36

Exposure 6

Dragon, of all people, was the first to react to Browbeat's death. "Eunoia, something has come up. Concentrate on Lisa for me, I need to deal with this," she said.

Viktor was confused. He didn't seem to know what was going on. My bots were trying to scramble all over Browbeat, to no avail. I couldn't heal or even stop this kind of injury, he needed Panacea. But there was no way to get to her in time.

My bots finally managed to stop Viktor, causing him to crumple unconscious. Not that that helped.

Who the hell was it that had swapped them? It seemed like the same cape that had helped Grue get close to my house, but they were out of costume. And there were tons of spectators to the fight, many of whom were watching from the apartment windows. My guess was that it might have been that interracial couple that had been near my house… but I hadn't taken note of the man's face. There was no wheelchair girl around, and in that particular neighbourhood, there were hundreds of African-American males.

"Dragon? Is it Armsmaster and… friendly fire?" I asked from the interior of her mobile workshop. It wasn't a difficult guess that she might have known. Dragon worked with, and was often friends with, many big-name Tinkers around the world, and Armsmaster was the greatest Tinker in the region. Their personal friendship was no secret.

"Oh, you know about that? Ah, Abyssal was there. You saw it for yourself. I'm going to try to sort things out. It was clearly a case of malicious interference."

Dragon went quiet, so I assumed she logged off. By the time our conversation ended, Browbeat was already dead. At least I could focus on healing everyone else. Even without much left on the streets, I still had to take care of Lisa and my patients in the hospital.

With twenty brains focused on various different aspects of Lisa's condition and health, I was confident she was stable for now. And a few hundred brains working on bot design to help fix her brain, maybe I could even get her walking and talking sooner rather than later. Though I needed to get her to Panacea somehow, or the other way around.

The hospital was still busy, mostly from the aftermath of the Empire's reveal. I tried to sneak in some time with Panacea for advice when I could. I sped up the process by working on even more patients simultaneously, mending minor wounds and stabilizing everyone who had signed the consent forms right away, even before the nurses informed me of them. I just pretended I was working faster, instead of earlier. It just put less load on my teammate and saved time. Possibly lives, too.

"Hey, could you check something for me?" I asked, when the most critical patients were all done.

"Uh, sure. What is it?"

"I'm not sure if you're able to… but I have a few prototype bots I'm working on. Do you think they could… well, properly replace neurons?" I asked.

Panacea looked at me with a suspicious expression. "Define 'replace.'"

"Like, literally sit in the brain and act like a neuron. Interface with biological neurons. Powered by biological nutrients, like glucose and ATP. Waste materials only carbon dioxide. Anything else I need to account for?"

"Can it read the differences between each neurotransmitter?"

"Uh, some designs can, others bypass that step by ignoring the actual synapse," I told her. "I have a few designs for you to test."

"Can it wait until later? It's still kind of busy right now, and the code orange isn't over," she said. "There's probably going to be a third wave of patients, at minimum."

"Not… not too long?" I asked her hopefully. It wasn't hard to keep Lisa stable and alive for another day. Basic hydration and nutrients were taken care of; my bots around the city could fetch ingredients I needed easily, and she was stable right now. "There's something I need to show you."

At the remains of my home, I watched as PRT officers took a look at the area. It was basically a charred crater now. There was nothing for them to find beyond the sidewalk. After some talking on the radio, I watched other officers approached my father at work.

"Sir, are you Danny Hebert?" an officer asked.

"Yes, what's the matter? Is this about Bruce Gardner? He's been accused of…" Dad was pointing at the guy sitting on the chair being watched by several of his co-workers.

The PRT officer held up a hand and shook his head. "This is a different issue, the BBPD will be along soon to pick him up for questioning. Can you confirm your address for me?"

"2378 West 34th Avenue," dad answered.

"Sir, I'm afraid to inform you that your home was destroyed in a parahuman attack. We'd like you to come with us for protection and to help with the investigation."

"Wait! My daughter… is my daughter alright? Taylor, she…"

"Yes, we're aware of your daughter Taylor Hebert. Cape persona Eunoia… she's confirmed to be working at Brockton General right now. We've sent officers to retrieve her."

Dad visibly calmed down and breathed a huge sigh of relief. After that, he was much more willing to follow the officer and was driven away to PRT headquarters.

