A CYOA in Worm or I think my name is No No

[Rajvik]

Arguably this should have gone before the last post, but i just finished it so here it is.

**
Lung groaned as he picked his head up off of his desk and wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Miranda is going to be pissed,” he muttered to no one, “and Nemuri isn’t going to be happy either.” He had promised the both of them that he would not sleep in his office anymore unless it was absolutely necessary, and that even then he would let them know when that was going to happen. Still though he thought with a smile, It will be good to let them know that they are not alone in the world anymore. Looking at the big screen that he usually used to either watch the casino floor or his shows, (mostly his shows), the image of a familiar face, eerily similar to one he had last seen decades before and had thought easily a decade dead with his home island, stared back with a familiar rage bringing back the memories of his youth.
 
Years Earlier
 
“He’s your son Shiro,” Kenta heard his mother say to the strange man whose home they stood in front of. “You need to take responsibility for him.” Kenta didn’t know who the man was, all he knew was that his mother had brought him here when she had found out that Uncle Jiro had gotten him to run errands for the club. Behind the man stood a woman who was probably the man’s wife, and a girl of maybe four years. They stood on one side of the doorway of the home that his mother had brought them to, while Kenta and his mother stood outside, and the man stood in the doorway itself.
 
“Bǎihé,” the man sighed and then took another look at Kenta. He was big for his age of seven years, that was why Uncle had sent him to carry the messages, and now the strange man was eying him like he was measuring his mettle. “You are sure he’s mine?” the man asked finally.
 
Kenta saw his mother seem to deflate in relief, “Yes Shiro,” she said in a voice a little louder than a whisper. “He is definitely yours, there was no one else at the time that would dare to suffer your rage had they used me in such ways.”
 
The man reached out and took his mother by the shoulder before pulling her into an embrace. “The two of you need to come inside then,” he said stepping back and waving them inside. “Why now though?”
 
“Because Jiro put him to work and I won’t have my son sucked down into that morass if I can avoid it.” Kenta winced at the sound of his mother’s voice. There was an edge to it there that he had never heard before, and he doubted he ever would want to hear directed at him.
 
The man simply nodded to that statement as if it was a simple fact and turned to the woman and child that had already been in the house. “Mami, Hitomi, this is Bǎihé and Kenta,” he said. “Apparently Kenta is my son, and by bringing him here, Bǎihé will need a new place to stay as well since my old boss will take this as a betrayal.”
 
“No, I won’t,” Kenta’s mother said earning a raised eyebrow from both the man and his wife. “I have already arranged to go back to China. I couldn’t keep your son from you though, and I didn’t trust him with Jiro.”
 
“Will your path be safe with Jiro against you like this?” the man asked, concern tingeing his voice.
 
Kenta’s mother smirked and knowing smile, “Jiro doesn’t know all the smugglers out there,” she said. “I have a train I must catch though to make my boat. Take care of him Shiro, and Kenta,” his mother turned to him and dropped down to look him in the face. “Listen to these people, they are your family, and your father will care for you and teach you as a father should.” Kenta nodded, and his mother ruffled his hair before kissing him on the cheek. Standing she looked at the other adults, “Hopefully one day I will be able to return and see him, until then,” his mother stopped and the man, his father continued.
 
“Until then he is family,” the man said, “and the Takamachi family stands as one.” The other woman and the girl nodded at this statement causing his mother to smile before bowing and leaving. Once his mother was gone his Father turned to him and running another eye over him grunted, “Very well then, Kenta,” he pointed at the older woman. “This is my wife Mami,” the woman bowed politely, and Kenta returned it properly, “And this is our daughter Hitomi.”
 
The girl walked over and without warning hugged him tightly around his chest, “Yay, I now have an onisan,” the girl bubbled happily, “Aiko-chan will be so jealous.” Kenta could only smile as he wrapped his arms around his new sister.

**Ten Years Later**
 
“You do this,” Hitomi said from off to one side while Kenta went through the family forms against the training dummy. “and Pops is going to go ballistic. He might kick you out of the house for it.”
 
“He was my best friend,” Kenta grunted out between strikes, “and Jiro just killed him like you would kill a rabid dog that got close to the little children.” Kenta lashed out with another series of blows, shattering some of the wooden poles that were the strike points on the dummy, “Besides, I’m not going to down there to join one of the gangs, just to exact payment for Toji’s death.
 
Hitomi shook her head and let fly with the throwing knife that had been flipping between the fingers of her hand. “It won’t matter Kenta,” she said pulling another from up her sleeve. “It won’t be a sanctioned action, and thus he is going to blow his top.”
 
“Who is going to blow their top,” their father’s voice said entering the dojo causing both teens to jump to stop what they were doing to spin to face their father. “And why,” the elder man continued, “would this person blowing their top matter?”
 
Kenta and Hitomi locked eyes for a moment and Hitomi’s silent, slight shrug told Kenta she had no idea how long the old man had been listening. “Well you blowing your top is very significant father,” Kenta answered honestly.
 
The elder man smiled wryly and nodded, “Indeed it would be my son,” Shiro said. “But why would I blow my top, have either of you done something that would anger me?”
 
“Not that I know of father,” Hitomi said sliding her throwing knife back into its arm sheathe. “But some news that has recently come to Kenta has  the potential of rousing your anger should it be acted upon.”
 
Their father grunted in thought, and then spoke. “You seek to take the Yakuza’s bounty on Jiro then,” was all he said.
 
“Not for the money, nor for the Yakuza’s sake,” Kenta replied, “Toji was a friend back then, and he leaves behind both a sister and a wife.”
 
“A wife,” his father said, “at your age?”
 
Kenta shook his head, “He was a year older than me, and his wife is American born. They met when she came to Japan to look into her heritage.” His father lifted an eyebrow in question, “I don’t know if they were married yet, but I do know they were expecting a little girl soon.”
 
His father looked away for a moment, obviously in thought, “You would take the life of one you looked upon once as family, and then what, give the woman and her child the money, hoping they could go back to her parents in America?”
 
“Is there a better way for justice to be served father?” Kenta asked. “If so, then please, for the sake of all the spirits tell me so I may act and bring peace to the soul of one I still think of as a brother.”
 
His father sighed, “Give me three days my son,” his father said softly as he turned toward the family shrine at the other end of the dojo. “In three days, I will either have an answer, or else I will give you my blessings.”
 
“Thank you, father,” Kenta said bowing.
 
“Don’t thank me yet boy,” the old man said with almost a snarl, “you may find that my way is to leave it be and let others handle it. Vengeance is not something we practice here, nor do we seek death for the sake of our own hearts.” The two teens bowed, and their father closed the shoji that separated the dojo from the shrine area.
 
“I don’t think you are going to get what you want Kenta,” Hitomi said as she walked to the target board and retrieved her throwing knife.
 
“And yet I have a good feeling about this,” Kenta countered smiling as he withdrew the boards from the strike training dummy and replaced them by sliding in new ones. “He will find a way to see Jiro dead, and then maybe my mother can return to see me.” Hitomi only sighed before she left the dojo.

**Three days later**
 
“Walk out that door and you will never be welcome here again,” Shiro’s voice was as cold and sharp as the steel that made his blades. “Your mother wanted me to keep you out of that life, and I have done all I could over the years to do just that. That your friend died is a tragedy, but killing Jiro won’t bring him back, and it won’t bring peace to his wife and daughter. Nor will it protect them.”
 
“And so another death goes unavenged father?” Kenta’s voice was just as cold as their father’s. “I cannot continue to do nothing, and Jiro’s death solves so many people’s problems.”
 
“And you must be the person who brings about that death?” his father asked. “When was it appointed that you, Takamachi Kenta, was to be the executioner, the final arbiter of justice for the spirits of the dead?”
 
“Never,” Kenta answered. “And yet there he sits, the people he can reach cowed and fearful of him, or else on the run and hiding. No more father, I can let it stand no more.”
 
“Then go, willful child,” his father said in a growl, “but never return to this home or this dojo, you are no longer welcome here.” Kenta nodded and stomped out of the dojo, grabbing a bag of clothes that he had put aside in anticipation of the trip. He never heard his father’s final words of, “Spirits protect you my child,” as he left.

**
Lung picked up the phone from his desk and punched the auto-dial. Two rings later a young woman’s voice answered. “No Miranda I’m fine,” he said gently. “I found out something yesterday and there was a bit too much celebrating it after work.” He listened to the young woman on the other end of the phone, mostly nodding to himself. “That’s fine thank you, now please, put her on.” The voice on the other end changed to that of a small child and Lung smiled. “Hello sweetie how was your day?” he asked. After listening to the child chatter away on the other end for a few minutes, mostly spent nodding to himself as he was berated, he said, “I know sweetie, I’m sorry, I’ll try not to let it happen again alright?” The response made him smile. “Alright, I have to get back to work, but maybe soon I’ll have a surprise for you.” The chatter on the other end made him smile, “Well I can’t tell you silly,” he answered, “then it wouldn’t be a surprise. I love you.” He finished and after the voice on the other end answered him, he hung up the phone. Pushing the intercom button, he spoke his assistant, “Souta, I need you to get me some contact information for the Takamachi girl.”
 
“Right away Lung-sama” the person on the other end of the intercom replied causing Lung to sit back and relax a bit. Soon niece, he thought, soon you will have more family than you ever thought you might.

[Rajvik]

**Taylor**
Visiting the mall accompanied by Glory Girl and Panacea had been eye opening in a way. Vicky was definitely the queen bee type of social butterfly while Amy either seemed to prefer to be the tag along or had just become so used to the role that it wasn’t funny. On the other hand, she was always the one to call her sister down for letting go with her aura or flying indoors. Frankly it reminded me of Emma and myself back in the good old days. Akane, bless her, was thankfully all business and didn’t let Vicky get to out of hand when picking out clothes. That said, as we waited for the door to the Wards area to open for us, we still had to juggle half a dozen clothing bags, plus a grocery bag each.

“Are you ready for this?” Akane asked me as she settled the domino mask over her eyes.

“I guess,” I answered as I settled my own. “What about you?”

Akane smirked, “Honey, I was born ready.” Her answer didn’t surprise me, Akane had a confidence that I could only wish for. Maybe I could get there with time now that I didn’t have the trio ruining everything I did, but then again I had always been a bit of a wallflower even before Emma turned on me.

No I thought, This is the time for new beginnings, a time to become a new me. With that thought in mind I squared my shoulders and stood tall, I would master my powers and become the best hero the bay had ever seen. It was that or die trying.
**Akane**
I watched Taylor square her shoulders while pulling herself out of the slight slump that I had become accustomed to seeing in her, That’s right girlfriend, I thought, show the world you’re not some little rag doll to be tossed around. You’re the one with the badass power set that everyone is going to underestimate. I knew I didn’t need to fall, or let Taylor fall into Shadow Stalker’s mindset and become a bully, but I doubted that it would be the way Taylor would go. She had been the victim, and something in me said that she would be the first one to pull a bully up short once she had the confidence to do so.

The door to the Wards area seemed to open almost immediately at that point, so we strutted in as if we owned the place. Missy turned to look at us from the kitchen island and smiled. No, not Missy, Vista now that she was in costume, her visor hiding the upper half of her face. “A, T, you’re back.” She said rushing over and helping us with our bags.

“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m going to be here pretty much daily, and T is supposed to meet her dad here later. So where is everyone?”

“Gallant is out on patrol with Aegis and Browbeat right now.” She answered, “That just leaves me here on Console duty with these two jokers for the time being since Shadow Stalker is back in Juvie.”

“Hi, I’m Clockblocker,” one of the two boys sitting on the couch said with a wave, “and this is my good friend Kid Win.” Vista snickered slightly at that causing me to raise an eyebrow in question.

“He used to say partner in that introduction,” she replied smiling, “until one day when an older girl on the tour commented that it must be nice to have his boyfriend right there with him all the time.” She snickered again, and the two boys went a little red in the face while Clockblocker scowled at her. “He turned as red as a tomato but couldn’t do more than stammer at the comment.” Taylor and I both smiled and shook our heads.

“It wouldn’t have been so bad if the girl hadn’t pulled her girlfriend close to her and stole a kiss,” Kid Win commented softly, obviously focusing on whatever they were working on. I looked at Vista who only nodded, confirming what had been said.

“Well don’t feel so bad CB,” I said with a smile, “I’m sure someone out there will warm up to you someday.” It seemed like a good idea to change the subject, so I asked them, “What are you working on?”

“Geometry,” Kid Win answered, “I have discalculia and a distinct problem focusing on the classwork, so I have to study harder to keep my grades up.”

“Ah, I’m the complete opposite,” I answered walking over and looking at the book between the two boys. “Which one are you on?”

“Number twenty,” Clockblocker replied. I nodded and after looking at the question turned around went back to the table.

“I just happened to pick up something of a mnemonic that will cover that one,” I said reaching into one of the four bags I had set down. “Do you want it?”

“Absolutely,” Clockblocker answered, “I don’t have Kid’s problems, but math is still not one of my strong suites.”

“Alright,” I said pulling the item out of the bag and holding it behind my back before walking back over.
The boys in my absence has moved their papers and books to the coffee table, making room for me between them on the couch, “Give it to me and we’ll see if it’s something we’ve tried with Kid before.” I lifted and eyebrow at Kid Win and he nodded, so I shrugged and hit Clockblocker in the face with the cream pie.
**
Emily Piggot collapsed into her chair in shock at the assault her niece had just committed on her own future team mate. Behind her she could hear the stifled laughter of Assault and the cracks of Battery hitting him, trying to shut him up. “Dragon,” Armsmaster said calmly, “could you please show us the problem in question?”

“Certainly Collin,” the Canadian tinker replied making an inset view on the screen with a blow up of the math problem.

Almost immediately there was a pair of slaps that were not Battery followed by the thump of a body hitting the floor. Turning around to look at the assembled capes she found Assault convulsing on the floor, the act of suppressing the laughter having caused him to fall out of his seat while Miss Militia and Triumph had both smacked themselves in the face. Triumph over his mouth to contain his laughter while Miss Militia had facepalmed at the apparent joke. Collin lifted an eyebrow in a decidedly Nimoy fashion and deadpanned, “Well, she’s not wrong, the answer is pie.”
*Taylor*
Two things were happening, the first was that I couldn’t believe that Akane had just hit one of the Wards in the face with a cream pie, and the second was that I couldn’t seem to stop laughing about it. Looking over at Vista as Clockblocker swore vengeance with a very accurate mimic of Bugs Bunny saying, “You know of course, this means war.” I could see her still laughing as well while Kid Win facepalmed and wrote the answer down.

