Taylor found herself staring blankly at the corpse for several long seconds. It- She had been tied up with her arms behind the chair; enough to keep her from moving, but evidently not enough to stop her from detonating that bomb. The only real identifying features left were the gas-mask and goggles still strapped to her face, now melted and slagged by the blast, and the pieces of what might have been a costume once. What was still there was charred black, still smoldering in some places where the dying embers gave off a dim glow. In some places, even the flesh had been burnt away, to reveal blackened muscle. It almost reminded Taylor of those pictures she had seen in history books, of mummies and other desiccated corpses dug up by archaeologists.

It was sobering to consider that the body in front of her had been alive just minutes ago, rather than centuries. The fact that the room smelled strongly of a revolting mix of sulfur, blood, and several other unpleasant scents she didn't care to name didn't help. It turned her stomach, and Taylor had to step out of the room to catch a breath of fresher air, even as the adults argued inside.

"Do you have an explanation for this, Courier Six?" She heard Armsmaster's voice thundering through the doorway. "These people are dead because of you. Furthermore, you endangered the rest of the group by going off-plan. I should have you arrested for what you did here!"

"Hey, I did what you asked!" The waster shot back, "I used the fuckin' beanbags, and I had the lady alive until a minute ago! You aren't pinning this shit on m- Mmrgh..."

He made a choking, sort of retching sound.

"...Bucket!"

There was a sound, like metal scraping against wood, followed by the unmistakable wet splatting of someone emptying their stomach.

"Fffuck…" Six coughed. "I really hate taking Fixer."

"Then why do it?" Miss Militia's voice was softer, though still accusational. "Backup was on the way, we might have been able to subdue these people without killing them."

"You think I did this? Shit, I gave 'em the chance to walk away! You want me to just stand there and let them kill me instead?"

"You pressured a hostage taker." Armsmaster explained. "If you'd allowed us to negotiate, we might have been able to resolve this peacefully."

"And I thought you were the one who said we wouldn't be getting any other help!"

Six retched again, the sound of vomiting the only sound in the building besides the creaking of damaged timbers. Down the hall, Taylor noticed a figure hobbling towards her from the back of the building, dressed in a T-shirt, shorts, and some sort of facemask, like something you'd use to play paintball.

"Hey," He grunted, stopping to lean against a more intact section of wall. "You with the heroes in there?"

Taylor nodded wordlessly.

"Well, thanks. Me 'n Uber'd probably be dead if it weren't for you guys." Still resting one shoulder against the wall, he held out his hand, as if for a handshake. "Leet. I'm sure you've heard of me?"

His tone was unusually light, given the situation, and clearly at least a little forced. Nonetheless, Taylor couldn't help but snort at the sudden non sequitur; the villain going from thanking her for saving his life to introducing himself as though she were a fan.

"Cazador." She took his hand, shaking it as gingerly as she could. Even so, Leet audibly hissed with pain at the contact.

"Christ," The villain murmured, rubbing his arm, "When we called Six, I wasn't expecting him to bring the Protectorate along for the ride. How'd he swing that?"

"I think it was more of a coincidence than anything. They were already at his house, after the Empire tried to attack him."

"The Empire 88?" He asked incredulously. "What'd a bunch of thugs decide to pull a 'Fleur-Part-Two'?"

"It was Kaiser, actually. Six gouged his eye out."

Despite the full-face mask he was wearing, Leet's blank stare was obvious. Then he just crumpled over, bending in half as he let out a sound somewhere between a pained wheeze and a laugh as though he were a balloon someone had let the air out of.

"He- he actually did that? Ho-oly shit!" He managed, in between fits of coughing. "And then he runs all the way over here to fight the ABB? Dude's a fuckin' badass."

Taylor hummed a vague agreement, not quite paying attention anymore, but not entirely ignoring him as her bugs investigated the area. She'd found a lot of corpses; most of them mangled in various ways. For once, she was thankful that her swarm sense didn't come with crystal clear vision, though the things that bug senses could see that humans couldn't probably made up for it when it came to taking in all the grisly details.

