"Dragon, report," Armsmaster said into his comm.

"Freakazoid!, Vista, and Umbridge remain sedated and are approaching their destinations: Parahuman Asylum East, Ellisburg garrison, and the Bird Cage, respectively."

"Good. Alert me of any changes in the situation."

"Understood, but I suspect if anything was going to happen, it already would have."

"I agree. I doubt we'll be seeing any of those three again for a very long time. Armsmaster out."

Armsmaster allowed himself a small satisfied smile and—

"The light's green, Armsmasshole!" shouted the obese man in the car behind the hero, bringing an abrupt end to his reverie. Choosing not to acknowledge the man or his crude words, he drove his motorcycle forward and continued his patrol.

"Console to Armsmaster, a disturbance has been reported in your area," his comm announced. "Marking the location on your map now."

"Acknowledged. Moving to investigate."

Speeding toward the indicated spot, he ran a quick check of his systems in case a fight with parahumans was imminent. With luck, one would be. The events of yesterday hadn't resulted in any disciplinary actions—he hadn't been doing anything wrong, after all—but the hour long harangue from Umbridge had certainly felt like one. And of course, Vista's 'completely understandable acting out' (the Youth Guard's term for assaulting a superior officer with a parahuman power, apparently) was going to result in more coddling of the Ward rather than punishment. Yes, a fight was exactly what he needed right now.

Entering the area of the disturbance, he slowed down and carefully scanned for anything suspicious. There, 4 Merchants being zip tied by… of course. He pulled over and dismounted, taking his halberd in hand.

"Freakazoid! I'm taking you in! I assume you won't come quietly," he added with a grim smile as he shifted into a martial arts stance.

"Oh, hi, Armsmaster. Take me in? What do you mean?" asked Freakazoid! as she finished up with the Merchants.

"As a result of ignoring numerous attempts to contact you after an extended encounter with the Simurgh, you have been deemed potentially compromised. You are required to present yourself to the PRT for debriefing and examination, immediately."

"Contact me?" Freakazoid! blinked and pulled out her phone.

"You have 56 unread messages."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Armsmaster. I was out of touch while I recuperated, and when I got back, the first voicemail was from Amy and I called her immediately, of course, and totally forgot there were more after it. Would it be ok if I came in for that debriefing now?"

"You! You forgot to check your messages?!" demanded Armsmaster in a mixture of fury and disbelief.

"Yeah. I mean, what else could it be? I was only near the Simurgh for, like, 5 minutes, tops."

"I! You!" With a soft whine, a portion of his visor retracted and a small waldo extruded from his helmet to massage the bridge of his nose.

"Armsmaster?" Freakazoid! cautiously asked, concern clear in her voice, "are you ok?"

Armsmaster took a deep breath. After a moment, the waldo retracted and his visor returned to its normal state. "I am fine. To confirm, you are agreeing to accompany me to the PHQ for debriefing and examination?"

"Ooh, I haven't been there! Sure! Should I just hop on the bike behind you?"

"No! Ahem, I mean, no, I will call in transportation. One moment, please."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," she said, pushing a button on a small blue remote as Armsmaster reported in over his comm.

"What are you—" Armsmaster started to demand before diving out of the way as the Freakmobile screeched to a stop almost on top of where he'd been. Growling as his visor reported that the car would not have hit him, eliminating the possibility of considering its arrival an attack that would have justified vigorous self-defense, he stiffly mounted his bike and directed the other hero to follow him.

"Did you know, according to Totally Untrue Facts about the Protectorate, this place used to be a functional oil rig before it was acquired by the Protectorate?"

"Preposterous," scoffed Armsmaster as they walked down the corridor, trailed by two troopers.

"Well, yeah, otherwise it wouldn't be totally untrue. Ooh! I heard your Ward cloning thing is going to make it into the next edition!" A few seconds later, she noticed the hero had stopped and was standing in place, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Armsmaster? Are you sure you're ok?"

"He's fine, Freakazoid!,' said Miss Militia, as she walked around the next corner and over to them. "Several times a day, he performs grip exercises to keep in prime fighting condition."

"Wow, what dedication," Freakazoid! breathed in admiration.

"Oh yes, he is quite committed. Why don't I escort you the rest of the way so he can finish them."

"Okay." Lowering her voice so as not to disturb him, she added, "Bye, Armsmaster."

Armsmaster did not reply.

O

"This is cozier than I expected," Freakazoid! remarked as she looked around the room with its comfy chairs and small tables, "It looks more like a lounge."

"It is a lounge. Your interviewer isn't quite ready yet. Would you like anything to eat or drink while you wait?"

"I don't suppose you have a broccocino?"

"A what?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine, then."

O

"We're ready, miss. If you'd please follow me."

Freakazoid! put away her phone and followed the trooper to a door where he knocked once before indicating she should enter. When she did, the door closed behind her, leaving her in a dimly lit meeting room, empty aside from the shadowy figure sitting at the other end of the conference table. Walking over to the table, she sat down and took a closer look at the other occupant.

"Wow! Alexandria! I didn't expect you to be here."

"We thought it would be prudent. First, on behalf of the Protectorate as a whole, thank you for removing the Simurgh from Brockton Bay before she caused any damage or loss of life."

"It was my pleasure and my duty."

Alexandria nodded. "Now, please explain your words to the Simurgh when you attacked her and tell me what happened after she departed with you."

Freakazoid! drew herself up dramatically and opened her mouth.

"The truth."

Freakazoid! closed her mouth and looked at Alexandria.

"I understand that what occurred may not be suitable for public consumption, but at the highest level of the Protectorate, we need to know. I promise you that this information will not be disseminated, even within the organization, if it is deemed too sensitive."

Freakazoid! exhaled deeply, then nodded. "All right. I can understand that. So, I would have defended the city from any Endbringer, but when I heard it was the Simurgh, I had to get answers from her. Why she'd manipulated events … to make me into Freakazoid!."

"So, you are Taylor Hebert, then."

Freakazoid!'s jaw dropped and her vigorous gesticulations, though silent, were easy to interpret as an exclamation of disbelief and a demand to know what had happened to the unwritten rules.

"Did you honestly expect us not to thoroughly investigate an incident where a master was willingly working with the Simurgh and had operated undetected for years? Our thinkers determined your identity with over 90% certainty and considered it highly improbable that you were compromised. Your identity has been classified on a need to know basis; not even regional directors have been informed."

Freakazoid! inhaled deeply and sighed. "Ok… I guess I can understand that. Right, so after I jumped her…"

Alexandria listened impassively to the depiction of the encounter. "That … was not what I expected to hear. Do you have any proof?"

Freakazoid! quietly passed over her autograph book.

"I'll need to have this examined, but it should be returned to you afterwards, unless the results preclude that. I can tell you now that the true events of your encounter will not be shared with the public or the Protectorate and PRT. I will have someone contact you with the details of the official version we will be releasing."

"All right," Freakazoid! quietly acknowledged. "So, what do you think of what happened?"

"I think, unless you are completely delusional, that we understand the Endbringers far less than we think we do. Here's my personal number. If you encounter anything else that could be related to the Simurgh or Madison, contact me. If there's nothing else, you just have the formality of your examination before you're free to go."

"Weeeelll, if you wouldn't mind?" Freakazoid! asked with a nod toward her autograph book.

"After it's been examined."