Chapter 935 - 57-60

View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 57 View contentTDRWriter, mad bunnyApr 9, 2025#3,863(One week later.)

Director Emily Piggot glared at the three people before her.

Alexandria met her gaze without flinching.

Legend broke eye contact first.

Eidolon never even met her eyes.

The Triumvirate had planned to come for the opening ceremony to the monument to those lost in the Endbringer attack and instead had come in early to show the colors so to speak after the Slaughterhouse Nine was ended.

Alexandria had also come with a message regarding the Slaughter House 9 bounties.

Piggot was having none of it.

"No." Director Piggot spoke, her tone brooking no argument.

Alexandria tried anyway.

"It is not a matter of you accepting this director. Contractually employees of the PRT and the Protectorate cannot accept gratuities or bounty rewards." Alexandria offered unflinching in the face of the director's ire.

"Yes. In the Contract. A contract that has six loopholes just one that subject alone....."

"That we have found...." Danny Hebert chimed in from the other side of the room where he and Miss De'liss sat with a stack of paperwork each.

"So far." Miss De'liss smirked." By casually looking."

"Why is he in here?" Legend asked.

"Because his daughter would be part of the recipients of the bounty of the Siberian." Emily stated." Thus by the contract as her caretaker he is required to be present for all fiscal negotiations."

"No, no, I know that, I've read that contract and it's in her contract that she can accept such things. What I mean is, that he doesn't even need to be here, his daughter is set." Legend pointed out before considering. "Seriously can I get your card mister Hebert? There's a number of Wards I'd like you to work with when they move up to the Protectorate."

Danny smiled and Emily was certain she saw Alexandria flinch a little.

"Is the reason you are here telling me this because the Chief Director figured I would shoot her and thought the news being told to me by someone invulnerable wouldn't have me waste the bullets?" Emily smiled and finally got Alexandria to roll her eyes.

"Look. The bounty for Burnscar is being paid despite us knowing who the ones are who are collecting the bounty. It is agreed that we will ignore that. We are also ignoring that this, Regent, is one of Heartbreaker's kids, given that he took down a more dangerous one of them. Cherish only had a few private bounties on her and those will be paid out. But the rest..."

"Are mostly Wards. And not subject to this level of contract scrutiny. Druid stopped the Bonesaw plague that could have wiped out the city COLD, and Vista put down the wet tinker herself. The damn cat isn't even on a contract and there's still a small bounty for that abomination she took out. That money IS going to go into their college funds, with some spending money for the three of them. Seriously with as many doctorates as Druid is gunning for, it'll probably all be spent plus some on just that. And don not ask me what Pocky spends money on, just know that she does and I don't ask." Emily sighed.

Legend blinked at that, Alexandria raised and eyebrow and Eidelion smiled a little.

"Armsmaster is getting paid fully for taking out Mannequin as it is in his contract that all gratuities and rewards are to be put in his Tinker budget, and Dragon has already said her cut of it is to go to help Armsmaster rebuild his lab. Clockblocker lost three fingers and was nearly torn apart, Spitfire had to kill a man, and Saturnia is the only reason the other two are still alive. They WILL each be getting a cut for the Siberian or I will let Danny loose. "

Danny Hebert grinned wider.

Alexandra didn't try to hide the nervous swallow this time.

"Now then. I can fully understand that my cut for ending Shatterbird and Renick's cut for taking out Jack Slash can indeed be argued as we are under the standard contract for our positions. HOWEVER, the money is still going to be paid out either through the bounties or through the EVI fund that was set up for parahuman damage to employee property, either way the PRT is going to be paying out the bounties, either to us or to refill the coffers we drain. My house has been condemned and is going to be destroyed due to possible bio hazards along with a great deal of personal items from myself, two daughters, and Alucard. And lets face it, Renick's car has been repaired once already from the fund, and at the rate he's going it will be cheaper in the long run just to pay him Jack Slash's bounty. He had to switch insurance companies too, that company the North Dakota senator used to shill for was trying to screw him over."

Emily stared at the flying brick and developed a small grin of her own.

"And if you want to tell Major Kaisur that he isn't going to be getting a retirement bonus for killing Crawler, he's downstairs finishing putting the last names on his trauma plates. Be sure to take some one with a camera to record it cause while I want to see his reaction, I don't want to be any where near it."

The stare down continued for a moment more before Eidolon finally spoke up.

"For fucks sake, if she's going to be stubborn then I'll make sure the bounties get paid out." Eidolon snapped waving a hand at Alexandria.

"You don't have the authority to do that..." Alexandria snapped back.

"And neither do you. You were sent to deliver a message and you did, and were denied, sorry no one told you no often enough as a child." Eidolon huffed. "Director I'll have a word with a few people when I get back, the payouts 'will' happen. Now then, is Armsmaster free? I would like a word with him and Dragon if possible. And I'm certain Legend wanted to check on the those Wards, right?"

"Yes, he is. He is probably in his lab and Dragon is probably trying to get him to get back to the bed rest he is supposed to be having." Director Piggot stated raising an eyebrow at the interaction between the three and how Legend and Alexandria were staring in surprise at Eidelion's outburst. "I'll send a message that you're on your way."

"Thank you." Eidolon offered and turned to the office window, pushing the shutter up and taking off from there.

Eidolon didn't head to the rig at anywhere near his top speed, he simply flew towards it at the speed of a brisk walk. It gave him more time to mull over things as he drifted over the city.

This had been a unfortunate month.

Nah , screw that, this year had sucked.

He had finally realized he was not THE hero, he was doubting he ever really was in truth. It was something that had hit him rather hard and left him moping for a while and the main reason for it was one person.

Alucard.

His thoughts of being the best were utterly shattered watching the vampire cape simply EAT the Endbringer. Something he had spent years of his life barely managing to drive off at the best of times.

There was also fear. A deep terror whenever he looked at the Vampire, something he couldn't explain. He knew he should have seen the man as a threat to his legacy and tried to outdo him, but there was a underlying terror that only grew stronger after he ate Leviathan.

Of course then there was the other part of that.

During the fight he had been at the shoreline, having cycled into some hydro kenisis and ice powers that he was using to keep the tidal waves from sweeping the city until some of the shielder capes could get into a better position to take over so he could get back to the fight.

Then those powers were simply gone.

And it wasn't just those two. Anything related to water, or ice and quite a few of his healing abilities were gone, no matter how many times he went though what he could do , nothing came up after the death of Leviathan.

It had lead to some rather uncomfortable thoughts about the nature of his powers.

There had been plenty of theories about where the Endbringers had come from, they had started popping up not long after he got his powers and was just starting to make himself a big name.

Contessa couldn't path him, nor could she path the Endbringers or Scion directly. She also claimed she couldn't path Alucard, but she had a number of insights into the man that couldn't have come from the Martha Stewart show.

Glenn had been constantly screaming about how Alucard got on the show, particularly since the last episode had him and LUNG of all people making okanomiyaki and discussing with her how a large portion of the rewards for killing Leviathan would be going to several Endbringer charities that Martha Stewart had set up.

Lung also got Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogs autograph. Seems his wife was a fan.

Still it was an uncomfortable set of thoughts that he might be connected to the Endbringers somehow, something that he would never share with anyone lest it tarnish what legacy he might have.

It had been suggested before that he make an appointment with Druid, but he refused that. What if she could tell what he was connected to, what then?

He considered killing himself, it wouldn't take much really, he'd thought about it before he was offered the vial so long ago and those memories never really went away. But no. He wouldn't do that, he would fight until he couldn't any more and die in battle. Perhaps however he wouldn't bother cycling any durability powers or any regeneration ones in the next Endbringer battle however. Even if in the end he would up just as a heroic statistic, it was better than the alternative.

For now though he had some people to speak with.

He landed on the helicopter platform on the Rig, seeing Armsmaster waiting for him.

"Eidolon"

"Armsmaster. Hello. Do you have a secure location where we can talk?"

"If you will forgive the mess, my lab should suffice." Armsmaster stated, Eidolon nodded and the pair of them made their way through the structure into a secure area in the back corner of the old oil derek. The place was a buzz with activity, between Leviathan and Mannequin some how getting in, everything was being checked over six ways from Sunday.

The lab itself had seen better days, though it wasn't unoccupied. A humanoid robot with a digital face on the front was speaking with a towering woman covered in flickering shields.

Dragon's avatar and Narwhal looked over to Armsmaster and Eidolon as they came in.

Eidolon's eyes scanned the area, noting the broken laptop that sat in the middle of a damaged work bench. He hadn't expected Narwhal to be here, though he was fairly certain both she and the robot were glaring at him.

Armsmaster took a seat on one of the stools still intact in the lab with a faint wince, Eidolon simply stood.

"Dragon, Narwhal, would you mind giving us some privacy?" Armsmaster asked.

"Hmm? That's Dragon? Usually when I see you you're a bit bigger." Eidolon joked lightly. "But no this isn't anything too important, they can stay if they want, I won't take up much of your time."

