The police tape stretched as Armsmaster moved it over his head, intent on the corpse lying in the middle of the street. Facial recognition verified the police report that this was indeed Thomas Calvert, PRT contractor and acquaintance of Director Piggot. Calvert's slack face was visible, eyes open to the sky with mouth slightly agape. The back of his head was another matter, Armsmaster noted as he stepped around the body. Dark red blood and little bits littered the street behind the man, testifying to a brutal execution-style killing. A cold-blooded murder in one of the safest neighborhoods in the city. Even in Brockton Bay, this was remarkable. When the victim was a PRT asset, it was likely a statement.

Armsmaster kept a loose eye on his auto-documentation suite as it scanned the area using a variety of sensors. Visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, and the like were a given, but the suite's capabilities broke right through the conventional spectrum and into the realm of exotic physics. Nothing was out of the ordinary here, and so Armsmaster crouched down to get a closer look at the asphalt behind the victim. Just a few inches outside of the red stains in the gravel was a little hole in the ground, a yellow evidence tag right next to it. After getting detailed scans of the area, Armsmaster reached in and a pair of tweezers extended from his gauntlet to extract the bullet. Nine millimeter hollow-point by the look of the heavily mushroomed tip. Nothing much to learn without a murder weapon.

"Hey! Don't tamper with the evidence!" A plainclothes detective approached Armsmaster through the police line, an angry scowl on his face. His name appeared on Armsmaster's HUD as Detective Hudson.

"I've already fully documented the scene with greater technical capability than the BBDP possesses, and the PRT will be happy to share any approved RFIs that come in via the usual channel, Detective. As the victim is a PRT asset, you know this is under PRT and Protectorate jurisdiction."

As if waiting for his words, a PRT van pulled around the corner and parked on a neighboring lawn right outside of the perimeter. It had the words PRT Division of Internal Crime emblazoned on the side. Before the brakes had stopped squealing, a small army of uniformed PRT agents began spilling out of the vehicle.

"That's bullshit." the detective growled. "The victim was a contractor. He was not staff, and there is no evidence of any parahuman involvement or evidence of hostility against the PRT."

Armsmaster was about to respond when the detective's phone rang. "This is Hudson. Yeah. You what?" After a short, quick exhale through his nostrils, he sent a white-lipped glare towards Armsmaster. "Yeah, we'll be right there."

With a snap of his flip phone, he began to walk towards Calvert's house and gestured for Armsmaster to follow. "Looks like I'll be home in time for dinner after all." He did not look happy at the idea.

Upstairs in the master bedroom Armsmaster found a junior CSI snapping pictures. Behind the man, against the wall was a modern, very expensive looking desk. It boasted a mix of aluminum, glass, and dark gnarled hardwood. On the desk was a laptop dock and a pair of large computer monitors. One of the monitors had been heavily disturbed and sported a shattered screen. The laptop itself was conspicuously absent.

On the bed, laid neatly on top of a piled, voluminous comforter was a body suit. It was black, with a silver snake twisting around the right leg and torso. It's open fangs framed the bodysuit's face. A piece of paper was pinned to the body suit. Frowning, Armsmaster took the paper and read the hasty scrawl:

The problem with being a snake is someone may decide to do away with it's head.

****ADMINISTATION****

Lisa dropped me off a few houses down and I ran through the rain to my house, domino mask hidden inside the replacement sweater that Lisa had loaned me. My previous attire was ruined from the scorched holes in the side and back and mud had permanently stained my sweater and pants. I hopped up the steps in a single, sliding leap, desperate to get out of the rain that was still coming down in torrential waves. The kitchen light was still on, and I saw my dad at the table, head in his hands and phone right in front of him, its cord trailing away and out of sight. My blood froze. This was going to be a bad conversation.

He hadn't heard me due to the pounding rain and the front porch was darkened because of a blown light bulb that had never been replaced. I was stooped in darkness, key hovering in front of the lock. Dad looked... defeated. I couldn't see his face, but his shoulders were slumped and hair messy. Whenever I saw him like that I wondered if it was because of me, or...

