"Praise the Angel!" Jim ducked under a wild swing and punched the guy out. They'd been out for an ordinary outing, Jim not working with a Protectorate member, mainly as a way to try to get Dean out of the Wards quarters. Just some teens (and a big half-troll), having fun for the day.

Vicky was back at home. She'd done power testing, talked to Amy—no, Amelia, then had headed back to her home. She'd be red-eyed tomorrow. Jim didn't know everything that was going on, but evidently Carol wasn't dealing well with some of Director Piggot's demands, which included a mental health check. She was refusing it, and claiming that Amelia and Merlin were working together to destroy their family. Vicky was trying to get everyone back together.

And it wasn't working.

So here they were, trying for a normal day with Dean, at a local mall (the boardwalk had too many memories of him walking around with Vicky), hitting a movie, just the guys…

And then the fucking Fallen had decided to attack the place out of the blue, claiming revenge for… something.

I should probably just avoid malls in the future.

Oh, and the E88 showed up to defend the mall from the degenerates, in addition to showing off their power.

And that meant that Chris, Dean and Carlos were out of the fight, because none of them had their costumes handy, and nobody wanted to risk the Fallen finding out their identity.

They had two capes with them, one unleashing ball lightning that was shattering windows and scattering the panicked crowd, and the other looking like a person covered in red hot stone—Jim didn't know if that was his form or a costume to honor Behemoth. But they were doing more damage to the mall and people than they had to. This wasn't just a smash and grab, it was a terror raid.

Jim didn't know why, but they were pissed about something.

Jim swept down and grabbed a woman who was shielding her kid, and took a leap, the woman screaming, her kid cheering. They ended up by the Macy's entrance on the second story. Jim didn't hear any fighting in there, so he gestured. "Go."

"Y-yes," she said. Then Jim dove back down. The E88 had at least one cape there, Kreig, who was fighting with the Behemoth clone. Jim left him to it, before he headed for the idiot chucking lightning at people. Evidently they had to control their lightning balls consciously, because Jim managed to feint to the left, then dove under a sparking globe and then managed to smack him in the gut with his fist. The teen gasped/screamed, and then there was an explosion of lightning that sent Jim flying back, along with a good chunk of the unpowered Fallen.

Jim got up, they didn't. The cape was standing up, weaving from side to side, his power sparking sporadically.

"False hero!" he (or she, the voice was kinda high) said. "In the name of the Holy Behemoth I will—"

Jim tossed them into the fountain.

He probably shouldn't have, but Jim was getting really tired of every other free day he had getting interrupted. There was an explosion of steam, sparks, and then the twitching (and still breathing, thank God) cape floated to the surface.

"The other is gone," Jim turned around to see Krieg. "He fled, like the degenerate he is. Why they were lashing out… Well, they are degenerates."

"Yeah, they were annoyed at something," Jim said. He looked around at the mall. The emergency lights were flashing, but people were starting to show up again, with the E88 goons strutting around. "What about your people. Are we going to fight?" Because I'm tired and just wanted to see a movie. Also, Director Piggot told me to not initiate a fight with the E88.

"Of course not!" Krieg said. "While I am, sadly, wanted due to my actions in protecting the bay, these young men are all free of any charges…" he gestured to the various E88 goons. "They merely arrived to do their civic duty and will be discussing providing further security with the Mall management. The police would no doubt be happy to accept such assistance."

For free, I bet. And after anyone with the wrong skin color no longer shopped at the mall, the rules would change… Fuck, I need to tell Director Piggot about this.

"As for you, Trollhunter, I have a message from Kaiser Himself."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Krieg spoke as if he was about to bestow a blessing on Jim. "We have seen pictures of you before your unfortunate change, and it is clear that your racial stock was of the purest. So, if you desire to seek a closer alignment…"

"Uh-huh. There's a problem."

"Kaiser understands that you may have… feelings for your consort." Krieg didn't quite keep the distaste out of hive voice. "Despite her… origins, a discrete relationship would be acceptable."

Would slicing this asshole in half with Eclipse count as initiating a fight? Jim looked over his shoulder as he heard more and more sirens approaching.

"Well, I must be off," Krieg said. "But consider our offer. Hookwolf would be delighted to have you."

