It has been over two weeks now since Zookeeper made her last appearance picking up the bounty money. I have been forced to put contacting her on the back-burner for now, in favor of dealing with more pressing concerns. The biggest being the looming endbringer attack. There wasn't much we could do to prepare that hasn't already been put into motion (prepare supplies, review evacuation routes, etc.), but it was important to be alert.

The other major one is that the ABB and Empire have been playing the equivalent of supervillain footsie to solidify their holds before the endbringer truce came into effect. Coils' group was making their own plays in downtown, but his foot soldiers rarely got arrested. A lot of our intel on the gangs tended to come from grabbing low level grunts and extrapolating from what info they had to offer ("No better interrogation method than offering a sweet plea bargain in exchange for information"). It's a strategy that works on the Empire and ABB since their members get routinely arrested. But Coils minions were too slippery for that to work.

Apart from those problems things were going OK for me personally. Dad was finally cutting back on working hours since the union finally had some spare funds to hire a secretary. He still worked late sometimes but it wasn't as often. Taylor and Julia seemed to be getting along like peas in a pod (It was actually kind of nostalgic being able to play the annoying little sister when Julia came over, it reminded me of before Emma became a bitch). At the least if Julia was Zookeeper then Taylor would probably be low on the list of people they would hurt.

Today was one of the PR events the wards routinely did, an assembly at one of the local schools. And lo and behold it was Winslow's turn today. I have had a long hiatus doing these since my low profile status precluded them. When that was lifted our schedule was moved around so that they were pushed back until this month.

I was actually nervous, since I was actually expected to do some public speaking today. Sure it was pretty boilerplate but having to face so many people at once made even that a challenge. It's one thing to open up to someone in a conversation, but a couple hundred people looking at you makes it hard not to be self conscious.

It didn't help that being the only open master on the team meant by default I was the scariest ward. So that meant I attracted a lot of the dumber conspiracy theories. That's why I liked putting out completely brain-dead ideas out on the forums just to see how many idiots would fall for it. For example I once posted under an alias that I was secretly controlling all the other wards.

But as I stood backstage hyping myself up to deal with the imminent staring I tried to take comfort that at least most of the other wards were here. The only one not presenting was Sophia, who was in the audience to maintain her civilian cover ("Probably for the best, she's more of an incentive not to join the wards"). We each had gotten a parahuman related PSA topic to cover, and unsurprisingly I was given the topic of masters and strangers. I guess I had the most credibility but it was still annoying to get pigeonholed like that. I made a comment to Vista.

"Hey Vista, is it too late to ditch? I think they might buy that I have a family emergency."

"Yes it is too late. Are you really feeling that nervous?"

"Maybe, it's just been so long since the last time I did this. Last time I was still the cute little girl who can make a ghost. Now I'm the resident body snatcher as far as the public is concerned."

"And now you're also the ward involved with the most parahuman arrests on the team. Try to take some confidence in that at least."

"And for all of those arrests I needed someone else's help. I needed Glory Girl to get Cricket and Stormtiger, and the Tigers would have gotten away if Zookeeper hadn't shown up."

"And I doubt either of them would have been able to make the arrests themselves if you hadn't been around. Relax and remember you got this. I doubt anyone will remember this past today. Do you even remember any assemblies we've watched at school?"

"Well there was that one drug awareness assembly where someone got into an argument with the presenter because they got confused between prescription drugs and street drugs. I remember they kept telling the presenter that their mom wasn't a bad person for taking her daily drug dose. That was funny."

"There you go, as long as you don't get into a dumb argument I'm sure nobody will even remember today."

Just before we began a narrow looking and formally dressed woman with dirty blond hair in a severe bowl-cut approached us. I had never met her before but I could guess pretty well who it was from what I've heard from Taylor. She stopped in front of where we had gathered and introduced herself.

"Hello I am Principal Blackwell, and I'd like to thank you for coming to our school. I can testify that many of the students here could use all the advice you can give them. We here at the school appreciate all the work you do to control the gangs and look forward to what you have to say. I will introduce you and I'm sure you can take care of the rest from there. Any questions?"

From what I could tell she definitely didn't hold many of her students in high regard. Almost like an unwanted responsibility she was handing us for the duration of the assembly. Aegis raised his hand for a question.

"Do you think we'll have time for Q&A? PR has been getting on us to not skip those when possible. They want the wards to look more open to the public."

"Yes of course. In fact I'd be willing to extend the assembly time to make sure you can each answer a question."