Right on cue, I saw PRT officers enter the hospital. They were directed from the welcome desk to where I was.

"Eunoia? Do you have a moment to speak privately?"

"What's this about?" I tried to feign my ignorance. "It's kind of busy in the hospital at the moment."

"I'll talk to you later, Eunoia," Panacea said as she started to walk away.

"Actually, this might involve you as well," the officer said. "You see, Eunoia's home has come under attack by a parahuman. This could be an attack on New Wave as a whole."

Panacea's eyes bugged out. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yes. We'd like you to come in as well."

I looked at the officer, and to the overflowing hospital ER. Despite the work Panacea and I had been doing, the stretchers were full and so were the chairs. Patients that were able to stand were pretty much left standing.

"Oh god, this is like Fleur all over again," Panacea muttered.

After informing the doctors, we followed the officer and accepted the ride.

I could tell by the time we arrived at PRT headquarters that everyone else was there already. Not too hard to understand since they had been fighting alongside the Protectorate members. Dad was sitting with them in a meeting room. When we walked in, Dad got up and rushed over for a hug.

"Thank goodness you're safe, Taylor," Dad said. "Have you heard?"

"Yeah, the officer mentioned it," I told him. "Our home's gone…"

"I've lost so much already… at least you're safe. I can't imagine losing you."

"…same." I realized I had rarely told him that I loved him, at least not since mom died. And it felt a little awkward now, especially with everyone else in the room.

"Good. Everyone's here," Miss Militia said. "Let me give you the summary. At approximately two-fifteen PM this afternoon, we received multiple reports of a parahuman fight in the Hillrise neighbourhood. By two-twenty, someone reported a bright light in the sky. Around the same time, people started reporting the sounds of explosions and a fire. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing riots, we weren't able to get an officer to the area until just before three o'clock. Firefighters had already suppressed the fires. There was nothing left, and we found no victims, although there are a few people who are presumed missing."

"Wait, what about your friend? Lisa?" Dad asked me. "Wasn't she staying in the guest room?"

Everyone looked to me to confirm. I was, of course, the last person to see her alive, aside from Dragon over video chat. Could I let them know the truth? Would Dragon say anything? Or was it better to deny anything and fake Lisa's death? I decided to play dumb. My other brains could help coordinate with Dragon, ask her what was going on. I was pretty certain it wasn't illegal to simply not tell them everything.

"She was still there when I left the house. And she gave me a phone call from the house around noon. She didn't feel safe to leave," I told them. All true. And the phone records could probably be traced if they had a warrant.

Amy and Vicky both gasped. Now everyone's eyes turned to Miss Militia.

"Unfortunately, the damage was so extensive that there is very little evidence to gather. The temperatures of the fire were in the thousands of degrees. We don't expect to find many remains, if any exist. Without any confirmation, we have to categorize it as a missing persons case, but the outlook isn't good," Miss Militia said grimly.

"Is this… a targeted attack on New Wave?" Lady Photon asked.

"Until we can confirm that it isn't, we'll treat it as such," Miss Militia said. "The damage done isn't consistent with any known Empire-affiliated parahuman, but we can't ignore the possibility of outside help."

"It couldn't be plain old arson? The Empire has a lot of footsoldiers," Dad said.

Miss Militia shook her head. "From what we could tell, the temperatures were far too high. Enough to melt steel. A parahuman power is far more likely than any conventional means. And from what we've gathered, there have been rumours circulating online that the exposure of the Empire's identities was orchestrated by New Wave."

"What? That's ridiculous!" Lady Photon exclaimed. Everyone else also shouted in protest.

Miss Militia raised her hand. "We're looking into it, and I can't tell you the details until the investigation is concluded. But I can summarize the information being spread online. First, Tattletale was seen associating with New Wave during the Behemoth fight. Second, she was caught on camera entering Eunoia's home. Third, people have traced the document release to Tattletale. The theory goes that New Wave sought retribution for Fleur's murder by using Tattletale's skills."

"That's complete horseshit," Shielder muttered. His parents didn't even admonish him for his language, as they were too shocked.

"With that being said, we are presuming you're innocent until proven guilty. And you are in more danger from the thugs than they are from you. There are a few options we can offer you. First, you can choose to come under our direct protection, but that means staying at the PRT building…"

"You mean in a few of your cells," Brandish said.

