"Call off your dogs!" Grue shouted. "Call off your dogs NOW!"

"Needs to be done," Bitch grunted. "Don't matter what she says. A traitor is a traitor."

Panacea cried out in pain as a rottweiler's teeth shredded her wrists. Her knees buckled and a German Shepard and a hairless terrier were barking and snapping at her face. Luckily for Bitch, Panacea curled up into a ball and wet herself instead of using her powers to turn the dogs inside out.

"She can heal your dogs," said Tattletale desperately, as Regent popped a frozen philly cheese steak in the microwave. "She can bring back Brutus's tail and Judas's eye!"

I was rapidly running out of patience with the entire situation.

"Enough pretty words," said Bitch. "She'll fucking get u-"

Grue interrupted her with a slap, and Bitch whistled- called off the dogs at last.

"I fucking hate it," said Grue. "When you make me do that."

Panacea trembled on the ground still curled up in the fetal position, soaked in a puddle of her own urine. Browbeat's flesh slowly wrapped around her, hugging her.

Grue berated Bitch, but she just looked past him and shot Panacea a mean, smug sneer of a smile.

Dumb, dumb, dumb! Why the fuck was everyone being so fucking dumb! Yeah I got where Bitch was coming from, but Panacea was waayy out of her weight class. Ever heard of picking a fight you can fucking win? And if not, at the very least attack hard enough to prevent retaliation! If Bitch was gonna pull a stunt like this, the least she could do was transform her dogs first instead of taking ineffective half measures and leaving the rest of us to clean up her mess.

And Grue was being needlessly soft. The slap had been good, but words were just words. Pretty, but they weren't gonna do anything to actually solve the problem. It reminded me of some of my teachers back at Winslow. Especially Mr Gladly and all the shit he'd said to me. He'd been happy to give me some kind words of support, but actually helping me- doing the unpleasant work of dissuading Madison from being such a colossal cunt had been too much for him. Afterall, if he actually did his job she might not want to be his fucking friend.

I shuffled up to Bitch and Grue, and kicked her head like it was a soccer ball. I held her face down against the hardwood floor of our headquarters, applying a knee to the small of her back.

"If you whistle," I said. "I'm gonna teleport you into Protectorate Headquarters. Nod if you understand."

Bitch nodded.

"How'd you manage getting one of your stamps in there?" Asked Regent, taking a bite out of his sandwich and spitting it out into his hand. "Fuck! Burnt my fucking tongue!"

I ignored him.

"You should thank Panacea," I said softly. "She could have killed your dogs. Easily. If she can rewire a brain like she did Glory Girl, she can shut them off just as easily. She didn't. Bitch, I'm going to give you a warning, but this goes for all of you.

"We don't fight between ourselves. Spars are fine, arguments are fine, but if you brawl… If you use your powers against your teammates. Then you become just another villain to me- worse than one really, you become a liability, an unreliable tool. To be clear, Bitch, this means I kill you. Am I understood?"

Bitch nodded.

I let Bitch get up. "You're cleaning this up," I said to her, pointing at Panacea's piss. "And Panacea gets three free punches on you at a time of her choosing."

Bitch snarled at me but went to get a mop. She could snarl all she wanted as long as she was compliant.

"And Panacea," I said. "There will be no further retaliation. Understand? Tattletale, get her a change of clothes."

"Thank you," said Panacea quietly as I helped her to the bathroom, her face all red from adrenaline. I felt something slimy slide against my arm. Browbeat.

I grunted. "We're going to have to do something about that."

ooOoo

Browbeat rushed at me. I tripped as I stumbled backward, making little waves from the fruit roll up wrappers Regent had left on the floor of our headquarters.

I was angry. At Browbeat for betraying me after I'd stuck my neck out for him, at myself for letting him. When was I ever gonna learn? Never trust anyone, ever.

Betrayal was inevitable.

Browbeat pulled back, cackling. I sensed Regent stand in the other room. When he pulled open the door he was laughing in the exact same cadence.

Oh I see. It had all been a joke. On me. How fucking funny.

The easy thing to do would be to let it slide, pretend I was cool with it, maybe play along. I'd made that mistake with Sophia, with Emma at first. I'd thought that after all we'd been through together a few cruel barbs could be ignored. It had just made me look weak.

"Never," I said. "Do that again. I could have killed him."

