I watched from the buildings above as my father worked on taking The Sentient members down. It was only a test, some practice before the big day ahead of us. But practice was good, and now that my dad was one of us he would need all of it he could get.

To be honest, I wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that he obtained powers, but I wasn't going to complain as it had saved his life. I decided that my own feelings about it weren't that important, he had powers and now he was going to help me and the others.

I watched The Sentient members back up into an ally as a black mass crawled towards them. There were six of them, already tried Brute nets and Kinder gas. Already used grenades and guns. They were out of options and were getting backed into a corner by a few hundred two foot long rats.

"Surrender." A voice said. I approved of his use of the voice modifier, it made his already deep voice even deeper and projected it over a large area to make it a little harder to pin down.

"Go fuck ya self!" One with a particularly heavy accent shouted before tossing a grenade into the rats. Just like the times before, the darker coloured rats surged to the grenade and surrounded it with their bodies. It released a tiny flash and a small popping sound as it went off.

"Have it your way," Dad responded. A moment later, all the rats surged towards the six men. Some began nipping lightly on their heels while others crawled up their pants and sank their teeth into the meatier flesh of their thighs. It wasn't enough to seriously injure, but certainly enough to hurt going by their screams as they fell to the ground. That rats cover their bodies for a few moments before stopping their biting and clearing a space around their heads.

Desh stepped out from around the corner, revealing himself to the now disabled terrorists. At first, I wasn't sure about the style he and Cheshire had picked for him, it seemed a little too modern for my dad. He had a grey bandana wrapped around his mouth and a black baseball cape on. He wore a heavy grey trench coat and black jeans along with a black shirt. I couldn't tell exactly what it was about it that made it seem like he was younger, but it had that effect.

"Are you done?" Desh asked dryly. The terrorists didn't respond. Desh nodded and brought out some zip ties. I saved him the trouble and picked the ties up with my magic. He dispersed the rats, the black ones he projected vanishing into clouds of black vapor and the grey ones scattering into the surrounding buildings. As soon as I had a line of sight I wrapped the men's wrists together with the zip ties. To add insult to injury, I lifted them up and put them back to back, chaining them together with more zip ties.

With that done, I took a step off the building and plummeted downward before spreading my wings to catch me just enough to land softly on the asphalt below.

"That was good," I said. "You think you've got the control down?"

My dad flexed his hand open once, summoning a black rat into it, then closed it into a fist and crushing the rat back into mist.

"I think so," he said.

"Good," I said with a nod. "Cheshire and Flower Knight should be ready with the others and we can get going."

"Hey," a female voice called out to us. "Got room for one more?"

I turned my head and saw Shadow Stalker standing at the end of the alley.

"Absolutely not," I said, grabbing her with my magic before doing anything else.

"Put me down God d-dang it," she said angrily and with frustration as she stumbled over the intended swear.

"No," I answered curtly. "You murder someone and then try to act like you're a hero, like that changes things. No, I'm not dealing with you."

"I never pretended to be anything," she spat. "Those PR jerks can try to brand me however they like, but I know what I am. And so do you."

"And what are you, Shadow Stalker?" I challenged. She paused for a moment before saying,

"I'm someone who gets the job done."

We stared at each other for a long moment before I set her down. It didn't matter what she was, even if I thought it would help I couldn't hurt her. PRT or not, she was still a hero to everyone else. Maybe even more so once they ran with that rehabilitation story.

"Go home," I told her, turning around to face my dad.

"No," I heard her say. I turned and shot her an angry look. "Something is going down. Panacea's leaving the city, the two crazies are leaving too, and you're running with this new cape. You're going after someone big, and I want to be there."

"There isn't room on this team for killers," I answered.

"Not a problem," she said, holding up her wrist to show some sort of Tinker tech bracelet. "I do anything and I get the worst taze of my life. I've got tranquilizer darts and I'm not allowed to carry a knife. I'm about as kid-friendly as things can be now."

I continued to stare her down as I thought about how to respond. That was when Desh spoke up.

"We're heading into a terrorist den, Nova." He told me. "We could use all the backup we can get."

I scowled. He was right, but I didn't like it. One thing still bothered me about this though.

"Why?" I asked. "You were practically frothing at the mouth last time we met."

