Vista walked silently alongside her teammates down to the Wards common area. They had just finished getting chewed out by Director Piggot over the bank situation. It was easy to see she was angry the moment they walked into the lobby, which was surprisingly empty for the time of day. Their pay got docked because Gallant just had to call Glory Girl to show up. Sure her sister was in there, but now they were responsible for damage she'd caused to the bank on top of the damage to the other buildings and sidewalk from a few of them getting tossed around. Piggot sometimes seemed to enjoy punishing them, but Vista knew better than that. She had learned to deal with Piggot in such a way that she never felt too slighted by her attitude. She respected the older woman, but she did not like her. Her general dislike of capes showed even at her most professional and it was not fun to deal with.

Aegis said something about Hellhound's mutant dogs, but she wasn't really paying attention. She was frustrated by how poorly everything had gone. Even with the help from the Espada they'd gotten stomped on. Even worse, she didn't even know what had happened with her. After getting up from whatever that weird pulse was she lost use of her arms. They just went numb, completely dead. Then, when Grue's darkness went away she wasn't able to see. Her eyes were open, she could tell they were, but there was nothing. Then she got hit in the back of the head. Worse, it was one of the situations she often used to argue that she should have a weapon of some sort and it wouldn't even work this time because whatever bullshit power had hit her. The ability to just shut down parts of people's bodies completely? Fuck that. She could only hope the range was extremely small.

"Vista, could you grab a white board? Maybe two?" Gallant asked, shaking her from her thoughts. She felt her chest flutter.

"Of course." She answered, frustration gone but not forgotten as she nearly skipped over to grab the requested items. When she got back they started going over the fight, Gallant trying to look on the bright side. They might have all been docked pay but at least they learned what their enemies powers were. His ability to always see the bright side of things was something she liked about him.

Eventually Armsmaster and Miss Militia came in, Panacea having offered to heal them. She was fine, just an ache in the back of her neck, but she could deal with that. She tried not to let it bother her too much when Gallant went off with Panacea alone.

Eventually, after they were done with their briefing, the tour showed up. She usually didn't mind the tour groups, but she wasn't feeling them today. She was glad to see them go and leave to grab food from the cafeteria.

Kid Win and Clockblocker had decided to join her, which she didn't really mind, but she'd wanted a bit of time to herself. After grabbing their food they sat down to eat.

"Today really sucked." Kid said, taking a bite of the sandwich he got. "Whatever they did screwed up my equipment. I have to repair a bunch of the parts now."

"Tell me about it. I ended up freezing my suit for the whole fight."

"I'd rather be stuck than make a fool of myself because my equipment got jammed."

"We were all pretty useless today." Vista sighed. "I don't even know what happened to me. I didn't even get a chance to try to help."

"Yeah, but no one expects you to fight." Kid said.

"You don't have to worry about a reputation. People on PHO are already making fun of me for freezing my suit."

Vista was glad she was wearing her visor so they couldn't see her eye twitching. It was always like that. She was only there for support. She wasn't old enough to actually be considered for combat. Just sit in the back and make it easier for everyone to fight. If someone slips past and she gets hit? Well, too bad. You can't have a weapon because it's bad optics and we don't wan to encourage you to fight. Every time.

She was very tempted to speak. To say something that would have hit them right where they hit her. 'At least I would've made a difference'. That's all she had to say to get under their skin. Clock was always worried about being able to get close enough to actually use his power and Kid hadn't even figured out his tinker specialty yet. That sentence alone would've hit them just right. But she didn't want to do that. She didn't want to deal with the aftermath and she didn't want to hurt them like that. So she let that comment slide like she always did and she could work out the anger some other time.

In fact, she'd go do some training right after she was done.

—

By the time Vista had finished her training she realized she only had about half an hour before she had to leave. She dreaded going home and actually preferred late patrols since it meant she could sleep on site and her parents couldn't say anything about it. Walking into the locker room she almost sighed.

"Hey Stalker." She greeted. Interacting with Shadow Stalker was always a game of 'Don't let her get to you'. The older girl was callous in general and would go out of her way to piss people off so she could call them a pussy for getting upset at her taunting. She seemed to especially enjoy this with Vista since she'd get reprimanded basically the second she tried to tell her to fuck off.

