7

"Seven dead, twenty-two injured, and of those five of them are needing Panacea to heal them. Rune took a serious injury to her chest that narrowly missed her heart and lungs, also needing Panacea. Not to mention the overly brutal act of blinding Hookwolf."

Director Piggot sat across from me at the table, setting down photos and documentation of each account as she did so. The one that caught my eye was Rune's. They had taken a portion of her black and red robes off to clean and dress the wound. From what I saw the rock had shot cleanly through in bullet like fashion, but was extremely more destructive. There was a second one where she was wrapped in bandages and they were completely soaked through. She probably needed a blood transfusion or two.

"Do you plan on joining the Wards," Piggot asked flatly. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Aren't you supposed to make a sales pitch first?" In response Director Piggot leaned back in her seat and gave a dismissive wave.

"You kids tend to already know what you want. No point in me wasting my time if you've already made your decision."

"No, I don't plan on joining the Wards," I answered just as curtly as she had been treating me.

"Then you need to start to, because this-" She pointed with a finger down at the photos. "-isn't going to fly."

I glanced down at the photos and then back up at her. "There are laws in place to protect actions like this during cape battles."

"There are," Piggot conceded. "And if you give us a reason, we can press this issue. But we won't, not this time at least. However, if this happens again you'll have to make a choice between juvenile detention or joining our Wards."

"Are… you threatening me?" That was a shock to me. When I imagined how this interview would go I expected it to go much differently. I was anticipating getting an offer for the Wards, but this was completely different. Was being pressured into joining, like this was some gang and the Director was the mob boss. This was just short of blackmail.

"I'm merely stating the facts," Piggot stated. I gave her a look.

"In my experience, which isn't much, when people throw that line, they are usually threatening you."

Piggot leaned forward over the table and laced her fingers together in front of her while giving me a steely glare.

"Do you know why the PRT exists?" She asked.

"To acted as a governing body to the Protectorate."

"No," she said so fast she practically cut me off. "That is what they do, not the reason they do it. No, the reason the PRT exists is because people are afraid. Afraid that parahumans like you are going to take the power they have and assume it gives them the authority to deal vigilante justice. Because once someone with the powers to ignore reality starts killing criminals uncontrollably what can normal humans do to stop them? Nothing. We have to rely on other parahumans to take care of them. People get hurt, property is destroyed, and in the end, normal people are forgotten. The PRT stands in the way of that.

"So when I see a new independent hero on the scene, who's first night out led to a fight with one of the top capes in the city, and her first reaction is to shove rocks into his eye, I see a parahuman that thinks that any amount of force is going to be necessary when it comes to taking down the bad guys. And that is going to be a problem."

I grit my teeth and glared at her. I had to resist every urge not to cuss her out or spit in her face because of how infuriating this was. It was Hookwolf, those two pebbles should have killed him and not only did he live but he also came far too close to killing me.

"Are we done here?" I growled. Piggot rose from her chair and collected the files and photos she brought with her.

"I am, you still have to answer some questions for Armsmaster. I was only here to give you a warning and deliver the PRT's official apology for Assault's behaviour. We're sorry by the way."

"I don't want to answer any more questions."

"Too bad," Piggot said. "You stay and answer some questions or you can leave and we can prosecute. I'll leave you with Armsmaster to decide." She turned and stalked out of the room without another word. I bit back a curse I probably wouldn't be able to make.

Armsmaster came in right behind and sat where she had been previously. He looked at me silently for a few moments before saying,

"You're irritated."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "How did you know."

"You'll have to excuse her, she has been dealing with another vigilante that has a pension for pinning people to walls with crossbows bolts. Combined that with the fact it is late at night and she had just got done scolding Assault for his behaviour tonight."

I wanted to complain, say something about her behaviour. I knew at the very least the PHO would have a field day if they found out the Director basically used gang tactics and blackmail to make me join the Wards, if not mainstream media. But I was pretty sure that they wrote their own press releases, they could probably bury it if they wanted to.

Besides, it wasn't like that would accomplish anything besides annoying them. And while that would be satisfying, it wasn't going to help me get home any sooner.

I took a deep breath and said, "About that, I think it is time I picked a name. I really don't want to be known as Muffin, the Destroyer."

"Alright," Armsmaster said evenly. "Any ideas? Naming you in our report about the capture of Hookwolf and Rune would be a good way for you to debut."

"I was thinking of a few things," I admitted. "Like Silver Mane or White Star, but that was before I got this tattoo thing." I gestured towards my flank. Armsmaster didn't seem to move his head to look at it all.

"You mean that wasn't there before?"

