27

Extraction 3

The good thing about working at the hospital, often in the emergency room, was that you got to know some of the paramedics. The ones who had picked us up recognized me immediately. They were quick to act and took my word, and we worked together quite well to stabilize Lisa. They had some of the supplies I couldn't provide, especially the drugs, oxygen, and emergency blood pack.

I kept watch on Aegis and Gallant through my bots. Abyssal kept them pinned down, at least until things caught fire. The Tinkertech rifle that Sophia was using didn't fare very well, not with my bots attempting to disable the thing. I didn't know if it was self-destruct function or if I had crossed the wrong wire, but the thing sparked, fizzed, and started belching flames hot enough to incinerate my own bots.

It was at that point I let the Wards go and evacuated my bots from the area. Armsmaster and Miss Militia were inbound, anyway. Ventilation, plumbing, cracks in the wall – I took every exit available. What mattered was that I got as much of them out as I could before the fire got hot enough to damage them.

Sophia's body, as well as much of the evidence of both my Tinkering and the fight, was quickly consumed. I didn't do anything to stop the flames; I wanted as little evidence remaining as possible anyway.

Lisa was nearly stable, but just in case, I called Panacea. I hoped she was at the hospital.

"Hello?"

"Panacea... it's me, Eunoia. I was attacked... I'm on the way to the hospital."

"WHAT? Okay, I'll be ready."

When we got to the hospital, Panacea was there at the entrance. She was ready to heal me, but I pointed to Lisa first. "She's more critical," I said.

Panacea obliged, but said, "She's going to need fluids and nutrients. She hasn't been eating well the past few days." Lisa was still unconscious, but her vitals looked stable, and everything I could see with my bots were fine. Panacea had worked a miracle, as always.

"Thanks," I said.

"Now for you." She put her hand on mine while I flopped down on a chair. "Holy hell, Taylor, what hit you? There's... charred carbon seared into your back."

"Tinkertech rifle," I said.

"Who the hell is crazy enough to attack you? Merchants? Is that Squealer's?"

"Coil. But more specifically, Sophia... I mean, Shadow Stalker. And Gallant. Aegis was there too, but it was mostly Gallant and Shadow Stalker that did the shooting," I rambled a little.

"Gallant? The Wards? Are you sure? Wait, I'm telling Vicky." She pulled out her phone and started texting furiously.

A minute later, my own phone rang.

"Taylor! Amy said that De... Gallant SHOT you?"

"Yeah," I said. "With Shadow Stalker."

"Isn't she in jail or something?"

"Not any more, apparently."

"Hold on, I'm going to talk to him." She hung up the phone, leaving me to wonder what she was going to say.

"I think I'll just rest here for now. In any case, a supervillain is trying to assassinate her," I said, jerking my thumb at Lisa. "And maybe me. Um, there may be a bodyguard incoming."

"What?"

I formed Abyssal in an unwatched alley near the hospital, and have him storm inside within a minute. I may have given Janice, the admitting clerk, a bit of a scare as well as the hospital security, but he stopped outside our bed before anyone could actually stop him.

Panacea stared at him.

"Don't worry, he's with me. He's a, uh, bodyguard for now." I made Abyssal nod and give a thumbs up, before turning to face outwards in a knightly stance.

"...whatever, just as long as he doesn't get in the way," Panacea said. "I've got more patients, you okay here?"

I nodded and let Amy continue her work.

I didn't let myself rest, not completely. Who else did Coil have under his control? I remembered that the Travellers had been hired, but I didn't really know the full extent of their powers. As such, I devoted more brains to pay attention around the hospital, just in case there was someone else that would try to sneak in to finish the job. It may have slowed down my search for Coil's base, but my priority was staying alive.

I had been expecting mercenaries, or maybe a small team of capes descending upon the hospital. Maybe if the Empire, if they still believed that Lisa was going to leak their identities. But nobody came, at least until Glory Girl arrived, dragging Gallant along.

