Amy sighed as she shut the door to her house, feeling exhausted, but not due to overworking herself at the hospital, for once.

She'd just come from her first session with Alice, having opted to travel to and from it on her own without Vicky, wanting to be alone for a bit to process things.

She wondered if normal therapy was as exhausting as what she'd just gone through. While she was aware that it could be pretty emotionally tiring, somehow she didn't think it would be in the same way.

Making her way to the kitchen she got started making herself some PB&J while she thought back on what had happened during the session. Alice had decided, after seeing the state of Amy's mind during the bank incident, that it would be best if they combined normal therapy with some cleanup, if Amy allowed it. The teen didn't see any real reason not to beyond her own discomfort, so soon after she'd walked into the office Alice dove into her mind.

It had been just as awful as the last time she'd seen it, and it had been hard to be there, but she knew it was likely best for her as Alice started blasting the various statues spilling their poison while occasionally dealing with attacking monsters like the one that had tried to stop Amy from accepting the original offer to become Alice's patient. After the third such attack Alice had suggested that Amy be proactive in her own cleanup and fight them off as well. Amy hadn't exactly been sure of the idea, as she wasn't a combat cape and didn't have any fighting experience, much less a weapon. Alice told her, with a small, sad smile that spoke of first hand experience, that even the most damaged minds usually created their own tools for the victim to fight back with.

Thus they'd begun traveling through the swamp, Amy moving logs and other objects for Alice to step on and avoid the poisoned water, though watching the woman gracefully double jump and float like a video game character when needed was quite a sight. Eventually they'd found a small clearing with the ground sitting above the golden water in one of the worst areas of the swamp, if a determination of such a thing could be made, which had several skeletons and loose bones scattered around. Oddly enough, the area was not as horrifying as the rest of the swamp despite the bones decorating it. She felt a sort of… comfort, there.

Stepping out of the golden muck for the first time since they'd showed up in her mindscape, Amy was surprised by how much better such a simple action made her feel. What had really called her attention, however, was the weapon. It was a spear that appeared to be made of a multitude of bones, which she somehow just knew numbered two hundred and six, all shaped and fitted to create a long spear that she could already tell was razor sharp and unbelievably strong.

While they'd been traveling through the swamp Alice and Amy had spoken quite a bit, much like how Amy imagined a normal therapy session would go. They had started out discussing Amy's issues with overworking herself at the hospital, Alice wanting to start with a (relatively) safe topic, and from there had branched out into Carol's seeming obsession with pounding the responsibility of doing everything she could to help people into Amy's head, which led in part to her guilt complex. Alice had pointed out that Carol's actions likely stemmed from some sort of trauma of her own, possibly involving someone with similar powers to Amy's, making her try to keep Amy from going down a bad path out of fear of what she could do, unable to see how she was pushing her towards that bad end. That led to Amy admitting that she had a good idea as to who her father was, but didn't have any proof, and Alice offered to use the Unbound's resources to confirm it, which Amy was still mulling over accepting.

Seeing the spear made of bones now, she wondered if this was her mind making her thoughts and suspicions manifest, or if it was confirmation of her theories.

Either way she picked the spear up and began to twirl it like she'd been trained in its use since she could walk. Suddenly she felt a bit more secure, a bit more confident.

At that point three of the monsters attacked, one going for Alice and the rest focusing on Amy. From what Alice had said, these were her self-destructive impulses made pseudo-flesh, so she wasn't really surprised that they'd attack now that she was taking up a weapon that would help her fight back against the things destroying her mind.

Amy had dodged the first attack, the rags that did nothing for her modesty whirling around her as she retaliated with the spear, killing the thing with prejudice. The second was similarly dealt with, and Amy was surprised at the feeling of euphoria she felt at having fought her own demons with her own hands. Alice had simply smiled and continued their session, with Amy now joining in the fight as well, no longer wading through the golden poison like she had been.

Small steps, but important ones.

The healer sighed as she sat down with her sandwiches and a glass of milk, feeling herself begin to relax. She couldn't tell if there were any changes in her thinking, but she definitely felt at least a little bit lighter even if it was unrealistic to expect any actual change after only one session. She could get used to this.

