“Good news guys,” Clockblocker said from the head of the table. “We’re off the night shift.” There was a beat of silence. “Okay don’t everyone cheer at once.”

  “Not really the mood this morning, Clock,” Kid Win said, drumming his fingers on the table. “Can we hurry up? I have stuff to work on.”

  “Why?” Vista asked. “We didn’t get more heroes, did we?”

  “Dragon and Defiant are sticking around for a bit,” Clockblocker said with a shrug. “And they said we’re stepping things back a little, with the Undersiders apparently quieting down and...y’know.”

  “Don’t pussyfoot,” I grumbled. “With Skitter being dead.”

  “Yeah,” he said weakly. “That.”

  “What’s up your ass?” Crucible, one of the new ones, asked. “She was a villain, pretty bad one from what I’ve heard.”

  “She was my age, asshole,” I spat. “Fuck sake, Taylor got outed before she died. How do you think her dad feels? Or her friends?”

  “You mean the other members of her gang?” Autumn Rain, the other out-of-towner said. “You’re not seriously saying we should be sorry for them; you arrested her, you put a gun to her head.”

  “I didn’t put a fucking bomb in her car,” I retorted.

  “Okay, we’re getting off topic guys,” Clockblocker said, raising his voice. “We can debate the finer points of this shit on our own time, we’re on the clock right now. Amaranth, it sucks that she’s dead but it wasn’t your fault.”

  “She literally wouldn’t have been in the transport if not for me, Clock,” I countered.

  “And like you said, you didn’t plant the bomb.” We glared at each other silently, and after a moment he sighed and shook his head. “Whatever, if you need to talk I’ll push through some extra time with Yamada. Just let me know, okay?”

  “Sure,” I said with a shrug.

  “And new guys, get off her ass,” he said to the others. “Amaranth’s been through more shit in the last two months than I went through all last year. What was it again, a day before Leviathan?”

  “Two days,” I said.

  “Two days what?” Autumn asked.

  “Got my powers,” I said simply.

  “Fuck off,” Crucible scoffed. I already didn’t like him.

  “You fuck off,” Vista snapped.

  “Guys,” Clockblocker barked. “Cool it. We need to hash out a new emergency schedule for school. Good news is, the teachers are pretty cool about letting people out without a question. Still can’t all go at once though.”

  “Put me in wherever,” I mumbled, energy spent. “I don’t really care.”

  “Congrats, you get Monday and Tuesday,” he said with fake cheer, drawing a quick quintet of boxes and putting my name in the first two. “Any days people don’t want?”

  “I got regular doctor’s appointments on Wednesday,” Autumn said, glancing my way. “Got nothing going on Fridays so that and Thursday may be fine I guess.”

  “I’d do Thursday, Friday too,” Crucible added.

  “Nuh uh, gotta get you guys working with us too.” Clock scratched his head. “Vista, Win?”

  “Whenever,” they both said, drawing a sigh from Clockblocker.

  “Then you’re on Wednesday, Thursday Vista.” He wrote it on the board. “You too Crucible. I’ll do Monday and Friday, Kid Win: Tuesday and Wednesday. These days you keep your work phone on you and if you get a call answer.” He looked at me. I just rolled my eyes. “We’ll rotate this monthly. Weekends we’ll set up on Friday after school, make sure we can all actually cover our slots. That all make sense?”

  “Hey, so, me and Autumn aren’t in school,” Crucible said hesitantly. “We just got some extra vacation days?”

  “PR and training,” Clockblocker replied. “Probably a bunch of show patrols and crap, and we’ve got to work you into team strategies. I’ll be hanging out here after school basically every day, Amaranth too. Wanted you guys to settle in before we got started, but we really shouldn’t wait anymore. We’ll hash out a schedule after this meeting, the three of us, cool?”

  “Yeah, sounds fine,” he replied with a shrug.

  “I’m cool with that,” Autumn added.

  “Great.” He straightened his shoulders and took a deep breath. “Okay, we’ve got some RoE changes too, ones that don’t go beyond this room. Got it?” We all shared a collective look, then nodded. “Okay, we’re slowing down on cape fights, especially against the Undersiders. And-- let me finish!” He yelled as everyone started to speak at once. “If you see them fighting other villains? Let them be, or for some gangs give them a hand even.”

