SeerKing grunted in pain before looking up. "Oh...ow...yeah, so I am sorry that this is late. Pulled a muscle in my back and it's SORE, in case none of you knew that."

Gesturing at his computer, the pained author continued. "OK, so...this chapter, if you hadn't already guessed it based on what was in the last one, involves a little chat with the PRT. Some of you will be a bit irked at the lack of PRT/Protectorate aftermath of that, but worry not! I will write it up and post it as an interlude chapter...once my back stops feeling as if someone's jabbed a marlinespike in it. Enjoy the chapter."

"Iustitia!" - Regular Speech

'Mistress!' - Thoughts/Telepathy

[Justice For All!] - Skill/Ability Being Used

Beta'd by BigCC

Quest 2.5

Two Days Later, Afternoon

Outside PRT ENE HQ

It must have looked like I'd just appeared out of nowhere to anyone standing near the entrance to the PRT Building, but I'd simply used a quick [Dimensional Shift] to drop down from a nearby rooftop. It was such a useful skill, easily one of my favorites.

They probably had all the nearby rooftops monitored anyway, but it still it gave anyone watching a very impressive first impression of me and that was the point. Dad had been clear, first impressions were vital in any negotiation; look like you know what you're doing and people would believe it.

Last night Dad had spent hours giving me a basic introduction on the important 'How To's' of negotiations with an emphasis on deflecting, dodging, and redirecting questions away from sensitive topics. Just in case the PRT Director decided to poke their nose into somewhere I was uncomfortable with.

'Don't forget I am here and ready to assist you, Mistress.' Iustitia chimed in helpfully. She wasn't out in either weapon or human form, both to not provoke any overly reactive responses from any Protectorate or PRT Trooper stationed here, and to keep her out of sight and out of mind so I could benefit from her a second perspective without drawing attention to the fact that we were psychically linked.

Thanks to Ziz, and Masters like Heartbreaker, anyone with an overtly psychic-like power tended to be reviled out of hand at worst, and treated with overt suspicion at best. Gallant, one of the Wards I'd met in Hamlin's pocket dimension, was a prime example. The kind of negative reactions his kind of powers triggered in most people was probably the reason he pretended to be a Tinker with that armor of his.

I have to admit it was a pretty good bit of deception. Even I had thought that those emotional blasts of his were some kind of Tinkertech laser until Hamlin had tried blasting me with them during our final showdown.

'No point in stalling now that I'm here. Into the belly of the beast we go.' I thought, letting out a breath as I walked steadily towards the automatic doors, which hummed open at my approach. As I walked through, I couldn't help but notice every PRT Trooper on duty suddenly stiffen as they caught sight of me or, to be precise, my cloak. Okay, so maybe wearing the [Dimensional Cloak of the Pied Piper] might have been a mistake…

Then again, Miss Militia had seen it last time we'd met, so they should at least know it was me and not Hamelin. I could feel Iustitia tensing, ready to manifest in one of her weapon forms at a moment's notice. I focused on sending her some soothing thoughts as I calmly advanced towards the front desk, doing my best to act like I hadn't noticed the heavily armored men and women watching me like hawks.

Behind the desk a fairly pretty young woman, a receptionist, was sitting, watching me approach with wide, nervous eyes.

"H-Hello, h-how can the P-Parahuman Response T-Team h-help you today…?" she stuttered out. I'd give her some credit, she was at least trying to stay professional.

"Good afternoon, I'm Justitia, Independent Heroine." I offered smoothly and politely. Dad and I had practiced this as well, so I was pretty confident that I'd managed the professional tone he'd advised. "Miss Militia wanted me to come in for a debrief on the incident with Hamelin, and possibly the encounter with Hookwolf two days ago?"

"A-ah, yes…of course." the woman offered with a quick nod, before her eyes quickly darted to the computer screen in front of her, reading something that had likely just appeared on the screen. "Director Piggot has just asked for you to be escorted up to her office to handle the matter." she continued a moment later, apparently regaining some confidence. She turned her attention to one of the men milling nearby. "Trooper Charleston, please escort Justitia there post haste."

The Trooper in question quickly stepped forward, "Yes ma'am." he agreed with a brief nod, before turning his attention to me, "If you'd please follow me, Miss." he offered politely.

I gave the receptionist a polite nod, before turning and following the Trooper towards the elevator at the lobby's far end. As we walked, I took the opportunity to take a better look at the man's armor, having never really had the opportunity to get a close look at the PRT's basic uniform before. It was pretty all-encompassing, Kevlar and fitted ceramic plates covering nearly all the details of the wearer's body outside of a general outline of their build, with particularly thick armor on the chest making it hard to determine even their gender. The helmet was similar to what you'd find on a SWAT Trooper's, except that the face covering was completely opaque from the outside. There was even a length of Kevlar armor attached to the back of the helmet that draped down to protect the wearer's neck that had the side-effect of concealing any loose hair. And, of course, everything was colored all-black.

Jeez, whoever designed these things must have never heard of the Faceless Minion trope.

Entering the lift, I watch absently as the trooper enters a quick code into a keypad located over the floor selection before pressing a button, causing the doors to close. and I felt the familiar lurch in my stomach as the thing started to move. God, I hated that feeling.

'Mistress, this is most suspicious.' my Embryo spoke up. 'Why are we being sent directly to the Director's Office? You requested to speak with Miss Militia.'

'Calm down Iustitia. Remember, the Protectorate is technically a subordinate branch of the PRT.' I gently reminded her. 'If Director Piggot said that she wants to take the lead on debriefing me, then there isn't much she could do. There's also the possibility that she's already in the Director's office, and we're just being penciled in between an existing meeting.'

'If you say so, Mistress.' Iustitia offered dubiously. 'Still, I shall be ready to transform at a moment's notice. Something about this feels far too suspicious for my liking…'

'I'll be relying on you then.' I returned along with a sense of gratitude. My Embryo was such a good girl.

A feeling of giddy appreciation was my only response.

When the elevator came to a stop, the trooper quickly led me out and through a completely bland set off hallways that looked like they'd been taken straight out of an office building. Finally, after several minutes of nondescript white doors and walls, we came to another nondescript white door, the only difference was that the bronze plaque mounted next to it that read, 'EMILY PIGGOT, PRT DIRECTOR ENE BRANCH' in simple block capitals

The trooper knocked politely on the door. "Ma'am, Trooper Charleston here with Justitia as ordered."

