Interlude B

Tammi stared at the phone in her fingers, her eyelids twitching and her free hand clenching every few seconds.

"This is stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Tammi? Are you in here? Kaiser called, he was curious if you had any information about that girl at your school. He said her name was Taylor Hebert," Melissa called, poking her head around Tammi's door. "Why do I know that name? It sounds so familiar…"

Tammi lifted her head and met her cousin's gaze. Lying to Melissa had nearly become second nature by this point. "She's the locker girl. I definitely mentioned her after we got back from break." Nothing else to see here, nope, nothing at all.

"Ah, that's it!" Melissa snapped her fingers. "He must think she triggered from that. Hmm, I wonder why he's taken this long to ask you to pursue it…Wasn't it that nigger who pushed her in? We should be able to sell her on joining up pretty easily."

"She's a nobody. With the shit that the people in school heaped on her, if she had powers, half of us would have been dead before the end of the day." Had she always been good at lying? When had that skill developed? When had that skill become important?

Melissa sighed and tossed one hand into the air. "Ah well, so much for that I guess. I'll let Kaiser know it's a dead end. Just keep your ears open in case anything pops up, okay?"

"Sure. Hey, I'm going for a walk."

Melissa frowned, turning back to look at her as Tammi stood from her bed, grabbing her coat from the chair. "It's 8am on a Saturday. Where the hell are you going?"

"Well breakfast for one. And then I want to get some shopping done."

Melissa crossed her arms, leaning in the doorway. "Vic was going to make omelets."

Tammi didn't bother to hide her scowl this time as she glared at her cousin. "How many times do I have to tell you: I hate eating anything he makes."

"But they are - "

"He's destroyed lives because he wanted to cook a nice fucking meal, Mel!" Tammi snarled. "Your fucking husband destroyed three different restaurants and two Master Chefs because he thought he was using too much salt and wanted to know how to make it 'correctly'. It's disgusting."

Melissa's nostrils flared as she glared at Tammi. "We wouldn't have a roof over our heads if he had been cautious about how he used his power."

"Bull. Shit." Tammi pushed past her cousin, forcing her arms into her coat as she stalked down the hallway. "I know just as well as you that Kaiser would've set us up fine."

"Vic pulls more than his fair share in multiple areas, as do I. I'm sorry that we can't all be useful, Tammi."

She stopped and spun around, her lip curled in a silent snarl. "Excuse me for not wanting to squash people like a goddamn bug."

"How many brutes do we have in this city?" Melissa snapped. "You don't have to hold back so much! You're more than just a glorified flying bus!"

"Oh fuck you! You'd turn me into a murderer by accident. If I'm going to kill someone it's going to be on purpose, Mel!"

"That is not - "

"Did you even see what happened with Armsmaster and Hardlight? He nearly killed her thinking she was Purity. And he's a tinker! He has how much bullshit in his helmet now? And you want me to just go throwing giant chunks of shit at people? Fuck you. "

"Hardlight?" Melissa asked, frowning. "Who the hell is Hardlight? Wait, is that the girl that nearly got you and James killed?"

Tammi rolled her eyes and turned, heading for the door. "She's an impulsive idiot with Purity as a mentor. We both know how 'great' Kayden is at mentoring - and overreacting."

"Wait, if she's with Purity maybe we can…"

"Yeah, not gonna happen, Mel. The girl was very clear that she wasn't interested in the Empire. You want to know more, talk to James; I'm getting my damn breakfast." The door slammed shut behind her and Tammi took a steadying breath as she leaned against the wood. Fuck. She never should have brought up Hardlight to Melissa. Melissa was pretty important in the Clan, but that didn't always translate well to the Empire. She was looking for more ways to get in good with Kaiser and Hookwolf; recruiting Hardlight would've been a major plus for her.

"Why the hell do I care?" Tammi muttered. Pushing off the door, she shook her head, let her scowl leak back onto her face and headed down the street. She only made it to the end of the block before she was again staring at the phone in her hand.