Narwhal glanced to Dragon who shrugged. A surprisingly human movement on the bot.

"Well first things first. Thank you for putting Sphere to rest finally." Eidolon offered.

"Sphere?" Armsmaster asked.

"Mannequin. His cape name before the Simurgh got him was Sphere. Environmental tinker, man was a genius, he actually built a habitat on the moon. Self sustaining too, might even still be there if the damn bird hasn't destroyed it. Simurgh took his daughters from him and he didn't recover from that nor what she probably did to his head. He just … vanished one day and came back as that thing."

"You were close?" Dragon stated.

"He was … he was my friend, his daughters were like my own kids.... "Eidolon shook his head with a small sigh, that was in the past and he had gotten over it. "I hunted the Nine like everyone else, but because he was there I don't think I really could have done anything, well to him any way, if there was even the slightest chance.... but no, he died a long while back and you just made sure his corpse couldn't keep hurting people. I'm going to make sure that the bounties for Mannequin come through for you. I just wanted to make sure I thanked you and Dragon personally before I left after whatever sort of ceremony is happening. I'll let you get back to repairs, I have a long flight back."

"You are welcome Eidolon." Armsmaster offered. "You should get some rest, you look hagred enough as is. Perhaps take a few days off."

"Might just really, though honestly you don't look much better. Thank you again." Eidolon offered and turned making his way out of the lab. Armsmaster followed him to show him out.

Narwhal tilted her head a little watching him go before looking to Dragon.

"And he's one of them?" She asked.

"Yes, most of the data they had seemed to be in paper format or self contained systems I cannot access, but I do know that the Triumvirate are all members of Cauldron." Dragon offered.

"Hmm. Something to keep an eye on until we learn more." Narwhal frowned. "Well back to the subject at hand, I think you can do better."

"Seriously, you bring this up now?"

"Of course, he's out for the second and look at this place. I know how neat and tidy you are, and this is a typical bachelor pad. Somethings you just can't fix."

"The place was attacked by a member of the Slaughter House Nine!" Dragon protested." Of course it's trashed!"

"And did he bring in all these empty food and drink packages when he attacked?" Narwhal asked.

"Hey, epic flashlight, what brings you out to our neck of the woods?"

Legend smiled at that, as Mouse Protector popped up seemingly from his shadow to follow along with him as he walked along towards the medical area where the injured Wards were.

"Came to see how the Wards were holding up." Legend explained. "I hear they have been through quite a bit."

"Yep yep. Clocky got torn up pretty good and Spits is still withdrawn. Sat's more annoyed she's stuck inside and Vista is complaining about farting rainbows."

"What?"

"For once, got no clue. Druid's in good shape considering, but she's got a little tick at the moment about washing her left foot. Seems she stepped in someone nasty. Aegis and Flechette are pissed they missed the fight. Gallant is out sick for a few days after getting overwhelmed emotionally, Weathergirl's not in yet, and I have no idea what is up with Schrodinger." Mouse Protector shrugged." So hows the kids? They settling in up there in Boston?"

"Theo is .. hesitant still, but Aster is adorable." Legend smiles.

"Got pics?"

"Plenty!"

"Awesome, I'll have to take a look at them after you're done talking to these guys. Heads up though, Clock thinks he second triggered."

Legend winces and looks to Mouse who had a rather serious expression on the part of her face her helmet didn't cover.

"That is … how does he know?"

"He's been doing tricks with his power. He knows how long something will stay frozen now and seems to have some control over how long it stays there. All of them are slated to re power test when they recover." Mouse Protector stated. "Spitfire and Vista killed someone, some ones? Ehh, two dead, and Wards did it. Spitfire's beating herself up about it.. Vista... if I'm gonna be honest I can't tell if she's bothered or thinks it was cool. You being here might cheer some of them up, but the boss is hiring Katts on full time. Hope it helps cause my usual shenanigans aren't enough to help them work through this shit."

"Mouse." Legend stopped and looked to his former Ward who walked a few paces ahead of him before stopping and not looking back.

"Yeah?" Mouse Protector asked.

"Three times and one of them died."

"More than just three this last year or so. But 'Purity'... " Mouse Protector made air quotes with her fingers, her head turning to stare at Legend over her shoulder as she said it. "...Took care of the one who set off the last batch and had been causing problems in the past. Hookwolf has nearly killed Vista once before and threatened Clockblocker with death, then the Merchants were shut down while planning to go after Saturnia for catching Squealer. No one predicted the fish, and the kids all survived this time on their own merits. Despite the 9 being something you three should have dealt with years ago. And didn't."

"It's complicated. And the kids shouldn't have needed to do what they did." Legend stated ignoring the glare he knew the woman was leveling at him.

"No. They shouldn't have had to do that. But there's only so much me and Hannah can do to protect them. I'm already getting a ton of shit from CPS and the boss by being the Wards superior here. I'm doing what I can but … holy fuck this year. It's like some sadistic fuck had dice rolled us into every bad thing that could happen."

"I'm not admonishing you. Or Hannah. If you weren't here I feel it could have been a lot worse." Legend offered. "If anyone tries to remove you or Hannah I'll intervene."

"Aww why thank you glow stick, but pretty sure the new boss here would be a lot less nice in that instance than you would be." Mouse Protector smirks. "She's an angry one."

"So I noticed when she told off Alexandria earlier." Legend chuckled

"What!? Boss lady told off Library Girl and I missed it, I need deets sparkle pants!!!"

Not much happened here and this one was going to be a good bit longer, but this is all I really got together before my grandfather died on the first. And since then I've not really felt like working on anything thing, but this was mostly finished up to this point, so I finished it off to post as i'm not sure when i'll feel like working on TE , WALK or TGaP or any of my other stuff for a bit. Granted now that i say that i might well get inspired to hammer things out after the funeral but who knows.Click to expand...Last edited: Apr 9, 2025404TDRApr 9, 2025View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 58 (Mama I'm coming home.) View contentTDRWriter, mad bunnyJul 24, 2025#3,910

■​Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.

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•Private Messages with GstringGirl Bigbrother94

■​►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): So yeah pretty much mom has been reluctant to head back to the bay after all this crap. We've been staying up here with Aunt Sue in Framingham while they make sure our apartment block is clear. Evidently we were within a mile of where Bonesaw bought it and they want to check over everything for anything in a pretty big area. Word is Druid is the one looking everything over, but she's just one cape so we're out here for a while and all i have is my phone and PSP.

►GstringGirl (Known Shipper): Oh that kinda sucks, but I'm glad you weren't in town for that Greg. Though at the same time this has been like the lowest death 9 attack I've ever heard about.

►Bigbrother94 (New, be gentile): Yeah..mister..., Dad, says that most of the damage was done by Shatterbird and Crawler with the Siberian injuring some Wards. The others seemed to go after specific targets and got taken out by them. Director Piggot got Shatterbird herself, one of the PRT troopers took out Crawler, The Wards attacked got Siberian, Armsmaster and Dragon got Mannequin, A civi with a gun got Bonesaw, and the Deputy Director got Jack. And I think Alucard was listed as the one who got Hatchet Face.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): Wasn't a civi it was freaking Vista that took out Bonesaw, girl is stoked about it too.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): Oh yeah? See I didn't know that much, the only one they are really talking about on the news is the Wards, cause a couple people stuck around and filmed that like idiots. Clockblocker looks like the got hurt pretty bad in that video.

►GstringGirl (Known Shipper): Void I'm pretty sure if you were there you would be one of the idiots trying to film that.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): Owch I'm not that bad. I probably wouldn't have even left the house unless Shatterbird broke my TV. Oh man.... I'm gonna need a new Computer and TV when I get home... Ugh do either of you know if her scream or Bonesaw's gunk screws with computers, my save files are at risk.

►Bigbrother94 (New, be gentile):The Slaughterhouse 9 attack your city and you are worried about save files?

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned):I have my priorities, besides my Oblivion saves are there and I want to have the game finished again in time for Skyrim coming out this November. I mean we're still recovering from an Endbringer dying there, so this is kinda lower priority that some murder hobos got offered finally. Anyway Mom's planning to stay here until we get a call and Aunt Sue doesn't even have cable. Speaking of family though how you holding up at the new place Theo, you've been pretty busy for a while I heard.

►GstringGirl (Known Shipper): Yeah Void's only told me a little bit about you, though it is nice to talk to more people.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): I suggest keeping it vague though dude, no need to give the girl ammo for her fics.

►GstringGirl (Known Shipper): I'm not that bad!

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): Sparky would disagree.

►GstringGirl (Known Shipper): if he didn't want to be shipped in a Scooby Doo fic he shouldn't be so much like Shaggy.

►Bigbrother94 (New, be gentile): Do I want to know?

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): no.

►GstringGirl (Known Shipper): yes

►Bigbrother94 (New, be gentile): Right anyway. My little sister is settling in, though she's still rather young and doesn't know what's going on. Though both of.. well I guess dads now, they both adore her. I'm settling in a little though everything's still pretty much come out of no where with this. Everyone's so nice, but I don't know if it's me or because of... never mind... yeah .