“Do I at least get to know the true name of my opponent?” he finally asked.

“Only if I get to know yours good sir,” Akane answered suppressing a snigger.

Pulling back the cowl of his costume to expose his entire head he answered, “Dennis Dynamite, and you are?”

“Akane Takamachi,” Akane answered pulling off the domino mask before looking at me.

“Taylor Hebert,” I said, pulling my domino mask off as well, “it is nice to meet all of you.”

Vista kicked up her visor to on top of her head still chuckling, “I have to get back on the console, but then you two already know me.”

Kid Win pulled his helmet off, “Chris Fairchild,” he said, “and thank you, now I know I’ll always remember that something is Pie.” Akane only grinned and walked back to me at the island table.

“So now what?” Dennis asked as I grabbed a kitchen towel from where it hung next to the stove before throwing it at him. “Are you just going to leave me to clean up this mess?”

“No,” Akane answered before grabbing a roll of paper towels out of her sack. “But I thought I should have the proper tools to clean up with as opposed to making more work with something that has to be washed.” Dennis sighed and nodded before bringing the towel over to the table

“I’ll just take this stuff back to our rooms and then go sit with Vista,” I said eyeballing the situation. “We have tests tomorrow and Thursday, and then we have to meet with PR on Friday.” Akane nodded and grabbing the garbage can, went to help clean up the mess from the pie.

[Rajvik]

*Taylor*
“Mr. Chambers,” Akane’s voice was thankfully enough to pull my mind out of the crushing loop that was caused by the man’s garish clothing choices. Glenn Chambers was built similar to Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, however where the stage magician was probably heavily muscled due to the needs of his profession, Glenn Chambers ran heavily to fat which he covered in suits that would make the eyes of a Hollywood pimp water in their garish blending of pastels and prints. “We were told to meet with you over costuming and branding?”Akane, thankfully, seemed unfazed by the man’s clothing choices as she stood their waiting for the adult’s answer.

“That’s right Miss Takamachi,” he answered offering his hand over his desk. “Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable.” We shook his hand and then sat down after which he handed us each a portfolio folder and started to talk. “I need you to look through these folders and make any suggestions that come to mind as to what else we could do where your powers and public perception are concerned.” Akane nodded and started going through her folder so I opened mine and looked. Powers looked right, though the number of them slightly surprised me, and then I looked at the name suggestions and almost froze. What the hell is this guy thinking I thought and then shook my head before turning the page and glancing at Akane who apparently had similar thoughts

Looking at the new page I went wide-eyed before turning the page again. Weapon options were, alright who the hell thought this was a good idea for fighting crime? I was about to say something to that effect when Akane beat me to it with a very loud, “What the ever-loving fuck?”
**
I knew from Aunt Em’s complaining in both phone calls over the years and over the last week at home that the Wards and Protectorate systems were terminally fucked in most cities and more beholden to public relations than anything else. This city in particular just seemed to be the biggest loser and in her eyes as it was passed over for more “important” (read flashier or more politically important) cities where personnel and requisitions were concerned. If nothing else proved her point, what was sitting in front of me did. The name was a nothing, no reference to anything I could do power wise or skill wise. The costume on the other hand had no armor to speak of and it looked like either something one of those Irwin brats would wear in Australia crossed with a boy scout uniform. There was nothing of any real use. Adding to that, between all the pockets and doodads that were in them, I looked like a damn RC control tinker. The look of shock on Glenn Chambers face told me that either no one had ever bothered to question him on things like this, or he couldn’t believe that a child would do it. All told, I honestly felt that my question was appropriate. “Taylor let me see yours a moment please.”

Looking at Taylor’s I winced almost as hard as I had with mine. Again, little to no armor, bright primary color, and while the name idea could work, the “Appropriate insects list” could go hang itself. I tossed both files up on the desk and looked at the idiot across from us. “Did you look at these things?” I asked him while pulling out my phone.

“Yes,” he answered eyeballing me, “I didn’t see anything inherently wrong with them.”

“Mr Chambers,” Taylor interjected, “In that folder all I could see was promotional ideas and a couple of cutesy costumes. There was nothing about any defenses, active or inactive, and there was no offensive ability whatsoever. Are your public relations people unknowledgeable about the situation in Brockton Bay?”

“The situation in this city is immaterial Miss Hebert,” Glenn replied in a tone that practically screamed, I’m an adult, I know better than you. “Quite frankly miss, you are Wards” he continued in the same tone. “That means that you will be kept the safe areas and used strictly for public relations. If either of you had ideas about going out and stopping crime you will have to put them off until you are 18 and have joined the Protectorate.”

I snorted hitting the call button and then putting the phone on speaker, “Of course,” I muttered as the phone started to ring, “damn REMFs.” His eyes went wide at that comment even as the phone connected.

“Piggot,” the voice almost echoed in the man’s office.

“Director,” I said the smile that was on my face evident in my voice, “I’m sorry for disturbing you but as we figured PR is being their usual pain in the ass.”

“Director,” Chambers said glaring at me, “you know that the Wards are there to show the public that the Protectorate and the PRT have things well enough in hand that their junior members have no fear of moving around and meeting the public. They’re PR assets, not shock troops.”

“Glenn,” the director answered calmly, “you are right, they are not shock troops, however you seem to be under the misconception that Brockton Bay has the ability to not need to use them as anything but Public Relations assets. Now, Akane, Taylor, one at a time lay out your problems with what PR has proposed and we’ll see if we can’t come up with some sort of compromise.”

“Well the most blatant thing is that they have me looking like an Irwin that joined the boyscouts, and Taylor dressed up as a giant ladybug. Neither costume has any armor what-so-ever, and they nixed any useful insect in Taylor’s local repertoire.

“Costuming can be changed,” Chambers said with a sigh, “since names haven’t been chosen yet. But there will be no obvious armor and the insect list isn’t changing, the public won’t stand for it.”

“Costuming and names are not the main problems here mister Chambers,” I replied almost snarling at him. “May I explain exactly what the problems are ma’am?”

“By all means Akane,” the director answered, “Glenn, I suggest you sit down and take notes, one of these girls grew up here and is in front of you because of what was arguably our fuck up, the other one, well I’m sure Akane can enlighten you.”

“First of all,” I said standing and setting the phone on the edge of the desk next to the file folders. “ The central point of almost all my points is that this is Brockton Bay. When George Lucas wrote that line about a hive of scum and villainy he could have been describing this place, and I knew that before I came here from Japan.” I pinned Chambers with a glare as I said that first part, and then started to pace the short distance across the carpet in front of his desk as I continued. “This is a city,” I continued, “that is probably within the top ten in the US, if not the world, of capes per capita. It has three major gangs, all led by parahumans, that are at current in a state of cold war as they wait for one of them to show either a weakness that can be exploited, or else a strength that will allow them to try and take over.”

Turning I placed my hands on his desk and glared at him again, “That sir,” I said, “means this town is a powder keg just waiting for some idiot to light the fuse. The fact that two of those gangs are known to run guns into the city just means that body armor is a necessary item if anyone is not a brute and wants to survive.”

“That would not be a problem so long as you kept to the safe sectors of what the police, Protectorate and the PRT had cleared.” Glen returned. “I don’t see where your argument trumps mine young lady.”

“That is because you are not from here Mr. Chambers,” Taylor said with a growl. “When you have a school administration that lets them wear their colors and recruit members in the school itself, when, if you’re a minority there are sections of what are supposed to be Ward Safe patrol routes that if you are a minority you could be lynched on. No Mr. Chambers, you don’t understand this city at all.”

I nodded at Taylor and turned my attention back to Chambers, “In Tokyo it wasn’t this bad,” I said. “Yeah the gangs and especially the Yakuza and the Triads had their fingers into everything. If you had a business you paid protection in some form or fashion, and that was with a Sentai on practically every corner. You barely outnumber the ABB, and are outnumbered by a bunch of Nazis, so sticking your head in the sand and saying that everything is normal falls on deaf ears here Mister Chambers.”

“Now,” I said as I started to pace again. “The next issue is this limiting of Taylor’s minions. Doing this severely limits her flexibility. Outside of your requirements Taylor could go anywhere in the world save the artic and Antarctic and have a large swarm to fight with within seconds. Placed within their bounds however, she is a sitting duck with practically no use at all. She wouldn’t even have to endanger her identity as she could either make bug clones or else make a mask out of insects.”

Chambers held up his hand to get me to stop, “I understand this, in fact this is part of the reason for limiting her as much as Public Relations has called for,” he said. “Fact of the matter is that she is just to damn scary to the population. In fact, she is easily the scariest cape in the city.”

“Chambers,” the director replied, “this is a city that is home to a villain cape that single handedly fought an Endbringer to an effective standstill and another that is a verified Neo-Nazi who turns himself into a werewolf of hooks and blades. I think the populace can handle a few bug swarms that aren’t actually attacking them”

Chambers glowered at my phone sitting on the edge of his desk like he wanted to smash it, so I decided to twist the knife a little more. “Furthermore,” I continued, “do you know that spider silk has a high tensile strength. Multiple layers, probably with reinforcing plates could turn any costume made out of it into a flexible armor suit that is good for all weather. Done right it would probably turn short range small arms fire, but that would have to be tested.”

The PR head actually sat back to think about that one, so I decided to hit him with the next problem. “Then there is the idea that sending us out into the afore mentioned powder keg, with no armor, should be done in bright, primary colors that make you stand out. This is fine if you are a brute like Aegis and can soak the gunfire, but for squishy folks like me and Taylor, it’s suicide.”

“That’s why you’re only supposed to be doing patrols in safe areas to show the flag, and PR events in already secured locations.” Chambers snarled back at me. “Your never supposed to be in any danger, at all.”

“That’s why I asked if your people had any knowledge of the city,” I said calmly and then sat down before speaking again. “Because in Brockton Bay, there are no such places.”

[Rajvik]

Interlude: Glenn Chambers
Glenn turned the chair to where he could see out the three-quarter window and smiled. Neither the local director, a woman known for being a hard-ass, nor really anyone outside of Public Relations knew this, but the initial relations offering was always a test to see what was most important to the parahuman in question. There were effectively three types of parahuman and PRT Management, the first were people who went with the offered package and were usually only interested in their image. This was not a bad thing necessarily, they were the ones meant to be the faces of the Protectorate and Wards, the ones that were shown to the cameras and given flashy but empty positions.

The second and third types started with questions and usually wanted to be effective as opposed to approachable. The difference between the two was in their PRT management. Type two members would bow to the pressure of the PRT directors and either go with the offered package, or at best force minor amendments to the proposed overall theme. Type twos were rare amongst the Wards because parents usually went along with the approved idea regardless of the Ward’s ideas simply because the parent wanted them “safe”.

Type threes were practically unheard of amongst the wards because the parents usually could be counted on to fight their children in the name of the child’s safety, and their PRT management usually aided in that. This, as miss Takamachi had pointed out, was Brockton Bay, a city that arguably shouldn’t have a Wards presence at all because of how dangerous it was, and here of all places he had found not just one, but two type threes. They were type threes because not only did they disdain the arguable safety of the Ward’s position, but had managed to talk both their guardians and the local PRT management into backing them. At this point his options were to either sign off on the teen’s ideas and let it go, or go to the Youth Guard and the Chief Director and get them to fight it. Looking out over the city’s skyline he could almost see the line in the streets, the point where things went from being passable, livable and arguably safe, into a steaming pile of crap. “Alright,” he muttered to himself, “what do I do this time?”
**
“Emma Barnes and Madison Clements,” The two girls raised their heads from where they had been seated for the hearing. The female guard guided the pair of them toward the defense table as a man that Emma noticed was not her father stepped forward.

“Michael Foster for the defense your honor,” the man stated as the two of them reached where the guard wanted them to stand. Looking back over her shoulder Emma could see her mother in the audience near the center aisle along with Madison’s father.
Turning back to the judge, a stern looking black man with a bald head, Emma could see the state attorney step forward with a pair of case files as the clerk read the charges. “The accused are each charged with ten counts of assault and battery, one count of attempted murder with a biological weapon, and conspiracy to commit the same.”

As the clerk read the charges Emma’s eyes grew larger and the sound seemed to fade as her mind whirled, Attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, what the hell are they talking about? she thought, I mean yeah we roughed her up, that would be assault, or battery I can’t remember which, but we never tried to kill her. Her lawyer, who’s name she remembered her father mentioning as an associate at his firm was talking, trying to get her bail she thought, at least that was the plan and the reason they were in front of the judge today. The problem was she couldn’t hear what was being said. Now her mother and Mr. Clements were stepping forward to speak to the judge and apparently answer the DA’s questions.

Suddenly her lawyer had turned to her and trying to say something, then someone shook her and sound returned along with the world coming back into focus, “What?” she asked.

“The judge asked if you understood the conditions Miss Barnes,” her lawyer said.

“Conditions?” she asked turning back to the judge who was frowning.

“Yes Miss Barnes,” the judge answered. “If I release you on bail there are going to be conditions to your release. First, you will have absolutely no contact with your victim Taylor Hebert or her family. Second, you will wear an ankle monitor and through it be monitored at all times during your release. If you are released after the trial the monitor will be removed at that point. Removing the anklet will send out an alarm and will see your bail revoked and you returned to juvenile detention to await your trial. Finally, you are restricted to either be at school, or at home, and by that, I mean your home. You may not go anywhere else save pre-approved doctors appointments. Failure to adhere to these requirements will also see your bail revoked and you returned to juvenile detention. Do you understand and accept these restrictions and requirements?”

[Rajvik]

**Akane**
“So,” Taylor said as we sat watching Parian put on one of her puppet shows for a mass of children and their minders. “Are you ready for school on Monday?”

I tilted my head as I watched the brown and grey denim wolf chase after a green and grey gingham duck, “As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose,” I answered as the children either grew angry or cried for the death of the duck. The group of kids were either from a day care somewhere towards Captain’s Hill or were a Pre-K group with a lot of parental chaperones. The old Russian folktale was age appropriate though, and all of them were entranced by the movements of the different cloth scraps that made up the dolls. Glancing over at Taylor, I could see her lifting an eyebrow questioningly at me, so I continued, “I’m as ready now as I was when I walked into Winslow Monday morning.” Taylor grimaced and I smiled at her before hugging her close to my side. “It won’t happen again Taylor,” I told her before dropping my volume so as not to be heard by the people around us. “And we are about to take this whole city for a spin, just you wait and see.”

