Mouse Protector sat on the edge of the rooftop. There was a slight whistling in the wind, and Katherine noticed the sound was amplified through her costume's mouse ears. She thought back to ten years ago. When she was among the first generation of Wards and teaching the next generation of Wards how to be heroes.

The cape she'd taught had been so optimistic. Squirrel girl, back when the word 'girl' wasn't common enough to be overused. She was happy, energetic, and looked up to Mouse Protector as an idol. Katherine used to call her her little sister, and she'd failed her miserably.

"I hate responsibility," Mouse Protector muttered to herself.

Bug Girl climbed onto the roof from the fire escape. Mouse Protector teleported behind herself to greet the excellent new heroes. "Hello my little guppies!"

Browbeat followed behind Bug Girl, and another kid came with a mask. "Theo!?" Mouse Protector shouted with a grin.

Theo had come in with a light armor-styled costume, similar to herself minus the mouse ears. It had no design or color like it was meant to be generic. His mask was plain, with a line for a mouth and eyes to give it a neutral expression.

"Um… Golem, actually."

"I get it! Because you summon golems!"

Golem turned to Browbeat, "see? She gets it." Referring to how Browbeat thought the name was in reference to Lord of the Rings.

Browbeat replied, "Mouse Protector doesn't counts."

Golem squinted underneathe the mask, but it didn't resonate because of it's neutral expression.

"Woohoo!" Mouse Protector pumped her fist in the air. "That means I get three bonus checks for recruiting Wards, I'm paying rent this month!"

The teenagers paused as Mouse Protector celebrated. Bug Girl was going to break the news, but she suddenly became anxious when Mouse Protector began cheering.

"We're not joining the Wards," Browbeat cut in.

"Hmm?" Mouse Protector paused.

"Theo really can't join the Wards," Bug Girl said. "He needs a team, and we're going to be here for him."

"Ergo, but why?" Mouse Protector tilted her head at Golem.

Golem swallowed. Browbeat answered for him, "he has his reasons. You'll just have to take his word for that."

Mouse Protector walked closer to Golem, "is it because of Endbringer attacks? You can work in the sidelines if you want. And if you really didn't want to go, they'd make an exemption for that."

"He's still going to be a rogue hero," Bug Girl explained. "We all are, we just decided we're going to form a team together."

Mouse Protector asked again, "is it because your parents would be against it? There are options to join anonymously. They'd put you in a fake afterschool program, and your parents would never need to know the truth.."

Golem stayed quiet. Browbeat said, "Theo has his reasons for not joining, and we're going to help him be a hero since that's the case."

Mouse Protector mouth shrank. She could deduce that Theo was the core reason Browbeat and Bug Girl wouldn't join. "Level with me Theo, what would it take for you to join?"

An act of God, Golem wanted to say. "Nothing," he answered.

"Why?" Mouse Protector pressed, "the Wards can give you anything. There has to be a good reason not to join."

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Just…" Golem wanted to tell her too. And a part him knew it was the right thing to do, but throwing his family under the bus was an unwarranted change he couldn't go through right now. He shook his head, "you're a rogue hero, why can't the rest of us be independent too?"

Mouse Protector's mouth flatlined. The idea that she was partially responsible for their choice repulsed her. "I started out as a Ward. I trained with the Quadrumvirate. I had help from tinkers, thinkers, and trained from Brutes. I never pretended I was good enough to solo. If the rest of you go independent, I can't say you all won't end up dead like those no-name capes that died at the start of their cape careers."

It was morbid statement, having Mouse Protector of all people tell them that they couldn't do it. When Theo had nothing left to say, Browbeat said, "we're not asking for permission. We're telling you that we're not joining the Wards. We're going independent, whether you agree with it or not."

Mouse Protector's stomach churned. She remembered Squirrel Girl again, there was something about kids that always gave her a sense of vulnerability. "There's… Nothing I can say to change your minds, is there?"

"No," Bug GIrl said. "We talked about it, we've already decided."

Mouse Protector scrunched her fists, "no, I'm not letting you guys do this alone."

XXX

Katherine leaned back on the park bench chair. She had on sweatpants and a pink t-shirt. It was humid outside. A thin layer of moist were on Hannah and Katherine's arms as they sat together on the park bench under the shade. "I hate getting a job," Katherine groaned, "my life would be so much easier if they'd all joined the Wards."

Hannah drank a smoothie as Katherine spoke, they both picked the same flavor, like they did back in high school. Hannah said, "if it makes you feel any better, I think you're doing a great thing."