"Amy?" Her sister asked, her head poking from around the corner, her long blonde hair hanging down in a curtain. Vicky then floated into the kitchen, looking at Amy with concern. "You alright? Did the session go well? Do I need to go smash that doctor's face in?"

Amy waved the question off as she chewed, enjoying the creamy peanut butter on her tongue. "I'm fine, Vicky. Just a bit tired. Therapy can take a surprising amount out of you, but… It went well. I'm definitely going back."

Vicky hesitated before smiling and hugging her, which Amy allowed herself to lean into even though part of her hated herself for taking so much comfort in it. She wondered how many new poison spewing statues had just been erected in her mind. "I'm glad, Amy. You've needed some way to deal with shit for a while now, and I'm smart enough to know I'm not able to help you how you need."

Amy took a deep breath of her sister's scent, practically able to feel the new statues appear in the murk. Everybody always assumed Vicky was dumb, but that couldn't be further from the truth. For all her impulsiveness she could be surprisingly perceptive, even if she definitely had her own blind spots, such as her rather black and white view of the world. "Thanks, Vicky. I appreciate you supporting me."

The blonde patted her back and Amy forced herself to pull away so she could continue eating as Vicky took a seat next to her. "So, anything you're willing to say about how it went?"

Amy considered that as she chewed. "Well…"

Taylor let out a breath while standing with a tablet in hand as she watched the people crowding the store wander around, marveling at all the amazing products on sale, not to mention the prices.

It was the grand opening of Empyrean, the official store from which Excelsior would be selling its products to the general public. Stores had been set up throughout the world in nearly all major cities, and an online storefront would be going live soon as well. Brockton Bay being essentially Excelsior's headquarters in the US, Lara was in attendance for the opening, speaking with various members of the press, and as her official assistant, Taylor was there as well, dressed in her nicest business clothing and doing her best to remain calm when any photographers pointed cameras in her general direction.

The store's opening was a big deal, and journalists for outlets involving technology and retail were showing extreme interest. Excelsior produced electronics ranging from smartphones and laptops to home appliances, all of them seeming to be at least twenty or thirty years more advanced than anything currently on the market. One would think that such products would be incredibly expensive, but Excelsior was actually selling them at such relatively low prices that people didn't believe they could possibly turn a profit from them.

Taylor had heard that they were also preparing to roll out electric vehicles, from motorcycles to planes, along with medical technology and advances. They were simply in the process of jumping through the necessary hoops to get everything set up for that.

For a month before the opening Excelsior had released sample products to press and high profile people in the industry, and every single one had been singing the company's praises. Press outlets specializing in computers or video games were amazed not only at the hardware and software, which were both astoundingly powerful, stable and fast, but all of the incredibly varied features as well. One video game reviewer had been in disbelief that every game he had tried on his new surprisingly slim yet sturdy laptop had worked without a hitch or any additional configuration on the proprietary OS, from a 1985 copy of Oregon Trail to the latest big budget, high performance blockbuster.

The phones were similarly lauded, having high storage space, memory and processing power with lower power consumption than current models. Even the home appliances were getting similar reviews, with many people surprised that some of the features in them weren't already industry standards.

There had been a lot of scrutiny as to whether Excelsior was benefitting from the use of Tinkers, but thus far they'd been able to prove no Tinkertech was involved.

This meant that Empyrean's opening was drawing a lot more attention than most would expect otherwise, and thus why Lara had decided it would be a good idea to attend.

So Taylor was standing near the computer area, which was drawing most of the attention, and making notes on her tablet (also an Excelsior product currently on sale) as to what current public opinion seemed to be, a useful job that Lara felt would serve to keep Taylor occupied when the older brunette was busy with any press. The fact that Taylor could gather the information with her unnoticed bugs was definitely a factor.

Of course, she should have known better than to think everything would go perfectly, and she felt her heart sink when she heard the absolute last voice she wanted to aside from, say, Jack Slash's.