"Pip Squeak." Stalker returned. "Heard you losers got stomped at the bank. Probably wouldn't have happened if you let me come with."

"You wouldn't have made it in time anyway."

"I would've made a difference if I was there. Unlike you losers. You just let them get away with barely any resistance."

"You probably would've shot one of the civies through Grue's darkness. Part of the reason Aegis told you to stay back was because of your hate-on for Grue."

Stalker snorted. "At least I would've managed actually participate instead flailing around like you did."

Vista took a deep breath so she didn't say something she'd end up regretting.

"Whatever." She said, leaving the locker room, making sure to avoid Stalker on her way out.

Walking towards the elevator she ran into Battery. It was rare to see the older woman alone, as Assault acting like they were connected at the hip.

"Hi Battery." Vista waved, hoping for a short interaction. Battery was nice enough but she had a tendency to be condescending and she could never figure out if it was intentional or not. At least she'd be free of Assaults jokes for a bit.

"Hey Vista. I heard about the thing at the bank earlier. That's too bad."

"It sucks, but they were better prepared than we expected. No one knew they had a tinker."

"Still, really unfortunate how things turned out. No one really expects a tinker, but adapting is part of the job. You'll figure it out when you get older." Battery shrugged. Why the woman seemed to inject that particular topic into almost all their interactions was a mystery to Vista.

"I'm sure I will. I need to get back down to the commons."

"Right. Just don't worry about it, you know? No one's really expecting much of you yet. You've still got some time. Catch you later, Vista."

Getting in the elevator, Vista wondered how someone could be so infuriating on accident. At least with Stalker you knew it was on purpose instead of well meaning advice that just came off so incredibly condescending.

Hopefully her parents would let her enjoy a quiet evening for once.

—

They were fighting again.

She didn't even know why they hadn't blocked each others numbers. They knew they hated each other, they knew they were unhappy together, so why did they still talk to each other? One of them always called the other seemingly looking for a fight, and they always got it, never caring about how it made her feel. They acted like they cared, usually to use her as a bargaining chip or a tool to hurt the other, but they didn't *really care. Even after they'd finally gotten divorced and moved apart she could feel the weight of the resentment they held for each other. She felt at least a bit of it was aimed at her. In her fathers snide comments about how much like her mother she looked. In her mothers annoyed snips about her getting her fathers attitude. She felt at least a part of them blamed her for why they were so unhappy together.

So she took herself out of that environment as much as possible. She stayed at the Rig as often as possible instead of going home. She was Vista more often than she was "Missy". Which was another thing her parents fought over. They fought each other and they fought her over her choice in joining the Wards. They were constantly hounding her to take less hours, to be home more often. Then shit like this happened when she was at home.

How did you argue with someone on the phone for over an hour? They were just talking in circles at this point. Just fucking hang up, Christ.

She remembered the argument they got into when she got benched by Youth Guard after the Hookwolf incident. They just yelled and yelled and blamed each other, never once realizing it was their fault she had powers in the first place.

Not like the PRT was much of an escape either. Especially not after Shadow Stalker joined. That bitch was unbearable on her best days. Vista could go on and on forever about how pissed off everyone there made her. She legitimately liked most of her teammates, but boy did they have a tendency to really stretch her patience. Shadow Stalker being a bitch was just the tip of the iceberg. She got no respect while she was there. She was treated like a doll, the pretty little PR star. The Littlest Ward. Never mind the fact that she was one of the most experienced members on the team, only Aegis and Gallant having been there longer than her. Never mind the fact she'd stared down fucking Hookwolf and survived, even stitching her wound shut by herself.

She wasn't allowed to do anything. It was always the same excuses too. "You're too young, Missy." Too young. Too small. Too cute. Too weak. All of it just ways to avoid giving her proper recognition. Ways to avoid treating her the way she'd earned. It wasn't her fault she couldn't tase Shadow Stalker for being a cunt. It wasn't her fault she got branded as some crystal flower to be protected when she joined. It wasn't her fault the adults seemed to do everything in their power to treat her like she was still a fucking toddler. Never mind the fact that some of the adults hadn't been at this as long as she had. Never mind the fact she'd faced almost every Cape in the city except Lung at least once, and several times over for Hookwolf and Oni Lee. No, forget all the danger she faced down and lived through near unscathed. She was just the fragile little poster girl.