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): Milk that adoration dude you can write your own ticket with that power set, make them all pay

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not banned): yeah well your old dad was a fucking Nazi asshole dude, anythings better than that. Plus Legends cool.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): Still gotta be better than it was before, I remember how you showed up to school most days dude.

►Bigbrother94 (New, be gentile): Yeah. Yeah it's a lot better, still settling into my after school job though.

►GstringGirl (Known Shipper): A job? If the number you have is your birthday you're only 15 or 16 I didn't think you could be old enough to have a job until you were 18.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Verified Not Banned): Ehh not really. You can get part time stuff at 14 or 15 with parents permission, and I'm pretty sure farmers start their kids on tasks as soon as they can walk, and 15 or 16 year olds can get little menial jobs for pocket money. Prolly what Theo's doing, right? What's New York's version of Fugly Bobs like?

►Bigbrother94 (New, be gentile):I'm not working at burger place Greg. But I'm pretty sure the local equivalent is called Fudruckers.

►GstringGirl (Known Shipper): I'm sorry it's called what?

Greg smirked watching Theo and Sveta chatter back and forth about the name of the burger place. It was a bit of a risk introducing the two, after all she might wind up liking Theo more than him, but in the end he found that he didn't think it mattered. Theo's power might be something that could help her, but he hadn't seen any routes he could run that could get Theo or his new power set to help her, least not in the week ahead he could see, so he decided to hedge his bets. If Amy was on PHO in anything outside of her Druid name he'd have invited her as well.

Sveta needed more normal people, and while Theo wasn't exactly normal, he was some one else that Greg was watching out for. Dude needed a break.

"GREG, GET OFF YOUR PHONE WERE GONNA HEAD OUT TO EAT SOON!"

Greg sighed messaging the two that he was being called away just as Svette posted that Fudruckers started in Texas according to a quick search. He really hoped the house would be cleared soon. Aunt Sue was alright but stuck in the sixties and if he had to try any more new wave tofu crap he was gonna scream, he really wanted a burger.

Theo Anders... right, Theo Smith shook his head a little at the conversation he had been part of as Greg said his goodbyes. He had no idea why Greg had decided to get a hold of him like this, he hadn't even known Greg had his number to contact him.

He also wasn't sure why half of the conversations with the guy made him feel annoyed with him for some reason, Greg rarely said anything offensive.

Still staying here with Legend and Arthur had been an experience. With the Nazi attack , Leviathan, and the Slaughterhouse 9 hitting the bay, Theo was glad to have gotten out of that place with Aster. He had hoped everyone he knew was okay, though Greg had told him that Amy and Taylor were fine as well as most of the other people he knew from Arcadia.

He still wasn't exactly sure on his day job however, but he was told quite often that his contract was insane. He read through it himself and didn't see anything too crazy, most of it was common sense really he thought, not that he had seen any contracts before in his life.

Still he had been taken on one mission already not long after Leviathan had attacked.

( 3 days before the Slaughterhouse 9 attack on Brockton Bay)

Theo let out a low sigh as he felt the suit shift a little as it moved with Dragon piloting it remotely while leaving him in the command seat to watch what was going on outside. This was his first outing as Tikvah, though he neither had a costume or was even going to be seen by anyone save those that had been there when he got into the Dragon suit. He took a moment to look around with what he could see on the video being fed to where he sat in the suit as it exited one of the three Dragon Craft that had landed in the parking lot.

Whatever was going on was fairly big as the entire Triumvirate was here along with Dragon and Narwhal. The latter was hanging back with the Dragon suit he was in, to guard him if need be. The Triumvirate were discussing something with a small woman in a suit and fedora that Alexandria said was from Watch Dog and had been monitoring this situation.

According to Dragon they were currently outside of an large building on the property of a place called Nemicolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania. The building looked like it had once been a sporting goods shop that had closed down. Dragon said it had been bought by the resort and used as extra storage for things that had been broken or outdated at the resort before they went to an auction or the landfill.

The woman from Watch Dog claimed that this would raise the numbers on the path by a full 3% if they could be convinced, but would lower it by 15% if they failed. She also instructed Eidolon and Alexandria to stay back and let Legend talk first.

Theo didn't see anything odd about the place save a beat up van and a moving truck with North Dakota plates.

"Um Dragon?"

"Yes Tikvah?"

"Who are we actually here dealing with?"

"A group calling themselves the Travelers. According to Contessa, the woman in the hat there, they are a group that was pulled from Alph by the Simurgh during her attack on Madison. They are Case 22s, or Fallers depending on what rumor's you have heard. Trickster, Sundancer, Genesis, Ballistic, Oliver, and Noelle, there was another named Perdition, but he is no longer with the group at this time. The important thing, and the reason you are here, is that they are considered potential Smirugh bombs and we hope you can defuse them and bring them over to the 'light side' as it were." Dragon explained.

"Ahh I see." Theo offered. "But why is she saying Legend is the only one to talk to them?"

Narwhal snorts having been listening in to the conversation through her com. "Because the flying brick and the ultimate Trump have the collective negotiating skills of a rabid skunk with diarrhea. Some of that is not even their fault. They are such big names people go full defensive at the mention that they are around. Legend however has proven both approachable and willing to try diplomacy before anything else. He's also known as a man of his word and if anyone can talk them down it will be him."

"That said Tikvah." Dragon added quickly. "If they come out and are affected, please remove any sort of control that you see on them as soon as you can. Testing has shown you can remove the affects of Heart Breaker, the Fallen, and the Simurgh, while no one is sure what the Endbringer did. Contessa is certain that they are Simurgh bombs, though no one else knows for sure."

It wasn't long before Legend walked back out of the building being followed by a angry looking young man in a top hat with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth.

Behind him was a larger man in a costume that looked something like a modified football players outfit.

Both of them had a glow around them.

"I see something, should I remove it now?" Theo asked.

"Please do." Dragon ordered.

Theo nodded and made to remove the off aura he saw, the color something like a pearlescent, though it winked out the moment he pulled on it.

The bigger man staggered dropping to a knee and breathing hard.

The man in the top hat just stopped dead, his eyes going wide as the cigarette fell from his lips. A moment later he was gone and a garbage can was in his place.

Alexandria moved though a sharp call from Contessa stopped her before she had done more than take off the ground.

A moment or two later the larger man stood back up cursed at the trashcan, before touching it and sending it launching to crash against the side of the van while cursing up a storm. He then turned and said something to Legend who nodded. Then he went back inside the building.

"That was Trickster and Ballistic. I think Trickster is running, but Contessa says he won't go far." Dragon reported.

A few moments later the big man came out again pushing an auburn haired girl in a wheel chair and lithe woman in a black body suit adorned with red suns.

"Sundancer and Genesis." Dragon supplied.

"Same thing with them." Theo offered.

"Go ahead."

The aura snapped away much easier this time when Theo pulled. Though the results were just as telling, the girl in the wheel chair started sobbing and the one in the body suit simply collapsed. Legend moved to help her along with Ballistic.

Contessa nodded and walked over to the Canadians and Theo.

"The last two are going to be the biggest issue, but also the ones we want most to convince." Contessa explained in something of a monotone voice. "Please do not be frightened of Noelle's appearance Tikvah, you are doing well."

This close Theo took note that the woman had a aura around her as well. It seemed an odd color he hadn't seen before and he didn't notice it until she was close.

"Ummm Contessa has an Aura too." Theo offered and took note that Dragon took a step back and Narwhal moved between the smaller girl and the suit Theo was in. Contessa only smiled a moment.

"Your power testing says you see auras around those mastered. I expect you see something around me and I would ask you not to worry about it or remove it. With how my power works it is simply me mastering myself." Contessa placated, but backed up a little. "The last two will be coming out of the bay door on the side of the building. Dragon be prepared to run with Tikvah if Noelle becomes agitated or violent. Get as far and as high as fast as possible."

The door started to open and a small thin strangely attractive looking blonde boy walked out looking back and up at someone as the roller door opened more. After a moment Theo saw a sad looking girl with straight brown hair and a Black Sabbath t-shirt that she had her arms wrapped up in come out.

The rest of her body from the waist down was an amalgamation of horrific flesh and muscle. Various orifices and tendrils writhed and gasped as she moved outside of the bay door, seeming to stretch taller as she almost unfolded from the building.

Theo swallowed hard, noting the glows around the pair, a reddish one blending with the pearlescent he had seen on the others, on the girl. He swallowed and pulled on them.

Noelle froze in place as he took the two auras. The boy fell against the wall leaning against it and trembled.

Contessa watched for a moment before turning back to Dragon.