"Send her in. Charleston, you are to remain out there on standby until called for." a female voice called back calmly from the other sound. It sounded heavy, irritated, and thoroughly fed up even while still retaining a steely note of command.

Trooper Charleston quickly opened the door and gestured me inside, closing it quickly and quietly behind me as soon as I was through. The room I stepped into was far more…spartan than I'd expected, with only a large desk with a built-in computer and phone on top of it, several rows of filing cabinets and shelves filled with folders, a plain gray carpet and plain white vertical blinds covering the windows set behind the desk.

The woman sitting behind the desk was a fair bit more interesting, and equally as unexpected. She was…morbidly obese, but something in the way she sat or adjusted herself told me that this woman had once fought for a living. I quickly noticed the faint but distinct calluses on her hands that showed she likely still made regular use of a shooting range. Her steel-gray eyes were sharp as they took me in, and the short bob of bleached blonde hair shifted slightly as she moved slightly in what had to be a custom-built chair. She was dressed in a navy blue jacket and black shirt, and I caught sight of a similarly-colored skirt when she stood up.

"Justitia, you're here far earlier than we were expecting." Emily Piggot offered as she stood, still studying me intently. "From what Miss Militia reported, we weren't expecting you to arrive until the end of the week."

"I dislike keeping people waiting unnecessarily, particularly when we all have work that needs tending to, Director." I offered politely. "It would have been rude to keep you waiting, especially since I have some rather important information regarding some unexpected fallout regarding Hamelin and his…antics."

"Indeed?" one dark eyebrow went up slightly at that. "Well, we'll have to see about that. At the moment, there's something I need to say before we get started."

"Oh?" I returned invitingly. Just what could she have to say to me that was so important?

She met my gaze and held it for a solid minute before inclining her head towards me. "On behalf of the Parahuman Response Team and the National Protectorate, you have our most sincere and heartfelt thanks for facilitating the safe return of the East-North-East Wards, as well a number of other minors abducted by the Villain Hamelin. Your choice to stay behind rather than take the opportunity to escape yourself has been noted by all levels of the local branch and you have our gratitude for removing Hamelin before he could harm anyone else."

That actually had me blushing somewhat, I hadn't been expecting my actions to recognized so…officially. "I was just trying to do the right thing, Director. Besides…he threatened my family, I did what I had to do after that."

"I'm well aware of that." Piggot returned evenly, carefully returning to her chair with a small, almost unnoticeable sight of relief. "I'm unsure if Militia or Triumph informed you of this, but the majority of your final encounter with Hamelin, up until the point that you shot him at least, was broadcast to the Ward's Base in the lower levels of this building. The entirety of the Protectorate, the Wards, and New Wave, along with several senior members of the PRT, all witnessed the fight and the threats that were made against you and your family. I also understand that you were originally taken out of costume, so there was a clear and present danger to your civilian identity, correct?"

"Yes ma'am." I managed to force out, my voice growling slightly. The memory of that man threatening Dad still got my blood boiling even a week later. Iustitia sent me a waving of soothing thoughts, which helped quickly calm me down. "My apologies, Director, but the memory of…that…still gets me riled up a bit."

"Understandably so." the Director answered with a slight nod, a faint, almost-invisible smile appearing on her lips. "Back to matters at hand; a Kill Order was signed and issued for Hamelin, dated to start with his initial abduction of the Wards from their public appearance, and there is a sizable bounty that you, as the person who eliminated him, are free to claim. I believe that the standard bounty for a newly released Kill Order on an A-Class Parahuman is a hundred thousand dollars, plus a small addition donated by the families of several of our Wards as a means of thanking you."

"That…is a not inconsiderable sum of money." I gulped discreetly.

"Considering that Hamelin kidnapped multiple minors, including several Wards and Panacea, it's actually considered somewhat lower than what would normally be offered." Piggot responding, sounding almost apologetic. "However, Hamelin was only rated as an A-Class Parahuman at best. The Protectorate and several of Watchdog's analysts have reviewed the footage of your conflict with him and have agreed with your own initial assessment. Hamelin had extremely limited experience in using his abilities to combat another Parahuman. That means if his rating was solely based on his combat threat-level, he'd be listed as a B-class at best."

"How are Hamelin's victims recuperating?" I asked, trying to give myself a bit more time to process my shock. That was a LOT of money.

"Well, which is a surprise given their enforced inactivity." Piggot confirmed with a slight nod. "Several have already awakened, including an Independent Hero and a couple of minor villains, and are reporting no negative mental aftereffects. We are still operating under an Endbringer Truce situation, so Panacea has already treated any long-term physical effects of their imprisonment, and we are organizing transport back to their home cities, or at least their home states."

Strider's assistance would be useful for that, but sadly he was only contracted to assist the Protectorate and PRT during Endbringer battles.

"At least they're getting a chance to get back to their lives." I offered kindly. It was honestly a relief that the PRT was willing to honor the Endbringer Truce situation I'd called back in Hamelin's pocket dimension. I'd been a bit worried given Aegis' attitude, but it looked like cooler heads had prevailed.

"There is that. A couple of the villains that have woken up are actually speaking with Mistral, the Independent, and they're apparently discussing teaming up. Turning their coats and re-branding so to speak." Piggot offered, letting a smirk grow onto her lips. She disliked Capes in general, and would vastly prefer them joining the Wards and being put under PRT oversight, but one unspoken part of the Endbringer Truce could be summed up as, 'Thou shall not poach Capes during the duration of the Truce.' Offers could be made, but nothing else. So, while she'd have preferred them joining whatever local Ward Branch they moved to, she could force herself to be content with simply getting them on the side of law and order.

Besides, an offer could be made by the locals after things settled down. After getting kidnapped by a lone, crazed Parahuman, they'd likely have a greater appreciation for having some real backing rather than having to work on their own.

"That's good to hear." I returned with a smile of my own. At least something good was coming from this mess.

"Now, regarding the reward money, we can have it passed to you in several ways." Piggot continued, clasping her hands on top of her desk. "It would be difficult to do it in cash, but not impossible. It would take us several days, however, to get that much liquid capital gathered in unmarked bills. Alternatively, a bank account could be set up for your cape persona with the funds deposited within and a bank card issued. A third option would be hiring a Cape lawyer to handle the funds for you."

