"Thank you Medusa, the kids really loved having you here, and thank you for being a climbing tower." The owner of the daycare said.

"It was my pleasure, really." Verity said, feeling more relaxed than she had in a long time even if she was covered in crayon and things she would be washing off as soon as she got home. This was a kind of stress she was 100% used to and was so, so, so, so much easier to deal with. "I love working with kids."

"I could tell."

"I'll see about scheduling something like this in the future again, if you'd have me back?"

"You are always welcome back. Easiest workday of my life so far."

"Heha, always happy to help!" Verity laughed. "Have a good day now!"

"Bye! Bye-bye!" All the children said, having followed to the door.

"You all be good now! Bye-bye~!" Verity said with a laugh before walking away like a regular person.

She could have gone straight to car-speeds, but…

She hadn't been able to just go for a walk in a while, and she felt like she needed one.

A un-enthusiastic walk, just one where she could enjoy nature…

About two minutes in she remembered she was in Brockton Bay, and the section she was in was almost entirely city.

She needed to get on those country roads to somewhere nicer.

Or maybe start a planting initiative? A green remodel? Verity was already pretty sure the boat graveyard being exhumed would result in a massive influx in commerce, so that should help with the city's budget to do it, and she was pretty sure she could easily convince people to volunteer if she did some herself.

Verity was pretty sure the general populace of Brockton Bay liked her, or at least liked Medusa.

Which was her, she reminded herself.

All one person. Different facets.

Thank god for therapy.

"Orochi-sama." A voice called out.

Verity turned towards the source, immediately on alert. "Yes? Can I help you?" She asked the young asian teenage boy.

"I bring you a message from Lung-sama," He said as he held out a letter.

"Thank you." Medusa said as she slipped into business mode, taking the letter carefully, going to open it- before thinking twice. "You may want to step back, I don't trust your boss's judgement after the Bakuda mess."

"Lung-sama does not use such methods, greatly disappointed by Bakuda, says she deserved her fate." Was the response.

"Alright…" She said as she carefully used a claw like a letter opener and took it out.

"Great Serpent, Child of Orochi whomst I dub, Ibuki-douji, I seek to talk on the Neutral Ground of Somer's Rock this evening at 8 P.M -Kenta aka Lung, Leader of the ABB."

"...Huh. Alright kid, tell him I'll be there." Medusa said, a plan already formulating in her mind.

"I will Orochi-sama," The boy said as he quickly ran off.

"And find literally any other boss!" She said as he did.

There was no response.

She sighed, before calling Colin. "Hey Bossman, potential headache incoming, heading to the Rig now."

"On patrol right now, will meet you at…" He said as he gave her the location.

"On it, see you in a moment." She said before plugging the location into her armband's gps.

Less than 5 minutes later, she could hear Armsmasters Arms-cycle (Mastercycle? Armsmobile? No it was a bike, that one wouldn't work… Beardo-bike?) as she approached, soon enough seeing him pull to a stop as she approached.

"Hey Bossman, sorry about this, figured it better to tell you ASAP instead of when things maybe go FUBAR." Verity said as she walked up to him at a normal person pace.

"It's an improvement."

"Thank you, I really am trying." Verity said with a smile.

"You can only go up." He said back.

"To get on topic," Medusa said as she held up to the letter for him to read. "I think it's a good idea to at least see what it's about."

"Not the first time he has done this, sent one to us to discuss terms after he took over all the Asian Ethnicity Gangs. There is a reason there are no Yakuza or Triad in Brockton Bay despite our crime rates and 30% percent of the population being a mixture of Asian ethnicities." Armsmaster explained.

"Hmm. So it is a good idea to go?" She asked in surprise.

"At least hear what he has to say," Armsmaster said. "Somer's Rock is a respected Neutral Ground one that all upheld even after Marquis was removed."

"Cool, will do, don't let me hold you up, you know how to contact me if something goes bad on your patrol, hope it's uneventful!"

"I hope as well, again the snake meeting is on sunday." He said back as he drove off.

Verity quite enjoyed the efficiency of that man, never any bullshit. Just the facts and the truth.

It was why he was one of three people she trusted most in this world.

The other two being Hannah and Sabah of course.

Taylor was a close fourth but she was also a teenager and therefore shouldn't even be considered.

Somer's Rock was a nondescript pub that looked like it had seen better days.

(She had thought it was a literal rock…)

It gave the perfect image of a place for gangsters and criminals to meet and discuss business.

She went inside of the dim, dingy and in all honesty depressing building, and there sitting at one of the tables was Lung.

He looked a lot less stoned than the last time she'd seen him.

And this time, she could actually see him when he wasn't in mid-combat mode.

He was a buff guy in a sick mask with a dragon tattoo on his chest. Bit on the taller side by her standards.

Not much to say, really.

"Lung." Verity said as she sat back on her tail next to the table, carefully adjusting the container in her off hand as she got comfortable.

And at that came a waitress with a menu and a chalkboard that on the top said 'please write your drinks number.'