I turned the key and unlocked the door.

"Taylor!" was the first thing Dad said, standing quickly as I entered the kitchen.

"Dad, I'm so sorry!" I said. "I was hanging out with Lisa, she's a friend, and we lost track of time..."

This was, apparently, not what he expected. "You... you were just... what?"

"I was hanging out with Lisa," I repeated, "We uh, went to the mall... since it was raining, and we had originally planned on going to the Market. She's a few years older so she drove..."

"And you didn't think to tell me, to call, or... or leave a note? I got home and you were just gone!"

"I know! It was dumb... But..." I was so going to Hell, "But, uh, well this was the first time we had hung out and I was having fun and just forgot."

"It's goddamn midnight, Taylor!"

I winced at the outburst, and looked down at the table. Dad had been building himself up as I spoke, that temper beginning to reach a critical pressure, and it finally blew the emergency relief valve. He visibly deflated after a second, red faced and breathing heavily. "You can't just not tell me where you are, Taylor. I'm glad you have a new friend you're spending your time with, but that's no excuse."

"I know, and I'm sorry," I said. "We're planning on going out tomorrow after school," I said, trying to make something of an olive branch. "See a movie probably."

Dad hesitated at that, "Taylor," he began. That sounded bad, "I'm glad you're spending time out with a friend, really, but you scared me tonight. I thought... well... I don't know what I thought, but the possibilities were terrifying. I want to meet Lisa, and... and I think I need to ground you this weekend."

My mouth moved a few times without sound as I tried to process that. "But..."

Dad nodded, "I can't just let this go without consequence, Taylor. That was careless and you scared me."

"But, I already said I was going to go... I can't just cancel on Lisa like that."

"If she's a true friend, she'll understand," Dad said.

I was getting angry now, and I stood from my chair, fists clenched. "You don't get to just decide that you'll start parenting again, just because you got a little freaked out that I was home late. Today was the first time I can say I was somewhat happy in a long time, and it's not right that you take that away because you feel it's what a Father should do, like some... simulation or something. You want to start getting involved in my life, you should have started a long time ago," The smell, the darkness, the bugs, the stars. "Not now! You're too late!"

"Taylor!"

I began to run up the stairs.

"Taylor, I'm still your father and-"

I slammed the door and flopped down on my bed. Dad didn't follow me. My hand went to my lower back, where I felt smooth, unblemished skin.

My room was still dark. There was no pain, but I remembered the fleshy red lava ringed by blackened char. They covered my back and sides and ate the skin to reveal something underneath. I was soaking wet from the rain. I burned away as I fumed in the darkness.

****ADMINISTATION****

"So let me get this straight," Assault said the ENE Protectorate sat in their preferred conference room, "This new cape is able to stop you from doing your 'The Flash' thing?"

Velocity slapped his hand to his forehead and began to shake it, elbow resting on the table. "No. It's not that he interfered or stopped me, its that he matched me when I was doing my thing. He was able to keep up and talk to me as I was at top speed."

"Wait. When you're speeding around, does it seem like you're going super fast, or does it seem like you're going normal speeds and everyone else is slow?"

Velocity added his other hand to his forehead and sagged, "It's both, and somewhat hard to explain. I have plenty of reaction time, but it doesn't feel like it takes me an entire day to run across the city."

"Something you would know if you actually bothered to read your teammates' profiles," Battery chimed in.

Armsmaster frowned and motioned for Velocity to continue, adding another 14.3 seconds of wasted time to Assault's tab for the meeting. "In my speed state, he was able to move and talk to me like normal. I don't know what that means, how the power interacts, or anything. Just that it's what happened."

"And he said that he was willing to meet with the Director?" Velocity nodded.

Armsmaster shook his head, confused. "But what's his goal? What he's shown of his power already, he must have some method of escape."

"Maybe," Miss Militia said from behind her spangled kerchief, "He's being sincere. He did capture Squeeler and Skidmark for us."

"Claimed the Undersiders were going legit too," Velocity added.

