It is early in the morning and I can smell eggs and bacon being cooked on the stove. I hear a woman humming to herself a tune to a song I faintly remember. I go into the kitchen to see Dad and Taylor sitting at the table, with Mom at the stove flipping an egg. She turns to me and smiles. "There you are, you shouldn't be sleeping so late when your first game of the season is today."

I felt confused, I didn't remember there being a game. "What game?"

She didn't seem fazed by my confusion "Don't you remember? You worked so hard to get on the varsity team."

I looked down and saw I was wearing the uniform for my school's girls baseball team. I just rolled with it. "Oh yeah I forgot."

Taylor spoke next "I'm surprised that you forgot, you were all excited when you got to be the starting pitcher. I thought your face froze from all the smiling you were doing. Would have been an improvement actually."

Dad interjected "Now Taylor, don't tease your sister. We should all be proud of how hard she's worked to get where she is."

Mom finished cooking and put the eggs and bacon on a plate with some toast and set it on the table. "Here's your breakfast Sam, you don't want to start your season on an empty stomach."

I sat down and looked around the table. Everyone else was almost finished with their breakfasts, with dad drinking some coffee as he read the paper and mom making some tea for herself. Other than my baseball uniform it felt like an average spring morning.

I couldn't help but feel like something was very off. It was strange that everything could feel copacetic but wrong at the same time. It felt like I was forgetting something.

I tried to figure out what I was forgetting. "Hey Mom, was there anything else I was supposed to be doing today?"

She thought for a few seconds before saying "I don't know, but you usually spend time with your friends after your games."

"Oh yeah, my friends." I said. I tried to think of my friends. I had a few but the first one who came to mind was Missy, because she was special. Why was she special? Oh right, she has powers. Do I have powers? I think I do. I can't remember what they were but I had them. Were they related to what I was supposed to remember? When did I get my powers?

I looked at Mom and I started to remember that how I got my powers was related to her. But… wait. She shouldn't be here. How is she here after I got my powers?

I looked over at Dad and I saw I couldn't read the words on the paper, it just looked like nonsense. I tried to speak up but my mouth suddenly wouldn't move anymore. It was like my mind had been disconnected from my body. All I could do was look around and see Mom, Dad, and Taylor finishing their breakfast contentedly. I tried to stand up but I couldn't move, my body remaining still.

Then Mom looked at the clock on the wall and spoke again. "It looks like it's time for us to leave."

I tried to object, to ask them to stay. But my mouth wasn't working. One by one each of them stood up from the table and pushed their chairs in. They didn't acknowledge me as I tried to move my body. Then they began walking away from the table and out of the kitchen, Mom left first, then Taylor, and then only Dad was standing at the doorway. I couldn't do anything to follow them.

When Dad was about to exit the room, he absentmindedly flipped the light switch as if I wasn't even there. At the click of it flipping downwards, the kitchen dining room was suddenly plunged into an inky darkness I couldn't see through.

I was now alone, I couldn't do anything and now I was alone. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't scream for help. And even if I could, nobody would come. I was helpless in my own body and I-

BZZZZZT BZZZZZT BZZZZZT

I opened my eyes and my body jerked awake at the harsh melody of my alarm going off. Getting my bearings I reached out to turn it off, which I did after a few seconds of fumbling. It was still dark out so I turned on my bedside lamp to get a better look at the time. My alarm clock showed me it was 6:30 am.

With that dealt with, I turned my thoughts back to my latest nightmare and I sighed. As much as I wanted to dismiss it, I knew from experience I really shouldn't. I had hoped I wouldn't get more nightmares like that after I got back on speaking terms with Taylor yesterday, but I guess that was too optimistic.

I dug out my dream journal from under my bed relatively quickly. It was a cheap red notebook and it was starting to show its age. Turning to about halfway through the book to find a blank page I began to write down what I remembered about my dream.

I had started this habit after I triggered at Taylor's insistence, since I had started suffering through a bad couple of nightmares at the time. Some of them were related to my trigger, and other times it was random ("I think I'm the only person in the world to have a nightmare with Andy Griffith in it."). Dream journaling was the best remedy me and Taylor could find that had some effect. At the very least it lets me do something.

Going to a therapist right after I triggered would've been too expensive anyways. And after I had joined the wards I had found the waiting list for a therapy session with a PRT affiliated therapist without a written note was two months minimum, and two weeks with.