  “What the fuck?” I snapped, smacking my hands on the table. “We’re fucking capitulating?”

  “No, we’re not,” Clockblocker countered firmly. “If you see them committing a crime on their own, drive them off. But no more of the shit that’s been going on the last couple months, no big strikes or building-leveling fights. Trying to get the city back to peace, like we had before all this shit started.”

  “Peace,” I spat. “And you’re cool with this, captain?”

  “I got handed these rules and I’ll follow them,” he replied. “Right now, the idea is to keep as many capes alive as possible.”

  “End of the fucking world,” I grumbled.

  “Excuse me?” Autumn Rain shrieked.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Shit,” I muttered, then sighed. “Crucible you know, you were at the fight against Echidna.” He nodded. “Okay so, long and short is the world ends in two years. Jack Slash is the cause, and—” I bit my tongue. Actually maybe don’t tell the Wards that the first hero was going to destroy the world. “And I assume we’re preserving capes to stop it?” Autumn looked sick, Crucible leaned over and spoke to her quietly.

  “That’s the idea,” Clockblocker said with a nod.

  “That’s fucking stupid,” I growled. “That’s going to get people killed, not capes Clock, civilians. The Nazis are moving into the East End, biggest black neighbourhood in the city, did you forget that report?” None of them mattered for Gold Morning.

  “Like I said, we’re still going to stop them from doing crime,” he said, leaning on the table. “But this shit isn’t a war, and we’re not soldiers, Amaranth.”

  “That’s literally all I’ve been since I signed up,” I said, throwing up my arms. “That’s what being a cape in this fucking city is, Clock.”

  “Not anymore,” Clockblocker said. There was no arguing with his tone. “Any other objections?”

  “She’s right,” Vista said after a moment. “This is going to hurt people. If we’re not trying to stop the villains…” She trailed off, looking between me and Clockblocker.

  “I don’t think we’re going that far,” Kid Win hedged. “Right? Like we’re not not fighting them just...not attacking?”

  “Something like that,” he said with a nod. “And again, it goes both ways. They don’t cause too much trouble, so we don’t have a reason to annihilate them.”

  I shook my head and tuned out as the out-of-towners started asking about the other gangs and rules for them, which were broadly the same. What was even the point of being heroes if we weren’t actually going to stop the villains? We didn’t have to kill them, but letting them run around the bay practically unchecked was insane.

  I understood the need to preserve people for Gold Morning, especially now that the obvious solution was out. Hell, I agreed with the sentiment at least; we needed to think about saving billions. And at what cost? Was letting a thousand minorities get lynched to save several billion people worth it? Numerically sure, it all added up, but I wouldn’t want to be the one telling that to their families.

  It was almost enough to make me wish for the relative simplicity of fighting the Nine. At least there I knew, hands down, where the lesser evil was. Now… I just didn’t want to think about any of this. I had to puzzle out how to prevent the world from ending on top of balancing being a Ward. And then there was Amy…

  Too much, too fast, but at least I had time to sort things out. Behemoth was the only thing looming and I was pretty sure it wasn’t til next month. Still, probably better to tell the Protectorate early that he was going for India. Where would he attack? I didn’t exactly know India well but...Lucknow sounded kind of familiar. I wasn’t about to trust I was right though, better to just pass the information and let the Protectorate figure out where. Later, I’d deal with that later; I still had time after all.

  “Alright, that’s the brief done,” Clockblocker said at last. “And that’s all we had today. Win, make sure to actually log the hours you spend in the shop, okay? Payroll’s on my ass, and that probably means they were on Gallant’s.”

  “Okay, I’ll try,” Win replied with a shrug. “Gallant never brought it up though.”

  “We had bigger problems,” Clock said simply. “Autumn, Crucible, we’ll do that schedule now. Rest of you can go, dismissed.”

  Kid Win, Vista, and I all rose and left the meeting room behind, heading to the elevator. We rode down in silence, apparently none of us in a social mood. That was fine by me, I had no idea what to talk about anyway. Between Amy and the end of the world...yeah, not exactly topics I could bring up easily, or really wanted to. When we finally got down, Win headed straight for his workshop, muttering something about automated timekeeping. Vista and I headed to the common room, plopping down on the couch but leaving the TV off.

  “It’s hard to believe it’s over, just like that,” Vista said after a minute. “Like we’re really just...stopping?”

