Somer's Rock doesn't look any better on the inside. Grime coats every surface, the wooden furniture looks more splintery than rustic, and the glasses visible on the bar can be most kindly described as filthy. A hard pass for all but the most desperate of drunks, and even then there's probably a better place to drink a short walk away.

The gathering of criminals settled around the table in the center of the room doesn't help make it any more inviting.

A pair of men with guns and tactical-looking black suits sitting on the side nearest the bar just stare at me as I stand in the doorway. Grue and Tattletale are sitting nearest to the door and turn to face it as I walk past them. I get a fragile smile from her and a polite nod from him. Kaiser is at the head of the table with Hookwolf on his right, Purity floating at his left, and his Valkyries standing at attention behind him. Kaiser and his bodyguards don't react as I approach but Purity nods, her face unreadable behind the shine, and Hookwolf breaks out into a grin. I grimace behind my mask as he starts walking towards me. Do I really attract Nazis so easily?

"Well if it isn't my favorite knight in not-so-shining armor," he jokes, sticking out a scarred and meaty hand. I raise an eyebrow behind my mask. Not sure this is the time and place for levity. I take his hand tentatively and give it shake. "Good to have you with us," he says more seriously.

Hookwolf walks back to his seat by Kaiser and motions me over to his side of the table. I sit down... two seats away from him. He makes a face, but accepts it. Tattletale looks intently between the two of us, Grue stares impassively, and one the mercenaries pulls out a radio and mutters something into it.

A tense silence follows. A girl comes by and slides a piece of paper in front of me then mimes writing. I look at the list of drinks on the paper, the selection on the bar, the filth caking the glass that the bartender is holding, and shake my head, pushing the paper away. She picks it up without comment and walks back behind the bar.

More silence. I wish I had a watch. Or a phone. Or something to fill the time with.

I nearly slap myself in the head. Power. The ultimate time waster.

While I wait for someone to speak up, I start forming a structure in my hands. I don't really have any thoughts in my head, so I just let the bone flow from sharp to smooth to sharp again, keeping a little bit of each transition. Eventually, the whole mass is roughly sphere-shaped, with irregular whorls and ridges sweeping through the center, a storm of clouds rendered in miniature. Then I start spinning it, trying to find another way to distract myself from the wait.

When the door opens, I almost drop the semi-jagged, semi-smooth ball. Fortunately it's still attached to my armor, and I'm able to reabsorb it without too much trouble while I take in the new arrivals.

A woman in some not-entirely-pleasing mash up of a martial arts outfit and riot gear walks in, followed by young man with orange skin and a tail. I stare as they sit down at the other end of the table from Kaiser, Newter dragging around another chair to use as a footstool and Faultline sitting with her hands on her thighs, staring at the group of Empire capes.

With those two, there are ten capes in close proximity and somehow no one's thrown a punch yet. Three of them could destroy a city block without too much effort, and not one of them is less than terrifying. I can practically feel the power in the air, and I can't help but start thinking about how if things went south I'd need to put a needle through Kaiser's helm and Purity's stomach, cut Newter's throat before he can close the distance-

I grow a rose, breaking the petals steadily, experimenting with a new shape.

Not enemies. Not right now.

Kaiser taps the table three times.

"Does anyone have any outstanding concerns before we begin this meeting?" he asks, his voice resonating throughout the room. The Empire group all jerk like a live current was run through them, standing up a little straighter. They're not the only ones affected. Newter sits up in his seat, the mercenaries shift their focus to Kaiser, Tattletale leans forwards, and I feel myself angling to get a better view of him before I catch myself and settle back into my chair, more than a little overwhelmed.

Not everyone is awed. Grue remains stoic, as do Hookwolf and Faultline, who raises her hand. "Tattletale and I have some bad blood," she says, her tone containing just a trace of irritation. "I can put it aside for the job, but I'd like some vocal assurance that she will too."

I look across the table at the girl in the catsuit, raising an eyebrow behind my mask. Really?

"I'll let you think what you want," Tattletale says, waving her hand to the side dismissively. "I'm magnanimous like that."

"While the Empire also has issues with the Undersiders," Hookwolf peels back his lips as Kaiser casually drops the condemnation, and I see the smile on Tattletale's face grow ever-more wooden, "We too are willing to set our complaints aside," Kaiser finishes, nodding once. His armor doesn't clank. I wonder if he has to reshape it constantly like I do or if it's just good engineering? "Now then, if there aren't any other problems, I believe that Coil is planning on making a contribution?"

The two mercenaries nod. One pulls out a laptop, hits a lot of keys while the screen lies dead, then a flat white line appears as the monitor activates. The mercenary turns it around then stares at it impassively with the rest of us.

"Bakuda's lair is at 2014 Notes Street," a cold, quiet voice says, the white line flickering with every syllable. "My powers do not require my presence to be effective and work best when I am placed in a command position. As such, I wish to call the shots. Are there any objections?"

There must be half a dozen I could raise, but most of them stem from the backstab potential of being ordered around by an off-site leader, and if I was uncomfortable with that I never should have come. Instead, I hold my tongue and resign myself to grudging obedience. From the awkward but ultimately silent fidgeting of Grue and Faultline I can tell my opinion is a common one.

"Excellent," the voice says. "There are three vans outside at Pangolin and 16th. They will take you to the destination. Each van is equipped with multiple phones. We will plan over a conference call in transit. I will hear from you again momentarily."

The screen shuts off and the mercs pack up and leave. Apparently that's a cue of some sort because the rest of the villains start filing out as well. I wait for them to be fully out of the building before I get up and follow suit.