"If you would Dragon please take these two to the facilities we talked about that are setup in east New York. Noelle will need quite a bit of work as well as likely a few visits from both Druid and Tikvah to return to normal. The others will be heading there later after a debrief at the local branch and finding out what they want to do. Trickster will show back up soon enough and will be very insistent on going to see Noelle, I will remain here to guide him. Tikvah, Dragon, Narwhal, thank you for your assistance in this. The Path to Victory has improved by 3%." Contessa explained.

"And what is the path?" Narwhal asked.

"It's how I predict things." Contessa shrugged. "It's a little more accurate than some of the others in Watch Dog. I have yet to understand why something smelling more or less like grape jello is a valid prediction."

Narwhal nodded evidently understanding, Theo had no clue but everyone seemed okay, so this was evidently a good thing. He just hoped he could get back to Aster soon, this was a very trying day. He swept his gaze over the Travelers and the looks on their faces after he had helped them. Seemed to be trying for a lot of people.

( Present Day, 2 weeks after the Slaughter House 9's deaths.)

"So are you feeling any better Emily?" Director Wilkins asked from her spot on the conference call." Have you had time to read the email?"

"Still feel like crap but getting back to normal." Emily offered looking up at the two other directors on the screen. Directors Kilgore and Wilkins were both on the call with her for the local director meeting, Armstrong should have been, but he was dealing with some fallout from something Bastion had done and didn't join. Emily just hoped whatever PR mess was made gave Glenn a headache.

"I got the email and I don't see why not, though I want more details obviously. It wouldn't be much more than a day trip at best... or a few hours if Saturnia drives. School is letting out for the summer in a bit and the Wards will have free time and more hours allowed. Not sure if Druid can do anything for this Noelle person and I'll have to run this by Renick to make sure her schedules clear. If it's low risk like you said, I will probably send Flechette and Saturnia as well. The former needs a bit more time with her new teammates and the latter needs to break in the new interceptor she has. I'll have Agent Shimmer chaperone as well, that woman is the only one who seems to enjoy Saturnia's driving beyond Alucard.

"How are the new Wards fitting in?" Director Kilgore asked. The wall behind the man had a large plaque on it with the whaling Harpoon that was always there as well as a rather sizable piece of Leviathan's claw. Japan had gotten the damaged and severed head of the Endbringer. That was probably going to go in a museum somewhere.

" Flechette is doing well, adjusting quickly though you mentioned she floated around quite a bit. Hopefully she will settle down. Miss Militia has taken a shine to her and she's scheduled to be the first one Flechette sidekicks too. Schrodinger.... well there's been some issues with him..."

(A few Days Prior)

"GRRRRRRRR!"

"GRRRRRRRR!"

The cafeteria staff stared as the cat boy clung to one end of the glazed ham biting into it and growling.

On the other end of the large ham leg a massive green tiger clung and was growling just as loudly pulling and trying to tear the meat away from the cat boy.

This had been going on for some time after Pocky had stolen the big piece of meat before it could get cut.

It stopped when Rahs walked into the cafeteria, saw what was going on, then stormed up grabbed both of the other cats by the scruffs of their necks and yanked them away from each other leaving the ham to fall to the floor. He then stormed out of the room carrying the whining cat boy and rather surprised that she was being carried around tiger, with him.

Assault stared at the ham on the floor as he swallowed the bite of his sandwich. "So that was a thing."

Emily explained the story a little as Director Kilgore laughed and Director Wilkens smirked.

"That sounds Like Schrodinger, he was never bad, but some times he was a bit feral." Director Kilgore offered.

"Both of them were put on punishment detail for that incident and are stuck in PR classes and kindergarten meet and greets for a while." Director Piggot smirked." So how are the former travelers fitting in?"

"All of them need therapy and all of them want to go home. Trickster showed back up after an hour or so and turned himself in along with the rest of the team. All of them are willing to play ball save Sundancer who wants nothing to do with capes at all. We're going to see about trying the same sort of thing you did with Spitfire in your area with her to work around NEPA. She might be more willing to use her powers in a more industrial base than a cape one. Trickster is willing to do anything so long as it helps Noelle and the others are much in agreement with that though not as fervently. If Druid comes up here I'd like her to look over all of them, one of the girls is confined to a wheel chair and one of the boys seems to be constantly shifting what he looks like."

"I'll forward the email to Renick and he can set up the scheduling. Did we have anything else of note?" Director Piggot asked.

"Yes. " Director Kilgore sighed. "Queen Mousette decided to host a battle of the bands in her compound in southern Georgia, and the Blues Brothers and their sister showed up."

Director Piggot winced. Queen Mousette was a rogue with a short range striker power who could turn people into things, rocks, trees, ham sandwiches, though she tended to prefer turning people into mice like she was a voodoo witch. It was a timed transformation and she generally didn't cause any real trouble most of the time.

She and Mouse Protector were pen pals.

Both were also banned from Disney World and what they did was classified Periwinkle.

"So how much damage was there this time?" Director Wilkins asked.

"Everything was fine until the Illinois police showed up after a wallet was stolen....." Director Kilgore began.

"Hey Emily. Haven't seen you around since Legend stopped by to regal everyone about his new daughter for two hours, how you holding up with the new digs?"Dennis asked from the couch.

Emily glanced over at him noting Taylor reading a book on the chair against the wall, though the other girl lowered the book looking up in concern. Emily was pretty sure the book was Animal Farm, she was also pretty sure the girl was still reading it with the flickering shadows that seemed to pass along the book even as she was looking at Emily

"Yeah sorry. Been dealing with things. I was finally cleared to come back for a patrol tonight." Emily sighed.

"Same here. Given it's the three of us I'm wondering if they are going to try to ease us into a joint patrol again, though I can't see them having us do that same route." Dennis nodded. " And no rush girl. That shit was messed up. Take all the time you need, no ones gonna judge and if they do I'll sic Mouse on them."

Emily smiled."Thanks Dennis."

"So hows the move into your new place gone?" Taylor asked.

"Weird." Emily frowned,.

"That tracks with what I know about them." Dennis nodded.

The PRT employee apartments a few blocks down the road from the PRT building had

survived both the Nazi attack and Leviathan completely unscathed.

Then somehow or another Shatterbird's scream had broken something and the whole building had burned down. Luckily between the efforts of Flechette, Moon Dog, and Schrodinger no one had died there during the 9's attack, though there were a number of pretty bad injuries.

And Moon Dog was still pissy that all his theater memorabilia was destroyed. The case 53 would likely set out to kill Shatterbird himself if Director Piggot hadn't done it first.

Sadly this meant that everyone who stayed there was displaced. While most of the employees could be shifted into, alternate housing, and two of the Wards staying there as well as Moon Dog could stay on site at the PRT or Protectorate base for a while, Emily /Spitfire, was currently required to have some one close at hand until she was cleared by the therapists for her trauma. Her previous guardians were unable or injured to watch her and as such another location needed to be found for her to stay.

Thus some one else was found.

And she was a little grumpy about it.

".. Alucard's claimed the basement again. For your own sanity don't go down there even if he invites you to play My Little Pony. He evidently has a thing for Princess Luna or something, don't ask." Emily Piggot explained to Emily the Ward. "Missy has the corner room on the second floor, while I have the other corner room closer to the street. The room between those is going to be the armory. Amy claimed the third floor, though that's really just an attic someone put a room in. Pocky has a room down stairs across from the laundry room though she hangs out with Amy more often than not expect her to bother you at some point. Rachel has the second guest room downstairs if she ever decides to show up here, which isn't likely as I won't let her bring more than three dogs over. That leaves your choice of one of the three rooms on the second floor or the last one downstairs, just drop you gear in which ever one you want and we'll get it set up for you."

The house was one of the nicer ones in the neighborhood, it was in a housing area closer to Arcadia. The place looked almost like a Victorian era manor on the outside though painted in dark blues and grays. It had a large kitchen / dining area, a even larger living room/den, a two car garage, 4 and a half bathrooms and in total about eight bedroom/studies not counting the attic or basement. The attic counted as a bit of both, the previous owner had filled the space with bookshelves and one large circular window overlooking the street with a reading nook in it. There was a wall separating a corner of the attic that had the bed room and a full bath in it, but the rest of the attic was built like a library.

Amy had plans to fill the whole thing with the medical books she needed, and her replacement Anne Mccaffy books, and a new up to date computer. So her part of the reward was spent almost.

Missy had saved most of her things, unfortunately, by begging Amy to clear them, so her room was once again a Slayer shrine. One that had gotten bigger as she set out to spend what she could to get some memorabilia she didn't have before. Emily had put a stop to that before the girl burned through everything she had earned for taking out Bonesaw. Honestly why some of her old memorabilia was so pricey Emily had no clue. Granted if she ever found the guy who designed that 'anime' style version of Slayer she was going to shoot out his kneecaps. The fact it wasn't licensed through the PRT was the only reason she wasn't blaming Glenn Chambers.

Her own room was the simplest, just a dresser and bed, nothing she really cared about was lost from the last house, and her armory was cleared by Amy pretty quickly too. That was taking up the next room, the elephant gun that killed Bonesaw was on a wall mount in there already. Emily was never going to admit that Alucard's joke gift was useful. The smug bastard was already lording it over her that it had been however.

