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Once we hauled up all the gangers up to the wall, since Miss Militia wasn't here yet, I patted them down and relieved them of their money too.

With seventeen gangers here, I was able to find $1400, and handed one third to Taylor. Lung himself didn't have anything on him sadly,

"Um…is this really okay? This doesn't feel right…" She said looking at the bills in her hand. Girl, I know you want it. You took $2000 from the Undersiders and didn't even think about giving it back.

Somehow I felt Araliac's rolling her eyes at me when I handed her share over.

"Vigilante laws were changed to allow heroes to take any stashes of money they found, but they're supposed to report it to the PRT and get it cleared first. Same with drugs or weapons, in which case the PRT gives a small reward when they're turned in. We're not supposed to take the money on their person and in their wallets though…but most of the time PRT just looks the other way when independent heroes take the spoils, unless they themselves start dealing the drugs and weapons they took," Araliac helpfully supplied.

She didn't protest my actions however, instead just stuffing the cash into a pocket. She knew we were hard pressed for funds from the disrepair of my apartment. Actually we weren't that hard pressed with all my winnings from poker, but I literally moved in a week ago. Aside from the various walls falling apart due to a neglectful landlord, it was also completely spartan for efficiency, so to her it must have looked like I was one step away from being homeless – which meant that she would also be homeless by extension.

Skitter looked at her and then back to me and then to the cash again. She stuffed it into her armor in the end. Good old peer pressure to clinch the deal. Although I was testing her, I didn't believe the outcome of this was ever in any doubt. Taylor desperately wanted to be a hero, but she was not a very principled person at heart. When she rescued Dinah she almost decided to turn around and keep her before Dinah called her out on it. I knew her weaknesses even better than Tattletale did at this point.

I rested myself against the wall as I spoke up again, "So, about your cape name, how does Skitter sound?"

"Huh? It's not bad, but it sounds a bit villainous…there are so few names related to bugs that don't make me sound like a supervillain or a complete dork," Taylor said with a hint of frustration.

"Does it matter? Soon enough everyone will know that you're one of the heroes that took down the strongest villain in Brocton Bay who the entire local Protectorate branch lost against. People will have no choice but to take you seriously."

She was silent for a moment. These pauses were getting pretty frequent in our conversation.

"You're right. We did something amazing tonight, didn't we? I'm a real hero now…" She trailed off and looked at Lung's unconscious body again. The best hero. Don't ever doubt it Khepri. You are the hero to end all heroes. I crack myself up sometimes. No this was bad. Arrogance was hubris, the downfall of far too many successful tragic heroes. I would be better than that. No matter how good it felt.

'Make sure you remind me of this if I forget it Agate. Arrogance is hubris, and it will end me if I indulge myself.'

'Really? But you gloat all the time,' she responded.

'Yes, you should remember this too. Never be complacent. Never assume you've won until you've won. Never assume that there's nobody stronger. I've been intoxicated by my recent successes, and this can't be allowed to continue.'

'Alright, I'll remind you then.'

"Skitter…I am the hero Skitter," Taylor repeated to herself.

"This is odd, what's taking Miss Militia so long? I thought she was in the area already," I remarked suddenly. It had already been almost five minutes.

The Undersiders were leaving. The original plan was to tail them to their base…I knew what their warehouse generally looked like and what one of the signs read, but finding it when there were so many similar warehouses was not an easy effort. It would probably be easier to find Coil's base underground.

But something about this situation spooked me and I kept Agate with me to be safe. A good general knows when to sacrifice and let go. My primary objectives had already been achieved. It wasn't a big loss to let the Undersiders go for now. I had to consolidate my gains and secure my position before going on the offensive again. Overextension was the death of empires.

"Should we call again? I'd like to get some sleep tonight," Araliac commented. I'm sure she was still tired from last night.

Then I heard the sound of a distant explosion. And another one. Then gunfire, and more explosions.

"Sounds like another fight," I said.

"If that's Miss Militia, we should help!" Skitter declared. I would be the one to decide that. Not her. I had to rein her in and show her why I was the proper leader here.

"We can't just leave Lung alone here. All our hard work today would be wasted if the ABB got him back before he's locked up," Araliac reminded. Oh? I should not be surprised by this. Amelia had always been the one to hold Vicky back. Unlike Skitter, whose first reaction after a victory was to go bigger and harder, Araliac must want to ensure that she would get the credit for taking down Lung. Show New Wave how effective she could be.

"Hold on. Let me see what's going on," I ordered Agate to move in the direction of the sounds and held a couple of fingers to the front of my helmet in a meaningless pose. If anybody was spying on me, they might be tricked into thinking I had to do that for my "power" to work.

'Already on it!' Agate informed me.

"What? What are you doing?" Skitter asked curiously.

