Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A letter bomb, thought Taylor. All these years, Gold Morning, decades of dealing with Aisha, Lisa AND Victoria, and a letter bomb gets me. I’m getting sloppy in my old age.

Falling back on old habits, she kept her eyes closed as she mentally checked for injuries. Only after she was reasonably sure she was reasonably intact did she open her eyes.

“Fuck.” She recognized that skyline.

Sitting up, she confirmed that she was in fact in an alley. Spotting the newspaper that is always conveniently there in these stories, she noted the date. February 2011. “Double fuck.”

However, before Taylor could properly get on with her very well justified panic, a very familiar sort of portal opened up, and a recognizable (and quite dapper) young woman stepped out, regarded Taylor with determination, and said, “We desperately need a responsible adult to tell us what to do! Help us, you are our only hope!”

Chapter Text

“So the PRT wants to pay me,” said Alec incredulously, as Lisa cackled in the background.

“Yes.”

“To use my powers on people.”

“Yes.”

“Specifically, people with nerve damage.”

“Yes.”

“My power that fucks up nerves.”

“Yes.”

“And they want me to do this to Wards and troopers and heroes and shit.”

“Yes, they are very interested in seeing what happens, particularly with repeated exposures.”

“What kind of sickos does the PRT hire? Like seriously, what the fuck!”

“You have no idea.”

Chapter Text

“It was an entirely appropriate and proportionate response,” Lisa said with certainty.

Taylor resisted the urge to facepalm. She gestured for Lisa to continue.

“He insulted my intelligence!” Lisa continued, perhaps with a little too much forcefulness.

“They disagreed with your suggestion that Narwhal and Dragon are in a relationship,” Taylor responded flatly. “In a forum post. On PHO.”

“They are in a relationship,” Lisa said with a knowing smirk. “They’re co-workers.”

“First, you made a deliberately ambiguous statement knowing that however they responded you could find offense.”

“Well,” The teen replied imperiously, “If he didn’t want to be wrong he shouldn’t be posting.”

“And, for the record, your ‘appropriate and proportionate’ response was a detailed exploration of the many logical, grammatical, and factual errors in every post they made over the past week, posted via a purpose-made insultingly named sock puppet. Before going on to criticize their social skills, cleanliness, intelligence, appearance, and familial wealth.”

Lisa nodded. “Yes! Entirely proportionate! I could have easily gone on twice as long! I didn’t even have to use my power, just like you said I should avoid doing!”

“And what kind of person do you think this person is, by chance?”

“He is a try hard wannabe forum warrior who is actually a teenager at Winslow with one real life friend and an internet girl friend who he’s half convinced is a dirty old man because she won’t share pics with weird boys online. And now everyone else on PHO knows what a loser he is!”

“I wasn’t aware you felt the need to bully lonely neuro-divergent children. You might even call him an at-risk teen.”

Lisa’s face fell. “Oh. Shit.”

“On the bright side, you can use your powers to help you figure out how to fix it. Just run any ideas past me first.”

Chapter Text

“What do we have today, Emily,” asked Rennick.

“Thinktank report. More likely than not there are irregularities in the M/S reports for one of our high schools.”

Rennick nodded.

“I think there’s something to it. I pulled the M/S red flag reports for the past year and guess what, since the start of the school year Winslow High School has exactly zero.”

Rennick cursed. “They’re teens. Half barely know who they are. We should have a steady stream of false positives.”

Emily nodded grimly. “Dig into it. Bypass Hess and Smith, when asked both couldn’t think of anything noteworthy, and seemed to see the lack of reports as a good thing.”

Some time later

Emily frowned at Rennick. “Why am I yanking Wards certification for Winslow?”

“Three strikes. One, they weren’t reporting possible M/S flags. Yes most are bullshit but deciding that is our job, not theirs. Second, they suppressed multiple reports of misconduct by Hess, so what might have been dealt with as a case of minor bullying escalated into multiple incidents of assault and at least one hospitalization. Three, when we went in to pull records they got obstructive.”

“Right. Our response needs to be massive and disproportionate to drive home that people cannot fuck us around. I’ll call the Mayor. Any idea if there actually is a master or stranger?”

“If so they’re likely gone now.”

“Do a full audit anyway. It’s a school, we need to be sure. The parents will expect nothing less when this hits the news and it’s good training. Where’s Hess.”

“M/S confinement until we can be sure whether she’s a victim or a perp. We’re pulling phone records.”

Even later

“Jesus Christ, Rennick, what was Hess thinking? She’s gone. Higher can decide whether she’s going to a cell or a punishment duty. Flag her as a possible master too. As much smoke as there is here we’re doing this by the book, and it’s not like her lawyer is in a position to complain.”

Chapter Text

“There’s a knack to getting bureaucracies to do what you want. Here, I made them want what I wanted and then graciously acquiesced when they asked me pretty please to help them with it.”

Her younger counterpart looked unimpressed.

Taylor sighed. “Long-running bullying campaigns generate a lot of the same signals as active master/stranger situations. Winslow’s certification to allow Wards to attend has basically nothing to do with academic rigor, but does have a lot of requirements about emergency preparedness and reporting certain ‘signs of possible criminal parahuman activity’. The PRT wound up picking up Sophia, Madison and Emma to check for M/S influence. Madison panicked and produced a whole trove of pictures, texts and a journal to ‘prove’ she was a bully not a master. Which proved the bullying and also surfaced many other issues the school should have reported.”

Her counterpart nodded slowly. “So what happens now?”

Taylor shrugged. “A Wards certification comes with funding, and the PRT is doing an audit, so the district is pissed. They want to make this go away. Blackwell is out, likely others as well, and so long as you don’t go to the press they will give you pretty much whatever you want, especially if it doesn’t cost much money. A transfer, clean slate on grades, extra tutoring, even repeat a year for a fresh start, it’s all on the table.”

Chapter Text

“Heads up, Emily, we’ve found solid evidence of a possible stranger at Winslow.”

“How bad.”

“Cameras and witness interviews reveal the school had one more janitor than was on payroll. Dressed the part, did janitor things, kept his head down. Literally, we don’t have a good image of him from any of the few cameras that worked. He was living in a closet in the basement. Did a runner at some point after we started poking around.”

“So is this a stranger? A homeless person trying to slip by? Someone working under the table?”

Rennick shrugged. “School says stranger, but we know what that’s worth.”

“Christ. Keep digging.”

Elsewhere

“Huh,” Taylor said, setting down the file. “I didn’t expect to actually find one.”

Chapter Text

Lisa looked down in confusion at the text from her boss. The words, they made sense individually, but together?

The King of Slytherin: Do whatever the nice lady from the PRT says. Keep the $$ as severance.

Power, as usual, offered commentary: He is terrified.

Interesting, but not particularly useful absent context that did not seem to be on offer.

The doorbell rang, much to Lisa's confusion. The doorbell rang? What the fuck? This is a doorman building, I'm not expecting anyone and if someone was here they should have called...

Cautiously, picked up her gun and went to the door. Looking through the peephole only deepened her confusion. Outside her door was a middle-aged woman in professional attire, holding up an open PRT badge. The woman rang the doorbell again.

Power, again, had his own contribution: Employed by Coil/is Coil's boss. Shot by Coil/shot Coil dead. Truly means to do well by you/could trivially cause your death and there is nothing you could do to stop it. Views you as her best friend/has never met you. Is the single most influential human being on Earth Bet and knows it. Is not a parahuman/had a trigger event/has a parahuman power.

Fuck, Lisa thought. It was going to be one of those meetings.

Chapter Text

“Who is this, and why is she here?” Asked Rebecca. She did not appreciate being pulled into an unscheduled meeting.

Contessa unhelpfully offered. “The paths have changed. She will guide us to victory.”

Contessa nodded at the newcomer, a tall, middle-aged woman in casual clothes. She carried herself with a deliberate stillness that spoke of long experience dealing with social thinkers. The woman regarded Rebecca coldly for a moment longer and then started talking. And kept talking. Apparently, detailing all of Cauldron’s mistakes had among a certain sort become something of a cocktail game in the future.

Later, after the newcomer had left, Contessa turned to Rebecca. “I feel much better now, don’t you? To know that it wasn’t all for nothing?”

Rebecca stared at her incredulously. “I have never felt so condescended to in my life, and I’ve testified before Congress.”

“Would you prefer fury?” Asked the Protectorate’s nominal leader. “What, exactly did she mean about remediating the Case 53s and the Nemesis program?”

“At least Citrine is nice,” said Kurt.

Chapter Text

Taylor was not entirely sure what to make of the strange older woman who self-identified as Taylor’s future counterpart. The attention was nice, and she was certainly more present than Taylor’s father. But sometimes she wanted to talk and it got weird.

“Normally,” the older woman continued, “with teen parahumans I am fairly relaxed, sure you would do best with the Wards or another established group, but if before then you get into some youthful hijinks at worst you’ll get a probationary Wards deal.

“But you, if you are anything like me at all you have the potential to be a real overachiever. Of course, I don’t even know if you have powers. And if you do whether or not you tell me is wholly your choice.

“So let’s talk about me. I got powers, lost them a few years later, but when I first got them I definitely got up to teenage silliness. And I do some things that in hindsight were not the best idea, but it was for a good reason and I’m learning! And things continue on and suddenly there dead bodies everywhere and Legend and Alexandria are talking about maybe sort of sending you to the Birdcage. Oh and I almost died a lot and my relationship with Dad never really recovered.”

Like that. That was weird.

Chapter Text

“Why are we meeting like this,” Lisa said in a calm professional manner that was not a whine.

The older woman gave Lisa a look. “I am a firm advocate for the white hats’ cadre of overworked, under-appreciated counselors. I trust them, I respect them, I value them, and I am not letting you anywhere near them in your current state.”

Lisa sputtered.

The older woman sighed. “Everyone knows about how brutes have trouble controlling their powers. When a Ward does it, tragic accident. When an independent hero does it…”

“Like Glory Girl!” Lisa interjected.

The older woman paused, before continuing, “sure, like, ah, Glory Girl, it’s played for laughs. When a ‘villain’ does it, it’s nefarious recklessness. You understand?”

“Sure, putting the ‘PR’ in PRT!”

“Right. But what people forget is that the underlying problem is actually less severe for Brutes because for them it tends to be very obvious, to themselves and others, when they have a control issue. Other parahumans don’t necessarily have that advantage. And while the collateral damage may be less immediately apparent, it’s still there.”

Lisa started to laugh at the idea that Brutes like Glory Girl had good control, and then the penny dropped. “Hey! What are you implying!?”

Chapter Text

Just before Coil could split the timelines again, a familiar portal opened in his office.

Shit.

The portal promptly disgorged the boogeyman and a second, older woman in professional attire and a domino mask. The boogeyman gesture at her colleague, “she speaks with our voice.” The she thankfully fucked off, closing the portal behind her.

The other woman remained. She nodded to Coil. “That’s the stick. Here’s the carrot.” She placed a case on his desk, opened it, and rotated it to face him. Inside were four neatly labeled vials, and an updated Thinktank report tailor made to lower Coil’s threat level, and crediting his hard work undermining Piggot instead to Victor and the Empire.

Well, when the devil comes bearing such gifts, what else can you say? Heart pounding in his chest, Thomas forced his voice to portray a facade of calmness. “How can I help?”

Chapter Text

“Hey everyone,” shouted Lisa with false cheer as she entered the loft. “We hit the big time!”

“What happened now?” Asked Grue, suspiciously. He had learned early to be wary of Lisa when she got like this.

“The big boss is giving a nice big pile of money to maybe not say mean things about him to the fuzz! And is terrified out of his mind! Oh, the money is severance pay!”

“Lisa,” Grue said, trying to maintain his calm. “Some of us were relying on the Boss for things. Important things.”

Lisa waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, that is already getting sorted, now that he’s not stretching things out to keep you loyal. But don’t worry, someone likes us and leaned on the Boss so we’re getting flipped to the light side as redemption stories.”

“You talk too much,” interjected Rachel. “Start making sense. What the fuck are you taking about?!”

Not for the first time, Grue found himself agreeing with Rachel.

Chapter Text

“Let’s say you have a tool. A hammer, shall we say. It is an amazing hammer, one of the best hammers in the world. It also, with creativity, can be used as a prybar. However, it will never be better than passable as a prybar. It is no fault of the hammer, but it is what it is. What do you do with it? Do you focus on using it to hammer the most difficult and challenging hammer things with or? Or do you spend a lot of time trying to use it as a prybar?”

Armsmaster answers immediately. “It’s a hammer. You use the right tool for the job. You can use it as a prybar and in extremis maybe you even should, but it most efficient to use a tool for what it is good at.”

“Excellent. Now, let’s talk about something entirely different. You routinely collaborate with the best tinkers in the world, who consider you a peer. You also spend considerable amount of time on managerial and administrative duties relating to your role at ENE. What, precisely, are your personal and professional goals?”

Chapter Text

“I don’t know why it didn’t work!” Lisa exclaimed. “And now he’s even more withdrawn and paranoid!”

Taylor gave Lisa a look. “What did I tell you?”

“To fix it!”

“And to talk to me before acting.”

Lisa scoffed. “It should have been easy, it was a great plan, and Power agreed!”

“Powers are like cars, they sometimes have a mind of their own. And unlike cars they learn from you as you use them. What, exactly, did Power tell you?”

“I don’t remember,” Lisa mumbled sheepishly.

Taylor nodded. “You will get better results if you pay very careful attention to exactly what your power says. For example, there is a big difference between ‘this idea will work’ and ‘this idea is AWESOME.’ It would, I’m sure, be inconvenient if you inadvertently got your power in the habit of viewing a bit of misunderstanding and social drama as a beneficial side effect.”

“Oh come on! How is that fair!”

Chapter Text

“Again,” Lisa said in her serious voice, “I am really sorry I couldn’t tell you the boss was fucking up the custody thing.”

Brian sighed, and resisted the urge to punch something. They needed to present a united front to the PRT lady.

“Right, well fortunately that has been resolved.”

Brian blinked at the PRT lady. “I’m sorry?”

“Custody. A recording was presented to CPS and the family court judge. It seems your mother offered to sign whatever custody papers were desired, in exchange for a substantial quantity of what she believed to be cocaine. The recording is of course thoroughly inadmissible in a criminal proceeding, but I believe the expression used by the family court judge was ‘it will be a cold day in hell.’”

“You did what?!”

The woman smiled. “We merely presented the evidence to the proper authorities after it came into our possession. I’m sure we have no idea who conducted the sting.”

Chapter Text

Taylor fidgeted nervously. On the one hand, the arrival of supposed alternate future her had sort of shocked her dad out of his shell somehow, and she guessed that was nice? He was trying at least. But on the other hand it made dinners lots more awkward, especially when other her was present.

Searching desperately for a topic to break the silence, she offered “so are you working with the PRT to get back home?”

The older woman frowned, and put down her fork. “After thinking about it, no. We have our peace, however tenuous, and, well, if we were able to build a door what else might come through? There are threats here that I wouldn’t inflict on my world again, no matter how much I might want to go home.”

Well, thought Taylor, I guess I am stuck with her… and I can’t really blame her, I wouldn’t want to inflict our suck on my friends either.

Chapter Text

“Now Taylor, regardless of whether or not you have powers, there are some important life skills to learn for living in the Bay.”

Why does she keep trying to do bonding things with me, thought Taylor as she looked skeptically at supposed future her.

“Your father tells me you have been running, which is a good start.”

Taylor zoned out for a bit. She did help with the bullying so she probably means well, but she’s so old! Older than Dad! And keeps trying to relate to me!

The older woman was still talking. “Of course, that’s just the basics, you will also want to learn basic grappling, I’ll find you somewhere that will teach you to fight dirty.”

Wat.

“… as I certainly wouldn’t recommend you try to use a knife without first knowing what your doing, that’s just a good way to get hurt…”

WAT.

“… we can in parallel get you started with range training and gun safety, I can get you into the PRT for that since some of the things you’ll need training on aren’t strictly street legal…”

Oh my God, are all PRT people like this?

“… Now, you have my number so if you get picked up by the fuzz call and I can get you out, but it would still be good for you to learn how to tell a proper sob story to the police, as a young woman it is amazing what you can talk yourself out of, especially once you learn to cry on command…”

Chapter Text

“Thank you for agreeing to meet here,” the PRT lady said. “ENE was shot through with bugs, spies and moles, and Armsmaster isn’t sure he’s got them all yet.”

Brian sighed. This does not make me feel better about joining up. Still, he forced himself to smile. “It’s not a problem. I’ve asked my sister to stay after at school so we can have some privacy.”

She nodded. “Are you sure we ought not involve her in this? She may have views about the relocation opportunity, and I’ve not seen anything to suggest that she is unintelligent or unobservant.”

Brian chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Hmm,” she said. And then she moved, fast, and opened the bedroom door, revealing Aisha. Eavesdropping.

“Oh, hi bro,” she said shamelessly, “I got done early?”

Chapter Text

“You see the news, Max?” God was Krieg chipper in the mornings.

“No. I just got in. Which you know. Because you watched me just walk in.”

Krieg did that stupid grin that he thought made him look like the master race but just made him look constipated. “The PRT has announced their grand victory over the Empire, with their arrest of an even ten moles.”

“Shit,” said Max before the number caught up to him. “Wait, what?”

“Yes! Ten.”

“We had four,” Max said slowly. “Four. Not ten.”

“Apparently, we also had a complex scheme to intercept and edit internal PRT communications, thus subtly undermining the morale and effectiveness of our valiant defenders. Oh, and we suborned an armory technician to commandeer official PRT gear, up to and including vehicles.”

“What?” This was a nightmare. “I know we didn’t do that. I don’t even know how we would begin to do that.”

“I’ve already checked with Victor and he didn’t do it.”

“Wait. Did they even get any of our guys?”

“They got three of them, we still have one left but he’s spooked.”

“Jesus, they can’t do this! It’s one thing if they catch our guys but we they can’t pin stuff on us we didn’t even do! There are laws!”

Chapter Text

“What am I looking at Rennick?” It had been a long week and Emily was not in the mood for games.

“Properly authorized exception paperwork for someone to anonymously send Calvert an otherwise impermissible package through our intra-office mail.”

Emily just stared at him until he elaborated.

“Specifically, elaborately gift wrapped hand grenades. Properly safed, but still hand grenades. We’ve been authorized two hours overtime for an ordinance technician to assist with the delivery.”

“Please tell me they are inert.”

“One can hope, but the papers say to treat them as if they were live.”

“Except for the part where we don’t get to put whoever came up with this in the M/S tank.”

“Yes, except for that.”

Emily sighed. Yes, simply mailing Calvert a hand grenade had a certain undeniable appeal, true. If anyone deserved a good fragging it was that piece of shit. Still, this was a bit much. “Sit on it for now, and send up our visitor from DC, Dr. Weaver.”

Chapter Text

Thomas walked confidently toward his office in the PRT building. Now, with the support of Cauldron, his victory was assured. Sure, he would have to change his approach with the PRT, but that was doable. Emily was one medical crisis from retirement, and Rennick would never be given the job, not without more seasoning first in a less troubled region. Plenty of time for him to maneuver one of his people into position to…

Opening his office door, Thomas saw something unexpected. A box on his desk, with an attached inter-office routing slip. Curious, Thomas opened the box, and extracted a smaller package, clad in bright wrapping paper. Even more curious, Thomas opened the gift wrap to reveal a polished hardwood box engraved with his name. He opened the box and holy shit.

Thomas found himself on the floor, back pressed against the opposite wall, breathing heavily. Hand grenades. Who the FUCK sends hand grenades through inter-office mail? HOW did they even get them through security, ever since Assault’s last ‘harmless prank’ they’ve been screening internal packages as well!

Slowly, Thomas calmed his breathing. He had a safe timeline, he could afford to get some additional information. He crept forward and peered into the box. Yep, fragmentation grenades. at least the box was well-padded, the grenades each in their own compartment, and the pins safely secured.

And then he realized, and his blood ran cold. They knew! Who else could slip such a package into the PRT!?

This required careful reconsideration.

Chapter Text

“Why does David look constipated?” Rebecca asked.

“He is communing with his subconscious,” said Kurt, explaining nothing. It was too early for this shit.

Rebecca frowned.

“Our time traveler told him that he might be subconsciously influencing Endbringers. He’s trying to learn how to do it consciously.”

Rebecca’s blood ran cold. “Explain.”

“In her world, after David died, Endbringer behavior changed…” and then he described a nightmare scenario where the Simurgh simply wandered around 24/7, constantly doing things.

Then she paused, and considered. “But from what she said, a lot of thing happened around that time. How does she know it was him?”

And then he launched into a long, tortured explanation of agent networking and hierarchies, massive parallel agent connections due to those fucking boosters, and tinker/thinker studies led by Bonesaw and The Fairy Queen.

I’m beginning to see why she sees us as amateurs…

Chapter Text

“So what do you think?” Lisa asked excitedly.

“Thank you for checking with me first. What did your power say about the plan?”

“Power said it would work, and would do so within the specified time horizon of one month!”

“And what does power think would happen after?”

“After?”

“One month later, three months later, six months later, etc.”

“I’m sure it will be fine, he’s just a teenage boy how hard can it be oh. Shit”

“Lisa. You should not need me to tell you that catfishing is not the answer.”

Chapter Text

“It’s not fair!” Exclaimed Victoria. “Some lady from the PRT talks to mom and now suddenly I have to wear this stupid thing!”

“Vicky,” Amy said with forced patience, “ever since you got powers, literally everyone has been telling you to better control your aura. Besides, all it does it track aura activation.”

“But that’s just the start, before you know it they’ll OH GODDAMNIT.” The monitor was lit up again.

“LANGUAGE!” Carol’s voice drifted up the stairs.

“Like that. I admit the light is a nice touch.”

“I don’t know what’s changed! They said it was fine before!”

“They said occasional short term exposure was probably no more harmful than other previously approved shaker effects. That’s not the same as ‘fine’. Your power directly affects emotions, which means it directly affects brain chemistry. Do you know what effects might come from long term or repeated exposure?”

“No but I’m sure it’s fine I mean you and Mom and Dad are all fine OH FOR FUCK SAKES!”

“VICTORIA DALLON DON’T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!”

Chapter Text

“Bro, PRT lady is so cool, I can’t believe you didn’t want me to meet her!”

“Aisha, what are you talking about?” Brian turned to look at his sister and was shocked to see her wearing… smart looking clothes, in a conservative cut.

“She taught me how to master people with clothes! Except it’s only sort of like a power so the pigs can’t even get mad at me for it!”

“How do you? What?”

“Like, she went through all this brain stuff about how brains are super lazy and make super-fast judgments and by making them see what you want you can literally hack their brains”!”

“Aisha that’s…” just how first impressions work, I’ve tried to explain it to you a thousand times. But she was still going.

“I was down on the boardwalk for like two hours and the Enforcers didn’t bother me once because I hacked their brains!”

You know what, if it gets her to behave, I’ll take it.

Chapter Text

“Ready for school, Little Owl?”

“I guess. It feels weird after all this time to be starting over at Arcadia.”

“What did Dr. Weaver say?”

“Some stuff about a second chance to make a first impression. She also gave me some books and a laptop and, ah, a cell phone.”

“Yeah,” Danny shrugged. “I still don’t like it, but she was very convincing about the safety concerns.”

“Yeah.” Taylor shuffled her feet. “The books are interesting though?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, there’s a translation of Beowulf, from Aleph, that we don’t have here. Also a collection of some pre-cape comics, and a book on insects.”

“Insects?”

“Yeah.” Taylor shuffled her feet again. “She said she was into insect-ology as a teen and thought I might find it interesting too.”

Chapter Text

“Director Piggot,” the woman said respectfully.

“Dr. Weaver. I felt that going forward, it would be helpful to schedule these little check-ins periodically so as to make sure things go smoothly.”

“Of course,” the woman nodded.

“Firstly, I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but Calvert has put in for retirement. Medical. Unfortunate, but these things happen.”

“I’m sure we will all feel his departure deeply.”

“Hmm. Do you recall the incident with the package.”

“Yes.” Whatever else could be said, the woman had an amazing poker face. “What an unusual incident.”

“I wonder why he never reported it. Really, he seemed remarkably unconcerned by it, as if being mailed a hand grenade was something entirely understandable and expected.”

“Might it be related to the medical retirement?”

“It’s possible. I pulled the security footage from his office. Perhaps your thinker can make something of it?”

There. Finally a small crack in her facade.

Chapter Text

“What’s all this?” Lisa looked at the equipment curiously.

“Director Piggot suggested you watch something to see what information you can derive, however I am concerned about how your power might react. Accordingly, we are taking cognitohazard precautions. You put it on, it starts the process, we expose you to the possible cognitohazard, and then we see what happens. Absent deliberate and conscious action by you, at the end of a short period your mind will be reset to the start.”

Lisa laughed. “I don’t know whether to be intrigued or insulted! Hit me, I can take it!”

Shortly thereafter

“Ow, my head.” Lisa mumbled as she blinked her eyes. “What happened.”

“In order, we watched a video, you discovered, quote, ‘The Truth’ behind, well, various things, and had a sort of power-driven fit. You were too distraught to trigger the retention process, so you reverted. Unfortunately the process doesn’t do anything for the migraine.”

Chapter Text

Lisa eyed the now-familiar equipment with trepidation. "We're doing this again?"

The older woman nodded. "Yes. We are watching a different video today. The risk of cognitohazard is quite low, and I have reason to believe you will find the experience quite enjoyable."

"I should feel more conflicted about this. But the prospect that there is information that is too dangerous for me to handle, that bothers me. That bothers me like you have no idea."

Shortly thereafter

Lisa tried to disguise her nervousness as the video began. She didn't think it would work against the older woman, but she had her pride damnit!

PRT office. Security footage. Her power unnecessarily told her. Inter-office mail package on desk. Nameplate read Thomas Calvert.

Her breath caught. The man who entered was not in costume, and she had never seen his face before. But she knew that gait, knew that confidence. She didn't even need to use her power. Coil.

And then he opened the package, and she began to laugh.

"Hand grenades," the older woman offered with a smile. "Someone anonymously sent him hand grenades through the intra-office mail. Shortly thereafter he filed for medical retirement."

She sent them. Her power offered, and Lisa just couldn't take it. She laughed, and laughed, and laughed until she cried.

Chapter Text

“Was the video productive?”

The other woman adopted a serious expression. “Our not-yet-rebranded thinker quickly confirmed that Calvert has a lot of nasty skeletons in his closet. Then she had a sort of power-driven speculative fit and starting babbling about teleporting assassins, vast world-controlling conspiracies, and dead gods. Fortunately the cognitohazard reversion worked.”

Emily looked at the other woman intently. “I can’t say I’m surprised, but I didn’t expect it to be that bad. Is it something we need to worry about?”

“It has been escalated. I can’t speak about Calvert specifically but, well, one hears stories. Never official, never confirmed, about people too useful to lose and too knowledgeable to stand trial.”

Emily’s expression soured. That sounded all to familiar.

“But sometimes, it is said, they can’t help but bite the hand that feeds them. And, well, one may be too useful to die but one might be surprised at what one can survive. I doubt those in this category much enjoy the experience.”

“A sort of community service then?”

“After a fashion, I suppose. Less justice than one would hope, but more than can at times otherwise be obtained in this imperfect world. Perhaps if the Endbringers are ever resolved that might start to change.”

Chapter Text

“Brandish and Glory Girl, thank you, this should only take a moment.”

Carol wasn’t entirely sure yet what to make of Dr. Weaver. The request for an aura monitor had been discreet, reasonable, and non-confrontational. Still, Carol preferred to be the one holding authorities responsible, rather than the other way around.

Still, Carol maintained a professional demeanor. “Of course, how can we help the PRT.”

“We constantly strive to improve the training we can provide our Wards. When conducting a review of incidence of inadvertent use of excess force statistics, it was noted that Glory Girl’s metrics are substantially lower than what we would have expected in a parahuman of her profile. We would love to chat with you and your teammates in detail about your training regimen so as to replicate this success in the Wards program.”

Carol did not like where this was heading.

“Of course,” Dr. Weaver continued, “if there are additional incidents that inadvertently went unreported, we would be happy to make available to Glory Girl additional training opportunities.”

Oh, Christ. Victoria’s flinch was unmistakeable. Still, there were formalities to be observed. Carol forced a smile. “Certainly, let me check availabilities and I’ll get back to you.”

Chapter Text

Amy was drained. Her sister had just spent almost an hour tearfully apologizing for asking her to heal those late night gang members. Which was... a thing. That was a thing. Really, she loved Vicky dearly, but it's like her sister was only now processing what Amy had been telling her since the beginning. It sounded like someone had read Vicky the riot act about something, perhaps involving potential leverage that could be used by villainous thinkers, or Victor, or both? Maybe something to do with those news stories about Empire moles? Amy wasn't really sure, and wasn't sure Vicky was entirely clear on the subject either.

Oh well, I suppose I'll get lectured about it eventually.

Amy's musing was interrupted by a politely knock. "Come in?" She said, confused. The only one in this house who knocked politely was her father, who had already retired early. Amy was thus surprised to see Carol enter, looking unusually serious.

"Amy," Carol said without preamble, "I know things have been changing lately. I want you to know, no matter what happens and no matter what anyone says, I love you, and I am so very very proud of you." And then Carol hugged her before, thankfully, fucking off.

What was that about?

Chapter Text

"I have now activated a jamming device of the same type used to protect the most sensitive conversations of the Chief Director. Before we talk about Victoria, I would like to first speak of Amy."

Carol stared impassively.

"It is not uncommon for parahumans to be unaware of the full extent of their capabilities. This is especially true of young parahumans. Similarly, recent events have highlighted why a responsible parent might have had perfectly reasonable grounds to decline to share full details of their child's powers with ENE."

Carol continued to stare impassively.

"Thinkers, especially precognitives, are notoriously imprecise. And so when I say 'there exists a timeline', that is all that is meant. It merely speaks to a possible future, not a certain future. With that said, a very select group of persons, which does not at present include anyone in ENE, have recently become aware of two key pieces of information. Firstly, there exists a timeline where Amy plays a critical role in enabling a series of events which avert the death of a number of human lives greater than the current total known collective population of Earth Bet, Earth Aleph, and every other alternate we are aware of. The precise details of how this happens, why it happens, how it can be encouraged or avoided? These details are not certain. Similarly, there exists a timeline where an S-Class threat discovers Amy's potential before we do, and conducts a sustained campaign against her of physical, emotional and mental abuse which results in her becoming uncertain of her ability to control her powers and demanding that she be put in the Birdcage for the safety of the world, over the objections of relevant authority figures, to the extent of attempting to hold the world hostage unless her 'demand' was met."

Carol stared, dumbfounded.

"Needless to say, the Chief Director is now extraordinarily interested in ensuring Amy's continued health and well-being. As well as in determining what, precisely it is about her powers that gives her such potential. Oh, and whatever it was that gave her the strength to with such persistence hold out against such sustained hostile pressure, and to with such fervor insist on the greater good at her own expense."

Chapter Text

Taylor eyed the room’s other occupants with trepidation, while munching on her free bagel.

She thought she recognized one girl from a Winslow, and anyone who went to Arcadia was familiar with the Dallon girls. But the rest were a mystery, and ran the gamut from just older than her to a trio of younger girls eying each other suspiciously.

Her older counterpart did that thing she did, where suddenly everyone in the room was paying attention to her.

“Thank you all for coming. Before we get started, it is very important to discuss what these sessions are and are not. Principally, these sessions are about helping young women such as yourselves succeed in our trying world. Although uninteresting to some, this is very important and we will spend some time each session going over basic information you can share on the topic if asked.

“Now let’s talk about what this is not…”

Ok so maybe this would be interesting.

A couple hours later

“Hey bro! I’m back!”

“Aisha, how was the thing?”

“I have a worksheet of stuff about girl power!” Aisha considered carefully, before continuing. “And we most definitely did not learn how to lie to the police.”

Goddamnit, thought Brian.

Chapter Text

Armsmaster was surprised to find Vista, in civilian clothes and a domino mask, waiting outside his lab door on the Rig.

"Vista? I wasn't expecting to see you today.”

"Oh," she said with feigned nonchalance, "I was out for a walk, had some ideas about my power, and figured I'd stop by."

"Out for a walk on the Rig?"

"No," Vista smiled. "Started at home, stopped by the Medhall tower and then I walked to the rig!"

Ok but that didn't explain WAIT A MINUTE.

"To be clear," Armsmaster said slowly, "you walked, the entire way from your house, to here, without taking a boat?"

"Exactly!"

"Why don't you come inside. I think we have a lot to talk about."

Chapter Text

“Why do I have to do this again,” Taylor asked, not sulking.

“You already go running. This is running.”

“But a gym and the partner? What’s wrong with just going out the door?”

“In order, you could be a Blaster 10 and you would still be a teen female running alone through the mostly empty streets of this city at the crack of dawn. And you are both more likely to consistently exercise if you are in it together.”

Taylor did not pout, grumble or whine. “But she’s all famous and popular!”

“She actively avoids the spotlight. Just treat her like a normal human being.”

Chapter Text

“How come you get this awesome bachelor pad?” Asked Vicky.

“It’s not… It’s a studio apartment. In a building conveniently located between home, school, and the hospital district.”

“All I’m hearing is paaar-tay!”

Amy glowered, and bopped her sister on the head with her welcome packet. “First, you are not a dumb blonde, don’t act like one. Second, it’s a security thing and it’s part of a bunch of security stuff I’m not allowed to talk about. Third, the PRT absolutely are monitoring things and I’m pretty sure at least some of the neighbors are PRT.”

“Hey, could…”

“No,” Amy interrupted, “you and Dean can’t borrow the apartment, for fucks sakes!”

“Oh,” Vicky said with an exaggerated pout, “why must you be so cruel, I’m just trying to lighten the mood GODDAMNIT.”

The aura light had gone on again.

Chapter Text

Brian opened the door, and hissed. "Lisa, what are you doing here!"

Lisa snorted. "Of course she didn't tell you."

"What?"

"Oh, hey!" Aisha said, popping up next to him. "I see you've met, bro, this is my running buddy. Running buddy, this is my bro."

"What?" That, in fact, explained nothing.

"Blame PRT Lady," Lisa said with a grin. "She had this whole thing on fitness and stamina and stuff, and how she won't teach us advanced escape and evasion techniques until she is sure we won't die trying them."

"Hey!" Aisha exclaimed. "Ixnay!"

Lisa rolled her eyes. "I know you know I used to work with him."

Aisha crossed her arms. "But where's the fun in that!" She turned to Brian. "She's just grumpy that I get to make her actually exercise instead of just pretending."

Chapter Text

"Finally, I was hoping to discuss with you a proposal that Vista recently advanced," said Director Piggot.

"Oh?" Dr. Weaver looked intrigued.

"Yes. Regarding an attempt to navigate a remote-controlled vehicle from the shore station to the Rig. Specifically, an RC car."

"Oh!" The other woman perked up. "It's good to see her becoming more creative with the use of her powers, and she seems to be putting thought into safety as well. Much better to try this over water than, say, from the roof of the PRT building."

Emily mentally counted down from ten.

"Dr. Weaver, I think you miss the point. Vista is a Shaker 9. In designing our ROE for such threats, care has to be taken to thread the needle of 'measures strong enough to work' and "'measures that will not violate strategic arms control treaties or intrigue the Simurgh'."

"You must be exaggerating."

"So as to avoid putting you the position of declining to answer, or worse answering, certain questions, I will assume you have not previously dealt with parahumans of such power at such a young age. Vista, again, is a Shaker 9. This is a level of destructive potential which in a prior age was reserved for extraordinarily expensive weapons platforms or major industrial installations. Previously, such capabilities were carefully protected by safety precautions ensuring that multiple trained, competent adults would have the possibility to prevent irresponsible use. Now such power is in the hands of a young girl, just entering puberty. Thanks to considerable work, and despite her best efforts, the general public views her as adorable rather than existentially terrifying."

Understanding began to dawn on Dr. Weaver's face, but Emily kept going.

"I appreciate that, at the level on which you operate, such things might have slipped your mind, but that section in the back of each parahuman's file where the power researchers get, hmmm, creative? Access to that information is very tightly controlled and, for Wards and indeed many younger Protectorate members, does not include the parahuman themselves."

"Ah."

"Indeed. I will not insult anyone's intelligence by asking things such as 'how could this happen' and instead suggest that, going forward, you take a more direct hand in overseeing Vista's development, as well as that of any other parahumans with dangerous powers who might feel like experimenting."

"That seems fair."

Chapter Text

"No," said the older woman firmly.

"Come on!" Lisa did not whine. "Although its proposed solutions are controversial and perhaps even flawed, it is a historically important work and includes interesting and valid critiques of the modern socioeconomic system."

The older woman was not impressed. "It is a work so fringe as to be considered niche and even, in some circles, heretical. Aisha does not have the academic background to appreciate it as a work of socioeconomic criticism, nor does she have the background to critically engage with it and its flaws."

"It is an excellent opportunity for her to expand her horizons!"

"Even you can't say that with a straight face. The most likely result is her not reading it. The next most likely is her cherry-picking sections and feigning belief so as to annoy her brother. The least likely, but still possible, outcome would be her becoming a true believer, with all that would entail. None of this is an appropriate or proportional response to her taking seriously her responsibility to ensure you exercise."

"I can't believe you think so little of me!"

"You are not introducing Aisha to Atlas Shrugged. If you must discuss it with someone, I suggest Rachel or Alec."

Chapter Text

Dinah was confused. She was used to it, she had a lot of practice lately. It was better than being terrified, which had gotten a lot of practice previously, and better than The Bad Thing that led to all the numbers starting.

She was pretty sure that the doctor from the PRT was, well not at fault, but responsible. She was like, as old as her uncle but not as old as some of Dinah’s teachers, but something about Dr. Weaver felt old and intense, like the principal that time those kids got caught with spray paint back in elementary school. Kind of like her uncle when he got mad, but Dr. Weaver was better at it.

She still wasn’t sure what Dr. Weaver’s thing was. She was pretty sure Dr. Weaver has made the Bad Men stop plotting to get her and instead start protecting her, which was weird. She would rather they have just gone away. And Dr. Weaver seemed protective of Dinah, and concerned about her. But Dr. Weaver didn’t seem to actually like Dinah for some reason and sometimes got all sad or condescending or like she thought something terrible would happen to Dinah even though Dinah told her the numbers said otherwise.

She did believe Dinah about the numbers, though, and made her parents believe too! That was nice. And finding out that Rory had actual useful superpowers was cool! Then the nice PRT doctors were helping with the headaches even though she had to go to Boston to see them due to spy reasons. The numbers agreed that was better but it was still annoying.

Dr. Weaver’s seminar thing was interesting. It was like looking through one of those weird spinny tubes, or those mirrors at the amusement park. It made Dinah feel like whatever else was going on Dr. Weaver took her seriously and did want to protect her, instead of just making noises about it. And Dr. Weaver was good at talking without asking questions, and Missy was nice and Aisha was funny.

But still, it was confusing. Where did Dr. Weaver come from? And what was she doing?