Katherine let out a deep breathe. She had trouble being serious around people. Everyone was such a downer and she didn't want to become like that. But with Hannah, they might as well have been sisters. She's the only person Katherine could open up to. Katherine helped Hannah learn English, and they often spent long nights of their youth together watching foreign movies.

They were best friends in high school, going through thick and thin as capes. Hannah was there for her when Katherine's apprentice died. It was the last time Katherine had cried, and neither could never forget their bond. Katherine said, "it's like, ever since I went solo, I sort of built myself on this idea that I have to do this alone. But now that I'm seeing other people do it, I'm not allowed to say, 'no, you don't know how much it sucks being alone. It's not as fun as I make it, this isn't for everyone.'"

"I heard the Losers have that same affect," Hannah added, "their videos are making more capes reveal themselves, and making people believe that being independent is easy."

"Exactly," Katherine grumbled, "we're giving people the wrong idea. I had to do something, at least for them."

"Though, there is a silver lining," Hannah pointed out. "People aren't seeing villains as the monsters as they used to be. Villains always have this aura of wicked to them, and it's a big reason why people are afraid of them. With what the Losers do, they're ruining the perception that villains are inhuman."

Katherine chuckled. "Yeah, I believe that."

"Didn't you say something about that? You said you wanted to show the world that villains aren't as scary as we think, by making fun of them until the fear is gone."

Katherine smiled, surprised by how little she'd changed over the years. Although she'd never admit it aloud, the Losers were similar to her, except living on the opposite side of the spectrum. Whereas Katherine tried her best to ridicule her enemies to remove the perception of fear, the Losers did the same thing except in the form of extreme irony.

"But I'm not sure if these new guys can think the way I do."

Hannah smiled, "really though, there's only one way to find out."

XXX

Mouse Protector pranced with delight! As she skipped across the junkyard where the Losers had recruited Rune, Rush chased her with two blunt knives at hand. "You furry faced fuck!"

"Such uncreative name- calling," Mouse Protector retorted, "is it possible a cat has caught Rush's tongue?"

Rush slashed at Mouse Protector's direction, to which Mouse Protector disappeared from sight. "Goddamnit," Rush yelled, "I call foul, you need to tape your mouth shut!"

Mouse Protector teleported onto a giant pile of junk and scrap metal. She grinned down at Rush. Rush was wearing a cat ear headband with a cat tail belt buckle. It was meant to piss off Mouse Protector, but Mouse Protector quickly flipped the game of irritation onto Rush instead.

Mouse Proteector punned. "Such claw-ti-tude, I believe now is the puurr-fect time to reveal, our new web series."

Rush's eyes widened. "No…"

A spherical drone out from behind a pile of garbage. It was a simple spherical orb, courtesy of Glenn from Kid Win. A camera lens focused from its center, and it pointed directly at Mouse Protector. "Today… On the Mousketeers channel!"

Rush gasped, "you plagiarizing bitch!"

"God forbid I steal from villains."

Rush flew quickly at the drone, but the drone easily dodged Rush's attempted grabs. "Leet," Rush ordered through her mask, "they're making a fucking mouseketeers channel, kill them!"

"No." Her teammates said over the communication lines.

They stood several feet away from her. Spitfire, Leet, and Uber were surrounded by a dozen golems. Six golems were made from rusted junkyard copper, ranging from four to six feet each. One golem was made from the titanium sphere Light had given Theo, it stood at a whopping ten feet tall with a robust body structure.

They were wearing cat costumes. Cat ears and cat tails were enough for Spitfire and Leet, but Uber wore a skimpy cat suit that seemed oddly inappropriate for the battlefield.

Spitfire launched a wall molten breathe at the golems. The golems that were copper melted easily, but the titanium one stayed in place.

Leet groaned, "in hindsight, I shouldn't have done what Vivan asked."

Uber engulfed himself in his prototype suit. Spitfire shot cold breathe over the golem to slow it down, and Uber sprinted and clobbered at it with a ten ton swamp covered fist to knock it down.

The statue slowly got back up. Uber said, "you could've at least put on an off switch."

Rush yelled over the call line again, "this mickey mouse slut is stealing my idea!"

Uber said, "god forbid she steal."

"I know right?" Leet said, "unacceptable."

Spitfire added, "we should take her to court."

Rush yelled, "all of your are assholes."

The new drone hovered over the junkyard field gaining a mild view of the people around them. While Uber's trio were surrounded by copper and titanium titans, Light shifted across the junkyard, searching for where Bug Girl and Golem were hiding.

