January 27th, 2011 Collins Home, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 5:00 PM EST- SP:109,100

Blake wasn't thrilled to be left behind the next night, but given Cheshire's recent appearance, it seemed stupid to bring her to dinner at the home of the premiere superhero team in the city. My kitten sulked horribly, but she understood my point, and Shego decided to pick her up and take her out to Faultline's place in costume to keep her busy so they could hang out.

Kim, convincing her mom she'd been invited over by Amy rather than Panacea, had gotten her parents to help her with a dress. I'd considered reading one out, but honestly, I had a very small amount of OCD, and seeing my point totals ending in ninety instead of a one hundred point value made me want to break something , I still had my suit, so with both of our outfits picked, all we had to manage were a pair of domino masks.

We took a car this time, novelly enough, though not mind. Kim thought it would stand out too much, so she borrowed her dad's SUV, and I had to admit, seeing a gorgeous redhead in a maroon dress and a domino mask driving a mommy mobile to take me to dinner at a superhero team's home had some real amusement value.

By the time we got to the house, I was pretty much prepared, and Kim looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. "You do KNOW Amy in real life, you're aware of this, yes?" I asked her with wry amusement as we pulled in.

She stopped the car, removing the keys and taking a long, slow breath. "Yes," she admitted after a moment. "But that's volunteering. And that's just Amy. This is NEW WAVE. I know VIcky too, but Laserdream, Shielder, Lady Photon? I grew up seeing these people on the news, I'm terrified I'll make a fool of myself."

"You might," I said with a shrug. She turned to glare at me and I laughed. "What? It could happen. I don't think it's likely. But say you do, so what? You think they're going to mention it at the big superhero meeting. Petition the townsfolk not to be saved by you because you were a bad dinner guest? There are no stakes here." I paused. "Well, there might be steaks. I hope we're having steak."

That got a snort and a laugh that turned decidedly piggish, earning a hot blush and a glare that promised vengeance if I ever told anyone about the sound she just made. Still laughing, I climbed out of the car and offered kim my arm, elbow first, like we were going to a ball or something. The masks made it kind of work, and she giggled, taking my arm as we ascended the path.

Knocking on the front door, it took barely a second before it burst open, a sundress clad Vicky beaming at us almost maniacally. "Welcome! Please, come in! Can I take your coats? Dinner will be ready soon, make yourself at home."

From the next room, an annoyed male voice called "Vicky YOU'RE not at home! You don't live here, stop acting like a hostess!:"

Smile still in place, Vicky turned and bellowed back. "SHUT UP ERIC I'LL THROW YOU IN THE BAY!" Acting as if nothing happened, she turned back to us. "Please, come in, you both know Dean," she gestured to her boyfriend, who was sitting uncomfortably by the front door in a three piece suit, looking for all the world like she had posed him and threatened him into staying in that position.

Deciding to try to rescue the poor bastard, I handed Vicky my coat, which she took triumphantly before blurring out of the room in a flash of light. "Where is she going?" I asked him wryly.

"At a guess?" he chuckled ruefully. "Home. I think she forgot she was supposed to be hanging your coat here. Sorry about the weirdness. She's…this means a lot to her. Vicky doesn't have a lot of cape friends. Especially female cape friends. She's…told me that the wards can be standoffish. Shadow Stalker is a nutcase and Vista seems distant. The only other female capes her age she knows are her sister and cousin. She's just trying to make a good impression on Lenore."

Kim giggled. "It's fine. I think it's sweet. Speaking of her cousin and sister, where ARE Panacea and Laserdream? I heard Shielder in the other room I think."

"Eric is playing the newest Aleph game. Old Scrolls something." He shrugged.

I froze. "Wait…the new ELDER SCROLLS is out? How the hell did he get it?" My boots were literally plucked right from those games, and it had come out years ago. After I'd gotten them, I'd read into the lore quite a bit, and I was pretty much hooked. The boots were from an online game rather than a console title, but I knew the last console title was the fourth, Oblivion. "What's it called? This is the fifth one right?"

All but sprinting into the next room, I ignored the laugh from Dean as my girlfriend apologized, vaulting the couch to land next to Eric Pelham, aka Shielder. "This is the new ES?"

He nodded enthusiastically without looking up from the screen. "Skyrim. It's all about dragons and shit. Haven't stopped playing since I got it. There's so much to do. No trade-offs by the way." He said this last bit with a narrowing of his eyes toward me, finally breaking contact with the screen. Not that blamed him, the game was gorgeous.

Sadly for him, his break in concentration came at the worst possible time, Vicky flashed into the room, glared at him, and then hit the button on his X-box. "No games," she scolded. "We have guests."

As the screen went black, Eric dove forward, as if he could rescue his game single handed. He hit the floor, head drooping in defeat, pounding on the ground. "NO! You killed it! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!"

I actually got that reference, and I smiled a bit, but Vicky ignored it, glaring at her cousin. "Oh get over it, I'm sure you saved recently. Now go get dressed."

"I AM dressed!" He snapped as he stood up.

"Not for company," she said stubbornly. "This is a nice dinner with civilized people, you can't walk around dressed like an unemployed forty something with a body pillow."

Eric, who was wearing sweats and a t-shirt, threw his hands in the air. "Again, this is MY house! You don't live here. Mom! Tell Vicky to calm down!"

"Listen to your cousin," called a pleasant female voice from somewhere out of the room. "They're her guests."

Eric kicked the table, wincing as he stubbed his toe. "God damn it!" He yelped, though it was anyone's guess whether it was over the pain or the outrage. Ignoring his mother's call of 'Language', he stormed upstairs, swearing violently under his breath.

"I'm sorry about him," said the same voice ruefully as a woman stepped out of what I assumed was the kitchen. "He's a very sweet boy, really, he's just been so obsessed with that darned game. Hello, and welcome to our home, I'm Sarah Pelham."

