The sun was almost down when Claire called to Mr. Blinky.

"Blinky, Jim and I… we're going to go out on a dinner date." Sort of. She didn't want to lie to Mr. Blinky, and it was a date.

Sort of.

If you squinted.

But the thing is, if anyone asked Mr. Blinky, he really wasn't the best at keeping a secret.

"Very good, Fair Claire," Blinky said. "I will hold the fort… but, ah, remember that school is tomorrow, so you should not stay out too late."

"Blinky!"

"I was young once, you know!" he waved a feather duster in her general direction. "Besides, it will give me time to rewrite a Recapitulation of Troll Lore for Lady Piggot, since she has expressed interest."

"Okay," Claire said, and portaled out, right to where Jim was, next to a van. Tattletale and Grue were by him.

"Okay," Jim said. "Here's the plan. The guards, according to Tattletale, spend most of their time in the front because the dogs start howling if they enter the rear rooms. It's soundproofed from the outside, but we can't know about the inside, so they might hear a commotion from the back room."

"Right." Tattletale nodded. "But there's a window to a room adjacent to the kennel room. Shadowdancer can port in there. She, Jim, and Grue go in, Grue uses his power to dampen the dogs, and Claire opens up a portal to the gas station. You can do that, right?"

"Once I'm there, yeah." Claire nodded. "I couldn't do it next week, but it's soon enough that I still have the link."

"Good," Grue said. "Regent and Bitch will take the animals and put them into a rented truck we've got and take 'em back to… well." He tilted his head. "You know."

"Your hideout and we don't need to see the only Undersiders with felony charges," Claire nodded. "Good plan."

"And Bitch doesn't need to be close to the guys running this hideout, because that would go badly," Grue added.

"And finally, no attacks, not unless we're attacked," Jim said. "Best case, they come back and find all the animals gone, with absolutely no idea of what is going on."

"Right." Claire nodded. "And because they have no idea what happened, they'll be super paranoid and that will probably keep them from doing this again for a while." She opened her portal. "Let's go."

"I can't believe that Dean said that!" Vicky muttered. She'd just suggested that he let Vista down easy, because well, she was a little kid. The next thing she knew, he was asking if she was jealous.

No, no she wasn't, because Vista was a kid. Adorable, even if that attitude she put on could be annoying… But it wasn't nice that Dean didn't just tell her outright, and then they had an argument, and why could Dean understand everyone but her!

"Lady Victoria!" Blinky said. The six-eyed troll stared at her. "Can I help you?"

"I… Can I talk to Claire?"

"She and Master Jim aren't here right now. They were going out to eat. A dinner date, I believe. Is it important?"

Oh, man… But Claire could fix this thing with her and Dean by talking to Missy since Missy had glommed on to her, and Vicky didn't want another week of not talking…

"Sort of…"

"Then I can call them." Blinky picked up a phone and used a stylus to dial. "Odd, her phone is off…" He glanced down at Vicky and nodded. "But you seem distraught. So, I don't think if Fair Claire would mind if I used the locater function…"

"Ah, here it is. You can check any restaurants in that area." He held up the phone to her, and Vicky stared at the map. Sure it was only accurate to a block, but Vicky knew the Bay. That was mostly warehouses, and stores that would be closed and…

It was E88 territory.

Are they pulling an independent patrol? Why didn't they tell me?

Then she realized she'd probably just got them into trouble.

"Yeah, I know that place!" Vicky said. "Thanks, Mr. Blinky!" She said as she took off outside, her feet leaving the ground before she was halfway through the door.

Blinky stood and shook his head. "She seems rather nervous," he said. Shaking his head at the follies of youth, he went back to his work. He did hope that Vicky didn't interrupt anything private, but she was Jim and Claire's friend. They would understand.

I had settled down under a blanket. Hopefully, it would disguise me from any flyers, although the Empire was light on those with the loss of Rune. I had recorded the comings and goings of the house, and verified that they had about 10 men and women in it. The sound of terrified howling came from the rear, cut off when they closed the door.

I'd spent the day gathering enough insects to do what needed to be done. I was going to wait until they were all quiet, and then web the locks shut, trapping them before I called the police. I'd leave the recording for them. If anyone tried to escape—that's what I had the gnats and wasps for.

