(There's an explanation of what's been going on after the chapter.)

Chapter 13: Silhouette

Khepri was glad for the gloom of Portland as she, Acacia and Counterpoise waited atop an apartment rooftop. The clouds were low and heavy, only the barest slip of the dusk sun cutting through the dim light from far in the distance. A soft patter of rain fell around them, warm and gentle and washing away the scents of petrol and chemicals. The street below was quiet but not empty, with the occasional car or pedestrian heading away from the old industrial parks and back to home. Acacia sat with her back against the low wall, chin dipped into her chest, seemingly asleep in the long shadows.

Counterpoise was more restless, pacing back and forth far enough away from the ledge to remain unseen. Khepri watched them, perfectly still; Queen sitting to attention at her side. She listened to the rumble of the cars and the noises of people going about their lives in the building below. They were comforting, Khepri found.

The comms let out a small buzz to signal an incoming message, and Acacia perked up.

"PRT in position," Mattock murmured. "Beta Team confirm."

"Confirmed." Acacia replied, also keeping her voice low. She glanced up at Khepri, who shook her head. "No signs of movement here boss."

"Received. Operation start in ten."

"Received."

The static dimmed into nothingness and once again the only sounds were of the city around them. Acacia returned to her lean but kept her head up, eyes tracking Counterpoise's pacing. A car pulled up near the entrance, probably a taxi, filling the air with a rumble. The passenger got out and began arguing with the driver, voices raised and sharp, before a slam sounded and the door buzzer went off. A last shout, from the taxi, then the noise of the engine faded into the distance.

"Mika." Acacia said softly.

Counterpoise stopped, stiffening in place.

"You're doing yourself no good."

"It was two days ago, Jenny."

Acacia shrugged lightly.

"We're capes. Villains don't wait. Criminals still commit crimes. Life goes on."

"But… he's gone. Just, one morning. Then not."

Acacia didn't reply, merely shrugging again. Cointerpoise turned sharply, and Khepri knew there was a scowl beneath her mask.

"I suppose it's easier after you've already lost a full team, isn't it?"

"I'm not going to get angry, Mika," Acacia sighed, weariness creeping into her voice, "Perth makes it easier, yeah. Yeah. But the Endbringers are a fact, immovable and… they're like old age. It's easier."

Counterpoise slumped.

"Sorry. I'm still not happy. That you're indifferent."

"I'm grieving him as well. And it's your first Endbringer battle, Mika. You'll get used to it."

"If one of them doesn't kill me first."

Khepri twitched, but stayed out of the conversation.

"They might," Acacia admitted as she stood, rolling her shoulders a bit, "but you might slip in the shower. You might not notice a speeding car. C'est la vie."

Counterpoise huffed, but her posture slumped slightly.

"How're you, Shep?"

'Magellan…' Khepri thought back, flashed to a grinning teen in a frilled shirt. To a tall, dark-skinned leader. 'I miss him.'

She saw Counterpoise nod, open her mouth to speak, hesitate, then nod again.

"Come on big guy," Acacia said, walking over to nudge Khepri with her elbow, , "get us across the gap. The Elite need a beating."

Khepri gestured, and her two teammates let her pick them up under her arms. Acacia was relaxed, growing her wood and bark around Khepri's arm to keep herself latched. Counterpoise was more nervous, her heart rate increasing, and she gripped tightly onto Khepri's stone cloak.

I won't drop you, Mika.

"I wasn't worried," she replied, voice breathy. Khepri crouched, then leaped, her enhanced strength easily enough to clear a block and land on the top of a dimly lit building attached to a chemical plant. Counterpoise drew in a quick breath but didn't scream, even when Khepri landed. She had cushioned the stop with rock softened into a syrup-like mix and that had been enough to dampen the sound of their jump.

She let her teammates down and, after forming a few stone snakes that quickly slid into the surrounding darkness, they huddled together.

"We have the floorplans for the building. The main offices are on the second floor, in the northeast corner, and they likely have set up operations there. Shep, you're going to drop in down the maintenance hatch here while me and Poise will go down the fire escape. Once you've given the signal we'll head inside. Keep in mind we aren't sure which of their capes will be here."

Understood. See you soon.

Khepri waited a moment to see if either of them added anything, then pulled open the hatch and dropped onto the floor below. The walls were plastered and bare, the carpet thick with dust and the air stale. There was only a single set of footprints, a few days old if she had to guess, showing where the Elite had done a quick sweep of the top floor. Satisfied she was in no immediate danger of being discovered she strode down the corridor, layering sand around her feet and on the floor to completely absorb any sound. It didn't take her long to find the stairwell. A small bannister was at the top, showing signs of rust, and she peered over it down the four flights of stairs.

She felt the tiniest of vibrations from her communicator and tapped it to signal she was clear to listen.

"We're in place. Don't know how long it will be until they check, or even if they check in the first place. Better hurry."

Khepri tapped it three times in acknowledgment as she started down the stairs, just as silent as before.

The second floor was clean, but still unlit, aside from the barest sliver of light from underneath one of the doors further down. She could hear the faint humming of a fan, too, probably from a computer. Khepri made her way to the door, then slipped sand up along to the hinges to ensure the door made no sound as she opened it. The desk was empty, and the computer screen locked, but there was a short man asleep on the couch. The cape's mask was off, revealing a surprisingly young face, only a sparse fluff around his mouth.

His costume was dark grey, with silver lines along the arms that reached down to his fingertips. She guided one of the snakes to wrap around him, forming a mask that would keep him from shouting and binding his limbs in place. The shock of cold stone shook him awake, eyes wide, but he couldn't make more than a muffled grunt.