Alright, there were several ways all of those options could go wrong; tracking devices snuck into the money or on the card, dishonest lawyers…

"I think that the third option would likely be the best for me given current circumstances." I offered after a moment's thought. "Unfortunately, the only Cape Lawyer I know of is Brandish, and I gather that she's primarily a prosecutor, I doubt this kind of thing is in her usual portfolio."

Alan Barnes worked in the same law firm as Brandish, so I knew a few things about her from overhearing him and Dad talking when I was younger.

"That would be correct." Piggot agreed with a raised eyebrow. Was she surprised I knew about Brandish's specialty? "There are several Cape Lawyers located in Brockton, with varying degrees of credibility. Eliminating those contracted exclusively with the Empire, ABB, or the likes of Über and L33t, there is only one, excluding Brandish, that is of any note, Quinn Calle."

The woman's face twisted slightly in distaste. "He's a distinctly amoral man who specializes in Rogues and some of the more…legally dubious Villains. I believe his biggest clients in the Bay are Parian and the Palanquin group. But he has a good reputation on maintaining client privilege as long as he's being paid promptly and in full, and is quite good at his job."

"I see." I frowned slightly under my mask. I'd heard of Parian, of course, and even attended one of her Boardwalk shows a few weeks ago. I'd only loosely heard of the Palanquin mercs; they were supposedly a group of Parahuman mercenaries that straddled the line between Villains and Rogues, and were based out of the Palanquin club, located somewhere in one of the rougher areas of Downtown. That was a bit…unpleasant, but a far better option than hiring a gang lawyer.

"Are Cape lawyers that uncommon?" I asked uncertainly.

"Not uncommon, but unaffiliated or freelance ones worth anything tend to be hard to find." the Director responded with a shrug. "Most particularly good ones are scooped up either our own law teams or another group and work exclusively with them. For example, Brandish, or rather Carol Dallon, is not only a prosecutor, but also the defacto lawyer for the New Wave group and rarely takes cases for anyone or anything not involving her own team and family. Calle is a notoriously savvy character and has managed to find a nice, secure wedge for himself where he can charge a premium for his services without being forced to align himself with any particular group."

So the guy was pretty clever. Good to know that I'd at least be hiring someone competent if I went with him.

"Given your relatively unknown status, you probably won't work with him directly, but rather one of the other lawyers at his firm, Calle: Lawyer For Hire." Piggot finished with an aggrieved sigh. "By PRT policy, I'm required to keep copies of several business cards for unaffiliated cape lawyers, so I can supply you with one if you wish to make arrangement with him."

"That sounds like an idea worth looking into." I agreed with a nod.

The director reached into one of her desk's drawers, pulled out a small box, and began rifling through a rolodex of business cards stored within before pulling out the needed one and handing it to me. It had the firm's name embossed in a fancy golden font, along with an address and phone number. I took out my pocket mirror and quickly swiped it to the inventory before storing the card away and returning the mirror to my pocket.

Piggot merely watched with a slightly narrowed eyes, seemingly unsurprised by the blatant display of Parahuman abilities.

"Now that that's out of the way, I will need to call in Armsmaster and Miss Militia for the debriefing on the two incidents, as well as this information you have on some fallout from the Hamelin Incident. Would you mind waiting a moment?" she offered calmly.

"Of course." I agreed with a nod. "I'm probably going to have to be a bit technical at points, so having Armsmaster here to translate things would probably be for the best."

"Very well then." Piggot nodded slightly, before pressing a button on her phone. "Jenkins, send Miss Militia and Armsmaster up."

As we stood waiting for the two Protectorate capes to join us, I searched for something to break the silence. "Ah…I hope that paying out the bounty isn't going to negatively affect your funds, Director Piggot."

Piggot chuckled slightly in response to that. "No need to concern yourself on that part, Justitia. Kill Order Bounties are paid through a special discretionary fund managed by the National Protectorate and PRT, with any additional funds donated to the Bounty being added into fund directly and record by the fund's manager. As it is, we received a slight increase in our own budget in order to help prepare in case another such attack occurs, including a 25% increase in our Tinker Budget and a 15% increase to the PRT Trooper's equipment and training funds."

"Has…has anyone actually done that before Hamelin?" I asked in confusion. "Actually attacking the PRT Headquarters?"

"Aside from the likes of the Slaughterhouse Nine? No." Piggot replied sourly. "Anyone else, even gangs as firmly entrenched as the Empire, would know that that kind of action would bring down at least one member of the Triumvirate on their heads, something only a crazy idiot would want. We think the only reason Hamelin thought he could get away with it was because he planned on being out of the city before any response could arrive."

That made a lot of sense. The Triumvirate were all incredibly powerful Parahumans, the strongest Brute, Trump, and Blaster on the North American Continent and each easily in the running for the Top 10 Strongest Parahumans on the planet. You'd have to be insane, suicidally overconfident, or have an actual plan to do anything that would put you in their sights. Sadly, Hamelin had at least two out of three of those bases covered.

The silence that followed was broken a minute later when the armored form of Armsmaster and the more slender form of Miss Militia entered the room, both looking unsurprised by my presence. Either they'd been alerted when I first arrived, or they'd been monitoring the meeting so far through some hidden camera.

"Armsmaster. Miss Militia." I greeted them both with a polite nod.

"Justitia." the Leader of the ENE Protectorate nodded back.

"You're here sooner than I expected." Miss Militia offered as she returned my nod.

"Circumstance changed, and I have some information that I thought needed to be shared sooner rather later." I replied with a small smile. "I take it you both have been listening in on what the Director and I have been discussing?"

When all three flinched slightly in surprise, I couldn't hold back a small huff. "Just because I'm a teenager doesn't mean I'm stupid. There's no way that a high-ranking member of the PRT would meet with an unknown Parahuman without at least a couple members of the Protectorate nearby to intervene if anything untoward were to happen. Particularly since I'm wearing a cloak that looks almost exactly like Hamelin's. For all anyone knew, the man could have been the next Butcher."