"I've got a Thinker power. Lets me project my senses and move them wherever I want. It's how we found you so quickly earlier," I explained.

Through Agate's senses I quickly located the source of the explosions.

Skitter gasped. "I think I found them! They just entered in range of my bugs two blocks southeast of here but I can't make them out clearly."

"Oni Lee and Protectorate forces. He's trying to retreat in our direction, but Velocity's hounding him and Miss Militia's supporting from behind! A couple of PRT vans are further south, in a shootout with unpowered ABB," I reported in more detail.

What was going on? First Armsmaster didn't show up, instead it's Miss Militia, and now fighting against Oni Lee? If I remembered correctly Oni Lee should've escaped from the Undersiders a while ago, why was he still in action?

"We've got to help!" Skitter urged, her body language shifting as if preparing to run off immediately. Sigh. It would take some time to stop her impulsiveness. If she had just taken the time to really think through her actions instead of deciding to go undercover as a villain after a ten minute conversation with no training or preparation whatsoever, she might not have become a true villain and had such a tragic ending in the original story.

"At this rate, they'll come here themselves in less than two minutes. I think Oni Lee's retreating this way on purpose…could he be coming for Lung?" I analyzed quickly.

It would make sense for Oni Lee to try and find his missing leader and follow the source of the explosion earlier. One of the unpowered ABB we captured might have also given him info earlier before we arrived.

But how did he get into a fight with Miss Militia and Velocity? Miss Militia and Velocity…what an interesting combination. If they were looking to track down Panacea, that might be one of the better field matchups. Perfect memory recall and high speed chaser. If Protectorate forces were tracked Panacea's scent to the boardwalk, and fanned out from there looking for clues, it wasn't a big stretch to think that perhaps Oni Lee's retreat was cut off somehow. It was quite close to the Docks after all.

Hmm…it would be a good opportunity regardless.

"We'll ambush him here. Skitter, get some bugs on him ASAP! When he teleports, everything on his body gets duplicated along with him, including your bugs. We'll use Lung as bait. Once I've distracted him, use your bugs to cover his eyes, he teleports by line of sight only!" I instructed authoritatively.

"Okay, I can do that," Skitter said nodding. Good, she saw the logic in my plan. As I was the one with all the intel, she ought to be deferring to me.

"Both of you, hide and support from range. I'll stay in the open and keep Lung hostage," I continued.

They hesitated only for a moment looking at me. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Go."

If anything, I'd be in the least danger. Oni Lee couldn't just teleport and suicide bomb me if it would kill Lung. But they weren't familiar with Oni Lee's tactics yet. Keeping distance was almost worthless with line-of-sight teleportation. Nor were they familiar with Oni Lee's personality. He got spooked and ran away at the mere realization that Lung didn't show up. He would be much more stressed if his leader was flat out defeated and helpless.

Skitter looked like she wanted to say something, but Araliac started moving, and Skitter followed her example shortly after.

O O O

Oni Lee appeared around the corner and looked at the devastation and in the area. Velocity was hot on his heels and shot a spray of containment foam.

Another Oni Lee appeared a few metres away, and that was my cue.

"Don't move or Lung gets it!" I shouted.

Both Velocity and Oni Lee turned to see me holding an unconscious Lung, my right hand holding a gun to his head.

They both froze.

"Hey…let's calm down. Lung's a criminal but you can't just kill him—" Velocity tried to mediate but he was interrupted.

"I'm perfectly calm! Oni Lee, get on your fucking knees or he dies!" I snarled while deliberately shaking my hand holding the gun as if spazzing out in contradiction to my assertion of being calm.

Then Oni Lee clutched his face with a scream and stumbled. A copy of him appeared only a few feet away, and then another, and another until he suddenly dropped on his knees.

That was when a jet of vapour blasted into him from the rooftop.

I removed my gun from Lung's head. Suddenly something was holding my arm and pulling me away from Lung. I barely had time to process it before I was sprayed by containment foam.

"Wait! Fellow hero here!" I yelled as my arms and legs were captured in foam, pretending to be surprised and betrayed. Perfect. He took the bait.

I dropped to the ground to see a huge swarm of bugs descending on Velocity, who blurred away but seemed to trip and fell face forward. Another jet of incapacitating vapour blasted into Velocity before he could get up. Velocity could speed himself up something like 100 times faster, so he was tricky to deal with. Skitter must have gotten some bugs on him when he was standing still and had them bite his foot or something to make him trip.

"Stop! Stop! Everybody stand down!" I yelled.

Inside I was thinking the opposite. I was disappointed.

Velocity dropped on the ground and lay unmoving, unconscious. Damn, get up you weakling! Show Skitter and Araliac how unreasonable the authorities are!

Miss Militia drove in on a motorbike just then.