I noticed his armour had some fresh dents where Glory Girl was gripping him. I hope she didn't get in trouble for that. She still looked like she was fuming, but I presume she worked out most of her anger on him already.

They stopped when they were confronted by Abyssal. He drew his sword and held it towards Gallant's neck.

"What's he doing here?" I shouted from inside the room. My shout was heard well beyond the room, and I noticed Panacea glare at Gallant as well.

"We had a chat. He wants to apologize," Glory Girl shouted back. She nudged Gallant a bit forward towards us. Abyssal shifted to get in his way and pushed him back.

"I'm not a big fan of the 'shoot first, ask questions later' routine," I said. I got out of my chair so that I was in between the doorway and Lisa's bed. "How about I punch you in the face before you say anything, to make things fair?" I raised my fist, which with my Eunoia costume, was decorated with additional, extra-large syringe needles.

"Is that what happened?" Glory Girl asked, looking even more incensed than before.

"No! Look, I made an error..." Gallant started to say.

"Bullshit! I was trying to save her life, and then YOU shot me!" I shouted. "The reason I got shot in the back? Because YOU were helping Shadow Stalker!"

"Seriously? You said it was just some accidental friendly fire!" Glory Girl said. Her aura flared up, but it didn't seem to affect Gallant.

"It was. It really was," Gallant in a remarkably calm voice. "I was expecting Shadow Stalker in the room when I got in there. Look, to explain, I'm... uh, I'll reveal some of my powers. It's not just a Tinker suit. I can see emotions, they kind of look like... auras around people. And Sophia was, well, a big ball of murderous rage."

"No fucking surprise," I said.

"Well, I'm not sure how well you remember, but... you were pretty angry too. Angry enough to kill. So when I walked in there, the first thing I noticed was an aura of angry, murderous rage. Right in front of someone else who was afraid for her life. I thought I stumbled on Shadow Stalker, so the first thing I did was get ready to shoot her."

"But you shot me anyway."

"No! I stopped! But Shadow Stalker came out of nowhere, she used her power on me. Stabbed me in the back, through my armour. I accidentally released the charge I had ready to go. I'm sorry."

I narrowed my eyes. "If that were true, you'd still have a stab wound in your shoulder. Let me see, then."

"I... I can't take off my costume now," he said. "Sorry, Wards regulations..."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," I said. I extended the "syringes" in my costume to an excessive length. "These babies will get right through those armour gaps."

Gallant sighed. "Alright. If that's what it'll take for you to trust me," he said.

I was honestly surprised that he had agreed. I had been ready for him to deny, make excuses, and I would have had Abyssal shove him out of there. I hesitated before I remembered what I was about to do anyway.

I injected him with bots. Some went on the outside of his skin, others went into his bloodstream. Around his shoulder blade, I found a freshly bandaged wound, with some microscopic metal fragments embedded in the flesh. The bone itself had taken some damage as well, but it had stopped whatever he had been stabbed with. There was some pretty harsh bruising from Glory Girl, too, but no broken bones.

Huh. So he was telling the truth.

"You seem a little less angry," he said. "Could I ask you a question?"

Less angry, but I was still annoyed as hell. He couldn't have picked a worse time to mess up. "Fine."

"Well, um, when I mistook you for Shadow Stalker at first, I was getting ready to hit you with an emotion blast. Usually I go for hopelessness and defeat; it makes most people give up without a fight. It, uh, seemed to react... in a way I didn't think it would."

"So you Mastered me?"

"Um, it's officially classified as Blaster, but..."

Because Master sounded scary, and the first two letters of the PRT was "PR" after all. "Whatever. It reminded me of my trigger event. Not gonna say any more." I certainly didn't want to go through that again.

"Thanks. For understanding. And I'm really sorry, again. And, um, I hope I can do better in the future."

Gallant bowed out and stepped away. I couldn't believe he actually did the whole chivalry thing. I suppose he might have been a genuinely good person if he hadn't made such a fucked up first impression.

