him, as the spectators cheered for the dogs in the pit. Both dogs were well trained and vicious. A pitbull and a german shepherd. Proper hounds.

He motioned for a lieutenant, Brooks was the name he was pretty sure, to take over the role as showman and made his way out of the crowd. Grabbing a shirt from a duffle bag he kept, he slipped it over his greasy hair and metal mask. The shirt was an ugly thing, threadbare and a color that might have been yellow at one point. But it held good memories and had been washed recently.

Stepping out of the light, he moved past the loud crowd and out the back door. The chill of the night tempered by the warmth of good alcohol and the buzz of watching blood be spilt. Closing the heavy metal the sound dropped dramatically leaving him with only a humming street lamp and the occasional car most likely lost. Lifting his phone to his ear he answered in a quiet voice.

"I'm a bit busy right now. Got some popular dogs to show off and an eager crowd so this—"

The voice came from the phone.

"Melody's dead."

Brad froze mid-rant, the warm feel of alcohol and adrenaline vanishing.

"Attack at the dog pit near ABB turf. Kaiser thought I should be the one to let you know.", Stormtiger said, his voice unsteady and low.

Brad took a breath.

"What?", he asked, the words foreign to him.

"She's dead Brad. Murdered by a cape. Few hours I think. I don't k-know the details but Kreig's contact says it was a fucking bloodbath. Cancel the fight or leave someone else in charge. Kreig thinks a new gang is pushing in. We might have a witness.", Richard said.

Brad wondered how long he and Richard had known each other. Two years? Three? Melody had been the one to introduce the pair back when they fought in the pits themselves without powers back when she was just a teen. Brad gave a tight nod before realizing Stormtiger couldn't see him.

"Yeah, I'll be there. Give me twenty.", he said before hanging up the phone. He turned and slammed his fist into the brick wall behind him.

"Fuck!", he yelled, slamming his fist into the wall again.

He took a breath. His f-… a fellow warrior had died. He hoped she had died giving her killer hell. Like a proper warrior should. Someone would fucking pay for this. Didn't matter how well Cricket had died he would avenge her as a show of force. To show that nobody gets to hurt the E88 and live.

Distantly he felt sweat on his face and tried to wipe it away, before realizing his mask stopped him from doing so.

OoO

Walking into the small office, Hookwolf looked at the gathered room. Kaiser sat on a high-backed chair with a birch desk in front of him looking over papers. Related to Melody's killing or just Medhall shit? Hookwolf wasn't sure. The office was officially a part of a small profitable bar, but acted as a safehouse and a safer meeting spot than Kaiser's tower.

Kreig stood in the corner talking to someone on the phone in a low, heated voice that Hookwolf didn't care enough to listen in on. Neither him nor Kaiser were in costumes, but the atmosphere of the room felt as though they were. And sitting on the old leather couch by the door sat Stormtiger. Just from opening the door Hookwolf could smell the alcohol oozing off the man.

Stormtiger looked up at him and Hookwolf saw his eyes looked bloodshot. Probably just from the alcohol.

"What happened?", Hookwolf asked, looking around the room for answers.

Kreig looked up, just having noticed him, and hung up the phone.

"Stormtiger didn't tell you?", he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Stormtiger for his part stared into space. He had to be drunk.

"I told him a cape had killed Cricket and left a bloodbath. Is that good enough for you?", he asked, giving a glare that lacked feeling.

"Then you know what happened? Why are you asking?", Krieg said, and Hookwolf seethed.

Kaiser held up a hand.

"A cape attacked the dog fight Cricket was overseeing. She and several loyal men tried to fight them off. The rest fled." Hookwolf curled his hands into fists. Cowards. "Kreig got a call from a contact in the BBPD telling him a body had been recovered that was believed to be Cricket. Along with the bodies of those who stayed and fought with her."

"How did she die?" Brad asked, looking Kaiser in the eyes.

"Her head was crushed into pulp by the cage she wore.", Kaiser said, returning the look.

Hookwolf stood silent for a moment and swallowed.

"Do you know the cape who did it?"

Kreig held up a hand.

"A bit. The ones who ran called it up the line as one cape, a young woman out of any costume who used knives, but one of the men working in the offices said a man was with her, though he ran and didn't see if the man had any powers."

Fuck. No costumes? Either someone was sending a message to the E88 or they had a fucking death wish.

"Powers?", Hookwolf asked, eager to go and kill the bitch.

"I have three witnesses telling me she could fly, another two telling me she is Shatterbird out of costume, and four telling me she was a brute. Not a damn clue.", Kreig said, sighing. "Eye-witnesses are often unreliable after all. They do agree she was a young looking woman, though after that it's once again conflicting evidence."

Stormtiger looked up, blinking away the stupor of booze clouding his eyes.