And her teammates. Oh, her teammates sure knew how to piss her off. It wasn't even like it was on purpose either. It was their attitudes. The way they treated her. Just like everyone else, despite having fought along side her.

Carlos was just the perfect little boy scout. He always had an excuse for the brass. Always willing to do what the top says even if it was stupid. He acted like going against Piggot's orders was breaking a commandment sometimes. Sure, he was willing to bend the rules at times if he felt it necessary, but that was rare. Not to mention he was always one of the ones to warn her for swearing despite doing so himself and not warning the others for it. Asshole.

Chris' offense wasn't his fault. She just hated the fact that he was allowed to carry around weapons and she wasn't. He was a Tinker, sure, but she was one of the only team members that actually needed a weapon for if anyone got close to her and she wasn't allowed to have one. Even Shadow Stalker got to keep her crossbow. Dennis and his stupid sense of humor. The fact he got away with everything and she wasn't even allowed to get angry in public or she'd have to go to fucking classes and a few extra therapy sessions for anger management. And Dean. Fucking Dean. She loved him. Wanted nothing more than to be with him. But he was such a condescending prick sometimes. Treated her like a child just because she was three years younger than him. Like she'd never be a viable dating option. She hated him almost as much as Shadow Stalker.

And then there were the adults. Oh, she could go on and on and on about them. The Wards always had to wait for them to show up before they were allowed to do anything. She'd seen people die because they had to wait 15 minutes for Armsmaster or Assault and Battery to show up. That was mostly the fault of the PRT and Youth Guard, but it was still disheartening that they weren't allowed to do their fucking jobs and help people just because they could get hurt. They were Capes. Getting hurt was in their job description. It was page one. Their strict adherence to rules and regulations had gotten people killed because the adult heroes were too far away and whoever was on Console was too scared to go against the top to let them engage and actually help.

She flinched as she heard her mother toss something across the living room. Probably a remote or something. The woman had never been good about dealing with her anger. Vista at least meditated to control herself when she felt she was getting to upset over anything.

Where was she? Right, The Protectorate. Oh how she hated them. Assault was just an adult Dennis. He rarely took anything seriously. He thought his jokes made people less tense, but all it did was piss them off. Battery was worse than Dean, the condescending bitch. Always talking down to her like she wasn't capable of understanding what was going on around her. Armsmaster was just a dick in general. He had absolutely no tact and thought dealing with the Wards was a hassle more often than not. Dauntless and his bullshit powers making him stronger with zero effort. The PR department casting her as some cute little defenseless child who couldn't handle herself if need be. Piggot and her stupid, ugly, bigoted face. Miss Militia was the only one of them who never treated her like she was made of glass.

Being at home was unbearable and being on the Rig was frustrating. So where else did she go?

She wanted to scream into her pillow at all the frustration, all the rage that had built up inside her. She didn't have an outlet for it so she just had to let it sit and boil and simmer and ignore it until she felt more calm. Try to put some of her meditation techniques to good use and hope they worked.

She didn't get the chance. The sound of shattered glass broke her from the breathing exercises her therapist had recommending. Her anger reached a fever pitch then just stopped. Like she'd reached a rage so powerful it rolled over into a state of zen. Peace. It was in this peace that she felt a new power within. She drew her finger across the air and didn't blink at the jagged teeth that snapped open to reveal a pitch black portal of some kind. She stepped through without hesitation.

—

Vista wasn't afraid to find out what was on the other side of that gaping maw she'd opened in the middle of her room, but she didn't know what to expect either. A brightly lit room with black stone floors and thrones with large numbers on them and a dark sky full of stars was the last think on her list. She'd have been less surprised if the portal took her straight to Sleeper.

Yet the room felt comfortable. It wasn't too warm or cold for her and she didn't feel anything off about the room the way she would in other extremely unfamiliar places. Hell, it was more comfortable than her room at her mothers house.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to do. She didn't want to leave, so she walked slowly up the stairs and sat in the throne in the middle, looking up at the stars. It wasn't even five minutes before a portal opened, knocking her from her thoughts. After a few seconds a girl walked through. She was tall long black hair and was opening a box of cigarettes. Her hoodie made her look bigger than she was even though it sagged off her like it was too big. She had a dull look in her eyes behind the glasses she wore that changed to surprise when their eyes met. Neither spoke for a long moment, the older girl frozen with her cigarette just inches from her mouth.