"Velocity!" She cried. Miss Militia was the understanding type. She followed orders and went by the book, rarely doing anything on emotion or self-interest. She was also a veteran in real war. I wouldn't be able to rile her up without coming off as unreasonable myself. Even if I said nothing to de-escalate she would be too wary to just attack. She would see Lung, Oni Lee, and Velocity all down. If my call to PRT earlier was a trick to ambush her, she had to be thinking that this was a huge trap, what kind of insane firepower did we have to defeat all these powerful capes so fast? Velocity and Oni Lee went down in like 10 seconds.

Oh well, it would be arrogant to think that every plan would go perfectly. Getting Skitter and Araliac to take the initiative to attack PRT on my behalf was good enough. Moreover, this was just an on-the-fly plan I cooked up to adapt to the changing situation; the main plan was still in motion. The moment Skitter took a gun in her hand, I knew that the follow-up operation would be viable. After all, if she would take a gun, she would definitely take a "non-lethal" stun baton.

But first, it was finally time to meet the PRT.

Miss Militia's energy turned into a gun I didn't recognize and pointed towards the direction of where Araliac's shot came from. She moved back and took cover as she looked around.

I saw with Agate that Araliac was back in hiding. Skitter never came out of hiding as she could direct her bugs without line of sight.

"Miss Militia, this is Polychromic! This is a misunderstanding. Velocity attacked me because I was holding Lung hostage and my teammates retaliated by accident. We called in earlier about capturing Lung. We are heroes," I called out from my spot on the ground, looking to defuse the situation. Miss Militia was obviously waiting for PRT troop backup, and not foolishly attacking into a possible ambush that took out both Oni Lee and Velocity.

She looked towards where I was foamed and helpless on the ground.

"Polychromic? How do I know that it's you? You never registered with the PRT so we can't identify you. And how do I know the call wasn't a trick?" she answered back.

"Miss Militia, you can confirm this with our actions. I have not fought back myself despite being hit with containment foam. Araliac and Skitter can come out in the open and they will not attack you. We will explain the sequence of events which led to our current situation," I replied.

There was no response for almost half a minute.

Finally, when the sound of two PRT vans driving up from behind her reached me, she responded. "Very well. Don't make any sudden moves."

"It's alright Araliac, Skitter! You can come out! We should cooperate with the PRT," I called loudly.

And so they slowly moved out into the open beside me as Miss Militia and armed PRT troopers moved in formation towards us.

The PRT forces kept their guns pointed at us and only stopped when we were surrounded completely. Then a portion of their troops went to secure the ABB and Velocity. A couple of PRT troops came to hold me upright.

"Alright, so what happened here?" Miss Militia asked me.

"Skitter, you were here first, maybe you can start from the beginning before we arrived," I redirected to her.

Attention shifted to Skitter, who was tense and curt.

"I was patrolling the area when I noticed a group of ABB. I snuck up and kept hidden, watching them for a bit from the rooftops. Then I overheard Lung ordering them to kill kids. I did a bit of research before online…I knew Lung was strong and I probably wouldn't be able to beat him. But they were planning to kill kids…I had to do something. So I gathered my bugs and attacked," she narrated.

"Your power is to control bugs?" asked Miss Militia.

"Yes. Insects, mosquitoes, spiders, all of them. I sent my swarm to cover the ABB members and start biting," Skitter answered.

"Are there any limits to your power? Range, number of bugs controlled?" Miss Militia asked.

I cut in before Skitter could answer. "Skitter, you don't have to answer that, just so you know. Independent heroes have the right to privacy on the limits of their powers. The PRT will appreciate knowing because it helps in coordinating our efforts and you might also benefit from power-testing with their experts, but ultimately the choice is yours. It's not a crime to keep your weaknesses secret if you don't feel comfortable exposing that. You could also go in by yourself later if you don't want Araliac and I to know. We won't be offended."

Miss Militia gave me an unreadable look. After a while, Skitter spoke up, "I think I would like to keep it to myself for now, then. Sorry."

"I understand, we will respect your choice. Power-testing is something we offer at any time to independent heroes. All you have to do is schedule an appointment, and we will have our experts help. Many Protectorate heroes have discovered new things about their powers that way. The Wards also get much more support and training, if you decided to join," Miss Militia explained calmly.

Skitter nodded.

"Please continue then."

"It seemed to go well at first. Their unpowered members were going down, and I was hurting Lung. But he grew armor and started to regenerate from the bites. So then I went for weak points on his body and used venoms. It didn't seem to do much. Then he exploded with fire and all the bugs around him died. I tried to get more bugs on him after that but they were just getting killed by the fire. Eventually I decided I couldn't win and was just about to leave. But then he heard me. He has superhuman hearing," Skitter described the fight, and paused briefly.