Sarah Pelham looked like…well, a Milf. Like if you said Milf three times in the mirror, she was what would appear behind you. She had wide, expressive blue eyes, a wide, inviting smile, and a body that might have passed curvy a few pounds ago (in the best way), if you couldn't tell from her build that there was muscle under all that softness.

I might have stared. Photon Mom was the woman every boy fantasized about growing up, and I was no different. Seeing her here all dressed up, well, I was distracted enough that it might have been embarrassing. Luckily, my girlfriend both didn't notice and provided cover.

"It is SUCH an honor to meet you," squeaked Kim. "I never thought I'd get to meet THE Lady Photon. Like you run into capes around town sometimes, but no one like YOU."

Vicky scoffed in outrage. "Hey! I'm RIGHT here! We hang out! What the hell?"

"It's totally not the same," defended Kim hurriedly. "I used to see Lady Photon on the news when I was a kid. She's been an institution since I was old enough to walk."

The older woman laughed. "Thank you dear, that doesn't make me feel old at all."
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that!" said Kim, starting to spiral. "I just meant, well, I mean…" she turned to me desperately. "Simon say hello to Lady Photon!"

I just laughed. "It's nice to meet you," I said cheerfully. I was leaning into Nightfall right now, doing my best to shove Vagabond into a box in the back of my head. It was actually really hard with both of them actually in there, but I was pulling it off and it was helping. "I'm Simon Collins."

"Oh," she said brightly, taking my hand (holy shit her hands were so soft, no shut up Vagabond) "You're Anne Collins's boy. Amy talks about your mother all the time. I do worry about that girl. She spends so much time at that hospital. I wish she wasn't so driven." Her voice was tinged with concern, and I saw Vicky avert her eyes.

Before she could catch on though, the younger blonde cleared her throat. "So, Aunt Sarah, I think you mentioned hors d'oeuvres?"

Photon Mom rolled her eyes. "There's pigs in a blanket on a tray in the kitchen to tide you over. I know you want to be a good hostess sweetie, but I'm not catering a dinner party. You get grilled kebabs and my good china, and not a speck more effort than that. I work all day."

Vicky laughed nervously. "I really appreciate it Aunt Sarah. It's just mom…well, you know how mom is."

"I'm familiar with my sister, yes," the older woman said dryly. "And it's fine. These two seem like lovely people so far. I can try to talk to Carol about them after I get to know them a bit better, but I don't foresee any problems. Come on, I'll introduce you to Neil and Crystal, they're in the kitchen. Neil is getting ready to grill."

I was interested to meet Laserdream at least. Manpower was…well, I'd never cared much about him. He was cool enough, but mostly I liked New Wave for the eye candy.

The kitchen was bigger than expected, a wide open room the let out onto a sort of living room porch combo that opened into the back yard. The ceiling was high and vaulted, white plaster that must have sucked to clean if you couldn't fly. The kitchen itself was made up of a single island and a large wrap around marble counter, the sink in the corner and dark wood cabinets hanging over it in sort of an L shape.

Crystal Pelham, aka Laserdream was cutting vegetables in a pair of slacks and a nice blouse, chatting with an absolute mountain of a man with a charming, confident smile. Manpower, aka Neil. They looked up as we came in. "Oh, hello," said Neil warmly. "Come on it, Crystal was making margaritas. Would you like some?"

"Neil!" gasped Sarah, scandalized. "They're underage!"

He waved her off. "They're all eighteen. Adults can drink, it's not a big deal. We'll just give them a one drink limit."

"None for me," said Kim quickly. "I'm driving."

"YES, Neil, she's driving!" Lady Photon said emphatically. "Now go do your grilling." He chuckled warmly, clearly not upset or offended, and picked up the plate where Crystal had been spearing chunks of meat and veggies.

He gave us all a nod. "Well, it's back to mines, don't want to make the overseer angry." avoiding a fond swat from his wife, he headed out the door to the yard, heading over to a grill.

I turned to Crystal. "So, I was told there would be pigs in blankets?" They all laughed like I was joking. Sometimes I didn't get women.

January 27th, 2011 Collins Home, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 10:00 PM EST- SP:109,300

Dinner was surprisingly chill. I'd expected, sitting at a table with some of the most gorgeous women in the city, that I'd have been tense, but honestly, the Pelham's were just…fun. Crystal was entertaining and a little dirty, Sarah was kind and nurturing, Eric was a sassy little bitch, and Neil was a pretty laid back guy with a dark sense of humor. It was honestly the most fun I'd had in a while.

Unfortunately there was lots going on in town, and I still had no real idea what was happening, so I decided to send Nightfall out, bat cloak and all, to do a little recon. While Kim said her goodbyes I stepped outside and sent my better half off on a search mission before we left.

Kim kissed me goodnight shyly at the door when she dropped me off, and I got a handful of that candy cheerleader ass because I couldn't resist, and she didn't object which was pretty great. Then I climbed the steps up to my room, unsurprised to find Blake lying on my bed reading one of my books, her ridonculous behind positively eating a pair of underwear that might have been modest on a girl with a less prodigious booty.

I couldn't help lean against the door frame and admire the view, and after a minute or two of pretending she didn't notice she looked over her shoulder at me wryly. "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Shrugging, I pulled out my phone and snapped a quick pic of her bountiful booty meat, ignoring the pout as she rolled her eyes at me, then walked over to plop down on the bed next to her. "So, how was the night out with Shego? You have fun? Braid each other's hair? Talk about boys? Tap that sweet green ass?"

"Oh, you're the other one," she said with a laugh. "I can always tell. Your Id, it's always really obvious. No, we didn't have sex. Though I think the tan girl, Bonnie, might have been interested in me. Or she might hate me, I was getting mixed signals."

I chuckled at that. "She was probably getting mixed signals herself. Bonnie is possessive and has a terrible sister complex and severe daddy issues. Me bringing you home probably reminds her of her dad passing her over for her sisters. You're also hot, and I'm pretty sure she's bi, given how fixated she is on Kim. I'll probably let her fuck you with me next time we hook up, once she's slapped you around a bit and mashed her pussy in your face she'll stop seeing you as a threat."