"Because the last time we met I thought you were a joke," she answered without hesitation. "You were a cartoon horse, I thought you some stupid gimmick cape that was trying to appeal to children or something dumb like that. But you've done things since, you've gotten results. Which is more than I've done the last few weeks working for the most inept group of people I've seen. You're strong, you've kicked butt, I like that."

I shook my head. She was a little on the ridiculous side, but I could tell she wasn't joking. She actually believed this was how things worked. I don't know if that should make me even more worried.

"Fine," I stated with another shake of my head. "But I'm not flying you anywhere. Come closer." She didn't answer me, immediately striding forward as requested. The moment she was close enough I reached out with a wing and touched her with a tip, grabbing my father with the other wing and teleporting the three of us to the location we were supposed to meet up at. I dropped a disposable phone that was calling nine-one-one on the ground just before we left so someone came and picked up the terrorists. Not that it mattered, the number they had and the rate they were being sprung from prison basically made arresting them pointless.

We teleported into existence in a grassy area next to the highway just outside the outskirts of the city.

Cheshire and Ergo, going by his old villain name now that he had a degree of freedom, were in an intense conversation. Biohazard was talking to Flower Knight, both of which looked worlds different from the last time I had seen them. Biohazard was taller with lanky limbs on top of a gas mask she wore. Flower Knight looked larger than a normal person, yet somehow was thinner than the original suit as well as being more decorative. Imp and Purity were waiting patiently, Imp in a simple black spandex suit and a cheap domino mask.

"What is she doing here?" Flower Knight asked the moment she noticed us.

"A last minute tag along," I answered hasitly. "Is everyone set? What did you do with Aster?"

"Panacea got a family member to watch her for a bit." Purity answered, with a trace amount of worry detectable in her voice.

"We set Will up with a couple of really long books," Cheshire said. "And put a bunch of food in the corner of his cage so he should be set while we're gone."

"So we're good?" I asked. They all nodded and looked at each other to confirm. I couldn't help but smile as I said the next part. "Then who is ready to take down a terrorist organization?"

"I'll kick ass any day of the week," Imp stated with a light laugh.

"Let's get my stepson back," Purity answered with a serious nod.

"I can't wait to get a closer at their Kinder gas," Ergo stated.

"I call dibs on their organs."

"Ready when you are," Cheshire told me.

"I'm here to help," Flower Knight mentioned.

"I ready for this whole mess to be over." My dad said, moving to climb on my back. Shadow Stalker didn't say anything.

"Alright," I said with a touch of enthusiasm. "Everyone got their rides?"

In response, Biohazard held up her hands and they began to twist and shift into tiny thrusters at the wrists. She pointed them off the ground and came to a shaky hover until her legs began to transform into thrusters too. She fought for balance with a concerning lack of control.

"She'll get the hang of it with some practice," Ergo reassured as he pulled out a white cord that attached to a red button. When he pressed it he became a golden blur as he shifted twenty feet in another direction. Pressing the button again and reappeared back where he was, all in the span of a fracton of a secound. "Phase shift," he stated.

"I got my ride," Imp said, wrapping her arms around Purity's neck before she took off the ground. "Just so long as she doesn't think about German blimps, she should be fine."

"And you're our ride," Cheshire said, walking up to me with Flower Knight. The two of them and my dad along with that armour was going to be difficult, but I could lift one or two of them with my magic for a bit if I needed a break.

"You forget about me?" Shadow Stalker asked, adopting a slightly annoyed tone.

"Sorry, we had this planned out ahead of time edge lord," Imp said. "Should have brought your own ride."

"My phase shift can affect two people," Ergo said as he adjusted a dial on his gear. "Take my hand and we can go. And Biohazard? Remember you have two hours of flight time at cruising speed before your fuel source needs to be refilled so go easy on the throttle."

"Oh, you're no fun." Biohazard said. She glanced at Purity and asked, "Wanna race? I'll bet my liver against yours."

Ergo sighed.

"Let's get going, we have a long trip ahead of us," I said, taking off into the air with a burst of speed. Purity and Biohazard began to fly after me, Biohazard leaving a smoke trail. A few moments later Ergo and Shadow Stalker began blinking down the highway with periodic bursts of golden light. I smiled as I shot off in the direction of Boston so fast I heard my dad yelp.

A/N: The name Desh is a reference to the city of Deshnoke.

Also, this chapter may contain trace amount of FRIENDSHIIIIIIP