Vicky looked horrible. Her makeup was…

Well, it was the first time Claire had seen her makeup so badly applied. She wasn't floating, she was just… dragging.

The lunch table was quiet for a few moments.

"Hey," Jim said."

"Hey," Vicky said, and just sat down, poking her foot with the spoon. "Mom tried to get a restraining order."

"Against who?" Claire asked. Dean winced as Vicky looked up at her.

"Jim. You. The Man on the Moon. The school." She took a deep breath. "And that's why Amy—Amelia isn't here. She called me."

Claire winced. I'd hoped we'd be able to tell you first… Given the incident, Amelia had decided that she didn't really want to go to school. Especially after she'd heard about her mother's demands. Not until things were fixed, and her Aunt had agreed.

Claire had sort of, not quite, kinda, eavesdropped on Piggot and Mr. Samuelson. The Youth Guard supervisor had been casually mentioning that while Amelia wasn't part of the Wards, he was still a mandated reporter and 'I don't feel comfortable going back to school because of my super-powered mother' was evidently the sort of thing that CPS might take an interest in.

But nothing like that had happened. Not yet.

"So what happened?" Jim asked.

"Mr. Barnes, he's a lawyer at work, told her that as a family law attorney, the only question would be whether or not the court would laugh her out of the room, or decide to… look into things." Vicky stabbed her food. "She should know that, she's a lawyer! I mean, she's been banned from the school and…"

"Things will work out," Dean said.

"Before or after New Wave goes boom?" Vicky muttered. "I mean, I'm flying with Dauntless, but Aunt Sarah has benched Mom, and Dad really doesn't go out…" She moved the plate to the side and lightly dropped her head onto the table.

She left a dent. "Can I please find some bad guys to beat up?" Vicky looked back up at Jim. "You fought the Teeth. That would have been so much easier!"

"I needed everyone to keep their head in the game," Jim said.

"Maybe I can beat up Hookwolf," Vicky muttered. "I mean, it's so stupid!" She said. "So Amelia's Marquis' kid—she doesn't even remember what he looked like! What's she going to do? Suddenly decide that she's the mistress of the Bay and whip up monsters?"

Dean paused. "Vicky…" he looked around. There was nobody around save those who knew who he was, Jim realized. "You know I can read emotions and your mother… She was always mixed with Amy."

"Great, that would have been great to know, before she tried to murder Jim."

"It wa—" Dean took a deep breath. "It wasn't like you think. There… She intended to take care of her. I never got any feeling of actual physical hostility. If I had, I would have said something. But there was a distance…" He shrugged. "I don't know how to put it any differently. There was a distance."

"Hi guys," Ann said as she came up. Jim glanced up, then blinked. Ann looked nearly as bad as Vicky.

"What happened to you?" Claire asked.

"Slept late. Didn't get much sleep last night," Ann said. "Kenji had his first preliminary trial, and Mom was going over the charges."

"Wait, wouldn't they get rid of them?" Claire asked. "Kenji's the one who blew the whole operation! I figured the court was just… you know, a formality!" In fact, she'd been expecting any day for Kenji to get released.

"Yeah, not so much. According to the lawyer we got…" Ann shook her head. "That comes after he's been found guilty. It's a… mitigating factor at sentencing."

"How bad?"

"Felony human trafficking," Ann said. "Money Laundering." Then she closed her eyes. "Accessory to 12 counts of murder."

"Wait, what?" Claire asked, shocked. "How did—he didn't kill anyone!"

"No, but he drove up there to get the containers with the girls in them. That created the demand. One of the containers sank. Thus, he was involved in the crime that led to their deaths…" Ann shook her head, and put her hands over her eyes. "The lawyer says that it's a bullshit charge that won't stick, except during the interrogation when Kenji was offering to tell them everything, the asshole FBI agent told him he 'needed to make it right' before our lawyer could shut him up. Now Kenji is talking about pleading guilty or if his lawyer doesn't let him do that, just talking about everything he did in court. If he does that the sentencing guidelines say from 19 to 250 years and there isn't any parole in federal prison!" She took a deep breath. "First my idiot brother goes to work for Lung, because he's too stupid to wonder what needs big-ass shipping containers, and now he's too stupid to realize that he shouldn't throw his fucking life away, again." She took another breath. "And nothing I do at night, beat—I mean, nothing I do, can actually change it."