The adults relaxed slightly at that. Both Dad and Iustitia had had to point it out to me, but given the hodgepodge of powers that Hamelin had possessed, him having a power like whatever allowed the Butcher to body-hop after getting killed would have likely crossed the Protectorate's minds after Miss Militia saw me wearing my cloak.

"Why exactly are you wearing that cloak then?" Armsmaster asked bluntly.

"Armsmaster!" his second-in-command hissed at him sharply.

"It's a valid question." I put in evenly, not at all offended. "And to answer, it's a part of my power. As the Wards probably already explained, my powers basically make me into a living video game character, that includes a Loot system." I offered honestly. It wasn't like they could interfere with the Earth Bet Dendrogram System, so sharing the information was both harmless and made me appear cooperative. "When I beat something worthy of being called a 'boss,' I get particularly good loot. There a bit of a system behind it. All Parahumans are classed as Unique Boss Monsters, or UBMs for short, and so I get a UBM Special Reward, a unique and powerful bit of loot that only I can use. This cloak is called the [Dimensional Cloak of the Pied Piper: Hamelin], and possesses an ability that lets me escape or enter pocket dimensions and dimensional bubbles so long as I can find a 'weak point' in the target dimension."

"That…is quite astounding." Armsmaster offered slowly, his head moving slightly lower. "I notice that you have a wolf's head accessory, and you defeated Hookwolf two days ago. You didn't kill him though, so I take it 'defeating' does not correlate with simply killing the target."

"Kinda." I agreed with a slight shrug. "My powers recognize victory in several different degrees. Killing a target is simply the strongest and gives the best rewards. Simply disabling them or rendering them unconscious is also a victory, but to a weaker degree, so the prize I get is weaker and randomized, so defeating the same person over and over won't result in me getting the same prize multiple times, probably to counterbalance the loss of power from a kill victory."

"Your costume has also changed significantly since you faced Hamelin." Miss Militia pointed out cautiously.

I sighed slightly at that. "This would be a lot easier to explain, if you'd let me start from the top, rather than me explaining everything piecemeal."

"The girl makes a fair point." Director Piggot agreed. "Settle back, both of you. You can save your inquiries for after we get this information."

As both Protectorate Capes obeyed, I gave the woman an appreciative nod as I quickly ordered my thoughts, knowing this would be hard to talk about.

"After everything that happened, I was…justifiably concerned…about what had happened in Hamelin's Pocket Dimension and had decided to use my Cloak to check and see if it still remained. I regret to inform you that, rather than collapsing completely, it has, for lack of a better term, fragmented into multiple smaller dimensional packets throughout the Bay." I offered with a frown. "When I used to my Cloak on the same point where I was initially abducted, I was drawn into one of these fragments, and these fragments are occupied."

"Occupied? By what exactly?" Piggot asked, looking noticeably tense.

I grimaced; this was going to be unpleasant. "I'm not sure how anything regarding Parahuman power work, or how they interact with dimensional energies, but when Hamelin…when he was dying, his psyche fractured along with his pocket dimension. Now the different fragments of his psyche, each apparently linked to a particularly strong emotion of his, are creating avatars and acting like anchors for the various Fragment Dimensions scattered across Brockton Bay. The only way to get rid of the Pocket Dimension is to destroy these avatars, destroying the fragment and destabilizing the dimension.

"My new costume is the result of clearing out the various…minions that appeared in the Fragment Dimension I entered and this," I tapped my cuirass with one hand, "is the [Despairflame Cuirass: Pequod]. The UBM Special Reward I got from killing Hamelin's Manifestation of Despair, Pequod, and dissipating the Fragment Dimension of Despair."

"Pequod…Captain Ahab's ship?" Miss Militia asked with a frown.

"That's what he named himself, since it clearly wasn't Hamelin himself." I answered with a shrug. "Anyway, part of my reward for clearing the Fragment Dimension is an item that will help me locate the other Fragment Dimensions, something I'm trying to do as quickly as possible. These things can apparently feed on the emotions they're based on and grow stronger from them. I don't want to risk one getting strong enough to try and open a portal connecting its Fragment Dimension and the Bay."

"Which is why you're alerting us." Armsmaster stated simply. "You are only one person, and there's no guarantee you'll be capable of clearing them all in time."

"Exactly, you need to be ready." I agreed with a nod. "I'd request some help, but my Cloak can only carry me into a dimensional pocket, not anyone else. Unless you have a Tinker who specializes in dimensional tech…?"

Piggot shook her head. "Unfortunately, Dragon just confirmed that the only Tinker specializing in dimensional tech affiliated with the Protectorate and Guild was caught in the Canberra Containment Zone and will not be permitted to leave for the foreseeable future." the corpulent woman explained with an exhausted sigh, even as I winced. Canberra was a Simurgh Quarantine Zone, people rarely got to leave those. "There are rumors that Toybox operates from within an artificially created dimensional pocket, but they are always wary of taking contracts involving the PRT and Protectorate out of fear of forced recruitment. We can make an inquiry, but even if they take the contract, it shall take quite some time. On a scale of one to ten, how likely are these Hamelin 'fragments' to break out of their prisons."

"At the moment? Pretty low, I wouldn't say anything above a one or two." I offered after a moment of thought. "Like I said, Pequod seemed to feed on Despair, drawing it in from the area surrounding his Fragment and using it to fuel and strengthen himself. Assuming the other fragments are the same, then they're likely at their weakest right now, since they're still newly formed. The longer they have to feed and grow, the stronger and more dangerous they'll become. Pequod was also quite…listless at first, content to wallow in his own fragment, but that could just be because his aspect was a fairly sedate emotion like Despair. I imagine that an aspect attuned to Rage or Ego would be far more aggressive, but even Pequod showed a surprising amount of ambition after he got started, so wouldn't label any Fragment as safe to leave alone."

"It's possible these Fragments can't actually leave their native dimensions." Armsmaster put in. "If they're as tightly linked to their Fragment Dimension as you seem to believe, then that binding might actually tether them to their dimension and prevent them from leaving."

I paused a moment to consider that, before shaking my head. "Even if they can't leave themselves, they could still release their minions, like the Giant Rats and Statue Soldiers the Wards and I had to fight in Hamelin's original dimension, and have them cause trouble. I don't think that that's a risk any of us are willing to take."

