A Waken 12.9

"And then I was in quarantine for twelve hours." I rubbed my temple with one hand. "With a headache that won't go away."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Theo said. "Um. Have you tried a Tylenol?"

"It's not that bad right now. More of a persistent annoyance than anything."

Tylenol didn't help when I tried it, but I didn't say that. I didn't call Theo to complain. I'd meant to talk to him on Friday but… All that happened.

"I'd have called you over the weekend, but there were other things going on. Sorry."

"It's alright. I think I'll be able to move back to Brockton Bay by the end of the month. I can start making arrangements then."

"No sign of your dad?"

"My father never deals from a position of weakness unless he absolutely has to. He won't show up here begging for help. Not from Kayden."

"And when you're not with her?"

"If I know him, he's hiding somewhere licking his ego. He'll show up eventually, but not for awhile."

"If you're sure. What do you need from me?"

"Who is running Medhall right now? And I don't mean Mr. Model. Dad wouldn't trust him with anything significant, but no one really looks at him and thinks he's a bad guy."

"Someone else is running the company?"

"Yeah. Probably someone who doesn't want anyone to know they are. I have some ideas who it might be, but I can't be sure."

I thought on it for a moment, and asked, "Approaching this person will let you play the part you want?"

"Yes. Picking the wrong one first will make it obvious I'm guessing. Knowing who it is before I arrive will let me convince them I'm talking to my father. He won't be around to contradict the assumption."

I nodded to myself. Veda could figure that out with a little hacking and Aisha could confirm it with some spying. We'd figure out who was in charge and maybe learn a few other interesting things while we were at it.

"I'll take care of it."

"Sorry to impose on you, ma'am."

"It's fine. And you can stop calling me ma'am. My name is Taylor. It's not a secret anymore."

"Giving respect is its own reward. It's the only useful thing my father had to teach me, even if it was self-serving of him."

Movement in the window to my left drew my eye. "I'll handle it. See you when you get into the city."

"Have a nice morning."

He's really polite.

He even waited for me to hang up first.

The window slid open and a red glove clasped at the edge. I sat quietly, watching her pull herself onto the fire escape.

The girl's costume was interesting. Kind of a Victorian dress. The kind of thing Parian might wear, though she seemed to like showing off her shoulders and collar. She wore a domino mask over her face and a bunch of pouches and pockets on various belts.

Lots of pockets for her pocket spaces. Very clever.

I took note of her other glove, which bore metal claw-tips on the fingers. A weapon, or a more practical tool?

Cozen closed the window and I said, "Hi." She froze but didn't turn to face me. "Before you run—"

She spun on one heel and bolted. She ran to the edge of the fire escape and jumped. I sighed and followed at my own pace. She dug the claws into the side of the building and slid down to the ground. Tools then. Also clever.

Hopefully, she was smart too.

She hit the ground and started running to the end of the alley toward the street. Kyrios came out of the sky, one shield opening into a claw as Cozen slid to a stop. She reached for one of her pockets and tried to sidestep the claw.

The other claw came around and pinned her to the wall, trapping her arms at her side..

"Hi, I'm Laughter."

Cozen scowled. "I know who you are."

I slid down the ladder to the ground, shouting, "I said before you run!"

I walked over, kind of glad it was Cozen who decided to pull the first heist for the Red Hand in Brockton Bay. She had an excellent record when it came to violence, as in she almost never engaged in it. She liked to pull off heists, not get involved in fights.

I looked the girl in the eye. Though, 'girl' might be unfair. She was older than me, maybe in her early twenties.

"Cozen, right? Look, I have school in a couple hours and I don't want to belabor the point here. So, the point. I've survived an international assassin, drug dealers, a suicide bomber, a rage dragon, Nazis, and the fucking Butcher."

"Also high school," Lafter added cheerfully. "Teenagers are so catty."

"Also that." I pointed at Cozen. "I can survive you too, if you and your merry band of thieves want to make yourselves my problem. I don't want you to be my problem. So here are the ground rules."

I raised my hand and lifted a finger for each point. "No selling drugs. No setting the city on fire, literally or figuratively. No human trafficking. No grievous injuries. No dead bodies. Give me that, and I won't have to survive you too." I paused. Fuck. "That didn't quite come out how I intended it, but I have a headache right now and I think you get the idea."

I turned and started walking to the street. Lafter pulled away, releasing Cozen. She stumbled as Kyrios' shield claws closed and scrambled.

"You're letting me go?"

"Oh, hell no. I just saw you break into a bank manager's apartment which I can only assume is step one of a bank robbery. I just have more important things to do than chase a thief who isn't making themselves my problem." I nodded to a dumpster in the alley. "They don't."

Green, Purple, Navy, and Orange jumped out of the dumpster.

