43

Chapter Text

"As much as I hate to say it, capes escaping are the least of our problems," Lady Photon admits. "We don't know what's going to happen with those snipers if the people affected by the video game start spilling over here."

"Templeton says she has something like two dozen casualties as well on the top floor," you offer, "I'd like to hit both the sniper and rocket nests, then try to evacuate the wounded to here. After that…" you trail off and shrug.

"Stop the jailbreak if we can?" Crystal offers.

"Yeah."

Lady Photon looks over the edge and shakes her head, "If they escape, they escape. They'll do something else stupid soon enough for us to catch them again, and I guess you have contacts with New York?"

"Well, a contact for a one-time thing, but a line to someone, yes."

"It still sounds like you were treated better than we generally get from anyone other than Janice and a couple of the squad commanders. Anyhow, go and take care of the non-capes, and we'll keep Hookwolf and the others busy once you're done."

Looking over to where the snipers' nest is, you disillusion yourself and apparate silently. There are two sniper/spotter pairs, each looking out from one side of a corner office's sides. It's easy enough to walk up while silenced and hit each pair with point-blank stunners before binding and freezing them and destroying the rifles.

Even though that only takes you a minute or two when you look over to the RPG nest there are a couple of fingers poking earbuds as they try to check in so you repeat the apparition and manage to stun the guy about to launch the RPG at the sniper nest. The other two follow in short order before they are able to report in either. While you know some of the codes they use to communicate, you have no idea of the current day's randomly-generated checkin code, and that'd be the important one.

You pop back to let the New Wave ladies know that they're clear and shoot Templeton a message

Snipers and rpg down :Warlock

Let me in roof access :W

Temp: good. done

Sarah and Crystal take off and toss a mother-daughter beam combo at Hookwolf as you pop over to the PRT's roof. You do put up a shield just in case, but the door is thrown open and a four-man squad comes out to cover you as you get close. They escort you down a flight to the actual top floor, where Templeton has most of the non-combatants rounded up with a couple of groups guarding staircase access points.

"Commander," you greet her as you walk up, "I'd like to get you all out of here. My current choice of evac point is the parking lot at the end of the block, but if you have other ideas I'd be glad to hear them."

The older woman considers it for a second and brushes a hand through her hair, sending bits of ceiling tiles stuck in it drifting down. "No, there's almost sixty people here total, it'd take you forever."

"Everyone, all at once." You reach into a coat pocket and conjure a couple hundred feet of rope. "Get everyone to hold on to the rope, or loop it over an arm or leg. Once it's done, let me know and the rope and everyone attached gets out of here."

She looks at you and her eyebrows twitch. "Well fuck. Samson, get to it."

There's a noise from the side that sounds suspiciously like 'hell no'. You look over and see a corpulent woman sitting in a chair looking a hairsbreadth from death. "Director Piggot, I presume?"

"Yes," she manages to get out. Sweat is heavy on her brow, "Capes getting transported places is one thing…" she pauses to cough wetly and breathe for a moment, "but PRT troops being transported by a non-Protectorate parahuman…"

"In non-emergency situations, Director…." Templeton interjects irritably.

"Look, I know the answer to healing, but do I have your permission to run a diagnostic on what's wrong with you, Director?" you offer.

"N—" "Yes!" Templeton overrides her, then easily matches and exceeds the sick woman's glare. "You're a drain on my goddamned resources, Director, and I need to know where you need to be extracted to—a hospital here, or the secure PRT medical facilities in New York."

"I will have your job for this," the portly woman hisses as you pull out your wand and flick.

"Well, I'm both aroused and scared," you announce loudly to try and defuse the brewing argument, getting a round of snorts from pretty much everyone not directly in Piggot's line of sight. It only take a second to digest the scan and you bring a hand up to pinch your nose and run in to your mask. "Well, how lovely."

You see both women about to ask, so you hold up a hand. "Ignoring the existing kidney and muscle damage, you have been poisoned. It's recent, and considering how widespread it's diffused through your system I'd suspect it was done by poisoning your dialysis machine." You clear your throat and look off to the side. "One of the effects of dialysis is removing urea from the blood, which the kidneys generally do; in addition to the poison—which seems to be floor cleaner—someone peed in your dialysate."

"Fuck!"

"…fucker."

"You need actual dialysis, not just the little machine you use here or at home or whatever. If you get that relatively soon you'll likely live, but recovery is going to be a cast-iron bitch and take a long time."

Piggot's grey pallor had managed to go a few shades paler. "And you could fix it, I suppose."

"I can stop the poisoning immediately. Fixing the damage from it would take five-to-ten minutes as it's so extensive. Repairing your kidneys and the muscle tissue would take longer—I'd have to grow them from scratch and fix a fair amount of scarring. Panacea would be faster than I."

There's a stare down between the women as Samson comes back around with the rope. Piggot grabs on angrily and Templeton snags the last bit and looks at you.

When your hand goes on the entire length glows blue for a second. "Last chance, everyone on? There should be a yanking sensation like you're being pulled and then we'll be there." You pause while verbal check-ins are done and Janice gives you a nod. "Alright. Portus."

The trip is so short that there's no spin to the portkey, so everyone manages to stay in roughly the same position they were. There's a groan from Piggot and she has to take a couple of shuddery breaths. You ignore them to check in with your Lady and her mother.

…and you quickly find there was no reason to be worried as the two women are pinballing Hookwolf up and down a stretch of street. The changer looks to be missing a fair amount of metal and doesn't seem to be enjoying his treatment in the slightest.

Fenja tosses a bit of rubble at Lady Photon to try and assist her fellow cape and gets blasted in the face for her trouble as Laserdream dribbles the metal Nazi on her own and then shoots him into Fog's cloud. The follow up shots cause screeching that could be metal, or could be the inhuman alien hiding in the mist. A final shot tells shows that at least one of those screeches was metal, as Hookwolf goes rolling out of Fog looking a little acid-washed. Fuck, you love that woman.

Templeton interrupts your admiration session by putting a hand on your shoulder. Her other hand is holding a phone to her ear. "Can you send the wounded to the NYC PRT roof?"