"Or perhaps this room right here. Most of our beds are currently occupied until we can transfer the capes, so unfortunately we won't have better accommodations. You'll be free to come and leave as you like, of course, but it won't be comfortable," Miss Militia said.

"I'm thinking option B is going to be far better, whatever it is," Manpower said.

"The other option is to relocate you. We'll help move you to another city, though settling in is entirely on you. We can use our leverage to help smooth things out and make things happen more quickly, but the costs will primarily be on you. We can also alert the local law enforcement of what to watch out for, but we can't provide any direct protection."

"So, it's literally just moving us away from the problem. It doesn't seem like much," Dad said.

Miss Militia nodded in agreement. "While it isn't as impressive, the PRT has found it to be quite effective yet budget-friendly option, which to date has been estimated to have protected over twenty thousand people nationwide. Our data shows that criminals, especially gangs, tend to work within certain territories, and simply moving people far enough away reduces the possibility of further retaliation by as much as ninety-seven percent."

"Wait, does that mean we can't be heroes?" Vicky asked.

"The program isn't like Witness Protection – you won't be getting new identities. We recommend you lay low for a while, but it's your choice. Your power sets are rather distinctive, especially if you work together. Panacea as well; her healing is well-documented," Miss Militia pointed out. "However, I would highly recommend Mr. Hebert be relocated, since you don't have as much physical or… cultural protection."

"It would also mean giving up our jobs. I can't just drop legal cases on a dime," Brandish said. "I have a duty to inform my clients and find appropriate replacements."

"Hey, Panacea saves hundreds of lives a day," Laserdream pointed out. "Are you telling her to stop?"

"The program does offer some employer incentives to help you transition to another job when possible," Miss Militia said. "It's not the most ideal, but we've found ways to make it smoother than a typical move."

"I can't stop," Panacea said. "Isn't a hero someone who helps others despite the danger to themselves?"

I turned to my father. "Dad, maybe you need to be placed under protection, but I need to support my teammates," I told him. I scooted my chair a little closer to Panacea's.

"This is something we'll need to discuss as a team," Lady Photon said. "Can you give us some time to come to a decision?"

"Of course," Miss Militia said. "Keep in mind it can take some time to arrange the move should you choose to do so."

"Taylor, why don't you stay with us for now?" Vicky was the first to make the suggestion as we left the PRT building.

I looked to my dad. "I'm okay with that. Let me go and buy some, uh, necessities and I'll meet you at the Dallons," he said. He glanced over to Mr. Dallon to confirm. Mr. Dallon just shrugged – at least he wasn't against the idea.

"I need to finish up some matters at the office. You get settled up in the guest room, and we'll have a team meeting after dinnertime, if that works, Sarah?"

Mrs. Pelham nodded as well. "Team meeting at Aunt Carol's after dinner," she confirmed with her own kids.

Vicky was about to fly me and Amy back, when I decided to ask her to take a detour. I had thought about it a lot, but one measly secret wasn't worth risking Lisa's life. I'd have to admit a few things to Amy and Vicky… and figure out who else to tell afterwards. I needed Amy to be there when I fixed up Lisa's brain. I needed her to fix up everything else too, like the skull and skin, and maybe clear up any diseases I may have missed. That much I couldn't avoid.

"Vicky, could you take us down near Captain's Hill? There's something important I have to do. And… I need Amy, too."

From Vicky's arms, Amy have me a questioning look. "Please don't tell me it has something to do with your neuron replacement bot from earlier," she said.

"It has a lot to do with my neuron replacement bots from earlier," I told her.

She looked worried.

"Right down there!" I said, pointing at Dragon's workshop. Vicky spotted it easily, since it was a very unique and distinctive vehicle with a dragon theme. She landed right beside it, looking at it curiously. I dropped down from Vicky's piggyback and walked up to the door. I pounded on the side. "Dragon! Open up! I need to see… you know."

"Wait, Dragon? As in the Dragon? She's here?" Vicky asked, surprised. "Is this her RV? I thought she never left home."

The door opened up and I walked inside. Dragon's face was on the screens. Vicky peered inside, and after seeing all the equipment and Dragon's virtual presence, was a bit disappointed.

