Delinquents (Worm Dramedy)

[Axle]

A Mouse Protector saga sounds fun. Were they scared of Taylor because of the bugs or because of comedic timing?

Those people will be together forever. Even after the team breakup.

Click to shrink...

Mostly comedic timing. Rush has a peculiar phobia against crushing bugs, Light has a peculiar phobia against butterfly/moth like insects.

Leet fears bugs unless he's specifically experimenting on them. Uber knew the gimmick was mostly over, so he decided to teleport away with his team.

Emily doesn't mind bugs, but couldn't speak rationally at the time. The surprise did freak them out, but I think the 'no explanation' aspect was what made them run away more than anything else.

 

[Axle]

Mouse Protector marched across the night!

She quipped and she turned, she minced and she miced , she slid across Brockton Bay's streets ready to dice for a fight! Her first steps into bringing justice to this dark city of darkity darkness, was to find the missing child the Protectorate so beseechingly seeked.

And what clues did she have to find this missing child?.... None at at all. Zip. Zerp. Nada. How does one say zero in french?

She knew close to nothing about the city. All she knew was the basic run downs of the villains and heroes that the Protectorate files offered. (And what rumors the internet had before she visited the city, 'oh how I love fan theories'.) Overall, she was on her own. Like a true crusading vigilante viciously masquerading in mystery!

She parkoured her way through building rooftops, satisfied that her stamina didn't waver. As she entered the heart of ABB territory, she noticed a group of asian kids, dressed up in baggy clothes, matching colors, and an array of tattoos across their bodies. Using her detective skills, she deduced that they were all ABB gang members. 'Or at least I hope they're ABB members. I may be black, but I really really really don't want to come off as racist….'

Mouse Protector pounced several floors down from the fire escape, landing onto the ground in a single badass landing. 'I wish the Losers caught that on camera…'

She revealed herself from the night alleyway and pointed to the supposed gang members. "Stop, evil doers!" She said it with confidence, but inside, she prayed that she wasn't being judgmental.

The young hooligans ('Please be hooligans, please be hooligans, please be hooligans') stepped back from the woman in the mouse ears. Mouse Protector's protractor shield and blunted sword were recognizable enough, even if she wasn't from their city.

The five boys stood back, and a man with a red mask with horns stepped forward. He wore a distinct demon like mask with two horn extruding from it's head. It was Japanese in design, and his komodo-military accessorized costume told her that it was Oni Lee.

'Yes! I was right, I'm not racist!'

"Goat man!" Mouse Protector proclaimed, "I challenge you to a d-d-d-d-duel!"

One boy amongst the hooligans chuckled, which was met with a slap on the head by his friend. Oni Lee scanned Mouse Protector from head to toe (which sort of creeped Mouse Protector out). "You're not from this city," Oni Lee said in a distorted voice beneath his mask.

"Indeed," Mouse Protector said, "for mice of my kind need no limits when it comes to justice. For I am the protector of mice everywhere! And you have trespassed on the thing known as injustice!"

Oni Lee tilted his head. Shivers fell down Mouse Protector's spines, 'this guy is creepy.' Oni Lee sprinted towards her unsheathing two butcher knives at hand. 'Not so subtle, my goat friend.' She kicked him in the chest and flipped back in an acrobatic motion. When she looked up at him, his body turned into white dust.

'Oh yeah, he explodes.'

She turned behind herself and found the wannabe ninja trying to shaq her in the stomach. She kneed his arm out of the way and punched him in the neck. He turned to dust again. 'Fucking tinkers… Oh wait, wrong chapter.'

She tapped at the next copycat (hehe, pun) the moment she teleported to it's side, it popped into dust, making her 'tag' point disappear along with it. 'Okay, so I can't teleport to him if I tag his after image.' Oni Lee appeared to her left, then right, then behind her. Each time he teleported, Mouse Protector dodged, parried, and smacked in a heroic fashion. Until finally!... She ran away.

'Too many, too many, too many!'

As she ran across the street underneath the city lamps, Oni Lee gave chase trying to cut her down as she ran across the streets. He appeared in a knelled position ahead of her, and tried slashing at her feet. She stepped onto his face and flipped forward. Another Oni Lee clone tried stabbing her when she landed. She head butted that clone and spun around ahead of him.

Fortunately, she was agile enough to avoid him, unfortunately, he wouldn't stop reaching her because his goddamn teleporting was bullshit. She eventually ran far past and away from ABB territory. Fun fact; rogue heroes were especially susceptible to murder since they aren't a part of an official team. Oni Lee was really pressing his luck with her. With no tag to teleport home to, her only option was to keep running until she reached where she knew the Protectorate was patrolling at.

This was a big hit to her pride. Her first time in a new city and she couldn't even annoy the person trying to kill her. Which was a first. She stopped and turned around, deciding she needed to say something cool to him. She pointed outwards and yelled, "konichiwa!" Not knowing what it meant.

Before Oni Lee could try and slash at her throat, beetles scratched at his feet. An unholy mass of beetles were carried to him by winged bug. They dropped onto Oni Lee as he hissed out, "Spawnchild", in a villainous tone.

Oni Lee teleported away, but the bugs still latched onto him and pierced into his skin. Bees and wasps filled his face as he scrunched back in pain. He teleported further and further away until he was out of sight. "Hahaha!" Mouse Protector said as he left her view, "This guardian of mice always has several critters than up her sleeve!" She looked at her own hands, "so... do I have a super secret power?"

"No." A voice behind her said.

A girl, looked to be a teenager, walked over from the darkness to her. She wore a costume that was morbidly yellow-gray, with big beady eyes that looked like the eyes of a mosquito. "Spawnchild?" Mouse Protector said with her head tilted.

Taylor swallowed, "um… that's not really my name, the internet kind of just picked that for me."

"Spawnchild! It is you!" Mouse Protector sprinted towards her and shook her hand without permission, "big fan. I thought you were gonna go Carrie on those guy in your last video."

"What?" The girl shook her head. "I would never-"

"Is it true you made a deal with satan to get your power?"

Taylor's eyes widened, "Of course not!"

"Is it true you look like an oversized mosquito beneath your skin?"

"What? No! Why do people say this?"

"Is it true you feed on homeless people for nutrition?"

"God no!" Taylor flung her arms in the air, "I show up in one video, and everything thinks I'm some sort of monster! I was just trying to scare them, I'm not a villain!"

"You're not a villain?" Mouse Protector tilted her head. "To be fair, Spawnchild is kind of a villain name."

"I didn't even pick it," Taylor said frustrated. It was almost like she was mistaking Mouse Protector for all the accumulated trolls she'd argued with online. "Those guys said it once, and now the whole world thinks I'm some sort of monster…"

"Oh, so you're not a Satan follower." Mouse Protector snapped her fingers, "darn, I was hoping you could call upon Satan to help me out."

Taylor blinked beneath her mask. For some reason, Mouse Protector vaguely reminded her of Rush from the Loser's videos. "You're… Mouse Protector, right?"

"Aw, so my reputation precedes me." Mouse Protector clapped her hands together. She gave Taylor a low bow. "Indeed I am, my Carrie-styled friend. I, am Mouse Protector! Protector of all that are mice and mices, minuscule advocator of good, gnawer of evil, and wretched enemy to the wicked! I have come to Brockton Bay to spread my goodiest of deeds, and it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, bug girl, defeaters of the Losers!"

Taylor let out a sigh, 'she really is, just like Rush.' "I'd rather not go by bug girl. It's not very intimidating."

"And what kind of image, would you rather inflict upon your enemies my devious ally?"

Taylor shrugged. "Something heroic, to be honest. It's just too bad there aren't really any bug themed hero names."

"What about Firefly?"

"Firefly?"

"Or Arachne kid. Or Critter Commander. Or Swarm Daughter!"

"Those sound… Okay…"

"Cretin Caller, Bugz rise, or Antenna Mite!"

"Hold on," Taylor interrupted, "let me write some of these down. Those are pretty good."

"Take a seat kid," Mouse Protector patted bug girl on the head, "it's not every day a damsel in distress gets to help out her savior."

 

[Amatsumi]

Amusing.

 

[lostgamer64]

Taylor and Mouse are a good duo together.

 

[Axle]

Such lovely walls they all had! And windows! Such lovely frame painted windows! So this must be what it's like to be rich… I should really redecorate my home…

She turned her head back to Armsmaster facing the big tinker thingy tv screen. He pointed across the projector like he knew what he was talking about. Mouse Protector liked to pretend his helmet was showing a romantic comedy shows at the side, and he was enjoying dramatic soap operas while he debriefed the Protectorate of what was to be expected for their next perilous missions.

"He was last seen leaving Clarendon high school and heading onto the bus," Armsmaster said with his laser pointer thingy. (Mouse Protector wondered if the laser pointer was tinker made.)

"Question!" Mouse Protector mused, "is that laser pointer tinker made?"

Duantless, Triumph, Miss Militia, Velocity, Battery, and Assault, all sat around her in the debriefing table.They all stared at her. Armsmaster replied, "Save questions for after the debriefing is done." The man knew how to satisfy her, because she'd probably drop the question altogether once the debriefing was done.

"Theo Anders did not reportedly return home that day, and his father immediately filed a police report that very night. Typically this would be considered a paranoid father worried about his son, but considering that his father is a reputable business man in this city, we considered the possibility that he was kidnapped for ransom.

After conversing with our thinkers, it was determined that this was indeed a kidnapping. The following day, a note was left at his home, demanding one million dollars for the safe return of his son. They specified the kind of torture he would go through if the money wasn't provided at a specific time at a specific location.

Our thinkers have determined that this was the work of the ABB, and our choices are either to give in to the ransom, or to find and rescue Theo before the ABB can carry out their threats. Max Anders has made it very clear that he has no intention of negotiating with criminals. He will not pay the ABB ransom for his son, making all responsibility for Theo's safety drop onto us."

"That's cold," Triumph said aloud. "He's putting his son at risk for a PR stunt. And here I thought fathers were supposed to do anything for their kids."

"That won't always be the case," Armsmaster said in a casual tone. "You'll see situations like this often the longer you're with the Protectorate."

Triumph nodded, willing to accept what the veteran member said. Armsmaster continued, "we have no leads so far. All we have are the locations of a few ABB businesses. Our mission is to thoroughly patrol these locations and collect any information of Theo's whereabouts in whatever ways we can. Mouse Protector."

Mouse Protector perked up, (she was literally playing with a toy mouse, seemingly not listening). He said, "since you're visiting the city as a rogue hero, you have the option to either work alone or to patrol with the rest of us."

Mouse Protector covered her chin with her forearm. She put on a low, raspy voice, "Mouse Protector works alone… For the Mouse Protector is the protector of the lonely nights!"

Dauntless and Miss Militia couldn't help but chuckle. Triumph couldn't help but groan in agony. "No offense, but I really don't see Mouse Protector helping us improve our PR."

"You'll find that Glenn has a twisted sense of humor," Battery commented.

"The man knows how to pull a leg when he wants to," Velocity added.

"He was very sweet on the phone," Mouse Protector said with a blush. "We're meeting up for coffee later today."

Miss Militia tilted her head. Triumph continued, "I get that we have a PR issue, but wouldn't Mouse Protector going up against the Losers… Damage our reputation?"

"But the pun wars will be glorious," Assault blurted out. Battery kicked her husband's foot from underneath the table.

Armsmaster answered, "I stopped questioning how Glenn works a long time ago. As far as I'm concerned, Mouse Protector should be treated as any other new member should be."

"Thank you, my glorious soap opera loving friend!" Mouse Protector placed her hands over her face, spreading out her fingers like they were whiskers.

"Soap opera?" Armsmaster questioned.

"Er, nevermind. It's an inside joke… With myself."

Ignoring her comment, Armsmaster wrapped up the presentation. "Before we start petrolling, are there anymore questions?"

Dauntless asked, "I can cover more ground on my own. Can I patrol alone tonight while the rest of you pair up in groups?"

Armsmaster frowned. "I'd rather we all stick together in some way. Lung is not someone I'd like for any of us to face alone. The same goes with Oni Lee. I'd like for you to pair up with Triumph tonight, just as you have been doing."

Dauntless nodded, but he was slightly disappointed. Armsmaster was someone he'd looked up to since before he was a Ward. He watched him rise up to fame, and hoped that he could prove his strengths once he became a Protectorate member. But no matter how hard he tried, all his successes never seemed enough to satisfy Armsmaster.

Dauntless wanted a chance to prove his strengths, but Armsmaster never seemed to give him that chance. I'll just have to try harder, he thought to himself.

The debriefing room's lights came back on, and the projector turned off. The whole team headed out the room. Mouse Protector put an arm over Miss Militia, "hello my youth melicious warrior of justice."

Miss Militia smiled, "I'm glad to have you back. We don't have enough puns in the break room."

"I noticed she doesn't do a lot of puns though," Assault pointed out walking behind them. "It's actually a play on words. Puns are supposed to rhyme, not matching maliciously musingly on the musical first notes of a non whimsical sentence."

Mouse Protector clapped her hands, "See? This guy gets it!"

"Please don't encourage him," Battery said to their distaste. "It's bad enough he says nazi puns to the E88. I don't need him using wordplay during all of our missions."

"Aha!" Mouse Protector deduced, "so he watches the Loser's videos too!"

Battery glared at Assualt, Assualt lifted his hands up in defense. "To be fair, I only watch them for.... Entertainment purposes."

Battery thoroughly squinted at him under her mask. Miss Militia grinned, "I never realized how much I've missed you, Katherine."

Even though Katherine and Hannah hadn't seen each other for years, they still considered each other best friends. Katherine was the one who made Hannah feel most comfortable when she began high school in America. Katherine had no barriers to herself, which made Hannah open up to her the most when she could only speak broken english.

"Call me Kat, just like everyone in school used to."

"You're kidding?" Velocity said in disbelief.

"Kat never kids!" Kat proclaimed. "So, even though my side quest will involve looking for Theo Anders. Before we move out, what can you all tell me about these infamous self-proclaimed Losers that have wreaked havoc across Brockton Bay?"

Assault opened his mouth with a smile, but/ before he could say anything, Battery answered, "the Losers, are delinquents. They have no endgame or goals. They're just living parodies of capes in general."

"A parody yous say," Mouse Protector rubbed her chin, "what wicked afoul disrespect such villainy beholds. But no matter! Justice will prevail, for light, always finds a way."

"Light would love if you used that line on him," Assault said.

Battery hissed at her husband, warning him to stop undermining the situation. "Crap, you're right," Mouse Protector tapped her forehead. "Half my lines use the word light in them, I can't lose the war on words because they have a guy named Light."

Assault couldn't help himself, "when you face them, I pray to God they'll record it."

 

[lostgamer64]

The Losers will probably be so happy that you show up they'll probably surrender.

 

[Axle]

Light's back dragged across the ground as Browbeat carried him by the ankle. While Browbeat made sure not to speak while he carried him, Light did everything in his power to strike up a conversation with Browbeat.

"Bro, bro bro bro, bro bro! Brah. Bro. Bro brah, brah bro. Broooooooo."

Nothing fazed him. Really, there was no need for him to talk to Light. He wasn't going to risk revealing unwanted information by being nice to Light. No, Browbeat was treating him like any other villain. Light had attacked him, and now he was literally getting dragged to jail.

"Bro buddy," Light said being carried across the junkyard. "Brah bro, buddy pal. Bro cop, good cop, bro homes, bro home!"

Light, through sheer ignorance, wasn't at all concerned about the predicament he'd caught himself in. He attacked Browbeat yelling 'I challenge you, frenemy or foe!', and launched a ball of light in Browbeat's direction. Browbeat was largely on patrol to test the upper limits of his powers. To his pleasant surprise, Light's "ka-me-ha-me-ha" (as he shouted) did not penetrate his telekinetic barrier.

To both their surprise, none of Light's attacks harmed him. It was easy for Browbeat to grab Light, and grapple him in a way to prevent him from shifting away from him. Apparently, his Menton limit was that he couldn't shift out of person's grasp. Light was unfazed.

"Brooooooooooooooooooooooooo."

Browbeat stayed quiet. He'd told Light the name he'd chosen, and Light was having a thrill making wordplay with it. He didn't let it get to him. Maybe Light was trying to undermine his name, make him feel insecure through some sort of psychological warfare. Browbeat was better than that. Nothing fazed him. Ever.

"Going for the strong silent type I see. I can respect that." Light let his arms drag as the junkyard's garbage rubbed against his arms. He was outside wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt, and his half cracked mask. It was plainly obvious Light had attacked Browbeat through unplanned circumstances. "But you gotta make sure the few times you do talk are badass, or else you'll just be forgotten like some sort of side character."

"Being forgotten is the least of my concerns." Browbeat said monotoned.

"See? Quotable line, right there. You're already cool in my books."

Browbeat was certain Light was trying to garner sympathy from him. Either that, or his persona online was as legitimate offline. Either way, nothing Light said truly mattered to him. Light had attacked him, Light was a villain, and now he was going to jail.

A mountain of bugs scurried in front of Browbeat, causing him to stop in his path. He didn't flinch as the bugs piled up in front of him and formed a human-like figure. Light, however, quickly fell into panic from the ground. "Oh dear God, it's Spawnchild! Lord have mercy! Oh Heavenly Father I repent for my sins! Browbeat, send me to the birdcage! Don't let the bugs touch me!"

"Are you a villain, or hero?" Browbeat asked the bugs. Although it was hard to separate theories from facts online, the bug person did attack the Losers whom were villains, but that never specifically meant someone was a hero either.