Regular sessions usually were prioritized for heroes who had documented problems while working, which my nightmares wouldn't qualify for. I decided not to bother after finding that out since I wasn't exactly keen on therapy in the first place. There's just some things I'd rather not talk about with strangers if I didn't have to.

Besides, if I had to talk to someone I knew I could confide in the other wards. It wasn't their fault some of the older heroes turned out to be less than heroic, so I could still trust most of them (Shadow Stalker I could trust to be bitchy). They knew how to cheer me up better than some random psychologist.

Just this week in fact I had confided with each of them in turn, like I did with Missy, about my situation. Of course I couldn't just do an announcement because getting charged with undermining the wards program was a thing, so I had to do it one at a time to be subtle. That meant finding excuses to talk to them in the few places I was pretty sure no microphones could hear us ("Hey Gallant, could you help me find my phone? I know I left it in my room somewhere.").

Thankfully everyone I talked to was supportive, though I had to give them the abridged story without telling them Taylor's identity ("Yeah, Zookeeper's someone I spent a lot of time with growing up. So the PRT kind of jumped to a lot of conclusions."). The boys gave me the impression that they wanted to be protective of me since I was one of the younger members. It was a bit annoying that they thought I couldn't handle myself but I appreciated it anyway.

I kept Sophia in the dark though. She was insufferable enough already, so all she was aware of was the changes in the schedule. I also intended to freeze out my handler Tina, but she surprisingly proved to be a decent person when she profusely apologized for not knowing about the investigation the first time I saw her again. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, though I still watched what I said around her.

As far as the heroes and Director Piggot were concerned I had settled on giving them the silent treatment. Triumph found this out first when he pulled me aside to try and apologize. He had clearly memorized some standard apology, so when I didn't respond beyond a simple acknowledgement he awkwardly tried to butter me up to no avail ("I hear that there's a movie festival happening down in Boston. I know someone who can get some tickets really cheap for you and some friends if you're interested.").

After a minute or two of trying to bribe me he realized it was pointless and excused himself quickly. For the rest of the week he avoided me completely. It wasn't much but my alternate option of punching his teeth in when I saw his face probably would've gotten me foamed and arrested for real. I could've berated him some more but he wasn't worth the attention that would've attracted.

I also had to deal with the fact that I wasn't sure if all the heroes were all on the same page about my situation. Triumph, Miss Militia, and Armsmaster definitely knew so my opinion of them was firmly at rock bottom. The other heroes didn't seem to be acting very differently, but that was also the case when I was being investigated. I didn't want to get paranoid but it's hard to trust again after what had happened.

My impression from the past week was that they thought that not arresting me was a big favor, and that if they gave me some space I'd forget about it. So they tried to act like nothing had happened the last few days after the interrogation incident. But I wasn't going to forget.

The one time I saw Piggot this week was during a briefing, and she seemed very aware that I hadn't quite gotten over my interrogation. I think I actually saw guilt on her face for a moment, but it was probably a trick of the light. She managed to get through her briefing on the crime situation of the city without once acknowledging me, which was fine with me. Anything I had to say to her wasn't fit for mixed company.

Overall my last week as a ward was basically in a state of limbo where no one wanted to be the one that set me off. I suspected that Piggot was probably trying to downplay her branch's fuckup to the national organization and nobody wanted to be the one to screw that up. It was probably less that Piggot actually wanted me around than the fact that it would be a reputation killer if they lost a ward to such a dumb error. But I doubted that this limbo would last for long, which was partly why I was getting up so early.

I finished filling out the pages of my dream journal with the main things I remembered about my nightmare. Looking at it compared to my previous ones it did share a theme of things going badly very abruptly, and without warning. My body not working and being plunged into darkness fit that well.

But what was different was how idyllic it had felt at the beginning. My usual nightmares weren't necessarily all grim-dark and stuff, but they usually started more neutrally like me going to school or something. Maybe that's why it felt so much worse this time? Was that what my life would have been like if the accident hadn't happened and I didn't trigger?

That might be why the sudden turn at the end wasn't the worst part. Seeing my entire family, with Mom alive no less, enjoying an ideal morning just rubbed in how much my life sucked in comparison right now honestly. It made me wonder if Taylor would've run away if Mom had been around to talk to her. Not having to deal with the PRT's or Protectorates bullshit either would be nice.