I shook my head. "No, it appeared after I got done fighting Hookwolf and Rune." Armsmaster seemed to consider that for a moment. Eventually, he decided to move on back to the topic of my name.

"Perhaps something that keeps with a star theme?" He suggested. "The fire could be solar flares of some sort. Maybe exploding stars."

"Solar Flare?" I mentioned lamely. I didn't really fit the colour scheme for that.

"Supernova." Armsmaster suggested. "A star that has reached the end of its life and its outward nuclear fusion force can no longer combat the inward gravitational force. The whole star collapses into one of three effects. One of which produces a supernova."

"And the other two effects?" I asked, hoping to find some other inspiration. Exploding star really didn't seem like me.

"It either condenses into a neutron star or becomes a black hole. Neither would be all that fitting. If you don't like Supernova, Nova itself should be open."

"That one sounds okay."

"Are you sure? Once it goes out it'll be impossible to get rid of." I nodded. It was fitting enough I suppose. And to be perfectly honest, my body was going to be far more interesting to the press than any name was. Unless I named myself after Lucifer, an idea I'm not ashamed to admit went through my mind once or twice.

"Alright, I'll note it down then. Now, on to your powers. Battery reported you have telekinesis. Is that true?"

"Yes," I answered.

"And what about an apparent force field they saw you use?" They saw that? Odd.

"An extension of that, I focused on the air around me and it forms a shield." A partial truth, I had focused on the air to make the shield. But that wasn't necessarily the reason the shield had gotten made.

Armsmaster paused. "Fair enough," he stated. "And your wings?"

"I think I can fly, if I figured it out. For now they just help me move fast."

"And your horn?"

"It lets me do my levitation, I concentrate a sort of energy through it that lets me pick things up."

"Energy? May I see?"

I hesitated a moment, remembering the throbbing over exerting myself had caused, but as soon as I remembered it I realized the throbbing was all but gone. I was absolutely exhausted, but only in that strange metaphysical way that came with using my energy. Weird.

I could see my horn throw the lighting of the room off as I reached out and took hold of the chair I was sitting on. I lift it, and by extension myself, off the ground briefly before I found the throbbing returning with a vengeance. I quickly lowered myself before it could get too great.

"Interesting," Armsmaster stated. "Doesn't appear to emit any sort of radiation. Would you mind lifting this for me?" He pulled out a roundish Tinker device about the size of an apple and set it on the table. I frowned, but reach out with my energy and lifted it up anyway.

Armsmaster frowned as I lifted it. He stared at it for a few moments before motioning for me to bring it down.

"It doesn't appear to be any sort of energy we've ever seen." He stated factually.

"Meaning what?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know. It is some sort of energy, just nothing that we have ever seen before. Meaning this would be the first time that we've ever seen it concentrated enough to notice."

"Which means we can name it, right," a voice over the intercom asked. Suddenly, the wall on the right side of the room slid down revealing a pane of glass with Clockblocker and Assault standing behind it. Assault was grinning wildly and I could only assume Clockblocker was doing the same.

"Because there is only one thing to call it," Clockblocker stated.

"Magic." Assault finished.

"It isn't magic," Armsmaster and I corrected simultaneously.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Assault stated.

"Because if this is indeed a new source of energy never before seen then it must be named. And those names include, but are not limited to,-"

"Magic," Assault said. I felt my eye twitch.

"If it's my energy, I'll name it," I said sternly. Assault's grin widened.

"Well, that is going to make all my fans on this live stream rather disappointed." Assault held up a hand and showed a screen that was re-enacting the scene from a few seconds earlier, a video feed delay. I grit my teeth and looked at him.

"If there wasn't a sheet of glass between us I would come in there and-" I was cut off as the sheet of glass started sliding down and Assault paled. I looked behind me and saw Armsmaster holding down a button that was presumably lowering the glass.

"Go nuts," Armsmaster said irritably. "With my full permission."

I looked back and smiled at Assault. He held up his hands defensively and started backing away. Clockblocker was inching towards the door.

"Now hold on," Assault said. "Let's not be too h-OW- Fuck! MMMMMMmmmmmm….. Still worth it."

Just then the intercom system came back on and the familiar voice of Director Piggot came through.

"Assault. My office. Now."

"Goddamn it."

I was a little less annoyed with Piggot now.

***

After that whole charade, I was being led to an infirmary area. They wanted to get me checked out after my battle with Hookwolf. I was brought there by Miss Militia which I like was glad off because Armsmaster was a little hard to hold a conversation with.