Or worse, teleported him to the stamp Clockblocker had placed in the Protectorate. Regent had almost made me blow our entire operation for a fucking joke.

"That would've made it even funnier," said Regent chipperly, making Browbeat pick his nose and flick a booger at me. I teleported it away without a second glance. "You should see the look on your face."

Regent would need to be disciplined for this. Later. Not in front of Browbeat. I knew how much the so-called heroes hated anything resembling accountability, they were the team of second chances. And third, and fourth, and fifth… Unless of course you were unpopular and actually tried to hold a powerful cape to the PRT's own standards, that- apparently- was unforgivable.

It was a lesson in bureaucratic power. I'd always wondered why none of the teachers had stood up to Emma, done what was right. The ones who would have had already been fired.

"Release him," I said.

In a moment, Browbeat was Browbeat again. He glared down at me. "I should have snapped your neck when I had the chance."

Amy scowled at him.

I nodded at Regent. "Do it."

Browbeat was picking his nose once more. If he stood against us, Regent could master him in moments.

"It won't work," said Browbeat, as soon as Regent had released him. "This plan to use me to infiltrate the PRT. The first thing they'll do is screen me and make sure I haven't been mastered. It'll just be another fight."

Really? They'd fight me because I let him go? Of course they would. Try to do something good, and your enemies would exploit it. Obvious Tay, obvious. The middle-class morality my parents had taught me was a luxury in the real world; winners and losers were determined by force and domination. My job was to be as good a person as I could while still being strong enough to defeat the monsters.

"Easy there Humpty Dumpty," Tattletale chirped, slinging an arm over my shoulder. I bristled at her impudence. "You were a pile of slime this morning, one that Panacea was wearing for body armor. My friend here talked her into putting you back together again. She wanted to release you, but I was afraid that you'd turn against us as soon as we did anything even slightly nefarious. And we can't have that, can we? So your friend Everywhere got ole Regent here to master you, so the good folks in the PRT have no choice but to transfer you. You get to walk free and we don't have to worry about fighting you. Problem solved."

"Oh," said Browbeat.

"Oh," said Tattletale. "What was that about wanting to snap her neck again?"

"I misjudged you," said Browbeat. "I'm sorry. Whatever else the two of you have done, you saved my life. So thank you."

Panacea preened at the praise. I didn't understand why she cared. As if a few words could make everything okay, erase that he'd threatened to kill me. He'd shown his colors. As if I gave a shit about him or anything he said.

Whatever. As I watched him waddle out of our headquarters like an obese duck, I felt a bit of relief. He'd been an issue and I'd resolved it. That's really all I'd done it for, so I had one less thing to worry about.

"He probably isn't exactly as he was before," said Panacea. "I had to do some guesswork on his brain. He'll have some spots in his memories. Do you think that'll be okay? I really wasn't trying to master him."

"He's fine," I said. It was done. It was one thing to analyze past work for technical weaknesses that your enemies might find and exploit, but judging the morality of decisions made on the battlefield after the fact was for the loser journalists in TIME who had no idea what they were talking about. Claiming I was the next… They didn't know, they hadn't been there! That girl had been deformed and yeah- maybe I could have saved her after I'd recruited Panacea, but I hadn't known that…

Okay, maybe I had made some mistakes in the past, but I'd thought I'd been doing the right thing at the time. I might not be able to say that I'd been a good person, but I'd always tried my best. TIME, CNN, Fox and CBS were all a bunch of PRT shills who were too scared or stupid to see the obvious good I was doing. They should have been thanking me. At least one of them should have been thanking me. None of them even tried. Instead they tried to paint me as the next…

It didn't matter. They were just bullies, no different than Emma or Madison.

"Oh," said Panacea. "Well um… That's good."

"Hey, nobody expects perfection," said Tattletale. "If it weren't for you he'd be dead. His parents have a son because of you. Do you really think they'll care about a few differences?"

"So much of him is different though," said Panacea. "Can he still even be considered Browbeat anymore?"

"Yes," I said.

"It's just so risky to make such big changes," said Panacea. "I'm never sure if I'm actually healing them back exactly right."

"Yeah," said Regent. "You made Tats's tits slightly bigger when you put her back together. Big fan of the change personally, but it does raise an interesting point."

Panacea spluttered through an unconvincing denial. Tattletale glanced down at her chest.