"Hey, Leet! That you out there?" A voice, not Six's or Armsmaster's, called out from the other room. By the sound of it, the argument from earlier had come to a close, or at least a pause for the time being.

"Yeah, I'm here," The villain in question grunted, rising back to his feet and hobbling inside. "Everything in the lab looks alright. The lock wasn't tampered with, so I don't think they had a chance to get in before Six showed up."

Armsmaster grunted an acknowledgement.

"Uber, Leet… I figure it's a given, considering the situation, but are you willing to cooperate with the authorities and allow us to investigate the building?"

One of them made an ambiguous hum.

"Ehhh… I dunno..."

"This is solely for the sake of recovering any bodies, and checking to ensure there weren't any other bombs left laying around."The Protectorate hero explained."You won't be incriminated by anything we find that isn't related to today's events."

Just barely, Taylor heard fabric rustling and what might have been Uber and Leet whispering.

"Alright, fine," Uber conceded. "Not like we've got a whole lot to hide."

"You stay out of the Lab, though." Leet added. "I don't need to explain why."

"It would be best if you at least let a team-"Armsmaster began.

"Nope. Uber and I are already going to be busy trying to put our base back together; I'm not babysitting a bunch of PRT investigators just to make sure they don't touch things they shouldn't."

Armsmaster grunted, annoyed.

"Fine. But you assume all risk and responsibility if anything happens as a result."

"Nothing new there, then." Leet groaned, sounding more than a little put-upon. Taylor heard him as well another figure, most likely Uber, rise to their feet. "I'm well aware of the risks of unstable Tinkertech, but right now I'm more concerned with removing the bombs that're lodged in our skulls. We'll be in the lab; knock if you need us."

Miss Militia let out a small, shocked gasp as the villain duo shuffled out of the room, heading back the way Leet had come from.

"She put bombs in your heads?" She asked, her tone a disgusted whisper.

"I think she's put them in just about everyone she could get her hands on." Uber agreed. "All the ABB guys, at least; we were supposed to be her extra muscle."

The heroine whispered something in a language Taylor didn't recognize.

"If she's planted bombs in every member of the ABB…"

"Then that's dozens of people walking around the city with tinker explosives." Armsmaster finished for her."Each one going off could mean dozens of fatalities, if it happens in a populated area. That's a crisis waiting to happen."

Shifting, he pressed a button on his helmet.

"Velocity; Armsmaster. I need you to check the ABB members you've tied up for surgical scars. They should be around the neck and base of the skull."

He paused, silent for a moment.

"They do? All of them?" Armsmaster cursed. "Right. We have reason to believe that the Cornell Bomber has surgically implanted bombs into all the ABB's soldiers. Continue tying them up, but don't move them, we don't know how sensitive the bombs are to handling. Put out a call to HQ, inform them of the situation and have them deploy EOD and Paramedics to our location. I recommend we enlist Panacea as well, if necessary; bringing them to a hospital would be too big a risk to public safety.

Finally finished, Armsmaster let out a sigh.

"Will we be telling the public about this?"Miss Militia asked. "I doubt many will be forthcoming with the information that they have a bomb in their head."

"That's ultimately the Director's say. My recommendation will be to set up quarantine facilities a safe distance from any of the busier parts of the city. It's vital that we don't let hysteria take hold, though; the last thing we need is for the city's Asian population to face misguided reprisal attacks."

"Hopefully the risk of accidentally triggering the bombs will be an effective deterrent."The Protectorate heroine agreed.

"Hopefully." Courier Six snorted, taking a swig from some sort of flask or canteen before spitting the liquid into the bucket from earlier. "People can be real damn stupid sometimes."

"...You would know, wouldn't you?" Armsmaster grumbled, just loud enough to hear.

Six sighed, annoyed.

"Oh, says the asshole who can't keep his own city under control. I get results."

"Your recklessness has caused dozens of unnecessary deaths today alone."Armsmaster shot back. "If you'd waited-"

"Waited to let you bitch at me about your rules and shit? You haven't been at the mercy of these sorts of nutjobs before, have you? She'd have started popping heads the moment she felt threatened."

"So the ideal solution was for you to threaten her!?"

