I’d just dropped off the camera at Lisa’s, and now, I’m hunting for some poor saps that’ll be my ticket to getting the heroes’ attention. The footage I captured is of several spots around the city that our Thinker believes have a good chance of being the Tinker’s lair. Not just in ABB territory, either, but all over Brockton Bay.

  A sensible call, all told. Fanfiction featured numerous places of hiding, so there’s no point trying to remember any of those.

  So far, I’ve managed to stop a mugging, a snatcher, two sexual assaults, and a drug deal. All relatively minor crimes, as far as hero work goes, and all reported to the police. I could have stayed when they asked so that Protectorate heroes could come talk to me, but it’s been agreed beforehand that this would come off as suspicious.

  Ruff ‘n Tumble already had an established pattern of behavior. Even calling the police was a change, and we didn’t want to come off as trying to bait the "White Hats," as Alec called them. We could justify him doing this as a means of helping out the beleaguered good guys in a time of need. After all, if everyone was focused on my activities as Seraph, minor capes like Ruff could pick up the slack with the street-level stuff.

  Hero sightings have increased recently, though. A lot of them were just "showing the flag," as it were, according to Lisa. However, even with the increased presence of government-sponsored capes, there were still plenty of dark corners in the Bay that they just didn’t patrol.

  It was as I heard a high-pitched scream one block away that I saw my first glimpse of another parahuman in the Docks. Shining brightly against the backdrop of a dusky sky was a figure I had last seen a few days ago.

  Purity.

  Crap. What was the Queen of the Nazis doing in these parts? Fanon tended to give this chick a lot of slack, but that was one of the details that I found hard to let go. She was a supporter of what should’ve been a dead ideology, and we’re supposed to just let that go because of… what? Because she changed her mind?

  Fuck that.

  This did make things annoying for me, though. From the looks of things, she heard the scream too. And—yep—there she goes for a dive. Great. Fishing out the burner in my pocket, I gave Lisa a call, as I promised I would for any major development.

  “Already?!” came her sharp, unamused voice before I could even talk.

  “I haven’t done anything yet!” I snapped back. “Purity’s flying over the Docks and she’s about to either interrupt a crime-in-progress or cause one. What do I do?”

  “Get out of there,” she said immediately. “Do not engage, do you hear me? Do not engage.”

  “Copy that,” I confirmed, turning around and heading in the opposite direction.

  “I mean it, Ruff!” she pressed. “Don’t get involved.”

  “Son of a—I’m already walking away!” I hissed into the phone. The lack of trust was really starting to grate on my nerves.

  “Good. Keep me posted.”

  “Fine,” I said, and ended the call.

  I had just enough time to let out a long breath of frustration when someone spoke up.

  “Girl troubles?”

  Before I knew it, my body dashed forward into a roll before repositioning to face the newcomer. I should note that I’m currently in an alley between two tall buildings, so the silhouette of the flying figure was impressively framed against the fading light.

  “Rune.”

  Fucking hell. Sabrina the Teenage Nazi was here. Can this situation get any more cliché?

  “Chillax, tough guy,” she drawled, overtly affecting a nonchalant attitude. “Not here for a fight. Just spotted you while trailing Purity. You saw her too, right?”

  Seeing as she wasn’t spoiling for a fight, I decided to just nod. Fighting a cape was not on my to-do list, especially as Ruff. Ruff doesn’t do cape fights. He runs away from them.

  “Yeah,” she nodded sagely, “she’s in a bit of a snit. Probably a good idea you decided to avoid her. You definitely lucked out meeting me.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  What the fuck?

  “Uh, why?” I had no frame of reference for this conversation, I suddenly realized. All of my first-meets with other parahumans involved combat or emergencies of some kind.

  “‘Cos I won’t get violent if you refuse my invitation to the Empire,” she responded with a grin.

  Dammit.

  “I see,” I said. “That’s mighty kind of you. Then, I would like to take you up on that non-violent offer of refusal.”

  “What?”

  Contrary to my expectations, she neither got angry nor flew away in disappointment. Reviewing my words internally, I realized that it might’ve been a bit too convoluted.

  “I meant that I’m refusing your invitation,” I clarified. “You said you wouldn’t get violent if I did, right?”