"Hmm. What did we learn from Skidmark and Squeeler?"

"Besides a few new explicit phrases, not much," said Dauntless.

Armsmaster looked at Dauntless, a frown forming that he was sure was only partially hidden behind his goatee. "Absolutely nothing? No mention about Specter's powers, their method of capture, nothing?"

"Sir, unless you have another interpretation for, 'Lick my drippy asshole and let me call my lawyer' then no."

The intercom on the table buzzed and a feminine voice said, "Armsmaster, sir, Panacea and Glory Girl, and Brandish are here."

Armsmaster pressed the talk button and told the secretary to show them up. As they waited for the New Wave heroes, they moved onto other topics, "And what about reports of Tinker weapons being used by the merchants?"

"They seem to hold water," Battery said. "We got some cellphone footage of them fighting the Undersiders. Well, at least based on the fact that they were firing into Grue's darkness. The video didn't actually capture any of the members themselves."

"At least circumstantial evidence that Specter really is a part of the Undersiders, then. They were fighting the Merchants just before Specter met with Velocity." He looked around the table and continued, "As you know, Thomas Calvert was found murdered in the street outside his home three days ago. What you haven't been told is that Coil's costume was found laid out on his bed, with a note heavily insinuating that Calvert was Coil."

Shocked exclamations came from the assembled heroes, and Armsmaster held up his hand to forestall questions. "I bring this up now because the Merchants got their hands on Tinkertech weapons previously known to be used by Coil's soldiers. If that's the case, then this is the first real blunder that we know of on Coil's part, and we need to seriously consider that the accusation is true."

Further discussion was cut short by a tone announcing the arrival of the Dallons. "Well, I guess that's our cue," Assault said, and stood up quickly. "Coming, Puppy?"

Battery rolled her eyes, but also stood, along with Dauntless. This part of the meeting was reserved for Armsmaster, Miss Militia as his second, and Velocity as the hero present for the events in the hospital parking lot.

The three Dallons took their seats, Amy flanked on each side by Carol and Victoria. "Thank you for coming in to discuss the altercation at the hospital and the arrest of the supervillains Skidmark and Squeeler. This interview is being recorded as a matter of process." Armsmaster then nodded to Miss Militia to begin the questions.

"Brandish, Glory Girl, Panacea. Thank you for coming in and conducting this interview. Now Amy, could you please go over the events of last night?"

Amy fidgeted in her seat, pulling her hands off the conference table and into her lap before saying, "Well, I didn't see any Merchants. But I, uh, was working at the hospital when I got a text from Vicky. She said she was flying in a victim of a gang fight. I ran out to the parking lot, where she had landed with a girl. She had a big scorch mark on her back and another on her side."

"Like from an energy weapon?" Armsmaster interrupted. "And what did the girl look like?"

Amy frowned at Armsmaster and increased her already considerable slouch. "It felt most similar to an extremely bad electrical burn. Closest thing I can remember was a cape who took a glancing arc of Behemoth's lightning. It was pretty bad."

"That's consistent with laser weaponry, yes," Armsmaster said. "And the victim?"

"Young. A year or two younger than me I think. Skinny. Her hair was brown, I think? No, I think it was black."

"So a skinny teen girl with black hair? Anything else? Any identifying marks?"

"Er, not that I can remember. I was more focused on healing her, not looking at her face. She was definitely a teen though. Not Squeeler if that's what you're thinking."

"Was the girl a parahuman?"

Amy stiffened at the question.

"Amy, don't answer that." Brandish shot a stern look at Armsmaster. "That is an inappropriate question for this interview. New Wave does not have secret identities, but we respect the desire for privacy for those capes that do," she said sharply.

Miss Militia decided to interject at that point, "Besides Squeeler and Skidmark, there was another cape there. He identified himself to Velocity as Specter."

"A new villain who claimed to be with the Undersiders," Armsmaster said.

With a glance towards her mother, Amy carefully picked her words, "The girl wasn't in a costume or anything. Vicky said she was a bystander."

