"The Shogun Claims this street!" The gaudily armored samurai wanna be stood with a dozen warriors, another samurai by him, this one armed with a 16th century matchlock… if it had a glowing green light in its muzzle.

Jim felt a headache coming on. "Uber, is that you?" It had been a nice show the flag patrol, with maybe a little too much hero worship for Jim's comfort. But this part of town was close to E88 turf and Jim had pushed to be allowed to patrol here when he was working with the protectorate. The E88 hadn't pushed, even if there were always skinheads "keeping watch" on the other side of 11th street, the unofficial border. But no capes.

Until now. Because of course Uber and Leet would pull off one of their stupid game heists.

Next to him Vicky was coming down to the ground, smacking her fist into an open palm.

Jim winced. He could feel the desire rolling off of her. A desire which mostly equaled. "Fucking up acceptable targets."

"Hah, young Ward, retreat, and we will not destroy you!" Uber said. Several of his warriors were looking a little nervous. Jim caught a whisper of "Lung and the Butcher" from some of them.

"It's Protectorate right now," Jim said. "At least until I'm off duty." He rolled his eyes. "C'mon, didn't you see the press conference about the mentoring program?"

"Maybe I need to pound it into their skulls," Vicky said.

"Calm down, Glory Girl," Jim muttered.

"Trollhunter, this is Miss Militia, I'm inbound, ETA 2 minutes."

"Understood."

"Trollhunter, this is Console. Uber and Leet have tried something like this before, Probability estimates 70 percent chance of a explosive malfunction, rising to 90 percent chance if combat goes on for more than 10 minutes."

"Thanks," Jim said. Ground Zero at a Leet Catastrophe. Not good. "Uber, Leet, by the authority of it has been a long day, I'm giving you a chance to surrender." Jim glared at them. "I will also remind you that not everyone in town right now is as forgiving as the Protectorate when it comes to breaking their stuff."

"You have no honor!" Uber said, drawing his sword. "You will leave and ree will recraim the sacred artifacts at the shrine—"

Christ, is he trying to do a fake Japanese Accent? Here? Do these guys have any decorum?" Then Jim realized what Shrine they were referring to. A smaller replica of the Jōten-ji temple, the original lost to Leviathan. There were sacred artifacts in there, some taken by refugees, some recovered later. Some valuable… others priceless. Teddy bears, pictures, letters. Fragments of the original temples, water stained books and scrolls taken from the wreck of a people's home…

Even the E88 kept hands off…

But Lung's gone, and there's only a single no-name protecting this place. The cops sure won't. He'd heard enough from Ann, and seen enough. The last three times they'd arrested E88 gangers… well in two cases the BBPD had been late and had been a lot more interested in running wants and warrants for the Asians.

"We've got people inbound. Miss Militia, Dauntless."

"Not that we need them." Vicky let her aura out a little bit.

"But this isn't your temple to loot Uber. This isn't a game, and this is important to these people, so back off!" Jim put himself solidly between the gang and their target.

"Wow, you are taking what Lung said to heart!" Uber said with a grin. "So then, you lay claim to the Shogunate, you must fight for it!"

Wait, how did he—right, gossip. Coil really should have just depended on gossip. It would have given him all the information without the whole "multiple felony" thing.

"Yeah," Jim said. "I fought Lung. Glory Girl, fought Lung. I fought the Butcher." Jim drew Eclipse. "And right now, I really do not want to fight you, because I hate filling out hospital reports!"

Uber took a combat pose, and Leet lifted his matchlock, pointing it at Glory Girl.

"Keep in the air, Vicky," Jim murmured. "I have no idea what Leet built, but keep him shooting up."

"Right."

Two minutes sure stretched out—

"Fuckers!" That came from another cape leaping over the row of homes to the side. People were starting to gather, the typical Brockton Bay Lemming Instinct taking over. The dress, the naginata…

"Onna-Bugeisha, we have it under control," Jim said. "Stand Down—"

"No! They're not fucking with my neighborhood. Not again, not after Lung." She stared at Uber, and Jim saw some kind of energy flicker around the blade.

Fuck. Taylor hadn't seen her fight, and most of the reports had her taking down unpowered individuals.

A little too violently. Cockblocker had mentioned having a Sophia Hess flashback. Armsmaster had briefed them, and reminded Jim and Claire that excessive violence was a common problem with new Triggers who became vigilantes.

Orb Weaver was the exception.

Yeah, her violence is always just enough for whatever level of terror she feels is necessary.

"Such fire!" Uber said, still hamming it up. "Why should we fight? The Shogun could use an enchanting concubine such as you, skilled in the ways of th—"

Onna-Bugeisha had gone still at the word "concubine" and then just shrieked in fury as she took a leap, too high for a normal human, heading for Uber.

