"Do you have to flirt with everything with two legs and long hair?" Spitfire grouched at Newter as the three of us made our way down the streets of Boston. The three of us were in costume, allowed to openly display our status as such thanks to the deal with Accord. As such, most civilians on the street were giving us a wide berth. Well that, or recording us with wide open mouths and phones held in their hands.

Newter just gave her a slight smirk, taking a deliberate sip of the coffee he had managed to acquire for free by blatantly flirting with the cashier. He gave a satisfied hum at the taste, "It's not my fault that people can't seem to resist all of this." He gestured towards his body suggestively.

Emily snorted, "Oh yeah, they're really dying to get their hands on you. Must be something in the water."

"I've just got the magic touch baby." Newter wiggled his fingers at Spitfire, "Nobody can resist."

"Resist the drug cocktail maybe." Emily muttered, eliciting a laugh from Newter. I smiled slightly at their banter, glad that they were able to so easily rib each other without any hurt feelings resulting from it. Emily had really acclimated to our little group, coming out of the shell we had found her in more and more recently and I was extremely happy to see it.

My smile didn't last long however, falling back into a light frown under my mask as their playful argument continued. Normally, I would jump at the chance to join them, but today I just wasn't in the mood, unable to muster up any cheer as my mind was consumed with thoughts of a certain someone. I let out a silent sigh, shoulders slumping ever so slightly

"You alright dude?" I blinked, turning to Newter to find him staring at me with a look of slight concern.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm just a little lost in my head at the moment." I said softly

He gave me a knowing look, "Have you still not been able to get into contact with your friend?" He asked, tossing the rest of his coffee in a nearby trash can as we passed it.

I shook my head, "No. I know she's probably hurt but she hasn't even read my texts. It's… odd."

Since arriving in Boston, I had made good on my promise to call Christine, and had done so around eight times over the past five days. I hadn't been able to get ahold of her once, not by calling nor by texting and it was starting to worry me. I knew she was probably hurt and a little bit angry, but it seemed a bit odd that she would deliberately ignore my constant calls like this. Odd, and more than a little concerning.

Christine wasn't the type to hold a grudge, hadn't been since we were kids. Oh sure, she could argue and get angry with the best of them, but she was normally the first person to forgive and forget at the end of the day after angers had cooled.

"I'm starting to get worried." I confessed as we stopped in front of an empty alley.

"Is that the girl who kissed you?" Emily asked curiously, leaning around Newter to look at me.

I felt a bit of heat come to my cheeks, "She didn't kiss me. She just… gave me a peck on the cheek is all. That's it."

I reflexively activated my powers as Newter slung her arm around my shoulders, my skin becoming metal as the other teen pulled me into him, patting me on the head like a child as I turned a glare his way.

"She's not telling you the whole story, Spit." Newter began, ignoring the way Emily put her hand on her hips at the name, "Our little Aspect here is actually head-over-heels in love with her fellow blonde. She spends hours at a time just texting the girl, swooning every time she receives a response. I bet her heart yearns for her presence like some modern day Romeo and Juliet, so close yet so very far away." He gave a theatrical sigh, "It's so romantic."

I just stared at him incredulously at his absolutely insane words, "What the hell are you talking about? I don't swoon! And get off me!" I shrugged his arm off of my shoulder, ducking under it to stand in front of him. I turned to Spitfire, huffing, "I think we need to get Newter checked. He's clearly gotten some sort of mentally debilitating disease. I'm betting brain worms."

"I couldn't help but notice you didn't deny the head-over-heels part." Newter smirked at me, and I felt the beginnings of a blush on my cheekbones and hoped to god that he couldn't see it, "Admit it Aspect, you're totally in love with her."

I huffed as Emily gave me a curious look, "Like I said, a gross exaggeration. I'm not in love with Christine." I looked away slightly, "I might have a little crush on her, but that's as far as it goes."

"Aha!" Newter pointed at me, smiling widely like he had just won some massive victory, "A confession!"

"But that's as far as it goes!" I repeated, getting slightly annoyed by his insistent attitude. I sighed, "And besides, even if I was, I probably already fucked that up."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked curiously.

I sighed, realizing that there was no way either of them would let this go now that I had already started talking about it. Might as well get it over with.

"She called me a bit before we took off for Boston." I began, "I'll admit I had been avoiding her as I thought about what to do, but she beat me to contacting her."

"She-I think she was going to confess to me or something. She didn't actually say it, but I could tell that it was on her mind at the very least."

"And what did you say?" Emily asked.

I grimaced, "I didn't let her finish her sentence… and then I told her to give me some time to think."

Newter winced, "Ooh, give me some time? That's pretty bad dude."

I sighed, "I know. Hell, I knew it at the time, but it's true. I needed time to think about it. Both of us did, I think."