Alucard had saved everything of his including that coffin he stole from some where. Amy checked it out and said that everything he owned was sterile, not even bacteria lived on his stuff.

He had claimed the whole basement again and Emily was pretty sure she had heard digging. The Realtor told them there used to be old smuggling tunnels that ran through the area. She didn't doubt that if there were then Alucard had access to them now. So long as he didn't collapse the house she didn't care. Her reward for Shatterbird had just barely covered the cost of the place, and Alucard had even chipped with his reward from killing Hatchetface. Amy and Missy tried and Emily told them no.

Pocky's room had her own couch and littler box, though she stayed with Amy or annoyed Emily.

Now, due to another bit of paperwork signed by Amy, Missy, Alucard, and the damn cat, another Emily was under her care. The girl was still withdrawn and needed people around her according to Dr. Katts. And thus she had another charge under her care.

Alucard had asked her if she was looking for a man named Brady.

He also blared Weird Al's Brady Bunch from his basement lair at random times

The girls had no idea what was going on, and Alucard only laughed when Emily called him Alice.

Armsmaster looked between the two individuals and frowned feeling short outside of his power armor.

Narwhal tilted her head a little regarding the blue furred cat/dog case 53 who was standing in front of her. Moon Dog flicked his tail a little and tapped something onto his arm voice simulator.

<"Something wrong Miss Narwhal?">

"No not really. It's just a little odd to meet someone who's the same height as me." Narwhal offered. "If a little taller."

<"It's the ears really."> Moon Dog shrugged and looked back to Armsmaster <"You got everything boss?">

"I should be good. I will only be gone a week. If you have any trouble feel free to send a message to me, but I expect speaking with Miss Militia, Battery, or Director Piggot will take care of most of your immediate troubles."Armsmaster stated glancing over as Dragon's smaller robot body loaded a crate into the waiting dragon craft.

"That should be the last of it." Dragon offered. The face on the robot she had offering a digital smile.

"Alright, all I need to do is get Moondog the back up voice translator and the itinerary for the week and we will be ready to leave." Armsmaster nodded, the man only wearing a PRT uniform and a spare helmet, having not had time to repair his armor fully. "It should not take longer than ten minutes."

"Not a problem." Dragon waved as the two men walked off.

Narwhal glanced to her friend noting the evil looking grin on the screen of the robot.

"What?" Narwhal demanded.

"I know that look. Did Moon Dog catch another one?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Suuuuuure you don't, I've seen your computer's background screen."

"Lot's of people are fans of Swat Cats it was a very big show in the 90's." Narwhal grumbled.

"Yeah but I bet lots of people don't have a commissioned drawing of a shirtless Razor as their background."

"Are you spying on me?"

"Part of my job is cyber security..... so yes."

"You're not going to let this go."

"Nope." Dragon offered popping the P. "You tease me about Colin. I will certainly tease you about your eyes lingering on Rahs' tail as he walked away."

"THEY WERE NOT!"

"De'nile isn't just a river, but if you really want it, you better go for it. Mouse is also after him."

"I'm not.... wait seriously, Mouse Protector? With how she is and he's still single?" Narwhal considered. "Does Rahs know?"

"Sadly as big a theater buff as he is he fails to notice how easily he falls into the clueless male trope. Not far off Colin really. No wonder the two of them are friends."

"Hey mom."

Emily Piggot looked up as Amy came down stairs to where she sat in the living room.

"Something wrong Amy?"

"No. yes , maybe?" Amy offered. "Right so you know I've had a date with Vicky right?"

"Given how you were acting for a few days after it, it was hard to miss." Emily nodded. She had never understood the term walking on sunshine until her daughter came back from that date.

"Well her mom wants the both of us to come over for dinner Friday." Amy sighed.

Emily stared at her daughter the way a cow looks at an oncoming train.

"Carol Dallon wants me to come over for dinner?"

"Yes."

" I am tempted to count this as your birthday and Christmas present for the year."

"That's fair."

"Years spent in torment,

buried in a nameless grave..."

"I regret not dying to the Siberian." Clockblocker muttered gripping the seat belt as Saturnia whipped the interceptor around a corner, the back end not seeming to touch the ground as the front tires screamed clawing at the asphalt.

"Now he has risen..

Miracles will have to save..."

"This is the worst patrol I have been on yet." Spitfire grumbled trying not to be flung against Clockblocker despite her seat belt.

"Those that the beast is looking for..

Listen in awe and you'll hear him..."

"Console this is Wards patrol we are in pursuit of the cape known as Chariot one East thirteenth, heading towards the water front." Sunset called into the com system, the agent having a large grin on her face. She wasn't even supposed to be here today but heard Saturnia was taking out the interceptor and somehow got approved to ride shotgun.

Moon Dog was not even sure how that happened and he had Armsmaster's patrol schedule.

"Bark at the moon.

Hey yeah bark at the moon!" The radio blared as Saturnina's fanged grin widened as she closed on her prey.

Been a bit. But a lots going on, This is a mostly filler chapter but Alucard wanted something of an Ozzy tribute and I find it's better not to argue. believe it or not we are closing in on the last of this story, the end is in sight. Not any time soon mind you , but the last arc is coming unless I think up some other nonsense.

Alright, time for a bit of self promotion here for those who don't know but like my stuff

I also Write The Enemy. Found here.

Twilight Gets a Puppy, which is where Rahs/ Moon Dog is from, found here

And Stories in Stone, which was my first major fic and is where Major Jer'rahd Kaisur, and Starfall come from. Found here

I also have a random collection of Snippits one of which became The Enemy, found here

I have a Discord Channel where i drop random spoilers for fics, rant and have others doing the same. that can be found here if the link works.

And Finally I have a Kofi page if you feel like tipping. I tend to use what i get to commission fan art, though it's usually been of TGaP more than anything else. if you don't feel like it or can't afford it , don't. i have a real job so i'm not cash strapped, but anything helps. That link is HereClick to expand...Last edited: Jul 24, 2025312TDRJul 24, 2025View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 59 View contentTDRWriter, mad bunnyOct 31, 2025#3,942A small twitch was developing behind his mask as he looked at the two people seated before him. One of them was as calm as she had been last time, the other had a fanged grin that just kept getting wider the longer he stared at it.

A glance to the side showed the man in the oni -mask was as immobile and impassive as ever.

Lung let out a long sigh and sat back in his chair.

"Why are you here?" Lung demanded from his chair, deep in what he considered his headquarters, surrounded by dozens of Guards and Oni-lee. And yet....

"We made an appointment." Slayer stated simply and Lung wanted to scream and rage out .

"Yes. I am aware. I am also aware I still do not have a secretary, nor do I TAKE appointments." Lung growled.

"It's in your day planner." Slayer offered.

"Up until I came in this morning I did not realize I ever HAD a day planner." Lung snapped back pointing to the note book on his desk.

"Well that explains all the dust." Alucard added.

Lung huffed letting out a few flickers of fire from his lips before he glared at Slayer.

"This is because I had Oni-lee drop off the head on your desk isn't it?"

"I will neither confirm nor deny." Slayer stated.

"What. Do. You. Want?" Lung asked. He would not rage, he would not attempt to burn these two to cinders for this insolence. Alucard was a monster, pure and simple, the fight with Leviathan proved that. Lung still wished to fight him. But NOT when Slayer was any where nearby. The woman lived up to her name far too well in and out of costume. He expected he could end her, but there was always the chance he couldn't, particularly not when Alucard was nearby. And he had seen some of what Druid could do and did not wish to anger the biokinetic healer.

"Shenanigans aside, you have done what I asked of you last time, so It's time for me to hold up my end of the deal. The Mayor owes me several favors, using one to make sure your casinos are considered legal in the city should be taken care of with a call and some paperwork for your managers there to sign. Anything else like expansion or relocation you'll have to talk to him about, with Leviathans death as well as the Slaughterhouse 9 ending their run here, the tourists will be flocking to Brockton Bay, the mayor might be convinced to allow you to build a larger Casino closer to the boardwalk." Slayer explained.

Lung raised an eyebrow under his mask, not having considered that angle.

"Second. Here." Slayer stated and dropped a Lisa Frank binder on the desk. Lung narrowed his eyes at the brightly colorful Chinese dragons with their cutesy expressions dotting the notebook as they danced with neon Kirin and Fu-dogs.

"What is this?" Lung growled opening it there were numerous page insert plastic covers held in the three ring binder inside.

"Current autographed glossys from Armsmaster, Mouse Protector, Moon Dog, Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, and Alucard. There are also autographed pictures of Saturnia, Druid, Spitfire, Clockblocker, Schrodinger, Flechette, Aegis, Gallant, Vista, Baskerville as well as her three dog's paw prints, and Apocalypse Meow's paw print on a picture. The last autograph written by Shadow Stalker is there. There are only ten of those in existence, she didn't like autographing anything. Also included are Autographs from Legend, Dragon, Narwhal, Alexandria, and Eidolon. And finally Slayer autographed one and let me tell you I had to fight my own daughter to include that one when she didn't even have it." Slayer explained.