"Hero." The bug pile hissed, "I've never seen you before. Hero, or villain?" The bugs buzzing that would've made it difficult to hear if Browbeat weren't so close. While Light was frantically trying to shake off Browbeat's grasp, Browbeat was completely calm.

"Hero." He answered. He thought about the possibility that bug person was lying to get his guard down, but Browbeat guessed that his shield could protect him from bugs as well. No harm in being honest this time.

The pile of bugs collapsed to the ground like water. Another cape revealed herself a short distance away from behind a garbage pile. She had a dark skin tone, with a mickey mouse helmet and emblem on her chest. It contrasted the warrior-like attire style that carried the metal gauntlets on her wrists and legs. "Ah yes," Mouse Protector announced herself, "another ally in our crusade for heroism. And what is this?"

Mouse Protector pointed to Light. "It appears the infamous villain in peril has been captured by the newest cape in town. Such a boon shall surely be awarded once the PRT gets their hands on you. And what is your name, newly discovered hero?"

"Browbeat," he answered, unimpressed by Mouse Protector's monologue.

"Ah yes, a true bro the brows the browest of brows to bro hero bros like a true bro."

Light blinked at her, "I'm sorry, I'm having some really weird deja vu right now."

A girl in a light-brownish bodysuit followed behind her. She fell behind Mouse Protector like a shy kid hiding behind a teacher. Light raised an eyebrow, "wait, are you Spawnchild?"

"No," Taylor said thickly. "The internet kind of gave me that name."

Light's eyebrow's scrunched together, they couldn't see his mouth gaping underneath his mask. "Wait, you're satan girl? Christ, you're not scary, you're the kind of girl I'd ask out on a date."

Taylor took a step back and blinked beneath her mask. Mouse Protector was amused! Mouse Protector commented, "stop trying to seduce the heroine. She's out of your league."

Before Taylor could say anything, Light gave off a sigh. "Okay, okay, but seriously though, what's your cape name?"

Taylor swallowed. Would it come off as pathetic if I said I didn't have a cape name? "She doesn't have one yet," Mouse Protector answered for her. "We're thinking insectoid, Beetle borg, or Pincer princess!"

"Needs to be neighbourhood friendly," Browbeat added. "It's basic psychology. If she's a hero, it needs to be inviting, not intimidating. Try Bugbro."

"Ha!" Light pointed at Browbeat from the ground, "every time you open your mouth I love you more!"

"But I'm not a bro…" Taylor said quietly.

"That's sexist," Light commented.

"Beatbug." Browbeat said.

"Queen bee," Light said. "And bee as in bug, not the letter."

"I've got it!" Mouse Protector yelled, "Wasp whisperer! Whistling away whilst whispering wicked winds with waltzing wasps everywhere!"

"Monarch."

"Stinger."

"Webber."

Taylor took out her notepad. She made sure write down her favorite names as the three of them yelled titles over each other.

XXX

Mouse Protector handcuffed Light before she could forget. (I love the Menton effect!)'The handcuffs were PRT standard model, meant to prevent changers from escaping. The three heroes sat on the ground facing each other. Light sat a few feet away from them, grumbling that he wasn't a part of the conversation.

"We're looking for someone," Bug girl said to Browbeat. "A kid was kidnapped by the ABB."

"With a ransom note," Mouse Protector added, "possibly a crime of passion..."

Light looked up at them, "the ABB? Are you sure?"

"Thinkers say so," Mouse Protector said. "Also, you are really bad at practicing your right to remain silent."

Light scooted closer to them. "Er, if it's the ABB, I think I can help. My team stakes out ABB businesses at least twice a week. If someone was kidnapped, we can find out."

"Stakeout?" Taylor asked, "I've never seen you guys fight the ABB online."

"Yeah, we don't put that on camera. The E88 hate us, but humiliating Lung online is suicide. Better they think we only screw with the E88, so that they'll never come after us."

"Speaking of which," Mouse Protector mentioned, "any chance you could tone down the racist comments? People think it's weird that I like your show."

"No can do," Light said. "I'm caramel colored, and I take full advantage of the racially confused sweetness."

Mouse Protector squinted at him. Light continued, "anyway. Me and my team stake out prostitution rings that are on the edges of town. At least once a week, we'll catch the ABB trying to ship some kidnapped teenagers to farms outside the city. Whenever we see that, we give an anonymous tip to the PRT so that they can stop it. Nine out of ten times they show up before the girls are shipped off. One out of ten times… We orchestrate an 'accident', to prevent them from getting shipped off anyway."

Taylor blinked beneath her mask. "You guys do that? Why?"

Light shrugged, "spare time, I guess."

Mouse Protector patted her buggy helper on the head. "The longer you're in the game, the more you'll see things aren't so black and white."

Light commented, "it's true, sometimes we come out khaki colored." Mouse Protector scrunched her lips. He continued, "I consider myself a delicious brown donut, with a sugary coating of powder that gives me just the right amount of all around sweetness."

Mouse Protector's mouth gaped open, "do you ever hear the things you're saying?"

"I phase in and out when I'm talking." Light turned to Browbeat. "Anyway, I have a com channel in my mask, can you pull it off so I can call my sister? She's better at detective work than I am."

"It's a trap." Browbeat said factually. "I'm not calling your teammates to come save you."

"We're not stupid," Bug girl said plainly. "You're just trying to avoid arrest."

Light stared at bug girl. "Trust me, none of us are stupid enough to pick a fight with you."

"I'm fine with this," Mouse Protector said to everyone's surprise. "Way I see it, if you guys give info on the ABB anyway, better to get help officially than anonymously."

"But…" Bug girl relented. "I'm sorry, but working with villains… I'm not so sure."

"This is more common than you know," Mouse Protector spoke in a mentor-like tone. "Even though television likes to portray the good fight as good versus evil, you'll see that it's better to work with good villains to take out the worst villains. It's why Endbringer truces exist."

Browbeat looked at Light. "He could just abandon us as soon as his teammates come. How can we trust this isn't a trap?"

"You can't," Mouse Protector answered casually. "So we just have to have faith that they'll help us in this case."

Browbeat and Taylor exchanged glances. Light eyed across the three of them. After an exchanging of nods, Browbeat pulled off Light's mask. He smiled, a smile identical to Rush. The two younger heroes were surprised by how comfortable he was with showing them his true face.

Browbeat pressed a small button on the inside of the mask. "Also," Light warned Mouse Protector, "keep the puns on minimum. Rush hates puns."

Taylor stared at Light in disbelief. Mouse Protector grinned deviously, "duly noted."

The sound of a dial up connection groaned out from his mask. Rush answered on the other side. "I hate you."

The three heroes blinked as they heard Rush's voice. She was on speaker. Light let out a sigh, "it was an accident."

"It's Sunday, the lord's day. I planned on smoking today."

Light retorted, "I thought the Lord's day was your drinking day."

"It's both." Rush let out a sigh, "I never get time away from the team. And the one time I get the day off, you get arrested."

"How'd she know?" Taylor asked.

Light whispered, "we have a rule. When it's her day off, only call her if I'm getting arrested." Light returned to speaking to Rush, "I kind of need your help with something."

"Should I bring the dildo cannon?"

"Er, no. You see, they're looking for a kid who got kidnapped by the ABB."

Rush sighed, "lemme guess, since we stakeout ABB rings, they want us to help find her?"

"Exactly."

"All because you have an asian fetish."

Light paled. He looked at the three heroes, eying him curiously. Light yelled, "for the last time, I don't have an asian fetish!"

Rush countered, "you're the reason we stakeout for asian teenagers. It's pretty obvious you have a fetish."

"Oh God no," Light groaned, "can't a man save lives without having ulterior motives?"

"I wouldn't," Rush said, "I'm still surprised you didn't ask the girl from the Korean restaurant out. It was obvious she wanted to suck your D."

Light wasn't sure how to respond. "You're being stupid again."

They all knew she was referring to the Korean teenager he'd been speaking to in the last hostage situation. Light had been talking to her for almost half the episode, easily making her laugh while keeping her within arm's reach distance. Mouse Protector said, "she was pretty flirty. I actually thought you asked her out off camera."

Light asked, "she was flirty? No she wasn't, she was just being nice."

Browbeat commented, "she laughed at everything you were saying in an exaggerated way. The body language was plainly obvious. I thought she was already your girlfriend."

Light argued, "she just… Had a great sense of humor."

"Yeah," Taylor said, "I'm surprised you didn't notice. I only watched the first few minutes of that video, it was pretty obvious she was into you."

Light's mouth shrunk, "goddamnit, why can't I notice these things?"

Rush answered, "it's because you're a friendly person, and just assume everyone else is too."

Light said, "can we get back on topic? Rush, help me find this kid."

"Fine, fine." Rush said with a sigh, "meet me at the stakeout where we met two weeks ago, when we ran away from Oni Lee. Remember that?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Also, Light?"

"Yeah?"

"It's not the worst fetish to have." She hung up.

 

[lostgamer64]

He attacked Browbeat yelling 'I challenge you, frenemy or foe!', and launched a ball of light in Browbeat's direction. Browbeat was largely on patrol to test the upper limits of his powers. To his pleasant surprise, Light's "ka-me-ha-me-ha" (as he shouted) did not penetrate his telekinetic barrier.

Click to shrink...

I hope Light will now carry something like a knock out gas gun from now on to keep this from happening.

To both their surprise, none of Light's attacks harmed him. It was easy for Browbeat to grab Light, and grapple him in a way to prevent him from shifting away from him. Apparently, his Menton limit was that he couldn't shift out of person's grasp. Light was unfazed.

Click to shrink...

"Being forgotten is the least of my concerns." Browbeat said monotoned.

Click to shrink...

Browbeat is now the best.

A mountain of bugs scurried in front of Browbeat, causing him to stop in his path. He didn't flinch as the bugs piled up in front of him and formed a human-like figure.

Click to shrink...

Browbeat x2

"Yeah, we don't put that on camera. The E88 hate us, but humiliating Lung online is suicide. Better they think we only screw with the E88, so that they'll never come after us."

Click to shrink...

They could take over the Bay with the knowledge they have right now. But that wouldn't be kosher.

It's a trap." Browbeat said factually. "I'm not calling your teammates to come save you."

"We're not stupid," Bug girl said plainly. "You're just trying to avoid arrest."

Light stared at bug girl. "Trust me, none of us are stupid enough to pick a fight with you."

Click to shrink...

He really does want to help.

"Oh God no," Light groaned, "can't a man save lives without having ulterior motives?"

"I wouldn't," Rush said, "I'm still surprised you didn't ask the girl from the Korean restaurant out. It was obvious she wanted to suck your D."

Click to shrink...

Come on. I don't think that was flirting.

"Yeah," Taylor said, "I'm surprised you didn't notice. I only watched the first few minutes of that video, it was pretty obvious she was obsessed with you."

Click to shrink...

... Brb. Gotta re-read those chapters.

Light's mouth shrunk, "goddamnit, why can't I notice these things?"

Rush answered, "it's because you're a friendly person, and just assume everyone else is too."

Click to shrink...

Ah.

"Good. Also, Light?"

"Yeah?"

"It's not the worst fetish to have." She hung up.

Click to shrink...

Just look at the site we are on.

One more thing. I like how it was generally unspoken between the two of them, but Light knows that if he betrays MP, she stops joking.

 

[Axle]

"Light," Rush said. "Pass me the torture kit."

The two villains and three heroes stood in the warehouse in the middle of the night. The other employees were scared off easily thanks to bug girl's horror show. The warehouse was dark, with outdated electricity, but they still managed to find the ring's leader. Browbeat took the opportunity to tie her to a chair when they found her. Two other prostitutes were tied with their backs against her. One was a college aged girl, the other looked to be of high school age.

Light passed the briefcase to Rush. To their surprise, Rush spoke to them in fluent Japanese. "Tell us where Theo is!" She switched back to english easily. "Or face the non-kinky wrath of my torture tools!"

"Would they do that?" The high school aged prostitute asked in Japanese. "I've never seen them torture people on camera."

"We're not on fucking camera," their leader grumbled back.

"Oiy," Mouse Protector protested, "no torturing."

Rush squinted at Mouse Protector, "stop being a buzzkill. We'll call it enhanced interrogation if it makes you feel better."

"Buzzkill," Light pointed to bug girl. "Or killbuzz, or buzzkiller. You pretty much ruin fun wherever you go, it's perfect for you."

Taylor scrunched her lips beneath her mask. Browbeat said, "no kill words."

"I still say she should go with Pheromone women," Rush said with a blush. "Releasing pheromones wherever she goes."

"Stop sexually harassing her," Mouse Protector growled. "How is it that you're making me the responsible one?"

"Or leg girl," Rush said. "She's got the legs for it." Rush winked in Taylor's direction. She didn't react.

"Bug girl," Mouse Protector said, "I'm giving you permission to put a moth on Light's head every time Rush makes you uncomfortable."

"Oh dear God," Light gripped his sister's shoulder, "stop ruining my life!"

Rush glared at Mouse Protector, "I bet you think you're clever you... Mouse… Furry… Yiff thing."

"I'm not just clever," she replied in snarky tone, "I'm clever forever like steller cheddar ."

Rush's mouth twitched at the rhyme. Before she could mutter profanity, Browbeat said, "can we stay focused? Not all of us are here for the passive-aggressive banter."

"Fine," Mouse Protector and Rush said at the same time.

"But no torture," Mouse Protector said.

Rush opened the briefcase. She faced it so that only the prostitutes could see it. "Three seconds. Or else the torture begins. One."

The three ABB members stared at the briefcase's contents in shock. Their eyes widened in disbelief.

"Two."

"Hey," Bug girl said amassing some bugs, "we're not going to let you-"

"Three."

Rush lifted the briefcase over their heads and dropped thousands of dollar bills over their heads. "You like that you dirty whores!?"

"Yeah," Light said emptying his pockets. More hundred dollar bills were crumbled up and thrown at the gang member's faces, "and there's plenty of more where that came from you criminal scum!"

"Tell us where Theo is!" Rush demanded, "we won't stop the golden shower until you talk!"

"It's true," Light double downed. "We have a lot of money. Ridiculous, boatloads of money. This can go on all day if we need it to."

"I think we should wait it out," the college aged hooker said. The other two gang members nodded in agreement.

Mouse Protector shamelessly knelt down and pocketed the bills falling in her direction. "Really?" Bug Girl commented.

Mouse Protector whimpered, "being a rogue hero does not pay as well as you'd think…"

Rush yelled, "trying to act tough, huh? Don't make me take out Light's college fund!"

"She'll do it," Light repeated, "my future is in your hands."

Browbeat shook his head, "I don't think you two understand the concept of torture."

Bug girl added, "I think they would've talked at the first hundred thousand."

The briefcase emptied out. Light answered, "better safe than sorry."

Rush spoke in Japanese, "now, tell us where Theo is, or I'm taking all of this away."

"Seriously," Light added in Japanese, "We stole this from a friend. So we're kind of broke now that we threw it at your faces."

The middle aged hooker said to their leader, "I'll kill you if you don't tell them."

"Alright alright, he's in the ring west from here. Eight blocks away, third warehouse on the east side. If he's not there right now, he'll be there later tonight. It's where all ransom kids end up."

"Got it," Rush announced. She strided away passed the hero, "take my lead, you crappy heroes."

Mouse Protector glared at her, "hold on, I'm the adult here, I'm leading this mismatched team!" She followed behind her. Browbeat followed after them.

Taylor stayed behind to watch Light speak to the ABB members in Japanese. "I wanted to let you know, I get it." Light told them in their fluent language. "You ended up here either because you're stuck, you were pushed into it, or because you needed an escape from something. I get that, and I think most people do too."

He untied the two prostitutes, but tightened the rope on pimp's arms. "What gives?" The leader said.

Light took the time to tell them they had the chance to leave now. A chance to leave the ABB, and to leave the down ridden area of Brockton Bay. All the money they'd thrown at them was theirs now, they could release their leader only if they wanted to. But more than anything, Light asked for them to leave the gang. "The ABB aren't worth it. Gangs only have your back until you lose you're worth, and that's not what family is. You both, like everyone else, deserves a better spot in life. And now you have the chance at that." Light pointed to the money to emphasize his point.

The two gang members rubbed at their wrists, and began picking up the money. The younger girl murmured, "tank… Yo." She wasn't fluent in English, but she was willing to try for his sake.

Light gave a smile before he left. He didn't really believe they'd leave the ABB, but he was happy to give them the chance. "What did you say to them?" Taylor asked.

"Anime jokes," Light answered. "There's always time for anime jokes."

XXX

"How dare you undermine my auht-o-ra-taye!"

Rush groaned at Mouse Protector, "stop with the word play! You're not funny, the only thing that's funny is ironic humor with borderline grotesque wording."

Mouse Protector stuck her tongue out at Rush. "Amateur. You're the one who makes overused innuendoes when she can't think of anything."

"Screw you you freaky furry, and not in the yiff way!" Rush lifted her middle fingers up at her, "you're a wannabe joke hero with no respect!"

"You call yourself Losers," Mouse Protector hissed. "You know people online don't even think you're real villains?"

Rush gasped, "take that back you furry force creep! You're the one who created those freaky mouse fetishes online!"

"Bohoo," Mouse Protector feigned tears. "Like you're one to talk, you're website literally has a kink section you putrid freak."

"It's a perfectly common fetish!"'

