Missy Biron was both annoyed and excited. It was an odd combination that she had been feeling for a while, ever since she heard the rumors that Alucard was coming to Brockton ENE.

Not so much for the presence of the vampire themed cape, but for his partner SLAYER. She was soo cool, Vista's room was packed full of Slayer merch, including the very limited run Slayer PJ's.

Vista had unfortunately grown out of them, but she kept them because they were a flannel mock up of Slayer's altered PRT uniform. She had followed all the new stories about the woman as soon as she showed up on the scene. New female capes were always of interest to her, particularly the ones with records like Slayer's.

Everyone was a fan of Alexandria, even a lot of the villains, Dragon was cool, and so were a lot of the others, but none of them really struck a chord with her like Slayer did. She had a copy of every interview she had ever done. She had taken down an S class threat maybe an hour after it was declared such, had caught a serial killer that had been dodging cops for years, and took down the Teeth on top of all the other less publicized things.

Vista had wanted to copy her uniform when she became a cape herself, but Glenn had talked her parents into the stupid green outfit she was wearing. They wouldn't even allow her to wear pants and she hated skirts, and they had No Pockets. What sort of hero had a costume without pockets, or at least a utility belt. When she needed to carry something they gave her a purse.

A PURSE!

She made sure to lose the damn thing every time they forced her to carry it. She was sure that a few score were home to fish or crabs right now in the bay, and the rest were carrying things for the local homeless population.

She wanted pants, and pockets and body armor and a freaking GUN, or even a taser. She could take down so many bad guys without being any where near them, but noooo dear sweet little 12 year olds needed to be protected and continue to be the face of the ENE PR.

Fuck, some days she just wanted to warp a gang bangers head off his body so she would be taken seriously, or at the very least fuck up any chance of the damn PR department from selling any more of those stupid little super deformed Vista plushies.

They looked so stupid, and the lines they made her say about 'saying no to drugs' and crap like that were trite garbage. The cute little giggle they made wasn't even her, that was some voice actress who recorded a few lines because she had flat out refused.

Still classes would be over soon and she would be meeting Alucard and a new Ward named Druid. In fact the new director had sent her a message that since she had been in the Wards the longest, she was to show Druid around.

It wasn't much, but it was at least a responsibility from some one who recognized she had been around for a while.

It was a start.

Maybe she could convince the new boss that giving her a gun was the way to go.

Piggot Residence

Amy ran a hand along the back of her neck nervously. Her frizzy brown hair brushed along her shoulders as she regarded the costume she was wearing.

It was rather sweet to be honest. Faux leather vest with a tunic like under shirt that had no sleeves. The vest was a small form of armor until the costume department could make one out of Kevlar.

That had been a one sided fight that the costume people had lost before it even started.

Much to Glenn's anguish she wore pants, nothing complex just some heavy green cargo pants that matched the rest of the outfit and boots, function more than form her mom had said and she agreed. It was cool, though she also had a pair of shorts and sandals which she actually preferred. After all skin contact was a weapon for her, she didn't just have to use her hands, at least the pants could be rolled up and secured easily enough for knee strikes.

Her mom had shot down the whole 'kiss of death' idea she had though, though Alucard thought it was awesome.

Her mask was a simple forest green cowl with protective lenses that left her hair free and covered just over her nose leaving her lower face free and hiding most of her freckles, though there was a gas mask sort of thing that could attach to it that was going to be part of the utility belt she was to get.

Her favorite part however was the hooded cloak. It was the one thing the costume department offered that she didn't fight over a bit. It offered no real protection aside from doubling as a rain jacket, but that hardly mattered. The inner lining was the same forest green as most of her outfit and the outside of it was layered with what looked like hundreds of overlapping canvas leaves. Her mom compared it to a gillie suit, though Amy thought it fit the brand she was after with the name of Druid.

Pocky sat next to her offering a massive yawn that showed her equally massive fangs, Amy resisted the urge to poke the felines tongue as she stuck it out in the yawn. Pocky had an odd cowl like covering that matched Amy's cloak over her eyes and her head, as well as some sort of barding that draped over her shoulders. The large feline absolutely refused to wear anything on her legs or tail, and she was very annoyed at having her legs and tail turned more lizard like than cat like. She didn't like the horns either, but tolerated it because Amy did it.

Mom didn't think any one would believe the giant green dragon cat wasn't the giant green normal cat, but Amy could easily convince her mom to let her get away with some things. After all there had been a few attempts already to kitty nap Pocky.

