A Side RC

Rory felt his chest constrict after they finished.

It had been a hard month. Hard might be understating it. Month too. Really, it had been a rotten few months.

"You're asking me to throw you under the bus."

"We're asking you to tell the truth," Hero replied. "You only ever did what we told you to do and you trusted us."

"Have your father cooperate," Alexandria suggested. "He should be able to describe Doctor Mother." More than a few of the heads in the room turned at the name. "It might hurt his political career, but it might keep you both out of cells."

"It's only a matter of time before others start talking," Legend pointed out. "Cat's out of the bag now. Be the first, Rory. You'll get more credit that way."

The room watched solemnly.

Rory couldn't help but notice Arbiter and Damocles were gone, and Accord apparently decided to just now show up. Diane and Sam—Rime and Eidolon—looked the most solemn of the lot. Rime was being tapped to form a new Triumvirate along with Chevalier and Myrddin.

That felt wrong in a way. A lot of things did.

When Hero admitted that Façade hadn't lied—that they had been behind the Case-53s—Rory… He didn't know. He knew they kept secrets. He knew they did things in the past.

They were still heroes. The heroes. Whatever mistakes they made, part of him couldn't not see them that way.

Maybe it was the same for many others.

The Protectorate had been led by the 'big three' for too long. Even a week after they publicly resigned their positions the question was the same. Who now? Who are the new Triumvirate?

Rime had admittedly been groomed for it. From the start, Rory noticed Alexandria trusted her and Arbiter with things she didn't trust anyone else. Rime was the more picturesque of the two. Chevalier was a leader. He had been even before being handed his own team. Myrddin had experience.

They could do it, but it felt wrong.

They weren't fake, but 'fake' was the only word that came to Rory's mind. The three of them could lead the Protectorate, but they wouldn't be the Triumvirate. The real Triumvirate.

"You'll be alright," Alexandria assured. "The Chief Director has little sway left now, but she can push for something more lenient if you cooperate with the investigations."

It was weird to hear her talk about herself that way.

Weird to know that Alexandria was Rebecca Costa-Brown. Another of their secrets, though Rory took note not everyone was surprised. Diane seemed oddly acclimated to the reveal, as if she'd already known.

"You still have a future," the brute continued. "It might not be as promising as before, but in time it will pass. You can still be a hero, Rory. The Protectorate needs everyone it can get."

"As far as any of you are concerned," Legend continued. "This was all us."

"It's not even a lie, really." Hero chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "We brought you all in on this. It was our idea. We directed everything." He looked over the room with a smile Rory found it hard to believe. "Don't drag yourselves down with us. There's too much to be done."

That didn't make it feel like less of a betrayal. He'd never been comfortable with what they did but he understood it. Agents and aliens. Teacher. Blue Cosmos. Countries collapsing. Endbringers sinking entire islands and ravaging cities. The government didn't like talking about the refugee crisis.

That's why they did what they did, he thought. He understood why they went so far. They were desperate. Everything was falling apart.

Rory couldn't help but wonder if he'd even be able to be disgusted by what they did if they hadn't done it. It didn't make them saints. Maybe it did make them heroes. The kind people needed but would never accept.

"What about—"

"We're not done yet," Alexandria said firmly.

"It's time for all of you to step away," Hero agreed. "There are some things we can do from the outside."

Legend nodded. "We've dirtied your hands enough."

Diane didn't like that response. She started to speak, but Alexandria rose from her seat.

"You're heroes. Act like it."

The words were so simple but they hit Rory like a hammer.

With that hammer came the doubt. That was the weight of Alexandria. A weight Rory couldn't imagine Diane ever matching.

Chevalier had experience. He trained with Hannah in the first Wards team. He'd been in a mask almost as long as the Triumvirate themselves. He had the experience. Myrddin too, and there was an air about Myrddin. He wasn't nearly as old as some people thought he was, but he managed to seem it. He had the wisdom.

Rime? Rory didn't want to dismiss Diane, but he couldn't help it. In the comparison she came up short. From the look on her face, she knew it herself.