Light only halted his shifted state to glance around for searching. Bug Girl and Golem were masters, so it was only natural that they hid while their powers fought for them. He checked under cars, behind garbage bins, and across as much ground as he could cover. When he finally got far away enough from his team, he turned into his normal form and had a moth swarm fall over his face.

"Oh dear God," Light yelled. He shrieked as he stepped back to shoot excessively at the swarms. "Why the fuck are moths my weakness?" Stepping back, he tripped over the invisible trap set behind him. As he fell to the ground and fell on a garbage pile, more bugs began tangling him with the spider silk.

Light tried to shift away, but quickly realized his feet were bound. Staring at the spider silk, he asked, "what… The hell?"

Browbeat appeared from nearby and pressed Light to the ground. He had electric handcuffs (courtesy of the Protectorate) and tied Light's hand keeping him from shifting away. "You're under arrest."

Light really didn't put up much of a fight. "Holy crap, I forgot about you."

Browbeat said, "They're masters, of course I'd stay with them in case someone got too close."

Golem revealed herself from neary by a metal bin, "one down, four to go."

Light tugged at the silk around his feet, "Browbeat, why can't I phase through this stuff?"

Bug girl revealed herself from nearby. "It's black widow silk," she said confidently, "stronger than steel. I also covered it in crushed bugs since your Menton Effect doesn't let you phase through organic matter."

"Oh my god," Light yelled, "I'm covered in dead bugs!" Light rolled away from Browbeat and smeared himself over garbage bags. Caring more about the bug juice than the trash smells or his actual arrest.

Browbeat said, "that isn't helping."

"You the devil." Light retorted, "you're not a good guy, you're a monster."

Bug Girl said, "I'm not-"

Light made a fart noise at her.

She replied, "I'm just-"

Light made another fart noise.

"Grow up."

Light yelled, "I call cheater. Hashtag Nerf Spawnchild."

They all knew his mask was recording, Big Girl shook her head. She raised her arms up in the air with a dramatic flare. Every bug she'd collected from outside the junkyard gathered. Millions of them. Horseflies, Mosquitoes, moths carrying spiders. Millions upon millions of insects flew into the air, casting a shadow over the junkyard.

Taylor yelled, "I am not Spawnchild, I'm Buzzkill. Get it right!" The insects resonated her message through a loud hissing buzz, almost like it echoed in unison across the junkyard.

Light, Spitfire, Uber and Leet stared at the air in silence. It looked like the sun was blocked out by a black cloud. Spitfire spoke over the line, "new strategy, don't get Buzzkill angry.'

Light said, "I surrender again."

Leet pressed a switch on his laser gun, it occasionally killed bugs within a one mile radius. But he was becoming doubtful as Buzzkill felt more like a force of nature. He asked, "can we run away now?"

Rush looked over at Mouse Protector. Mouse Protector laughed manically at her camera drone. "Remember villains, next time you consider fighting Buzzkill, always remember that chlamydia can be transferred through mosquito bites too."

Rush squinted, "Sex ed is my schlick. We're not finished here until I'm dead!" She pulled out her duel knives.

"Oh dear" Mouse Protector said backing away, "is this your way of trying to claw your way into my heart?"

"That's it, I'm ripping your real ears off!" Rush pounced at her.

Mouse Protector didn't teleport away this time. Instead, she parried off Rush's hits, and quickly disarmed her of her weapons by bending her arms in a heavy fashion. The knives fell out, and Mouse Protector pushed her to the ground causing her to toss and turn..

Mouse Protector turned her head to the camera. With a grin she said, "For you see, my fellow villain, you are no longer fighting against the average heros any longer! We are the scurrying masters of mayhem, the heroes without borders, restrictions, or honor! The rogue heroes of the east coast, the unfiltered rogues of justice! We are warriors without limits, you have no idea what hammer of justice hath just befallen on Brockton Bay!"

"Stop dialoguing shit!" Rush stood up. "We are the villains of chaos! Agents of everything wrong with this world! We will destroy the establishment, and drag this world down with us!"

"Return to the litter box hence you came from!" Mouse Protector retracted, "take your hissy fits back to the catnip depths from which you cometh you kitten cretins!"

Rush's face scrunched. "I'm… Running out of banter. Uber, say something funny."

Uber said, "I feel like a whore in this cat costume."

"That's the point," Rush said back.

Mouse Protector's walkie talkie rang out. It vibrated from her belt buckle. When Rush ran towards her, Mouse Protector raised her arm and yelled, "TIMEOUT!"