She snorted and smiled in response before grabbing my empty hot chocolate cup from where we had stopped at Starbucks before the show and heading towards the garbage can. I turned my attention back to the show as the children started to cheer. Peter was a mass of red cotton with blue denim legs and was perched proudly on top of the “wolf” doll as the “hunters” carried the two back to town. Some of the children were still sad over the death of the duck though, or at least until it was found, alive by the small bird to end the story. That, in of itself, also brought cheers, and the entire scene brought a smile to my face. I always enjoyed the smiles from small children, and I imagined that was part of what drove Parian to do these shows as well.

“Hey sweetheart,” a voice called from one side of the square that housed the small, open air theater. The shout grabbed everyone’s attention and pulled their gaze to the mass of filth covered humanity that stood on that side of the square. “I think it’s time we had a serious talk about when your going to do one of your special shows for Skidmark.”

“Merchants,” Taylor muttered having come back over to me after disposing of our trash. I glanced at her again and could see the look of disgust on her face at the six thugs that were advancing on the crowd.

“Power up,” I half asked, half warned as I cranked her power up to fifteen and then watched her face turn almost mint as she obviously fought the urge to vomit. “What’s wrong?” I asked in a near whisper.

“They have so much,” she muttered after a second of gaining her control back. “They are covered in lice and other body bugs its just so damn disgusting.” I went pale at the thought and almost barfed right there as well. “Even with my power normal I could probably fight one blindfolded and track their every move there are so many on them.” I matched her full body shiver with my own shudder.

While we had been talking, the group of landfill rejects had moved closer to the crowd sending the children scrambling for parents and caretakers while Parian started to pack up her show. “You know you owe us for not fucking you up, right blondie?” the apparent leader of the group said in a menacing tone. “Though I suppose we could call it even if we took the money from these rich fucks and their parents.”

“You will do no such thing,” a new voice with a thick German accent said from the other side of the square drawing everyone’s attention there. Standing there was a strange, older man leaning on a cane with six empire thugs backing him. “You and your trash will leave Madame Parian and these people alone and return to the landfill from which you spawned or else my friends and I will, how is you American’s say it?” he paused a moment for drama’s sake before continuing. “Ah yes, we shall take out the trash, ja?”

“Who ever heard of Empire to the rescue,” I muttered causing Taylor to snort slightly. Of course she was the only one who was likely to find it funny, because as bad as running from the Merchants might be on its face, being caught in the opening salvo of a gang war would be worse, and these civilians knew that.

I fired off a text to Aunt Emily one handed that I hoped wasn’t gobbledygook, or at least if it was would get her to send some kind of help. They were probably all unpowered so I could at least keep my secret and possibly help a few civs clear, but as each group started to finger knife hilts and body chains, I knew that either Taylors ID was about to become public, or else we would need a miracle. Surprisingly, miracles were apparently Taylor’s other super power.
**Taylor**
“Gentlemen!” I yelled stepping up on top of the bench that Akane and I had been watching the show from. “Before you fight, I would ask that you listen to me for a minute.” The two leader’s heads had snapped to me even as I had raised my voice, but the man with the cane nodded, and the Merchant struck a kind of swagger pose and waved, so I continued. “We all agree that this is an area that depends on the crowds like this one to survive yes?”

The Nazi nodded, his eyes never leaving me while the Merchants mumbled amongst themselves for a moment before the leader yelled back, “What’s your point bitch?”

“My point is,” I said waving my hand at the civilians who had come for the show. “Scared and possibly worse, wounded adults neither bring, nor allow their children to go somewhere that they are likely to be hurt.” Both of the group leaders nodded at this so I continued, “I propose that both sides allow the civilians to withdraw, to leave unmolested, and then you have your little fight while Miss Parian makes up her mind.”

“We can allow this,” the Nazi said calmly.

“Whatever,” the Merchant leader snarled and with that I gestured at the parents and chaperones who grabbed their charges and practically flooded out the parking lot exit.
**Parian**
To be frank, I was surprised. That girl had probably just saved several lives by getting through to both sides and convincing them to let the audience leave. “Wundabar fraulein,” the Nazi leader said with a soft slow clap. “You know the Empire is always willing to take in quick minded people of the right persuasions.”

“Yeah, but no,” the tall brunette answered having turned to look at the Empire group. “Thanks, but no thanks, I’m not interested. Besides, you wouldn’t like my friends.” The group of Merchants started laughing at how she had shut down the Empire’s offer, they stopped quickly though when she turned her attention on them however. “Don’t laugh to hard you bunch of landfill rejects,” she said shutting up the Merchants as well. “The Empire’s soldiers at least know how to bathe. Now Miss Parian, if you would step over here, they can begin their fight and beat each other senseless.”

I nodded and grabbing the reigns of the pack horse that I had made out of my fabric led it and its loads of appliques and doll parts toward the exit. “Merci beucoup,” I said as I reached her causing the young woman to nod. Looking back over my shoulder I could see her and her friend backing away from the square, one hand each on the flanks of my pack pony.

“Alright gentlemen,” the girl called out as we started down the stairs toward the parking lot, “it’s all yours.” The roar from the two groups was soon followed by grunts and the clangs of pipes meeting each other from being swung. I refused to look back at the carnage that was happening behind me, my focus completely on the parking lot ahead.

Reaching the parking lot showed an ambulance, a paddy wagon, and a PRT sprayer team dismounting from another cargo van along with a dozen of the Brockton Bay Police Department. Turning I looked at my rescuers and asked, “Who are you?”

[Inquisitive Raven]

Homophone substitution (autocorrupt error perhaps?): "reigns" should be "reins."

Also, " “Merci beucoup,” should be "Merci beaucoup."

[Rajvik]

Thanks raven, damn spelling errors

[ECSNorway]

A very nice chapter.

"Surprisingly, miracles were apparently Taylor’s other super power." I like it.

[Rajvik]

Sorry, posted this to SB and SV but not here

**
“So,” Parian said over her green tea, “let me be sure I understand you correctly. You wish to trade materials that you can make, and in exchange you want me to make you each a costume, plus one other.” Taylor and I nodded to that so the cloth working cape continued with a question. “What kind of material are you looking to offer?”

“Spider silk,” Taylor answered pulling a swatch of fabric that I knew she hadn’t had before out of her fanny-pack. “This is just a sample, but I can get it made in bolts to varying thicknesses, basically whatever you deem necessary to make bullet resistant clothing, with pockets for bullet-proof panels.”

As Taylor spoke, I watched Parian’s eyes widen, and when she felt the undyed piece of cloth she smiled. “Very interesting,” she said after a minute before eyeballing each of us up and down. “We may actually be able to work a deal here, however, you are offering me quite a bit of trust for someone you just met.”

“You have a reputation,” I answered calmly. “You don’t play the games, and you try to stay out of the cape scene in favor of performing your puppet shows and creating breathtakingly beautiful fashion. Today was the worst it has ever been so far, but both the gangs and the Protectorate are looking to recruit you for various reasons rather than leave you a rogue.”

“Are you going to make me the same kind of offers they do?” Parian asked and I shook my head.

“No,” I answered, “if you choose to join the side we are on, you will do it of your own volition. We will neither pressure you nor inform anyone of anything we learn about you. That is the code isn’t it, even when you learn them, the civilian face of a cape is sacrosanct.”

Parian seemed to smile, (it was difficult to tell with her mask) before taking a sip of her tea through a straw. “One would think that yes,” she said. “The truth, however, is that power allows one to ignore that rule, especially if you have annoyed more than one person of power. The pair of you strike me as the heroic type so let me point this out. When you annoy people, you make them enemies, and in this city, there are three enemies you don’t want to have at the same time, The Empire, The ABB and the PRT.”

“And if you have the support of one of those three?” Taylor asked.

“Then the other two will generally leave you be to a degree.” Parian answered. “However, I simply wish to be my own person. That said, I will do this for you. In thanks for your help if nothing else, though I do wish to trade for your material.” As she spoke, she pulled an ink pen out of her bag as well as a sketch pad. “This is the name and number of a classmate of mine who acts as my face so to speak,” she said jotting down a name and number across the bottom corner of a page before carefully tearing it out. “You can call phone her after three this afternoon and she will be available to get your measurements and work with you on a design. Once I have the fabric it should not take much time to produce the costumes.” She smiled at us, “Unfortunately though I must leave now, farewell.”

Taylor and I both nodded to her as she got up and quietly left. “Well that went better than expected,” Taylor commented downing the last of her tea. I drank down my own, now cold, hot chocolate before nodding.

“I didn’t expect the Empire and the Merchants to show up though.” I answered. “What do you think though, will this work?”

Picking up the piece of paper that Parian had left on the table, Taylor looked at it and shrugged, “I don’t know, let’s ask Sabah in an hour or so.” Taylor handed me the piece of paper with the name Sabah ibn Salim written on it with what was obviously a cell phone number. I punched the number into my phone and saved it to my contacts.

“Yeah,” I said looking from my phone to the clock on the wall that was showing a little after two in the afternoon. “You want to deal with paperwork, or window shop the Lords Street market?” Taylor’s response was to laugh as she walked out the coffee shop’s door and turn toward the docks area.
**Taylor**

“Could I ask you two a question?” Parian’s classmate Sabah said as she finished jotting down my measurements and looking at both sets with an air of thought.

“You can ask,” Akane answered smiling,

“But we never guarantee an answer,” I finish with a smile of my own causing Sabah to smile as well.

“That is understandable,” the dark-skinned young woman replied. “Do you have anything planned for the Sunday after next?”

Akane and I shared a look before she asked, “Which one of us?”

“Both of you,” Sabah answered. I looked at Akane who shrugged at me before both of us returned our attention to the clothier. “I need to ask a favor of you, and I hope you consider it before deciding.”

“Ask,” I said wondering what she could want. She only had measurements and names, so she couldn’t know what we were going to be up to I consoled myself. “The worst we can do is say no.”

She looked between us and sighed, “The problem is that I need some help, and the two people I had arranged to handle it are now sitting in the city jail. Could the two of you model some clothes for me?”

“Model clothes?” I practically whispered freezing in place with my eyes wide and staring. ME?

[Black Aeronaut]

<Scooby>Ruh-Roh!</Scooby>

It's always fun to have a character placed in a situation outside their comfort zone. *Inhales deeply* Ahhhhh! Smells like character development~.

[ECSNorway]

Heh. Taylor modeling for Parian. Wow, that's gonna stick in Emma's craw....

(Why am I having flashbacks to the one story where Taylor spots photos of Emma as an underwear model in a store, and calls them on kiddie porn for it...?)

[Rajvik]

Don't know, haven't seen that story

[ECSNorway]

Don't know, haven't seen that story

If I could remember which it was I'd post a link.

[Rajvik]

**Akane**

“So, how do I look?” Taylor asked as she stepped out of the apartment’s bathroom. It had taken almost twenty minutes for Sabah and I to calm Taylor down from the incipient panic attack that she had started into, but once we did, Taylor had been willing to at least give the outfits a try. In turn, Sabah had led us to a three-bedroom apartment close to the border between the ABB and the Merchants. The building was run down, and the apartment was full of people, but an older woman who I gathered was Sabah’s mother or aunt ran the children out of the apartment in short order to give the three of us the room we needed to work. Most of the outfits Sabah had set aside for this were going to be long on me, as the model they had been planned for hit almost directly between Taylor’s five foot ten, and my own five foot five. This of course meant that while they would be long for me, and a touch short for her, we needed to see how well she wore them before seeing if hemming them up for me would work better.

Turning, I looked at her and felt my jaw drop. Her hair had been pulled back into a scrunchie just behind and below her neck framing her face while the sky-blue sundress, which would have hit me mid-shin, sat with it’s hem just above her knees. My eyes dropped to her bare feet once more, and I tried to lift them up to look at her face, but I just couldn’t get past the hem of the skirt. My inner otaku was currently head desking, knowing that if this were an anime or manga that at best, I would be turning beat red with steam whistling out my ears, and more likely have comically catapulted over backwards due to an explosive nosebleed. Thankfully neither of these happened, and yet I was still unable to answer or raise my view past those marvelous legs to look my friend in the eyes.

“'araa 'ana hadha hu mjrd alainhiraf biqadr ma kunt abnat” the older woman’s voice said finally dragging my attention away to the now laughing woman in a hadjab. “ela alaql hdha alnawe jadhdhab nsbyana , ela alrghm mn 'an 'iizhar qadr kabir min aljuld yjb 'an yakun mkhjlana lieayilatiha.”

Now, even as something about what the woman said felt familiar, I could feel the blush starting to warm my cheeks. “al'umu , nahn duyuf fi hadhih al'umat , yjb 'an naetaniq bithaqafatina kathaqafatina hataa” Sabah said to her before turning to me and Taylor, “I’m sorry,” she said to us, “my mother forgets we are no longer in Arabia and should embrace American culture even while gifting your nation with our own.”

“Did,” I started and then gestured for Sabah to come closer. She leaned in and I whispered in her ear, “Did your mother just call you and I both perverts?”

Sabah’s eyes went wide as I said that and then leaned back and nodded. “You know how to speak Arabic?” she asked, and I shook my head no, “Then how?”

“I don’t know,” I answered, “it was practically instinctual.”

“al'umu , nahn duyuf fi hadhih al'umat ,” her mother said pointing at me. “yjb 'an naetaniq bithaqafatina kathaqafatina hataa”

“It wasn’t like that madam,” I replied causing the woman to raise an eyebrow. “I was confirming what I thought you had said, and the problem is that I don’t know how I knew it.”

“Would not be only person here with power.” The woman croaked out before laughing and tottering off toward one of the bedrooms. Not that it mattered as instantly my head snapped first to Taylor who was looking at all of us wide-eyed before I turned back to Sabah who had just gone pale as a sheet.

**

Translations

(mother) I see this one is just as much a pervert as you are daughter.
At least that one is relatively attractive, even though showing that much skin should be shameful to her family.

(Sabah)Mother, we are guests in this nation, we should embrace their culture as our own even as we gift them with our insights.

(Mother)Don't go whispering sweet nothings in my daughter's ear young lady, I'm going to have to keep a very close eye on you apparently.