Rush and Mouse Protector eyed each other in rage. They were using everything they knew about each other to make personal jabs at each other's cape lives. They were like sisters. So similar, yet so hateful towards each other.

Light, Bug girl, and Browbeat were on the rooftop staking out the ABB warehouse a short distance away from them. They were crouched at the edge, well hidden in the cool darkness of the apartment. They had a clear view of the building beneath them. There was a light fog low in the ground, but Bug Girl served as a terrific scout for when the hostage would arrive.

"You guys really do stuff like this?" Bug girl asked. "These stakeouts. Why do you guys do it? It takes hours to do, and there's nothing to gain from it."

"Why are you a hero?" Light said casually.

It was a rhetorical question, and Taylor understood it enough not to answer.

"I think the better question is, why are you a villain?" Browbeat said. "I'm not altruistic, but you seem more purpose driven then I am. You only rob places with insurance, you stakeout ABB trafficking rings, and go out of your way to humiliate the E88. It looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the playing field."

Bug Girl added, "I never thought of it that way." She sort of assumed the title 'villain' was self-explanatory, now she was wondering if they used the label ironically. "It's even in your name, you don't act like-"

"Can we stop talking?" Light interrupted. "I get it. I'm a bad villain. Can we drop it?"

Taylor paused, forgetting that she might've treaded on a sensitive topic. Sure, the Losers were each willing to talk about their trigger events, but clearly there was some other baggage that they didn't want to talk about. Note to self, Taylor thought, never ask a villain why they're a villain.

The three of them fell quiet. Mouse Protector and Rush were now arguing loud enough to drown out the silence, but Light didn't want to leave the conversation at that. 'Why are you a villain?' He didn't like thinking about that, but it was times like these that he knew he needed an answer. The two heroes wanted to know something about him, and he wanted them to know something about him.

"Rush… Was on the bad end of the stick," Light said it quietly, enough for only Taylor and Browbeat to hear. "People are after her. The Protectorate won't protect her. I'm staying with her because I have to, nothing will ever change that."

It was a half truth, but it felt like he'd told the whole truth. Bug girl said, "that's… Noble of you."

Light felt his heart skip a beat. Like he'd finally gotten a pat on the back for the choices he made. "Can I ask... Why none of you are in the Wards?"

"Too many regulations," Browbeat answered quickly. "I'd rather have it as a fallback plan than as a primary plan. I'll try solo first, and if it doesn't work, I'll join the Wards. Right now, I'd rather not be tied down by them yet."

"Same," Taylor said.

Light nodded. "Thing is, you're more likely to die as solo capes than as Wards. My team is lucky, we have a tinker that always has an escape plan ready for us. If you want, I can ask for Leet to make something to help you guys out."

"You would do that?" Bug Girl asked. Light nodded.

"WIll it be trackable?" Browbeat asked in a plain tone.

"No, I wouldn't do that to you guys," Light answered. "I'll talk to Leet, figure out what he can create to up your success rates."

"Thanks," Bug Girl said. Browbeat nodded.

"You're a bad hero and you should feel bad!" Rush yelled aloud. "You have no shame and bring insult to heroes everywhere!"

Mouse Protector pulled down an eyelid to give her the stink eye, "says the girl who calls herself loser."

Rush gritted her teeth, "you know what? You're my fucking enemy now. Next time we meet, I'll be dressed up as a cat and rip your real ears off."

"That would be puuuuur-fect," Mouse Protector teased to her distaste. "The puns will be... Caaaat-astropic!"

"You son of a mouse bitch," Rush yelled. Rush jumped between Browbeat and Bug Girl. "How much would it cost for you two to join the dark side?"

"Hey," Mouse Protector growled, "you can't bribe heroes with money!"

"A million dollars for signing up."

Mouse Protector's eyes widened. In small tone she asked, "can I join?"

"No adults." Rush growled.

Mouse Protector retracted, "don't fall for her lies!" Mouse Protector crouched next to Light, and elbowed at his side. "Let me tell you the glories of heroism, so that you can convert to the light side."

Rush yelled, "stop corrupting my brother!"

"Um," Bug Girl grumbled, "I'd rather not go online and call myself a villain all day."

"Ditto," Browbeat said. "You guys paint yourselves as the target to everyone. I'd rather not make myself vulnerable like that."

"Hah," Mouse Protector cried out in victory. "You're recruitment methods don't even work. Rune didn't even stay after the first video."

"She wouldn't do redhead jokes!" Rush groaned, "she disqualified herself!"

After Rune's recruitment video, the Losers couldn't upload anything following the New Wave incident. As far as people knew, it was theorized Rune's racism got her kicked out of the team.

"I still text her on weekends," Light commented.

Rush stared at him, "what?"

"Yeah," Light took out his phone. He read some of the text messages, "'O-m-g. You caramel colored screw up. I heart you.' Three smiley face emojis."

"Wait, let me see that." She stole his phone and scrolled down the text messages.

Rune: This rich snub is saying some racist shit to the Muslim clerk at the gas station.

Light: Here's the plan. Attune the gas pump handle, and spray his clothes with gasoline when he passes by.

10 minutes later.

Rune: His suit is ruined! This fucker is freaking the fuck out!

Light: He probably thinks God hates him. Congrats Rune, you are God.

Rune: (Three smiley faces, plus one emoji heart)

Rune looked up at her brother. "I'm taking this away from you."

"What? Why?"

"You dense motherfucker."

"Found them." Taylor announced. Rush pocketed his phone. The rest of the capes stared off at the dimly lit warehouse. "Movement in the warehouse. A truck is coming in through the back with five people inside. One of them is pulling out a kid. He's tied up on the wrists and ankles. Even if it's not Theo, it's definitely someone there against his will."

Mouse Protector nodded. "Alright, this is the part where we put our powers to strategic use. Bug Girl, I need to stay here as a scout. I'll leave a tag here in case you get into trouble. Put a beetle on my shoulder. If I crush it, it's your signal to make a distraction for us to escape."

Bug Girl nodded. She continued, "Browbeat, you stay back and watch her. Keep Bug Girl safe since she's not a Brute. You're shield does have high limits, but don't jump in until things go south. Thing is, you two are new to the cape game, so I'd rather keep them guessing at what you're both really capable of."

Browbeat nodded. Mouse Protector turned to Rush. "Rush, Light, can you both stay by my side? Let's go for a shock-and-awe tactic, fight down the bad guys as a trio, and rescue Theo in one quick swoop."

"Sounds like a good plan," Rush said with a nod.

"Alright," Light said. "Let's do this. LEEEEROY JENKIIIIIINS!"

Light ran into the warehouse. "Oh fuck," Rush ran after him, "Light, I didn't bring the teleporters!"

"You have got to be kidding me," Browbeat said.

"Oh crap," Taylor said, "we have to go after them."

"No," Mouse Protector ordered. "You two stay here. Stick with the plan." She swooped in after them.

 

[lostgamer64]

God damnit Leroy.

Mouse Protector shamelessly knelt down and pocketed the bills falling in her direction. "Really?" Bug Girl commented.

Mouse Protector whimpered, "being a rogue hero does not pay as well as you'd think…"

Click to shrink...

You will learn bug-girl. You will learn.

Browbeat shook his head, "I don't think you two understand the concept of torture."

Bug girl added, "I think they would've talked at the first hundred thousand."

Click to shrink...

Can never be too sure.

Light giving the hookers money was a good thing. He knew that they wouldn't or couldn't leave but beating people up and leaving them for the police doesn't help people. More about help for the hopeless.

 

[Axle]

Lisa called Coil immediately after checking their blog feed. The ambiguous sentence long posts told her volumes about what they were up to. She tugged at her face as her powers revealed the information.

"I'm gonna go punch a stranger. If I'm lucky, fight club can become a thing." - Light

"Update: Don't pick fights with strangers. #Gettingarrestedagain" - Light

"Making a deal with Satan. Brb." - Light

Rush replied: "You son of a bastard."

Light replied: "I'm doing my best! #Notagreatvillain"

Rush replied: "I'm on my way. #Youfuckingdisgrace"​

Lisa's powers told her everything: Light arrested. Negotiated release for aid in finding reported kidnapping. Theo Anders. Losers can easily find ABB hostages.

She was disappointed at how quickly they found him. In fact, it would've been comical if she didn't hate them so much. 'These guys enjoy themselves way too much…' The posts went on:

"I'm about to put a hit on Mickey Mouse. #Fuckdisney" - Rush

"Paying hookers is a wonderful way to spend the night. #Callmeback" - Rush

"Remember kids, prostitution is a perfectly noble profession. #Feminism" - Light

"Googling rat poisoning." - Rush

​

She pressed her phone to her ear more tightly. When he finally answered, she went straight to business. "Coil, the Losers found Theo. We need to speed up the plan now or else we might lose the best leverage we have."

"Understood. I'll expect further explanation once this is over."

"I know," Lisa said staring at her laptop. She gave out a long sigh, how is it those losers ruin everything?"

XXX

"This... Was definitely a mistake." Light stared forward with a dazed look in his eyes.

Mouse Protector pranced forward to the villains wicked lair. Step by step, underneath the breaking dawn, she headed closer... And closer… Until… "Oh shit." Mouse Protector shouted profanity!

Rush stood next to Light, forcing on a crooked grin. "Hey there…. Lung… I think... We might've made a mistake."

Lung stood in front of twenty of his armed men. They were armed to the teeth, but still seemed feeble in the presence of Lung. Lung had on an open trench coat. It was opened to reveal his muscles and extensive tattoos across his body.

Inside their heads, all three of them wanted to insult Lung for his choice in tattoos, but opted to keep their mouths shut.

"Leave, this has nothing to do with you two." Lung told them all. He wasn't sure who Mouse Protector was, nor did he care why she was with the Losers. He was giving them a chance to relent. He'd rather they stay alive to be an insult to the Empire Eighty Eight, than have to kill them for disrespecting him. "If you even think of turning this into a game, none of you will step out of here alive."

Mouse Protector stared down at Theo sitting on a worn down sofa at the edge of the building. Theo's arms and legs were tied. He was blindfolded, not gagged because he promised to keep his mouth shut after their first threat. Theo wasn't sure whether to feel relief or stress by the sounds of Light and Rush.

Rush clapped her hands together, "well, my horrifying Leviathan defeating friend. I have a proposition for you. I'll offer double whatever you're asking from Theo's dad, to give him to me. No promises on not doing kinky stuff to him."

Lung didn't waver, "twenty million dollars?"

Rush blew up her cheeks, fuck, that's literally all of our money. "Sure, why not," she said feigning confidence. As much as she would've liked to just kick ass and go home, getting on Lung's bad side was a one-way ticket to death. And she couldn't do that to her brother, or his new friends.

"No," Lung said. "This has nothing to do with money. It needs to come from the boy's father. Otherwise Max Anders can have his son returned to him in pieces."

Theo choked a little at the sound of that. Mouse Protector's turn! "Here's the problem, lizard man." Lung raised an eyebrow. She continued, "The Protectorate are already on their way. So I recommend you take her up on her offer, so that you can at least have something to show for all the trouble you've gone through."

"Let them come." Lung said with a tone of excitement in his voice. "That just means more victories for my mantle."

Rush and Mouse Protector glanced at each other. The nature of Lung's ego was now obvious. It wasn't about the money, it was about showing the world that he had power over the millionaire class. This whole kidnapping and ransom was about exerting his power over those who might try and pull a move on him.

Rush turned to Light and gave him a stern nod. Light nodded back in agreement.

Rush yelled out in fluent Chinese, "tell me Lung, since your half Japanese and half Chinese, does that mean you have to hate yourself half the time?"

Lung glared at her. Light spoke out in Japanese, "Hey Rush, does he evolve into a pokemon because of his power, or do all Japanese people do that?"

Rush shook her head, "nah, he only half evolves like a pokemon. The other half is digimon."

Light asked, "can I guess which pokemon he evolves into? I'm guessing it's a charizard."

"Nope, it's a gyarados."

"Dragonite."

"Snorlax?"

"Godzilla."

Lung's underlings stared at the two of them in shock. They backed away as Lung began shifting his skin into metal.

"I like how he starts off as hello kitty before he evolves," Light commented.

"It's like freeza, 'This isn't even my final form!'" Rush said.

Light nodded, "hey Lung, do me a favor, can you shout 'I'm not even at 100%' before you finish evolving? Then I'll go on a rant about me being the legendary super saiyan."

Lung's body become completely encased in metal. The room's temperature went up, small fires were smoldering around him as his body's metal added mass into the room. Smoke escaped his lungs, and his underlings quickly distanced themselves from him as he focused his rage at the Losers.

Mouse Protector blinked. "What… Did you just say to him?"

"Instant regret." Light said plainly.

"So much regret," Rush said in a hushed tone. She pointed to Theo, and gave Mouse Protector the signal to go after him.

Mouse Protector wondered if it was right to let the duo to become the bait. 'Should I stay and fight with them, or abandon the Losers to their suicidal vices?' Lung's body exploded. 'Run run run run run run run.'

Lung charged after them. Light flashed a blinding light in Lung's eye. He was only blinded for a mid-second and distracted just enough for Rush and Light to shift/rush away from his charge. Lung did manage to destroy part of the warehouses pillars, but quickly regained sight of them once his vision returned.

Mouse Protector ran to the corner of the building, managing to catch Lung's underlings dragging Theo away. "Stop, evil doers who are totally within my league!"

Five thugs ran at Mouse Protector. They had bats, crowbars, and swords drawn out to attack her. Without a moment's hesitation, she dodged their weapons and punched, kicked, and smashed them everywhere it hurts the most. "Sorry," she said punching a guy's nose, "sorry', she said kicking a guy's groin, "sorry," she said quietly at the guy she headbutted a guy's nose.

'Mouse Protector is far too good at her job… She should get paid for this!'

Seven more thugs surrounded her. The ABB members were now focused on guarding Theo, not just dragging him away. Mouse Protector crushed a beetle on her shoulder.

A swarm of bugs rose up. A giant blob of insects amassed at the entrance of the warehouse. It was so thick and large that nothing could be seen inside of it. The bugs transformed into a humanoid shape. And then suddenly!... Browbeat stepped out of it like it was nothing.

"Spawnchild?" Some of the gang members murmured.

"Sure, why not," Browbeat said not caring. Looking around, Browbeat was torn between helping Rush and Light or Mouse Protector.

Rush was kind enough to choose for him. "Get this motherfucking dragon off me!"

Browbeat rushed to Lung, and somehow, some fucking how, pushed Lung's seven foot metallic body, into a fucking wall. 'Christ,' Mouse Protector thought, 'WHY AREN'T WE RECORDING?'

Insects began stinging at the ABB thug's bodies. When Mouse Protector noticed a bug humanoid form next to her, it looked over and said, "getzzzzz Theozzz out of herezz."

Before Mouse Protector could pounce passed the desecrated bodies of swarm infested thugs, frigging Oni Lee fell from god knows where. "My arch nemesis!" Mouse Protector yelled.

"Who are you?" Oni Lee asked.

Light launched more lasers at Lung's body. They couldn't penetrate his armor, but he focused his power into creating shields, distractions, or temporarily blinding Lung whenever he could.

Rush's telekinetic abilities were largely delegated into minimalizing the fires around the warehouse.

Browbeat had become somewhat of a tank, taking the bulk of Lung's hits, and managing to survive without damage.

Bug Girl began running up bugs across Oni Lee's body.

"Who am I?" Mouse Protector announced, "I am the defender of all that is righteous! I am the scurrier of all that is right, the round eared master that walks unwittingly to the fight! I am the greatest rogue of all time! None can escape my mousy cosplaying presence, for I am, Mouse Protector!"

"Lame," Rush said in the background.

"I love you all," Light said to no one in particular.

Mouse Protector pointed to Oni Lee. She gave a pleasant order to bug girl. "Kill."

The swarm rushed at Oni Lee. The moment he teleported away, the bugs still remained on Oni Lee's body. The ABB cape teleported three more times before he attempted attacking them with the bugs still picking at his skin.

"At our six!" Bug girl's new clone stayed at Mouse Protector's side. This one instructed Light and Rush to watch out for Oni lee just in time. Browbeat turned around and knocked him in the face before he had to chance to stab him.

"Light, above you!" Bug girl ordered.

Without hesitation, Light fired a laser over his head. Breaking through the rooftop and causing Oni Lee to fall onto the ground in a crash. He teleported away in pain.

Oni Lee reappeared right behind Mouse Protector. Before bug girl could even warn her, Mouse Protector thrusted her elbows backwards, and leaned her head back to headbutt the bridge of his nose. His clone dissipated to dust again, and this time Oni Lee appeared within arms length of Theo's body.

He put a knife to the boy's neck, "Stop," Oni Lee demanded. Lung was the first to freeze in place, putting on a creepy smile as the other capes held still. "Or I slit his throat," Oni Lee said.

Nobody dared to move. Rush stepped onto the ceiling like gravity was upside down, and waved her Simurgh hand at him. "I like how you think holding a hostage will help you."

Oni Lee's knife slid across Theo's cheek, drawing blood from his face down to his chin. "Don't think I'll do it?"

Rush stared into his eyes, knowing full well that Oni Lee was a murderer like herself. "I don't doubt that you'll do it, I'm just saying it won't help you out."

Oni Lee raised an eyebrow. 'The Losers were there to save Theo, wouldn't they avoid risking his life?'