It went for the whole Protectorate.

Sam was powerful, maybe the most powerful parahuman alive. She was only twenty-two. She didn't have the experience to leverage her power fully. Her husband was too flippant to ever be a leader.

Hannah, as much as Rory respected and appreciated her, was too timid to lead. Maybe not timid. That word made her sound like a coward and Hannah was no coward, but she didn't like being in charge. That's why Armsmaster was team leader even though he'd been a cape for less time.

Cinereal was too hard. Siena had experience and power but she didn't like people and she didn't deal well with them. Exalt lacked confidence.

Dragon maybe. Narwhal too. Rory could see that, and he liked Chevalier. He didn't know Myrddin at all really, but he'd never heard anything negative about the man other than jests.

But they weren't them. No one could match Alexandria, Hero, and Legend but Alexandria, Hero, and Legend. Even their names were heavy.

And what was he even thinking? He was barely out of the Wards. They only brought him in because he took a vial and they needed someone in the Northeast after Bastion died.

"There are things now that only we can do," Legend mumbled. "Let us do them for you. We'll finish what we started, and the sins will be ours alone."

Hero nodded in agreement and rose from his chair. "There are things some of you know. We trusted each of you with different pieces of different puzzles. Just use what you know to deal with problems as they rise up."

Rory raised his head and pushed all the self-pity aside.

He glanced at Alexandria and she offered him an almost imperceptible nod.

That conversation?

Dragon is an AI.

What did they expect him to do with it? Was he supposed to tell someone? Keep an eye out? They said it like Dragon was a threat, but she was one of the nicest capes Rory ever met. It was hard to even think of her as a machine.

Rory didn't see the issue there at first. Then he remembered Maruta Azrael announcing a run for Senate. Then he became worried.

Wait, Hero said they told everyone something. Something different?

"Keep a close eye," Hero said. "We'll be there if you need us for a while longer, but you're going to have to do things without us looking over your shoulders now.

"That too is something we will worry about," Hero insisted. "Just be aware of it, and keep a close watch on whoever the new chief director is."

"Everyone will look to you," Legend added. "It's your weight to carry. We'll carry ours."

"Someone is targeting the Wards," Alexandria declared. "That should be your concern."

Capes died all the time. It was part of life. Rory wished it wasn't. He wished he could say Carlos, Dennis, and Robin were the first friends he'd lost.

Holiday and Red Ranger were gunned down in the street. Ranger was Missy's age. Wards in Chicago were attacked the same night. If Grace hadn't thought fast, the injuries might have been worse. Flash got his patrol partner out of harm's way in Seattle.

And there was Boston too. They lost so many.

Why did it feel like everything was trying to kill the Wards all of a sudden?

And like that, the three of them turned around and left.

"What did they mean?" Sam asked. "They told each of us something different?"

"It's a trap," Siena grumbled. "In case we were ever penetrated."

"By Teacher?" Rory asked.

"The closest held information," Diane explained. "The things no one but them knew. Anything Teacher acted on that fell in that category would tell them if any of us were compromised."

Arbiter. A cold weight settled in Rory's stomach, and he asked, "What did Helen know?"

"Rebecca Costa-Brown's body doubles," Diane said with a long face. "One was killed over the weekend. The other was cut up bad enough she can't pass anymore."

"She told the identities of both to one person?" Sam asked.

"No." Diane glanced toward the hall the three legends left through. "Damocles knew the other."

Arbiter and Damocles? But if Teacher had been in their number the entire time and now made it so obvious… "He's getting ready for the end, isn't he? The end of whatever all of this is?"

"Probably," Siena answered. "They're not being noble. They know they can't trust us now. If two could be Pets, then it could be any of us."

The room went still again, some eyes looking in the direction Legend, Hero, and Alexandria left.

And that's when it really hit him. An entire age seemed like it belonged to them more than anyone. They were larger than life. Even if they'd done horrible things, Rory didn't feel like he measured up.