"So what is up with Assault?" I asked for lack of anything else to really ask Miss Militia. "And why does he seem dead set on manipulating my debut?"

"He and the Director have been going at it lately." She answered me.

"But how does that relate to me?"

"Because Assault wants to resist authority any way he can," Miss Militia sighed. "Which in turn causes the Director to punish him, but she doesn't get that Assault is stubborn enough to take monitor duty and clean the bathrooms for a year so long as he gets the last word. Director Piggot won't let him have it, giving him more duties, more pay cuts, and anything else she can give him. Causing Assault to escalate again, like he did with you tonight."

"That sounds like a feedback loop." I pointed out. From what I had seen of Piggot, she seemed exactly like the type of person to do what Miss Militia was describing. Though, it while it was odd to think of Assault as stubborn, it wasn't hard either.

"Something like that," Miss Militia agreed. "What eventually happens is that she either can't punish him anymore or gives up on that tactic and starts punishing the Brockton Bay Protectorate team as a whole, causing all of us to come down on his head. But it is only when Piggot starts making Battery's life harder that Assault actually lets up. But it doesn't do anything to stop this from starting all over again a month or two later."

"So, basically I'm going to be unofficially known as Muffin, the Destroyer and I'm going to thought to do magic because Assault and Director Piggot are measuring dictatorial powers?"

"... That is one way to put it."

We arrived at the infirmary at that moment. Miss Militia held the door open me as I plodded in. My hoofs made an annoying clicking sound on all the hard tiles on the way over and it was kind of getting on my nerves.

On the inside Panacea was laying her hands on Rune's face where her mask didn't cover. There were half a dozen PRT officers in the room with them, along with what looked like a massive pair of leather oven mitts secured to Rune's hands. I noted that the other infirmary beds were taken up by passed out gang members.

"It is sort of a halfway place," Miss Militia stated when she saw me looking. "We give anyone injured seriously in a cape fight treatment here before sending them to separated hospital care. The PRT headquarters does have its own hospital on site for such a thing."

When Miss Militia spoke Panacea raised her head from her work and looked at us. She was in an even worse state than the last time. She was pale, her eyes were sunken, her hair was frazzled and her eyes were boarding on blood shot. I couldn't think of one reasonable justification that anyone would let her be working this state.

"There you are," Panacea said, rising up from where she had been leaning over Rune. "I guess I have you to thank for all of this?"

"Sorry," I said weakly. It was bad enough to see her like she was about to collapse or have a heart attack, let alone dealing with the idea it might be my fault. "They were going to hurt people," I attempted to justify. Panacea waved me off.

"They always are," she answered in annoyance. "Get up on the bed, I'll take a quick look so we can all get home sometime tonight."

Recognizing talking about it wasn't going to help at all, I walked over to the bed and eyed the side of it before leaping up and flapping my wings once to get all four legs on the bed. I sat down as soon as I was up.

"May I heal you?" She asked. I nodded seriously, allowing her to reach out and touch my neck. She paused for a few seconds before she said anything.

"Your back is bruised and the circuits near your horn appear to be swelling. Your wings and mane have gotten a little longer since yesterday." Well, that was interesting I guess. The wings and mane were anyway. Was I growing bigger passively or was it something I did? Maybe a side effect of shifting from horse to human and back again?

"Hey, Panacea," I asked as she did some work on my back. I could feel some stiffness fading from that area. "When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

Panacea drew her hand away and practically hissed at me. "What does it matter to you."

"Cause you look like you're fucking dead!" Rune suddenly interjected, causing the PRT officers in the room to tense. Panacea and I turned to look at her. "I'm serious," she clarified. "You look like you could have actually died while healing me and no one would have noticed. Seriously, get some goddamn sleep."

You knew things were bad when even the white supremacist in the room was concerned for your health. A fact that Panacea seemed to take more of an annoyance than a sign that she might be in the wrong here.

"Maybe I would get more if the E88 didn't hurt so many people on a daily basis," Panacea snapped back at her. Suddenly her head whirled back to me. "And when it isn't E88 it's independents that end up hurting them worse than they hurt others. I'm beginning to think Armsmaster and Miss Militia are the only one capable of bringing people in without nearly killing them."

"Hey, fuck you!" Rune growled at her. "You think I wanted to be part of the E88? I just wanted to get away from my family." Panacea was about to say something but I cut her off, my own curiosity over ruling the venting I was decently sure she needed just as much as sleep.

"If you were wanting to get away, why not join the Wards or something?" I asked Rune. The part of her face that I could see looked taken aback a few steps at the question.