"Lovely," she drawled. "Now, would you like to hear what we found out at Palanquin?"

I blinked at her. "At where?"

"Faultline's club?" she asked in confusion. Then she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You thought it was literally named 'Faultline's Club' didn't you?"

I shrugged. "How the fuck should I know? That's what people call it. Also Palanquin is a stupid name for a club. They're chairs on sticks they used to carry Emperors in China. What the fuck does that have to do with overpriced drinks and subpar DJs?"

"What do any club names have to do with that stuff?" She said in exasperation. "I don't think most club owners even know what the name of their clubs mean. As far as I can tell, based on my brief research into club culture on the internet before we went out. Club names are either pretentious, puns, or a reference to some strange poem about a bird written by a very pale man with a silly mustache."

I had to give her that. "Actually that's a good point. I've seen like…five clubs named Nevermore, or the Raven, or some variation of that. Club owners love Poe."

"It's an interesting poem," she admitted. "A bit morbid, but I liked the aesthetic."

Glancing down her body at the black shirt, panties, and bow, I snickered. "Somehow, that doesn't really surprise me. Anyway, we're getting sidetracked. You said you had information?"

Honestly, the Vagabond part of me was almost painfully ready to be inside Blake, but Ego Simon wanted information, and that bastard knew how to keep himself in check. Plus, her expression had gotten serious when I refocused the conversation, and I had a sneaking suspicion I wasn't going to like what she had to say.

"Word on the street is that Squealer's old boss has been asking around, trying to get in touch with the newcomers," she said with a grimace. "Shego says he's pretty terrible, and that he probably wants you dead."

I frowned. "Newcomers?" I asked slowly. "What do you me-" I froze. "Wait, are you talking about the fucking TEETH? Skidmark is trying to get in touch with the teeth?" I was partly appalled at the possibility and partly shocked she couldn't think of the group's title.

She nodded, snapping her fingers. "That's the one. I couldn't remember the name, it's so generic."

"You ran away from home to join the WHITE FANG!" I pointed out in exasperation.

Pausing, she shrugged. "Anyway, they're the ones who work with that person you mentioned worrying about right? The Butcher? Do you think he wants to become its next host?"

"I…I don't actually know," I said worriedly. "I mean, I wouldn't, and neither would anyone else with a lick of common sense. But Skidmark is so coked out of his fucking gourd most of the time it's not completely impossible. He's also an idiot, even if he does have a certain level of base cunning. It was why I picked the Merchants to join early on. Of course, once I realized they were useless I just stole their only valuable member and fucked off on my own. Still, I hear his power can be kind of scary, the idea of him with access to the Butcher's personalities and abilities on top of that?"

I climbed out of bed, reading out my Vagabond outfit. "You stay here, I need to go check this shit out. Skidmark as the Butcher would be a nightmare for me. If he's aiming for that I need to kill him before he axes the current host or my ass is grass."

Not dead, obviously, but if Skidmark became the Butcher, I was pretty sure I'd be FORCED to murder the bastard to stop him, and then I'D be the Butcher. Which for obvious reasons was very bad.

I didn't call back Nightfall, though I did send Lucky out to contact him. I wasn't sure where he was or what he was looking into, but he needed the relevant info in case he stumbled on something and didn't know it. Once that was done, I headed for the base. I'd been planning to sleep, but I needed to talk to Shego, in case she remembered something from Faultline's Blake hadn't known to ask about.

Before I could reach the base though, my phone vibrated in my pocket. Pausing, I snagged the device and put it to my ear, only glancing at the screen for a second. "Tattletale, nice to hear from you. Give me some good news." The line remained silent, and my shoulders slumped in annoyance. "Give me some news."

"We're going to be attacked by an Endbringer sometime soon. Not sure how soon, but I've recently become acquainted with a precog and she says we've got a water monster incoming." Her voice was tight, and I could practically taste the fear in her tone. Which was fair, because Leviathan was fucking scary. I mean, I'd been preparing for him for a while now, and I was still viscerally terrified when I heard he was coming."

"Just 'soon'?" I asked grimly. "Because that isn't much to go on. Who is your source? And can I meet them?"

"Not a chance in hell," she said bluntly. "I discovered them when I was cleaning up Coil's organization. He had plans to abduct and brainwash them with drugs. Apparently he hadn't considered just asking nicely. I'm not giving you anymore, and don't bother searching the files, the ones pertaining to them are gone. They're my personal precog now, and if you want information you go through me."

I just laughed. "Was that your plan all along? Use me to mop up the boss and snag the golden goose? I'm kind of impressed. Hurts my feelings you cut me out, but a pocket precog isn't a bad thing. Can I at least get priority on the waiting list?"

"You pay for info like anyone else," she said mercilessly. "But I figured I'd warn you about Leviathan since I owed you one."

"I'm surprised you didn't skip town," I said with a laugh. "Now that Coil is out of the picture."

She snorted. "This precog is my ticket to the big time. Plus, soon isn't within the next week, I was able to confirm that at least. If things get tight, I'll take my resource and run, but for now I'm just going to milk this and try to use the proceeds to outfit myself the most luxurious Endbringer shelter in the world."

I couldn't fault the logic. I had briefly considered leaving, but even without Nightfall I didn't like the idea of ditching my girls, and Kim would never leave town before a big disaster. Besides, this wasn't unexpected. It just meant I needed to move up my plans. More importantly though, this presented an opportunity.

"How much do you charge for precog services?" I asked. "And how accurate is their information?"

She hummed over the phone. "Depends what you're asking. They can do questions pretty well, but they have to be specific, and it's not yes or no, just a general answer on what the chances are. As for payment…I'm not sure. How about…a million per question."