"Why are you so focused on your sister?" Asked Regent. "I get having the hots for her, but you can literally make anyone look exactly like her. Why don't you find a fan, use your power to make them look like Glory Girl, and then fuck the shit out of them? I bet there are plenty of people who'd do it if it meant sleeping with a cape."

"I would never do something like that," said Panacea, looking over at me with her one eye. "It's wrong! Disgusting! I've changed! I won't give in to temptation ever again!"

Regent laughed. "Anyone wanna bet on how long that lasts? I give her five days."

"Two," said Tattletale.

"This isn't a fucking game," said Panacea heatedly. "I'm not gonna do anything like that ever again. I understand that it's wrong now, that I can do better."

"Do you?" Asked Tattletale. "Because I don't recall asking you to make any changes to my perfect tits. Crazy as it sounds, some of us actually like our bodies."

"Yeah well," said Panacea, "Like I said, mistakes happen with big changes. Maybe you shouldn't have asked me to redo your whole fucking body if you were that worried about perfection."

"A mistake is fine," said Tattletale. "But it wasn't a mistake, was it?"

Panacea was silent for a moment, then scowled. "It was an improvement. I made you better, prettier, you should be thanking me."

Tattletale's eyes darted to mine and then back to Panacea. "I'm fine with it. I let you make the change, but if I'd been anyone else, do you even understand why it would have been wrong?"

Panacea opened her mouth, closed it. Looked around the room in a panic, like one of us would give her an answer. "Um… Because… Because using my powers like that is wrong?"

Tattletale groaned. "Do you even understand why mastering Victoria made her angry?"

"Alright, how about no," said Panacea. "It must be so easy, looking down at me. For being tempted. You just don't understand, and you never will. I wondered how you could be so cruel until I touched you, saw everything you are Tattletale. You're asexual, you'll never understand love. You think you're so smart, you're fucking clueless to 90% of what other people are going through. That's why you can be so cruel, so callous, because when it comes to what makes life worth living you're just a stupid child."

I leaned in. Panacea had asked for it. Just this once, I could enjoy the artistry of Tattletale's invective.

"I'm not asexual," said Tattletale weakly. "It's just… my powers… I'm not."

Huh… Not what I'd been expecting. Felt a little… Personal. Inappropriate. Invasive. Of course, Tattletale definitely had it coming, but… Not from Panacea. That's why it felt so wrong, because it had come from Panacea.

I put a hand on Tattletale's shoulder.

"Of course I understand that it was wrong," said Panacea, glaring at me. "That Vicky didn't feel that way about me, and that she wouldn't like it. Not at first. But I could make her happier than anyone. I could use my powers to make every nerve in her body scream in ecstacy, all at once, longer and more intensely than Gallant or anyone else could even dream of. I could make her feel so good that she'd never be able to forget it. Eventually, she would be grateful."

For a moment, everyone was silent.

"Well that sounds fucking awesome," said Regent. "Mind running a test case?"

Panacea smiled nervously.

"No," said Grue. "It's rape. That's why it's wrong. Because it's rape. She didn't give consent. Even if you made her feel… good… it would still be rape."

"Did you not hear the part about having every fucking nerve in your body orgasm at once?" Asked Regent. "Repeatedly and forever? I doubt even dear old Dad could do that."

"For context," said Tattletale. "Dear old Dad is Heartbreaker. Is that what you want to turn your Sis into? A mindless sex puppet? And here I thought love meant wanting the best for the other person- respecting them- wanting to help them."

Panacea squirmed. "I just… I get it alright? You win, are you happy? I don't deserve to get anything I want, I can never be happy- I get it."

She didn't. She really, really didn't.

"If you master somebody without our consent," I said. "I'm taking your other eye. Am I understood?"

Grue and Tattletale frowned. Maybe I was being too soft by only threatening an eye? They were probably right. It had been a mistake, but rescinding my words now would make me look weak.

"In most cases you shouldn't master somebody against their will either," said Tattletale quietly. "There are some exceptions… Not many."

There were actually plenty of exceptions, but now probably wasn't the best time to point that out.

Panacea nodded. "It's not like I was going to do it anyways. Besides, I did turn Vicky back in the end. I know it's wrong. I do. I know it's rape. I understand. But…"

"But," I said. "If you can find someone in the ABB who's up for it, I don't see anything wrong with Regent's suggestion. You can make them look like Victoria, have some fun, experiment, as long as you don't master them without running it by us first."