"Yes, but longer trips give a spinning sensation, and it'll take like ten seconds. They either need to be sitting or laying or have decent balance. If Piggot's going she needs to get hooked up to the machine in like the next five minutes. Seriously."

The two of you walk over to where the agents have established a cordon around the casualties. They've re-used the rope and the few walking wounded are quickly ushered to the ground.

You conjure paper with your diagnosis of Piggot's condition and hand it to the woman. She doesn't pale any further at the huge text stating 'IMMEDIATE DIALYSYS REQUIRED', but that's largely because she's already corpse-pale. You tap the rope. "The next person who is holding the rope and says 'extraction' will trigger it."

There's another set of checks and Templeton talks into the phone before one of the wounded agents with one hand on the rope and the other holding a pistol speaks the trigger word and two dozen people disappear with a soft inrush of air. Moments later Janice says 'Acknowledged' and turns to you. "They've arrived. Set up!"

The agents set up into squads of six and two of them head downstairs. Templeton turns to you. "Your plans?"

"Well, since the New Wave ladies seem to have outside in hand I was planning on skipping past Fenja and Mush and trying to keep at least some of the capes from escaping."

The PRT field commander looks you right in the eye. "I am obliged to inform you that current PRT policy is to stand down and allow the jailbreak if the casualties have reached the levels they have currently risen to."

"Okay," you respond blandly. "Y'gonna tell me not to go in there?"

Her eyes flick over to where two dozen people had disappeared and reappeared in New York without you having to go with them. "I'd just like to point out that there's no reason to risk yourself when we aren't."

"Noted. If I encounter anyone interesting I'll keep them knocked out and contact you, alright?"

Templeton looks over the city and sighs. "Sure. And again, if I ever piss you off, just kill me, okay? No weird drugs, don't teleport me into space, just kill me and be done with it."

You cock your head at her. "Aw, love, couldnae do that to ya. Just innt cricket."

The older woman mutters something uncomplimentary but has a slight smile on her face. "Just go. Christ. Cells are the bottom floor, B2."

Looking out at the PRT building, it appears that Hookwolf has been driven west along with Night and Fog, and Fenja and Mush have bunkered inside the shell of the building itself to hide from the Blasters. You fire off a quick text to Laserdream to let her know you're heading inside and apparate into one of the holes in the building that the RPG team had blown. An alohamora forces open the elevator doors, and a quick look tells you that the shaft below is empty. You smokejump to the bottom and disillusion yourself before you crack those doors and look out.

There's no obvious damage to the walls or anything, but only a few of the overhead lights are lit. There is a sign giving the direction to the 'containment' section, so you head that way.

Once you're at the cells it's easy to see that everyone has escaped and you're a little late, as all of the doors have been ripped from their hinges by large steel rams and something has collapsed a wall and blasted through something like thirty feet of stone to enter the storm drains.

A muffled rumble sounds through the ceiling and shakes dust loose everywhere as you cast a homenum revelio and pick up some presences disappearing to the west. Using smokejumping to catch up reveals a crazily-motley crew.

Kaiser and Purity are escorting Othala, Menja, Stormtiger, and yet another of Othala and Derek's cousins, while Ink and Chariot lead the Merchant contingent. Trainwreck is towing Squealer and Skidmark behind them on a trolley of some kind. The groups are standing on either side of a larger chamber with Kaiser and Ink discussing things.

"…is at an end. I have instructed my troops to allow safe passage to the Trainyard for you."

The heavily tattooed guy that's built like a brick shithouse cracks his knuckles and looks at the armored cape. "Why're you doing this?"

"With the PRT this damaged, what's left will band with the Protectorate and possibly call in reinforcements from Boston or New York. I will not accept outside interference in my city." There's a metal-on-metal screech as he shifts his shoulders. "We should meet and discuss this further once the dust has settled. Somer's Rock, Thursday. I will have Lung informed."

The tattoos you can see writhe and flex, appearing to almost escape from the man's skin. "Fine."

You have a chance to do something before they go their separate ways. Do you do anything?

-=-=-

-=-=-

This would be easier if you used the time tur—you feel yourself on the other side of the group. Damn you're good. Since the other you should have been in place as they showed up, you decide to cast tracking spells on them in your future/their past. Then… you wait a moment and there's a pulse from his/your mind and Kaiser's armor vanishes below the shoulders leaving him in a very nice, well-tailored suit.

And then your Stupefy Totalum hits at the same time as the cannonblast charm. Everyone drops like sacks of potatoes except for Trainwreck, whose suit stays largely upright but immediately vents steam, and Othala's cousin—Mark?—who might be invincible, but even if the light and sound didn't cause serious damage it disorients him long enough for you to tag him with an orbis jinx and embed him hip-deep in the brickwork.

You start throwing incarcerous spells out on everyone and hit your preferred targets with body-binds when Chariot's armor gives a chirp like an alarm system arming. A moment later the back pieces separate slightly and an electrical crackle starts up. You drop portkeys on Othala and Purity, then begin to move over towards the Merchant side when whatever auto-defense system Chariot has starts arcing into the steam cloud from Trainwreck. You banish a portkey-rock into Squealer right as the hulking Tinker shudders and shifts.

A message from yourself arrives and tells you to take care of the prisoners so you apparate to your lair and situate all three women (does this make you sexist?) in the cells you used last week. You have a minute or two before you need to go back, so while Squealer and Othala can be left to their own devices, Miss Budget-Legend gets a hastily enchanted necklace that's unremovable and will render her unconscious if she attempts a hostile action—that's the best equivalent you have to 'using a parahuman power' at the moment. Conjured notes are stuck to each cell mentioning that you will be by to check on them later.

A quick pop back to the far side of the meetup lets you tag everyone as you had planned, making sure to get Trainwreck just in case you can't get him at all. You send the appropriate signals and cast the cannonblast/flashbang (cannonbang?) spell. Flicking a temperature-detection charm at Trainwreck's armor shows the whole thing is somewhere north of three hundred degrees, and the shifting that had occurred as you left earlier heralds the steampunk-Tinker lashing out, hitting nothing but air.

