Colin took a corner at an unsafe speed even for his bike. The initial plan had been simple, find Trollhunter and Shadowdancer before their rampage went any further, and keep them from killing themselves.

And then everything had gone to hell. ABB attacks all over the city, a fucking gas main going off, to say nothing of the BBPD dispatch system suffering an unexpected failure, which required the PRT to take over.

Unexpected my ass. Heroes didn't curse. It was a vital part of maintaining the proper persona. But right now nobody was listening and Colin snarled the most creative profanity he knew.

And after this, there would be another round of hunts for moles or malware, and it would show nothing at all.

The Simurgh did it… A sarcastic joke about someone who didn't even have a good excuse.

Like the Bay. No wonder it was hard to get people to transfer in.

But this time, two of Colin's Wards might die because of this, and this time, he would find out why and how this happened. It wasn't just bad luck.

It was enemy action.

But first, it was time to try and save James Lake from his own, damnable…

Heroism.

"This is Armsmaster, coming around to the last recorded position of the fight"—three city blocks that are on fire—"Can I get any backup?"

"Negative. Miss Militia is supporting BBPD, all other heroes are occupied, and Wards are currently under lockdown. BBPD and BBFD have informed us that they have declared the area a red-zone. They're handling evacuation from the fringes, but you're on your own."

"Understood." He waited until the channel was closed. "Fuck!"

The rifle fire from the goons went away, and Grue let his cloud vanish so that Lisa could see what was going on. There were a few screaming ABB soldiers on the ground, and one leaped out of a second-story window, clawing at his eyes, while another was halfway out of a window, hands clutching at his crotch.

Wasps stinging eyes and genitalia.

Lisa shook her head. Everyone else knows the rules, why did we hook up with the people who flip the fucking table?

Grue came up next to her, he had Claire in his arms, the small girl shivering.

Severe concussion. Fractured ribs. Internal bleeding. Took more of the blast rather than risk not being able to fully shield us.

"What the fuck do we do?" Grue snarled. Oni Lee was nowhere to be seen, but his attack had given Lung time to ramp up. He was over 12 feet tall and Jim was smoking, roaring in pain and fury as he threw Lung nearly three blocks, after chopping his hand off. A BBPD car, sirens wailing, came around the corner, stopped, turned around, and spun off.

Lisa didn't blame them. This was well beyond pepper spraying someone.

"Gotta…" Claire was shaking, vomit and saliva leaking from her mouth. "Gotta…"

"Old plan's fucked," Tattletale said. "Throw him in the bay like that and he'll just come back, he won't ramp down fast enough."

Glory girl came by, spun and threw another car at Lung. It impacted the warlord and he roared, but he didn't fall back. Not by as much. But Jim managed to get out from under him and was striking him, with blow after blow.

Which weren't hurting Lung. Not now. In a few minutes, Lung would be of the level to crush both Jim and Glory Girl and now he had nothing to lose…

We're fucked, we're…

No. Wait. Lung ramped up in proximity to hostiles. He'd keep getting better… But throwing him into the bay wouldn't work—he'd still be strong enough and would come back to them. Even if he didn't, if they gave him a chance to hide, he'd come back when he was ready and Lisa really didn't need her power to helpfully explain what he'd do to her then.

Oh.

Oh.

"Can you still portal?" Lisa asked.

"Nuh…Yah…Where?"

"Lung. As high up as you can get him."

"Y-yeh…" Claire stared and a flickering portal opened behind Lung, but something about it warned him. He dodged to the side, and then, lightning-fast, smashed Jim with his remaining arm.

Jim raised up to fight, but Lung was too big, and Eclipse bit into him… And was stuck, and then Lung grabbed Jim, his fist red hot, and smashed him to the ground, once, twice, three times. Brutus growled and attacked, but this time, Lung just grabbed the dog by his head and threw it down the street. The others were already injured by Lee's fucking bombs and Lung's blows. They were out.

It was then that Glory Girl returned and hit Lung with a…

Fucking I-beam?

Found it in the lot behind us. Figuring it will get Jim free.

Really pissed.

"Now!" Lisa shouted, and Claire moaned with effort—and then Lung was through her portal—and another portal, far above, formed.