"Okay," said Panacea. "Maybe I'll give it a try. See if it helps."

I'd had enough chit-chat, it was time to move onto the next item on the agenda. I asked the rest of the Undersiders a few questions about our general strategy. What were we going to do about the ABB? What were our next steps?

"We should just disband them," I said. "I'm willing to protect them from other capes, but I'm not going to allow hard drugs or prostitution in my territory."

Panacea nodded along vigorously, in a way that was just a little off-putting.

"Can you enforce that?" Asked Tattletale. "People need money. You can tell them not to do something all you like, but if there's money to be made, someone is going to do it."

"I'm not going to allow hard drugs or prostitution in my territory," I said.

"Then we should make overtures of an unofficial alliance with New Wave," said Grue. "Get more firepower. Also, what was the deal with you and Clockblocker?"

"Nothing," I said. The fewer people involved against Coil the better. Anyone could betray you.

Tattletale sighed, and motioned for the team to meet her outside. Once we were clear of headquarters, she started sharing.

"Our boss is a villain named Coil," said Tattletale. "His true identity is Thomas Calvert, and he's the new director of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. He created us as a false flag operation. He'll probably help us eliminate the Empire, but at some point we become loose ends. Especially now that you know his identity."

Bitch growled. "You knew? You dragged us in?"

"No fighting," I said sharply.

"He had me at gunpoint," Tattletale said, shrugging. "I did what I could. Kept some money in reserve from every job. Made some overtures to his mercenaries. But now we have control of the ABB. We have more power than Lung ever did. Sure we can throw it away, but wouldn't it be better to use it? We have control over thousands of men, we need to figure out how to use them."

"I didn't get in this for power," I said.

"That's right," said Tattletale. "You wanted to make Brockton Bay just a little better, but besides eliminating the bullies, what does that even mean?"

"That isn't really my job," I said. "I was given powers to elimin-"

"And now you've been given the ABB," said Tattletale. "Thousands willing to follow you. What are you going to do with it?"

I… I didn't…

I'd never asked for…

"There's garbage everywhere in the Docks," said Tattletale. "If we create a temporary dump, you can use your powers to teleport the garbage to a real one. It's a big project, but we can use the ABB to create a little landfill, and use junior members to pick up the trash to fill it."

… That was…

Um… Okay, maybe that would make the city better, but… I was um… I'd been given superpowers, I'd defeated Lung, Bakuda, Oni Lee, and Purity. It wasn't that garbagemen were unimportant, but I mean… My powers weren't meant for small acts like beautifying the city. Besides, trash may have been smelly, but it's not like it hurt anyone. With all due humility, it would be a waste of my talents.

Grue snorted. "Gangsters will never do something so menial. They'll see it as beneath them. Maybe if we could offer them some money, but like I said, we don't have any. And that's a problem. Bad as Lung was, at least he kept things from devolving into total chaos. Kept his men from infighting. If you dissolve the ABB, there's gonna be a dozen tiny gangs with territorial disputes by the end of the month."

Tattletale's lip twitched, and she shot me a vulpine smile.

"Drugs are the main problem," I said, thinking more clearly now. I needed to attack the larger problems in Brockton Bay, not minor puff pieces. "They're destroying the city almost as much as Kaiser. We need to get them out."

"Congratulations," said Grue bitterly. "You agree with basically everyone. The question is how."

"No, not everyone," said Regent. "I want drugs. Coke is fun. Heroin is fun. And plain old life is dreadfully tedious. Sure they're dangerous, but we're capes- it's not like any of us are going to live long enough for it to matter. Besides, I can just use Panacea to heal me up good as new."

"No," I said. "I need you sober in case we come under attack."

Regent yawned. "Do you have to be a dork about everything? No fighting. No drugs. Even the Birdcage probably isn't this restrictive."

Grue punched Regent in the shoulder. "If I find out you've been doing drugs, I'll-"

"You'll be off the squad," I said. "Have fun dealing with the Empire and the Protectorate on your own."

Regent scowled. "What do you have against fun?"

It wasn't the fun I opposed, it was the dereliction of duty. Not to mention the example it would set to the other ABB members. Besides, it was loathsome, unattractive, and intolerable to be anything but your best. I wouldn't have my gang hollow themselves out into husks, in pursuit of simple fleeting pleasure.