"How about I sprout wings from my asshole and fly Leviathan to the sun so the whole world will be safe," I said acidly. "A rough estimate of the chances of a thing happening isn't worth a million bucks. It's not even worth a thousand. A hundred per question. Chances are good I'll have to ask a bunch to narrow it down."

"Not my problem," she said heartlessly. "A hundred thousand per question."

I just snorted. "Ten dollars. I can do this all night. I'm going to keep going lower until you make me a real offer."

She cursed. "You're a bastard, and this would be way easier if I was there to read your damned body language. Fine, asshole. A thousand per question. That's the lowest I'm going. My precog is a limited resource, they get headaches after too many. Any questions you ask are ones no one else will be able to that day."

Leaning against a wall, I considered that. "Alright." I finally said. "Precogs are rare. A thousand a question. But if the information is wrong I'm getting a refund and I'm taking it out of your ass."

That just got a snort from the sassy thinker. "Whatever, write me up a list of questions and get back to me. It'll take me a few days to get them asked, my precog is in a well hidden location with limited availability. And don't even think about following me! I won't lead you to them, so you can forget it!"
I rolled my eyes, knowing I could have lucky do just that. Still, I didn't want to burn bridges with Tattletale. She was useful up to now, and it wasn't like I was short on cash. I could afford a few grand. She'd only asked for the larger amounts because she knew how rich I actually was right now, but I wasn't going to cave to her bullshit.

Hanging up the phone, I considered just going home…but I needed to talk to Shego still. The more information I could get the better and more specific my questions would be. There was a lot of shit going on in town right now, and I had the sneaking suspicion it might all be connected. With a sigh, I resumed my journey. Maybe Shego would suck my dick after she told me her story. At least then all this travel would be worthwhile.

January 28th, 2011 Collins Home, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 6:00 PM EST- SP:108,500

The next day was Friday, and getting through the school day was mind numbing. My brain was practically rioting at all the random disparate elements that had seemingly infiltrated the city, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't make everything fit together into a cohesive whole. I needed to address things one at a time, so I dropped a thousand points to but a solution to just one of my current predicaments.

In the end, some of these people were probably just showing up to cause chaos, and some of the events were probably just random coincidence, and I had zero idea which was which. With the Endbringer attack imminent though, I didn't have time to tease out all the answers steadily and figure out what the fuck everyone was doing. I needed to be proactive, so as soon as school ended for the day I headed to the base to meet back up with Shego.

Blake, not wanting to be left out, suited up and asked to join us, which of course made Bonnie decide to do the same, wanting to show off her new Cosmic Rod powers for me.

Sadly, as much fun as that sounded we didn't really have the time, so I pushed past the urge to explore those abilities and focused on the girls. "Ok, as you all may know, there's a lot of shit going on. People vanishing, people appearing, and apparently an Endbringer is coming so there's that nonsense too. Now, I was initially trying to figure out how all of this fit together, but then I realized that it might not. We don't live in a book, this is the real world, and sometimes random shit happens."

"Ok, so how does that help us?" Shego asked dryly. "Because no offense, but this isn't exactly an earth shattering revelation."

I rolled my eyes. "It's IMPORTANT," I emphasized with a glare. "Because I've been letting myself get paralyzed by the overwhelming data, looking for patterns everywhere, when in reality, we should have just gone out to look for Drakken ourselves. Now, did you bring something that belongs to him like I asked?"

She shrugged. "Sure, it wasn't hard to find something. He's always leaving dumb shit lying around the lair. This was supposed to be a portable EMP generator, but he was never able to get it to work." She tossed me a small black box with half exposed circuitry on the top and a big red button in the middle.

"Perfect," I said with a grin, holding up a small vial. "I just so happened to have gotten my hands on this little bit of tinkertech. It's a tracking solution, you pour it on the object and nanotech animates the device and creates a sort of drone that leads you to your target." It was actually a tracking spell I got from a book, but people got squirrely when you mentioned magic around these parts, and I could do without people muttering that I was crazy like they did to Myrddin. Granted, my girls were unlikely to do that anyway, but providing plausible explanations seemed like a good habit to get into.

Having seen Squealer do some truly alarming things with cars, neither Shego nor Bonnie was particularly worried about the details, and Blake probably guessed the truth and didn't care, given her knowledge of the system. With that out of the way, I just got down to business, upending the bottle over the small contraption.

It was pretty interesting to watch. As the liquid made contact, it was absorbed into the plastic. There was a slight sparking of blue light, then the generator floated up off my hand. The light sparked again, then a third time, flickering as it tried to coat the entire device, until finally, the blue glow surrounded the floating piece of tech. I turned to the girls, cracking my neck. "Hope you're all up for a bit of a run."

As if my words had been a starting pistol, the generator shot off through the air, darting down the tunnel leading out of the base at a speed that made it almost hard to track.

The tracking spell, or potion rather, had been a nifty little trinket I'd picked up from a book called "Reawakened", which I was pretty sure was based on a TV show I hadn't seen. Some nonsense about a curse and the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Regardless, tracking magic featured heavily, and was incredibly useful and easy to apply. Step one: dump potion on item, step two: keep up.

Since I was planning to keep Aura as more of a Nightfall ability, I didn't tap into it for my run, but since I was heavily enhanced and wearing my boots of Springheel Jack, I didn't really need it. It was hilariously fun to let my inner fire bellow and then just pump my legs to my heart's content, never running out of energy.

More than that, since the boots gave me more hang time and made landing easier, I was able to map my route in the air between steps, pushing off the buildings as I ran in what was essentially a massively upscaled version of parkour. Flipping over buildings, slotting through small gaps, pulling flips and jumps using building lips and fire escapes as grab bars, as long as I kept the blue glowing box in sight, I was free to show off however I liked.

The girls, meanwhile, were keeping up pretty well. Blake wasn't a surprise because of her Aura, and Bonnie had the Cosmic Rod, which could fly, but Shego was doing a shockingly good job keeping pace with a bunch of superhumans. Apparently her weird green glowy power was more physically enhancement based than I'd known.