"Hello, Eunoia. And welcome to my mobile workshop, Panacea and Glory Girl."

"Oh. Hey, again, Dragon. This is pretty cool, I guess. I think your regular suits are cooler though," Vicky said, looking around. Then Lisa's body caught her eye. She shrieked.

"What? What's happening?" Amy asked, still stuck at the doorway. She looked and saw Lisa's body as well. Unlike Vicky, she was much more clinical about it. She walked up to Lisa and touched her. "Taylor, she's been shot in the head."

Vicky gaped wordlessly. She floated around and noticed the hole in Lisa's head. She almost gagged.

"I think I can save her," I said firmly.

Amy sighed. "You honestly want to try to fix her brain? Let me know what's going on."

"Where to start… um, it was a few minutes after you started the raid on Coil's base," I started the explanation with Vicky. "Lisa used to work for Coil. She knew Coil wanted her dead. So she hid at my house until it blew over."

"But it's all over the internet! She had all of the Empire's identities. She started all of…" Vicky pointed out, waving her arms chaotically.

Dragon was the one that answered. "Actually, I was able to trace the origins of the information. The person who logged into Lisa's PHO account and email did it from a different part of the city. Furthermore, they spoofed the location to Lisa's apartment building, which has not been in use since before the Endbringer attack. Rather sloppy hacking by my standards. I intend to provide this information as evidence that she was framed."

Vicky paused. So did I, for a different reason. I was thinking that everyone was a sloppy hacker compared to Dragon. Except maybe her nemeses, the Dragonslayers. How close had we been to having everyone actually pin the blame on Lisa?

I continued. "Anyways, then there was an attack on my home and, well, long story short, a sniper shot her in the head."

Dragon showed the bullet I had left with her, now contained in an airtight glass cylinder. "It comes from a Tinker named Bigger Bro who works both sides of the law. He specializes in identification and tracking technology. Military and law enforcement have been known to use some of his tech, unofficially. This very bullet is advertised on his darkweb catalogue. Unfortunately, it's unlikely he will ever reveal who his customer was."

"Thanks, Dragon. Is there any actual lead or toxic stuff on there?" I asked.

"None. It's mostly a tungsten alloy, actually."

"No tungsten poisoning," Amy confirmed. "Though it's pretty difficult to get it anyway."

"Good. After that, since Dragon was already on the way into town, she offered to give her shelter. So I got her out of the house just in time before a cape burned it down, and met up with Dragon," I said.

"You knew she was alive? And you didn't tell Miss Militia?" Vicky asked.

"I think, for now, it would be best if everyone thought she had died in the fire, until we can find out who really tried to frame her," I said.

"I agree with that assessment," Dragon said. "Thus, I am willing to hold her until the case is solved."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense. How did you manage to meet with Dragon? You were with me the whole time at the hospital," Amy said.

I took a deep breath. Here it was. "I am Abyssal," I said.

"Wait… you're… but…" Glory Girl started to say. "But Abyssal was with us at the raid on Coil's base… and then at the fight downtown…"

"And at home. And other places. I can explain the details later. But the important thing is… Amy, can you help me save Lisa's life?" I tried to distract them a bit and focus on the real problem at hand.

Amy looked at me like I was an alien. "Yeah. Yeah, sure," she said blankly.

"So, like I said, I have about two hundred different designs of bots that could possibly work to fix Lisa's brain, can you tell me which one's the best?" I asked.

"Alright, stick them in and I'll see how compatible they are," Amy said, nodding towards Lisa's head while she had a hand on her ankle.

"Here's the first version," I said.

Dragon was watching quietly as I worked and tested things out with Amy. It took less time than I feared, because Amy was able to help eliminate entire categories of bots with designs that didn't work. It mainly boiled down to optimizing and combining about four different ones. With a single final design chosen, I started mass-manufacturing more copies of that bot. Meanwhile, Amy healed up everything else with Lisa. It would take a few more days of constant testing and work before I even had a hope of fixing up Lisa, and she would remain unconscious until then. At least Amy gave her a relatively good bill of health. Just a minor issue of having a hole in the brain.

The time we had was up, and we had to head back to the Dallons' home for dinner.

"Hey, guys? Could you, uh, keep the Abyssal thing a secret for now? I… I like working with all of you, and I just want to help however I can… I don't want to get kicked off the team."