Knives from the fallen ABB thugs began rising to the air. Rush used her powers to spin two circles of sharp knives in the air. They cycled around her like windmills of deadly weapons. "Him dying will make a wonderful distraction for me to get a clear shot at you. In fact, if the blood covers your eyes, I can cut through him to get to you."

Bug girl's clone, not knowing how to handle Rush, said, "please tell me your joking..."

Mouse Protector swallowed, "Rush, you can't really mean that."

"And why the hell wouldn't I mean it?" Rush chuckled. "Yet another wonderful reason to be a villain, no responsibility. Theo's life was never in my hands to begin with."

"Everyone loses if he dies," Oni Lee reminded her.

"Big whoop," Rush said with an waving her hand. "When this is done, I'll be sure to send his dad a mourning card attached to his body bag. Do me a favor Oni Lee, once he starts bleeding to death, hold still so that I can put a knife through your throat."

Oni Lee and Lung believed her enough. The way she spoke told them she truly had no regard for Theo's life. If Theo died, everything they'd done would've been for nothing.

It was like game of chicken, and Theo was the commodity. Rush flashed his Simurgh symbol at them, "Sorry kid, but things never go according to plan with us around. Ninja man, you have until the count of ten to drop him. Kill him, and all barriers are gone. I'll go for the kill, and you won't like me when I'm in murder mood. One."

Mouse Protector and Browbeat looked over to Light. He was quiet, it looked as if he wasn't sure what his sister's plan.

"Two."

At the other side of town, Purity received an anonymous tip from a benefactor. She flew at extreme speeds to where her rival was hiding.

"Three."

Theo couldn't believe it. He had admired the Losers so much, and now they were throwing him away like he were nothing, joking about his fate like his life were nothing to them.

"Four."

Purity reached the ABB warehouse. She basked in the rising sun's rays.

"Five."

There were blasted holes all over the rooftop of the warehouse, allowing for skylights to give her a glimpse of what was happening underneath her. She saw Oni Lee, holding Theo hostage with a knife to his throat.

"Six."

A light charged up all around her, giving her the illusion of being a miniature sun.

"Seven."

She couldn't hit Oni Lee without hurting Theo. Fortunately, Lung was close enough to Rush and Light to be within the crossfire of her blast.

"Eight."

Tears formed in Theo's eyes.

"Nine."

Taylor saw the light form in the sky. In an instance, all her bugs yelled, "Purity!" Rush pointed her knives in Oni Lee's direction.

"Te-"

 

[lostgamer64]

"Spawnchild?" Some of the gang members murmured.

"Sure, why not," Browbeat said not caring. Looking around, Browbeat was torn between helping Rush and Light or Mouse Protector.

Click to shrink...

This is why people forget your name.

I'd say Rush was bluffing a little bit but if Theo died the only ones losing sleep don't have long range telekinesis.

 

[Axle]

Stars. Expanding and shrinking. In mirrors. Rotating like a dance. There were many. No destination yet with a purpose. Jumping around and slivering between masses of people. So many people. An obstruction of humanity passing by. Faces being seen in the thousands of the thousands of a millisecond. Everything could be seen. Everything once. For a second's worth of a second. Everything had become clarity.

Purity looked down at her hands, dazed at what had just happened. She was still floating above the building looking down at the capes with her glowing power surrounding her body. She thought she could take out Lung, Rush, and Light conveniently at the same time, but her charge had come to a complete halt.

That vision… Was unexplainable. And the more she tried remembering it, the less she could understand it. But as she looked down through the rooftop of the warehouse, some sense came out from her vision. "Theo… Triggered."

Stone golems had formed all across the warehouse. One had held Oni Lee by the neck, in a position that said the statue pried Oni Lee off from Theo's body. Another statue trapped Rush in a bear hug from behind. Rush had her head low. Only the statue's torso was above from the ground, giving the impression that the statue was trying to pull Rush into the earth.

Mouse Protector was just getting up from her collapse. She yawned, like she just had the craziest night of her life. Mouse Protector is in over her head!... Why does Mouse Protector always think in third person view?

She saw Purity floating to her ground level. Recognizing her as a villain, Mouse Protector wanted to shout, 'halt right there evil doer!' But still recovering from her vision, the only words that came out were, "buzstop... wut dah hel waz dat?"

Purity raised an eyebrow at the mouse eared cape. She only noticed that she was a minority, and wasn't sure whether to deduce if she was villain or a hero. Theo looked over to Purity, shocked by his own disbelief. "Kay-" he almost called out.

"Stop." Purity interrupted, before he could say something he'd regret. They all looked over to Rush, hugged by Theo's power. Light was in front of her chiseling away the rock that grabbed at her.

"We're all so small." She spoke quietly. It was eerie, almost like she was talking to no one. "Do you get it? We're all so small. Like tiny pieces of sand making up a vast ocean beach, so similar that no one can tell the difference. So un special. So identical.Like tiny droplets, in a massive ocean."

"Aryana," Light said in quiet tone. He removed the golem arms that had grabbed his sister, "can we go home now?"

"None of this matters," Rush whispered. "It's all so beautiful. I don't have to be afraid, because none of it matters…"

Lung's transformation was still in effect. Conveniently, none of Theo's statues grasped at Lung. With the arrival of Purity and Theo triggering, there was nothing to gain from dragging out this conflict any further. He gave a signal to Oni Lee.

Oni Lee's body withered away to dust, causing the stone golem grabbing him to break apart from lack of command. Oni Lee teleported to Lung's side, and took a flashbang from his jacket. "Stop right there ninja!" Mouse Protector shouted in crooked tone, "even anime tropes cannot escape our justice!"

Oni Lee gave her a menacing stare. It was a stare that Mouse Protector was all too familiar with. 'Yay, another arch enemy!' Oni Lee lit the flashbang in the air and blinded everyone for a long moment. Bombs went off, and the building collapsed as the two ABB villains made their escape.

Light instinctively launched a plasma wall up, covering all of them with a thin shield to hold back the heat. Rush shared his stress by using her powers to keep the building intact. Mouse Protector ran to the thugs beneath the shield, she carried three of them out the building to prevent them from dying.

Browbeat followed her lead and did the same. Purity lead Theo out of the building. To everyone's surprise, she returned to help pull out the thugs out. After fifteen minutes of dragging ABB gang members out of the collapsing building, Light and Rush let go of their powers. Letting the warehouse collapse behind them as they made their escape.

XXX

They all met together on a rooftop at an abandoned apartment building. Morning had come. Purity assured them she was only there to save Theo, and that she was only doing vigilante work, and not trying to recruit Theo in anyway. They were skeptical given her E88 reputation, but Mouse Protector decided not to try and arrest her given that their fight with Lung was more than enough action for one night.

"Join the dark side!" Rush yelled at Theo's face. "We have money, drugs, and bitches! So many bitches! You will drown in pussy if you join the villain's side!"

Taylor turned to Light and said, "you're sister is a bit…"

"And air fresheners," Light added with blind innocence. "So many air fresheners."

"Nevermind," Taylor stopped herself from commenting.

Purity was leaning at the building's ledge. She was only staying to get the chance to speak with Rush and Light alone, away from cameras. I'll talk with Theo later, she told herself. But why are people always okay when they try and recruit people? Purity wondered. Even though Rush and Light were considered villains, Purity was labelled a bigger threat than either of them. Which was ironic, really. Purity did everything in her power to portray herself as a hero, the Losers did the exact opposite, yet people treated herself like she was the only monster.

Rush said, "Come on dude, you and I totally had a connection back there. Like, really great sex. Only better." She pointed to Browbeat, "vouch for me bro, you watched."

Browbeat stood with his arms crossed, "you tried cutting him."

"Irrelevant," Rush argued. "Bug girl, you were there too. You saw it right? The netherworld?"

"I really don't know what we saw," Taylor answered. "But I don't think that means he needs to be a villain."

Mouse Protector rubbed at the templates of her nose. She was truly annoyed for the first time in years. Even though she wanted Rush and Light to shut up, she'd rather talk down their points than have them resort to their video tape recruiting methods. "Okay, real talk," Mouse Protector stated. "You're just a kid. You're more likely get killed if you're a rogue hero. You're even more likely to get killed working as a villain. My suggestion? Become a ward, and then decide whether to go hero or villain after you graduate." Mouse Protector glanced at Bug Girl and Browbeat. "And the same goes for you two."

Theo's voice came out hollow. "I can't," his face was contorted. "I can't tell you why… But there's no way I could ever become a Ward. You just have to take my word on that."

There wasn't much more to say. If Theo wouldn't join the Wards, none of them could guarantee his safety. Light said, "you know the dark side isn't so evil. We have burrito Tuesdays, because taco Tuesdays are bullshit."

"No, you don't understand," Theo said. "This isn't a game, I can't just be a cape for fun."

"I know that." Light said with a changed tone. "I know its not a game, us joking around is just us killing time while we're doing this. I get how you don't want to be labelled a villain, but not everyone can be choosy. We're tying to offer you a team. Because that's something everyone always needs."

"No," Theo said stressing the point, "I'm not going to live my life like I'm a criminal."

Light curled his lips, somewhat offended.

Rush broke the silence with a hiss, "biiiiiiitches," she said as a faint whisper. "Droooowning in puuuusaaaayy!"

Theo finally snapped at her, "After you nearly butchered me to pieces? Do you really think I'd ever join you two psychos!?"

Rush paused, and blinked at him. The word 'psycho' had a ring to it. The nail on a coffin of what Accord had done to her. She'd always done her best to distance herself from the man, but Theo regarded her in the same regard as Accord's sociopathy.

Without arguing his statement, Rush quietly stepped away from the group, aware that she didn't belong there. She stepped to Purity's side and excluded herself from the conversation.

Bug girl read Theo's posture, noting that he was becoming more and more doubtful of his own abilities. She asked, "Mouse Protector, couldn't you serve as his mentor? I've seen other capes do it."

"I don't do sidekicks," Mouse Protector answered. "Sorry guys, but I'm only staying in this city for a short while. And I'm better soloing than mentoring."

The other teenagers fell quiet, unable to find a solution for Theo. Browbeat said, "you can't make a decision today. You'll need more time. Layout your options for now, and let's all meet here tomorrow before it gets dark."

"I'm guessing that doesn't include me," Light shoved his hands in his pockets, disappointed this might be the last chance he'd get to talk with them.

They all nodded, agreeing to outcast the villain. Sighing, Light walked over to Light and Purity.

Rush stood at Purity's side. "Sabrina told us you left the E88." Rush looked over the building ledge, wondering what falling felt like. "I can respect that. It takes a lot more strength to change an ideology, than to protect it out of blind pride."

"I did leave them," Purity admitted, "but now I'm ruling it."

Rush raised an eyebrow. Light tilted his head.

"Your team did a heavy toll on Kaiser. The E88 almost fell into civil war before he agreed to step down." It was a simple plan. Kaiser didn't want to concede power to Hookwolf or Krieg, so he offered the position to Purity, someone he believed he could control. She knew that, and she took the offer anyway.

"Now you're in charge?" Light asked.

Purity nodded. "I have a different vision for the empire. I want us to become vigilante focused. Only fighting other villain cape, and leaving the white gangs strictly to protection rackets."

Purity turned to fully face Rush. "I wanted to form a truce with you. I'll promise to prevent E88 members from performing hate crimes, and in exchange, I'd like for your team to stop making fools out of our members."

Rush frowned, "but... If you stop being nazis... How else could we make nazi puns?"

Purity cocked her head back. "Excuse me?"

"Anne frankly, your final solution makes me fuhreroious. No geneva deal."

Purity's mouth gaped open. "Don't... You even care about your people?"

"My people?" Rush spat over the roof, "'Why should I give a shit about strangers? I'm more offended, than anything, that you think I'm somehow responsible for brown people everywhere."

Purity stared at Light, noting that he was slouching with his head staring at the ground. "Are you really alright with this?"

Light swallowed, "You do what you do, we'll do what we do."

XXX

"They said no?" Tattletale asked in disbelief.

Purity had her arms crossed, gripping her arms as she sat at the round table across from Coil and Tattletale. "She was very vocal about her refusal, too."

Coil looked over to Tattletale. Tattletale shook her head in daze, "I don't get it, half the reason they attack the E88 is to prove a point. I thought they'd love making a deal like this."

"Apparently you were wrong," Coil said, adding insult to injury. "It happens to the best of us."

"But not to me!" Tattletale yelled, "they should've agreed to this. Purity, tell me exactly what she said!?"

Tattletale was now more upset than Purity. Purity chuckled, "Rush took the time to say a barrage of nazi puns at me. When she started making jokes about my mom, I left before I could lose temper."

Tattletale's mouth gaped open. "But… That doesn't make sense… How could she be so…"

"Psychotic?" Purity said.

"No, no. It's just…. Did you talk to Light?"

"It was plainly obvious he didn't agree to it," Purity explained. "but he didn't contradict Rush."

Tattletale twiddled her thumbs. "But…" He should've spoken up… He would've loved this plan, and Rush would've listened to him….

"That's enough then," Coil said. "Thank you for keeping us informed, Purity. We'll stay in contact for anyway in which we can help the empire."

Purity gave a respectful nod, and left Coil's base. Coil turned to Tattletale as soon as the door closed. "Lisa," Coil said, using her real name to try and keep the conversation more personal. "Was Purity hiding anything from us when she debriefed us?"

Lisa was still dwelling at which point she was wrong. Without hesitation, Lisa answered, "Max Ander's son triggered. She didn't hide it to try and deceive us, she just wants what's best for Theo. She'd rather he not get involved with the rest of us."

Coil nodded, accepting the explanation. Purity was his tool, the same way Max thought she was his puppet. Purity knew the web she'd tangled herself in, but it was all worth it to her. If she could truly turn the empire into a vigilante organization, then she was willing to follow Coil. Besides, it was like Tattletale said, Purity trusted Coil, more than she trusted Kaiser.

"What are the chances of a civil war occurring?" Coil asked. He picked up the files in front of him, scanning through the secret identities of the capes he'd been collecting.

"It just went down again," Tattletale explained. "As long as we keep orchestrating crimes for Purity to stop, the empire will keep gaining approval of her. It'll reach the point where not even Kaiser's charisma can kick her down a peg. We just need to toss more curveballs to make her look good."

Coil stared at a snapshot of Sabrina, sitting on a park bench out of costume listening to music not knowing she was being watched. "I can think of more scenarios to orchestrate. Now onto the Losers. Accord contacted me to assassinate them."

Tattletale blinked. She didn't like them, but it was against her principle to flat out murder capes. "I refused the request." Coil said. "I'd rather the Losers be used as tools, instead of completely going to waste. They're certainly experts when it comes to propaganda, and I'm considering hiring them."

"Er, that's not possible," Tattletale said. "Money isn't an object to them. The only real way to win them over is to offer interesting jobs that require creativity."

"Do you have any suggestions at how I can turn them into portraying the PRT as inadequate?"

Tattletale nodded, "they don't typically humiliate the Protectorate, but we can arrange for something to go wrong in one of their heists. They aren't perfect.. If we need them to make the PRT look bad, we just need to force the right confrontation to occur."

Coil nodded. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Tattletale nodded, "sure, I'll just invite them to our next heist." Although she didn't know it, the Undersides were on the verge of making a permanent alliance with the Losers.

 

[lostgamer64]

After reading and rereading this a few times, I was waiting for one of the losers to say something about once your enemy knows how you fight they can counter you with ease.

I'm glad none of them got the blunt "If you don't join a team you will die." Mouse Protector and Light really want the two to survive.

 

[Axle]

Mouse Protector smiled with delight! Honesty is the best policy as long as honesty keeps out the nasty parts of the story. For some reason, Director Piggot looked glum about it. Which was strange, because Mouse Protector was certain everyone loved it when she told her stories.

"You didn't think to contact us?" Piggot asked from her office desk. Mouse Protector shrugged, trying not to get distracted by the jar of colorful marbles that sat on the edge of her desk.

Armsmaster leaned back on the wall next to her. He looked down at Mouse Protector sitting on the chair and asked, "what about the kids?"

"I'll be meeting them later today," Mouse Protector stretched her arms while sitting, "I'm sure I can convince them to join the Wards."

"You seem relaxed." Armsmaster noted.

"Why wouldn't I be? We saved Theo, beat the bad guys, and I might get a bonus check for recruiting two new Wards."

Director Piggot sneered at her, "you put two rogues in danger last night, and you're smiling about it?"

Mouse Protector snorted, "well, when you mix words together, you can make anything sound bad. And to be fair, I think we were only in danger when Purity showed up."

Armsmaster shook his head, "I disagree, I think it got worst when you intentionally provoked Lung."

Mouse Protector waved her hand, "couldn't be helped. He had Chinese tattooes, I had to say something."

"Except that was a lie," Armsmaster said in a stern tone. "You weren't the one that provoked Lung. Everything else you said was true, but that tiny detail was a lie."

"Well-"

"And Lung couldn't have retreated when he was winning. You, two new heroes, and Purity, aren't enough scare Lung off that easily. More capes were with you, weren't they?"

"Er-"

"The Loser's blogs." Armsamster interrupted, "they made references to fighting ninjas last night, around the same time your story took place."

Oh tarter sauce, Mouse Protector thought to herself. "I don't work with terrorists!" Mouse Protector argued.

"That was lie."

Mouse Protector squinted at him. "You ruin fun. Check your helmet if that was a lie."

Piggot glared at her. "You worked for the Losers last night."

"Well…" Mouse Protector's grin was crooked, "thing is, the Losers knew where the ABB rings were, so I had to let them tag along."