They formed a pyramid with Navy and Orange as the base, Purple standing on top of them, and Green on top of Purple. Orange and Navy produced beam sabers in their hands, Navy a stun grenade and Green a cell phone.

"Theme music! Theme music!"

Cozen stumbled back at that, which was kind of amusing.

"Have fun with that!" Lafter laughed as Kyrios crouched down.

I hopped into the seat the bent arm offered and she took off.

Lafter pulled into the air as the sun rose, flying over the city at a speed low enough to not crush her passenger. "You're okay with that?"

"It's the plan," I said. "I'd rather have Cozen trying to steal some money without spilling blood, than the next would-be Lung."

Though, being honest it did leave me with a sick feeling in my stomach. Letting Cozen have a fighting chance was… acceptable. If she got away, she earned it and there'd be consistent, mostly non-violent, villains in Brockton Bay. She was still a criminal though. This was the middle ground I could live with.

I'd take responsibility for it.

Kyrios nodded. "We going to do this for all of them?"

"She'll tell the rest of the Hands. Travelers should be showing up on Wednesday according to Forecast. Adepts on Thursday. We'll give them all the message and see where it goes."

They were smart. They decided to show up while everyone was waiting for Behemoth's attack; when most capes want to avoid fights. They could establish themselves in the city without too much fuss and wait for the Truce to end.

Bank managers must get up early. Cozen decided to hit the apartment as soon as the manager left for work. That left us with a little over an hour to get to school, which was manageable. With the onset of fall, the sun came up later. It was still dark out and the city lights were on. The Docks and Shanty Town were brighter than they used to be.

"Are you okay with it?" I raised my head and looked at Kyrios' face.

"Doesn't make much difference to me."

"You've never really asked questions before. Not like this."

Lafter turned toward home so we could change and shower before school. I waited for an answer, finding her sudden silence atypical. I thought I knew Lafter pretty well. She wasn't a very enigmatic person. Maybe I got that wrong. This wasn't like her.

"I didn't think you could do it."

My brow went up.

"Sorry," she apologized immediately. "I don't mean that in a bad way or anything. I just didn't think it could be done."

"Then why did you…"

"'Cause hiding in the abbey was boring. Didn't want to do that forever and I like beating up bad guys. Not like I wasn't willing to try. I just didn't think it would work."

She looked forward and I turned my head down toward the city. "Still might not work."

"Nah. It'll work."

Huh. "I think I needed that. Thanks." I grimaced and touched a hand to my head.

"Headache?"

"Headache. It'll pass."

Lafter set us down in the yard behind my house. I climbed off Kyrios' arm and the suit opened to release Lafter. She stretched as she got out, throwing one arm across her chest and twisting her waist.

"I love my robot," she said, "but they are not comfy after the first thirty minutes."

"I'm working on a new cushion design."

Though, realistically, the Gundams would never be comfy. They were too cramped to be comfy. Best I could do was make them less uncomfortable.

We walked into the house to the smell of eggs, bacon, and— "What are you doing here?"

Orga raised his head. He sat with dad at the table, a bunch of papers spread out in front of them.

"I'm showing him how to unionize," Dad explained. "Kurt said some of the boys were asking about how to do it, so I'm going over the legal stuff and the papers."

I raised my brow. "You're unionizing Tekkadan?"

"Is that bad?" He asked the question like he really didn't know the answer.

"No. I'm just surprised."

"The Dockworkers are a union and they've always been strong."

Dad nodded. "Strength in numbers. It's good when dealing with gangs. The real goal is to give yourselves more legal and financial protection."

Orga turned his attention back to Dad at the word 'protection.'

"You can register with the state and the ALF-CIO. It can fast track all of you for pension plans, healthcare, and insurance. You'll need all those things."

"Can you do that when you own the business?" Lafter asked.

"It's called a cooperative," Dad clarified. "And it's unusual. Admittedly, it's not a business model that scales up easily, but it can work very effectively for smaller close-knit businesses."

"Right," Orga said. He glanced at the papers. "And this?" He pointed at one. "I don't understand some of it."

"It's a form of elected corporate leadership," Dad continued. "The workers own the company collectively and elect their leader via vote. The leader can delegate to an outside manager, manage the company themselves, or a combination of management sharing. It's largely up to the worker-owners."

I left them to that, though I did linger for a moment. Orga seemed completely absorbed with Dad's explanations but I noticed he still didn't understand some of the wordier parts. Orga could read but I got the sense he'd never been to school. The idea of a union was foreign, let alone the idea a union could own a business.

And it surrendered all his power, which struck me. Cozen came to mind, and the Empire before her, and Lung before her… Maybe it struck me because I'd amassed so much power and didn't want to let it go.

I'm having such wonderful thoughts about myself lately.