"I guess I gotta bring him back. They'll get their panties in a twist if I don't," Glory Girl said, following him out.

Before they were out the doors, though, I noticed a commotion at the front of the hospital. There was some more shouting, and I saw Triumph enter, making a beeline for them. I was expecting him to try to bring me in or interrogate me on the spot, but his attention was entirely on Gallant. I kept watch on them through the bots I left on him. "Oh good, you're here. Quick, we're recalling everyone to the Rig."

"What? Why?"

"It's... ugh, I guess it's not really a secret. Armsmaster and Dragon have been working on an Endbringer prediction program. Right now, it's predicting an attack soon. We want everyone recalled, right now."

"Wait, here?" Glory Girl's eyes bulged out.

"Most likely not. It's suggesting a coastal attack, so probably Leviathan, but somewhere in Europe is sitting at 70%. Still, we can't discount an attack on American soil."

"But you aren't telling anyone yet?" Glory Girl asked.

"The Endbringer program is still under development. It hasn't been vetted by WEDGDG yet. We don't want to cry wolf and cause mass panic, if it turns out to be wrong. It's just an internal meeting for now. Consider it a mandatory drill."

"Are we inviting New Wave to the meeting as well?" Gallant asked.

"Might be a good idea, but it's not my call. Come on, we've got a van waiting."

Glory Girl broke off from them. "I gotta tell my teammates."

"Panacea? That's a good idea. Maybe she can give you a quick touch-up," Triumph said to Gallant.

"I... really don't think she's in the mood to deal with me right now," he said. "I'll get by on my own."

They followed Glory Girl back to our room, and she waved her sister over as well.

"So," Triumph said as he noticed Abyssal. He cleared his throat a few times, like the words he was intending to say suddenly disappeared. "We, uh, were having an Endbringer drill at the PRT. I could talk the higher-ups into letting you join in, if you want."

"Actually, it might be a real Endbringer!" Glory girl exclaimed in a loud whisper.

I looked to Lisa. I didn't want to leave her alone right now. Sure, Abyssal could hang around her, but I still felt more secure being with her in person.

Lisa crossed her arms. "That would be a hell no from me. The PRT's got moles in it. The people who want me dead have agents in your organization. I'll be assassinated ten minutes after I set foot in your base."

"Nobody in the PRT is going to want to kill you," Triumph assured her.

"Oh, what would you know, rookie?" Lisa snapped at him. "Every major gang has at least one PRT employee in their pocket. Coil's got some in leadership positions."

"And how would you know that?"

"Take a wild guess. How do you think the mayor's niece got kidnapped so easily? Exactly when the Protectorate was mostly out of town, accurate to the hour."

That seemed to hit Triumph more personally than I expected. "What do you know about that?"

"Shadow Stalker wasn't lying. You are a villain," Gallant muttered.

"Skirting pretty close to the rules, aren't you?" Lisa retorted.

"You're not exactly trying to hide it right now," Gallant countered. "So, what, you work for Coil?"

"Wait, she's a villain?" Glory Girl shouted, mostly at me.

"Used to," Lisa emphasized. "That's why he wants me dead."

"You need to come to headquarters. Even if you don't want to, I could arrest you right now," Triumph said. "It's for your own protection. You'll have my word that no harm will come to you."

"What part of 'assassinated' don't you get?" Lisa said. "People on Coil's payroll don't give a damn about your word."

"You think you'll be safer here?" Triumph asked.

Lisa gave a telling look towards Abyssal. "Yeah. I do."

"Would you at least come in to give a statement about the incident an hour ago?"

"Not right now," I said. "I'm still feeling injured. And traumatized. Because he shot us." I pointed at Gallant.

Gallant looked a little annoyed, probably because he could see how not-traumatized I was. But he didn't contradict me, either. "I said I was sorry," he muttered quietly. I could barely hear it through his armour.

"Fine. Please come in when you're feeling better," Triumph said. "Gallant, we need to go."