"No-... No," Six trailed off for a second, as if searching for the right words. "Look, It was... The plan was to make her think she could win."

Armsmaster started to speak, to give an objection, before he was cut off.

"Look, I dealt with a guy like this once; Elijah. Always used other people to do his dirty work, never gave anyone a chance to kill him because he never let them get close enough. I managed to get close enough to kill him because I made him think he thought he had the upper hand."

"And the end result of your plan is almost a dozen fatalities. Frankly, I have my doubts that this was your plan from the start, considering none of us knew the ABB was using suicide bombers when we arrived."

"Sounds like the folks outside survived."Six countered, pointedly ignoring the second point."More than would've if you'd cornered her."

"Or maybe they all would have survived." Miss Militia countered.

"And maybe we could've all sat around a fire and sang about spurs going jingle-jangle. My guess? The moment she realized you had her surrounded, she starts popping heads until you let her go scot-free."

"Better to let her go than antagonize her into killing people." The heroine snapped.

"And let her kill ten times that many when she comes back later?"There was an audible pop, like a cork from a bottle, followed by the sloshing of liquid."...You ever heard of the term 'acceptable losses' before?"

Neither of the Protectorate members spoke for a moment, the only sound coming from the room being a faint gulping as Six chugged something that may very well have been alcoholic.

"Do you really have so little regard for human life, Courier Six?" Miss Militia asked quietly.

"Hey, I have a ton of regard for human life."He grunted. "That's why I ended things here, rather than let it get worse. People were going to die regardless, I made sure it wasn't more. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

The sound of rustling fabric marked the Courier rising to his feet, and the floorboards creaked an unsteady tempo as he began limping towards the doorway.

"Don't think you're leaving so easily, Courier Six." Armsmaster commanded. "You haven't given a formal testimony for any of what happened today; I'm still debating whether to arrest you for all of this."

Pausing to lean against the doorframe with an audible effort, Six craned his neck to look back at the heroes.

"You really want to start a fight over this? Look, I was using beanbags like you told me to. Crazy-Bomber-Bitch starts using her men as Courier-Homing-Grenades, and I took her down. Alive. Had her tied up nice and pretty, and alive. She decided that death was apparently better than whatever you guys'd do with her. End of story."

"Assuming that's even true," Armsmaster started, "You'll need to give a more in depth explanation than that, and we'll need to take the accounts of everyone else involved in this… clusterfuck."

"Yeah? Go do that then, I'll be back. Me and the boys had a talk before you all arrived. Considering the state of my place, I'll be staying here from now on, to make sure there's no more… Interruptions."

Taking another step, Six reached out to Taylor, mumbling quietly.

"Kid, gimme a hand will ya'?"

Almost numbly, Taylor complied, struggling to support Six's weight. Though she was just as tall, if not a little taller than he was, Six easily weighed several times more than she did. As she did, the heroes' conversation whirled around in her mind alongside all the other events of the day, to say nothing of what she'd seen just minutes ago.

She'd decided against speaking to the heroes about it for now. Six was… Taylor wasn't sure she'd call him a 'good' guy, but she wanted to at least let him explain it for himself before she made a call. She owed him that much.

"Look, all I want right now is to go back to my house, grab whatever shit I left there, get shit-faced, and then sleep for... like, twelve hours." Six continued, his tone now one of fatigued resignation. "Can it just wait 'till my entire body doesn't feel numb? Please?"

Armsmaster sighed, sharp and low.

"Courier Six, I expect to see both you and Cazador at the PRT HQ no later than first thing tomorrow morning." His voice was terse. If Taylor were to guess, she'd say that Armsmaster sounded almost as tired as Six. Hell, even she felt fatigued, now that the adrenaline was wearing off. "If you aren't there in a timely manner, I will personally hunt you down and throw you in a cell. Am I clear?"

"Perfectly, boss." Six let out a chuckle that quickly devolved into a fit of coughing.

"Fine, then. You're free to go; we have more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. And Cazador?"

Taylor stopped, craning her neck to look back at Armsmaster.

