A day off had been just what the doctor ordered, to what degree Riley could be considered a doctor could of course be debated but I would admit to feeling better after watching movies with her all day and felt ready for my mission with Grue. A quick call to my dad put aside any worries about staying out too late, and finally it was time to get going.

Rather than bringing myself to the Undersiders base of operations I dropped myself off in front of the Docks and glanced around, trying to spot Grue. However he found me first, tapping on my shoulder once.

I had to admit to being impressed that he had managed to sneak up on me, but given that his shadows seemed to cling to him and despite his outfit he managed to move as quietly as a whisper. It had taken quite a bit not to jump out of my own skin at the surprise, but I managed it somehow and turned to focus on him, or at least what I could see of him. Darkness clung to his body and obscured it for the most part, casting a much more sinister figure in the low light given by the streetlamps.

"Sorry for running late," I had set my mask's voice modulation on a lower setting, enough to distort but not to intimidate. After all, we were on the same side, even if Grue was the one whom I knew least about outside of the information that Lisa had provided. "Was busy trying to catch up on sleep."

Nightmares still plagued me even when I had rested in the Dollhouse, images of a massive alien monster replaced by hundreds of copies of a woman I had never met absorbing my father and my friends, feeling utterly helpless as they turned toward me.

"I get it," Grue motioned for me to follow him, sticking to the darker areas of one of the more rundown parts of town. "But this is a big one, I found one of the Merchant's main drug labs, and if my info is good then it's probably where they are storing most of their supply with the city going crazy."

That would be a good deal, while the Merchant's weren't the only game in town when it came to dealing they were probably the most well known for supplying junkies and kids with their poison. And that was without the stories of them kidnapping and hooking people up on their supply just to get another customer. Without their supplies and with a big source of production taken away they would flounder. And if they started to get ideas I would crush them.

"What source by the way?" As far as I knew Lisa was the one who gathered information for the group, Regent was too lazy to bother and Rachel tended to do her own thing or just intimidate information out of people.

"I have a few people around the city that keep me up to date for a few bucks here and there. I try not to put too much stock in a single source." he answered rather casually, though I could practically feel his eyes scanning the entire area around us, as if expecting an attack at any moment.

"That's not a bad idea, if you need to talk to Lisa and I can put a fund aside for that so you don't have to drain your own account." I had to admit to being slightly impressed by Grue's forward thinking, but something about how he had said it bothered me. "So how do you feel about me taking over the team?"

Grue seemed to think for a moment before answering. "Honestly?"

I gave a nod, preparing myself for any harsh words he might have against me, I had asked the question for an honest answer, and Grue seemed the most outspoken of the group.

"When we pulled you out of the fire with Lung on that night I figured you were just out of your league. Then you turned around and smashed him into the dirt. Then you took down one of the craziest assholes in the E88, and followed it up by juggling the Boat Graveyard. Then you ask us to join up with you, and to just add on things you bring down Heartbreaker and unfuck everything the bastard's been doing for god knows how many years," he turned to look at me, the shadows seeming to flare around him. "Honestly you scare the shit out of me."

I was a bit surprised by his last point, finding myself without much to say on the matter. There wasn't any sort of platitude I could give that would reduce any fear of me, even saying 'I won't attack you' would have been an empty promise given that we had spent so little time together so far.

He seemed to take my silence as leave to continue. "But, then you gave Tattletale the word to help my sister, you being around has made Bitch and Regent easier to deal with. And the most you are asking is that we try to help out around the city without actually doing anything to tie us down to things. If I have to work for someone I'd rather it be you."

I took his words to heart, after all from our few interactions Grue wasn't the type to speak nonsense so I would simply trust that despite his fears he was willing to work with me. "Speaking of, how are things going on that front?"

Grue gave a shrug. "I'm getting some paperwork done and have a good lawyer on retainer. Nothing set in stone but with the money you're willing to throw around anything is possible."

I wanted to say something about it being more Stetson's money then mine but figured it was all the same in his eyes. "I'm glad I was able to help."

Our discussion came to an end in front of a boarded up shack of a warehouse that smelled rank even from the front yard, the mixture of chemicals and smoke in the air giving the entire place a poor first impression even knowing that it was little more than a front for a Merchant operation.

"So what's the play boss?" Grue deferred to me, keeping an eye on the place from our vantage point of a nearby alleyway.

I considered for a moment and focused on my connection to the Dollhouse, picking a recently repaired Doll who would be just the ticket. After going through the selection process Edge Shooter appeared, its body fully repaired and ready for action. I didn't know what we would find inside, from people making the drugs to possible users or guards. Its nonlethal and fast battle style would be best in this sort of situation, and I had previous experience with it which was a bonus.