"But Tri-"

"Pick your battles, Gallant. This isn't one we can win, and we have more important things right now." They walked out together without another word to us.

"So. I thought you said you weren't going to hang out with villains any more?" Glory Girl said, turning to the two of us.

"Hey! I told you I'm trying to quit. And it's pretty hard to just stop being a villain when this is what I get," Lisa said.

"Vicky, don't be too hard on her. I told you she'd been nice, and she wants to help take down her old boss," I chided my teammate.

"That just means she's a backstabber. You need to watch out, Taylor." Glory Girl flared her fear aura. As much as Lisa tried to hide its effects, she did scoot further back on her bed a little.

"Vicky! Not here! There are other patients! You're gonna give someone a heart attack!" Panacea hissed.

"Right. Sorry," she said, and the aura died down. "Still, I don't trust her."

"Backstabbing implies I was on his side at some point. He practically made me his slave, and now you're blaming me for that? Not everyone can just punch their problems and fly away. Fuck you, Little Miss easy-way-out."

Glory Girl flew forward and pushed past Abyssal. Not that I could stop her. "I'll show you who's little-"

"Lisa! Vicky!" I shouted, getting in between them. "Just, cool it! Vicky, give her a chance! Lisa... why do you have to pull the asshole schtick right now?"

Neither apologized, but at least they stopped glaring at each other.

"I think we should call a team meeting anyway, if Armsmaster's predictions are right. I'm going to go phone mom." Glory Girl floated away, and Panacea followed.

"How are you holding up?" Lisa asked after we both had enough time to cool down.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"There's something bothering you. I know you're trying not to think about what just happened too much, but..."

"I've got over a thousand brains. I've thought about it plenty," I said.

"You've avoided it a thousand times harder than anyone else could," Lisa countered. She took my hand. "Taylor, you didn't do anything wrong, but you just need to really get over it. So far you've just been turning it into anger at Gallant. Right now you seem to hate him as much as your bullies, but he hasn't done nearly as much as they did to you. And for what it's worth, I actually believe his apology."

"So what? Can't I be mad at a guy?"

"He ain't the problem, he's the punching bag. The problem is that you killed Sophia. That's bugging you. Actually, wait. It's not the killing that bugs you." She scruitinized me carefully, doing her thing again. "It's the fact that it doesn't bother you that's bothering you. Huh."

Ah. I guess I hadn't realized it myself until Lisa put it into words. Sure, I'd killed someone before. Bakuda. She undoubtedly deserved to die, though. She killed hundreds, held a city hostage. It wasn't just my decision, even the heroes, and other villains, and the PRT, and the legal system declared it was totally okay to kill her.

Sophia, though?

Of all the times I had desperately wished or imagined to get revenge on my bully, I had never imagined it would feel so easy. I thought I wasn't that kind of person. The kind of person Sophia was.

As much as Sophia had tortured or hurt me, I didn't want to be her. I thought I was better. And now I could remember her face, sliced apart, oozing blood and other bodily fluids out. I could remember her organs, electrocuted and liquefied by my bots. I always thought I was a better person than her, not worse. There was no kill order on her. Even the Wards were trying to talk her down at the end.

"Taylor."

Maybe that was why I had been so mad at Gallant? It wasn't even the fact that he shot me. The merchants had shot at me before, and I didn't exactly hold a grudge. It was like business – I was a hero, they were villains. It's just how things go.

But these were the supposed heroes. It was partly the fact that they were trying to talk Sophia down like she could be redeemed. It was, in all fairness, the heroic thing to do. And I was on the opposite side of that. I didn't want to believe that. I couldn't – Gallant had to be wrong. Because if he was right...

"Taylor, talk to me."

Sophia was Shadow Stalker. She had fans, because she did have a good record of catching criminals. One of the best among the Wards. She wasn't a random killer like Bakuda had been. I wouldn't acknowledge her as a hero, no. But she wasn't a villain on the scale of Bakuda. She was just... a personal nemesis. For whatever reason, she'd picked on me. Was that enough reason to kill someone?

