And when I did think about it?  No.  Not with Sophia there.  No way, no how.  If I stepped on her turf, I suspected one of us would kill the other.  Besides, there wasn’t one thing about joining the Wards that was even remotely redeeming.

How so? Becoming officially a hero isn’t redeeming?

“No?” he sounded surprised.

“Just… no.  I’d sooner go to the Birdcage.”  I was surprised that I actually meant it.

Yeeah. Taylor might’ve had a different tune if she hadn’t just found out who she’d end up working with. Honestly, it’s probably better this way – if she hadn’t, and then went to meet the Wards, she’d get the nasty surprise a bit too late, and possibly have it be mutual.

My contempt for the heroes was growing.  Armsmaster had refused to cooperate with me on any level.  Glory Girl and Panacea hadn’t done anything to earn my respect when I ran into them.  Topping it off, they had a personality like Sophia’s on their team?  I couldn’t even imagine joining them, now.

…fair.

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to keep that in mind.”  When Legend returned his attention to me, his lips were creased in a frown.

‘course, this isn’t exactly helpful for Taylor.

What could I say to defend myself now?  Anything I said would be colored by Armsmaster’s undeserved comment on my personality.

It’s deserved, but only from Armmaster’s perspective.

“Another option would be for you to join the Wards.  We were willing to offer you this when we got around to talking to you, before seeing you on your way.

Called it!

You would be placed under varying degrees of probation based on your past crimes, but you would earn a paycheck, you’d have a career-”

Much like Sophia.

…who is now another reason for Taylor to not take this deal. Based on what we saw in Interlude 3, the Wards are open about their identities. Joining the Wards would not only mean working with Sophia, but also Sophia finding out Taylor’s identity in turn.

With Sophia as a Ward, cape life might be pretty terrible. Taylor’s doing this to escape from the Harpies, after all.

“No.” The word left my mouth before I even thought about it.

Yeah, figured as much.

How honest do you feel like being about your reasons why, Taylor?

I had to keep myself from laughing again.  This shit was too ridiculous.  This was Sophia.  She was five times the villain I was.

Yeah. She does seem to take her hero work seriously, but she’s still a total bitch both in and out of costume.

The only difference between us were the labels that we stuck on ourselves.  I told him, “It was an accident.”

That’s true. No use lying when the truth is the best option anyway.

It didn’t even occur to Taylor that something like this could happen before it did.

“Okay,” Legend told me.

Armsmaster told him, “Skitter here has been building a fairly strong reputation as an adept liar, so be cautious.”

Has she now.

I suppose it makes sense that Armmaster would see it that way, when she didn’t come through on her supposed recon mission, even after she got the last bit of information she said she wanted to get (though Army doesn’t know about that part).

“Oh?”

“She’s fooled my instincts and my hardware on more than one occasion.”

Nice, she’s actually got him thinking that she managed to fool his lie detector.

When I didn’t come up with a response right away, he added, “If the tables were turned, if it was you who had your identity uncovered, you would want us taking the same firm hand, giving you that same respect.”

…would they?

I couldn’t help but chuckle silently for a second there.  The armor of my mask clacked against the countertop as I let my head rest there.  Respect?  For Sophia?

Heh.

Besides, I had suspicions that if the tables were turned, Shadow Stalker wouldn’t be pinned against the counter of the nurse’s station.

Yeah, probably not. The Protectorate are very naturally going to trust the heroes more than the villains, including a former villain on probation as a hero.

Wait, was it former villain or formerly an anti-hero? I don’t remember. My point stands either way.

Taking a deep breath – no use digging myself in deeper – I asked, “You were talking options.  What are they?”

“If you were judged to have used an Endbringer situation to your advantage,

…ironic that they should bring that up right now, given Taylor’s suspicions.

you would meet the most serious penalty we can offer.  Those who violate the Endbringer truce are almost always sent to the Birdcage,” he let that last word hang in the air.

Good to hear they take it seriously, at least.

I shook my head a little, as if it could get my thoughts back on track.  “Nobody explained anything.  You guys were going to arrest me, so I thought I’d leave.”

Ahahaha, I love that casual phrasing. :p

“Hospital personnel aren’t permitted to talk to patients, liability reasons,” Miss Militia told me, echoing what I’d heard earlier.

“Figured as much when the nurse didn’t answer my questions,” I muttered.  No use dragging that nurse-in-training down with me.  She’d been nice.