"Well this is a surprise. What are you doing here, Taylor?" Emma Barnes, one of Taylor's personal tormentors and a member of the trio that had caused her Trigger Event, asked from behind her, making Taylor turn as she did her best to remain calm, the ambient noise in the building hiding the agitated buzzing of her insects.

"This isn't school, Emma." Taylor said simply, holding her tablet to her chest and noticing with no small amount of dismay that Sophia Hess, the more physical of her bullies, was accompanying Emma, a nasty smirk on her face. "I can be here if I want."

"Not really." Her former best friend said with a small sneer on her face. "I mean, I doubt such a big company like Excelsior would be pleased to have you making everything look worse by being in their store. Besides, it's not like you could actually afford anything here, no matter how cheap it is." The amateur model tossed her red hair a bit as she smirked.

"Those clothes look like they cost a lot as is." Sophia added in, speaking for the first time. "Why are you even wearing them? I don't know if anybody told you, Hebert, but the ABB brothels don't do job interviews like that. Not that they'd take you anyway." The black girl of the pair said nastily.

In spite of herself Taylor couldn't help but hunch in on herself a bit, hugging the tablet tighter. Despite all she'd already seen and been involved with during her life as a cape, from taking down Lung to being instrumental in stopping Bakuda, just being around these two brought her back to being poor, helpless Taylor Hebert, not strong, capable Imperatrix. She practically forgot that she wasn't in school at the moment, and fully expected other students and mean girls to start laughing at her.

"Is there a problem here?" Lara asked, suddenly appearing between the three girls with a smile on her face.

"Are you the manager here?" Emma asked pleasantly, a photogenic smile plastered on her own face, and Taylor realized with a thrill of horror that the journalists that Lara had been talking to were paying attention to the exchange, some having cameras aimed their way. No doubt their attention had been drawn when Lara had broken off to interfere in the current situation. "I'm just concerned because I think this girl's trying to steal that tablet. I know her from school, and she's always been the worst." The redhead continued, genuinely seeming like a concerned citizen.

Lara, by contrast, kept her professional smile on, though those that knew her would notice the subtle hardness in her eyes, and it occurred to Taylor that Lara had to have read her background check file (which the Unbound had been very open about, and Taylor didn't begrudge them it), which meant she knew exactly who these two were. "I'm afraid that's quite impossible." She said just as pleasantly, and Sophia's smile faded, apparently noticing the danger that Emma didn't. "You see, I am the head of the North American Special Projects for Excelsior, and am in fact the one currently in charge of all our operations in Brockton Bay." Emma and Sophia's eyes widened slightly at realizing that they were in front of a pretty important person. Their eyes widened further, this time in the realization they'd fucked up, when the older woman continued. "And Taylor happens to be my personal assistant, one that has made herself indispensable since we met, and who has my full confidence. She is here to assist me and do her job, which you have interrupted, Miss Barnes, Miss Hess." The brunette's smile became distinctly sharp. "Taylor has been kind enough to tell me all about you girls, and thanks to my own independent inquiries, I know quite well who to believe in this situation..." She said as she waved a security guard over.

"Ma'am." The guard, a former army veteran, asked as he approached, the prosthetic arm some people had been marveling at while trying (and failing) to not be rude conspicuously visible.

"Please escort these young ladies off the premises, Mister Langston." Lara said. "I won't bar them for life or anything silly like that, but I don't want them allowed in for the rest of the day."

Langston nodded and reached for the girls as Sophia started to protest. "Wait, you can't do that!"

"I believe you'll find I easily can." Lara said calmly. "We do reserve the right to refuse service, after all."

As the girls were led off, Sophia still protesting while Emma seemed genuinely shocked that someone had sided with Taylor for once, not to mention that this had all happened very publicly, Lara approached Taylor and leaned in to speak to her quietly. "Are you alright? Do you need to take the rest of the day?" She asked with concern.

Taylor took a deep breath. "I'm fine." Then she smiled. "Honestly, seeing it not go their way for once has me feeling pretty good."