"So. Fucking. Stupid." The phone was against her ear and the line was ringing almost before she had registered that she had tapped out the number. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid."

The connection beep sounded, though the other end was quiet for another few seconds. "…Hel-hello?"

"Hey." Yeah, that was a great way to start the conversation. Because this wasn't going to be awkward enough as it was.

"Um, hi. Who is this? And how do you have my number? I've only given it to like…four people? Maybe?"

"Jesus Christ, Taylor, what's the point of having a phone if you're not going to use it?"

"You don't need to get rude. My family doesn't like cellphones; I have it for emergencies. Now who are you?"

Tammi slapped a hand to her face and groaned. "Taylor. Seriously. You ate lunch with me. Last high school experience or some such bullshit like that."

"Tammi?!" Taylor's gasp was almost amusing enough to elicit a chuckle. That would have been mean. "Wow, you sound different on the phone! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to get snippy."

"It's cool, it's already been one of those mornings. I could've been nicer too. Sorry about calling so early."

"I don't mind. I was just about to go on a run anyway." Taylor paused, the hesitance in her tone evident as she started talking again. "Um, if you're near the docks, we could…meet up?"

Damn. Her stomach flipped and she had to bite back the urge to accept. Taylor was far too nice for a girl that had set Empire goons on a black bitch. Tammi was not going to be the reason that Taylor got dragged into the bullshit. Her crap was her own and her mess was her own. She wasn't going to skip alongside Taylor on the path to Hell just because she wanted a friend. "Maybe another time, Taylor."

"Oh. Okay."

Fuck. There should be a law against including that much emotion in two words. A fucking law.

"I was actually wondering if your stepmom was available? You had said that if I wanted advice on…things, that maybe she could help." Yeah, sure, help from Kayden. The bitch who flew off without a word to the wise. The woman who had turned her back on her family. The woman who had nearly killed Tammi just a few days ago.

But Kayden had gotten out. Kayden had gotten out just like Tammi's parents. Tammi was the only idiot that still couldn't figure her way out of a paper bag.

"Oh! Yeah, sure, my dad just left for work and I think Kayden is finishing her eggs. Give me a second." And Taylor was back to peppy. Fuck. The brunette probably thought that she wanted to be friends.

Tammi ruthlessly punted the ball in her stomach into the next zipcode. She did not want to drag that girl into anything. She would talk to Kayden. She would get some advice. And she would never have to call again. Taylor would be safe from her and she would never have to lie to Kaiser about not knowing who Kayden's stepdaughter was or who Hardlight was or…

She shivered as her stomach flipped again. Not talking to Taylor again was the right thing to do. It was the. Right. Thing. To. Do.

And for once in her shitty life, she was going to do the right thing.

Crystal flopped onto the couch, her head turned to stare at her cousin, her mouth hanging partly open. "I'm sorry, can you say that again?"

"What's so hard to understand? I just told her where she could shove it. I was polite about it, but I made it clear I didn't trust her at all."

Amy's arms were crossed and the scowl on her face was something for the record books. Crystal could only blink slowly in reply. "You thought it was a good idea to mouth off to the newest healer in town? The healer who is strong? The same girl who apparently went into the cancer pediatrics ward this morning and gave all the kids glowing puppies that miraculously healed them in like 45 minutes? That girl?"

"She's slow as hell," Amy snapped. "I can heal three to five people in the time it takes her to heal a broken bone."

Eric snorted. "Cous', you said this Hardlight chick can make dozens of her projections. Each projection heals the same. You heal five people. She heals fifty. I think she's got you beat with volume."

"She doesn't even know what she's doing!"

"And that matters hooow exactly?" Crystal asked. "Amy, come on, powers are bullshit. That's like, Rule One."

Amy just scowled. "I have a medical doctorate. I know exactly what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. She's just pulling matter from thin air and shoving it into the body! You can't do that! There's going to be consequences eventually!"

"Amy," Eric stated, very, very slowly. "Your medical degree. It is due to your power. Say it with me now. It's 'because of your power.'"