"Yes, when Lung grows he gets many superhuman senses. He is a very difficult opponent," Miss Militia added.

"He immediately came after me, jumping up and grappling on the wall to climb toward the roof. Right when his head came over the roof, I sprayed his eyes with pepper spray. And then…" Skitter trailed and looked towards me.

"That's when we arrived. We were already in the area and came running as fast as we could run when we noticed a fight going on. We saw Skitter blinding Lung and rushed to stop him from getting over the roof to reach Skitter, using guns we picked up from the fallen ABB on the way. Lung tried to get us with fire but we dodged and kept moving. Then I taunted him until he came after me on the ground, and Araliac and I defeated him with a special anaesthetic. Lung was significantly weakened by Skitter's attack and went down fast," I succinctly replied, glossing over details.

"I see. That's no small accomplishment. Especially for new heroes. And this was your first time going out as heroes?" Miss Militia looked at all three of us.

"Yes," Skitter said.

"That's correct," said.

"And Polychromic and Araliac, you two are a new team, but this was the first time you met Skitter?" Miss Militia asked.

"That's right."

She nodded back.

"Then you called the PRT. Now what happened with Oni Lee and Velocity?"

"At first, we were just waiting for you to come but nobody came after five minutes even when the operate said you were already in the area," I paused deliberately, hoping she might explain why.

"I got the call from headquarters but on our way we noticed traces of ABB. So we moved cautiously. We discovered an ABB group led by Oni Lee hiding in the area. We had to go after them first. We chased them here," she explained.

I nodded to her thankfully.

"We noticed your fight as well. When we realized it was Oni Lee, we developed a plan to use Lung as bait to ambush him. Skitter's bugs tracked him as he got closer, and when he arrived with Velocity, I held Lung hostage to distract Oni Lee. I pretended to be highly stressed and could shoot at any time to make Oni Lee hesitate. Then Skitter and Araliac took the opening to finish him off by coordinating a bug and anaesthetic spray attack. At that point, I dropped the act with Lung but Velocity didn't realize my ruse so he tried to subdue me and remove me from Lung. I knew he was just doing his job so I didn't resist being foamed. I shouted to clear the misunderstanding but he was moving too fast, then Skitter and Araliac retaliated, taking him down," I explained. I spoke as I was capable of resisting being foamed. I couldn't, but I also didn't resist.

"Do you have any proof of this? That it was only a ruse to defeat Oni Lee?" Miss Militia asked.

"I do. I have recordings of the fights tonight, including when we planned the operation against Oni Lee. These will be uploaded online as part of our team debut video," I said.

Miss Militia stiffened. "Are you still recording?"

"Yes," I bluntly answered.

"This is an ongoing PRT investigation. You can't be recording this, please turn off your recording devices," she ordered.

"I apologize. I would comply with your request, but as you can see, I can physically indisposed at the moment. I'm afraid that if I remain indisposed, the recordings will go live automatically in the morning." I answered nonchalantly. I was going to edit the video and make ourselves look incredible first, but if the PRT captured me, this was my get-out-of-jail card. They would have to release me or risk getting public outrage over unjust treatment of the heroes that defeated Lung and Oni Lee, who were clearly cooperating with the PRT to the best of their ability.

Miss Militia excused herself for a minute before coming back and ordering the PRT troopers to defoam me.

"Thank you," I turned off the recording devices. For now.

Miss Militia ran her eyes over the three of us in a measuring gaze. Velocity was still out cold and would stay that way for a while because Araliac wasn't going to reveal her powers.

"I understand. Velocity was hasty in attacking you, then. However, by law he was within rights to disarm you, having seen you threatening to kill someone without a kill order, even if he was a criminal. As he was already defeated, it wouldn't be considered self-defense," Miss Militia finally judged.

"I don't blame him. I had to play the role properly to convince and distract Oni Lee. It just worked a little too well," I admitted.

"Still, even if it was in your defense, Araliac and Skitter attacked a member of the Protectorate while he was performing his duty. I'm going to have to ask you three to come in with me to PRT headquarters to report to the Director, and she will have to decide what to do," she decided.

Araliac turned to look at me.

"But I have school tomorrow, I have to get back home," Skitter protested.

'I think I figured something out from Lung and Miss Militia's powers! I should be able to generate parallel dimension portals after five more hours!' Agate cut in with a mental message.

'Good work!' I thought back. Two days were just saved, that certainly was a breakthrough. Now the question was, would we need additional equipment/resources to do it? And would we have fine control over the portals or would they be like Professor Haywire's in their permanency?

'I'm not sure yet. I don't think we'll need any more equipment to do it, I should be enough by myself. But making temporary portals or closing a portal might be a bit harder,' Agate assessed.

"Sorry, but rules are rules," Miss Militia answered sadly.