Lara smiled. "Understandable. You have an appointment with Alice tomorrow, correct?" When Taylor nodded she patted the teen's shoulder. "Good, I'm glad. In any case, let's get back to work and not let those little bints sour the experience, shall we?"

Taylor smiled wider and nodded as she began to make notes on her tablet again. "Yes ma'am."

With one last pat on Taylor's shoulder Lara made her way back to the journalists she had been speaking to, leaving her assistant to make her notes with more enthusiasm than she'd felt in a while.

Harry expected the kitchen to be dark and empty when he made his way there that night for a drink after being woken by one of his habitual nightmares. After all, everybody should be either in bed or on patrol. He was only mildly surprised, however, to find the room illuminated by the light of the open fridge, a female backside in pajama bottoms sticking out from where their owner was bending over to rummage through it the only thing visible from his angle, said owner humming happily to herself and shifting her hips to dance lightly in place as she went through the fridge's contents.

With an amused smile Harry flicked the light on, making the hungry thief freeze in place. "I do hope you're not stealing the cookies I baked for later, Ruby." He said as he leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed across his bare chest. "I already gave you a couple when they first came out of the oven."

There was a moment of stillness in the kitchen before said teen slowly straightened up to look over at him with wide eyes, one of said cookies halfway in her mouth as she gazed at him guitlity, making her look absolutely adorable and making him chuckle. "Why am I not surprised…" He said with a grin.

The only slightly younger girl tried to speak around the large cookie in her mouth before coloring and practically swallowing it whole, coughing to try to regain some dignity once she was done. "Hi Harry!" She exclaimed, a nervous grin on her face. "I… wasn't expecting anybody else to be up!"

"Clearly." He said as he made his way into the kitchen, his bare feet padding on the hardwood floor. "You know you're going to end up with cavities if you keep gorging on sweets." He said in amusement as he grabbed some chocolate milk from the still open fridge, pulling a glass to himself with his magic before beginning to pour.

"Nuh uh." Ruby said with a firm shake of her head. "I brush my teeth, floss, and use mouthwash three times a day." She declared proudly. "If anybody's in danger it's Nora, thanks to all the syrup. Especially since you started buying real maple."

"True. She's already gone through three bottles this week." Harry said with a chuckle as he shut the fridge and moved to sit down and enjoy his drink.

"So, what are you doing up?" Ruby said as she sat down as well, reaching for the milk she'd poured herself earlier to go with the cookies she'd been pilfering.

Harry shrugged. "The usual for me. Nightmare. How about you? Any motivation beyond grand theft?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Ha ha." She said before taking a sip. Then she sighed. "Had a session with Alice earlier. We talked about the bombings."

"Ah." Harry said in understanding, giving her a reassuring smile. "You handled the entire thing great, Ruby."

"Maybe." The girl said with a small frown. "Still, it brought back bad memories." She said, not needing to say which ones. London was still far too fresh in all their minds. "I just… That first bomb site. Even after the first aid I did, two of the people I tried to help died anyway. It just makes me feel…" She let out an almost explosive sigh, not needing to finish the thought. "And that's not even mentioning all the other sites. Like the one with the bomb that drove everybody into a homicidal frenzy." She shook her head and stared into her milk for a few moments before looking back up at him. "How about you? Wanna talk about your nightmare?"

Harry gave a half shrug. "Not really much to say. A standard nightmare about me finally getting back to my world only to find out all my friends had been killed in the meantime because I wasn't there to help them. This one had a nice bonus of making me imagine Tom and Samael teaming up." He shook his head. "I'm pretty used to being woken up by nightmares at this point."

"Maybe you need something to help ease your mind." Ruby said. "I mean, I know that we haven't found a drug that works on you, but maybe something else?"

"As tempting as finding one that works is, I don't think someone with my issues getting high or drunk is a great idea anyway." Harry said with a small, sardonic smirk. "So, any suggestions?"