"Good work out there. I'm not certain why you've decided to associate yourself with Courier Six, but if you ever decide to join with a legitimate hero group, I'm sure the PRT would be happy to have you."

Taylor nodded silently, guiding Six forward as the two of them shuffled out of the building. They passed Velocity and Glory Girl with a quick nod of acknowledgement, but neither seemed particularly talkative, both their expressions a mix of shock and disgust as they guarded the fallen ABB thugs.

Cutting through a nearby alley, the two of them stepped out onto the street. Suddenly, Taylor felt the weight on her shoulders from supporting Six drop off drastically, only to disappear completely as he rose back to full height with a stretch, obviously not as injured as he had appeared.

"Six!" She gasped, "You're alright?"

"...Nyeeah?" He replied, waggling his hand back and forth. "I mean, I honestly do feel like shit; I wasn't lying when I said my whole damn body feels numb, like I got hit with a giant cattle prod or something. I might've been exaggerating just a bit back there, though. I reallydon't need to deal with any more shit today."

Taylor paused for a moment, blinking, as Six began to stroll off.

"You mean like how you 'exaggerated' how that woman died?"

She didn't intend for it to come off as accusatory as it did, but there was really only one way to say it. Six stopped, obviously tense. Taking a deep breath he sighed.

"How much of it did you see?"

He didn't sound guilty, so much as slightly annoyed.

"I saw you toss something in her lap, and then it exploded. She didn't look awake, either."

Six made a small nod, gesturing for her to follow.

"Right… C'mon then, I'll see if I can explain."

Silently, Taylor half-jogged up to Six, matching his pace once she'd caught up. For a few moments, they were silent.

"Alright, so-…" He began, cutting himself off. "...Imagine someone you respect. I dunno, one of your big, important heroes. One of the ones who you'd just… never believe that they'd do something evil."

"Like… Alexandria?" Taylor replied, speaking the first name to come to her mind.

"Sure, that works. So, imagine you find out, somehow, that this 'Alexandria' is doing some… really evil shit, I'm talking real unforgivable stuff."

"...Alright?"

"And so, you're the only one who knows. Even if you told everybody else, they'd never believe you, 'cuz this is 'Alexandra' or whatever her name is. Only you can stop her, but if you do that, everyone's going to blame you, because they still think that person's a hero."

"Okay…?"

"So, if you were in that situation, would you do it?" Six finished. "Even though it's the right thing, no one would ever know. They'd all hate you, and probably want you dead. They'd bitch at how you should've followed certain rules or you broke the law or whatever, and that you should have brought the evidence to the authorities even though that wouldn't have actually convinced anyone to stop her. But you know that if you hadn't, good people would have suffered. So, would you do it?"

Taylor didn't reply. Six's question wasn't a simple one, leaving aside the absurdity of it. She supposed it didn't necessarily have to be Alexandria in the question; it could be the President, or another hero, like Dragon. But… She was pretty sure she understood the point Six was trying to make.

Was it better to follow the rules, or break them to help people?

That was a simpler question to answer, but still not one she could answer easily. Her first thoughts were along the line of 'Obviously heroes don't break the law', and being a hero was still what she wanted to do with her powers, but her gut reaction was to think of Winslow; of Blackwell, who manipulated the rules just to protect the popular girls and the school track star, or the Trio who constantly pushed the boundaries of what they could get away with, or even people like the Enforcers on the Boardwalk. What they did was legal, but it was a bit of an unspoken fact that they tended to get a bit 'overzealous' with chasing off homeless people and harassing anyone who didn't look like they belonged there.

Chances were, none of them, or anyone else who manipulated the rules like that, would ever see justice for the things they'd done. So… Was it right to break the law to deliver justice?

"...I- I guess I see what you're saying." Taylor finally admitted, looking up from her thoughts only to realize that they'd nearly reached Six's house. Peripherally, she'd noticed more than a few people through her swarm sense, watching she and Six as they walked through the city. There had been quite a few gawkers, and a handful had pulled out phones and cameras to snap pictures, but Six's general… appearance seemed to have scared anyone away from actually approaching them. "But… The PRT could have arrested her, and you still killed her."

Six let out a small, sort of fatigued sigh.