"Glory Girl, get down here!" Lisa screamed. The white-clad teen turned, looked at her and then zipped down, worry on her face.

"I was supposed to tell you to back off, but Jim's hurt, we've gotta—"

"We've gotta take Lung out first," Grue said.

"Claire," Lisa said. "We need another portal. As many as you can make. Glory Girl, hit him into them and run away. Don't fight him, just keep smacking him into portals. His power ramps up based on opposition, so don't give him any. Hit and Run, like…" she smirked. "An Undersider."

Jim had staggered to his feet, and was staring up at Lung.

Injured. Injured very badly.

Won't leave until the battle is over.

"Do it, Claire," Lisa said. Glory Girl zipped up as another portal opened. Claire was whimpering in pain, but doing it, her eyes going nearly totally purple, blood leaking from their corners. Lung opened his body, spreading out to avoid the portal…

And Glory Girl slammed right into him, knocking him into the portal—which opened up again, far into the sky.

Lung roared, the sound loud even down here but…

Lung no longer increasing in size. No longer ramping up. Shrinking. Portals are accelerating the pace of his shrinking.

"Tattletale—" Lisa glanced behind her to see Armsmaster charging forward, actually leaping over a shattered wall. "What is wrong with Shadowdancer?"

"She took the blast from forty pounds of HE to the face," Lisa said. "But do you have your Anti-Lung measures?" Above them, Lung exited another portal, just flying up, before gravity took over, Glory Girl, wonder of wonders, just orbiting far away from Lung, listening to Lisa's advice, waiting for another portal.

"Yes. The rest of the Protectorate is on the way. The ABB was ordered to provide a distraction…"

That's where the other ABB goons were.

"Won't need 'em." Lisa stared. "Fifty feet off the ground for this one, Claire. When Glory Girl hits him. Be ready."

Armsmaster stared at her for a moment, then nodded.

And Claire did. The last portal opened up just as Glory Girl struck Lung and then another one opened up just over the ground.

Lung's impact set off the few car alarms that hadn't been set off by the bombs. Windows shattered and Jim was charging. Lung barely got up and stared at Jim, then roard, but Jim was on him, punching and punching and punching…

Lung staggered back just in time for Armsmaster to hit him with his halberd. Lung stood up, turned around… then fell down, whether from the drugs or Jim punching him in the head before he had a chance to ramp up again, Lisa wasn't certain.

Jim growled and advanced.

"Enough, Trollhunter," Armsmaster said. "You won."

"I…" Jim's eye cleared. "I won… Everyone else, okay? Ann? Claire?"

Tattletale gulped as her power started sharing just how badly Jim was injured. He turned, looked at them, the side of his face looking like burned meat, his eye gone, the socket dark in the light. Some of his ribs were exposed.

"Fuck…" Grue breathed.

"Yes," Armsmaster said.

"Good…I don't think I'm going to be able to… Tell…" With that, Jim fell, Armsmaster grabbing him and easing his body to the ground.

"This is Armsmaster, send medical teams to the Wards quarters immediately! Get Clockblocker to the Wards Quarters, now!"

Then he looked at Claire. She was staring at Jim, her face a mass of mottled bruises, blood dripping from her nose and ears.

"I need one more portal, Shadowdancer. Just one. Can you portal Jim to the Wards Quarters? Merlin said it was familiar territory to you."

"I—Yes!" Claire reached out her hands and the noise she made was like a wounded animal. And then, one last portal appeared and Jim fell through it.

"What—what the fuck!" Clockblocker sounded from Armsmaster's coms.

Put it on speaker. Deliberately. Doesn't want to risk a fight because we think he's playing games.

"Clockblocker, freeze him, now!"

"Yeah…Yeah I did, Oh God!" There was a pause. "Sorry, I just puked. Vista's freaking out."

"You are doing fine, Clockblocker. Keep freezing Jim until Merlin and Panacea arrive and follow their instructions. Without their care, he is only a few moments from death. Keep freezing him, Clockblocker. Just breathe and keep freezing him. You can do that."

"Um…Uh yes,"

"Cn portal…" Claire slurred. Armsmaster frowned and flipped out something from his gauntlet.

"You are suffering from a severe concussion and internal injuries. Also, that last portal… your brain chemistry is off."