"I did not ask for this." Lung stated.

"You did not. But I've seen your daughter at a couple of autograph sessions, so this is a little something extra, like you gave to us when you turned over Bakuda's bombs along with her head. Those bombs were used to take out Crawler so I felt something extra was appropriate." Slayer explained. "Finally we are looking into the rights to publish you and Alucard's fight on Pay Per View. Fifty, fifty split of the profits on our side are going to go to a number of charities and I would ask that you consider that as well to increase your reputation further to convince everyone you are going legit."

"And where would it even be held, I do not think the two of us would hold back." Lung offered leaning forward in his chair propping his elbows on the opulent desk, though his eyes were locked on Alucard.

"Still working on that, ideally some where close by, the boat graveyard might be the best spot, camera drones and Snitch footage should get all the best angles." Slayer explained

"The Snitch? Those two idiots would want a cut." Lung rumbled.

"Not if it's part of Uber's plea deal to cut down his jail time to community service hours." Slayer chuckled.

"Some one finally caught the idiots?" Lung raised an eyebrow under his mask, those two had been evading capture and his own anger for years.

"Just Uber, L33t remains at large." Slayer shrugged.

"So who caught the fool? Did Armsmaster finally get lucky?"

"Druid did." Alucard cackled and Slayer looked inordinately proud of that.

Lung sighed. Yes antagonizing this family was not in the plans.

[ 3 days earlier]

Aegis considered that in a prior life he must have been excessively unkind to kittens or something. Realistically it had been enough time that he had cycled around and was back to side kicking to Alucard again.

That did not stop him from lamenting this nonsense. There were only a couple of Wards who hadn't had anything happen with them or were unaffected by the Slaughterhouse 9. Clockblocker, Spitfire, Saturnia, and Gallant were still not cleared for active duty, he himself hadn't been in town at the time and Flechette and Schrodinger had been cleared already for being on site but having no encounter with any of the 9. Oddly Vista and Druid had also been cleared. Vista was someone else everyone was freaking out over, and the girl did go to therapy only for the therapist to point out she was handling the fact she pulled the trigger far better than a lot of combat vets she had dealt with.

Vista had evidently come to view the death of Bonesaw at her hands as necessary, and something the killer had brought upon herself with her actions. She wasn't thrilled that she had killed some one, but she was thrilled that Bonesaw was never going to get the chance to cut any one else open.

The Director was livid at that world view and despite knowing she was being a hypocrite was still pushing for more down time and therapy for Vista when even CPS had thrown up their hands in the face of the girls claims she was fine.

Druid had argued with the therapist and the CPS and her own mother about it hard enough about the down time so long that she was already back on duty. Evidently watching a little girls head get vaporized by a gun bigger than she was was equivalent to a Friday night in the ER.

Hence the situation where she and her cat were walking along with him and Alucard on a patrol through the area where Leviathan had died and up the street a block from the Boardwalk near the college and several other shops that didn't want to pay the price the Boardwalk wanted for rent.

Given what happened last time he could only hope his new CPR certification would not be needed. With Druid here he might be alright given her powers. Maybe it would be a simple night too. Thus far it was dull, and Alucard was moaning about it.

He did not believe he just thought that, the night was doomed.

Most of the shops were still open and aside from a few autographs and photo ops nothing of note had happened.

Until they passed by a large outlet shop named Pottery Barn and heard yelling and the sound of destruction coming from inside.

A glance inside showed a small crowd of people looking towards the back of the store and a bored looking clerk at the counter who clearly was not paid enough.

"Hello welcome to Pottery Barn would you like to hear today's sales?" The clerk asked as they walked in just at the sound of something large shattering.

"Oooh are the wood working tools on sale?" Alucard asked.

"We have two beginner wood burning kits that are." The clerk lazily picked up a ad paper and handed it to Alucard who happily accepted and flipped open looking things over.

"Ooh candle making , I'll need to pick up a few of those."Alucard hummed.

"The basement need more dramatic lighting?" Druid questioned.

"Ooh you get it! And these are vanilla scented."

"Sir, what is going on here?" Aegis asked the clerk as something else broke with a cry.

"Uber and L33t showed up for some reason." the clerk shrugged. Clearly this was a native Brocktonite. "They're in the large pottery aisles."

Sighing and not likely getting anything else from them Aegis radioed it in and got a investigate cautiously from Schrodinger who wasn't supposed to be on console tonight, though for some reason he was.

Aegis gave up trying to understand the cat girls power about the same time he had given up trying to understand the cat boys gender.

Apocalypse Meow perked up looking up at the florescent lighting and Aegis noted too the golden ball buzzing around near the ceiling.

"Hey listen!" L33t shouted in a rather high pitched voice.

Moving past the crowd the group was greeted by the carnage of multiple smashed pots and crates littering the floor. In the back a man dressed in a green tunic and a green sock cap with pointed ears smashes another pot with a sword. A glowing ball of light with fairy wings floats around the figure.

"HIYAAAH!" Uber screams out as he smashes the pot.

"Oh. I know this one." Alucard stated.

"Hyut?" Uber asked looking the heroes way as the 'fairy' floats around him getting stuck in a hanging basket display.

"GaH! Damn camera angles!" L33t curses from the fairy drone.

"Huyut!" Uber agrees.

"Wow, he is not breaking character." Druid hums. "Sounds familiar though."

"Hey Zelda stop smashing pots, and come quietly." Aegis calls out

Everything went silent as everyone in the building looked at him , including the over sized cat.

"Wha.. WHAT did you say?!" The fairy L33t stammered.

"How dare you!!" Uber stammered pointing the sword at Aegis who simply grinned.

"Well excuse me princess, but I'm not about to play along when you are breaking the law. "Aegis offered, then smiled. "And since you broke character, the shows over."

Alucard raised an eyebrow as Uber sputtered.

"You ruined the stream!" Fairy L33t whined.

"Who are you and what have you done with the boy scout?"Alucard demanded.

"These two are considered joke villains. We have protocols to deal with them, a little less heavy handed than most so long as they stay joke villains. It involves a lot of taunting and smack talk. Assault loves it."

"We prefer not getting everyone out for our blood if they bother to come after us." L33t Fairy offered as Uber nodded.

"You came real close with that Grand theft auto thing last year." Aegis frowned.

"Yeah not our best work." Uber shrugged. " Should have known the beating hookers thing would be a problem."

"They beat hookers to death?" Alucard questioned. "And they are still joke civilians? This opens possibilities."

"No." Druid pointed at Alucard.

"They didn't beat any one to death, they dressed some pimps up as hookers and beat them down. Pimps with bigger criminal records than they have, and that's the only reason they didn't get dropped from the joke rolls." Aegis huffed.

"As I said not our best work." Uber sighed. "So are we gonna do anything other than talk about our old streams?"

"Well we could talk about how you're rocking those leggings." Alucard hummed pointing at the tight white leggings Uber wore as part of the costume..

"Yeah they are a bit pinchy not a fan , but the best game has Link wearing them so..."Uber began.

"The 3-d Link is not the best Link. Link to the past Link is!" L33t fairy shouted. "The SNES game is the best of the series."

"Bah, Ocarina of Time Link is the best Link." Uber shouted back at the fairy.

"We sure are saying Link a lot." Alucard smirked.

Several of the people standing around watching this were nodding or pointing out which is better.

"Ehh I grew up with my dads old systems. I like Link's Awakening and the first game." Aegis shrugged.

"Fair." Uber pointed out, "But you need to see the glory of the newer games."

"I'm curious about Twilight Princess, but the Wii sucks." Aegis shrugged.

"Yeah okay, that was not a well thought out system." L33t fairy sighed. "Even with it being able to use other controllers."

"That whole era was bad choices. Look at Other M...." Alucard offered.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT THING!!!" L33t and Uber both yelled along with a number of the crowd.

"That is a thing that should never have been, like the Wing Commander Movie."L33t fairy growled as Uber shuddered.

"Never played any of them myself. Mostly a PC gamer." Druid shrugged.

"All of them are quite good and you should play them to see what you like as they are video game staples, much like Mario, Sim City, Super Metriod, X-com and Final Fantasy tactics." Uber offered speaking to them and the Snitch as if giving a PSA. "There are a number of universally reviled entries in the longer series."

"I swear I know your voice from somewhere." Druid hummed. "Hey Uber, you play a healer?"

"Of course. I'm the best priest on my server!" Uber smirked.

"Ahh there it is.... ThongChaser69." Druid offered her eyes narrowing.

"Hey, not cool, don't go dropping my handle like that." Uber frowned then blinked. "I mean , no not at all..."

"Really, so you're not the sort that would roll on a druid armor piece despite the better healer needing it to complete her set." Druid offered cracking her knuckles, Apocalypse Meow perked up as well.