"I-... Look." He turned to face Taylor, staring her down. "There's more to it than that, and I'd love to tell you everything. But tomorrow, you and I are gonna be talking to those PRT folks about what happened today, and I doubt they're going to be 'sunshine and rainbows' about it."

"So you don't trust me not to tell them?" Taylor shot back, indignation rising in her chest.

"Trust?" Six snorted, "Fuck, Kid, I trust you with my life. You've more than earned that much in my book. But I don't trust them. Nobody follows inconvenient rules if they can get away with it, I'm just honest about it. There's no way of knowing they won't bust out some dirty tricks to make you talk. If that happens, then what you don't know can't hurt us."

They came to a stop in front of Six's house, the authorities having already departed, and left only the police tape criss-crossing the front doorway and muddy tire tracks across the front lawn as traces that they had been there. Now, the building just looked like another derelict lining the streets, even if it stood out a bit more than most abandoned buildings thanks to the well kept lawn and pristine houses flanking it.

"I've got… an idea. For how we might be able to turn it all to our advantage, but I'm still working on it. I'll tell you soon, but for now it's best you don't know." Six finally said, after a moment of silence. "Thanks for your help today, kid. Really. You did a hell of a lotta good work out there."

Taylor nodded again. Six's words still stung; even if what he said about the PRT was true, it wasn't like she wouldn't be able to handle it. It wasn't like they could threaten to kill her or her father like the gangs.

"Thanks. I just need to grab my bag; left it here earlier."

She'd have to find somewhere to change on her way home… She didn't want to leave Six's house in civilian clothes, and neither did she want to arrive at home in costume; both to protect her identity, and make sure Dad didn't happen to see her in costume. Peeking through the gate in the backyard, she found the backpack where she'd left it, leaning against the fence panels.

"Hopefully Dad's working late," She murmured with just a pinch of humour as she passed Six on her way out. "He might have 'questions' if he catches me before I can take a shower…"

"Ah, I'm sure he'll understand," Six snorted, "Fightin' bad guys is dirty business. Literally!"

"...Yeah." Taylor agreed halfheartedly, unpleasant pressure building in her chest at the thought of his reaction if he found out anything of what she'd done today. He'd go ballistic. Probably ground her for life for good measure... to say nothing of how he might react towards Six for his part in it all.

"...He won't get mad when you tell him what happened, right?" Six suddenly asked.

"No..."

The pressure kept building, guilt and fear eating away at her.

"You sure? I mean, this was all kinda above-and-beyond the usual, even for me. And he struck me as the 'worrier' type..."

"I mean, yeah, I guess…"

"I don't mind tagging along Kid. Really, it's the least I can do."

"No! I haven't-!" Taylor snapped, the dam finally breaking. She froze as she realized her mistake, only an instant too late. Then, she sighed, not sure if she was annoyed with Six, or herself. "I… Haven't told him."

For a moment, Six just stared at her.

"Haven't... told him what, exactly? That I've been teaching you how to take care of yourself? Seems like that's the kind of thing he'd like."

"No! I haven't told him about-"She threw her hands up, exasperated. "Anything! Getting powers? Being a cape? He doesn't know about any of it, and I don't want him to know! Not now!"

Taylor stormed through the shattered doorway, and out of Six's ruined house, ignoring his shouts behind her. Six was maybe the first person to give a shit about Taylor in what felt like forever. Of course he had to start prying. It felt like some kind of cruel joke.

She was tired, and her head hurt, and she just wanted-

A hand closed around her shoulder. Taylor tried to yank it away, but Six's grip held firm as he forced her to turn and face him.

"Fucking Christ, Kid, will you just listen? Or do I gotta smack some sense into you?" Six growled, his free hand raised threateningly. "Look, you don't want to tell him? Sure, it's your choice. I think it's a stupid idea, but whatever."

Taylor glared at him, but didn't stop him.

"I told you I had your back, and that includes telling you when I think you're doing something stupid." Slowly, Six began to relax as he talked. "Look, how about we walk and talk. If you're still sure about it when we get there, I'll drop it."