Director Piggot's eyes widened, "wait, how did they know that?"

"Er, they do stakeouts every three days."

Director Piggot rubbed at her eyebrows. All those anonymous tips the PRT had received suddenly made sense. She thought it was some independent detective, or some unknown cape giving them the intel, but the fucking Losers? Director Piggot growled, "Your job was to give them a taste of their own medicine, not be on the same fucking side as them!"

Mouse Protector shivered, she remembered that Piggot could treat her with less courtesy than she did to Ward and Protectorate members. Mouse Protector argued, "on the bright side, at least they didn't record it!"

Armsmaster mentioned, "they started a kickstarter campaign for rat poisoning."

She gasped, "those traitors!" The two PRT members glared at her. Mouse Protector added, "not that… We were ever on the same team, or anything."

"You're lying." Armsmaster said.

"Stop talking, your words never help!"

Director Piggot stood up from her chair, "two potential Wards in one night. You put them in an ABB stakeout, risked their lives to face off against Lung and Oni Lee, when you were asked to call the Protectorate if you had any leads. Those kids could've been killed, are you out of your fucking mind!?"

Mouse Protector blinked. "Was that a rhetorical question?"

Director Piggot added, "you quit the Protectorate because a ward died under your mentorship, and you almost repeated that same mistake with two people. Can't you think with your goddamn brain!?"

She froze. They both did. That was the biggest regret Mouse Protector had in her cape career, and Piggot threw it into her face just to get under her skin. After a long moment of silence, Director Piggot sat back down on her desk and made a decision.

"I'm cutting you off," Director Piggot said. "As a rogue hero, we wanted you to work with our team, but I can now see that you can't follow orders. You're better off solo, and as such, you're no longer welcomed to use PRT facilities."

It was really the only thing Piggot could do. Katherine wasn't part of the Protectorate, and she was only in Brockton Bay on invitation. But the PRT didn't owe really her anything. "Okay," Katherine said softly. She slowly removed her mask. "I… understand."

Armsmaster's helmet told him she was telling the truth. When Armsmaster opened the door to the office, Mouse Protector shouted, "but you can't fire me, because I quit!"

She tipped the desk's jar of marbles onto the floor, and teleported away.

XXX

It was nice outside. A little cloudy, but rain wouldn't come until tomorrow. Theo sat on the park swing set with a light swinging from his seat. He looked down at the ground with a long gaze because he wasn't actually present.

The ABB could find him. Just having his identity known put him at danger. He needed allies, but his family secrets limited that. The last thing Theo wanted was to become a criminal, but joining the Wards would be going against his father. His only option was to go solo like he'd always wanted to. But the ABB fight from the night before showed him how wrong everything could become.

Rush stared at him with calm eyes, "If the blood covers your yur eyes, I can cut through him to get to you."

Theo shivered. For a long time, Theo imagined what it would be like to be a cape. He even wondered if he could become friends with the Losers. But that fantasy had now ended, all his dreams had hit a roadblock because of the reality of what happened last night.

Kayden knew the truth too. Theo was avoiding her, not wanting her to tell him anything, hoping she wouldn't tell his father. Kayden had told him how she wanted to reform the E88. Theo believed her genuinity, but if he spoke to her, would she ask for him to join? Could she convince him to be a part of the new E88? What if he was recruited, and it turned out Kayden was wrong? There's no bouncing back from joining a nazi gang.

"Hey, Theo."

Theo's head shot up. His eyes stared blankly at the girl in front of him. "Bug Girl?"

She wasn't intimidating, in fact, the glasses were kind of cute.Her curly black hair went below the shoulders, and Theo didn't mind that she was slightly taller than him.

She nodded, "my name is Taylor, and I'm actually still deciding on the cape name."

Taylor took a seat at the swing set next to him. Theo had started a message board on parahumans online for 'the heroes that fought godzilla', and they agreed to meet at the park nearest to his home.

Taylor asked in a soft tone, "Theo, I know you've been through a lot, but… Are you alright?" As soon as she said it Taylor thought it was a stupid question. Of course he wasn't alright. His life had been on the line, in so much danger that he triggered as a result. And for one reason or another, being a Ward wouldn't help him.

Theo shook his head, "No… I'm not alright. I… Things are weird now, and I don't know what to do."

"I think we've all been there," Taylor said.

"I always dreamed about having powers, you know? I thought having powers would be great, but now that it's happened… I know I'm actually just stuck with them."

"Yeah," she agreed, remembering from when she first triggered to when she finally decided to use her powers to stop the Losers. "I think all parahumans feel that way, in one way or another."

They both fell quiet, except it wasn't awkward. In fact, the silence was nice. This was the first time either of them could talk with a wannabe hero their own age. There was less pressure than there could be anywhere else, it was like barriers could dissipate between them.

Taylor attracted a firefly to her finger tip. "But hey, at least you've got stone statues at your side. I'm the one trying to be a hero with creepy powers."

"With a name like Spawnchild? The world must be so confused now."

"Brockton Bay, the city of racist bad guys, Losers who always win, and heroes who don't join the Wards."

Theo frowned, feeling disingenuous around Taylor. "I do want join the Wards, but I can't. I always thought if I had powers, I could've… Met people?"

"Make friends?" Taylor completed the thought for him.

"Yeah, I thought getting powers would help me make friends." He shook his head, realizing how stupid that sounded. "But I forgot the Wards were never an option, I should've known better than to think that getting powers was a good thing."

"But I have to ask, why are the Wards not an option?"

"I... " Theo looked at Taylor. Could he trust her? They were both capes, after all. Willing to trust each other with their secret identities. He wasn't a nazi, so could he trust Taylor with his family secret? Looking up, Theo noticed a student in an Immacula high school uniform walking towards them. Theo's eyes widened, "Amir?"

Amir waved his arm at them as he approached. He was a broad, wide shouldered muscular student with an athletic body build. His slick black hair was combed back on his square jawed head. Theo, and the rest of their school, knew him as the star athlete of the Immacula high baseball team.

Reaching the swing set, Amir smiled at them, which felt disingenuous from Theo's perspective. Theo knew Amir as the kid who only stayed with the 'popular' kids, never talking outside his social circle like strangers weren't worth his time. He'd normally never talk to a chubby kid like Theo. In the math class they shared, Amir was always intent on not talking to other students, Theo guessed it was because Amir didn't like math geeks.

"You're… Browbeat!?"

Amir nodded. Taylor glanced between the both of them, noticing Theo's shock and Amir's casualness. She asked, "do you both... know each other?"

"We, um…"

"We're classmates," Amir answered.

Theo nodded slowly. Taylor told him that Browbeat would come to talk too, but Theo never imagined that Browbeat was Amir. A part of Theo felt envious. Amir had everything, reputation, athletic prowse, girls wanting to go out with him. And with this meeting, Theo just found out he had powers on top of all of that. Just how perfect could a guy's life be?

Theo glanced at Taylor and then back at Amir. He asked, "are…. You both going out?"

"No," they both answered at the same time.

Theo let out a sigh of relief, but also wondered if he could even compete against a guy like Amir. After a moment of silence, Amir skipped the formalities and asked, "Taylor and I decided to join the Wards. We wanted you to join too."

Theo stared, "I already told you I can't join. Why can't you both just take my word on that?"

"Because you're not giving a reason," Amir said in an apathetic tone. "Expecting us to take your word without reason isn't a reason to take your word. The Wards offer a lot of aid, and being a rogue hero is like throwing your life away compared to that. Of course I'm skeptical when you say you can't join."

"Just get off my case," Theo yelled. "Amir, you get everything you want. Everyone in school likes you, you're an athlete, girls like you, and now you get to be Ward? Things aren't easy for me like they are for you."

Amir didn't flinch, "all those things have to do with me, but not you. I'll be honest, I don't care what you do. Taylor just wants what's best for you. So unless you can give me a real reason not to join, not joining seems asinine."

Theo sneered, "if Mouse Protector could solo, so can I."

"Even more asinine," Amir said.

"Shut the hell up." Theo yelled standing up, "just mind your own damn business."

Amir stepped closer to Theo. His large body overshadowed Theo's smaller, chubbier stature. "Make me," Amir said down to him.

Theo gulped, "what?"

"You want to solo, right? Beat me, and show me you can handle yourself in a fight."

Theo swallowed, and took a step away from him. Looking around, Theo realized he had no metal surfaces to construct a golem in the grass covered park. If Amir wanted to, he could choke Theo to death in one quick motion.

Amir said, "See? you'd already be cornered if you fought the wrong person at the wrong place. That's why people need teams. Capes don't last long alone, Mouse Protector works well because she can escape at any given moment. You don't have that option. Stop pretending you're a special case, and join the Wards like the rest of us."

Amir took a step back. Theo's face fell to a complete frown. Even with powers, he couldn't stand up to a fellow classmate, and any confidence he'd had in his powers had just been sorely hit.

"Theo," Taylor said, "neither of us want you to be at risk, and neither of us want you to be a villain. We were hoping the three of us could join together as new recruits, and have each other's back when we got there. If you told us why you can't join, maybe we could help in some way?"

Theo swallowed. Amir was Persian. If he found out his family were nazis, what would he do to him? Theo shook his head, refusing to answer.

"Hi."

The three of them turned around. Five feet from where they stood, Light had appeared on the park's grass edge. He stood smiling without a mask, holding a backpack with loose jeans and a black t-shirt. His smile that was identical to Rush's. It was a face they were all familiar with upon meeting him from fight the ABB.

"I-" before he could speak, a swarm of bugs surrounded his perimeter. Without hesitation, Amir ran through the wall of bugs to thrash his body against Light's. Amir grabbed and tussled Light to the ground, pinning him with his weight and super strength to prevent Light from escaping.

Over the sound of bugs buzzing, Light yelled, "dear god, you guys don't miss a beat."

"How did you find us?" The bug swarm said in a loud hissing buzz. They swarmed around Amir and Light, creating a vortex of hostile bugs over them.

Light yelled, "truce! Truce! I surrender!"

"How did you find us?" Amir and the bug swarm hissed at the same time.

"I can't think under pressure!" Light yelled.

"You fought Lung," Amir commented with his neck hold.

Light shook his head quickly, "did it look like I was thinking back there!?"

Amir nodded to Taylor, and Taylor's bugs dissipated quickly. Amir had explained before that Light couldn't 'shift' through physical grasps, so his hold would've been enough to block his escape. It was easy for Amir and Taylor to know each other's gestures, because they both thought very tactically.

Relieved that the bugs were called off, Light said, "my name's Vivan, by the way."

Amir didn't say anything. Vivan added, "still the strong silent type I see. I feel like making an innuendo joke the way you're holding me down."

"I thought the innuendos were Rush's thing."

Vivan raised an eyebrow, "it is? I seriously hadn't noticed."

Taylor walked up next to him. In a cold, harsh voice she said, "why are you here? You saw us without our masks, just because we saw your face, that doesn't give you the right."

Vivan swallowed, and gave a crooked grin. "I honestly thought it wasn't a big deal, my team knows half the secret identities in this city. It wasn't like we'd tell anyone."

Theo and Taylor glanced at each other. Theo asked, "what's that supposed to mean?"

Vivan sighed, "Browbeat, your hands are choking me. Can I-"

"No," Amir said, keeping him to the ground.

Vivan rolled his eyes. "The ABB and Merchants hardly have identities, their cape lives are their only lives. We'd rather not collect the Ward identities because the Protectorate would kill us if we dug deep. New Wave are self explanatory, and we've collected half the identities of the E88 but haven't told anyone."

Vivan turned his head to Theo and gave him a wink. Theo's eyes widened, he knew. "So relax guys," Vivan said, "I wasn't gonna tell anyone, I actually came to give you guys the tinker tech I promised."

Taylor asked, "but how did you know we were meeting here?"

Vivan chuckled, "dudes, you're not the only ones who use parahumans online."

Taylor rubbed her eyebrows, she couldn't believe how careless she'd been. As vague as the short messages were, someone who had been there could've easily realized what they were talking about. A tinker like Leet could've seen their messages and realized they were planning to meet at the park near Theo's home..

Vivan asked, "can I uh… Take out my tinker gifts?"

Amir turned to Taylor. Taylor could… Feel the strange insects within his backpack. They were small, yet strong. She could control them, but they felt like a species she'd never known before. Taylor said, "I'm feeling… Bugs in his backpack, bugs that I can control. This seems real, and with three against one, I don't think he could spring a trap on us. I don't even feel his teammates nearby."

Theo glared down at Vivan. Theo said, "but tinker tools can be traps, Leet is proof of that. And his teammates could teleport at us anytime."

Trusting Taylor's judgement, Amir let go. Amir commented, "if this were a trap, his teammates would've teleported when we attacked him. Besides, if this were a trap, there's nothing we could do about it anyway."

Theo gulped. Vivan rubbed at his shoulders as soon as his sat up. "Damn dude, that was hard as hell. Next time, go easy on me. I can't take poundings as well as people think I do."

Amir, Theo, and Taylor stared at him. Vivan paused, "oh my God, I've become my sister."

Theo clenched his fists, "what do you want from us?"

Vivan looked at Theo's tightened hand. Without hesitation he answered, "I wanted to say I'm sorry. We didn't plan on putting you in danger like that, and we didn't want to escalate things the way that it did. You shouldn't have been threatened that way from us."

"Us?" Theo snickered, "you mean her."

Vivan's mouth twitched, "no, that was my fault too. I should've stopped her, but I didn't. I'm as sorry as she is."

Except she wasn't sorry. Vivan spoke to Aryana after that battle, she had no remorse for using Theo as dead weight. Nor did she regret refusing the truce with Purity. It disgusted Vivan. For the first time, he'd seen the true apathetic side of his sister that he'd always known had existed.

As was disappointed as he was in her, Vivan was even more disappointed in himself. Ever since Sabrina had nearly died, decision making was scaring him. He'd let Aryana make wrong decisions out of fear of responsibility. He should've known better than to let Aryana decide things like that.

Vivan wanted to apologize, both on his behalf and on behalf of his sister.

Theo looked at Vivan for awhile, and asked, "was she serious with what she said back then? Did she really want to use me… Like that?'

"Of course not," Vivan lied with ease, "it was a bluff. That's why she counted down, she wanted Oni Lee to let go of you, so that me and her could attack him."

Taylor and Amir glanced at each other from behind Theo. They weren't convinced, but Theo felt some restored hope from Vivan's words. Not wanting to lose their trust, Vivan pulled out an iron ball set from his backpack. "Here you go, an apology gift."

Vivan tossed the ball for Theo to catch. Theo's hands fumbled upon catching it, and they all noticed Taylor's bugs buzzing as soon as he tossed it. But Theo managed to grab a hold of it. "What is this?"

"A titanium ball. Designed to be as light as a soft ball due to its magnetic center. It has more matter than it looks, so theoretically speaking, you could pop out a titanium statues from it."

Theo stared at it, and placed it on the ground. Pulling his powers out from the ball, an iron arm pulled out from it. It pulled out looking distorted, but quickly solidified upon growing out more. A head came from its shoulder blade, a torso, and legs pulled out from the magnetic ball. Theo stared at the statue. This one was small, only three feet tall. But he guessed he could make bigger ones if he spent more time on it. How would metal be created from such a small thing? I thought I needed a clear surface to create statues.

Theo turned to Vivan, "this is amazing, how did you-" Looking over, Vivan had his eyes and mouth closed shut. His fingers were plugging his ears.

"What are you doing?"

Vivan opened an eye and saw the newly formed golem. "It worked? That's a relief, I thought the black hole was gonna break out."

Theo stared at the ball, "What?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Why," Taylor asked.

Vivan answered, "Well, I don't know how black holes work, or science for that matter, but Leet said-"

"No," Taylor said. "I mean why are you helping us? We're heroes, we could easily end up using these things against you."

Vivan shrugged, "you guys are just doing what I'd do if I didn't have to be a villain, I don't want you guys to be killed because of that."

They stared at him. Before silence could settle in, Vivan pointed to Taylor, "Spawnchild."

"It's Bug Girl," Taylor corrected. She then shook her head, "no, wait, I mean, I haven't decided a name yet."

"Kay, anyway Bug Girl, I wanted to give you this." Vivan pulled out a jar with a large beetle inside. It was brown, and looked like it had a body of a beetle with an ant shaped torso extending from the front. Like a centaur that was comprised of half beetle and half ant-armored human.

"Meet your newest friend, I call him Antman. Its a genetically engineered bug, designed to have the strongest trait of several species of bugs. The shell is as strong as metal, and they can move fast enough to run on water. The claws give it a strong grip, and if you had several of them, you can make him carry up to several pounds of weight. It can fly, but can actually climb faster than it flies. The stinger has paralysis venom. You can either sting someone to numb their pain, or you could collect several of them completely paralyze a person. The venom is completely non-lethal, the effect wears of in an hour. I figured you wouldn't anything lethal, so you can't really kill anyone with this bug unless you tried really hard."

Taylor noted that the 'Antman' was pregnant. He was giving her the opportunity to create more. "It… Doesn't think like bugs do."

Vivan nodded, "we designed it to not be able to survive on its own. It has a long lifespan, but has no mouth or stomach. It can last a month without food and water, so you'd have to breed it once a month to get hundreds of them. Leaving them alone would just make them hold still and eventually starve to death."

"That's… Clever."

Vivan smiled. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was a trait in Taylor that reminded him of someone he used to know, which only made him want to help her even more. "If you came to our base, we could show you how the Spore machine works. Leet has a machine that lets us create any type of animal or creature. You could design your own bugs if you wanted to."