"You fuckers ain't stealing from me again!" He roars, swinging again and smashing a hole in the concrete. Debris sprays out and hits both gang leaders, who stir. A moment later Ink's skin looks like it erupts as a multicolored dragon springs into existence and coils around him and metal metal cocoons Kaiser and forms into his armor.

Then the shouting begins. Mark—still embedded in concrete—manages to focus their ire by mentioning your name. You decide to leave and let the rats deal with themselves for the moment and check back in on your prisoners. None of them have stirred in the past few minutes and you verify that the sinks and toilets are working.

You call Aelfie and check up on Coil. "Snake-man is more crazy. He be blowing up little monsters and laughing."

"He's not trying to leave?"

The elf gives you a look. "He be in the kill-frenzy, not stop until no more enemies left."

You summon a bottle of water to your hand and a second for Aelfie. "Keep track of him, but don't watch him constantly. Look over the prisoners and if that one starts glowing knock her out. She has a charmed necklace that should do it, but in case it doesn't work just keep her asleep until we can establish order of some kind."

You shoot texts off to both Templeton and Laserdream, the former about having prisoners and the latter asking what they're doing. Templeton responds first.

Temp: Come see me please

Back in the same car park you've barely landed before Janice thrusts a piece of paper at you. Looking it over—"you've deputized me?"

"So you can hold the prisoners for as long as feasible, at least until we have secure transport to the cells on the Rig."

"The Rig had cells? Why weren't—"

Templeton just gives you a look that explains everything. The two of you walk over to the edge of the building and she stays silent as Laserdream and Lady Photon land beside you. "I'm in charge at the moment, but as soon as the fighting stops command is supposed to revert to Piggot. Since she's in New York, it's supposed to fall to Rennick, but he was off today and we haven't heard from him." She turns and looks towards where the Altered Beast soundtrack is playing, "I may stay in charge, but Calvert was already reported as going crazy before this, so even if I'm taken off it won't be him." Her eyes flick to you. "By the way, is he?"

"I have someone monitoring him. He turned into the tiger-man and is… well, let's just say its not making him any calmer. Apparently he's having the time of his crazy-ass life."

Lady Photon interjects. "He's not an actual tiger, is he?"

"No, it's a power-up in the game they're doing. No idea how Leet's done it, but he can shoot a fireball-beam-thing from his hands and do this zig-zag up and down thing. I guess they're holograms?"

There's a bunch of blank looks all around before Templeton continues. "Who did you manage to capture?"

You run through both your strike and the prisoners quickly. Janice focuses on Purity. "Assuming I'm still the one making decisions at that point I'd like to speak with her. We have suspicions that there were complications with her break from the Empire, and if I can do something about making it permanent this time I'd prefer it." She shakes her head, "The aftermath of this is going to be horrible, and I'll deny this if you bring it up later, but you," she twitches her head towards Lady Photon, "might want to talk with your group and think about stepping up patrols or even taking territory like one of the gangs for a while. It's something that other cities sometimes do, but Piggot always flatly rejected the idea." Looking at you, she frowns. "One cape isn't normally enough to claim an area like that, so…"

You cross your arms. "Maybe I'll turn Medhall's building into a wizard's tower and take over Downtown."

Someone makes a muttered comment about flying monkeys, Crystal cracks up laughing, and there's a bunch of sighing and throat clearing.

Lady Photon interjects with information about the rest of the capes. All of them had run off, although Hookwolf had been so badly beaten he reverted to his human form and been carried off by Fenja.

Laserdream looks up from her phone. "Panacea is at the hospital and they're triaging. There's a cape there helping her keep order she's never seen before—some kind of bug controller apparently—and Manpower's at Arcadia and they're slowly moving this way."

You:

[x][Monday] Wake up Purity, bring her to Templeton to talk

[x][Monday] Go heal at the hospital

-=-=-

"Why don't I get Purity now and you can talk, then I'll go heal." You turn to the New Wave ladies. "If I'm needed you can call me in, but otherwise a second healer would probably be more helpful than a third blaster."

Janice and Sarah exchange looks and nod. "Probably for the best that I leave," Lady Photon says, "Purity and I had words recently."

Both white-clad women take off and you accompany Janice over to the elevator/stairwell building. "Not the best place, but it's my only real option at the moment." She gets distracted by radio chatter, so you take the time to create a couple of chairs, a couch, and a desk, then partition the area off to provide some privacy. When she's done she looks at what you created and then considers you carefully. "There's no way I can talk you into joining the Protectorate, is there?"

You laugh. "Sure, if you can ensure I do no paperwork, do what I want when I want, answer to no one, and don't have to deal with any PR-related crap."

"You could just say 'no', you know," she responds mildly.

You give her a flip of the wrist as a shrug-equivalent. "So I'll go get Purity and bring her to the couch. You can let me know when to wake her up. I've put a necklace on her that will knock her out if she attempts a hostile action, but I'll change it so you can knock her out with a word as well."

Templeton has divested herself of some of her body armor and is checking over her handgun. "A little over-paranoid?"

"I could take her, but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable with taking a shot to the dome."

"Fair. Is she going to be groggy coming out of it?"

"Not normally, but as she was in a sewer with a bunch of other capes her first reaction might be violent. I'll be ready to freeze her if she does so you can try and get through to her, but knocking her out is always an option."

Janice nods and takes a moment to scrub at her face. "Okay. Go get her. Don't suppose you have coffee around. Or any bourbon handy?"

"I have some single-malt scotch that smells like getting throatfucked by a peat bog," you offer. "…and some whiskey if you'd prefer that."

"Please."

You pop to your lair and find Aelfie holding a bottle of an Irish whiskey from a wizarding distiller—not firewiskey, luckily enough, you'd find it hard to explain that—and a pot of coffee. "All still asleep, snake man got punched in the eye by dragon-man and they fightin', snake-man win and go even crazier, he peeing on things to 'mark territory'."

You slide your mask off and stare at the elf. "You're kidding."

"He totally crazy, Master James."

"He totally is. Anyhow, I'm going to take the dangerous one, you're okay with not paying as much attention to them. My Lady is flying with her mother, but Amy is healing at the hospital. Taylor is with her, but in disguise. Please keep an ear open for Amy if she calls."