"Flood the place with your darkness, then after thirty seconds I'll send my Doll in to clean up the place. Afterward…" I considered for a moment, not really knowing what the best way to handle this was. Calling the police with the operation all tied up seemed like a solid idea, but I had heard enough horror stories about drugs 'going missing' from busts to know that might not be the play here. Besides this area was run down enough that the odds of police even arriving was low.

"Most of the shit they use to make stuff is poison, but I've heard they traffic some legit drugs too, how about taking everything and just burning the poison?" Grue added his own suggestion to the end, and I nodded, figuring it was a solid enough plan. I could have Riley go through stuff and see what was useful and what wasn't, and destroying it in the Dollhouse would be safer in the long run then lighting the building up.

"Sounds good to me," I motioned for Edge Shooter to move forward and Grue followed quickly behind. The door broke inward as the doll delivered a sharp kick to it and within moments Grue produced his darkness throughout the entire area. The effect was near instant, and also utterly pointless.

"What the hell?" Grue banished his darkness from the area, revealing through my connection with Edge Shooter that the entire area had been abandoned. There were still tables set up with chemicals and finished products, but otherwise the building was empty.

I approached the building quickly, having Edge Shooter sweep the rest of it while I ran over the situation in my mind. The Merchant's weren't as organized as most of the other groups in the Bay, but leaving a drug lab without even bothering to leave behind one guy with a gun felt beyond even their level of stupidity. My first assumption was that it was a trap of some sort, but that didn't really fit with the mindsets of the Merchants. Quick gratification, fast and dirty brawls, hell even shooting up people off the streets were all short term and instant, setting a trap was the exact opposite of their usual operations.

Before I could put much more thought into it a large explosion rang out through the otherwise quiet night a good distance away from our current location. The explosion was followed by gunfire loud enough to echo through the otherwise quiet night and I could see smoke already rising from the location of the noise.

I turned to Grue, who from body language alone seemed to be just as thrown off by the sounds of chaos as I had been. "Looks like we will have to call things early," I turned toward the various drugs and chemicals and burned it into my mind to destroy this place at a later date. Whatever was causing such a large amount of chaos had to be the first priority. Without another word I turned to take off toward the source of the noise, canceling out Edge Shooters summoning so I could be ready to call up another doll once I had a more accurate view of the situation.

However, to my surprise Grue followed right behind me. "Like hell you're going alone."

Part of me wanted to argue, but I didn't have the time to do so and just kept moving, pushing through back alleys and leaping over a few fences until arriving near the location.

To put it simply it was a battlefield, various PRT vehicles and fully armored field agents and heroes on one side, and various people wearing what were basically rags and wielding various guns and melee weapons, backed up by a cross between a tank and a monster truck, and giant golem made of stone and metal.

The explosion seemed to have originated from the vehicle behind the Merchants lines, as a large cannon built into the top of it fired off a solid slug that destroyed one of the PRT's armored vehicles. Thankfully the weapon had taken a moment to charge up, allowing the agents who had used it as cover to move away.

The heroes, seemingly the full roster of the local PRT group, couldn't get a solid foothold to charge in and take it out between the massive golem and the fire being put down by the Merchants behind their own makeshift cover.

"Grue," I muttered quietly from our current location in the alleyway, seeing him turn toward me for a moment. "If you're in I have a plan that can help turn this around, but I'm not going to force you."

He seemed to think for a moment before giving a single nod. "Gotta earn my keep somehow."

I gave him a quick rundown of my idea and told him to wait for my signal before closing my eyes to focus on the doll that would help me most in this situation.

"Dollhouse, Inventory Select. Sister Mercy. Blood Brain Connection."

The nun-like doll appeared before me, wrapping an arm around my body and leaping out of the alleyway with one smooth movement, landing the two of us down behind the PRT lines. A few of the agents quickly trained their weapons on me but before things could escalate a firm voice called out, "Stand down!"

I turned to see the approaching form of Miss Militia, her shifting weapon currently in the form of a rifle. "Thread, right?" she glanced toward Sister Mercy and I gave a quick nod.

"I heard the fighting and figured you could use some help," she led the two of us to a more secure location so that neither of us would catch a stray bullet. "What's going on here?" I asked.

"A botched operation," Miss Militia sighed for a moment before looking toward the current stalemate. "Due to the presence of so many heroes in town it was decided that we could use the fact that most of the other groups in the city were laying low to finally start pushing back and bringing down some of the worst threats."

