A one way trip from Boston to Brockton Bay was a mere ten dollars per passenger. Fifty minutes of a barely scenic coastal highway of mid-October cloudy weather passed as Lisa and I huddled in the back, pretending on the surface to be a young couple while in reality we were discussing the differences in our world's histories.

Scion's appearance, the eradication of nuclear weaponry, the formation of the Protectorate, the Endbringers.

The more I heard the more I felt there was a greater power at play, but it seemed to lack a goal, to lack direction, as if something had gone wrong and then spiraled out of control.

The thoughts left me as we then began to focus on more recent developments as we arrived in Brockton Bay.

The Greyhound left us near the city center and as if it had been planned as a play on inciting tourism (as that was also one of Brockton Bay's few true remaining exports) we got an eyeful of a colorful duo in some skintight not-quite-spandex signing some autographs just a dozen yards away while being crowded by some eager fans.

A man in an almost cherry red suit with very light pieces of some sort of not cheap, but plastic-y in appearance, armor and a mirrored orange visor that hid the upper half of his face, revealing an easy smile that chatted friendly with the people he interacted with.

His partner, visually, was his opposite in seemingly every way. Compared to his near six foot height, she was more five foot three. Cobalt blue tech-forward circuit patterns were emblazoned on a dark grey-blue costume with light gray armor pieces that gave off the same feeling somehow as headlights on a car. Her helmet formed around the contours of her head and neck, looking almost watertight to her outfit as a reflective cool blue visor kept her face from giving off any strongly recognizable features even as it left her mouth exposed.

Rias would have loved seeing them.

"Nine hells. They're sentai rangers."

Lisa choked on a half-empty bottle of water.

"What- oh right. You're weirdly Japanese." She coughed, "You a fan? Grew up with it on weekend morning cartoons?"

"Anime." I corrected, "Sort of to both."

Rias had a phase when she had liked them almost as much as the Sailor Senshi.

She elbowed me with a teasing grin, decidedly vulpine in smugness.

"Want an autograph?"

I chuckled and shook my head.

"Not through that crowd. No. Besides, we're here to stay for a while, right? I'm sure we'll have other opportunities."

"Bah, you might as well get it now kiddos," a nosey passenger from the bus chimed in as he stretched out his legs, "Usually PRT Capes in Brockton don't do autograph outside of ticketed meet'n'greet events and fundraisers, which means this is probably a publicity thing. Get it while you can, I know I'm going to."

Lisa smiled sweetly at the nosy stranger as she hooked her left arm around my right and began playing the part of a cute couple to a T.

"Oh come on, Adam. You might as well then. When in the Bay, do as Brocktonites do."

She mimicked a slight breathlessness and fluttered her eyes charmingly, looking to all the world an infatuated young woman.

I chuckled and pat the hand wrapped around the bicep of my bomber jacket.

"Sure, love." I replied easily. Two could play that game. "Let's go be tourists."

I turned on the barest of smoldering gazes in her direction, feeling her press her weight down on my arm as her knee gave the faintest of shuddering buckles.

"Pft. Young love." The nosy fellow passenger snorted. "Makes my ass itch."

I. What?

Shaking off the confusion, we walked over to the crowd, patiently waiting for our turn at autographs. Playing our due part as newcomers to the city.

There was something humorous about looking at a pair of grown adults in armored postmodern hero costumes with full unironic attempts at larger than life Hollywood smiles signing autographs in a public space. Like one of Rias's manga had leapt off their pages.

"And finally we move on to- well aren't you a pair of the cutest little lovebirds? Hey pu-Battery, look at these two! Now you could frame that with a Kodak!" Assault smiled amiably, filled with some of the kind of charisma one would expect from a 'superhero'. "Don't they remind you of us?"

Battery just quietly gave him a light elbow bump to the ribs to a "Oh you wound me, madam!" as faintly genuine upward tug on the corner of her lip as it evolved into a full on Hollywood smile.

"Ignore Assault, he enjoys goofing around a bit too much. You too are cute together though."

"Aww, thank you!" Lisa replied with a little (fake) gleeful squeal. "He really is the sweetest. Hes like a big red labrador."

Ah.

I understood her joke about her choice of familiar now.

"Woof." I growled jokingly as I pulled up the hand grabbing my arm and gave it a teasing lick with just the tip of my tongue, getting a sputter in response.

"Alright, alright, ya lovebirds. Tone down the PDA." Assault spun a pen in his fingers like a baton, "Now what am I signing?"