Aelfie nods. "I let her know I be around. Bug-lady be good help." She pops away and you float the drinks behind you as you body-bind Purity and check that she's still unconscious, then apparate with her back to Janice.

Drinks on the desk, cape on the couch, and you look on in amusement as Templeton looks at the carafe and back at you. "Do you expect me to drink the whole damn thing?"

"I'm not drinking any, coffee is disgusting."

"I knew there was something deeply disturbing about you," she comments, then scowls at you when you conjure a mug that looks like her face. "I'm not drinking from my own head."

You give her a mug that declares her 'World's Okayest PRT Commander' and she grumbles while pouring a bit of whiskey into her coffee. "I'd prefer to just sit and drink rather than deal with this clusterfuck anymore, but let's continue. Go ahead and wake her up."

With one hand you flick it out and rennervate the cape, and the other you point at Janice once you're done. She picks up the cue smoothly right as you hear the prone woman inhale and start to glow slightly. "Purity, it's Janice Templeton."

The glow moderates somewhat, and you hand a pair of sunglasses to Templeton. "I am here with the independent cape Warlock. I would like to speak with you about what in the hell you thought you were doing."

Purity's up and hovering a moment later. You hold up a hand. "I'm here because I tracked all of you down into the sewer and was able to apprehend a couple of you. Be warned, either Janice or myself can knock you out with a word, you will be rendered unconscious if you become hostile, and I can pull your ass back from wherever you go while you have the necklace I put on you on. Oh, and if you try to take it off it'll hurt you. And knock you out."

Much like being in a mask, there's not a lot of facial expression from a glowing figure. You can certainly tell she's nonplussed, though. You do a hand-shrug. "Just establishing that it's time to talk, not shoot." You step back and she turns to Templeton, who gestures her to a seat.

Once they're settled you slip out and stand outside. Menendez is standing there. "She talkin' to Purity?"

"I think they're just playing a game of who blinks first right now."

The guy snorts. "She knows better than to do that with a glowin' chick." He shuffles his shoulders to settle his armor harness and looks over at you. "Hey, thanks for coming and pulling all of our asses out of the fire earlier. I heard from T that you found that the capes had skipped out, but we had no way of knowing if the walls were gonna start growing knives, ya know?"

You incline your head. "You're welcome. Just because I like doing my own thing doesn't mean I wanted you to get fucked like that."

"Still, I—" he breaks off and holds an finger to his earpiece, then starts laughing. "Ah shit." He points to the door and you look over. Right as you're about to ask what the hell is going on the door swings open and Templeton glowers out.

Looking at Menendez her scowl tips down a bit more. "Not a word, asshole."

"Of course not, Madam Acting Director."

With an angry puff of air through her nose she turns to you and freezes as she sees your sloppy salute. "You two are never allowed to talk to each other again. Fuck both of you."

You toss a look over at the chortling guy. "I'd have to clear it with my girl first, but shit, I'm down."

That doesn't help Menendez at all, you're afraid you're going to need to heal him when he collapses of asphyxiation. "Dude, you gonna be okay?"

Taking a deep breath and pointedly not looking over at the door, the sergeant manages to get down to chuckles. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good." Clearing his throat he continues, "I'm glad you got the job, Templeton."

Janice pats his shoulder and turns to you. "So yes, I'm acting director of this shitshow for at least forty-eight hours, and likely for the rest of the week. What I was about to ask though," she gestures you in to the room, where Purity is fidgeting on a chair, "is if you can create one of your teleportation things that Purity can use to take her to the PRT outpost on the Boardwalk."

"Portkey, and yes, but my aim will be better if I know exactly what part of the Boardwalk you're talking about, maybe go and mark an area out so people will stay out of it."

Purity's glow flickers for a second. "Is it dangerous if someone's there?"

"Not for you, but for them. They'd get shoved out of the way."

Janice fiddles with her radio and holds up a finger. "Beachhead, this is Temple, copy?" A moment later she continues, "Friendly cape inbound, Warlock. Black jacket, silver mask. Repeat, friendly. Let him set up a secure area, he will report back to me." She looks up. "Mark a spot out or something, then hurry back, please."

Nodding, you apparate to a roof overlooking the center of the Boardwalk and find where the PRT has established a presence, then smokejump into their line of sight. "Clear to enter?"

A moment passes before they wave you in. "Templeton wants me to set up a landing spot for people. Gonna make a little three-sided shelter and mark it out."

One of the officers points you to some open space. "Over there would be best, it won't get in our way. If you have a second, could you do walls to block the side approaches?"

"Yeah, but I really just have a few moments." You create an open-roofed stall with warnings about it being a teleport destination and throw up quick fused-sand walls for the troops. They raise their hands in thanks as they redistribute themselves and you reappear in Templeton's office. "Done."

The cape is texting and Templeton is scrolling through something on her phone, but looks up at you. "I'd like to provide Purity with a… portkey with a verbal trigger. She needs to attend to personal issues and then will report to Beachhead in half an hour."

Looking at Purity you skim her mind and find her to be tentatively hopeful. Kaiser had lured her in with sweet talk about letting her run her own strike team, but then the sweet talk turned to veiled threats against Aster. She wants to cut ties and knows she needs assistance to do it, and Templeton is someone she's dealt with enough to place a bit of trust in.

You create a frisbee-sized hoop and turn to the cape. "Masks?"

"Yes, please."

Two resizing masks with an explanation of them later and you turn to Templeton, who props a hip on the desk as Purity leaves. "You going to heal?" she asks.

"About to, yes."

"If I could add on to my tab…" she starts, then continues when you wave her on, "could I get another rope-coil portkey, we're going to fall back to the south ferry station and we don't have enough vehicles to carry everyone."

You make her another length and give her the code-phrase. "You'll need to text me if Purity doesn't show up and you want me to yank her back."

"If she doesn't show up on time, I'm unlikely to spare the fucks to give until tomorrow. Too much shit to do now."

[x][Templeton] Do you need healing?

[X][Templeton] Are you getting any backup from other cities?

[x][Templeton] Any ideas what you're going to do next?

-=-=-

"Understandable," you say. "Before I go, do you need healing?"