Unlike Bakuda, I didn't really have many people on my side this time. The PRT sure as hell wouldn't like it. There was no Kill Order on her. And yet, killing her had basically felt almost the same as killing Bakuda. Worse, it wasn't even a quick, clean, kill. I'd mutilated Sophia. I put her organs into a blender.

It felt...

I don't know. But it didn't feel bad. And that was more worrying to me than anything. I wanted to be a hero. Was that what heroes did?

"Taylor!" Lisa grabbed my chin with one arm. "You need to talk. Or listen. Look, I'm the last one who should be telling you not to kill anyone again. Because I sure as hell don't believe it. Coil needs to die, for one. Just make sure you have good reasons for it. And I don't mean legal reasons, because the law's fucked me over more than enough."

"I really don't think I should be taking psychological advice from a villain. Former villain."

"Yeah, well, it's all you're getting until you can book your own appointment with the psych ward," Lisa smirked. "Come on. It's good to know where to set your own boundaries. Self-defense? Fine. Just dandy. Nilbog, or the Slaughterhouse Nine? You don't even need self-defense to justify killing them. You don't need to feel regret with them."

"Sophia wasn't anything close to that. She was... small-time," I argued. "I could have just stopped her."

"Shadow Stalker was a killer. She'd nearly killed people just for fun before she was forced into the Wards. She had a chance to redeem herself by staying in jail and getting out on good behaviour. She gave that up. Her choice. The only way to stop a rabid dog is to put it down, end of story," Lisa said firmly. "Trust me, not everyone can be redeemed. Just because she's too incompetent to kill hundreds of people doesn't mean she didn't fantasize about it all the time."

"Fine. It just wasn't what I imagined being a hero would be like, you know? Not when I was growing up playing Alexandria with a towel on my back."

Lisa snorted. "We all work with what we got. At least you still have a team. Speaking of which..."

Glory Girl and Panacea both returned.

"Carol says we're calling a team meeting. It's actually going to be an Endbringer attack, you think?" Panacea asked.

"I'm good enough to go. I'll let the nurse know, I'm feeling good enough to be discharged. How about you, Lisa?"

"Can I come with, actually?" Lisa asked.

"Seriously?" Glory Girl crossed her arms. "Tay, you'd better keep an eye on her."

"I'm not joining New Wave. But, uh, I'd rather be surrounded by a family of heroic capes for now. Not that I'm doubting you – or Abyssal's – abilities, but Coil's got money, and there are plenty of mercenaries out there..."

"Fine. But I'm not giving you a ride. And I'm not giving him a ride, no way. Sorry, bud," she said to Abyssal.

"I think Abyssal can give the two of us a lift," I said. I didn't want to leave Lisa alone anyway. "We'll catch up at your house."

"Actually, it'll be at Aunt Sarah's. But yeah, see you there."

I waved as the sisters departed. Lisa got up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Can you make him a horse?" she asked.

"A horse?" I exclaimed.

Lisa nodded. "Well, yeah. It's a good way to make him run faster, and it fits his theme. Knights ride horses. I'd rather not have to get carried on his armour."

"I could make it softer."

"Yeah, but it's not as cool that way."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "You just want a horsey ride, don't you?"

She threw her arms up in the air. "Fine! Okay! I wanted you to make a pony for me. You wanted to be Alexandria, I wanted to be a princess swept away by a handsome knight. At least one of us can get our childhood dreams fulfilled."

I laughed. "I could just carry you, you know."

"Taylor, as much as I appreciate you saving my life, your back was almost as uncomfortable as Bitch's dogs. Gimme my damn pony."