Vicky gave me a powerful hug. "Tay-tay, I'm already inviting you over to stay at our place. You're practically a sister now! And it makes things easier to know if Mr. Tall Dark and Mysterious is actually a teenage girl," she laughed.

"Carol's not going to like it," Amy said. "But then again… there's a lot she doesn't like."

"Would you mind… not telling her?" I asked cautiously.

The two sisters both shrugged differently. Amy looked more nonchalant about it while Vicky looked scandalized. Though she seemed to take enjoyment in scandals and gossip, too. She was wavering for a bit, but then she asked, "Taylor… just wondering. If you're going to fix people's brains, are you able to, uh, fix Dad? He's been in a bad headspace for a while now…"

"He's suffering from depression," Amy explained more precisely. "It comes and goes, and the meds help, but it's not always consistent."

"I kinda miss patrolling with him. He's… just not as motivated these days," Vicky said.

"Um… I'll need to do more research, because I haven't done a lot of work with depression, actually. But I'll give it my best shot once I've figured it out," I said.

"That's good enough for me. Honestly, I don't care what you're doing with all your extra bots, because you're still a hero," Vicky told me, beaming. "Well, hop on. See you later, Dragon!"

"We'll be in touch," Dragon said. "Eunoia, I look forward to when we have time to truly collaborate. Your design process was fascinating."

Over at the Dallon's house, I was about to get much more familiar with the place. Vicky lead me upstairs to the bedrooms, and she showed me the guest room. Unfortunately, it only had one bed ready.

"Hm. Well, this is going to be kind of awkward. I'm guessing you don't want to sleep in the same bed as your dad," Vicky said.

I knew I could create a decently-comfortable bed out of bots. Better than comfortable, actually. I could contour the thing to be perfectly ergonomic. I just needed to gather some bots from around…

"You can take my bed," Amy suddenly said.

"What?"

"You can take my bed. Um, if Vicky wants to… like we did when we were little," Amy suggested.

"Oh. My. God. That is such a good idea! It'll be just like old times! Before we moved into this house, we had to share a room and the two of us had to share a bed for a while. Wow, talk about nostalgia!" Vicky said with a wide smile.

"Thanks, Amy. It means a lot to me," I told her. "Sorry for being such a burden."

"It's nothing," Amy said, looking more embarrassed than I would have expected. I never had a sibling, but I remembered sharing a bed with Emma back in the day. She was practically a sister… was it really so embarrassing? I didn't really bother to push it. I was glad to have a bed to sleep in at all, until we figured things out.

"Come on, everyone to my room! Amy, we have to figure out spots. And Taylor, I can give you some clothes to wear for now."

"Uh, no need," I said. I was borrowing so much from them already. "I can use my bots to turn into clothes." I showed them by changing my costume into my usual unassuming hoodie-and-jeans look.

Vicky gaped. "Taylor! You have the best power ever! Do a leather jacket!"

"Kids! Time for dinner!" I heard Mrs. Dallon's voice from downstairs. "We got pizza! Hurry up while it's hot!"

"Coming, Mom!" Vicky shouted back.

I was glad for the distraction. Thank goodness. I wasn't ready to play dress-up again.

Nobody could complain about pizza. With all the chaos of the day, we all needed something quick and tasty, and nobody had any time to cook a proper meal.

Dad arrived with toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, washcloths, towels, pyjamas, and other basics. He was looking pretty distraught – I knew he had swung by our house to take a look before coming here. There really were no remains. He always talked about growing up in that house; it had been part of his entire life. As much as it was mine. My other brains reassured me and helped enforce some cold, hard logic to the situation. I knew I had options; I had powers. Dad didn't. He had a lot more to get over and a lot less to get over it with.

But when he saw me sitting with my friends and enjoying myself, he cheered up as well. Greasy slices of pure comfort food and a few beers definitely helped. Our house was gone. Dad and I had both figured out our own ways to accept it.

Now, it was time to decide what to do about it.

"I'm not a fan of going into hiding," Mrs. Dallon started. "I'm not going to surrender to the Empire. They tried to end us by killing Fleur. They won't end us now."

"Although I think Danny and Taylor should probably take them up on the offer, at least," Mr. Pelham said.