In fac—What the hell? A flash of purple announced the arrival of Shadowdancer, Trollhunter, and… two of the Undersiders? They were a smalltime gang, but why were Wards working with crooks? Then Shadowdancer created another portal and she, Grue, and Trollhunter walked into it…

And I felt the displacement of air from my bugs in the house as they walked into the house.

The fuck?

And then some of the fleas, lice and maggots on the animals started vanishing.

They were taking the animals.

Claire had a strong nose. The fact was that trolls weren't unhygenic, but they weren't human and some things they didn't mind weren't… that pleasant to smell. For that matter, on their trip to New Jersey, there was a few times when "three weeks without a bath" Claire got pretty fragrant.

But this made her want to puke. The smell of shit, piss, decay and… terror. It wasn't just a physical miasma, and Claire wondered if she was developing the senses Merlin claimed that any mage worth their salt had.

Whatever it was, she wanted to puke, and then go and murder the people in the front. A puppy cowered against the wall of one cage, maggots writhing in an untreated wound. A few cats wailed and hissed, crouching back, a golden collar with a heart dangling from on one persian obscenely cheerful. A skinny golden retriever just stood, shivering, letting out low, mournful howls that sounded like a cry for help. A German Shepherd wasn't responding to anything at all, just curled up in a tight, quivering ball.

"Go—"

She started at Grue touched her shoulder.

"Remember the plan," he said. "Get them to Bitch."

"Can she treat the cats?" Jim asked, sounding uneasy. "No, but we'll get 'em to safety, I promise." Grue muttered something that sounded like "Fucking Nazis".

The dogs and cats put up a commotion, but Grue let his darkness out, covering the far wall. Tattletale was watching the front and she could call them as long as they weren't within Grue's darkness. That'd give them enough warning to portal out.

"Right," Jim said. "Let's get this done." He picked up a cage, the dog frantically snapping and barking, and then nodded to Claire. She conjured her portal and Jim handed the cage through, someone else holding it and pulling it the rest of the way through.

Jim and Grue kept moving, each one taking a cage. Claire noticed that Grue wasn't trying to assert himself now, just taking the cages he could take and letting Jim handle the ones that were too big for him.

Ever so often, Claire glanced at the curtain of darkness. I guess they just don't care…

Lisa was watching the building. She could hear the sound of some kind of fighting show, the people inside cheering.

Bored. Not really concerned with an attack.

So hopefully, nothing would happen until tomorrow morning when they'd get to explain to Hookwolf why they had lost his bait dogs.

Lisa really didn't give a damn. She wasn't an animal person, her power let her know just how much 'affection' was actually learned behavior, but it also let her know how terrified they might be.

Then she caught a glimpse in the night, a figure flying—oh, shit!

Glory Girl, looking for someone. Found you.

The next thing, the New Wave Alexandria package was hovering right over Lisa, where anyone looking out the fucking front window could see.

"I'm looking for Trollhunter and Shadowdancer," she said, cracking her fist. "Their phone was last recorded in this area, and here you are, and the Undersiders already fought them once. What did you do?"

Close to violence. Feels justified.

Also angry about relationship troubles, willing to take it out on you.

Fuck.

That last hadn't been her power. It had been all Lisa.

"We're working with them," she said.

"Really? Pull another one."

"No, we are!" Lisa frantically replied. "That house is holding some of Hookwolf's bait dogs for his fighting rings! They agreed to help us get them out."

"And you're going to use that to rob some place and maybe get them in trouble with Piggot!"

Doesn't believe you.

"Look, see the bin at the rear of the house?" Glory Girl glanced over. "That's the place where they put the dead animals before they get picked up every few days. That's proof! Just go and check it and then come back. I can't run in that time!"

"Wait here or I break your legs."

She was halfway down before Lisa suddenly realized something.

"Oh. Shit."

She'd focused a bit too much on how not to get beaten by an Alexandria package, and not enough on what Glory Girl was going to do…

Vicky moved fast. It was probably a set up, but there wasn't any easy way to get off of the roof and if Tattletale was lying, first she'd beat the location of Jim and Claire out of her and then fly her to the Rig and—she flipped the lid off.