Checking the clock again I saw that fifteen minutes had gone by since I had woken up. Which meant I'd have to set aside my bedtime nightmares to deal with the actual nightmare my life was now. Granted that was probably overstating things, but not by much.

I set aside my journal and on my nightstand and got started with my morning routine. After getting showered and dressed I headed downstairs to get breakfast. In contrast to my dream, only Dad was in the kitchen this time. He was seated at the table reading the paper.

I greeted him. "Hey Dad. What's for breakfast this morning?"

He looked up from his paper. "Oh we're going to have to eat light, so some toast and jam with some cereal. Don't want to make too many dirty dishes to clean before we have to leave for our appointment."

"You know of all the things that suck about this situation, having to get up this early on a Saturday is one of the worst." I griped. I began looking towards the cupboard we kept our cereal in and picked out a bowl from the dish drying rack.

"I know but an 8:30 am appointment was the only time Mrs Dallon could fit us in today. We're going to need most of the morning to go over our legal options."

"Are you sure the Youth Guard couldn't have suggested other lawyers? Ones who aren't morning people?" I suggested. I emphasized that by grabbing an open box of cereal from the cupboard and pouring it into my bowl.

"There were others but they were down in Boston or New York. And besides, Mrs Dallon is probably the best lawyer we can afford."

"I'm just surprised she'd take the case on such short notice. The way Victoria tells it she's always busy with all sorts of high profile cases."

"It helped that she thought the case was fairly open and shut from her point of view."

"Yeah, but I'm still not sure how you're going to get Taylor to sit down with her." I commented. I idly retrieved the milk from the refrigerator and poured it into my cereal. The main course of my meal ready I got a spoon and began eating.

Dad sighed in resignation "That probably won't be necessary. I've already had to tell Mrs Dallon about Taylor's secret identity."

I paused, stock still with a mouth full of chewed cereal when I heard that. Swallowing my cereal, I desperately hoped Dad hadn't just made a terrible mistake. I asked very carefully "She knows? Did you tell Taylor about that?"

"Taylor is aware, and I made sure to consult her before I told Mrs Dallon. She certainly wasn't happy about it, but I managed to make her understand that there wasn't much of an alternative. It wouldn't take much for Mrs Dallon to make a mistake if she didn't know." Dad explained.

I relaxed considerably and commented "Huh, I guess I wasn't in the house when you had that argument on the phone."

"It was a few nights ago actually, and Taylor took it better than I expected once I told her Mrs Dallon would get in a lot of trouble if she told anyone else. At least she didn't hang up immediately… What I'm not sure about is convincing her to come home. I don't want to force her but this can't go on forever."

"You could let her be an independent hero like she wants. I think with a little help she could make it work." I suggested.

He looked skeptical of the idea. "Maybe, but that would just make a whole lot of other problems. I just can't get over how dangerous it would be for her."

"I'm pretty sure she's going to do it whether you like it or not."

"She did say something like that when we talked last night. Somehow I never expected her rebellious teenager phase to be like this. Taylor was always the quieter of you two."

"Who's to say I won't top her? There's still time." I joked. Dad just gave me a look. I tried to backpedal "What? I was kidding!"

"I know that." He said, with a tone that suggested otherwise. "You should eat your breakfast soon. There's a long day ahead of us."

I decided to eat my breakfast without further comment. After having my fill of cereal and toast we were on our way to Mrs Dallon's law firm. Finding parking downtown was a cinch so early on a Saturday morning, so we managed to arrive at the lobby with a few minutes to spare. A receptionist who didn't seem so jazzed to be working so early greeted us and took our info and before she directed us to Mrs. Dallon's office.

Entering her office, the decor didn't offer any hints about Mrs Dallon's cape career. It simply had some bog standard bookcases with law books and binders of past cases with a few fake plants scattered around to add some color. Mrs Dallon herself was working on her laptop at her desk when we arrived at her open office door. She noticed us as quickly as we arrived.

"Ah, there you are. Right on time." She stopped typing and stood up. "Take a seat. I need to lock the door since we're going to be discussing some sensitive topics."

Sitting down at the two chairs in front of her desk, I heard the lock on the door being latched. Mrs Dallon returned to her desk and began speaking as she sat down.

"So I've been talking with your father a lot this past week Ms Hebert. I understand that you're in a difficult position with the PRT."