"Fuck you."

"Hey, no one gets to yell at the twerp except me. Eric, be nice. Amy, he has a point."

"I work my ass off! I spend hours in the hospitals. I go there when I can't sleep," Amy snarled. "All that little prissy bitch has to do is sit down at the nurses station and read a damn book!"

Eric snorted. "Wow, I knew you could be a bitch, but this is a new low, Ames. Careful, your jealous streak is showing."

"I'm not jealous. She's - "

"You are definitely the one coming off as a bitch here," Crystal said.

Amy twisted to glare at her, leaning forward with her hands on her knees. "She's Purity's daughter. She's a Nazi."

Crystal sighed and stared at the ceiling. She had stopped doing her Lit homework for this? "Amy, we can't judge people based on their families. Our family isn't exactly the most tight knit group anymore either. Remember, she attacked Rune and Krieg the other day. And then Purity tried to shoot them both in the face with a Fuck Off beam. Pretty sure the girl is not a Nazi."

"Hey, Cous', what's really got you so worked up? You don't get this pissy for no reason." Eric was usually a jerk, but he had his moments. At least he had the patience to deal with Amy. Somewhat.

Amy got up and started pacing, her hands clenched. She dropped her fist onto the edge of her chair, laying her head down on her arm, murmuring, "She has to have sympathies with the Empire…Family is family…She has to follow in Purity's footsteps. And no one could enjoy just…doing that…"

That didn't sound right. "What was that, Amy?" Crystal sat up, her eyes narrowing. "No one could enjoy doing what? Healing?"

"She can't like healing. There's nothing to like about healing. There's nothing to like about powers. Being gay shouldn't matter," Amy continued muttering. "She has to follow their philosophy. She has to. Blood is blood. Parents are parents. She hates herself. That's why her scars don't heal. She hates herself and she hates her power and Purity is guiding her to suppress her sexuality so that the Empire won't find out and she's going to self-destruct and she's going to…"

Eric caught Crystal's eye. He pointed to Amy and held up his hands, no trace of a smile anywhere on his face. Crystal slowly shook her head, mouthing back to him, 'Get Dad'. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to their mom.

SOS. Something is wrong with Amy. Our house.

"Amy," Crystal said softly. She stood and laid a hand on her cousin's back; Amy didn't even seem to notice. "Amy, how old is Hardlight?"

"She has to. She has to…"

"Amy," Crystal repeated. She glanced down at her phone and tapped out another quick message.

Hurry.

"Amy, look at me."

"Huh?" Amy's head snapped up and her eyes focused, a scowl crossing her face once again. "What?"

"How old do you think Hardlight is?"

"What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

"How old?"

"I don't know. My age? What the hell does - "

"So if she's fifteen, maybe sixteen, do you really think she could be Purity's actual daughter?"

Amy flinched, trying to pull back, but Crystal wouldn't let her go. Eric was completely still as he watched them. "It doesn't matter. Family is family. She's just like her. It makes sense."

"That's not how people work, Amy. And besides, what if she was adopted?" Crystal tried to ignore the shudder that ran through Amy's body at that. What buttons was she hitting? She shouldn't be doing this. She shouldn't be the one talking about this. Where was Mom? "What if it happened recently? What if she - "

"It doesn't matter!" Amy snapped. She pulled back from Crystal, her eyes narrowed to slits and her breath coming in short pants. "She can't be the daughter or adopted daughter or step-daughter of a villain and be good! She can't! Children of villains are bad! They're evil! They have to fight every day to pretend to be good!"

"Oh, Amelia." Crystal nearly went limp as her mother's voice sounded from the hallway entrance. Looking to the left, Crystal saw her mom there, clothes ruffled from the wind and her hair in disarray. It was the most welcome thing she had seen all day. "Honey, how long have you known?"

"She can't be good because then that means - that means - " Amy choked out, her fists clenching in her hair.

"Amy," her mom said, walking forward and pulling Amy into a hug. "You're not evil."

