I wasn't mad that she killed Hookwolf, he deserved it regardless of my hesitance to kill, but more the way she'd killed him. A Cero was already strong enough to carve a good chunk out of a city block, and the Oscuras was multiple times stronger. The fact I was almost hit by it was annoying even if it wasn't going to actually hurt me. Really it was more luck than anything that she hadn't hit a building because of the angle she fired at.

At least she learned that quickly.

I dashed back down to her, but didn't speak, wondering what she would say.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to kill him!" She said. "I wanted to hurt him enough to drag him to the PRT and I just—,"

"I'm not mad you killed him," I interrupted.

"What?" She asked, confusion clear in her voice.

"I'm not mad you killed him. I'm annoyed at your recklessness, but it's your first day in an actual fight with new powers. It'd be unreasonable to expect you to get it all right on the spot. But you can't fight by yourself until we get you used to them."

"Uh… Alright," She nodded, apparently unused to not being punished for a fuck up. I could only imagine what her home life was like where saying what amounted to telling her to be more careful instead of punishing her would warrant such a confused but relieved response. "What are we gonna do about Hookwolf's… remains." I could tell she wanted to say body, but considering there wasn't much left of him but some chains and spikes, remains was the more appropriate answer.

"Fuck it," I shrug. "Bastard would be lucky to get an unmarked grave. Far as I'm concerned this is what he deserves. Let's get going. We've still got a lot more Empire to deal with."

"Right," She nodded again and we took off.

We didn't make it far before a tower of metal shot into the sky near the PRT building.

"Looks like Kaiser," Gorgon said gravely.

"We better get over there quick," I sighed.

We reached the tower in moments to find the tower was just the tip of the iceberg. The ground below was covered in jagged metal jutting from the ground like a big metal flower of death blooming from the concrete. There were spikes and flat walls of metal sticking from buildings and the ground, some of which had killed civilians in the process of the fight.

There was a large explosion and we snapped our heads to the source to see Kaiser in the middle of the metal spire, using the excess metal to block the blasts from an incredibly irate Samael.

"Samael!" I shouted as I dashed over to him.

"That bastard!" He shouted, launching another explosion at the tower.

"Hey, calm down," I said, patting his shoulder. "You need a cool head right now."

"He—," He stopped, choking back his anger for a moment, "He's just been burning everything! He causes all this and he thinks he can just run off?! After everything he's done?! He—He killed so many people!" He gestured wildly to the area around us. "Anyone who sees him he just kills!"

I felt my own anger rising, especially as I noticed just how bad this attack was. The metal wasn't just sprouting from the building around us, it had gone through them, likely killing the people inside if they were lucky and weren't bleeding out.

"Bastard," I bit out.

"Spare me the hypocrisy," Kaiser said. "You're the ones who started this war. I'm simply trying to make the best of it. Save what I can of my Empire."

"Fuck you!" Samael shouted. "You won't be leaving this city!"

"And you think you'll be the one to stop me?"

A blade shot forward from the tower of metal, which we both side stepped.

"Gorgon! Check for survivors! We'll handle him!" I call up to her.

"Got it!" She nodded, taking off into one of the buildings while Samael launched and explosion.

Another metal plate shot out, blocking the explosion and I shot forward looking to snatch Kaiser from his safe haven. Blades and spikes shoot out all aiming to rip me to pieces. I phased through them, much to his surprise, and rip him from the center of his tower, tossing him back to Samael. He rolled across the ground for a few feet before using his metal to stand and steady himself. He managed to raise another plate from the street to block Samael's explosion, but I'm behind him in a moment, a palm strike smashed into his lower back that bends the metal of his armor.

He shouted and shot spikes from his back, which I phased through. The metal he used as a shield disintegrated and Samael roared as he landed a very heavy blow into Kaiser's chest, then stomach, then face. The blows some how don't kill him, but the metal is dented painfully against him.

"Enough!" Kaiser shouted, his voice clearly pained as metal spikes shot from his suit and the ground around her.

Samael moved out of the way while I grabbed Kaiser by his suit. I ignored the metal going through my hand and and tossed Kaiser out of his spike field, right into an electron blast from Samael.

That seemed to put him down, or at least hurt him enough he didn't immediately stand up and try to fight back.

"I didn't want to kill you," Samael said lowly, looking down at his father. "I wanted to crush what you've built, what you love so much that you were willing to do anything for it. It hurts that I didn't get to do it on my terms but… Life never turns out the way we want I guess."

"Spare me your bleeding— Ugh!" Kaiser stopped as I stomped on his stomach.