Lafter showered first while I slipped into the basement. I found a surprisingly clean space for how little dad and I used it. Boxes of old stuff sat against one wall with a divider separating them from the rest of the room. Black sat on a bean bag chair in front of a small television. Aisha sat at a desk by the bed, glaring at Red.

"How's it going?" I asked.

She turned her glower on me. "You suck."

I sighed and walked over to her. She had a math workbook in front of her and she hadn't done much.

"Your brother isn't here and Veda is the only one who can keep track of you. Go ahead and hate me for it. After you finish your homework. You can stop studying as soon as you pass the GED."

I'd put her in school if I could, but that would be a complicated mess with her brother's situation, her situation, and the need to keep her out of sight… Great thought to have after noticing how comfortable I was wielding power.

"I'll tell you what I told Lafter—someday—all of this is going to be over and you'll need something besides your powers."

Aisha scoffed. "Yeah. At the rate we're going, kicking Teacher to the curb will happen around the time we're all geriatric."

I frowned. "I know why you're here, Aisha. Heroing isn't your deal. I get it, but Teacher has been at this for a decade. Maybe longer. We're not going to topple him overnight."

"Not at this rate we're not."

I needed a breath before responding.

Aisha wasn't the only one annoyed about it, but it's not like I currently had any solid leads on how to find the asshole. What we ripped from Blue Cosmos' servers didn't answer many questions. Mostly, it made me worried about whatever 'Operation British' was. Namely, why did it need "complete and total coordination across all chapters"? That's not even remotely something I wanted to read about from a band of bigots.

The name got around. People seemed to know what it meant in the upper ranks of the organization, but they went to absurd lengths to avoid saying much about it, even in private conversations. One would think they might be paranoid about their computers being hacked.

Maybe if we tried another chapter in another city?

Aisha frowned. "Nice hair."

I sighed. "Be patient. The time will come."

Even I didn't like that answer. I'd never accept it in her place and that meant she might do something reckless. The current lull in events gave her little to do too, so she had time to brood. I'd have to ask Veda to keep an eye on her. No one else could.

I left her and went upstairs to take my turn in the shower. The heat helped with the pain and the patter of water on my skin distracted me from the throbbing in my skull. Unfortunately, washing my hair reminded me that I didn't have it all anymore.

Running a hand over the mirror to clear away the mist, I glared at my new short cut.

Lafter, Murrue, and Charlotte all pitched in to try and help but that didn't make me feel better. Veda's cut was for saving my life, which I appreciated very much. Unfortunately, it left one side of my head so short cutting the other side became inevitable. Afterward, the only part of me that ever felt truly feminine didn't even reach my shoulders.

I barely recognized myself.

Lafter walked out of my room while I stared at my reflection, bedecked in the spare outfit stored in my closet. "You could have had Panacea fix it."

"It wouldn't be the same."

"Pretty sure it would."

"No, it wouldn't."

I'm not sure I could explain it. I spent hours cleaning my hair. Hours maintaining it. Meticulously combing, prepping and managing hair with curls for years… It would be like offering a perfect replica to an artist after they lost a masterpiece that took half their life to create.

"It's not the same," I mumbled. The only bright side was it didn't hurt that much. I had bigger things to worry about than my hair.

Lafter shrugged. "Well, at least a short cut looks good on you."

It didn't and she was just being nice. Which I did appreciate even if it wasn't true. I looked more like a boy than ever.

I got dressed in a blouse and slacks, put on a tie that went with the blouse and slipped into my shoes. After I put on a bulletproof body sleeve that is. I'd been attacked out of costume twice – admittedly the first time by my own hand – and I think my paranoia was rightly justified given the circumstances.

Dad and Orga were still going at it when we came down and grabbed a quick breakfast and the lunch bags Pink set aside. Orga's eyes glared at a page as if straining to understand it. I knew he could read. Out of his whole group, he was the only one who could.

I took a glance over his shoulder. The page was an explanation of how 401k's worked… But he was staring at the top of the page. At the title.

Did he not know what a 401k was? Stupid question. What gang maintains a pension plan?

Casually, I took up a page from the table on my way out. Some generic description of retirement benefits. It probably mentioned 401k's in there or something. I looked at it for a bit, waiting for Orga to notice, then I set it down and left.

I didn't want to embarrass him or anything. Dad seemed to be trying to explain things and he just wasn't getting it. Given his background, unions and worker's rights were probably a foreign language.

Finding Mikazuki on the back stoop felt expected more than surprising. The number of times I'd seen Orga or Mikazuki without the other nearby could be counted on one hand. What did surprise me is that he got up as Lafter and I descended the front steps and followed us.

"Leaving?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Orga's fine. You're the one who almost died."

Damn the internet.