"I, uh, didn't trigger until after I got the criminal record. I didn't really have that option." That bit intrigued me a bit more. Rune had been part of Brockton Bay's E88 for a while now and I couldn't really think of a time when she wasn't, but that didn't mean she was necessarily sold on their ideas. Or at least, if she was, that didn't mean she wanted to be in a violent gang about it. When I looked at her now with pale skin and blond hair more on display now that parts of her costume had been removed, I could imagine her getting pressured into joining for years while she still was in school, assuming she wasn't. When it came to Brockton Bay if you weren't white or Asian you were pretty much screwed as far as gangs went. I had been lucky enough to be too scrawny and not nearly attractive enough to ever seriously hounded by the E88, but Rune? They probably had eyes on her for a long time. And if she wanted to get away from her family…

It all added up to one big string of events where the only outcome was her joining. And whether or not she could be legally redeemed and become a Ward, she didn't believe she could. And with Director Piggot, I was thinking she might not have been to far off.

As soon as Rune had said it, Miss Militia stepped forward and inserted herself into the conversation.

"Then why not try to get a deal with the Protectorate? You wouldn't have been the first villain that wanted to change sides." I could almost feel Rune rolling her eyes behind her visor.

"I'm a Nazi," Rune said. "Your PR department wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot poll, believe me, I tried."

Miss Militia frowned. "I don't recall any serious talks about you possibly coming over."

"I asked Armsmaster the last time he had me cornered."

"Ah." Miss Militia said disappointedly as if that explained everything. Made me wonder if I had misread Armsmaster earlier. He seemed nice enough, a little serious and a little monotone sometimes, but nothing that suggested he would be particularly mean to a villain wanting to be a hero like this. Or did he really just dislike Nazis?

"Alright," I stated before Panacea or anyone else had a chance to interrupt. "Then maybe all three of us need to change." I suggested it light heartedly, but Panacea scowled and Rune frowned.

"Like some sort of AA meeting?" Rune asked disapprovingly. "A Nazi, workaholic, and a cartoon horse all get stuck in a hospital room together and help with each other's problems?"

"It sounds cheesy, I know." I answered her. "But I think we need it." Or rather, Panacea did. Putting myself there with her made it seem more like doing something together rather than doing something for her. Including Rune made it seem less like I was targeting her specifically. Besides, Rune didn't seem like a bad person. At least not on the surface, the way she described it didn't necessarily mean she wasn't a racist, but it did show she didn't like the E88 any more than I did. Making this about the three of us increased the chance it worked for at least one of those two.

And besides that, everyone tended to want help. They secretly wanted someone to assist them but didn't want to admit it. Doing things this way allowed Panacea get help under the guise of rehabilitating Rune.

"We each have something to help another with," I clarified. "Rune, you want to get away from E88, right?" As soon as I said that I realized that wasn't what Rune had actually said. She stated she hadn't wanted to join, she was just trying to get away from her family. But she has been a member for a long time, she might not actually want to leave.

It almost seem like she was going to confirm that when she hesitated to answer. She quirked a lips in thought for a moment. After a second she said,

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then what better way while in prison. If Miss Militia could get the ball rolling on re-branding you and setting you up, maybe you could become a Ward after some time." I turned and looked at Miss Militia, who hesitated to answer.

"I can start the process," she said slowly. "But you are going to have to start serving your sentence for your crimes before I can get you an answer. With luck, you'll get taken out on probation and made a partial member."

Rune took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, okay. If I'm going to prison anyway might as well."

Well, that small success made me a little happier at least.

"And you Panacea," I said, pointing a hoof at her. "You need to get some sleep. Take a break, relax a bit. Anything to stop you from looking like this zombie you've become.

"I have people that need to get healed," Panacea said bitterly. "They aren't going to get better with me sleeping."

"No one wants a Panacea that looks like she might pass out working on her," I said, pointing at her with a hoof. "What if you passed out on a patient." Panacea opened her mouth a little as if to answer but then stopped herself and a slight blush creeps into her cheeks. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"That's happened before, hasn't it?" I asked. Panacea's blush intensified.

"I'm going to side with the horse," Rune stated. "You look absolutely horrible. And I'm not just saying that because I want to be on the horse's good side. Though, it would also be nice if I was."

I gave her an odd look out of the corner of my eye before saying, "It's Nova. The name is Nova." Rune nodded but didn't say anything. I sighed and shook my head. "Can you promise to do that? To get sleep?"

Panacea crossed her arms and scowled. "I don't see why I should be making deals and promises with you. Let alone one that causes more people to suffer in the long run."