I pulled a small black faux leather pocket notebook out of my pocket. Having already woven some spellcraft to make it reveal a different set of pages if opened using my specific magic signature for actual notes, the regular pages were yet empty.

"Got it just for when I swing over to the Bay. Didn't think I'd get to use it quite like this." I admitted.

Perhaps it might be entertaining to collect Cape signatures while we were in town? I could make a hobby of it.

"Got it, got it. Want me to make it out to anyone in specific?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Okay. Keep your cute sweetheart close, from Assault. Battery, your turn!"

Battery didn't read out her signature outloud, scribbling slightly longer than necessary, likely a personal note of her own, alongside her signature.

"There you are." Battery smiled, slightly more genuine now, "You two stay safe and have fun. Don't venture too far from Protectorate patrolled districts."

"We will, you two are too kind. And super cute together~" Lisa smiled, still super sugary sweet.

Shr must have extrapolated something from the two as Assault looked quite too pleased with himself and Battery's visor failed the hide the flush peeking past its edges.

Before any semblance of response could be had, I was dragged away, leaving the pair of Heroes with their crowd of fans.

"...So I'm guessing those two are an item? And that's why you couldn't resist parting shots?"

"Not just that, engaged." Lisa laughed evilly as she detached from my arm, turning to walk and talk as she blindly stepped backwards with seemingly every confidence that she wouldn't run into anything or anyone. "Pretty sure they're putting their wedding plans together at the moment too. Assault was just floating with joy. Juicy Cape things to possibly use to our advantage later."

I nodded as I flipped my pocket notebook to its magically hidden side and made a note.

"Got it. I get the feeling he probably wants a bunch of kids, but is going to hold off for her sake."

"Not bad, not bad. How'd you know?"

"Ah." My steps stuttered to a halt.

I smiled sadly.

"...He reminded me a little of my brother in private company."

"Oh." Lisa also stopped before approaching me. "...wanna talk about it?"

She chewed her lip nervously, clearly not normally comfortable talking about feelings, but it was sweet that she made an effort to hear me out anyways.

I shook my head.

"Not now. Once we're fully moved into someplace permanent we can delve further into such things. From both our stories, but let's focus on everything here and now."

"Ok. I'm going to find us an apartment that won't ask questions and take hard cash for a room. Should be easy enough in a place like the Bay, but preferably somewhere not smack dab in gang territory." Lisa waved her left hand, gesturing at an inky black ring around her middle finger, "I have your love mark-"

"A temporary tattoo of the Magic Seal of House Gremory." I corrected.

"-yeah, your love mark. That's what I said." Lisa teased with a grin, playing with fire, "So in your words, I can send a signal if I'm in danger and you can bibitty bobbity boop over to me-"

"Teleport. Take this seriously."

"-ok ok, teleport. You've taught me just enough magic to know how to set this thing off even if I can't do any of the cool stuff yet, so no worries. I need to stay inconspicuous so I can't take your handsome mug with me, a shame to lose the eye candy, but what can you do?"

I rolled my eyes, somehow feeling this was more of Lisa's way of psyching herself up more than anything so I let it go.

"Meanwhile you try to not get mixed up into anything. Go find a bookstore, get coffee, whatever. I'll pulse the love mark three times when I've got us a place and you can teleport to me, once really hard if I'm in danger. Ok?"

"Alright." I nodded, "Zero alleyways, you hear me?"

"Yes, dad. After the last one, not unless my life's on the line."

"Good. And no boys, young lady, or I'll get the gun."

"But daddy-"

"Nope,no. This bit stops. At. Daddy."

Lisa snickered smugly.

"Ok dadd-"

I glowered at her and Lisa ran, cackling a bit too loudly, moving with the speed and grace of a track star with her newfound Devil biology.

I sighed.

"My cute little Bishop will be the death of me." I muttered, punching the bridge of my nose. "Alright. Time to do some personal research."

Despite being the (theoretical) younger brother to the Maou Lucifer, I could without shame admit I was more akin to the Maou Beelzebub, my (theoretical) Maou-father.

And as much as I appreciated Lisa's rundown of Earth Beta it didn't hurt to read a more objective history, as colored as it would be by political agendas.

I started walking aimlessly, letting my feet guide me as I may. Before long a medium sized cafe and bookstore called Bookworm's Bay appeared next to an on ramp to a highway.

Perhaps a bit of a poor choice of venue with the noise pollution of the occasional honking car, but it would do.