"Makes sense," the issue with the Bay was never just the fact there were villains, but that the sheer volume meant that the PRT was forced to be proactive. If they had decided to dig their feet in and try to take out one gang the other two would use the chance to expand their territory or simply attack the weakened heroes. "What went wrong?"

Miss Militia grit her teeth, barely restrained anger radiating off of her. "They knew we were coming, they had all of their 'best' people and one of the most dangerous vehicles Squealer has made to date. Beyond that they are more organized then we have ever seen them before."

I could agree on the last point, the Merchants weren't the kind who stood their ground for a fight, typically they would fight only long enough to see an escape. Countering an ambush instead of just fleeing was out of character for the group. "How can I help?"

Miss Militia considered for a moment. "Can you use those portals you used to move the Boat Graveyard to move our forces behind them?"

I considered for a moment before shaking my head. "Maybe, but it would be too risky." The last time I had tried to summon up a doll from the Black Box it had nearly brought me to my knees and even when it cooperated I had nearly been drained of blood after using its ability once.

"I see," there was a slight trace of disappointment in her voice. "Then we just need a chance to move closer, if we can get in range of the shooters or the tank we might be able to turn this around."

"I can hold off the giant and distract the gunmen," I kept my voice level. "But you're going to have to trust me."

Miss Militia gave a nod, seemingly putting aside any worry. "Despite our first meeting you've proven you are a hero. That being said Mush's current form is larger than any other record that we have on him, are you sure you can hold it off?"

"Yeah," I turned toward Sister Mercy and brought up the information attached to the doll into my mind.

Sister Mercy- Classification: Non-lethal Combat Type

This doll focuses on close combat using beyond human parameters in all physical skills, able to easily rip apart metal and destroy stone with simple blows. However despite its incredible strength it cannot do any true harm to a living creature, with even the most powerful blows simply transmitting pain and exhaustion into the target of the attack.

Originally I had chosen Sister Mercy as a spur of the moment decision when fighting Hookwolf, a decision that looking back had been foolish given that there was no actual body under the mess of blades and hate that made up the villain's combat form. But from what I had read up on Mush didn't have the luxury of his body being protected within some odd construct, meaning that a non-lethal type who could destroy pieces of his body without worrying about killing him was an ideal choice.

But given the sheer size and the materials that made up Mush's current form I figured it was a good time to put some of the advice that Stetson had given me. After all, the Dollhouse didn't just have the dolls within it.

"Dollhouse, Accessory Selection."

A range of enhancements appeared in my mind, limiting the search to only what Sister Mercy could directly use with a simple thought. "Blast Breakers, Accessory Attachment."

Sister Mercy's arms flashed with light for a moment, dissipating to reveal a pair of sharp silver gauntlets over the doll's once bare arms. On the side of the gauntlets were a number of odd holes that released a superheated steam from them.

Blast Breaker- Humanoid Doll Accessory

Gathers together power from physical blows and isolates it into a single point, increasing the destructive potential of close ranged dolls by upwards of sixty percent.

With those equipped what would have normally cracked stone or dented metal would instead leave nothing but dust for Mush to make use of. "We're ready to go."

Miss Militia tapped her earpiece. "Everyone standby and get ready to press forward."

Seeing that as more than enough of a go ahead I ran forward to help maintain Sister Mercy's connection and sent the doll over the PRT's armored vehicles. Merchant gunfire rang out from the other side, but against the body that had left a battle with Hookwolf without so much as a scratch they might as well have been firing water guns at the doll.

Through my connection I saw Sister Mercy land on the ground only to leap again, cracking the stone under her feet and flying toward Mush's steel and rock covered form, reeling back for a punch that once it connected turned a large part of the stone that had made up the body into useless pebbles. Burning steam exploded from the Blast Breaker gauntlets, superheating the air around the doll.

As Mush's giant form stumbled for a moment, Grue went into action, his darkness spreading over the Merchant's gunline and leaving the drug fueled gangsters in a state of confusion, guns firing at empty space and even into the sky above them. The confusion allowed enough time for the PRT agents to reposition themselves and for the Protectorate heroes to split into two groups to help deal with the tank and the still confused grunts.

Sister Mercy danced around Mush's form, destroying parts or tossing them far enough away that his powers weren't able to make use of them. Things were looking good until a figure suddenly bolted up from the ground and struck Sister Mercy's body like a missile, tossing the doll back from the giant before leaping off of Mush and landing across from her.

"Well ain't this a sight for sore eyes?" Skidmark laughed, an iron pipe resting over his shoulder and an easy smile on his face.