She blinks at you. "I didn't think I got hit by anything, did I?" She starts checking herself over before you speak.

You flap a hand at her. "Nothing visible, but I didn't know if your massive brass balls were throwing your back out or anything."

"No, but the clinking is annoying me. Fuck it, do a diagnostic." She pauses and raises her voice enough that Menendez can overhear. "I have no problems with parahuman healing, by the way, even if I have to do M/S testing afterwards."

You nod and hit her with the spell, and other than some mild irritation that looks like it came from some good sex recently she's in decent health and you tell her that. "If security permits or whatever later I can hit you with a basic tuneup and change your oil and such." You hand her one of your 'cosmetic alteration' cards. "Now I know I don't have need to know or anything, but are you getting any fucking help from anyone, and do you have plans I should be aware of?"

Reaching up to poke at the white streak in her hair you can see her turning over what she's willing to say in her head. "The Bay has gotten shafted pretty much every time requests went around for help in the past. I don't know if it was Piggot that caused it or that caused Piggot's attitude. Either way we were already a hair from being considering a HOSV, so I'm not sure that any assistance will be coming." She gives a single-shoulder shrug. "With that said Boston and New York have said they're willing to send supplies so logistics aren't going to be my sticking point. I'm chewing over an idea or two; might have to play nice to the gangs while things simmer down, as much as I don't want to, and I may have a request of both you and New Wave—and no, 'please join the Protectorate' isn't it. I'll let you know more when I set up a time."

-=-=-

"Fair enough," you shrug, then throw another sloppy salute. "Madam—no, Mistress Acting Director."

Both of you ignore the snort from the open door, but Templeton looks longingly at the whiskey. "Kinda wish I had powers so I could set you on fire right now. Can you hold the other two prisoners for a day?" At your nod she relaxes fractionally. "If Uber and Leet are apprehended let me know and I'll authorize you to hold them as well, and thank you for it. Now, just… go away before your humor infects the troops." She makes a shooing motion with a smile on her face as you pop closer to the hospital. You throw Amy a text about it and check in with Crystal. Crys responds first with an 'all good', and Amy comes through a moment later telling you that 'bug cape' will meet you downstairs.

Your smokejump onto the hospital campus attracts attention, but between your own intimidating visage and the swarm of insects that boils out of a side entrance no one approaches you.

'Bug cape' turns out to be Taylor with what you assume is her canon mask but one of Amy's spare robes. A gentle probe tells you that the mask is all she has completed so far, and she grabbed it and headed somewhere she thought she could help. "Panacea, you're looking… different."

"Wwarrllockk." she buzzes. It's not exactly a swarm voice or anything, but she's using natural bug noises to enhance and change her voice. "Panacea is this way."

Amy's set up in the same place she was last time and after checking in with the admin you start healing immediately. Taylor flits in and out, and after some questioning determines that she's run off gun-wielding idiots for the third time you and your mistress call a quick break to talk to her.

"You're gonna need to come up with a name or you're gonna be given one like 'Buggsy'." Amy points out, "Your name's gonna come up when police reports start coming out."

[x][Taylor] Weaver

-=-=-

"Fluttershy," you interject, and both you and Amy snort at Taylor's cringe. "Kidding. Also there's always a chance you could upgrade later if you're badass enough. Like if you go with 'Wiggle-worm' and then a couple of months from now you smack Hookwolf around like a little bitch there will be few arguments when you want to be called 'Swarm Queen'."

"Arachne?" the masked girl offers.

"Plaguebringer!" Amy chirps, then scuffs her foot when you both turn to look at her. "You could goth her all up like you did with Laserscream and I…."

"Arachne works, you could also go with 'Lady Bug'," you say, emphasizing the pause between the words, "if you went with a more medieval theme—maybe a mace with ladybugs on it?—even 'Weaver', which would make you sound less tryhard, and if you could get spiders to make silk it's even a decent description."

"Oh, that's good. Maybe not as a permanent thing, but I'll do Weaver for now, and if I end up getting into fights I'll think about changing it." She looks off to the side. "I don't know how good bug control would be in a fight anyhow, so I don't want to sound like I want to."

Amy walks over and slings an arm around the taller girl's shoulder. "We can talk about dangerous bugs, maybe a trip to the zoo to pick up some bullet ants or something…"

-=-=-

"And let's see if we can enhance your bugs while we're at it," you offer. "Give me like a spider and something flying."

A moment later a roach flies past you and sets down on a table and a spider descends on a string. Both bugs sit unnaturally still as you regard them. With a snap of you fingers you engorgio both, bringing them to the size of a cat or so. "Can you still control them?"

The roach takes off and orbits the room (and says away from a visibly uncomfortable Amy), while the spider—"

"Are you making it do the Macarena? I think that's against the Geneva Conventions."

The arachnid gives the impression of sticking its hands on its hips despite lacking both hands and hips, so you throw your own arms up in the air. "Okay, fine, fair enough."

With a couple of minutes' work, you work up what's effectively a staff that will enlarge bugs and hand it over to her. "One shot per thirty seconds. Only use it on bugs, and expect the bugs to die afterwards. The embiggening should last about an hour, hour and a half. It uses your own body energy, but you should be okay unless you're literally zapping as often as you can." As you start healing people again you also take the time to change what she's wearing to something more thematically appropriate, so the white robes become a cape and cowl that look like folded beetle wings, and the shirt and jeans (after Taylor gives you the okay) turn into leather armor with chitin plates. She kinda looks like a aracno-druid, but pulls it off pretty well. You both give her your numbers. "Call or send a bug in to poke if you need assistance, please."

After that you both get stuck in to healing for close to an hour before a message hits both of your phones.

LP: LD wounded req healing

LP: Bayview and Atlantic

The two of you exchange incredulous looks before you step back and immediately apparate.

When you arrive it appears that things have been overstated a bit, as Crystal is upright, but her father is blocking the view to her. Heads swivel your way as you move up quickly "What happened?"