Minutes later I had an overpriced cup of black tea, a splash of milk and sugar, and sat down on a stool perusing a book.

While it felt there was too much praise for Heroes in particular and almost religious martyrdom, likely a political colorization, Capes v. Crime by Jessie Yewer was a good read.

It had a slightly dated version of Cape classifications as a book almost a decade old, but had a lot of information on the formation of the Protectorate (or at least the government sanctioned perspective) and important heroes and villains from the 80s to the turn of the millennium starting with the appearance of Scion.

The most suspicious Cape of them all.

But putting pocket theories to the side, especially considering there was just no feasible way that nobody else on Earth didn't also have some suspicions, I was finished with my research for now.

It was starting to get close to dinner time and I still hadn't been contacted by Lisa. Frankly, I was starting to get slightly antsy.

I had never had a Peerage member before and my overprotective instincts were starting to come out despite myself.

Ignoring the sound of a powerful engine ripping up the ramp to the highway, hopefully they'd be pulled over for a ticket, I went to put my book back.

Nearly running chest first into someone as I rounded the corner of a bookshelf.

A certified shoujo manga moment, as Rias would say. That girl loved her manga. Perhaps just a bit too much.

I caught the dropped book by the other party without much more than a slight side lean. Younger girl, maybe a year younger than myself. About five foot four, but clearly entering a growth phase as the hem of her pants and sleeves rode up more than what was customary in the Americas.

"S-sorry!" She half-squeaked miserably as she pulled a strand of hair back behind her ear as I handed her book back to her.

Then noticing that her round glasses had been jostled askew, her limbs flung awkwardly to adjust it, but poor hand eye coordination sent her book half-flying out of her hands again.

I caught the book smoothly a second time, purposefully fumbling slightly with the fingers, letting the book spin a moment to emulate a more human reflex.

"Woah there. Almost dropped it this time."

She nodded without speaking and looking all wide-eyed, her hair flopping about as she did so. Despite a clear lack of any product her hair was naturally pretty. Her best feature, as the rest of her was average and unpainted by cosmetics or accessories.

"Um. Thanks." She shrank in on herself as I handed her book over to her.

"Alexandria." I nodded at the cover of her book. Just the word and a photo of the Triumvirate in flight, perhaps some ghost writer 'autobiography' for the masses. "She your favorite?"

She stammered, making me wonder if making small talk was a bad call, but her stuttering mess of a response almost ignited a desire to tease her into oblivion.

Actually it sort of reminded me a bit of Sona when she was younger and less intense.

Eventually she failed to get out any words and just nodded in the affirmative and I smiled.

"Cool. I'm Adam. New in town." I held out a hand. "Do you live here in the Bay?"

She stared at my hand like it was an alien creature in complete silence for all of thirty seconds before, almost robotically, her hand came up to shake it.

"Yea-UH!"

She yelped in surprise, sounding a bit hilariously like a kicked chihuahua as I, instinctively, kissed the back of her hand. I slapped myself mentally as that Devil custom wasn't a common human interaction in the modern era, but overriding a lifetime of trained Devil high-society customs was sometimes difficult.

I flashed a warm smile for recovery.

"Charmed to make your acquaintance. Your name?"

"Tay-tay-" She took a shaky breath. "Uhm."

"Nice to meet you, Tay-Tay."

I flashed just a hint of non-magic yet quite supernatural charm. A local's perspective could be invaluable. She seemed to have at least a passing interest in Capes judging from her choice of literature.

And I was, unfortunately for the mortal girl in front of me, just a wee little bit of a sadist.

Blame my Devil heritage, I suppose.

"Could I buy you a drink? Coffee or tea?"

I was already guiding her by the hand to the front of the bookstore to the glass windowed cafe in the front when in a spray of glass a man dressed suspiciously like Luigi from Super Mario crashed in riding a Go-Kart.

"I'ma gonna hurl!"

What…

As I looked over my shoulder, back turned to cover my newfound mortal toy/companion from the spray of glass, I saw a spiky blue shell the size of a baseball bounce out of a side compartment that had torn open from an impact with some element of the store.

Ignoring the fact that chairs and tables had been flung about, a bystander unlucky enough to catch a table to the leg, bending it at the knee at an angle that could only be broken, it would have been a scene you could still reasonably laugh at-

The blue shell then expanded.

-until that.

"Everyone get down!"

A hypnotic compulsion rippled out with minimum output from myself as all of the humans nearby leapt for cover. Shit, I might have to apologize to my Bishop later, I noted as I pushed Tay-Tay behind a shelf as I threw myself over her as cover.