"Because you're going to self destruct." I told her flatly. I seen my dad do it once. I wasn't going to watch it happen again. If I do as my dad asks, I'm going to be seeing much more of New Wave. And I simply wasn't going to let it happen. "You get sleep, Rune becomes a Ward, I stop shooting rocks through people's legs. Three way deal. Are you in?"

Panacea's scowl deepened for a moment, but she saw there was no way to talk herself out of this without completely blowing me off. When that sank in, she said,

"Fine, if it gets you to stop seriously hurting people."

I smiled at her. "Good. Then Panacea," I said, turning back to face her again, "let's meet in two weeks so we can both prove that we're holding up our ends of the bargin." Not to say I didn't trust her, but I totally didn't trust her. Someone willing to push themselves past the brink of sleep deprivation this much was far too dedicated to an idea than they should be.

"Salova's on the Boardwalk." I told her. I can't say why I picked the location. It was a burger joint that wasn't nearly as hole-in-the-wall as Fugly Bob's. It was the kind of place that had outdoor seating with tall umbrellas covering each table to you could comfortably look at the ocean while you ate. It struck a nice balance between casually grabbing a bite to eat while still being able to sit down and chat.

It was also where Emma and I used to go sometimes.

Panacea let out an exasperated sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll do it." She grumbled something else under her breath but I didn't catch it. I nodded seriously and stood up on the bed, stretching my wings out wide. Some of the feathers were crooked, I noted. I'll probably have to straighten them later.

"Then I'll see you in two weeks."

"Hey, what about me?" I turned and looked at Rune as she asked the question.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"I mean I'm part of this deal too. You could swing by my prison cell."

"I just might." I started with a smile before hopping off the bed. I could see what she was doing. She wanted to be included, btu she also didn't left alone in a prison cell. I imagened it could get awful boring.

Miss Militia nodded respectfully to me as I turned towards her and the door. If she had something to say on what just happened she didn't say it, choosing to lead me out of the infirmary and then out of the building silently accept for a light hearted goodbye. I waved a hoof at her in return and walked off in the vague direction of home. I had to duck away from some people that had shown up because of Assault's live stream.

Celestia help me, was that person holding a sign with Muffin, the Destroyer written on it? And was that drawing supposed to be me?

I shook the thoughts of bucking that person repeatedly out of my head and attempted to make my way home without drawing attention. I had enough to think about just trying to explain this to my dad.

***

A/N: So this is a little long because I wanted to finish up the PRT scenes in this chapter.

Also, I find it odd people would think Equestrian aspects would conflict with Scion's conflict shards. The entire premise of MLP is that antagonist rise up and threaten harmony and the mane 6 have to beat them back. (Looking at you Stalin Glimmer)

Edit: Just for the people asking about the legal parts of this, officially Piggot was only talking to Taylor about what she did in the since of the PRT giving consul to upcoming heros of the ins and outs they might not be aware of. Of course, that wasn't what she used it for. And she wasn't needling for her to join the Wards, she was just asking her if she planned to. This was an interrogation in everything but name, but she is leveraging her own knowledge of legal proceedings against Taylor.

And Assault's live stream only started when Armsmaster asked her to lift the strange device with her power.

I was conscious of the fact that a cartoon horse is a pretty noticeable thing, and going into my house through the front door was probably not the greatest way to keep my secret.

Instead, I let my magic spread out over its radius, allowing me to feel the details of people and where they were in their houses. Most were asleep, some weren't home, one or two were up and about watching TV, and a particular trio I felt like my cartoon powers should be censoring. In fact, is more disturbing they weren't.

Pulling my magic away from that house in particular, yes the whole house for various reasons, I sneaked towards my backyard through the thin gaps in between the poorly constructed fences in the neighboring houses. Confident no one was watching, I came in through the back door.

The first thing I checked was the clock. Two in the morning. I heaved a sigh, I was out much longer than I had intended. But what was more annoying was how catching up on that sleep was going to cut into my activities tomorrow. I need to do some more studying of my power, particularly the plants. I was also going to need some way to carry stuff with me in pony form. After some time I had decided this form didn't need clothing and my fur kept me at perfect temperature nearly all of the time so long as I wasn't facing anything extreme. So without pockets, my first thought was a backpack. The space between my wings was roughly large enough to place a small backpack, but the idea of putting one there and securing it felt like it would be more trouble than it was worth.

Instead, maybe I could jury rig to bags together and make them into makeshift saddlebags. I wasn't sure how I could put them on without interfering with my wings while they were resting, but I was sure there was a way. It would just take a bit of work to get right.