We followed the box for about twenty minutes, tracking the thing out into the boatyard, and then further into the crashed out remains of an old oil tanker. We all went on our guard, limiting the lightshow we were causing from our various abilities as best we could as we crept inside, but we soon discovered that the ship wasn't the final destination.

The tanker, having submerged into the mud enough to count as a fucking silo, led us down into the earth, and at the bottom we came to a door into what had previously been the captains quarters. Calling Lucky, I sent him in to scope rather than following directly, despite it meaning we were probably going to lose the generator, though I did make sure that Lucky scanned it to make sure he could pick up a signal to track it if we lost contact.

With the item itself gone, we had no reason to hurry, and we took our time waiting for Lucky to scan the room and get back to us. Sure enough, his response confirmed something I'd been afraid of. "Shit," I spat in annoyance. Turning to the girls, I filled them in. "Ok, so this ship has sunk into the mud enough to form a sort of bridge down to some of the tunnels that run under the boatyard. Whether those were there before or something made them after this place formed I have no idea, but they lead back to, and then connect with, the Brockton Sewer System."

That actually made me pretty grateful I'd gotten so lucky with the spell. If it had been badly designed the generator might have smashed itself to powder trying to smash through a mile or two of solid rock over top of whatever part of the city Drakken was being held in.

"Anyone who wants to go back is free to do so," I told them bluntly. "You didn't exactly sign up for sewer patrol, and Cheshire, you have way too much exposed skin. You might get tetanus from a nail scratch or something."

She snorted. "I think I'll be ok," she said dryly, flashing her Aura. I chuckled, having been trying to give her a way out. It was clear she didn't want to do that though.

"Alright, I'll go first," I told them firmly. Being literally invincible meant it was safer for me to take the front. We were going to be entering a place I'd never been or even heard of before, and I absolutely didn't want one of my girls getting blindsided.

Pushing the door open, I scanned the room. Half of it was just a dingy old steel chamber, with some tables and equipment in the corner. The other half had been worn away to the extent that it literally transitioned from metal to rock, leading out of the ship and into a roughly hewn cavern that led off into a long tunnel.

The tunnel, answering my question from earlier, was very clearly of relatively recent make, though how recent was anyone's guess. Arches of wood lined the walls in mineshaft fashion, holding up the dirt as the earth shifted from hard rock in the cavern room to normal earth as it led away. It was a pretty shocking sight, but not quite as shocking as the two figures standing inside, having just turned to glare at us.

We all froze, and Bonnie of all people was the first to speak. "Long?" She asked in confusion. "What the hell are you doing down here?"

I realized that she was right. I had been distracted by their presence, but I DID know the younger of the two men, a scruffy asian guy about our age wearing his signature baggy red jacket with gold pads on the shoulders. Jake Long, Kim's martial arts practice buddy and Lung's nephew by marriage. The other man, a much older and more stooped figure, was equally recognizable. The cape that trained Kim in martial arts and one of the only people in the city Lung was supposedly afraid of, Luong Lao Shi.

Clearly just as poleaxed by seeing Bonnie (who was barely wearing a costume, or really much of anything but a skirt and top) as we were to have run into him, Jake blinked at us. "Me? Rcokwaller why the hell are you glowing?"

She snorted, raising her chin. "Because I'm a cape, dipshit. Duh."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah I got that, I meant since when. And who the hell are they? You can't be down here, there's someone really scary in these tunnels."

Shego glared at him. "My boss is down here, and we're here to get him back. If you want to help go nuts, but if you think you can get in my way…well, you've got another thing coming. I'm not leaving Dr. D down here another night."

"Peace, young lady," said Lao Shi calmly, holding up his hands. "We wouldn't prevent you from helping a lost friend in need. But my grandson is correct, the being that inhabits these depths is truly ferocious. It was only by chance we learned of its presence down here, and its threat is such that even Lung recognizes the need for a truce. Could we perhaps convince you to entrust your friend's safety to us?"

That brought me up short. Lung and Lao Shi were NOT friends. The old man was considered something of a safe haven for those who didn't want to be sucked into the ABB against their will, and was known for helping trafficking victims and reformed gangsters escape from the gang. If Lung knew they were down here and had agreed to a truce… "What exactly is down here?" I asked slowly, not quite sure I even wanted to know.

Lao Shi's face darkened, his eyes hardening as he glanced over his shoulder and down into the depths. "A beast the likes of which this city has never seen. A monster second only to the Endbringers themselves." I could hear the tension and concern in his tone, which didn't bode well for use given how fucking strong he was. "We search for the lair of the Dark Dragon." Well…that didn't sound friendly.

January 28th, 2011 Boatyard, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 7:00 PM EST- SP:108,700

I was getting a headache. Another new player in town, and one at the very least involved with Drakken's disappearance. Did this mean the Teeth weren't? Or was this Dark Dragon involved with them too? I mentally added a few questions to my list of things to ask Tattletale's precog. For now though, we were down here and I needed to be ready to fight. I flared the fire in my chest, stoking it to prepare, and as I did I pumped heat into the sigil on my palm.

Burning Sun Blast would be risky down here, but not having it would be even worse. Plus we appeared to be walking into tunnels made of actual rock rather than just dirt now, and that should help.

"So, Jake," I asked casually as we walked further down into the earth. "What does this Dark Dragon look like? I can summon minions, and if I get an idea what we're searching for I can send them out for recon."

Remnant, being what it was, wasn't the place for flying monkeys, but now that we were back the vicious little things were back to being upper middle segment of the food chain. Without worrying about random Aura users, I felt like it was less of a risk letting my shit flinging minions loose on the stygian depths of Brockton Bay.

"He's a dragon," Jake said dryly. "And he's dark. I don't know man, I ain't ever seen him. All I know is that he's big and bad and even Lung is scared of him. And I thought that fucking psycho was too crazy to be afraid of anything except Endbringers."