"You're… Inviting me to your base?"

Vivan nodded, "I bet you know more about the bugs you need than I do. And that Spore machine shouldn't go to waste. Think of the bug I gave as a test sample, feel free to visit anytime you'd like."

"You know she's joining the Wards, right?" Amir said. "She could use these insects, and base information, against you."

Taylor didn't want to say it aloud, but that was exactly something she'd do. As hospitable as Vivan was being, that didn't take away from the fact that they were enemies.

Vivan shrugged, "Meh, she doesn't strike me as a double crosser."

Taylor noted his naivety.

Vivan asked Amir, "are you good with weapons?"

"No."

"Regardless, here's a weapon." Vivan pulled out what looked like a baton. Pushing a button, it became a bowstaff. "We figured since you're already a tank, you just needed a weapon. It can extend into a staff, a three part nunchuck, split into twin batons, and can even become a bow and arrow if you had some tinker ammo. This weapon is completely non-lethal, and has the option to shock people whenever you hit something. It also has a safety feature so that it doesn't hurt the user, and its fingerprint activated. So lucky thieves would get shocked if they get their hands on it…. Including us."

Amir took the staff in his hand. He stared at Vivan, "I'm going to use this against you."

"Browbeat, your honesty is your most admirable trait."

Vivan stood up from his kneeling position, "welp, my work here is done. I'd talk to you about the Lord now, but I'm not full of shit."

Before Vivan could turn around, Theo stepped forward. "Um… Vivan,"

VIvan said, "if you still want to join the Losers, you'd have to talk with my sister."

"No, no," Theo shook his head. "I'm not actually joining the Wards. I was just wondering if we could stay in contact with each other. I heard you guys do stakeouts with the ABB, maybe we could do that together?"

Vivan frowned. "You're gonna be a solo hero?"

Theo nodded. "Joining the Wards was never an option for me."

"Or you could join the E88, they could train-"

"Hell no," Theo cut in. "Never. No way in hell."

Vivan grinned. He knew about Theo's family history, and was glad to see that he wasn't a part of that. Vivan turned to Taylor and Amir. "You two alright with this? Him being a solo hero?"

Taylor blinked at Vivan. It was obvious what he was doing, guilting them in a little way. As though them all being rogues put Theo on their shoulders to bear responsibility. Taylor asked again, "Theo, if you're not joining the Wards, are you really going to be a solo hero?"

Theo nodded. Vivan commented, "Rogues really do have the lowest survival rate, especially solo rogues. But I'll do my best to give you tinker tools to up your chances. "

Theo smiled at that. Taylor shook her head, "No, Theo, I'm not letting you do this alone. I won't join the Wards if you don't."

Vivan turned to Amir, "how about you, bro?"

Asking me live up to my name, Amir thought to himself. But really, everything Vivan said was irrelevant. Amir really didn't care what would happen to Theo, but he did like the prospect of staying rogue. And with more tinker tools from Vivan, without the red tape from the Protectorate, maybe Amir could have more freedom than he could as a Ward. "Alright," Amir said to Theo's surprise, "I won't join the Wards if Theo doesn't join."

XXX

Author's note: Tinker invention ideas are much appreciated, especially inventions for Taylor, Browbeat, and Theo.

 

[Axle]

This took so much more time than I expected. Next chapter will hopefully be the last chapter, its a little hard to balance humor at this point to make room for "plot" development. I had to take a break because I was having a comedy burn out (hopefully South Park can cure this).

I had almost five scenes planned for this chapter, including introducing Amir through his day to day school life, and having Taylor and Danny talking about the Losers over breakfast. But those scenes felt redundant, another Aryana/Vivan talking scene I wrote felt too serious (which I might recreate for later), so I went with one long scene instead, with some tinker invention vomit I hope is acceptable.

 

[nextive]

What exactly was Browbeat trying to do with the whole with if I beat you up you gotta join the wards even though you obviously have some deep routed reason for avoiding them?

 

[Axle]

What exactly was Browbeat trying to do with the whole with if I beat you up you gotta join the wards even though you obviously have some deep routed reason for avoiding them?

Click to shrink...

Not necessarily him trying to get Theo into the Wards. That was his way of telling Theo "don't do that on your own," and showing how easy it was to catch Theo off guard.

 

[lostgamer64]

The last chapter will be the hardest to read. I think it's great that you will end on a high note about this thing.

Katherine leaving hurt Armsmaster than he showed. I think it hurt everyone in the room. Glad that those two stayed with that stubborn idiot. Otherwise there would be one too many funerals you would have to write.

 

[nextive]

How exactly did Piggot fire Katherine when she works with her organization as a whole, it would make more sense for her to suspend her from using their assistance while Kats in the town Piggot's in charge of instead of her making a call she really shouldn't have the power to make.

 

[Axle]

How exactly did Piggot fire Katherine when she works with her organization as a whole, it would make more sense for her to suspend her from using their assistance while Kats in the town Piggot's in charge of instead of her making a call she really shouldn't have the power to make.

Click to shrink...

Katherine wasn't fired, Piggot just meant to say "we don't need you anymore, stay away from our teams." Katherine is silly so she interpreted it as being fired.

PRT directors handle Rogues differently, often case by case. So Piggot had the authority to decide whether or not to work with Mouse Protector.

 

[Axle]

Mouse Protector sat on the edge of the rooftop. There was a slight whistling in the wind, and Katherine noticed the sound was amplified through her costume's mouse ears. She thought back to ten years ago. When she was among the first generation of Wards and teaching the next generation of Wards how to be heroes.

The cape she'd taught had been so optimistic. Squirrel girl, back when the word 'girl' wasn't common enough to be overused. She was happy, energetic, and looked up to Mouse Protector as an idol. Katherine used to call her her little sister, and she'd failed her miserably.

"I hate responsibility," Mouse Protector muttered to herself.

Bug Girl climbed onto the roof from the fire escape. Mouse Protector teleported behind herself to greet the excellent new heroes. "Hello my little guppies!"

Browbeat followed behind Bug Girl, and another kid came with a mask. "Theo!?" Mouse Protector shouted with a grin.

Theo had come in with a light armor--styled costume, similar to herself minus the mouse ears. It had no design or color like it was meant to be generic. His mask was plain, with a line for a mouth and eyes to give it a neutral expression.

"Um… Golem, actually."

"I get it! Because you summon golems!"

Golem turned to Browbeat, "see? She gets it." Referring to how Browbeat thought the name was in reference to Lord of the Rings.

Browbeat replied, "Mouse Protector doesn't counts."

Golem squinted underneathe the mask, but it didn't resonate because of it's neutral expression.
"Woohoo!" Mouse Protector pumped her fist in the air. "That means I get three bonus checks for recruiting Wards, I'm paying rent this month!"

The teenagers paused as Mouse Protector celebrated. Bug Girl was going to break the news, but she suddenly became anxious when Mouse Protector began cheering.

"We're not joining the Wards," Browbeat cut in.

"Hmm?" Mouse Protector paused.

"Theo really can't join the Wards," Bug Girl said. "He needs a team, and we're going to be here for him."

"Ergo, but why?" Mouse Protector tilted her head at Golem.

Golem swallowed. Browbeat answered for him, "he has his reasons. You'll just have to take his word for that."

Mouse Protector walked closer to Golem, "is it because of Endbringer attacks? You can work in the sidelines if you want. And if you really didn't want to go, they'd make an exemption for that."

"He's still going to be a rogue hero," Bug Girl explained. "We all are, we just decided we're going to form a team together."

Mouse Protector asked again, "is it because your parents would be against it? There are options to join anonymously. They'd put you in a fake afterschool program, and your parents would never need to know the truth.."

Golem stayed quiet. Browbeat said, "Theo has his reasons for not joining, and we're going to help him be a hero since that's the case."

Mouse Protector mouth shrank. She could deduce that Theo was the core reason Browbeat and Bug Girl wouldn't join. "Level with me Theo, what would it take for you to join?"

An act of God, Golem wanted to say. "Nothing," he answered.

"Why?" Mouse Protector pressed, "the Wards can give you anything. There has to be a good reason not to join."

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Just…" Golem wanted to tell her too. And a part him knew it was the right thing to do, but throwing his family under the bus was an unwarranted change he couldn't go through right now. He shook his head, "you're a rogue hero, why can't the rest of us be independent too?"

Mouse Protector's mouth flatlined. The idea that she was partially responsible for their choice repulsed her. "I started out as a Ward. I trained with the Quadrumvirate. I had help from tinkers, thinkers, and trained from Brutes. I never pretended I was good enough to solo. If the rest of you go independent, I can't say you all won't end up dead like those no-name capes that died at the start of their cape careers."

It was morbid statement, having Mouse Protector of all people tell them that they couldn't do it. When Theo had nothing left to say, Browbeat said, "we're not asking for permission. We're telling you that we're not joining the Wards. We're going independent, whether you agree with it or not."

Mouse Protector's stomach churned. She remembered Squirrel Girl again, there was something about kids that always gave her a sense of vulnerability. "There's… Nothing I can say to change your minds, is there?"

"No," Bug GIrl said. "We talked about it, we've already decided."

Mouse Protector scrunched her fists, "no, I'm not letting you guys do this alone."

XXX

Katherine leaned back on the park bench chair. She had on sweatpants and a pink t-shirt. It was humid outside. A thin layer of moist were on Hannah and Katherine's arms as they sat together on the park bench under the shade. "I hate getting a job," Katherine groaned, "my life would be so much easier if they'd all joined the Wards."

Hannah drank a smoothie as Katherine spoke, they both picked the same flavor, like they did back in high school. Hannah said, "if it makes you feel any better, I think you're doing a great thing."

Katherine let out a deep breathe. She had trouble being serious around people. Everyone was such a downer and she didn't want to become like that. But with Hannah, they might as well have been sisters. She's the only person Katherine could open up to. Katherine helped Hannah learn English, and they often spent long nights of their youth together watching foreign movies.

They were best friends in high school, going through thick and thin as capes. Hannah was there for her when Katherine's apprentice died. It was the last time Katherine had cried, and neither could never forget their bond. Katherine said, "it's like, ever since I went solo, I sort of built myself on this idea that I have to do this alone. But now that I'm seeing other people do it, I'm not allowed to say, 'no, you don't know how much it sucks being alone. It's not as fun as I make it, this isn't for everyone.'"

"I heard the Losers have that same affect," Hannah added, "their videos are making more capes reveal themselves, and making people believe that being independent is easy."

"Exactly," Katherine grumbled, "we're giving people the wrong idea. I had to do something, at least for them."

"Though, there is a silver lining," Hannah pointed out. "People aren't seeing villains as the monsters as they used to be. Villains always have this aura of wicked to them, and it's a big reason why people are afraid of them. With what the Losers do, they're ruining the perception that villains are inhuman."

Katherine chuckled. "Yeah, I believe that."

"Didn't you say something about that? You said you wanted to show the world that villains aren't as scary as we think, by making fun of them until the fear is gone."

Katherine smiled, surprised by how little she'd changed over the years. Although she'd never admit it aloud, the Losers were similar to her, except living on the opposite side of the spectrum. Whereas Katherine tried her best to ridicule her enemies to remove the perception of fear, the Losers did the same thing except in the form of extreme irony.

"But I'm not sure if these new guys can think the way I do."

Hannah smiled, "really though, there's only one way to find out."

XXX

Mouse Protector pranced with delight! As she skipped across the junkyard where the Losers had recruited Rune, Rush chased her with two blunt knives at hand. "You furry faced fuck!"

"Such uncreative name- calling," Mouse Protector retorted, "is it possible a cat has caught Rush's tongue?"

Rush slashed at Mouse Protector's direction, to which Mouse Protector disappeared from sight. "Goddamnit," Rush yelled, "I call foul, you need to tape your mouth shut!"

Mouse Protector teleported onto a giant pile of junk and scrap metal. She grinned down at Rush. Rush was wearing a cat ear headband with a cat tail belt buckle. It was meant to piss off Mouse Protector, but Mouse Protector quickly flipped the game of irritation onto Rush instead.

Mouse Proteector punned. "Such claw-ti-tude, I believe now is the puurr-fect time to reveal, our new web series."

Rush's eyes widened. "No…"


A spherical drone out from behind a pile of garbage. It was a simple spherical orb, courtesy of Glenn from Kid Win. A camera lens focused from its center, and it pointed directly at Mouse Protector. "Today… On the Mousketeers channel!"

Rush gasped, "you plagiarizing bitch!"

"God forbid I steal from villains."

Rush flew quickly at the drone, but the drone easily dodged Rush's attempted grabs. "Leet," Rush ordered through her mask, "they're making a fucking mouseketeers channel, kill them!"

"No." Her teammates said over the communication lines.

They stood several feet away from her. Spitfire, Leet, and Uber were surrounded by a dozen golems. Six golems were made from rusted junkyard copper, ranging from four to six feet each. One golem was made from the titanium sphere Light had given Theo, it stood at a whopping ten feet tall with a robust body structure.

They were wearing cat costumes. Cat ears and cat tails were enough for Spitfire and Leet, but Uber wore a skimpy cat suit that seemed oddly inappropriate for the battlefield.

Spitfire launched a wall molten breathe at the golems. The golems that were copper melted easily, but the titanium one stayed in place.

Leet groaned, "in hindsight, I shouldn't have done what Vivan asked."

Uber engulfed himself in his prototype suit. Spitfire shot cold breathe over the golem to slow it down, and Uber sprinted and clobbered at it with a ten ton swamp covered fist to knock it down.

The statue slowly got back up. Uber said, "you could've at least put on an off switch."

Rush yelled over the call line again, "this mickey mouse slut is stealing my idea!"

Uber said, "god forbid she steal."

"I know right?" Leet said, "unacceptable."

Spitfire added, "we should take her to court."

Rush yelled, "all of your are assholes."

The new drone hovered over the junkyard field gaining a mild view of the people around them. While Uber's trio were surrounded by copper and titanium titans, Light shifted across the junkyard, searching for where Bug Girl and Golem were hiding.

Light only halted his shifted state to glance around for searching. Bug Girl and Golem were masters, so it was only natural that they hid while their powers fought for them. He checked under cars, behind garbage bins, and across as much ground as he could cover. When he finally got far away enough from his team, he turned into his normal form and had a moth swarm fall over his face.

"Oh dear God," Light yelled. He shrieked as he stepped back to shoot excessively at the swarms. "Why the fuck are moths my weakness?" Stepping back, he tripped over the invisible trap set behind him. As he fell to the ground and fell on a garbage pile, more bugs began tangling him with the spider silk.

Light tried to shift away, but quickly realized his feet were bound. Staring at the spider silk, he asked, "what… The hell?"

Browbeat appeared from nearby and pressed Light to the ground. He had electric handcuffs (courtesy of the Protectorate) and tied Light's hand keeping him from shifting away. "You're under arrest."

Light really didn't put up much of a fight. "Holy crap, I forgot about you."

Browbeat said, "They're masters, of course I'd stay with them in case someone got too close."

Golem revealed herself from neary by a metal bin, "one down, four to go."

Light tugged at the silk around his feet, "Browbeat, why can't I phase through this stuff?"

Bug girl revealed herself from nearby. "It's black widow silk," she said confidently, "stronger than steel. I also covered it in crushed bugs since your Menton Effect doesn't let you phase through organic matter."

"Oh my god," Light yelled, "I'm covered in dead bugs!" Light rolled away from Browbeat and smeared himself over garbage bags. Caring more about the bug juice than the trash smells or his actual arrest.

Browbeat said, "that isn't helping."

"You the devil." Light retorted, "you're not a good guy, you're a monster."

Bug Girl said, "I'm not-"

Light made a fart noise at her.

She replied, "I'm just-"

Light made another fart noise.

"Grow up."

Light yelled, "I call cheater. Hashtag Nerf Spawnchild."

They all knew his mask was recording, Big Girl shook her head. She raised her arms up in the air with a dramatic flare. Every bug she'd collected from outside the junkyard gathered. Millions of them. Horseflies, Mosquitoes, moths carrying spiders. Millions upon millions of insects flew into the air, casting a shadow over the junkyard.

Taylor yelled, "I am not Spawnchild, I'm Buzzkill. Get it right!" The insects resonated her message through a loud hissing buzz, almost like it echoed in unison across the junkyard.

Light, Spitfire, Uber and Leet stared at the air in silence. It looked like the sun was blocked out by a black cloud. Spitfire spoke over the line, "new strategy, don't get Buzzkill angry.'

Light said, "I surrender again."

Leet pressed a switch on his laser gun, it occasionally killed bugs within a one mile radius. But he was becoming doubtful as Buzzkill felt more like a force of nature. He asked, "can we run away now?"

Rush looked over at Mouse Protector. Mouse Protector laughed manically at her camera drone. "Remember villains, next time you consider fighting Buzzkill, always remember that chlamydia can be transferred through mosquito bites too."

Rush squinted, "Sex ed is my schlick. We're not finished here until I'm dead!" She pulled out her duel knives.

"Oh dear" Mouse Protector said backing away, "is this your way of trying to claw your way into my heart?"

"That's it, I'm ripping your real ears off!" Rush pounced at her.

Mouse Protector didn't teleport away this time. Instead, she parried off Rush's hits, and quickly disarmed her of her weapons by bending her arms in a heavy fashion. The knives fell out, and Mouse Protector pushed her to the ground causing her to toss and turn..