Pocky showed said people the reason her full name was Apocalypse Meow. She even left the kitty nappers alive too, just like Amy had taught her. Sure Amy had to heal three of them to make sure they stayed alive for the police when Pocky brought them back like a dead mouse to leave on the door step, but that counted.

A yell from down stairs for her signaled her mom had come home to pick her up. The blue panel van that she drove was a normal sight in the neighborhood now, and no one batted an eye at it save the next door neighbors who were already wary of Pocky, though their four year old lost her mind when she first saw the pet 'tiger' next door. The van was a perfect way to get Pocky and Amy to and from 'work' without being seen as it fit in the garage.

Amy pulled her hood up and patted Pocky's shoulder.

"Off to the new job." Druid offered. "I hope this goes well."

Pocky yawned again.

Winslow High School

Sophia Hess slammed the locker closed after tossing her books inside. Honestly she hardly cared about them and only made the token effort to pretend to be learning, she was the school's track star and she knew no one would say a damn thing about her grades thanks to the PRT paying the school to keep quiet about her presence. She could probably kill one of the gangers in the school and no one would care.

She'd been tempted a few times.

Still this place bored her, the dreary trudge of teen aged angst was only off set by the entertainment of the constant gang fights that broke out.

"Hey Sophia. You gonna come by tonight? Mom's planning to make Spaghetti." A voice offered.

Sophia glanced over to one of the few friends she had in the school, a girl who actually looked like fluff but was a definite survivor. She had seen Emma try to take on two ABB gangers by herself to save her dad, and she kept getting up no matter how many times they knocked her down. It actually impressed her enough that Sophie stepped in and brutalized the two gangers, asking the girl what she should break next and going along with her suggestions. Sophia had recognized her from school and let slip who she was to keep hanging out with the interesting girl.

Pity she couldn't hunt like that any more now that the PRT had it's claws in her, but she slipped away for enough solo patrols she could still do some serious take downs. The Ward rules were stupid anyway.

"Sorry can't, work wants me in tonight and tomorrow night. New boss and such." Sophia offered with a shrug. "Plus we got a new hire to train or some shit."

"A new hire? Don't spook them too bad. Dad says retail work can be brutal without help." Madison chimed up from behind Emma. Emma smirked, knowing more about Sophia than Madison did.

The short cute girl was also sort of a friend, but more of a hanger on. Sophia didn't care about her, she was a social parasite, useful at times, but mostly riding on the force that was Emma and herself. Emma seemed to like her so Sophia didn't punt her like the yappy Pomeranian she resembled.

Honestly Sophia felt she was held back by these two despite liking Emma. Madison was a closet cape geek and Emma used that against her when the girl didn't want to do something. She was also more interested in gossip and basic girly stuff.

Emma was ruthless in going after what she wanted, but she had a hang up, a rather massive one too, a girl named Taylor Hebert.

Sophia didn't know the reason why and didn't care, but Emma's goal in life seemed to be to utterly destroy the girl. Sure, she targeted others from time to time, but not a day went by with out her doing something to the Hebert girl.

Sophia had joined in, with amusement at first, mostly to see what it would take for the Hebert girl to snap and punch Emma's face in, or attack Sophia. That would be a fun fight. You could beat a dog and punish it for a long time, but eventually it snapped and went for your throat. Sophia liked those sort of fights, it showed who the weaklings really were if they let go of the social constraints and became the beast they could be.

She had seen Emma's when she lost it, sure she didn't become an apex, that was a cape thing, but she managed a respectable mountain lion. Hard to put down for good, sneaky about her attacks, and gods dammed brutal.

Sophia had wondered what sort of beast the tall, thin, brown haired Taylor was.

Unfortunately she was still wondering, nothing they did caused the girl to react aside to close up more, she didn't counter snark, she didn't fight back, she didn't do anything. She was a turtle, weathering everything thrown at her and plodding along with her day.

Sophia had stopped bothering with her after a few months, only helping out when Madison suggested doing something. She didn't actually care about the Hebert girl, considering her a lost cause. Her current interests were pushing a group of ABB and E88 in the school into an all out brawl, though Emma was mildly invested in that, she was always focused on Hebert.

Sophia wondered if it was some stupid way her friend was trying to show affection to the Hebert girl, but honestly that wasn't her business.

"I'm out, my rides probably here already. See ya." Sophia stated heading down the hall hoping that she would be allowed out to hunt tonight, the new director was still an unknown, though she would meet her personally tomorrow. She wondered what kind of animal this Emily Piggot was.