"You listen," I sneered. "He's the one deciding if you die right now or not."

"Now that the Empire is gone…" Samael sighed. "I don't feel as good as I thought I would. But considering everything you've done," Samael grabbed Kaiser and dragged him over to the PRT building, past the caution tape and into the lobby. The building is still a mess and there are two large time bubbles in the lobby and another in the gift shop, the latter of which we head to. "I can at least take pleasure in knowing you'll live a very long time stuck with knowledge that it was your own son who did this to you."

"What?!" Kaiser shouted. "Theodore?! No! You can't do—," He went quiet as Theo tossed him into the middle of the stasis bubble. He barely hit the ground before the field takes effect, freezing him in time, a look of horror probably etched into his face.

We stand silently for a moment while I let Samael come to terms with this.

"Is this really better than killing him?" He asked after a long silence.

"I really wouldn't know," I shrug. "I guess that depends on if you consider this a fate worse than death or not. We don't know what they experience in there so it might be the same or it might not. The question is how you feel about it."

"Empty, mostly," He shrugged.

"Let's talk about it later. For now, we should probably go find survivors."

"Speaking of, we have a new member?"

"Yeah. She just joined today. Fed Hookwolf a Cero Soda on accident but helped me capture Fenja and Menja."

He hummed after a moment. "Let's go."

—

It was only after we'd dealt with saving who we could from the buildings surrounding Kaiser's tower did I realize how bad the damage really was. There was a trail of metal and destruction all the way back to Medhall. It was only a few blocks between the buildings, but it was more destruction than was necessary. I was a little annoyed at Samael not being able to keep the fight contained but I wasn't going to be mad at him for being hesitant to kill his father, however much he might have deserved a stab in the chest.

Between helping clear the metal and rescuing people, I had more than enough to keep me occupied for a few hours at least. I had managed to run into the others while we were working and got status updates from them. Wraith had the easiest time and mostly ran into the foot soldiers, which she took down without much of a fuss. Rhapsody was in a similar boat. Nihilus, though, had managed to kill Crusader in her fight with him. Considering his power and the fact he was using it on civilians at the time, I wasn't mad at her for just popping a bunch of her bubbles and hoping she hit the real one.

Which meant, if we counted Kaiser, we had a kill count of four. Which annoyed me to an extent despite the fact they all deserved it. I didn't want to punish the team, I didn't think they were wrong, but at the same time I wasn't exactly comfortable with it. And I knew is was just my own fears of what I could become getting to me. One of the few emotions that remained prominent in me. The fear I'd end up exactly as monstrous as the people I was hoping to take down.

The argument could be made that I was already, considering I wasn't objectively on the hero side, but I was willing to argue that point. There was a difference in what I was doing compared to what they did. The line was probably very blurry, but there was still a difference.

"Sacrosanct," I heard behind me. I turned to find Armsmaster and Miss Militia turning off their motorcycles and approaching cautiously, each with a hand on their weapons but not expecting a fight.

"Armsmaster. Miss Militia. How can I help you?" I asked, turning from the slip of metal I was separating from the ground. I noticed Samael and Gorgon appear at my sides within a moment.

"For now, we mostly want to talk. I'd prefer you come in for questioning but I doubt we could force you even if we weren't explicitly told to keep it civil with you for the moment," Armsmaster said.

"Talk about what then? Because it sure as hell wasn't us who outed the Empire, much as people seem to think it was for some reason."

"No, we need to talk about you co-opting a Ward," He said gruffly. It almost seemed like anger, but it lacked the heat I'd expect from anger.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. As far as I know I've never spoken to any of your Wards outside that thing at the bank," I shrugged.

"So that's not Vista next to you?" Miss Militia asks skeptically.

"Vista?" I asked, looking over to Gorgon. "Her?"

"Yes. Several hours ago Vista attempted to quit and showed new powers. Then, someone with those same powers shows up on your team minutes later. If not a clone or a Stranger ability, it stands to reason you've done something to her."

"I haven't done a god damned thing," I said more heatedly than I probably should have. "I'm not a Trump or a Master. What you're suggesting is ridiculous."

"And the other members?" Armsmaster asked.

"None of us have master powers," Samael said.

"Why are you assuming this is their fault?" Gorgon asked coolly, snapping attention to her. "It's not. I left for all the reasons I listed earlier. I'm sick of you and your oversight. Three years of active service and you still treat me like I'm a fresh trigger trying to figure out how the system works. I was lucky to discover these new powers. Call it a second trigger or something, but it allowed me to meet people who don't treat me like I'm a toddler. I'm not going back."