Finally, she moved, lighting it with a snap of her fingers.

"You're in my seat." She said dully, walking up the stairs.

"What?" Vista asked, confused.

"You're in my seat." She repeated, blowing the smoke away from the younger girl.

"How do you know?" Vista shot back.

"You see that number on the back of it?" She pointed just above Vista's head and she turned to look at the number carved into the comfortable stone seat.

"What of it?" She asked as she turned back.

"It corresponds to the seats owner." She raised her left hand, showing the number "1" tattooed on the back of it. "That one is mine."

"Oh… Sorry." Vista stood from the chair, letting the older girl take her seat.

"Don't worry about it. So, how'd you get here? Someone let you in or…?" She trailed off to let Vista explain if there was one.

"I came by myself. I was at home and felt this urge to come here." Vista explained.

The older girl nodded. "That's how it happens. You're welcome to take a seat. You are one of us, apparently. The only ones that aren't claimed are two and six. The number should be on your upper body somewhere."

"I have a tattoo?!" She shouted. She was worried about how she'd possibly be able to hide something like that. "How do I get rid of it?"

"Can't." She shrugged. "It just shows up with your powers."

"Powers?!" The shout was more exasperation than worry this time.

"Yup. Powers. Along with a few other nifty things." She smiled wryly.

"Can you explain this to me plainly?" Vista sighed, calming herself. She was too young to have an aneurysm.

"I'm not sure how to explain it. I know our powers are conceptual but not where they come from or how we got them. I do know they're different from parahuman powers. I've had mine since January. Everyone else got theirs more recently."

That made the cogs start turning in Vista's head. A group of capes with too many powers to be regular Capes that showed up recently.

"You're with the Espada."

"Got it in one." She snapped.

"If you had your powers since January, why didn't you do anything with them? Most Capes can't wait to get out into the field and start fighting."

She shrugged again. "I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I had some stuff to work out and I wanted to test my powers before I made any moves. I waffled because I knew there would be more people and didn't want to start anything until at least someone else showed up. They did a while ago and we started the Espada."

"Okay… So I have the same powers as you do now?"

"Roughly. There are base things we have and then our specialized powers. By PRT ratings our basic power set is Brute, Blaster, Mover. That's what you have access to before you find your personal powers."

"That's a lot." Vista said, looking down to the ground. The Espada came off extremely powerful. Sacrosanct alone had a total rating of twenty two. She could take on twenty two separate squads of PRT agents and come out if basically unscathed. The preliminary Brute rating put them at three. It might be higher than that if what she was told was true.

"I guess so. I haven't really thought about it." She shrugged.

"Which one are you?"

"If you don't know I'm not going to tell you. Unless you're going to join us."

"I can't..." She feared what might happen but she wasn't going to act like she could join them. She didn't even know all that much about them.

"That's fine." The answer was noncommittal at best and spoken with almost no emotion.

"That's it?"

"Yeah. I'm not going to force you to join if you don't want to. Not my style."

"Is that why there are only three of you but you said five of the seven seats are taken?"

"The other two have some personal things to handle before they can join full time."

"Well…" Vista started, unsure where to go with the new sentence. "At least you're good guys."

The older girl gave a noncommittal hum.

"What? You are good guys right?" Vista felt her stomach knot at the idea she'd have to fight with the Espada. Even with similar powers she'd be out numbered and out gunned. She didn't even know what she was capable of yet.

"We aren't villains, but I wouldn't call us good either. Our goals, ultimately, are good, but I'd consider us more… A force for change."

Vista furrowed her brow at that. She didn't quite understand what she meant by change. It was broad and open to a lot of interpretation.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean our goal is to change the state of the city. The city is dying. Our situation isn't unique, but we're one of the worse off cities. Gangs are allowed to do as they please and it's only speeding things up."

"But there's only so much the heroes can do." Vista started.

"I know." The girl said before she could continue. "There's only so much the heroes and PRT are capable of doing. It's why the city is the way it is. The heroes can try, but they're ultimately not there to help. They're there to maintain a balance. To keep the status quo."

"You can't really believe that!" Vista shouted. "It's not like they just sit around all day letting things happen! They're all doing their best to keep the city safe."