Mouse Protector turned her head to the camera. With a grin she said, "For you see, my fellow villain, you are no longer fighting against the average heros any longer! We are the scurrying masters of mayhem, the heroes without borders, restrictions, or honor! The rogue heroes of the east coast, the unfiltered rogues of justice! We are warriors without limits, you have no idea what hammer of justice hath just befallen on Brockton Bay!"

"Stop dialoguing shit!" Rush stood up. "We are the villains of chaos! Agents of everything wrong with this world! We will destroy the establishment, and drag this world down with us!"

"Return to the litter box hence you came from!" Mouse Protector retracted, "take your hissy fits back to the catnip depths from which you cometh you kitten cretins!"

Rush's face scrunched. "I'm… Running out of banter. Uber, say something funny."

Uber said, "I feel like a whore in this cat costume."

"That's the point," Rush said back.

Mouse Protector's walkie talkie rang out. It vibrated from her belt buckle. When Rush ran towards her, Mouse Protector raised her arm and yelled, "TIMEOUT!"

Everyone stopped in their place. Even the golems stopped attacking their team. Golem asked, "wait, are we allowed to call that?"

Light replied, "I… Honestly don't know, no one's ever tried that before."

"It's an unspoken rule…" Buzzkill's bugs buzzed from around them.

Browbeat said, "all of you are… Fuck it, sure, why not."

The walkie talkie call was from Miss Militia. "Mouseketeers, there's a fire north side from here. You're closer, keep it from spreading while Velocity heads in your direction."

"Copy dat," Mouse Protector answered. She put her communicator to the side and said to Rush, "I gotta go." She pointed away in an awkward fashion.

Rush glared, "oiy, we're winning, you can't retreat now."

The bugs hissed, "Light is in handcuffs."

Rush spoke to her mask again, "you're a disgrace Vivan."

Light replied, "I'm beginning to realize my life can be summed up as a series of bad decisions."

Mouse Protector was already running away, "sorry, but heroes have real duties to do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rush called out, "am I not good enough for you? Come back here and finish me!"

Uber spoke through the masks, "hehe, innuendo."

Rush yelled, "shut up, that applies to you too."

XXX

The Loser team was slumped as they walked home. It was night now, and they were still debating whether to post the footage online or not. Losing was no problem for them, but they never expected to have the tables turned against them like that. "Mouseketeers," Aryana grumbled, "another shitty team to deal with. Those guys are worse than the E88."

Robert commented, "this team has a strange bar of standards."

Emily smiled. "I... kind of like them. They're kind of like us, independent, and not really looking to prove anything."

Edwin said, "meh, I have been getting tired of fighting the E88. A change in pace is nice." Edwin punched Vivan on the shoulder, "seriously though, did we have to give them those tinker tools?"

Vivan's grinned. They all said he shouldn't have done that, but once Aryana and Emily were on board, Edwin and Robert were willing to accept it. Vivan said to Edwin, "thanks dude."

Before they reached their base, a growling noise was heard from the distance. Just before they reached their apartment entrance, three rhino sized monsters stalked around the building. The monsters looked over from the base entrance, growling at the Losers like their only job was to protect the building form their team. Bitch, wearing a dog mask, was sitting on top of one.

The Loser team hadn't removed their cat costumes yet.

"Everyone," Aryana said in a hard voice, "take your cyanide pills!"

Robert grabbed Aryana's hand before she could reach for her belt buckle. "Nope."

Aryana glared at him, "I've spent three days trying to seduce you, and now you're finally touching me?"

A black cloud appeared from behind them. It dissipated with the night sky leaving only the rest of the Undersiders in its wake. They were hoping to enter in a dramatic fashion, to show the Losers their strength as well as their theatrical capabilities. Grue, Tattletale, and Regent stepped out from the cloud to meet the Losers from behind. "Losers," Grue said, "we're here to make an offer."

Aryana ignored him. She reached for her belt buckle with her other hand, but Emily grabbed it before she could eat it. "Aryana," Emily said, "stahp. The dogs won't eat us."

Aryana pulled against Emily's strength to try and eat the cyanide pill. Robert and Emily pulled her hands down to stop her from placing it in her mouth. Aryana yelled, "Life is absurd!" Her teammates eventually tackled her to the ground. "Morality is meaningless! God isn't listening!"

They wrestled Aryana on the ground as she struggled to put the pill in her mouth. Vivan walked forward already chewing his own pill, "Edwin, why does your cyanide pill taste like strawberries?"

Edwin answered, "because I'm not making you guys fucking cyanide pills."

Emily and Robert paused from struggling. They got up from the ground, and Aryana brushed her clothes as she stood up. Aryana said, "you're a pussy Leet."

Emily asked, "Vivan, did you know the pills were fake?"

Vivan asked, "what does cyanide mean?"

Aryana turned to Robert and slapped him across the face. "There, now we're even!"

Robert's face beamed red. He pulled his hips back, and turned around in an awkward posture. Aryana looked down at Robert's pants. She asked, "did… You just get a boner?"

Robert sat on the ground. Covering his crotch with his legs. "I've… Never been slapped before."

Aryana yelled, "are you fucking kidding me? That's all it took!?"

Regent held Grue by the shoulder while laughing his ass off. Grue looked over to Tattletale and asked, "are we… Really doing this?"

Tattletale stared at the team in disbelief. She sighed, "yeah. Don't worry guys, we're just here to make an alliance."

XXX

Author's note: This is the end of the Mouse Protector saga, and I am now putting this fanfic on hiatus. Not just due to writer's block (I've still got a few arcs I'd like to write out), but also because real life has changed a lot for me, so I won't be able to update this in regularly soon or in a few months. I'll do my best to write in my spare time, but for now, this fanfic is on hold.

Thanks for everyone who have supported it, I hope you enjoyed this story.

 

[Axle]

Hope you all liked this story, I think I'd like to extend Mousketeers fight a little bit longer, I'm just not too sure how to extend it more. I'll think more on how to improve it before I post on SB and SV.

 

[Axle]

Author's note: Future scene I had in mind, I'm just figuring out where it'll fit: Scene: Undersiders and Losers are at the apartment together. Panacea is tied to a chair in the kitchen:

XXX

Aryana asked, "I don't get it, why do you hate us so much?"

Amy scowled, "geeze, maybe you kidnapping me and holding me hostage fucking pisses me off."

"Nah, that can't be it," Aryana tapped her lips, "is it because you're gay?"

Amy paled. "I'm not..."

"She is," Lisa said. "I didn't want to say it because it was kind of a big secret."

"Hold up," Robert said, "I'm not seeing it. Hell, I don't even know why someone would keep that secret anymore."

Aryana added, "isn't it obvious? Can't you see it in the way she walks and talks?"

Both teams stared at Amy for a full minute. Amy spoke softly, "I'm not gay..."

After a long pause, they all shook their heads. "Nope."

"Hold on," Leet said, "I can figure this out."

He walked over to the sofa and dug between the sofa cushions. After picking out what looked like a tiny radio with a television screen, he pointed the antenna at Amy.

"NINETY TWO PERCENT GAY," the machine said. Leet nodded, "gay."

Amy's mouth dropped, "you have a gay detector!?"

Leet answered, "its actually a gaydar, but yeah."

"Now do me!" Aryana shouted. Leet pointed the gaydar to Aryana.

"NINETY EIGHT PERCENT GAY."

"Hah!" Aryana pointed at Amy, "I'm gayer than you, faggot!"

"Do me!" Vivan said in excitement. Leet pointed it at Vivan.

"FIFTY PERCENT GAY."

Leet didn't wince, "I always knew you were bi-curious."

Amy shook in her chair, "are you people fucking idiots?"

Leet pointed it at Brian. Brian said, "don't you fucking dare."

"TWO PERCENT GAY."

Brian squinted, and Leet replied, "it means you're straight."

Lisa said, "guys, we're getting off topic."

Leet pointed the gaydar at Lisa, "ZERO PERCENT GAY."

Robert, Leet, Aryana, and VIvan all gasped at the sound of that. "Christ," Robert said, "you're so straight you're homophobic."

Leet shook his head, "that is so intolerant of you."

"Seriously," Vivan said, "I'm offended now."

Lisa's mouth gaped open, "I'm not homophobic!"

Aryana shouted, "then why don't you kiss me goddamit!?"

Lisa took a step back in disgust. The Loser team shook their heads together, and said, "homophobic."

 

[lostgamer64]

It could be when the Undersiders are trying to join the Losers and they kidnap Amy for initiation. Or Resumé.

 

[Axle]

It could be when the Undersiders are trying to join the Losers and they kidnap Amy for initiation. Or Resumé.

Click to shrink...

This is actually a lot further down, like three-four arcs down the line. Next arc I'm trying to balance between slice of life and action, Undersiders might like the Loser's lair more than their warehouse, and Mousketeers might stop by for an occasional visit (Minuse Mouse Protector).

 

[OddlyParanoid]

Hmm, I have a few suggestions in mind for the reason behind the Undersiders being there with Amy. But I can't quite place where we are in the continuity, unless of course the butterflies have other plans which will result in no E88 outing or eventual Leviathan attack.

 

[Axle]

Too cracky to be canon, too short to be its own story. Rick and Morty, except its Leet and Vivan.

XXX

"Leet," Vivan said walking in the dark next to him. "I don't feel comfortable with this."

"That's because you're being a little biiiiiitch," Leet had a bottle of tequila in his hand. He had an overgrown trenchcoat over his body, and walked down the ABB streets with a portal gun in his hand.

"Leet," Vivan sighed, he wanted to be the voice of reason, but Leet's wobbily body and smelly breath told him that he had already decided. "It's just a robot."

"FOR THE LAST GODDAMN TIME, IT'S ABOUT THE FUCKING REACTOR," Leet yelled, "I literally had to splice miniature stars to get Clank to work, and she fucking stole it. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make another? Oh, that's right, I fucking can't because of my goddamn tinkering. I can't get another, Vi-BLUURP- van, because it was made with fucking biology from another dimension!"

Leet kicked the warehouse doors open. "Sup bitches."

Before the ABB members could draw out their weapons, Leet shot the portal blast at the ground. The ripple created an oozing like hole, and sounds of a screeching hiss could be heard from the other side. Four winged monkeys with demonic red eyes and tentacles for mouth, came out crying in agony as they instictively pounced at the ABB members.

They sucked the faces of members, while letting the tentacles stab the heads of nearby members. ABB member cried in pain as the monkeys scratched at everyone around them.

"Christ," Vivan said.

"They're gang members," Leet emphasized, "they were gonna get killed anyway."

"Oh dear god!" A prostitute yelled. "I'm pregnant!"

Vivan yelled, "Leet!"

"Quite whining, she would've gotten an abortion anyway."

The monkey bat continued to drag the rest of the hookers and gang bangers into the mysterious portal. Leet marched up the stairway to reach Bakuda's office. Before walking further up, he looked down to see the trip wire that was right in front of him. "Pfff, fucking amateur."

Leet's portal gun doubled as a disintegrator, and melted the door in front of them as he casually walked over the trip wire. She pulled out a pistol at him, and Leet instinctively picked up Vivan to use him as a human shield.

Vivan yelled, "Leet, what the fuck man!?"

Leet yelled, "Bitch, where's my generator!"

"What the fuck are you talking about!?" Bakuda hissed, "I'm a fucking bomb tinker, why the hell would I have a generator!?"

Leet glanced at her, squinted, and concluded she was telling the truth. "Fuck, she doesn't have it," Leet pointed the portal gun at the ground and jumped through portal with Vivan. Once they disappeared, Bakuda was left dazed and confused before she had to deal with the flying monkey creatures that killed half her gang members.

 

[Axle]

Author's note: Chapter removed from canon (for now). It doesn't flow well with the other things I have in mind. I'll have to add this later if I can find a good spot for it.



Lisa's mouth shrank. Coil never took bad news poorly, but any setback for him was a setback for everyone. Sitting across the desk from her, Coil asked, "so they won't negotiate."

"They… Would still be willing to, we'd just need to make up for our first meeting.

Meeting near a junkyard, the Undersiders and Loser team decided to met on equal terms. No masks, no costumes.

"Puppy!" Emily's eyes beamed down at the sight of a stray dog scurrying across Rachel's feet. Before she could reach to grab it, Rachel kneed her in the stomach and grabbed her by the neck in a chokehold.

"You touch that dog I'll fucking kill you!"

Vivan instinctively jumped on Rachel's body to try and tackle her on the ground. Except he was so small, he couldn't bring down Rachel's body with his own weight. "Leave Emily alone!" He yelled.

Alec used his power to make her arm go limp, and Aryana pushed a tiny force create distance in between them. "Okay," Aryana said irritated, "what the hell do you have against Emily?"

"Seriously," Robert said, "she's the sweetest person on the team."

Edwin added, "she literally smells like sunflowers whenever she passes by."

Alec yelled, "what the hell made her think petting a dog in front of Bitch was a good idea?"

Emily whimpered, "I can't help it! I love pets!"

Rachel smacked Vivan's nose to push him off her body, and Brian physically grabbed Rachel to pull her away from him. Aryana glared at her, and said, "fuck it, we're out."

"Thing is," Lisa said, "since we're within their age group, they can tolerate some of the mistakes we might make. But when Vivan is put in danger, cooperation gets thrown out the window. They'd still work with us... We just have to show them that Rachel isn't a loose canon."

Coil nodded. No hints from his body language, just pure business between the both of them. Lisa couldn't help but ask, "but is this really worth it? They're all unpredictable to an insane degree, we don't need them. And there are plenty of other out of town capes that can serve as better propaganda tools."

Coil typed on the computer in front of his desk, and turned the screen to face Lisa. "I got a call from Trainwreck half an hour ago. Watch."

XXX

"Miss Militia," Ms. Piggot said from her private desk. Armsmaster had taken a seat next to her. It was his idea that they speak with her privately. Piggot asked, "how serious are you about arresting the Losers?"

Miss Militia scrunched her lips. This meeting wasn't a surprise for her. She'd been caught screwing around with the Losers while mentoring the Wards twice now. The Losers banter was just so easy to be a part of. On two occasions, Miss Militia conjured paintball guns to shoot them in red, white, and blue paint blasts, all while shouting "TEAM AMERICA" as the Losers yelled 'fuck yeah' while running away.

It was just innocent fun. She wanted the Wards to like her a little more, and since she knew the Losers would teleport away when they got too close, she didn't see a big issue being a part of their games for a little while.

"Of course I am," Miss Militia said, "it's just on some occasions I'm aware of the situation I'm in. The Losers have never posed a threat to anyone's wellbeing, I knew they weren't going to harm us or pose a threat for the Wards. Since they'd have teleported away by the time Armsmaster game… I wanted to have some fun before they left."

Before Piggot could interrupt, Miss Militia added, "for the kids. The Wards go through enough stress as is, they didn't need added pressure for a threat such as the Losers."

"Hannah," Ms. Piggot said, "we will not-"

Armsmaster's mask lit up. His head shot up, "Ms. Piggot," he said, "I need you to check the Losers website. Right now."

XXX

A loud thrashing was heard across the city streets. Mailboxes and lampposts shook as heavy steps were heard across the street blocks. There weren't any cars on the road, the streets were closed off a week ago for construction hours. During lunch hour, a giant menacing machine carefully walked across the streets. It walked slowly as it reached the heart of E88 territory.

"I don't get it," Light said over the machine's speakerphones. "Why do you get to be white? I'm whiter than all of you."

The machine's microphones were heard across the entire neighbourhood. It echoed across homes as they casually bickered with one another without a single concern for their words.

The 'megazord' (as duplicated from the tv show), stood fifty feet tall. Made up of various scrap metals, and colored to match each of their own power rangers costume.

They all sat in the cockpit located at the chest of the machine. Uber was at the 'head', serving as leader in a white ranger costume. Light was the left arm, in a blue power ranger costume. Rush was the left arm, in pink. Leet was the right leg, wearing red. And Spitfire was the left leg, in a yellow ranger costume.

Spitfire and Uber's costumes also had skirts to them.

Leet muttered, "We're the goddamn power rangers not the kkk. Just deal with the color you have and shut up about it."

Light shouted, "I demand the power of white. I've always wanted to try out white privilege."

Uber replied, "you threw a hissy fit because you being the black was somehow racist, and now you're telling me you have to be white?"

Light said, "if Leet gets to be red, and Rush is pink, I demand to be the race that I feel."

Rush said, "wait, am I pink for gay, or pink for breast cancer awareness?"

Leet muttered, "the only reason I'm red is because you wouldn't stop calling me red ranger even though I wore a different color."

Spitfire asked, "wait, how is that racist?"

Leet replied, "it's like calling Light black ranger even though he's blue."

Light gasped, "that's so racist you goddamn Mexican."

Leet yelled, "for the last fucking time, I'm not Mexican!"

Light yelled back, "then why the fuck are you wearing red!?"

Rush said, "wait, if Light's gonna be white, I have to be white too. I've been listening to Taylor swift all year."

"Wha… wait." Spitfire said, "if we're doing with colors by race… did you guys pick yellow for me because you all still think I'm asian?"

A silence fell over all of them. It was an ongoing joke that Spitfire was asian beneath her mask. Spitfire yelled, "I'm not asian, I'm jewish!"

"Spitfire is jewish?" Leet asked.

"You're jewish?" Light asked.

"She's jewish…" Rush said looking in her direction.