"I don't know, maybe something to tire you out? Are there any good exercises that help with sleep? I think I heard Uncle Qrow mention something to dad when he was having trouble sleeping a few years ago, though there was something about needing someone's help…" Ruby trailed off as she realized in that moment what exactly Qrow had been referring to, and her face turned as red as her namesake. "Uh…" Harry snorted, hiding his smile in his glass as he pretended to drink. Of course any such consideration disappeared when the poor girl paled upon relating her realization to her dad and uncle, and she hid her face as she squealed in horror. "EW! Ew ew ew ew ewwwww…!"

She shuddered and gagged and flailed in such an over the top fashion that Harry burst into uproarious laughter, banging his glass on the counter and spilling his chocolate milk everywhere as he howled with mirth.

"It's not funny!" Ruby whined. "I didn't need those mental images in my brain. Oh god, now I'm going to have nightmares…" She said with a disgusted shudder as she gagged once again.

Harry, of course, thought it was hilarious, and by the time he finally got control of himself Ruby was glaring at him as she sipped her milk with a pout. "I needed that." He said with a chuckle, theatrically wiping a tear from his eye and making the petite teen's pout grow. "As much as I appreciate the idea, I think I might have some trouble finding someone to… to help me… with those… exercises…" He said, unable to keep from chortling at the end of his sentence before erupting into further chuckles, making Ruby slap at his arm with a cute scowl on her face.

"You're such a meanie…" She grumbled over his chuckles as she continued drinking.

Harry managed to get a hold of himself, though that didn't keep a huge grin off his face. "Sorry, sorry." He let out a sigh as he finished off his drink. "Ah, I needed that. I don't think I'm going to have any trouble sleeping after this."

"So glad I could help you." Ruby said petulantly, though a smile was threatening to appear on her lips.

Harry sent his glass to the dishwasher with a wave of his hand as he stood up, turning to head back to his room, waving over his shoulder. "Thanks a lot, Ruby, I appreciate it. Have a good night."

Ruby finished off her own drink before getting off her seat. "You're welcome. Sleep well."

Just as he was about to leave the room completely Harry paused. "Oh, by the way, Ruby?"

"Yeah?" She asked as she rinsed out her glass to put it in the wash.

He wiggled his fingers, making a cartoony chain and padlock appear on the fridge. "No more cookies for tonight." With that he left, leaving Ruby standing in the kitchen on her own.

"...Darn."

Taylor arrived at the Unbound's base despite it technically being her day off for her appointment with Alice ten minutes early, not willing to be late.

Alice kept her office near the base's communal area in case anybody needed to see her spontaneously, so Taylor grabbed a drink and made her way to where several of her fellow teens were sitting and playing a horror video game, or at least watching Beast Boy play one.

Off in a corner Rachel of the Undersiders was with her dogs along with Zwei and Pax. The five dogs were currently playing some sort of doggy game under the girl's watch, with Zwei jumping on the back of the rottweiler and chasing around the others. Even Rachel seemed confused and amused in equal measure.

Shaking her head, Taylor took a seat next to Blake, who was trying to read The Fellowship of the Ring over the noise of the screams and shouts of the other teens. "What are they playing?" She asked the catgirl, noting that, as with all of the Unbound's stuff, the system and game they were playing was a lot more advanced and better looking than what was currently on the market.

Blake glanced up. "They said it's called 'A Night in Nightvale'. Don't know much more than that."

Taylor watched as Beast Boy headed to a building labeled 'Night Vale Public Library' that looked surprisingly ominous before turning her attention to Blake. "I love that series." She said in reference to the book. "It was one of my mom's favorites. I don't think there's any self respecting book lover that doesn't have a special place in their heart for it."

Blake glanced at the book's simple yet attractive cover before responding. "It's my first time reading it. Harry recommended it to me and the rest of the Remnants, and I already finished The Hobbit"

"It's an amazing series." Taylor said, not quite being able to hide her surprise at finding a bibliophile that hadn't already read The Lord of the Rings. "Did Harry recommend it for any particular reason?"

Blake gazed at the book for a moment before speaking a bit more softly than before. "He said that this book was an excellent display of what he considered true bravery and love, and that it's required reading for anybody in our profession." She explained.