"Uhhhh." Uber began.

"Oh Shit.. Druid's Boomcow!? FLY YOU FOOL!" L33t Fairy shrieked at Uber.

"Would you believe I didn't mean to?" Uber questioned as Druid stomped towards him." Guess not."

Uber turned tearing across the store with Druid running after him, the 'Hero' of Time leaping out of the window with a explosion of glass. "EPONA!!!"

A mechanical horse thundered up and and Uber lept onto it as it took off, though looking back a massive green dragon tiger thing with a angry healer astride it was already chasing after him.

"AHHHHHHHH I SAID SORRY!!!" Uber screamed out as the cat roared.

"Well crud I never even got to say I liked the CD-I Zeldas the best." Alucard huffed watching Druid ride after Uber screaming about the lost set piece.

"You sir. Are a monster." Aegis frowned.

[Current day.]

"He was mostly unharmed at the end of it and the whole breaking pots was a sponsored thing by the shop owner who wanted to clear old stock, luckily we have him on older charges." Slayer finished.

Lung stared at the pair after that story.

"Oni. Remind me to not let my daughter play any MMOs if this is the result. Clearly the video games cause violence crowd are onto something." Lung huffed as Alucard laughed.352TDROct 31, 2025View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 60 (Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess.... ) New View contentTDRWriter, mad bunnyFeb 9, 2026#4,008The saying' This is hell' or 'I'm in hell', was thrown around a lot in media to indicate a bad situation or to denote some one suffering.

Emily Piggot knew she was not in hell. She had seen hell. Hell was watching her team, people she had worked and been friends with for years getting torn apart by a cast of demented muppets made of human flesh. Hell was having your internal organs torn out of your stomach and still be forced to run while you're bleeding everywhere with said muppets chasing you with hoots and animal noises mixed in with unearthly screeching. Hell was watching a psychopath close on some one you cared about and not being able to do anything about it but lie on the floor with your internal organs pulped. Hell was having your limb vaporized by a trumped up flashlight intent on burning everything around you to ash just to get to you for something you didn't even do. Hell was facing down a biblical flood causing fish lizard and hearing the names of those dying around you including people who should not be any where near said biblical fish lizard. Hell was knowing there was a disease ridden trollop reject from Oliver Twist still unaccounted for and you couldn't reach your daughters in your own home. Hell was the paperwork that needed to be filled out after Alucard got a 'fun' idea.

Emily Piggot had seen hell, on more than one occasion, this, was not hell.

The pork chops were too good.

"I really do need to get this recipe from you." Emily offered waving a bit of the pork on her fork at the man before her.

"It's nothing special. Just something I picked up from a Martha Stewart episode I saw." Mark Dallon responded.

The table went silent after that mild attempt to make conversation. Mark was too out of it, Amy and Victoria were both glancing nervously between their parents and Carol was glaring with the sort of look that had killed lesser people.

Emily gave it a 4.

This was certainly not hell.

It was however very unpleasant.

The whole thing started off as expected really. Amy greeting Vicky who opened the door, Carol looking disapprovingly at Amy, then looking on in shocked surprise to see Emily walk up following her. Evidently the 'who' Amy's parent was had never been brought up, or Vicky just never mentioned a last name.

Small pleasantries were offered with Carol remaining surprisingly silent for most of the night. Dinner was well done and afterwards the girls were going to go to a movie.

Emily thought it might be that Harriet Potter and the Deathly Hollows thing. Evidently it was some girl wizard thing. It was a rare movie that didn't have cape nonsense in it. She was at least partially sure that Amy wasn't going to see 'Explosions and Robot Cars part two', or whatever it was called. Bay was a hack.

Emily was still curious what he might do with a Exo Squad movie though.

Mark at least tried to be social, but even Emily could see it was strained, still the man was making the effort for his daughter. Which was more than Carol was doing with her sullen glaring.

The usual 'well what do you do for a living' questions and other small talk nonsense were pretty much thrown out as everyone knew what the Dallons did and Emily was pretty sure everyone in the country, if not the world had seen her face as the PRT director in charge when Leviathan and the 9 came to Brockton Bay to die.

Unfortunately that silence only lasted until the girls left for the movie. Emily offered to help Mark clean up, but was waved off as the man turned all his focus to the dishes after staring at them for a few moments as if weighing if he wanted to deal with them at all.

This of course left Emily and Carol in the same room, alone for the first time since this dinner had started.

Emily was about to skip out and go home, she had left Alucard and Pocky home alone after all.

Alucard glared at the massive green cat.

The massive green cat yawned in his face.

"If you put another hairball in my bed I'm going to make you a rug and even Amy can't stop me."

Pocky stared.

"Where did you even keep that thing? I thought it was a Chewbacca body pillow at first."

"I do not like this." Carol stated. The first words really spoken all night.

Emily shrugged.

"Not a fan myself, but it's not my call who Amy wants to date." Emily offered.

"That thing is a monster and the association it has with my daughter ends today." Carol snapped.

Emily closed her eyes doing her best to not tense up, but it happened any way as she turned to stare back at Carol.

"Would you like to rethink your word choice." Emily asked, something that was certainly NOT a question.

Of all the girls in that school that Amy could have chosen to date , she had to pick the one Dallon there. Now Emily had to deal with Carol on a level other than professional. And the woman was at best a bitch there. Even Rachel had agreed with that. Still it seemed the woman was getting to the real reason she had bothered to invite Emily to dinner.

It might have been to force Amy to back out out of embarrassment. Most teenagers did seem to be embarrassed by their parents in one way or another. Emily never really went for that when raising Amy, so the girl was far from embarrassed by her. Girl did need some down time after all the crap with the 9 though, hell, everyone did

Armsmaster was taking the first vacation he had ever taken to head up to Canada to visit Dragon personally.

She rather hoped he got laid. The man needed that stick out of his ass and to focus on something other than work. Dragon had her work cut out for her on that part.

If Vicky was able to help Amy relax and decompress after that shit then Emily wasn't going to get in her way. She herself had been spending a lot of time at the range, though Missy had joined her there quite often. Girl was getting better at grouping her shots.

That was then, this was now where she was struggling not to punch Carol.

"Bullshit. She's my daughter and that thing of yours is trying to corrupt her." Carol snarled.

Emily raised an eyebrow her tone dipping low and cold, the sort of tone that made hardened troopers back away and even made Alucard pause briefly. "Excuse me?"

"Please you're not nearly as subtle as you think you are, SLAYER, and that you think for one moment I'm going to sit here and let the spawn of that monster get her hooks in Vicky you can forget it."

"For fucks sake woman it's a date, they might not even wind up liking each other at all anyway. And as for the Slayer thing. At no point have I ever tried that hard to hide it. But you'll have a hard time proving it given I've got more scans on my head from becoming Director than most people get in their lives baring traumatic brain injuries, just so I can sit in the big chair."

"You will keep that thing away from Vicky or I will make sure that everyone knows about it from the number of lawsuits you will be buried in for the conflict of interest." Carol snarled.

"First off, fuck you, second off bring it you egotistical cunt. Thirdly fuck you. The word of a has been independent hero versus the woman who's lead the department that killed an Endbringer and the Slaughter House 9, doesn't mean shit. What's New Wave done aside from parade around like they own the place, your biggest accomplishment was the capture of Marquis... OH WAIT, that was me too." Emily snarled back. "So the best you can do is bitch and moan. Do that all you want, but those two are going to do whatever it is they are going to do and you're either going to have to put on your big girl panties and deal with it or risk pissing off your own daughter with whatever this shit is your trying to pull here."

"That thing is Marquis spawn!!!"

"She is MY daughter, Brandish! And her name is Amy! Not thing, not monster and certainly not anything else you come up with in that shit filled cess pool you call a brain. You will address her by her name you washed up hag. I honestly had no idea you were a fucking Nazi."

"What?!"Carol shrieked.

That 'who you were born as 'shit you're spouting is just Nazi propaganda splashed in a new coat of paint to market to bored housewives. Hell Oprah did a piece on it months ago. And here you are spouting it like it's gospel. Do I need to have your file tag changed to a E88 supporter?"

Emily would be the first to admit she had not expected Carol to have that good of a punch, but as she picked herself up off the floor from where she had tripped over the coffee table she didn't hesitate returning it in kind.

You were not supposed to strike with a closed fist, but sometimes it was oh so satisfying, particular watching some arrogant bitches head rock back from the impact.

Not that Carol went down. Lawyer or not, she was still an active cape.

But Emily was called Slayer for a reason and it wasn't just to sell t-shirts.

Out on the front porch Vicky winced at the shouting and what sounded like something expensive breaking.

Amy had her face buried in her hands having fully expected this.

"Maybe this was a bad idea." Vicky offered.

Amy lifted her head as a some what musical impact sounded out, the standing piano had gotten involved some how. "What was?"

"The dinner. I didn't expect mom to react like this." Vicky sighed. "She didn't seem that bothered by my dating a girl, just when she found out who you were...."