Yeah, don’t get her in trouble.

“But Panacea did have words with me when she was putting me back together, and-”

“Panacea is a member of New Wave,” Armsmaster spoke, and I got the impression the explanation or excuse was meant more for Legend than it was for me, “She’s not official.”

In other words, “We’re not responsible for this.”

Interesting wording, though. “Not official.” I suppose that’s at least partially because the team is not government-funded.

“She’s the only person who would talk to me!” I raised my voice.

“I would ask you to keep your voice down,” Legend spoke, his voice hard, “There’s very few ways a situation like this can go, with a cape’s civilian identity at stake.

Best not to let anyone overhear what goes on in here.

If you start shouting, specifically shouting what you know, it would severely curtail what options you have left to you.  Understand?”

Yeah.

More able to take it in stride than the leader of the Protectorate, Miss Militia asked, “What happened?”

“Escaped her cautionary restraints, caught her peeping on one of the blue tags.”

Hm. If not heroes and villains (which this seems to support, as Army would’ve said “heroes” if that was what he meant), I suppose the tags might be indicators as to whether the person’s identity is safe for someone to come in. Taylor’s injuries didn’t require her mask to be taken off, so she got a red tag, and the nurse-in-training was asked specifically to check on those with red tags – in other words, those she could check on without learning the identity of.

“Damn it,” Legend muttered.

“Who?” Miss Militia asked, “And how bad?”

“Shadow Stalker.  Saw her unmasked.”

“I see,” Miss Militia spoke,

Yeah, that’s fairly unfortunate.

“Nurse?  Would you see that everyone without clearance is put to work elsewhere, while we resolve this?”

Sounds like they’re going to discuss the matter of Shadow Stalker’s identity, see how much Taylor admits to knowing. That, or she’s changing the topic to what they originally wanted to discuss. Either way, they don’t want anyone else in the room.

I apparently didn’t move fast enough for him, because he swung his arm forward, forcing me to stumble forward to keep my feet under me.

It’s been a bad day. Much like Panacea, Armmaster has every right to be in a bad mood right now, and Taylor’s escapades (or escape-ades, in this case) are not helping.

It was looking increasingly likely that I would get arrested, but my thoughts turned to the trio, and their crime and punishment.  Had Sophia, Emma and Madison had gotten off easy because Sophia was a superhero?

Hm. The Wards at Arcadia High have an agreement with the school, if I remember correctly. It’s entirely possible Sophia does too.

I had my suspicions that the schools worked alongside the Wards, things wouldn’t work if they didn’t, and the schools were a government institution just like the Wards were.  Did Sophia get easier treatment?  Two weeks suspension when she deserved expulsion?

I mean, on the other hand, Sophia was already essentially on probation as a Ward. If anything, she should get in more trouble, not all of which the school was at liberty to share information on with the rest of the people in the room. That’s what I was referring to when I said that the running team might not be the only thing she got Sophia in trouble with.

This would also explain the sheer magnitude of how pissed Sophia was when she attacked Taylor at the mall.

I was probably wrong on some level, but it gave answer to questions I’d assumed I’d never get an answer to.

It’s the best answer available so far, at least.

A  hand seized me by the back of the neck, hauled me to my feet.

Ah yes, there they are.

Numb, I wobbled, relying heavily on the painfully hard grip to stay balanced.  He turned me around, and I saw Armsmaster, his lips curled in a silent snarl of anger.

Hello. Yeah, I may be optimistic about what Legend and his pals wanted to talk to her about, but I never said Armmaster would be happy about it. Especially after what Taylor just pulled.

A glance at his shoulder showed no sign of the ragged mess from when I’d last seen him, but there was no arm either.  I thought I saw a glimpse of a flat expanse of skin.  Panacea’s work?

Yeah, makes sense. Panacea may be a good healer, but straight up regrowing limbs is probably a bit much for her. Or at least, it would take a lot more time than she has.

“What are you doing here?!” he roared the words to my face.

When I couldn’t formulate an answer for him, he marched me out of the curtained enclosure, kicking the curtain so it slid shut, moved me towards the nurse’s station where Miss Militia and Legend were talking.

Oh yeah, Armmaster is pissed right now.

And Taylor is worse off because he found her in a room where there’s no doubt that she found out a hero’s real face (though he doesn’t know that she knows who that face belongs to).