Taylor considered everything she remembered about the series before nodding slowly. "Yeah, I think my mom would agree with that." She said softly.

Almost immediately after that the door to Alice's office opened, Pyrrha walking out of it while wiping her eyes as Alice herself stepped out after her. The two women embraced before Pyrrha made her way to the rest of the teens and took a seat next to Jaune, laying her head on his shoulder exhaustedly, prompting him to wrap an arm around her.

Alice glanced around the room before spotting Taylor, smiling and motioning for her to head into the office. Taylor did so with her drink still in hand, and right before the door to the office closed she heard a sudden burst of noise as Yang began yelling. "Oh shit, it's a librarian! Kill it, kill it!" Then the door closed and all sound stopped, leaving only the comforting silence of the office.

Alice was already seated in a high backed armchair, motioning for Taylor to take a seat on the couch across from her. Taylor did so hesitantly. "I thought a psychiatrist's couch would be too cliche."

"Some cliches are cliche because they work." Alice said. "A couch allows the patient to sit, lay down, or take any other position that lets them feel comfortable. Not to mention it's useful when I have groups." The beautiful doctor smiled reassuringly as she folded her hands, her notepad and pen on the small table at her side, next to a cup of tea and a manila folder. "Now then, we have several topics we could talk about, however there is something we need to touch on first due to some information Cortana found while performing your background check which already has and will likely continue to impact you rather severely."

Taylor tensed, wondering what Alice could possibly be talking about, dread starting to fill her. "I-if you found it during my background check, why only bring it up now?"

"We actually intended to do so earlier, the same day the bombings started, actually, as Cortana had finished gathering everything needed by then, but obviously Bakuda interfered, and then it was decided to let me handle it once you'd made your desire to start sessions with me known." Alice said calmly as she took a sip of her tea.

Taylor took a deep breath, trying to get a handle on her nervousness. "Alright, so what is it about?" She asked.

Alice sat back, hands grasping her mug as she gazed at Taylor seriously. "This is in regards to your Trigger Event, and the circumstances around it. Don't worry, you don't have to recount it at this time, we have the police reports and the statement you made in the hospital afterwards. Though at some point, if you decide to continue our sessions, we will need to get into it."

Taylor closed her eyes, nodding tightly, remembering the details of the event in spite of herself. Reaching her school locker after the winter break, smelling something foul, opening it to find it full of used feminine hygiene products and other filth that had been left to rot over the break and which were covered by insects. Bending over and vomiting only to be grabbed and forced into the locker with the door shut behind her. Screaming, crying, and begging for help, only to hear Emma, Sophia and their toadies laugh at her. Being trapped in there for hours, experiencing what she now knew was the Trigger itself, it only distressing and confusing her more as she suddenly began to feel the insects on and around her. Spending a week in the hospital, being practically catatonic for the first few days.

"What about it?" She finally managed to ask, acting calmer than she really was.

Alice let out a soft sigh. "We found out why it, and all the other various instances of bullying were ignored or covered up by the school."

Taylor's eyes went wide. She couldn't count how many times she'd asked the faculty for help, even putting in a transfer to Arcadia, anything to make the hell that was her school life stop before she did something she couldn't take back. She was always ignored, and she could still clearly remember watching the school administrator rip up her Arcadia application right in front of her in despair. "Why?"

Alice seemed to brace herself. "Sophia Hess is a Ward." She said simply.

For a moment the words didn't seem to register with her. "Sophia Hess… the bully that shoved me in the locker… is a Ward." She said slowly, beginning to breathe more rapidly. "Sophia Hess… is a government sponsored superhero…" Subconsciously she registered that every insect in a 3 block radius was currently agitated enough that it was likely alarming people, but at that moment she didn't care. Even offloading some of her emotions into her swarm wasn't exactly helping, she was that agitated. "The Protectorate-"

"Didn't know!" Alice told her firmly, almost shouting, as she took the younger woman by the shoulders. "Taylor, calm down. I know this is distressing, I know! But you need to calm down! We won't let them get away with this, but we need to avoid being impulsive!"