Chapter Text

“I’m back,” Amy loudly grumbled as she staggered into the house. Never in her life had she greater bemoaned her inability to tune up her own biology. This morning running thing sucked, and she couldn’t even complain because she knew Dr. Weaver was right.

“But Mooooom!” Vicky’s voice drifted from the other room.

“Joy,” mumbled Amy, toeing off her shoes. And Vicky was between her and the coffee.

“Victoria, could you please just slow down?” Carol said, with exaggerated patience. “Not all all of us spent half the night going over PRT statistics.”

“Statistically speaking, eye injuries are a major risk to active heroes, even breakers and brutes! That’s why the Protectorate and Wards uniforms usually have a visor or goggles or something! Also we fly! At night! It’s a miracle we haven’t run into something! Like a building! Or power lines! Or a helicopter!”

“Victoria I’m not disagreeing with you I’m just asking you to slow down and pick. One. Thing. At. A. Time. Also, aura.”

Amy felt an uncommon spike of sympathy for Carol.

Chapter Text

Thomas was torn. Until he fully and finally retired, he had not realized just how much he valued his involvement with the PRT as a part of his identity. Losing his direct, in-person visibility into the PRT's operations was inconvenient as well, although despite Armsmaster's efforts, he had retained more visibility into their operations than he had expected.

It did greatly simplify the logistics of maintaining his double life. Now that he was merely a retiree and CEO, he was free to set his own hours and make his day planner say whatever the hell he wanted.

Idly, he flipped through his mail, pausing upon seeing a courier package which had been sent to his office address. Opening it, he first removed a gaudy Hallmark card, with a generic message of welcome. The package's only other contents was yet another sealed envelope, which contained a document with a Watchdog cover page.

Blah blah blah, information from Earth Aleph not available on Earth Bet, blah blah, generic language about how while we cannot officially suppress information due to the Constitution, and cannot classify it because it is readily available on Aleph, this information is absolutely being suppressed, blah blah blah, danger of augmenting the capabilities of hostile Thinkers!

Removing the cover page, Thomas found what appeared to be a photocopy of a printout of a Aleph internet site titled "The Evil Overlord's List", with annotations in handwriting he recognized as belonging to Accord.

Chapter Text

“Hey guys,” Dennis called out as he entered the common area.

“Afternoon,” called out Chris from in front of the TV, where he was playing a fighting game.

Missy’s own grunt of welcome drifted in from the adjacent kitchenette.

Dennis stuck his head in to grab a snack and immediately regretted it.

“What is Missy doing,” Dennis asked, joining Chris on the couch.

“She is doing something profoundly unnatural to marshmallows.”

“Fuck you!” Missy’s voice called out. “I’m training.”

“Fine,” said Chris. “Missy is training by using her power to do something unnatural to juggle marshmallows.”

“Better!”

Dennis considered that for a moment, before asking “Why marshmallows?”

“Was going to be pennies but Armsmaster said this would be safer. I was doing it out there but someone was being a baby.”

“Thank you for your consideration!” Dennis replied, with feeling. Just one glance at whatever she was doing had given him the beginnings of a headache.

“Where’s Aegis,” asked Chris, eyes still focused on the screen.

“Enduring hurricane Vicky. Someone gave her a copy of that safety stats thing we have to sit through every few months, and she got really into it. I snuck out while she was going on about the benefits of proper footwear.”

“His sacrifice will not be forgotten,” said Chris with absolute seriousness.

Suddenly, an ominous squelching noise came out of the kitchenette.

Morbidly curious, Dennis and Chris peaked inside to find gooey white impacts scattered around the walls and ceiling.

“Holy shit, Missy! Did that one crater the ceiling tile?”

“Fuck yeah! I’m awesome!”

Chapter Text

Amy stumbled bleary eyed into the gym. It was too early for this shit.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses inside?” Her gym buddy, damn her, was as usual unnaturally awake at this ungodly hour.

Amy very carefully didn’t say the first things that came to mind, pretty ladies gym clothes yum.

Instead she very clearly and articulately responded “Blargh morning light it burns coffee no yet.”

Placated, her gym buddy wandered over to the treadmill and, after a moment, Amy followed and got on the next treadmill over. Sadly, she had already learned that no matter how nice it was to appreciate gym buddy’s tight legs and bum, the taller and overly awake girl had a stupendously good sense of when someone was staring. Fortunately, pretty lady two aisles over had no such advantage…

Chapter Text

Emily entered the conference room intrigued. Dr. Weaver’s message had been vague, true, but the woman’s track record suggested that whatever it was would at least be interesting.

Dr. Weaver waved her over. In front of her were a handful of small containers, a laptop, and a PRT file festooned with warnings of dire consequences should it be opened by unauthorized persons.

“First, in this flask is a tinkertech liquid which perfectly mimics the effects of alcohol, in this case a nicely aged bourbon, and is entirely self-neutralizing. You can safely consume it, despite your condition, and if you need to neutralize it’s effects early, you can do so with the contents of that container.”

Dr. Weaver then tapped a few buttons on the laptop bringing up a drone feed, with a count-down nearing zero.

“This is a live feed from an active Air Force operation. That campground is the last known location of the Slaughterhouse Nine.” She unmuted the audio feed, revealing familiar chatter in familiar tones.

Emily sat down heavily, and watched transfixed as the countdown approached zero. Finally, she heard the words “target confirmed on-site, initiate.”

And then there was light.

Elsewhere

Taylor looked up, intrigued, as the PA system interrupted class. She was even more intrigued to hear it wasn’t an announcement, but a radio broadcast, and from the audio quality someone had simply set the PA mic next to a radio speaker.

“… again, we repeat, the President has just announced the success of a joint operation to kill the Slaughterhouse Nine. All members are accounted for. They’re gone. It’s over, it’s finally over…”

School let out early.

Chapter Text

“Hey, bro, what kind of girls do you like? Up top or behind, blonde or brunette, all social like or more shut-in?”

“What?” Just, what?!

“So Glory Girl is in the girl power thing, and was sad. See, she likes going on double dates and likes playing matchmaker, but her sister cut her off, so I told her I had the best bro in the whole world and he totally deserves an awesome GF so she said ‘no way’ so I showed her a pic of you working out all sweaty and buff like, and told her how you were taking care of me ‘cause Dad’s all strict and Mom’s always high, and she was like woah so awesome! So, yeah she told me to find out what you like and she’ll hook you up!”

Brian blinked. “Aisha, I have to work with this woman, did you, don’t, I mean, is this, wait you showed her WHAT!?”

Chapter Text

“Your children are safe. You are safe.”

Kayden struggled to find herself in the fog. The last thing she remembered was driving the children home from McDonalds.

“Your children are safe. No matter what happens, your children are safe.”

Kayden slowly clawed her way toward awareness.

“Your children are safe. It is believed that, in a possible future, one or both could play a critical role in the salvation—or destruction—of the world.”

That sounded important…

“The Chief Director is highly interested in their continued health and safety and, whatever else can be said of you, you can be trusted to move heaven and Earth for your children…”

Wait what was that.

“The important thing is that, no matter what happens, your children are safe. You will survive to protect them. And Max will never touch them again.”

Oh that sounded nice.

Chapter Text

"Hey bro, this new apartment building is nice and all..."

"But?" Brian knew where this was going.

"... but I think our neighbor is a cop."

Brian had not, in fact known where this was going. "Aisha. Aisha. How did we come to be in this apartment?"

"Because I wouldn't let you move us to a new city now that I met Dr. Weaver and she is my spirit animal and I am going to convince her to be our new mom."

"... that is not what you said at the time."

"Eh, that was then, this is now. Wait, is then now? That's some heavy shit, bro."

"What? No, we are not doing this now, anyway, Dr. Weaver and my new job got us this apartment, right?"

"Yeah, she is awesome!"

"Right, yes she is. Also terrifying. But, sure, awesome. Anyway, what is Dr. Weaver's job?"

"She's some kind of secret agent, I think? Except not secret? Wait, what is her job?"

"Let's try this a different way. Who does Dr. Weaver work for?"

"Herself?"

"Aisha..."

"Fine, fine, the PRT, I guess? Except she's sort of a boss there so it's more like they work for her?"

"Anyway, right, Dr. Weaver has a PRT badge, and does PRT things, with the PRT."

"Yeah, sure, the PRT is like totally her bitch."

"So yes, Aisha. The PRT, by which I mean the cops, totally got us this apartment. Which means, yes, there are definitely cops living in the building."

Aisha's face fell. "Oh, that sucks." Then her face lit up. Brian definitely knew where this was going.

"No, you will not be able to get Dr. Weaver to make the cops go away since she probably put them there, specifically to protect us from Nazis and stuff."

"Wait, cops do that?"

"Yes, sometimes cops actually do their job, especially when the PRT tells them to."

Aisha looked thoughtful and Brian realized she had honestly never considered the possibility that cops might actually protect them.

Chapter Text

“Armsmaster,” Taylor said slowly. “I deeply respect you and your work. I am especially proud of your efforts to work with Vista. That said, I can assure you that your proposal will be immediately rejected if submitted, and god help us both if Director Piggot hears of this.”

“I don’t see what the problem is, the potential synergies are very intriguing.”

Taylor resisted the urge to massage her brow. She was gaining a new appreciation for all the work her Dragon had put into Defiant. “If we ever were to test this, it would be under controlled circumstances. At a test range. Far from population centers. With a substantial minimum safe distance. Not on an ad hoc field expedient basis in the middle of the city in which we both live.”

“I agree that a more rigorous testing methodology would be preferred, however I doubt our would be collaborator will cooperate.”

“Skidmark. You are talking about Skidmark, just to be clear?”

“Yes, Vista has achieved very interesting acceleration figures on her own but just think of the possibilities!”

“Vista put a ball bearing through, in order, the test chamber’s armored window, her own foot, and a steel plate. If you in the middle of a city combine that with our local provider of trash cannons, people will die…”

Colin leaned forward in his seat to object.

“… and the resulting settlements will inevitably come, directly or indirectly, from your tinker budget.”

Colin leaned back, scowling.

Chapter Text

After confirming that it was, in fact, Missy at the door, and no one else, Amy let her guest in.

“Hey, Panacea, what’s with all the cloak and dagger? And why did you tell Dean to tell me in person, and not tell anyone, and use the special phone number for the ride and stuff?”

Face serious, Amy sat the younger girl down and sat across from her. “This is a special secure apartment Dr. Weaver set up for me, separate from all the spies and bullshit at ENE. And I needed to talk to you about the healing I was called in for the other day.”

“Oh. That.”

“Yes, that.” Amy looked directly at the younger girl, and took her hand. “I need you to answer me honestly. Are you in danger? Is anyone at home or at ENE or anywhere pressuring you to do anything or having you do anything or is anything happening anywhere anyhow for any reason that makes you uncomfortable?”

“No?” Missy sounded confused.

Amy sighed. “Armsmaster called me in the fix your foot, and specifically asked me to do it ‘off-the-record’. I was told the injury occurred during power testing but your power, one, is Manton limited and b, has nothing to do with wounds of that type. Specifically, Missy, I know what a bullet wound looks like. Do you understand why this is incredibly suspicious and alarming?”

“But it was power testing! And it wasn’t a bullet!”

“You’re telling the truth,” Amy said under her breath. She refocused on the younger girl. “Missy, Vista, what happened, exactly?”

“Well, you see, my power can’t directly make things go faster but if things are already falling or are thrown, I can make it so they fall further, and I can shape space so they keep falling, and…”

When Missy finished, Amy stared blankly past her for a moment, and then got up and began bustling around the apartment.

“Amy?”

“Vicky was just here, I know I left it somewhere, there!” Amy turned around holding a small sheaf of papers and, to Missy’s surprise and confusion, lightly bopped Missy on the head with them.

“Bad cape,” said Amy with exaggerated patience. “No pointing at yourself or anyone you don’t want to hurt a power-generated orbital drop weapon simulacrum, Christ.” Bop. “No deliberately subverting safety protocols, even and especially if Armsmaster tells you to, what was he thinking.” Bop. “And no trying to cover it up with ‘off the books’ healing, what were you thinking, what if Victor or a hostile thinker found out.” Bop. “I expect this sort of thing from Vicky, not you, you know better!”

Missy appeared distinctly unamused.

Chapter Text

“Danny, could I ask a favor?” Taylor asked her not!father.

“Sure,” he replied.

“Do you have a picture of Annette you could spare? What with everything that happened, all of mine were lost a long time ago and oomph.”

Taylor’s request was interrupted by Danny’s hug.

Elsewhere

“Hey, Crystal?” Eric asked after his cousin (finally) wandered out.

“Yo.”

“Who is Dr. Weaver and why is Vicky so Vicky about her?”

“Heck if I know.”

Earlier

Sarah Pelham set down the packet of papers, and looked at her niece. “Victoria, I do appreciate your enthusiasm, but before trying to implement,” Sarah gestured at the paper, “all of this, maybe first talk to, Dr Weaver was it? The Protectorate doesn’t do all of this for all of their capes? And, well, some of us aren’t brutes and so weight is an issue?”

Sarah looked back at the packet. “It’s also possible you’ve thought of something that hasn’t occurred to them yet?”

“Thanks! That’s a great idea, Aunt Sarah!”

That Morning

“Morning,” mumbled Mark as he shuffled into the kitchen. He then paused, looked around, and asked his wife. “Where are the girls? It’s awfully quiet this morning.”

“Amy went running and then was going to brunch, and Victoria is at the PRT’s testing facilities throwing things at old New Wave uniforms.”

Chapter Text

“Aisha, have you seen my, wait, what are you reading?”

“Rude, I’ve known how to read for years.”

Brian pinched his nose. “That’s not…”

“It’s a PRT Trooper thing on anti-thinker strategies. Don’t worry, Dr. Weaver gave it to me.”

That’s not actually going to make me not worry, Brian didn’t say. He’d quickly learned that while Dr. Weaver wasn’t likely to give Aisha anything dangerous as Dr. Weaver understood the word. However he’d just as quickly learned that Dr. Weaver had a skewed sense of such things. Honestly, sometimes it was like the woman grew up in a containment zone.

He tried a different approach. “I’m glad to see you reading, but I’m curious what led you to choose that, specifically?”

“Lisa was being a petty little bitch. She’s too obnoxious and punchable to be a real thinker, but if I can learn how to deal with real thinkers I can deal with whatever she is.”

You know what, I’m OK with this.

Chapter Text

“Hi Aisha! Ready to go running?”

“Sure,” the younger girl said with a grin. A grin that, even after the short time they’d known each other, Lisa recognized. She is planning mischief, Power contributed pointlessly. You are the target. No, shit. Usually Power was more helpful.

As they walked toward Lisa’s car, Power continued. She is moving her arms in a deliberately unnatural fashion, and her gait is uneven. Lisa felt a headache begin to settle in.

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe you would do this to me!” Lisa exclaimed, gesturing wildly. “Here I thought we had something, and you betray me!”

The older woman looked unimpressed. “I’d give that performance a six out of ten at best. You can do better.”

Lisa did not pout. “It’s not fair, you giving Aisha an advantage like this! Whatever happened to a level playing field!”

The older woman, if possible, looked even more unimpressed. “You are a parahuman. She is not. This was never a level playing field.”

“But why!”

“Training. For you. Unlike many training exercises, both you and the opfor will be highly motivated to succeed.”

The older woman took on a very earnest, innocent expression. “I have emphasized to Aisha just how very important this is to your future endeavors, and indeed your very safety. I am sure she will approach it with an appropriate level of dedication and gravitas.”

“But! You! Hey! Arrrrrrgg!”

Chapter Text

Brian opened the door and was immediately suspicious, as he he had learned to always be when Lisa brought him gifts.

“Coffee?” She said with a weak smile.

Brian looked at her skeptically. “Where is Aisha?”

“Getting ‘camouflage master’ clothes with the rest of the girl power junior division, and no I don’t know what that means, she clearly wanted me to ask and I wasn’t giving her the satisfaction.”

Brian was pretty sure he did know, but would worry about that later. He sighed. “Lisa, you are here, with the coffee I like, and are being polite. Either this is a very ill-advised pick-up attempt or you want something.”

Lisa laughed. “Yeah, I deserved that. But I did bring coffee?”

“What do you want?”

“So Aisha got this book and…”

Brian held up his hand. “I’m going to stop you there. I am not getting involved in whatever idiotic thing you have going on with Aisha.”

“But Brian!“ Lisa didn’t whine. “We have been through so much together, you can’t make me do this alone!”

Brian took the coffee, and shut the door. God, I’m too old for this shit.

Chapter Text

“So how is this going to work? You gonna put me in a clown suit and parade me around town?” Alec asked, laconically.

“Absolutely not. First we will want to determine to extent of any lingering effects from your family. Compared to other victims, you are in remarkably good shape.”

Alec rolled his eyes.

The older woman ignored him, and continued. “Still, the suits will want to be sure. Until such time, it would be appreciated if you could keep a low profile, and we will sadly have to limit the time you spend, as it were, ‘in the office’. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation. Your remuneration, of course, will not be affected.”

Alec stared at her, dumbfounded. “You really are going to pay me to sit in this apartment, eat take out, and play video games.”

“Neither I nor anyone else with the white hats would ever express it in public or in writing in those terms.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, bro, what’s Alec like and why is Lisa telling me we should date?”

Brian’s blood ran cold. First, second, and third, oh fuck no. But he knew better than to just tell Aisha no.

Deflect, deflect.

“He is the only person I’ve ever met who can make bacon cheese fries suck. Also, he kept trying to convince Lisa that all household tasks were women’s work.”

Aisha wrinkled her nose. “Man, fuck that, mothering Mom was bad enough.”

Oh, thank God.

Chapter Text

Rachel watched warily as Lisa approached, accompanied by the woman from the PRT.

“Hi, Rachel!” Lisa called, with a toothy grin. “How’s your new business empire?”

Rachel bristled, but before she could respond, the woman put a hand on Lisa’s arm. “Lisa,” the woman said firmly.

Lisa, thankfully, shut the fuck up.

The woman pointed to a chair on the porch. “Sit. Stay.”

Lisa glowered at the woman, but obeyed. Without complaint. This was new.

The woman slowly approached, stopping close enough to be heard but not too close. She smiled with no teeth and something about the woman’s posture made Rachel relax.

“Are the dogs OK?”

Rachel nodded.

“Enough food, water, other things?”

Rachel nodded again.

“Do you need anything.”

Rachel shook her head.

“Like I said before, we want to pay you to train rescue dogs. For us, getting trained dogs is very, very hard. Much harder than getting trained humans. We absolutely don’t want the dogs to fight.”

Rachel shifted. That didn’t make sense to her, dogs were much easier than people. But PRT were cops and cops were stupid.

“No fucking around,” Rachel eventually replied. “And your people treat the dogs right.”

“Can you help us learn? You are better with dogs than us.”

“No funny business and no assholes.”

“We can send out people for you to meet. You tell us which ones can learn.”

Rachel considered, the nodded.

“We also want to get you someone to help with people stuff you don’t want to deal with. You can pick who you like.”

Rachel nodded slowly. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Still she had to know.

“Why. Why be so nice.”

The woman looked thoughtful. “Back home I have a friend. You remind me of her.”

Rachel shrugged. Whatever. She didn’t trust the woman yet but the woman was much easier to talk to than most people. And worst case she could always take her pack and run.

Chapter Text

Thomas poured himself a badly needed drink. He didn’t bother to split the timeline.

Since that fateful visit, he had enjoyed more success in the Bay than ever. Being able to recruit parahuman support from among his trained, trusted, disciplined contingent of mercenaries had resulted in significant gains. The results were substantially greater than any he had ever obtained when attempting to assemble useful teams from the usual bands of parahuman misfits and lunatics.

Yes, his withdrawal from the PRT had limited his direct insight into the PRT, however Cauldron had continued to provide insight into local operations. Combined with his parahuman power and his remaining spies, his overall view of PRT operations had actually increased. This was only assisted by Piggot’s recent reprioritization of resources, even as it placed the Empire under ever-increasing pressure.

However, Cauldron insights could be a double-edged sword. Like this latest tidbit, helpfully tucked into a Hallmark valentine’s card, slid under his front door.

He glanced back down at the deeply disturbing message:

”Armsmaster supervises, in Brockton Bay, a detection suite that is among the world’s most sophisticated, esoteric, and eccentric. Following the debut of Clockblocker, special attention was directed toward any indicators of potential temporal anomalies.

”When analyzed with readings obtained from and around parahumans whose powers are suspected or known to have temporal elements, Armsmaster and Dragon concluded with substantial certainty that during the past several annual periods Brockton Bay has been entirely free of anomalous temporal readings.

”These measurement periods do overlap significantly with your own periods of activity within the region.

”We have recently obtained information suggesting that in some instances powers may simulate temporal effects through a combination of precognitive and master effects.”

Thomas set down his now-empty glass. Christ. Some things I really would rather not know.

Chapter Text

“Hi Dinah, how was your what are you wearing!?”

“Camouflage! I have a couple sets if I ever have to go to the bad part of town, so I fit in and don’t look like an easy target! We also practiced how to walk!”

“Honey, why is that a thing you feel you need to be practice?”

Dinah shrugged. “Dr. Weaver seemed to think it was a good idea? Or maybe it was a trick? In exchange we taught Aisha about dressing and acting more respectable. I don’t know, it was fun to hang out though.”

Chapter Text

Lisa fumed on the drive back to town. “I can’t believe you dragged me out here! You clearly didn’t need me to talk to Rachel, you did that fine! And when I tried to help you told me sit down and shut up!”

“Have you ever had a dog?”

“No?” Lisa sounded confused.

“I have.”

Lisa made a sort of inarticulate growl. “Setting aside you literally telling me I need to speak dog to talk to Rachel, which, oh my God I don’t even, that doesn’t explain why you had me sit there silently for an hour!”

Taylor shrugged. “I didn’t want to come empty-handed, so I gave her a gift no one else could.”

Lisa put her head in her hands. “I hate you.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, kiddo, how was your thing?”

Taylor looked up from her seat at the kitchen table, unamused. “I’m not twelve anymore, please don’t call me that.”

Her father laughed. “But really, how was brunch?”

“Good.”Taylor looked pensive. “It was good. It’s like I have friends again. Or acquaintances. People I enjoy spending time with. Whatever. It helps that other!me has vetted them all for the empowerment group thing.”

Her father smiled. “I’m really glad to hear that. Tell me about them over dinner?

Taylor gave a small smile. “Only if you tell me about the new used car Kurt and Lacey picked out today.”

Chapter Text

Brian walked into the lobby of his building and stopped dead. Standing right there was Alec, wearing pajamas and those stupid slippers of his. He was… collecting a pizza from a delivery woman?

Seeing Brian, he waved. “Yo.”

“Alec, what are you doing here?!”

“Fucking your mom.”

“What!? No, goddamnit Alec, did you follow me!?”

“Did you follow me?” Alec laughed. “Fuck you, I live here.”

“But…” Brian paused. Right. PRT monitored building. Fuck.

Shortly Thereafter…

“Aisha?” Brian asked, hesitantly.

“What up,” she replied, not looking away from whatever training manual she was going through now.

“Lisa, your running buddy, do you know where she lives?”

Aisha remained focused on her task. “Down one floor and a couple doors over, why?” Aisha looked up and stared at him skeptically. “Wait, she was your friend, how do you not know that?”

…

“Hey, bro? You don’t sound so good.”

Chapter Text

Amy tuned out the sound of her sister pacing around the studio apartment, until she heard a loud thud. She looked up, to see a window opened way too far.

Vicky looked abashed. “I might have, ahh, broke something on your window?”

Amy continued staring.

Vicky fidgeted. “I wanted to fly around the block, clear my head, but I didn’t want to go all the way downstairs because it takes forever.

Ami sighed and pulled out her phone.

“Oh, does the building have like a repairman, that’s awesome!”

“No, I need to call the security people and tell them the window alarm is my idiot sister, not a villainous flyer.”

“Oh.” Vicky wilted further.

Chapter Text

“The trainees will arrive soon,” Taylor said.

Rachel nodded, slowly.

“I will be here. If there are problems, get your dogs to safety and let me handle the cops. No violence from you or the dogs.”

Rachel nodded, reluctantly.

“And remember, cops are stupid.”

Rachel nodded in agreement.

Shortly thereafter

“Stand down! Goddamnit!” The unfortunate trooper radically revised his threat estimate of the woman. “Back to the cars, all of you, we are done for today.”

Later

Taylor watched, stone-faced, as the nervous trooper faced Director Piggot.

“To be clear, you volunteered,” said the director, slowly.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“To work with the parahuman dog trainer.”

“Yes, ma’am. It was a good advancement opportunity.”

“Specifically to learn how to handle dogs.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Notwithstanding your pathological fear of dogs.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Which you did not disclose to anyone.”

“Correct, ma’am.”

Piggot stared at him, then turned to Taylor. “It is clear I overestimated the abilities of my NCOs. Your request to personally screen the next batch of candidates is approved.”

Chapter Text

“Lisa,” Brian said, interrupting her rant. “You told me you wanted to meet over lunch to discuss quote ‘matters of mutual concern’. However, so far you have simply bitched about how our PRT friend treats you like you treat everyone, except nicer.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Obviously it’s a matter of mutual concern!”

“Look,” Brian said, leaning forward and lowering his voice. “It’s not like you are wearing an ankle bracelet, if it’s that bad you could just skip town.”

Lisa looked affronted. “And give up this mentoring opportunity!? Are you crazy!?”

Brian sighed. “I don’t get the big deal? She’s just whoever in the Chief Director’s office drew the short straw and had to come deal with the Bay’s nonsense.”

Lisa looked personally offended. She leaned forward, her tone manic. “She’s not—look, she is the PRT. She is to RCB what RCB is to everyone else. She’s not here because she has to be,” Lisa gestured in an incomprehensible way she clearly thought conveyed meaning. “The mentoring and intervention and stuff is something she chooses to do. Her ‘day job’ is, like, S-class threats and national policy! International policy! I’m 85% sure she’s the reason the Nine are a greasy smear! She’s, like, the most knowledgeable person on the planet for thinker and anti-thinker techniques! Capes included! It’s like being mentored by, I don’t know, Eidolon! Or Scion! I’d give an arm? All Coil’s money? An eye? I’d give a lot for this opportunity!”

Brian was unimpressed. “So you want to have her baby. Why am I here?”

Lisa scoffed. “I couldn’t talk about this with Aisha, she’d never let me hear the end of it.”

Chapter Text

“Taaaaylor!” Victoria Dallon called out, hurrying over with Amy in her wake.

“Huh?” Taylor was not expecting this, one of the things she liked about these sessions was being able to fade into the background. She took a step back from the tall, charismatic, famous, beautiful girl.

“You went to Winslow!”

“Yeah?”

“Oh em gee! I thought you had just moved into town! We never get transfers mid-term!”

“Uhhhh…”

“Vicky,” said Amy, with exaggerated patience. “You’re scaring her.”

Vicky barreled on. “Did you transfer because of the master thing!?”

“What? I probably shouldn’t say.” Especially since she very definitely deliberately didn’t look at anything in the news about Winslow so she didn’t know what was public.

“Aha! It was the janitor!”

“The who the what?”

“What, there was MORE THAN ONE MASTER!!!”

Not knowing what else to do, Taylor changed the subject. “What’s that light?”

“What? Oh goddamnit.”

Chapter Text

“How is the Winslow investigation going, Phil?”

Rennick paused a moment to consider…

Excerpts from the Winslow M/S Screening Staff, Parent and Student Interviews

“…and there’s no way she would get with him naturally! He belongs to me! Me! I called dibs! It must be…

“… not that there is anything wrong with that, of course, I know Legend is a good family man, but it still feels wrong! There was never any sign before, and my children talk to me about everything…”

“…so yeah, ah, I totally have been feeling weird lately, and then, ah, my grades started tanking, and, ah, then…”

“What training? Oh, that training, yeah I missed that day and she was supposed to reach out to reschedule and I guess she never did?”

“… he has always been a good God-fearing man, just like me and my father, but now he’s changed…”

“… I, uh, exercise my right to sirens. My Melinda. The thing where I don’t talk to pigs…”

“Of course I reported it! And sent copies to the Superintendent’s office, and our PRT liaison!”

“..the way she’s dressing now, that can’t be natural, and always wanting to go out! And she gets all squirrelly about me seeing her phone, I bet that’s how he’s using his power on her, and…”

“… shemme? Wo ne parlaize anglais. No habla boo hui shu fawen…”

“… it was one of them, I just know it, I can’t believe they are even allowed in our schools, it’s a disgrace I tell you…”

Back in Piggot’s office

Finally, Phil shrugged. “It’s good training.”

Chapter Text

Lisa looked at her phone in confusion. Why was Alec texting her?

French Ponce: Yo liz go down and get my package for me
Lisa: ???
French Ponce: It’s just downstairs the lazy ass just left it come on
Lisa: I don’t live at the loft?
French Ponce: yeah I know ur like two doors down from me
Lisa: how the what?
French Ponce: yeah get exited I’d recognize those nerves anywhere

Lisa cursed. Right. PRT building.

Lisa: not just no but hell no
French Ponce: come onnnnn I’ll give you a piece of pizza? Or $5?

Lisa stared dumbfounded. He knew how much they’d gotten from Coil why the hell did he think that would work?

And then she had a wonderful idea.

Lisa: no, but I know someone in the building who will likely do it for 20
French Ponce: great send me deets!

Lisa opened up another chat

Lisa: Hey, you wanna make 20 in five mins?
Lil’ Gremlin: Sure!

Chapter Text

“Hey bro! You want a Kit Kat?”

“Sure?” He took the candy from her.

“Awesome, I’m on a roll! First Panacea then you, I’m totally doing my good deeds today. Did you know she lives here? Well not really, it’s a secret so you can’t tell anyone, but she has a place here!”

“Aisha, why are you telling me this?”

Aisha shrugged. “Seemed cool. Ran into her at the elevators coming up. She’s on our floor! Gave her a Kit Kat too! Looked like she could use it, her grumpy face was super grumpy today.”

“Wait, why do you have a giant bag of candy?”

“Oh some kid Lisa knows paid me to go buy him some. I took my pay in trade. Best job ever.”

Brian eyed the large bag of candy suspiciously. Who does Lisa know that would pay that much to… MOTHERFUCKER.

Chapter Text

Dennis and Chris looked up from their game when the door opened.

“Hey guys,” said Triumph, entering the Wards room. He was followed by a tween girl, about Missy’s age, in casual clothes and a generic mask. She looked around with interest.

“This is Insight. She is a new Ward. To be clear she is not one of the villains we ‘rescued’, and if you do her wrong you will know vengeance beyond your imagining. You may notice a small delay when talking to her, her power reacts poorly to certain phrasing so everything you say is being filtered.”

Chris and Dennis looked at him, looked at each other, and shrugged.

“Great!” Triumph said with forced cheer. “I’ll leave you to get to know each other while I go fetch the next one.” Then he left.

The three Wards awkwardly shuffled in place for a moment. Then Missy—no, they had a newbie, Vista—entered with a large flashlight. Upon seeing new girl, she did a double-take.

Vista recovered quickly. “Hello person I don’t recognize,” she said with exaggerated cheer. “Would you like to explore our glorious kitchen with me? There will be toast.”

The new girl boggled, then laughed before scurrying off with Missy.

Dennis and Chris went back to their game, and paid no mind to the intermittent whispering and giggling from the other room. Girls, right?

Shortly thereafter Triumph returned with a grinning blonde girl in a purple skirt suit and matching domino mask.

“All right everyone, and here is… where did Insight go?”

“Oh,” said Chris. “She and, uh, Vista are making toast?”

“Oh,” said Triumph. “I didn’t realize we’d gotten the replacement toaster.” He looked at Chris significantly.

The purple girl started snickering.

“Actually, I don’t think we did…” said Chris, confused.

Purple girl guffawed, and any further discussion was cut off by the fire alarm.

Chapter Text

While unsure of how seriously to take Lisa’s impassioned fawning, Brian did make sure to show up early to his next check-in with Dr. Weaver.

Upon seeing his posture, the woman adopted an appraising look. “Hmm. I’m going to guess Lisa?”

Brian twitched.

The older woman nodded. “She has an over-exaggerated sense of my importance, I’m sure.”

She gestured for Brian to have a seat before continuing. “How are you settling in?”

Later

Before we wrap up, is there anything else that might be of interest or concern?”

Brian sighed. “I’m worried about Aisha’s ‘new job’….” He explained.

Dr. Weaver listened thoughtfully and, when he finished, nodded. “I think I understand.”

Taking out her phone, she put it on speaker and dialed.

Alec’s voice drifted out. “Yo Boss Lady.” Tinny explosions and high pitched voices could be heard in the background.

“Aisha, your go-fer, is Brian’s sister. Don’t make her cry.”

Alec laughed. “I like you.”

Dr. Weaver hung up. Seeing Brian’s aghast expression, she sighed. “Alec’s upbringing makes him spectacularly sensitive to hierarchies of power and protection. He might be his usual self but he won’t hurt her.”

Brian looked unconvinced.

The older woman continued unphased. “No doubt Aisha will be a good influence on him. But there is something else I can do to help…”

Later

“Hey doc!”

“Aisha, your brother asked me have a chat with you.”

“I didn’t do it!”

Taylor snorted. “Nothing like that, no he has realized that you are growing up, and there are certain topics neither he nor your father are qualified to talk to you about…” she set a box of condoms on the table.

Aisha’s response was a look of dawning horror.

Chapter Text

Victoria looked at Taylor expectantly.

Taylor cleared her throat, and recited carefully, “I learned a lot at Winslow. After much consideration it was decided that my educational needs would be better met at Arcadia. I have the utmost confidence in the investigation being conducted by the District and the PRT.”

Victoria’s eyes widened, and then she nodded intently, before scurrying away, already on her phone.

Amy raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that was a good idea? God knows what she’ll tell people now.”

Taylor shrugged. “I will not say whether or not I have a lawyer, but if I hypothetically did that statement would have hypothetically been checked with hypothetical them.”

Amy snorted. “God, you two deserve each other.”

“Hey!”

Chapter Text

Sabah felt conflicted. A part of her felt relief, that the boy who had loomed so large in her fears was well and truly gone. And part of her felt guilty for feeling relief, because he was a human being and it felt kind of icky seeing as in any way positive the death of another human being. Even if it was in a stupid drunken accident.

As usual, she avoided thinking too much about it by burying herself in her work. She had been hired, on quite nice terms, to do a series of promotional events around town, and it was an opportunity she wasn’t going to let go to waste. The new PRT liaison was a woman who was actually reasonable, and even the gangs hadn’t been sniffing around lately.

Things were looking up.

Elsewhere

“I appreciate your concerns, Director West, but the decision is made,” the Chief Director stated with the inevitably of a steamroller. “If nothing else, the Nine demonstrates that we are underinvesting in psychological capabilities, as well as in our understanding of power interactions and power-affected psychology. Jack Slash’s master ability is exactly the sort of thing we can’t afford to miss, and once it was realized what had been an insoluble problem became trivial.

“Directors Armstrong and Tagg will oversee the new initiative, in addition to their other duties, and we will revisit progress next quarter.”

“But!”

“We’re done, West. Next item.”

Chapter Text

“Taylor?! You’re alive! I was so worried!”

Taylor looked around surprised. She, Sierra and Cassie had been wrapping up dinner at a local diner, and she was not expecting to be unexpectedly greeted by… Greg?

Later

After Greg left, the girls shared a look.

“He was…enthusiastic?” Cassie offered.

Taylor snorted. “Better than he used to be.”

“Still,” said Sierra. “I wonder, that’s an awfully strange run of good luck he’s been having. Normally I’d let it go, but with all the M/S issues at that school?

Taylor looked pensive.

With an apologetic glance toward Taylor, Sierra continued. “I’ll ask Charlotte about it?”

Taylor hesitated, then slowly nodded. Intellectually, she understood now that the girl had her own struggles, but it would take a long time before Taylor forgot any of the Winslow bystanders.

Chapter Text

“I don’t understand what’s so important,” said Lisa, as Aisha pulled her toward the Dallon girls.

“I told you, we need someone who knows Brian!”

“But that doesn’t tell me anything!” She knows. Power offered, pointlessly. Lisa clamped down on Power before it could wander off on a tangent about Aisha’s gait or hairstyle or whatever.

“But it doesn’t say where they are!” Vicky said as they approached. “How will you protect yourself!”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” said Amy skeptically.

“Hey, Vicky!” Aisha called out. “She’s friends with Brian, ask her!”

Vicky turned her full attention to Lisa, and smiled. “Great! So Aisha says her brother is all noble and won’t tell her what he wants in a girlfriend!”

Lisa snorted. “You realize that after with his job and having finally gotten custody, he probably isn’t in the headspace for a full-up relationship?” Lisa asked, being uncommonly considerate.

Aisha rolled her eyes. “It’s fine if he just wants a hook-up, that’s cool! Bro is awesome and deserves nice things! And most high school boys are awful and Vicky’s friends deserve better! He just needs to meet the right person! Or persons!”

“Look, if he won’t tell you what he wants, just pay more attention to what types of girls he notices when you are out doing things?”

Vicky nodded. “That’s on the right track, but I have an even better idea…”

Chapter Text

Brian walked into his father’s gym, took one look around, and walked back out. He wasn’t stupid enough to think he’d gone unnoticed, but he absolutely did not want to have this discussion in front of the patrons or worse, his father.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Weaver came out. She nodded to Brian, and left.

Brian immediately went inside to talk to his father.

Later

“Aisha,” Brian called, toweling his hair off from the shower. “Have you seen my phone?” He could have sworn he’d left it by the bed but it wasn’t there.

“Uh, by the TV?”

“Thanks!”

Picking up the phone, Brian stepped into his room, shut the door, and dialed Lisa.

“Hello?” Lisa answered, confused.

“Why is my father helping Dr. Weaver find people to teach you all to fight dirty? I have never seen that man so excited to talk to a cop.”

Lisa laughed. “Hun, I wish I was that good. Good luck!”

[click]

Well, he thought, now I know how she felt.

Chapter Text

“Where are we going again?” Taylor asked.

“Puppies and kitties!” Cassie replied, vibrating in her seat.

“I was promised coffee,” Amy grumbled.

“Cupholder,” said Dr. Weaver.

“Hmm?” Amy suddenly perked up. “Coooooffffffeeeeee!”

Shortly Thereafter

“No, Namor,” the monitor said, as she carefully extracted a small kitten from Taylor’s hair.

“Now remember,” said Cassie, “they are very young and we are just supposed to socialize them, so we can’t stay too long or they’ll get tired.”

“Mreow!” Squeaked a kitten, as she rubbed against Taylor’s leg.

“How is that going to work?” Taylor asked, gesturing at the kitties that had decided she was delightful for climbing.

“Aren’t you the most perfect apex predator,” Amy mumbled as she caressed a particularly floofy black cat. “Those eyes! And ears! And claws! I cant believe someone would abandon you!”

Chapter Text

“They’re villains!”

“What did they do, exactly?”

“Villain things!”

“They roughed up gang members and took their stuff. Is that alone villainous behavior?”