Miss Militia's cloud of energy was subdued as she spoke to us but it was still clearly visible. Her power was to manifest weapons from that energy, and corresponded to her emotions at times. It would cycle through various weapons at times of high stress with no direct input from her. So despite her calm attitude she was clearly still ready for a fight if we were to forcefully resist this unofficial arrest.

"Araliac and I will come with you," I agreed after pretending to think about it for a bit. A meeting with Piggot was exactly what I needed…this would increase the chances of success for the next operation to complete the isolation and recruitment of Skitter, which was my primary objective tonight. It would be a little dangerous considering the search for Panacea, but I believed they would be cautious of attacking me immediately. If I really was a Master, they would be putting themselves at risk by making the wrong move with no information about my powers. One peaceful meeting was all I needed. They at least had to entertain the unwritten rules and respect that we were supposedly heroes for now. They couldn't just come out and say Araliac was Panacea without substantial proof, of her identity as well as her being Mastered. Her "crimes" against the Dallons were nowhere near significant enough to be breaking those unwritten rules yet.

With that, Skitter slumped in resignation and we moved into the PRT van.

On the way, Miss Militia decided to continue pressing us for information.

"I'm surprised three new independent heroes appeared in one night. That doesn't happen often," she remarked from her bench opposite of us, sitting in between two PRT troopers.

"Araliac and I have been active for a while," I knew that anything we said might be recorded for Armsmaster's analysis later, so I was carefully choosing my words. "Active" and "a while" was suitably vague and suggestive. "We just didn't go out until tonight. Only fools start a career fighting dangerous criminals without proper preparation."

Miss Militia nodded. "You're right, of course. Many young heroes unfortunately don't recognize that and go out at the first opportunity."

She looked between Araliac and I. "If you don't mind me asking, what are your powers?"

I hadn't told her about my scouting abilities in my after action report. Instead, I had merely stated that we noticed it was Oni Lee Skitter sent her bugs to track him, allowing her to assume that Skitter detected them. In reality, Skitter's powers at this point weren't developed enough to process the visual and auditory signals from her bugs cleanly, so she didn't identified the combatants, but they wouldn't know that.

"Sorry but we do mind. It's better to keep as much of our powers secret as possible. It's better for us if villains don't know why they're losing," I said quickly.

"That's true, but I don't think anyone here is going to tell the villains, and knowing your powers, even just the basics, is how we can identify you," she argued calmly. Miss Militia was a true patriot. You could tell by the American flag motif on her scarf and costume.

"I'm sure you won't tell the villains Miss Milita. Sadly, PRT information networks are compromised. The major villains in this city have access to everything you do. I know you're going to write a threat assessment on all of us, and when you do, their spies will have it too," I brazenly declared.

Skitter looked over at me, perhaps in surprise.

Miss Militia eyes narrowed at me. "Compromised? And how would you know this?"

"I can't tell you. This van might be bugged right now," I said while deliberately shifting my head slightly towards the two PRT troopers. I was expecting Coil to be listening in even as we spoke.

"What I can tell you is this. Your networks are compromised. And not just by hackers. You've got infiltrators in your midst, some with significant authority in the organization. And if Armsmaster reviews a recording of this conversation with his lie-detector software, he'll know I'm telling the truth," I added. It wasn't certain that any such recording existed, but since this was the inside of a van, it only made sense. The most powerful part of this statement however, was the mere fact that I knew of Armsmaster's software. Very few people knew about that.

Everything I said was indeed true besides. Coil was a supervillain that literally was in the PRT, and he had substantial authority even. He some kind of important consultant and had the title of Commander in the field. Then there was Cauldron, who had a couple of capes in the local Protectorate. Triumph, the mayor's son had gotten his powers from a cauldron vial, but I didn't know if he spied for Cauldron. Battery, on the other hand, I knew was in league with them.

I heard a hitched breath from my side. I expected Skitter to be listening carefully. This was partly for her benefit. It would also help if I began proving more of my claims to Araliac.

Miss Militia's eyes widened.

"How did you—never mind. You're serious about this. But how could this have happened? We have very strict Master/Stranger protocols and comprehensive security reviews to weed out infiltrators," she said with worry.

"And if they know what your protocols are, or worse yet, wrote the protocols themselves?" I challenged her.

She was silent for the rest of our trip.

The downtown PRT building was well staffed and active at night. I suppose it must be because heroes had to have patrols when villains were most likely to be up and about.

Troops were guarding the entrance and hallways. The gift shop was closed, but we weren't here for a tour.