I frowned at his appearance, especially given the fact that he had gotten up close and personal despite his ability focusing more on area control rather than one on one fights. Something felt off here, especially considering how calm he looked despite his forces being outgunned and outnumbered.

Still I didn't have time to properly consider what the Merchant's leader might have been thinking, so I simply sent out a mental command for Sister Mercy to finish things here and now, maybe with their leader down the rest of the group would just give up. However, instead of fleeing Skidmark raised the pipe in his hands, the metal glowing with a dark blue light before he chucked it toward the doll, the metal disappearing for a moment followed by a crack.

My mind exploded into static for a moment as the pipe that had been in his hand just a moment ago had buried itself into Sister Mercy's chest, trickles of red coming from the wound.

"I'll admit the last ability had some potential, but I prefer this as a more direct method," the same odd light appeared near Skidmark's feet and suddenly he was in front of Sister Mercy, his fists glowing with the same blue light as his feet. Whatever the effect might have been I wasn't keen on seeing what it might do to Sister Mercy, so I directed the doll to dodge out of the way rather than try and tank the blow.

Skidmark's fist hit empty air, but the force behind the blow caused the air to ripple in front of it. "Smart move, I lost the area but I make up for it in the power department."

I tried to remember what I had read up on Skidmark, something about force fields with some directional ability that could be layered or extended for a far reach. But what he was doing now was utterly different for some reason. But I wasn't exactly given enough time to sit back and consider the issue, without Sister Mercy acting as a distraction Mush had gone to back up Squealer's tank and Grue had been forced to retract his darkness in order to allow the heroes and officers to actually start taking down the gang members. For the moment there was nothing I could do to properly aid Sister Mercy, and distracting Skidmark was going to have to be a top priority until more heroes could join in and help take them down.

Still just standing around wasn't exactly a comfortable feeling for me, so I moved toward the brawl against the gang members and pulled out the taser that Lisa had given me for my mission against Heartbreaker, providing a shock to the back of a Merchant holding a long chain with a hook at its end and watching him drop.

All around me I could see PRT agents and a few heroes bringing down the gang members one by one, with a few merchants going for an escape instead of continuing the fight. Those who ran were either let go or tagged by either a hero or an agent firing bean bag rounds at their legs and backs. I simply focused on those who were still trying to hold up a fight, using the dark coloring of my outfit to blend into the fairly dark night and picking people off where I could.

Somewhere in the brawl I ended up catching sight of a gunman leveling a pistol toward another dark figure, approaching behind him and jabbing the taser into his back only to realize the charge was empty, earning a sudden elbow to my jaw as punishment for my misstep. However he was slow to turn and that gave me enough chance to drop the stun gun and remember rule one of Karate Master's training.

When pressed, aim for the weak spot. I delivered a solid kick between his legs and while he was distracted followed with a blow to the neck that left him gasping like a fish without air. I kicked aside the gun and let out a few deep breaths, picking up the fallen taser and seeing that it had finally finished its self charge.

"I had him fine on my own," a piercing but familiar voice rang out behind me, causing me to turn and notice Shadow Stalker standing near me, her breath rising and falling from labored breaths. "I didn't need your help."

"Maybe if you spent as much time training as you did stalking girls I'd believe you," it was a childish retort but I was beyond caring at the moment. She started for a moment before I found a much more familiar figure approach.

"Well this has been a weird night," Grue approached, his darkness clinging to his body. "Pretty sure I helped two Wards and got a thank you from some guy in gold armor." he turned to look at Shadow Stalker and seemed to take a defensive position.

"It's fine, we're all on the same side right now," I turned to Shadow Stalker to confirm that but she seemed to vanish in a cloud of darkness in front of my eyes. "Well, most of us are on the same side," I blinked as the blood finally seemed to stop rushing in my ears, realizing at some point my mask had come undone. Probably from the elbow I had been stupid enough to get hit by. My voice was slightly less modulated than before, but it was nothing a quick adjustment couldn't fix.

With most of the goons tied up I allowed my mind to focus once more on Sister Mercy, seeing through the doll's eyes as its battle against Skidmark continued, drawing whatever information it had seen from the battle.

Skidmark's new ability allowed him to move fast enough that Sister Mercy couldn't get a blow, and hit hard enough that there was no chance to counter attack. Which left the doll on the backfoot, and quickly drained me of blood and the refill liquid in my mask. Even though Sister Mercy didn't have the same drain that other doll's did, it didn't change the fact I couldn't keep this up for the rest of the night.