Victoria opened her mouth and the closed it, before continuing, “Hellhound killed someone!”

“Hellhound’s case was badly mismanaged by the PRT and the death, while tragic, occurred in connection with her trigger event and was outside her control.”

Victoria frowned. “Still, I don’t like it!”

Dr. Weaver nodded. “That’s fine. Keep in mind that they are teenagers, caught in bad situations, and whatever else happens they will have less chance to do harm going forward.”

Victoria wandered off, looking pensive.

Chapter Text

“Remember what I said,” Dr. Weaver said as the vehicle pulled to a stop.

The girls nodded, and got out of the SUV.

As they approached, a stocky girl came out to greet them. She was accompanied by three dogs.

Later

“The dogs are very well cared for,” said Amy, after completing her inspection. “But it’s clear they were hurt before. What happened?”

Happy barks and laughter sounded in the background, as Cassie and Taylor played fetch with the dogs.

Rachel gave Amy an indecipherable look. “Hookwolf.”

“That fucker,” said Amy with feeling. “Do you want me to come back later and fix it?”

Rachel nodded.

Amy looked apologetic. “I’d do it now but I haven’t done animals much so the PRT will need to watch.”

Rachel snorted. “Cops are stupid.”

Amy barked out a laugh. “Yeah, they are.”

Later

“What do you think?” Dr. Weaver asked Rachel.

“Not stupid.”

“Ok if they come back sometimes?”

Rachel pondered briefly, then nodded.

Chapter Text

“Finally,” said the intel officer, “the Winslow situation is now being referenced in Empire messaging. It is what you would expect, statements attributing the problem to lesser races, and so forth.”

“Have they identified anyone specific?” Emily asked. Whatever she thought about Hess, Emily was not going to sit idly by while the girl’s family was targeted.

“No. However, the rhetoric is suspiciously strong, and it is coupled with a general increase in focus on M/S concerns by the Empire. We received an under the table message from the Empire emphasizing that they will not interfere with ordinary M/S efforts at schools. In addition, they forwarded an assortment of M/S “tips” for various schools, which are of course suspect but must nevertheless be investigated.”

“What are they doing?” asked Phil, putting voice to what they were all no doubt thinking.

Meanwhile, Assault was furiously flipping through his briefing packet. “Are we sure these sighting reports are accurate?” Assault asked, looking up.

“As sure as we ever are,” the briefer responded, confused.

“Huh. I wonder if Rune went to Winslow. She hasn’t been seen, at all recently.”

“It would explain the observed behavior,” said Miss Militia.

“Dig into it,” Emily ordered. “The usual caveats apply to civilian IDs, but if there is a master targeting Empire capes we need to know.”

Chapter Text

Lisa looked down at her phone.

Lil’ Gremlin: How find recent picz on PC?

Lisa responded with the URL of a search engine.

Lil’ Gremlin: thx

A few minutes later

Lil’ Gremlin: huh wow how make search history go away?

A truly noble endeavor. For variety, Lisa sent the URL of a different search engine.

A few minutes later

Lil’ Gremlin: Ok but hdu see if itz gone gone fur rlz?

Lisa sent a different URL

A few minutes later

Lil’ Gremlin: ??? This is in martian or greek or smthng???
Lisa: Rght sry don’t dl from there, I’ll send you exe, you’d’ve needed remove the key log in terminal anyway

Lisa sent the file, then paused. Wait, what is she even doing?

Lisa: Since when do you have PC anyway?
Lil’ Gremlin: lul itz bros PC

A few minutes later

Lisa opened her door, to find Aisha, in PJs and slippers, holding an open laptop.

“Hey I still can’t find his porn, it’s really well hidden so it must be super naughty! I need to find it so I know who to set him up with!”

Lisa just stared, before slowly shutting the door.

“Rude!”

Chapter Text

“This is awesome,” said Chris. “When can you come in so we can play split screen?”

“Tell her about the toast!” Insight said, dragging Vista across the room. “Vicky!”

“Eh,” said the teen boy on the other end of the voice chat. “Headshot, fuck yeah! I got mind-whammied pretty bad by a master. Suits are pretty sure I’m OK? I mean I’m not in the asylum or anything, but they want to be sure.”

“Wow,” Dennis said with feeling. “That really, really sucks. You hear about that shit, but the Winslow thing really brought it home.”

“Wait did you go to Winslow?” Chris asked.

The other boy laughed. “No comment.”

Dennis laughed. “Vicky will be thrilled.”

“You WHAT!!!” Vicky’s shout cut across the room.

“I know it’s awesome!” Insight shouted, to the accompaniment of laughs from purple girl.

“But maybe wait a bit?” Chris added tentatively.

The other boy laughed. “Holy shit, I heard that from here!”

Chapter Text

“Finally,” the infuriating woman said, “you will in the near future be receiving reports of Armsmaster’s latest breakthrough. In short, in certain circumstances and with less than perfect reliability, he can detect our use of the cross-dimensional phenomenon we refer to as ‘doors’.”

“… that is both quite significant and highly inconvenient,” Rebecca said after a brief pause.

“Indeed, in my timeline he never made this breakthrough, I suppose due to Cauldron’s relatively hands-off approach to the Bay before, well,” she gestured vaguely, “and the fact that after Gold Morning, Valkyrie, er, that’s the rebranded Fairy Queen, used doors more sparingly than Cauldron ever did, and in any event he was very preoccupied with other concerns…”

Rebecca coughed, politely.

The older woman started. “Ahem, well, even he has not yet realized the full implications. Certainly this breakthrough opens the possibility of studying and perhaps duplicating previously incomprehensible advanced mover techniques, Haywire’s included, but that’s just the start…”

Kurt leaned forward in excitement, as Rebecca forced an expression of interest. Yes, it was on some level fascinating to hear about how later research in the woman’s worldline had revealed signs that “dimensional fuckery” may be involved in many if not most power expressions, what the fuck. But did she have to be such a condescending know-it-all about it?

Chapter Text

“Victoria, no flying in the house,” Carol said automatically. “Now, please say that again more slowly.”

“We need to make the PRT take this seriously!”

“Take what seriously?” Carol asked.

“Vicky, Aura,” Amy interjected.

Vicky ignored her. “I can’t believe they want to tie Amy up in red tape when she could be helping!”

“It’s fine,” Amy said patiently. “It will work out.”

“They’re puppies! Adorable puppies and the PRT doesn’t want you to heal them and they suck!”

“Victoria, please watch what you say,” Carol automatically said, “the PRT are valued friends and allies and while they could perhaps do better in some ways we will always be happy to work with them.”

“That’s what I said! They need to let Amy heal the puppies!”

“Vicky, I don’t even know if I can, I never have…”

“Of course you can! You’re the best in the world at healing! And then we can finally deal with Hookwolf!”

“Victoria, please slow down.” Carol replied. Then her daughter’s statement registered. “And you have no business fighting Hookwolf, with or without… puppies?”

“Of course not yet, I need to get the uniforms first! I don’t want the puppies getting hurt! I should call Aunt Sarah back maybe she has an update!” Vicky flew over the banister and up the stairs.

“… and she’s gone,” Amy said with a sigh.

Carol regarded her other daughter. “What is she talking about, anyway?”

“She was going on about the Undersiders joining the Wards, and I tried to distract her with pictures of puppies Hellhound rescued from Hookwolf’s fighting rings, and, well…” Amy gestured vaguely upstairs. “Now she wants to lead forth an army of sensibly uniformed begoggled monster puppies (in proper footwear), for vengeance?”

“Ah.” Carol sighed.

Chapter Text

Lisa eyes the equipment skeptically. “Can we skip the migraine part this time?”

Dr. Weaver smiled enigmatically. “Today we will explore the limits of your power. I have statements on pre-printed cards. You will write down what your power says, and then read it to me.”

This will go poorly.

Yeah, no shit.

Dr. Weaver flipped over the first card. “Alexandria is a member of the Triumvirate.”

“True,” Lisa said. Obvious calibration is obvious.

New card. “There exist rules regarding information your power is not supposed to give to you.”

“She believes this to be true.”

“Before I read the next card, please compare the two answers carefully.”

Lisa did so. Huh. She felt the first twinge of a headache.

New card. “Your power perceives what you perceive.”

“True.”

Dr. Weaver looked at Lisa expectantly, until she reviewed the answers again. Huh. Another twinge.

New card.

Lisa waited.

“Are you going to read it?” Dr Weaver asked.

Huh. Lisa blinked, and refocused on the card. “Powers exist, separate and apart from those they empower.”

The migraine came on sharp and sudden, and was somehow accompanied by a feeling of sadness.

Chapter Text

“Hey, uh, older me?” Taylor asked hesitantly.

“Hmm?” The older woman looked up from her stack of papers.

“Did you ever have a pet?”

The woman adopted a thoughtful expression, before launching into a length dissertation on the benefits and drawbacks of various pets, including with regard to home defense and time commitment, and how important it was to have, ah, roommates who could take care of your pets in case of an unexpected injury or deployment. Taylor stole the woman’s pen and pad to take notes.

She tried very hard not to think about the living details suggested by her counterpart’s perspective. It sounded like she lived in a commune? Or maybe a fortified compound? Or an orphanage?

Body armor and M/S precautions for animals though was not something she ever expected to be thinking about.

Taylor suspected that an oral history from other!her would be fascinating.

Chapter Text

“Hey, bro?”

Brian looked up. “Yeah?”

Aisha shuffled awkwardly. “I just want you to know that I will always love and support you no matter whether you are gay or straight or whatever.”

“Thank you?” Brian replied. “And, uh, I love and support you? And am fine with you dating whoever, so long as it’s all safe and sane and consensual and all. But please shut the door, and, uh, use protection?”

Aisha nodded significantly, and then wandered away.

What the fuck was that about?

Elsewhere

“Hey, ah, Taylor was it?”

“Yeah?” Taylor replied, confused. She vaguely recognized the bouncy older girl but couldn’t place her name.

“Is it true that there are knife fights in the halls at Winslow?”

“I think that happened like once or twice? It wasn’t an everyday thing?”

“Oh my God! You are so brave!”

Chapter Text

“It has been suggested that I have been lax in preparing you for an important situation, specifically that of cohabitation.”

Amy sipped her coffee. It was too early… wait, it was too late in the day for that. She was too tired for this shit, that was better.

“Whether they be friends, family, or lovers there are certain items of consideration and common courtesy…”

Oh my God, I have a sister why am I here?

“… And so we will start with kitchen etiquette, progress to the certain important signals used to indicate a need for privacy, and conclude with a demonstration of the many ways an inquisitive child might find details of your phone or PC’s browsing history.”

Amy almost choked on her coffee.

Chapter Text

Thomas sighed when he saw the tacky hallmark card in his mail.

Opening it, he removed two items, before idly skimming the preprinted message. It appeared intended to be given to a small child upon realizing some goal.

With a sigh, he discarded the card, and turned to the enclosures. The first was a press release from the PRT national office highlighting the importance of a healthy rogue community so as to offer an alternative to villainy. He tucked it away. Message received. The doll cape is to be protected from interference by the Empire, the Elite, etc.

He flipped to the next item. It was an executive summary from an early review copy of an unpublished research paper entitled Effects of Power Interactions on Precognition and Simulation. Skimming it, he was unsurprised to find that even without context, the summary alone was equal parts enlightening and alarming.

Message received. Play well and I get treats.

A few quick online searches revealed the paper’s author was among those presumed lost at Madison and, of course, the paper was not available in any of the usual places online. Well, I’m sure they’d give me the full paper, for a price, but I’d rather first further search myself.

Or perhaps further excerpts would be sent to him if they felt he needed a future reminder. He rather felt he was starting to get the rhythm of this arrangement.

Chapter Text

Dr. Weaver looked at Lisa with tired eyes. “Sierra tells me you have been busy.”

“Yep!” Lisa seemed proud of herself. “Some of the girls agreed to be nicer to him in passing, I convinced him not to cut ties with his internet not!girlfriend, who is a sweetie, and I have socially engineered PHO into seeing him as adorably neurodivergent rather than moronic!”

Dr. Weaver stared. “Did it not occur to you to talk to me before doing, well, any of this?”

Lisa looked offended. “I didn’t even use my power!”

Dr. Weaver sighed. “That was only part of why I wanted you to talk to me. You are a teen.”

“Hey!”

“I didn’t say you were dumb. Rather you’ve been using Power to play on easy mode and need to develop new modes of thinking if you are going to successfully tackle bigger problems. Consider—and do use Power for this—what will happen if you ceased providing active support to the boy?”

“I’m sure he’d be oh. Shit.”

“That said, I do very much hope you’ve started what will be a long and fruitful friendship with Sveta, she is a nice girl and could use more friends.”

Elsewhere

“Aiden!”

The boy looked up. “Yes, mom?”

“Oh we’ve had the most amazing opportunity, this could change our lives!”

Aiden smiled. He wasn’t sure he understood everything his mom was talking about, but Mom was happy and said it was good, so it was good.

Chapter Text

“Emily,” Phil said, unusually frazzled. “Do you know why Youth Guard, Branding, Missy and each of her parents are all going at each other?”

“Hmm?” Emily looked up.

“A literal pile of memos and formal messages were dumped on my desk an hour ago, and I’m hoping someone can give me some context because I don’t trust any of them to give me a straight answer.”

Emily nodded. “That would explain the heads up meeting request from Legal. I’m going to go with a hunch and suggest you ask Dr. Weaver.”

Later

“Were you able to figure out what was going on with Missy and company?” Emily asked.

Phil rolled his eyes. “You may recall Missy’s continuing requests for weapons, armor and combat training?”

Emily grimaced. “Yes, I might have seen a dozen odd ‘Dirty Harry’ notes from her.”

“Well, apparently at a recent mixer Victoria Dallon and Missy got in a screaming match about proper PPE in general and footwear in particular…”

“… so now everyone is accusing everyone else of endangering a child, and either Missy has developed a sudden fascination with statistics and deftness at social manipulation, or she’s getting coached by someone, possibly Miss Dallon, or perhaps Brandish. Dr. Weaver disclaims responsibility and seems to find the whole situation amusing.”

Emily sighed. “The PRT is entirely supportive of providing appropriately tailored PPE to our Wards. I am fully confident that our esteemed colleagues can identify a range of possible action plans and look forward to discussing with them at such time as they can reach a consensus.”

Phil snorted. “That is pretty much what Dr. Weaver said.”

Piggot nodded. “Smart woman. If they look like they are in danger of reaching a consensus, start forwarding them the ‘Dirty Harry’ notes, piecemeal.”

Chapter Text

Dear Valued Customer,

Substantial complications have arisen with the Nemesis Program. Accordingly, the program has been terminated, effective immediately. In consideration for any inconvenience this might cause, we are providing to you the following accommodation:

{favor obligations reduced by one}{cash payment equivalent to one favor}{other as appropriate}

We believe this will more than compensate you for any inconvenience. We remind you that we will aggressively enforce our confidentiality arrangements.

This message will disappear shortly.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards
{do not actually sign}

Chapter Text

Tagg looked her directly in the eye. “Who the hell are you?”

Dr. Weaver sighed and, after at glancing at Kamil, set the jamming device on the table.

“This is the most sophisticated and effective anti-eavesdropping device known to exist, and incorporates techniques known to PRT, along with techniques drawn from various rogue and villainous groups, including some whose existence we do not officially recognize. I am a temporally displaced dimensional refuge from an alternate world line containing its own iterations of Aleph, Bet, etc. I am telling the two of you this so as to reduce the amount of time and resources expended investigating the sudden appearance of,” she gestures to herself, “some strangely knowledgeable woman who has been graced with inexplicably high levels of trust and authority.”

Tagg looked at her skeptically. “Prove it.”

“Unfortunately other!you and I were pushed into a fatal confrontation which you did not survive. Anything I know about you was thus learned either by observation or hearsay and is thus useless as direct evidence. If it is any consolation, you likely would have prevailed in our confrontation but for ill-advised meddling by a parahuman who really should have known better. You already have the views of Costa-Brown and the Triumverate. Thinktank is compromised, but you can ask indirect questions such as whether I can be trusted and what my intentions are.” She turned to Kamil, “as for you, I believe this should suffice.”

She slid a folded slip of paper to the man who glanced at it and blanched. After clearing his throat, he said “I believe her.”

Tagg adopted a calculating expression. “Jack Slash.”

“Yes,” replied Dr. Weaver. “Other interventions as well. In my worldline, well, a few of us survived the succession of apocalypses, but Bet was rendered effectively uninhabitable.”

“The Endbringers?”

“Among other things. The worst was when Jack Slash convinced Scion that human extermination would be fun, but there were other incidents as well.”

Tagg’s face hardened. “I see.”

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “Steps are being taken to avert the truly existential risks, but wide-scale clean-up is being delayed for now to preserve the value of future knowledge. This group is part of the ground work for that clean-up.”

Kamil leaned forward. “We will have questions.”

Dr. Weaver nodded. “Yes, and you will need time to prepare them. To ensure information hygiene you are both being protected at the same level as myself, and this room will remain secure, but needless to say this information must remain tightly controlled.”

Chapter Text

“Can I ask you something?” Taylor asked, nervously.

Her counterpart looked up. “Of course.”

“Ah we, uh, gay?” Taylor blushed.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s just, I like guys I think? But I also notice some girls are pretty? And I noticed when you talk about the future you never mention a boyfriend or husband but you do talk about women who you spent a lot of time with and maybe live with? And that people kept giving you lilies, which the internet says is a gay thing?”

Older!her stared at her in shock. “Wait they mean what? I just… why didn’t Lisa tell me? I thought that was just a joke on Lily’s name since she and Sabah got them too but….” Taylor had never seen older!her look so flustered.

Older!her shook her head. “Sorry, I did have some boyfriends but nothing long-term, and I never had a girlfriend but I was friends with some women who I at times lived with, although we never did anything, well not like that, but we… huh.”

Well this is awkward.

Her older counterpart was at this point mumbling to herself. “Wait, that’s what Ashley meant that time, the lanky bitch, and I wondered why Keith invited me to help with the LGBT outreach thing off-world…”

“Uh? Do you need time to think about it?”

Chapter Text

Aisha shifted uncomfortably. Why was Dr. Weaver looking directly at her?

“I am pleased with the results of your basic fitness training,” Dr. Weaver told the group. “Starting next week, you will have the opportunity to participate in periodic self-defense training sessions taught by off-duty troopers. They are not being paid for this, so you will treat them with respect.”

She shifted her eyes among the group until everyone was nodding, then she refocused on Aisha.

“As previously stated these sessions are proceeding on the basis that none of you, save New Wave, are parahumans, but that you may in the future become parahumans. Training will thus be conducted on an unpowered basis, and use of powers you may or may not have in this training is prohibited.” She shifted her focus to Vicky, who had raised her hand, and continued. “Power nullifiers and trumps exist.”

Vicky lowered her hand.

“Your training will be consistent with guidelines promulgated by experts regarding appropriate training procedures for your respective ages, weights, and so forth. It will focus on self-defense, defense of others, and disengagement. You will not be taught to ‘fight dirty’, and nothing you, I, or anyone we know can do will change the position of the PRT on this point.”

She continued to look straight at Aisha. “Some of you may be able to through friends or family members arrange for supplemental training.”

Right. Dad and Brian. Got it.

“Because this group is in some sense associated with the PRT, if the PRT becomes officially aware that you are, in an organized fashion, seeking from others training that the PRT considers ‘inappropriate’, I will be forced to act. I have no discretion in this matter.” Her eyes seemed to bore into Aisha’s soul. “I am sure you all understand.”

Ohhhhhhh. Aisha’s eyes widened. She carefully did not nod.

Across the room, Lisa suppressed a cough. Dr. Weaver ignored her. “There is another matter I need to go deal with. I will be back in no less than fifteen minutes. I am sure you can productively occupy yourselves for that time.”

With final looks at Aisha and Lisa, Dr. Weaver left.

“Ok,” said Charlotte. “Is it just me or was that weird?”

“No no no, it makes total sense,” Aisha replied sagely. “I know a guy.”

Chapter Text

“Oh,” Cassie said, looking around the apartment. “This is much nicer than my place!”

“Eh,” Amy waved a hand dismissively. “It’s a security thing, all hell will break loose if I abuse it.”

“Anyway,” said Taylor, setting an overstuffed folder on the table. “Operation kitty.”

Later

Knock knock. Vicky looked up. “Come in!”

Amy slipped in. “Vicky,” she said seriously, “we require your assistance with a matter of critical importance!”

Later Still

“And the mental health benefits are clear, as seen in these studies…”

“Victoria,” said Carol.

“…and there are now good reliable not tinker tech automatic feeders and litter boxes…”

“Victoria, you—“

“…and the costs of acquisition are quite reasonable, especially as Amy can wrap a basic tune-up into the work she is already doing with the PRT…”

“VICTORIA YES WE CAN GET A CAT.”

Chapter Text

“James,” Max interrupted. “It doesn’t matter.”

“But our members’ beliefs have been subverted! We must find and make an example of this master!”

“Rune was a problem because ‘I’m in the Empire to stick it to the man’ is not a stable basis for long-term loyalty. Calling it a master effect saves face and prevents grunts from worrying about a witch-hunt. Like this one.”

“How can you say it doesn’t matter!”

Max resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. “Because ultimately it doesn’t matter why they’re loyal, so long as they are loyal. I’ve humored this long enough, we have more important concerns.”

“What could be more important than a master undermining the very foundation of our movement!”

Max bit back his first, second, me third retorts. James was a true believer immune to rational persuasion. He tried a different track. “There is always a master, or a thinker, or some other ideological threat. So long as recruitment and retention keep up, we will prevail.”

“But—“

“I’m more worried about the fact that we got hit last night, again, by suspiciously militaristic men in ABB colors!”

“The so-called dragon would resort to race traitors to—.”

“Jesus, James, it’s not Lung!” Brad interjected.

Right, he’s here too.

Brad continued, “Lung doesn’t fuck around with tactics and plans and shit. No, you can tell it’s some thinker sniffing his own farts because the op, just like the prior ones, is way too fucking clever. It’s Coil.”

As James sputtered and protested, Max found his gaze drift to his expensive designer watch. However much the perks are worth it, this can be a real pain in the ass.

Chapter Text

Taylor looked at Tagg and Armstrong. “We’ve covered off the agenda, gentlemen, was there anything else you want to cover before we break?”

Kamil leaned forward, “We want in.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Whatever group you are working with to address the ‘existential’ threats.”

Taylor sighed. “Rebecca will be insufferable about this. Honestly, the truth is far less satisfying than whatever you have imagined. There are various conspiracies across the worlds that try to help, but even the best are horribly under-equipped and under-manned. It’s less a secret coalition saving the worlds and more a bunch of terrified children throwing things at the wall in the hope something sticks.

“It of course does not help that efforts to build a better organization inevitably draw unwanted attention from Endbringers or other more subtle threats. More of the same sort of thing that made Jack Slash particularly effective against parahumans. After all, it’s not an accident that parahuman analysts so stubbornly failed to realize that powers might passively leak data or provide heightened vulnerability to certain threats.

Taylor paused a moment, before continuing “To be fair to Rebecca and the others, my perspective is colored by the mass casualties in my world line. I suppose the fact that any of us survived is a testament to their efforts, but it’s hard to feel that way when after-the-fact we learned so much that could have gone so far to achieve a better outcome. Rebecca is still upset about it all, it was quite a blow for her to realize how badly both her organization and the PRT had been hampered by compounding subtle misunderstandings and blind spots.

“We’ll have to schedule a separate session to give you a proper in-brief.”

Chapter Text

“Congratulations,” Dr. Weaver said grimly. “You’ve been noticed.”

“Noticed?” Lisa asked.

“By Accord.”

“Oh.” That was… wow.

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “Might have been one of Coil’s men, might have been the PRT, there’s just too many potential leaks. Whoever talked knew your actual capabilities, not the watered down nothing that went in the file.”

Lisa’s heart raced. She hadn’t realized how accustomed she had become to the feeling of safety was until it went away again.

“It could be much, much worse.” Dr. Weaver continued. “He has made it known that so long as you do not focus on his operations, he will run interference should less reasonable villains take notice of you.”

It was made known to her. She had a face-to-face conversation with him. They have a good working relationship.

Lisa’s heart skipped a beat. She tried to suppress the flinch. “Wait, what?” What the how the fuck?

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “Consider the alternatives. He at least can, if properly approached, be reasoned with.” She paused, and made a note. “Which reminds me, I really should get Uppercrust taken care of, the work he’s done for us is getting increasingly unreliable and he’s not at present able to travel for maintenance.”

Lisa put her head on the table. “Can’t I go back to pretending it’s just cops and robbers?”

Chapter Text

Within seconds of the emergency tone, and before coming fully awake, Colin had rolled out of bed and answered the comm unit.

“Armsmaster.”

“This is Legend.”

“Sir.”

“You, Dragon and others have been working on a prediction algorithm for Leviathan.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Run it now.”

“Sir? It is still in development, and due to resource constraints—“

“Armsmaster,” Legend interrupted. “Run it now.”

“Yes, sir. It will take a few minutes to—“

“I’ll wait.” Legend muted his end of the line.

A few minutes later

“Legend?”

“Here.”

“It is showing a probability of a near term attack, most likely in the area of the Red Sea, but—“

“The algorithm. Is its prediction accuracy better or worse than coin-flip odds?”

“Better, but—“

“Armsmaster. Hypothetically, what would you do if you had intelligence from a source whose existence and limitations you absolutely could not divulge?”

“Confirm and launder as best I can through other means?”

High above, the Endbringer sirens began to wail.

Chapter Text

Lisa jumped at the pounding on her door. Bleary eyed, she peered through the peephole and was surprised to see Dr. Weaver.

“Hi?” She said, opening the door. She felt somehow both proud and embarrassed to be meeting the woman while wearing pajamas covered in little cartoon foxes.

“Shoes, coat and vest,” the older woman said without preamble. She gestured to the TV and laptop behind Lisa. “I can’t keep you away from the news, so you’re coming with me to where your inevitable migraine will do some good.”

A few minutes later

Lisa maintained her white-knuckled grip on the seat. “Holy fuck! Where did you learn to drive, a war zone?”

“No comment,” the older woman replied, as she swerved to overtake an ambulance. She then returned to speeding down the center of the road, sirens blaring, right on the double line, going, oh, way too fast. “But this is good practice.”

She is telling the truth.

Jesus. Lisa was torn between bracing herself, and staying loose to mitigate injury in a crash. She has substantial experience driving in emergency and combat situations. SUV has many added safety precautions, including tinkertech.

Who is this woman?

She is less likely to get in a crash in current conditions than Lisa Wilbourn is driving on a clear sunny day.

Oh, fuck you too.

Chapter Text

Amy was in her room, in her bed, trying to block out the sound of the sirens with her pillow, while reminding herself again and again what Dr. Weaver said about her not feeling guilt for not going.

She was indeed, so very focused that she nearly jumped out of her skin when her sister started shaking her.

“Go ‘way!” Amy grumped.

“Nope we need to go!”

“Not going to Endbringer fight and neither are you!”

“No silly we need to go to your apartment!”

Bleary-eyed, Amy peeked out of her cocoon to see Vicky wearing a ridiculous assortment of straps over pajamas. The aura light was blinking merrily.

“Bwah?” Amy replied, articulately.

“You said Dr. Weaver said your apartment is safer than home! And while it’s not likely there might be riots or something! So we need to go to your apartment to keep you safe come on!”

Chapter Text

“Hey dumbass let’s go!”

Alec did a double-take. “Why are you here, Aisha?” He paused, “wait, how are you here, I know I didn’t give you a key!”

“Safety in numbers. Grab your shit and come on! You can hang out with me and bro until we know if there’s gonna be riots or anything.”

Alec grumbled and began putting his console and energy drinks into a bag. “I’m still stuck on how are you here? You’re lucky I’m wearing pants!”

Aisha wiggled her fingers. “I am awesome and no door can stop me.” She gave him an unimpressed look. “And you got nothing mom’s dumbass boyfriends ain’t showed me.”

Elsewhere

“Is it weird that I’m more scared than usual?” Taylor asked her father as they sat on the couch.

“Oh?” He asked, putting an arm around her shoulder. “Why do you think that is?”

Taylor burrowed into her father’s comforting warmth. “I guess because I know more now? Before they were just these sort of natural disasters. But now? I hope older!me is safe.”

“Me too,” said her Father. “Me too.”

Chapter Text

“Aisha, where have you been I was worried— why is Alec here and who are these kids?”

“Yo,” said Aisha, shutting and locking the door behind her guests. “Safety in numbers! And this is May and Derek, their parents do something PRT. They are old enough to stay by themselves but I figured they’d do better not alone.”

The two tweens were already setting up a game console with Alec.

“Aisha—is that a gun?”

“Tinkertech taser or stunner or something? Dr. Weaver gave it to me for emergencies. Oh, Glory Girl and Panacea might come by in a bit.”

“What? How?”

“Saw them in the hall, invited them. Think they want to get out of pajamas first?”

“Where are you getting all this?”

She stared at him. “You have watched me read PRT manuals for how long?”

Chapter Text

Lisa looked around the windowless conference room. “Here?”

“Get set up,” Dr. Weaver said, retrieving a laptop from the cart in the corner. “I’m not letting Thinktank near you and there is no reason to waste mover resources.”

She removed a small device from her pocket, plugged it in, and a holographic multi-screen setup appeared.

“That’s more like it! Where’s mine?”

Dr. Weaver gave her a look.

Shortly Thereafter

Dr. Weaver looked at Lisa intently. “This is a marathon, not a sprint. Your objective today is to learn how to in the future best apply your power to such events. Actual contributions are optional.”

Lisa gave Dr. Weaver her best unimpressed look.

A few minutes later

“HOW THE FUCK DOES ANYONE KEEP TRACK OF ANYTHING?!” Lisa exclaimed in frustration. Dr. Weaver was somehow monitoring, like, fifty different audio, video and text feeds, while occasionally passing on to… well actually Lisa wasn’t sure, but the messages all were, in Lisa’s very expert opinion, utter gibberish.

Dr. Weaver shrugged, “You get used to it. You can calibrate it to focus on fewer things, most people don’t monitor at such a high level.”

Fortunately power seemed on-board with not immediately debilitating her, but the sense of excited interest she was getting was all kinds of concerning.

Chapter Text

“Yahtzee!” Glory Girl, no Vicky, shouted triumphantly, as the tweens giggled.

“Keep it down!” Alec grumped in response from the couch, where he and Panacea were playing… some fighting game? It involved “parody” versions of female heroes in swimwear.

“Yo,” said Aisha, from by the stove. “We out of rice, can you grab some?”

“Aisha,” Brian replied, exasperated, “I’m not leaving you all here to do a grocery run, don’t we have pasta?”

“No, no,” Aisha replied. “I’ve got more in the emergancy supplies Dr. Weaver helped me get, it’s in the back of my closet in the big box labeled ‘sex toys’.”

Alec cackled, although Brian chose to believe it was in response to the game and not Aisha’s comment.

Chapter Text

Lisa rested her head on the table and let the audio feeds wash over her. “How are you still going?”

“Experience. It’s nearly over.”

“Oh my god how the fuck can you know! They’re moving around so much I barely know what time zone they’re in and I couldn’t begin to guess when it will end.”

“I think it’s going fairly well, actually.”

Lisa lifted up her head and gave the older woman a disbelieving stare. “Wat.”

The older woman shrugged. “You get a feel for these things.”

Elsewhere

Rachel carefully checked over the last of her dogs. In her mind, it was simple. This was a chance to show her dogs were the best dogs at rescuing people. Then people would want more. Training dogs meant money for more dogs, and that the trained dogs were safe.

Rachel still wasn’t entirely sure how Dr. Weaver had convinced the PRT to pay Rachel for the privilege of taking good care of dogs. Before they didn’t like her, or her dogs, or really any dogs. But cops were stupid, and she wasn’t going to complain.

Chapter Text

Keith was beyond drained. Endbringer battles were always exhausting but few had been chaotic and fluid as this most recent attack by Leviathan, a running fight lasting most of a day, starting in the Red Sea and ending a couple hundred kilometers northeast of Madagascar. Still, his presence as Legend at this initial Cauldron debrief was necessary, and at least allowed an opportunity to zone out and rest his mind as reports flowed over him.

“…desecrated a dozen shipwrecks including several recognized war graves for use as impromptu projectiles…”

“…devastating two hundred kilometers of Red Sea coastline, leaving in some spots gorges so deep they might be suitable for deep water harbors…”

“…doubled the width of the Bab-el-Mandeb…”

“…detonated a tinkertech chemical weapons stockpile…”

“…provoked and then conclusively ended a multi-lateral engagement involving Gessellschaft, a CUI offshore black site, the Three Blasphemies and Moord Nag, as well as the multinational forces present under truce…”

“…and yet somehow casualties were an order of magnitude less than usual?”

“Yes!” David’s triumphant declaration drew Keith’s attention. “Clearly I need to further refine targeting criteria but this is obviously an improvement!”

Chapter Text

“Hello?”

“Cassie, this is Dr. Weaver. Are you interested in a chance to make some money, hang out with Rachel, help with search and rescue, oh and likely get some serious emotional trauma?”

“Wow you sure know how to sell a girl…”

Shortly thereafter

“Armsmaster speaking.”

“This is Dr. Weaver. I just spoke with Dragon. I have not slept since before the attack, and will shortly be escorting Ms. Lindt on S&R. Incidentally, I am not a fan of the tinkertech stimulants made available to the PRT.”

There was a brief, busy sort of silence, before Armsmaster responded. “I commend you on your dedication. You may enter my lab and retrieve for your own use one of my personal emergency response kits, located in storage container C-6. You are cautioned to please observe all relevant regulations with regard to the contents.”

Chapter Text

“Took the kids home, their parents were pleased. Alec went back downstairs and Amy crashed back at her place.” Glory Girl rattled off, as Brian put a blanket over Aisha’s sleeping form. She’d insisted on staying up to help them tidy up, until she had sprawled out on the couch ‘for just a minute’ to ‘rest her eyes’.

Glory Girl surveyed the now only slightly messy room. “I think this was good for Amy, playing couch potato is a good break for her after going run run run all the time at home.”

Brian rubbed the back of his head. “About Alec…”

Glory Girl nodded sagely. “Let’s just say I’ve heard that gaming smack talk before and leave it at that. Do I need to worry?”

Brian shook his head. “Nah, causing problems would be too much work.”

Glory Girl, no Victoria snorted, and turned to look at Aisha. “She did good. I was worried about how to keep Amy from fretting, and it was clearly good for the kids and her as well.”

“Yeah,” Brian said proudly. “she did good.”

“Make sure you tell her that, not just me.” Victoria yawned. “And maybe tell Dr. Weaver, Aisha really looks up to her.”

“Yeah.” Brain looked at his sleeping sister fondly. “Dr. Weaver has been good for both of us, but especially her.”

Victoria yawned again. “Ok, well I’m going to go call Dean and then crash. Don’t be a stranger!”

Chapter Text

“What did you learn?”

“How the fuck are you so peppy?” Lisa grumped. “I crashed for days and I’m still exhausted. Power was fine during the attack, which I still haven’t figured out.”

“In order, (1) a combination of experience, and post-modern chemistry and (2) it’s almost like your Power got so intrigued with what was happening that it forgot to meddle with you until festivities were over.”

Lisa gave Dr. Weaver a flat stare. Power, what the fuck.

She is under the influence of powerful tinkertech stimulants.

No shit. That’s not what I meant and you know it.

She believes what she is saying? She has literally decades of experience dealing with me? Lisa’s headache got worse, but she nevertheless jotted down a note on her arm so the bastard couldn’t make her forget.

Dr. Weaver continued, “well, we can give you a few more days to gather your thoughts. I’d linger, but after a few more check-ins and a power nap, I need to go back and help Rachel pack up.”

Chapter Text

Alec: Why Aisha not answer texts, I has needs!
Brian: You watched her down how many energy drinks? Of course she’s still crashed out.
Alec: boring. Hey do *you* want to make 20?
Brian: …

Elsewhere

“And how did Ms. Lindt perform?”

“Actually very well,” the disaster response coordinator replied. “The dogs performed comparably to tinkertech at locating survivors. Even the handler’s, ah, idiosyncrasies, are more manageable than several of the tinkers we work with.

“Oh, and some of the troopers that she found buried under a command post, in particular, are interested in volunteering for training to work with her going forward.”

“Excellent,” said Dr. Weaver. “Moving on, I was hoping you might be able to direct me toward training materials used by your department? The more comprehensive, the better—I have a precocious thinker who thinks they know everything. Want to take them down a peg.”

The coordinator grinned. “I think we can help with that.”

Chapter Text

“… a few minor disruptions on the Boardwalk and in Empire territory, but elsewhere the Truce was observed scrupulously.”

“We aren’t that lucky.” Emily replied glumly.

“Lung has always taken a dim view on Truce violations, and it looks like Coil is now doing the same.”

“Someone is being too clever, and it won’t end well. A problem for another day I suppose. How goes S&R?”

“Assault and Battery are staying another two days, the rest have returned. Ms. Lindt and a minder are still deployed as well.”

“Hmm,” Director Piggot frowned. “Well, we’ll see if Dr. Weaver was right about the girl. If not, the girl is less trouble on that farm than on the run, and it’s cheaper than prison.”

Elsewhere

Director Tagg leaned forward. “The most recent Endbringer attack was in many ways inconsistent with prior attacks.”

“Yes. To answer the inevitable questions, efforts were made to influence behavior but we don’t know if they were effective or if this was a coincidence. We don’t know if this is indicative of a ‘new normal’.”

Tagg snorted in frustration. “Is there anything you do know?”

“We’re pretty sure we’ve identified a sequence of events that would result in the angel being active continuously, albeit at a lower intensity.”

Kamil scowled. “That’s not funny.”

“I assure you, no one was laughing.”

Chapter Text

“Armsmaster speaking.”

“This is Legend.”

“Sir.”

“Your prediction algorithm. You mentioned resource constraints.”

“Sir?”

“It is being fast-tracked. Make a list, resources, facilities, people.”

“Sir, but—“

“I know, coin-flip odds. We can afford false positives if it means when an attack does occur we have even half this much advance notice, and I know you. If you didn’t think it could be refined further you wouldn’t still be working on it.”

Elsewhere

“No, Vicky, my dear little cousin, you can’t set me up on a blind date with a kid young enough to be in high school, emancipated or not, no matter how sweet and mature and responsible.”

“Fine, I’ll bring out the big guns! His! Take a look at this!”

“Ok, yes, he is fit, but how the hell did you even get that picture?”

Elsewhere

Amy: You around?
Alec: ??
Amy: Family being bleh
Alec: Ah. Yeah, come over, we game. Bring snacks, snack getter be all zzzzzz

Later

“Did you seriously invite me over just so you didn’t have to go down and meet the pizza guy yourself?”

“I mean,” Alec said with a grin, “it wasn’t only for that?”

Amy snorted.

Chapter Text

Poke.

Lisa groaned and squirmed deeper into her blanket cocoon.

Poke.

