1.7

Emily was serious.

"Right," Director Emily Piggot said. "This meeting will be about the Techno Queen and her Dastardly Techies, and the threat they represent."

The occupants of the table, the local Protectorate and Wards capes, stayed silent.

"At the Techno Queen's first appearance, she robbed a bank. She took only one sackful of money, didn't hurt the hostages, or any of the heroes, really, and then easily made her escape with Tinker tech.

"On her second appearance she tried to turn every piece of chocolate in the city into broccoli-" she was impressed with herself for saying that with a straight face, "-and was easily defeated, and she easily escaped as well.

"On her third appearance she did an apparently almost entirely heroic act. She somehow found out that Coil had been in the middle of kidnapping Dinah Alcott, a young girl who has been apparently telling her family and classmates that she could see the future. Somehow she, using only her robots that had until then showed nothing but absolute incompetence, defeated all his trained henchmen and women, delivered Miss Alcott back at her house unharmed, and turned Coil who later turned out to be Thomas Calvert in, hogtied and unconscious, yet unharmed."

She paused.

"This meeting is about her fourth appearance. Teleporting into a Medhall conference room, she, her robots, and the Undersiders who are apparently the Dastardly Techies and her subordinates now, proceeded to take the occupants of the room hostage for one million dollars from the PRT. She had her robots herd all other employees in the building outside, alerting us of what was transpiring.

"The Protectorate soon arrived at the scene, tried to talk them down as procedures mandate, failed, and then proceeded to fight the Techno Queen and co. We don't know who shot and posted the video of the fight, or why. Tattletale, in an apparent act of desperation, took Max Anders, CEO of Medhall hostage, threatening to kill him with this gun-"

Armsmaster set the clearly Tinker tech gun down on the table.

"-if they didn't follow her demands. Normally this would be reason to up the threat level of the villain in question if it weren't for one thing. Armsmaster?"

The leader of the BB Protectorate took out a tiny metal claw he'd made in five minutes, and reached for the trigger with it. The claw closed around the trigger and squeezed. Metal blades popped out of the gun, and if anyone had shot the gun with their real hand they would have lost it.

"… It was a set up." Battery said in realization.

Emily nodded.

"So they somehow found out who Kaiser's civilian identity was… and then they attacked him while out of costume. That's against the rules." Battery continued, her husband, Assault, nodding in agreement.

"True. It had all clearly been planned, they broke one of the biggest unwritten rules."

She paused, waiting for it.

"… To take down Kaiser." Clockblocker said, and he sounded a bit unreasonably defensive.

Gallant looked at his teammate and shifted in his seat.

"Exactly. Not to mention that we're the only ones who know that they did it. Techno Queen, while a villain, has shown not be malevolent in any sense, only in it for the fun, and possibly the money. The Undersiders, now the Dastardly Techies, have shown much of the similar attitude towards Cape business. Techno Queen, as with the Alcott situation, has even showed heroic impulses before."

"Are you proposing what I think you're proposing?" Miss Militia asked.

"Yes. We cover it up. Not illegally, of course. But you'll need clearance for this information."

"Shouldn't we up Techno Queen's threat level anyways? She's showing an alarming amount of strategic intelligence." Triumph said.

"No. Coil wasn't much of a big fish, so he must have been quite an easy catch. And before yesterday's incident she hasn't shown much, as you say, strategic intelligence. It was most likely Tattletale that did all of the planning. The threat levels will remain the same. Dismissed."

For some reason, Gallant refused to look at Clockblocker for the rest of the day, although his mouth kept twitching like he really wanted to smile. Or maybe laugh.

AN: One, I hope this is a good enough excuse for you guys to keep up your Willing Suspension of Disbelief when the local capes don't fall on THE TECHNO QUEEN and co. like a ton of bricks. Two, the ham will be back in the next chapter, I swear, and it will be hammier than ever before.