"Come on." Lafter poked me with her elbow. "So you got stabbed in the chest and everyone saw it. They also saw you beat the Butcher like a drum for thirty seconds straight with a sword in your chest."

I rolled my eyes, noticing the reporters who now had to stay behind the PRT and police line surrounding my block. "Yay me."

Lafter hummed. "Kind of freaky how you almost died one day and after the weekend it's 'oh yeah we're going to school again.' Super weird."

I got the sense the reporters were purposefully giving me a back exit from my house. They had to know about it, but thus far no one had tried to use it. No pestering, no stalking, no nothing. I couldn't figure why, but gift horses and mouths.

We made it to the bus stop unmolested, where a few groupies usually hung around and just stared. I did my best to ignore them while checking my phone. Cozen got away, but I figured she would. The Haros probably let her. More fun to mess with a villain when they can fight back.

All good on the Workshop front. The Factory was fine, with repairs to Exia and Queen almost complete. I asked Veda to lift the Full Armor package from storage. I wanted to refurbish it after letting the components collect dust for too long.

The bus came up and I followed Lafter in. Mikazuki followed me. He sat down behind us, and as the bus turned south on its route, I finally asked, "Are you following us?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"If you die, Orga's in a bad spot."

Lafter grinned. "You have a bodyguard."

"I don't need a bodyguard."

"You literally have the Haros circling school looking for snipers."

After Othala's attack, wandering hobos made that list too. It never occurred to me that someone would walk right into school and attack. It was too brazen. I always expected an attack to arrive while I was coming or going. Even Veda overlooked it till she saw Othala's face.

There was that feeling again. A feeling far too familiar and that I absolutely didn't want to think about. I didn't like thinking about the locker. I didn't like feeling that something horrific was done in how the Butcher was dealt with. A fate worse than death. It was a stupid sensation that made no sense.

And much like my headache, it wouldn't quite go away.

If anything, thinking about one made the other worse.

I settled into the worn cushion of my seat. "Suit yourself, but you'll get in trouble if you try to enter the school. Especially with that gun in your coat."

"Okay."

Okay? Why are these two so weird?

Work crews lined one side of the road. Fencing blocked off the parking lot we trashed and ran up the incline to the walls Exia and Queen smashed through. Veda came in through the ceiling too. The lot was a total disaster. Wrecked vehicles were still being towed away. Fortunately no one billed us for that.

The PRT covered all the school's insurance needs as part of supporting the Wards. Doubted I made any progress on the Arcadia mission by wrecking the school. There was talk about removing parahumans from public schools going around online because of the attack. Probably wouldn't come to anything, but it said something that people were discussing it in the first place.

My suspicions were confirmed when Lafter and I got off the bus.

Lots of kids walked to school on their own or took buses, but some came with their parents. I'd never seen so many adults glare at me before. Not since Winslow or the truce meeting before the attack on the Merchants.

Lafter gave them all an incredulous glare. "Guess they have nothing better to do. Do I get vacation days?"

Behind us, Mikazuki stepped off the bus and looked at the school. I watched him for a bit as he stood in the sea of kids and parents. His eyes scanned the crowd like he was looking for something. Did he plan to hang around till I left?

As we approached the front doors, I noticed Gladly manning the door with Coach Zabi.

"Morning assembly!" Coach Zabi shouted. "Seniors and juniors to the auditoriums. Freshmen and sophomores to the gymnasium."

Oh this is going to suck.

"What are we?" Lafter asked as we passed through the doors.

"I'm a sophomore, you're a freshmen." Lafter's lack of any education for nearly a decade put her a grade behind despite being a year older than me. "So we're supposed to go to the gym."

"So… same as everyday?"

Ironically, "Yup."

I couldn't actually get to my locker—they taped the hallway off; with workers trying to put the wall and ceiling back together—so we went straight to the gym. A giant projector screen hung over one wall. The stands were out, with chairs arranged in front of a podium in front of the projector screen.

I picked out a seat at the front and Lafter sat next to me. It seemed like a good idea at the time. If we sat in the back we'd see people staring at us. Sitting up front seemed like it would be easier to ignore them.

Badgiruel stood near the front of the room with dozens of others. A big school like Arcadia has a lot of staff. I only recognized Gladly and Sutherland, the latter of whom looked awfully pleased about something.

What a pleasant thought.

Students filtered in quickly and my 'sit at the front plan' quickly revealed a flaw. I saw everyone enter the gym and everyone entering the gym saw me.

I didn't know people could make some of those faces. They weren't all bad I think. A lot looked confused or… afraid. Afraid of me, or afraid of the fact I was here?

Could I blame them? Butcher attacking me in broad daylight like that validated a lot of the things Blue Cosmos said about capes in schools. The only thing worse than fear-mongering assholes is fear-mongering assholes with a point.

The bell rang but students were still filtering in.