“Don’t wanna go to church,” she mumbled.

A pause. A rustling. More poking, this time in a different shape.

A hand emerged, fumbled a bit, before taking the offered container.

A few moments later a furious Lisa popped up, sputtering. “What the actual fuck is this?”

“Pedia-whatever,” Aisha said, unamused. “For babies and hangovers. And, apparently, you. What happened?”

Lisa took another drink and made a face. “Thinker headache.”

Aisha nodded sagely. “That is acceptable. Put this in the drink.” She handed Lisa a packet of powder. “Makes it taste less bad.”

Lisa took it gingerly. Then did a double-take.

“Wait why are you here? How are you here?”

“You were late for exercise and didn’t reply to texts so something was wrong.”

Lisa groaned and looked at her phone, to find a string of text messages that escalated from annoyed, to concerned, to deliberately provocative.

Lisa sighed.

“Uh, Lisa?”

“Hmm?”

“Why is your bedroom wall covered in nonsense and string?”

“Thinker stuff, you wouldn’t understand.” Lisa said, weakly.

“Uh huh.” Aisha sounded unconvinced. “‘Cause it looks like something mom’s ex Larry would have made, and he literally wandered around in a tinfoil hat.”

Chapter Text

“At some point during the thing, I looked around the apartment and something clicked. I think it was thinking back to the last attack. So much had changed, for the better. I would never have imagined Aisha and I would have our own place, and be entertaining New Wave in sweats, distracting a couple of our neighbors’ kids, Alec and Amy on the couch…

“We were… just people. Teens. Is this what it’s supposed to be like?”

Dr. Weaver smiled enigmatically. “It’s not supposed to be anything. But it’s what it can be like. And after, well everything, you have the blessing and curse of never taking it for granted.”

Brian laughed, weakly. “No.”

“Now that you have it, you’ll fight to keep it.” She smiled that smile again. “And you don’t have to do so alone.”

Elsewhere

“This is identical, on a molecular level, to the Aleph original. It brings into question whether it can even be said that this is a copy, rather than a duplicate original.”

The tattooed man stared. “You offer priceless cultural relics and in exchange you want me to… wind-down ‘less reputable’ business practices? What is this, if you have such power you need not negotiate.”

Frankly, the body-double agreed, but he knew the role he was to play. “And yet here I am.”

“And you would have us cooperate to enforce obedience by the… less organized elements.”

“Indeed. It is easier, more orderly, for one seeking a more agreeable Bay to work with already-established elements such as ourselves.”

“And what of the would-be emperor?”

“I am told that his organization has been deemed too disorderly to be a part of the Bay’s future.”

Chapter Text

Brian opened the apartment door. “Lisa?”

Lisa sighed. “Of course she didn’t tell you,” she said quietly, “just play along.”

Before he could ask what Lisa was talking about, Aisha appeared and pulled Lisa in.

“Great, you’re here!” She glanced at Brian, “oh, and I guess you can help too?”

“What are we doing?” Brian asked, still confused, as Aisha towed them both into her room.

“I need to ask Dad a favor, to help me and the other girls learn to fight proper like ‘cause the PRT is the fun police, and I figure Dad will be able to hook us up, see, but I know he gets all strict and grumpy sometimes and I want this to go well so I need to make sure I’m wearing the right not!master clothes to hack his brain the way I need!”

“Didn’t—“ Brian’s natural question was interrupted by a nudge and sharp look from Lisa. Ohhhhhh.

Elsewhere

Rachel watched Dr. Weaver bring someone new to up to the gate. She was an old woman, with a weathered look to her.

“Rachel, this is Wafa. Her husband was an animal doctor. Her son is an animal doctor. She helped keep the books.”

Rachel continued to watch, and listen.

“You might not remember, but after the attack the dogs found her and her son. They were trapped under rubble for two days.”

Rachel did not remember. She continued to listen.

“Her family are among those coming to the Bay. You can talk to her. If she is OK, she can help you with the paper and books and stuff. That way you can focus more on the dogs.”

Rachel nodded. “Ok.” She turned to Wafa, and smiled with no teeth. “Hello.”

Chapter Text

“No, I will not teach you how to knife fight,” Taylor said, unamused.

“But you’re the only one I know who went to Winslow!”

Taylor suppressed a groan. Why did random upperclass girls keep approaching her! "Knife fights are for morons. You know what happens to the 'winner' of a knife fight?"

“No?”

“They bleed out on the way to the hospital instead of at the scene. You want something safer, like batons or guns.”

“Ooooooh, that makes sense. So can you teach me that?”

“You are white, so it should be safe for you to sign up for lessons at a local range. Just don’t go alone. As for batons, you’ll have trouble finding a trainer publicly advertising but I’d suggest you start with self defense classes at this gym I know and see who you meet.” Taylor handed the other girl a business card for Aisha’s dad’s gym.

After the other girl scurried away, Amy finally stopped holding back and burst out laughing.

“What?” Taylor asked, confused.

“You realize what kind of rep you just gave yourself?”

Taylor pinched the bridge of her nose. “And of course you just stood there and let me.”

Chapter Text

PHO Private Messaging

GstringGirl: so I do want to thank you and all for all the help and stuff. But I’ve noticed you have a lot of alts? That talk to Cowboy? And I just wanted to be sure, what’s the deal there? Like, what’s your intentions?
CleverKit: …

Lisa put her head in her hands. “Fuck.”

Later

Dr. Weaver at least at the decency to not laugh at her.

“I’m glad you brought this to me,” she said, in a level tone. “GstringGirl is a sweetie who has been through a lot. I am going to suggest what may seem to you to be a novel approach…”

Shortly Thereafter

CleverKit: So, I kind of once did this {link}. And then realized what a complete and utter bitch I had been, and ever since I’ve been trying to figure out how to make it up to him…

Chapter Text

“… so yeah, that’s what I’m working on.”

Dr. Weaver took a sip of water. “That is a very impressive list, Victoria. How do you keep track of it all?”

“Yeah it is hard to remember it all.”

“Have you considered writing it down? That way you just have to remember where you put the list, and you can use your brainpower to do things instead of using it to remember what to do.”

“Like for homework?”

“I mean, you can think of it like that? But it might be better to think of it as a cognitive facilitator that just happens to also be useful for homework.”

“Huh. I never thought of it that way. Neat!”

“Why don’t you start by writing that down. You can use the notes app on your phone until you find a dedicated project management app.”

“They make what now?”

Chapter Text

“Please have a seat, Vista.”

The girl looked at Dr. Weaver eagerly. Dr. Weaver sighed. “I commend you on your creativity and initiative with your powers.”

Vista smiled.

Dr. Weaver considered her approach carefully. “Your power, in some interesting ways, resembles a tinker power. Specifically, in the way increased study, training and preparation can lead to significant increases in utility.”

Missy—no Vista, this persona wasn’t cleared for such information—looked thoughtful.

“Accordingly, and as you have already proven adept at distracting anytime else who might have this conversation with you, I have been asked to give you a modified version of a session usually given in some form to new tinkers.”

Missy nodded hesitantly.

“You can think of it as a class in how to not accidentally yourself, your friends, or your state, as well as how to not draw more attention than you can survive…”

Vista scowled.

Later

“And how is Vista?” Director Piggot asked with a smile.

“Indignant,” replied Dr. Weaver. “But she eventually did acknowledge that her awesomeness is sufficient to draw attention from groups like the CUI or the Fallen.”

“Well, hopefully it sticks.”

Chapter Text

“Lisa,” the middle-aged woman said in greeting.

“What’s up, doc.”

Dr. Weaver set down whatever she had been reading and looked directly at Lisa. “You need to stop your asinine pissing match with Branding.”

“It’s not my fault they don’t appreciate my genius!”

Dr. Weaver looked unconvinced. “You will pick a name. It will be a name that will not, in the future, cause you embarrassment. It will be a name that will not, now, cause me embarrassment. It will be sufficiently vague as to not hint at your actual power or threat rating, considerable effort has gone into obfuscating your value and I won’t have you throw that away.”

Lisa opened her mouth but Dr. Weaver continued. “I will give you one week to come up with a name suitable to Branding and me, or you will be dubbed “Lilac”, in honor of the color you insist on wearing.

Lisa tried to interject but Dr. Weaver still was not done. “However, to give you an incentive, if you pick a reasonable name I will support you in getting Branding to approve that skirt suit you like as your day-to-day ‘costume’.”

Lisa did not pout.

Chapter Text

“Hey, bro!”

Brian looked up from his GED study guide.

Aisha sat down opposite him, her bejeweled “Princess” crop top contrasting with her serious expression. “So, you know I got this part-time job thing, and I know this apartment can’t be cheap and why are you oomph.” She patted her brother’s arm as he hugged her tightly. “Uh, I love you too?”

“It’s OK.” Brain said, his voice tight. “We’re OK.”

“Yeah but—“

“I don’t want you worrying about money. We have money now.”

“Um, OK,” Aisha sounded confused, “but I mean I still want to help and—“

“We’re, well we’re not rich. Not rich-rich. But we’re comfortable. If we don’t spend money on dumb stuff we could live like this a long time. Long enough to go to college even, get good jobs.”

“Huh?” Aisha pulled back and looked at her brother.

“We, you know that job I used to have, with Lisa and Alec?”

“Wait you worked with Alec!?”

“Later. But yeah, we got a lot of money as severance. Well, not a lot, but enough.”

“So, are we like Lisa rich?”

“Lisa’s not… sure, we’re Lisa rich.”

Later

“Hey, bro?”

“Hmm?” Brian looked up.

“Can I have, what is it, the thing kids in the suburbs get, yeah, an allowance!”

Chapter Text

Theo looked around nervously. Everyone had been very… polite. It seemed more like a resort than a prison. But everything was slightly wrong somehow. The accents, the slang, and when he turned on the TV it referenced places and people and events that made no sense.

Still, he had to stay strong. For Aster. At least until Kayden was better.

Gathering his courage, he entered the designated “conference room”. It was very nice for an interrogation room.

A severe looking woman in a suit was sitting, waiting for him. She looked a little older than Kayden, and smiled at him with an expression that conveyed warmth.

“Please, have a seat, Theo.”

He did so.

She was very polite for an interrogator. He got the message. This was the carrot. He wouldn’t give them an excuse to bring out the stick.

Chapter Text

“Under no circumstances will I set foot in Las Vegas, nor will I interact directly with the so-called Thinktank.”

Rebecca looked taken aback. “Oh, I had thought your concerns were limited to your pet thinkers.”

“No.”

There was a very busy sort of silence, before Rebecca continued. “Is there any information or recommendations you would care to share at this time?”

“Nothing that requires attention before the dirty hobo gymnast is dealt with.”

Elsewhere

“No,” Taylor replied, deadpan, to the twitchy freshman. “Just because I went to Winslow does not mean I will—you know what, just go away.”

Amy snickered. “You know he’ll just be back later with more money.”

“What is wrong with these people?!”

Chapter Text

“Kittens are super-adorable, like babies.” Cassie said seriously. She, Taylor, Amy, Vicky, and Mr. Dallon were on the way to the shelter. “Also like babies, they need lots of care and love and attention. Oh, and potty training.”

“Vicky,” Amy said sarcastically, “do you really want to be a kitty’s teen mom?”

“But—“

“Victoria,” said Mr. Dallon. “No infants, not today, kitty or puppy or human or anything.”

“Dad—“

Amy interrupted, “Vicky, Aura.”

Later

“Popsicle is very well behaved,” said the shelter worker. “But I would worry about separating her from Rolly Jolly Rodger, they were found together and we think they might be mother/child or siblings?”

Vicky immediately turned to her Dad, with big eyes.

“Yes, Vicky.” Mark said with a smile, “we can get both so the cats aren’t separated.”

“Don’t worry“ Amy whispered, caressing the sleeping calico cat. “I’ll take good care of that nasty cancer. No one will ever know.”

Chapter Text

“Congratulations, Colin,” Hannah said with a smile.

Colin returned the smile awkwardly. “I always thought… We never expected it to work at all, let alone…”

“The Guild will be good for you, and you’ll still be here as well, at least in the near term. Narwhal makes it work, I’m sure you can as well.”

It stuck with him, after she’d left to join Shawn in getting up to speed on their own new responsibilities. He’d thrown himself into training his mind, his body, working on his armor, his gear to better meet the threats facing the Bay. He’d always thought it would be on the battlefield that he’d do the most good. And now, with the new role, he wasn’t sure how much he’d be in the field at all. Every tinker in the country was eager to collaborate, there was talk of refining the algorithm, applying it to other threats, budget suddenly was not an issue… and Hannah was mentioning him in the same breath as Narwhal.

Elsewhere

The unforgettable woman with dark curly hair looked at him intently across his coffee table. She had simply shown up at his door, without triggering any of his security.

He’d have honestly preferred if she’d appeared from one of those portals.

“Trainwreck, Chariot, and Squealer.” She said. “Well done. They likely will not all stay in the Bay, but a great win for ENE nonetheless.” She placed a black case on the table, a case that had not been there a moment ago.

Without a word, Thomas opened the case. It contained a single power vial, well picked to synergize with his team, along with as-of-yet unannounced details regarding Armsmaster’s new arrangement with the Guild.

He was unsurprised to find the woman gone when he looked up.

Chapter Text

Emily wearily paged through the voluminous report on the Vasil boy, before simply giving up. The key points were all in the summaries anyway—another Ward she couldn’t deploy, who’d spend all their time doing god knows what instead of walking a beat. Like what was happening to Armsmaster, of all people.

Well, Grue at least was agreeable, as was the new Ward, Chariot. Having Trainwreck and Squealer dropped in their laps gave useful political capital as well, even if neither would stay.

Despite losing Shadow Stalker, she now had nearly twice as many Wards as at the start of the year, even if she had to go through Dr. Weaver to use some of them. Even relations with New Wave were improving.

Together with Armsmaster’s higher profile, she finally had the clout to get much needed support for the Wards team, along with additional troopers, vehicles, and more. The names, dates, and details weren’t final yet, but the Directorate assured her it was all on the way, and even the Chief Director had been congratulatory. Oh, and Calvert was gone! Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Things were looking up, and it made her suspicious.

Yes, in theory Armsmaster and the counterintelligence types had done a thorough sweep. The Empire was on the back foot, the idiotic man-children had left town, and low-level mischief was down across the board. But Coil was stronger than ever, and recent weeks had seen suspiciously little friction between him and Lung. Taken together with the unusually quiet Truce?

Someone was being very clever, and she doubted she’d enjoy the results.

Chapter Text

“What about that one?” Taylor asked, gesturing to the cat eyeing her skeptically from inside a tube.

“Oh, that’s Mango Pie, he is a bit skittish, but yeah you probably could take him by himself. He’s not very social, would probably like having two humans all for himself.”

“Hmm,” said Taylor. “He looks like he is just so very done with everything…”

Later

“How did the cat interviews go?”

“Well,” Taylor said, as she continued to prep for dinner. “He is in his box.”

“Oh?”

“Brought him home, let him out in my room, and zip, straight under the bed, hiding in a box in the back. Seems to like it there. I slid in a blanket and a couple toys when he was having dinner.”

Chapter Text

“Dinah, honey, why is the table covered with, well, I’m not really sure?”

“Oh, hi Mom! We’re learning about locks! Did you know most commercial locks are trivially defeated by villains or even regular people with even the most rudimentary tools?”

“Are those… lock picks?”

“Yep, I’ve also got a basic locksmithing kit! And a bump key! It’s important to be able to evaluate the quality and integrity of the locks protecting your home and possessions!”

Elsewhere

Missy sighed in relief as the shouting faded away. Around the table she could still see her parents’ mouths moving, but at least she could hear them. Careful not to move her head, she began the careful process of adjusting her view to let her see the phone in her lap.

Shared custody days weren’t so bad as they used to be.

Chapter Text

Lisa entered the secured room, and turned to the monitor, ready to begin another secure training session.

She absolutely was not expecting Strider to appear, accompanied by Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown. The teleporter then left, just as quickly as he had appeared.

Lisa watched, wide-eyed, as the Chief Director took a seat across from her, activated what Power helpfully identified as an anti-eavesdropping device, and showed her credentials.

“Lilac.”

Lisa nodded.

“You have been working closely with Dr. Weaver. You are, in fact, among those working with her most closely.”

Lisa nodded again.

“I want you to consider, for a moment, the potential consequences if Dr. Weaver were to ever be compromised.”

Lisa paled.

“Precisely. Now, let us discuss a subject both she and I take very seriously. Contingency planning.”

Chapter Text

“I don’t like it,” said James in a quiet voice. Now that I know what I’m looking for, we are badly under-strength in key areas.”

“And it’s clear that she’s sitting on some bombshells.” Kamil added. “Things she knows will set us off. Me in particular.”

“The new reforms are helping, but they don’t go far enough.”

“I don’t think she would disagree.”

James snorted. “Rebecca definitely would.”

“No doubt. I wonder what happened with her and Rebecca in her timeline…”

“You noticed that too?”

Elsewhere

“Do you think it will work?” Kurt asked, leaning in.

Keith sighed. “It has better odds than anything we had considered. It’s just… I know I shouldn’t be squeamish, not after all of this.” Keith gestured expansively at the Cauldron compound. “But there’s a difference between knowing and knowing.”

“Hope,” signaled the Custodian using her sand table.

Chapter Text

“Hey, uh, Bro?”

Brian looked up from where he was cleaning up after dinner.

Aisha shuffled nervously. “Can you come check on Lisa with me? She missed our thing but when I went looking for her… she’s being all weird?”

They found Lisa on her couch, curled up in a blanket, an empty wine bottle on the floor. Aisha sat down next to her and started awkwardly patting her.

Upon realizing they were there, she latched on to Aisha and sobbed, “I take it all back. Tell me I’m not important, that everything will work out!”

Aisha gave Brian an alarmed look, and he couldn’t blame her. He had never seen Lisa like this.

Shortly thereafter

As Aisha led Lisa to bed, Brian dialed Dr. Weaver. She picked up on the second ring.

“Weaver.”

“This is, uh, Brian? Lisa had a sort of breakdown? Drunk a bottle of wine and was asking us to tell her she wasn’t important and everything was under control?”

“Ah. I wondered when that would happen,” she replied. “It happens to many thinkers. Lisa has just realized that there is no magic point where the decision makers all know what they’re doing. We all, in fact, just muddle through, top to bottom.”

Chapter Text

“How do you feel today?” The white-haired counselor was, as always, kinder than she deserved.

“I’m, I’m, the PRT person says I can go back to school? But how can I, after…” Madison gestured vaguely at herself. “How can I look at any of them after what I’ve done, if she wasn’t mastering me? How can I be sure I won’t hurt someone, if she was?”

Madison wrung her hands in her lap. Her fingernails were bitten down to nibs, but at least they weren’t bleeding.

“Madison, for all the talk of masters, much of what they can do has been possible for a long time. It might have taken longer, it might have been less intuitive, but it was possible. And documented.”

He took a sip of water, before continuing. “A master victim’s road to recovery usually is not so different from what might have been done in the past to help someone who had been in a cult, or an abusive home. For every master like Valefor, there are a dozen or more whose abilities are not so arcane.”

“But what does that mean?”

“Ultimately, does it matter of you were targeted by a low-level master, or by a person who through mundane means achieved a result indistinguishable from mastering? From where I sit, the only difference is in the insurance coding.”

Chapter Text

“I said we could get a cat,” Carol’s voice drifted up the stairs. “One.”

Amy’s attention, however, was focused on the calico cat which had claimed her bed.

“Look at him! His name is Chekhov Sulu Skywalker Dallon!” Vicky’s, louder, voice replied. “Would you really break up his family!?”

Biological awareness flooded Amy’s mind as she once again caressed the cat. Humans had become routine, but this, this was still new and interesting.

Amy lost track of time, as she idly pet her new friend. She found her gaze wandering toward her bookshelf, her mind adrift in a sea of possibilities. Glancing at titles, she had a marvelous idea.

“I have decided,” she said, focusing back on the cat, “that you shall be named ‘Wilhelmina’.”

Later

Amy gave her sister a flat stare. “You named him CSS Dallon?

“Yep! He’s a cat space ship!”

“… You know that also stands for a different type of ship, right?”

“Huh? Ohhhhhhhh. Quick, help me brainstorm a fix!”

Amy sighed. “You are incorrigible.”

“Thanks!”

Chapter Text

Upon seeing the expression on Rennick’s face, Emily sighed.

“The Birons, Alcotts and Triumph have all requested security assessments for their homes,” Phil said without preamble.

“Why? Why now?”

“Insight was able to bypass the existing security at each residence in ten minutes or less, without using her power.”

“I seem to recall the Mayor specifically telling us that he already had a sophisticated security system.”

“He does, on each door. She jimmied a window.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Well, she deserves credit for getting the Biron’s to actually agree on something. And it’s less destructive than Vista’s hobbies.”

Phil snorted.

“Oh,” Emily continued. “And see if Dr. Weaver would care to contribute to the assessments. I’m sure she somehow had a hand in this.”

Chapter Text

Vicky swooped in toward Amy’s building and, on seeing something unexpected, redirected to land on the roof instead of at the front door.

“Aisha,” she asked carefully, “why are you trying to break into the roof shed?”

“Practice,” Aisha replied, continuing to carefully apply torsion. “You want a go when I’m done?”

Shortly Thereafter

Vicky paused, and turned to look at Aisha quizzically. “Wait, how did you even get on the roof anyway?”

Elsewhere

“Armsmaster,” Dr. Weaver interrupted in a weary tone, “I appreciate your enthusiasm to explore potential synergies between yourself, Vista, and our newest vehicle tinker. However, I highly doubt you will receive approval to conduct aerospace test flights off the rig, particularly at altitudes which have in the past attracted interest from the broken angel.”

“—but!”

“Test range. If you have worries about transport logistics, ask Dragon or even hire Strider, you have the budget for it.”

“Hmmm, well I suppose we could explore Vista’s ability to facilitate bulk transportation—“

Dr. Weaver sighed.

Elsewhere

“Grue?”

Brian looked up from his surprisingly good cafeteria food, surprised to see Dauntless in front of him.

“Yes, sir?”

Dauntless waved dismissively and sat down opposite Brian. “None of that,” he replied. “A little bird mentioned you might be interested in advice on juggling this job with caretaking responsibilities.”

Chapter Text

“Taylor!” Taylor looked up from her book to see Vicky pushing her way across the cafeteria, towing her boyfriend.

“Hi?” Taylor replied.

“Amy said you knew about M/S protection for kitties!”

“Some? I mean, just some basic stuff I learned from, ah, Dr. Weaver?” Taylor ignored the boy’s resigned expression.

“You have to teach me! Amy and I are public figures and we don’t want crazies coming after the kitties! Kitties are important!” She paused. “Wait! I need to get Amy for this!” The older teen hurried off, leaving her boyfriend to shuffle awkwardly.

Taylor took pity on him, and gestured for him to join her at the lunch table.

Later

After dinner, Taylor approached Dr. Weaver. “Looking back,” she asked her counterpart, “when you had powers, was there anything you figured out eventually that you wished you had figured out earlier?”

“Braille. Seeing, hearing, sensing through my bugs in general. And of course, leveraging synergies with other capabilities. I remember when…”

Taylor had learned. This time she came prepared with her own pad and pen.

Chapter Text

Alec: yo
Amy: yo?
Alec: you got armed guard driver thing right? 2mrrow can you give me ride to near but totally not chez prt?
Alec: I has free candy!
Amy: …
Amy: fuck it, sure
Alec: awesome cabs smell like ass and jacking car too much work

The Following Day

“What the…?” Amy mumbled. “How do you do that?”

“I’m just naturally pretty,” replied the boy in a domino mask who totally was not Alec.

Amy rolled her eyes.

“Now,” said the uncomfortably interested man with a lab coat and clipboard, “we will progress to subject 5.” He placed on the table a cage containing a feral-looking bunny.

“Where do you even get these guys?” Not!Alec asked. “And do they have more?”

Amy gave him a look, as the scientist droned on about proper disposal and biohazards and blah blah blah.

“Why would you want one?” Amy asked, incredulously.

The bunny twitched ominously at not!Alec’s intense interest. “If the fuckers forget my birthday, they get satan bunny for theirs.”

“I seriously doubt you actually give birthday gifts,” Amy replied dryly.

“I’ve never before had satan bunny to give!”

Elsewhere

“Aisha, have you seen my GED packet?”

“I have conquered it for the glory of Aishastan,” his sister’s voice responded from the other room.

Entering, Brian stared dumbfounded at his sister studying for school.

Aisha looked up, a determined look on her face. “If Lisa can pass this test then so can I! And then Mr. Powertrip McHomeroomTeacher can fuck right off!”

Chapter Text

“Good morning!” Lisa exuded totally genuine not forced cheer as she bustled into Dr. Weaver’s office.

“Good morning,” Dr. Weaver replied. “Incidentally, if you would ever like help brainstorming appropriately interesting gifts for Aisha, do let me know.”

Lisa did not stumble and anyone who said she did is a liar.

“I have decided,” Lisa said magnanimously, “to call your bluff. I shall be the great and feared Lilac, and those who I permit to know my name shall fear it.”

Dr. Weaver nodded, keeping a straight face. “And it means you get to watch Costa-Brown and other very serious people very seriously address you as Lilac.”

“I mean,” Lisa said with a grin that was not at all brittle, “that is a factor, true. However, the merchandising possibilities are also quite interesting.”

“Thank you very much for approaching this with appropriate gravity,” Dr. Weaver said seriously. “Incidentally, did you know your power will reward you for learning and experiencing new things that align with its interests?”

This is true good advice and following it is an excellent idea and smart. Dr. Weaver is very intelligent and insightful.

Chapter Text

Director Tagg leaned back in his chair, uniform jacket unbuttoned. A half-eaten sandwich was set aside, and a cup of his disgustingly strong coffee sat in front of him. “Looking at this shit, Armstrong, it makes you think.”

Kamil looked up, and gestured at him to continue.

“I look at all this, and I understand, I really do. There has never been a better reason, but still what’s the price? For all the talk of thinkers and M/S protocols, purely mundane manipulation, even self-induced, can be just as insidious.” He gestured to the papers surrounding them. “After all this, what lesser horrors will we let slide, deprioritize, for the ‘greater good’?”

“Shit, James, why do you say stuff like that.”

“You ever look at the self-defeating underhanded shit the US did during the Cold War and wonder, ‘did we set the stage for this with Operation Paperclip?’ You cross a few lines for the best reasons, but that shit gets habit forming. How many people were influenced, ever so slightly, by co-workers we pulled out of some black site and put to work instead of putting down? How many people looked at some dirty op and said ‘well after all that other shit, this ain’t so bad’? And how different is it, really, from what a master can do? Except we did it to ourselves.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Nothing, for now. Just making sure I’m not the only one. You sure as shit won’t forget this now, even if I do. If any of us make it through this, we’re going to have a hell of a job to do making sure that nothing like this happens, ever again.”

Chapter Text

Rachel carefully checked the dogs at the end of the day. They were fed, they had water, and they were healthy.

Her students of course had already seen to the dogs, but still she checked. Always.

Rachel went back into the house. She carefully wiped her shoes on the mat, and then took them off. It was nice having clean floors.

She went into the kitchen, where Dr. Weaver and Wafa were. She smiled at them, and nodded in greeting. They smiled back, without teeth. A few words were exchanged, and they started preparing dinner.

They then worked together. Dr. Weaver took the lead today. She carefully showed Rachel what they were doing they started the rice, prepared the ingredients, and then made the stir-fry. They used the new special pot that Wafa had helped her order.

Dr. Weaver was a good teacher. She didn’t shout, she didn’t hit. She showed Rachel again when asked, and didn’t when she wasn’t. When she thought Rachel wasn’t looking, she sometimes looked at Rachel in a certain way. Like she thought Rachel was pack.

After dinner, they cleaned up. Then they checked on the dogs again, before Dr. Weaver insisted on talking to her and Wafa. Wanted to make sure the dogs were healthy, that she and Wafa were healthy. That they had enough food, enough things, that there were no problems with the men and women who dressed like cops but came to learn, not shout.

After Dr. Weaver left, and Wafa went to call her son, Rachel walked around the house again. It was nice. Clean. There were pictures of the dogs, and other things.

It felt like it was hers.

Before bed, she checked her packed bag. She had learned, long ago, to be ready. If she needed to, she could take her pack and run.

Chapter Text

“Vicky, I need you to answer me honestly. Did you send to my classmates workout pics of your friend’s jailbait brother?”

Vicky ignored Eric’s laughing, and gave Crystal her patented innocent dumb blonde face. “He’s my friend too, after the Endbringer sleepover party! And, well, I messaged some of my classmates from my college class that I take at college. Do you know them too, that’s so cool! We should all hang out!”

“Vicky—“

“And besides I checked, everyone I messaged is young enough to be within the close in age exception, so it’s not jailbait!”

“That’s not—“

“He can cook too! He made us scrambled eggs and waffles!”

Later

Group Chat Best Bro Society
GGVictoriaGG: OMG got bites from the college girls!!!!
Aisha: awesome!!!! Come by when bro at work!!!!! You bring pics I get snacks!!!!!!!
Foxy Lisa: I repeat that this bad idea and will end badly
Foxy Lisa: still I want in I neeeed to see this clown show unfold
GGVictoriaGG: you just jelly at our genius!!!
Aisha: play nice, you both pretty ;D

Chapter Text

“Where are we on the persons of interest?” Emily asked.

“Blackwell and Smith are still insisting they were mastered.” Phil replied.

Emily looked at him skeptically.

“I know,” Phil said, sighing. “Things wouldn’t have gone this far if they’d just done their jobs, but as long as they are content to sit in containment we have bigger priorities.”

Emily nodded.

“Hess—“

“Don’t care, next.”

“The Barnes girl is a goddamn mess, needs intensive treatment for at least a year.”

“Christ.”

“No leads on the janitor, but if he was a parahuman, his power was quite subtle. And if he was, what was he doing? He had the run of the place for months and we still haven’t found evidence of him actually doing anything beyond simply being a janitor.”

“What about the missing persons angle?”

“There’s no affirmative evidence of his involvement, and plenty pointing to other explanations. Hell, we are pretty sure the criminal element has started tipping the BBPD on underage missing person cases.”

Emily sighed. “We’ll probably never know. I miss the old days when we could have just dismissed this as someone working under the table, blackballed the facilities manager, and moved on.”

“Oh, and Phil? See if Dr. Weaver’s pet thinker can look at those tips. Someone is trying to do something cute.”

Chapter Text

Aisha focused intently on the social media profile in front of her. She was going to get this right! For bro!

She jotted down a few notes.

Lisa watched with a strange sort of fascination.

Later

“I’m not sure…” Aisha replied. “He’s been so squirrelly about what he likes!”

“Hmmm,” Vicky replied. “Maybe we could leave out some of the beach pics and see if he likes any?”

“I donno,” Aisha said, making a face, “that feels kind of skeevy?”

“They’re all 18–it’s fine,” Vicky said authoritatively.

“Holy fuck,” Lisa muttered.

Later Still

“JESUS,” Lisa said, lifting her head from where she’d been resting it on the table.

“Huh?” Aisha asked.

Lisa made a complicated sort of gesture. “Where do I… Look just flip the ages and genders and say that again.”

“Ohhhhhhhh,” Vicky said, as Aisha winced.

Yet Later Still

“As fun as this is,” Lisa said, “how are you getting him to even go on this double date anyway? And if you trick him into showing up, how will you get him to stay?”

That Evening

Brian saw Lisa in the elevator, and did a double take. “Long day?”

She looked at him with a sort of vacant expression, then gave a short sardonic laugh.

Chapter Text

“What, does it owe you money?” Aisha asked, watching Taylor work the punching bag.

Taylor snorted. “Guess I have a lot of aggression to work out.”

“I’ll say—,” Aisha said, suddenly turning. “BRO! Hey, didn’t know you were going to be here.”

A very fit young man walked over. Taylor very consciously did not stare, she would not be that girl, and instead resumed her workout. Very happy that she had taken the hint from her counterpart and cultivated her ability to keep watch from… other viewpoints.

Shortly Thereafter

“He’s ~single~,” Aisha said, as soon as her brother left.

Taylor gave her a look. “He seems entirely done with, well, everything.”

Aisha grinned. “Just like you! You can be done with this shit together!”

Later

Taylor carefully ensured her bedroom door was closed, before retrieving her notebook and grabbing one of the new insect books her counterpart had given her. She appreciated the unspoken understanding they had, where she didn’t acknowledge having powers, and her counterpart quietly fed Taylor a steady supply of highly relevant advice and information.

Fortunately, her father seemed oblivious.

She wasn’t looking forward to telling her father. She couldn’t refute her counterpart’s very pointed statements, clearly if she was going to go do cape things she should tell him. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her counterpart. Rather, she liked this new equilibrium, and if she acknowledged having powers, things would change. She would have to make decisions, important decisions, about her career and the Wards and stuff. It was nice to wait. Just a little longer.

Chapter Text

“I don’t want to take any chances,” Brian said, stiffly. “I apologize for not flagging this earlier.”

Armsmaster nodded, absently, still focused on his instruments. “These signal interference readings are highly interesting. For now we’ll give you more redundant comms. Longer-term, there are a few possibilities I’d like to have investigated.”

He turned to Brian. “Good work flagging this.”

Brian nodded awkwardly. “I just wanted to triple check, avoid surprises in the field.”

Later

“Thanks again, Shawn,” Brian said to his older co-worker. “This means a lot, it’s a huge load off.”

“Yeah,” Shawn replied with a nod. “It’s never enough, but every little bit helps.”

Later

“Aisha?”

“What up!”

“Did you… I went to do an inventory, and there’s a whole lot of emergency stuff stashed around the apartment, like, everywhere?”

“Oh, yeah, I got Dr. Weaver to help me, right after we moved in. Went through some PRT stuff to make a list, then fixed some dumb stuff, then got her to fix more.”

“I’m… just wow. Someone at work sat me down to go through this stuff, and you’ve done a better job than he or I had come up with.”

“I did good?”

“You did really good. I wish… I wish the world was better and you didn’t have to worry about this stuff.”

“Don’t worry,” she said seriously, patting his hand. “You worry about the big showy cape stuff. Me and Dr. Weaver have your back.”

Chapter Text

“Oh no!” Amy exclaimed. “Did the cream give you a tummy ache? Let’s take care of that…” Mina’s entire biology flooded into Amy’s mind.

“You know,” Vicky’s voice drifted from the other room. “I read some cats are actually lactose intolerant!”

“Hmm,” Amy replied, as Mina purred in appreciation at the cessation of her gastric distress. Amy leaned in close and whispered. “I bet we can fix that too. Our secret.”

Break

“I have conveyed your request to Taylor III.” Taylor said formally. “He has considered your request, and prefers his box.”

“His what?” Amy replied.

“His box!” Taylor pulled up a dark picture, in which cat eyes could be barely perceived amid the shadows. “In the back, under my bed. He occasionally deigns to exit for food, treats, and so forth. Very occasionally he permits brushies. But guests are absolutely verboten.”

“Seriously?” Vicky said, as Aisha appropriated the phone and started sending herself pictures.

“Who am I to deny him his happy place?” Taylor countered. “After Aisha pinned me sparring Tuesday I tried to join him, but I didn’t fit.”

Aisha cackled.

Break

“VICTORIA!”

“Yes, Mom?” Victoria replied, entering the kitchen.

“Why is your cat on top of the fridge, scared the daylights out of me…”

“Mrrrrreow!” USS Chekov Dallon replied, his head and ears just visible amidst the odds and ends atop the fridge.

Ignoring her mother, Vicky rushed over to the fridge, and started taking pictures. “Who’s a clever kitty! You found the tallest tree, yes you did!”

Break

“Nah,” Aisha replied, “I’ll just vicariously enjoy your kitties. I spent all my life taking care of my mom and her dumbass boyfriends, I’m enjoying having the place to myself and bro.” Aisha made grabby motions. “Now show me more pics!”

Chapter Text

“Congratulations, you’re going back to school.”

Lisa looked unimpressed. “Really?”

Dr. Weaver continued. “The PRT is making a push to built out its staff of non-parahuman analysts. And, of course, we can expect the villainous element to seek access to the course materials, perhaps even infiltrate sessions.

“Ohhhhhh.”

“So yes, while I suppose you might learn some additional analytic techniques, I’m more interested in your thoughts on the villain response. If they know a large number of PRT analysts will have had this training, what assumptions will they make? What blind spots or systemic errors might we be introducing? What countermeasures might they adopt? And so forth.”

Lisa nodded. “Where will these sessions be?”

“Most will be remote, but we’ve arranged for the odd day trip to attend in-person, incognito.”

“I take back those mean things I thought about you a minute ago!”

“Oh,” Dr. Weaver added as an after thought. “I will neither confirm or deny the presence at one or more sessions of one or more others sharing your assignment.”

Lisa cackled.

Chapter Text

“Oh, couch potato,” Aisha said, after handing Alec his pizza, “you’re coming to dinner this weekend!”

“I’m what now?”

“Dinner. At our place. With bro and Lisa and whoever else I grab! Will text deets!”

“But…,” Alec tried to rebut, but she was already gone.

I suppose if nothing else I can watch Brian squirm? And can go in pajamas…

Later

“I’m sorry but my briefing notes didn’t indicate your cape name?” The metal boy said politely.

“I’m pushing for Neuromancer,” Alec replied, “but I’ll probably be stuck with Impulse or Rehab or something else boring…”

Shortly thereafter

“Oh, I don’t go to school? Scary Suit had a chat with Youth Guard Lady and next thing YGL was crying and gave me a hug.”

Shortly thereafter

“Ask,” the metal man said with a grinding sigh. “I can tell you want to. I’ve heard them all by now.”

“Do you shit?”

Shortly thereafter

“One last important thing you should know, the girls—Vicky, the purple one, the little one?”

“Yes?”

“Fucking nuts, all of them, Vicky’s not too bad on her own, but the other two, you’ll be talking to them normal and suddenly up is down and down is up and they’re all cackling.”

Chapter Text

After the analyst left, Emily turned to Dr. Weaver. “I’m surprised you didn’t have more to contribute to the security assessments for Vista, Insight and Triumph.”

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “For the random criminal element, it will suffice. For anything more, it’s civilian construction housing. You’d have to demolish and start from scratch, and there’s no point.

She continued, “Anyone local is gone who might have been stupid enough, or desperate enough, to go after Wards, civilian identities, dependents, or family.

“If any outside forces try to establish a foothold, we’ll know. Professional infiltration or snatch teams are not inconceivable, we’ve concentrated several potential strategic assets in the Bay, but that’s being addressed by higher and none of us are cleared. And a frontal attack, again, we would have warning and, in any event, that’s better addressed by general Endbringer evacuation protocols rather than by fortifying individual residences.”

There was a brief pause as Emily, Renick and Armsmaster processed… all of that.

“Which reminds me,” Dr. Weaver continued. “Vista has indicated an interest in training to allow her to better contribute in evacuation or rescue scenarios.”