"Maybe you can stop him. Maybe you can even stop all of us from doing them," said Tattletale. "But Regent's right. If people want to do drugs, they'll do them. And there's no way you can stop the addicts. They can't even stop themselves."

Maybe. Maybe not.

"We could create a drug that acts exactly like heroin, or crack, or meth, or whatever else, but that isn't addictive or physically harmful," I said. "Maybe test and see how much can reduce the psychoactive elements while keeping it an attractive alternative. Shorten the amount of time it lasts, and keep it from working more than once a day."

It was based off of one of the books Mom had made me read. Soma from Brave New World. I wasn't sure how well it would do as a replacement, but it would help alleviate tensions with the former drug dealers in my gang. That would allow me to focus on eliminating the Empire, rather than waste time purifying my ranks.

"I could do it," said Panacea. "Sure. I could make a drug like that. Could I make enough to replace all the drugs in the city? No."

"Maybe you don't have to," said Tattletale, sitting on top of the trunk of a car smugly. "A couple of the ABB members I interviewed had experience mass producing vaccines. If you get the drug started, we may be able to mass manufacture without you."

"Even if we have the technical know-how, where are we getting the capital?" Asked Grue. "You can't make a factory without equipment. That'll be a lot of money we still don't have."

"I've got some other ideas by the way," said Tattletale, popping some tylenol. "Tay, like I said, your power allows you to instantly teleport objects back-and-forth. There's gotta be some instances of arbitrage we can exploit. How does the price of grain in Africa compare to the price of grain in Brockton Bay? What about rice? Look for a value discrepancy and exploit it. You can do that for any market, anywhere. Your powers are a merchant's wet dream. Grue, you could be a technician in a nuclear power plant. Your power blocks radiation, you could make sure the radiation isn't going anywhere it's not supposed to. Bitch, you could be a vet. Use your power to heal sick dogs. And Panacea, if you could get a cow to anatomically match the innards of a human: same lungs, heart, liver and so on- think of the number of lives you could save. Especially if we could get the livestock reproducing independently of you. A couple hours of your time might save millions. Work smarter, not harder, and I'm the smartest damn cape you'll ever meet."

Panacea scowled. "You're trying to trick me, aren't you?"

"Grue's right," said Tattletale, rubbing her forehead. "We're going to need some money to get things started. But we could save millions of lives and make billions. Get capes thinking about how to use their powers differently. We could be the start of a paradigm shift. This could literally- maybe not save the world- but definitely improve it substantially."

"We're not robbing another bank," I said flatly. "Or endorsing drugs or prostitution."

"So we have to steal the money the old fashioned way," said Tattletale, wincing. "By asking for it. Easy enough, I should be able to find some investors. Probably better to do things this way anyways. Get ourselves nice and legitimate. We're gonna make you use your power properly Amy, help you save billions of lives. You're gonna be remembered as an Undersider, people are gonna forget that you were ever a part of New Wave."

"This is a trick," said Panacea stubbornly. "Our powers aren't meant to be used that way."

She was right. But I couldn't argue with any of Tattletale's logic. I'd always thought that it was my role to clear the city of bullies, and that it was up to somebody else to fix the city. But Tattletale was right, I was a cape, I did have power, why not use it to help people? Not through violence, just… Help them… Help them? I could use my powers to help people?

Wait, why was that a question. I'd been using my powers to help people ever since I'd gotten them. I always tried to do the right thing, tried to be a good person.

I wanted to help people?

No, I did want to help people, it wasn't a question! So why didn't it feel right? Using my powers to directly help people? Funny thing was, I was all for helping people without using my powers- opening a charity, using money to buy food, that sort of thing- but something about using the powers I'd been given for something as small and unimportant as helping people…

I wanted to help people!

"I think you're right." Tattletale said, laying on a couch with her eyes closed. "Our powers aren't meant to be used commercially. So what? Who gives a shit? Nobody tells Tats what to do."

It just felt… Disappointing? Small maybe?

Wait, saving millions of lives felt small?

No, it wasn't about that. Something, somewhere, deep in my gut rejected the notion of whoring out my powers for money.

"You're not wrong," I said. "Everything you're saying is right. But it's just not my purpose. It's not what we were given these powers for, I can feel it."