"What office worker?", he asked, sounding confused, and Hookwolf had to agree. Who the hell thought a dog fighting ring was a good place to run an office?

"He makes fake IDs. Mostly for Empire members in need of a new name but he also advertises to any who can afford it. He had pictures of them, but as the police are crowding the area he can't access those - so we'll be waiting for one of our moles to get us the pictures.", Krieg said, and moved from the corner of the room to the center as if holding court. "We have the names of their ID's but they are obvious fakes. "

"What do you mean?"

"The woman put her initials as three V's. And the man put his name as Elend.", Kreig said, as if that answered anything.

Stormtiger and Hookwolf looked at each other confused.

"Do neither of you know German? We are a Nazi organization and you don't know German? For Christ's sake Stormtiger you named yourself after a World War 2 tank!", Kreig said, as if either of them had any higher education.

Hookwolf decided now wasn't the time to mention that Richard had picked his name out because he collected model tanks and thought the name was cool sounding.

"The name Elend means Misery in German. The last name they gave was Venture. So we have a man calling himself Misery's venture. Both spoke with thick accents that sounded French." Krieg said.

"What are you suggesting?", Stormtiger asked.

"We have a new gang moving in. These two are here to test the gangs in Brockton and carve out a space for the rest of their affiliates. It's possible the man is a cape as well though he could just be a high ranking officer here to handle the set up aspects. They don't care about their faces being seen, so that's a sign that they believe their identities are either safe or don't matter.", Krieg said.

"Hookwolf, Purity will be rejoining us shortly. I want you to set up bait for the capes. Purity will assist, as will Stormtiger and Rune. Kreig will be looking into any French or European gangs or terrorist organizations that might be making a push into Brockton, as well as calling our overseas friends.", Kaiser said, and rose from his chair.

"Until then hold off on dog fights. If they are being run, don't attend personally. They may be attempting to take us out one by one. Stay secluded for us to have long enough to build a trap and break them.", Kaiser said, and Hookwolf gave a grin. He could wait if it meant getting his hands on Melody's killer.

oOo

"And then I watched you die. For all my power, killing was impossible from the moment I took up Preservation. It was antithetical to my very nature. All I could do was watch you fall. I know you took the blade willingly to give me the focus to go against my own power, to kill Ruin along with myself, but that doesn't change that even as a god I was powerless to stop you from dying.", she finished, her face bowed, and Elend felt a phantom itch on his neck and chest.

The scar on his chest was thin and faded as it had been some minor injury he had acquired years ago. The one on his neck he hadn't noticed at first. Faded like the one on his chest but even more so. It was barely visible under the strongest of lights and unless someone knew what they were looking for they would likely only see it as some skin condition. Odder still was how Vin's old scars remained as they were. Only the two he took at the end of his life had faded so much. They bothered him more than he wanted to admit. At times it felt as though he was back there that day, the axe jammed in chest and the orchestra of pain with it. And the simultaneously slow but rapid fall of the axe to his neck and the blackness that came with it.

"Vin, I… I don't think I could ever conceive of what that was like." Elend began squeezing her hand. He felt a guilty pulse of relief that he hadn't had to be in Vin's place and watch her die instead. "But it doesn't matter what happened or what will happen. I am and always will be here for you.", Elend said. "It's over now. We won." A part of him feared for Scadrial, but Vin claimed to remember someone familiar taking her power up after she killed Ruin. "And now we get peace. No more war, no more dark god trying to destroy the world, no more skaa or nobles. A blue sky and yellow sun and white crescent at night.", he said, referring to the strange night thing that rose with as the sun fell. "We did our duty and I don't know how we got here. But what matters is that we are both here. We have a second chance and we are together. A green world that Kelsier spoke of. And it's ours to enjoy."

oOo

Taylor looked up as the cloaked figure fell from the sky, her nerves coiled tight and her heart beating like a drum. She hadn't heard the cape approach, her bugs informed her of it. She tightened her grip on the lunchbox Tattletale had given her.

The lunchbox full of cash the Undersiders had given her held tight in her hand. The design on the front of the LA PRT. Most of them other than Alexandria Taylor didn't recognise, except for Sandmaster due to the glowing eyes and teeth, who like that crazy cape in Chicago thought his powers were magic.

The costume the cape wore looked simple, and likely should have looked terrible. A ripped up cloak shouldn't have looked as impressive as the woman made it look. As she landed the tassels fluttered around her hiding her form. The hood was pulled low, hiding the upper half of the face.

"I wasn't sure you'd be here.", the woman said, her accent thick, and offered a small smile. "I take it you're interested in my offer?"

Taylor took a breath feeling calmer. "I thought about it, yeah. I spent months preparing for all this only to nearly die on my first night. But I want to know more about who you are. I tried to look you up and couldn't find anyone strong enough to do what you did to Lung using that sword, with the skill you showed, and with the build you have."