Taylor didn't really understand why Alice was practically shouting in her face till she noticed she was on her feet, her fists clenched so tightly her nails were biting into her hands. She looked down at Alice, staring into the doctor's green eyes, her own a bit wild. "I…" She swallowed. "I…" She felt tears begin to gather, and Alice pulled her into her arms, holding her as Taylor shook, her rage, hate and sadness washing over her at the realization that one of the girls that had almost driven her to suicide was celebrated as a hero.

Alice gently rubbed her back, holding her gently, able to feel all of the teen's emotions and so knowing exactly what this news was doing to her. She kept her arms around her, determined to stay there as long as was needed.

Ten minutes or so later Taylor finally pulled away, wiping at her eyes. "Sorry… Usually I have better control than that…" Of course, that was usually due to cheating with her bugs, but still…

"It's completely understandable, Taylor." Alice said, handing the girl a tissue. "To be honest, I'm glad you reacted this way. It's a completely healthy, expected reaction. If you didn't have some sort of outburst I'd be worried." She patted her hand before making her way back to her armchair, giving Taylor a moment to compose herself, picking up the folder and opening it as she waited.

Taylor sniffled. "So, the PRT don't know?" She didn't want to believe that they did, though she knew that was probably naive. But the idea of cute little Vista, who she'd met several times and really liked, being complicit…

Then again, she clearly remembered the venom in the youngest Ward's voice when she mentioned Shadow Stalker at their first meeting, and since Vista was too young and white to be Sophia, it wasn't hard to guess which Ward the attempted murderer was.

"Yes." Alice said with a frown, glancing down at the report in her hands before handing it to Taylor, who began to look it over. "Essentially, the school didn't want to risk losing a Ward, as well as the funding they got from the PRT for having her, so they hid all of Sophia's wrongdoings with the help of the girl's PRT handler, who was supposed to keep an eye out for things like this." Alice explained. "Sophia is on probation because the PRT know she's a loose cannon, having strongarmed her into the Wards after she almost killed someone as a vigilante. Generally it's seen as more advantageous to have her working for them than rotting away in juvenile detention, but I don't doubt Director Piggot would march Sophia there herself at the merest hint of a tenth of what we've found out." Alice sighed and picked up her tea, taking a sip. "As far as we can tell Sophia's handler buried any mention of Sophia being related to the locker incident even in official police reports, because that should have definitely prompted an investigation at the least."

Taylor gripped the papers tightly, glaring at them. "So Winslow's faculty kept me around as a… a fucking human sacrifice to keep that monster appeased?" Taylor snarled, her earlier sadness giving way to wrath, which she quickly shunted to her bugs, outwardly calming down.

Alice eyed Taylor, having felt that and finding it disconcerting, but focusing on the more immediate issue for the moment. "Essentially." She sighed.

Taylor clenched her jaw. "So what's the plan? I'm assuming you have something in mind if you're telling me all this."

Alice sipped her tea before responding. "Your situation isn't the first issue involving the PRT we've found. After we learned about what was happening with Canary-"

"That was you guys!?" Taylor blurted before shutting her mouth with a click. Honestly, after everything she'd already seen, that shouldn't surprise her as much as it did.

Alice nodded with a smile. "Yes. In any case, after that we started looking into other such issues involving the PRT, especially larger ones such as Coil's infiltration. After all, their influence involving parahuman matters is considerable, which can be problematic if it's not done handled, considering the potential power certain parahumans have or could grow to have. It's rather different than a politician having a liking for using public funds to pay for sex."

"I suppose, though I hope if you find anything big with a politician or CEO you'll also act on that. We don't need someone launching nukes because we were too focused on parahuman issues." Taylor said.

"Of course." Alice said in agreement. "In any case, we have assembled a preliminary batch of evidence that includes your situation. We will be passing it along through Dragon, that way it can be brought to the PRT's attention without doing anything to implicate you."

Taylor nodded in understanding, as it made sense. "It's good to hear that." She said, finally beginning to relax. "Is there any particular reason you're telling me other than just to let me know?"