Badgiruel got a mic by the podium and handed it off to Gladly. They chatted for a few minutes. Long enough for Weld to walk in. He spotted Lafter and I and took a seat on the floor beside us.

"Not going to use a chair?" Lafter asked.

"Don't look like they'd hold my weight," he said with a grin. "I'm good with it."

"There you are!" Vicky flew over the crowd, hands over her head. "You would not believe how hard it was getting this through the doors without smashing the place up more."

She landed and set a stone bench down on the floor.

Weld blinked. "Thanks."

"I'll put it back later."

"Executive seating!"

I blinked. "Elle?" I hadn't even noticed her, mostly because I never expected to see her at Arcadia. Why was she at Arcadia?

She looked up from the papers in her hands as she sat down beside Weld. "Hi, Taylor!"

Lafter looked equally confused. "What are you doing here?"

Weld's grin shifted into a resigned smile. "She sued."

Elle's smile was prouder. "The PRT was trying to prevent me from having a normal education and social relations with other members of my peer group. Such injustices cannot stand."

Vicky narrowed her gaze. "You're—"

Elle raised her hand and loudly proclaimed, "Hi, I'm Labyrinth!"

The room didn't go quiet, but it did get quieter. Looking over my shoulder, I saw dozens of people staring at us. They probably saw the somewhat mortified look on Vicky's face as Labyrinth started talking about how she never got to have 'school' at the Parahuman asylum. They also apparently didn't teach her that some things probably shouldn't be said loudly in a very public place.

I was not surprised.

The PRT might have had a leg to stand on keeping Elle out of school but they couldn't prove it. The only crimes she committed were committed when she wasn't in control of herself. Fully lucid and in control of her power, all they could do was allege her intentions to be a villain again in the future. That wouldn't be enough to imprison her in the PRT building.

Which made me wonder what Valiant did, but he might not care about school.

"And I could have stayed at the Ward base I guess," she went on, "but now everyone else is at school so it's just lonely and awkward and the only people who visit me are Stratos and Ms. Ramius and they're okay but they're twice my age and have rent and stuff so it's not really—"

"And I thought I could talk," Lafter murmured as Elle continued talking at Vicky.

Ms. Badgiruel's voice managed to cut right through Elle's words and the rest of the room. "Ms. Dallon, it is very kind of you to bring a suitable seat for Weld. I ask that you return after the assembly to put it back where you found it."

Vicky turned in the air with a, "Yes ma'am."

"And I believe you are a junior so your assembly is in the auditorium."

Vicky quickly took the offered escape and flew through the doors.

Ms. Badgiruel waited for her to leave before turning back to the podium. She nodded to Gladly and he took position behind the stand, microphone in hand. He tapped it twice, the sound echoing around the room.

"Good, good," he said. He looked over the room, eyes lingering on me for a moment. "Welcome back everyone. I know it must have been a very hectic weekend for you all. The news has been everywhere so I'm not sure I need to rehash what happened, but I will anyway just in case. Last Friday, a villain known as the Butcher came to Arcadia and attempted to kill a student."

Yeah, me… Except she hadn't. She had, but that wasn't really what she wanted.

She wanted the pain to end.

"A battle followed that caused some damage to the school and one of the auxiliary parking lots. Multiple vehicles were destroyed and a few students suffered injuries. Fortunately, Panacea is a member of the student body and was able to heal those who needed immediate help."

Amy.

She was a year younger than Vicky, which meant she'd be in my grade. I turned to look over my shoulder, but I didn't see her in the gym. I did see that a lot of students weren't really listening. They were gossiping or whispering to one another and seemed disinterested in what Gladly was saying.

"The damage to the school will be repaired by the end of the week," he continued. "And the vehicles damaged in the parking lot are all insured. I think we should be grateful no one died and your heroically-inclined peers promptly combated the villain, leading to her capture. I'm not sure how much that means to all of you, but the Butcher was a murderer and a villain when I was your age. That was quite a while ago, as you can probably guess."

Ms. Badgiruel leaned in from behind him and whispered something. Gladly nodded and straightened his tie briefly.

"The district recognizes that for many this was a very traumatizing experience, especially those who were very close to the fighting as it unfolded or saw friends and siblings injured in the confusion. My door is going to be open all day today in the cafeteria. Vice Principal Badgiruel and Principal Warner are also available. If you prefer to talk privately, you can send an email and we'll make arrangements. Grief counselors are being made available to us. Now, Ms. Badgiruel?"

Gladly stepped back and Ms. Badgiruel stepped forward.

"Good morning," she said firmly, almost like a drill sergeant. There was a warmth to it though. "Rather than fill this time with teachers and counselors lecturing you all about dealing with difficult events, we would like to open the podium to anyone who would like to speak about this topic. You may ask questions or express your concerns as you wish."