I thought about the other things I was planning on doing as I made my way to my room for the night. I needed a good number of things. Lots of flowers, some fruits and vegetables to try, and a big note book to put everything I find inside of it. Given that each flower had its own effect and I could probably combine them to some degree, it would likely need its own note book.

My energy, magic now thanks to a certain hero, seemed more capable than I gave it credit for at first. It created the bubble shield for me, something that was definitely not telekinesis. If there were other effects to be had, I needed to discover them. Maybe another notebook on that.

Finally, I need to learn how to fly. It was important for my cape persona, to be able to swoop in and save people from danger. A little story book, maybe, but with the obvious issues I was already going to be having with just the way I look, a little story book might go a long way.

Resigning myself to deal with any and all of that in the morning I collapsed on my bed and felt a wave of fatigue wash over me. Both in the physical and metaphysical. I closed my eyes and made sure my last thoughts before passing out was about being human.

***

I woke up to heavy knocking at my door. With a groan, I rolled out of bed and shambled my way to it. I was in human form again, thankfully. I had a lot of things I wanted to do today and most of them couldn't be done in Alicorn form, the name Miss Militia had given it. I like the sound of that. Alicorn. It was distinctive, and better than pegacorn.

I wiped the sleep from my eyes as I opened my bedroom door. My hair was flawless, completely unaffected by last night's rest, but that didn't stop my eyes from crusting and my shirt from wrinkling.

My door opened to reveal my dad on the other side of it. He was in his work clothes and looking incredibly tired. I briefly wondered if he had stayed up out of worry last night but dismissed the thought. He knew I was going out. And while he didn't know how long or what all that occurred, I couldn't imagine him putting himself out like that when he knew where I was and what I was doing.

That was, unless he saw Assault's PHO account recently.

"Taylor," Dad said awkwardly. "I was, um, wondering if you were planning on going to school."

The question surprised me. The mere thought of school had completely slipped my mind in the wake of all that was going on. Compared to last nights adventure, school seemed so minor to what I needed to get done. Now that dad just reminded me that it was Thursday the thought of going to school was souring my mood.

"I wasn't planning on it," I said slowly, gauging how he would react to it. He nodded as if he expected it and said,

"Then when are you planning on going back? I realize this whole power situation has got you excited, but school is important too."

I bit my lip to hold back a retort. Math and programming were the only classes I was actually learning anything in, and not for lack of trying. Every other class hardly taught a thing worth knowing, and I doubted math and programming were going to be any use to me with my current career choice. Assuming it could be a career choice. I haven't really given much thought as to how I could make money doing this. Maybe take it from the gangs?

That seemed like something the local PRT would get on my case about, and I didn't want to give Director Piggot anything more to use against me. I'll have to look into it.

"Maybe two weeks," I suggested. I wasn't in all that of a hurry to get back, but I felt like if I waited any longer than two weeks I was never going to get around to it at all.

Dad frowned. "That's waiting quite a while, isn't it? You might fall behind."

I sighed. "Dad, I lost several pounds of weight and packed on twice that in muscle all over my body." I wasn't sure how much of that was true, but it sounded good and Dad got my point. I had gone from being a little on the chubby side with horrible fat distribution to incredibly toned.

"On top of that my hair is an entirely different colour and my entire face changed structure. Two weeks will give enough time for people to forget my face enough and possibly explain my other physical changes." I already knew I was going to be facing scathing comments about liposuction and plastic surgery, not to mention how the three meanies were going to punish me for daring to become just as pretty as they were. On top of that, trying to wear moderate clothing and trying to avoid attention was going to work anymore. Not with this hair. And once I start getting attention, it was going to bring them down on me even harder. I was not looking forward to going back at all.

"Two weeks is still a pretty short time for a change like this," my father pointed out.

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, but at that point, all it will do is raise a few eyebrows. If I showed up like this today it will cause some alarm. Not to mention I…" I stopped myself, but it was too late. I had slipped up.

"You what?" My dad asked.

"I sort of, debuted last night and now a lot of people know about a new cape who happens to be a cartoon horse."

My father's expression dropped and mouth deepened into a frown. It was a little disturbing to see him go from the calm and rather caring man he was before to this. Luckily, he was still just as patient.

"What happened?" He asked seriously. I took a deep breath and started to tell him. I started with training, but left out the part about the floors as it would only confuse things. Then moved on to the fight with Hookwolf and Rune, again leaving out some details that would only derail the discussion. Like how exactly I had taken them both down.

I then explain my meeting with the Protectorate and local PRT. I skipped over Piggott's intimidation techniques in my story and moved rather quickly through my talk with Panacea and Rune, getting to the end of it rather quickly so I could say I got home a relatively earlier hour. Which I didn't.