"We were wondering if you might have any evidence to share that we couldn't have obtained electronically, so we can add it to that section of the file." Alice explained.

After a moment Taylor nodded, a slightly vindictive smile appearing on her face. "Yeah, I have a diary of all the things Emma and Sophia have done to me over the last year. I started keeping it once I gave up on the school doing anything to improve my situation for, well, something just like this."

A rather sharp smile appeared on Alice's face. "Perfect…"

Five years…

It's been exactly five years since I uploaded the first chapter of this fic, and though I know I've rather neglected it of late, looking back on those days, it's still pretty crazy to me.

Thank you, all of you, for reading this, for reviewing it, for letting me know my silly scribblings are appreciated and enjoyed. Especially to those of you that have stuck with me since the early days. It's amazing to me just how much I've grown as a writer thanks to this story in particular, and all your feedback especially.

Honestly, this isn't what I had in mind to be the fifth anniversary chapter, the next one was. I actually intended to post this chapter a week ago and post the next on the anniversary. I wanted something big, and exciting, and surprising for all of you. Unfortunately, real life decided my desires could go fuck themselves, but when you're a writer of any stripe, or a creative in general, that's pretty par for the course.

Still, I intend to have the next chapter out as soon as possible. Within the next two weeks at most, if I'm able. I'm really excited for what I have planned for it.

I did like this chapter as well, though, even if it's not what I'd consider an epic anniversary chapter by most standards. Some nice character interactions are always enjoyable. I had that interaction with Emma and Sophia in mind for ages. Though I'm not sure how well I handled Alice and Taylor's section.

Not really much else to say, so I'll go ahead and move on to my usual reminders:

As stated in my last chapter, my best friend and their roommate have begun a podcast. Yes, I know, everybody and their mother has a podcast these days, but I beg you to hear me out. It's called 'Two Idiots and a Dog', and they talk about pop culture in general with different shows for different topics. So far they've primarily done 'Idiots on Film', talking about classic or important movies, but they recently started another one called 'Idiots Unleashed', where they just take a topic their Discord members vote on and talk/argue/rant about it without a filter. The latest episode of 'Idiots on Film' was on Zombieland, and quite entertaining. And their next 'Idiots Unleashed' will be about 'Movies We Want To Fix', which promises to be interesting. So if you're interested, that's 'Two Idiots and a Dog' on most podcasting apps. Please check it out. For me? *puppy dog eyes*

Secondly, I am, as always, truly grateful for those of you who are willing to send a buck or two my way out of the kindness of your heart. It really helped my transition till I started working. I've got a steady income now, and am getting my feet underneath myself, but that doesn't mean your support isn't appreciated. Thanks to you I have more of a cushion to get things I still need or pay essential bills. Like Final Fantasy XIV. (Speaking of, Ryuma Hyurinmaru on Ceourl Server, Crystal Datacenter, North America)

Of course, let us not forget that you do get something out of it. For each dollar that you donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a vote in my monthly update poll stating what you want to see updated next month. And if what you vote for doesn't win immediately, no worries! Non-winning votes roll over to the next poll, so a fic that only gets a vote a month will eventually win (though it might take a bit, to be brutally honest). Ballad of Heroes and Villains was finally updated not too long ago thanks to turtling the others, after all.

That said, if a fic hasn't won in a long time, I will take it off the poll and update it anyway, like I recently did for No Good Deed, which is now getting some votes since people seem to remember it exists.

So yes, donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a say in what I update. Everybody wins! So that's Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll ends on June 7th.

However, as something new, I have set up a Ko-Fi for those of you who don't want to use Pat A Ron to support me. The only caveat is that it won't count towards any voting, so I honestly don't see it getting much use. That said, it's there for those of you that prefer it. Seeing as I've literally just created it a week or so ago, please give me any feedback on it so I can make improvements. That's ko-fi dotcom /athanmortis78653 .

I think that's it. Fifth anniversary in the can. Again, thank you to everyone who's stuck with me so far and enjoys my writing. Especially those willing to give me a TVTropes page. *hint hint*

Till next time, everybody. Take care!