"Like I said, she took it rather than us. How are the…"

"The family is fine." Armsmaster stared at them. "She can be transported by ambulance. The rest of the Protectorate is busy—Lung had his men threaten various parts of the city."

Not just that. Something else. Armsmaster is really pissed. Lisa decided to not poke him. Not right now.

"Oni Lee is dead." That was Orb Weaver, looking like she'd just come from a refreshing walk in the park.

"How do you know?" Armsmaster asked.

"I set my bugs to attacking his lungs to get him to stop. He teleported out of my range before I could call them off." Orb Weaver shrugged.

"You are registered as an independent hero. Could you come down and help us understand what happened?"

"Well, I'd say it's obvious," Regent said. "Trollhunter's now Dragonslayer."

"That name is already taken," Armsmaster said absently. "But for you, we'll agree that this occurred under Truce provisions and you are free to go." He paused. "But we might want to reach out to you in the future."

"I'll be on PHO," Lisa said. "Time to go!" Bitch had already left, her power enhancing her dogs' healing. Fortunately, none of them had died, but they'd been injured. Bitch would be in a foul mood, probably why she'd taken off.

Good. He might not be willing to let someone with a murder warrant leave.

Grue gently put Claire down. "We will," he said. "I want to know how they're doing. Not many…" his skull mask raised up to face Armsmaster, "…people go this far out of their way to help someone."

"Understood."

"Let's go, Grue," Tattletale said. Glory Girl glanced at her, but then went back to hovering protectively over Claire as the first EMT units came roaring in. A helicopter zipped overhead.

Impressively late.

Right now, her power was good for everything but the question she wanted answered.

Was Jim going to make it?

Missy had her arms around her body. She wasn't saying anything, because she wasn't certain how she'd sound. A portal had opened while they'd been in lockdown and Jim had fallen out…

One of his eyes was gone. You could see his ribs and the bones looked charred. Clockblocker had frozen him, but the smell…

Clockblocker had puked. Missy had felt like it.

And now they were being pushed aside while PRT medics came in and started erecting a tent around Jim. Evidently, someone had forgotten to move them out, And Missy wasn't going to say anything.

"Sixth degree burns, all the way down to the bone…"

"Was he alive?"

"According to Armsmaster, yes."

"Out of the way!" Merlin came shouldering in, his hands full of vials. A few moments later, Panacea came in, her clothes looking like she'd thrown them on.

"What happened—" She stared down at the time-frozen teen. "I'll have to… she glanced up at the photo Armsmaster had sent of Jim's injuries. "I can't—I mean, if he's that hurt my power—"

"All you must do is keep his brain alive."

"I don't do—"

"Foolish girl!" Merlin snapped. "I did not say change his brain, merely keep it alive. Everything else can be mended, so long as his soul has a housing."

"Right."

"Then let us begin." Merlin did that casually impossible thing he did, and Clockblocker's effect just stopped.

"He's crashing!" a paramedic said.

Panacea put her hands on him and some of the strange indicators started to stabilize, while others went crazy.

"What the…" Panacea's voice was amazed. "How is this working? He's got human DNA and some kind of—it's almost based on silicon, but how can that work in an oxygen atmosphere…"

Missy stared at her. She didn't sound worried for Jim, she sounded… enthralled, like she'd never seen such a puzzle before.

"Study later, heal now."

"He doesn't have enough body mass left, I can protect his brain, but I can't affect dead material."

"Then wait." Merlin poured a vial of some glowing green shit on Jim's burned body and it just sank into his form.

"How are you doing that?" Panacea said.

"I'll explain it later. We need to keep working on this foolish boy, suicidal boy…" Merlin took a deep breath. "Valiant boy…"

It was then that someone noticed the wards and shuffled them off to a conference room.

"Merlin and Panacea are continuing to treat Mr. Lake. I've ordered the Wards transferred to an empty bunk room for the immediate future. Some of them may need counseling. Also, Trooper Simmonds needs a reprimand for stating that 'he looks like he went five rounds with Crawler and Burnscar' in their presence."