"You can call me Sam. And yeah, you could say that."

"To start off do you have any questions?" She steepled her fingers. Whether that was a personal habit or a secret lawyer psychological technique was unknown to me.

"I have a few. My biggest question is that do you think the PRT is going to try and throw me or my sister in jail at any point?"

"Straight to the point I see. Well, the good news is that is very unlikely. If they bring it up it would be an empty threat. The vast majority of the evidence they gathered related to you and your sister is either inadmissible from the start or very easily thrown out."

"Wait really? Is the evidence they have that bad?"

"In a lot of ways, yes. Whoever gathered the evidence seems to be confusing good detective work for building a legal case. The most egregious example is using the serial numbers on the bounty money. They are allowed to collect and use it to audit for fraud cases. But that's all they're allowed to use it for, accounting fraud cases like embezzlement. And this is definitely not fraud. If they had read the law more closely they'd understand that." Mrs Dallon told us. She definitely seemed a little displeased at the low quality of work she was describing.

"I thought it seemed sketchy, guess my instincts were right. I don't know much legalese so it's hard to tell sometimes." I said, feeling a bit vindicated.

Carol seemed to heat up as she continued "Sketchy is putting it very kindly, it's absolutely scandalous. If they did it to track down a high profile villain it might be defensible. But for an independent hero it's outrageous. If this was made public they might be a fatal blow to the bounty system, because no sensible cape would take money if they wanted to avoid having their identities found out."

From how animated Mrs Dallon had gotten I could tell this was serious business, so I asked "Are you saying they risked doing that just to find my sister's identity?"

"Likely not. Whoever was doing the investigation probably didn't understand the loophole they were using wasn't actually legitimate. The fact that they told you suggests this is probably the case." She added, with a bit of disdain in her voice.

Wow, so on top of being a massive jerk for doing this investigation, Triumph is a massive idiot as well. To think I looked up to him when we were wards together. Though thinking back, his leadership style was more oriented on his charisma than how smart he was.

But that still left me with a burning question "Does that mean they're not going to try and arrest me or Taylor?"

"Very unlikely. The PRT can be overconfident sometimes but once their lawyers pointed this issue out to them they probably realized how bad of an idea that is."

"Are you really sure about that?" Dad asked.

"I've taken the liberty of reaching out to some contacts of mine in the PRT about this. They've confirmed that the case against you and your sister has been dropped. Whatever they were hoping to accomplish by charging you is probably secondary to keeping a lid on their error." Carol explained, seeming a little relieved that this particular problem had resolved itself.

Dad didn't seem entirely satisfied with that. "But that's just them covering for their screw up by burying their own investigation. Is there anything we can do to hold them accountable for that?"

"I can follow up with a letter of complaint to the main HQ's of the PRT and Protectorate to make sure they're aware and that the ENE branch needs to be held accountable. Even if they're not concerned about how Sam was treated, I'm sure they'll be asking some very hard questions about how they're administering the bounty system here. We'll give them a few weeks so they have a chance to clean up their own house. After that we can decide what we want to do going forward." She outlined for us.

"I can live with that. But what does this all mean for me? This last week has kind of been tense and I don't think I can just move on like nothing happened. " I asked.

"You're right, though what comes next is up to you. Technically on paper your legal situation is back to as it was before you found out about your sister's identity. But like you said things are a bit more sensitive, and even if the whole leadership gets sacked that doesn't change."

"Because now anytime Taylor gets the PRT angry I have to look over my shoulder and worry about what they're going to do to me." I said. Knowing Taylor, this week will be far from the last time she gets someone angry.

"Exactly. The most straightforward option would be to take a chance by forgiving and forgetting the whole matter. But I'm sure Mr Hebert might have some reservations about doing that himself."

Dad nodded "Yes, I do." He looked over at me. "Sam, the reason I let you join the wards was that it was the safest place you could be. But I really can't ignore this stunt of theirs and go on pretending everything's fine"

"Let me guess, you think I should withdraw from the wards?" I asked with almost an accusing tone.

He looked uncomfortable with my question but he nodded "Honestly, I'm willing to go with whatever option keeps you safe. But I know that leaving the wards without a plan would be a bad idea, so I've been talking with Mrs Dallon about some options."

"Options? But where else would I even go? New Wave?" I looked over to Mrs Dallon "Is New Wave even taking new members right now?"