Khepri turned when another cape burst through the doorway, gun raised. She saw the obvious signs of tinkertech and shifted to the side but, with a jolt, felt that a good chunk of her rocky cover had just been obliterated and even her Endbringer form had been chipped into. The cape smirked.

"I set up motion sensors. LoS always falls asleep."

Khepri shifted her grip on her staff, and the Tinker let off a warning shot near her ear.

"It'll be your head next time," he warned.

The damage to her true form had already healed but she didn't start to reform the stone layers above yet, aside from a quick cover; Shepherd wouldn't have been capable of healing that quickly.

'What's your name?' Khepri scribed, raising her hands slowly, letting the crook fall onto the floor.

"Linear," the Tinker said.

'And you're Elite?'

He gestured for her to move to the side, away from his trapped teammate, and the moment the gun wasn't pointed at her she leapt behind his computer. He hesitated, unwilling to shoot through it, and she used the opportunity to grab her staff and throw it around the corner at his feet. Linear leapt up only for it to catch his shins and topple him back down. She rose and threw herself into a tackle towards him. He fired as he was falling sidewards , and proved he probably had a Thinker rating too when the shot went through the stone façade and dug deep into her true form's eye.

His face morphed to shock when she didn't fall down dead then shifted into pain when she landed on him, one large palm covering his face. It didn't take long for him to be trussed and bound like his fellow Elite member, both of them lain down side by side.

Khepri bent down to pick up Linear's gun, tapping her communicator to signal to Acacia. Her finger trailed from her ear into the hole in her head, feeling the depth of the wound and the projectile within. It took little effort to pull it out, the metal smooth and undeformed, a shiny matte blue. She considered the gun again, tracing the lines of silicon inside, noting the odd proportions of the barrel.

K:[KNOWN]

"This seems familiar, somehow."

Q:[AFFIRMATION]

"It bears the traces of Sting, mistress."

K: [SPECULATION]

"One of Lily's cluster? But there were only three…"

The building shook, drawing Khepri out of her thoughts, and she slipped the gun into the folds of her cloak.

"We've been engaged, Changer, semi-liquid and strong," Counterpoise's voice came through the communicator, a strong edge of urgency to it. Khepri broke into a run, sliding slightly as she burst into the corridor and began a fast, loping run towards the other end of the building. A scream sounded out and she turned towards it, forsaking the corridors to instead break through the walls directly.

She had crashed through three before she came across the fight. Counterpoise stood over Acacia's downed form, her sling spinning into a whining blur. On the other side of the room a creature stood, made of a slicked shimmering black tar. The cape was in the vague form of a six-legged wolf, with great curving horns arcing into the air and a mane of tentacles poised like hooded cobras.

"Acacia is struggling to breathe," Counterpoise said, not taking her eyes off of the cape. The Changer twitched, half-lunging forward towards Khepri, and Counterpoise struck out, her steel shot blowing a giant hole in the cape's torso and rocketing through the wall into the open space beyond. The wound quickly reformed, however, and the cape leapt forwards. Khepri intercepted them, the loud slap of stone on liquid sounding out. Tentacles immediately wrapped around Khepri's neck, squeezing hard enough to crack the rock.

Counterpoise dashed in as Khepri swung around, another shot already loaded into her sling. She swung the weapon into the cape's body, sending black tar spattering out onto the wall. More tentacles lunged out, even as Khepri tore at the torso, and Counterpoise cut them away with her sling. A low, bubbling laugh sounded out.

"Keep doing that and you'll get the place dirty."

"Fuck you!" Counterpoise responded.

'Move back.' Her teammate reacted quickly, moving to defend Acacia. Before the Changer could release their hold on Khepri she formed a trio of sheep at her feet, far larger than normal and with mouths the length of their body lined with interlocking teeth. One snapped forward, trying to envelope the cape and taking a chunk of its legs off. The Changer let go of Khepri's neck, retreating out of range, warier than before.

"Alright," they gurgled, "good move." They then turned and pushed themselves through the hole Counterpoise had made in the wall, squeezing into a wriggling snake-like form, and in a split-second moment they were gone.

"Acacia is struggling to breathe," Counterpoise said, "I think it broke a few of her ribs."

'They weren't pulling punches. The Tinker downstairs shot me in the face.'

"What!"

Her friend was suddenly there, hands pulling Khepri down so she could inspect the wound.

"Christ Shep, that's deep! There's a first aid pack in the vans, we'll need to bandage it and stop the blee- uh."

'I am okay. I am not sure I have a brain.'

"Well that's bloody apparent!"

'Counterpoise, I am fine. We need to get Acacia to the hospital, and call in the captured villains.'

"Yeah. Yeah," she said, stepping away as she reassured herself, "I'll call it in, you carry her to the vans."

So... less than a fortnight after I put PaS on hiatus my Nan died. We had been told she could possible live up to a year, and she seemed lively and happy, then she was gone. I barely had a chance to even review and start planning my original work and it just completely killed my desire to write. I probably could have started posting again at Christmas but frankly I had wrapped myself up in work and a new relationship so I never got round to it. I'm not going to make promises about this fic but I am confident, since I am on holiday for a while at the moment.

Looking back over the fic there are a few things I would change; the tone swings (which I think were too much), Khepri joining the Protectorate in the way she did (probably should have been a wanderer and ended up working with the Portland team), the too quick pace (which I am going to try to slowdown somewhat in future chapters).

I could've rewritten it, but I think in the end that would've fizzled out, so I thought it better to carry on writing it. I know where I am going with it, and what the aims are, and I would estimate we're about halfway through (ish) - any more and I suspect it will start to drag out.

Thank you all for reading (and waiting)!

And sincere thank yous to Burn Note and Evil Atlas for beta'ing and listening to my woes.