Good news. Non-lethal explosive. A bit of concussive force, maybe light EMP in nature as the lights in the store flickers off.

Bad news, we were trapped under a few shelves with me trying to give my new acquaintance a bit of breathing room.

"So…" I chuckled in the dimness of collapsed shelves, "You come here often?"

Tay-Tay fainted, her nose inches from mine, and I could see myself laughing quietly reflected off her glasses.

"Ok. I was wrong. The shoujo stuff is pretty funny Rias." I laughed at an old memory, then wincing in the sudden gust of loneliness. "...let's get this damn shelving off of me."

I muscled my way out, holding my new toy/friend's limp body underneath me as I crouch-shoved my way out of the pile of books and wood.

"Everyone ok?" I called out to the rest of the store.

Aside from the one with the broken leg, a few people had shards of glass embedded to them where they landed or when the blue shell knocked things around.

And Luigi, the rat, was no longer in the storefront.

I had half a mind to chase him, but ultimately decided seeing PRT response times was more pertinent data.

I pulled glass shards from my back, they had gone through the bomber jacket and poked holes in the back of my shirt, but failed to break my Devil skin.

Since there was no blood, I could just pretend I had gotten lucky.

I cleared out a section of floor, used my jacket to act as a cushion and placed Tay-Tay on top, letting her lean in a slump against the wall.

"My phone is dead!"

"Goddamn Uber and Leet have gone too far!"

"Ok, blue shells are freakin' terrifyin' bro!"

Responses seemed a bit mixed.

I wasn't sure if it was because there was already a chase going, or if the response truly was that quick, but Battery arrived on the scene after two minutes, crackling with a few strands of energy.

"Everyone!" The female Hero called out. "Please move further into the back of the store and away from the street! Villains Uber and Leet are making another passing lap! We're going to stop them here as they try to drift back up the on ram-"

"People are injured!"

"My brother might have a concussion! We can't move him!"

"My leg! I need a medic!"

Battery tried to regain control of the situation, but short-sighted and loud mortals were impeding her ability. I wished to watch without making myself a factor, but the more this extended the more annoying I found the civilian masses.

"I will help move the injured!" I volunteered loudly, taking the full non-magic weight of my Devil charisma in tow. "I need anyone that isn't debilitated to help me! Make things easier for Battery to stop the villains and complain afterwards! Prop tables to give the concussed cover and don't move them! Wait for medical aid! Now!"

It was no hypnotic suggestion, but partly as it had affected everyone in the store moments ago, they slowly began assisting, instinctively just a slight amount more used to direct orders from my voice.

I nodded at Battery who made a hum of recognition before returning a small smiling nod in thanks as she crouched and began to glow faintly as she charged up some sort of power.

When the Villains Uber and Leet came back around the bend, Battery was ready. A pair of red shells splashed against her uselessly, fragmenting against her form with a reddish concussive force, as she smashed the go-kart engine blocks, grabbed the two ne'er-do-wells and slammed their heads together in a flurry of motion that rivaled physically oriented Medium-Class Devils.

Cheers and applause burst out as Assault, who seemed to have been chasing the duo and keeping on their tails, blurred into view, stopping with a few deep breaths.

"Great job, puppy." I heard him whisper from a distance. Normal mortal ears couldn't have possibly picked that up. "You look great by the way. Glowing, radiant. Didja get engaged? You look happy."

Battery snorted.

"Oh, shut up."

"Yes, I will kiss you after. Thank you for asking."

I could feel the eye-roll from here.

Before paramedics could arrive, however, a blonde girl that looked like she was born to be a cheerleader flew in, interestingly maskless and dressed in a pretty beige cardigan, carrying a short figure in a white hooded robe, red medic cross emblazoned on the chest.

"Battery! Assault! Hi! Glory Girl reporting in! Also now officially cleared for deployment is my lovable little Amy! Oops. Panacea! Uh, I think we lost her scarf mid-flight. Lemme go see if I can't find it."

Like a storm she flew in, deposited her sibling, and very irresponsibly flew out without waiting for a response.

I guessed New Wave. Though Panacea was a new name to take in. A healer, perhaps, judging from her costume, a cross on the back as well as the front as she shifted in place uncomfortably.

She must have gained her powers somewhat recently. Lisa hadn't mentioned her and supposedly Capes that could heal others could be counted with almost a single hand.

Fascinating.

Battery took charge of the situation again.