"The family who owns this place are all deaf." Lung answered the unasked question.

"Explains the neutrality for masked folk, then." Verity said, distinctly not ordering an alcoholic drink.

Five minutes of tense silence later their drinks were sat.

With Lung getting a large glass of beer with a curly straw that could go into an exact hole in his mask.

Verity, who had gotten a water, couldn't help the soft "Snrkt." of amusement at the sight.

"Yes the mighty Lung drinks out of curly straw, an image many would find absurd, but I have a nice collection of them."

"I was just amazed at the forethought to the mask-hole. Not something I've had to think about." Verity with a grin as she motioned to her face with her free hand.

"No you were not given a chance to participate in the game of cops and robbers the government seems to want to play, so you, unlike your coworkers, are effective. I respect your strength."

"Thank you, I respect your code of honor." Verity said, taking a sip to hide the tither of frustration at the thought. "Your minion vetting skills could use some work though. Explosive tempers and whatnot."

"I sympathized with Bakuda as a fellow half, but sympathy was clearly misplaced." Lung answered. "Her ego would not allow her to be beneath me, that much is clear now."

"Mhm." Verity said. "Is that the reason for this?"

"Partly, to apologize for the unproved attack of my former subordinate, and to ask you, you have bested me twice, while the entirety of the Protectorate ENE could not when I first arrived in this city." Lung spoke, clearly trying to save face about having mostly gotten done in by Taylor.

"An apology is appreciated… what's the question?"

"The next Endbringer to show their face will be-"

"Leviathan. Here." Verity cut him off.

"You have realized the same? Yes this city is a perfect target for the Sea Serpent. So I ask, do you intend to fight?"

Instead of answering verbally, she just levied a dull look at him.

"Then you will die." He spoke like it was a fact of the universe.

"Yeah, I know." Verity said, taking a drink of her water. "That's not gonna be for a while though, I got shit to do."

"The Endbringer will slay you, for it can not be defeated," Lung spoke. "I fought the serpent while Kyushu was sinking, I had grown to a size and power I had never reached before, and at one point it was just me and it. But during that fight, even as I kept growing, it continued to match me, blow for blow, while never slowing down itself, even as I got more and more tired the beast did not falter. And I realized even if I were to dwarf the planet I would not be able to slay the beast, for it would always match me, like it was taunting me, telling me that… it, it and every single one of them are holding back. And so I stopped… and was almost drowned beneath the waves."

"Mhm. Sucks to suck." Verity said. "I'm built different though."

"You are not deterred by my tale?" Lung asked in surprise.

"Lung… Kenta? Kenta. There's something you need to understand about the difference between a Cape and a Hero." Medusa said. "You sound like you're going to do the smart thing and dip out of town before it can happen. You're in it for you. That's fair. Me? I can't do that. I have things, I have people that I am sworn to protect. People that I would do anything for, face insurmountable odds for. Yes, even them."

"So you still have hope?"

"Yes." Medusa said with absolute confidence in that statement.

"Then the name of Ibuki truly suits you," Lung said.

"I don't quite recognize that."

"I do not care, but I am the dragon and you are now Asian." He said as he stood up and left.

"I don't- I don't think that's how that works?" Verity said, having still had more to say, but unable to get up before he'd already gone out the door from the shock of the sudden departure and the coil her tail was in to sit. "...No you know what!" She said as she put a 20 on the table and made her way outside, searching for where he went. "We're not done here!" She said as she walked out.

And Lung was nowhere in sight.

How did a man that distinct move so quickly?

"I'm gonna eat the cookies I made for you then! Bastard!" Verity threw her hands up in frustration before stalking her way home, opening the tin that had been in her hand and doing just that. "Stupid ninja asshole…"

Turns out, court proceedings around a child abuse case were not as quick as TV led Verity to believe.

Apparently, even with definitive proof, they still had so many hoops to jump through for Missy to legally no longer be theirs, even if (if, since apparently that was still in contention!) they were deemed unfit parents.

Verity hated legal bullshit sometimes.

Especially since the first court hearing wouldn't be for another month!

And that was with the PRT fast tracking the whole thing!

Verity really hated this particular brand of legal bullshit.

And then there was also Sophia's situation that needed to be dealt with as they actually needed to check for any living relatives, and while Verity was put forth as a perfect legal guardian for Sophia and her sister, those related by blood still had a say.

Which was perfectly fine by her as long as they were neither abusive assholes nor unfit to take care of them, it was just frustrating to deal with on top of everything else.

And that again just on top of all the other stuff, her job, which she absolutely loved doing to be clear! At least the helping people part, dealing with the secret underground mastermind who was likely a mole in her own organization and was thus playing both sides was not doing her any favors!

At least patrolling was relatively relaxing, in that she could fall into a rhythm- moving at a decent speed through the city, keeping an eye or 12 out for anything out of the ordinary, anything that caught her attention needing to be evaluated, even while she was on alert it was still something she didn't need to put her undivided attention into.