"Taylor, this could be a massive problem," Dad said. I nodded glumly.

"I know, but I have a plan."

"I hope so," he said with a nod. "Because this might mean your identity is already compromised."

I gave him an odd look. "What do you mean?" I knew there would be some similarities between my hair and Nova's mane, but that surely wasn't enough to out me, was it?

"Taylor, that mark you said was on your flank, it's on your cheek. Right underneath your right eye."

I felt my eyes widen as I raised my hand up to feel it. All I was met with was smooth skin, but I doubted my dad was lying to me. I silently cursed my power. This just became a lot harder.

"I'll have to cover it up with makeup," I said glumly. I had never really used makeup before, but Emma had shown me the ropes. I figured if I just put foundation over it and blended the edges so it didn't stick out I should be fine. The real pain would be getting and using makeup.

"I think one of Annette's old kits is still in one of the drawers in the bathroom," Dad said. He looked me up and down and sighed. "If you don't plan on going to school, do you know what you are going to do today?"

"I was going to go shopping for some cape stuff I'll need."

"That's good, you should be prepared. Here," he reached down and pulled out his wallet. From inside, he pulled out three twenties and handed them to me.

I took the cash tentatively. It was more than he had ever given to me before, and we didn't normally have that much to spare. The fact that he carried around sixty dollars cash surprised me. Particularly given what city we lived in.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I didn't want him to be hindering himself for me be giving all his cash over just so I could go out and buy flowers. Dear Celestia, I'm buying flowers with the money he thought was going to be used to buy me something to defend myself with.

"Yes," Dad told me. "If it is for your night time activities, then I'm sure. Just be safe." He moved forward and gave me a kiss on the top of my head before turning around. "See you later tonight," he told me.

"See you," I answered before shutting my door. I turned and looked at my room, my eyes gravitating toward my closet. I needed a change of clothes, and then it was off to The Market.

***

Despite not feeling like I needed a shower, I took one anyway for the sake of normalcy. No longer feeling like I needed to hide my body, I had pulled on one of the t-shirts that actually fit me well and a pair of jeans that weren't so baggy I had to wear a belt to keep them up. I had also foregone a heavy sweatshirt.

I was now walking down the Lord Street Market, a patch of makeup on my right cheek over my mark. It wasn't the weekend so many of the stalls were empty, but there was still plenty to see and be had. Although, oddly enough it was the normal people walking around that seemed the most scarce. It made for an oddly quiet atmosphere.

The Enforcers were prowling about with an odd amount of activity in their movements. And while there was a normal amount of stalls out for a week day, the people seemed guarded and closed off.

I recognized the signs. This was the behaviour that normally followed large gang movement.

If shops and people closed their doors every time there was a shift in power in Brockton Bay they might as well just close their door permanently because they would go bankrupt. But that didn't mean the same for the people that did the shopping. Living in Brockton Bay people got used to things, which accounted for the people that were already here and out shopping. But there was undoubtedly a large portion deciding to stay indoors today.

Of course, that made it easier for me to go from stall to stall looking at the different flowers out on display.

I wasn't sure exactly what gang movements had been made, but I could take an educated guess. With Assault broadcasting my existence to the world that undoubtedly led to increased attention to Hookwolf's arrest. With Hookwolf basically being the Empire's version of Lung, they seemed weak at the moment. Causing the ABB and probably the Merchants to attempt to take some territory. There haven't been any reports of cape battles yet, or at least I haven't seen or heard them, so likely any conflict had been just between the normal human members so far. But it was only a matter of time before a cape fight broke out, which made coming outside at all a gamble.

However, I wasn't going to waste a chance to better prepare on the odds that a cape battle might happen and I might be in the wrong place at the wrong time to be seriously injured by it.

As I found a stall with a wide variety of plants, the stall being owned by a flower shop, I felt a touch of excitement as I looked them over. If every plant here had a different effect and could be combined somehow I could have dozens of little backup powers. The dandelion had given me a stamina boost I had decided when I thought about it today. And the daisy had given me increased perception. With all of these, I could only imagine the minor powers I could make.

I was in the middle of looking them over when I noticed some gang members hanging around an alleyway. The reason they caught my eye was because they were wearing different colours to any gang in the area. White and gold.

My curiosity got the best of me and I tore myself away from the flowers for a moment to study them. They weren't of any particular race and they clearly weren't drug fiends like The Merchants. Two of them were white, one was black, and there was a fourth member that was Asian. The Asian being the only woman in the group.