Lao Shi sighed. "Language, Jake. But yes, the Dark Dragon is fearsome. His presence in the city can bode nothing but ill. And being here at the same time as the Teeth…the Dark Dragon is a dangerous and terrifying enemy. Were he to become the Butcher, the scale of his threat might surpass the Hopekiller herself."

Great, another candidate on the world's most horrifying gameshow. "Who wants to be possessed by a psychotic murder demon hivemind" had way more contestants than I would have expected. Gods people sucked sometimes.

But it was plenty to go on. Putting a hand on my book where it say in my pocket, I muttered out the description of my monkeys, having waited until we hit another big rock chamber so we had space. Within moments, there was a horde of winged primates crowding the place.

"Yo, what the fuck?" Jake squeaked as he leapt back. "Where did these fuckin' monkeys come from?"

I just laughed. "I told you I had summons." I turned to the monkeys. "Spread out into the tunnels. Report anything you find. We're looking for a blue skinned guy with a mullet or a giant fuck off black dragon. If you SEE one of those things, or any kind of cape, come back and tell me."

Sadly, Lucky aside, I didn't speak animal. But the monkeys were smart enough to take orders, so they had ways of communicating. Nodding frantically, they all took off into the various surrounding tunnels. Part of the reason I'd asked about it was the fact that this chamber branched off a LOT, and I didn't feel like searching for myself.

Bonnie and Blake had been sticking close, seemingly worried something might attack me, which was ludicrous because I was literally unkillable, but it was pretty sweet. It also made me feel better because Jake kept eying my kitten's fat ass in her little kimono, and I wasn't a fan of peeping. I cleared my throat, and when his eyes flicked up to mine I glared at him, letting them fill with flames as my irises began to smoulder.

He jerked his gaze away, seemingly disturbed, and I smiled behind my mask. I was about to comment when I felt…something. I couldn't communicate with my monkeys long distance, but I could FEEL them. And several of them had just died.

Pushing off, I blurred into the tunnel where the deaths had occurred, blitzing my way down…and slamming right into a fucking WALL of some sort of razor sharp…things. I would have been shredded like cheese through a grater if not for my mithril shirt, which bounced off the whatever-they-weres and pushed me back. My arms weren't quite so lucky, and were torn apart, but the healing process began almost instantly.

The others came down the tunnel after me and I yelled out. "STOP!" They did, slamming to a halt behind me, and I glared through the block in the tunnel at the group of people on the other side. Covered in spines and spikes interspersed with shredded fabric and weird metal armor pieces, it wasn't hard to recognize the Teeth.

"Ooooh," sing singed the long haired one with the weird mantle and the creepy dead eyed mask. "He actually survived. How novel! I think you almost made it, why don't you try again?" She sounded eager, eyes raking over the blood dripping from my formerly shredded arms. "I bet you can make it this time."

I smiled sweetly, despite my face being hidden. "No thanks, I think I'll just kill you."

Raising my hand, I unleashed the Burning Sun Blast point blank down the tunnel. One of the guys behind the talky one cursed, managing to yank her back…and then there was an explosion of limbs and bodies. Heat washed down the tunnel and dust rained from the ceiling. "SHIT!" Yelled Jake as the tunnels, at least in a short distance from where we were, collapsed on top of us.

I was pretty pissed too, and I got hit with a few falling rocks. As the dust cleared, I found everyone glaring at me. I grimaced. "Sorry guys. I didn't think they would all jump ONTO the blast. They used their bodies as a firebreak and it clogged the tunnel. If they'd backed off it would have just bored right through." I stepped forward, prodding a rock with an arm sticking out from under it. "How are the crazy bastards still around if they do things like that?"

Shego shook her head. "Because those weren't real Teeth members. The mouthy one was Vex, who did the forcefield thing, but the guy who pulled her back was Spree. He makes clones rapidfire. He filled the tunnel with bodies to soak up the explosion. These are all just meat copies."

Kneeling down, I shoved a few rocks aside, cursing because she was right. All these bodies were dressed the same, in faceless black masks and brown leather jackets. Same proportions too.

"Ok, maybe you should fill me in on what the Teeth can do?" I said with a grimace. "I always thought the Butcher was the only real threat. But that forcefield thing was nasty."

She snorted. "You're getting too confident boss. Didn't do your homework before coming out to play? Vex makes clusters of razor sharp forcefields that fill up rooms or corridors. You run into them and they dice you up like roadkill. Spree does clones. Animos turns into a big ass dog monster, and Hemorrhagia can manipulate blood, specifically hers, to make weapons and kind of armor."

I growled but couldn't argue. I'd let all my new powers go to my head. I was strong as fuck, but brute force wasn't an answer to everything. Especially keeping my Aura under wraps, I needed to remember there were lots of powers that were just nightmarish to deal with in a straight fight. I didn't have too much time to beat myself up, because a quiet meow sounded by my ear.

Looking up, I found Lucky waiting next to me. He meowed again, and my face lit up. "He'd gotten a lock on the signal for the EMP. Which meant we knew where Drakken was. I'd been starting to assume we'd lost the tracking spelled device.

"Shego, we found Drakken," I said as I stood, brushing myself off. I grimaced at my sleeves. I really needed to get another coat. Something durable. "We can head to where he is, but we need to be careful." Glancing down, I gestured to the bodies in the rubble. "The Teeth are down here, and clearly dangerous, and if the Dark Dragon is here too…I think this confirms they're working together.

"We also need to be VERY careful," I told them as a thought occurred to me. "That could have accidentally killed the Butcher. I just realized I don't know what they LOOK like, and if I offed them by accident…"

I mentally cursed my Id. Vagabond was taking charge in this costume, or rather, I was subconsciously leaning into my more reckless self. Firing at them like that had been stupid for half a dozen reasons. Mentally flexing, I smashed both Vagabond and Nightfall into the back of my mind, ignoring them completely.

While it was harder with my semblance to suppress aspects of myself without actually removing them, I COULD do it. I felt a calm and logical sense of purpose flow through me. I wasn't pure ego right now, but I was a lot closer than usual.