Capes living as long as them? Rory could only think of a few, and most were villains or members of the Inaugural Wards, Wards directly trained by them from start to finish. They were there for the first Endbringer fights. Defeating Teacher the first time. String Theory. Lab Rat. The Siberian. They'd been through it all and they kept going.

And now, they weren't coming back.

"What now?" Herald asked.

He glanced around, suspicion clear in his eyes. They all had to wonder now, didn't they? Which of them could be trusted? If Rory were a Pet, would he even know? All the ones they'd captured or discovered insisted on having no knowledge of ever being Pets.

Diane bowed her head. "The PRT is going to be a tug of war."

"Tagg and Armstrong," Siena suggested. "Seneca too. The three of them represent three different mentalities on the PRT and its role. Seneca and Armstrong can work together. Tagg can't work with anyone. One side will force the other out."

"It'll come down to who Ramba sides with," Diane proposed. "It won't be Tagg."

"Congress exists," Jove pointed out. "They like Tagg, especially now when they want to look like they know what they're doing."

Sam started, "We could—"

"No," Diane snapped. "We are members of the Protectorate. We have no business interfering in the internal affairs of the PRT and if we try we'll make things worse." She inhaled sharply, making no attempt to hide her frustration. "It's time to leave this behind."

"NextGen?" Herald asked.

With that, Sam turned a little pale and looked away. Right. She'd been the first on the scene.

"Don't let everything fall apart now," Diane declared. She looked toward the darkened hall. "They'll do what they have to do. We need to do the same."

"If someone is targeting the Wards, they'll attack the conference."

"We picked New York originally because of Legend," Siena noted. "He won't be there now."

"It's still the safest place," Rory noted. He flinched, wondering if he should have spoken, but everyone was looking at him now. Right. "New York has the largest team in the US. Legend's gone, but everyone else is still there."

"And a lot of other capes are coming," Diane agreed. "I know Armsmaster plans to escort Weld and Win."

"And Newtype," Siena added. "Do we do something about her? She keeps popping up."

Rory noticed Sam look away. Did they tell her something about Newtype? Dinah.

"Chambers says letting her come hurts her more than us," Diane explained. "Or at least gets us out even. She'll look like a show boat. She's not our concern."

"She does keep showing up," Herald replied. "Teacher's actions in the Northeast keep involving her."

Diane scowled and Rory tried to think back. He'd been there, dumped on the ground after Façade swapped him for Newtype. He hit the ground on his shoulder just in time to watch Sonic get impaled and pinned to the wall.

Was she a Pet? If she was, how safe was Dinah? Should Rory…Do what? He was on suspension pending investigation. The Triumvirate told him to tell the truth. What could he do to help Dinah until he got back in costume?

"That's what the Triumvirate will deal with now," Diane decided. "We need to focus on the Wards. They're our priority." She rose up from her chair and turned. "We have to protect these kids, or none of the rest of this matters."

"You can't protect them," Breach called from the back of the room. "All that PR stuff is fluff and you know it. The Wards were never that safe. Now that there's blood in the water…"

He trailed off. The fact he spoke at all surprised Rory. Breach usually carried on like a spectator more than anything.

"We do what we can," Diane snapped. "Nothing that really matters has changed. We don't collapse now. It's not over yet."

Rory watched her, unsure where that fire came from. She'd always been so submissive before, usually toward Alexandria.

It was strange.

Rory didn't like everything they did. They kept secrets. They lied. They did things heroes shouldn't do. Good and evil? He wasn't sure those words really meant anything compared to life and death.

He'd been naive before. A kid playing a game. It just wasn't that simple.

"Putting a bunch of them on stage makes them bigger targets," Siena observed. "We stand fifty or so of those kids up and say 'this is the future of the Protectorate now that the Triumvirate is gone' and whoever is behind these attacks will start gunning for them."

"They're already targets," Diane replied. "These attacks won't stop unless we do something to stop them."

"They may not stop at all," Herald pointed out.

"We can't do nothing," Sam said.