  “That’s what he said,” I muttered. “One bunch of shit after another.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed with a sigh. “At least it’s for a good reason? Like...I don’t know, it makes sense. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean I don’t get it, I guess.”

  “You know the Nazis only lost Hookwolf to the Nine?” I said. “I mean I fucked up Victor, pulped his hands, but—”

  “Whoa, you what?!”

  “Sorry, did I not mention I fought Victor?” I frowned. “Oh, no yeah, it was right after I got my tattoos. He came in and asked me to join, told me about my mom and stuff. So I broke his hands. Sort of wish I’d killed him, if I’m honest. Maybe that’s fucked up, but he would have deserved it.”

  “Jesus,” Vista breathed. “You really sound like Shadow Stalker sometimes. It’s...kind of scary.” I shrugged.

  “Honestly? We could have used her these last few fights.” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “Whatever. If I see a bunch of Nazis on the prowl I’m not letting that shit slide, rules or no.”

  “Lia...come on,” Vista said, putting a hand on my arm. “They’re weak now, with Kaiser and Hookwolf gone, and their identities outed. They aren’t going to be able to settle anywhere, and I doubt the Undersiders are going to let them get away.”

  “Shouldn’t be the fucking Undersiders, Vista,” I snapped, shooting her a glare. “They hit us harder than we ever hit them. The charity, taking territory in the middle of a disaster, kidnapping Stalker, attacking us three fucking times. They aren’t our friends and they shouldn’t be trusted to protect the city, they can’t be.”

  “Can we talk about something else?” Vista asked, a little nervous. I sighed.

  “Yeah, sorry.” I took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “It just gets to me, maybe because my mom was such a rank piece of shit. Sorry, anyway, you sleep okay after Clock woke you up?”

  “No,” she snorted. “I barely slept at all after that.”

  “Me too,” I replied. “Was hanging out with Amy when I heard and...yeah, it wasn’t great.”

  “Oh, you were hanging out again?” Vista smirked. “Not beating the ‘dating’ allegations.”

  “Doesn’t help that she…” I trailed off and chewed my lip.

  “What, you guys kissed or something?” A beat. “No fucking way.”

  “Shut up,” I snapped, my cheek burning.

  “When, after you got there? After Dennis called?”

  “After the call.”

  “Damn,” Vista said, nodding. “Guess you guys really hated Skitter.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” I countered. “I was kind of freaking out and she helped calm me down and it just...happened.”

  “So what, you’re dating now?” She grimaced. “Oh god are you guys gonna be even more cuddly on the couch?”

  “No, we’re not, I don’t know.” I hung my head. “I don’t even know what to think about it. Too much on my mind.”

  “I mean, do you even like girls?”

  “That’s not the issue.”

  “So you do.”

  “Vista…” I fiddled with a strand of unruly hair. “Fuck sake, yes but she doesn’t.”

  “So why did she kiss you?” Vista asked, cocking her head.

  “No I…” I groaned. “I mean she doesn’t like me.” Vista stared at me intently for a long, silent moment.

  “You really are a dumbass,” she said at last.

  “People keep saying that,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t know what to think about it because, fuck Vista the world’s going to end. That sort of takes priority, you know?”

  “Can you stop it right now?”

  “It doesn’t happen for something like two years,” I replied, shaking my head. “If I knew where the Nine were, sure, but Dragon and Defiant lost them; I don’t have a hope before then.”

  “Then stop moping about it,” Vista said. “Just train hard in the mean time, become an amazing hero, one who can kill Jack Slash. Other than that, I don’t know just try and enjoy the time you have?” I scratched the back of my head.

  “It’s really annoying,” I said slowly. “How much sense you make sometimes.” She grinned.

  “That means you’ll stop being such a misery-guts?” she asked.

  “Where the hell did you learn ‘misery-guts’?” I snipped.

  “Friedrich, in ops,” Vista said. “It’s also where I learned about Night Nine. Wanna watch a horror movie about PRT agents getting stalked by an unknown Stranger?”

  “Will you tell Dennis and Chris about Amy if I don’t?” She nodded and I groaned. “Fine, but don’t tell them.”

  “My lips are sealed,” she replied, getting up and setting up the movie. “Now lets get to gore.”

  I shivered and grabbed a pillow, settling in for an unsettling afternoon.