"I always knew there was a chance of getting caught in the crossfire when I let Taylor sign up for this," Dad said. "And she's grown so much and developed amazingly in such a short time she's been a hero. But I want Taylor to be safe. So if there's someone targeting us, I would rather move away."

"If we don't move, we may have to sleep in shifts. Most of the Empire's capes may have been arrested, but there's still hundreds of lunatic members who might try to kill us while we sleep," Crystal said.

I could probably guard them from that with Abyssal – I didn't need to sleep with every single brain at the same time, including my biological one. Should I admit my powers to them? It would let them keep living relatively normal lives, and we could keep fighting crime instead of hiding out like cowards. But… it was practically a betrayal of their principles. I looked to Amy and Vicky, both of whom were keeping quiet for now.

I didn't want to move. I had my power base here. I was manufacturing bots straight from the landfill, which provided me with nearly unlimited materials, and I already had established my watch on most of the city. Despite the attack, I still felt safer when I had thousands of supporting brains and vision over nearly all the public areas of the city. While my range was ever-increasing, one big move could make it all moot.

"How far will we be moving? And what will we be actually getting from the PRT in terms of support?" I asked. Miss Militia had been light on the details.

Mrs. Dallon shook her head. "It's certainly not WITSEC. It's much lower budget, for one thing. There's no new identities, they don't buy houses and things for us. It's effectively just a moving-assistance program. They'll help find transportation, recommend new jobs, negotiate rent, enroll in new schools, and so on. It's meant to just separate people from established criminal activity. And it typically stays in-state. In this case, since the Empire 88 is almost entirely based in Brockton Bay, they'll probably only help us move to another city like Manchester," she explained.

"Well that's kind of disappointing," Eric said. "What's stopping some Empire guy from coming over and trying to burn down our new home?"

"A forty-minute drive," Dad said dryly.

"Still, a drive many might not be willing to make. Criminals are pretty lazy. They pick the easiest targets, not the hard ones," Mrs. Dallon said, the contempt dripping from her voice.

"Manchester doesn't have a huge cape presence. We could actually make a pretty big dent on crime if they move us there – we'd instantly be the biggest hero group if that's where we end up."

"We'd be the biggest hero group anywhere in the state outside of Brockton Bay," Mr. Pelham confirmed.

"I wouldn't mind getting a fresh start," Crystal said. "Then again, I'm out of town for college most of the time anyway. I think you guys should have the bigger say."

"Maybe we're looking at it wrong. This could be an opportunity," Mrs. Pelham said. "Carol, your license is good anywhere in the state, so it's not a huge problem. I can find new clients for my job, it shouldn't take too long. You can even keep working for your firm remotely and not have to drop any cases. The commute might be horrible when you're required to show up in court, but this is temporary." Turning to me and Amy, she added, "And it wouldn't be a bad thing to help out at other hospitals, too. Sick people are everywhere, and there's won't be a shortage no matter where we end up. And lastly… maybe Brockton Bay was the wrong place for us after all."

"What do you mean?" her sister said pointedly.

"It's often said to be the worst city for parahuman violence, per capita, in the nation. We know the unmasking movement has its obvious weaknesses. But it's something that could have worked in other cities. Maybe it still can. We started in the most dangerous place in the nation to try out this… this experiment. Maybe it'll be better elsewhere."

"So you're in favour, then?"

Mrs. Pelham nodded. "In fact, I think it's something we should have done earlier, but now we have good reason to try it. In a better city. One where the police actually outnumber the gangs, instead of the wrong way around. Start the movement where we can build a solid foundation from the bottom up instead of trying to hammer it from the top down."

"Still feels like running away," Vicky said, crossing her arms.

"It's a tactical retreat. The Empire is crumbling. Once it blows over, we can move back."

"I'll give it a shot," Mr. Dallon said, speaking for the first time this evening.

Manchester wasn't too bad. If it wasn't too far away, it wouldn't take long for me to create enough bots to re-connect to my Brockton Bay network. Chances were pretty good if we stayed in-state; New Hampshire didn't have a huge selection of cities anyway. The main issue was Lisa. I needed to be able to continue treating her until she was okay. And since Dragon was taking care of her, I would have to get Dragon to come along as well.

Then again, since Dragon had sent her mobile workshop to Brockton Bay specifically to work with me, it probably wouldn't be too hard to convince her.