"No," Diane agreed, "We can't. The Wards are our responsibility and they are the Protectorate's future. We need to do this and we need to succeed. If we don't, the entire program will fall apart."

Thinking about the video showing Red Ranger's death, Rory's first thought was that maybe it should.

What idiot dressed a bunch of kids up and let them play hero? It was a joke. If things were about to be a real war and not just the world's most cynically violent game of cops and robbers, maybe the Wards shouldn't exist. If it were Missy or Chris…

If it were Missy or Chris, Newtype would rain hell down on whoever did it.

"Dragon's going to show off the Teeth right?" Pretender asked.

"Lame name," Breach quipped.

"It's a reference to Jason and the Argonauts or something," Herald replied. "The Dragon's Teeth."

Rory still found it weird anyone wanted to use that name, what with the Teeth existing not that long ago.

"They'll be there," Diane answered. "She basically demanded Newtype be allowed to attend the event in exchange." She was the only one in the room who probably knew anything about that, being close to Alexandria.

"Why allow her to attend at all?" Pretender asked. "She's not exactly being friendly in her most recent interviews. Plus that stunt she pulled at the last Endbringer."

"Diffuse her criticism by making a show of her presence at a big event," Diane grumbled. She didn't sound like she really believed it. And Sam looked a little pale again. "Make her look like hot air."

"It makes sense to me," Rory offered. "The alternative is a PR slug fest with a teenager. We'd look like bullies, and that'll play badly since everyone knows what Newtype's trigger event was."

"We can stick thinkers on her there," Herald added. "There'll be dozens watching the event. Help figure out what she thinks she's doing."

"Why does she want to come?" Siena asked.

"Has anyone asked that?" Cortex mumbled. He glanced to Diane. "Dragon insisted she be allowed to come?"

"Yes."

"And…we don't think that's weird?"

Rory wondered why but—AI. Did Newtype know? Is that what he was supposed to do something about?

"There's no point arguing about this," Sam said after a long silence. "It's PR's decision, not ours." She turned to Diane. "We have jobs to do."

The others kept talking, but Rory didn't see what he could do. Planning New York, proving the Protectorate wasn't done yet… He'd have to leave that to the others.

Returning to Brockton Bay with Breach, Rory sighed and left his bedroom. Sam—Prism, not Eidolon—still wasn't taking his calls. The last time he'd seen her she looked confused, uncertain. Maybe he should stop badgering her and give her time?

He was on leave, but he still had to check his email.

Deputy Director Renick and Commander Noa were adjusting patrol and PR schedules to account for Triumph's absence. In two weeks, Armsmaster would be away too. He and Prism were going to escort Weld and Chris to New York for NextGen. Apparently they'd made the decision to leave Vista out for this once, given her age. Unsurprisingly, her parents were arguing over permission for their daughter to be away in another city for five days.

It was cruel, but their inability to consider how their fighting affected their daughter pissed Rory off. He hadn't triggered. Not like Missy, but over the years he understood the weight those traumas carried.

No cape ever really got over them.

Some people just shouldn't be parents.

Was anyone checking on her to make sure she was alright? Hell, what about Weld? Rory didn't know how he was reacting to everything.

The Case-53s were on everyone's minds, but it almost seemed like no one wanted to talk about that part. Maybe Blue Cosmos stockpiling guns, capes being attacked every other day, and the Triumvirate resigning their positions were just more flashy.

Not much he could do about it at the moment.

According to Hero, Doctor Mother had been trying to find a solution/cure for the Case-53's before she died. Without her or her notes, he didn't think anything could be done. They were all stuck as they were.

Rory sighed and got up from the computer.

He needed something to occupy his time.

The sound of the TV echoed from down the stairs. His mother, he thought. She'd been getting a little arthritic the past year and stubbornly refused to deal with it.

It wasn't his mother.

"Hi, Rory."

"Dinah?"

She sat on the couch, watching the news. Glancing around the living room, he spotted his mother in the kitchen working at something on the stove. There was no one else present.

"What are you doing here?"

Dinah turned her head and looked at him. "You really want to waste your question on that?"