No shouting, no Mafia-style threats, and no betrayals. That went surprisingly well.


The planning is not as smooth.

"You wish to stay outside the building for the entire raid?" Kaiser asks, his tone a toss up between amused and murderous.

"My power stops radio waves. I'm here to keep Bakuda from activating her dead man's switch. That's. All," Grue says, voice just as firm as it was when he first declared his plan. "I can do that by covering the building while staying outside of the blast radius."

"And if she's wired her workshop? We just die then?" Faultline responds, the aggression in her voice substantially less hidden. "No, you come with us and you smoke everything that looks even vaguely like a trap."

I'm in the van with Faultline, Newter, and Purity. Kaiser and the rest of the Empire are in another, while the Undersiders are sharing the third with Coil's mercenaries. I have a burner held against my ear by a band of bone while Newter is taking a nap on the bench next to me.

I look at him more closely. He doesn't look that old. Fifteen, sixteen tops. There's a tattoo of a tilted omega on his chest, and if it wasn't for his skin tone he might even be handsome.

The toxic body fluids would be a problem though.

I turn back to the conversation. Despite the semi-constant arguments, a lot has been agreed upon. Faultline and Kaiser are going to be the ones getting us inside Bakuda's lab, with Faultline opening the doors that Kaiser can't. Kaiser is also going to be pulling double-duty as the bomb squad, warping any obvious explosives into premature detonation or impotency. Purity will take out whatever weapon emplacements the ABB have built up. After that, they'll stay outside and make sure no one interferes. Hookwolf, Newter and I...

We're there to hurt people.

Oh, there were a lot of euphemisms thrown around. We'll "neutralize unpowered targets," "deal with the scum," "take out hostiles" and "knock out gangsters."

We've got the powers that work best for bringing the hurt quickly and taking bullets, so we're going to keep Tattletale from getting all shot up while she plays minesweeper and steamroll any unpowered gang members we run into.

That discussion was the only time I spoke up during the planning.

"We don't kill anyone but Bakuda," I said as I looked Faultline dead in the eye. She shrugged and didn't comment, Grue agreed with me, and everyone else objected.

"These people knew what they were signing up for," Kaiser said, voice scratchy and calm over the phone. "They do not deserve mercy."

"More to the point, sparing their lives may place one of yours in danger," Coil said impersonally. "While I myself will not be at risk, I'm sure your allies will object if they sustain injury because you are unwilling to go far enough to protect them."

"If she doesn't want us to kill the normie chinks, let's put on the kid gloves," Hookwolf chimed in. "Not like it's gonna make this any harder."

Kaiser and Coil objected for another thirty seconds but eventually agreed before moving on to discuss the extent of Purity's assault. That was five minutes ago.

How long is this car ride going to be?

As if the universe was listening to my complaining, the van slows to a halt. After a moment a mercenary opens up the back and motions for the four of us to get out. Newter falls out into a forward roll before flipping up to standing. Purity flies out, hovering slightly above the ground while Faultline steps down without showing off. I follow her example and nod to the merc, who stares back mutely. Impolite but not unexpected.

We meet up with the rest of the villains two blocks and a right turn away from the lab, then split into our groups. Kaiser, Faultline and Grue all start talking to one another while Tattletale chats up the Valkyries. I turn to my group. Hookwolf is looking at Newter with a face that can be best described as "resigned," and Newter is pointedly staring at everything except for his ally.

I sigh. If only I could be in one of the other groups of Nazis and criminals.

I move over to join them. Hookwolf cheers up at that and flashes a slightly-crooked smile at me.

"Ready to put an end to this?" he says, lacing his fingers and stretching out his arms, muscles writhing under his hairy skin.

"It will be nice for this to be over," I concede. I feel like confessing the urge to hang Bakuda's organs from a street light would probably imply a level of familiarity that I don't want to have with the Nazi. I eye up Newter again, this time from a more analytical perspective. "Hey, Newter."

"Yeah," he answers, looking towards me, arms crossed but face mostly non judgemental. "What's up?"

"Are you bulletproof?" I ask. When he raises an eyebrow I motion to myself and Hookwolf. "Neither of us are too worried about firearms, but if you're vulnerable-"

"It's cool," he says, waving one hand at my concerns and smiling. "This isn't the first time I've had to dodge bullets. Thanks for asking though."

Dodge bullets? I revise my estimate of his combat prowess upwards. I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

There's the harsh sound of metal against metal and we all turn to its source. Kaiser has his hands over his head, apparently having just clapped. He slowly lowers them.

"Today, us fine citizens of Brockton Bay will do what the heroes cannot. They will deny that this is justice. That this is what's right." He spreads his hands wide. "We know differently. We know that justice deserves to be in the hands of the people, that they are the ones to determine what is right, and that when those in power refuse to act, it is up to us to take the future into our hands. Tomorrow," he says, dropping his arms and folding them behind himself, "We will be enemies once again. For now, I would like to offer my thanks and my respect."

I think we all see the hypocrisy in a Nazi talking about unity. Kaiser has to at least, and Faultline and the Undersiders don't act stupid. Maybe his little moment in the spotlight was for the benefit of his troops, to psych them up before they charge into the breach. Maybe it was a genuine attempt to build goodwill, an olive branch of sorts to us non-fanatics. Maybe he was testing for potential members among the gathered parahumans, a trick to provoke a reaction from anyone prime for recruitment.

Regardless of the goal, a quick glance reveals capes with set faces and solid body language. I remind myself that these are not nice people, that everyone here's primary trade is violence.

Right now, that includes me. And that's a good thing.

Kaiser turns to Purity and nods once.

"Let us begin."