A mild silence fell over the room. The whispers from behind me all stopped and everyone suddenly had their attention forward. I noticed Sutherland smiling in the crowd of teachers. He wasn't even pretending to not know what was about to happen and the look on his face said it all.

I didn't recognize the first student to raise their hand, but I knew what they would say.

It was a boy, broad-shouldered with sandy hair. A teacher went over to him with another microphone and students passed it back to where he stood.

"Um, hello. So I want to ask how this happened? Like, I know a villain attacked the school but I don't really understand why."

Playing dumb, and I fucking sat myself in the front of the gym. Everyone could see me. I forced my hands to stay in my lap rather than defensively crossing my arms over my chest. They fucking know why Othala attacked the school. She tried to kill me and I didn't believe for a second that hadn't spread through the social grapevine like wildfire.

He handed the microphone back and Ms. Badgiruel said, "We have not been given an official explanation for the attack on the school."

And everyone looked at me, because of course they did.

"Is the villain coming back?" another student asked.

"No. As you may have seen on the news, the PRT has the Butcher in custody. They are not coming back."

"Will more villains attack the school?" I looked back for that one. Fucking Bridget, with a barely hidden smirk on her face. "My mom is really worried."

"We'll be addressing parents at the next PTA assembly. For the moment, the district is investigating security upgrades for Arcadia and other schools."

"I heard the villain only came here to try and kill Newtype," Bridget replied.

Ms. Badgiruel kept her face straight, answering, "Ms. Hebert was attacked, yes."

I hated how I couldn't take the song and dance as confirmation.

There were too many variables. The Butcher's nature could have prevented Dinah's power from seeing Othala correctly. It could be Leet's precog, whoever it was. It could be Teacher himself, or maybe one of his pets died in Boston and got absorbed. Bakuda's bomb did trap Othala, but it also meant I couldn't question her. She kept flashing around every ten seconds, just like Bakuda said she would.

So, was Blue Cosmos seizing an opportunity, or had they been prepared all along?

"What about other villains?" someone else asked. "It was cool when it was just Glory Girl and Panacea, but now there's a bunch of capes who don't use masks."

I noticed a few heads looking not at me but somewhere else. Following their eyes, I finally spotted Amy sitting by herself near the back. She looked completely unamused.

"The school has considered increasing security precautions to deal with the issue," Badgiruel said. "We've been coordinating with the PRT for several months on the question. I know this event has been hard, but understand that this is uncharted ground for everyone."

That answer was true, but it wasn't good enough.

Someone else got the mic and started asking about the grief counselors. Another spoke about their experience as the panic and explosions started. I didn't think he was Blue Cosmos or anything. He spoke like someone truly upset, and his hand kept shaking. He was afraid. Of course, the very next person to get the mic got to the point.

Gladly looked at me. I raised my brow. He nodded subtly toward Badgiruel. I glanced at her, unsure what he wan—Oh fuck you Gladly. No.

I crossed my arms over my chest but tried to keep my shoulders relaxed. No way I was just walking up there—

"Why not kick them out?" Bigot Two from math class asked. "How are we supposed to feel safe with them here? What about when the next villain attacks?"

Badgiruel's front weakened for a moment.

"I just got here," Elle mumbled at Weld's side. "That's so lame."

Blue Cosmos' dream was to get capes kicked out of schools. Kick teenage parahumans out of school and you lay the groundwork for segregating the entire country. Then it's just a matter of letting differences boil into resentment, and resentment into grievance. Badgiruel didn't give an immediate answer, which might as well be an answer itself.

That's the thing about loaded questions. Asking why we shouldn't be kicked out, implied everyone would be safer if we were. The question presumed a conclusion, and that question was probably on everyone's mind. There was little Badgiruel could say that wouldn't sound like deflection or talking down to anyone asking the same question themselves.

"The school takes student safety very seriously," Badgiruel stated. "For every student. I must ask you to have patience while we plan to prevent future incidents."

It was a PR-appropriate answer. She'd still be lambasted for it. If this is how the students were behaving, the parents would be worse. Blue Cosmos could probably get otherwise normal people to agree with them in the heat of the moment.

Gladly kept looking at me.

Fucking headache.

I raised my hand.

Gladly noticed me first and looked surprised. Did he think I wouldn't actually do it? He tapped the Vice Principal's shoulder and nodded toward me. Then she looked surprised.

No one was moving toward me so I stood up from my seat and walked to the podium.

"Ms. Hebert," Badgiruel whispered as I approached. "I'm not sure—"

I took the microphone from her as gently as I could and turned.

And fuck that's a lot of people. Arcadia was a big school. Bigger than Winslow was, I think. The freshmen and sophomore classes combined comprised over a thousand students, all packed into the gym and looking at me.