Uber said, "relax, I can fix this." He pressed a series button from his control panel. In a fast instance, the color of Spitfire's costume shifted from yellow to green. A holographic projection covered the outlook of her zord's leg limb, turning the Spitfire's zord from yellow to green.

They all held their breaths in silence. Spitfire spoke softly, "I want to be yellow again..."

Leet and Rush bursted out laughing. Light called Uber out, "you can turn people white you son of a bitch! I demand the power of white right now!"

Soon, Rush and Light began cheering "White power!" Shamelessly and loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear.

XXX

The Merchants watched Loser's channel hooked up to their plasma screen television. "Fuck yeah," Squealer said getting chugging a bear, "I fucking built that, ToyBox ain't got nothin on me."

While Skidmark, Squealer, and Mush enjoyed the show, Whirlygig and Trainwreck sat at the warehouse's kitchen table, getting away from the trash television. Trainwreck said, "I can't believe I helped build that bullshit."

Whirlygig used her power to stir the soup in front of her. In a monotone voice she said, "I still refuse to believe none of them were high while doing this."

XXX

Purity flew high enough to match the sun's light. Once she energized her powers for long enough, Purity launched a heavy cannon beam straight down at the giant walking mechanized robot. The laser nearly engulfed the robot, and filled the streets with a blinding light hiding the end results of her powers.

It was purely a display a power. She wanted to show the world what she was capable of, so she opted to end this fight before it could even begin.

Once the light disappeared and the dust settled, the robot was still seen standing within a giant ionized electric shield bubbled around its structure. The beam only damaged the streets around it, leaving the robot completely intact.

"Alright," Uber said ignoring Purity. The robot had changed colors from five different colorful pieces, to all white. "Now we're all white. None of you complain about your colors anymore."

Spitfire said, "can I point out how specifically fucked up it is, that all the colors were specifically removed specifically to make everyone white."

Light said, "I can live with that. No one can be racist if everyone's white!"

Rush said, "hurray for the final solution!"

Spitfire murmured, "I'm going to need to talk to you both once this is over."

Purity fired more, smaller, lasers continuously at them.

"Oh look," Rush said, "it's miss pale skin as bright as sunshine lady."

Leet yelled, "Light, fire the gay blasts!"

Uber added, "and don't take your pants off this time."

The megazord lifted its arm up. A bright, alternating array of colors charged in the palm of the robot's hand. It pointed the arm directly at Purity as it charged for the attack

Purity flew fast and high to avoid the line of sight from the laser's blast. Once she was distant and off from its trail of attack, the megazord fired the gay beam.

The beam was blinding, and ridiculously spectacular for an attack. Not only was the laser rainbow, but it also reflected its light across all the buildings, tainting the entire territory in a rainbow patterned light.

The laser bent, and redirected to follow Puirty's trail of flight. Shocked that the laser could follow, Purity launched her own laser to try and deter the strength of the attack.

Once it powered through and hit Purity, the impact launched her into the air with an aftermath of firework explosions. The explosion forced her to land on the building, reeling an immense pain.

"Congrats," Rush yelled, "you've just beam gay beamed!"

Purity's costume changed colors. It had gone from pure white to a splash rainbow colors designed like a tie dye t-shirt. She yelled, "how the fuck is this possible?"

Leet called out, "I honestly don't know."

Purity rose up quickly, and fired another beam at the delinquents. The force shield propped up again, and Uber announced, "if Light's lasers couldn't break this bubble, neither will yours!"

Homing missiles fired from the robot's chest. They blasted forward but slowly turned their directions toward the air. Once they reached a high enough altitude near the sun, they exploded into bright colored fireworks which spelled out "THE E88. WHERE INCEST IS OKAY FOR RACIAL PURITY."

Kaiser looked up at the sky from a safe distance away. He watched as the Losers made a complete fool out of her.

Krieg asked, "this is why you gave her the empire." He was skeptical before, but her finally facing the Losers brought clarity. "She's a scapegoat."

Kaiser said to Fenja and Menja, "I need you both to grow to your largest sizes, and throw me and Hookwolf at the machine."

Purity stared over to the edge of down. Fenja and Menja were taking orders from Kaiser again, even though she specifically told them not to.

Hookwolf was launched into the robot and grappled onto its chest with its metallic grip.

"Oh dear god!" Rush yelled.

"He's scratching his way inside!" Spitfire said.

"Yolo," Uber opened a latch underneath his chair, and climbed out an escape door from the cockpit.

"You coward," Leet yelled, "come back here and die with the ship!"

The robot was made out of scrap metal, and had no resistance to Hookwolf's power. When Kaiser was thrown at the robot, he extruded a platform from the Megazord and stood on it as he took the machine apart from the inside.

Spikes and metal hammers entered within the circuitry of the machine. The limbs and arms gradually broke apart from the inside, and Hookwolf dug deeper into the chest.

An arm cut into the cockpit, Leet yelled, "how'd he know the chest was the control room!?"

Spitfire screeched, "he's watched power rangers too!"

Rush yelled, "abort! abort!"

A spear stabbed through Light's head from the cockpit. "Holy crap," the rest of them yelled.

The robot gradually crushed beneath Kaiser's power. Pieces of it dwindled and crushed as the robot collapsed from the inside and out. In a slow and gradual motion, the robot leaned forward, and collapsed on the city street.

XXX

Edwin, Robert, Aryana, Vivan, and Emily all sat at their apartment homes with xbox controllers in their hands. The Tv screen showed the viewpoints of every member that was in the megazord robot, along with a sky drone observing from above. "Ugh," Leet groaned watching the robot fall apart, "Toybox is gonna be so pissed that I broke that so easily."

"This is what test runs are for," Aryana said. She turned to Robert, "good call on making us use robots instead being there to teleport away."

Robert shrugged, "I figure we've all been lucky for too long. Didn't want to get caught against Kaiser in a giant metal robot."

Emily added, "I actually prefer spending weekends playing xbox anyways."

A spear stabbed through Leet's avatar. Edwin laid back on the sofa, accepting that his robot was dead.

Vivan's lips scrunched, upset that his robot died first. "Man, I wanted to explore the E88 territory in that. I've always wanted to go sandbox mode without worrying about getting mugged."

Robert chuckled, "I'll let you borrow my robot later. As a bonus, you can use white privilege with mine."

Aryana chuckled, "Robert, believe me, I'm gonna use your robots in ways you can't imagine."

The whole team stared at her. She got up from the sofa, and left the room giggling to herself.

XXX

Lisa's jaw dropped at the spectacle. "But… Why?"

Coil said to her, "never underestimate them. We're only lucky they won't go the Slaughterhouse Nine route."

Lisa thought about when she met Rush, she's a sociopath too, she's not far from it.

Coil asked, "are you willing to try again with them?"

Lisa gulped, "I think I have to."

 

[Axle]

Light spoke into the camera in a confident tone. He was donning a familiar costume that was infamous in America. "Hello E88. This is my video application for joining the E88."

He was wearing a long, klu klux klan costume, with long white robes covering his arms and face. But the eye holes of the cone hat, and exposed tan skinned on his hands, all revealed how plainly obvious he wasn't white supremacist material. He spoke into the camera in front of him.

"My resume includes, advocating for a wall between Canada and America. Telling the french guy his pastries were shitty. Beating up oriental hookers in GTA, and being a registered republican in my local district."

Rush asked from behind camera, "wait, you have to say Asian, not oriental. Oriental isn't racist enough."

"Bullshit," Vivan said. "Asian is literally just people from Asia. Oriental is literally defined as 'shiny object.' How the hell is calling someone a shiny object less racist than asian?"

Leet said, "as a libertarian, I'm offended by that republican comment."

Uber added, "also, I'm pretty sure that French guy was actually Italian. All Europeans look alike."

The whole team gasped around him. Rush said, "oh, so all Eurpoeans are the same now? Christ, you're a racist fuck."

"Seriously," Light said crossing his clan covered arms. "That is so, ignorant of you."

"Hey Leet," Rush said, "I think your bro is racist."

The camera turned to Leet and Spitfire. They sat on the couch playing video games in their costume masks. They both had on sweatpants, with Spitfire having a white t-shirt and Leet having a black t-shirt. Leet answered, "he's German, what did you expect?"

Rush questioned, "Uber is German? Then why the fuck hasn't he slept with me yet? I'm the closest thing to chocolate he's gonna get."

Spitfire mentioned, "to be fair, everyone loves chocolate, not just Germans."

Rush added, "god it's great being sugary."

"All of you," Uber yelled, "Fuck all of you."

XXX

It was daytime. Brian, Lisa, and Alec walked across the street and headed towards the Loser's apartment base. Staring up at the large apartment complex, Alec couldn't help but feel some envy towards them. "Okay, so how is it that the Losers get so many floors, and we're stuck with our abandoned warehouse of solitude?"

"It's not so different from our base," Brian said. "Taking a building that's abandoned and making the inside more livable. It's not much better than what we did."

"Not quite," Lisa said scanning the building from top to bottom. "The building has defenses that break half the laws of physics. I feel bad for whoever gets the bright idea to try and attack them here."

Alec looked over at the electric padlock at the entrance of the building. He said, "I'll bet you a hundred dollars I can guess their password is."

Lisa commented, "we're not gonna trip an alarm for you."

"I said guess, not try. I bet you a hundred bucks the password is password."

Heading towards the door of the apartment complex, Lisa stared down at the electronic combination lock. She frowned, and typed in the password the Losers had given her.

P-A-S-S-W-O-R-D-1.

"Fuck," Alec said, "that's why you didn't bet."

Lisa murmured, "you still would've lost..."

XXX

Vivan wrapped his arms around Robert's back. He didn't remove his kkk costume after the broadcast had finished, and he still felt the urge to bring Robert into the dark side. "Embrace my white power!"

Robert yelled at him, "stop tempting me you little bastard!"

"How dare you call me little!"

Aryana threw a wad of bills at Robert's body, "we demand you accept your Aryan heritage!"

Robert leaned his back against the floor to crush Vivan with his own body. Robert said, "I'm ordering curry today, and I'm throwing it in both your faces."

"Wrong race," Vivan groaned weighted down underneath Robert's back, "close, but not quite."

Emily was sitting on the sofa, drinking her tea calmly as Vivan and Robert wrestled on the living room floor. Emily said, "you said we were close when we said Mexico, South Africa, and Hawaii. We've literally narrowed down your ethnicity to everything that isn't completely white."

Robert stood up from the floor, and Vivan clutched onto his kkk hoodie. "But I feel white, that should count for something."

"Not true," Aryana said, "until you've experienced white privilege, the E88 will never accept you."

"New plan then," Vivan said, "Edwin, I need you to infiltrate the E88."

Edwin shrugged, "I think we're beyond the point that any of them would accept me or Robert."

"Or me," Emily mentioned. "Not that I'm upset about it."

There was a knock on the door. The five of them turned at the noise, and then stared at Aryana. Emily asked, "chlamydia again?"

Aryana blinked, "I honestly don't remember." On a few occasions, Aryana would invite dying patients to spend the evening with the team. It wasn't a regular thing, but she'd often call the cancer visitors 'chlamydia patients' as a joke. Aryana walked over to the door and opened it to see the Undersiders. Without an ounce of surprise, Aryana asked, "you guys have chlamydia?"

Brian frowned. He looked over her shoulder, and saw Vivan waving hi to him in a kkk uniform. Lisa sighed, "Rush, you know exactly who we are. You're pretending you don't know for the funny, and it's mostly because you're trying to make light of the lousy situation you and your brother are in. So can we stop playing games right now, and just let us in so we can talk about a team heist?"

Aryana squinted at Lisa, "wow, five seconds I already don't like you." Aryana shut the door at their faces.

Alec said to Lisa, "great, you got us kicked out."

"Relax," Lisa said, "just wait for it."

Behind the door, the Losers spoke among themselves in loud voices clearly meant for the Undersiders to hear. From the other side, Brian, Alec, and Lisa could all hear her clearly. Aryana said, "alright guys, the Undersiders are here. And Tattletale reads minds. So put all your bad shit in the air before she uses it against us."

"Fuck," Robert said. "Edwin, I used your razor to shave my crotch."

Vivan commented, "Edwin shaves? But his skin is as smooth as an albino colored eggplant."

Edwin squinted at him, "Vivan, I've been doing secret experiments on you while you slept for the last three months."

"Holy crap," Vivan patted his head, "no wonder my hair glows in the dark."

"Emily," Aryana said. "The truth is, the reason I don't sexualize you isn't because you're underage, it's because I want to preserve your virginal innocence for as long as possible. Because I know that if I had the chance, I'd soil your spirit hole in the most vulgar and grotesque ways possibles."

Emily blinked at her, "Okay...I don't, have any secrets I keep from you guys."

"Edwin," Vivan said, "you don't want to know why, but it's extremely important you never use your toothbrush again. Don't ask, you don't want to know, but trust me on this. NEVER use your toothbrush again."

Edwin stared at him for a long moment. "You fucking little bitch, I knew it!"

"I'm not fucking little!" Vivan squeeled before Edwin tackled him to the ground. Robert tried breaking them up, but only got caught in between their wrestling.

Edwin yelled, "why the fuck do you all screw around with hygiene products! You can literally buy your own shit at seven eleven!"

Aryana yelled down at them as they continued to fight, "guys, can't you see Tattletale is trying to tear us apart! Don't let her mind tricks get to you!"

The Undersiders in the hallway were only left outside the door to hear their bickering. Alec was leaning against the wall, laughing so hard he was losing his breathe. "Lisa," he said, "we are so fucked here."

Brian wasn't impressed. He turned to Lisa and asked, "how long is this gonna last?"

Lisa yelled at them from outside the door, "I haven't even said anything!

After a few more minutes of wrecking noises, Aryana opened the door for them to enter, "okay, I think we're ready now."

Stepping inside, the Undersiders noticed that Edwin was tied to a wooden chair. Duck tape wrapped around his legs, arms, and body to keep him tied in place. Tape covered his mouth, but there was enough opening for him to mumble. "Why the- fffff-uk am I the one- thatz ti-ed?"

Vivan yelled, "because that's what white privilege is, lil bitch!" Vivan turned at Alec with a glare, "you're next."

"I'm Canadian," Alec said quickly.

Vivan blinked, and stared up at the ceiling in amazement. "Oh my God, we finally have enough diversity for a cereal commercial."

"That's it," Brian finally said. "This isn't going to work out. None of you have shown you want to work together. If none of you want this, why should we keep pretending like this will lead anywhere?"

The Losers didn't say anything. Brian asked again, "are any of you serious about this, or not?"

Aryana answered, "nope. But it's pretty obvious that there's a reason you want to work with us. Despite the name, you know we win. Or at least, never get caught. That's why you've been tolerating us long enough to finally meet us at our base."

Aryana tapped a finger on Brian's chest, she said, "we're never serious. You'll have to deal with that, but we can still work together if you want it. So if you can tolerate this," she pointed to Edwin struggling in the chair to emphasize the point, "we'll be fine. If not, feel free to leave right now."

Brian frowned, it was clear Aryana was more self-aware than she pretended to be. Lisa answered for him, "this won't be a problem. As long as the missions work out the way we want them to, an alliance can work out."

Aryana looked over at Lisa again. "Seriously, there is just something about your face that I just really don't like. I'm sorry, but can you just stop talking? I want to punch you the more you talk."

Lisa bobbed her head, "you can't be serious."

Aryana shrugged, "if you can tell what I'm thinking, I might as well say it."

Vivan yelled out, "you have very nicely combed hair, and I really like how your sweater matches your eyes."

Robert said, "also, your shoes are a little tacky. Next time, go for something that's a little more in season."

Emily said, "wait, does fashion advice count as the truth? Aryana, I think you'd look a lot nicer if you started wearing earrings."

Aryana replied to her, "Emily, I love you so much, never let your guard down around me."

Lisa's mouth was left open, "oh my God… This is my life now…"

XXX

Purity and Kaiser stared down against Hookwolf and Krieg across from them. They were out of costume, standing in an alleyway that was dangerously far away from E88 territory. In fact, it was near towards the PRT base. All of them made a pact to keep this conversation strictly between them four.

"We kill them all," Hookwolf said. "We kill ten niggers for every day they don't surrender to us, let them know they're own fame is causing the hurt, and let everyone know not to fuck with the E88."

Kaiser shook his head, "that's full-scale war. The Triumvirate would make the effort to stop us."

Hookwolf glared at the former leader. "Look around you Kaiser, this is war! I'm done waiting, playing along and pretending patience is key. We need to flush them out, and make them feel the pain that the E88 brings."

Kaiser glanced over at Purity. She was quiet. She couldn't believe the corner she'd been pushed into. The Losers, of all people, were putting them at risk of a civil war. If Purity couldn't convince Hookwolf and Krieg that this was under control, fracturing was inevitable.

"We can't go to war," Purity said. "Not against the Triumvirate, not against the Losers. I tried negotiating a truce with them, they refused."

Krieg raised an eyebrow, "you tried negotiating… A truce?"

Purity nodded, "I told them we'd stop doing hate crimes, focus on fighting other gangs if they stopped-"

Krieg slammed his fist against the wall. "You what!?" Krieg walked closer to her, "just what the hell are you making us into? Where do you stand with the E88?"

"Enough," Kaiser said, taking control of the situation. Just as he'd always been, he was watching out for Purity's back, making sure he had more control of the organization than she did. Kaiser said, "I think I know a way to send a message to the Losers. It won't carry the same consequences to war, but it'll make one thing clear to the world. No one stabs the E88 and gets away with it."