Interlude 1.a (Ethan)

Ethan liked to think that his knew his way around the block. He'd been a villain for years before joining the Protectorate, Madcap was not the proudest achievement that particular honor belonged to his beloved Puppy, that meant that he was much more flexible than most heroes. When they needed someone to soft pitch Wards to some at risk kids Ethan was the man they went to. Why? Because he was the dashing rogue of his team, that's why. Big inspiring speeches? Armsmaster and Miss Militia, or hell even Dauntless, had that covered; relating to the public that was his.

Halbeard on the other hand was a straight and narrow as the pole that he kept jammed up his ass. Now, Ethan knew better than to speak ill of the chief but he honestly didn't know how they let him lead the Wards. Miss Militia would have been a much better choice… she could at least relate to the kids but since he had seniority the responsibility fell to him. That being said, when they were on base Armsmaster focused solely on Kid Win, but on the field he actually led them all with no favoritism.

The man cared for people under his charge and god help whoever hurt those he commanded.

Sadly, that included the armadi- fox masked cape that was glaring at Armsmaster defiantly despite having his Tinker tech halberd leveled at her chest.

The girl had presence about her that lifted the hairs on the back of his neck something fierce. There things one simply didn't even try to fight but heroes did regardless. Acts of God, Endbingers, Sleeper, and Scion if he ever decided to wipe the slate… this girl elicited the same feeling. His hindbrain told him to take a few thousand steps back but Puppy would be really mad if he left Armsmaster to deal with this cape alone.

He shuddered to think what Piggot would do to him. There were only so many hours of Console duty he could do before losing his shit, besides stopping heroes from going too far was his stick.

"Armsmaster." He warned in in his usually disarming voice. His hands were up in a placating manner. "Lower the halberd and let the lady talk."

Colin, being the stubborn and prideful hero that he was, promptly ignored Ethan's sage advice. "Explain." He ground out through his teeth. "NOW!" The blade tapped was a hair's breath away from nudging her when she acted. There was a flash of green through the eyeholes of Foxglove's mask and the earth shifted ever so slightly. Vines shot from the ground wrapping themselves around the weapons shaft yanking it from the veteran heroes hand and throwing it a few meters away. Assault moved between them faster than Armsmaster could twitch.

Something red slithered up Foxglove's leg and before he knew it she had a blood-covered bat in her hand. "Point that thing at me again and I'll snap it half!" Assault didn't blame her for her knee jerk reaction; there was plenty of news coverage where Armsmaster had split vehicles in half with his trusty halberd. Getting that thing away from him would have been his top priority too if he had been on the business end of it.

Colin made to move but was stopped by a very firm hand on his chest and a very, very sharp look from the usually grinning hero. Normally Assault would have backed his boss man's play but he definitely wasn't thinking straight.

"I asked you to relax." Assault whispered with a not so kind smile. "Now, I am telling you to back the hell off, cool down and call Console. Aegis should be on duty tonight." BOOM! Battery would be so proud that he memorized the Wards schedule… but she'll definitely be really annoyed when she finds out that he used it against Armsmaster.

"She attacked a Ward." Colin protested loudly. "If she did this to Lung, imagine she could do to a non-brute-" Yeah, not a pretty image. He'd fought Lung before with all the ENE Protectorate backing him up… the fact this… woman had single handedly taken down the Dragon of Kyushu was exactly

"You're speculating." Armsmaster was a man of facts, rarely if ever did he fly of the hinges but when it happened it wasn't a pretty sight. The problem with him was that he didn't get enough sleep, nor did he eat enough either. Ethan knew what happened when you didn't sleep, the rec room's Nintendo paid dearly for his attempt at beating Vista's high score on Contra. "Let me handle this."

Much to Ethan's disappointment Armsmaster didn't respond verbally instead looked passed Assault, glared a Foxglove and levied another threat. "Attacking a Ward is an arrestable offense and so is assaulting a member of the Protectorate."

"Threatening someone with deadly force when they are in the process of reporting a crime is also a crime, Armsmaster. Doubly so if the one levying the threat is a Parahuman." She retorted, her grip on the bloodied bat tightening. Ethan eye's widened slightly. Not many newbies bothered to read up on Parahuman law. "As of right now, I can claim that all you've done has been in an attempt to make me lash out. From the moment you rode into this park you attempted to incite violence by challenging me to fight, after I subdued a known criminal and his gang. You leveled your weapon at me the second I wished to report an altercation with one of your own."

Foxglove's eyes hardened as she lowered he bat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call the nearest Watchmen group and have you reported."

Assault sighed audibly. He wanted to bonk his boss over the head with the new cape's bat but refrained himself, that would only make things worse. Fresh Capes were usually in it for the glory, more often than not they just wanted to bust some heads as such they didn't prepare for the legal side of things if they went to far or if they PRT or the Protectorate attempted to press charges against them unfairly. In his experience Capes that didn't know their own rights were just statistics waiting to happen.