"What the Fuck!" Uber said, dodging back as Leet raised his gun at the cape. Then Vicky was shooting forward, as Leet dodged back with a squawk, firing some kind of energy bolt at the flying girl. Vicky dodged left, then right, and they soared up into the air where they exploded like bright fireworks.

She punched Leet, but a shimmering shield covered his armor.

For a moment, then something he was carrying started to whine, getting louder.

"Fuck!" Leet said, dodging back and trying to rip parts of his armor clear. He was suddenly in a void, both Vicky and their henchmen backing off. "Uber—"

"Busy!" Uber was in a fight with Onna-Bugeisha.

Not a fight, Jim thought. Onna-Bugeisha was moving fast. She was pushing Uber back. Jim joined in. "Onna-Bugeisha, I can take Uber into custo—"

"What, so he fucking gets out again!?" Suddenly, she moved, her blade stabbing out to Uber. Uber was backing off, but his armor was hindering him—but not hindering the woman at all.

And then her blade was—caught on Eclipse.

"STAND DOWN!" Jim bellowed. She hesitated, and Jim saw her eyes glaring at him from her mask. Furious and hurt.

"You're on his side?"

"I'm not on anyone's side," Jim said. "Except for the one that doesn't have people getting hurt!"

Leet had managed to shed his armor, but something was spark—"Glory Girl, get rid of it!"

Vicky grabbed the sparking box and then suddenly spun around and threw it as hard as she could. It got a few hundred feet into the sky, and then exploded. Jim felt the pressure from where he was, and had a vision of the street, tangled, broken limbs…

Fuck, I do not want to die to Leet!

"Forward, for the Shogun!" Jim spun around, to see the duo's idiot fucking gang charge Onna-Bugeisha, like they were still in some kind of game.

But before the first one got to her, Onna-Bugeisha spun around, her weapon moving with deadly accuracy.

And she was surrounded by screaming forms.

"Stand down!" Jim repeated, leaping over the bodies on the ground, putting himself between them and the parahuman. Miss Militia came roaring down the street, and Uber grabbed Leet, jumping like some bouncing figure.

I guess that they still have that turtle game thin—that's arterial blood! Jim clamped down on a screaming girl's arm, the limb barely hanging on to her body. "Glory Girl! Down now!"

"But—"

"No time!" Vicky stared after Uber and Leet, landing by the others.

"Stab wounds," she said. "I—" Vicky bit her lip, pulled the gang member's mask off to reveal a pale face, bloody bubbles frothing around his mouth. "Internal bleeding, punctured lung."

"Console, I need you to roll EMTs to…" Jim looked up. "Tokogawa and Lincoln, multiple stab wounds, Um, prepare for at least six critical cases!"

"What happened," Miss Milita asked, keeping her gun on Onna-Bugeisha. The cape was backing up, holding her weapon, but not acting otherwise hostile.

"Jack the Japanese Ripper fucking happened," Vicky said. She one hand on the chest wound, blood seeping out around her fingers. The other hand was rooting through her pack for a PRT foam bandage.

"I—But… they were going to rob the temple! They attacked—they're kids!"

"Uber and Leet generally can't get good help," Miss Militia said. "Or experienced help—it's why most groups go soft on them…"

"That's the prob—"

"So you'd like to maybe finish the job here?" Glory Girl asked.

"Glory Girl!" Jim said. He finished packing his own bandages around the individual, but holy shit they'd lost a lot of blood.

The radio squawked. "EMTs are two minutes out!"

"Understood," Miss Militia said. A few bystanders had run out and were also helping the less seriously injured.

Miss Militia looked up at Onna-Bugeisha. "I need you to come with us," she said, keeping her hands away from her body, weapon holstered.

Not that she needs to draw it…

"No." The cape shook her head. Her hands were shaking. "This was… an accident, I didn't—"

"I know," Miss Militia said. "We all know that. But the longer you're out, the more accidents might happen. We can help you. I'm not talking about arresting you, but helping you."

"No… If you'd helped, Uber and Leet would never be around! That's… No!" She turned and took a leap. Vicky moved to pursue.

"Stand down, Glory Girl," Miss Militia said.

"But I can get her."

"Maybe, but she's panicked. If she can calm down, we can try and find her, try and get her to come in peacefully…" The EMT's were there, jumping out of their vehicles and running to the people, pushing bystanders aside.

Jim glanced at the crowd. Some of them were pointing at him, but the words…

Atarashī doragon? "What are they—that's not Trollhunter…"

"No," Miss Militia said. "It's 'the New Dragon'."

Great, Jim thought. Thanks, Lung. He looked down at his bloody hands, at the police roping the crime scene off. I wonder if any of them come from Arcadia. If so, they were going to be in for a very unpleasant time.

As would Uber and Leet the next time he ran into them. They were on his list.