Taylor did not notice how the three of them moved smoothly to the table, which, at the beckoning of Alice's hand, was rid of scraps and excessive piles of dishes and cutlery, replaced by an exquisite set of three persons and an elegant kettle, filled with a delicious tea.

All her attention was captured by Tyche. She talked about Unwritten Rules – some kind of universal laws referring to capes. Obviously, Tyche was a cape. No, she suspected a lot of things, there were persistent rumors about something like that in that endless number of forums dedicated to the capes, and where the all-seeing moderators of the PHO could not get to.

Taylor unwittingly smiled when she heard about the integrity of the Capes civilian identity if they didn't make it public by themselves. She just didn't have that choice. Pantheon... That was the name they had given her.

Now they were inextricably linked. Teenage newly orphaned homeless girl Taylor and fugitive vigilante Pantheon. And both were exposed to the whole world. No way to hide and lay low, no hope of giving it all up.

The die was cast for her. Her Rubicon crossed, and bridges burnt.

She laughed nervously when she heard about the ban on sexual abuse. Apparently, Sophia attached very little importance to such things.

Prohibition on lethal firearms, three-strike rule, Endbringer Truce. A lot of stuff.

It was all-important, and it all needed an explanation. And Tyche explained. At one point, Taylor began to realize that much of what she was talking about concerned PRT and Protectorate internal work and regulations. Which capes are immediately taken over and which are not so zealous to chase for. Biotinkers, High-end Thinkers, Trumps, dangerous Contacts and Shakers, capes, Manton-free capes - all these categories were observed very closely.

She knew very well that she had managed to match, if not all, at least half the categories at once. And she wasn't really happy about it. As Tyche explained, Protectorate is seriously confused about what to do with her. However, they come to a conclusion not to pursue her and to avoid contact for the time being. But when things settle down...

Tyche suggested that sooner or later someone with real influence in the Protectorate would somehow get in touch with her to negotiate. That was inevitable. Fortuna offered to take control of the situation and use one of her own PRT contacts as a negotiator.

The mere thought of something like that gave Taylor irrational fear and chills in the back. Her memories of Sophia and her connection to the Protectorate were painfully fresh. But Tyche immediately assured her that she could vouch for her contact and his trustworthiness. It didn't give Taylor any confidence in the whole thing, but she didn't really have a choice. She was strictly limited in her choices, hoping it wouldn't escalate into something even worse than it is right now. So she agreed.

When the basics were over, Tyche took the phone out of her jacket. Nothing super-ordinary, a simple slider. After a few seconds of pressing various buttons, she called to someone.

"Hello, Number Man." at that moment, Taylor could have sworn that Tyche made tremendous effort to say this man's cape name, not something else.

After listening to a short answer from her interlocutor, which Taylor herself did not hear, she continued the conversation.

"It's about Pantheon. I think you've heard. We need shelter. Brockton Bay. Something comfortable, quiet..." – Tyche glanced at Taylor, "with a full wardrobe and a fridge. For two weeks so far."

This time, the wait was long. The woman was silent, waiting for Number Man's answer, looking somewhere far away. But finally, a voice on the other end of the wire said something.

"Yes, she's with me."

After that, she gave a phone to Taylor

"Miss Pantheon, I presume?" a nice man's baritone sounded on the other end of the wire.

"Y-yes."

"Listen to me carefully. Downtown. The crossroad between Twelfth and Fourth. Seven-story building with a brick facade. Go inside and say "9.11.01 New York" to the concierge. They'll give you a key. The apartment's yours for two weeks. The food will be delivered right in front of the door. The doorbell will ring twice. Understood?" the Number Man's voice was calm and as if mechanically accurate.

"Twelfth and Fourth, brick facade, "9.11.01 New York" Y- I think I memorized."

"Excellent. Please put… her on the phone."

Taylor immediately followed that request, handing the phone back to its owner. The one who took it perfectly calmly and, having listened to the Accountant, answered:

"The usual. You know the account number. And please keep this number."

At the end of the call, the woman closed the lid of the phone and then handed it back to Taylor.

"Here you go. This line will not be listened to, and your anonymity is safe."

Taylor froze when she saw the phone stretched out. Dad... Danny didn't like cell phones. From the moment Annette crashed in the car accident, she didn't have to hold at least a dumping cell phone.