The Director's lips had tightened into a thin line during our discussion, and she paused a moment to exchange worried looks with a noticeably concerned Miss Militia and a stoic Armsmaster. "You're right, there is too much risk involved in leaving these things unattended any longer than necessary." she offered at last, before looking me straight in the eye. "I will be blunt and honest with you, Justitia. Since the Hamelin Incident there has been a lot of pressure from my fellow Directors and the Chief Director herself to recruit you into the Wards as quickly as possible, using whatever means we have available. However, at the moment you are the only one can enter and deal with these 'Fragment Dimensions' and deal with the Master-class projections that reside within them before they become a threat to my city. I will be using this fact to hold them off from try and enforce any more…heavy-handed recruitment means."

"Oh, uh…? Thank you?" I offered uncertainly. Why would this be an excuse to…oh.

"Good, you understand." the Director nodded, a humorless grin spreading on her lips as she seemed to notice my realization. "If you were a member of the Wards, we'd be unable to allow you proceed on such a dangerous endeavor. The Youth Guard alone would raise absolute hell if we tried. So for the moment, it is best for all of us if you remain independent. That is, presuming you had any intention of joining, which I'm fairly certain you don't."

"No ma'am." I confirmed with a shake of my head. "At the moment, I'm content to work alone."

"A pity, we need more competent capes on our side." Piggot stated with a shake of her head, "But we can hold off on the whole recruitment pitch until after this crisis is dealt with. For now, we're working on the same page in dealing with it, and I'd request you keep us appraised of any anomalies or issues while you search out and clear these areas. Any support we can offer, within reason, we'll provide."

"I appreciate that Director." I agreed with a nod. "Hopefully Iustitia and I will be able to resolve this on our own, but its nice to know we'll have backup if the worse happens."

"Speaking of, I don't see your…I believed the Wards referred to her as a 'Maiden' present, we were led to believe that she rarely leaves your side?" Miss Militia asked curiously.

'Shall I, Mistress?' my Embryo asked eagerly. She'd kept quiet through most of the conversation, only sending me supportive feelings whenever I stated to feel nervous, although she had positively bristled with indignation at the talk of people wanting to force me into the Wards by hook or by crook.

'I think so.' I sent back. Aloud, I held up my left hand, "Come out, Iustitia!"

In a flash of white light, the form of my blindfolded Maiden with Arms stood next to me, hands clasped demurely in front of her. All three of the other people in the room had tensed when the flare occurred, but slowly started to relax again as they took in Iustitia. Admittedly, she certainly didn't appear threatening at first glance.

"This is my Embryo, Iustitia." I said casually. "She and I are never apart, even if you can't see any of her Forms in my hands."

"Greetings to you Director Piggot, Armsmaster, Miss Militia." Iustitia curtsied daintily. "I am Iustitia, Maiden of Justice, and I am my Mistress' power personified."

"Hello, Iustitia." Miss Militia was the first to recover enough to return the greeting.

"I think I've asked you not to call me Mistress before, Iustitia. At least not in front of people." I said in mild exasperation. "Someone's going to think I'm a lesbian dominatrix or something one of these days."

"My apologies." my Embryo sounded not a jot apologetic!

"Are you able to fight in this form?" Armsmaster asked looking her up and down. She was lithe and svelte, and wasn't muscled like a fighter, but that was deceptive.

"I am, though I prefer to act as my Mistress's arms rather than act on my own." Iustitia offered demurely. "I share all of her physical abilities, which are not inconsiderable. In addition, I am capable of…this!"

Extending her right arm, the Embryo seemed to focus for a brief moment before her entire forearm began to glow and shift into a very familiar shape.

"That's the blade of the [Sword of Justice]!" I said aloud, more than a little shocked. I hadn't known about this!

"I only gained this ability two days ago, Mistress, and we were more focused on other matters, so I never had an opportunity to bring it up. I am able to morph my arms into the shape and function of any of my Weapon Forms." my Embryo offered sedately as her forearm glowed and shifted again, first into a tipstaff and then the barrel and chambers of my revolver before reverting back to her own hand and arm. "My apologies for surprising you Mistress."

"I know the last couple days have been hectic Iustitia, but please tell me when something like this happens as quickly as you can, so long as it's not an immediate threat." I offered with a sigh.

"As you command, Mistress." Iustitia offered with a bow. "It appeared as a rather inconsequential ability at the time, as I cannot access any of my Weapon Form Skills and the partial-transformations are only a fraction as powerful as my true Weapon Forms. At best, it will be useful as an emergency means of defense, but little more."

I sighed before nodding. "Fair enough, we'll still use the next dungeon to get you some experience actually using that new trick in a fight, just in case." I agreed, before remembering something else. "Oh, that reminds me. I have something that I was hoping you could return to Kid Win for me, Armsmaster."

Grabbing my mirror again, I quickly brought up my Inventory and pulled out Kid Win's laser pistol, the Tinkertech weapon appearing out of a ripple in the air directly above the mirror and falling into my waiting hand. I quickly flipped it around offered the grip to Armsmaster.

"I didn't want to risk messing around with it, considering it was set to lethal mode." I offered as he took the weapon from my hand, carefully keeping the barrel pointed away from anyone in the room.

The older Tinker gave a quick grunt of acknowledgment, before reaching down and flicking a small switch built into the top of the grip. "I've set it back to safe mode." he agreed. "I'll return it to him when he next comes in."

"Oh, and I remember that he mentioned that he was having trouble figuring out his specialty." I offered more carefully. "I think I might be able to offer a clue about that."

Armsmaster turned his attention back to me. "That's correct, but how would you be able to help? Your powers don't seem to involve anything approaching a Tinker rating." he asked shortly.

"I don't," I agreed, before pressing on, "but one of the features of my Inventory is that it automatically names and categorizes anything I put in it and can give me a brief description of it. When I put Kid Win's Pistol in there, it was labeled as a [Prototype Modular Configuration Tinkertech Laser Pistol]. Since Kid Win never mentioned that he'd designed his tech to be modular, I figured it was likely an instinctive part of his Tinkering kicking in. So Kid Win's specialty is probably a lot like yours, Armsmaster; a way of building things rather than a particular type of tech. Modular configurations, or to put it simply: plug and play."