"Do you?" Tattletale smirked, still laying on the couch like she had a headache.

Tattletale was a liar. Trying to trick me, trying to get one over on me. All so that I would use my powers to…

Save millions of lives? No, no, there had to be something else, some other reason…

But no, I hadn't been… Given my powers… To help people…

What?

Huh… Okay… I hadn't been given my powers to help people? How could I even think that? I was a hero. Despite everything I'd done, I'd always tried my best to be a good person.

I was a good person.

Good people saved people.

"We should give it a shot," I said weakly. "Lots of people need organ transplants. The city has a drug problem. It'd be nice to have clean streets right? And I guess we can probably fix those problems… Maybe… So why not give it a shot?"

I looked for any disagreement. Almost hoped for it. Grue and Panacea looked just as troubled as I did. Couldn't read Bitch. Tattletale just looked like she wanted to die. She must've been up to something.

I felt oddly dissatisfied as I made my way home. Garbage littering the streets, strung out drug addicts in tents, problems I might actually be able to fix now that I thought of them as problems for me specifically to fix. But wouldn't that distract from getting rid of Kaiser? From ridding the streets of the Empire? Sure they weren't a presence in the Docks, but now that I'd liberated my people from Lung and Bakuda, the Empire would start to infringe on my territory.

I'd have to drive them out. That was why I'd felt so strange about Tattletale's suggestions. They were good suggestions, I couldn't deny that, but it would be better to wait until after we'd gotten rid of our enemies. Rid Brockton Bay of filth. Nothing good I tried to build would last if Kaiser was there to tear it down. Yeah, that must have been it.

Dad hugged me as soon as I got back home.

"I've been with Lisa," I said. Technically, it wasn't even a lie. I had been with Lisa. Just not the entire time.

"I'm just glad you're safe," said Dad, holding me tight.

And now I felt like shit. Not that I should, intellectually I knew that I'd done the right thing, getting rid of Bakuda and Oni Lee, even if Dad wouldn't understand.

"Taylor, we need to talk," said Dad.

Fuck.

"I'll start going to school again," I lied.

"Not about that," said Dad.

Shit. Shit, he hadn't figured out that I wa-

"We need to move," said Dad. "I wanted to keep this house, keep our memories of your mother alive, but… She's dead. You're not. I can't raise you here."

"You can't," I said, licking my lips. Still bad, but definitely not the worst case scenario. "We can't move. Because um…"

Who was I kidding? If I weren't Everywhere, I'd be all for it.

"I never should've made you go back to Winslow," said Dad. "Kurt was right, after the locker I should've pulled you from school. The truth is I wasn't thinking about you. I just wanted things to be normal. But, Jesus Tay, they stuffed you in a locker full of… Emma did. Your best friend! I can't even imagine… And I made you go back there, like nothing happened! A little absenteeism is the least of my worries, I'm just glad you didn't shoot up the damn place, especially after our meeting with that sorry excuse for a principal. It must've been hell to have to go there everyday. I'll never make you go back there again."

"...No…" Our refrigerator buzzed noisily. I hated lying to Dad. "No. It wasn't that b- I've been through worse. It made me… Stronger."

"Your mother used to always tell me that kids are always learning," said Dad. "So be mindful of what you're teaching them. I've been teaching you to ignore your problems, to act like they don't exist. Just keep going to work, keep going to school, and never talk about it. I want to be your dad again, Taylor."

"Brockton Bay is home," I said, looking just above a portrait of our family.

"Brockton Bay is just a place," said Dad. "A bad place. And here's a lesson for you Taylor. One that I didn't accept until recently. Sometimes people above you abuse their power and there's nothing you can do. Sometimes you just can't win. Sometimes… You fight and you fight and you fight, and you realize you're fifty and you've struggled your entire life for nothing. That your struggle has just made things worse for everyone around you."

"No," I whispered. "This isn't you."

"If I'd just accepted that the ferries would never run again…" Dad trailed off. He reached for my hand, but I yanked it away.

"I was proud of you," I said, wiping my eyes. "Trying to make things better. Your stubbornness. That you never deviated. I've always been proud of you. Just as much as I was of Mom. That you kept on fighting, no matter the odds."

I was surprised to find that it was true.

"You shouldn't be," said Dad, darkness in his voice. "There's nothing about my life that's worth admiring."