**

“Well,” Sabah said after her mother had left the room, everyone still looking at the door that had closed behind the woman. “If Akane’s response is indicative of the reaction you will receive, then I have very little that I will need to do with things. Maybe take in the waistline with a ribbon belt to emphasize your hips and arrange for the stage to have a pair of open toed three-inch wedge heels. What do you think Akane?

“It looks really good,” I muttered just loud enough to be heard trying to focus on something other than Taylor’s legs. Of course, it was at that moment she decided to spin around, causing the skirt to flair out and highlight her legs even more and me to mutter under my breath, “Supiritto wa sore o teirā ni kuruwaseru, anata wa sore o itotekini yaru koto sura nai.”

“You need to get into one of the outfits she has for you as well Akane,” Taylor said a moment later, causing me to look up at her as she bent over toward me with one of the outfits in her hands. “I want to see what you look like in this one.”

“You’re starting to get into this aren’t you?” I asked taking the dress with a slight grimace and starting toward the bathroom. I had worn skirts as a part my school uniform because I had to, but I was definitely not a fan of them, especially ones as confining as this outfit would be.

“Sorta,” Taylor said with a shrug as Sabah started to tinker and make various adjustments to the sundress. “It at least brings back happier memories of my childhood.”

I nodded and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me before I started stripping down to change clothes. The dress thankfully tightened with ties, so there were no buttons or clasps to have to deal with except for around the neck. Design wise, the dress was arguably a cross between a classic, spaghetti strap little black cocktail dress and an Ao Dai. The whole thing was a royal purple with a cut-out lace front backed with a slightly paler purple to show the shapes in the lace. The straps that held it up at the shoulders and connected the collar were about an inch wide and as I settled the dress into place, let the bosom of the dress sit a little lower than was probably intended. As I had figured, the skirt for it was similar to a LBD’s pencil skirt giving very little room for someone to move above the knees. Thankfully it did stop at the knees instead of going for the full length that a normal Ao Dai would, but again the height difference between me and the intended model shifted the actual skirt down below my knees.

Finally dressed, I stepped back out of the bathroom in a shuffle instead of my usual stride, “Definitely need to adjust the lengths of something here Sabah,” I said before looking up. Taylor was beaming at me in that blue sundress which had gained laces up the sides and between the breasts while I had been getting dressed, and now Sabah was coming over with a critical eye towards what changes and adjustments she was going to have to make to this dress to make it work for me.
“Yes, this definitely is the one for you,” she muttered adjusting the top section and pinning the straps where they needed to be before kneeling down to adjust the skirt. “Take in the hem a little and it will be perfect.” Internally I groaned, knowing this was going to be a long and drawn out process.
**Taylor**
I looked up from the kitchen table as dad walked in from work, “Hey dad, how was your day?” I asked sliding away the book I had been reading.

“So, so,” he answered, “Do you have any preferences for dinner tonight, or should I just pick somewhere to call for delivery?”

“I’m going to make us a salad to go with the steaks and potatoes I’ve prepped,” I told him with a smile. “Then we can eat once the steaks and potatoes have cooked.”

Dad smiled at that as it had been a while since we could afford steak, “Sounds good to me, but I can sense you either want to ask for something or are wanting to do something.”

“How?” I asked, wondering how he knew that I wanted to ask something.

“I’m a parent,” he answered, “Even when you were hiding what was happening at school, I knew something was happening, just not what, nor really how to ask.” At that point he sighed, “I’ve spent a bit of time talking to Hannah,” I looked at him questioningly, “Agent Washington.” He answered and I nodded. “Anyway, we’ve been talking, and she explained that sometimes you just have to come out and ask bluntly, so what is it you want Taylor?”

“I want to invite Director Piggot and Akane out to dinner to thank them for all they’ve done for me and for us.” I said and smiled as dad nodded. “Plus, Akane and I were asked to model a student’s designs at a local fashion show next Sunday, so I figured we could go out to dinner afterwards.”

Dad nodded in thought, and then, apparently in agreement “Sounds like a good idea,” he said sitting down at the table across from me. “Now, tell me about this fashion show.”

[Rajvik]

**
I woke with a clench, barely choking off the scream that seemed to fill my throat. From that point I don’t know how long I lay there panting in my bed as I came down from the ecstasy of my dream. I do know that at some point I realized I was going to have to replace my clothes and bed sheets, so it couldn’t have been too long, and when I was pulling the sheets off after changing my shorts I could see my alarm clock which showed that it was 3am.

Bed stripped and myself somewhat cleaned up from my nighttime adventure I carried the sheets to the laundry room off the kitchen of the apartment and started to load the washer as I tried to remember and make sense of the dream. Unfortunately, there was nothing but a mass of faces and hair, a dark-skinned redhead that was backed by flames, a fine boned blonde with darkness behind her, and a multitude of Asian women, only one of who I recognized. The last face though was someone I recognized immediately, and I cursed my brain for throwing my friend into that kind of dream. Sheets layered into the washer I added the detergent and set the machine, only to hear water running in the sink as I went to push the start button.

“Don’t let me filling the coffee pot stop you from starting the laundry,” Aunt Emily said shutting of the water. “I can tell something happened, and if you’re doing laundry it wasn’t a nightmare, or it was one hell of one.” She gestured at me to go ahead and start the laundry load, so I did before stepping back into the kitchen where she was still filling the coffee maker. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

“Not really,” I answered blushing deeply as I sat down at the kitchen island.

Aunt Emily grunted in consideration as she finished prepping the coffee maker and started it brewing. “So, do I need to expect calls to and from Tokyo at odd hours?”

“No Aunt Em,” I answered before rubbing my face, “Tokyo and I broke up in the wake of the hijacking.” Mayumi didn’t have a problem with my powers, or so she claimed. No, her problem was the ease in which I had gutted a man with his own knife so that I could steal his weapons and the measures I had gone to so that I would have him alone to do so.

“Then do I need to have a word with someone on the team?” the question was logical, both as my guardian and as the local director, however it still had me staring at her wide-eyed. In response she gave me an indulgent smile, “Akane, as long as I’m not having to deal with Dennis in my home on an almost nightly basis, nor an enraged Glory Girl or Vista due to you chasing Dean Stansfield I don’t really mind who you go after.” The so long as it doesn’t mess up the team didn’t need to be stated. “Just don’t end up pregnant ok,” she stated, probably more calmly than she felt.

I smiled up at her as that wasn’t exactly a problem, “Aunt Em,” I said with a sigh. “The problem, or at least part of it, is that they don’t know how I feel, and I don’t know how they would feel about the situation themselves. They’ve been hurt recently, and, well I don’t want to hurt them nor drive them away.” At that point I muttered, “They’ve been hurt enough over the last few years.”

Aunt Emily’s eyes went wide at that point as she sucked in a large breathe in surprise. The yell I expected though didn’t come, only her muttering, “Fucking hell Akane,” before getting up to fix herself a cup of coffee.
**
I had met Saotome Mayumi on my first day of school in Tokyo. She occupied the desk next to me in my class and in all honesty, I was probably a little standoffish as she struck me as an overly girly-girl who didn’t even know how to throw a punch. That didn’t matter when a pair of older boys decided to pick on her at recess that day. She had brought a doll with her, and the boys who were bigger, and arguably stronger than both of us, took it and pulled it apart in a show of both barbarity and cruelty. They never noticed me walking up behind them, nor the fact that I drew back the whiffle ball bat that I had taken from the class supplies and swung it like a golf club behind the larger of the two, hitting him right between his legs. His friend didn’t get a chance to react either as I spun and put the same bat across the backs of his knees.

At that point I grabbed Mayumi with one hand and dragged her away towards the teacher who had yard duty that day. I ended up in trouble with the school, and my mother was called, but I was only scolded by the teacher and the vice-principal for taking matters into my own hands. Mom on the other hand was ecstatic, both that I had made a friend and that I had stood up for her myself. If the school had punished me, then mom rewarded me with some ice cream, inviting Mayumi and her mother along for the trip.

For almost the next ten years Mayumi and I were inseparable, even when the school would put us in different classes, one of us would find a way to at least spend lunch and club time with the other. At 13 I had realized I had feelings of being more than just friends with Mayumi, and at 14 I had managed a stilted and red-faced confession of my feelings to her. I had been so embarrassed, and so worried that she would reject me I almost fainted when she took my hands and kissed me on the cheek. She felt the same way, and from that point on we were a couple. Mayumi’s mother didn’t seem to mind, and somehow managed to convince my mother that we would be fine. Mom, well she thought it was just a stage, and that sooner or later we would be giggling over boys instead of each other. The fact that I could beat the crap out of any boy in the school, and scared most of them senseless, didn’t seem to matter. But then our class trip to Okinawa happened, and Mayumi looked at me with a look that I had never seen on her face directed at me. A look of fear at what I was capable of.
**
Sitting in the Wards common area I tipped back and finished off the first soda of my day. Being a twenty-ounce into my day at 7am struck me as being like an alcoholic and a pint in at that same point in the day.
In short, it was not a good thing. Still, I had not gotten back to sleep after waking up at 3am like I had. Back to bed yes, I had gone back to my room and laid down, however, I had not gotten another wink of sleep, instead I had spent the last three and a half hours contemplating both my past and my conversation with Aunt Emily. Being love struck over Taylor probably wasn’t the best of ideas, and quite frankly, looking at it objectively it was obviously a want for a rebound relationship. I had lost both my best friend and the love of my, admittedly short, life in one turbulent trip, because in the wake of what had happened Mayumi had very politely, but very firmly said that it was over between us.

The other side of things was that Taylor didn’t deserve to be a rebound relationship, either romantically or even as a best friend. She needed real friends who would have her back, not someone who could flake off at the worst possible moment because they found someone “more interesting” or “less stressful.” Furthermore, Taylor had spent the last year and a half going through hell herself due to her previous best friend turning on her like a rattlesnake that wasn’t being held properly. The work for Sabah would help her confidence, and getting her in a set of heels to practice in would probably be as easy as calling Vicky, and I would either have to help and possibly embarrass us both, or, I could leave her to someone else. This would embarrass only her, but that could be worse than the both of us being embarrassed since we could help each other there. I could handle being embarrassed, you didn’t learn the art unless you could. Of course, that was because you would always find someone stronger than you to face and inevitably end up being put on your ass.

I sighed before tossing the plastic bottle into the recycle bin and laying my face onto my forearms with a moan. “Bloody dreams,” I muttered to myself as I heard two people walk through from the barracks rooms and into the common room.

“Looks like someone had a bad night of it,” one of them said in a not unkind tone. Quite frankly it sounded like someone that had been there themselves even though they were either projecting or else just mistaken. “Nightmares keeping you awake?”

“No,” I growled raising my head enough to glare at Gallant and Aegis. Both were dressed for their patrol this morning, apparently about to go out. “Haven’t had nightmares for years, I have a prayer to keep them away.” I did too, having true faith in the military version of Psalms did wonders for one’s psyche.

“Carlos, why don’t you go ahead to the front door,” Gallant said taking a seat and removing his helmet.

“Yeah yeah,” Aegis replied, “no more than five minutes though, we need to get a move on.”

Gallant nodded and then waited for the Wards Team Leader to leave the room. “I can see something is bothering you Akane,” Dean said pulling his helmet off and setting it to the side as he sat down. “If you say it wasn’t a nightmare, I’ll believe you, but if it was, I understand.”

“Dean,” I said with a sigh. “If I say that it wasn’t a nightmare, believe me it wasn’t a nightmare.” He nodded at that but kept the same concerned look as he watched me. He wasn’t going to let it go, but I thought, Maybe if I give him a hint he’ll back off. “You have a girlfriend, right Dean?” I asked him. It was a rhetorical question of course. It was as if everyone in the world seemed to know that Dean Stansfield was dating Victoria Dallon, aka, Glory Girl. He nodded in response, so I continued with my hint, “I’ll assume you dream about her,” another nod, and then the light bulb seemed to appear over his head as his face lit up. Ah good, he gets it.

“I understand Akane,” he said getting up and pulling his helmet back on. “I’m sure things will work out between you and whoever it is you left behind. You seem like the kind of person who can make a long-distance relationship work.”

Idiot, I thought as he walked away and I put my head back down. In the background I heard the door open and voices talk too low for me to understand or even recognize. I just had to wait long enough for the caffeine to kick in and I would be alright, and then arms were wrapping around me from behind.

“Don’t worry Akane,” I heard Taylor say as she hugged me from behind. “I’m here for you just like you’re here for me.”

Gods damn it Taylor, I thought as I felt my body relax in her arms, You don’t know what you’re saying. It had been a long time since I had been held like this, and my mind threw me back to it even as the light dimmed for me.

[itsune9tl]

Tomboy OS has Crashed: Error> Un-handled Feels. Shutdown, and reboot in progress.

[Rajvik]

**
[Spoiler= Author’s note]
This series of interludes was intended to go in after the next chapter, however, since there has been no response from SB’s content review on the questionable scenes in the next chapter, I’m posting these now.[/spoiler]
Interlude:
“Mamma,” Nanoha heard her daughter call out and turned to look. The eight-year-old girl stood in the doorway to the National Police Captain’s home office with a tablet in hand and a troubled look on her face. “That girl with our name is on the internet again mamma.” Vivio said as she walked over and handed Nanoha the tablet, the video in question already cued up. “Are you sure she’s not related to us, because she has your angry look down for certain.”

Nanoha smiled fondly and patted her adopted daughter on the head. When Nanoha had been required to represent the department at Takamachi Hitomi’s funeral, Vivio had seized on the family name and started to research anything involving the family name. She had found that the girl seemed to be something of a trouble magnet and someone who stood for what was right. Unfortunately, when trying to trace back the family lines to prove that they should adopt the girl so she could stay in Japan, Vivio had run into the usual problem of proving familial relationships. The family registers only went back to the 1940’s as the ones prior to that had been destroyed when the allies firebombed Tokyo. Nanoha had tried to assuage the girl’s irritation by telling her that the likelihood was that that they were not related and that having the same surname was a coincidence. “What happened this time?” Nanoha asked.

“I don’t know exactly,” Vivio answered. “My English isn’t that good, and they are talking awful fast. What I saw was Akane-chan come into the scene, kick one girl in the knee while slamming her head into a locker before she pivots, ducks and slams her palm into another girl’s chest. They were doing something bad I’m sure, she isn’t the type to just go and hurt someone without a good reason.”

“Do you want me to watch it and explain it to you?” Nanoha asked.

“Please,” Vivio said and when Nanoha shifted things around a bit, climbed into her mother’s lap.