Mrs Dallon replied "While we are open to new members, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to take you unless you were willing to unmask."

I thought about that for a second and then decided against it almost immediately. I liked being a hero and all but bad things happened to unmasked capes. It didn't always get as bad as getting killed like Fleur was of course. But being a cape was already hard, and being an open cape was inherently even harder. Some people could make it work but I doubted I was one of them.

"I think unmasking would be a deal breaker." I replied.

"Your father thought so as well when we discussed it." She said, without an ounce of surprise in her voice that I declined.

"Is unmasking so important that it's really a requirement?"

"Yes. Me and the other members agreed when we started New Wave that mixing masked and unmasked heroes in the group wouldn't be a good idea. It hurts group dynamics and sends a message that we're not serious about our original mission anymore. I'm sure if you asked Vicky she would be happy to collaborate with you, for what it's worth."

"I'll keep that in mind. So what are the other options?"

"Well there's always a transfer to another Protectorate branch. I'm sure you could find a lot of branches that would be happy to have you. I doubt your sister would be an issue if you were in different cities."

It sounded convenient but I couldn't imagine doing it. It would mean giving up too much. Granted Brockton Bay sucked but it was familiar. It was where Dad and Taylor were. Where the only teammates I had ever known were.

Maybe I could start over somewhere else but I'd be starting over alone. And who's to say that wherever I go won't end up being worse than Brockton Bay? Doing that alone isn't something I think I could do.

"If that's the only option then maybe, but I don't think I could do that." I tried to hedge. I didn't want to shoot down all their ideas out of hand.

"I understand. I did happen to do a little research and I think that I found one more potential option. It initially came up when I was talking with your caseworker, Mrs Houlihan."

"You did? What is it?" I was honestly curious what Mrs Houlihan had suggested.

"Apparently the wards program has been experimenting with an apprentice program off and on for the last decade or two. Have you heard about it?"

"Yeah, I have." That's definitely something I hadn't thought about. I guess Mrs Houlihan would know about it since it involved the wards. In fact I was surprised that it was even an option. I could have sworn that it had stopped being a thing years ago, so I tried to confirm "Are you suggesting I try it?"

"It does have some advantages. If you found someone you could apprentice yourself to, then on paper you'd be put under their authority instead of the local PRT branch's control." She suggested.

Of course Dad wasn't as familiar with this as we were, so he had questions. "Okay, but there's something I've been meaning to ask. Wouldn't that just mean the Protectorate could just order the hero to tell Sam what she had to do?"

"Granted the hero would still take orders from their superiors. But with the right mentor they could make it very difficult for anyone to punish you without their consent. Protectorate heroes operate with a lot more latitude than wards after all. But you are right, if this is going to work we'll need to be very selective." Mrs Dallon patiently explained.

That sounded about right. From what I remembered the ward would work directly with a specific hero so they could mentor them for however long the apprenticeship lasted. It was supposed to cultivate wards with very unique power sets without interference from local branches.

The most appealing part to me was that I would only be taken off the regular wards schedule, instead of completely withdrawn from the wards program. A bit like if I was on a long term training meant I could still interact with my friends in and out of costume. But while it sounds like a good idea on paper, it does have some pretty big catches.

The main reason it had trouble gaining traction was because finding an even adequate match between a mentor hero and ward is hard. Their power sets need to have some similarities otherwise all they can pass along are some basic hero work tips, which the wards already do. There aren't that many heroic parahumans going around so there aren't that many available to spend extra time mentoring to start with.

Then there are the logistics of a mentor and apprentice meeting up. It doesn't matter if you find a good match if they were on the other side of the country. That wasn't even getting into potential personality conflicts if it turned out we couldn't get along.

So if this was going to be a viable option I would need to find someone willing to mentor me, was close, and wasn't such a jerk that they were going to abuse their authority over me. I really wish this wasn't my best option but beggars can't be choosers I guess.

"I think I could do that if I had some idea of what my options are. Was there anyone Mrs Houlihan had in mind?" I spoke hopefully. None of the local heroes would work at all.

"She did mention a contact of hers that she had met during her time working for the King's Men. But I think that's a conversation you should have with her. I just need to know if you're sure about this option. A transfer would be a lot simpler."

"I know, but I'd rather try this before it comes to that."