  “Ohhhh! Yeah, that makes sense,” Rune said, finally catching on. “Fine, at least I can say that I was polite. Just so you know, though,” she added, looking down on me from her floating platform. “The next invitation might not be so polite. Hookwolf and Krieg don’t like taking no for an answer.”

  With her warning delivered, she went on her way. Once I was sure she was gone, I called Lisa again.

  “Ruff?”

  “Just had a face-to-face with E88’s resident rune witch,” I explained. “Don’t worry, we didn’t fight. She invited me to join, I refused, and we went our separate ways.”

  Lisa hummed over the line. “It seems their participation during the Echidna incident gave them enough confidence to start going out again.” I heard the clicking of keyboards; she was on her laptop. “Yeah, there’ve been reports of rallies extolling their virtues by putting down ‘unclean monsters in the guise of man’ or whatever.”

  “Sounds about right,” I noted while navigating the maze of alleyways that led to my next destination. “Where are you, by the way? A café?”

  “Good guess!” she praised, as if talking to a child. “I’m in a coffee shop in the Boardwalk. Decent internet, great lattes.”

  It seems being out and about was doing her mood some good. At least she didn’t sound so surly anymore.

  “Oh, and it seems they think they have Seraph’s measure,” she continued.

  “What?”

  “Yeah, by saving Purity and The Travelers, they concluded that you’re just another hero in the same vein as New Wave and the Protectorate. They even think that there’s a chance to turn you.”

  “That’s stupid!” I blurted out, causing Lisa to laugh.

  “I know!” she crowed. “They clearly don’t know all that much about you. We actually have the PRT to thank for this, since they’ve caught virtually all the moles in their department. Well, they did it because we took out Coil, but same difference. The E88 is blind, so they’re going off of assumptions. You went out of your way to save villains; ergo, you’re a bleeding-heart hero.”

  “Then they’ll be disappointed to find out that I’m anything but,” I finally said after a moment’s pause. “You think Taylor will let me just get rid of all of ‘em? Save us all the headache?”

  There was a long silence before Lisa deigned to respond.

  “As she is? Probably not.”

  “Right,” I sighed.

  “What made you think she even would?” she asked. “Taylor’s clearly a hero to the bone. You said so yourself.”

  That she was, which is a problem.

  “You think we could convince her that some issues deserve permanent solutions?” I asked.

  A hissed intake of breath sounded through the receiver. “Are you asking me if we could manipulate Taylor to loosen your chains?”

  “No!” I immediately denied. “I would never do that! Since when has convincing become manipulating?”

  “Since forever, you idiot!” came the jab. “Why do you think ‘never let a Thinker start talking’ is such a widespread sentiment? We use words to make people do what we want.”

  “Then, let’s not do that,” I said emphatically. “Can’t we just lay out the facts in front of her? There’s got to be a bunch of publicly available stats that we can show her, right? Let the truth be her guide.”

  “You know it won’t be that simple.”

  “We have to try.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we have to cut out the rot!” I screamed.

  My outburst caught both Lisa and me off guard. Her, because she went completely quiet. Me, because, without even realizing it, my fist had dented a dumpster I was passing. Forcing myself to keep still, I breathed deeply and slowly, ignoring the smell of the alley. Once I had recovered some self-control, I made sure to apologize.

  “Sorry about that,” I said.

  “It’s fine,” came her reply. “I understand, really, I do. You have all this power, and you want to make a difference, but you’re scared that you’ll go too far. That’s why you chose Taylor, isn’t it? You want her to be your moral compass?”

  There was a bit more to it than that, but I couldn’t tell her my real reasons. So, I just confirmed the ideas she already had.

  “Well, you can’t have it both ways,” she rebuked. “You can’t have her be a good person and also a callous warlord. A criminal is still a criminal. A villain is still a villain.”

  She’s wrong. I know she’s wrong. Taylor may not have been an angel when she ruled Brockton Bay, but she wasn’t a monster. Yet, how could I make the Taylor I have now into the one I know she could be without destroying her?

  “Look, let’s put a pin on this for now,” Lisa sighed. “We already have a lot on our plates. Plus, an Endbringer attack is scheduled to happen any day now.”

  That last part nearly made my heart burst out of my chest.

  An Endbringer attack.

  An Endbringer was going to attack.

  Leviathan was going to attack Brockton Bay.

  How the fuck could I forget that?!