"Hmm." Armsmaster seemed to ponder this for a moment, studying the laser pistol in his hands for a moment. "That…bears some looking into." he agreed after a moment. "It is something we haven't explored yet, so at worst it'll simply be another failed experiment. If it proves true, then I think you'll have found yourself a friend in him."

"It's always good to have more friends." I offered with a grin.

I spoke with the Director and the two Protectorate Capes for a few more minutes, Director Piggot giving me a number and pass-code to contact her on whenever I needed to report something regarding the Dimension Fragments. Armsmaster gave me a card of his own for similar reasons, and Miss Militia offered me one as well, though she said I could contact her if I needed anything else regarding Cape life as well.

I also allowed my preteen fan-girl to come out for a bit and got both heroes' autographs. These were going somewhere safe.

Afterwards, the meeting came to a halt and I recalled Iustitia into her Crest before Trooper Charleston escorted me back to the lobby and out the door, where I used [Dimensional Shift] to vanish from sight.

Deciding that one harrowing meeting was enough for today, I headed for home so I could take a close look at the [Dimensional Astrarium].

Later

Living Room, Hebert Residence

"Whoa…" I breathed out as our coffee table was covered in a hologram of Brockton Bay. Made entirely out of countless lines of green light and projected from the tiny boxlike astrarium resting at the table's center, it showed a surprising amount of detail. Good thing I'd closed the curtains.

"Well that's certainly impressive." Dad offered casually. He'd been working from home over the past few days. The Association was in its yearly slow season, so he only really needed to drop off and pick up paperwork for the next few weeks.

"Hmm…" Iustitia muttered from where she was fiddling with the small control panel built into the astrarium's side. "Now then…this should…Aha!"

The reason behind her sudden exclamation was obvious: several large, bubble-like objects of differing colors were now floating over various points across the map of the Bay.

"So I take it these are the dimensional bubbles." I frowned as I started to walk around the table, getting a closer look at each. Giving a specific section a closer look, I grinned at pointed at a specific portion. "Yes, there's where Pequod's bubble was, near the warehouses."

On the map, a small bundle of bubbles, all a pale blue gray and each far, far smaller than any of the other bubbles, were slowly vanishing; one even 'popped' as we were watching. That had to be all that was left of the 'Sinking Ship' dimension now that its Fragment/Ruler was gone.

"The other ones seem to be scattered all over the place…" Dad muttered as he studied the map. "That one seems to be attached to the top of the Medhall building, and I think that one is resting over the Boat Graveyard."

The two that Dad mentioned were easily the biggest remaining pockets, which was probably a bad sign.

"Iustitia, any chance you could get this thing to show us where their entrances are and what their recommended levels are? Their names too if possible." I asked.

"One moment….there!" My Embryo grinned as the map shifted again, yellow dots suddenly appearing to indicate the entrances to the various dungeons. Bright white script had also appeared across the surfaces of the various bubbles, indicating their names and levels. I quickly picked up a notepad and began jotting everything down.

Remnant #2: Tower of Hate. Pocket Dimension Location: Roof of Medhall Building. Entrance Location: Base of Medhall Building. Recommended Level: 25

Remnant #3: Graveyard of Fear. Pocket Dimension Location: Boat Graveyard. Entrance Location: Abandoned Warehouse. Recommended Level: 20

Remnant #4: Pit of Apathy. Pocket Dimension Location: Brockton Trainyard. Entrance Location: Middle of Trainyard. Recommended Level: 30

Remnant #5: Hill of Inverted Justice. Pocket Dimension Location: Captain's Hill. Entrance Location: Summit of the Hill. Recommended Level: 18

Remnant #6: Fortress of Arrogance. Pocket Dimension Location: Protectorate ENE HQ, The Rig. Entrance Location: Ferry Station North. Recommended Level: 22

Remnant #7: Camp of Cruelty. Pocket Dimension Location: Winslow Highschool. Entrance Location: Main Doors. Recommended Level: 35

Remnant #8: Plain of Wrath. Pocket Dimension Location: Wandering. Entrance Location: Unstable and inaccessible. Recommended Level: 45

"Wait, there's hate and wrath?" Dad frowned.

"They're similar, but not the same thing, dad." I offered, remembering one of mom's literature lessons. "Hate is passionate anger directed at a target, but Wrath is anger sharpened with a sense of judgment, in the biblical sense of the word, toward something. They're both based around anger, but expressed in different ways."

Dad snorted and smiled a bit sadly. "You're your mother's girl alright." He offered as we shared a watery smile, before shaking it off. "Looks like Hamelin had a propensity for Wrath then. I think your first target should be at Captain's Hill."

"Best to build up to the more dangerous ones." I agreed with a nod. Hopefully the fact that their levels were already so high meant that they'd grow more slowly than the lower-level ones, otherwise we might have to change priorities. "But I wonder what 'inverted justice' could mean."

"I might have an idea on that one." Dad offered as he adjusted his glasses a bit. "One of your mother's friends back in college was really into Tarot readings. She once tried to explain what all the cards meant to me. A lot of it went straight in one ear and out the other, but I remember that 'Justice' could be read as its name if it was right way up, but if it was inverted, or upside down to put it plainly, then it meant pointless violence, or simply, injustice."

"Justice that has been warped to suit one's own gains or goals…yes, such a twisted thing would easily belong to man such as Hamelin." Iustitia growled out. She was glaring at the dull gray bubble resting on top of Captain' Hill with an intensity that was more than a bit worrying. "Mistress, we must wipe such a travesty from the face of this world. It is an affront to my very nature as a Maiden of Justice!"

Okay, so injustice was a bit of hot-trigger for my Embryo. Not surprising, given the whole 'Maiden of Justice' ideal, but still good to know

"Alright, Iustitia." I agreed with a sigh as I pressed the button on the panel that shut down the astrarium before returning it to my Inventory. "We'll head out and deal with it."

"Are there day and night cycles in these bubbles?" Dad asked, not looking pleased. I guess he was still a bit unhappy about letting me risk myself like this.

"There shouldn't be. Each bubble is a separate pocket dimension, disconnected from our own reality, so they're unlikely to truly synchronize with the real world in any true way." Iustitia shook her head. "There was no sky within the original pocket dimension Hamlin himself manifested, merely an endless series of caves, and Pequod's realm was constantly enshrouded in rain and mist, with no sun or moon visible."