And almost lost her lunch. Maggots, torn flesh, dogs and cats looking up, their lips skinned back from their teeth in death. Toy poodles, old dogs that looked like they belonged in a dog part—

Fuckers. Fuckers!

Before she knew it, Vicky was rising up, and then coming down, full force, slamming through the plaster and wood of the house as the alarm started to wail. She appeared in a living room full of trashy posters with a big-screen TV.

"Hello," she said smacking her fist into her open palm. "How about you pick on someone who can fight back?"

Was there some kind of teenage parahuman underground I wasn't aware of? Glory Girl had landed, talked to Tattletale, as if they were planning something, then she went to check the house and now, she'd slammed through the roof!

Whatever their plan was, stealth wasn't a part of it anymore.

There was a fight going on in the front, with one E88 ganger flying out of the window onto the front yard. But I sent my spiders up, webbing locks closed and webbing the shotguns to their racks.

And from their hiding places, I sent my flies and gnats in. I'd hold the wasps in reserve, for now.

"What the hell was that?" Jim asked, the entire house had rocked. Then Grue's phone squawked.

"Glory Girl just hit the front of the place!" Tattletale sounded worried. "She's fighting the guys, but—shit, there's another cape here, some kind of bug master!"

"Exterminator," Jim said. But then he heard the sound of people hammering on the door. "Ah, hell, we've got at least half of them to go!"

"If they ID us, we're screwed," Grue said. He jammed a chair under the doorknob. "But I bet there are guns or records back here and that's why they're trying—" the door slammed again, and suddenly there was a gunshot from the front, followed by a shriek.

"Hurry up, guys!" Tattletale said. "Operation's busted, and someone just took a potshot at Glory Girl."

"I'm going to help her," Jim said, "She has no idea what is going on."

"You'll get ID'd," Grue warned.

"Doesn't matter!" Jim said. "I—"

"The bad guy is down with a facefull of wasps…" Suddenly Lisa fell silent. "Oh. Joy," she said. "Guess who is coming down the street."

Jim considered the worst possible thing. "Hookwolf?"

"Got it in one. He must have been In the area. Fuck! Why now!"

"Trust me, when it rains it pours," Claire said, "Okay, time to try something else. Tell the people at the garage to hang on."

"What—"

Claire closed her eyes, and then opened them, violet pouring from them. Moments later, portals opened up underneath all the dogs and cats and with a chorus of squalls and yowls, they fell through. Claire gasped and leaned against Jim. "Lots of little portals…harder than a few big ones," she said. She took a deep breath. "But we've gotta do something about Glory Girl!"

"We need a distraction," Jim said. "Something to keep everyone busy…"

"Wait a minute…" Claire pulled her sleeve back. "Animation…"

"What?"

"Merlin taught me this. Magic is—stop snorting, Tattletale! Specific at times, and apprentices would use spells to move furniture around. I think—I mean, would chairs attacking them be enough?"

"Yea… yeah!" Jim said. "That'll work. When they're distracted, port Glory Girl to the shadow dimension. I don't think we want her flying out all keyed up until you've had a chance to talk to her."

"Right." Claire breathed on one gem. "This is going to take a lot of effort guys."

Claire closed her eyes. The spell was set. The energy still had to come from her. There were ways to hold energy, but she didn't know them yet. Merlin had told her that if she wanted that so badly, she could learn it herself, and then handed her a book with more pages than Webster's Dictionary. But she could do this. She focused on her outrage at the treatment of the dogs, let that fuel her, carefully walling off a desire to hurt those responsible.

Just keep them from doing this again. Then she felt the sorcery reach out, find what it had been coded to find.

Who knew that the sorcerer's apprentice had a backing in truth?

Nobody noticed it at first. The gang members hammering on the door to get to the guns in the back, and incidentally not having to fight the angry Alexandria Package in the front.

Then the folding chairs next to the door shivered, and attacked them.

There's another cape here, Vicky realized. Exterminator she bet. One guy raising a baseball bat to hit her got a face full of bugs, while another guy toppled to the floor, his feet somehow stuck. But there were more guys and she saw cars screeching to a halt up front. Maybe it was time to l—

And then the Lazy-Boy somehow started moving and ate a ganger aiming a gun at her. The couch was moving and now people were screaming and shooting at everything else but her as household furniture tried to murder them. Vicky stared at the chaos and then grinned, and really amped up her aura.