Multiple voices start talking before Crystal shouts them down. "Hey, quiet! We had found Uber and Leet, and some other dude was helping them fight. The guy was about to hit Lady Photon from behind so I dove in between. My shield took one hit, he did some crazy up and down thing a bunch and your shield finally broke, and he hit me one more time with the bouncy thing." You pass around the hulking figure of Manpower and find her costume is in tatters but her skin is only slightly red. She's covering her breast and groin with her hands for modesty but the damage looks like a minor sunburn. "I'm fine," she adds with emphasis.

"You're probably right, but let me check." You flick out a diagnostic and nod. "Friction burns, a bit of bruising where I assume he hit with a fist, no deeper damage." With a few flicks she's healed and her clothes are fixed. "You're sorted. Anyone else need seeing to?"

No one does, so you end up standing near the captured capes. Uber and Leet are remarkably relaxed, but Calvert has rebar wrapped around his arms and legs in multiple places and would probably be frothing at the mouth if he wasn't quite as dehydrated. He also smells faintly of shit. You silence his ranting and attention turns to you. "If Lady Photon hasn't had a chance to announce it already, the PRT building was hit earlier and Piggot was medivaced to New York. Janice Templeton is current acting Director, and has asked me to hold detainees until tomorrow to be turned over, likely to the Rig."

Brandish steps forward. "The ranting idiot is a PRT officer."

You're supposed to contact Templeton about taking Uber and Leet in. What do you do about Calvert, though? Keeping him might open Cauldron's eyes to you even more, but if you leave him with the PRT anywhere he might disappear.

[x][Coil] Coil gets dropped off to the NY PRT

-=-=-

"I am totally not willing to hold a PRT officer, I can just imagine the absolute shitstorm that would cause." You pull out your phone and dial Templeton. It almost goes to voicemail before she answers, and you tell her you're going to put her on speaker and let her introduce herself so that they hear her voice before you continue. "Acting Director, I'm here with New Wave. They stopped Uber and Leet, and I will take them into custody for you until you let me know you're able to take them in."

You can hear the sigh through the phone. "Excellent, and thank you, New Wave for your work. You wouldn't be putting me on speaker like this if there wasn't a complication though."

"They caught a PRT officer," you start, and then take the ID that Brandish hands you "looks like the name is Thomas Calvert." You flick your wand in a diagnostic and find out that Coil's not doing too bad body-wise. A quick peek in his head and wow, there is barely anything resembling complex thought at the moment, it's more like the Doomguy's 'rip & tear' thing. "He is currently on drugs and having something that resembles a berserk episode. I am completely against holding law enforcement, I can't even begin to imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would occur when the press gets ahold of the story."

"Wonderful," comes the voice on the phone. "You sent some Empire capes to New York last week, right? Who'd you talk to?"

New Wave (minus Crystal, who you'd spoken to about this) are looking between themselves and you, and Uber and Leet have gone pale. "It was a contact my lawyer had, but Sergeant Luis Prior."

"Excellent, I know him. I'll reach out to him and see if he can take him."

"Go ahead and give him my number to call," you offer grudgingly. After she hangs up you look at your phone. "Now I'm going to need another phone, this one is all infected with PRT."

It only takes five minutes to get both a text from Templeton and a call from Prior.

"I know I didn't order a goddamn thing this time."

You laugh. "And I don't want a gibbering fucking wreck of a PRT officer sitting around here. Fair warning, he smells like literal shit, so get the firehose and a scrub brush handy."

The voice over the phone goes from amused to resigned. "Unfortunately there's no hose on the roof. Confoam does block smells a bit though. We're ready for you to come through."

"I'll be there within two minutes." You look over at Brandish who is creating and extinguishing a very saber-like blade near the gaming duo. Manpower's humming while she does it is just extra cruelty. She gives you a head nod and you flick a portkey rope around him. "Back momentarily."

The trip there takes only a few moments and it's just Prior and a small detachment this time. The older man looks at the insane lump and the badge you hand him and tries to match the two up. "Well, if I ignore the faces he's making it does look like him."

"I assume you've been briefed on me enough to know I do healing?" you ask. At his affirmative grunt you continue, "Did a basic scan. He's on drugs, traces of amphetamines and something that's not a drug I can classify. Designer drug of some kind, perhaps.

"Anyhow, he's pretty underweight and dehydrated, violent, and slippery as an eel." You make a grasping gesture like you're trying to talk your way around a touchy subject, "He was inside a Leet hardlght construct and took a couple of good hits while he was flipping out. You might wanna do a head X-ray for… concussion."

Rubbing a hand over head stubble, the sergeant cuts you a look. "You always seem to bring trouble when you show up."

"I'll consider sending you a fruit basket next time." With a incline of the head you pop away, check in with New Wave, and go to grab the videogame villains.

-=-=-

You take Uber and Leet to your lair and stick them in the Rune suite after giving them a second bed. Leet's defeated slump of the shoulders after being told that there were only books to read was pretty amusing, truth be told.

While you're there you check in on Othala, who takes one look at you, turns away, and curses in German—or at least you're pretty sure she curses, you can understand 'schiesse' well enough, but the rest doesn't register—and Squealer, who ends up getting force-purged of all of the drugs in her system. The PRT was trying to wean her down using conventional medicine, but for you it's as simple as a few waves of a wand. She stares at the wall afterwards, tears trickling down her cheeks. You instruct Aelfie to keep careful watch and head back to the hospital.

Lady Photon has called a meeting of New Wave (and you) to go over what happened today in a couple of hours. Taylor was offered a seat if she wants to go, and with some prompting from Amy and ducking out to make a few calls she seems like she'll accept.

You're sure that there'll be questions about Crystal's incredible resilience, so how do you want to frame it?

[x][Brute] It's magic (Explain nothing. Confusion abounds.)

-[x] Didn't we already go over this?

Before you go to the meeting, you check in on Coil's base. There was never really any decent plan for shit hitting the fan quite this hard, but a quick skim of activity from Calvert's terminal shows that the majority of the mercs have bugged out. Some of the data that individuals had access to has been deleted, but with Coil's credentials you're able to restore pretty much all of it. You also lock the systems so that you need Coil's access to change anything, and reset the passwords to random ones you've selected.