The woman pulled her hood off, causing Taylor to blink. How unconcerned was she about her identity being found out? Just a hood was one thing but this was asking to be unmasked.

"I'm Vin.", she said, and Taylor struggled to guess her age.

Older than her, yes, but only by a few years. The height didn't help and the woman or teen had to look up at Taylor. Her face held a hardness that didn't match with her size and shape of her face. It was her eyes, though, that gave Taylor pause. They looked old. Ancient almost. But as hard as steel.

"You did well for someone on their first encounter with something like that. The cloak was a gift from my mentor and I try to keep a low profile.", the woman said, and Taylor relaxed at the explanation and felt some pride at the compliment.

"So you are a hero? Do you work with the PRT?", Taylor asked loosening her grip on the lunchbox.

She had taken half the money but it had felt unfair to take it all as the woman, Vin she corrected herself, had done much of the work as well. After all, the Undersiders had offered them both a job even if Taylor had been the only one to receive a pitch.

Vin gave a frown.

"I haven't had the best record with authority. Plenty of unpleasant memories. I admit I didn't have the most legal of starts. I consider myself a hero but I prefer to work with those I trust over a faceless authority. And I'd rather be a hero over the alternative.", she said.

Taylor smiled under her mask, feeling at ease. An independent cape who was new to the city. Taylor had seen her use her powers the night before, and it sounded as though she wasn't fond of the PRT. Taylor paused before her next words. The Undersiders seemed nice enough, though that could change, and if she had backup with her in the form of Vin, she would be much safer before she took them down.

"Do you work alone? And what's your cape name?", Taylor asked.

"In a sense. I used to have a team but it's been some time since I was in contact with them. I've worked with my partner since." Vin said her voice was full of melancholy.

Did she mean a cape partner or a lover?

Vin paused before speaking again, "Mistborn."

Taylor nodded, wondering if the cape had some control over the weather.

"What is the box for?" Vin asked, looking at it.

"Oh! It's a gift. Um. Not from me."

Vin raised an eyebrow.

"It's from a villain team. They gave it to me and you as a thank you for helping them. Turns out Lung had been after them.", Taylor said, feeling somewhat foolish for having risked her life due to not understanding what had been said. She offered Vin the box, who opened it, her eyes not reacting at the cash inside.

"What's the catch?", Vin asked, looking up at Taylor, and she felt a small tug of concern.

"No catch. They offered it to me and it didn't feel fair to exclude you." Taylor paused before continuing. "They offered me more money if I joined them. And told me to offer you a job as well if you're interested", She blurted out.

"I thought you said you were a hero?", Vin asked, examining Taylor, though it didn't feel as though she was being judged.

"I'm planning to infiltrate them, find out their identities and arrest them. Armsmaster, he came after you left, said he'd support the idea.", Taylor fibbed.

Taylor felt the need to explain her thought process and continued, "The way Tattletale, one of the Undersiders, explained it, the heroes and villains are like a game of cops and robbers. Most of the punishments are slaps on the wrist and it's good for the city as tourism and the worst that can happen most likely is a few bruises and an easy escape from a jail. And maybe we could work together and both infiltrate them?"

The slight smile that had been on Vin's face as she gave her thoughts was gone.

"She's lying to you. Crime isn't a game. The man last night, Lung you said? He was trying to kill you. That wasn't a game." Vin moved closer and despite the height difference Taylor felt as though she was shorter than Vin.

"She's manipulating you. That plan of yours? It's one of the worst I've ever heard. And I've heard some incredibly bad ones. She pitched you a job, she's not going to explain the downsides, only the benefits. The downsides won't come up until it's too late. Trust me on this, she is a liar, crime is no game. Don't throw your life away to a con artist.", Vin said, and Taylor found her mouth to be dry. The way Vin had spoken sounded like she had experience with crime, or at least knew what she was talking about.

Taylor nodded her head and took a step back. "What about you?"

"What?"

"Could I work with you? Besides just the training I mean, you're skilled and you clearly know what to do.", Taylor said, feeling more confident as she spoke, "It doesn't have to be permanent if you don't want, but maybe a trial basis?", Taylor asked.

Vin stood still for a moment before answering. "Tomorrow at noon. There's a restaurant not far from here, I can give you directions. We can meet there as a starting point and then go and train and talk."

Taylor frowned.

"I have school."

Vin returned the frown as if she had never considered that.

"Oh. What about the day after? Meet me there out of costume. By the way, I never got your name?"

Taylor paused before she answered. She was fairly certain she could trust Vin, and felt at ease near her, but still. She ignored the thought and offered Vin her hand as a sense of calm rose within her.

"That could work. Saturday it is then. I'm Taylor.", she said, taking her mask off.