Dammit I was hoping we could skip Q&A. Doing the prepared speech is hard enough but having to answer questions in public while trying not to embarrass yourself is just a nightmare. Nobody else had any questions so it was time for the assembly to begin.

Blackwell went out first with Aegis leading the rest of us. I brought up the rear until we reached the line of chairs we would sit at (Gallant had to stand though because his armor was too heavy). I looked out at the crowd to see if I could spot Taylor but the lighting in the auditorium wasn't that great. Blackwell started the assembly and gave us each an opportunity to introduce ourselves. After the pleasantries we each took turns giving our assigned spiels, each about five minutes.

Gallant started first to talk about how parahumans were mostly like everyone else, just with added superpowers (If you ignore that the majority become criminals of course). Then Vista got to explain a little Parahuman history and how the PRT and Protectorate worked; telling people what they should and shouldn't report to them (We are not here for noise complaints). Kid Win talked about the dangers of using a stranger's tinkertech, and how you should turn it into the PRT to be safe (Please don't, it's often not even safe for the tinkers either). Clockblocker explained what to do in large emergencies like endbringer attacks and what you should do to prepare (Those are the times we can least afford people to act like idiots).

It was my turn next to go over the dangers of masters and strangers, and why we took those particular parahuman classes especially seriously (Please do not start any false alarms, the PRT is paranoid enough about masters and strangers thank you very much). Thankfully I was able speak my lines without coming off too badly. The bad sound quality of the speakers were probably a blessing as they helped hide any slight nervousness I had. Once I was done Aegis finished up with a pitch about how anyone who got superpowers should join the wards (Sure villainy is more lucrative but joining the wards makes it much easier to keep your parents approval). He was definitely the best public speaker among us.

Once the main presentations were over it was time for Q&A. Aegis and Gallant started off with some softball questions about what being in the wards was like that were arranged ahead of time. However things took a turn when I recognized the next student getting handed the microphone. To my chagrin the next question was given to Emma Barnes of all people. I braced myself for what she would say.

"Hello, I was hoping to direct this question to Manes. Hypothetically what would you do if a parahuman blackmailed you?"

Crap, this was not something I had expected today. Looking to my side the other wards looked kind of confused about the question. But I had been named so it would look weird if I tried to pass it off to another ward, so I tried to answer. "Um…well you should probably go to the PRT. Unless you have more specifics I'm afraid I can't give you better advice than that."

"What if it was a ward who was blackmailing you? How should someone handle that?"

Crap, crap, crap. I need to shut this down quickly. I've ignored Emma for too long and now she's getting her payback. Maybe I could just reject the premise of the question. I responded with "I know all of my teammates very well and I doubt any of them would ever blackmail anyone. They're very good people."

"What about you? Have you ever blackmailed someone?" I could see on her face she was grinning. She knew exactly what she was doing and that I was slowly being cornered. I could already see my teammates looking even more confused at this line of questioning.

It was clearly a trap. If I simply said no then she could easily follow up with 'Oh really, then why did you blackmail me?'. Simple denial wasn't going to work. I needed to flip the question on its head. I needed to make blackmail seem like a good idea. It was risky but I wasn't sure what else I could do.

"...Well there are occasions where the law needs to coerce cooperation from criminals. For example when I use my power in the field I need to subdue criminals sometimes with my possession. But I can only possess one criminal at a time. There was an occasion where I had to possess a criminal to get the others to give up a hostage. It didn't work but you could call that blackmail if you squinted right. So the answer is sort of yes."

On one hand I think I managed to wrong-foot Emma cause she clearly didn't have a response to that, her mouth slightly ajar. Of course on the other hand neither did the rest of the audience. The other wards were now giving me some concerned looks, cause to them the obvious answer should have been a "no". I definitely could tell from the expression Vista wore she was probably wondering what the hell I was thinking with that answer. Enough of a pause occurred that the teacher managing the mic took it away from Emma, but she didn't seem to be torn up about it. I was starting to think I might have overthought things.

After that Kid Win, Vista, and Clockblocker finished their questions quickly and the students were dismissed from the assembly. We returned to the privacy of the backstage and Aegis announced we should be done for the day once we stopped by HQ to change. As we walked outside I saw Aegis and Vista whispering something to each other and she nodded. The others politely didn't bring up the pro-blackmail stance I had taken.

We had to wait a few minutes for our ride so we stood outside for a bit while we waited. Thankfully the weather had been getting warmer so it wasn't uncomfortable. Vista sidled up to me as I was leaning on one of the trees and decided to ask me about my weird answer.

"Okay so when I said to not argue with someone I didn't think you were going to say you've done blackmail before."