"What do you mean? I thought she was going to confess to you." Emily tilted her head and though I couldn't see much of her face through the tint of her mask, I could tell she was confused.

"Chris… she's not in the best place right now." I explained hesitantly, "She's a recruiter for the Empire but-"

"Wait, you're friends with an Empire member?" Emily interrupted incredulously, and even Newter looked surprised, "You hate the Empire!"

"She isn't like them!" I winced at the heat in my voice, as well as the shocked way my friend's were looking at me. I looked around, glad that people were still giving us a wide berth and as such, probably couldn't hear any of the conversation. Still, wanting a bit more privacy, I grabbed both of my friends and pulled them into a nearby unoccupied alley.

I looked back at them, taking a small breath, "Sorry." I apologized, "I'm not sure what that was but I shouldn't have talked to you like that."

Newter waved me off, "It's fine dude, you're clearly bent out of shape about this. Just don't bite our heads off, yeah? We just wanna help." He smiled lightly at me, one I returned.

I took a moment to compose myself, before continuing my story.

"Chris doesn't want to be in the Empire. Never did. But her parents have some sort of stake on the inside of the gang. They pushed her into it, forcing her to join the gang as a recruiter." I looked down at my gloves, "That's when we stopped talking. I wasn't willing to stay connected with someone who, at the time, I thought had willingly joined the people who had caused my family so much trouble. Not even my best friend."

"It was only once we got reconnected after my parent's death that I learned the whole story, and by then it was way too late to change anything, if I even could have in the first place. Everyone she knew besides me was related to the Empire in some way, and even her extended family wasn't willing to help her get away." I grit my teeth lightly, "Not to mention, her cousin is one of Kaiser's lieutenants and has been keeping an eye on her recently so I can't even get her away without having to fight the bastard. And Christine doesn't seem to think I can beat him."

"Wait seriously?" Newter asked incredulously. I nodded and he let out a surprised huff, "Wow, she's got really shit luck huh?"

I let out a humorless laugh, "That's an understatement. She had been getting by during highschool just recruiting people, not taking part in the more extreme parts of the group, but that changed a few weeks ago." I clenched my fist, "Apparently her cousin cottoned on to the fact that Chris wasn't completely down with what they were doing, and wasn't happy about it. He's started to insist she actually take the initiation despite already being a member, and her parents are right the fuck behind him to."

"If she doesn't do it, they'll send her away for 'reconditioning'. Whatever the fuck that means." I spat.

I took a moment to calm down, during which Newter put a comforting hand on my shoulder. I gave him a thankful look, before continuing.

"...I won't lie and say that being with Chris like that doesn't interest me, but there are actually reasons I can't do it." I sighed, leaning my head back against the alley wall as I pulled my hood down to relish in the cool brick behind me, "As fucked as it sounds, I know I'm probably one of the only positives in her life right now. If we got together, there would always be that little voice in the back of my head wondering if I'm just taking advantage of her. It would be so easy to do, and I don't want to use her that way."

"Then don't." Emily said softly.

"It's not that simple though." I said tiredly.

"I think it is." She said right back and I blinked at the words, spoken so confidently. Emily gave me an intense look, somehow visible even underneath the shaded material of her mask, "If you don't want to take advantage of her, then don't. Just because you're one of her main pillars of support at the moment doesn't mean you have to take advantage of that fact. Not every power dynamic has to be acted on, and the fact that you were even worried about that in the first place makes me think it's unlikely you'd do it even by accident."

"So what? I should just start dating her right after we became friends again?" I asked sarcastically, turning my eyes to Newter as he chimed in.

"Why not? Sure, you guys probably aren't gonna be exactly like you were before she joined the Empire, but you could be better. You aren't a bad person Val, and from what you've told me, your friend kinda needs something good in her life right about now. That something could be you." Newter then shrugged, "Or don't say anything. Comfort in familiarity and all that. If you don't think you're ready for a relationship with her or that one wouldn't be healthy for you guys, then she should understand that. That's what friends do."

I didn't know what to say to that. I just stared at him for a long moment, eyes wide at the words spewing from my laidback friend's mouth, "When the fuck did you two become so damn wise?" I demanded

Emily just shrugged, while Newter's soft smile shifted into a much more familiar smirk. He leaned back, propping himself up with his tail as he put his arms behind his head with a sigh, "I'm stuffed full of wisdom baby. Not my fault you guys are incapable of seeing it."

I rolled my eyes, feeling much lighter than I had mere moments ago, "Yeah, sure thing man. I'll remember that the next time you forget to take your bagel bites out of the oven and nearly set the kitchen on fire."

"It only happened once!"

"Three times actually." I corrected, "Just because Gregor caught them before they actually lit up, doesn't mean they wouldn't have." I turned to Emily, giving her a serious look, "If you see Newter in the kitchen, make sure to alert whoever is close by. He's more of a fire hazard than your spit."