And what was I supposed to say? Sorry I pissed off a villainous Nazi and she ruined your day by trying to kill me? Don't worry though, it was a one-time deal. She only did it because she was so depressed and broken inside! In fact, she couldn't even think of a good way to end her own life that didn't involve trying to take me down with her. We'll all be laughing about this in a month.

That didn't seem very convincing… or…

"How many of you have ever felt helpless?" I asked. "Raise your hands."

Most of them stared at me or glanced to one another in conclusion. I wasn't surprised when Lafter was the first to raise her hand, despite the smile on her face. A few others did, Weld and Chris among them. A few dozen others. Most didn't raise their hands, but I saw it in their eyes. They knew what I meant in some way.

I raised my hand.

I wondered if— "I wonder if it feels the same for you as it did for me. Like the world is closing around you. Sometimes it gets so bad, you don't know what comes next so much, being dead starts sounding not so bad."

I saw one of the teachers start moving in my peripheral vision. I lowered my hand enough to hold the open palm toward them.

"It's always there too, isn't it? Even on a good day, you feel it there in the back of your mind. That little niggling feeling that just because things are good now means they won't be good tomorrow. It's fear, I think. At the core. There's a lot of that these days, don't you think?"

They did. I saw it.

Even Bridget and Bigot Two felt it. It was all fear, in the end. Fear of the known. Fear of the unknown. I found some epiphanies in that. Standing in front of a thousand people hanging on your every word isn't a great time for sorting out your thoughts, though. Especially when you're mostly making it up as you go and trying to find your own point because you were not prepared to speak. Had that helpless feeling pressing down on me a bit.

I turned my head, looking directly at Sutherland. Some of the other teachers followed my eyes to him. I kept staring. I didn't want there to be one iota of doubt who I was accusing of what. Maybe I could have said something about how there are people who feed on fear, or twist it to their own ends. People like Lung and Kaiser… People like Teacher. It might feel good calling them out, but fuck them.

It's not about them.

I turned to face the assembly and grabbed hold of the first words that came to mind.

"Don't give in to fear."

Lafter grinned beside my empty seat. Sutherland stiffened off to my side. A few of the students in the crowd did too. They knew those words, and they remembered them.

They were Sam Stansfield's words. The last words he offered before he died.

Yet, "I think a lot of you already know that. You didn't need me to say it. So live it. You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to let others around you be afraid. Is a world ruled by our fear a world we're satisfied with? The world we want to leave behind for those who follow? Do we want to keep making the same mistakes?"

No one really clapped or cheered or anything. If anything, I'd say the general mood in the crowd was confusion. Part of me felt stupid, because none of what I'd said really related to Othala attacking the school. A lot of it might have gone right over their heads.

I deflated a little, though I tried to hide it. So much for Gladly's little pitch. I didn't see those out there anymore engaged with what I said than they were with what he said. They watched me, and didn't whisper so much, but I was famous. Of course they'd listen to me.

That didn't mean it would matter.

And despite that, I didn't lower the mic or try to pass it off. There was something that I couldn't quite get into words. I didn't want to say some things. Some of the things on my mind wouldn't make sense to them. They didn't want to hear how everyone was weak, or how everyone felt justified, or how people needed to change.

Those words lacked weight without the experiences I attached to them.

Without the overbearing sense of that moment, they would never believe it. Othala was broken and crying out for someone to free her from her helplessness. She'd keep crying for an eternity, because we trapped her in a never-ending prison. That maybe she deserved something more than a 'good riddance' because she was human too. The flaws that made her wrong were flaws in everyone.

We're all weak. We're all justified. We need to change.

"Powers don't make you powerful," I said. "They just make courage cheaper."

With that, I handed the microphone back to Ms. Badgiruel.

I fucked that up.

At least I managed to get back to my seat with a straight face.

"You okay?" Lafter whispered.

"Fine."

She frowned. "You really need to lighten up on yourself."

Someone started clapping. Elle smiled on the other side of Weld. It was nice of her but—

Someone else started clapping. Someone behind me. Or was that two people? Three? I didn't look back. In front of me, Gladly looked not necessarily happy, but pleased. Sutherland looked furious, but fuck him. The clapping grew. Not that many people in the end. I was too nervous to turn around and count.

That's…

Two others spoke. One asked about how to get their homework from their locker. Gladly said he'd go and get anything anyone needed while the work crews repaired the damage. A few classes were rearranged and offices shared because of the work. The other question was about the student council and whether or not they could organize support groups for anyone who wanted them.

Miriallia asked that one. I guessed she was on the student council.

"We will not be having regular classes today," Badgiruel said as things wrapped up. "The Principal and I agree that it would be best to spend this time acclimating. Teachers and staff are available to talk. If you want to see a counselor during school hours or afterward, please discuss it with whoever you are most comfortable with. Please keep the halls clear, don't run, and do not leave school grounds."