"I could tell she wasn't taking no for an answer so I gave her something else."

"Do you know why she was asking about that? It almost seemed like you knew her."

"It's a long story but you remember that my sister used to have a friend that turned out to be a huge bitch?"

"That was her?"

"The one and only, and she knows my secret identity. Apparently she's still holding a grudge over me stopping her bullying."

"Wait, did you actually blackmail her?" Vista asked. I could lie and say no but she was my friend. This is probably why Aegis asked her to talk to me. I guess I had to tell her the truth eventually now so it might as well be here.

"Sigh, well it had been a few months since she started bullying my sister and I decided to talk to her directly. I unmasked myself to her and I might have hinted I'd get more directly involved in stopping the bullying. I just meant I would bring it up with the PRT which probably wouldn't have done anything, but I didn't say that so she would draw her own conclusions."

"...Okay that's not as bad as I thought but I can see how that can look like blackmail to her and other people. Do you think she'll go to the PRT herself?"

"I don't think so, cause then she'd have to explain what I was blackmailing her over. There's a lot of complaints that my sister made against her that could be dragged up. Unless her parents were suddenly okay with her bullying people she probably doesn't want to make that jump. Today was probably her way of trying to cheap shot me since she had the opportunity."

"That makes sense, though you still need to talk to Aegis about this. He can decide if this needs to be brought to the higher ups attention."

"What does he think? I know he asked you to talk to me."

"He was actually more concerned it was someone trying to provoke a gaffe from you for attention. He never thought you actually did anything wrong."

"Nice to know he thinks so highly about me. My sister actually found out before the winter break and she ripped into me about it. It wasn't until she got put in the hospital that we could patch things up. Up until then I thought what I did was alright, even if it was a bit shady. Now I'm wondering if I didn't make it worse somehow."

"I won't lie and say you were completely in the right, cause intimidating civilians isn't something we should be doing. But at the end of the day you didn't hurt anyone and you were just trying to help your sister with her bullying problem. I'm sure Aegis will see that."

"I hope you're right, otherwise I'm gonna have to go on the lam or something." Our conversation was cut short when our transport vans arrived to take us to HQ. I had to have faith in my teammates that they weren't going to turn on me over this, cause that was the only thing keeping me from freaking out. Vista understanding and being on my side helped soothe my nerves a lot there.

The ride over was quick and we made conversation over how thankful we were that none of us had to go to that school. Even with it presumably spruced up for our visit today it looked very much run down. When we arrived at HQ Aegis pulled me and Vista aside and asked to speak to us privately. We went to his quarters where he had a small desk filled with paperwork. Once the door closed he began.

"Now before we start I want you to know that I'm not mad about your answer."

"Really? I feel like I screwed up"

"I actually think those answers were probably the best you could have given under the circumstances. I can tell that she was hostile for some reason, so simple answers probably wouldn't have worked. But there's clearly something going on that I don't know about. I've never heard anyone bring up blackmail at one of these events before."

"Well you see it's a long story.…" I then proceeded to give him the same rundown on my situation with Emma as I did with Vista with some added context here and there. Vista was by my side providing emotional support while Aegis listened near silently. Once I finished he seemed deep in thought for a minute before he spoke.

"I can see why you felt like you had to take things into your own hands. The PRT gives a lot of support but they can't help with everything. I know if my sister was ever bullied like yours I wouldn't be sitting on the sidelines. To be clear you haven't hurt anyone right?"

"No, the only one who was getting hurt was Taylor."

"Then I'm personally willing to overlook it since you were defending your sister. You've proven your bona fides as a hero plenty of times so I believe your story. But I need to know it won't happen again. Can you promise that you won't go intimidating civilians and that you won't go hiding things from the rest of us?"

"I don't plan on doing either of those again, so yes I can make those promises to not do either. What's the story everyone else is going to hear?"

"The other wards only need to know that she was a hostile questioner because of personal issues, and that it's not something they need to concern themselves about. As for the PRT that depends. There was a reporter doing a fluff piece on the event present. They could decide to focus on your answer and things could get out of my hands. If that happens I'm willing to go to bat for you. I'd hate for a teammate to get punished for trying to do the right thing."

"I…I don't know what to say. Thank you."

Vista decided to jump in "Well I guess that settles that. Unless you wanted to talk about anything else Carlos?"

"Well I can tell you from now on that the next time PR asks for more Q&A's I'm gonna insist on the questions getting vetted. We have enough problems without people trying to settle scores."

"Amen to that," Vista said.

We parted ways and I was soon dropped off at home. I found Taylor reading a book about parahuman's of all things on the couch when I got inside. I decided to comment on this.