We waited in the lobby for a bit while Miss Militia went in to report first and have Lung and Oni Lee secured. I wasn't just twiddling my thumbs though. Agate went to find Thomas Calvert's office. It was a bit difficult. Although the PRT had Calvert in the public directory, it wasn't clear if he had any sort of permanent office. He was a consultant, and that could mean someone who came in occasionally, or who was on a long-term assignment. I thought it was the latter, given that he also served as Commander for PRT strike squads, but I couldn't be sure because the directory didn't have rooms listed, only phones and emails.

It took a while, but Agate found a room with Calvert's name on it. Good. Hopefully he had to come in on a regular schedule. The room was completely dark so nothing of value could be observed inside.

That done, I had Agate move into Piggot's room to spy on them.

Oh? What do we have here? Glory Girl (Victoria Dallon), Brandish (Carol Dallon), and Flashbang (Mark Dallon) were here in costume.

"You have three days to think about our offer. After that you can try your luck in court," Piggot gave Brandish a challenging stare.

Glory Girl clenched her fists and looked like she was going to cry.

"Fine. Glory Girl, we're leaving," Brandish ordered authoritatively and turned around.

"What about Amy? Did you find anything yet?" Glory Girl cried out.

To the side of Piggot's desk, Armsmaster was standing stiff as a board in full armor.

"Nothing concrete. We tracked her scent to the boardwalk but it disappeared there," he answered succinctly.

"And the bastard that Mastered her?!" she practically yelled.

"Still under investigation. I've brought Dragon in to assist with the search, it shouldn't be long now," he replied calmly.

Then Miss Militia knocked on the door. Piggot called out, "Come in, we're finished here," staring at Glory Girl as if daring her to disagree.

Miss Militia opened the door, taking in the three New Wave members' stand-off with Piggot. She glanced around at them awkwardly before asking, "Director, the new heroes are waiting in the lobby. I can give you my report before you see them."

"No need. I already saw the recording. Just bring them in," Piggot replied.

"Understood."

Miss Militia closed the door behind her.

"What are you still doing in my office?" Piggot asked Glory Girl with a look of irritation.

Brandish was trying to pull on her shoulder to no avail. "Vicky!" she hissed.

"If…if you find Amy and take down that bastard, then I'll join the Wards!" Glory Girl suddenly said.

"You're not in any position to negotiate. What I offered is what you're getting. Nevertheless, we will find Panacea as is the duty of the PRT and Protectorate," Piggot answered flatly.

Soon enough Miss Militia came to us and led us to Director Piggot's office.

On the way, we came face to face with Glory Girl looking down with a gloomy expression, with Brandish and Flashbang beside her, both of them being escorted by Assault.

They looked at us curiously.

I noticed Araliac's posture stiffening as we walked.

"Busy night tonight! Three new faces? You must be heroes if you're coming here and not in chains!" Assault commented with a grin as he paused to look us over.

"Thanks to them, we have Lung and Oni Lee in custody. Very impressive for a debut," Miss Militia added warmly.

Glory Girl was visibly shocked when she heard that. Even Assault's jaw dropped. Both Brandish and Flashbang's costume had a visor and their mouths didn't particularly move so it was difficult tell what their reaction was.

"Don't be impressed yet. This is just the beginning. We're going to clean up this city. The villains have had free rein for far too long. Innocents are dying and enslaved every single day. Under the clouds of evil, the people have forgotten what safety and freedom even means! Brocton Bay has become a dark pit of misery and despair. But no more!" I spoke passionately and clenched a fist in front of me. "The villains will learn to fear the light of justice once again! We will change everything. We will restore this city to its rightful place in the sun!" I opened my fist and raised it high above me, as if trying to hold up the sun in my hand.

Everyone looked taken aback at my sudden speech. This was just posturing. The PRT didn't have PR in its name for nothing. But they weren't the only ones who could play that game. I've read more than enough books to know how this goes. Speak loudly, and carry an invisible stick. That's the way to win.

In this case, Agate had been my invisible stick, phasing in different spots to film the fights earlier from various angles in between spying on the Undersiders, on top of the recording devices on my and Araliac's person. Here, my recording devices were off and Agate couldn't be used in the open to capture electronic footage. Nonetheless, there was an audience and it was an opportunity to establish my "personality".

"You're certainly ambitious. I like it," Assault said with a smile.

"Well, there will be time for introductions later, the director is waiting," Miss Militia reminded us.

I nodded at Assault before we followed Miss Militia into the Piggot's office.

Armsmaster was standing at attention beside Piggot's desk. He was the leader of the local Protectorate branch, theoretically equal in rank to Piggot but because the PRT was technically the non-cape oversight for the Protectorate, he was really subordinate to her. In his metallic full body armor, he was an imposing intimidation factor.

Miss Militia was the deputy of the Protectorate and reported to Armsmaster. Even though Armsmaster was nominally in charge of the Wards as well, Miss Militia tended to be actually managing them because Armsmaster was less socially inclined.