She gave me a serious nod, "Will do. I'll also make sure to check the fire extinguishers when we get back home. They might be expired."

"You both suck."

That set Emily and I off, and I had to place a bracing hand on the wall behind me to stay standing from the force of my laughter. Newter eventually joined us, giving some soft chuckles of his own at the friendly ribbing.

It was somewhat freeing to laugh like this. The weight that had been on my shoulders for the past few days had lightened quite a bit.

"...Thank you." I said sincerely as our laughter died off, giving them both smiles as I pulled my hood back over my head, "Both of you. You guys really helped me get my head on straight."

"That's what we're here for." Emily nodded happily. Before looking away slightly, "Well that, and this job pays really well."

I smirked, remembering a fun little tidbit, "Are you sure it isn't because you enjoy staring at-"

I cut myself short, whipping my head to the side as I was interrupted by the sounds of shattering glass over a block away, quickly followed by a loud boom and numerous screams. The sudden shift in mood was drastic, going from light-hearted to serious in an instant as The three of us sped from the alley. We looked towards the noise and found a crowd of people rushing towards us, panic and terror plain on their faces, "What the hell?" Newter muttered in surprise.

Reaching out, I grabbed a teen with way too many zippers on his clothes as he ran past me, pulling him towards me to be heard over the steadily loudening din of screams. He gave me a panicked look as I pulled him in, jerking his arm in an attempt to get out of my grip, "Let go!" he shouted, pulling away so hard I was worried his arm was going to be torn from his socket.

I placed a steadying hand on his shoulder, keeping him still to prevent him from hurting himself against my steel body, "Calm down dude! We aren't gonna hurt you, we just want to know what's going on!"

"It's the Teeth!" He yelled out, fear on his face, "They came out of nowhere a-and just started breaking things and beating people up for no reason! There weren't many of them at first, only two with costumes and a few grunts, but then more appeared out of nowhere wearing the same costume as one of the capes!"

That sounded like Spree. From what I recalled, his power allowed him to make a shitton of clones. Must be great at parties with a trick like that.

"A-are you guys heroes?" The teen asked hopefully, taking in our costumes with wary hopefulness.

I looked over to my companions, finding them both looking towards me for what to do next which was… odd. When the hell did I become the one who decided what to do?

Either way, I had been given apparent command and I needed to figure out our next move. Let's see… the Teeth were much more bloodthirsty than most gangs, and as such would need to be treated with much more caution.

Spree was already a known entity in the possible fight, but Newter's own powers basically hard countered his own and Spitfire's did as well. That left the other one to contend with. I racked my mind in an attempt to think of the Teeth's current members and their powers.

There was Vex, a Shaker with the ability to create a field of miniature, razor-sharp force fields in a radius around her, I could probably deal with her. There was Hemorrhagia, a hemokinetic with limited biokinesis in that she could also control her own blood, once again, I could probably deal with her. There was Reaver who I honestly had no clue about, and Animos, a Changer who could temporarily shut off powers with his voice; that could be a problem. And finally, there was Butcher XIV, formerly Quarrel.

Needless to say, none of us were fighting that crazy bitch.

Other than that, there wasn't really anybody in the Teeth that the three of us shouldn't be able to deal with together barring maybe Animos, but I doubted his power would even work on Newter in the first place. That left the most important question, why should we bother?

Well, we were currently in a contract with Accord, which meant that it would likely be beneficial to do whatever we could to be seen in a good light. Stopping a riot by the Teeth in the Ambassador's territory was an extremely good way to do that. Accord's office and main building was pretty far away from our current location, and from what I knew he didn't employ any Movers so it wasn't likely anyone would get here in a reasonable length of time.

Not only that, but Charleston was rarely patrolled by the Protectorate due to how orderly Accord himself tended to keep things. That meant that the actual heroes wouldn't be arriving for several minutes at the very least. And judging by the growing sounds of destruction down the street, a few minutes would be too long. There was no telling who might be hurt in that time and we were basically already right there. Hmm…

I looked back towards my team, inclining my head towards the growing destruction. Newter answered with an eager smile, while Emily just shrugged. Good enough for me.

I looked back to the teen who was watching our exchange with some confusion. I clapped him on the shoulder, careful not to use too much force and accidentally break it, "Well, we aren't usually heroes. But it looks like we're changing career paths for a little bit. Lucky you."

He looked a little lost as I let him go, staring at me with a confused expression. I gave him a shooing motion, urging him into fleeing once more, before turning back to my friends.

"Alright folks, looks like we've got some heads to bust if we're gonna keep our contractor happy. Are you ready for this?"

Somewhat eager expressions were all I got in response, and I grinned in response, feeling a bit of anticipation well up inside of me, "Then let's get to it!"

A good fight was just what I needed to get my mind off of all that heavy stuff we had just talked about.

Next several chapters available for Patrons!