But all terrible things came to an end, and Jim and Claire were cleared to go to their home with Mr. Blinky. They could also walk in certain areas, so long as they "did not attempt to arrest anyone, from Hookwolf to a guy not bagging his dog's crap." That had been from Director Piggot, who had cheerfully (at least as cheerfully as she got) told Jim that having Panacea in town meant that she could skin him alive for a troll rug and keep him alive.

Jim wasn't certain if she was joking. She had that Senor Uhl look on her face.

So they were sitting on the porch of their home of the last several weeks, enjoying the night air. The moon was full, and the streets were still relatively crowded, the early evening air crisp.

"So…" Claire said. "What are we doing to do until we're on full duty—other than deal with Armsmaster and Merlin."

"Dunno," Jim said.

"For now, you two should enjoy yourself. There may be tempests in the future, but for now, the waters are smooth," Blinky said. "And, since the last thing you need is a cold, here is some hot chocolate. For you, Master Jim, it includes motor oil and some iron fillings, while yours, Fair Claire, was made by following the instructions to the letter." Blinky handed them both teaming mugs with the PRT-ENE logo on them. Jim grinned. "Thanks, Blinky."

Mr. Blinky smiled and looked out over the ocean. "I have not said how proud I was of both of you," he mentioned. "And I think the Lady Piggot is conflicted."

"We cause her problems?"

"Yes, but she hated Lung as much as you did. She hopes to recover this city, but so long as more and more villains continue to appear…"

"Yeah." Claire shook her head. "This next week, I have to take my AP college tests, to see if I can get entered into the college."

"But you had enough credits to graduate," Jim protested.

"So I said, but they didn't… Well, they wanted to make certain I knew it, but now…"

"So you're leaving Arcadia."

"Evening classes," Claire said. "When we left Arcadia, I had enough credits to graduate, but I passed on some AP classes, and I can get them here, in addition to some college units…" She smiled and leaned up against Jim, "but why would I leave the school that has my handsome boyfriend?"

Jim chuckled and then turned red as he started purring.

"Wow, was that something I said?" Claire asked in a teasing voice.

"I—" Jim fell silent as his phone buzzed. "Please don't be an emergency…" he murmured, pulling the over-sized unit out. He looked at it, and blinked. "Huh."

"What?"

"Orb Weaver wants to meet us, at Felipe's"

"What?" Claire asked. "That's—she's going to stand out."

"She said she'd let us know when she was there." Jim looked over at Claire. "So, we have a 10:00 curfew before we have to talk to the PRT…"

"And she's not asking us to go for another desperate adventure…" Claire added.

"Technically, you asked her," Blinky corrected them. "But I doubt she is going to do anything unusual right on the waterfront, so enjoy yourselves!"

"We will," Jim said. "Ah… if anyone calls, we're out with, um, friends."

"And nothing is burning down." Blinky smiled. "I will relay both messages."

"I don't think specifying 'nothing is burning down' is going to relax anyone," Claire said.

"Ah, be off with you two." Blinky waved.

Of everyone I knew there was only two individuals who were strong enough, connected enough and honestly, trustworthy enough for me to go to.

Jim and Claire. Jim had almost killed himself for someone who he had only known for a few weeks. But neither one was a part of the Protectorate, at least not like the Wards. I could trust Jim, as much as I could trust anyone, to listen to me.

And they were open capes.

Even so, I felt naked. My equipment was back home, and I'd taken the bus here. Dad had decided that he didn't want to know who I was going to communicate with, and we'd established several email accounts that would send him a message if I didn't enter a code ever so often. It sounded stupid, but I was just one person, and you never knew.

After all, I'd helped take down Lung and Oni Lee and if they could be taken in a day, so could I. It also meant that people wouldn't be underestimating me like they had been when I was just observing buildings and dealing with muggers. Everyone involved with Lung had seen a massive boost in interest. That wasn't always a good thing.

When I got to Felipe's, I could see them sitting at the ocean front tables in the open. There were a number of people there, but Felipe's wasn't shy about keeping capes from being harassed.

Fortunately, I'd booked a table for three and specified a position out of ear shot of most other diners.

I had thought about a meeting place somewhere else, where I could unmask, but Dad had made a good point—if someone saw us, it would instantly out me. Here I was just someone who was going to see them, and Jim and Claire had friends my age. It wouldn't raise any suspicion.

Of course, the bounty from Oni Lee had purchased a Toybox bug detector and jammer system, and I'd used it just that morning as I jogged by the diner.

And I was using it again, but it wasn't giving the buzz indicating we were under observation.

The waiter let me through and I walked to the table, pulling my hoodie back to let them see me.

Jim was looming over both his girlfriend, and even standing up, me. But it was a little hard to take him seriously, with his sweater. Another humor piece—an image of a furious Alexandria with white stains on her uniform, strangling a pigeon. Underneath it were the words: "Against Bird Poop, even the Triumvirate Strives in Vain."

And then I had a flash of Jim roaring, one eye gone, before he threw Lung into a building three blocks away, as well as the terrifying tone his voice had taken as he called Lung out.

No, he was someone to take very seriously.

Next to him, Claire was looking up at me.

"Um, Hi…" She said.

"We met when I helping with exterminating your Oni problem," I said. "Taylor Hebert."