"Understandable. Mr Hebert, do you have any thoughts about trying this option? It does add some safeguards for your daughter but it doesn't have the same checks and balances the regular ward program has."

"If whatever checks and balances were there worked, then we wouldn't be here. I'm willing to give this a chance. Provided of course I can meet with whoever Sam chooses." He said.

"I think that won't be a problem. If that's it I'll get in touch with the PRT to get some more details. Even if protecting a ward from the whims of the local branch wasn't the original purpose of the apprentice program, I think we could arrange something to make this work."

"I appreciate that. But there was something else I wanted to have Sam discuss with you Mrs Dallon." Dad mentioned. I had a strong suspicion of what it was from what Mrs Houlihan had told me earlier this week.

"Oh yes, the Youth Guard's offer to help you with a potential lawsuit. Sam, do you know about that?"

"Mrs Houlihan mentioned it when she followed up with me a few days ago. So yeah."

"I understand they want to assist you with a lawsuit against the PRT by providing pro bono legal representation. Have you given any thought to their offer?"

I certainly had. On one hand the PRT had abused my trust in them and built a case against me without saying a word to me. Then they stuck me in an interrogation without anyone I could rely on. So it wasn't like they didn't deserve a lawsuit from the Youth Guard coming to them.

But on the other hand I had never spent any real time in a courtroom before. Part of my ward training had drilled into me that the law was a lot more complicated than it looks on TV. But beyond that I was sheltered from thinking about how the legal system worked since the adults did most of the work prosecuting anyone the wards caught. If I did this I was going to be completely out of my element.

"Yes, but I'm not sure if I could give very good testimony. Like I probably couldn't point at which laws the PRT broke if you gave me a law book."

Mrs Dallon wasn't too phased, and I even detected a bit of amusement in her voice when she said "Don't worry, if the law required witnesses to be well versed in law then hardly anyone would ever take the stand. They're going to approach the case from the premise that the PRT violated your right to have a guardian or legal representative when they interrogated you. The ward contract your father signed had some strict prohibitions against that."

"Hold on, why are you talking about my contract? Isn't there a law against that?"

Dad decided to answer me. "I made sure it was in the contract because it isn't against the law for them to interrogate a minor without asking me first."

"It's not against the law for them to do that!?" I almost yelled. There's no way that was right!

"Only if they didn't formally arrest you. The restrictions on what law enforcement can ask people they haven't arrested are surprisingly relaxed." Carol answered. It was certainly very sobering to realize that. Then she followed up with a very thought provoking question "Didn't you think it was odd they didn't formally put you under arrest before they interrogated you?"

I paused in thought. Now that she mentioned it I don't remember at all anyone saying I was under arrest before they started asking me questions. That couldn't have been an accident. They had to have planned that beforehand. Those fuckers were trying to get me to say something incriminating before I even realized what was happening!

"Those bastards!" I shouted, surprising both Dad and Mrs Dallon.

"Sam, please! Watch your language!" Dad tried to admonish me. Mrs Dallon relaxed and she seemed to look on silent approval at him. I wondered for a second if Vicky or Amy ever dared to curse in front of her?

I paused, took a breath, and reigned in my anger "I'm sorry Mrs Dallon, I get worked up sometimes."

"It's fine, I won't hold it against you. As long as you can keep your temper in check if you decide to testify about what happened that day of course."

"I think I can do that." But as soon as I spoke I remembered someone else with a temper, Taylor. I tried to find out how much she would be involved. "Wouldn't Taylor get involved? She was the reason they were interrogating me after all."

"The circumstances around your sister would be irrelevant to the fact that they didn't give you a chance to get a guardian or legal representative. It's an indisputable fact that you had neither. That's why they're going with this angle."

The fact that Taylor wouldn't be dragged into this calmed me. But I had other questions "Do we really need to be the ones to sue the PRT? I can't be the only ward the PRT or Protectorate has messed with, right?"

"No, you aren't. In fact I'm familiar with a half dozen other cases the Youth Guard is working on. But yours would be the most open and shut one among them. It's usually the wards that misbehave, rather than the PRT and Protectorate. If they don't clean their house like they should, this would be a good way to get some concessions." she responded.

Dad chipped in "I'm not a big fan of getting involved in a big legal battle either Sam. But a lawsuit is the best way we can get some protections with some real teeth. I don't want what happened to you to ever happen again to anybody, especially you."