"Hey," Victoria said, "I just want to say that I wasn't there. I never brought anyone to the hospital last night, or texted my sister that I was. I was at home. We checked her phone last night and the message got erased somehow."

Armsmaster nodded, "Yes, the discrepancy you explained." To Amy he said, "I'll need your phone, of course, to see if I can recover and trace that message."

"But! It's my phone!"

"Are you asking or telling Amy to give up her phone?" Carol asked, "And if you are telling, do you have a warrant?"

Armsmaster sighed and said, "Asking, but it's critical I look at it as quickly as possible."

Carol turned to her daughter, "Well, Amy? Do you want to volunteer your phone?"

Amy shifted again, gazing at the table with a scowl on her face before digging a phone out of her pocket and setting it in front of Armsmaster. He scooped it up with a satisfied nod.

"Thank you, Amy," Miss Militia said. "Was there anything else you can remember about the girl you healed, or about anything after?"

"Er, no. It was pretty routine. Vicky flew off with the girl after I healed her, and I went back into the hospital to finish my shift."

Armsmaster looked to Victoria in disapproval, "You did not bother to admit the victim to the hospital?"

"I wasn't there!" Victoria exclaimed.

Armsmaster's mouth opened to reply, before he suddenly stopped himself and pressed his lips into a thin line. "Yes. Well." He looked back to Amy, "Did you see anyone else? Are you sure you didn't see Squeeler or Skidmark? They were apprehended by Velocity at the exact time hospital security cameras show you walking out of the ER."

"Er, no," Amy said, "I didn't see anyone besides my sister and the girl."

"Did the girl say anything to you or your sister?" Miss Militia asked.

Amy thought for a second, "No, she didn't. That's strange, actually. Normally they would say 'thank you', or something." Then, after a short pause, she grimaced and glared at the conference table.

"Velocity, can you describe what you saw for Amy?" Armsmaster said.

Velocity repeated his finding of the Merchants and a cape named Specter. He explained how Specter was some sort of changer or stranger, with a void-into-space body and ability to counter the speedster.

Armsmaster picked up the conversation once Velocity finished, "So we have Panacea saying she saw her sister and a victim, Velocity finding an unknown cape and two Merchants, and Glory Girl saying that she was never there. Three entirely conflicting stories, with the physical evidence leaning towards Velocity, seeing as how two capes are in PRT custody."

"I did heal a girl though!" Amy exclaimed looking up from the spot on the table, "I used my power on her. She was definitely female, my age, and I definitely healed her. She was real!"

Armsmaster looked at Miss Militia, who returned his gaze steadily.

"Assuming that Specter is the cause of all this confusion, we may be looking at a heavy hitting changer or shaker," Armsmaster said.

Miss Militia turned towards the fuming girl. "We don't doubt what you're saying, Amy. We simply don't have the context needed to understand your perspective on what happened."

"That's fine," said Carol from beside Amy, "It seems that you have your work cut out for you. Was there anything else we can do for the Protectorate today?"

The interview concluded, and Armsmaster sat at the table, holding Amy's phone in his hands and looking at his teammates.

"This doesn't make any sense," said Miss Militia.

"Two stories are consistent. Glory girl wasn't there and has other witnesses to confirm that fact, and Velocity has the captures to prove his story is reliable. The outlier here is Panacea."

Miss Militia cut in, "Amy's description of the girl was very vague. A skinny teen with brown or black hair. That describes half the high school population of the city. And the girl didn't even say anything? It's strange."

"But what about her power?" Velocity asked, "She said that she touched a young girl with burn marks. I'd say pulling a fast one over Panacea's power is nearly impossible."

"There's precedence with Specter overcoming your power," Armsmaster said. "I'll begin analysis of the phone. Please finish your report and provide it to the director. She will decide how we will handle Specter, if he actually shows up." With that, he stood abruptly and strode from the room, rear cameras revealing his subordinates looking at each other with expressions he couldn't place. It didn't matter. Between Panacea's episode, Coil and Calvert, and the shakeup of the Merchants, something was afoot. Armsmaster needed to take this new cape... Specter... with utmost seriousness.