Claire started. Taylor Hebert… Yeah, she was the one that Sophia had… Oh. Shit. On the other hand, Claire hadn't had anything to do with that, and neither had Jim and Orb Weaver had helped them.

"Oh, hi!" Jim said. "I've seen you jogging around."

"Yes. You've been missing for a while."

"Well, I needed to work out, to, well, you know, even after they replace the muscle, I have to learn to use it."

"And that means getting thumped on by Armsmaster." Claire stared up at the girl and gestured. "Have you eaten?"

"No. Not yet."

There's something… She was slim, maybe a little on the thin side, with a wide, expressive mouth, and large eyes made larger by the glasses she wore. Tall. Actually pretty good looking.

But it was all controlled. Claire had wondered if Orb Weaver had been an act, but the girl… her motions were controlled, calm, and a little… Odd. Claire couldn't quite place her finger on it, but on the other hand, if she'd been working alone, especially after everything that had happened…

"I'm Claire Nunez," Claire said. She gestured at Jim. "And Jim Lake Jr., who needs no introduction."

"And you just introduced him."

Is she joking? God, I only know what PHO says and what we saw, and I don't think she's a Biblical plague, at least not most of the time… Claire wondered if Taylor was nervous. If so, she was hiding it really well.

"The city is getting more dangerous."

"More? I thought that Lung gone would make things easier."

The slim girl shook her head. "The E88 is pulling their horns in. I don't know why. Some Cape has Kaiser spooked, but he's not said anything at all about it. But there are others. The Teeth had a team down here looking for a base. Some believe the Elite are sniffing around." She shrugged. "And there are other groups here, some new triggers, some hoping to take advantage of the chaos."

"How…" Claire looked around. "First of all, isn't this a bit open?"

Taylor pulled a gadget out of her pocket. "It's a Toybox anti-eavesdropping system. Nothing's certain but, we're also not in any place people would be expecting us to talk about secrets."

"Okay," Jim said. "But why here? You can talk over PHO. Why…" He gestured. "I mean, we're pretty open, but you seem to value your privacy."

"I did, but if the city is getting dangerous, I may need help. If I vanish, I may need someone to make certain that my Dad is safe."

"And you don't want the PRT to know," Jim said.

"They've had leaks in the past," I told them.

"Yeah, can't say anything, but people aren't happy," Claire said. "So you want us as a backup."

"Yes."

"Good," Jim said. "That makes sense. You'll also have to spend time with us."

"What?" The word was flat.

"Think about it," Claire said. "Right now you're a friend meeting us for dinner. Okay, but if you never talk to us again, except when something is important…" Not to mention I bet you don't have many friends at Winslow, or someone would have spoken up, so why not? And to be fair, Claire liked Missy a lot, but Missy wasn't even thirteen yet and… yeah, it'd be nice to introduce someone else to their group who was female, close to her age, and in the business, so they understood.

Come to think of it, Orb—Taylor was probably closer to how they worked back home than any of the Wards.

"Then if Orb Weaver goes missing and we show up at your house, like we've never done before, anyone watching will know we're there for a reason. They might… you know, get ideas," Jim said. "But if we're just your friends who are worried about you, and not make the connection…"

"It makes sense," Taylor said. She was calm again, but behind her, the bugs flying around the lights went still and then went berserk for a few moments.

"You know," Jim said. "You don't need to answer, but how do you know so much…"

"My bugs, but also, after I got some bounties," Taylor tilted her head, "I paid some of the street people, mostly homeless kids, to keep an eye out. Nobody pays any attention to them, and ten or twenty dollars can make the difference between a full belly and an empty one. Sometimes, when it's cold, I pay for some rooms at a cheap hotel. Finally, I've… dealt with some of the people victimizing them." She shrugged. "I don't just do it for information. Some of the people need help."

"That's… Wait, what if they know who you are?"

"They use burner phones or write messages and I have swarms pick them up. I tried talking to them with bug clones like you saw, but a lot of people aren't really comfortable about that."

I bet. Especially since Uber and Leet's video, combined with some leaked morgue and hospital reports, had made it plain that Orb Weaver had taken both Lee and most of Lung's soldiers out—and had never had to show her face to do so. Claire frowned faintly. "Taylor, I know…" she paused. "What that utter bitch did. But the rest of the Wards aren't like her. The only reason she wasn't as nasty to Vista was because there were more eyes on her." Claire looked at the girl. "Don't judge everyone by her standards."

"I'm not." Taylor shrugged. "I just think I'd have more freedom to do good for the city as an independent."

Let's see. You evidently have people working for you as an Earth Bet version of the Baker Street Irregulars, you can take people down from a few blocks away, and… you also seemed a little surprised that even friendly people might find a humanoid pile of bugs disturbing. Claire had a sudden image of Kyle being brought out of the PRT under a blanket, while someone else brought out a trashcan full of the bottles he'd used to drink himself to death when they told him he had to make Orb Weaver cute and photogenic.

"You might be right," Claire said.

And then they fell silent as the food was brought.

Including Jim's favorite blend of spaghetti, shredded socks, motor oil, and iron filings.

So she knew that as well, Claire thought. Well, Director Piggot wanted to keep Orb Weaver happy, and they were doing exactly that.

And it wasn't as if there was more than one Lung in town, so hopefully things wouldn't get as crazy as they had been. This was just… insurance.

Right. And with that, Claire started eating, her and Taylor quickly being outpaced by the incredible vacuum that was Jim's appetite.