With that, he was gone, but more than a few of the goons remained.

Smirking.

Must not go Full Gunmar.

Later, after the police had come and carted away the unpowered Fallen, and the PRT had grabbed Ball Lightning Lass (It turned out she was a girl), Claire portaled out to where Jim was, surrounded by bystanders and cops.

"Jim, I just heard," she said. "Why didn't you—" Jim swept her up into a hug and gave her a great big kiss. After a few moments, they parted and Claire blinked up at Jim. "Wow, I'm happy to see you as well!" She giggled. "What's the occasion?"

"Oh, just a reply and an announcement," Jim said. "I didn't feel like being discrete." And I'm not telling you what Krieg said. I bet Director Piggot probably wouldn't believe that the E88 membership just 'happened' to end up on the moon.

"Well, I know why the Fallen attacked." Claire looked around and lowered her voice. "They lost their leaders. According to a little butterfly, Valefor and Eligos annoyed Bastard Son and ended up on the bottom of the Bay."

"Wow," Jim said. "That's… I wonder what they'll do? Send in more capes or back off?"

"Dunno. Also, the Elite may be leaning on Parian."

"Great," Jim said. Though to be honest, if he had to choose between the Elite and E88, he knew who he was rooting for.

"Everyone's looking at me," Amelia said. "I have to stay here for further power testing, they have a pre-signed kill order…" She glared at Merlin. "And you have me reading books!"

"Would you rather be warping the natural order?" Merlin asked. "And of course they have made preparations to kill you. Would you prefer, Little Mouse, that they told you comforting lies and patted you on the head, claiming the poison they were about to feed you was just medicine? Your power is unimaginable. What if you created… oh, deadly rats, immune to poison, clever, armed with their own deadly fangs… How soon before the city—nay, the continent would feel that? And that is by no means the worst you could do, is it?"

The rats would be a good start, but a hive mind might be better… She started thinking about a linked mind, maybe by radio, maybe by the slower (but harder to disrupt) method of chemical cues. Should they all be capable of breeding or just a queen—wait, no better, all the drone rats would be neuter, but if a queen died, then any drone could change sex and become a new queen… Amelia pulled her mind away from the images, a complex, ever evolving super organism…

"You were thinking about it, weren't you?"

"But I wouldn't do it."

"No, but their duty is to defend this world. That means considering potential threats. Among which you now find yourself."

"Fine," Amelia said. She touched a rose and relaxed, changing its color, bio-luminescent lines running up and down the plant. "But these books aren't about my power!"

"No, these books are all about your power," Merlin said. "Have you ever heard of a man named Hillel the Elder?"

"No." Amelia shook her head.

"Pity. I was a student of his, for a short time. I must admit that the current books about him tend to make him far more dour than he was."

"Was he a wizard?"

"Oh my, no far from it." Merlin shook his head. "He was a Teacher, and a far better one than I have been. Some of those books are his. He actually coined the Golden Rule, you know." He stared at Amelia. "But you have a great power, and you have made rules. But what happens when those rules are not enough? I fear the claims you made in the past, that Victoria told me about, that the doctors once believed, are now proven false—you can obviously," Merlin pointed to the monitor with the image of a snuffling pig in it, "do brains. What now will you say when a woman comes to you, her son deep in a coma, and begs you to restore her child?"

"I—I don't know."

"Exactly. Hopefully, these books will help you learn, not just how to use your power, but when to use your power and when to hold to your rules, and… When to realize that you must break your rules."

"But if I break it, it's not a rule!" Amelia protested.

"And if you never break it, it's not a rule, but a dogma, Little Mouse."

"I blew up my family and you have me reading books!"

"Yes. And you did not 'blow up' your family." Merlin looked out from under his gray eyebrows at her. "They chose a comforting lie over the truth… And predictably, it exploded." He paused. "You know, maybe I should give these books to Carol, she could certainly benef—"

"No, I have to read them first!" Amelia said. She didn't want to see what would happen if Carol tried to murder Merlin.

Although she had a feeling Carol probably wouldn't come off the winner.

Hillel the Elder is an actual historic person, who lived from 110BCE to 10CE, at least according to legend.