Abyssal's pony was a malformed mess. It had taken me hours to figure out Abyssal with Lisa, and several days of practice after that to get him to move fluidly. And he was human-shaped. I was used to humans. Horses... not so much. In fact, my new creation looked a little more like... a deformed human with a long face, crawling on the ground. It certainly didn't move like a horse, because I had never studied a horse's gait. And galloping was uncomfortable anyway. Too bouncy. I wanted a smooth ride.

"You sure know how to kill a childhood dream, Taylor," Lisa said as she stared upwards at the monstrosity.

"Shut up and climb on, this is the best you're getting."

I decided to name it the Roamer.

While Abyssal "rode" up front, Lisa and I sat in the back. I was still wary of snipers from Coil, so I maintained my focus on our immediate surroundings, and had the Roamer's bots ready to shift into a protective shell in an instant.

It never came, though.

"Taylor, how's it going with Coil's base search?" Lisa asked.

"I think I found them all, if he only has three. The one near Old Quarter, the construction site near Medhall, and the house in the suburbs. Problem, though, he isn't in any of them, as far as I can see."

"Any snipers?"

"Nothing within a mile, unless they have some really advanced camouflage," I told her.

Lisa thought for a moment. "Actually, I think we might be safe for now," she said. "I was wondering why he hadn't sent anyone to finish me off."

"Why do you say that? I didn't think Coil would be the type to give up so quickly. Didn't you say he preferred to tie up loose ends?"

"He does. But if his power is anything like mine, or other Thinkers, then Endbringers throw a wrench into everything. He's cautious. He would prefer to secure what he has rather than take a risk to gain something more. Even though his power makes taking risks less risky."

"I'm definitely seeing more people entering his bases. None with a cape costume though, all mercenaries or spies," I informed her. "Lots of PRT uniforms."

"Yup. He's hunkering down. Since he has access to the PRT, he probably was told about Armsmaster's Endbringer prediction too." She took a long, meditative breath. "Taylor, are you planning on joining the Endbringer attack?"

It was in the news so often, there were multiple papers dedicated to the Endbringers alone. Their attacks, the aftermath, recovery, and prediction. Their frequent attacks was a never-ending news cycle. It had crossed my mind often when I fantasized about being a cape, but ironically, I had been so busy or distracted since I actually became a cape that I hadn't given it too much thought.

I was glad that Lisa had advised me to become a healer cape. I wouldn't have to be in the thick of the fighting. I knew that Panacea had been there before – what kind of friend and teammate would I be if I let her go by herself? From what I imagined, it would probably be as bad as the ER when Bakuda went on her bombing run. Maybe even worse.

"I think I'll go. Help out how I can."

"Good. I'll be going, too. Do what I can to help out."

I raised an eyebrow. As much as Lisa was my friend, I still didn't trust her not to have ulterior motives. It was only a question of how beneficial those ulterior motives were to me.

"Coil's not stupid enough to break the Endbringer Truce. As counterintuitive as it sounds, the safest place for me in the short term is at the Endbringer attack. I won't be at the front lines, anyway," Lisa explained. "Oh, he doesn't give a damn about the unwritten rules. He'd expose people's identities, assassinate them in their sleep at home. To him, they're nothing but hurdles. The Endbringer Truce, though, that's practically law. Governments have policies in place. The PRT, the Guild, the Kingsmen, The Super Sentai... they'll all actively enforce the Truce. Coil doesn't want international heat coming down on him. He won't touch me there."

"If you say so," I said.

We continued to ride until we got to the Pelhams' house. I had already seen most of the others arrive before us. We dismounted on the front lawn, where Abyssal stood guard.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting new members," Mrs. Pelham said as she opened the door. The entire Pelham family and Dallon family, except for Mark Dallon, was sitting in the living room. Dad was there too.

"Um, hello, Lady Photon," Lisa said with a small wave as she stepped inside. "I'm Lisa."

Mrs. Dallon crossed her arms. "You're that villain that Taylor was talking about," she said.

"Former villain!" Lisa insisted. "Not like it was my choice. And Coil still wants me assassinated for trying to quit."

"So you're coming to us for protection?"