It was a few hours later when he was sure that there were no traces left of any message sent to Panacea's phone during the time of the incident. That didn't mean that it hadn't happened, of course, just that if there had been a message, it had been very skillfully erased. He replaced the battery and snapped the phone back together before setting it down. A tone beeped in his ear indicating an incoming message, "This is console to Armsmaster or any Protectorate member hearing this, please respond."

"This is Armsmaster," Colin responded.

"Sir, I have reason to believe Shadow Stalker engaged in a school fight in her civilian identity and may be seriously injured."

Great, just what he needed. "I'm on my way. Tell me what you know."

****ADMINISTATION****

I was still smoldering the next morning at school. Shadow Stalker seemed to be recovered from her psychosomatic flu and her suspicion towards me hadn't lessened at all. Her thoughts kept returning to me, little Taylor Hebert, as I monitored her Perspective. It had finally come to a head, I think. She was suspicious to the point of paranoia, not letting even Emma in on her thoughts. She had a vague plan to confront me after school, but I wasn't really thinking that was in my best interests. I was... tired of avoiding this. The story I had crafted during my trigger event had held up this long, but it was beginning to unravel now.

I tried to center myself in my computer class, but the fuming anger coming from my other Perspective did not help my mood. That goddamn psycho wouldn't leave me alone. Just like Emma, I was done.

So I walked into the lunch room for the first time this year and sat down at an empty table, brown bagged lunch in hand. There were always open tables as a matter of courtesy between the various school factions. Just a little no man's land in the middle of a high school cafeteria, no biggie. I was a few tables away from a particularly blonde group of students, and I started into my sandwich.

Shadow Stalker came in soon enough, and I gave her Perspective two calculated tweaks. One was a significantly louder drone of conversation from the student body, and the second was a head of long blonde hair retreated from my table, having just lifted her hand from my shoulder.

Shadow Stalker saw Michaela Sharp walk away from me to sit a few tables away and fire burned in her belly. It was a very poorly kept secret that Michaela was something of a female leader among the Kaiser Youth of the school. She was blonde, tall, beautiful, with a cute smattering of racism dotting her demeanor. Needless to say, my other Perspective was very, very angry.

Under the cover of the unusually loud drone of students and surreptitious glances around the room to see no one was watching, Shadow Stalker made her way over to my table. She slid into the bench across from me and said, "Really, Hebert? I knew you were a loser, but that's a new low, even for you."

I centered myself, pausing for just a moment to collect my powers and my thoughts, before beginning my waltz. "What are you talking about, Sophia?" I said aloud.

Her Perspective heard something different.

"Shut your mouth, Hebert!" she hissed. In a flash of nails she dug her perfect manicured claws into the back of my hand. Her Perspective showed me stay silent beside a slight hiss of pain and flash of defiant eyes. In reality, I gave a pitiful yelp that cut through the low conversation of the cafeteria. A few members of Michaela's clique turned our way, saw what was happening, and nudged neighbors to get their attention.

The cafeteria quieted further, but Shadow Stalker's Perspective heard only a loud roar and saw only anonymity. "You're playing a stupid fucking game talking with them, Hebert."

I stared back defiantly.

"You think I was being serious before? That was just a game. You've opened Pandora's fucking box by trying to get protection."

Through her eyes, I saw myself give a dazzling white smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Hess."

The needles on the back of my hand became a bone creaking grip, but still I didn't make any noise. The cafeteria was blissfully ignorant of our confrontation.

That is until Michaela came up and tapped Shadow Stalker on the shoulder. "Sophia, how about you take your hand back? Taylor doesn't seem to like what you're doing."

Shadow Stalker released my hand and jumped to her feet, surprised at Michaela's sudden appearance. "What do you want? I'm just talking with Taylor."

"Doesn't look like talking to me," Michaela said. "Now, we're all friends here. We're all reasonable people. So why don't you leave Taylor alone. What do you say," she leaned slightly towards Shadow Stalker, "friend?"

Except my other Perspective didn't hear the word 'friend.' No, she definitely didn't.