Foxglove didn't fall into this category.

A few weeks ago most people wouldn't have heard of Watchmen, they didn't raise their voices often but when they did it just meant trouble for the PRT and the Protectorate but things were changing. They were a group of watchdogs that tended to raise hell when Parahuman's rights were being violated. For example the Canary trial that was currently going on up in Boston, but they were kicking up a storm but were being attacked by hackers which meant that everything the collect is potentially compromised thus inadmissible.

That didn't mean that they were without teeth. The public was on their side, their voice carried weight and they knew exactly how to use it. If they turned their eyes onto Brockton Bay because Armsmaster decided to get too rough with the cape who took down Lung Assault was sure that Piggot would have an aneurism.

PR would try to sweep it under the rug with fluff pieces but Watchmen would just bring it back up. This would be especially devastating in cities with growing Rogue population, like Brockton Bay, where Villains and Rogues out numbered the official Protectorate Heroes. The Rogues would lose more trust in the system and the Villains would use it as ammunition to recruit.

"I am well within my rights to aim my weapon at hostile Parahumans." Armsmaster stated unflinching. He shoved past Ethan to use his size to intimidate the cape... "Just like I am within my right to arrest you." Assault knew what he was doing, Collin wanted to cow the girl because it hurt his pride to see Lung taken down by someone who was figuratively… and literally, green behind the ears. It was childish but he had seen it happen enough with Dauntless to know what was going through Armsmaster's head. That didn't mean that he would excuse it, as soon as he defused the situation he was going to do something he never thought possible:

Willingly step into Director Piggot's office.

The Red clad hero was about to speak up when Foxglove lowered the bat and stood quiet for a minute. Collin smirked slightly, probably thinking that his threat had worked. The next second had the vines around Lung and his group loosen and sink into the earth. Foxglove turned on her heel, taking three steps before resting her hand on a nearby tree.

"What do you think-" Armsmaster stated but was interrupted by the green light that began to emanate from the old tree.

"Thanks for the reason." The angry cape said over her shoulder and in a flash she was gone.

Ethan didn't miss a beat.

"Console." He greeted uncharacteristically pissed. "I need the location and status of the Wards."

"Sure thing, Assault." Aegis chimed back. "Vista and Clockblocker are currently on patrol near the Boardwalk and report that nothing of interest has happened. Kid Win and Gallant are on base, preparing to head out. Shadow Stalker's supervisor reported that she'z returned home and hasn't left."

"Can you contact her?" Ethan urged. He needed to hear it directly from Carlos that Sophia was where she said she was.

"Give me a sec… no, her PRT issued phone is currently deactivated but the last ping has her in her house."

"Try her regular cel."

"Okay…it's ringing…" A beat of silence of silence later and Carlos spoke up. "No answer but the GPS has her pinged Downtown and moving slowly toward her house." Moving was a good sign but outside her house wasn't. Shadow Stalker wasn't supposed to be left unsupervised and Wards weren't supposed to have their gear in their home.

"Good, give me the coordinates." He tuned of the communicator and looked at Colin who had retrieved his Halberd. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Yes. I confronted a hostile Parahuman that assaulted a Ward."

"No, you turned this into a dick measuring contest and you lost!" Assault shouted. "Foxglove had point. You came off as hostile first and began jumping to conclusions without all the information and when things weren't going your way you tried to intimidate a cape that soloed Lung! One that claimed to be a hero!"

"There is no evidence that she was the only one here."

"There isn't any evidence to claim differently."

"And what would you have done?"

"Me?" Assault asked with a mocking tone. "I would have followed protocol, asked her questions, get to the bottom of her claims and maybe offer her a place in the Protectorate if she's old enough or Wards if she's not. But mainly I would attempt to deescalate the situation!" Before Colin could speak to his defense Ethan raised his hands in surrender. "You know what? it doesn't matter while Piggot drops the Hammer of God on you I'll be trying to mend the bridge that you just wrecked. So stay with Lung I'm going to get our wayward Ward before you decide to do something even dumber tonight."

With that Ethan began to walk in the direction of Sophia's last known location and Armsmaster continued on looking stoic but there was a slight frown on his face as he watched his teammate walkaway.

o0o0o0o0o

A/N: There be one more interlude.

There are some situations that are unsalvageable, despite how hard you try to save them. Armsmaster was so sure of taylor's guilt that he didn't restarin himself reason that Sophia hasn't called it in and why she's not wearing her usual costume is because she is still on probation and she wasn't authorized to go out and murder Grue. She doesnt want to create trouble for herself and thus would prefer to tough it out.

Next update: Space Oddity