"Oh, shit," Vicky said. "Ann, I'm sorry…"

"Yeah, well we can't all have brothers with an IQ higher than a sea-sponge." Ann took a deep breath. "And I was also told—well Mom was, but I was listening that there's… Well, some elections are coming up and nobody wants to look too easy on crime, especially Asian crime. And Kenji was part of Lung's crew, so hey, they get all their evidence, and if the idiot doesn't close his mouth, there's not even a plea deal out of it. Since Kenji opened his mouth, they know that they could just refuse any deal and put him on the stand and he'd convict himself."

Jim glanced at Claire. "What if… the person who took down Lung decided to talk about it?"

Ann blinked. "I don't know, I mean, what would that do in court?"

"I…" Jim frowned.

"Maybe if we talked to someone…"

Dean looked worried. "But as more or less Protectorate capes, you would have to get clearance…"

"Wait, what? Aren't you Wards?"

"Um, yeah, they sort of decided that our tendency to go charging off and trying to get ourselves killed isn't a good role model," Claire said. She winced. "So outside of PR and some training, we're with the Protectorate—like Vicky."

"What do the other Wards think about that?" Ann asked.

"Mostly, don't mind," Jim said. "According to Clockblocker, Brockton Bay's always been kind of special, on account of being built on top of an ancient Indian Burial ground that was covered by a toxic waste dump and then was used in a ritual to bring forth the End Days."

"He said that?" Ann asked, face brightening slightly.

"Yeah. But most of the Wards are pretty cool with not running into Hookwolf."

"Except Vista," Vicky said. "But she got the shit kicked out of her by the Teeth so she's on thin—"

"Et'slay otnay alktay aboutway Istavay, Ickyvay…" Claire said.

"Magic?" Ann asked.

"Pig Latin," Claire replied. "Because some things should be kept in house."

"Oh. Wait. Vista got into a fight with the Teeth? Isn't she like, 10?"

Vicky had the grace to look embarrassed. On the other hand, nobody looked upset that the subject matter was getting changed.

Which was good, because Jim was getting that… look on his face.

And Claire wanted to help Kenji, but Jim had already almost died for the idiot. She didn't want him to pull something like that again.

But soon enough, Lunch was over. Jim had to get back to class, Claire and Vicky started consulting on their delayed homework for college and Ann talked about being busy that evening.

Evidently, she had a meeting to get to.

Taylor

I arrived at Somer's Rock early. I had no back up. But I did have the answer to three questions from Dinah. That had been my price for a transcript of the conversation, purged of any identifying information, to be provided to Director Piggot.

Those three questions, combined, let me know that so long as I didn't start anything, I would be safe. I'd even tuned one of the questions to make certain nobody was preparing to provoke me to violence.

But I ran into the issue of seating. The normal way the tables were arranged would leave me with the option of sitting at the sides or the far end, which would put me at a disadvantage. Taking the front seat would be a challenge to Kaiser or Bastard son.

But since I was here first…

Kaiser and his group were the second arrival and he just stopped. Stared at the roughly circular form I'd had the bar attendants arrange the tables and seats in. I looked up at him, sipping some broth through a straw from my thermos (I wasn't going to drink anything here). "Come in. I think the meeting is about to start."

Hookwolf was there, along with Fenja and Menja. Krieg and Victor provided more back up, while Purity floated in.

Scuttlebutt was that Kaiser had asked her to rescue Rune, without mentioning (or knowing) that she was fighting Jim. It hadn't had the impact of Rune's second attack but had more or less put paid to her attempts to become a "hero" whatever she said.

That didn't bother me. Purity's time 'going straight' had merely been her looking for blacks and Asians that she could find an excuse for terrorizing.

Kaiser stared at me. "You seem to think that you're in charge." He tilted his crowned head. "A 'hero' who strikes from hiding. What makes you think you're going to walk out of here?"