The assembly was dismissed thirty minutes past the start of the second period.

"That was good," Weld said. "You're a good speaker."

It is nice when people believe in you and you're no longer too bitter to appreciate it. "Hardly anyone listened."

Elle clapped her hands together. "No one clapped for anyone else."

"Like a dozen."

Lafter poked a finger at the side of my head. "Two or three dozen, Miss Broodsalot."

"One person made a difference in my life," Elle noted, "Twice."

Weld nodded in agreement. "It's okay not to convince everyone."

"Yeah." Lafter led us out into the hall. "So what are we doing today?"

"I'm supposed to talk to a glad person." Elle pulled the papers from her pocket. "Something something tests."

I looked over my shoulder. "Gladly?"

"Yeah, that."

"He was at the assembly. Said he was setting up in the cafeteria."

"Where's that?"

We led her there.

Gladly wasn't around when we arrived but I noticed a few teachers and staff using tables against one wall. They had papers and computers set up, plus books and binders. We picked out a table to sit at while Elle waited for Gladly. Other students were already in the room, chatting and such. I imagined the gym would also be popular once the chairs were put away. People would play sports on a free day.

Or pick fights with the capes they wanted to kick out.

Weld saw them first, his posture becoming defensive. A bunch of the BC kids, boys and girls. Their eyes were set on us and they were approaching at a slow pace. I saw some hesitance in their steps. Other than Bridget, I didn't know their names.

"Oh joy," Lafter mused. "Maybe they want to thank us?"

"They don't seem thankful," Elle replied.

Lafter pursed her lips. "If I can teach Taylor sarcasm…"

I doubted she needed to teach Elle sarcasm. There was something in the girl's smile. Something malicious that told me she wasn't nearly as innocent as she pretended to be.

I prepared myself but they didn't stop. They walked past Weld and Elle and kept going to the other side of the room.

Except Bridget.

Bridget stopped for a moment and while she didn't turn to look at me, I could swear she was looking at me. I expected her to turn around and start something but she didn't. She started back up, her shoulders suddenly relaxed.

That was odd.

Lafter pouted. "Well, that's just boring."

Weld turned to Elle. "You're in remedial classes?"

"Probably. Never been to school."

"Lafter, could you buddy up with Elle? I don't like the idea of her getting cornered by any of them."

"No problem. I haven't had too many issues, though. The remedial kids are pretty chill. Most of them want my number more than anything."

I watched Bridget from the corner of my eye, wondering.

Elle said one person changed her life, twice. Faultline was one, obviously. If I had to guess, the other was Lalah Sune. I couldn't help but wonder if my life would have been different if even one person cared enough to really try.

Were a few dozen good enough?

Was it worth everything to get through to a few people who could go on and do something productive rather than wallowing in bullshit? I found that question oddly easy to answer. One person would have made the difference for me at Winslow. One person standing up and being a human being.

That's what I came back to school to do, wasn't it? Thinking over the past two weeks, I wondered if my problem was that I wanted the big strike. The move that would destroy my enemy and render them impotent to strike back.

That strike didn't exist here. I wasn't fighting a war against gangs. I was fighting a battle of attrition against hate and fear… It would always be slow, depressing, and bitter.

If I could make Bridget stop and think about what she was doing, was I that one person?

I pondered on that quietly while Lafter and Elle talked. It wasn't an easy question for me, but… Maybe. Maybe a couple dozen was worth it, even if only one ended up making someone's life better.

I pulled out my phone and noticed a text message. "I'll be right back."

Damn M/S quarantine.

I walked outside, which didn't have too many people yet.

"Hey," I greeted. "Sorry. I got wrapped up in something on Friday."

"I noticed," Faultline said blandly. "Where are you now?"

"School," I answered. "Elle's here, by the way. Apparently she sued the PRT to let her come to school."

Faultline went quiet for a moment. "That's good. Are you alright? I've seen the video. It looked like you got hit badly."

"Panacea was there. I was fine."

"I would have called you yesterday, but we got caught up in something ourselves."

I'd tried calling the day before, but she never answered. I didn't see anything on the news about the Crew getting into any fights. "What happened?"

"We have something," she answered. "Not on Number Man. That's still out there, but we did notice a person of interest during a stakeout. Duncan Luis Mockelberg."

I raised my brow. "That name is familiar."

"He's Blue Cosmos, and for some reason he's dealing with one of the locations Forecast gave us. I can't say it's related to Numberman exactly, but it's weird. We followed him for a day. It got weirder."

"How weird?"

"Weird enough that I'm wondering why Blue Cosmos would engage in black market weapons trading."

I checked over my shoulder.

Still alone, and reentering my comfort zone.

"Do tell..."