"Basically? Taylor's a friend, and I feel obligated to warn you guys mercenaries and assassins might start coming after you to get to her. In order to get to me."

Mrs. Dallon shook her head. "And you just put us on his radar. Why didn't you go to the PRT instead?"

"Because he has spies there. I should know, I was one of them for a time. I hacked into most of the ENE servers, and I'm not even a software Tinker. He has actual people working IN the PRT right now."

"Well, that'll be hard to verify until we actually capture him," Mrs. Dallon said.

"And him? Is he joining?" Eric asked, his eyes locked on Abyssal, who was standing out on the front lawn.

"No, he's just a friend," Lisa said quickly, covering for me. "Not going to reveal his identity."

"A mutual friend," I added, since Lisa's word didn't have much weight among New Wave.

"Fine. Now's not the best time to be recruiting, anyway. Vicky, if you would?" Mrs. Pelham said.

"Oh! Right, so we were in the hospital, and I dragged Gallant over to explain why he shot Taylor, so..."

"Wait, back up. Taylor, you got shot? Who the hell is this Gallant?" Dad shouted.

"He said it was an accident. Friendly fire, while Sophia was trying to kill me."

"Sophia. Wait, you mean Shadow Stalker. Isn't she supposed to be in jail?" Mrs. Dallon asked. Dad looked at me in shock.

"Yeah, apparently she broke out. Anyways, Lisa figures she was trying to assassinate her, and decided to kill me while she was at it. Both of them shot me, Sophia hit Lisa, and I had to take her to the hospital. Panacea healed both of us."

"Is she still going to be a problem?" Dad asked. "Where's she hiding out? If I find out Alan is still going to defend that..."

"She, uh, won't be a problem for now," I said. I pointed out the window at Abyssal. "He took care of her."

"Yay team." Crystal said. "Glad everyone here's alive and well. Is that what this meeting is about? Is another villain targeting New Wave?"

Lisa gave her an uncertain hand wave. "As much as I want Coil off my back, that's not the important news. Glory Girl, why don't you tell them." Everyone looked surprised that there was more important news than a member of New Wave nearly being killed.

"What? Oh, yeah! So, Triumph comes along and says they're predicting and Endbringer attack soon. They were having an emergency meeting, so I thought WE should have an emergency meeting too."

"HERE?" nearly everyone shouted at once.

Vicky shrugged. "Dunno, they weren't clear on that."

We all sat down quietly, thinking. "Is the report accurate?" Mr. Pelham asked. "Nobody's managed to reliably predict an Endbringer attack more than an hour ahead of it actually happening."

Endbringers were inherently unpredictable; no Thinker or program could truly prepare anyone. Sure, there were telescopes pointed at the Simurgh and deep-ocean robotic sonars that kept track of Leviathan. But both of them could move remarkably fast; a few hours of warning was the most people got. It was often less with Behemoth, who seemed to swim below Earth's crust. After the theory that the Endbringers were just extreme parahumans had mostly been thrown out, people toyed with the idea that they were somewhat robotic. Robotic meant predictable.

That theory were just as quickly thrown out; many had tried and nobody was any more successful than the other. It didn't leave people with much hope when someone else came along claiming to be able to predict the Endbringers. Even if it were people as accomplished as Armsmaster and Dragon working together.

"Likely no better than previous ones. Like anything involving the Simurgh," Lisa answered. "Still, we're overdue for an Endbringer attack, I think."

"True enough," Mrs. Pelham said. "We've all participiated in Endbringer attacks before in some capacity or another, except you, Taylor. We might as well discuss what you plan to do."

"Um, what's your usual plan?" I asked.

"The kids are allowed to be on search-and-rescue duties only," Mr. Pelham said quickly.

"Except Panacea. There's high demand for healers," Mrs. Dallon added.

"Hey, you said I could be on the offensive teams after I graduated!" Crystal said. "I only missed the last one because I missed the call-out on campus..."