And take one now… Take the phone from this unknown woman... She wanted it. She wanted to get help from her. But she didn't want to forget. She cannot allow herself to betray his memory…

"I don't think your father would mind."

Taylor flinched, raising her eyes to Tyche. How did she know?

"How do you know?"

Tyche smiled, looking right at her. But she didn't answer. There was no need for one.

The girl turned her gaze back on Tyche's handheld phone.

Yeah. She... she was right. Danny wanted only the best for her.

She reached out and took the phone out of her hands, smiling at Fortune bravely in return.

"So... what's next?"

"I think I'll accompany you on the way to your new apartment. It's not hard, and with me it's less likely to you to get into trouble. Hope you won't mind.

All Taylor had to do was smile insecurely while clutching a newly purchased phone.

*linebreak*

Brockton Bay Wards Headquarters

The Wards were depressed. Aegis didn't even have to look at his teammates to figure it out. The very atmosphere that prevailed in the briefing room spoke eloquently about it. Even Clockblocker was gloomy. And it wasn't about the new cape, Wards had already faced it more than once. And not even on the scale of destruction and number of victims, even if it was their first such experience. Not at all.

Wards were smothered by the knowledge of involvement in everything that happened.

Shadow Stalker, Sophia Hess, there was no difference in this case, were a Ward. Their teammate. The girl who went on patrol with them, trained, rested and had their back in battle.

And at the same time, she was a maniacal psychotic bitch, who bullied, poisoned and tortured innocent girl.

And their attempts were successful. And now everyone - Wards, Protectorate, Brocton Bay citizens - must deal with the consequences of this unjustified brutality.

Pantheon escaped only yesterday, and things already went down the hill. Mayor Christner, under public pressure, was forced to demand answers from the Protectorate about what had happened. Hospitals were off-limits, and everyone knew that. And Pantheon broke that rule

Yes, it turned out that no one was hurt, and the arrival of the Isis was filmed on television cameras, but the very fact of precedent remained. As an interim measure, the Protectorate had to send its troops to key buildings in the city, creating a sense of security.

But it was only the least of all the problems. The very fact that the Pantheon appeared on Brockton Bay's board of power finally broke fragile power balance between the gangs.

While the Protectorate was busy dealing with the hospital situation, members of the Empire-88, led by Hookwolf, demolished a warehouse belonging to the ABB. Police arrived only when fight was already over to find out an empty warehouse and several badly beaten ABB thugs pinched to walls.

And now Lung had to reciprocate to Empire.

When that happens Protectorate will have no choice but to intervene. Potential gang war will affect citizens. And eternal conflict will start anew.

There was one "But" left. Pantheon. A walking ticking bomb with bullshit near-Triumvirate level potential. And she clearly showed them, that allying with PRT was not an option to her right now.

If Kaiser succeeds in recruiting her...

No one wanted to think about that outcome. But it was quite real.

And there was a realization that all this could be prevented, that the root cause of everything that happened, the smallest domino knuckle that started this avalanche, was in their team the whole time. If they could saw Sophia's sadistic tendencies, her... hobbies.

Yeah, they couldn't follow her to school, but...

It was a meaningless cycle of self-accusations. Guilt burned Aegis from the inside. It wasn't even six months after Triumph moved to the Protectorate, leaving Aegis in command and he went him down…

He was distracted by Miss Militia, who continued to describe the overall situation to Wards.

"Director Costa Brown sent a team led by Alexandria to resolve the situation."

That name was tantamount to a gong strike for the detainees. One of the strongest Protectorate members here at Brockton Bay?

"A-alexandria?" shockingly asked Vista, who looked now as if all the air had been kicked out of her.

Miss Militia nodded.

" That's right. Even though officially she came to investigate the incident with Stalker and solve the situation with the Pantheon, unofficially Alexandria agreed to remind the gangs why fighting with the Protectorate is a bad idea."

"Why not just crush them all at once? ABB, Empire, Merchants, and even Coil can be nailed if we have Alexandria here?" Aegis was barely able to hold himself from facepalm. Clock was in his repertoire, as always.

Miss Militia also took a breath.

"Because no one in their right mind would take that risk. Even us. With Alexandria's help, we may be able to grab some capes, but the rest of them will leave. They'll leave and lurk to hit again. Besides, Clockblocker, do you have any idea how much destruction escalating

Lung can cause? And escalated Lung fighting against Alexandria?