Ironically, the Merchants had been the only non-racial gang in the city before. Making these newcomers particularly interesting to me. It was a bold move to claim territory from the Empire or ABB, especially when just starting out.

They were unknowns, someone I needed to learn more about before going out on patrols at night. The only question became, how could I figure out more?

Well, the simple choice would be to ask them.

Gangs tended to not be as closed off and as secretive as people thought they were. In truth, they wanted people to know how strong they were. They wanted people to know exactly what their message and goals were and what capes they had backing them. With the exception of Coil's mercenary gang, almost all gangs liked boasting enough that walking up to a gang member and asking them about the gang usually led to some honest answers, if incredibly bias.

"Hey," I said, walking up to one of the white male members. Just because they seemed to include members of all races didn't mean they didn't something in place regarding them. It might have seemed paranoid, but better to err on the side of caution and talk to a member of the same race as me.

"What do you want?" The ganger asked suspiciously. He eyed my hair for a moment before turning his gaze back at me. His friends had fallen silent and were staring at me too. Strangely, I didn't feel nervous at all. I felt like if this went sour I could get away pretty easily, and there were Enforcers all over the place to deal with them if I couldn't.

"I haven't seen your colours around before," I said factually. "Are you new?"

The gang member smirked. "Yeah, just moved in last night," he said gruffly, and slightly proud. "Nicked some territory around here from the Empire."

"Pretty bold," I told him. He and his friends smiled stupidly at each other with undeserved pride. "You must have some pretty strong capes backing you then."

"Eh," the gang member shrugged. "We might."

"You guys got a name then?"

"Why?" The Asian woman asked. Although she was smiling too, she didn't seem at ease with my questions like the others did. "You thinking of joining?"

I shrugged and looked away like I was trying to feign disinterest. "How can I be looking to join? I don't know your name, what capes you got leading you, or what your motive is. You, not racists, clearly. So what are you?" The Asian woman opened her mouth to answer me when the man I had started talking to originally held out his and shushed her with a smug grin.

"The girl wants to know, so let's tell her," he said with a cocky attitude. The woman looked a little put out but she didn't say anything. The man turned back to me and said,

"We're The Workers. Small time mostly, but from what I hear a bunch of gangs like us cropped up last night. And like you said, we're not racists. The Workers aren't looking to push any sort of message like these other gangs. We take anyone who wants some easy pay and is willing to put in the work."

That last bit was hard to believe. Maybe it was just my time in Brockton Bay tainting my view on it, but people made gangs around ideas. Sure, sometimes the idea is simply gaining power and money, but the ABB is the closest we have to that and even they unify under their Asian heritage. Gangs like The Workers didn't tend to last long.

"And who's protecting you from the Kaiser?" I asked. The guy kept his smirk grin and shrugged.

"A guy going by the name Sapien. Don't know much about him. Some sort of Thinker probably." He glanced at his friends for a moment before returning his look back at me. "So," he began, "Sound like something you might be interested in? We got jobs for a hundred dollars a night just moving some boxes into some moving vans. You look like you could handle it."

"I might be," I said. If it gave them a reason to keep talking, I might as well act like I'm interested in joining. "You said there were other ones like you cropping up?"

"Just what I heard," he said with a shrug. "I bunch of small timers like us that had just been waiting for a chance to nip some territory. You'll have to talk to one of my higher ups if you want to know more. Of course, that only comes with full membership."

"Thanks, I'll think about it." I turned on my heels and started walking away before they could say anything else. I heard at least one of them snickering as I walked on.

New gangs so soon after Hookwolf was arrested. They would have had to move in last night, but the PRT hasn't even released a statement on his arrest yet. That meant they had somehow heard about it sooner. And not just one gang, but apparently several. Troubling.

I needed to add some more things to my shopping list.

About an hour later I was walked towards the end of the Lord Street Market to the bus stop with two large baskets filled with supplies. One for each hand. One was filled with flowers and fruits of all kinds, the other with more conventional stuff I would need.

I had just about made it to the bus stop when I felt someone grab onto my wrist. I turned as blinked in surprise as I saw a girl that was very clearly homeless gripping my wrist tightly. She had dirty blonde hair, both in the sense it was greasy and its colour, and freckles that covered the bridge of her nose. Her clothing was in complete and utter shambles, looking like they had barely been together when she got them then proceeded to wear them for a few weeks.

"Hello, there. I'm going to need to borrow you for a minute." She said, a vulpine grin spreading across her face.

I noticed some of the Boardwalk's Enforcer's walking this way and I got a bad feeling I was about to get into something I really didn't want to be a part of.