"I am! I know I am! Mom doesn't say it, but she knows I am too! Hardlight can't be good. Children of villains aren't good. We're…we're monsters…"

Her mom looked at her and cocked her head towards the hall. Crystal gave her a small thumbs up and a sad, weak, little smile before grabbing Eric's arm and pulling him out. She dragged her brother all of the way up to her room, closing the door and leaning on it, letting her head drop.

"What. The. Fuck, just happened?" Eric asked.

Crystal shook her head. "I think…I think Mom is going to be having a very long talk with Aunt Carol. And I don't think that Amy is going to be healing for a while…"

"What the hell…"

"Yeah."

"Hey, Clock! I've been looking for you buddy," Assault said, a smile on his face as he turned the corner near the Wards' rooms. Clockblocker was just getting into the office. He had timed this perfectly.

Clockblocker turned when he heard his name and lifted a hand in a wave. "Hey, Assault. What's up? I have patrol in an hour, I was hoping to get a bit of work done first soo…"

"No worries, no worries, kid, I'll have you back in plenty of time! Just got a quick thing I need to talk to you about first."

Clockblocker shrugged and walked his way. "Okay, sure."

Assault smiled and waved him forward. "That's a good lad!" They were in the nearby conference room before he said anything further. Gesturing to one of the chairs, he waited for Clockblocker to sit before taking off his helmet and setting it on the table. "So, Dennis, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, you mentioned that. No offense Ethan, but I don't swing that way. And it would be creepy." He smirked as he took off his own helmet, leaning back in the chair.

Ethan groaned, shaking his head. "Kid, there are some things you don't joke about. That's one of them."

"Yeah, okay, that was probably in bad taste. So what's up?"

"Well I actually have a powerpoint first!" He perked up and grabbed the remote. "I've been improving my speechifying capability."

"Battery is a bad influence on you. Where's the fun slacker at?"

"He got laid," Ethan murmured, barely loud enough to hear. Shaking his head, he forced his smile wider and punched the button. "So, Exhibit A, puppies."

Dennis frowned. He stopped rocking the chair back and leaned forward staring at the screen. "Those things look familiar. That's a very uniform white. Projections?"

"Got it in one! Exhibit B, the littlest cancer patient. That's a trope too you know." Assault clicked the button again and the screen flipped to the image of a preteen cuddling one of the glowing dog projections.

Dennis' gaze flipped to Ethan for a moment before turning back to the screen. "There's not many masters in the city who have projections…"

"Exhibit C, the littlest no-longer-cancer-ridden patients. I particularly like this one. It makes for an excellent photo op." The photograph now showed about forty kids in the shot, ranging in age from 5 to 16. All of them had a glowing dog in hand and a big grin on their faces. Front and center in the middle of all of them, with her white cape, off-white pants, and cream colored blouse, was Hardlight. She had a huge grin and her own glowing puppy. There was also a noticeable blush covering what was visible of her face. Behind the group, against the wall, a dog lounging on her head, was Purity.

Dennis just stared.

Ethan sighed and dropped into a chair. "Dennis, I know you mean well. I know you hate the Empire, we all do, but you can't go off on a new trigger just because of who she happens to be working with. Brockton Bay isn't exactly safe, having the second strongest blaster on the East Coast for backup is a good plan."

"She healed all those kids?"

"She did. She's not as fast as Panacea, but she can get a lot more people at once as trade-off."

Dennis' eyes narrowed and he glanced from Purity at the edge of the photo over to Ethan. "Are we sure this isn't just a PR stunt?"

"Oh it is definitely a PR stunt. But that doesn't change the fact that what she did was beautiful."

"How sure are we that she isn't just trying to put Purity in a good light? The woman killed dozens of people!"

"Collateral damage," Ethan said. "Purity was labeled as a villain yes, but she was never actually held accountable for those deaths. People on our side have done similar things in the past."

Dennis' head snapped to Ethan and his lips curled. "What the hell is that bullshit?"