[43][Base] Lock the base down, hunt down mercs, turn them over to the police

His voicemail looks to be full of messages, many of them from Tattletale. She's asking for updates on what's going on. In fact, she's calling right now.

[29][TT] Pick up. "1-900-HOT-HUNK, how may I serve you?"

-=-=-

With a little work to scan the cameras and sensors that Coil has access to it looks like you have maybe a dozen people still in the base. You trigger the lockdown procedures and start the automated transfers of the safe funds you'd earmarked while you hunt down the mooks. It's probably cheating to use cameras and then apparate behind people and stun them, but if it's wrong you don't want to be right.

Once they're stacked like cordwood you kick back at Coil's desk and ensure that the initial transfers go through. The moneywashing will take a bit longer to complete, but it's a good start.

That's around the time Tattletale calls… again.

Picking up the phone you put on your most sensual tone. "1-900-HOT-HUNK, how may I serve you?"

There's a moment of pregnant silence on the other end before Tattletale's voice breaks it. "What happened to Coil?"

"Coil's not here, baby, but I can be him for you."

"You—he—shit he—" she cuts herself off and you hear typing faintly. One of the log files you're watching shows a new admin log in by one of the administrative clerks.

…that clerk is currently unconscious in the mess hall. Oh Tats, you're so sloppy. You kill the login and mark everyone other than yourself as locked out. "Stop rushing ahead babydoll, let's build up to a satisfying climax together."

You're not sure if she meant to make the angry growl audible over the phone, but it's pretty amusing to hear.

A monitoring program pops up and notifies you that she's logged in to one of the bank accounts you didn't want to touch because it was linked to someone you didn't want to warn—Accord rather than Cauldron in this particular case.

You drop the faux flirtatiousness."Think carefully about where you take his money from. You could very easily inherit trouble, Tattletale."

All the villain spares you is a hissed, "I know who you are, Warlock."

"Cheers then, luv." You hang up and watch her drain Coil and Cauldron-linked accounts before physically shutting down the power to the server racks. Can't hack what doesn't exist online, after all.

-=-=-

-=-=-

After turning over the mercenaries that didn't run over to the police you finish up healing with Panacea and grab a bite to eat before meeting with New Wave.

Taylor—going by 'Weaver' for the moment—is introduced and thanked for assisting Amy, and everything up to the question you're waiting for is talked over.

Since Templeton had brought it up earlier, you explain how you ambushed Rune and company last week and turned them over to the NY PRT. There's even a bit of complaining when you mention you kept them overnight in your lair, and both Amy and Crystal point out that New Wave should have a lair, what with them being a longer-established set of capes. Neither Sarah or Carol seem amused, especially when Neil, Vicky, and Eric agree with the girls.

You mention your talk with Templeton and what you found and who you captured beneath the PRT building. Everyone is warned to look out for the Merchants and Empire, but especially the latter, as losing both a heavy-hitter (even if she had largely broken away) and their healer may cause Kaiser to lose his cool.

And then…

"Crystal, how exactly did you become a Brute?"

Laserdream looks over at you and you incline your head to her. You had had a moment to talk and let her know it was fine. "Warlock did it."

Heads swivel to you and you spread your hands. "Remember what I told you almost exactly two weeks ago?"

Carol—the lawyer—recalls it first. "You said you were a wizard."

"Exactly. And what do wizards do? Magic."

Again, Carol is the first to leap into the argument. "That doesn't explain anything."

"No, it doesn't," you say, leaning back and putting your ankle on the opposite knee. "My powers are my powers. I will say for the record that this can be done to anyone, takes hours to accomplish, has no side effects other than exhaustion immediately afterwards that's cured with a nap and involves like thirty bucks in materials." You spread your hands. "I've done it to myself as well."

"Amy, are there any signs that anything has changed with Crystal?"

"No, I hadn't noticed anything," the healer says, and puts a hand on her cousin to verify, "there's nothing different about her physical makeup, no brain changes, no hormone changes, nothing. If you told me that she could take a hit from one of those things I saw I'd tell you you're lying."

The lawyer turns to Crystal, "What were you thinking doing this without asking us first?"

"That if Warlock hadn't been able to get to you fast enough earlier this month you'd be dead, so hopefully it'd make me bulletproof," your girlfriend retorts.

Carol and her sister pale and the wind seems to go out of Brandish's sails. Neil leans forward and takes over. "Does this have any effect on powers?"

"Not that I'm aware of, no. This effects the body itself and should work on non-capes just as well as parahumans."

{1} Add information about rituals?

-=-=-

Manpower looks over at the older generation of New Wave. "So you can just make people low-level Brutes just like that?" He snaps his fingers for emphasis, the sound loud in the room.

"Not at all," you say, turning to look at Laserdream. "I had Crystal memorize a chant, there are symbols that need to be drawn on the body—in your own blood, let me be clear about that now before you freak out later—the process itself takes hours as I said, and the actual boost you get is dependent on what significant item is chosen.

"This is… look, allow me this metaphor even if it's inexact. Brandish is a lawyer. Using arcane language and specially formatted words—the way she has to type up depositions and such—she manipulates something—the legal bureaucracy—to make 'magic' happen." You tap you fingers on the table. "Or think of a computer programer. A weird language unreadable to outsiders, formatted a specific way, a weird, mystical process converts it to a program which runs and does things. With Laserdream and myself I used a turtle shell—symbolic of protection—and we are more resilient. If I used a symbol of speed, perhaps a rabbit's foot, we might be able to run. A bull's horn might make us stronger." You spread your hands in a shrug.

Sarah leans in. "Is this permanent? Are there side effects?"

"Permanent until dispelled or replaced with a different boost—one at a time for this particular ritual. And no, I can't just snap my fingers and cancel the boost on either of us. Cancelling it would take actual effort and time, probably a hour at the minimum." You pull off your mask and reveal the half-mask and take a drink of water. "As for side effects, no. However if the ritual is messed up there can be consequences." You point to Crystal again. "Tell them how I had you practice."

Crystal explains the bloodletting, chant practice, and paint-by-numbers rune drawing. All of the younger New Wave kids seem curious, while the older generation seems to swap between interested and concerned.