With a screech, Shadow Stalker balled her right fist and laid into Michaela with a perfectly executed right hook. Michaela dropped like a stone, and the rest of the cafeteria erupted into chaos.

Three of Michaela's largest female friends launched themselves at Shadow Stalker and proceeded to beat the crap out of her, aided by surreptitious use of my power. She didn't see punches as early as she should have. She wasted movement dodging non-existent attacks, and overall demonstrated to the other students that her bark was a lot louder than her bite. The three girls together took her to the floor, and from there took her apart in a flurry of blows and Perspective of pain.

I ducked away from the fight, pushing through the circle that was forming around the brawl. The no man's land quickly filled up with students, a circle segmented by the skin color of screaming teenagers as they swarmed in from their respective territories.

Well then. I ducked out of the cafeteria with one last look back and saw security guards rushing in to break up the fight. Also, more importantly, I saw dozens of cell phones recording the event.

Once I was clear of the school, I took out my phone and dialed Lisa.

"Hey, its me. Can you pick me up? Yeah, I'm fine. Got out early."

****ADMINISTATION****

"Come on out, sex machine!" Lisa cackled from the living room.

I sighed and looked myself over in the mirror. Parian had been true to her word and finished my costume in record time. It was exactly as discussed: protective, un-themed, and dark. First and foremost was a vest with trauma plates in both the front and back. I was surprised at how light the vest was before Lisa informed me that she used some of 'Cobra Security's contacts' to source a special type of polyethylene thread that was able to work with Parian's power. I didn't really understand what Lisa was saying, but basically Parian was over the moon with the stuff and business deals had been worked out. For me, it meant a lightweight vest that was resistant to most conventional small arms. The vest was black and went directly over a thin, black body suit. Around my waist was a skirt made from a shiny black fabric, thick and pleated. A pistol was firmly fixed on my right hip. Over the vest, skirt, and pistol was a stereotypical leather trench coat with high collar, shaking up the color scheme a bit in a dark black.

The piece de resistance was, of course, the mask. It looked like carbon fiber in shine and pattern, but Lisa had informed me that it was made from the same material as my vest, and just as bulletproof. It covered my full face, hairline to below my chin, and was almost snakelike in its contour. There was no defined nose, just a smooth ridge down from just below the eyes to the chin. The cheekbones and temples, however, were defined with sunken areas, giving the mask an almost sickly, sallow appearance. It was... streamlined... and spooky. I loved it.

With the exception of the mask, it was all very simple and unremarkable. In a way I was relieved. There were no gimmicks. It was extremely well made and protective, and it was obvious to anyone giving it a first glance that it's wearer meant business.

I pushed open the door with a sigh, watching it swing open from the other side via four Perspectives. As soon as they saw me, Lisa jumped to her feet and fist pumped. "Looking hot, Taylor!"

Alec just wolf whistled with a small smirk. Brian, being the expressive one, nodded. Rachel grunted.

"Sounds like unanimous approval to me," Lisa said. "Now do a turn."

I did, and I saw the coat billow out like it was being worn by a born badass. "It's pretty cool." I said.

"You bet it is," Lisa said, "I know you aren't going to be showing it off too often to other capes, but you need something for the mooks."

"Never underestimate a mook with nothing to lose," Alec said sagely.

I rolled my eyes beneath the mask. "So it works, then?"

"Yes, it does," Brian said. "It looks really good."

The mask felt hot. "Well, uh, thanks guys."

I didn't stay for much longer as I needed to get home before Dad, so as to not openly flaunt his punishment. I asked Lisa to swing by downtown, and then parallel park in a spot near the PRT building. There, I listened in to a few new Perspectives. Dennis, Clockblocker was there on his computer, and a new Perspective, Aegis, Carlos, was on console duty. With a few tweaks to Clockblocker's vision, I nodded to Lisa and we pulled away. She didn't ask, but just looked at me grimly. Listening to her inner monologue, I just shrugged in response. She accepted it.