With the coldness of my more logical self, I felt the eagerness for bloodshed and battle lust melt away. I was calm. I was collected.

Turning to face the others, I pointed down the ruined corridor. "Drakken is this way, presumably why the Teeth were waiting for us down here. We need to be very careful. If any of us were to kill the Butcher it would be a disaster. I'm not sure if they're even down here, but watch your attacks as we proceed. I'll do the same, sorry about the screw up."

Admitting to my mistakes was a necessary step to reestablishing control of the group dynamic. Ironically, it kept me in a position of authority by silencing any dissent before it sprouted. Granted, I might have made a bad impression on our new companions, but I didn't care what they thought, as long as I was the one in charge.

Sure enough Lao Shi seemed to relax slightly on realizing I was aware that I'd fucked up. Jake didn't, and looked ready to argue the decision to proceed, but when he glanced at the girls behind me he let it pass.

Flexing my will, I called for the monkeys. The ones who had fled down other tunnels all flocked to the entrance of this one, retracing their steps and then tracking the link between us. Just as I could feel them they could feel me. We had to step out of the tunnel as the winged primates packed in to work, but it didn't take long for them to remove all the rubble from the cave in. Fifty plus monkeys made light work.

Once that was done, I nodded to the others to follow and headed back into the tunnel, taking up the vanguard position. My near immunity to damage made me the ideal point man, and it made the most sense for me to go first.

We moved more slowly this time. With the Teeth's abilities, they could cause real damage if we weren't careful, not to mention the existence of the Butcher and a Lung level(at least) dragon.

Continuing down the tunnel, we finally came to another chamber, this one seemingly made of metal transformed from the rock. It was large, and darkness swallowed the majority of the room, large columns leading off from the small lit area into a seemingly infinite black space. Obviously that was an illusion, but I wasn't sure exactly how far that DID go because of the dense shadows.
In the center of the small lit area, however, were the Teeth. Specifically Vex and Spree, and next to them, inside of what I could see were razor sharp forcefields by the blood coating them, tied with a rope poised to yank him into the meat grinder, was the beaten form of Doctor Drakken. Well…this promised to be an unpleasant encounter.

January 28th, 2011 Boatyard, Brockton Bay, New Hampshire 7:00 PM EST- SP:108,900

"Dr D.!" Shego shouted, surging forward. I caught her arm as quick as I could, but it wasn't fast enough to stop Vex from pulling the rope, dragging the blue man onto the spikes of force field further and drawing a low groan from his bleeding lips. Shego's hands ignited, green energy sparking, but I pulled her back, pushing her behind me.

"Temper, temper," cooed Vex. "You ought to keep your bitch in line Vagabond. She's no match for us. Arms reach energy projection? That must be some wild pussy, I wouldn't even wipe my ass with a power like that."

Spree sighed. "Vex, the master specifically told you not to antagonize them. Do you want me to tell him you were being bad?"

She flinched. "No! I'll be good! I promise. I just don't like her stupid face. Look at her, thinking she's hot shit because she's got a decent body. Looking good is fucking pointless unless you're useful." She glared hard at Shego. "That's why I work for the master and you have to throw your fat ass for that homeless looking freak!"

I raised an eyebrow at the venom in her voice. It was clear Vex had some fucking issues, but what did I expect from a psycho murder cultist. The Teeth were all nuts, it was frankly shocking that Spree seemed coherent.

"Master?" I asked slowly. "You're not working for the Butcher?"

Well, as much as anyone could WORK for the Butcher. Being so many people made them crazy as far as anyone could tell. But still, the Teeth were supposed to be Butcher bitches.

That said, I'd never heard of anyone calling the Butcher 'master', and given what else lived down here… well, I was pretty sure we weren't talking about the murder ghost. Which left another likely culprit in the scary bastard Jake had just been warning us about.

"The Master is so far beyond the Butcher it's not even funny," snickered Vex. "The Master is the host the Butcher has been waiting for all this time. If the current meat suit hadn't run away-"

"Vex!" Snapped Spree, rounding on her. "Shut the fuck up!"

That's when a few things clicked. The Butcher had come here because Coil was gone, and presumably run into the Dark Dragon. The Dark Dragon, much like Skidmark, wanted to become the next Butcher. The current Butcher had obviously escaped, and now he was out and about in town, on the run from this scary fucker even Lung was afraid of.

Jake was glaring, but Lao Shi seemed to have figured out what was happening at the same time I did, and his face had gone deathly pale. "Hey, old man," I called him quietly, keeping my voice low enough that a normal person couldn't have heard. To my complete lack of surprise, his slightly pointed ears perked up and he shot me a questioning look. "It would be really bad if the Dark Dragon became the Butcher, wouldn't it?"

He nodded sharply, eyes still fixed on Vex and Spree. Right. One more thing to worry about. "So, what the fuck do you want with us?" I asked Spree, ignoring the lunatic with the forcefields.

"It's simple really," he said calmly. "Since Vex already let the cat out of the bag, I suppose there's no harm in telling. We've lost the Butcher. It happens sometimes, they're flighty and hard to predict, and sometimes they wander off. Our Master requires the Butcher for his plans, and so we've decided to reach out to local factions to encourage them to help us.

He sighed loudly. "Unfortunately, getting a meeting with the ABB is impossible for our master due to his adversarial relationship with the dragon of Kyushu, and the Empire is proving intractable. We plan to present our case, such as it is, at Sommer's Rock. But things will go more smoothly if we're there as invited guests. Our Master is a cultured and urbane person and disdains unnecessary violence. Even the Dragon won't violate the sanctity of the conclave truce."

"So you took Drakken to get us here?" I asked angrily. "And you think that's a good way to get us to do what you want? What's to stop us from agreeing and then killing you as soon as we get him back? Because we're absolutely not going to agree unless you hand him over right now."