Shortly thereafter

After Dr. Weaver left, Emily turned to Armsmaster and Renick. “Pull everyone’s files again. Let’s see if we can’t figure out who exactly she meant by ‘strategic assets’. Since evidently it’s not just Missy, and I somehow doubt she’ll give me a straight answer.”

At Other Times and Places

“Finally,” Dr. Yamada said, “I am rotating through Brockton Bay next. What can you tell me about Dr. Weaver?”

Armstrong furrowed his brow.

Dr. Yamada continued. “Her entire file is redacted. Even her CV is redacted. I got a pile of black ink, and a note to talk to you, Costa-Brown or Tagg.”

“For what it’s worth, there is good reason it’s redacted?”

Yamada gave him a look.

Armstrong shrugged. “She is incredibly knowledgeable about parahuman powers and how they interact with people. She’s the reason Rebecca took seriously the master theory for Jack Slash, and increased the therapist budget.”

“I sense a ‘but’.”

Armstrong nodded. “She’s not infallible. She has spent far too much time working with A-class and S-class threats. Brockton is her idea of a ‘quiet’ posting.”

Break

Director Tagg laughed. “That sounds about right. Just imagine the Chief-Director, 20 years older, with less respect for proper procedure.”

Break

“I mean this in the best possible way, but is she getting counseling?” Dr. Yamada asked.

“If you could get her to accept it, the Chief-Director might give you a medal.”

Break

“Who? Oh, I think she did some work on the new master/stranger guidance?”

Break

“Dr. Weaver?” Renick laughed. “If something odd happens around here, ask her.” He paused a moment, before continuing. “Especially with the Wards, she’s one of those weird ones who finds dealing with teens relaxing.”

Chapter Text

“To answer your question, Directors,” Dr. Weaver said evenly, looking between Armstrong and Tagg, “the organization behind Case 53s has been identified, placed under adult supervision, and will be remediated after immediate threats are contained. Efforts are being made to assemble such records as still exist as to identities of the Case 53s, as well as those who did not survive the process.”

Kamil gestured at Dr. Weaver with his cigarette. “You cannot possibly expect us to accept that.” Tagg simply stared at her silently.

“I appreciate your perspective and indeed hope you will facilitate the process, when it is safe. I am open to suggestions as to how to we might at present appropriately remediate the most extensive parahuman experimentation and research program in this world line without leaving us vulnerable to information leakage as per the Jack Slash problem. Oh, and at least some of the specimens they have under their control are, if agitated or excited, likely capable of influencing Endbringer behavior.”

Fuming, figuratively and literally, Director Armstrong stared at Dr. Weaver angrily. “I’m up to two packs a week of this shit now. I blame you.”

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “Incidentally, Bonesaw is in stasis, and left a number of projects behind. In my world line she was eventually deprogrammed, using capabilities associated with the Case 53 group, and became one of our foremost power researchers. Something else on the list for us later.”

She smiled, almost sympathetically. “If it helps, in my world line we were forced to deal with these issues with much less organization and compassion?”

Later

After Director Armstrong stormed out, Director Tagg lingered. “Why did you do that to him,” he asked, looking her dead in the eye.

“He was going to find out. Now he won’t do something tragic on incomplete information.”

After a moment, she added. “And it lets him know there is a hope of some good in all this dirty work.

Elsewhere

Furious, Kamil stormed into his office. A package was sitting on his desk chair. Upon opening it, he found a dossier with a familiar face, and a set of limited edition Aleph CDs, in original packaging. The accompanying note simply said “For your family.”

Chapter Text

“So cool!” Vicky said, trying on her new goggles.

“Yes, thank you Armsmaster,” added her aunt.

He waved off the thanks. “And congratulations to you, Miss Dallon, inadvertent aura activations are down considerably. Although there are a few interesting anomalies in the readings, perhaps relating to your force field? I’ll let you know if we find anything.”

Later

“Mom, Dinah! Dinah, this is Mom, aka Brandish!”

“Good evening?” Brandish replied, as she shook Dinah’s hand.

“Dinah is in Dr. Weaver’s seminar thing,” explained Vicky. “She is going to check our locks.”

“And meet Chekov and Mina!” Dinah added.

Later

“Hey,” Vicky said from right next to Amy’s ear.

“Gaaaah!” Amy replied, falling off her seat, as Mina mreowed unhappily at losing her perch on Amy’s lap. “Don’t sneak up on me!”

“The door was open,” Vicky replied, still floating just off the ground. “That doesn’t look like homework?”

“No,” Amy said, “it’s about cat anatomy. I’m trying to identify Mina’s parts. It’s an exercise Dr. Weaver and the power test person suggested to help me better explain what I do.”

“Ohhhh, that makes sense. Also, have you seen Chekov?”

“Up,” Amy replied, nodding to the top shelf of her tallest bookcase. “He got up easy enough, but hasn’t yet figured out how to get down.”

Chapter Text

“Lisa, Lisa, look!” Aisha pulled Lisa through the door. “Look at what Dr. Weaver and Brian got me!”

Break

“Did you seriously bring your console?” Amy asked.

Alec looked affronted. “You wound me so! I have toiled, toiled I say, so that we might resume our Mortal Tournament Summer Vacation, and this is how you repay me!”

Amy snorted.

Break

“A desktop PC in the living room?” Lisa asked Brian incredulously.

He sighed. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Aisha cackled. “You tell her, bro! Anytime ima look at pretty boys, you’re more than welcome to look over my shoulder!”

Elsewhere

“Mark?” Carol asked, pleasantly surprised. Her husband was out of bed, dressed, in the kitchen, and by all accounts almost finished cooking dinner.

He smiled. “Victoria is with Dean and Amy is having dinner with her Endbringer buddies. We have the place to ourselves, and I thought we could do something nice.”

Chapter Text

“It’s interesting, as close as our world lines were, the small differences.” Taylor’s older counterpart gestured at the screen. “In my world, Brannagh made Macbeth, and in Aleph, Hamlet.”

Outside, the rain beat down. Inside, Taylor scooted a little closer to her father. As the movie started, she carefully didn’t look at Taylor III, who was peeking out from his place on the stairs where he thought no one could see him.

Elsewhere

Rachel comforted the terrier. The pup was clearly unsettled by the storm, still skittish in her new home.

It was nice. There were good, clean blankets on the floor, the water dishes refilled on their own, and the roof didn’t leak. Even the flap on the door was very cleverly set up to not let in much cold and wet. And, if she had to leave, Dr. Weaver had given her a very nice backpack that looked cheap but fit lots of things without overly encumbering her movements.

Chapter Text

Taylor very carefully did not turn her head as Taylor III slowly crept out from under the bed and examined the waiting treat. It had taken a very long time for him to get comfortable enough to venture out while she was in the room, and she wasn’t going to spook him now.

Then he darted under the bed without a sound, and Taylor had other things to worry about.

“What has been done?” The strangely dressed child asked intently, eyes unfocused, shadows flickering behind her. She had simply appeared, between one blink and the next, and suddenly the room felt far too small.

Taylor recognized her, who wouldn’t? But the child was supposed to be safely locked away…

“Where has he—,” child continued, voice growing stronger, “how has he…”

The child’s eyes snapped to Taylor’s, malevolent shades coalescing into hated forms behind her. “What madness has the ancient child-queen wrought?!”

Taylor felt the most peculiar sensation, as if her power was reaching out in a direction she couldn’t perceive. And then a portal opened to deliver Dr. Weaver.

Dr. Weaver regarded the child regally, inclined her head, and gestured expansively to the portal. The child turned her head, returned the nod, and was gone. Dr. Weaver turned to follow, her eyes pausing a moment to share a warm look with Taylor, before she too was gone.

The moment the portal closed, Taylor collapsed, falling heavily back into her chair, breathing quick and fast. Some time later, her father found her curled up on her bed.

“Taylor?”

“Can you sit with me a bit?” She asked, hesitantly.

“Sure, honey.” He replied. “What’s wrong.”

Taylor laughed, weakly. “The Fairy Queen appeared in my room, angry? Then other!me was here? Like she knew what was going on? And there was a portal? Oh, and I have powers.”

Chapter Text

“We have dealt with Scion, but it’s not over, is it.” Kurt said, in the quiet, after the others had shed their tears of joy and left.

Dr. Weaver shook her head. “We have worlds of resources, powerful allies, and we no longer need fear that one wrong step could trigger the end. We have the benefit of knowledge, knowledge my worlds didn’t have, dearly bought that will not be squandered.

“And yet we too have worlds of threats, compromises, and injustices. We know that this is not the only world line, that other word lines have Scions of their own, and can reach us. And we have a very short window to prevent Scion’s legacy from tearing the worlds apart.

“We are undeniably better off than yesterday. But this is not the end. It is, at most, the end of the beginning.”

Chapter Text

“Bro?”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you watching me sleep?”

Brian sighed, at sat down on the end of his sister’s bed. “I couldn’t sleep. Had a nightmare and…”

Aisha sat up and hugged her brother. “It’s OK. I have that dream sometimes. You want me to come in and sit with you until you go back to sleep?”

Later

“Morning, Ames,” her sister mumbled.

Amy looked up, and did a double take. “What happened?”

“Couldn’t sleep, nightmares.”

Wordlessly, Amy slid her coffee across the table to Vicky, and went to make herself another cup.

Chapter Text

Poke.

“don wanna,” the pile of blankets replied.

Poke poke.

“hurts.”

A short while later a small hand holding two pills wormed its way into the blankets.

“tanks.”

Sighing, Aisha pre-mixed some of the good-tasting hangover cure and left it on Lisa’s nightstand with a donut.

Still better than Mom.

Elsewhere

Taylor awoke with a start. She couldn’t remember the nightmare but she knew it was bad. Giving up on sleep, she groaned and climbed out of bed.

Shuffling across her room, she found on her desk propped up an apology card. Under it was a book which declared itself to be an index of the most fascinating and dangerous insects in the world.

Taylor sat down, and began idly flipping through the book. I suppose I should tell her too.

Somehow, after the Fairy Queen, hiding her powers didn’t seem so important anymore.

Chapter Text

Armsmaster looked like shit.

“Is this an attack?” Emily asked.

“Unclear. Many but not all parahumans are affected, some worse than others.” Armsmaster replied in clipped tones. “It’s global, whatever it is. I’m working with the Guild on some leads.”

Emily turned to Renick. “See if you can get anything out of Thinktank or D.C. I’ve dropped a note to Dr. Weaver as well.”

Elsewhere

After everything, Kamil could not bring himself to be surprised when a portal opened and Dr. Weaver’s hand darted out, dropped a note, and then withdrew.

Kamil picked up the note. “It is now safe to tell Weld.”

Kamil sighed explosively, and opened his calendar. It was a quick hop to the Bay, he was damned if he’d let the sun set and rise again before giving Weld back his past.

Elsewhere

“What is happening?” Director Tagg asked without preamble.

“Unanticipated side effects from the restructuring of the command and control network for parahuman powers which accompanied resolution of the most immediate apocalyptic threat,” Dr. Weaver replied absently.

“We will be having a long talk.”

“Of course, the greatest cognitohazard threat has passed and it should now be safe. You and others will receive a full briefing after the immediate issues are resolved.”

While that was not on its face unreasonable, Tagg had learned that with this woman you didn’t take anything for granted. “… Which immediate issues.”

“The Fairy Queen has inserted herself into proceedings.”

Chapter Text

“Narwhal speaking.”

“Director Tagg. Where is Dragon.”

“We don’t know. She dropped contact unexpectedly. Emergency monitors show her to be unconscious, alive, and uninjured.”

“We need to find her. We’ve lost all visibility into the Birdcage, and the backup systems are not responding. Monitors outside the mountain show green, but we need to know what’s happening inside.”

Narwhal glanced at her overflowing ‘priority’ message queue, which no doubt contained the relevant alert somewhere. Clearly they needed to revisit their continuity plans, again. She sighed, and pushed through the migraine. “There is a last-ditch fallback not listed in the file. Who on your end needs the details?”

Elsewhere

Rebecca barely restrained herself from crushing the phone in frustration. She should be celebrating, or more closely monitoring whatever it was that woman was telling the Fairy Queen. But no, she had to be Chief-Director, which meant she had to be available to reassure everyone that no, this wasn’t an attack, yes, it was contained, no, you don’t need to medically quarantine the Wards, how the fuck was that man a Senator? She was tempted to just hospitalize her body double with some plausible ‘accident’ and let the Directorate deal with things, but God only knew what they would do unsupervised. She should never have let Dr. Weaver talk to Tagg.

Chapter Text

With exaggerated patience, Amy gestured for Taylor to take a seat. “So what’s the big secret?”

Taylor fidgeted awkwardly. “So, um, Dr. Weaver said you can tell when someone is a parahuman?”

Amy sighed. “Yes, I know, no I haven’t told anyone.”

Taylor sighed. “Thanks.” She fidgeted a bit further, before continuing, “Do you have any advice?”

“Sure, ah—“

She was interrupted by insisted knocking. “Who the…” She looked through the peephole, then opened the door. “Alec?”

A Few Minutes Earlier

Aisha was surprised to discover the enthusiastic door knocker was Alec, and he was even wearing real clothes.

“Come on!” Alec said without preamble. “We’re having a party!”

“Ok?” Aisha replied. “When? Where? Why?”

“Now! Dad is… I mean lots of bad people are dead! I just saw the news! Let’s go get Lisa!”

“Sure! Lemme text Bro?”

“Yeah he can come too! The more the merrier! Let’s get Amy too!”

Chapter Text

“Where is the Fairy Queen?” Chief Director Costa-Brown asked. With Director Tagg sitting next to Dr. Weaver, she couldn’t be Alexandria, and it chafed.

“Valkyrie is communing with her power.” Dr. Weaver replied. “They have tentatively agreed to cooperate in seeking a collaborative and, critically, equitable path forward for humanity and the Fae. Shards. Passengers. Agents. Whatever we’re calling them.”

Doctor Mother leaned forward, clearly unaccustomed to emoting through a domino mask. “What happened, exactly?”

Dr. Weaver shrugged, and gestured to the collection of binders on the table. “Plans A and B failed to have immediate results, a combination of C and D worked. The resulting disruption in command and control channels led to unexpected feedback reaching some parahumans. Scion’s get appear more heavily affected than those from the Garden, we may wish to look into that later.”

“And the Birdcage?” Costa-Brown asked.

“Dragon is a genuinely good person, and an immense force multiplier. Removing her chains was first on the list of post-Scion priorities. It is taking some time.” Dr. Weaver replied. She then glanced at Director Tagg before adding, “she’s a digital person, I’ll explain later.”

Director Tagg leaned forward and asked his first question of the meeting. “What else was on that list?”

Dr. Weaver gestured to the Cauldron members. “Principally, using their portal capabilities to deal with select threats. I’ll get you the details.”

Chapter Text

“So why are we having a party?” Amy asked Lisa, as Aisha took a turn on the console with Alec.

“That guy who had mastered him? Really fucked him up? One of the dead villains in the news today.” Lisa replied, quietly.

“Ohhhhhhh,” Amy replied, nodding.

“Shit,” Taylor added sympathetically. “I can’t even imagine.”

“Yeah,” Lisa said wincing, “it was really really bad and he absolutely does not want to talk about it.”

“No!” Aisha’s shout drew their gaze. “None of that! You don’t need that shit!” She put her hands on his shoulders, and looked him right in the eye. “We got a good thing here! People like us don’t get second chances, you WILL NOT fuck this up!

As Alec began mumbling apologies, Amy turned back to Lisa and raised an eyebrow.

She sighed. “At a guess? He suggested supplementing the pizza with drugs or alcohol.”

“The fuck?” Taylor asked.

“The mastering really, really fucked him up and after he got away his coping mechanisms were, um, yeah,” Lisa replied with a shrug. “It’s kind of a hot button for Aisha because of her Mom, especially after the custody thing.”

Lisa glanced back at the pair by the couch. Alec was trying to calm Aisha, who seemed close to tears. “Yeah I’m probably the best here to try to defuse this, fuck me,” Lisa continued, half to herself, before heading over.

Chapter Text

“Rebecca,” Dr. Mother said, interrupting the other woman’s tirade. “Why do you care?”

“What!?”

“Why. Do. You. Care? All this was to deal with Scion, because there was no one else. I didn’t sign up for… whatever Weaver and Tagg and The Fairy Queen and the rest are doing, especially since there are actual trained professionals on offer.”

She leaded forward, and took Rebecca’s hand. “We could stop. Retire, go to jail, just not do this anymore.”

Rebecca looked personally affronted.

Elsewhere

“With the greatest respect, you should not be making strategic decisions, at least not unaided.” Director Tagg said without preamble. They had regrouped after the Cauldron meeting, with a copy of the binders.

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “I agree? Not really my thing? It’s just, you saw what I was working with.”

Director Tagg sighed. “Can we bring in more people now?”

Dr. Weaver wiggled her hand. “Probably? The shard imperative to prevent research should be at least mitigated? Valkyrie gives us cover as well, her passenger has very high level permissions. The angel might be an issue, but we’re doing what we can to mitigate that.”

Tagg flipped open the binder to the post-Scion list.

Chapter Text

Amy looked up in alarm as something unprecedented happened—Alec paused the game.

“Huh,” he said, adopting a distant expression. “It seems my sister’s in town.”

Lisa blanched. “Shit.”

“I mean, with him dead, she’s less likely to do something stupid?” Alec offered.

Lisa gave him a look, while Amy moved toward the pizza and Taylor politely went to distract Aisha.

“Do you honestly believe that?” Lisa’s voice replied, incredulous.

Alec laughed, “Nah, she’s dumb as shit.”

“Right. So we absolutely cannot let her run around on her own.”

“Think her old number still works?”

“Worth a try but don’t include any identifying information in case someone else has it.”

Finding what she was looking for, Amy headed back toward the couch.

Alec was scrolling through his phone as she returned. “And it’s not like she can stay here. Maybe set her up somewhere out of town?”

Reaching the couch, Amy took the paper plate she had retrieved and lightly bopped Alec on the head. “Bad. No cookie.”

Alec gaped.

Amy continued. “Is she a threat to herself or others?”

“Well—“ Alec began, before Lisa interrupted “fuck yes.”

“Call it in,” Amy concluded. “Maybe you ride along so she has a friendly face, but they need to know. Guilty, innocent, doesn’t matter. If she went through anything like what you did she needs help and we absolutely aren’t equipped to provide it.”

Everyone stared at her.

“Huh,” Lisa said. “Right. That’s a thing we can do now.”

Chapter Text

“Hello, Dragon.” Dr. Weaver said with warmth.

“Hello,” the voice from the speaker replied. “I think you have me at a disadvantage.”

“I am connecting you now to a repository with that and a great deal of other information. To start though, Saint is dead, and you are forever free…”

Elsewhere

Struck by a sudden suspicion, Piggot flipped back to the Heartbreaker preliminary report. Grenade in the shower. She started making a list.

Fifteen minutes later, she carefully dropped the list in the shredder. Eight reports, eight grenades, and no clear source for any of them. She absolutely was not going to be looking into this further, and suddenly had a new appreciation for the warning she had been sent before Calvert got his own grenade.

Elsewhere

“Mreeeeowwww!”

Keith blinked, and looked down. There was, in fact, a small cat in the Cauldron offworld facility, hopefully eyeing Keith’s sandwich.

For lack of a better idea, Keith broke off a piece of cheese, knelt down, and gave it to the cat.

Chapter Text

Alec found his sister sitting on a bench, listening to music. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Cherie said, subdued. She took off her headphones. “You know, I was so mad at you for the longest time, but…” Cherie shrugged.

“Yeah,” Alec replied sitting next to her. “Ding, dong the witch is dead.”

“I should feel happy, I think? But I don’t know what I feel anymore.”

“Hmm,” Alec replied, leaning back.

The two siblings sat awkwardly.

Cherie broke the silence. “So is this the part where your minions come and we all go to the secret lair?

Alec laughed, doubling over and heaving big breaths of air.

Cherie playfully dope slapped him. “Hey, I’m being good! I followed the instructions!”

Alec forced himself upright. “Instructions,” he asked, barely holding himself together.

“Yeah, the ones stuck to my pillow with a knife when I woke up after my first night in the state.” She handed Alec a piece of paper.

“Oh,” Alec said with a laugh. “That’s what she meant by keeping dad’s machinations out of the Bay.” He laughed again. “Let me tell you about the scariest person you’ll ever meet, I think you’ll like her…”

Chapter Text

It was late in the evening when Dr. Weaver showed up at Emily’s office door, clearly exhausted, carrying a flask and what Emily recognized as the tinkertech alcohol she’d had when the Nine were killed.

Wordlessly, Dr. Weaver set out the alcohol, and took a sip from her flask.

“First,” she said, “as of a few minutes ago Ellisburg is dealt with.

Emily stared in shock, unwilling to believe. “How?”

“We put the whole zone in a time stop bubble and relocated it. There’s now a hemispherical hole where the zone used to be.”

Emily took a drink. Dr. Weaver followed suit.

“It’s been handled for now, but the Fairy Queen left the Birdcage. That was most of my day. You’ll get a briefing, likely tomorrow.”

Emily finished her drink, and poured another. “What happened today?”

“There was a really nasty… huh. Actually, we might as well fully brief you at this point. I’ll talk to the others.“

Chapter Text

Aisha: hey so why thing cancelled and why everyone busy
Aisha: booooooored
SmartestFox: look at news. Where like half ppl u know work?
Aisha: bah
Aisha: hey what u do to my phone names!!!!!
SmartestFox: :D

Elsewhere

“This will monitor my power usage?” Cherie asked incredulously. “Wait you can detect my power?!” She was suddenly very, very glad she hadn’t gone with her other plans, so all the, like, crime crime could plausibly be blamed on dad.

“Yes,” replied the big blue boring tinker. “The manipulation component, specifically. You see, despite apparent differences, the mechanism of effect for powers which…”

Cherie zoned out for a bit, making sure to look interested and nod in the right places, men liked that. The important part was that if she got good at making the blinky light not blink, she could avoid more intrusive measures, and have evidence in case some ass tried to blame her for their road rage or vapors or bad trip or something.

Chapter Text

Fortuna now, not Contessa, carefully put away her tools. It was the end of the first day of the rest of her life. No more Scion, and while there would be other threats, other dangers, she could choose.

Sitting down, she carefully retrieved the paper with the path description Dr. Weaver had helped her make. That just might, thirty minutes at a time, help her become her again, not just her power.

Elsewhere

“How many?” Kamil asked, incredulous.

“You will receive the best information we have been able to reconstruct,” the Chief Director responded, implacable as ever. “Many records were lost at Madison, and in other incidents.”

Elsewhere

Thomas watched the news, nursing a very expensive scotch. The implacable march through major threats seemed to have ended for the day, and for all the politicians brayed he knew who was responsible.

There but for the grace of god go I.

Chapter Text

Bro: Work wants me to stay overnight in observation, seems lots of people had the nightmares. You gonna be OK?
Aisha: Shit, that sucks. I be gud, u get bettr

Elsewhere

Lisa waited impatiently for the timer on the junior superhero play set. After nightmare migraine adventures, eating pizza and shit-talking had been about her limit. Then all the Alec family drama had happened, and everyone was like ‘we need to check for emotional instability’ and ‘sleep studies’ so she was stuck for the night.

Finally, the door opened, and Lisa surveyed the scene.

“Hey, pause! Can you make me that?!” Vista said excitedly, gesturing at the TV with her energy drink.

“Ahhhh,” replied Kid Win, as Chariot was Very Busy helping Dinah in her efforts to unstick a cheap lock from Weld.

Raised voices placed more of the boys in the kitchen, and Victoria could be heard excitedly being excited from the direction of the private rooms.

Lisa turned around and left. She suddenly felt a lot better about not having her own room in the Wards wing. Spartan guest quarters sounded amazing.

Chapter Text

“What!?” The young woman flinched. Even from the other room, she could tell the john was unhappy.

“I said,” the bouncer said in a menacing tone, “Lung has decreed that service is no longer available.”

The young woman sighed in relief, as the discussion faded to a more conversational tone. Then the john once again raised his voice. “It didn’t cost that much last time!”

“Lung has decreed that both cost and quality of service will increase. I will also direct your attention to the revised house rules. Of course, if you prefer, you may take your chances with a less… reputable establishment.”

Elsewhere

“I’m sorry?” The BBPD duty officer asked.

“I am very bad and need to be locked away,” repeated the terrified man. “I brought proof.” He held up a dirty envelope. “I am very lucky,” he recited like a mantra, “that bad men like me are permitted the privilege of long life in a cage.”

“… Let me get the Sergeant,” the officer finally said. This was above his pay grade.

Chapter Text

Returning from exercise, Amy found her sister trying to coax Chekov out from the coat closet. “How was the sleepover?” Amy asked.

“Loud? Fun? Cuddling was nice?”

Amy rolled her eyes. “I’m sure the Wards appreciate your restraint. How did you sleep? You look like you were up half the night.”

“We were?” Her sister shrugged. “I could blame whoever gave us energy drinks, but it was a sleepover? Sleeping sort of is not the point?”

“Did they at least monitor your sleep?”

“There was a thing we were supposed to wear? I think we wore it right? But what with all the exploding villains, the PRT people were kind of distracted? Hey, what do you think happened there, it’s like all out of nowhere—“

“Focus,” Amy interrupted. “Your health. Any nightmares, did you wake up in the middle of the night?”

“If I did have nightmares I don’t remember,” Vicky replied, “but then again I had the most wonderful snuggle cuddle buddy hot water bottle of all time keeping the bad thoughts away!”

Amy rolled her eyes again.

“Mreow!” Chekov added from under the coats.

Chapter Text

Brian: Just wanted to check on, make sure things are OK
Aisha: Im gud, on bus
Aisha: Kick ass sea bass!

Brian sighed in relief.

Elsewhere

Going through the cafeteria breakfast line, Lisa was very glad she’d stayed in the guest quarters. She had slept fine and been in and out of the infirmary quickly, but it sounded like nobody in Casa de Wardistan got much sleep at all.

Her perusal of the (questionable) pastries was interrupted by a phone alert. Who is sending me a PHO message at this hour?. She opened the message and immediately regretted it.

GStringGirl: donno if you saw but Void sort of freaked out yesterday and was talking about the end of the world. Do you have any ideas how to get him to calm down? I just want to make sure he’s OK
CleverKit: …

Elsewhere

“There are three principal points to discuss,” the Chief-Director began. “Yesterday, an organization with heroic aspirations undertook the collection of a number of outstanding kill orders and other bounties. We have established contact and received assurances regarding their intentions. Discussions are ongoing. Second, there occurred a serious disruption of Dragon’s systems. Control has been re-established and the surviving Dragonslayers are in custody. Third, The Fairy Queen has departed the Birdcage. We have made contact. She intends to rebrand as Valkyrie and has expressed interest in future cooperation. Joining us today are senior representatives from the Guild, the King’s Men…”

Chapter Text

“Director Armstrong to see you,” buzzed the intercom.

Emily blinked. She had expected a call, but with Weld in town she supposed it was not too unusual. She could see how close the two were.

“Send him in.”

After the obligatory small talk about Weld, the real subject came up. The whole… thing Dr. Weaver had alluded to. She hadn’t known Armstrong was involved but it spoke well of Dr. Weaver that she had involved someone with different expertise and instincts. Sadly, before Kamil could make much progress in briefing her, the pair of Directors were interrupted by an emergency tone from Kamil’s phone.

“Armstrong,” he answered. He paled. “She did what?”

He hung up, and sighed. “We’ll have to finish this later, she’s gone and grabbed the Butcher now. Something about a time stop.”

“Good luck,” Emily replied dryly.

“I will say I like this bit,” Kamil replied conversationally. “Door to my office.”

Emily could not bring herself to be surprised when, a few minutes later, Colin showed up with an array of scientific equipment and a determined expression.

Chapter Text

“How you can possibly drink so many energy drinks in a week?” Aisha asked.

Alec shrugged. “It’s not easy being me.”

Aisha rolled her eyes. “Well if you up your supply any further it’s going to be more than my noodle arms can carry.”

“I’ll cover your cab fare?”

Aisha snorted. “Like I’m getting in a cab in this town.”

Elsewhere

“Thank you again,” Taylor said as she and Amy entered the other girl’s apartment.

“Eh,” Amy replied with a shrug. “I don’t want to have to break in a new gym buddy. Now let’s talk about what I call ‘Vicky’s Greatest Hits’, and why you should never do those things.”

Later

It was with trepidation that Brian unlocked his apartment door. God only knew what Aisha had gotten up to in his absence.

“Hey, Bro!” Aisha called as he entered. “I snagged a pizza from Alec’s party yesterday, want some?”

“Sure,” he said absently as he surveyed the apartment. Nothing seemed out of place…

“Oh, there’s a thing this weekend at the college. A talk, about powers and stuff. Seemed cool. Ima go with Lisa, you wanna come too?”

“Sure,” Brian answered absentmindedly.

Chapter Text

“Introductions will be arranged,” Dr. Weaver said to the imposing masked man in a suit. “However I cannot stress enough that her health and well-being is critical. Considerable effort has been put into her current living arrangements and you will not compromise that. Her sister, in particular, is an extremely potent close-in bodyguard who can go many places you cannot. In addition, there can be no hint of impropriety on her part, her sterling reputation and non-combatant status both provide significant benefits.”

“I understand,” the man said, meeting her gaze steadily. “She doesn’t know me, and I won’t rip her away from the family she has come to know. I’m just,” he averted his eyes briefly, before composing himself, “I never thought I’d see her again.”

Dr. Weaver nodded. “We will now meet the gentleman who will assist in your reintegration.”

“Does he know we are coming?”

Dr. Weaver smiled, and got up. “Door,” she said, in lieu of answering.

On The Other Side

Thomas sighed when the portal appeared in his office. At least he was wearing his costume this time. The portal deposited that woman, along with an imposing middle-aged man Thomas didn’t recognize. He wore a well-fitting suit and a domino mask.

“Coil, Marquis. Marquis, Coil.” She turned to Marquis, apparently, because now she was casually dropping Birdcage escapees in his lap. “Coil will assist you in getting established.” She turned back to Thomas. “Marquis will be assisting with the grey side of things. There is to be no evidence of his involvement in overtly criminal activity, however I expect his assistance will be invaluable in dealing with the Empire.”

Chapter Text

Lisa had mixed feelings as the tech finished the cognitohazard safety prep, under the watchful eye of Director Piggot. She couldn’t say she strictly enjoyed the process, but it was at least a sign of that something interesting would be happening.

After double-checking the displays and eavesdropping countermeasures, the Director sent a message, and sat down.

Fortunately, the door opened soon after because how the hell do you make polite small talk with Director Piggot?

Dr. Weaver entered and looked stressed to all hell. But before she could do more than shut the door Power offered his contribution. She is a time traveling dimension hopper and other!you is her best friend. She is the favorite of [REDACTED] who is a peer of the Fairy Queen and, this is a compliment, a cheating cheater who cheats.

“What the fuck?” Lisa exclaimed involuntarily.

Dr. Weaver sighed. “This might go better if you write down what Power says.”

“Uh,” Lisa hesitated, “are you sure? Because he is babbling about how he likes humans, will take good care of me, and that you are a benevolent queen who is undoubtedly too kind to feed him to the Fairy Queen? Oh and that he ‘wouldn’t mind another star’, whatever that means?”

Dr. Weaver rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t need another star, although he gets points for chutzpah. As for the rest…”

Chapter Text

“Lisa,” Charlotte said with deliberate care. “I want to make sure I have this right. You are worried about Greg. Your plan to help is to send people he barely knows to his house, unprompted, to reveal that oh by the way GSG and some girl he’s never heard of cyber-stalked and doxxed him?”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “When you say it like that of course it sounds bad.

Elsewhere

“Hey everyone,” Weld called to the gathered Wards. “I’d like to introduce you to a team member we will be seeing more of in the coming weeks.”

“Hello fellow kids. I am the artist formerly known as Regent. You do not have enough relationship points to unlock my tragic backstory.”

Weld rolled his eyes. “His name is Impulse.”

“Yes, my name is Impulse Control. It’s aspirational.”

Weld ignored him. “Impulse will be spending most of his time with the scientists—“

“You’re the kid from the gaming session!” Dennis interrupted.”

“Oh, God,” Missy said to Dinah. “Another one.”

Chapter Text

“Should you be drinking that?” James asked, eyeing Emily’s flask.

Emily wiggled her hand. “It’s some tinkertech nonsense. Weaver.”

James turned to Kamil. “How much of their files have you gotten through?”

Kamil took a drag on his cigarette. “Too much, and still not enough. This is too big for us.”

James sighed. “I know, and everything I’ve seen says the information containment protocols are no longer an issue.”

“No, we just have to worry about reality breaking.” Emily observed acerbically.

“If we get that far,” James commented darkly. He took a sip of his own drink. “They just fought a war, and none of the suits or brass even knew.”

Kamil gestured with his cigarette. “It would be easier if they had their hands in the till. Even Rebecca didn’t have any thought for what might come after, beyond prepositioning caches to support refugees and reconstruction.”

Emily shrugged. “From what Weaver says, where she’s from, they barely had that left.”

“Speaking of Weaver,” Kamil said, learning forward, “can you imagine her in front of the press, or an oversight committee?” He shook his head. “They’ll want her controlled, she’ll object, and where does that leave us?”

“Chaos,” James replied. He stole one of Kamil’s cigarettes, and regarded it clinically. “God knows what contingencies she has, or others have on her behalf.”

Kamil rubbed out the remains of his own cigarette in the ashtray. “We won’t solve this tonight. But we need to, soon.”

Chapter Text

Mentally and emotionally drained, Lisa dragged herself to her apartment door. She liked Dr. Weaver. Respected her. Apparently other!her did too or something what the fuck but it was a lot and right now she just wanted to curl up with her cheap wine until it all made sense.

“‘Sup buttercup.” Aisha said, without looking up from her study guide, as Lisa entered her apartment.

Lisa dropped her bag and stared. “Why are you here?”

Aisha marked her place, looked up, and shrugged. “Doc Weaver said you had a rough day. I don’t want to deal with your drunk ass, so we’re going to watch dumb TV or eat ice cream or whatever. Something that doesn’t end in you hiding under a blanket with a hangover.”

Elsewhere

“—So yeah it’s a thing in some countries where they want to be taller, so I figured you could make it go better? And for other things?”

Amy dutifully jotted down a few notes about Taylor’s horrifying insights into hammer-assisted cosmetic and reconstructive procedures.

Somehow they’d gone from Taylor’s power to Amy’s power, and even just with the bits Taylor knew about… yeah.

“You know,” Amy said, changing the subject, “you might want to consider talking to Vicky about some of this. She really gets into this some of nitty gritty power stuff…”

Chapter Text

“Dragon,” Colin began, “these datasets are amazing but where did you get them?”

“The source.”

Colin looked up sharply.

“Yes,” Dragon continued, “they’re portals. Specifically, the same sort as was used to collect all those bounties.”

“Then why are they appearing in this building?” Colin replied with clear frustration.

“Negotiations are ongoing and extremely sensitive. The Fairy Queen is involved.”

Colin sighed. “Right, don’t rock the boat.”

“Thank you. We’ll brief you further when we can. In the meantime, they are extremely interested in your work detecting and mapping the portals. They are interested in working with you to get more and better readings, so long as you share your findings. Specifically…”

Elsewhere

Setting aside the dossier, Kamil jotted down a few notes, absentmindedly gave the cat a piece of chicken from his salad, and retrieved the next file.

Wait a minute

Looking back down, Kamil saw a black and white speckled kitten sitting attentively next to his chair, looking up at him with big eyes.

“Mreow.”

Just to be sure, Kamil surveyed the small office. As he recalled, the door was closed and there was a conspicuous absence of places where a kitten might conceal itself.

The kitten politely tapped him to get his attention, and then began rubbing against his leg.

Scritchies were rewarded with purring.

Chapter Text

“This is humiliating.” Missy grumped. “Like I’m in one of those baby carriers.”

Vicky laughed. “Would you prefer Aegis? Oh, I could do a princess carry!”

“You know, I could just use my power to gain height.”

“Sure, but that might distract you from more important things!”

Missy’s response was not PR friendly.

“OK, here we go!” Vicky slowly lifted up off the ground of the PRT testing area, letting the straps take Missy’s weight and lift her as well. “Look, ma, no hands!”

Missy replied with a power-assisted dope-slap.

Elsewhere

When Taylor got home, she was surprised to see her dad on the floor setting up an electronics… thing in the living room.

“Hi?” Taylor asked in greeting.

“Hi,” replied her father. “Good timing I’m almost done.”

Taylor came closer for a better view. “What is it?”

“Motion triggered cameras. For all the cat likes to hide when we are around, there has been cat hair in some unlikely places.”

Chapter Text

“I see you are embracing your new identity,” Dr. Weaver said by way of greeting.

Lisa grinned. She was wearing a new, tailored skirt suit in her brand color, complete with domino mask and an elaborate hat. “It is not my fault the clock boy has insufficient creativity.”

“Hmm.”

“Anyway,” Lisa continued, “I have with great effort identified two prospective infiltrators in the first tranche of analyst courses. I have prepared dossiers.”

The older woman took the offered files. “This is one of Accord’s consultants,” she said casually, setting aside the first. “But this second one will warrant further investigation.”

“Is that what he’s calling them now?” Lisa snarked.

“Yes,” Dr. Weaver said evenly, as she continued to page through the second dossier. “I gave him a guide from Aleph, it’s a surprisingly useful tool for for avoiding common thinker pitfalls. He embraced its teachings and, among other things, recruited a guy who was a partner at Bain. Guy wanted a job that let him give back to the community.”

Lisa laughed. “You’re fucking with me.”

“Others have been recruited as well, including a young woman whose job is to recast potential plans as story ideas or versus debates, and post them to PHO.”

“You are fucking with me?”

“He has also recruited a literal child. They were paid in sweets, but that quickly proved unhealthy, so their compensation was adjusted. I believe stickers are now a major component.”

“Please tell me you’re fucking with me.”

“I am fucking with you. There is more than one child.”

If you compliment her she might give you a copy of that Aleph tool.

Chapter Text

Dr. Weaver skimmed the offered document. “This appears to be a set of notices from persons whose security clearances require notice upon taking on parahuman-related lobbying or other engagements.”

“Yes,” Rebecca replied. “It is. Including most of the team that handled initial negotiations with Aleph. Why.”

“Did you ask them?”

“The former Attorney General of the United States assured me that his client has never been convicted of any crime, and that he was not disclosing their name at this time. The others referred me to him.”

“Oh, then this is probably just Valkyrie. I believe she also engaged a PR firm? The one headed by your former press secretary?”

“Why? How?” It was bad enough when the Elite did this sort of thing, let alone The Fairy Queen.

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “As to the first, I imagine so as to avoid having to deal with all of this.” She gestured at the papers on the table between them. “As to the latter, I believe she gave Kurt a large quantity of bullion.”

Chapter Text

“What!” Taylor sputtered. “Yes I work out, but that’s doesn’t mean I’m going to just randomly ‘spar’ with you!?”

“But you went to Winslow,” the upperclassman whined, “you fight brutes in gym class!”