"I'm in, as well. I need Dad to be safe," I said.

"Well, school's almost out anyway. It'll be like a long, boring vacation," Eric added.

Everyone else nodded in agreement, some more reluctantly than others.

"I'll make the call to the PRT," Mrs. Dallon said.

It turned out the PRT had a spot for us in Concord instead of Manchester. Either way, we would be moving in a few days. We just had to watch out until then, since there were still a few flare-ups and random violence by the Empire. But between Abyssal, PRT, and police, we had them mostly contained. There had been a few who truly believed the conspiracy theory that New Wave released the Empire identities as revenge for Fleur – I'd stopped an arson and drive-by shooting attempt overnight already, and I was sure more were to come.

I just needed to tell Dragon where we were going, so that she could bring Lisa along. In fact, I would have to tell my team that I was riding in Dragon's vehicle, so that I could stay in range to keep Lisa alive.

"Hey, Dragon! I don't suppose you've heard the news about New Wave?" I asked as I entered.

"I haven't, actually," Dragon said. "There's been a bit of turmoil happening in the PRT ENE branch as of late. The new director has barred me from connecting to its network and revoked my login."

"What? Why?" I asked. I knew she and Armsmaster collaborated a lot, and since Armsmaster didn't regularly go to Vancouver and Dragon never left her home, the only reasonable assumption was that Dragon remotely connected here. They'd been doing it for years, and the technologically advanced Rig out on the bay was a result of their collaboration. So why would they stop now?

"He cited known instances of information leaks and hacks into the system. Including many instances where prisoner transfers were ambushed and villains taking advantage of internal scheduling. And, well, he's blaming me as one of the possible sources," Dragon said.

"What? You? No way. That's ridiculous." Dragon was the most famous hero in North America, aside from the Triumvirate. She participated in every single Endbringer battle and saved lives. Even though she was definitely capable, why would she hack the PRT to help a few crummy villains?

"The problem is I can't even completely deny it. I know the Dragonslayers have been able to hack my own systems before, so they could be piggybacking or spoofing my credentials somehow," she explained. "Either way, I am no longer associated with PRT ENE. Not only that… have you heard about Armsmaster?"

She actually looked a little sad.

"Aside from what happened last night? No," I said. The forums were exploding about the news about how he killed Browbeat. But the PRT was very quiet about what was going to be done about the whole thing. I knew he had gone back to base, and from there, I didn't see anything else.

"Well, Armsmaster has had to… forcibly resign. While there is clear evidence it was the result of villain interference, there is still very little public trust if nobody is punished for something so severe. The rest of the Wards, as well as new recruits, might have a hard time following someone with that kind of stain on their record. I don't think a Protectorate leader has ever killed their subordinate in PRT history, much less a Ward. So, he is no longer a part of the PRT. His equipment and workshop has been confiscated, and even the Armsmaster name doesn't belong to him; it's trademarked by the PRT."

That was even more extreme a reaction than I thought it would be. I thought it might just be a demotion or something. "Oh. Um. That's terrible. Are we sure the director knows what he's doing?"

"Time will tell, I suppose," Dragon replied. "Anyway, what were you going to tell me?"

"Oh, right! The PRT relocation program is getting New Wave to move to Concord for a while after, you know, my house got incinerated. At least until the Empire is taken care of for good," I told her. "I was wondering… would you mind, uh, coming with us? And bringing Lisa along?"

Dragon smiled. "Of course. That's the point of a mobile workshop, isn't it? But… if I may ask… would you mind if I bring Armsmaster along as well? I fear for his well-being if he doesn't have something to work on. A sense of purpose, if you will."

"Sure. I mean, it's your vehicle," I told her.

Things were working out more smoothly than I thought it would be. Now my only issue left was to get as many bots as possible to stretch all the way from Brockton Bay to Concord. I'd need to turn almost all my attention to production, producing more brains, and just stretching a thin line of bots between the two cities. I was doubtful I could actually move them that distance within two days, but at least this way I could minimize the disruption to my network.

Author's Note:

- I was never quite clear about how much about Dragon was "public knowledge" although she was a pretty famous cape.

- A lot of people seem to assume Coil's got something against Eunoia but as far as I see him, his goal has always been to "make Brockton Bay better" at least, by his personal definitions.