"Hmm. I do wish these things would be a bit more logical, but that matches up with some instanced dungeons in online games that I'm familiar with." Dad sighed. "Before you go though, have you tried the…'Gacha' system, was it?"

"No, I haven't." I frowned. "I guess we should try it out, might have something useful."

I blinked as a screen appeared in front of me.

[Gacha System Online!]

Welcome to the Gacha System, your one-stop shop for items, armor, weapons and other things! Random by nature, random by application.

As a reward for managing to get the Gacha System online, you are granted three free attempts at a Gacha prize. After that, you will have to pay at least $500 per usage of the Gacha System.

"Five-hundred dollars?!" I squeaked out in outrage.

All items in the Gacha System are graded from G to S, with EX being almost unique and highly rare. Sometimes you will get items that are far less valuable than the money you put into the Gacha. The Gacha system does not offer refunds for such items unless they are broken upon being opened. By utilizing the Gacha System from hereon-out, you are agreeing to this fact implicitly.

On occasion, UBM Special Rewards may be granted to you via the Gacha System. These ones bind to you upon opening and cannot be used by anyone else. You also will not know what you receive until you open the reward shell, although you will be able to tell the grade of the prize by the color of the shell.

G - White

F - Yellow

E - Orange

D - Light Blue

C - Royal Blue

B - Bronze

A - Silver

S - Gold

EX - Rainbow

Please enjoy our services!

I'd been reading the blurb aloud for my Dad, as only I could see the windows.

"At least you can get more money in the dungeons." Dad offered. I'd given him a lot of the cash I'd earned in the dungeon so he could pay a chunk of the mortgage and other bills which had been piling up. "And the first three tries are free. That'll at least give us an idea if it can be worth the investment in the future."

"I guess." I was still a bit uneasy about the price, but I'd at least test out my free turns if nothing else. "Let's test this out then."

Pressing a button on the bottom of the screen, I had to blink back for a moment as it lit up with a flashing spectrum of light. The lights flashed and rotated for a moment before coming to a stop on a royal blue color. Grade C on my first try? Nice!

The light seemed to condense into a ball before emerging from the screen, floating in front of me for a moment before it began to drop. I instinctively reached out and grabbed it before it could fall too far. As soon as my hand wrapped around the outer edge, it seemed to crack and dissolve into hundreds of motes of light, revealing a simple bronze medallion with an Egyptian ankh engrave into it.

Quickly depositing it in my Inventory, I brought up its description.

[Lifesaving Brooch]

Rarity: Rare

Value: $10, 000

[Breakable]

An accessory which can be added to any piece of cloth or to an armor's accessory slot. The wearer is protected from a single attack which would be fatal to them while wearing it. Afterwards, there is a 10% chance of it breaking and becoming useless as anything other than either a paperweight or being recycled for materials by an alchemist or blacksmith. The Brooch's power can only be activated once every 24 hours and the wearer may only have one [Lifesaving Brooch] equipped at a time.

"Whoa…and it's only a Grade C item…" I muttered out after reading the description of my new favorite item to Dad.

"New rule, you're not allowed out of the house without that brooch on." Dad ordered quickly, his eyes wide.

"Wasn't planning on it, Dad!" I shot back with a grin. "Alright, this thing might just be worth the money if it can give out stuff like that, let's try this again."

I pressed the button again, causing another flash of prismatic light before it settled on yellow this time. That meant Grade F, so it wasn't likely to be anything great this time.

Still when I grabbed the yellow ball, it dissolved and revealed a Class Book, not unlike the ones I'd gotten for defeating Pequod. The job it offered was actually quite tempting…

Job Name: Thief Taker

Job Grouping: Hunter

Job Rank: Low-Class

Requirements: Take down a criminal (Accomplished)

Description: A job focused on catching criminals. It allows one to use several useful skills to track, ambush and capture other humans without causing lethal damage. It also provides useful skills to do with unarmed combat, pistols and clubs. A fairly balanced job that focuses on Toughness and Dexterity.

Class Skills Learned Upon Acquisition: [Track Human], [Silent Steps], [Ambush], [Aura of Intimidation (Criminals)], [Reveal], [Killing Intent Perception].

"Alright, I'm so tempted to learn this one right now, it was practically made for cape work! But I'm already over halfway to leveling up, and activating it will just waste all the EXP I've earned." I stated with a sigh, putting the book in my Inventory for now. "I'll just keep it on hand until I level up again, then I'll activate it first thing.

"Good thinking, hun." Dad nodded in approval. "A lot of people would've have just ignored the EXP loss, but every little bit counts for a multi-class character."

Flushing slightly at the praise, I quickly hit the button for my last free roll. The lights flared once again, before settling on royal blue once more. Two Grade C prizes on three rolls? Either I was lucky with this thing or Grade C was more common than I'd initially thought.

Grabbing onto the ball once more, I was surprised when the shell expanded outward, revealing a large overcoat. It was just my size too, navy blue in color but covered in white star-dot patterns that looked like stars and constellations. It kind looked like something a pirate or sea captain out of a fantasy novel would wear…

Placing it in my Inventory, I took a quick look at the stats and blinked.

[Captain's Coat of Constellations]

Rarity: Rare

Value: $20, 000

Increases Defense: +30

Increases Strength, Toughness and Dexterity by +20

Description: A coat fashioned for and worn by a captain who unerringly knew the starry sky by heart and could navigate the seven seas without the need for navigation instruments. It contains several passive abilities to aid in navigation and defense, as well as two active abilities to protect the wearer from any threats that cross their path as they travel.

Passive Skill #1: [Point Me]: The coat will allow the wearer to see any compass direction in their HUD.

Passive Skill #2: [Legend]: When viewing a map of their current location, the wearer will always see exactly where they are on the map.

Passive Skill #3: [Lesser Blessing of the Stars]: Increase defense by 50% for one minute after receiving first attack. Cooldown of two minutes.

Passive Skill #4: [Wayward]: Abilities, skills and powers that would throw off the wearers sense of direction are nullified.

Passive Skill #5: [Man of the Sea LV5]: Reduces all water, wind and stellar damage by 50%.

Active Skill #1: [Star Shower]: The wearer unleashes a small blast of stellar energy in the form of a shower of stars above the enemy. Each star causes 50 points of stellar damage. Costs 100 MP to use.