The director herself looked haggard, irritated, and just about to keel over if she wasn't sitting.

Director Piggot was a fairly competent leader, but she hated capes. Thanks to her trauma with the Nilbog disaster a long time, she despised parahumans as a whole and refused to even let Panacea heal her liver problems.

I'd originally hoped to maintain decent relations with the PRT at least until Leviathan hit, but now that Araliac ditched New Wave and they knew, conflict was inevitable. Nilbog was a cape that had the power to create living and thinking creatures, monsters you could say, with powers of their own. He was an S-class threat that captured a whole city, and the Protectorate abandoned it, walling it off from the outside world while Nilbog was content to rule his city of monsters as a fantasy king. And Piggot was right in the middle of Nilbog's attack, so she hated capes with powers related to control of biology and making creatures. To her mind, Araliac's absolute biokinesis was just a nightmare waiting to happen.

And with things as they were, her nightmare was about to come true. I needed Araliac's power and nothing would get in my way. They'd figure out sooner or later Araliac's true identity no matter how we try to hide it, unless we just didn't make use of her power, which was not acceptable. If that meant the PRT thought me a dangerous Master to put down I would need enough strength to put them down first.

If Piggot was aggressive then it'd be all the better for me. Even if she wasn't, I had enough dangerous intel to force the issue. Both of the girls with me had major biases and vulnerabilities that could be manipulated.

Amelia tried her best, but at the end of the day, I knew she hated the world for making her life so terrible. There were no shining examples of heroism in her life, and her attachment to her rules and avoidance of villainy were pathological rather than some kind of true moral fibre. Sooner or later, this world's natural darkness and her shard's influence would push her beyond the brink.

Skitter, on the other hand, turned to villainy canonically, and was an expert at rationalizing. Now that I had gotten to her first, I had the feeling that she was already ripe for recruitment. I was dangling her dream of being a hero in front of her at every step, praising her for her contributions and acting generally like her mental impression of what heroes were supposed to be. Piggot and Armsmaster would probably piss her off even without my prompting. Then I'd reveal the truth about Sophia at an opportune time.

"So you're the three new heroes I've been told about," Piggot said.

"Good to meet you, director Piggot, Armsmaster." I said pleasantly, nodding at them. Of course, with the voice changer making me sound like a Sith Lord what was 'pleasant' was merely not disturbing.

They both nodded back.

"I have been informed that you three managed to take down Lung by yourselves. Then you ambushed Oni Lee when he arrived and defeated him too. That's very impressive for your first outing. We've had a lot of trouble with those two in the past," she started acknowledging our achievement. Well, maybe I was being too harsh to her. Or perhaps she was being cautious not to antagonize us without knowing our full capabilities?

"Thank you. Araliac and I weren't planning on fighting Lung as our first public action as heroes, originally. We knew that fighting someone strong enough to sink Kyushu would be a very tough fight, even for us," I explained. I wanted to show that we were not rash and foolish newcomers. And to imply that we did have the ability to match Lung at full power. We actually would though, once Araliac really let loose and had some time to prepare, so it wasn't a total bluff. "But when we saw that a fellow hero was in danger, we knew we had to act. Fortunately, Skitter did enough damage that it made things a lot easier for us."

Skitter looked over at me again. I bet she was thinking now that I really meant what I said before, if I was willing to give her credit in front of a major authority. She had to have been a little suspicious in the back of her mind about all the praise I showered on her. That girl was a ball of wariness and low esteem. After Emma set up a few fake friends to betray her, she had wised up to pretentious people.

Piggot slid her gaze over to Skitter, almost in a deliberately slow movement.

"I thought you didn't know each other before tonight? How did you recognize her as a hero? Her costume doesn't quite look the part," Piggot commented curiously. There was no judgement in her tone. She was just fishing for information on my capabilities, and I'm sure she meant no offense. Sadly for her, neither did Armsmaster when he made a similar comment in the story and it still hit Taylor's insecurities.

"That's…not intentional," Skitter spoke up rather defensively. "I was more than halfway done putting the costume together when I realized it was looking more edgy than I'd intended, and I couldn't do anything about it by then."

A small but more than sufficient opening. I stepped forward to seize it, for victory goes to the bold.

"Our own costumes are also purely functional. People must be judged not by appearances but by their actions. What kind of villain would stand and fight in the face of a monster like Lung with mere pepper spray? A cowardly villain would have just run when they realized they were outmatched and alone, having nothing but their own lives to protect. But I saw her on that roof, mere inches from a monster covered in fire, spraying into the bastard's face like she had nothing to fear. I knew then that she was a true hero." I felt goosebumps on my skin as the sheer passion of my acting took over.

"She wasn't fighting for herself. She was fighting for something deeper, something greater, something worth putting her life on the line!" I spoke strongly and increased my voice as I built to a crescendo and Skitter stared at my back. The words felt hypnotic and self-evident to my ears.