The look she got in return was impassive, but it felt cold.

"I never said that they weren't. I said the PRT and Protectorate, as a whole, is there to maintain the balance. Prison for villains is basically a revolving door. Sometimes it looks like a big game of cops and robbers. Capes who do enough really bad shit get the Birdcage if someone doesn't bother to help break them out. Hookwolf hasn't been caged yet despite the fact he should. Same with Lung. Both should probably have kill orders on them by now. Same with tons of other capes. Even worse, the laws are skewed in such a way that for most Capes the only option is the Protectorate or being a villain. Very few people get to be rogues. I didn't really have a reason why until I started thinking about it. Enbringers. The Endbringer truce has villains fighting along side heroes. It's about the only time you can get them to do so. So, of course, by letting enough villains stay free instead of caging them all, they have more bodies to throw at the Endbringers. Lives that aren't the "good guys"." Her tone was casual. Almost dismissive. Like she was sure of every word that left her mouth and had accepted it as a fact.

"There's no way that's true." Vista ground back. "There are just too many villains. The heroes are outnumbered and can't afford to make large strikes against the gangs. It would cost them too much."

"My point wasn't just here in the Bay. It's all of the PRT. They aren't aiming to stop villains. They're aiming to keep them to a manageable level and deter them from getting too out of hand. Then you have dudes like Lung, Kaiser, and Hookwolf who are strong enough that they can do what they want with no repercussions. I want you to take a good hard look at the state of the city and tell me the heroes are effective. Look at the people who avoid downtown like the plague for fear of the Empire. Look at how many Empire members there are, a gang that routinely holds lynchings and requires members to at least hospitalize people they see as sub human to progress in the ranks, and tell me the heroes are effective. I want you to look at the missing persons list, at how many girls and boys are kidnapped and sold off because of the ABB and tell me the heroes are effective. Hell, go wider. Look at the Elite. Look at the Nine. Look at the Fallen, who kidnap people to bolster their numbers. Take in the state of the world and tell me how effective the heroes are at actually being heroes. They help people, yes, but it's a reactive job. They do what they can and what they can do isn't enough." The more she talked the more intense her voice got. She wasn't yelling, but there was actual emotion in her voice by the time she finished.

"I…" Missy stopped. As much as she wanted to she could tell her she was wrong. Even her own experiences with the Wards backed up her words. She grit her teeth and clenched her fists as the frustration of being useless returned to her.

The girl sighed, blowing out a cloud of smoke, and sank into her seat.

"Sorry. I'm not trying say the heroes are useless or anything. I do think they're trying to help in the long run, just that their methods aren't working. And that's why we're trying to take it into our own hands. To carve out the peace we crave for our little slice of the world. Get rid of the gangs, and keep new ones from moving in. That's our goal." She explained.

Vista relaxed. "Do the other members share your view?" She asked quietly. She wasn't sure she liked people with such pessimistic views of the world being so strong.

"Not necessarily. They all have different reasons for why they joined, but they ultimately can see what I see without me having to explain it to them. A city slowly rotting away in dire need of a cure. We're all working towards a cure. Even if we don't see eye to eye on how we get there, it's where we're going."

"The ends justify the means." Vista said.

"Something like that."

Vista was silent for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. "I think your mindset is leaning towards dangerous and you're pessimistic and that you should try to look on the brighter side of things. However, I, unfortunately, can't say you're entirely wrong and you've given me some things to think about. I'm gonna go home and sleep on it for a little while. Figure out how I feel about it."

"You're welcome any time. Not like I can stop you." She joked.

"Before I go, I never got your name."

"I never said it. What's yours?"

"Missy."

"Taylor."

"Well, Taylor, I'm going to go home and sleep now. Good night."

"Night, Missy."

Vista, once home, was glad to hear her parents had stopped arguing. She crawled into her bed and lied there staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours. Her brain was clogged with conflict. Taylor's words and her experiences as a Ward vs her desire to be a hero and work to save people with the Protectorate. Even as she drifted off to sleep she felt the conflict rage inside her heart.

AN: I don't remember if I ever mentioned Taylor's glasses. She picked up a pair of nonprescription glasses for cheap so no one noticed. Also, yes, Vista facing down Hookwolf, getting stabbed, and stitching the wound by herself is canon, just for those of you that didn't know that about her.