Starting the video, Nanoha noted the cut in text and read it aloud, “This is fifteen minutes into the original video,” she explained, “it also provides a link to the uncommented video.” She watches as the orphaned girl walked into the scene and did just what her daughter had described with a professionalism that spoke of good training and discipline. She blanched though at what the girl said as she glares at the crowd. This girl isn’t playing! she thought as she watched Akane organize the crowd and respond to the situation. “Those two girls she hit trapped someone in that locker,” Nanoha explained to her daughter, “Akane is now organizing the crowd and getting them to help her get the person out.”

“Oh,” Vivio said thoughtfully. “Why would someone do that?”

“What,” Nanoha asked, “shove someone in a locker and lock them in?” The little girl nodded in Nanoha’s lap and Nanoha thought hard. “Some people just enjoy doing mean things to other people sometimes,” she stated sadly. “Others take great joy in stopping those people and doing nice things to help those that have been mistreated.”

“Are the people who enjoy doing mean things just bad, or is there something wrong with their heads?” Vivio asked causing Nanoha to pause instead of giving a rote answer.

“It depends sweetheart,” she finally said after a moment of thought. “Some of them are just bad people, some have something wrong in their head, and some are a mixture of both, one feeding off of the other.” At this point Nanoha sighed and smiled slightly, “Thankfully, as a police officer, it’s not my job to figure out which is which, just to stop them from hurting people.”

“And what about Akane-chan?” Vivio asked.

“It’s not her job,” Nanoha said before smiling slightly, “but I imagine that anyone who hurts anyone else around her is likely to regret it.”

Vivio thought about this for a moment before she nodded and smiled. “Good,” she said climbing out of her mother’s lap and accepting back her tablet. “Akane-chan seems to have a sense of justice that mimics your’s momma. It will ensure her friends are safe I’m sure.” With that the eight-year-old left the room, probably to update her “Akane-chan” scrapbook.
**
“Hello Sagara,” Gunnery Sergeant Jones said as he stood in the passageway outside the Captain’s office and the Sergeant came to stand beside him. “Do you know what this is about?”

“No Gunny,” Sagara answered as he stood and waited to be seen. “All I was told was to report to the Captain’s office. Gunnery Sergeant Jones just grunted and then stood there outside the hatchway and waited.

It wasn’t a long wait however as moments later Melissa Mao stuck her head out of the outer office door and spoke, “Gunny, Sagara, good you’re here, please come in.” Stepping back, the Sergeant-Major made room for the two of them to enter before leading the way into the Captain’s inner office.

“Ah good,” Captain Testarossa said from her seat. Lieutenant Commander Kalinin and Commander Mardukas sat in chairs on either side of the Captain’s desk and Sagara, Mao and himself stood in front of the desk. “We have some questions regarding the incident with the class trip and the airliner.”

“I’m assuming things that were not specifically covered by our after-action reports?” Mao asked and Kalinin nodded.

“Miss Chidori was our primary consideration in your class Sagara,” the Lieutenant-Commander commented. “However, given the occurrences after your exit from the aircraft in pursuit of Miss Chidori, there is another of your classmates that we feel we should be watching over as well.”

“Gunnery Sergeant,” Captain Testarossa said taking command of the conversation once more. “What was your assessment of the situation when you reached the airliner?”

“Ma’am,” Jones said snapping to attention. “As I put in my after-action report, upon landing my platoon cleared the area around the airliner and then myself, Lieutenant Andrews, and two fireteams from first squad entered the aircraft, one from the front, and the other from the rear passenger doors. We expected to take fire upon entering, however the on-site terrorists, later identified from photos as Yangban members, had already been dealt with and we were greeted by the call of “Hold your fire,” as a young woman recognized our blue helmets. One of the students had taken down the two Yangban and had handed out their weapons to hold off any attempt by them to retake the aircraft.”

“And what was the student’s name?” Mardukas asked.

“Takamachi Akane,” Jones answered, beside him Sagara breathed in sharply and muttered something under his breath where even Jones couldn’t tell what he had said. “As we exited the aircraft, she took the rear-end position amongst the students, herding them along and assisted in providing suppression fire against the enemy when some of our people were dealing with a wounded teammate.” Jones looked at the three officers, “Ma’am, may I ask why we are discussing the young lady?”

“In a moment Gunny,” Testarossa replied. “Sagara, what do you know about Miss Takamachi?”

“Takamachi Akane, age sixteen, 165 centimeters, 54 kilograms. Father deceased, mother was a police detective in the Akihabara precinct Cataclysm division office,” Sagara replied. “Her grandparents died in the last few years, and daily she would run the martial arts training that her grandfather had been doing up until about fifteen months ago.” Sagara paused for a moment as if considering continuing with his observations.

“I can tell you have other information Sergeant,” Kalinin said calmly, “continue.”

“Yes sir,” Sagara replied. “Some other things of note, during the week she would work her way through the martial-arts based clubs, sparring with their strongest members and usually winning. If Miss Chidori had asked Takamachi to assist in clearing out the Judo club, she would have beat them at their own sport.”

“Where you just shot them,” Mao chimed in.

“Precisely Sergeant-Major.” Sagara replied. “I personally rated her as a class four out of ten threat possibility, and a class eight advantage in defending Miss Chidori. That said ma’am,” Sagara continued, “she hasn’t been seen since her mother’s funeral.”

“Interesting,” Captain Testarossa replied lacing her fingers together and looking first at Kalinin and then Mardukas before returning her attention to Jones. “Gunnery Sergeant, given this new information, would you consider approaching her for recruitment?”

“That would depend on where she is and what her situation is currently,” Jones answered. “Sagara, what is the word from the class rumor mill on that?”

“Rumor mill from her ex-girlfriend is that she went to the United States to live with her paternal Aunt, a regional director for the Parahuman Response Teams.” Sagara answered.

“Ex-girlfriend?” Jones asked.

“Yes Gunny,” Sagara replied, “One Saotome Mayumi, originally from Nerima, her, her mother, and her younger brother moved to Akihabara after Leviathan sank Kyushu. They lived just down the road and used the same recreational center that the Takamachi’s taught at.”

Jones went as pale as his dark skin would allow, “Sagara, did you say Saotome from Nerima?”

“Yes,” the Sergeant answered even as the Captain asked. “Is something wrong Gunny?”

“Not exactly Captain,” Jones answered. “It’s just that if it is the same family, then she needs another look as far as a threat/assistance assessment.”

“Assuming it is the same family Gunny,” Mardukas replied, “how dangerous could her family be?”

“Sir,” the Gunnery Sergeant started. “This is a family from an area known for having non-parahumans causing massive collateral damage with their bare hands.” All three officers looked at him and he sighed, “Ma’am, sirs, they made an anime and a manga about it that was only SLIGHTY exaggerated.”
**

[Rajvik]

the actual chapter

**
The last time I had been held like this it was the day after my grandfather’s funeral. Mother had to work the day shift at the precinct and the students had all elected to spend a week out, in respect of both my grandfather and our family. We accepted this stoically, as was traditional, and because of this, I had nothing to occupy my mind during the day. Mayumi, bless her, had come over and tried to keep my spirits up, but in the end, we had done nothing but lay there on my futon cuddling together. “You,” she would whisper into my ear, “are not a monster. You loved him and the fact that no one knew he was dead that morning is not your fault.” That had been what I had dissolved into, near hysterical tears while blaming myself for oversleeping that morning and not checking on him before leaving for school. Mom had been working overnights at the precinct and would barely have enough energy when she came in to make it to her futon before crashing, and when his health had taken a bad turn after my grandmother’s death, it became my responsibility to check on him.

I couldn’t say that Mayumi didn’t understand, we all understood duty, it was something taught to us from before we could remember. Duty to family, to friends, to our school, duty was culturally ingrained into our minds and souls. Because of duty, I would return to school the next day and maintain a calm and bland face in front of all my classmates, perform my work as expected, and go about my life as if nothing bad had happened. Once I returned home, or went to Mayumi’s, then I would be able to break down into tears and self-recrimination. I would wear a mask for the public, and then in the privacy of what I considered my remaining family, break down and be consoled, wrapped in loving arms, and told that everything would be alright.
**Saotome Mayumi**

“Trust me handsome,” the person next to me said, practically cooing at the terrorist as the speaker stroked her hand up the man’s leg. “That one isn’t worth your time, I on the other hand, I can show you how much your hard work is appreciated. Just take me in the bathroom over there, and you will forget all your worries in a really short time.” To hear those words come out of anyone’s mouth sickened me, especially since they were referring to me. But to hear them out of the mouth of my best friend, my girlfriend, to one of the bastards that were keeping us at gunpoint. I felt my heart crack, falter, and then shatter as I watched her lead the smiling ass toward the aircraft’s bathroom.

Sometimes it would seem like the scream came an eternity later, sometimes almost as soon as the door to the bathroom closed, but sooner or later there was always a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream come from the bathroom. One of the other terrorists runs up the aisle to check, doing a quick look around and head count, before cursing as he realizes that he was both two bodies short, and what likely has occurred. Reaching the bathroom, he ripped the door open, only to fall backwards at the twin blasts that greeted him. Then Akane steps out over the top of him. She is covered from the neck down in blood, a pistol in one hand, and a bloody knife in the other. Her face was a rictus of cold fury as she shoved the pistol in her hand down the back of her skirt before pulling a similar weapon from the now dying terrorist’s hand. Sliding that one into her blazer pocket she searches him, quickly, for anything else of use before slitting his throat in a perfunctory manner.

Turning to the rest of us she points at people and starts snapping orders like a soldier, (or that idiot Sagara,) would, obviously expecting to be obeyed. Then, as the rest of the group starts to move themselves, she stalks over to me and pulls me to my feet. “Mayumi-chan, you’re having another nightmare sweetheart,” I hear someone say. Akane kisses me and I taste the coppery taste of blood. My response is to scream, and I wake up to find myself in my own bed, my mother standing there in the doorway, disheveled as I panted, trying to regain my breath.

“Not again,” I muttered rubbing my face as my mother entered my room and knelt down beside me. I had dreamed of that day almost nightly since it had occurred, and I needed to get over it, I had to push past it and move on with my life, move on from Akane.

“Mayumi,” my mother said pulling me into a hug, “I think you should talk to Akane about these dreams. Not on your life mom, I thought, I’m not saying so much as a word to her if I can help it ever again.
**
I awoke to the door’s warning buzzer, jerking into a near upright position where I had been leaning back against someone as I sat on the stool at the counter. Whoever it was, their arms were wrapped around me and they were curled protectively around me as we both had fallen asleep sitting up and leaning against the kitchen island. Taylor, my brain told me and then I remembered talking to Dean, and then Taylor holding me while I drifted off into some weird mixture of dream and memory. Wait, BUZZER, Damn it! I reached over to grab the domino mask that I had left on the island and found it not there. I half spun to look for it even as my left hand came up to shade my face, and then I felt it already in place.

I let out a sighing breath as I relaxed once again, the adrenaline having blasted the last of the cobwebs from my brain. I looked and found that Taylor also had a mask in place even as the door opened to let Chris and Dennis into the common room. “Mwahuh,” I heard Taylor mumble and blearily she raised her head from where it had been resting against my shoulder. “Sorry,” she said softly with a slight smile, “I must have dozed off myself, you obviously needed the sleep.”

“You too,” I replied softly, taking a finger and pushing a lock of hair back up out of her face, “Rough night?” I asked.

“Nightmare about the fashion show,” she said running her fingers through her hair and stretching, Don’t watch Akane, I thought. And then her back arched and I found myself spinning away, DAMN IT AKANE, I said don’t watch! “Ugah,” she groaned. “I don’t even own a set of heels, let alone know how to walk in a pair.”

“We can fix that though,” I answered twisting and popping my neck while pulling my phone out of my pocket. “In fact, I can think of someone who would probably love to help on both counts, and has a sister who needs to decompress some.”
**Amy**
“You were at the hospital all night again weren’t you,” Vicky’s voice blasted through my sleeping brain causing me to sit up and allow the blankets to fall from over my head. “What time did you finally drag yourself home?”

I glowered at my sister as she stood in the doorway to my room, “Yes I spent all night at the hospital again,” I growled out as I glanced around to see what time it was. Finally, I found my alarm clock on the floor where I had apparently knocked it at some point this morning. “I got home about 5:30,” I answered as I set the clock back on my bedside table, noting the time as a quarter of noon. “Met mom as she was heading out to work. She said that someone called and asked her to step in on the Canary case, so she is having to run to Boston to pick up the case file and meet with her new client.”

Vicky nodded at that and smiled, “Do you have anything planned for the rest of your day?” she asked. I shook my head no and she smiled. I felt my stomach drop when she did, she had something planned, and I doubted I would like it. “Then get up and get a shower,” she said bouncing up on her toes. “Taylor and Akane need our help, and their buying lunch and the snacks.”

I was about to ask what they needed help with, but Vicky turned and dashed off to her room, obviously planning something. I just collapsed back into my bed. I don’t know how much time passed between her running off and her coming back but I doubt it was very long before she was bouncing my bed to get me up. “Come on Amy, get up, we need to do this together.”

I rolled my eyes at that and groaned. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t stay angry with Vicky, she was just too enjoyable a person to be around. The energy she brought to everything was like a young puppy that just wanted to play with everyone, and you couldn’t help but find it infectious. “Alright I’m up, I’m up.” I grumped as I rolled back upright and then out of the bed. “I’ll grab a quick shower and then we’ll go?”

“It’s a surprise,” Vicky giggled, “just trust me, you’ll have fun.” I groaned at that as I trudged off to the bathroom. Vicky’s idea of fun, and mine usually didn’t match, so I doubted I would end up enjoying this. Still, it would be spent with two of our newest friends, at least one of whom understood the want and desire to stay out of the public eye.
**
“I truly hate you at times,” I grumbled at Vicky as we set down outside Weymouth Mall. The two-story shopping monstrosity had already eaten up the better portion of an afternoon on Tuesday, and now we were back for the sole reason of finding some specific shoes for Taylor and Akane. All Akane needed was a pair of two-inch black pumps, something that I was sure we could easily find. Taylor though, she needed both those same black pumps, and a set of wedge heeled sandals with a three-inch lift. According to Vicky someone had talked the two of them into modeling for a fashion show a week from Sunday and neither of them owned, nor had ever worn heels before.