"A purpose and calling that gave her a different kind of strength, an inner power fueled by courage and righteousness, demanding her to be more than she was, to be…a superhero!" I ended with a thundering statement that put the rest of the room into silence.

With Agate's senses centred a ways behind me, I saw Skitter fidgeting in embarrassment. Araliac shook her head and shrugged as if silently answering Piggot's questioning gaze towards her. I thought I might have heard a giggle from Miss Militia too. No that can't be right.

'She really did.' Agate helpfully corrected me.

"I…see," Piggot slowly nodded with scrunched eyebrows. She was obviously not happy with my useless explanation. She must be irritated that I was one of those hammy capes like Mouse Protector. I was pretty sure they thought I was a Thinker already with the information I told Miss Militia about the PRT spies, but I wasn't going to give them any hints as to the exact nature of my knowledge if I could help it. Plus I could reframe Skitter's suicidal inclinations as something admirable, reinforcing the way she rationalized her behavior, making myself the source of her good feelings while the PRT became a source of bad feelings. It helped that she didn't know the "kids" she saved were the Undersiders yet.

"You certainly did a good thing tonight, I won't deny that. Let's get to the main point of this meeting then," she pressed on and cupped her hands together in front of her face with her elbows resting on the desk. "I'll be frank. Your success and devotion to heroism are commendable, but your methods were questionable. The three of you used lethal venoms and guns, took a defenseless man hostage, and attacked a member of the Protectorate when he was just performing his duty under the law. Just for that last one, I could have you arrested and charged with a crime."

Skitter immediately tried to argue. "What? But—"

"If you're saying that, that means you don't plan on it, right?" I countered. Skitter fell silent.

"You're a smart one, aren't you?" Piggot let out an amused huff. "You're right. If you had failed or did any serious damage to Velocity, I wouldn't hesitate to bring the law down on you. But you succeeded very well and I can't argue with the results. You clearly knew what you were doing, executing efficient take downs of powerful villains with minimum damage to yourselves and property. You even defeated Velocity without any actual harm to him. In light of that, I'm more inclined to see your actions as taking measured risks and responses to the circumstances, rather than impulsive newbies stepping over the law once they were in over their heads."

I nodded at her. I bet the public would say the same thing once they saw our video.

She folded her arms together on the desk and gave me a stern look. "For now, I remain optimistic that you will be a blessing rather than a danger to this city. God knows we need more effective and committed heroes out there, especially now that the balance of power has been broken. You've just created a power vacuum, and the coming days will see the other gangs jostling to fill it. A storm is coming, and we need you to help Brocton Bay weather it."

"We won't shy away from the danger, director, you have my word. No, we'll be right in the middle of this storm; with the fury of the heavens we will wash away the stain of super-powered villainy and protect the innocent," I declared lining a fist to my chest as if giving a solemn pledge.

"Agreed," Araliac finally spoke up for the first time in this meeting, crossing her arms in front of her chest as if in indignation.

She actually chuckled in response to that. "I'm not worried about your commitment." No she was worried my zeal would turn into a crusade. And she was right to be worried.

I was feeling a little disappointed that she wasn't more antagonistic. Truthfully I didn't think Piggot was actually letting me go that easily. If I could act, so could she. What was her angle? Did she really not suspect Araliac of being Panacea? Not even going to question us about it?

"I'll help as much as I can too," Skitter said with a nod.

"You could do a lot of good with the Protectorate and the Wards," Armsmaster added. "We've been outnumbered and stretched thin by the villains for too long."

"I'm sure we could, but you know why we can't," I said good-naturedly while turning towards Miss Militia meaningfully.

Piggot glanced over as well.

Armsmaster turned to look at Skitter, as if expecting a separate answer from her. She stayed silent and pretended not to notice. Were they trying to act nice to give a good impression to Skitter?

"What you told us is indeed very troubling. It would be helpful if you could give us something more specific. I understand the need for information security but keeping things too close to your chest will make it difficult to cooperate. You haven't even told us your powers so we couldn't verify your identity if an imposter appeared."

"That's true," I admitted. "For our identities, there's not much we can do about that. It's not as if cape powers can't be faked either, and some powers are nearly impossible to detect. As for your moles, well first, let's agree to keep what I tell you next off the record, alright? I hope this room is secure."

"It is," Armsmaster assured. Piggot nodded her agreement.

This was it. The reason I deliberately acted so paranoid and uncooperative was right here. I wasn't going identify any moles for them. The ones I knew by name I had no proof of treachery, and the PRT likely wouldn't find any hard evidence at this point either. I had something entirely different in mind.

Piggot thought she could get something out of me pretending to play nice, but she just fell into my trap.