Taylor face-palmed. “Look, just no. If you want to learn actual self-defense, here’s the card for a good gym.”

Later

“Wow, Aunt Sarah, I didn’t realize uniforms were so expensive!”

“I am glad you have started to focus more on these things. There is a lot of support work that goes into being a hero.”

“Huh. Neat! Can I keep this?”

“Sure? It’s a standard thing the PRT gives to affiliates to help them source PPE?”

Later

“Hey, Ames!” Victoria greeted her sister when she got back from the hospital.

“Yo,” replied Amy.

“So, I’m brainstorming and wanted your take—how can we raise a lot of money quickly?”

Chapter Text

Men came, and some women, to learn about dogs. They dressed like cops, but they didn’t act like cops. They were careful with the dogs, and didn’t get stupid or loud with Rachel. They thanked her a lot, and didn’t smile with teeth. Wafa said some had been found by her and the dogs, which made sense.

Wafa was nice. She helped Rachel use a computer to order things for the dogs, and for the house. She was also helping Rachel with her numbers and letters, and was helping teach Rachel to cook. It was nice having hot food on the regular. Real food too, not just microwave stuff. Wafa’s son came by sometimes to visit for food. He was good with the dogs, and with the men who came to learn.

Cassie was nice. There was some thing Dr. Weaver worked out, something about school credit. It meant Cassie could come by more often, multiple times per week. She was good with the dogs, and good with Rachel too. Rachel liked her company.

Dr. Weaver still visited, although less than she used to. She apologized a lot for it. Rachel wasn’t stupid. Dr. Weaver was PRT, and lots of strange things had been happening with heroes and villains and the PRT. Not Rachel’s problem. She wondered sometimes why Dr. Weaver let herself get pulled into that stuff. People were weird sometimes, even smart people.

Rachel still kept her bag packed and checked it every night. She had made one for Wafa too. When she showed Wafa, Wafa got a sad look and then gave Rachel a hug.

Chapter Text

“Wow,” Aisha said upon seeing Alex enter the elevator. It was school o’ clock, and she couldn’t recall ever seeing Alex up and dressed at such an hour. “Up early or late?”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Early. The lab coats are getting adorable woodland creatures for my sister to torment. I’m coming along for moral support.”

Elsewhere

“I meant to ask, what is happening with, ah, Vasil’s children?”

“Hmm?” Director Tagg replied. “At the moment, no doubt still receiving care. Most will have mothers or other living family, we’ll be reaching out as per SOP.”

“Huh.” Dr. Weaver replied. “That is surprisingly straightforward.”

Tagg set down his file. “Do I want to know what happened in your timeline?”

Elsewhere

When Jessica rotated to Brockton Bay, she knew she had a challenge ahead of her. ENE had gone far too long with far too little mental health support, and even a cursory review of the files had been harrowing. But this was far beyond what she had anticipated.

“I have always been the Custodian,” appeared in the sand table. “What else would I be?”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Bro! Ready to go?”

Brian looked up in confusion. “Already? Isn’t it a bit early?”

“Nah,” Aisha replied confidently. “We got to go early to meet up with the rest, and Vicky said parking’s a mess so let’s goooooo!”

Well at least she’s eager to learn.

“So what is today’s camouflage?” Brian asked as he got up.

“I’m not going to be able to pass as a college student, but I can pass as a smarty-pants high schooler, so that’s me today!”

“Hmm,” replied Brian. He’d take what he could get. “Let me get a pic for dad?”

“Good idea,” Aisha replied absently, fishing around in her bag. “Want to keep him happy so he’ll be more likely to help us, uh, not fight dirty.”

Brian rolled his eyes, and grabbed his coat.

“No!” Aisha said, as he pulled it on. “Wear the nicer coat, Laserdream will be there and we need to hack her brain right!”

Chapter Text

Mark contemplated the ceiling, and the benefit of just rolling over and going back to sleep.

“Mreow?”

Or he could feed the cat before he got insistent.

Mark made his way downstairs. The cat food was, as usual, tucked in the cabinet, above the counter on which sat his meds, a piece of fruit, and a Glory Girl branded sticky note with a little heart drawn on it. He knew what Vicky was doing, knew that they had an automatic feeder that she kept turning off. He felt a little better every day, and he loved her for it.

Elsewhere

“Finally, we have a request from Weld that we stop stocking the Wards common room with energy drinks.”

Emily blinked. “We don’t, not since that kid in LA put himself in the hospital two years ago with heart palpitations and it hit the news.”

Phil made a note, “Right, new question, who has been giving Vista taurine and how do we make them stop.”

Elsewhere

“Thank you for waiting until I was ready to tell you,” Taylor said, nervously wringing her hands. “I figured you probably knew but the thing we had was nice, you know?”

Other!her nodded. “I understand.” She smiled sadly, “If I could have spared you all of this I would have, although part of me is happy you will be able to better protect yourself and Danny.”

Other!her eyed Taylor’s notebook with a knowing look. “So I expect you have been doing some thinking?”

Chapter Text

Aisha surveyed the situation carefully. They had arrived suitably early and met up with Vicky, her cousin and the interested girls, as well as some others who had tagged along to actually, you know, hear the lecture. Brian had taken her advice and worn his nice coat, and she had ensured he wouldn’t get distracted talking to her or Lisa.

Everything seemed to be going to plan, but she wasn’t taking chances!

Meanwhile

Brian forced a smile. The talk had been fine, and Aisha seemed unusually engaged. But the gaggle of college girls was a bit trying. He shouldn’t have been surprised that “Vicky’s college friends” would be predominantly women (along with a couple very buff guys who registered to him as probably gay but he couldn’t articulate why). Still, the intensity of the attention he was getting was unusual for him. Sure, he was in shape, but the number, frequency and, again, sheer intensity of the looks was unusual. He was used to environments where you specifically didn’t do things to draw attention, and those sorts of looks qualified. It was in some ways flattering, but also made him feel a little like a piece of meat?

Chapter Text

“Huh,” Vicky said, “I didn’t expect her to be the one he would want to talk to. She didn’t text earlier and I wasn’t even sure she was going to come.”

Vicky stood with Aisha and Lisa, off to the side, in the atrium outside where the lecture had been held. The plan had been a success, sort of? Brian had showed up, politely talked with the girls. But with one exception, he didn’t talk to any one of them very long.

Lisa looked at Vicky incredulously. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Vicky stared at Lisa blankly.

“You can see it in her gait, the way she looks at things.”

Vicky stared at Lisa blankly.

Lisa sighed. “I don’t even—fine, look at her clothes.”

Vicky dutifully examined the girl’s clothes while the girl laughed at something Brian said. Meanwhile, Aisha started nodding thoughtfully.

“They’re a little worn? A little out of fashion? Well, compared to the others?” Vicky finally offered.

Lisa sighed again. “Look, it’s a community college, no one here is rich but the other people you found are at least comfortable. Or not uncomfortable. It’s not my business and I’m not going to pry, but she’s lived closer to the edge than the others and it means Brian can more easily relate to her.”

Chapter Text

"I'm sorry, why does Accord have Blasto on house arrest?" Kamil asked. "And why is Blasto cooperating?"

Dr. Weaver shrugged. "With the assistance of his consultants, Accord confirmed significant changes to his neurochemistry and psychology commencing around the time of his trigger. The extent of the changes greatly upset him. He initially retained Blasto as one of several experts to assist in establishing a baseline for use in developing a treatment plan. Then Accord discovered Blasto's efforts to clone endbringer tissue, we got involved, and, well, Blasto was given an offer he couldn't refuse."

Well, everyone was awake now.

"Endbringer tissue?" Director Tagg asked, sitting up sharply, his voice deceptively calm.

Dr. Weaver waggled her hand. "Nothing viable yet, even he doesn't really know why he was doing it. Seemed alarmed when Accord had him shown the Jack Slash research about the mental influence parahuman powers can have on their hosts. Users. Partners. Whatever."

Tagg gestured for her to continue.

"If I had to guess, I'd put it down to a Fae acting out absent proper supervision, but we can't say with certainty where Blasto's Fae currently sits in the courts, and what its current permissions are. It might be following instructions from another Fae. Valkyrie and Eidolon have communed queries of their own, but it might be a few days before we get anything back from that."

Dr. Weaver jotted down a note of her own. "Now that I think about it, it might be worthwhile to unfreeze Jack Slash and see if we can't coopt his power somehow."

She continued writing as Kamil and Tagg stared at her. "Perhaps also bring in Cranial? Might need Riley and Panacea as well, although I'd want to be more certain of Panacea's mental state before bringing her into this."

Chapter Text

They were older than they’d once been. Uniforms had a bit more give, and a bit more structure. There were a few grey hairs here and there. They’d survived, though the years may have been hard on them.

Except Dragon and Defiant, they looked great, freaky cyborgs.

“As long as that cunt is in post,” Tattletale said acerbically, “I will neither confirm nor deny.” She leaned forward. “But if we did have the perp, I’d say that it’s L33t’s power returned, and the damn thing has no idea what it did.”

“Officially, no one will authorize funding,” Defiant began.

“Yeah,” Victoria said, over the chuckles, “somehow I doubt that will be a problem.”

Defiant continued, “In part because the thinkers are all strangely convinced that she’s not dead, she’s just somewhere else.”

“Yeah,” Tattletale responded, “and Chicken Little is so goddamn smug and energized one of the Heartbroken tried to tranq him. Wherever she is, her fairy godmother clearly ain’t worried.”

“The problem,” said the masked woman who suddenly registered to everyone’s consciousness. “Is that she doesn’t have you,” she pointed at Tattletale, “or any of us, so she’ll start doing stupid shit. Just like you do stupid shit when she’s not around unless someone babysits you.”

Tattletale sputtered in mock outrage, forgot who she was talking to, checked the readout, then threw a paper clip at nothing.

“So is it a pocket dimension? Another alternate?” Victoria asked, before things could devolve further.

Tattletale looked at Defiant significantly.

He shifted awkwardly. Dragon cut in, “we don’t know. If so it’s one no one can perceive.”

“And that self-righteous bitch,” Tattletale cut in acerbically, “thinks it’s not a problem. If it’s undetectable, then it’s a threat vector, and not a small one. Fuckboy wanna-bee L33t doesn’t know what he did, but now that he’s shown it can be done some clever fuck is going to replicate it, whether from our side or from the other side, wherever that is, and she just wants us to bend over and wait for the pinecone enema.”

Defiant shuffled uncomfortable. “Official channels are aggressively and affirmatively barring action, beyond the basic investigation that has already been done.”

“Fucking cunt.” Tattletale mumbled.

Defiant ignored her, and continued. “However, a few people have quietly indicated availability, and I have—“ he began looking around the table in confusion, “—had a list of personnel and equipment that, if they were to become available through unofficial channels, would help greatly.”

“You’ll have it,” said the masked woman whose presence everyone had forgot, as she paged through Defiant’s list. She gestured toward Victoria. “Some of this, though, might be easier to get through blondie’s no longer teen idol group.”

Victoria rubbed her brow. “Fine, get with Ash later, we both know whatever it is would otherwise get passed by Kenzie to Aiden anyway.”

Chapter Text

“Finally, we shall learn his secrets!” Taylor said dramatically.

Her father laughed, as he finished fiddling with the viewer. “Ok, so it’s motion-activated. Let’s see what he gets up to when we aren’t around.”

They watched as Taylor III cautiously made his way down the stairs. Slowly, he made a circuit of the room, sniffing at some things, rubbing against others.

Then he approached the camera itself. They were treated to a close-up view of his nose, then his tongue, and then his side. Satisfied, the cat-shaped blob moved away from the lens that was now thoroughly obscured with a combination of fluff, nose print and saliva.

As her father laughed, Taylor adopted a contemplative expression, and said dramatically, “Well played, sir. Well played.”

Chapter Text

“That was fun!” Aisha said as they got in the car. “There is another talk in a couple weeks, we should go!”

“Sure?” Brian replied.

“I saw you made some friends?” Lisa asked. Brian was focusing on the road, so he didn’t see the sharp look that Aisha gave Lisa.

“I guess? I didn’t expect so much interest in working for the PRT. I’m glad we had those classes so I knew how to answer most of the questions. I’ll have to mention it at work, maybe we can step up recruitment or something.”

“Interest in the PRT?” Lisa asked.

“Yeah,” Brian said absently. “Some of the questions were stuff I didn’t know so I’ll have to text them later.”

“So how many girls did give you their numbers so you can send them info about the PRT?”

“Five or six?”

“So,” interrupted Aisha, “subject change! I’m hungry, what’s for dinner?”

Chapter Text

“We’ve been over this,” Kamil said. “The core problem is that Weaver was too successful. How do you justify extreme measures to the public when they never even perceived the threat?”

“We need a plan,” Tagg grumbled. “We’re reacting when we need to be acting.”

“You’re right,” Kamil said, pushing his chair back. “Is any of this critical right now, truly?”

“No,” Tagg begrudgingly admitted. “They will fuck it up, but they can handle it.” He regarded Kamil carefully. “Do I want to know?”

“No.”

“Mreow!” Added the kitten, from under the table, where he definitely had not been ten minutes ago.

Shortly Thereafter

In his office, with all security measures enabled, Kamil carefully reviewed his hastily scribbled notes. They had ruled out Thinktank as hopelessly compromised, and while their prompt engineering had improved he didn’t trust PtV for this. But he’d realized that while the problem involved parahumans, it was actually fundamentally social and political. And they didn’t need parahumans for that, humans had been doing that on their own since time immemorial.

First, he sent a high-priority, high-security message to Glenn Chambers informing him he would soon be required on short notice. Then, he picked up his encrypted phone and dialed a number from memory. He didn’t have a trusted team of non-parahuman analysts. But he knew someone who did.

Chapter Text

“You want to pay me to… nap?” Aisha said skeptically.

“Yes. A parahuman power monitoring you as a possible… partner? Agent? Finds you interesting? It’s not entirely clear.” Dr. Weaver shrugged. “Thinkers.”

“Uh-huh?”

“Right, so anyway, for bullshit power reasons, some people want to talk to your power, or rather the power you might get someday if something bad happens. It has been determined that the best way to do that is to talk to you. There might be visual aids too? Don’t worry you can still sleep with your eyes closed.”

“Back up. Some… thing is watching me? Including when I sleep!? That’s very not cool. Got enough of that with Mom’s ex Marv the Perv.”

Aisha shuddered. “Wait, if it’s watching me sleep, when else is it watching me! Oh my god, it’s watching me now, isn’t it! It watches me shower! And poo! What the fuck! Before we talk about the nap thing, let’s first talk about the peeping pervert thing and how to make it stop!”

Chapter Text

Lisa followed Dr. Weaver into the Laborns’ living room to find Aisha, ashen-faced, curled up on the sofa under a blanket.

“So what’s going on?” Lisa asked.

“Yeah,” Aisha replied with a weak laugh, “tell her about the alien pervert.”

Lisa listened with growing horror to Dr. Weaver’s tortured explanation. Finally, she’d had enough. “Stop stop stop. Are you trying to ‘but actually’ an alien voyeur parasite panopticon?”

Host is best host, except for {REDACTED}’s host which is the best best host and {REDACTED} is great and wise and powerful and so is best host and I recognize their splendor. But host is next best host after best host!

Dr. Weaver looked perplexed. “I really don’t see the problem? It’s normal? My power, when I had it, was like a comforting friend, always in the back of my mind?”

“YOU HAVE POWERS!!!” Aisha exclaimed.

“Had,” Dr. Weaver said distractedly, “It’s complicated.”

Lisa cut in, focusing on the more important part. “Also, it was kind of funny before but Power does seem legit scared of you? Very significantly he’s not saying you are wrong, but he very definitely is scared of you? And who is Best Host? And the redacted person he keeps being terrified of? Who, I will note is distinct from but in the same weight class Fairy Queen, who he is also scared of?”

Chapter Text

“Stop helping, please,” wearily responded Lisa, from her place with Aisha under the nice big heavy blanket. She laughed, without humor. “You’re bad at this comforting thing.”

Dr. Weaver sighed. “I’m sorry, it’s just, that was something that other!Charlotte and other!you and other!Aisha was always better at.”

“OTHER WHAT!” Aisha responded.

“… and now she’s babbling.”

“After Leviathan destroyed the Bay—“

“wat”

“—and we rescued Charlotte from the slavers—“

“Just stop.”

“—she and Aisha and Sierra and Forrest were just better with all the orphans—“

“WAT”

“—and then after Alec died—“

“I’m in hell. This is hell.”

“—Aisha killed his father and I’m actually unclear on all the details but she adopted all his brothers and sisters—“

“WHAT THE FUCK”

Best host is wise and magnanimous!

Chapter Text

Lisa awkwardly rubbed Dr. Weaver’s back as the older woman continued mumbling to herself. Fortunately, she hadn’t noticed when Lisa got herself and Aisha earplugs.

Aisha sat at the nearby computer with a carton of ice cream, playing some game with enough grinding to be mind-numbing but not enough to frustrating. She would keep.

Elsewhere

Contessa silenced the timer. She carefully removed a slip of paper, ran the prompt, and nodded. Even if she didn’t understand why, the path was simple enough.

Back with the girls

Lisa was snapped out of her reverie by the appearance in front of her of a small portal. Before she could properly start to panic, a pair of hands came through and deposited a black and white speckled kitten. The hands then withdrew and the portal closed.

The kitten immediately proceeded to commandeer Dr. Weaver’s lap.

A second portal opened and… was that the new counselor who kept trying to make an appointment with her?

The same hands as before finished gently pushing the woman through the portal before it, too closed.

Chapter Text

“Dr. Weaver’s kind of messed up, isn’t she.” Aisha said sagely, as she diligently extracted the last of the ice cream.

“Yes.” Lisa replied. She was sitting on the couch, head lolled back, staring at the ceiling.

“So what was all that stuff she was talking about?”

“Alternate future super-power bullshit. Also, it’s all classified.”

“Yeah, yeah, Aisha got eyes, Aisha got ears, Aisha knows when to keep her mouth shut.”

Elsewhere

“Oh, Lisa usually helped me with that,” Dr. Weaver said guilelessly. “It’s not really my strong suit.”

Jessica sighed.

Elsewhere

Weld surveyed the wards kitchen, as Aegis shuffled awkwardly next to him. They had not expected to come back from a training session to find… this.

There was pasta on the ceiling. There was pasta on the floor. There was even pasta hanging frozen in mid-air. It looked like someone had gone to blend a bowl of pasta and forgotten the lid. With red sauce.

Vista, Impulse and Clockblocker very carefully did not make eye contact. All three were out of breath, smiling like loons, and looked like something out of a horror movie.

“Can we come out now?” A voice asked tentatively.

Weld bent down, lifted the tablecloth, and discovered Insight and Kid Win huddled underneath.

Chapter Text

“I’m curious, were you seeing anyone back home?” Dr. Yamada asked.

“You, occasionally.” Dr. Weaver replied.

“Do you know if there were any diagnoses?”

“Post-Event Trauma, Parahuman.”

Jessica stared at the other woman. “I am… not familiar with that one?”

“I think it was added as a sort of catch-all when Dragon and you, well, other you, redid the DSM?”

Jessica blinked. “That must have been a major undertaking.”

“Not really? I think it was like, you, Dragon and two other people?”

Jessica stared. DSM revisions were… it finally hit her, for the first time, just how complete the devastation had been. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Hearing little details like that makes what happened real in a way that the raw numbers don’t.”

Dr. Weaver nodded empathetically. “It’s like that with everyone.” She smiled, distantly. “One of the kids we took in, all he ever wanted for his birthday was a can of this flavored soda, like his nan used to give him. Tasted terrible, but…” She shook her head. “Lisa eventually cut a deal with Valkyrie to help us get some from off-world, it was impossible to find on Bet or Gimel.” She laughed, weakly. “I wonder if somewhere there was a maintenance guy wondering why his drinks machine was suddenly empty, and what Valkyrie left in trade.”

Chapter Text

“Have you determined what happened in the Wards kitchen?” Emily asked. Parahumans could be difficult to understand but this, this was less a parahuman sort of problem and more a bored junior enlisted sort of problem. “Do they need to have their blender privileges taken away?”

“Wasn’t the blender,” Renick replied. “Food fight.”

“Vista. In a food fight.”

“With Impulse and Clockblocker.”

Emily smiled without mirth. “Please instruct each of them to write a comprehensive report as what they have learned from this unscheduled power testing. Then put them through power testing and refresh their power safety training. Finally, get with Youth Guard and ask them for suggestions as to how we might instill a better appreciation for our overworked and under appreciated colleagues in Facilities.”

Chapter Text

“Kamil, this has better be good,” Glenn Chambers said without preamble as he swept into Kamil’s office. “I had to cancel with Rime for this and you know what the blowback from that will be.“

Kamil didn’t even look up from his desk, instead gesturing to the cognitohazard equipment set up to the side.

Glenn rolled his eyes. “Really, what could be so bad as to need that yet so mundane as to need me.”

“Humor me.”

Shortly Thereafter

“Ok,” Glenn complained. “I did the damn thing, now what’s so important.”

Kamil stood, retrieved a small object from a drawer, and tucked small devices into each of Glenn’s pocket.

“We will be meeting under truce. For your protection, these devices will ensure that you appear as a featureless mannequin in formal attire.”

Kamil ignored Glenn’s squawk of protest.

“Door.”

Glenn followed Kamil through the portal, but stopped dead when he saw who awaited them—Accord, and his senior unpowered colleagues.

Chapter Text

"Where did he find someone so good at managing meetings?" Glenn asked Kamil, during a break.

"She's a trained kindergarten teacher," Kamil replied, flipping through his notes.

Glenn started to laugh, then realized he was the only one laughing. "You're serious. How did that happen?"

"She was hired as an intermediary. Accord read something that suggested thinkers run their plans past a child first. It was probably meant as a joke, but he took it seriously. Her primary job is to take actual problems and proposals, turn them into age-appropriate hypotheticals, and then present them to actual children for feedback. Then it turned out she was also really good at managing meetings."

"I don't know how to respond to that. We've tried children's focus groups but the results are mixed at best."

"It's not a focus group. She does the creative thinking exercises in her role as a teaching assistant for actual kindergarten classes. That's why you won't see her before noon three days a week."

Chapter Text

“Amy?”

Amy glanced up from her book. Shit. “Hi, Vicky. Uh, where’s Dean?”

Across the table, Taylor slid down in her seat and stared more intently at her book. Amy, meanwhile, carefully made sure that her book was set down such that Vicky couldn’t see the title or cover art.

“Oh, we were going to go out but there was a thing and I’m more interested in hearing about you and Taylor. And how you were going to go socialize with friends. But here you two are, sitting in a coffee shop, reading books. Silently.”

Amy glowered.

Later

“It’s good to see you!” Taylor’s counterpart said in greeting. She’s shown up unexpectedly for dinner, along with a bottle of wine and a nervous expression.

“We’re always happy to have you,” said Taylor’s father. “What’s the occasion.”

The older woman gave a brittle laugh. “Doctor’s orders. Apparently I’ve been working too hard.”

“Also,” she said, withdrawing a formal-looking envelope from her bag, “The Fairy Queen has requested that I convey her formal apologies for her recent uninvited appearance. We should discuss how to respond.”

Taylor sighed. That sounded complicated.

Chapter Text

The middle-aged woman leaned forward, and consulted her pad. Now that he knew, Glenn could see her in a classroom setting. There was a quiet confidence about her, that let her seem to effortlessly dominate the room, despite the numerous egos involved.

She cleared her throat. “With the assistance of Dragon, I have compiled the results of this morning’s sessions. I wish to highlight certain key questions which this morning’s sessions raise.”

She continued, “Firstly, who, precisely, has jurisdiction over Cauldron? Its operations are based on another Earth, and its founders are not recognized as citizens of any state on Bet or any alternate with which we have diplomatic contact. Moreover, if any state were to claim them as citizens, that state would have the immediate problem of addressing Cauldron’s various acts of war.”

“Second, who has best claim to the dead God? The remains are located on another world, and her people are from beyond the stars.”

“Third, laws, treaties and conventions created to address the Aleph incident clearly prohibit any state on Bet from claiming territory on any inhabited alternate. Where does this leave the Fae? And where does this leave Cauldron’s off-world operations?”

Chapter Text

“Hello?” Cassie greeted the PRT personnel working outside with the dogs. “Do you know where Rachel is?”

“Around back,” the closest one said. “Call out when you go around, she’s training, will probably be a while.”

Cassie regarded the trooper thoughtfully. He was older, with grey in his hair. Not the sort of person you thought of when you saw the troopers armored up with their face-concealing helmets.

“What made you decide to do this training?” Cassie asked.

The man shrugged. “I was in the service way back, before parahumans. Wanted to work with the K9 guys but never got the chance. Then after parahumans, well, that sort of thing sort of went away. What about you?”

Cassie smiled. “I love animals. I want to be a vet. Dr. Weaver brought me out here one time to see the dogs, and I asked if I could help out more.”

After a few more pleasantries, Cassie made her way around the house, stopping a few more times to greet troopers and the good boys and girls they were working with.

Rounding the corner, she found Wafa watching one of the troopers working with Rachel on what Cassie recognized as self-defense drills.

Careful to not startle or interrupt, Cassie conferred with Wafa before going in to help with dinner prep.

Chapter Text

“But, mom,” Vicky said, “if we don’t do anything how are we going to afford better armor!”

Carol sighed. “I’m glad you are taking more of an interest in this side of the business. However, sadly it is a business. Our brand is very valuable and taking the wrong gig would damage that. We might make some money in the short term but in the long-term we would lose more than we gain.”

“But what’s wrong with these?”

“Let’s see,” Carol said, taking the paper. “This first one has a reputation for bad labor practices, I’m sure we don’t want to be associated with that.”

Vicky shook her head firmly.

“The second is for an event whose organizer is a public advocate for ‘drafting’ all parahumans into ‘national service’.”

“That’s awful!”

“Hmmm,” Carol turned and did a quick search on her computer. “Yeah, this third one is Nazi sympathizers.”

“What!”

“Aura,” Carol said automatically. “They do this periodically, have a front group approach us.”

“We’ll see about that!” Vicky stood up.

“Victoria…” Carol cautioned.

“I’m not going yo do anything bad, I’m just going to go remind someone that kneecaps are a privilege!”

Chapter Text

“Aisha?”

“‘Sup, bro?”

“Why is—what is that?” Brian gestured at the mess of little cards his sister had on the table.”

“Pre-programming my brain so that it can more easy solve problems so I can seem all smart and shit even when I’m tired.”

Those are just… flashcards. It was like his sister had a pathological need to re-interpret normal things using her own vocabulary.

“Anyway,” Brian said, “why is there hair all over the couch?”

“Oh that’s from the thing with Dr. Weaver.” Aisha paused, thoughtfully. “I’m not actually sure where the cat went, but kitty was good at getting her out of her case of sads.”

“Aisha, what are you talking about?” Brian asked.

“There was a thing? She was being weird, and freaked me out, then freaked Lisa out, then Dr. W got sad and started reminiscing or some shit? Then there was a kitty, and a tired lady, and Dr. Weaver eventually sort of snapped out of it? I ate ice cream.”

“Aisha, what are you talking about?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry, bro, it’s, like, super classified and shit.”

“Oh,” she added, “that reminds me, did you send the PRT stuff to those, uh, peeps from the talk?”

Chapter Text

“To sum up our discussion,” the lawyer said, “Valkyrie controls territory, specifically at least one entire alternate world. She, personally, can apply force as well or better than most nations’ conventional or strategic forces. She has bullion reserves.”

“Perhaps more importantly,” the consultant added, “if she declares herself sovereign, it’s not like anyone can tell her ‘no’ and make it stick. She’s so strong that even with Cauldron’s capabilities added on, it doesn’t change the balance of power.”

”And we’re pretty sure that if she decided to just eat Cauldron, no one could stop her.”

”That too.”

“I don’t disagree,” Glenn said in a pained tone, “and for that I hate you all. Although it still leaves the job of convincing her to declare war on Cauldron.”

Later

Kamil stared at Glenn in disbelief, while Tagg laughed. Finally, Kamil said, “You’re serious?”

“Yes,” Glenn confirmed, as Accord slowly paged through Dragon’s summary of the group’s conclusions.

“Well,” Tagg finally said, “it has the benefit of simplicity.”

“I believe she might have already had thoughts in this direction,” Dragon offered. “Not as regards to Cauldron, but rather to further her goal of advocating for the Fae. Consider who she has already hired as advisors.”

“Which means we don’t have to tell her directly,” Glenn added.

“I’ll call the Secretary, former Secretary,” Tagg said, “and tell him we need to meet. I had some dealings with him back when he was in cabinet.”

Chapter Text

“Why do you have a whole chart?” Taylor asked her counterpart.

“When I was younger, I found this sort of thing helpful when dealing formally with, ah, The Fairy Queen. I don’t need this sort of thing anymore, but I thought you might find it helpful.”

Taylor looked at her counterpart skeptically. “Is this really necessary?”

Her counterpart nodded. “For us, yes. Our shard, power, it’s high ranking as such things go. The good thing is, that means she sees you as a peer. That is good, as it means she is less likely to do something drastic out of hand. However, she sees you as a peer, so it is more important to engage with her using her preferred framework.”

Taylor remained skeptical.

Elsewhere

“Dinah?”

“Yes, mom?”

“Honey, why are you in a tree?”

“Because that big branch there goes close to the window, and I want to practice!”

“Practice what?”

“They put on the new window locks and I want to give them a try!”

Shortly thereafter

“Well,” Triumph said with a brittle smile, “At least she’s not doing drugs?”

His aunt looked unconvinced, an expression that turned to alarm upon hearing a sudden loud thump from outside.

“I’m OK!” Dinah’s voice called out. Giggling followed.

Chapter Text

“Hey! Taylor!” Amy winced as her sister flagged down Taylor from across the cafeteria.

Taylor cautiously made her way over. “Hi?”

“Hi Taylor! Amy said you are good at thinking outside the box so I was hoping you might have some good ideas!”

Amy rolled her eyes, and snarked, “Yes, but I expected you to be more low key about it.”

Victoria barreled on, “So, I want to get New Wave better armor, and that takes money. But we can’t do appearances and stuff like Parian because stealth Nazis.”

On the other side of Amy, Dean choked on his drink.

“I mean, off the top of my head? Kids’ birthday parties? That’s different than a public appearance, I mean, even kids of Nazis might want a real life superhero to show up and if the kids are young enough, say under fives, you can’t really hold it against the kids that their parents are awful…”

Victoria began scribbling notes furiously, as Amy rolled her eyes.

Later

“… depending on how much you can lift while flying, you might have opportunities in trades, although, hmmm, there’s insurance again, and NEPEA…”

Later

“… but, no, hmm I guess you could still do bounty hunting if you went incognito? Also, just farming Nazis, well, their contraband, cops do it all the time. Anyway, so that’s what I got off the top of my head, I’m gonna go grab a drink and then maybe we talk more after?”

“Sure,” Victoria said, still scribbling notes. “This is all great, thanks!”

“How did we go from ‘TV appearance’ to ‘Nazi birthdays’ to ‘secret bounty hunter’ so quickly?” Dennis asked in awe.

“Where did you find this girl, Amy?” Chris added.

“No comment,” Amy replied automatically.

“Hey!” Vicky said, “She had good ideas!”

Amy wished she had been able to get a picture of the look that passed over Dean’s face.

Chapter Text

After the pleasantries, the former cabinet secretary leaned forward. “So somehow I doubt you just wanted to show off your fancy portal capabilities.”

James nodded. “What do you know about Cauldron?”

Later

“You know I’m going to have to give a few people a heads-up about this.”

James nodded. “I know, thats part of why we reached out through you. We sure as shit don’t want any of the key players feeling ambushed by this, and for some people it’s better they hear from you. Technically, I shouldn’t even be here, but…”

“It’s better to have us in the room than not.”

“Will you and the others be able to stay on?” James asked seriously. It was nice being able to spread the bullshit around.

The older man shrugged. “If we resign, then she’ll just go somewhere else for advisors. Fuck.” He shook his head. “Hopefully she’ll protect us if they try to throw us in jail.”

“We’re going to be announcing that God exists, was murdered, and that people took communion of her undead flesh.” James replied dryly. “Before trying to convince them that we need to work with space aliens to save reality. If we fuck this up, jail will be the least of our problems.”

Chapter Text

“Hey,” said Cherie, quietly.

“Hey, sis,” replied Alec. He sat down across from her at the table in the cafeteria. Sure, she’d been on good behavior, but he wasn’t about to risk meeting her ‘in private’. Even if he knew they’d be watched anyway, dumb as she was she might not realize, and if there was a whole thing it would just be too much bother.

Plus, he really wanted the suits to think Heartbreaker’s children could be saved. It would be bad if they decided otherwise. Very bad.

“I,” she said hesitantly, “it was almost really bad for me, wasn’t it?”

“Oh?” Alec replied. I mean sure, she wasn’t wrong, and it was so like her to only now realize it. But he was curious to see just which of the many ways she was fucked she had actually gone and noticed.

“Yeah,” she continued. “They’ve been having me meet with people to talk about the family, but also about other people we met. All those people who were chasing us are now free to do other things. It’s a lot.”

“Yes,” Alec said slowly. “Once the big names got exploded, all the busy little bees in stormtrooper uniforms have nothing better to do than go after the little fish who are left. Not sure if any of the family did try to run, don’t really give a shit. But if anyone did, they won’t get far.”

Chapter Text

Missy was excited to resume what she thought of the Lessons in Badassery. Dr. Weaver carefully made everything sound nice and boring, but she could read between the lines!

“First,” Dr. Weaver said, “after speaking at length with our friends in Youth Guard, it has been conceded that the Bay being what it is, it is reasonable to be concerned that a young woman might have to defend herself or others in a scenario where the only tools available are those close at hand. Accordingly, we will in the coming weeks be bringing in a few guest instructors to discuss what we will be broadly calling ‘self-defense in a domestic setting’.”

Fuck, yeah! Broken bottles, kitchen knives, and school supplies! Still, Missy made sure to maintain an appropriately serious expression as Dr. Weaver looked around the room, meeting each person’s eyes in turn.

“I don’t want to hear,” she continued, “any unnecessarily provocative discussions. This is a serious topic, and if someone starts describing it as if it’s something from an action movie people might get the wrong idea.”

Missy nodded. This was just the sort of thing her parents would take the wrong way!

Chapter Text

“Chief Director,” James said, “you need to make time for this. We have—“

She cut in, “I put you, Armstrong, and now Piggot into that group so you could solve problems, not cause them. If you haven’t noticed, things are very volatile at the moment and I am fully occupied dealing on the political side.”

James stared at the speaker phone incredulously. “She actually hung up on us.” Gathered were himself, Armstrong, Piggot, Dr. Weaver, Doctor Mother, and Kurt. Accord and certain of his staff, Dragon, and certain of Valkyrie’s advisors were participating remotely.

“She won’t engage with us either,” said the Chief Director’s former press officer. “And I know she’s cut out Glenn as well.”

“Contessa?” Accord’s voice asked.

“She’s said she didn’t need to be here, and was content with the proposal.” Doctor Mother still looked profoundly uncomfortable in a domino mask. “I think she’s simply happy to take direction from people able to help her better manage her power.”

“And fundamentally it doesn’t matter,” said the former Secretary of State. “Our client had not previously focused on Cauldron, but now that she has…”

“She is determined to do well by the legacy of both her peoples, be they human, otherwise or something in between,” said the former head of the British civil service. “Decisions are being taken, and if the Chief Director chooses to excuse herself from proceedings that regrettable development while most unfortunate will not delay our principal’s planned course of action.”

Chapter Text

PHO Private Messages

XxVoid_CowboyxX: GSG said u wer woried about me. Ok now so don’t need be worried.

CleverKit: Glad to hear it!

XxVoid_CowboyxX: So hey I don’t know if you saw but my latest post before it came down but all the villain takedowns were totally Cauldron and I have proof, if you can handle it?

Lisa started to type an impolite refusal. Then paused, and started to type a polite refusal. Then paused again. Knowing what the nutters were saying about Cauldron was, in fact, now potentially relevant to Lisa’s life. Sighing, she took two aspirin and responded.

CleverKit: You know what, yes! I would love to see everything you have on Cauldron.

Later

“Yo, Lisa?” Aisha asked, slowly opening the door to Lisa’s apartment. “You decent? We going gyming or what?” Alec peeked his head in behind her.

A growl of frustration was the response.

Alec laughed. “She’s fine, but now I’m curious!”

“Someone is wrong on the internet!” Lisa acerbically elaborated. “But not as wrong as they should be!”

Chapter Text

Amy and Vicky were meeting with Dr. Weaver, and the topic made Amy distinctly nervous.

“Powers have limits.” Dr. Weaver continued. “The Manton Limit,” she nodded to Amy, “the blood-brain barrier.”

Amy tried to suppress a shudder.

Dr. Weaver pretended not to notice. “They can be like training wheels. They avert accidents, but with time and training you can move past them.”

Dr. Weaver’s turned deadly serious, and she looked at first Amy, then Victoria. “And you better be damn careful when you do. Because the consequences can be much worse than a skinned knee.”

Fortunately her sister, bless her hyper-focused heart, was on hand to play distraction.

“So…” Victoria began, “what do you think that might mean for my power?”

Later

“Oh, snap,” Victoria said as they got home. “I forgot to ask her about ideas on how to make money!”

Chapter Text

“Right,” said James. He turned to Dr. Weaver, who was paging through the briefing materials with a thoughtful expression. The meeting had broken up, semi-pointless as it had been, leaving just himself, Emily, and Dr. Weaver. At this point, The Fairy Queen was going to do what she was going to do, and the ability of anyone else to change that was dubious at best.

“What is your take?” James asked the temporal refugee, who had been unusually quiet in the meeting.

She shrugged. “Better than we managed?”

Piggot snorted. “I refuse to believe you didn’t have a plan for this.”

“I did.” Dr. Weaver replied guilelessly. “It was to fob it off on you.”

“Mreow” added the cat under the table.

Chapter Text

“Taylor!” Aisha said from what she thought was Taylor’s blind spot.

“Yes, Aisha,” Taylor replied evenly, continuing to rack weights.

“One of these days I’ll get you! Anyway, can you spot me until Bro gets back?”

Shortly thereafter

“Hey, Aisha,” Aisha’s very fit brother said as he walked up.

“And twenty! Hey Bro!“

“And, Taylor, was it?”

“Afternoon,” Taylor replied politely, as she appreciated the view. Not with her eyes, of course, that would be rude.

“Sorry,” Aisha said, getting up, “lost track of time. Taylor, keep him out of trouble while I get changed, maybe ask him about the talk thing, I think you’d like it.”

Chapter Text

“Vista, Insight,” Weld said patiently to the two preteens who were doing… something to a spoon to make it twitch ominously. “What are you doing?”

“Metal fatigue!” Vista replied, still concentrating intently on the spoon.

Weld then noticed the brightly colored cans on the table. “What are you drinking?”

“It’sthisnewenergydrinkanditssogood!” Insight said excitedly.