“Get over it,” Vicky said as she started walking toward the food court doors. I hurried to catch up with her longer stride and was quickly walking beside her. “Besides,” she continued. “You’re going to get to watch both of them show off their legs and totter around on heels until they learn to walk in them.” I lifted an eyebrow at my sister causing her to snicker. “I caught both you and Akane trying so very hard not to look at Taylor’s legs in those dresses I had her try on Tuesday.” She shook her head and smiled before reaching over and pulling me into a one-armed hug. “Ames, you should have said something long ago, I’d have found girls to set you up with on those double dates, not Dean’s guy friends.”

If it wasn’t for Vicky’s arm around me, I would have stopped dead in my tracks and probably collapsed right then and there. “How? Why?” I sputtered. No, not how, she said she caught me looking at Taylor’s legs Tuesday, I thought.

“Amy, you’re my sister,” Vicky continued heedless of my own thoughts, “and like I said, I caught you looking, but if you think that just because you like girls like I like guys, that I’m going to disown you or something, well think again.” Vicky’s face looked a little hurt at the thought and I felt bad for it. But then she smiled and waved down the food court with her free hand causing me to follow her gaze and spot Taylor standing over the crowd. I smiled and she glanced down at me and grinned, “Is that what you like Ames, long legged brunettes? Cause let me tell you, if I swung that way, I’d be chasing Taylor myself.”

“Huh?” I asked looking at Vicky.

“I’m Hetero little sis,” she answered smiling and waving again while dragging me forward, “I’m neither blind nor dead.”
**

next one by the end of the weekend, probably

[Rajvik]

**Akihabara**
Ran Saotome sighed as she watched her daughter finally shuffle back off to bed. Usually something like this would have been solved with a quiet call to Akane, her daughter’s now ex-girlfriend, (and hadn’t that been a surprise.) However, that was unlikely to happen as Akane was respecting Mayumi’s request not to contact her. Of course, the other part of the problem was that it was Akane’s actions to protect Mayumi that was causing the nightmares. Ran silently shook her head in exasperation at the level of stubbornness as she rinsed the two teacups and shut off the kitchen light. A quick check on her youngest child, Daisuke, who seemed to be solidly asleep, and the mother of four went to her own room and kneeled before the family shrine.

The shrine itself had been a wedding gift from her husband’s mother, a family heirloom of some sort that while it had seen a good bit of travel, evidenced by some dings and scratches to the finish, was still as sturdy as the day it had been turned out by a master craftsman five generations prior. On the small, backpack sized, cabinet was an incense bowl and a series of photographs. On one side of the upper shelf sat his parents wedding photo, matched by her parents on the opposite side. Beneath that and just above the incense bowl was a group photograph of her, her late husband, and all their friends in a frame that had been labeled, “Nerima High School class of 1987, aka The Wrecking Crew.” It was this photo she focused on, thinking back to those heady days when one of their teachers had come to them as a group and explained that she had been using their lives as the source for a manga.

Takahashi-sensei had explained how she had changed things, and played up certain aspects of their lives, exaggerating where necessary to make the story more fantastic and protect the real-life people behind her characters. Ran and her brother had been turned into one character who changed genders with a splash of water, and while other characters were more straightforward things like her father’s lousy parenting skills and her husband’s boorish attitude were portrayed as similar curses that changed their species. Even the exchange student from China had been drug into it, though that had been more about the girl’s one-sided crush on Ran’s brother and habit of preening than anything else. Still, the group of them had earned a reputation around the area for being a bit hard on their surroundings.

One example was the youngest daughter of the family that they had moved in with, (an old friend of their father’s) who had been summarily engaged to Ranma, could, would and did on occasion, pick up small cars and trucks when angered by others at the school and use them as weapons against the people who angered her. Ran and her brother could handle their Akane because they had similar strength, as did Ryoga, Xian Pu, and Ukyo, their core group of friends, but that was because they had all been trained as high level martial artists since they had been small children. It was still hell on the landscape though, and then it seemed that with no warning, high school was over and real life demanded it’s due.

Akane’s older sister Nabiki married money, and their eldest sister settled down to care for their father while Akane and Ranma married and took over the Tendo family’s dojo. Ran helped with the dojo and ended up marrying their friend Ryoga, (something that surprised most of the family) while Xian Pu had returned with her grandmother to China and Ukyo had moved to a different section of Tokyo to teach at a culinary school. The next generation were born, twins first for Ran and Akane both, and then Ran had Mayumi, and then Leviathan attacked Kyushu.
**Nerima, 1997**Six hours before Leviathan’s attack on Kyushu**

“He’s going to attack Kyushu,” Ryoga said to Ranma, Akane, Ran, Tatewaki Kuno, Nabiki and Kodachi. Relations with the Kuno’s were sometimes strained, but since Ran had started working with Nabiki in the stock market and Ryoga was teaching all the girls Rhythmic Gymnastics, (as well as how to use them in the martial arts) things had eased a bit more than they had been right after high school. “If we can get to Kyushu in time, we could help I’m sure.” Ryoga was the dreamer of the group, always thinking big, always pushing forward, it was one of the reasons she loved the lug.

“Sure Ryoga,” Ranma replied almost dismissively, “and since you’ve figured this out, then I’m sure their big brains have also figured it out and ain’t gonna let anyone in there from outside. So how are we going to get there?”

“We have a plane,” Tatewaki commented offhand. “We could fly into Kagoshima or any of a number of airports on the island.”

“And if they deny us landing clearance?” Akane said, either playing devil’s advocate or trying to poke a hole in Kuno-sempai’s ego Ran couldn’t tell. “What are you going to do then?”

“Why parachute in of course,” Tatewaki replied nonchalantly, “I can have Sousuke pack parachutes for whomever wants to go, and then we leave. They can’t stop us once we are on the ground there after all.”

“So, who goes?” Akane asked, “I’m not getting left behind while you men go and fight this thing.”

“Neither am I,” Kodachi, Tatewaki’s sister replied echoing Akane’s response. Her brother started to say something which she shut down just as quickly with a glare and the words, “We are not the last anymore brother.”

“Of course not dear,” Ranma had said drowning out Tatewaki’s sigh and closing the issue, so that was four.

“I’m out,” Ran had answered even as Ryoga had said, “I’m in.”

“Of course you’re in pork but,” Ranma had snarked only to get a glare from his sister.

“Ranma, you will be nice to him,” Ran had growled, “and the lot of you better come back.”

“Yeah yeah sis,” Ranma had answered loftily, “odds are pork but is completely off and nothing will happen. So why don’t we get this ball rolling, eh Kuno.” Them waving as the five of them walked out to one of the Kuno’s cars had been the last time she had seen them alive. All of them cocky, laughing and so sure of themselves.
**Akihabara now**
Ran opened her eyes feeling the tears flowing freely down her face. They had returned in a way, brought back by one who had stayed and fought beside them until the island itself had sank beneath him. One who had also lost family, and while he couldn’t get the closure of knowing how his family had ended, he had at least brought two bodies and hours of their actions back to her and Nabiki.

It was strange to find out how small a world they lived in was, that this stranger had been the relative of a friend, and they had stayed in touch over the years. Now, checking the time, she decided that since he lived in the same city as her daughter’s ex, she was going to ask a favor and see if he couldn’t get the girl to call. Picking up the phone she dialed a long stream of numbers and waited for someone to answer on the other end, “Hello Nemuri-chan,” she said as a young girl answered the phone on the other end, “Could you put your father on please, I need to ask a favor of him.”

“Of course Auntie Ran,” the girl bubbled back, just a second and I’ll go get him.” Ran could hear the phone’s receiver get set down and the girl running off calling “Daddy, Auntie Ran is on the phone for you!”
**
**Brockton Bay**
“I can’t believe that twit,” Vicky grumbled as we left the store, the blonde stalking out like someone had just grabbed her butt. “I mean, it isn’t difficult to for them to just say that they don’t have anything like that in stock currently.”

“Calm down Vicky,” Amy sighed as she tottered along. Somehow Vicky had talked her into a set of two-inch, black, patent leather pumps like what Taylor and I had needed, and now all three of us were learning to walk in the damn things. “Now, where is that shop they suggested we go to?” she asked.

Still grumbling Vicky stepped over to the ad and map board that malls all over, used to guide you where you wanted to go. “It looks like it is in one of the outer areas.” Vicky answered. “Since the clerk said they didn’t open until after four, I would suggest we catch a movie to kill the time and then go see if they have the higher heels like she said they would.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I replied. “Taylor, what do you think?”

She shrugged, “Alright, but what’s playing?”
**
Two hours later we walked out of the theater, I myself contemplative, Vicky bouncing and the other two somewhere in between. “So how much of that honor stuff is true?” Vicky asked damn near floating through the lobby of the theater toward the exit. She wasn’t actually floating though because I had shut all of our powers down for the afternoon.

“It depended on various things to the point of being subjective to the storyteller’s perspective.” I answered. “First point being that the main character of that movie was Chinese, not Japanese and even though there are surprising similarities between the cultures, they are not the same.”

“Noted,” Vicky replied smiling as she walked backwards toward the exit. “But personal honor was a big deal during the time period for them as well wasn’t it?”

“Honestly,” I answered, “probably no more than it actually was in Europe during the middle ages. The thing is though, we’re talking about something that would have happened sometime in the mid to late eighteen-hundreds going off the American west scenes and the weapons. Probably closer to the century mark than the middle of the century at that. During that time frame there wasn’t any big changes in either country outside the Meiji Restoration, and the level of assassination that started the movie was not something that would have been condoned during that situation.”

Vicky chuckled, “Mister Wolfe is going to love having you in his history class.”

It was at that point we walked through the doors back into the mall to find four men with AK’s staring down the theater patrons. “Alright folks,” one of them said. “I think that’s all of you from that showing, now get your asses to the central court.” He punctuated his order by chambering the assault rifle, a round flying to the floor in waste.

“Fuck!” was all I could say.
**outside**
Brockton Bay Police Lieutenant Martin Riggs looked at the mall in front of him and then at the two sergeants who had been in charge of the scene until his arrival. Detective-Sergeant Josephine Lupo was scowling at the front doors of the mall, the fingers of her right-hand drumming against the grip of her holstered berretta nine-millimeter on her hip. As if to counterpoint the detective, PRT Sergeant Wynonna Earp was leaned almost casually against the front of the PRT Rapid Response van that held the rest of her squad. “Calm down Jo,” Earp said glancing away from the door and at the other sergeant, “stressing is not going to get those people out any faster, and the Protectorate will be here shortly.”

“It’s been twenty minutes already Earp, what’s keeping them?” Lupo growled.

“Looking for Squealer I imagine,” Earp answered calmly. “Report was that she dropped a whole slew of Merchant assholes off and then drove away, her vehicle disappearing under some kind of invisibility cloak. I guess some people might just want to make sure she’s not sitting out here watching and waiting to light the lot of us up when we make our move.”

“I think you’re giving the druggies to much credit,” Lupo snapped out.

“And I think you are not giving them enough.” Earp answered calmly. “Besides we have something else to deal with at the moment. Have either of you heard about a new cape in the area?”

Lupo looked at Riggs who shook his head in response so Lupo answered, “No, why?”

“Cause that’s an awful lot of bugs heading this way,” Earp answered pointing to the mass of insects that were making their way across the parking lot toward them. “Johnson, stand by with your sprayer, we might need you.”
**Inside**Taylor**
Akane cranked my power up to fifteen as we were herded to the central courtyard of the mall by the four merchants with rifles and as we went, I awoke and gathered every insect and spider I could find in my extended range before using them to sweep through the mall in a search. I found Merchants pillaging the various stores and shops, emptying out cash boxes and registers, even cutting into a few safes. The pharmacy over in what some would probably call the geriatric’s wing had been ransacked for both money and pills, and as we could see, everyone that had been inside the mall itself was gathered in the central courtyard under the gaze of Skidmark. The leader of the Merchants sat on some kind of bastard child of a powered wheelchair and throne that had been made of various car parts being welded together. The cape sneered at the crowd as our group was brought in and told to find a place to sit. “Hebert, Takamachi, over here.” I heard someone call out. Looking I found a girl that I vaguely recognized from Winslow, blonde with pink and green streaks running through it, waving at us, so I looked at the others before we headed over.

“Holy shit has your luck turned around Hebert,” she said softly as we sat down near her. “You not only have miss bad ass here, but the Dallon sisters to pal around with as well now. Shit has definitely gotten better for you.”

“And you are?” Vicky asked in a low voice, a single eyebrow lifted.

“Someone who owes Hebert here more than I could probably ever repay because I let certain shit occur to her for the last half year at school.” I lifted an eyebrow at that so she explained, “I just transferred to Winslow this school year, not, I might say, by my choice. But I wasn’t around for last year’s bullying.”

“Alright I can understand that,” I told her waving off the other’s irritation. “Apology accepted, though, I’m sorry to admit, I don’t know your name.”

“Katherine Fleischer,” she answered with a smile, “Most people call me Katie though.”

I watched as the others shook hands with her, and things were fine, at least until she shook hands with Akane which was when both of them went, “Oh shit!”
**

[Rajvik]

**
**Outside**
“So that’s the current situation inside,” the figure that had introduced itself as Skitter, a new Ward that was still working on their power, informed them while showing a scale map with her insects. “The fun thing is that apparently Uber and Leet are also in play.”

“What are those two jokers doing here,” Battery asked.

“Right now,” Skitter said, a hint of humor in her voice. “They are guiding Sergeant Earp’s squad into position.”
**
Wynonna Earp looked at the two characters that were holding the exterior door open, allowing her squad into the mall’s support areas. Uber was wearing a pair of shades, tactical clothing and an ankle length trench coat with a monster pistol in one hand while Leet was wearing a set of Mjolnir armor from the HALO series with its standard carbine. Do you have a path for us?”

“Of course,” Uber said with a smile, “I will take point and clear your path to the upper level over the central court, Leet will bring up the rear.”

Wynonna nodded, “Then take point,” she told him stepping through the door with the last of her people, “I’ll be watching your back, Johnson, you’re bringing up the rear with the armor.”

A bear of a man wearing a sprayer tank and carrying a carbine as well nodded and walked over to Leet who looked at Uber and shrugged. “Alright team,” Earp called out softly, “I’m on point with Uber, Johnson is on drag with Leet. Now let’s go save some civies.”
**
Uber ghosted forward, the PRT sergeant close behind and damn near as quiet even without his soft soled stealth boots. When the Merchants had first hit his and Leets shop in the mall, the pair of Rogues had been able to take out the two idiots quietly. Once they had done that, the pair had locked the door to their back area and started working through the supply areas of the mall. Initially the pair had planned to deal with the druggies themselves, but the problem turned out to be that there were too many of them and they were just to spread out.
**
“So what do we do now Uber,” Leet asked him as they circled back to their shop.