However there was one good point to this, Skidmark's ability was localized on only his body or an object that he touched, and he couldn't be fast and strong at the same time. If I had to guess, whatever he had done limited the area and number of fields to focus on a single field or a large number of fields that could only spawn in a limited area. Which meant that while he might have been dangerous on the attack his defense might not have been on the same level.

"I have a plan to take down their leader, but I'm going to need your help." I turned to Grue, who simply nodded and followed after me.

As we ran I heard another explosion ring out, however the shell had struck against Mush's giant form, causing it to crumble and for the villain inside of it to hit the ground hard enough to bounce for a moment, only a groan of pain giving any indication the villain was alive. Either Squealer had royally fucked up or the heroes had managed to take control of the tank.

But that didn't change what we had to do, as soon as we were close to the fight I called out. "Hey Skidmark!" causing the villain to turn for a moment.

Grue taking the cue that I had set up expanded his darkness over the area, robbing the villain of his senses.

Skidmark decided the best way out of the combat was up, leaping into the air with whatever new ability he had gained, only to meet Sister Mercy, raising back a fist. Skidmark crossed his arms, the energy that had covered his feet and legs forming over his arms. From my connection I could make out that the energy was actually a ton of miniature barriers looped together.

Against a normal punch maybe it would have held, but Sister Mercy was equipped with the Blast Gauntlets, increasing her attack power beyond what it had been before. A single punch sent Skidmark to the ground, the wind from the attack blowing away Grue's darkness and leaving the villain surrounded by cracked stone and letting out a groan of pain.

"Good job," I offered my fist and Grue bumped it, the two of us moving closer to the downed villain to confirm that he was down and out.

Despite being slammed to the ground Skidmark was still unharmed due to Sister Mercy's ability, but the groan of pain showed the damage had been done, he wouldn't have the energy to continue the fight. "Well damn, not the best first showing. But then again not the worst."

"What are you talking about?" I had been confused by everything that had happened tonight, from the information on the lab to the Merchant's trying to go toe to toe with the PRT at full strength. Nothing about this made any sense.

"Well, guess it's better as a surprise for the moment," something about the look in his eyes disquieted me, and I could have sworn that I saw something move under his skin. But before I could question if more I felt something strike me from the side and found myself hitting the ground.

At first I thought it was an attack and prepared myself, but instead I saw Grue standing where I had been a moment ago with his arms outstretched. Before I could even form a proper sentence however he dropped to the ground, a black bolt sticking out of his body.

"Looks like I missed," I heard Shadow Stalker from my current position, only because it felt like my senses had jumped up about a hundred fold the moment that Grue had dropped. I heard someone yelling at her to stand down, I think it might have been Armsmaster but I wasn't able to properly focus, instead scrambling to Grue and trying to help him.

"Shit, fuck." Grue managed to cough out. "I can't, I can't feel my legs."

My eyes turned to his back, seeing the bolt once again. I had learned a bit under Stetson about where the important parts of the body were to ensure that I could protect myself. Currently the crossbow bolt that he had pushed me out of the way was most likely piercing his spine.

"Why?" I asked, my voice small as the world seemed to close around me.

"Helped my sister, helped everyone, couldn't let go." he shuddered as his talking seemed to cause a bolt of pain to flood through his body. "Take care of her, promise?"

Before I could answer he went still for a moment. I could hear voices around me, someone talking in my ear. But it was all through a filter.

I had brought him here tonight, I had asked him to help me. And because of me he was…

Connection with Sister Mercy canceled. Mental Corruption of users detected.

This was my fault, and it was her fault. Shadow Stalker.

Connection with Dollhouse established, Crimson Box doll requesting access.

Who had stalked me as I walked out of school, who had threatened Vicky for trying to help me. Who I had saved from being shot in the back, and who had tried to shoot me for no reason.

Due to the current mental state a doll is being summoned to protect the user.

Forcible Blood Brain Connection established.

I let out a yell, all of the built up stress from seeing Amy taken, from learning about the enemies that I would one day have to face, from trying to put together a team. The lack of sleep, Winslow, the locker, everything hit me at once.

"Well then boys and girls, mistakes have been made." a figure appeared, cutting through my panic and causing those who had come close to suddenly back away. It was a doll in a black suit, however its body was made out of an odd metal, and despite being otherwise humanoid its head was like the shell of a snail, with a jagged crack along it revealing a crimson eye from underneath. "But don't worry, because blood for blood is important. Don't worry little puppeteer, I'll kill them all for you until you feel much better."

Johnny Crimson, now active.