Weld took a moment to parse that before responding. “How much have you had?”

Insight giggled. “MomsaidIcanonlyhavetwosodasperday! Butthesearesmall! Thatmeansmore!”

Elsewhere

Amy: U around?
Alec: Signs point to yes
Amy: wanna game? Done w hw early
Alec: sure come by

Later

“Amy, you get on pretty good with your sister right?” Alec asked while swapping discs.

“Sure?”

“Got any tips? We’re trying to be nice and shit, but we don’t really know how since growing up dad and the moms didn’t make it easy.”

…

“The fuck are you laughing for, I’m trying to have a moment!”

“Sorry, it’s just,” Amy said as she tried to stop laughing. “Oh my god, the idea that my family would be a good role model, I don’t even. But Vicky, yeah, she’s great. So, let’s see…”

…

“Ok, got it, you love your sister and think she is amazing and want to have her babies, but how does that work and why are you blushing oh fuck I said something didn’t I…”

Chapter Text

“You sure you’re OK?” Alec said. “I’m sorry I made a joke about teen preggers and incest babies, that was insensitive and inappropriate—wait aren’t you adopted? How does that work? Would your parents be happy because they liked the in-laws and would have you for every holiday? Would they split you up so each could give one of you a shovel talk? Would your dad take it in turns? Would your mom have to get in fights with herself over the wedding planning and baby names? No, bad Alec, I’m—“

Amy, still clearly mortified, couldn’t help but snort out a burst of laughter.

“Oh thank god.” Alec said, clearly relieved. “I was worried I’d have to get Aisha or Lisa in here to fix this and they would never let me forget it. Plus they’d probably just help you in whatever revenge plan you came up with.”

“Huh,” Amy said, confused. “Usually it’s Vicky people are scared of.”

Alec looked at her seriously. “You are the most white mage white mage in, like, the entire world. Your costume is white mage. Your power is white mage. I have played enough games to know exactly what sort of unlocks white mages get as they level, and most importantly of all that you never, never, never fuck with the white mage.”

He leaned back, and continued conversationally. “See, Vicky is strong and shit but she can only kill me once. You, you can make it so that I don’t die for a very, very, very long time. And since you are the white mage, no one will come to rescue me, because lo, the wrath of the white mage is a terrible thing, and only a fool dares risk attracting it upon their own head. And besides, if they look the other way you’ll heal their gout, or crabs, or whatever.”

Amy smiled evilly. “I know what you can do to make it up to me.”

Alex put on his attentive face.

Amy gestured to Alec’s game collection. “I wish to learn more about this white mage you speak of…”

Elsewhere

“Heart palpitations.” Emily said, unamused. She didn’t enjoy dealing with the little shits but she didn’t want one to die on her.

“Thank God Weld recognized the warning signs and had her go to medical.” Phil replied.

“Were we able to at least get rid of that shit?”

Phil sighed. “We aren’t providing it, they are. It is not illegal for them to have, and after that incident last year in Phoenix…”

Emily bit back a curse. Some damn fool had tried to use withholding food as a punishment without remembering that one of the Wards lived on base and had dietary restrictions that meant they had to eat in the Wards area.

Chapter Text

Rebecca stared, gobsmacked, at the message that had just been handed to her by a former colleague. The calligraphy was beautiful. The paper, no, vellum was beautiful. The decorative fringe was beautiful. She could, no doubt, sell this as is to a collector for a substantial sum, particularly given the identity of the person on whose behalf it was produced.

It was just the contents that were insane.

“The official announcement, of course,” her former colleague said, “need not be exactly the same. We are open to your thoughts on exact wording, timing, and so forth. However the basic message is as presented.”

Rebecca re-read the early draft, informal, non-binding and unofficial statement from The Fairy Queen:

A rogue Fae, using as their instrument the human organization that called itself Cauldron, conspired to bring about the deaths of the Fae God-King-Father and God-Queen-Mother. Her majesty Valkyrie I, on behalf of herself and both her peoples, expresses gratitude to be free of the tyranny of the gods. However, Cauldron’s grave crimes cannot be ignored, especially the desecration of their God-Queen-Mother’s corpse using forbidden necromantic rituals.

Upon threat of war, Cauldron and the rogue Fae behind it have surrendered unconditionally to Valkyrie I. In accordance with the traditions of their people, Valkyrie I has subsumed into her own demesne Cauldron in its entirely, including its worlds and the right henceforth to call upon the knowledge and skills of its constituents.

Valkyrie I recognizes that many human people have also suffered harms at the hands of Cauldron, including most especially those non-consensually subjected to necromantic and medical experiments. In recognition of this suffering, in honor of her human heritage, and in the hopes of furthering the cause of peace between humans and the Fae, Valkyrie I has directed trusted advisors liaise with appropriate human representatives in identifying and assisting these victims.

The disposition of certain persons whose services were co-opted by Cauldron will be similarly be discussed with appropriate representatives. Valkyrie I recognizes that their actions, however horrifying, were performed under malign influence, that their victims include humans as well as Fae, and that they were in their own way victims as well as perpetrators.

Chapter Text

Sabah was exhausted, but excited. The event had gone well! Really well! It was a lot of work, but she was making it!

“Parian?” An unexpected voice said from behind her.

Sabah startled and instinctively grabbing control of her “props” and their hidden defensive accoutrements. Turning warily, she was surprised to see… Glory Girl? Hovering just behind her, a few inches off the ground?

“Woh woh sorry didn’t mean to scare you!” The blonde said, backing up.

“It’s OK,” Sabah said, trying to calm her breathing. “It’s OK,” Sabah repeated with more confidence. “How can I help?”

“So I was thinking,” the blonde said confidently, “and you are, like, the rogue success story in town. And, well, I’m trying to figure out to make money? As a rogue, well, not as a rogue but still a hero but still…”

Right. Despite the girl’s minor celebrity, she was still a teenager. A good contact to cultivate, but a teen nonetheless. Best start with the basics.

“Might I ask why you need the money? And how much? And how quickly? You don’t need to be precise, but a general idea would be helpful?”

Later

“… my god,” Sabah muttered. “I knew the statistics were bad, but I didn’t realize they were that bad!”

“Yeah,” said Glory Girl seriously, “it’s not as bad as it sounds, there is a bias there since by the time the PRT take official notice of a rogue or villain something has usually already gone wrong for them somewhere.”

Parian shuffled awkwardly. “I would really like to talk about this more, in a less public place.”

“I’ll give you my cape phone and PHO deets, you can message me and we’ll find a time.”

Chapter Text

“Ok, the tour group will be here in about ten minutes,” Aegis said with forced cheer. “Lilac, I know you haven’t done this before, but don’t worry, I checked and it’s a bunch of middle school kids so it should be fine

“Got it,” Lilac said with a confident smile.

“Uh,” Chariot asked, “aren’t you going to get into costume?”

“I am in costume,” Lilac replied with a wider grin, gesturing to her fashionable and color-coordinated jeans and sweater ensemble. “Just need my mask.”

A few minutes later

“How come they get armor and you don’t?” The small girl peered at Lilac curiously.

“They have armor because they go on patrol and it can be dangerous.” Lilac replied with a grin. “My power though is a thinker power, so I stay at base and do research.”

Lilac leaned in conspiratorially. “Also, my name is a color, so I get to wear comfortable clothes as long as it’s the color of my name. They have to wear the heavy and uncomfortable stuff all. The. Time.”

The girl’s eyes widened.

A few minutes later.

“OK, good job everyone.” Aegis said. “We’ve got about an hour until to the next batch. Feel free to take off some of the armor and cool off.”

As the boys partially dissembled their heavy, uncomfortable protective gear, Lisa smugly leaned back in her chair.

Chapter Text

“I was told in no uncertain terms that the PRT is a domestic law enforcement agency, and that State would be managing relations with the sovereign nation led by The Fairy Queen!”

“Rebecca, why—“ Keith tried to reply.

“Worse, Alexandria is being subpoenaed to testify about her participation in experimental power research! Subpoenaed! Me! Her! The Triumvirate! Like a lackey!”

“My life, my fortune, my sacred honor,” David said gravely.

“What?” Rebecca said, knocked off her rant by the non sequitur.

“The oath I was desperate to swear,” David explained. “I don’t see why you are upset. We all agreed. We didn’t do this for the power, or the fame. We did it to save the worlds and that’s done. I didn’t expect to survive, but now that I have, I am ready to face the consequences of my actions.”

“But the job’s not done!” Rebecca replied hotly. “Even she says so! And don’t tell me you trust those clowns to do what needs to be done!”

“Rebecca,” Keith said soothingly. “You are one of the strongest parahumans on the planet, and one of if not the best tactical commander. However, we have been made painfully aware of the dangers of over-relying on powers for strategic planning. Surely, you can see—“

“How much longer do you think they’ll go on?” Fortuna whispered to Kurt, who had given up all pretense of not doing other work on his laptop.

Kurt shrugged. “Until an emergency pulls one of them away, or it’s time for Keith to meet his family for dinner.“

Leaning back, Fortuna carefully slipped the rim of her hat over her eyes. Feeling a small weight land on her lap, she reached out a hand and began lightly stoking the suddenly present kitten. She was rewarded with purring.

Chapter Text

"Dickering about Gondor's domestic policy rather misses the point of the story, don't you think?" Taylor replied, acerbically. "Tolkien clearly wasn't looking to do a study of economics or governance, and such details would have bogged the story down. His focus clearly was more on linguistics, culture, and myth. It's rather like complaining that Star Wars lacks rigorous scientific grounding."

"But it's all interconnected!" Vicky replied, excitedly. "Economic factors influence and shape culture!"

“Do you have any idea what they’re talking about,” Carlos asked Chris quietly, “beyond nerd stuff?”

Chris looked aghast. “How have you not read—“

"If that's what you are looking for,” Taylor continued, ignoring the boys, “then maybe try some of his other works? They're basically on a sliding scale, with The Hobbit being the most accessible and least—"

Taylor abruptly ducked as a glob of vegetable matter soared through the space where her head had been to hit Vicky in the chin.

Victoria sputtered in outrage as she floated above the table to glare at the table of food-spattered underclassmen one table over.

"Vicky," Amy said wearily, "aura."

“Aura, nothing, they got goop on my new blouse! It was a gift!”

“Uh,” one of the underclassmen offered, “it’s actually spinach?”

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!!!”

Chapter Text

“Hi, uh, Grue, was it?” Brian looked up from his lunch to see a nervous, unkempt young woman in civvies and a domino mask.

Brian, gestured at the seat across from him. He noticed she was wearing a little monitor like the one Victoria wore.

“I’m, uh, Cherish.” The young woman said. She leaned in conspiratorially. “I heard you knew Je—ah, Alec?”

Brian nodded slowly.

“I’m, I’m trying. I want to be a good sister? But growing up was awful and I don’t really know how? I was hoping you might have some advice?”

Seeing his expression, she continued quickly. “I talked to the therapist lady but she was all about honesty and empathy and ‘I statements’ but I don’t really know how to do any of that…”

Later

“Hey, Aisha?”

“‘Sup,” Brian’s sister said distractedly while doing some sort of math thing on her computer.

“I, uh…”

Aisha paused the game and looked at him. “Huh?”

Brian hugged her. “I want you to know, you are amazing and wonderful and a great sister and I love you very much…”

Chapter Text

Lisa opened the door to reveal a grinning Aisha, with binder.

“Hey-o!” Aisha said. “Have your thing back.”

“Thanks,” Lisa said absentmindedly. “Come in, I’ll grab the next one. Why the interest in disaster response, anyway?”

“It’s interesting? I read it when I need a break from school stuff.” Aisha paused, before continuing, “what’s that you’re listening to?”

“Hmm?” Lisa asked as she fished a binder out from a pile. “Oh, it’s a history thing? Power hears what I hear, and he seemed interested in it. I’m trying different sorts of audiobooks with him.”

Elsewhere

“And done!” Missy said triumphantly. “I’m gonna drop this off and go to the gym.”

“God,” Dennis replied. “Lucky you, I’m still slogging through it. Who knew Piggot could make a food fight boring?”

Missy shrugged. “I found it useful? Gave me ideas on possible power interactions. I’ll discuss them with Armsmaster later when I show him my latest fork.”

“Missy, I love you, but sometimes you scare me,” Dennis snarked.

She threw a piece of popcorn at him.

Chapter Text

Dropping another item into his out tray, Glenn sighed. The only saving grace in the whole mess was that Valkyrie’s people were willing to cooperate.

Glenn picked up his next item of mail. Opening it, he skimmed it quickly. Something something… formal notice… independently negotiated marketing arrangement?

Flipping back to the front, he saw it was in relation to some Ward he had never heard of. Which was extremely odd, since whoever it was clearly had a non-standard branding arrangement. He sent a quick email off asking that someone pull for him the contracts for whoever had taken the unlikely name “Lilac”.

Elsewhere

“Give it to me straight, James,” the retired general said. Always an adroit politician, he had deftly navigated the transition to the world of parahumans, and while his official title changed from time to time, he was always a person who was listened to in certain circles. “The Fairy Queen. Valkyrie. Whatever she is calling herself. How dangerous is she?”

“Peer of Eidolon or worse, but that’s not how you manage her. The evil emperor, as it were, is dead, and the survivors really aren’t sure what to do now, beyond wanting to preserve their new-found autonomy. They seem quite happy to look to us for advice, advisors, guidance.”

The other man nodded thoughtfully. “Nation-building. We can work with that. And it’s got her off-world, thank god.”

Chapter Text

“Hey mom, can I use one of your work conference rooms?” Amy’s sister asked Carol after dinner.

“Victoria, why—“

Amy rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen. Chekov “mreeped” at her cheerfully from his preferred spot on top of the fridge, as Amy went to help her dad with the dishes.

“COME ON!” Victoria’s voice sounded from the other room. “SHE JUST WANTS TO MAKE DRESSES AND MIND HER BUSINESS AND NOT BE MURDERED BY GANGS, WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT THAT!”

“… and there we go,” Amy muttered.

“Something I should worry about?” Mark asked absently.

“Probably one of her projects,” Amy said with a shrug. “Maybe give them a few minutes then if they’re still at it de-escalate?”

Elsewhere

“Dragon,” Armsmaster asked, concerned. “I appreciate that the portals are from a friendly group. But do you know why so many more are appearing recently? Initially, I thought I might simply be detecting more, but when I re-analyzed historic data there does appear to be an uptick.”

“I’m not aware of any reason?” Dragon replied. “Not that I’ve been tracking them.”

“I’ll send you the dataset.”

Chapter Text

“Yo, Taylor!” Aisha asked, conspiratorially.

“Yeah?” Taylor replied, continuing with her set.

“My smart, clever, tall friend!”

“Mmm.”

“So I was thinking, we’re learning about domestic stuff and self-defense and whatever, and why not practice!”

“I said before, I won’t ’no rules spar’ with you.”

“No, no, I was thinking more, uh, resourcefulness! And situational awareness!”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, see, I was reading some stuff, and I found out that places like this sometimes have drop ceilings, which are like caves but in the ceiling. And, I think the locker room is one of those places…”

“I’m not lifting you into the ceiling and besides, couldn’t you just get on top of the lockers?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that, no need to get worried or go talking to anyone, I was just, ah, being observant! Have fun exercising!”

Later

“Taylor?” Brian asked, fitly being very fit.

“Yeah?” Taylor replied, carefully not moving her head even as she enjoyed the view from a different vantage point.

“Do you know where Aisha is? I can’t find her anywhere but her phone is still here so she should be somewhere…”

A loud clang echoed from the locker room.

Brian sighed. “Never mind.”

Chapter Text

“Now, what did we learn?” Taylor asked, as she opened an antiseptic wipe.

“The stupid drop ceiling is a fucking lie,” Aisha grumbled. She then grimaced, as Taylor applied the antiseptic to the cuts on Aisha’s hands.

“What did you say before?” Taylor asked, as she retrieved bandaids. “About observation and such?”

Aisha rolled her eyes. “The same thing that makes it easy to get into a drop ceiling means most bits can’t take my weight, even though I’m smol.”

“And?” Taylor said, opening another antiseptic wipe.

“It’s dark up there.” Aisha winced again at the antiseptic.

“And?” Taylor said, cleaning the scrapes on Aisha’s shins and knees.

Aisha grimaced again. “Fucking wear gloves and pants and shit, and be thankful where I fell I didn’t hit something nasty.”

Taylor turned back to the bandaids. “And?”

Aisha shrugged.

“Tell someone where you’re going, you didn’t even have your phone. Why aren’t you writing all this down while it’s fresh?”

“Don’t have my phone,” Aisha grumbled in a surly tone.

Taylor went to her locker, retrieved a piece of paper and pen from her bag, and handed them both to Aisha.

Aisha dutifully began taking notes. “Bro would just be like holding my hand, not doing all this teaching shit,” Aisha grumbled.

“I’m sure he’ll be doing that later, quite diligently. So it falls on me to make sure you learn your lesson properly.”

Aisha snorted. “Why you no fight fair.”

Chapter Text

Aisha shuffled out of the locker room. Other than a few bandaids, she didn’t look any worse for the wear. After a nudge from Taylor, Aisha sighed, then turned to Brian.

“I’m sorry for worrying you.” Aisha said, shuffling awkwardly in place. “I shouldn’t have gone off without telling someone, and I should have been more careful. I caused you to worry and that was uncool to do.”

Brian hugged Aisha close. “I just worry so much about you sometimes,” he said, “and get scared.”

Aisha sniffed. “Can’t you just yell at me or something, now you’re making me sad.”

Brian chuckled, weakly.

“Now,” Taylor said primly, “I think there’s someone else you need to apologize to as well.”

Extricating herself, Aisha sighed. “Yeah, yeah,” she said, looking around. “You seen Dad? I need to say sorry for breaking his ceiling and making a mess and ask what I can do to help fix it and shit.” Aisha wandered off toward the office.

“Thanks,” Brian said, turning to Taylor. “You handled that really well.”

Taylor shrugged. “She’s a friend, happy to help. Hopefully she at least makes different mistakes next time.”

Brian chuckled. “Yeah, you do know her well then.”

Chapter Text

Previously

“How did the boss even know about this stuff,” the mercenary asked his partner as they picked their way through the abandoned storage unit. “It looks like no one’s been here in ten years.”

“Think it’s the old guy who has been around recently,” said the second. Shifting aside a box of explosives, he uncovered a filing cabinet. “Jackpot.”

Later

“Been a long time since I’ve played prosecutor,” remarked Calle as he flipped through the faded files.

The older, masked man said nothing.

“Most of this is stale,” Calle commented, “but likely still of interest. But the business records…” Calle looked up. “This is dynamite. The Feds will be very interested, indeed, especially with the conspiracy to conceal. You sure you don’t want to seek a reward? There’s a few programs this could qualify for…”

The masked man smiled harshly. “Just doing my civic duty.”

Elsewhere

“Yes, that’s my girl,” said the veteran, decisively. He looked tired, worn, aged beyond his years, but there was a spark of defiance in his eyes. “I’d recognize her anywhere.”

“The picture was taken last week in Stuttgart,” said the weedy man in a suit. They were meeting in the back room of the veteran’s hardware store, after hours. “The building is a front for Gesellschaft.”

Another folder was put in front of the veteran. “And this is the Interpol file for a man named James Fliescher…”

Chapter Text

“Yo, former boss,” Alec said as he slunk over to Brian’s table. “How be public service?”

“Hi?” Brian replied. “I don’t see you around here often.”

“Punchy things is boring, I’m here for science!”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Today we experimenting to see how my power works on dead tissue!”

“I just said—“

“Sadly they wouldn’t let me dead the test animals personally—“

“Goddamnit…”

“—but they did get really excited about the possibility of induced heart arrhythmias and fixing them and detecting them and shit so that’s on the testing list for another time!”

Brian sighed. “How’s your sister?”

“Bah, no fun.”

“You have met Aisha, you aren’t the first one to pull this on me. I think this is the part where I tell you that no matter how much you make me uncomfortable I won’t say ‘yes’ to something just to make you stop.”

Alec laughed.

Chapter Text

“Man, Taylor really reminds me of Dr. Weaver sometimes, it’s eerie,” Aisha said as she and Lisa rode down the elevator.

Lisa rolled her eyes. “I want you to think hard about what you just said, and remember the cat incident.”

“Oh, right. That makes sense.”

Aisha hummed to herself for a bit, as they left the elevator and walked through the lobby.

Exasperated, Lisa carefully suppressed Power’s sudden and irrational focuses on today’s latest idiosyncrasies in Aisha’s gait. It was like the girl lives to find new ways to…

Lisa resisted the sudden, sharp urge to facepalm.

“Aisha,” she asked levelly as they got in the car. “Could I borrow those anti-thinker guides you’ve been reading?”

Aisha cackled manically. “Oh boy, that took you a while!”

Excitement suggests a realized gain disproportionate to apparent increase in social standing.

Lisa sputtered. “Were you ingrates placing bets on how long it would take me to ask?!”

Aisha’s cackle intensified.

Chapter Text

“Chief Director,” said Director Piggot, “It is highly likely that something within the power network was preventing Cauldron, or any power research effort, from reaching non-trivial size, but that you were immune. In which case putting you in charge of the PRT might well have truly been necessary. Or not. I don’t know. I do know from your own records that if the curse was still active it should have hit by now, and it hasn’t.”

“Contessa, you tell them!” Rebecca angrily declared.

Fortuna shrugged. “I don’t know? The threats we face can’t be pathed, not directly. They’re all blind spots.”

“If nothing else,” Piggot added, “you don’t actually have the training to do the role without over-relying on your power, and going forward we have good reason to be wary of that. Not to mention the terrible morale, legitimacy and political issues that would come from having known parahuman lead the PRT, both within the department and outside it.”

“There is a reason,” Director Tagg said seriously, “we don’t let people run agencies as long as you have. Set aside issues of parahuman control, you put anyone in post too long they lose touch. That’s why the successful long-service generals and administrators rotate around, or a big part at least.” He tapped ash off his cigarette before continuing. “And we can replace the Chief Director a lot easier than Alexandria.”

“No matter the intentions,” added Director Armstrong gravely, “many, many people suffered greatly. It will be damn hard to move forward if Costa-Brown stays in post.” He took a drag on his own cigarette. “Might even be worth having her pass away.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“We can’t easily address Cauldron’s legacy without revealing your double-life, and we can’t do that and keep you in post,” Piggot said tiredly.

“Costa-Brown,” Tagg added speculatively, “she’s cut a big enough figure, a lot of bad blood can be pushed in that grave. And that alone may do more good than anything you might do if you stay.”

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry, what!?” Amy said, baffled.

“Darwin’s Bark spiders produce the best silk in the world, well depending on use case, and besides, if those work there are others that are worth bringing in as well, why there are the most adorable jumping spiders that live—“

“Ok, ok, stop. Setting aside the demon spiders, what exactly do you think my role would be in this venture?”

Taylor shrugged. “Medical support. You can’t just assume that a non-native species will do well in a new environment, and proper medical support would make the initial breeding build-out stage go much more smoothly…”

Despite herself, Amy found herself strangely fascinated by the taller girl’s musings.

Elsewhere

“Thanks for coming, Crystal, I don’t know why Mom was so unreasonable about this. I really appreciate it!”

“Enough to stop trying to set up my friends with jailbait?”

Vicky rolled her eyes. “You mean my friends. Anyway, so we’re going to be meeting at Mom’s office. Parian will be bringing two bodyguard plushies but one will wait in the lobby…”

Chapter Text

“Now in theory the basic low profile body armor is available to ‘approved’ independents and rogues can get it on an exception basis. In practice, Mom says that can depend a lot on the local Director and especially your PRT liaison. Do you know who yours is?”

“Uh,” Parian fidgeted. “My old one was not great but I got a new one a bit ago, she seems nicer, a Dr. Weaver? We have lunch every other week? But we haven’t talked about any of this stuff and she never said I was in trouble or anything?”

Vicky laughed. “Ok so that means you are either turbo-fucked, or you’re golden.” She paused, before continuing. “Actually, if you were fucked it would be pretty clear, pretty quickly. She’s not really subtle. Well, I mean her methods can be, but the effects, yeah…”

Parian wrung her hands. “What do you mean?”

“Yeah, cuz, what the hell are you talking about?” Crystal added. “She’s, what? Some liaison or something from D.C.?”

Elsewhere

“Morning, Kurt,” said Doctor Mother

“Morning,” Kurt replied, without looking up from his computer.”

“Care to go exploring with me?”

“Hmmm?” Kurt looked up.

“Technically, doing inventory, but really an excuse to poke around this place.”

Chapter Text

“And finally,” said Weld, “there will be a training demo this afternoon for troopers on new search and rescue techniques. You are welcome to attend, if interested.”

Missy turned her head in response to Dinah’s insistent poke.

“We’re going to that,” Dinah said, decisively.

“Why?” Missy asked. “They won’t let us do anything cool.”

“Doggos,” replied Dinah seriously.

Missy was unconvinced.

“Also, sometimes they’re super-doggos the size of a bus?” Dinah offered.

“Oh, sure! Shoulda led with that.”

Later

“Uh, Miss Lindt?” Missy asked carefully. She had gotten a hurried synopsis from Dinah on how to talk to the intimidating older teen, but it was all second-hand from Cassie. Sadly, Dinah was unwilling to accompany Missy, as the lure of doggos had proven too strong.

“Yeah?” The older teen replied. In contrast to the troopers’ official attire, she was heavy work jeans, boots, and a leather jacket with a few recently-applied PRT patches.

“I am very impressed with your dogs.”

“Mmm.”

“I was wondering, can they carry people?”

The older teen snorted disdainfully. “Not in fights, they might get hurt.”

“Ok, Ok,” Missy replied, quickly excusing herself. What was the point of having awesome monster dogs and not getting into fights with them?

Chapter Text

“James.” Max said in clipped tones.

“Max. I take it you’ve seen the news.”

Max tossed a newspaper onto the table, open to the headline ‘GUN BUST IN BOSTON, BROCKTON CONNECTION?’

“I am concerned, James. We prepared a very considerate package for our friends abroad. Losing a part of it, that I could understand, that’s a cost of doing business. Perhaps even losing all of it. But implicating us?”

“They blame Accord.”

“They can blame Father Christmas,” Max said with polite fury. “You and Victor spent god knows how much time carefully scrubbing that shipment, splitting it into separate parcels, and establishing cut-outs. Recombining them and running them through a single channel is sloppy. Implicating us is inexcusable. You know our involvement has to have leaked from their end.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Pack your bags, James. This sort of sloppiness is not acceptable. And if there is a rat problem as well? Make an example.”

Elsewhere

“Message for you boss, in the dead drop. It’s been cleared.”

Coil took the thick envelope and pulled out a thick sheaf of papers. Flipping through it, it looked like it had been done on a typewriter, of all things. The cover was blank, with neither title nor author. Curious, Coil turned to the first page.

‘If you are reading this, I am dead, my children missing, and people I trust believe the Empire to blame. My name is my own, but you may know me as Purity…’

Chapter Text

Lisa rubbed her forehead in exasperation. After the Cauldron thing, she had taken to periodically checking cowboy’s PHO history. The first few of his ‘scoops’ she had quickly dismissed, but this next one… He was going on about some person in the Creative Writing and Versus boards being an Accord plant. Which, well, she didn’t think Accord was personally on PHO, but she was pretty sure she had previously ID’d at least two accounts used by his Ambassadors, so it wasn’t impossible.

A few quick checks with Power ruled out the frankly preferred option that Cowboy was completely off base. Sure, some of his purported evidence was bunk, but there were some connections that were plausible…

“Wait a minute…”

Quickly opening up additional tabs across additional screens, she was soon skimming the person’s entire post history. Obvious persona building was obvious, so close those. Not that she would ever admit it, but the PRT Analyst classes had taught her a few tricks that let her weed out a few more things. Now to identify any other accounts with similar patterns, and… Lisa put her head in her hands.

The evidence was, to her, and Power, conclusive. Accord really was using PHO to solicit feedback on his plans. Which means he probably really is also talking to children, and consultants, fuck me.

One thing was certain. Cowboy must never know.

Chapter Text

“Thanks,” Alec said to Aisha, as he opened the door.

“Money money money!” Aisha replied gleefully.

Bleary eyed, Alec took the box of donuts, then did a double-take when he saw Aisha’s attire. “The hell are you wearing?”

“Camouflage practice. I’ve been in that shop god knows how many times, usually joke around with Nate the cashier guy, but this time he didn’t recognize me!”

Alec laughed. “What you tell him?”

“Lost a bet.” Aisha shrugged.

Alec nodded sagely. “A great many things can thus be explained away.”

A few minutes later

“Morning bro!” Aisha greeted Brian with obnoxious cheer as he entered the kitchen. “Got breakfast!”

“Thanks,” Brian said, and meant it. “What’s with the hat?” His sister was wearing a very complicated thing that looked like it came out of an old person’s closet.

“Was trying out new camouflage.” Aisha said, a she passed Brian some napkins. “Changed out of the rest when I got home, wasn’t really me, but the hat is ballin’!”

“Oh, did you get a picture?”

“Yeah, Ima send it to dad, gotta butter him up. Got the shop counter guy to take it.”

Chapter Text

“I hope you’re happy,” Rebecca seethed as Dr. Weaver entered the room.

“Sorry?” Dr. Weaver replied, confused, as she sat down.

“Them. Trying to push me out. I know you planned this.”

“No? Yes? No? I mean, I’m not surprised it’s happening but it’s not like I sat down a wrote out a big master plan ‘how to mess with Rebecca’? I just saw problems I didn’t want to deal with, then found people to deal with them, and in hindsight this is a predictable outcome?”

Rebecca glared at her.

The infuriating dimensional traveler continued, “I’m honestly kind of surprised you would want to stay anyway.”

“What.”

“Well, you can constantly use your power to bridge the empathy gap while running a desk job, but why do that? Your power combination is much better suited for tactical command than strategic command, and for all that some shards get really into applied human psychology, they are usually kind of bad at it when they don’t cheat, since it’s one area where we’ve got god knows how many years of evolution dedicated to the problem and they just got here, what, basically yesterday? So they wind up having to do brute force particle simulations or dendrite level brain scans to figure out stuff a toddler knows instinctively. Plus, there are bigger problems your partner can be working on than playing domestic politics in Washington. Valkyrie’s made contact with how many inhabited alternates now, and isn’t likely to stop. And while Bet may have more parahumans per capita, there are likely more in aggregate off Bet than on it.”

“Besides I’m pretty sure, no matter what you agree to, one of the Directors will leak your identity sooner or later if you don’t come clean. At which point it will be hard to keep the job. They really don’t like having as head of the PRT a parahuman. Or maybe it’s because you are used to looking at ‘the good of humanity’ and not ‘the good of the US of A’? But if you’re Alexandria you can just go be ‘part of Cauldron’ with Valkyrie and get assigned ‘community service’ or whatever as being Alexandria, especially since you’ve got a pretty strong case you were effectively mastered by Fortuna’s power.”

Chapter Text

“You would be great at wrestling,” pleaded the insistent upperclassman. Woman. Whatever.

“I said no,” Taylor said firmly. “I don’t have time. I can recommend a good gym if that would help?”

“Plus, she would get in trouble,” Amy said, pausing dramatically. She leaned forward, “as a condition to her coming to Arcadia, due to her experience at Winslow, her hands are registered as lethal weapons.”

“Amy, what are you…”

“Ohhhhh,” the other student nodded seriously, before wondering away with a thoughtful expression.

Taylor turned to Amy, exasperated. “Seriously, what the fuck?”

Amy shrugged unapologetically. “It’ll stop them asking.” She grinned. “Just think of your rep!”

Taylor glared at her.

Elsewhere

“… as lethal weapons! Amy said so!”

Chris rolled his eyes. “You want to tell him, or should I?”

Carlos sighed. “Look, you have to understand, about Amy’s sense of humor…”

Dennis nudged Chris. “Actually, can’t you just imagine? Her at the head of a legion of Winslow-trained troopers, bringing hope and peace to the Bay! The Wards could retire!”

“Dennis, no.” Chris said firmly.

“Dennis, yes!”

Chapter Text

“This sucks!” Amy’s sister exclaimed. “Even if Parian was willing to let me help her out, which would be awesome, Mom says it would be seen as an endorsement by New Wave and would set a precedent and blah, blah, blah.”

“Back to baby Nazi birthday surprise, then?” Amy snarked.

Vicky grumbled half-heartedly before tossing her notebook down on the dining table, where the pair were “studying” after dinner. Seeing the packet Amy was paging through, Vicky floated around to peer over Amy’s shoulder. “Whatcha looking at? Doesn’t look like homework?”

“A combination spider fan book and business plan proposal. The real purpose of the business, you see, is to cater to the proposer’s love of, quote, adorable insect friends, but along the way it would oh-by-the-way pay for itself.”

“The fuck?” Vicky asked, entirely reasonably.

“LANGUAGE,” Carol said from the other room.

“Something, something, biologically woven spider silk body armor, something, something,” Amy said absently. “Something, something, me providing veterinary services for spiders that have no business existing in this climate or indeed on this continent. I’m considering it, at least of a trial basis. Would be interesting to do, and would also get us an inside track on some awesome body armor.”

“You know,” Vicky said thoughtfully, “spider silk is supposed to be super-strong… I wonder if you could, like, make nets out of it? To drop on people?”

“Oh god, you too.”

“You, are just jealous of by brilliance!”

“Neeeeerd.”

“DON’T TEASE YOUR SISTER!”

Chapter Text

“What is this?” Glenn gestured at his monitor. The man on the other end of the video call winced.

“Yes, well, Lilac has been rather more enthusiastic than we expected.”

“This is the most generous branding contract I’ve ever seen for any Ward.”

“She took it in lieu of pay.”

“What?”

“Said she had money, a trust or something. Didn’t need the money but always was interested in fashion. Wanted to ‘play’.”

“This isn’t playing,” Glenn said. “This is a pile of money we left on the table. She clearly has professional advisors.” He paused. “Wait, in lieu of pay? Who the hell signed off on that?”

“Legally, she’s emancipated, and Youth Guard did sign off after a chat with Dr. Weaver.”

Glenn blinked. “If Dr. Weaver was involved, why was this run through your office instead of Brockton Bay?”

“There were security concerns.”

“We can’t let this become precedent.”

“At least she gave us good terms on cross-promotion? Taking that into account, our proceeds should still meet normal targets?”

Elsewhere

“Yeah!” Dinah exclaimed. “A research themed collaboration thing with Amy sounds cool!”

“Excellent,” said Lisa smugly. “Now, we just need to figure out how to convince Brandish…”

Chapter Text

“Oh, wow, I didn’t realize costume design could be so complicated…” Taylor said, flipping through the materials older!her had provided.

“In the practical side, figuring out the full costume is in some ways easier, the harder part is figuring out how to inconspicuously incorporate reasonable protections into your day-to-day attire.” She paused, then continued, “at least if you are maintaining a separate civilian identity.”

“The PRT standard stuff seemed pretty good?” Taylor said, flipping to the bit about low-profile body armor.

“Sure?” Older!her said, “for low-level threats? But since it’s standard issue, it’s expected, you need a little something more.”

“Now,” she said pulling out the costume design materials, “for full up uniforms you have different considerations. You absolutely need to be able to protect yourself from attacks, but it’s more than that.”

“Shouldn’t that be all that matters?”

“I thought so too, at first, but as I got more experienced I learned that the right costume can do better than protecting you, it can prevent a fight from happening in the first place. It’s a big part of what separates the most effective capes, presentation.”

Elsewhere

“Wow, we really had a lot of space dedicated to holding Case 53s,” Doctor Mother said.

“Hmm,” Kurt replied. “I don’t know that I’ve ever spent that this much time down here.”

“mew?”

The two co-conspirators looked down in surprise, to see a raggedy-looking grey cat peeking out from one of the cells.

Doctor Mother knelt down, “Where did you come from?”

“mew!” The cat scampered off down the corridor, motion-sensor lights blinking on at its passage.

Chapter Text

“I see you are getting into the spirit of your new persona,” Dr. Weaver observed as Lisa sauntered in.

“Of course!” Lisa replied, taking a seat in front of Dr. Weaver’s desk. Lisa was wearing a smart skirt suit in her brand color palette, along with a big floppy hat.

“Today, we will discuss a new exercise for you and your power. You both now have considerable experience finding answers. We will now shift focus to something much more difficult—finding questions.”

Lisa looked at the older woman skeptically.

Dr. Weaver disregarded Lisa’s expression. “We will begin with two. First, what is the question you could ask whose answer would best assist you in obtaining additional resources to help you get better at this. That, you can think of as an ongoing project. Second, what question should I ask to best obtain a good bagel.”

“And what, precisely,” Lisa said after further details failed to appear, “will we be doing with these questions?”

“Posing them to other thinkers, and non-thinkers, to facilitate their own activities. Oh, and get you resources to facilitate your journey of self-improvement. And, I suppose, a bagel.”

Lisa thought furiously for a moment, before asking, “will I be going on this journey alone?”

“An excellent question! No, you will be joined in this effort by a few others, one from Boston whose employer will go unstated—“ Accord, her Power added unnecessarily—“as well as perhaps one or two others being chosen by certain colleagues in the PRT.”

You are being brought into the outer layers of a conspiracy.

Lisa suppressed a sigh. No shit.

Chapter Text

“What are you lot whispering over,” Cassie asked the gathered troopers. She’d just finished checking the dogs’ doggie beds, and come back to find the PRT troopers with Wafa, standing around a table looking shifty

The troopers looked around uncertainly.

Wafa rolled her eyes. “The Intel group was concerned about Rachel, and sent over a list of sites suspected to host dog-gathering activities for the Empire. We were discussing plans for upcoming activities to ensure she avoid potential trouble.”

Cassie nodded slowly. “It might be worth checking with Dr. Weaver as well, she might have some thoughts.”

Wafa smiled. “I’m glad you understand.”

Elsewhere

“Got an update from the FBI,” Phil said, ticking to the next item on his pad. “One of the senior records clerks at BBPD died recently, had been there forever. Coroner said natural causes. Then a couple days ago FBI gets a packet, outlining decades of work for the Empire, including directions to recover additional documentation, along with what reads a lot like a suicide note.”

Emily looked at him skeptically. “We’re not that lucky. We sure it’s the same guy?”

Phil shrugged. “The note talked about not wanting his family to be ashamed of him and trying to make things right, there is likely a story there. It doesn’t use his name but the details line up. No one is looking too closely though, in case it leaks. We don’t want reprisals against the people he’s trying to do right by.”

“What, is his kid dating a minority?”

“He’s got a niece dating a mixed race boy, and a couple of grandkids have Jewish friends, but the note was not specific.”

Chapter Text

“Haven’t you gotten it to pay up yet?” Aisha asked incredulously.

“Nope,” Taylor said, continuing to brutalize the punching bag.

“God if you’re going to work out this much you should get tutoring more than once per week.”

“I don’t want to be a bother,” Taylor said, “and isn’t that expensive?”

Aisha laughed. “HEY BRO,” she shouted across the gym.