“Well you could explain why you’re here to begin with,” an unknown voice buzzed between them. The two of them put their backs to the wall and scanned the hallway. “Oh calm down you two, you are obviously not here with the Merchants, so what is going on and why are you here?”

“Nothing on the sensors but a handful of insects bro,” Leet said in a tone that said he was about to panic.

“That would be because I’m not actually there with you,” the voice answered. “And before you panic, I’m an arthropod master, not a human one, I’m using the bugs in the area to talk to you. Now, are you going to answer my questions, or do I tell the PRT to take you down as well?”

“No,” Uber said with a sigh as he relaxed slightly. “We have a comic and game shop here in the mall, when the Merchants showed up, we thought we might be able to handle it, but there are too many of them in too many places.”

“Alright,” the voice buzzed. “Two things, first is that the PRT is already on site and need a way in that isn’t covered by the Merchants. Currently they are waiting for Protectorate assistance before coming in. Second is that if you need to get my attention, just say Hey Skitter, and then ask or say what you need to, I’ll hear and answer.”

“We can play Pathfinder for them,” Uber answered, “Can you indicate where we are to them?”

“Yes,” Skitter answered, “What is the nearest landmark to where you are going to let them in?” Uber answered and Skitter seemed to chuckle. “I’ll see if I can get the squad moving that way, be ready to wait for a few minutes though.”

“Understood,” Uber answered. “Team gamer is on the move.
**Outside**
“Alright,” Battery said with a sigh. “So they’re helping instead of going off on their own, do we have a plan?”

“Oh yeah,” Lieutenant Riggs said with a smile as Armsmaster slid silently to a stop at their command post.

“Armsmaster on site at Weymouth Mall,” he said as he climbed off the motorcycle, “Battery, report on the situation.
**Akane**
“So,” I said looking at the girl whose power I had just shutdown. “Are you an active combatant, or do you stay under everyone’s radar?”

“Active,” Katie answered with a sigh. “And I’m not one of the heroes around this town.” When she said that I lifted an eyebrow which caused her to grimace. “But I’ve started to regret quite a few of my decisions over the years, maybe the ones regarding my family the most. That said, it’s also hard to go against family, even in acts of teenage rebellion.”

Vicky and Taylor looked confused, and Amy looked a bit pensive at that comment, so I continued my questions. “Can you fight, or are you like me and more of a support type?”

“Both,” she answered with a smirk, “but in this instance, I think I qualify as a direct combatant. You give me my power back, and I’ll have a good number of these idiots pinned and unable to fight in short order.”

“Good,” Taylor said with a smile. “Amy, can I have a pen and your notebook for a bit, I think it’s time to line out the plan.”

“What are we going to do with just the five of us?” Amy asked handing over a notebook and pen. “I doubt there’s enough bugs in the mall to make a difference and unless Katie has a blaster power the most we can do is either have Vicky play frisbee with the tables, or charge Skidmark and Mush.”

“And doing that would just allow the rest of them to gun everyone down,” Taylor acknowledged. “Thing is first, it’s not just five of us in here, it’s seven. Secondly, there is a PRT squad currently moving into position to come into the mall with the other two’s help. Third, the police and the Protectorate are also on site, and all are coordinating together for this. Fourth, I’m acting as coordination and scout for all the forces so we can get the civilians out and deal with the problem.” As she had been talking, Taylor had been sketching and labelling in the notepad. “Katie, I have to ask for the plan, what is your power?”
**Outside**
Armsmaster looked at the list of capes on scene as the insects spelled things out beside the map that Skitter was providing. “I approve of your plan,” he finally said. “Once everyone is in position, execute.”

“Understood sir,” the mass of insects buzzed, saluting before dispersing to reinforce the map and list.
**
Skidmark chuckled as Mush finished his story. The stupidity of some people never ceased to amuse him and soon they would be flush with both cash and materials for sale. Suddenly, and with no warning, the buildings PA system kicked in crackling, “What the fuck?” he asked looking at Mush who shrugged. Pulling out his walkie talkie, Skidmark called out, “Ok, which of you shitstains is fucking around in the security office?”

Whatever the answer was, the voice on the radio was drowned out as a voice called out, “You ready for this?”
**
Uber looked down on the central courtyard from the second floor’s walkway and then looked up to watch as the PRT squad positioned themselves to take out the Merchant grunts that were surrounding the civilians. There would be no challenge, just the call of “PRT” as they stepped up and opened fire on the gang members. Off to one side he saw a knot of teens handing something around between three of them before nodding to each other, “On the bounce and with the beat people,” Skitter’s insect voice buzzed softly in his ear and he stepped up to the bannister with the PRT as Skidmark started to react to first the Public Address speakers and then the threat of Glory Girl throwing herself at him.
**
Skidmark’s attention snapped from the speakers to the blonde missile flying at him and he responded by standing and throwing down a repulsion field between him and the flying brute. This caused her to stop in place as she tried to force her way through to him, “Fuck off Glory Hole,” he snapped with a smirk laying down another field and throwing her back the way she had come, was that a smirk, he thought as she flew back. He didn’t have time to contemplate the issue though as he heard something metallic hit his power throne behind him, causing him to spin and catch the contents of the exploding containment foam grenade in the face.
**
Distraction complete, insects swarmed the gang members even as the people on the second floor started firing their weapons. Mush laughed at the shooters, his garbage armor seeming to make him immune to their fire. Rune slamming him into a pillar with a table on the other hand, was apparently done with enough force that he was either knocked unconscious or broke something serious as he went limp in response. By the time the song ended, the Merchants in this area were all down, unconscious and quickly being secured. The best part of it all, was that no one important was injured.
**Outside**
“Now that is how an operation is supposed to happen,” Riggs laughed as he watched the representation of the civilians being escorted out. “Michaels, Palmer, Civies are being led your way.” Turning to Armsmaster the Lieutenant smiled, “That’s a good girl you have there in Skitter, why haven’t you debuted her yet?”

“Her and her partner are getting special costumes made by someone other than Public Relations,” the tinker answered. “Though I think that they are going to have to have PR make a quick set for a likely press conference.”

“What’s so special about the costumes they’re having made?” Riggs asked.

“They’re bullet resistant.” Armsmaster answered before going to join Assault and Battery as they entered the mall.

[Rajvik]

**
Money is always available, where peace and prosperity meet

Standing at the corner of Peace Street and Prosperity Road, Danny Hebert thought back over the history of his town. Back when the All Father ran the Empire an agreement had been reached between him, Galvanate, and Marquis to designate certain places as neutral territory where either no one had control, or they were all considered equals. One place was Sommer’s Rock, a falling apart bar down in the docks where no one held any sway, another was here, at this crossroads downtown where each of them had sponsored a restaurant. All of them had been rather blatant about who they represented, Galvanate had opened a classic Italian restaurant that looked like it had been pulled straight out of a 40’s mob movie, All Father had opened a Beer Garden and Marquis a Bistro. The fourth corner had been occupied by a small grocery that originally sold to all of them, but the owners died, causing the store to be closed not long before Lung’s arrival.

By the time the Rage Dragon had arrived, Galvanate was in the Birdcage and Kaiser was running the Empire. Lung bought up the fourth corner at the intersection, leaving the burned remains of Galvanate’s restaurant alone to replace and rebuild the old grocery into a nice diner that served an ever-changing mixture of Oriental Family foods and fusions. Lung, or maybe it was the property manager Kenta Horaki, had somehow made arrangements with a Tokyo based Culinary School to send ten of their top students to his diner to cook for a year. They would open no later than the third Sunday in January, close after the first weekend in December, and were always supervised by a member of the school staff. They received a paycheck as well as had room and board provided for them, but for eleven months they would work to keep a business running in a slowly dying city.

Locking the door to his truck Danny started to walk over. The kids that would work and run the restaurant were all outside it seemed, repainting the exterior mural depicting a large eastern style dragon in blues, blacks and gold as it eased its way around the building towards the door. As he crossed the street a brunette woman with a high ponytail, stepped out the front door and called to them. “Minasan, kon'nichiwa. Chūshoku wa mō junbi ga dekite imasu.” They all seemed to acknowledge her in some way, mostly by starting a quick clean up of their brushes or heading towards the door, Danny just hoped he could catch them before the door was shut.
**
“Excuse me,” Yukihara Souma heard a man’s voice call out and turned to see a middle-aged white man walking fast across the street towards them, in fact angling for the door and Miss Kuongi. “I’m sorry to bother you, and I know you are not open yet, but I would like to make a reservation for next Sunday.”

“You know most people just call or even go online to make a reservation,” Miss Kuongi said with a smile as the others eased into the restaurant behind her. Finally, Souma had his roller clean, and moved to join the others as their teacher-supervisor spoke to the man.

“I know,” the man said, “Old habit from when my wife and I dated.” Miss Kuongi raised an eyebrow at that causing the man to elaborate. “I would call in a reservation, and then when we would arrive, the hostess or greeter would take one look at me and swear that there were no reservations in that name. Frustrated by that, I started swinging by a week in advance and making the reservations. Since I could call the hostess or greeter out for lying to the manager, or at least explain to the manager who had taken the reservation and point them out, it got them to stop pulling that trick.”

Miss Kuongi smiled at the man, “Very well then Mister?”

“Hebert,” the man answered with a smile of his own, “Danny Hebert, Miss?

“Kuongi,” Souma’s teacher answered, “If you will follow me Mr. Hebert, we’ll get your reservation settled and be happy to have you here next Sunday.”

“Thank you,” Mister Hebert replied stepping in as Kuongi-sensei held the door open for him to come in.

“Souma-kun,” she said focusing on the teen for a moment, “Go have your lunch, and see what it is that Mito-chan has that she wants you to test. She specifically asked to have you test it, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Yes ma’am,” Souma answered heading off towards the kitchen area even as he heard the front door lock behind him.

“Now Mister Hebert,” she said, “What time were you thinking for Sunday, and if I may ask, what is the occasion.”
**Katie**
*PRT HQ-1730 hours*
Arriving at the PRT Building in the wake of the Mall Incident, as everyone was currently calling it, the five of us were escorted upstairs to a conference room where the PRT Director was waiting. She gestured for us to sit down, and once we had she leaned against the table and spoke. “Alright ladies,” she said, her voice far calmer than the look on her face would suggest. “I want you to walk me through the afternoon and explain both what happened and what the hell you were thinking.”

“Well it started for most of us when Taylor and I woke from our impromptu nap in the common room just before the eleven-o’clock tour came through.” I only half listened as Akane explained why the four of them were at the mall, and that they had been ambushed as they had exited the theater after seeing a movie. Myself, I was going over what had happened to me during the week and wondering, How did my life get turned upside down all of a sudden?
**Monday, January 3, 2011-2:30pm**
“So what you’re saying is that I fucked up and missed a prime chance to recruit someone to the cause,” I said as Brad pushed through another set on the bench press.

“Somewhat,” Brad answered. “Your predecessor at Winslow should have stepped in and stopped it a long time ago, and while it is doubtful that she would have joined, I bet that its better than even odds that her old man would have become a little more,” he paused a moment as if searching for the right word to use. “Accepting, yes, he might have become a little more accepting of our people, or at least our passage in the docks in appreciation.” He finished the set on the bench and sat up before turning to look at me. “The thing about helping someone is that you usually earn a bit of acceptance, a bit a trust by doing what seems to be completely unnecessary for you. Most people, they do like you did, they either join in or stand by and don’t help the person in trouble, in short, they’re sheep. People who do something though, especially for their own reasons, are heroes, it is part of why we do what we do.”

I nodded, what he said made sense in a way, but something seemed just the tiniest bit off. “Alright,” I said tossing him his towel. “How do I turn this to my advantage?”

“Honestly I don’t see how you could unless another opportunity presents itself,” he answered as he wiped off the bench and we started changing out the weights for my set. “But, you can at least apologize if you see her again, make up a bit for not helping maybe. Honestly though, I doubt you will have the chance. The way that Tachamachi girl seized the opportunity, she’s more likely as not being groomed by the chinks as we speak.”
*PRT HQ-1745 hours*
The argument outside the doors to the conference room pulled me from my memory of Monday even as Akane got to the point of the Merchant goons jumping them with AK’s outside the movie theater. “Masks on, all of you,” the director snapped quietly as she stood up, and a moment later all of us were wearing domino masks. Seeing this when she turned back at the door to check, she nodded and then opened the door.

“and if you think I won’t make sure you are sent to the coldest, loneliest outpost that the PRT possesses,” a woman’s shrill voice screamed. “Then I will by god prove you wrong, now open that damned door, you brainless boor and let us in there.

“The door is open,” a more cultured, possibly older voice said calmly. “Hello Emily, sorry to intrude, but I understand that you had a Wards involved incident earlier and you know we are required to check on things.”

“Of course Miz Burns,” the director responded coolly. “Please, won’t you and your assistant come in and have a seat, Miss No No was just getting to the point where the Merchants were capturing people coming out of the theater.” as she spoke the director stepped back, allowing two women to step into the room. The first in was older, maybe forty or fifty, and had the look of old money. She was wearing a tasteful grey pantsuit with a high-necked white blouse that was joined with a classic cameo pin. In short, she was comfortable as the rich would say.

Her companion on the other hand was best described as an attack dog’s brain in a teacup chihuahua’s body. As she entered, she glared at the director and I would bet, was a hair’s breadth away from physically growling at Piggot. This was comical because physically she was practically child sized, and if she was more than five feet tall or over a hundred pounds I would be surprised. If she had been dressed in ribbons bows and a nice dress, she could have been called cute. As it was though, in the severe pantsuit that echoed her elder she simply looked like a child emulating an adult they adored.

The director closed the door behind them and walked behind them as they came to the table looking us over. “Why are you masked?” the younger one snapped at Akane, Taylor and me, before whirling to face and glare at Piggot again. “Why are they wearing masks?”

“Because three of them are not Wards and thus don’t fall under your remit miss Smithers,” Piggot answered calmly. “Further more,” she continued, “you don’t have the clearance to know who the two who are Wards are outside of their cape persona’s. Now, before we return to the debrief, are their any questions you have for the young ladies Miz Burns?”