Something heavy broke and she heard her mom cry out. Amy let out a held breath, glad Vicky hadn't meant them dating was a mistake. "Any idea why?"

"No, but you heard her, she called your father Marquis. Who was he?" Vicky asked.

"That's fourth date material." Amy snarked as something heavy hit the door. The swearing that followed indicated it was Carol. "But from what mom said he was a cape villain who got arrested years ago. I sorta remember him, but it was a long time ago. Seems your mom knew him though."

"Probably. She always does crap like this. "Vicky said with a tired voice.

A loud report from a gunshot made both girls jump and shove the door open to the scene of carnage within.

The living room of the house and part of the hallway was trashed. Furniture strewn about, holes in the drywall, countless nick-knacks and trinkets strew about where they had been knocked askew or used as weapons.

Vicky winced noting the number of her basket ball trophies that had been destroyed.

Standing at the door to the kitchen was Mark staring on at the two in the center of the room.

Both the women were bloodied and battered. Carol was favoring her right leg and one eye was swollen shut already. She was still standing with two glowing axes at the ready, though the wall behind her had a single bullet hole, the shot didn't seem to have hit her.

Emily was standing a few paces away, 1911 drawn and pointed at Carol's head, held in her left hand as her right arm had a large gash cut in it, partially cauterized like an energy weapon had hit her. She was also bloodied and bruised, with a split lip still dripping blood and a number of bruises herself.

Amy frowned knowing her mom was ambidextrous when it came to firearms, which was probably the only reason the shot hadn't hit Carol, though her mom was not showing any form of trigger discipline and had the gun aimed right at Carol as if daring her to make a move.

Amy was glad Alucard wasn't here as he would have complained there wasn't enough strategic clothing tears.

"Mom! What the fuck!?" Vicky shouted storming in with a snarl, ignoring Emily and advancing on the woman ignoring both the glowing blades and the gun. Emily shifted the gun as the girl stormed into the firing line, finger moving off the trigger, but still ready in case Carol moved.

"Vicky get out of the way."Carol ordered only for the blonde to get in her face.

"No, What the fuck are you doing? You tell me to invite her over then you attack her mom!?"

"She star..." Carol began

"BULLSHIT! I could hear everything from the porch, you threw the first fucking punch. You always do shit like this, raging and complaining and trying to make sure everything goes by what YOU want, what YOU think is right. Anything you say is always right no matter what any one else says. Remember Jill. My friend from fifth grade who you ripped apart when you were certain her father worked for Lung? You never even bothered to apologize or even admit you were wrong!"

"Her father did work for..."

"NO he didn't he ran a restaurant and was fucking forced to pay the ABB protection money! That's not working for them and you fucking verbal tore into her every single time you saw her until she just stopped having anything to do with me. Do you have any idea how hard it was to make friends who aren't cape groupies hoping to meet the rest of you!? Next to fucking impossible and you did your best to ruin any one I met who didn't immediately try to get your autograph! Hell the only reason you even liked Dean was because he was rich, you said it several times in fact, TO HIS FACE!"

Amy glanced to Emily who was watching the train wreck before putting her hand on her moms bare arm stopping the blood flow but leaving the wounds to hide that she had done anything.

"She's been building up to this for a while." Amy said quietly.

"Now I start dating someone and first time you meet her you skip all the steps and go right to loathing her!? Well fuck you, I've already been seeing her for a couple months and I hid it from you because I KNEW you would act like this, a damn control freak who can't let any one be happy if you're not happy, and guess what, YOU'RE NEVER HAPPY!" Vicky screamed in Carol's face.

Carol looked ready to say something and Vicky looked ready to cut her off and keep going when the girl got an odd look on her face, her eyes widening before she collapsed.

As did Carol, Mark, and Amy leaving Emily Piggot staring at the collapsed parahumans and the one, who up until this point, had not been one.

"Fuck." Emily sighed at the obvious trigger event before she holstered her weapon and pulled out her phone to call it in.

[ Fallen Compound. Somewhere in the Southwest United States.]

An emaciated woman dressed in white sat at the end of the table. A pair of men standing on either side of her, one was little more than a body. A slut that wasn't a true believer, but had a power that was useful, keeping a invisible shield between her and the others at the table when things got rowdy. On her right was a thin man with blonde hair and dark tattoos on his lips with alternating fangs that nearly reached his jawline or nose depending on which way they went from his lips.

Mama Mathers steepled her hands in front of her face as she and Valefor watched the others, she didn't care what the slut was doing so long as he protected her.

The head of the McVeays, Mama wasn't even sure who the fuck he was, those violent hillbillies killed each other and switched leaders like socks most of the time so she stopped bothering to remember the names of the ones claiming to be in charge. Who ever he and his three minions were, dressed in their spiky suits, were screaming at the others at the table who were absolutely livid.

The Crowleys were surprisingly angry. A bunch of upstart deadbeat college students turned a semi cult like religious group that revered Leviathan as a totem. They were more a doomsday cult than anything else, but they were often useful. At the moment however they were intent on screaming about going to Brockton Bay and killing that vampire themed cape and everyone else in the city that dared to try and celebrate the death of their god.

Mama considered letting them do as they wanted. Leviathan was dead, their part of the family was at best pitied, at worst to be converted to one of the ones still left, which was what the McVeays were trying to do rather than let them all run off to Brockton Bay to get slaughtered.

Still Mama rather wanted to have some of her people head out there herself. She had heard of a couple of sluts that were of interest, including a healer that she desperately wanted. The little blonde that helped kill Leviathan and the one who stared down the Endbringer after her friend exploded on her would make nice prizes as well, she could throw those two to the remains of the Crowleys to see what sort of powers they might breed out of them, though the healer would be hers alone.

It was then that someone came into her awareness, though she couldn't quite lock in on them. There was only one person she knew who was like that and his being here was not a good sign.

There was another branch of the Fallen. They did not consider themselves Fallen, but they had formed a working relationship with the Mathers family as both of them worshiped the Simurgh, though this branch thought she was an angel sent by god, rather than a god herself.

It worked for Mama no matter what they believed.

The Church of the Angel. Or as most knew them, the remains of the Catholic Church after the Holy War. Many of that fallen faith had come to join her family, though a significant portion had gone to ground and formed the Church. They followed methods similar to how she did, but ran the whole thing like it was a legit church still.

Honestly the few she had met were quite powerful and she had claimed and broken one that caught her interest at one point.

Then the leader of the Church of the Angel sent him.

He slaughtered every single Mathers family member at the compound, then everyone else including the sluts, then when all that was left was him and the girl that Mathers had taken, he killed her too.

It had been a message pure and simple.

Do not fuck with the Church of the Angel.

Mama did not think she would get a second warning.

He was here now.

'Put up a shield.' she mentally ordered the slut.

The others at the table blinked at the sudden power usage, going silent for a brief moment, a moment that she could hear the tick tack of boot heels on the floor of the hall leading to this room.

Then there wasn't a door.

It wasn't as if it exploded, so much as it was flung open with enough force to rip the armored door off it's hinges and kill one of the Crowleys.

"Ding Dong Motherfucker! Ding Dong! "

A steel blade emerged from one of the McVeays' foreheads and he dropped. The blade was odd, long and sharp but with a strange curved handle.

Another of the McVeays died as a good three, no wait, four of those blades sank through his chest.

The others moved to rush the man only for more of them to fall just as easily. Body parts and blood being flung everywhere.

Her shield slut went down a moment later to a collection of knives, with Valefor's head flying off some where to thump in a corner of the room as his body fell. The man finally stopped seeing that he and Mama were the only ones left alive. He shoved the table aside advancing on her, his round glasses catching the light obscuring his eyes, though the grin on his face only got wider as he stopped before her and lashed out with another blade from under his long coat.

"Peace, they say, is the enemy of memory. " the man stated flatly, a blade pointed at Mama Mather's face.

"Why are you quoting Boondock Saints 2?" Mama Mathers asked.

"Wha... No, you wouldn't know style if it pitched a tent in your ass."

"Pretty sure that's also from Boondock Saints 2" Mama Mathers deadpanned.

"Wah.. yah know what, fuck it. The Church of the Angel has claimed Brockton Bay as part of our territory. Ah told ye lot last time tah stay outta England..... New England."" the man snapped. "Caught a group of yours snooping around."

"I did not send any one there, and if the other family did that would be on them. I will... remind their successors." Mama Mathers stated.

"See that ye do. If ah have tah come back here again ah'll be making sure that there won't be a fourth time."

He turned and walked back out of the room, leaving a trail of bloodied footprints behind him as he sung to himself.

"What savior rests while on his cross we die

While forgotten freedom burns

Has the Shepard led his lambs astray

To the bigot and the gun...."

Mama Mathers sighed, Valefor's death would be a set back. She rose to her feet looking around the pile of bodies sending a mental command to a couple of sluts to come clean this up, all the while she cursed the one who did this.

"Fucking Father Alexander Anderson...."