"Vista," Miss Militia started.

"Save it," She snapped. "It's Gorgon now. I'm taking a break." She opened a portal, leaving us with the heroes.

"What the fuck is happening?" Samael asked.

"I'm as lost as you are. I never would've guessed," I said.

"Go get her," Armsmaster said. "She's still needed for—,"

"We'll have other opportunities, Armsmaster," Miss Militia cut in. That didn't seem to quell his annoyance, but he did relax a bit.

"I don't understand what's happened, but I've got a feeling it's something to do with you. Once this mess is sorted out, expect us to come knocking." With that, Armsmaster was off to his motorcycle.

"You've helped save a lot of people today, whether it was you that outed the Empire or not. Just don't make this sort of thing a habit," Miss Militia said, following after Armsmaster.

"This has been a very odd day," Samael said.

"Fucking tell me about it," I sigh.

—

It's a little past sunset when we're all finally able to meet up in Las Noches again. I sigh and sink into my chair, lighting a cigarette in the process. Madison does as well and it's largely silent for a few moments.

"Okay," I sigh, blowing a cloud of smoke, "Today did not go as expected."

"No shit," Alec laughed.

"Shut up, Alec," I said, rubbing my temples. "We're pretty firmly on the heroes bad side now, people think we outed the Empire, and a lot of people ended up dead as a result. The Empire is gone, which is amazing and only leaves us with Coil to deal with, but this doesn't feel like all that fulfilling a victory. Lisa, recap?"

"Right, so basically 4 Empire capes are dead and apparently our new member used to be Vista," She started, all eyes turned to Missy, who just shrugged. "Kayden and presumably Missy need a new place to stay since the formers identity was compromised and the latter is well known to the authorities. It also limits our ability to be seen with them in public. On the plus side a lot of people online actually think we did a good job and the idea that we caused this isn't as prominent."

"That's good," I said, sitting back. "Do you think Missy can stay with us for a bit?"

"I don't see why not. I'm still sleeping at the Loft most nights, so it will usually just be you and her. As for Kayden and Aster… We don't have anywhere for them yet."

"The apartment was wrecked, but I doubt they could stay there either way," Theo sighed. "I know of some places we can crash while we get everything sorted out."

"Good. Now, Missy, your thing," I said.

"Not much to explain. I just kind of reached the last straw with the PRT. They pushed the wrong buttons and I figured you'd be a better option," She explained.

"I don't know about better," Madison said. "We're not exactly the most upstanding people."

"But you're not villains," She said.

"Kinda," I shrug. "We're mostly made up of villains who were tired of being villains."

"I…" She trailed off, clearly rethinking her decision. She sighed and sat back in her throne. "I've already burned my bridges with the PRT and don't have any intention of going back anyway. I'll think it over a bit more. After some sleep."

"That actually brings up a point, though. Part of the idea was to have territory to discourage other villains trying to move into the city once all the current gangs are gone. The only area left is the South Docks, so you can patrol that area if you want. Or share it with Number Two if she ever decides to join. I'm planning to run a homeless shelter in the Docks. No idea what the others want to do."

"That's… A surprisingly new idea. Heroes avoid doing such a thing because it invokes villainous imagery, but doing it to help keep things safer isn't something I've heard attempted before."

"Do we have anything else to go over?" Alec asked.

"Not—,"

"Yes, actually," Lisa cut me off. "I got a call from Coil today. He wants us to meet him in person. Four days from now."

"So we have our chance of taking him out," I perked up.

"Exactly," She smiled.

"You're working with Coil?" Missy asked, looking less sure of joining us.

"No. I was forced into working with him. Now is finally my chance to get out from under him. After that, I'm with this team all the way."

She still didn't look confident, but let it go. I got the distinct feeling we'd get into a few arguments about how things were handled, but that wouldn't be until later down the line.

"And that should be everything," I said, stretching. "We'll meet up again tomorrow to hash out the logistics and all that, but for now, Good work today team. Get some rest."

We all split off to where we were going, Missy following after me, and I couldn't help but worry about how things would go from now on. It seemed like things would be smooth sailing once Coil was dealt with, and I could only hope so. Life was getting a bit too stressful recently. Some time to relax and let things wind down would be nice.

AN: So, some of you are probably wondering where I've been the last few weeks. A family member died and I just wasn't feeling the mood to write for a while. When I did, I had trouble getting it the way I wanted. This chapter has been kicking my ass for the last week. Even then I'm not all that satisfied with how it turned out, but I hope you enjoy anyway.