“I would think that introductions would be in order Emily,” the older lady said calmly. “In fact, if you don’t mind I’ll start.” The director nodded so the elder woman stood once more and continued to speak. “My name is Montmorency Burns and I am the regional director for the Youth Guard. With me today is my assistant Carolyn Smithers.” The younger woman nodded at us and glared, something I was sure she did with regularity.

Taylor, who was sitting between me and Akane, stood and inclined her head to the elder woman, “Miz Burns,” she said calmly, “I know your name through my mother for the fundraising you’ve done for the Brockton Bay University Library project. You may refer to me as Skitter, my current companions are No No and Rune,” she continued gesturing first at Akane, and then at me. “Also with us are Glory Girl and Panacea of New Wave.”

“I see,” the elder woman replied as the younger one turned her glare at me, trying to stare me down.

“Why, is this criminal not imprisoned,” the young woman growled at a barely audible level.

“Two reasons,” the director answered. “First, she came in willingly after helping with a hostage situation not of her creation. As such, as much as I would like to arrest her and throw the book at her, current rules require that I give her safe passage under the rules of the truce and allow her to leave so long as she does not cause trouble.” At this point Piggot started to glare at the young miss Smithers, “and I would not suggest trying to bait her into causing trouble young miss, for I have no trouble letting her defend herself.” I smiled at her only to get a sniff in response. “Secondly, since her records record who Rune is because of how her trigger happened. Because of what happened today, we are also willing to offer her a place as a probationary Ward, to include emancipating her from her, familial problems.”

My head snapped around to look at the director, eyes wide with surprise. Smithers of course voiced my own question by yelling “Your going to do WHAT!?”

[Inquisitive Raven]

“My name is Montmorency Burns and I am the regional director for the Youth Guard. With me today is my assistant Carolyn Smithers.”

Is that a (genderbent) Simpson's reference I see? Now that I think about it; is Smithers ever given a first name in the show?

[itsune9tl]

“My name is Montmorency Burns and I am the regional director for the Youth Guard. With me today is my assistant Carolyn Smithers.”

Is that a (genderbent) Simpson's reference I see? Now that I think about it; is Smithers ever given a first name in the show?

Google fu provides

[Rajvik]

Smithers first name in the show is Waylen, but yes, it is a genderbent Simpsons reference, and a reference to a Worm AU series named Deputy

[Rajvik]

**Akane**
I smiled a small, successful smile as I glanced back down the table at the others. Vicky and Amy were wide eyed in shock, as was Katie, Taylor meanwhile looked at me and spocked an eyebrow so I acted like I was texting with my hands until both eyebrows rose and she nodded slightly. Texting was a marvelous thing, and I had been doing it almost constantly since we had left the mall in the aftermath of the incident. Getting Aunt Em to look up Rune’s known and or convicted crimes was relatively easy, and while she wasn’t star material, she was possibly redeemable. All of her crimes were juvenile, a couple of minor battery charges, and some defacement of public and private property between her masked and unmasked time with the Empire. The worst she could probably be charged with was assault against an officer and resisting arrest with violence, but to get another Ward, I was almost certain that those charges could disappear or at least be knocked down to something she could get probation for.

“Carolyn,” the older woman said calmly, “remember what the Wards program is here to do, and furthermore, remember that almost no one is beyond redemption.” The younger woman looked at her elder, the shock on her face evident before turning back to glare at Katie.

Katie smiled at that, “Thank you ma’am,” she said to Miz Burns, “and also to you director, I assumed that my trigger was public record, especially since I used it to escape confinement, but I think that if you can get me clear of my guardians, that I would be happy to join your team.” Aunt Emily nodded to this before turning to look at the Youth Guard members.

“Now,” Aunt Emily said calmly, “we were about to hear their report of what happened. Skitter, No No, you were exiting the cinema at Weymouth Mall having just finished the movie that you had gone to see, what happened as you walked out?”

“Four gangsters with Kalashnikov rifles met the group exiting the cinema and directed us to the central court.” Taylor said calmly. “In the central courtyard Skidmark waited with ten non-powered people also with firearms, some sort of powered throne and Mush. I used my power to scout the area while we waited, as well as to make contact with a pair of independents as well as PRT, Protectorate and police forces. Once we had contact, a plan was developed that used the independents to lead both Brockton Bay SWAT and the PRT Fast Reaction force into position. Initiating once they were in position was left up to us because a distraction was needed to ensure that Skidmark couldn’t protect his people from the officers and endanger the civilians. Glory Girl and I provided the distraction, first by me activating the Public Address system and playing music over it, and her by charging Skidmark in flight.”

“Why did you have to provide the distraction,” Smither snapped, “why couldn’t the police or the PRT simply neutralize him along with his grunt?”

“Because of his particular power set” Katie answered, “He produces bands of directional force and as a defensive measure usually surrounds himself with them. Getting his attention away from his grunts was necessary so that a containment foam grenade could be dropped by Skitter’s insects onto the seat of his power chair from directly above. The music got him to stand and consequently actually dismissed most of the bands surrounding the throne that he had. Glory Girl’s charge turned him to one side and while he was distracted dealing with her, Skitter dropped the grenade on his chair. The sound of that caused him to spin around and get a face full of containment foam, keeping him from using bands of force to protect his grunts.”

“A very concise report ladies thank you,” Aunt Emily said and glanced at the two Youth Guard members. “Ladies, do you have any questions for them?”

“Miss Rune,” the Burns woman said calmly, “If I may ask, what were you doing there today?” Katie flushed a bit under her mask and muttered an answer that I didn’t catch. Taylor and Vicky did, both going wide eyed and smiling. “I’m sorry I didn’t hear you,” the older woman said with a slight smile. “Could you please repeat that?”

“I had a date,” Katie said turning an even brighter red. “He doesn’t know anything about this but he, he has gotten me to take a new view on what I have been taught all my life.”

“I see,” the elder woman said with a slight smile. “And does your young man know where you are now?” Katie’s eyes went wide, realizing that she had not before shooting a look at my aunt.

“Go ahead into the other half of the conference room,” Aunt Em said kindly, pointing at the dividing partition. “Just make it quick ok”

“Yes ma’am.” Katie said getting up and moving toward the mostly closed partition.

“Ma’am,” Taylor said gaining my aunt’s attention. “Could I call my father and let him know what’s going on as well?” Aunt Em only nodded and pointed in the same direction so Taylor got up, “Thank you ma’am,” was all she said before she was also heading through the partition.
**Katie**
This had to be the weirdest week of my life. A couple of years ago I would have said that there was no way this would have happened. No way I would join the Wards, no way I would betray “The Cause,” and yet, here I was having, (at least verbally) joined the Wards, and planning on telling the PRT everything I knew about Kaiser’s little empire. It was in a way, insane, and all because I had stuck up for another person, a weakling who was getting his ass handed to him by a pair of bullies because he was smarter than they were.
**Wednesday, January 5th 2011**
“Look, I can’t give you the answers,” the voice said from the alley as I walked past. “The questions are randomized by section, as are the answers for each question.” The voice caused me to stop just past the mouth of the alley behind the testing center. This was another instance of the situation Hookwolf had told me about. Be strong by defending the weak, earn their gratitude and acceptance, and while they may not join, maybe they would have family that would at least turn a blind eye to what we did that broke man’s laws. Reaching into my jacket pockets I wrapped my hands around the rolls of dimes and imbued them with my power. Alone, my muscles didn’t have much strength, but my power could and did make up the difference when needed, especially when used on a pair of brass knuckles or a roll of coins.

“Just tell us the answers nerd,” one of the thugs said lifting the boy up by the collar of his jacket. “If you don’t, I might just have to hurt you.”

All three of the people in the alley were white, and the two that had cornered the third were considerably bigger than the third who I somewhat recognized from around Winslow. “Hey assholes,” I called out as I stepped into the alley, “why don’t you try just go to Clarendon, he’s already told you he can’t help you.”

“Buzz off bitch,” one of them called back without turning around. “Little geek doesn’t want to talk, but we’ll make him. Besides, I don’t want to have to get up that damn early just to go someplace I don’t like.”

The other punk turned around and looked for a moment and blanched, “Oh hell,” he said turning back, “Jimbo, it’s that Fleischer cunt the boss said we had to listen to.”

“Fuck that and fuck her,” “Jimbo said with a snarl. “She’s just another uppity bitch that needs to learn…” I never learned what it was that I was supposed to learn as the punch I threw connected with his short ribs and probably his kidneys. Neither had seen me come closer, as I had started steadily advancing once the smarter one had turned back to warn his buddy, but the one I hit knew I was there when I connected. In response he dropped the boy he had picked up, spinning on me with a haymaker that I easily ducked, putting another empowered punch to his body before dancing back far enough to put my empowered boot in his crotch.

“Jimbo” went down to his knees with that blow, the only reason he wasn’t screaming was that he had no breath in his lungs. This allowed me to focus on his partner for the moment who was moving into a position to try and tackle me while I was distracted with his slightly bigger partner. “You have the chance to run,” I said to him, “I won’t say anything, but if you stay and fight.” At this point I shrugged slightly, “Well, I’ll kick your ass, and then tell everyone why I did it.” He stayed, he fought, and while I had to give the idiot props for sticking with his buddy, but this guy, while big, had no more clue how to fight than the other one. Three blows later, he was down on the ground with his friend, and I was picking up the person they had attacked, “You alright there?”

“Yeah,” he muttered as he checked his glasses to make sure they weren’t broken. “Just a few bruises, nothing I haven’t received from these assholes before, damn Empire wannabes.”

I chuckled slightly, a comment like that meant that I wasn’t likely to get a recruitment out of this guy, still though, beating these losers had felt good. “Well, can’t really do much about them but beat them down when they raise their ugly mugs. I’m Katie Fleischer, I transferred into Winslow at the start of the school year, and while I know I’ve seen you around I don’t think I know your name.”

“Greg Veder,” he said smiling as he offered me his hand which I shook. “And thanks for the help, if you need help with any of the subjects in school, let me know and I’ll be there.”

“Sure,” I said as I smiled back at him, “though you seem a bit confident you’re going to get into Arcadia.”

He shrugged, “I was sick the day we took the test to get at the end of middle school.” He said calmly, “As a result I couldn’t focus on the test and got over half the answers wrong. And while Winslow was hell, I figured if she could take what they were doing to her, I could put up with the jocks and the gangers.”

I looked at him as we walked out of the alley and toward the nearby bus stop. “You’re talking about Hebert, right?” he nodded and let a little bit of a dejected sigh escape.

“She was always at least polite to me,” he said. The tone was not quite wistful, but it almost had an air to it of envy to it to be honest. That said, at the same time it also was a tone that said, Not happening, so don’t even bother to dream it. “She included me in the class projects for Gladly’s class when no one else would, and she helped me pick up my things when the jocks or the trio would knock them out of my hands in the hallway if she was there.” At that point he shook his head, smiling slightly. “Still though, I couldn’t help her, and any thought of there being anything between us other than mutual victims was long since a lost cause.” He shook his head more firmly and raised it as we reached the bus stop. “Don’t bother paying me any attention,” he said with a slight smile. “How do you know Taylor?”

“I don’t actually,” I answered leaning against the stop shelter’s pillar. “I mean I was there in the crowd when they pulled her out of the locker, and I told the cops and Blackwell what happened.” At this point I chuckled remembering the look on that Hess bitch’s face as her head was slammed into the locker. “But the thing is I don’t actually know her. I mean, what was the bitches three’s deal with her?”
**
So Greg told me what he knew, about how Taylor and Emma, the redhead, had been friends before coming to Winslow, but something had changed that summer before their freshman year, and Taylor didn’t know what. “That was also when Hess and Clements showed up,” he told me as we rode the bus toward his mother’s apartment. “But from what Taylor said in passing, Hess had been there before the start of the year, and Emma was meaner when she was around.”

I nodded at this and got up with him as he went to get off the bus. “Something must have happened,” I said more to myself than to anyone else, “and I would bet that whatever it was, Hess probably helped Barnes out of it.”

“Makes sense,” he said as we got off the bus and started deeper into the docks. “Hey, you obviously know how to fight, would you mind teaching me?”

“Me?” I asked. “Will your pride let you let a girl beat the hell out of you, so that you’ll learn?”

He snorted and smiled, “What pride,” he said, “I’ve had my ass kicked by girls that did it strictly for their own enjoyment and because Hess told them I was taking pictures of them in the shower room at school.” I raised my eyebrow at that, and he shook his head, “I didn’t do it, but they believed I did and beat the ever loving shit out of me as a result. Besides,” he continued, “at least this way I learn from someone who at least has a clue about being the smaller person in the fight.”

I chuckled at that, “Alright,” I answered, “Since I work in a gym I can get you in to work out and maybe a little training time, but there’s going to be some changes to things, and if you don’t listen I’ll stop teaching you. Do you know Beast Bod downtown?”

“Yeah,” he answered, “or at least I know of it. What’s a nice girl like you doing working for an Empire front?” I stopped dead in my tracks gaping, People knew the gym was an Empire front, what’s next, the IRS auditing the books? Greg turned to look at me and grimaced, “You didn’t know huh,” he said calmly, “It’s not the most apparent of Kaiser’s recruitment and laundering sites, but if you know what to look for, it’s pretty obvious. The fact that the awning sports a likeness to Hookwolf if nothing else would be a dead giveaway.”

I was still staring at him when I finally managed to say something, “It’s a family issue,” I told him, “they got me the job, and at least it pays decent and allows me to train.”

“There is that I suppose,” he said as we started up the street once again. “Still, I don’t think I should be seen there.”

“I understand,” I said, a frown entering my voice, “but if that’s the case then you’re going to have to push this stuff on your own. I can help you get the tools, and I’ll see about finding another gym where you can work on your training, but none of it will work if you don’t put in the effort.”

“Effort I can give you,” he said as we reached a fairly rundown apartment building. “So, can I expect to hear from you tomorrow?”

“If you give me your number you will,” I answered back with a smile as I pulled out my cellphone. He gave me his home and his cell number and I put them into my phone, giving him mine in exchange, “I’ll call you about ten in the morning, by then I’ll know when I’m getting off and we can arrange to meet up.”

“Works for me,” he said smiling and waving as he unlocked the outer door to the building and went in, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said before shutting the door, I waved back and started back towards the bus stop. Something about me felt better since I had done this, and I felt that things would probably proceed to go well. Unfortunately I was wrong.