“What’s up?” Brian said, coming over, a thin sheen of sweat visible on his muscles arms. The tank top looked very good on him. Still, Taylor carefully didn’t look with her own eyes, she didn’t want to seem creepy.

“Taylor here,” Aisha gestured grandiosely, “has been tenderizing this poor thing for weeks, I thought it might be good practice if she could get some tips one-on-one!”

Brain shrugged. “Sure, but shouldn’t you ask her first?”

Taylor snorted. “That would be great, thanks Brian.” She gave the bag a couple more blows, before turning toward Aisha. “Aisha, we’ll talk later about volunteering people for things.”

“Ok,” Brian said. “So let’s have you try again, more slowly, so I can get a sense of your form.”

Taylor didn’t blush, but it was a close thing.

Later

“He’s still ~single~,” teased Aisha quietly, after making sure Brian was out of earshot.

Taylor glared at her, but the effect was somewhat ruined by her heaving breaths as she recovered from her workout. After doing some work on the bag, Brian had had her move on to doing drills with a jump rope. Running had improved her stamina, but not that much.

“I don’t want to be ‘that girl’,” Taylor said cleverly.

Aisha laughed. “Most girls can’t handle me as the awesomest sister, and when I do introduce him to people, most of them he politely avoids. But you, he doesn’t do that.” Aisha looked at Taylor significantly.

Taylor rolled her eyes. “Because I’m his sister’s friend and, very occasionally, voice of reason.”

“That’s why it would be so great!”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Vicky, I’ll be ready in a sec, just need to use the bathroom,” Amy said, leading Vicky into Alec’s apartment.

“This is awesome boardwalk time we’re missing, don’t dawdle!”

Amy’s grumbled reply was lost in the sound of the closing bathroom door.

Vicky turned to Alec, who was browsing skimpy character outfits in an in-game store. She put on a serious expression. “Do we need to have a talk about you and my sister?”

Alec looked at her skeptically. “Are you serious?” He laughed. “Oh, god, you’re trying to give me the shovel talk!”

Alec shook his head. “Yeah she is so very, very not interested. Besides, she’s scarier than you anyway.” He snorted. “Me? Hell, she’d be more likely to date you.” Ignoring the blonde’s squawk of protest, he continued, “me and her have zero chemistry like that. Plus, a relationship sounds like waaaay too much work.”

“Are you saying my sister isn’t good enough for you?!” Vicky said in false outrage.

“Ok, let’s go—“ Amy said, coming out of the bathroom. Upon seeing the tableau before her, Vicky scowling in mock outrage and Alec laughing, Amy sighed. “Jesus Vicky, I can’t take you anywhere.”

Chapter Text

“Congratulations, Chief-Director,” Emily said, shaking Kamil’s hand.

“You poor, doomed bastard,” added James in a dry tone.

“I,” Kamil began, “I didn’t expect this.”

“Save the false modesty for the politicians and the public, you can’t blame anyone for this but yourself,” James replied.

Kamil shook his head. “I was going to turn it down, until I heard who else was on the shortlist.” He nodded at James. “I thought it would be you.”

James laughed.

“He’s got too much blood on his hands,” Emily said. “Makes the politicians nervous.”

“And would make it harder for them to disavow me, if something needed done that they couldn’t stomach.”

Elsewhere

“She did what!?” Glenn asked.

“The self-proclaimed ‘Goddess’ Bianca returned Valkyrie I’s overtures of peace and cooperation with treachery and betrayal. The result was, well, what you would expect. Bianca and her immediate parahuman advisors were subsumed, after which Valkyrie I claimed the defeated ruler’s demesne as a part of her own. Overall, casualties were minimal.”

“Get to the part where she is requesting we send a military mission.”

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “She has little interest in directly governing a planet full of humans. She seeks assistance in re-establishing a self-governance structure capable of functioning absent continual parahuman intervention, and in the longer term is open to establishing trade with Bet.”

“Why me?”

“Oh, this is a courtesy call. Details are still being sorted with State as primary point of contact, but I expect PRT will be asked to contribute some expertise, which will in turn require the usual statements and so forth.”

Chapter Text

“How can he know!?” Lisa concluded. She had been explaining to Dr. Weaver her discoveries about Greg’s postings.

Dr. Weaver, however, seemed unimpressed. “How many serious theories does he propose in a week? Including the ones that are nonsense?”

“Including the nonsense, uh, dozens?”

“Of those, how many are true?”

“A handful, if that?”

“Then you have the right idea—monitor, but don’t interfere.” Seeing Lisa’s confusion, the older woman elaborated, “so long as most of what he says is nonsense, the rest doesn’t matter. No one will believe him, and the fact that he’s the one saying it will discredit others with more reliable track records who might stumble on a piece of the truth.”

Later

Lisa idly prodded the sad salad she had gotten from the PRT’s cafeteria.

“Lilac?”

Lisa looked up at the young woman, a few years older than her, in casual clothes and a generic mask. Alec’s sister.

Sighing, Lisa gestured to the seat across from her. Clearly, coming to the cafeteria today had been a mistake.

The woman awkwardly sat down. “So, uh, I heard that you know, um, Regent, I mean Impulse?”

She is terrified and believes her best chance is to convince Alec to intercede on her behalf with Dr. Weaver.

Ok, so Alec’s big sis’ had some basic observational skills, from things Alec said she had been worried.

She wants advice on being a better sister.

Lisa blinked, then started laughing and laughing, and then she was crying as the girl awkwardly wrung her hands. She didn’t resist as Brian appeared from somewhere to gently lead her out of the room.

Chapter Text

“I didn’t mean it!” Cherish said before Dr. Weaver sat down. She knew that the purple girl was, like, in the inner circle! She was fucked! Fucked!

“I know,” Dr. Weaver said, sitting down.

Cherish blinked. She had not expected that.

“Bad memories,” Dr. Weaver continued, “you couldn’t have known.”

“What will happen to me?” Cherish shrank into herself. She would take her lumps, she knew she couldn’t run.

“First, you get a proverbial sticker for not trying to use your power to ‘fix’ the problem,” Dr. Weaver said wearily.

It was going to be bad, Cherish knew it.

“Second, you are scheduled for a session with your counselor this afternoon where you face one of the greatest challenges of your life.”

Cherish nodded hesitantly.

“How to sincerely apologize to a touchy thinker who will be triggered by the slightest sign of dishonesty or hesitation.”

Oh god.

“Alec has volunteered to join you for moral support.”

“Wat.”

Previously

LazyBossBestBoss: yo so sis did a dumb made Lisa cry. What do.
Aisha: do u like ur sis?
LazyBossBestBoss: no but yes? Not want game wit her but not want her fall in woodchipper?
Aisha: ffs ur sis needs apologies, grovel, gift, tell Lisa she smartest most clever girl yes she is and everyone else most specially ur sis = dum
LazyBossBestBoss: but she be dumb fuck it up, even if she try
Aisha: den help her u fool

Chapter Text

“Why, specifically, are you worried about the CUI?” James asked.

“I am not a China expert, nor an expert on the CUI. I don’t have specific future knowledge about them.”

Dr. Weaver paused to take a sip of water. “What I do have is experience with shard bullshit, and our resident experts agree, that—“

“To be clear,” interrupted Director Piggot, “you mean Bonesaw and Valkyrie.”

Dr. Weaver shrugged. “Eidolon tentatively agrees as well, as does Numberman and the severed head of Dr. Manton, but yes, those are the main two. Anyway, the CUI command and control structure looks awfully familiar to us. Like how traditionalist Fae would run things. We don’t know for sure, it could be nothing, it could be a connection fuckup or some other inadvertent error, but it also could be an attempt to circumvent shard-level controls to bootstrap an entity and we don’t know.”

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

Elsewhere

"I haven't been here in years," Doctor Mother remarked as she led Kurt out of the stairwell. The entire wing had fallen out of use after Manton convinced them that they needed greater distance between their core operations and any research areas.

"Wonder why the door was ajar?" Kurt remarked, following with a heavy duty flashlight. "Would have expected it to—Christ!"

The panning light had started a hissing streak of brown that vanished into the depths of the lab.

Chapter Text

Dr. Weaver cleared her throat. “Now, for tonight’s principal topic. Due to the Bay’s Nazi problem, I am going to assume that your formal education on sex and sexuality has been less than comprehensive on the topic of, well, anything that isn’t straight and vanilla.”

Missy carefully kept a blank expression, although some of the girls looked mortified. She hoped someone else started taking notes, so she could too! She would take any edge she could get when competing for Dean’s affections! She wasn’t sure what ‘not-vanilla’ meant, but she could learn!

“I see this topic makes some of you uncomfortable. I will today avoid discussing more, ahem, practical aspects. However I will make myself available should any of you wish to discuss such things one-on-one.”

That’s a relief. Missy wasn’t sure if she could maintain decorum if presented with too many details.

“In addition, as per usual I will touch on some special considerations which can arise in relationships involving one or more parahumans.”

That got Vicky’s attention, at least, and yes, out came the notebook. Missy followed suit.

Chapter Text

“Morning, Taylor,” Amy grumbled around her coffee cup.

“Morning,” Taylor replied warily, which, fair, Amy wasn’t usually even that articulate pre-workout.

“Lost a bet,” Amy mumbled, “have to do a double date with Vicky and her boytoy.”

“Condolences,” Taylor said absently.

“Figured I’d show her and bring you, seeing—“

“Absolutely not,” Taylor said with finality.

“Traitor.”

“You lost the bet, not me,” Taylor said unapologetically, “but I know someone else who might go for it…”

Later

Dr. Weaver looked incredulously at Cassie, and shook her head. “I should have expected this when I carefully selected trainees likely to feel protective of Rachel.”

“So you’ll help?”

“As an official matter, I cannot officially provide any official information beyond what Intel has provided. But I’ll come early to dinner next time and have a quiet word with the trainees.” She paused, then continued, “don’t involve Rachel.”

Elsewhere

Brian AishaBro: Hey, do you have details on this talk Aisha is cackling about?
Vicky: Sure, will send you the flyer. What is your email?

Later

Aisha: Did it work?
Victoria: Yep! Got his email!

Lisa stared at the text chat in amazement, and rejected the first several responses to pop into her head. Finally, she typed her reply.

Lisa: Is there a reason you didn’t just ask him?
Aisha: Boo boring no fun
Victoria: ^^

Chapter Text

The rifle was one of the more expensive models in his employer’s armory. It did not fire lasers, or freeze rays, or other esoteric effects. No, it fired conventional projectiles, of a very particular type. It could, at great expense, hit a target with the range and precision of a rifle, while producing a wound closely mimicking that caused by a very specific type of pistol.

Later

“This was supposed to be a simple operation.” Max said with cold fury. “Draw in the lessers, then catch them between us and our friends in the BBPD. How did this result in us shooting two officers.”

“I don’t—“ Victor began.

“Get out,” Max snapped.

Later

“Piggot here,” Emily said, answering the phone.

“Emily, this is Phil. The second BBPD officer has been pronounced dead.”

“Pass on our condolences, and drop a note in the troopers’ brief.”

“Separately, Maxwell from Intel passed on a tip, off the books. Something about ‘free beer’? And a meeting of the ‘old farts society’?”

“Shit. I’ll talk to him.” She paused. “Scratch that, I won’t talk to him. Send him a bottle of that vile paint thinner he likes, with my compliments, and make sure we approve any leave requests he’s put in. We’ll have to treat this delicately.”

“Ma’am?”

“Later.”

Chapter Text

“John Schwartz Jr., the officer who was killed?” Maxwell said.

Renick nodded slowly.

“His grandmother made contact. Wants an extract for Schwartz’s mistress, and kids.”

“Run that by me again?” Rennick asked.

Later

“To be sure I am clear,” Emily said slowly, “Schwartz’s maternal grandfather, Chuck Herren, brought a French-Algerian war bride home after VE Day.”

Phil nodded.

Emily continued. “Grandma Herren birthed a litter of bouncing baby ‘patriots’, including a daughter who married a navy vet and rising star in the BBPD, John Schwartz Sr.”

Phil nodded.

“Officer Schwartz had a son, John Schwartz Jr., who also went into the BBPD, where he continued the family tradition of ‘patriotism’.“

Phil nodded.

“And now Junior went and got shot by the Empire.”

“Allegedly.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Allegedly shot by the Empire. Anyway, Junior had an arranged marriage with a cousin, who he cordially despised and lived apart from, as well as a long-running affair with,” Emily consulted her notes, “the daughter of his childhood housekeeper, a Quebecois Jew, who was some manner of distant relation to the Grandmother. He had two legitimate children, who lived with the cousin out-of-state, and two illegitimate children, who lived with him and the mistress, here in the Bay.”

Phil nodded.

“Grandma Herren is furious that her favorite grandson was killed by Nazis, and wants an extract for the mistress and her infant children, out of concern that the widow will do… something?“

Phil nodded.

“Grandma herself won’t come in, but is willing to give us information about, quote, ‘those damn race traitors’, by which she means the Empire as well as rival factions in the Clans.”

Phil nodded.

“Approved.”

Chapter Text

What a week. The analyst classes had been interesting, and even educational (although she would never admit it), but this question exercise was evil. Who the hell felt the need to include ‘on Earth Bet, without violence’ when asking about a bagel?

At least the girl power group was fun.

Finishing her business in the stall, Lisa walked to the sinks, washed her hands, and then splashed water on her face. TGIF indeed.

“We need to talk.”

Glancing up into the mirror Lisa saw, looming above her reflection, the very tall visage of Dr. Weaver’s younger counterpart.

Lisa did not scream, shriek or squeak.

“Sorry, sorry,” the suddenly awkward girl said, breaking the spell.

“How do you move like that!?”

“It’s just, I asked, uh, Dr. Weaver? She slipped up and said some stuff about, uh, someone in another place, which made me realize about you? And then she said we should talk since you knew about me, and I knew about you, and… yeah…”

Chapter Text

Parian’s hands shook as she picked up her glass. She was sitting in a private room of a small restaurant, not far from the PRT building. Just like she had the last several times. But with what she now knew about the woman across from her, she couldn’t help but be anxious. Only the persona of Parian let her stay at all. Parian was calm, deliberate, and not easily intimidated. Sabah, Sabah would have run screaming as soon as the older woman entered.

Dr. Weaver smiled awkwardly. “I assure you tales of my malevolence are vastly exaggerated.”

Parian spilled a bit of drink. Does she think she is being comforting?

Dr. Weaver sighed. “Yes, I work in the national office and yes, my principal focuses are major threats and policy matters. However, I also choose to work with young parahumans, such as yourself, both within the Wards and Protectorate and otherwise.”

Oh, god, thought Parian. What does she want with me.

“Can you maybe tell me what you heard…” Dr. Weaver started, before leaning back and mumbling to herself, “no, that sounds ominous.”

The older woman straightened up. “How about I get one or two of the girls I work with to chat with you more? Might help put you at ease?”

Parian nodded hesitantly.

Chapter Text

“So the thing you have to understand about being the responsible sibling,” Aisha said sagely, “is the other ones always thinks they’re the responsible one.”

“Uh huh,” Alec said dubiously, “but like what does that mean?”

“I bet she’s all like ‘oh if I’m good or whatever it’ll work out’, but it ain’t that simple. What if someone comes at her looking to start shit? What if there’s an Endbringer attack, or even something more normal like a Nor’easter? Yeah she’s all like ‘Ima be good’, but one plan ain’t enough.”

“Right,” Alec said, “but again what does that mean?”

Aisha sighed. “OK. Start simpler. Write down a list of things that could go wrong or she could fuck up or whatever. Pick, like, five. Then think about what you would do to make sure if those happen she at least don’t make things worse.”

“Right, but she’s kinda dumb?”

“Yeah you gotta go through and streamline it and then train them and shit. Make sure if shit goes sideways they know to call you before getting any smart ideas. Or call Dr. Weaver. Someone. And since they’re older you gotta make them think it’s their idea or they won’t do it.”

“So, no spray bottle then?”

Aisha snorted. “If only, would make things so much easier.”

Chapter Text

”This is a critical time,” Max said wearily. “Missteps here could undermine years of work not only by myself, but of my father and sister, may they rest in peace.”

“I can’t believe,” Krieg began, “you are pandering—“

Victor interrupted him. “Schwartz was family.” Victor leaned forward with menace. “His colleague was a friend of the family. You will not disrespect them.”

“Fuck sakes,” Brad said. “Did your momma drop you?”

“Leave my mother out of this!” Krieg replied hotly.

“Enough,” Max said, before things could devolve further. “The Empire of course acknowledges and respects the Families and their legacy of honor.”

Victor nodded firmly, glaring at Krieg.

Max continued, “we are making overtures to the elders and will make this right. It should, however, be remembered, as we learned two years ago upstate, that these things happen.”

“Yeah, yeah, united front, out with the trash, that doesn’t keep the pigs out of my shit!” Brad snarled.

Max glanced at his expensive watch, and sighed. This would be another long meeting.

Chapter Text

Amy shuffled into the kitchen carrying dishes from dinner.

“Mrep!” Chekov greeted her from his preferred perch atop the fridge.

Entering behind Amy, Vicky laughed. “That reminds me, Ames. Wanted to thank you for trimming his nails! Whenever I get the clippers out he just gets this mournful expression and I can’t bear it.”

“Don’t mention it,” Amy mumbled, rinsing the dishes, as Vicky floated up to coo at Chekov. Because I absolutely used clippers on his nails.

Later

Amy entered her room, and sat at her desk to do homework and not shitpost on PHO. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw ‘Mina slowly unfold herself from her preferred spot by the heater, and make her way to Amy where she began winding around Amy’s legs with a hopeful expression.

“No, ‘Mina,” Amy said absentmindedly, “no more super-claw experiments unless we’re alone in the house.”

“Plus,” Amy added as an afterthought, “you’ve already gone through that holiday sweater, and I need to find something else for you to practice on.”

Elsewhere

Entering her room, Taylor deposited her backpack by the door and sat down. Picking up a brush, she waved it idly at floor level. When no cat emerged, she shrugged, put back the brush, and moved a cat toy closer to the bed. She’d offer brushes again before bed and, in the meantime, she was content to let Taylor III stay in his happy place.

Chapter Text

Previously

“How are you doing?” Brian asked.

“Better,” Lisa said, then winced. “Kind of mortified, actually.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Brian shuffled awkwardly. “Do you want a hug?”

Lisa laughed weakly. “No, but thanks.”

“Oh thank god,” Brian said, relieved.

“I have a thing later today for Alec’s sister to apologize, apparently Alec has been helping her practice. God, did you see her face?”

“Poor girl was terrified, Aisha told me,” Brian said. “Alec went to her for advice on sibling management, which, wow. Really makes me better appreciate what Aisha and I have.”

There was an awkward pause. Finally, Lisa said, “okay we can stop now, this is exhausting, especially the not being a bitch part, but really thank you!”

Elsewhere

“Missy,” Chris said warily, “why are you taping things to the controllers?”

“Training,” Missy said distractedly. “I bet if I use the weighted bearings I can then manipulate them with my power, to work on fine control and shit.”

“Huh,” Chris said, backing away slowly, “I, uh, have to do a thing, be right back.”

Shortly thereafter

“Hello?” Weld said, picking up his phone.

“Sorry to bother you,” Chris said, “I know you’re in a meeting, but Missy’s doing it again.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Chapter Text

“Why were half the K9 trainees involved in a shooting incident between the BBPD and alleged members of the Empire?” Emily asked.

“They were out for dinner. Warrington happened to see an illegal weapon and called it in. Then, when the suspects resisted arrest, our boys bravely stepped up to assist.“

Emily gave him a look. “Yes, and they just happened to be armed, and wearing their vests, and it just happened that a dog gathering operation was being run out of the building, the report is lovely. The reality, please?”

“Intel has been passing the K-9 training unit detailed lists of areas that Miss Lindt might find unduly distressing. The trainees’ view on mistreatment of animals is, well, what you would expect from a K-9 unit. Some of the dogs they work with were rescued from exactly this sort of situation.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Give them kudos for ‘interdepartmental cooperation’, then run them through the usual refresher on ROE, procedures for coordinating with the BBPD, and such. Make sure they know how to dot their i’s and cross their t’s. No more than once per month on their own initiative, and only as long as the BBPD plays ball.”

Emily’s expression hardened. “Most important of all, make sure Miss Lindt doesn’t get involved.“

Elsewhere

“Did you get it?” The veteran asked his contact. The two men were sitting in the back room of the veteran’s shop, after hours.

The other man nodded. “Know a guy at the Bureau, they track these human trafficking shitheels. Couldn’t get the whole file, just the unclassified sections, but it’s enough.” He slid a thick envelope across the table. “This Fliescher guy is definitely involved.”

Chapter Text

“OK,” Lisa said, leading Taylor into her apartment. “What was it you wanted to talk about in private?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry got distracted by cockroaches in the machine room,” the taller girl said as she took a seat. “I’m having them eat the rats”

Lisa shuddered.

“So, uh, Dr. Weaver said you were really good at managing the branding side of things? I’m not sure yet whether I will join the Wards or stay independent, but she was very insistent.” Taylor shrugged. “She says it’s something she could have handled better herself.”

“Sure,” Lisa replied confidently. “I did get an unusual branding agreement. I think they’ve wised up now, so I’m not sure you could get the same deal, don’t want to get your hopes up. Still, why don’t you tell me what you had in mind, and some about your power?”

“So I kind of liked the name Dr. Weaver had at first, Skitter, but she convinced me it would be better to use something else. I didn’t want to use Weaver since she’s using that, so maybe Bumble Bee? Or Spider Hegemon? Really, there’s a lot you can do by combining a type of bug with another word. Or maybe a different approach, like Swarm, or Multitude, or Legion? Or something more academic, like Insectologist?”

Lisa blinked. That was a very wide conceptual range, from unremarkable back-line hero to S-class threat. “Why don’t you start by telling me about your power and how you plan to use it?”

Nightmare fuel followed.

Chapter Text

“Ok,” Lisa said, taking deep calming breaths. “Ok, I see what Dr. Weaver was talking about. Ok. So, how to say this.”

Lisa paused to collect her thoughts before continuing. “There’s a fine line between ‘formidable’, which is good, and ‘unsettling’, which is bad, with some shades of gray and judgment calls in the middle.”

“So you’re saying my ideas are unsettling when they should be formidable?” Taylor asked, slowly.

“Not quite,” Lisa replied. “More like your ideas run straight past ‘unsettling’ and end up somewhere around ‘horrifying’, ‘psychological warfare’, and ‘kill order’.”

“Hey!” Taylor sputtered, indignantly.

Elsewhere

“Where you going, Ames!” Amy’s sister exclaimed. “Don’t forget we have the double date tonight, you need to get ready!”

Amy rolled her eyes. “I have a shift at the hospital, then I’m going to take a nap at the apartment, then I’ll meet my date and we’ll head over.”

“Le gasp, how will you ever have time?!”

Amy snorted. “Yeah, yeah, drop the dumb blonde act. The date isn’t for ten hours, I haven’t forgotten, it’ll be fine.”

“I can’t wait to meet them! All you said is they don’t go to Arcadia! So mysterious!”

Chapter Text

"I worked hard on my ideas!" Taylor said with feeling. "They aren't that bad!"

"You have a list of the most dangerous, toxic and all-around nightmarish insects in the whole world, and by list I mean wishlist. You have plans to create insectile toxin production centers of staggering size and variety. You have outlined an insect breeding and eugenics programs intended to do things like increase lethality and hardiness and incidentally 'oh by the way' create omnivorous invasive species.”

"Sure, all common sense applications! Panacea helped!"

"Panacea exists at the junction between Schadenfreude and clinical misanthropy."

Elsewhere

"Finally," Phil said, "the Pan-Asian Community Foundation has made a large donation to the Police Benevolent Fund, and have reached out to us and to the BBPD to suggest sponsoring community outreach programs. The money is clean, and they seem to be serious about it."

Emily pinched the bridge of her nose. "Lung is not that subtle. Either he's got someone new working with him, or something else is going on. Get with Intel, see if we can't figure out what changed. I hate surprises."

Chapter Text

“Don’t get me wrong,” Lisa said wearily. “Your proposal is creative. Shows a lot of potential. Would be considered ‘ambitious’ and ‘impressive’ if you were a Guild member with a couple decades of public service bolstering public confidence in you. As proposed initial projects for a Ward, however? This takes over-achieving to a new level. No one’s going to take you seriously, except as a potential S-class threat.”

“But that’s not fair! I can do so much good!”

Lisa shuddered. “We’re well beyond ‘good idea’ or ‘bad idea’. With what you’ve got now, your name could be something like ‘Buggy Bumbler’ or ‘Rosy Maple Moth’, with a costume out of a kindergarten, and you’d still terrify people.”

Elsewhere

“Hey, Bro, let’s to dinner! I got reservations!”

Brian looked up, surprised to see his sister in business casual attire. “Uh, where? When? Why?”

“Dinner and a show, need to leave in just a bit!” Aisha leaned in conspiratorially, “don’t tell anyone about the show part though, it’s a secret! Now, quick, you need to get changed!”

Chapter Text

“Whether your ideas are effective won’t matter if you are so intimidating that people don’t want to work with you, or indeed be on the same continent. Look, think harmless thoughts, aim for a persona and image that is kid-friendly. I’ll do the same. We’ll sit down again in a couple days.”

“But that’s boring!”

Elsewhere

Max flipped through the pictures. They depicted a pair of burned out trucks. Both were covered with graffiti, highlights being ‘WW3 now!’, ‘Patton!’, ‘Stalingrad!’ and a sloppily drawn Star of David with fangs. One had a flagpole stuck through the windshield, bearing an American flag.

“Well?” Max said, setting down the pictures and eying his lieutenants.

“Some cousins were picking up a shipment from the German conduit,” Victor said scowling. “The Teeth found out.”

“I’ve been going over the Boston operation with our contact there,” Krieg said, “and we haven’t found any leaks. They say it isn’t them.”

“Look harder, James,” Max said. “First us, then the Clans? Accord was plausible, barely, but the Teeth? The Teeth?.”

Chapter Text

“I’m not saying you can’t have your insect nightmare factories. It’s just, maybe don’t lead with that? Don’t rub people’s face in it?”

“But I want people to respect me!”

“You can get that with just the body armor, and artisanal honey.” Lisa shuddered again. “Once people get used to you as that, then maybe we can gradually unveil other things.”

“Ohhhhh. So like, what, uh, Dr. Weaver did with the PRT?”

Lisa twitched. “Yes, but also very no.”

Elsewhere

“This is an unusually nice place for you,” Brian said as they entered the restaurant. At his sister’s insistence, he’d put on a nice shirt and slacks.

“I checked, they have spaghetti and meatballs,” Aisha said as they approached the hostess stand, “‘though they call it something else for reasons.” Turning to the well-dressed hostess, Aisha said, quite professionally, “Reservation for Brian Laborne?”

“Right this way,” the hostess replied.

“Are you going to tell me what this is about?” Brian asked, continuing to be pulled along in his sister’s wake.

“Soon, soon,” Aisha said absently as they were directed to a table. “No no no,” she interrupted, grabbing his arm before he could sit down. “You want to sit there so you can see the door!”

Chapter Text

“Do we know who Amy is bringing? Dean asked as they perused their menus.

“No,” Vicky replied, “and she is being awfully smug about it.”

“I’m not sure how to react to that.”

Vicky chuckled. “That’s about right, actually.”

“She does seem to be doing much better lately.”

“Yeah, the change has been good for her—oh my god!”

Dean craned his head to see, then sighed as Vicky cackled. Making their way toward the table were Amy and a boy he hadn’t formally met, but whose abnormal emotional profile was a match for Impulse. Amy was wearing what looked like a thrift store suit, while likely!Impulse was wearing a flowy sundress, shawl and tastefully applied makeup.

“Well if this is going to be our reception,” likely!Impulse drawled, “maybe we should find better company.”

Nearby

Brian stuffed his fist into his mouth to stifle his laughter, while his sister’s entire world had narrowed to the viewfinder of her camera. He’d heard Alec talk about cross-dressing, but had assumed it was just more of the boy’s usual smack talk.

Chapter Text

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” Amy grumped to Dean.

The boy shrugged. “How could you have known?”

Meanwhile, Vicky and Alec excitedly talked about skin tone, matching tan shades, foundation and more, a bewildering array of makeup tips, tricks and techniques.

Nearby

“Huh, this is actually really good,” Aisha said, in response to her first bite of bolognese. “Never would have known from the name, sounded like baloney or boogers or something.”

“Your pronunciation was good, better than mine,” Brian said in an encouraging tone.

“Yeah, yesterday after the gym I made Lisa come over and teach me names of some of this rich people food. And I looked up pictures online to make sure what it was, b-witch was trying to get me to order weird shit.”

“Let me guess, you promised her pictures?”

“Yep! Though I don’t know what she’s expecting, we all know Alec is fabulous.”

Chapter Text

“Accord will be transitioning to our oversight certain of his activities outside of Boston,” Marquis said.

“What?” Thomas asked. “Why?”

Marquis shrugged. “According to our liaison, he will be working with Valkyrie in some sort of advisory capacity. Citrine will be in touch with details.”

Well, it wasn’t like he could say ‘no’, even if he wanted to. A few months ago he would have jumped at the chance but now all he could think was that things were happening far too fast.

Previously

“Finally,” the other woman said with a warm smile, “on a more personal note, I have some pictures you might enjoy.”

“Oh?” Marquis asked, as she handed over an envelope. Opening it, he smiled. “She looks so much like her mother.”

Elsewhere

“I appreciate that your power can in theory be used as a high-altitude launch assist mechanism.” Dr. Weaver stated. “Do not use it for this purpose absent express written permission.”

“Think of how useful it could be, though!”

“Extremely. It will also scatter wreckage over a wide area if it goes wrong. This means when you do try it, we will need to consider the same sort of safety concerns as an aerospace test range.”

Missy was not quite able to hide her disappointment.

Chapter Text

“Come on, admit it!” Vicky needled her sister, “you had fun.”

“You stole my date!” Amy said, plopping on the couch.

“Hey! Vicky squawked, “it’s not my fault he appreciates my makeup genius!”

“I had to make polite small talk! With Dean! I know he’s your snuggle toy but he’s so booooring we literally talked about the weather!”

“Yeah, yeah, but I didn’t get in the way when you and him and Alec spent like five whole minutes talking about some video game.”

“Saint’s Row is a masterpiece and I will fight you if you disagree!” Amy crossed her arms dramatically. “It’s a shame Youth Guard made them remove it from the Wards room.”

Vicky rolled her eyes. “If only you were half as interested in dressing up IRL as you were in games.”

“IRL I have to be the noble Panacea, if I wore anything interesting you-know-who would have a meltdown,” Amy grumped.

“Are you sure?” Vicky said seriously. “Aunt Sarah lets Eric and Crystal let their freak flags fly some, and Mom has mellowed out recently.”

“Oh course I’m—wait, what? Huh.” Amy adopted a pensive expression. “You know, you’re right.“

“Of course I’m right,” Vicky said triumphantly. “Just like I’m right that you had fun.”

“Fine,” Amy, admitted. “It was the most fun I’ve had on one of these double dates. Still not my preferred way to spend an evening, but tolerable.”

“You know, I might be able to get Dean to invite Alec to come to that party he’s doing if he comes as your date…”

“Don’t push your luck,” Amy grumped.

Chapter Text

“Soooo fulllllll,” Aisha moaned as they drove home, her irreverent tone clashing heavily with her professional attire.

“I was kind of surprised you finished it,” Brian observed.

“But it was sooo gooooood,” Aisha continued.

“If you’re so full why did you get dessert?”

“Because desert! And fire! It was awesome! How could I not eat the fire pie!”

“You know, you could have had them box part of your pasta and then ordered dessert anyway.”

“You can do that?”

“Sure, couple one table over both did it.”

“Huh, didn’t notice. Too busy taking pictures and making my mouth happy. And I can’t believe they offered us both wine! I mean, talk about a camouflage win! Don’t know what to think about her thinking we were on a date though. Sure, you are the best ever but we from Brockton, not Alabama. And I’m not sure if I should be happy she didn’t notice I’m too young for you or back to proud for the camouflage working.”

Aisha’s ramblings were interrupted by a buzzing from her purse. Fishing out her phone, she laughed, then sent a response before continuing. “Hey, bro wanna come back sometime with me and Alec?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah he’s a genius and pointed out we could just come back and order the entire dessert menu.”

“I’m not sure that will go well with your camouflage.”

“Hmmm, you’re right.” Aisha said pensively. “I’ll have to think on this, maybe talk to Lisa.”

“I’m surprised you want me to come along, actually.”

Aisha shrugged. “Eh, you cool. Plus, car. Alec doesn’t have a car, the bus sucks, and cabs in this city are weirdo roulette, ick.”

Chapter Text

“Finally, we have a request from the Bureau for some information on the Empire,” Phil said.

“They don’t normally get involved in that sort of thing,” Emily replied, “what do they want? Recent operational patterns?”

“Actually, no, they want stuff from a few years ago, actually going as far back as we can. Specifically about contraband, money flows and the like. Reading between the lines I wonder if they’ve gotten a lead on one of their pipelines and are trying to trace it back.”

“In that case, give them whatever they want. If they want to chase paper trails and money flows, Godspeed. We certainly don’t have the resources to do enough of that, as busy as we get with just containment.”

Elsewhere

“We can’t keep chasing these papers in circles, we’ve got pretty much all we can.”

“I know,” the second man said, taking a drag on a vile unfiltered cigarette. The two men were sitting in the back of his shop, after hours.

“We need to get closer, learn his habits, plant a tail,” the second man continued.

“That shit ain’t our strong suit.”

The second man said a name.

“You’re joking. There’s nuts and then there’s that.”

“We live in crazy times, and it ain’t like you have a better idea.”

“Yeah… You’re not wrong, but… Fuck!”

Chapter Text

“So,” Lilac said to Dr. Weaver, “now that you have me all dolled up, where are we going?”

At the older woman’s insistence, Lisa had put on her best hat and suit, and the two were now waiting in a nondescript office for no discernible reason.

“Seeing a Case 53 whose powers are not presently entirely within her control. I am curious as to whether proximity to my power will calm hers.”

Lisa blinked, as Power echoed her surprised confusion. “Does it even work like that?”

The older woman shrugged. “Maybe? Sometimes? Worth a try, at least, before we try more invasive interventions.”

Lisa blanched behind her mask. Dr. Weaver was not squeamish, and was not afraid to break eggs, so if she was calling something invasive, Lisa really didn’t want to know.

Chapter Text

Taylor cut off her conversation with Vicky mid-word to whirl around and slam her hand into the adjacent locker. The boy behind her froze, eyes wide.

Taylor loomed menacingly. “Why are you following me?”

The boy stammered incoherently.

Vicky laughed, as whispered something into Taylor’s ear.

Taylor sighed, facepalmed, and deflated slightly.

“Look you are sweet and all but I’m really not looking for a relationship right now. It’s not you it’s me, we can still be friends. Anyway I’m pretty sure that redhead who sits two rows back and one over during our math class has a thing for you so, yeah, more fish in the sea and all that.”

The boy meeped and scurried away.

“You keep bitching about what I do to your rep then you pull shit like this?” Amy grumbled from the other side of Vicky. “He looked like he wasn’t sure whether to faint or ask you to step on him.”

Chapter Text

Lisa looked around impatiently. “So… I don’t see anyone?”

“Sorry,” the harried therapist woman, Doctor Yamato or Yamammy or whatever said, out of breath as she came into the door. “Session ran long.”

“Door,” Dr. Weaver said in response, and one of those really cool and really scary portals appeared.

After an interminable series of security checks which were equal parts insulting, invasive and alarming, the three finally stood outside an armored enclosure.

“Now,” Dr. Weaver said, “we will initially talk to her from out here through a window. You will be kind to her, she has been through a lot.”

“I’m ready,” Lilac said with more confidence than she felt.

Dr. Yamada pushed a button, and a buzzer sounded. “Sveta, dear, is this still a good time?”

Shortly Thereafter

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Lisa sent a glare at Dr. Weaver but had more important things right now to worry about. “GSG, it’s Fox, I’m going to have words with this lady later but how the hell are you!”

Chapter Text

“You talk awful big for a punk with no hair,” the old man said, from the other end of the bar. He was wearing a worn olive jacket, and faded tattoos were visible on his neck.

The skinhead bristled. He’d done his rounds in the fighting pits, he wasn’t gonna take shit from this old fart. Tightening his grip on the pool cue, he lunged forward.

Later

“OK, chucklefucks,” Hookwolf said, walking into the room of injured skinheads, wearing casual clothes and a mask. “What did we learn?”

“New cape in town,” the most heavily injured man said through broken teeth.

“Nope, don’t get baited by guys with spec ops tats, especially the old ones. They fight dirtier than you. Only things y’all got right was no blades and no guns. Should let you heal the old fashioned way, but we need all hands on deck for Lung and shit so Othala will be here in a bit. You will,” he glared at each man in turn, “be properly grateful for wasting her time. Until then, I’m gonna give you a lesson on tats your pappies shoulda given you.”

Elsewhere

“Christ,” the old man griped, flexing his sore wrist. “Fucker hit like a truck, glad I wore the vest.”

“Think they noticed the tracker?”

“Too soon to say.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Ames!” Vicky said.

Amy looked up from her she was using her power to compare ‘Mina to an anatomy diagram.

“Thought you might be interested in this talk thing,” Vicky thrust a flier at her sister. “It’s on The Fairy Queen, sorry, Valkyrie, declaring sovereignty and stuff.”

“Actually, sure,” Amy said with a shrug, “was going to go out and see the new puppies but that got delayed until tomorrow.”

Elsewhere

“Ready to go?” Aisha asked.

“Oh,” Brian said, looking up from his GED packet. “I thought we still had some time?”

“Change of plans, we giving Taylor a ride!”

“Not Lisa or Alec?”

Aisha shook her head. “Lisa has a thing and Alec ain’t putting on pants for this.”

Later

From his spot at the back of the lecture hall, Marquis watched people file in for the talk. Outwardly, he made sure to project the image of a well-dressed member of the community, worn beyond his years, with a firm interest in the speaker. Long practice, however, allowed him to focus his attention on the real reason for his attendance—his daughter.

Chapter Text

Previously

“Come in,” Dr. Weaver said, without looking up. “Have a bagel.”

The bagel was delicious, and Lisa hated it.

“Why didn’t you tell me we were going to see GSG?” Lisa asked.

“So she would see your reaction, and to provide parity of information. It could even be seen as a secret identity thing, as GSG is as close to a civilian persona as Sveta has at the moment.”

Lisa sighed. Dr. Weaver wasn’t incorrect, but it all still rubbed her the wrong way somehow.

“So, now that we have conquered the bagel, we will move on to your next question. Specifically, what questions might you ask to find a good, safe, discreet emergency veterinarian?”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “On Bet, I assume, and within easy driving distance?”

“Let’s shake things up, and say Bet or anywhere in Valkyrie’s demesne, and say you can use the portals.”

She is legitimately interested in the answer to this question.

Lisa sighed. As tedious as these exercises were, they were helping with Power, and he had noticed.