"It'll get better," I said. "Brockton Bay is going to get better. The ferries will run again. I'll make the fucking ferries run again.

"Have you been losing Dockworkers to the Empire?"

Kaiser had done this to my Dad. Reduced him to... Taken his fucking spirit... His…

I'd make him pay. I'd slaughter every last one of them.

"Some," said Dad, slowly, hesitantly. "But it's not Kaiser that scares me…"

"You're afraid of Everywhere," I said, stifling a smirk. "She's not as bad as the news makes her out to be, it's not like she's out there eating bab-"

"No," said Dad. "I'm not afraid of her either. No single cape, not even an Endbringer, represents much of a threat to you or me specifically. What we need to be afraid of are systems and codes of conduct. Kaiser represented white supremacy. Lung was just a typical thug, nothing more than your average gangster with superpowers. I was never particularly worried about either of them. But what does Everywhere represent? Order through violence. She got rid of the ABB, she got rid of Purity, and when Bakuda threatened the entire city she got rid of her too. She threatened the villains of the city with torture and death, and we've already seen a sharp drop in cape related crime. Tell me you don't find her appealing, and I'll call you a liar. I know you admire her, Taylor, don't pretend otherwise."

"She's not appealing," I said. "I can't honestly say that I think she's a good person. But, maybe she's a necessary evil."

"A lot of people agree with you," said Dad. "Kurt. Half the people working in the Docks. Even me, to a degree. How could I not? I'm living in the same city you are- I can see that it's failing. But I've also been in a position of authority for over a decade, and I see where this is going. We need to get out of the city."

"She's fixing things," I said, my lips tugging uncomfortably. A smile?

"She's just normalized murder," said Dad. "And terrorism. Great fixes."

"Bakuda deserved it," I whispered.

"She did," said Dad. "And now the cape violence is gonna get a whole lot worse. The rules change when you can just wipe out your enemies. Not in a good way. Everywhere just turned Brockton Bay into Africa. We need to leave."

I shook. Here? I had to hear this shit here? This was supposed to be home! This was supposed to be fucking home, and he was pulling this… Not even the news… Not even Emma… I didn't have anywhere to go to, no home, maybe only a memory…

Hadn't he said he wanted to be my dad again? And he did this? Real great job there Danny.

I took a shuddering breath.

"Everywhere's not so bad," I said, still staring above a portrait of our family. "She's… I've heard she's thinking of… They were reaching out to some of us- me and Lisa- about a project. Using her powers to teleport out the trash that's built up into a landfill…"

Dad frowned. "Well… That would be different. If she uses her powers nonviolently, commercially even- that would be different."

"Better?" I asked.

Dad nodded. "If she wants to be an entrepreneur, I wish her all the best. But Taylor, we still need to leave the city. There's still the bullying, and to be honest I still think Everywhere is a tyrant. She may put on a nice mask when things are going well, but the second her back is against the wall she'll show everyone who she really is- what she really believes in: violence, intimidation, and death."

"Everywhere isn't as bad as you think," I said. "All the violence was just a fluke. She was only a month into her powers and didn't know what she was doing! Lung was a mistake, and then the ABB wanted revenge, and things just kinda spiraled okay!"

"They just kinda spiraled?" Dad asked. "Hundreds are dead! How do you even know all this?"

"Lisa knows Everywhere," I said. Technically, it wasn't a lie. "Just give it some time. I'll start going back to school, and if things with the capes start to escalate, we can leave. But things are gonna get better Dad, I can feel it."

"Okay," said Dad. "Fine. But the second I hear you've missed so much as a class, the moment I hear Everywhere has killed again, we're packing our bags and leaving. And I don't want you to have anything to do with Everywhere. Deal?"

"Fiiiine," I said. Thanks to my dumb dad, dealing with the Empire was gonna be almost impossible. But what could I do? Move? Run away from home? Didn't have much of a choice now did I? It would be a hassle, but there was no other option. I'd just have to have Tattletale figure out Kaiser's identity. Then, after I killed him, I'd frame it as a suicide. It still meant I had to handle Kaiser more delicately than I would have liked, if I mangled his body too much everybody would know that I'd done it.

I leaned back in my chair and couldn't help but sigh. "This is gonna suck, you know that right?"

"This is for your own good," said Dad. "I'm doing this because I love you."

Really Dad? Please stop, I could only tolerate so much bullshit.