"Ms. Nunez is currently under observation, but her injuries are less severe. Several cracked ribs, internal bruising, and a severe concussion. Merlin has warned that she should not use her powers for some time. Also, according to Tattletale, if she had focused on shielding herself, she probably would have escaped injury, but she spread her shield out trying to protect everyone."

Emily said nothing, just stared at Colin over the emergency reports she was going over. The city was calming down, and the Empire was silent.

Colin wondered if it was because they realized it might provoke a massive response, or if the decision by two Wards to toss every rule out the window had caught them by surprise as well.

"We are recovering the ABB troops who participated in the ambush," Colin said. "Several died from the blast. Evidently, for all of his love of explosives, Oni Lee was no demolition expert."

"And Lee?"

"Dead. We found his body six blocks away from the battle scene." The fighting had died down enough for an emergency conference. Jim was still being worked on by Merlin and Panacea—four hours later.

Colin couldn't recall Panacea ever needing that much time, but evidently, his unusual physiology made things a bit more difficult. But from Merlin's snarling, he would live to "be a suicidal fool again."

"Cause?"

"Bugs," Colin frowned. "Wasps and bees crammed down his throat and into his lungs. He teleported, but they went with him." He paused. "Orb Weaver stated that he moved beyond her control range. I did not ask her if she would have called them off had he remained in range." Colin shook his head. "She will be coming in later, but requested some time. I believe she'll be speaking to… her associates. Also, many of the captured ABB soldiers had stings to their eyes and genitalia. It represented a rather brutal use of her powers."

"I'll suggest that they bring that up when the prosecutor asks why they were there with assault rifles, trying to murder some teenagers." Piggot frowned. "We finally got the authorization we should have had long ago—Dragon will be transporting Lung to the Birdcage in the next five hours.

"And his hand?"

"It can grow back in the cage." Piggot frowned. "I'll have to ask Mr. Lake if he was just trying to anger Lung or if he knew that Lung couldn't let that kind of insult pass, no matter the consequences."

"Director, the issues we had in effectively responding, this was the worst it's ever been. The most blatant."

"And nothing will be found, as usual, and we're already the "department that cried stranger' to the rest of the PRT."

"Agreed. I suggest that we have Dragon run a concurrent database with ours. You and I both know there is more to this than incompetence or bad luck and if that is the case, someone has very high-level penetration."

"You've felt we should handle it ourselves. What changed?"

"Somebody tried to murder two of my Wards, Director. If the Undersiders hadn't been there, and Tattletale hadn't come up with an inspired tactic on the fly, they would be dead."

Piggot paused, then nodded. "Do it. No paperwork. Talk to nobody else here. This is just going to be between you, me and Dragon."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Now we have to figure out how to handle the PR end of this shit—" There was a knock at the door.

"Come in!"

"Director Piggot." Renick looked grim. "We have a problem." He walked over to the screen, and touched a few studs. Soon, a pair of very unwelcome voices filled the room.

"It's the Uber and Leet Channel! Well, Leet, we last saw the Trollhunter playing hopscotch!" The screen cut from the two villains to a shaky cell phone view of Circus avoiding Jim as the villain bounced along a hopscotch game.

"That we did. Also, he loves to cook, and of course, fought for the evil Horde against the valiant Alliance! But it looks like he's been hiding his power, because today, Trollhunter, his cute girlfriend Shadowdancer, along with the Undersiders and Glory Girl, took down Lung! And we have the video, from them turning a building into a sinkhole to the final confrontation with the dragon who is now in the PRT's hands!"

"Maybe they should just all retire and let the Wards handle things!"

"Now, don't be mean to Armsmaster. I'm certain he's done something… Can't think what, though." Leet grinned. "And here we are with the stream, either with our without our commentary! Don't forget, Like, share and contribute! Subscribers get even more features!"

"How much?" Piggot asked.

"Evidently, the entire confrontation," Renick said. "I've got phones ringing off the hook. Youth Guard is demanding a full investigation…"

"Of course they are." Piggot looked up at Armsmaster. "Curious, how they were able to find them and track them from the very beginning."

Colin nodded. "Very curious." Especially since no matter how it played out, we would look bad.

He changed his mind. He had been thinking about contacting dragon Dragon here. It might be better to do it outside of town, using only his equipment.

Because someone was going to pay for this.