Your question?

Rory entered the room and took a seat on the couch beside her. She had a small bowl of popcorn on one side, a notepad and pencil on the other. He hesitated of course. He got his power from a vial, but he knew what a trigger event was. If anything, he felt a bit guilty that it wasn't his experience. Like he'd gained something without earning it.

Everyone said powers weren't a consolation prize, but they were a consequence.

It hurt knowing that happened to Dinah. She was so young, sweet. Seeing her now was like a completely different person. Her eyes were always half closed. She looked varying amounts of tired most days. Part of him hated Newtype for using her.

But Dinah said it was what she wanted. Her power. Her choice.

"You're waffling," Dinah stated.

"I—" He was.

Glancing down at her, she quietly ate another piece of popcorn while the news played.

Naturally, the story was still about the Triumvirate's resignation. PR was trying to pivot to the NextGen conference. Future leaders. Seemed like swimming upstream to Rory. People weren't going to stop talking about the Triumvirate and the accusations against them.

"Why?" he asked.

"It's hard," she replied, "knowing but not knowing. I'm in trouble, but what comes next. I can't do that anymore but what about this. Is what I'm doing right or wrong. How does it end." She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "I see possibility for what it is. Makes sense to use it to help others see what their options might be."

That was…sagey.

"There's no point in being afraid, Rory."

Wasn't there? Who in their right mind watched Hero, Legend, and Alexandria walk away, and didn't fret about what came next? It wouldn't be good. Something terrible was coming. He felt it in his gut.

And because of Newtype, Dinah would be in the middle of it.

"It's the end of an age, Dinah."

She checked the time on her phone and reached for the remote.

Rory was getting tired of beating on himself. He'd just have to talk to his father tonight about what do and answer the questions asked of hi—

Dinah changed the channel and Rory's thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

First, he noticed the Case-53. A mostly human woman who appeared stretched out and sat on her haunches. A regular woman at her side had a hand to her shoulder and a smile to her face. They looked oddly similar but names eluded his memory. Both figures stood on a small jetty that looked hastily thrown together. A boat rested in the water ahead of them, slightly leaning to one side. An old tanker?

He didn't have much time to think on it.

That was Dean Stansfield talking to the reporter.

"I never liked Blue Cosmos' habit of making everything some kind of spectacle," he said. "It attracted too many people more interested in getting on TV than helping."

"And how are you helping?" the woman asked.

"The Boat Graveyard has been cluttering the bay here for as long as I can remember. Most of the ships are effectively unrecoverable. The companies that own the hulls don't want them. They're too expensive to break down for scrap. Using conventional means, at least."

He turned to his side, looking to the two capes.

"Nyx and Nix are capes from down in Charleston. They have similar powers." He nodded to the ship the two capes stood in front of. "Londo Bell got permission from Yashima to try and break down the hull of the Argama."

"Londo Bell is the name you mentioned earlier."

"Yes."

What was this? Londo Bell? Those names both sounded familiar. Xavier Londo and Gloria Bell. Thinking of the latter, Rory looked past Dean at the small group gathered around the two capes by the hull.

Some looked like working men in hazardous protection gear. One was definitely Taylor Hebert. Rory recognized her hair and build. Beside her, an older woman clutched a blue vest to her chest.

He recognized her too.

That was Gloria's Bell's mother, with Sonic's jacket. She'd been holding it during the funeral when the Protectorate ENE attended. Why was she in—The Boat Graveyard? Did his father know about this?

"If you want more information, we're having a small press conference later today," Dean explained. "Nothing that fancy. Like I said, my experience in Blue Cosmos has made me a little anemic to being flashy."

Anemic? This was so understated as to be flashy in itself. What were they doing? Nix and Nyx were capes from Charleston. Didn't Newtype go down and get the Foundation from down there not that long ago?

"So, it's a cape team?" the reporter asked.

Dean looked at the woman and smiled. "No, it's not."

At Rory's side, Dinah ate another mouthful of popcorn.

"The end of an age is just a downer way of saying the dawn of an era."