"So Warlock saw you nude? What does James have to say about that?" Sarah asks.

"He's glad I'm safer. And he also did the ritual as well." That sparks some suspicious looks from the mother.

Carol interjects, "How many people have you done this to?"

"Three," you say, "and before you get any ideas of me doing it right now it is actually more draining on me than the other participants. I would not feel comfortable doing it again before tomorrow at the earliest and I'd feel better about Wednesday."

"What about—" "Could you make us fly?" Manpower cuts in.

You shake your head. "Not at the present time. I'm still learning more as I go here, and I'm only willing to do things that are safe and I have an understanding of. Flight isn't one of those things. Jumping on the other hand might be doable. And again, combining boosts isn't an option at the present time."

After the meeting is called, but before you walk over to the younger group, Carol and Sarah stop you. Leaning in, Brandish asks in a low voice, "Is something like the ritual you do capable of treating depression?"

You shake your head. "No, the ritual's effects are physical only." Holding a finger up at her downcast look you continue, "On the other hand I also heal, but in a 'magic' paradigm. I can't go in and poke the brain and just make it create whatever hormone it's lacking or what-have-you, but if someone has an existing antidepressant regime that's largely working I can create a potion that does the same thing for a longer period of time—months, probably." You hold your hands out. "I'm not a shrink, so I don't know what SSRI or whatever would work best. I can diagnose and fix physical wounds, but mental issues? No idea where to start."

Carol nods and walks off looking thoughtful while Sarah catches your sleeve. "I hope you have been completely forthright about all of this, but thank you for doing something to keep her safe."

-=-=-

After that the meeting breaks up and you end up in a group with Crystal, Amy, Vicky, and Weaver. Crystal is tapping at her phone and frowning, so Vicky nudges her. "Problem?"

"Yeah, Taylor hasn't responded to any of my texts! I know Winslow wasn't anywhere near the trouble, but the gangs were out. I'm worried."

Crystal was looking at her phone and Vicky at Crystal, so both girls miss the look on Amy's face and Weaver's blatant twitch as she touches one of the pockets you had put in the armor you made for her. You reach out and touch Crystal's shoulder. "Perhaps her battery drained while the schools went into lockdown and she hasn't charged it. I can stop by her house if you'd like."

"Please!" She gives a worried smile as Vicky slings an arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, hey." Amy pokes you and you turn to her. "Weaver and I were discussing bugs and maybe some ways I could help them and I wanted to know if I could take them to your greenhouse, maybe set up some beehives and terrariums."

The druidic-looking cape fiddles with the staff you created nervously. "I promise not to go looking or touch anything and stay with Panacea." She does her best not to fiddle with her hair hidden under the cowl so that Crystal doesn't recognize her, "And if you want I'll find a place to put the bugs after Amy helps me get breeding pairs!"

{2} Weaver access

-=-=-

Looking between Amy's face and Weaver's mask you consider it for a moment. "I'll need to go there first and adjust the security system. For the moment the greenhouse and the main room are fine, but I'm blocking off the cells."

"Perfectly fine!" Weaver says a touch quickly, visibly bothered by the fact that you have cells and people in them.

-=-=-

Right before you head out a series of texts come through from Templeton so you catch LP and Brandish's attention. "Don't know if you got them, but Janice sent some info. She'd like a meeting tomorrow with New Wave and I, around 3 or so, the old South Ferry Terminal." You pause to let them digest that. "And it sounds like she's going to ask us to take over patrol duties for parts of the city."

-=-=-

After dropping the meeting info off on the rest of New Wave, Vicky flies off to check on some of the Wards, and you apparate to your lair and tune the wards before texting Amy to hold on to Weaver and use her portkey. The two arrive and Crystal shows up immediately thereafter. You're about to leave and check on Taylor—and who knows how that would go—when Amy tugs both girls towards the greenhouse and tells you to wait a moment.

You spend the time talking with Aelfie. Uber and Leet are actually handing things the best—both capes have requested books, although Leet's sounds like a video game tie-in novel—and have eaten and showered and such. Squealer is sleeping, and Othala continues to sulk.

Crystal comes stalking back in while staring at her phone. "I… heard from Taylor." Gentle probing shows that Taylor unmasked to both girls and your girlfriend is currently trying to come up with a good line of reasoning for Taylor to unmask to you, so you will unmask to her, and then she can plausibly request that the younger girl get ritually boosted as soon as possible. "Aelfie?" she turns to regard the elf, "please watch over my sister and her friend."

"Of course, my Lady," the little elf says, then blushes to the tips of her floppy ears when Crystal gives her a quick hug.

Standing and snagging your arm, Crystal whispers 'home, James' and you pop her there and release the sticking spell on your mask as soon as you land.

Crystal kisses you firmly and grabs you in a ferocious embrace. "Oh my god, I'm so glad we did that ritual!"

Your own hold is no less strong. "I couldn't imagine what had happened when I got that text. I was planning on testing the limits of the buff in a controlled manner this week, not stepping in front of a crazed maniac."

A shudder runs through her and you run one hand through her hair. "I didn't even think, I just did it. It knocked all the air out of my lungs and I couldn't say anything for a minute or two, so mom must've assumed the worst."

The two of you strip each other and move to the bathroom where you expand your bathtub and you just cuddle in the warm water for a while. Crystal actually falls asleep curled against you and you deposit her in bed before checking in on the girls.

You now have an apiary on one floor, and they both talk about the various spiders, wasps, and other creepy-crawlies they've found living arrangements for. It's when Amy starts mentioning the plants she's been cultivating recently that it hits you—Amy took your suggestion of being a plant-controller cape and has run with it. She's helping Taylor in order to turn them into a heroic (you hope) duo. Flora and Fauna, maybe?

After you take Taylor to a park in the general area of her house you come back and find Amy checking on a growth of long liana, making the woody vines sway with a touch. "Are you getting up to no good?"

Her smile is sly. "Mmmmayyyybe…" she drawls, "more seriously, neither Weaver nor I are ready to do anything yet. We'd need practice at what we're doing, and I really would feel better if she was protected with the ritual."

"I'll think about it but I don't want to become a ritual slave. Or an enchantment slave for that matter."