As much as she wanted to, Taylor couldn't make herself say no. She just huffed and kept walking, Six tromping along behind her.

"He doesn't need to know." She groused.

"And I don't need to wear this helmet twenty-four-seven, but it makes me a lot more comfortable than not wearing it."

Taylor shot a glance at Six.

"What?" He shrugged. "If you'd gone through what I have, you'd be paranoid about keeping your head safe too. Shoot me."

She rolled her eyes.

"I don't want him to worry." Taylor continued a moment later. "Dad… He's got so much on his plate already, he doesn't need worrying about me fighting capes on top of it."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him?" Six agreed, with a wry tone.

Taylor hummed ambiguously.

"Except it will." Six continued. "No such thing as the perfect lie, Kid. Sooner or later, he's gonna find out."

"I know." She snapped. "I never intended to lie to him forever… Just... Long enough to prove he doesn't need to worry."

"So, never?"

Taylor turned, flashing another glare at Six, but he held her gaze without faltering for a second.

"I don't know if it's hit you yet, Kid, but you could die doing this. I probably will die doing this, eventually. Either of us could've died today, and it could just as easily happen tomorrow; that's a fact of life when you do what we do."

"What I mean is… I just need to have a victory," Taylor sighed. "Something I can use to prove to him that I can hold my own as a cape."

"Like today?"

"No… Maybe?" Taylor shook her head. "I mean, I guess, but I didn't really do much fighting. Mostly it was just helping you."

"Rigging the fight in your favor before it even starts is fighting, Kid," Six said flatly, "It's called fighting smart, like I've been trying to show you."

They lapsed into a thoughtful silence after that, strolling through the city. Six made… infuriatingly good points, but the biggest reason of them all for why she hadn't told her father was also one that couldn't be logic-ed away.

She was scared. Terrified of the worst case scenario, that her father would reject her being a cape, or might even force her to give it up altogether. Taylor wanted to be a hero, to help people with her powers; now that she had them, she couldn't imagine doing anything else. And she didn't want to have to choose between that and her father.

But again, Six was probably right. It was a matter of when, not if he found out, and maybe if she came clean and told dad about it, then he might take it better than finding it out another way. She'd always intended to tell him eventually, just not so soon.

"If I do come clean to Dad..." She began, after a while. "Do you think you could stick around to help explain things to him? Maybe he'll take it a little better if he knows I'm not just running around alone. I mean, you've been training me, right?"

Six nodded, giving her a thumbs up.

"Sure thing, Kid. You ask for it, and I'll do whatever I can to help."

"...Thank you, Six. I-" She swallowed. "I appreciate this. A lot."

"Nothing I wouldn't do for any of my other partners, Kid."

Six chuckled.

"I'll have to introduce you to 'em all once I've got a way back. I think you'd like them; they're all good people, helping me try to make the Mojave into a half decent place."

Taylor hummed.

"Really? What are they like?"

She could use a distraction from debating whether to admit the truth to her father.

"Well, there's Raul. Raul the Ghoul!" Six chuckled at the rhyme. "Lived before the Great War… Y'know, he's got a costume of his own, actually. He'd probably love this place."

"Really? I thought you said you didn't have Capes in… your world."

That felt strange to say… But Taylor supposed that Six being from another Earth made as much sense as anything. If Armsmaster said it was true, though…

"Doesn't mean we don't have costumed nuts running around. Case in point." Six countered, gesturing to himself. Taylor couldn't stop herself laughing at that. "Pretty sure I've seen some stuff that might be these 'powers' you all get, too. But yeah, the way he said it, he found an old 'Vaquero' costume, and started wearing it…"

The two of them walked and chatted a while longer, Six describing all of his closest compatriots; from Arcade and the Enclave Remnants ("Wish I could've seen Lanius' face when they opened fire. He really thought I was gonna fight him one-on-one!") to Veronica, her life as a 'Scribe' of 'The Brotherhood of Steel' and eventual split, ("Still not sure what to do about them. Lot of 'em are decent people, but they won't give up their precious Codex, and they won't stop making enemies either.") and then on to Christine. Six let loose a few details about meeting her in the Sierra Madre, but stayed mostly tight-lipped about the location itself. ("Story for another time, Kid. It'd take a while to explain everything going on there.")