Everyone stopped in their place. Even the golems stopped attacking their team. Golem asked, "wait, are we allowed to call that?"

Light replied, "I… Honestly don't know, no one's ever tried that before."

"It's an unspoken rule…" Buzzkill's bugs buzzed from around them.

Browbeat said, "all of you are… Fuck it, sure, why not."

The walkie talkie call was from Miss Militia. "Mouseketeers, there's a fire north side from here. You're closer, keep it from spreading while Velocity heads in your direction."

"Copy dat," Mouse Protector answered. She put her communicator to the side and said to Rush, "I gotta go." She pointed away in an awkward fashion.

Rush glared, "oiy, we're winning, you can't retreat now."

The bugs hissed, "Light is in handcuffs."

Rush spoke to her mask again, "you're a disgrace Vivan."

Light replied, "I'm beginning to realize my life can be summed up as a series of bad decisions."

Mouse Protector was already running away, "sorry, but heroes have real duties to do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rush called out, "am I not good enough for you? Come back here and finish me!"

Uber spoke through the masks, "hehe, innuendo."

Rush yelled, "shut up, that applies to you too."

XXX

The Loser team was slumped as they walked home. It was night now, and they were still debating whether to post the footage online or not. Losing was no problem for them, but they never expected to have the tables turned against them like that. "Mouseketeers," Aryana grumbled, "another shitty team to deal with. Those guys are worse than the E88."

Robert commented, "this team has a strange bar of standards."

Emily smiled. "I... kind of like them. They're kind of like us, independent, and not really looking to prove anything."

Edwin said, "meh, I have been getting tired of fighting the E88. A change in pace is nice." Edwin punched Vivan on the shoulder, "seriously though, did we have to give them those tinker tools?"

Vivan's grinned. They all said he shouldn't have done that, but once Aryana and Emily were on board, Edwin and Robert were willing to accept it. Vivan said to Edwin, "thanks dude."

Before they reached their base, a growling noise was heard from the distance. Just before they reached their apartment entrance, three rhino sized monsters stalked around the building. The monsters looked over from the base entrance, growling at the Losers like their only job was to protect the building form their team. Bitch, wearing a dog mask, was sitting on top of one.

The Loser team hadn't removed their cat costumes yet.

"Everyone," Aryana said in a hard voice, "take your cyanide pills!"

Robert grabbed Aryana's hand before she could reach for her belt buckle. "Nope."

Aryana glared at him, "I've spent three days trying to seduce you, and now you're finally touching me?"

A black cloud appeared from behind them. It dissipated with the night sky leaving only the rest of the Undersiders in its wake. They were hoping to enter in a dramatic fashion, to show the Losers their strength as well as their theatrical capabilities. Grue, Tattletale, and Regent stepped out from the cloud to meet the Losers from behind. "Losers," Grue said, "we're here to make an offer."

Aryana ignored him. She reached for her belt buckle with her other hand, but Emily grabbed it before she could eat it. "Aryana," Emily said, "stahp. The dogs won't eat us."

Aryana pulled against Emily's strength to try and eat the cyanide pill. Robert and Emily pulled her hands down to stop her from placing it in her mouth. Aryana yelled, "Life is absurd!" Her teammates eventually tackled her to the ground. "Morality is meaningless! God isn't listening!"

They wrestled Aryana on the ground as she struggled to put the pill in her mouth. Vivan walked forward already chewing his own pill, "Edwin, why does your cyanide pill taste like strawberries?"

Edwin answered, "because I'm not making you guys fucking cyanide pills."

Emily and Robert paused from struggling. They got up from the ground, and Aryana brushed her clothes as she stood up. Aryana said, "you're a pussy Leet."

Emily asked, "Vivan, did you know the pills were fake?"

Vivan asked, "what does cyanide mean?"

Aryana turned to Robert and slapped him across the face. "There, now we're even!"

Robert's face beamed red. He pulled his hips back, and turned around in an awkward posture. Aryana looked down at Robert's pants. She asked, "did… You just get a boner?"

Robert sat on the ground. Covering his crotch with his legs. "I've… Never been slapped before."

Aryana yelled, "are you fucking kidding me? That's all it took!?"

Regent held Grue by the shoulder while laughing his ass off. Grue looked over to Tattletale and asked, "are we… Really doing this?"

Tattletale stared at the team in disbelief. She sighed, "yeah. Don't worry guys, we're just here to make an alliance.