"You know if you have some questions about parahumans I could probably answer a couple."

"Sam!" She scrambled off the couch. "Are you alright? I had no clue Emma was going to pull that stunt. I was worried you weren't going to be able to come home."

"I'm fine Taylor. It'll take more than some passive aggressive questions to get rid of me. I talked it over with Missy and Carlos."

"You mean they know about you blackmailing Emma? They were okay with that?"

"They weren't entirely okay with it but they understood the situation. They're not going to turn me in if that's what you're worried about. As far as anyone else is concerned I just biffed on a question."

"Really? What are we going to do about Emma, she's clearly decided she wants to get you in trouble."

"I hate to say it but I've decided I have to do nothing. I promised to Aegis that I wouldn't go around intimidating people anymore. Plus I think she wants me to react. Gives her the pretense to go to the PRT. All she has now are some accusations. Her dad would know enough about law to know those won't stand up in court."

"That sounds kind of risky not doing anything."

"Sometimes the best move is not to play."

"I'm pretty sure that's a quote from WarGames. And I think this is a little different from nuclear war."

"Hey look at you, actually knowing about something made past the 1970's. And to your point it is pretty close to mutually assured destruction. Her evidence is weak and trying to prove it in court or public will hurt her just as much as me.

"Sounds like you have it all figured out."

"As much as I can at least. But enough about me, when did you start getting interested in parahumans again? I thought you'd had your fill of reading about them after I triggered but apparently now you're checking out books about…Parahuman Law?" I said as I looked over at where she had left the book she was reading.

"I… was hoping to find anything relevant to the whole blackmail situation but it looks like you have it handled."

"Thanks, that was very thoughtful of you. It does kind of look old though so I'm not sure if it's up to date. Let me see what year it was printed to see if it's worth looking at." But then thought occurred to me. I don't remember her owning a book like this. I went to the book to confirm this and when I looked inside the cover I saw it was from the library. But it hadn't been checked out today.

"Hey, this was checked out of the library a week ago. Why did you decide to borrow it last week?" This was confusing. If it was checked out today I'd understand but it looks like she's been reading this for a week now.

"Um… well actually I was meaning to bring it up some other time but I've been thinking about maybe pursuing a career in the PRT? It seemed like a reasonable career to go for."

"Really? That sounds like an awesome idea! We could actually work together if things worked out."

"I'm…I'm still thinking about it. There's a lot to consider after all."

"I understand. You're nervous about working with the other wards and heroes. If you're interested I could ask around and see if there's an internship you could get when you go to college. I'm sure my handler Tina could write a great recommendation note if I asked her."

"Sam, if I get a job there I don't want to get in on nepotism."

"Alright if you want to do it the hard way then fine. But I'm always willing to help if you need it. If there's going to be nepotism might as well make it work in our favor right?" And I meant it. But before I left her one more thought occurred to me. "Hey where's Julia? You guys have been spending a lot of time together lately."

"She had some headaches so she went home early today. Nothing to worry about."

"Alright, I'll let you get back to your book."

I'm sure once Taylor had some time to think it over she'd decide the PRT was for her. She's always been a stickler for the rules but fair and honest as well. I doubted we would be in the same branch; the PRT and Protectorate were both too big for that to be likely. But her being in the PRT would go a long way towards helping us stay close.

I had worried we might grow apart even more as time went on but this was a nice reassurance. Something that told me we could share some common ground even though she didn't have any powers. As I let her return to her book I was already looking forward to sharing gossip over the latest events in the hero world.

The next day however I had to set aside my thoughts about the future, because it was on that day that the Endbringer sirens sounded. The Simurgh was attacking Canberra.

A/N
-So I'm doing a pseudo time skip where time is passing faster in this arc but we're still touching on some key points for the future plot. I decided that part of building a good character is giving them a variety of challenges or problems. Here Sam is confronted with the dreaded public speaking event. As you can see she isn't quite so nimble when something unexpected happens.

-My interpretation of the wards is that they're willing to overlook some bad behavior if it's for a good cause. Aegis is in a bind because what Manes did was wrong, but her motivation was that she was defending her sister from getting hurt. Plus she's been a good member of the team otherwise. So he opts for the lenient approach and downplays it to the others.

-Taylor once again dodges a bullet hiding her new secret identity. She's really lucky she knows how to play off of Sam's assumptions cause anyone else would have figured her out a while ago. I can promise she's close to being ready to get out there. I'll probably explore some of what she's been getting up to with some alternate pov chapters soon.

-Please leave feedback. I'm always looking to improve.