"She's here on my invitation, heh." Bastard Son shouldered in the door, pushing Victor to the side. "Clear the damned door, Kaiser. Where were you raised, a barn?" He glanced at the table, chuckling. "Round table, eh? Why not, we've already got a Merlin…" he glanced at me. "Heh. Does that make you Arthur?"

"Just a facilitator and observer," I said. Bastard Son was wearing a mask with a mocking smile on it, his hair wildly styled, clashing with his tailored suit. His men followed in behind him, some of them his minions, some of them other Elite capes.

After that, more small timers filtered in, most of them choosing to take booths, flicking nervous glances at the Empire and Elite capes both.

Finally, a girl in a scarlet dress and cape came walking in. This was the cape that had been trying to take Lung's place. As she walked closer to the table, Kaiser kicked the chair she had been going for aside.

"What was that for—"

Wait a minute. I know that voice…

"Go take a seat with the rest of the rabble."

"I'm—"

"Someone who spends her time beating up other Asians," Krieg said. "Typical animal dominance games. It is not your place to sit with your bet—"

"You can sit by me," I said. "What's your cape name?"

"Onna-Bugeisha," she said.

"She has done nothing…" Kaiser glared at us.

"No, but she's the only cape who is in Lung's old territory," I reminded him.

"Let the kid sit at the table, Kaiser. Heh." Bastard Son looked at her. "She didn't cower like the rest. Heh."

"Very well." Then Kaiser looked at me. "But I'm surprised that someone with pretensions of… Heroism would come here."

"I invited her," Bastard Son said. "Always nice to get the lay of the land, and she helped take down Lung. Heh." He glanced at me. "You planning on taking us down?"

"No." I said. "Not here. This is under Truce." I looked around. "But I wonder…Now that the Butcher and the ABB are gone, aren't you worried about the PRT focusing on you?"

"The Empire is known in the Bay as the defenders of the people."

Next to me, Onna-Bugeisha snorted and muttered something. I glanced at her and she fell quiet.

"Won't be much to defend if we wander into another war. Heh." Bastard Son looked around. "We called this meeting because there's been too much disorder…Heh."

"And what does the Elite have to care for that?"

"Disorder hurts business." Bastard Son stared at Kaiser. "Nobody gives a shit if you're out talking about protecting the white race. But they do care if Hookwolf is torching synagogues and hurting the bottom line." Then he glanced at me. "So we'd better make everything clear. Heh."

He knows I'll be reporting back. The thought struck me like a thunderbolt. Bastard Son…

Was using me. That was why I had been invited. He wanted Piggot to know that there was a truce in the works…

"I won't tolerate any attacks on the Asian sections of town."

"Really, little girl?" Hookwolf smiled. "And you're going to stop me?"

Onna-Bugeisha started to rise, but I put one hand up. "I would consider attacking the Asian sections of town something that would get me involved."

He lost his smile. "So you're an Asian."

"Would that count as trying to unmask me, I wonder…" I asked, tilting my head.

"No." Kaiser glared at me. "But I think you stating you're going to attack us…"

"I said no such thing. But if you attack the Asian parts of town, openly, you might end up getting Trollhunter to come out again." I paused. "I've heard that the PRT only has a weak grip on Him, Shadowdancer, and Merlin."

Hookwolf stiffened at the last name.

I wonder why?

"The kids have a point. Heh." Bastard Son grinned, and that little tic of his was getting really annoying. "Beside, it's not like you have any fans in those neighborhoods, Kaiser." He tilted his head. "How about we compromise. As long as she keeps her people from fucking with your people, you don't fuck with hers."

I saw Kaiser stare, obviously fuming. Then he nodded.

"Agreed. So long as there are no attacks in my territories—or on white people within your territories. Keep your mongrels under control, Girl, and the Empire won't destroy you."

And then the meat of the conference started, the big boys telling the smaller groups what their territories were going to be, warning and threatening them with destruction if they tried to make war or "upset the apple cart, heh," as Bastard Son put it.

It was going to be a long meeting. Fortunately, I'd used the bathroom before and had only taken sips of my broth.

Asking for a bathroom break played hell with one's reputation, after all.