Mrs. Dallon sighed heavily. "I can't stop you, Crystal, but I really want you to be careful. And think about it. There's no shame in sticking with search and rescue or defense."

"Mom, I'm one of the best Blasters around. I'm one of the few capes that can hit either Behemoth or Simurgh. We need every Blaster we can get," she insisted.

Mr. Dallon only sighed equally.

"Well, I'm going no matter which Endbringer it is," Amy said. "They need healers, no matter what."

"And if Amy's going, I'm going," Vicky insisted.

"I'll go too. Same reason as Amy." I instinctively avoided Dad's gaze as I said that.

"Taylor, you can't..."

"I can't do nothing!" I insisted.

"Mr. Hebert, the healing tents are generally quite far from the actual fighting. It's about as safe as anyone can reasonably be in an Endbringer fight," Mr. Pelham said.

"It's still an Endbringer fight," Dad pointed out.

"I can save lives, dad! What the hell's the point of having powers if I can't even do that?" I said firmly.

To my surprise, most of New Wave nodded in agreement.

"You don't..." Dad started to say.

Mr. Pelham interrupted him, holding his hand up. "I understand all too well, Danny. I've seen the destruction up close. I've watched my wife, and my children, fly off over ruined cities to stop an unstoppable monster. I'm not as mobile as they are, so half the time I feel useless while they rush towards danger. Whatever you think... well, I'm not going to lie to you. It's worse. But that's the point. I've seen how much suffering there is during those attacks. And as much as I fear losing my family to those monsters, I couldn't call myself a hero if I just ignored everyone else I've seen suffering even more."

"I know you fight hard for the Dockworkers," Mrs. Pelham added. "Have you ever considered just... giving up, letting the gangs take over the area and forcibly recruit the people under you? Walk away, and tell yourself it's not your problem?"

Dad gritted his teeth and let out a laboured sigh.

"I get it. I get it. I don't have to like it," he said.

"I'll stay safe," I said.

"I'll make sure she does," Lisa added.

We all turned to her. "What can you do?" Vicky asked, maybe a little too harshly.

"I'm a Thinker. A pretty strong one, if I do say so myself. Put me in the command post and I'll make sure the fight goes as well as possible. At least, give the rest of you some insights and warnings."

We all sat around for a little while longer, periodically checking the websites, the news, and our phones for any updates about the potential Endbringer attack. And then, it came. Everywhere at once, from text messages to TV interruptions to the Guild website to mass emails, people were reporting major Endbringer movement. Flights were instantly being diverted or cancelled, evacuation orders were in place. Just like how we practiced in school.

Armsmaster had been partially right after all.

Behemoth was emerging in Spain.

Author's Note:

Well, maybe this seems like a slightly anticlimactic chapter. Characters apologizing and being reasonable? How strange.

The Endbringer attack has been slightly overdue... and I'm not quite ready to trash Brockton Bay yet.

I try to stay out of current events, but this coronavirus needs a pretty important PSA. One thing to note is how scary exponential growth is. A lot of people think the whole quarantine thing is an overreaction. But it isn't. Given the current data, cornoavirus cases seem to double every 2-3 days.

Here's some quick math. Let's pretend 1% of the population is infected. That's actually still hard to notice - one person in a hundred? Most people still won't have any close friend/family that's infected. New York has a population of 8 million. 1% of that is 80,000. 80,000 new cases in three days. Can the hospitals handle that? Three more days later, it's 160,000 new cases. 240,000 new cases in less than a week. The hospitals definitely can't handle that. And that's only starting at 1%, where most people still think it's "not that widespread" or "barely noticeable." This is the kind of thing that needs to be brought under control while it's still sitting at 0.01%, because by the time it gets to 1%, it's already overwhelming. And the scariest thing about this disease is that it is infectious BEFORE people develop symptoms.

As for Taylor, she is perfectly capable of full exponential growth - she only doesn't want to, because she's got it pretty good as a New Wave teammate. For now.