Eventually, though, they turned onto Taylor's street, stopping at the corner. Just down the road, in plain sight, was her own house. Despite the fact that the sun had set a while ago, it wasn't hard to see her father's truck parked in the driveway, dashing any small hope that she might just be able to just avoid the upcoming confrontation entirely. Taylor sighed.

"Well... Last chance, Kid," Six sighed, "I told you I'd leave the choice to you. If you want, I'll drop it here and I won't bring it up again."

Taylor looked up to Six, then back down the street, at her father's truck.

"You'll help me explain?"

"I'll stick with you to Hell and back, Kid." He patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Far as I'm concerned, you're family. I'll be here."

Letting out a breath, Taylor nodded.

"Alright… Let's go in through the back, then. I don't want anybody to see us walking up to the front door."

"Lead the way, then."

With that, Taylor crossed the street, cutting into and across the neighbors' backyards as she made her way home with Six following right behind. Though she hadn't gathered up a true swarm, there were plenty of insects no matter where you went, and she used them to ensure there was no one in the area that could spot her. Creeping up to the back door, Taylor paused, one hand wrapped around the handle. This was her last chance to back out. To keep her father ignorant.

She closed her eyes, sighing. Steeling herself for what was to come. Inside, a handful of flies found her father in the living room, sitting in front of the TV.

Then she pulled the door open. It creaked and rattled as she did, the door neglected just as so much of the house had been the past few years. It was probably a pretty accurate metaphor for the people living within. Maybe… Hopefully, that could change.

"Taylor? Is that you?" Her father's voice called out, over the sound of the television playing some show or another.

"Yeah. Hey Dad." She called back. From the other room, she heard, and through her swarm-sense saw, her father rising from his chair, moving to greet his daughter.

"I was starting to get worried…" He murmured. "You don't usually stay out this la-"

Standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, Daniel Hebert made a sound not unlike choking.

"...Taylor…?" He asked, his voice wavering fearfully.

"Hey, Dad…" She greeted, in a faint undertone. Lifting her mask, she met his eyes.

"Taylor- What…?" He sputtered, his eyes flicking back and forth between Six and Herself. "What's going on? What's he doing here?"

"Dad…"

Taylor closed her eyes, sucking in a breath before letting it back out as her father struggled not to babble questions.

"I'm a cape, Dad."

Her father's eyes went wide, and he recoiled as if she'd struck him.

"Taylor? You…" He looked at Six, then back to her again, finally making the connection. "You're…? Oh my god… No, no, no…"

He stumbled backwards, leaning against a chair for support. Taylor winced, every 'No' stinging worse than anything the bullies could dish out. This… This was everything she'd feared. Not just a bad reaction, but an explosively bad one.

"I- I can't… I can't deal with this." He stuttered, almost hysterical. "Not tonight. Taylor, go to your room. I'll… We'll deal with this later."

Taylor felt tears burning at the corners of her eyes. She'd fucked up.

"Dad! Please-!" She protested, feeling Six brush past her arm.

"No!" He cut her off. "Taylor, I'm sorry… I- I'm not!"

He turned to face Six, who was now almost within arm's reach.

"And you!" His voice turned to a growl, undercut as it was by its shakiness. "I don't know what you've got to do with this, but-!"

He was cut off by a solid right hook to the jaw, which sent him sprawling to the floor.

"I'm the reason you're hearing about this at all," Six growled, "So why don't you fuckin' listen?"

Alright! I know what I said, but consider: I have a job now, so that means I've got half as much motivation and time to work. So... if you do the math there, considering that I was aiming for a new chapter every two weeks, and that this chapter is longer than usual… I'm actually ahead of schedule!

Right? Right.

Anyway, not a whole lot else to say. Next chapter will for sure end this arc. Then we can get some other POVs in interludes, and the plot can keep moving. I'll try to keep 'em short, hopefully knock them all out in the time it would take to write a regular chapter. Hopefully.

So y'know, probably not. Unless?

Anyway, enjoy!