Aegis saw Clock swallowing nervously. However, Carlos himself did not suffer from a lack of imagination. Battles against the most powerful Changer to date, not to mention the fact that this monster became known for its own battle against Leviathan on almost equal terms. And he had no desire to test what Lung is capable to do.

"In any case," continued Militia, "the patrol schedule for the next week will change, as will the route. I don't know yet how, the director and Alexandria still haven't agreed on this. And most importantly. If you see the Pantheon," a young girl's face appeared on the screen behind the woman's back, "Standby. Report to Console, but never attempt to get closer or contact her. Does everyone understand?"

Wards nodded.

*linebreak*

"I knew that Sophia was full of shit, but she's magnitudes worse than I imagined" muttered Kid Win into nowhere, laying down on the sofa in the recreation area looking at the ceiling.

"Mm-hmm, and now there's a Potential Trump-9 wandering around the city, capable of calling on different mythological fauna," Aegis with a thoughtful view was looking at the glass with water poured into it.

"I wonder what will happen to her now... To the Pantheon, I mean" Vista was sitting at the sofa hugging giant teddy bear, putting her chin on his head.

"Usually rogues don't live long, but in her case... It depends on how adequate she is and how much the whole story has hit her. Maybe Alexandria can persuade her to join the Wards."

"She was afraid..." said Gallant doing something over his phone. Possibly chatting with Glory Girl.

"What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday... at the hospital. She was near the border of my sensitivity, but I could feel her emotions. What she felt... Anger, confusion, that's understandable... But there was even more fear."

"Well... I guess that's understandable. It's not every day you're told that the Wards member, led you to a trigger and actually caused the death of your only parent," Kid Win wince said.

His words were met with severe silence. Yeah, no one would even think to blame them for what happened. But sometimes people are the best executioners for themselves.

So they sat for a few long minutes before Aegis decided to move.

Carlos got up from the sofa and moved towards the elevator.

"Where are you going?" asked Missy

"I'm going to see the Director. I want permission to see Sophia"

Clockblocker stood up:

"What the hell do you want with that, Carlos? After all the mess she'd made..." Dennis, without agreeing, interrupted at half a word, stumbling upon Aegis' look.

" Because this is not a friendly visit, Dan. I want to look her in the eye, you know? To look into the eyes of the… former hero. That one hero who singlehandedly did more damage to Protectorate and this town that half of this city villains did in their whole life. I... want to understand why. What was all that for. Why would she do that? Why couldn't she just..."

"Become a proper hero?" - Carlos was interrupted by a voice coming from opened elevator doors.

"The problem is, Carlos, there's a huge difference between all of you and Stalker. The difference in choice. You chose to be Ward members while Stalker was assigned hereunder threat from the Correctional Center. Not that she won't go there... or anywhere worse anytime soon, but the point stays. Stalker couldn't have been a hero just because she didn't want to. She has other goals and ideas. A different philosophy, to put it this way."

"Yes. We remember. "Hunters" and "Prey" - eloquently commented Kid Win.

Triumph waved confirming as if pointing to Dennis's words.

"So meeting with Stalker makes absolutely no sense, Carlos. You'll make only worse to yourself. And this is where it is better to find the strength to move on. It's not your fault"

Carlos looked at Triumph with uncertainty.

"I guess you're right. But what happens to her?"

Triumph shrugged his shoulders:

"I don't think even Director knows anything about that. Today Alexandria came to visit Sophia's cell and talked to Hess about something for ten minutes. But I think next Wednesday we will know for sure - Alexandria asked the director to hold a press conference. I think that's when they'll announce it. At least the official version."

"And Pantheon?"

"I have no idea. But... I think Alexandria has a plan for everything. There's a reason Director Costa Brown sent a member of the Triumvirate here. I think they'll manage to do something"

"Judging by your look and absolute joy you're feeling, you managed to meet her "

Triumph smiled victoriously, and then took out of his pocket the form of a notebook with some kind of stroke.

"You're right. I met her in the corridor and took some autographs. Here, take it. There's enough for everybody"

Before the Triumph could notice, he was almost buried under the bodies of former comrades-in-arms fighting for the right to rip out a leaf with an autograph from his notebook.

AN:Happy New Year!

Maybe you could leave a reply as a gift to me?