"Panacea. Good to meet you officially. I'm glad that you've been cleared for official duties. Everyone!" She smiled confidently as she pat the equally short girl on the shoulder, "Brockton Bay officially has a healing Cape! This is Panacea of New Wave! She'll be going over you all to make sure any injuries are taken care of!"

Panacea tugged at Battery's wrist and mumbled.

"Uhm. I can't interact with brains. If anyone's concussed I can't deal with that."

Battery's smile barely shifted. Very professional.

"However, leave the concussed where they are. It's better to get licensed medical assistance for them!" Battery concluded, not letting that interesting tidbit of information to spread at the moment.

I wondered why not, but I supposed it wasn't important for now. Possible more of a show of strength or holding cards closer to the vest. It could have been any number of factors, I supposed.

Panacea, when her hood allowed it, was a somewhat mouse-like girl with short and frizzy brown hair. Freckles covered her face at a seemingly near 50% freckle to skin ratio. Very cute if you were into it and with decent bone structure, but masked by the freckle camo.

Very different from her sister Glory Girl, however. Perhaps different fathers?

Her healing seemed touch based, Striker, and didn't seem to take too long to patch things up. Maybe a minute or two tops. Very impressive stuff, comparable to the Sacred Gear Twilight Healing.

Eventually she reached me, asking the same as she had done to all the other civilians.

"-hah, uhm. Do I have permission to heal you?" she panted, seemingly either physically or emotionally tired.

I shook my head with a soft smile.

"Luckily I'm totally fine. Jacket took the brunt of everything. I did kind of throw myself on my new friend Tay-Tay here though. If you could check in on her that'd be great. She's unconscious, but I don't think she hurt her head if that helps." I gestured to Tay-Tay who was on the jacket in question.

"Oh. Uhm. I think, legally, I'm not allowed to operate my powers on an unconscious person without consent from an actual family member or a medical professional." She appeared nervous and antsy, as if expecting me to treat her poorly as a result of the denial.

Despite what one might think there were a few injured people that didn't trust a new Cape enough to tend to them. She seemed to have taken some of their more vocal complaints a bit too personally, but seemed more disheartened and beaten down rather than getting angry about the disrespect.

And without anyone here to serve as any emotional support, she seemed as if she wanted to cry a little.

Damn her for triggering my big brother instincts.

"But hey. You're doing a great job, miss." I upped my charm a bit to give her a little boost in morale, letting my voice soften and be more gentle. Slightly more feminine to seem more comforting. "What you're doing is amazing."

And I truly meant it too.

Both in my world and in this healing on this speed and scale was genuinely impressive. Only the Heaven faction's miracles were comparable and they couldn't perform such healing in quick succession.

She shuffled her feet, nose reddening slightly.

"...Thanks." She sounded genuinely touched. "I'm-I'll do my best."

"You're best is honestly miraculous. Adam, by the way."

I held out my hand for her to shake.

And that was my mistake.

She hesitated before taking my hand, shuddering for some odd reason as she did so.

"Uh. You. Huh."

Her eyes widened like discs and I realized I didn't know enough about the nature of her powers and that I just screwed up. She was a Striker.

And I initiated skin contact like a fool.

...Devils weren't perfect either.

I kept up my smile and pretended that nothing was wrong. If she became an issue, I'd simply… take care of it later.

Preferably I could limit it to mere hypnosis, Lisa's warnings be damned. It would be a shame for the world to lose a healer like this though. I'd have to be very careful. Frankly, it would be a shame if I'd have to kill her and I really didn't want it to come to that.

"...could…" Panacea's voice was quite quiet, "...could I have your number?"

I blinked.

It definitely wasn't infatuation. No. She had noticed something, but she was too inexperienced in inter-personal relations to hide her intentions. But there was no need to play my hand too early.

"Oh, the EMP kind of knocked out everything." I finessed a half-truth as I pointed up at the lights, "And I'm new in town and will prolly be changing carriers. I could take yours though."

I pulled out my notebook and a pen and passed it over to her.

"An autograph would be cool too." I shrugged, giving my best impression of a sheepish grin.

"C-cool. I can do that… it'd be my first. Um. First autograph."

"Well isn't that neat." I laughed, "If you could write that and address it to Adam Gremory, I'd appreciate that."

"O-oh ok."

She looked down at the small pocket notebook as she nervously wrote it all down.

And I started making potential plans for a worst case scenario as a sliver of my shadow flickered forward to magically mark her location to me whenever I would need it.

Just. In. Case.