Thankfully things were relatively quiet this go around. The whole 'heroes attract crime when in costume' thing seemed to thankfully only occur sometimes. And today was not one of those days.

Earth Aleph had comic books, right? Maybe she should check those out to see if there were any similarities to this Earth's history or something, see if she could find anything prophetic…

Actually, to that point, she needed to see about the other Earths, since Aleph was in the same year as Bet, so she definitely wasn't from there, since while there were no Endbringers there, there was a notable Cape population that she didn't remember being there when she was a kid, so time travel from there was out.

She didn't even know what the other ones were called or even how to access them, but Verity was hopeful that she could inevitably find a portal or whatever back to her Earth so she could reunite with her family and introduce them to her new family.

Verity stopped running for a moment as that thought processed.

"Huh… guess I do have a family here…"

"This is definitely a reversal of our usual set up," Sabah said mirthfully as she typed away emails on her laptop, which was technically on Verity's lap.

Sabah's lap was occupied by mini-Verity.

"Yeah, I know." Verity said, leaning back into her girlfriend and enjoying the natural pillows. "I can definitely see why you liked doing it… Very relaxing…"

"Oh it definitely is," She replied. "Soft in all the right places."

"Mhm-hm." Verity agreed, closing her eyes, listening to Sabah's heartbeat and feeling the rising and falling of her breath. It was… comforting in a way to know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that she was alive and okay. Helped assuage the constant worries she had since Bakuda blew her load. "Warm, too…"

"You really are a snake, should we get you a sunroom?" Sabah joked. "With a nice big rock you can laze on?"

"A sunroom would be nice…" Verity agreed, her mind set adrift to her grandparents' sunroom. "Somewhere we can all sit and chat… drink some lemonade… enjoy the beauty of nature without having to be directly in it…"

"I can send an email to Ragyo about it and she will probably have it made in a week."

Like an offkey note, the name Ragyo struck her out of the harmony she was achieving for a moment. "Mhm. Maybe wait till we get the dog situation figured out."

"True, one animal problem at a time, they are all cute as buttons, but they need a proper place to be taken care of by Rachel, where she can go and be alone with them, I've met people like her at college where they just need to get away from people and the complications that come with them."

"Yeah I know that feeling." Verity agreed. "Let's make her a little place out in the yard. Have her room and room for the dogs. We can call it the Doghouse."

"Yeah that would be funny." Sabah replied. "To be honest I was initially against you taking in the 'villainous teens' but over the last few days, I've gotten to talk with Rachel, Brian and Lisa. And I realized that every single adult in their life failed them, so we need to do right by them."

"Heh, yeah that's… pretty much why I wanted to do it in the first place." Verity said. "I'd kinda gathered the vibe from our initial meeting and my subsequent chats with TT. They are just kids, kids who haven't done anything too bad, yet, and… yeah. You know what I'm getting at."

"I do sweetie, and you are such a good person for doing it, I would have just believed the news about them, and thought, 'Well they deserve to go to jail.' You've changed me for the better, just like you are gonna change them. And I am not talking about the venom." Sabah said as her hand went to caress Verity's. "Love you so much."

Verity locked her fingers with Sabah's and nuzzled her head into her. "Love you too… don't deserve you."

"You do, you deserve everything my beautiful hero." A kiss was placed on her forehead.

"Stop it, that kills the snake, ahm ded, bleh." Verity said, going limp, tongue sticking out dramatically.

"Oh you."

It was Sunday and Verity was anxious.

Today was the day they were going to give the evidence to all the others and Director Piggot so that they could bust Coil wide open.

Now she was waiting for the PRT Van to arrive, Colin having sent her an email earlier he had asked for them to pick her up and bring her to the PRT HQ.

And as the clock passed nine it rolled up on the designated spot.

"Morning ma'am your ride is here." The driver of the non-descript black van said.

"Good morning!" Verity greeted happily as she got in.

It was a bit more cramped than the normal PRT transports, but she had enough room to sit in her normal manner in the mostly hollowed out van. It helped with keeping her new address a secret for as long as possible.

At least until Coil was caught, hopefully.

And as they drove off Verity let out a yawn.

She had not slept well the previous night despite Sabah's presence at her side.

She had awoken several times from bad dreams, that were about Coil, and what he could possibly do to those she cared about.

And things he couldn't, of course.

Mind controlling Scion and Cthulhu, pfeh, if he could do that she wouldn't have even been dreaming in the first place.

And so as they drove, Verity knew that morning traffic could get kinda bad, so she knew she could get a quick ten before the meeting and looking fresher.

To her own surprise really as she closed her eyes.

…..

… "Wakey, wakey Medusa."

An unknown voice spoke.

And Medusa's eyes shot open and before her she saw the masked form of Coil.

A green snake on the black bodysuit.

With no hesitation, she tried to lunge-

But her muscles did not obey her.

It felt like there was fire in her veins or like pins and needles in her- nerves.

Shit.

"So glad we can finally meet, for real."