As usual, Lisa offered to drive me home and told me about her plans while I was at school, a meet up with an old Coil contact in the Merchants, Trainwreck. I had seen his Perspective during my very brief captivity at Skidmark's hands, and my recollection agreed with Lisa's belief that he had cut ties as soon as he realized Coil was dead, a Merchant now in truth. Trainwreck was also the source of the stolen laser weapons that had been used against us last night. Needless to say I was nervous about the idea, but Lisa insisted on trying to extract information from him.

So she dropped me off with an admonishment to rest over the weekend and not worry about any caping. She told me to apologize to my dad (I hadn't told her we fought) and that she would be glad to meet him and give him reassurances that she was a wholesome girl who would be a good influence on Danny's innocent little girl.

She drove away with a grin, cackle, and a wave.

****ADMINISTATION****

Keeping with tradition that went back millennia, Aegis disliked console duty as much as the next ward. It ate entire afternoons or evenings, and while rarely eventful, required just enough concentration that you couldn't distract yourself with schoolwork or cat videos. However, he was also team leader and therefore had a responsibility to demonstrate discipline to his teammates. The comm was quiet and Aegis dutifully filled out what paperwork he could so as to minimize the time wasted at the end of his shift. He was making progress, and the quiet airwaves was always a good thing for the Protectorate.

"Carlos, you need to see this!"

Aegis jumped at the sudden shattering of his concentration as Dennis barreled into the Wards common area from his room, open laptop in hand.

He slid the laptop onto the console table, Aegis' carefully organized paperwork falling to the floor in a flutter of sheaves. Aegis was about to lay into Clockblocker when he noticed what was on the screen.

Sophia screaming in rage and knocking a girl out. Dennis dragged the video's slider back to the beginning, and Carlos watched in horror and disbelief as Shadow Stalker, his begrudging teammate, proved that all of his worst fears about her were true.

"Sophia, you're hurting me. Please let me go," a thin girl begged his teammate, her hand pinned painfully to the table under Sophia's nails.

"Shut your mouth, Hebert," Sophia hissed.

"Please, why are you doing-"

"You're playing a stupid fucking game talking with them, Hebert."

"Sophia, what are you... Why are you always bullying me? Why are you doing this?"

"You think I was serious before? That was just a game. You've opened Pandora's fucking box by trying to get protection."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" the girl wailed.

Then, a third girl came up to Sophia and her victim. "Sophia, how about you take your hand back? Taylor doesn't seem to like what you're doing."

Sophia jumped to her feet, startled, and looked around the room before addressing the newcomer. "What do you want? I'm just talking with Taylor."

"Doesn't seem like talking to me," the new girl replied conversationally, "Now, we're all friends here. We're all reasonable people. So why don't you leave Taylor alone, what do you say?" She leaned in and smiled at Sophia, "Friend?"

Then Sophia went berserk and knocked the girl out with a right hook. It was a full pivot of her feet and hips, just like the Wards were trained to do, and connected with the girl's temple. The girl dropped like a sack of bricks, then everything erupted into pandemonium. The camera shook for a few moments before coming back into focus at the event horizon of a circle surrounding three girls beating the crap out of his teammate as they rolled around on the floor. That went on for something like half a minute before school security broke it up. Sophia was out cold, and looked to be in bad condition.

The video ended, and Carlos, turned to Dennis. "Dennis... when..." he swallowed a dry lump. "When was this posted?"

"Dude, like an hour ago. I saw it pop up on my news feed just now."

"Damn it, Dennis!" Carlos bolted out of his seat, using his power to fly to the door, before realizing his mistake. He returned to the console and snatched up the microphone. "This is console to Armsmaster or any Protectorate member hearing this, please respond."

"This is Armsmaster," came the calm reply.

"Sir, I have reason to believe Shadow Stalker engaged in a school fight in her civilian identity, and may be seriously injured."

There was only the smallest of pauses, "I'm on my way. Tell me what you know."

Carlos, Aegis dutifully relayed what he had seen on the video, trying not to think about what he had learned about his teammate. For now, she was hurt and needed immediate help. Hating her could wait.