"IT'S THE SPIRITS OF ALL THE ANIMALS YOU KILLED, COME TO HAVE THEIR REVENGE FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE!" she screamed, arms outflung.

And that was when a circle of purple just engulfed her.

Vicky blinked, and looked around. She wasn't near the house, she wasn't anywhere. She couldn't even feel gravity.

"The fuck…"

"Yeah, that's what I said." Vicky spun around to see Claire, sitting on a floating rock.

"What the—"

"We didn't want you flying out in combat mode," Claire said. "Why were you there?"

"I was looking for you and then Tattletale spun this complete bullshit story about…" Vicky blinked. "You really were working with them."

"Yep." Claire gave Vicky a flat look. "You know, go in, portal all the animals to safety, teleport out, nobody the wiser."

"Um… oops?" Vicky said in a small voice.

Glory Girl had vanished, and so had the others. There had been a flicker of purple, and Tattletale was gone.

But the furniture was still working and I got a grin on my face.

If I ever met her, I'd have to thank Glory Girl.

She had given me the idea.

I reached down and gathered my insects. Nobody was in who I needed to protect, and well… Keeping track of the Empire was surprisingly easy given the amount of lice, both head and pubic they had.

And yes, I was going to take a long shower to try and forget that tonight.

But my wasps and gnats flew taking forms, Yellow wasp bodies taking up the position of the eyes and mouth, and the rest of the bugs forming the "body" of what looked like spectral dogs and cats.

The screams got much louder. I'd definitely have to keep this in mind for future operations. As well as view this footage.

For research. Of course.

Brad jumped from the truck, the rest of his men with him, hooks and wire already springing form his body. He'd almost expected this. Whatever Kaiser said, the Empire looked weak, and you'd expect some fucker to go after it.

Then a window burst, and a frantically screaming man, someone who never showed fear in the fighting pits, who had actually gone a few rounds with Hookwolf got halfway out before…

The fuck, is that a folding chair?

Whatever it was, it yanked him back inside. Brad advanced, waving at his men to keep watch on the house. If there was a parahuman in there, they were his. Another guy game running out, looking like something had taken a chunk out of his pants. Brad grabbed him.

"What the fuck happened?"

"Gh-ghosts! The dogs, they fucking came back man, the house, they came back!"

Brad punched the coward in the jaw, sending him out. He'd deal with him later. He charged into the house, fully armored up and promptly shredded the couch that was trying to attack him.

All of his people were gone, now, leaving Brad and whatever dead man was still playing games.

Next thing, a fucking refrigerator attacked him and Brad was thinking that he'd have to get the entire gang together to come up with a punishment good enough for whatever fucking Tinker thought this was funny. He tore the refrigerator in half, and was promptly covered in all the spaghetti the guards had been keeping to eat. Throwing the refrigerator away, Brad punched through another chair, and turned to see that the stove had partially pulled itself away from the, a high whistling sound coming from it. Brad punched the stove, noticing that if you did enough damage, they just… stopped.

The next thing he noticed was that he'd just produced a ton of sparks, and that whistling had come from the busted gas line.

BOOM

Moment's later, Brad came back to, in front of the cheerily burning house. He looked up to see that he'd partially embedded himself in the side of the car, the driver still staring at him. Brad got up, snarled, and then ripped the door off, getting in next to his driver.

"Back to Kaiser."

"Yeah, boss, um, about th—"

"Not. One. More. Word."

As the driver pulled away and left the rest of the gang to clean up the mess, Brad started to brush the charred pasta off of his body, and indulged in fond dreams of murder when he caught whoever had done this.

I pulled back and left the area. There'd probably be helicopters and a heaver E88 cape presence.

But I had my information. Somehow, the Undersiders and Wards were cooperating. I'd have to find out more.

And also… I looked down at the camera. I'd have to make a throwaway account. After all, the E88 said they wanted their battles to be immortalized.

Who was I to deny them the joy of seeing this battle scattered to the far corners of the Internet?