"I get that. It's just that I already have enough problems in my life. I don't want to add in getting on the wrong side of a lawsuit with the PRT. I'm good at punching things but as you can see, the legal stuff outside of arresting someone is beyond me."

Dad tried to reassure me as well "Don't worry Sam. I've gone over this with the Youth Guard's lawyers. All you would need to do is give them your testimony and answer some questions. It may not even go to trial if we play our cards right."

"Do you think this is a good idea? I'm not sure the whole apprenticeship idea is going to fly if we get the PRT mad at us again with a lawsuit."

"Just let me worry about that. This lawsuit probably won't even be actually filed for at least a couple of weeks since the Youth Guard is still getting their ducks in a row. It should be enough time for you to find someone who could mentor you. But if you feel uncomfortable I can tell them you're not interested."

I considered this for a moment. I remembered how I had felt in that interrogation room, being on my own trying to get to grips with what was going on. The people I had worked with for so long were suddenly against me. Was I really going to let them get away with that just because I felt uncomfortable? Like hell I was.

"If you put it like that, I think I could do it. Is there anything I need to do Mrs Dallon?"

"Just a few signatures on some forms. After that you can be on your way while I handle the details."

"Great, where do I sign?" I said, happy that this meeting was almost over.

After some signatures, and a whole heap of paperwork was handed off to Dad, we said our goodbyes and were on our way. Since the meeting was so early, it meant me and Dad could spend the rest of the day having some quality time together. The weather was fairly nice for late March in Brockton Bay, so we went to the boardwalk. It gave us the opportunity for us to try one of the Italian restaurants Dad had been recommended by a friend of his for lunch.

So we soon found ourselves trying to get familiar with the menu, which listed all the Italian names for the food and had no pictures or descriptions of the food. This made ordering a little harder than I expected.

"Are you sure we can't just order the pizza?" I asked.

"It's an authentic Italian restaurant, Sam. You should be expanding your horizons."

"Sure but I have zero clue what any of this stuff is. I'm seeing stuff with weird sounding names like Pan- Panzerotto Fritto or Fiorentina. What are you getting?"

"Just some Minestrone soup and their Gnocchi." he idly said, like he was some connoisseur or something.

"Okay, I have no clue what either of those have in them either. Shouldn't there be an allergy warning or somethin-" My complaint was cut off by my wards phone buzzing in my pocket. I sighed. So much for quality time with Dad.

Before I could take out my phone I heard a distant thumping, which sounded like intermittent rumbles of thunder. I then heard several people screaming outside in terror. We had a window seat, so all I had to do was look out to see what was going on.

It became extremely obvious very quickly why people were screaming, because coming down the street was a giant mechanical T-Rex looking robot. It was about two stories high, and going plodding along with a large assortment of weapons attached to it. Now that I had identified its source, the thuds its feet were making were becoming louder and more distinct as it approached.

On top of that insanity, two Pterodactyl robots flew high over the street. I couldn't get a good look at any of the robots yet since they were so far away but I was willing to bet it was all tinker-tech. Before I could check my phone so I could figure out what in the hell was going on a loud voice came out of a speaker attached to the plodding mechanical T-Rex.

"DO NOT BE ALARMED BROCKTON BAY! FOR IT IS ONLY I, DR. JURASSIC! I AM SIMPLY HERE TO RENDER ASSISTANCE TO MY BENEFACTOR! DO NOT INTERFERE AND NOBODY ELSE WILL BE CRUSHED!"

I audibly sighed again and felt a headache coming on. Just when I thought this city couldn't get any more crazy.

A/N
-I hope you don't mind the slower updates. I'm moving next month and things are busy. On the plus side a lot happens in this chapter, so I hope there's a little something for everyone to enjoy. I'm especially excited to write about the pure ham that is DR. JURASSIC.

-I don't know much about dreams so I kept it short. Just enough to get across that Sam still has issues, even if she puts up a good front. Hopefully it didn't come off as too heavy handed.

-I'm trying to not let the plot get too bogged down in the legal process so I tried to orient Sam's meeting with Carol around the choices she needed to make for her future. It's probably not accurate to what a real legal consultation would look like, but I'm sure there's not much appetite for the twenty thousand words that would take to describe.

-Feel free to leave any feedback you have, I'm always looking to improve.