Spree grinned, his formerly calm eyes transforming with sadistic glee. I knew that fucker was crazy all along. "I wouldn't worry about it. The Master has many friends, even among those already in the city. One of them is a particularly talented tinker who specializes in explosive devices. She's implanted one inside this idiot's empty blue head. We'll give him back, but if you don't invite us to the conclave and back our attendance…well, let's just say the results will be mind blowing."

"Second verse, same as the first," I said waspishly. "How do we know you'll remove the bomb after we do what you want?"

Lao Shi's head snapped up. "No!" he said urgently. "Young man, you must not agree to this. Lung is a greedy and fickle beast. If offered enough benefits he might aid the Dark Dragon. The Dark Dragon is a being of unconquerable will and dreadful tenacity. If he inherits the powers of the Butcher, his chances of controlling the remnant wills are very high. Should that happen he would be a threat on the level of the Endbringers themselves!"

I looked at Shego, whose eyes were locked on the bleeding Drakken. "Sorry," I told him apologetically. "I mean it, I don't want to give in to them, but I told Shego I'd save him. If you're really that worried come to the meeting yourself and make the case for them to turn him down, but I'm not letting Drakken die."

If he'd been the next vessel, I'd have been forced to spend a shit load of points to fix him, and honestly I might not have done it. But just accepting a demand to invite them to a meeting was too insignificant to be worth letting him die over. I liked Shego, and she thought of the goofy bastard as family. Not to mention having a talented mechanical genius owing me favors wouldn't exactly suck.

Jake's eyes hardened. "Look, I get wanting to save this dude. It's pretty whack that they decided to take him hostage, but gramps just told you that the Dark Dragon will become ENDBRINGER bad if you let him get those powers. I don't like it, but I'm not letting you risk creating another Endbringer. I'll kick your ass if I have to."

Blake looked outraged. "You're going to let him die just because you're scared?" She hadn't been talking much, mostly just observing, but I could tell she was disappointed in this world's heroes already. I couldn't blame her.

The younger dragon looked appalled. "Hey, whoa man, I didn't say that! We got time right? We can find another way to help him. We just need to take these punks out so they can't report back and then figure out how to remove the bomb. Just because we won't let him doom the world doesn't make us monsters!"

He almost sounded hurt by the assumption, which I thought was both stupid and annoying because he could have worded that way better, and he was only bothered because he was eyeing my woman.

In the end though, it didn't matter. I didn't have his faith that we'd find another way, and I didn't care about random strangers as much as my own people. If my choice was to create a super monster or fuck over one of my girls…well, worst case I could just read me and all my friends into a relatively low level book. Shego had been helping me since I first hit the scene, and sex aside, I actually liked her.

"We accept your terms," I said to Spree flatly. " But we want you to remove the bomb AT the meeting. Before it starts. Otherwise we'll revoke our support and everyone there will turn on you."

Also once the whole business was over I was going to fucking murder them. I didn't like being manipulated.

To my surprise, Vagabond wasn't acting up right now, screaming at me to kill them now. While Nightfall's desire to save Drakken was strong, Vagabond was pushing me to do the same. Not out of sentiment, but because if we didn't protect Shego's goofy boss, it might adversely affect our ability to get pussy in the future. Both from her and from other girls if they heard we were willing to throw them under the bus. Priorities, I supposed.

"That's it!" snapped Jake. "You're going down!" He dove forward, shifting into a human sized red dragon so fast I could barely track it. Growling, my hands came up and I caught him. Lao Shi, sighing, shifted as well, only to be intercepted by Blake and Bonnie. Shego went for Drakken, and Vex looked like she wanted to turn on us before cursing and turning to run.

Between Vex and the rest of us, spree exploded into an army of clones that poured toward us. Shego smashed some of the forcefields, weakened by Vex's flight, and grabbed Drakken, dragging him out and cradling his battered body frantically.

I hadn't expected him to be damaged so I hadn't brought any healing items. The oversight was annoying, and one I intended to fix in the future, but for now all I could do was raise my hand and blast Jake away from the girls with my Blazing Sun Blast. He went flying, mostly unharmed because he was a dragon and therefore pretty much fireproof.

"Enough!" I screamed as I stepped in front of Shego. "They're gone! Chase them if you want to, but you'll have to kill us if you want to stop us leaving."

Lao Shi, a long snakelike eastern dragon unlike his grandson, stopped. Sighing, he nodded, shifting back into human form. Jake, still in his bulky red hybrid form, charged out of the hole he'd made in one of the pillars, eyes blazing and smoke billowing from his nostrils. "Oh you best BELIEVE you're gonna pay for that-" the shockingly annoying dragon howled.

His grandfather, though, stepped in front of him. "Enough," he echoed. "He is right. We gain nothing by continuing this farce." He turned to me somberly, shaking his head in disappointment. "I truly hope you do not come to regret this choice, young man. But I will accept your previous offer. I will accompany you to the meeting to attempt to sway the factions against this terrible mistake. Come, grandson, we are done here."

Resuming his dragon shape, he lifted off the ground, managing to fly with no wings or any obvious signs of propulsion. Jake, who was much less impressive, beat his own wide wings, glaring at me as the two of them flew off.

I stepped up next to Shego. "Hey, how is he?" I asked, kneeling down to put a hand on her shoulder. She was staring down at him, looking lost and horrified.

At my voice, her head snapped up and her clouded eyes cleared, sharpening to a cruel edge, green irises glinting with hatred. "He'll live. I can't say the same about this 'Dark Dragon' asshole. Endbringer or not, I won't let him get away with this. He's going to pay."

Winking, I ruffled her hair and stood up. "Well obviously," I laughed. "I'm not letting some shitty garden snake push me around. I'm gonna make myself a pair of snakeskin boots. Still, we need more information about this bastard. I think it's time we had a little talk with Tattletale. Her clairvoyant is going to be earning their money on this one. By the time that conclave happens, I'm going to have preparations made to kill that fucking dragon."

AN:/ As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent hope everyone is enjoying.