"Do you really think that Legend or Eidolon are able to control their blasts well enough to avoid all collateral damage, kid? Even just in this city, I can immediately tell you of four people who have died during cape fights that were directly caused by Protectorate individuals. There's always an investigation and PR hushes it up, but it happens. This isn't a clean business."

"Bullshit."

"Martin Crackshaw." Ethan felt his pulse pick up even as he said the name. "I hit a car, tried to use it to knock Hookwolf away from a diner. I never even saw the guy hiding under the car. Claudia Wolf. She died when I threw a bomb towards the beach, thinking it would be clear. It wasn't."

"But, those are…"

"A good prosecutor could argue for manslaughter. The same thing could be said with Purity, except with her she would also be able to get a good defense lawyer who could give decent counter arguments to muddy the waters further."

Dennis started to speak, but Ethan held up a hand, shaking his head. "We don't - and more we can't - prosecute people for unintentional deaths. If we start doing that with villains or independents, then it opens the floodgates to the rest of us. No hero would ever be able to go out again without fear of being thrown away for trying to help someone and inadvertently hurting someone else. Worse, it would escalate matters, because now no villain would hold back since they would know it wouldn't matter if they held back. Politics and PR is a delicate balance."

"But Purity - "

"Is not Hookwolf. She's not Heartbreaker, or Jack Slash, or even Nilbog. She's never hurt anyone intentionally. She's not a good person, but she's not a monstrous one either. This world is more than just black and white, kid. There's a lot of grey to go around."

"Oh come on," Dennis scoffed. He waved a hand at the screen. "Look I'll admit, maybe I was a jerk to Hardlight. Maybe she's not bad and just has bad taste in mentors. You can't convince me that Purity is actually decent too though!"

Ethan sighed. "Do you know who Purity is like, Dennis?" At Dennis' small head shake Ethan continued, "She's like me."

Dennis reared back. "What?"

"I used to be known as Madcap. I - "

"Broke people out of Birdcage transports…" Dennis whispered, his mouth falling open as he stared.

"Yes. A lot of times, it was because I didn't agree with the system. I thought 'these people aren't that bad, they're getting screwed over, they're going to hell on Earth because some judge didn't like them, they couldn't even defend themselves'. Sometimes it was for money. But all the same, I was a villain for a long time. I have no idea how many people have been hurt or killed because of my choices to help the Cage Bound." He shook his head and looked down at his hand. "But I have a real hard time not thinking about it every day. I turned myself around thanks to Battery and the offer of a second chance. Purity is trying to do the same."

Dennis was quiet. He looked back at the screen and Ethan joined him in the study of the photo. Purity looked exceedingly awkward, almost trying to slide out of the shot even as it was taken, the dog on her head was the only one that seemed to be actively forcing its bearer to hold it. She was smiling, but her eyes were haunted even so.

"Even if she's only trying because of the girl, she deserves a chance to make herself better. We all make mistakes. We all can fall in with the wrong crowd. She broke away. Not many people do that when it comes to the Empire. She deserves a chance."

"…What if she goes back? What if Hardlight isn't the decent person she's trying to show herself as?" Dennis asked, his eyes still focused on the dogs and the kids and the blushing, awkward girl in the middle.

"Then the second chance goes away, and we react appropriately. Same with the kid."

Dennis slowly nodded. "She's really not with the Empire…she wouldn't have hurt them to protect Hardlight if she was still with them…"

Ethan nodded and rested a hand on the teen's shoulder. "One thing you learn fast when working in this sort of environment: there's far too much gray in this world."

"Yeah…Hardlight, she can…heal cancer?"

Ethan smiled and squeezed Dennis's shoulder, before rising to his feet. "Next time she's here sparring with Aegis or KW, maybe stop by to apologize. If you happen to mention your dad during that talk…Well, Armsmaster thinks she's a good kid. If Armsy likes her…"

"Yeah. Ethan," Dennis said, still watching the photo. "Thanks. For…this."

"Anytime, kid. That's what heroes are for after all."