Active Skill #2: [Star Saber]: The coat generates a sword forged of stellar energy for the wearer to wield. While active, [Star Shower] cannot be used.

"OK, wow…and this isn't even a UBM Reward!" I muttered in shock as I looked over the list of abilities.

"Of course it isn't, Mistress." Iustitia said with a huff. "Its stats are too low, its abilities are too weak, and it lacks the power of an item that is derived from a UBM. It might have a lot of skills, but nearly all of them are extremely limited or one-dimensional, and none are very powerful. An UBM item of similar design would be at least thrice as powerful, as would the abilities it provided."

I tried to wrap my head around the idea of that, but I couldn't. I only had two UBM rewards, with a third being a OBM reward, so I didn't have a good grasp on exactly how much more powerful than regular equipment they were. Mostly due to the fact that the regular equipment I was working with wasn't all that impressive

Once I equipped the coat, this is what my current outfit looked like:

Head: [Half-closed Helm of the Rat King] - DEF +50 (+30)

Face: [Mask of the Pirate Lord] - DEF +5 (+30)

Neck: [Muffler of the Jolly Roger] - Def +5 (+30)

Chest (Under): [Despairflame Cuirass: Pequod] - DEF +70 (+30)

Chest (Over): [Captain's Coat of Constellations] - DEF +30 (+30)

Lower Body: [Captain's Breeches] - DEF +10 (+30)

Greaves: [Armored Pirate Boots] - DEF +8 (+30)

Mantle/Cloak: [Dimensional Cloak of the Pied Piper: Hamelin] - DEF +0 (+30)

Gauntlets: [Fingerless Pirate Gloves] - DEF +5 (+30)

Belt: [Pirate's Sword and Pistol Belt] - DEF +5 (+30), with [Talisman of the Armored Wolf] - DEF+30, and [Lifesaving Brooch] - DEF+0 equipped.

Weapon: [Maiden of Justice, Iustitia]

Shield: [Black Buckler of Unending Regression: Karkinos] - DEF +20 (+30)

Riding Equipment: [None]

Thanks to the Talisman I'd gotten for thumping Hookwolf, my Defense was sitting at five hundred and sixty-eight. I'd known that it was supposed to add an extra thirty points to my defense for every piece of equipment that I equipped, except accessories, but seeing it in effect really put it into perspective. Even if it wasn't an UBM Reward, it was still a fairly OP item, at least at my current level.

My dad seemed to agree with that. "That Talisman is probably your best item so far. Until you can gather more powerful equipment with better defense ratings, its worth at least three levels on its own."

"I wish I could evolve into a higher-level Embryo sooner to help you Mistress." Iustitia offered with a pout. "Unfortunately, evolving from a Stage 3 Embryo to a Stage 4 Embryo is going to take a significant amount of time, energy, and experience."

"Is the difference between the two stages really that big?" I asked curiously.

My Embryo nodded firmly. "Indeed it is. The growth requirements beyond the initial three stages are vast, but the rewards are equally as extensive. The amount of MP I will be able to grant you per level will be greatly enhanced, as will the stat bonuses I provide. Any new Forms that I acquire will also be far stronger than the Forms that I have acquired so far, and my own evolution could trigger an evolution in them as well."

"While that certainly sounds impressive Iustitia, I think you're already pretty strong as you are now." I offered her a reassuringly. "Just take it slow and don't push too hard okay? For all we know, trying to force yourself to evolve could have negative effects on you."

Iustitia practically glowed with happiness at my concern. My Maiden was certainly easy to please.

Changing back to my street clothes, I gave Dad a quick hug. "Alright, time for me to head out. Iustitia and I should be back by eight or nine tonight. If the dungeon looks like its going to be too large to clear in a few hours we'll leave and try again tomorrow."

"Just be safe, Little Owl." Dad whispered back as he hugged me tight. I could tell that he was still worried about me, even with all the awesome gear I had, he knew I was going to be doing something dangerous.

"Rest assured, so long as my Mistress and I work together, there are no obstacles that we cannot overcome." Iustitia reassured him as we parted.

"Then I'll be counting on you Iustitia." he offered her back

"Justice will be upheld!" was all she said in return as she vanished back into my crest.

"I think that's her way of saying that her justice is protecting me." I said dryly as I started to head out. "Oh, and your dinner's in the microwave. Just nuke it for thirty seconds and it'll be good."

"Thanks, Taylor! Please be safe!" Dad called to me as I left the house.

Captain's Hill was at the foot of the local mountains, at the very outskirts of the north-western area of Brockton Bay. Walking there would take forever, and I had no inclinations towards doing that, nor do I want to risk the buses, so the first thing I did once I left my neighborhood was duck into an alley and changing into my costume. Using [Dimension Shift] to get around via rooftops was a far easier method, plus it meant I didn't have to worry about gropers or weirdos on the buses.

Roof-hopping ten meters at a time, I quickly made my way across Brockton Bay towards my destination. During the summer, couples and families flocked to Captain's Hill for picnics due to its gentle slope and grassy hill, but it wasn't really an official park. This meant no fences around it, so I didn't have to worry about any illegal entry charges or anything like that.

"Urgh, I may have good Toughness, but I HATE climbing hills." I huffed as I finally reached the area that the astrarium had indicated was where I could enter into the next dimension pocket. "I guess I still haven't recovered properly from my stint in the hospital."

'That should not be the case, Mistress. As soon as I awoke from my Zeroth Form, anything abnormal or damaged about your body should have been healed.' Iustitia offered. 'I suspect your body might be struggling to adjust to the power of a Third Stage Embryo. It should pass within the next few days, a week at most.'

'Why is it only showing up now, though?' I asked.

'This is the first serious physical exertion you have performed outside of combat, Mistress.' my Embryo pointed out. 'If it was to show up at any time, it would be now.'

OK, fair point.

"OK, let's start off with the [Cudgel of the Law], Iustitia!" I said, putting the matter aside for the moment. If it passed as Iustitia said it would, then that's what would happen.

"Yes, Mistress!"

In a flash, the weight of the tipstaff rested in my hand. Taking a deep breath, I held it for a moment before exhaling. Time to get down to business.

"[Dimension Step]!" I said and moved forwards.