[Armsmaster[28th February]

"Director Piggot has called you for a private meeting, Armsmaster." Miss Militia(Hannah), his long time colleague/friend informed him. He looked up from his laptop, giving her a curt nod. She took that as an affirmation and moved on. Were these normal circumstances, she would have tried to make small talk with him as usual.

She was one of the only people who tried to maintain any semblance of friendship with him, even after his admittedly less-than-stellar behaviour over the years. Unfortunately, these were anything but normal circumstances.

The last few weeks were tiring to say the least. 'Alexandria's great scam' as they were calling it didn't just affect PRT. The Protectorate was affected as well, due to their direct connection with the National agency. And that was ignoring all the problems that were cropping up in their own local branch.

Colin closed down his laptop and started going towards the Director's office, but not before changing the current encryption on the laptop. Heroism, thy name is paranoia.

He thought about the latest announcements released by Prophet. He was still of the opinion that the brat(no older trigger would be this trigger happy, pardon the pun) was a menace to society as a whole. While his announcements have definitely done the job of improving the world, that was but an unintentional side effect.

The chaotic cape's end goal was chaos and they thought of the chaos they caused as entertainment. They were anything but heroic. He was glad that his wards(since when did he start thinking of them as his wards?) were of the same opinion.

Brockton Bay was a powder-keg waiting to go off. The only thing needed was a spark and Colin was afraid that Coil's current plans were going to be that spark. While he was thankful to Prophet for the heads up, they could have just informed this to the PRT in private.

This just confirmed to him that the powerful Thinker's personality could be summed up in one word: Chaotic. Otherwise, why would someone want to see the city they and their crush(point of obsession) live in, be subjected to a gang war?

Looks like he reached the Director's office.

Knock Knock

"Please enter, Armsmaster," came the stern voice of Emily Piggot, the Director of PRT-ENE. Despite the differences in their opinions, Colin couldn't help but respect the woman. Now only if she stopped being so stubborn and allowed Panacea to cure her.

He entered the room only to see Director Piggot's desk being littered with hundreds of documents. He couldn't help the sigh that escaped him. It was the same thing as the others. The last few weeks were truly tumultuous.

He approached her desk and calmly sat down on one of the free chairs. Both of them were soldiers by mindset and didn't have any time for pleasantries or mindgames. That was one of the only things they both liked about each other.

"Be blunt with me, Armsmaster. What are the chances that the Bay will be plunged into a Gang War in the next week?" She immediately cut to the chase, an annoyed look in her eye. There was a look in her eye. Colin knew that look intimately, that same look greeted him in the mirror every time he went to an Endbringer battle.

"A near 100% chance, Director. The Empire will be out for blood. Lung is not going to sit quietly especially when such a massive fight is going around. And the Merchants are surely going to use this opportunity to cause mayhem.

"We are lucky that the Empire doesn't know that Undersiders used to work for Coil. Otherwise, they would be out against New Wave." He grimaced and he was sure that Director Piggot did, as well. Empire and New Wave had a long running enmity. The only reason why no one from the family had murdered someone from the Neo-nazis was their morals and their stance on heroism.

He was thankful for that. Otherwise, this city would have been lost to a war years ago. Unfortunately, the Undersiders being under New Wave would undermine the fragile peace between the two factions. He wasn't counting on Coil's generosity. If the madman could plan on exposing E88, he could certainly manipulate the pieces to get a fight between former villains and the Neo-nazis started.

"That…would be highly problematic. Are the wards ready for such combat if the worst comes to pass?" His lips twitched into a frown. While he couldn't blame the Director for this decision, he did feel it to be contemptible. Or maybe that was his new self-hate talking. After all, it had merely been half a month since the time he thought of the wards as child soldiers as well.

"I don't think so, Director. Kid Win needs some more time to recover from the trauma before he is allowed in the field. He has been becoming increasingly paranoid. It would be unwise for him to fight at this time. Shadow Stalker is scheduled for juvie. We can't place our hope in her.

"The rest of the wards are physically ready but the back to back incidents are taking a toll on them. They would certainly be able to fight in the field but not at their best." The incident with Shadow Stalker made him feel angry, not only at the villainous girl but also at himself. He was…is truly a 'douchebag'(as Vista would say), isn't he? At least, he was trying to improve.

And to think it took a ward nearly killing another one to shake him out of his fucked up mindset. While Kid W- Chris, Chris was attacked by Shadow Stalker, his first thought wasn't 'how to save him?' or 'I'll avenge him'. It was 'It would be inefficient to let his inventions go to waste'. That was the thing that shocked him. Since when did he become so callous with the lives of fucking children, especially ones he had known for years?

For god's sake, he tried to emulate his idol 'Hero', the man who always stayed true to his name. Since when did he start becoming so robotic? The incident shook him to his core. It was like a switch went off in his head. He tried to understand social cues, tried to socialise with the Protectorate members, the wards and generally tried to be more empathetic. The repeated Master/Stranger protocols were worth it in his opinion even if they were inefficient.

"I understand. Still, I require you and the others in the Protectorate to help them be prepared for the shoe to drop at any second." Her tone was stern and indicated that she wouldn't accept any compromise.

"Very well, Director. Do you have anything else to discuss with me?" He asked while standing up to leave, mostly as a courtesy.

"Yes, Armsmaster." He froze. Did he miss any cues? He was confident that he was supposed to move out after this.

"I would request you to not lay your eyes on any of the Wards. I know you like them young but please spare the Wards." The mirth in her tone was not lost to anyone. He groaned. Why was everyone suddenly making pedophile jokes around him? He wasn't a technophile nor a pedophile damnit.

A/N: Short chap but I couldn't think of anything else to include in this one. There will be a Cauldron chap next and then another containing Taylor. The PHO chap will be after the next two. Also, the Voting is open for another day.

Goodbye and stay tuned for the next chapter.