"I'm glad you finally decided to actually show up," Brandish said with a condescending tone. I shared a look with Cheshire before turning my attention back to Brandish.

"It be hard to avoid it, you are in Nova's house," Imp pointed out. Brandish shot her an annoyed look before turning back towards Desh, Cheshire, and I.

"As you might have guessed," she said, walking around. "New Wave isn't just a name you can parade around with. As much as it may shock you, you are actually supposed to be working with New Wave. That includes not suddenly disappearing to Boston for a day and a half and then coming back and dropping the bombshell that you dropped."

"We get it," Cheshire complained, "And we're sorry, but we were working with some degree of urgency."

"And no one is doubting you for that," Lady Photon said kindly.

"But speaking of urgency," Brandish barreled onward. "Would it have anything to do with the fact you had MAX CLAY LOCKED IN YOUR BASEMENT!" She slammed a hand our table, making Flashbang jump like she had surprised him.

"He volunteered to be locked up down there," Cheshire offered. "And really, why was Glory Girl snooping through our basement?"

"Well maybe," Glory Girl began, sounding more than a little annoyed, "It had something to do with the fact that my sister offered some lame excuse about skipping town before disappearing without another word. So I come to your place, expecting to find her here and instead you have the head of a fucking terrorist group not to mention one of the most wanted men in all of goddamn America!"

"Well, if it really bothered you, you should have reported it to... oh yeah, no law enforcement in the city has been very effective."

"I get the feeling we may have overlooked some things recently," Desh said solemnly before Brandish could rise to the bait.

"You're goddamn right," Brandish said sternly.

"Make sure you 'heal' some of these guys when you get a chance," Cheshire murmured just loud enough for me to hear.

"Look," Manpower said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "You have only been part of New Wave a short time and things have been really chaotic. So most of has happened recently can be forgiven. But Max Clay in your basement? Besides everything else, I'm pretty sure that is illegal."

"It was completely voluntary," Cheshire reminded them.

"I presume you are going to turn him in now that he isn't any use to you anymore?" Brandish asked pointedly.

"Turn him into who?" Cheshire challenged. "Any authority we hand him over too is just gonna ignore it when he gets shanked in his prison cell. I mean, that is kind of the reason why the PRT is disbanded right now."

Brandish pinched the bridge of her nose. "So you plan on just holding him down there until everything blows over?" She asked.

"Basically."

Brandish let out a frustrated sigh.

"Well if you have a better plan that doesn't involve getting him murdered in police custody, I'm all ears," Cheshire responded smugly. The other members of New Wave looked at each other for a moment, but none of them said anything. After a moment, Manpower cleared his throat and stated,

"Maybe we could move the focus of this meeting to patrol routes."

"Yes!" Cheshire said cheerfully, pulling out a map of the city and slapping it on the table. "First, what has happened since The Sentient shot Brockton Bay's power structures in the kneecaps?"

Manpower glanced at Brandish and Lady Photon. Neither of them supplied anything so he decided to push forward.

"Alright, starting with the simplest, the ABB has been doing much the same. They've expanded their territory to include this area," Manpower drew a line with his finger across Cheshire's map. "They have been doing pretty much the same thing they've always done. They and everyone else is mostly concerned with what is left of The Sentient.

"Next is The Merchants, now holding on to all these areas," Manpower pointed at several locations over the city. I raised an eyebrow as I recognized a trend between them.

"Isn't all of that territory The Sentient had taken when they were just The Four Gangs?" I asked. Cheshire nodded and answered with,

"Yeah, it is all bits and pieces of the city that no one really cares about. Not as large as their main area, but nothing anyone is going to fight them for. But how are they still a thing? I heard they had got new capes but are they any good?"

"Unfortunately," he grimaced. "Two high-level Brutes, one of which has some sort of bio-Thinker ability to sense people who are around him. Black Tar and Needle. Then have a Changer called Choker. Turns into some sort of serpent creature that can only move in the shadows. She likes to strangle people with her appendages. And then there's Phlegm, a Tinker who specialty is most likely breaking things down but we aren't sure."

"Four new capes?" Cheshire asked with a frown. "There is no way they recruited them on the fly."

"Regardless, they have them. And they aren't the only gang in the city." Manpower reached over and pointed at two different portions of what had previously been Empire territory. "The Empire has split in half. Kaiser has been withdrawn, and when he is seen it is alone. Viktor, Othala, and Cricket are still with him. But the remaining ones, for whatever reason, broke off and are working this half of the territory. Luckily for us though, each of them are much weaker when they're split apart like that.

"Coil is the last one, expanding his reach over this area." Manpower outlined an area only a few more blocks outward from his original location. "He hasn't been much of a problem, which has been a nice reprieve for people and heros."

"Alright," Cheshire said. "I got it all, what about the heroes?"

"The Protectorate has stuck to all of this," Manpower pointed out a wide area, all of which was just anything on or near the coast of the city. "An independent group calling themselves team Vigil has been patrolling most of downtown. They've got four capes, at least one of them a Tinker.

"Vista, an independent called Arsenal, Clockblocker and Kid Win have been working Shantytown and the housing areas around there. We have doing our best to watch over Trainyard and the Boat Graveyard, but mostly we just patrol the neighborhoods near our house."

"But now that you're finally here," Brandish said. "We can actually cover most of the city."

"Right," Manpower agreed hastily. "But before that, it would be nice to know your powers, Desh. And you as well," Manpower said, looking at Imp.

"Hey, I'm not a part of this," Imp said, hold her up hands defensively. "Just along for the ride so long as I'm in the mood."

"But I'm more than happy to assist," Desh said, standing up. "My power revolves around the projection, empowerment, and control of rats. I can project about fifty rats normally, but the more real rats in my control that die the more I project for a short time. I can make real rats stronger, making their muscles swell and bones expand. Sometimes doubling their size. The projection of them are only the strength of a normal rat."

"Can you sense anything through them?" Brandish asked. Desh shook his head.

"Only where they are, which I can use to find people."

"It still could be a useful power to scout out areas before approaching them," Lady Photon pointed out. Manpower nodded in agreement.

"Alright, then I think we should talk patrol routes," Manpower said, moving back over the map. "We'll split the city up like a grid system. Not counting Imp or Panacea, there is ten of us all together. We can pair off in twos and each cover five sections of the city."

"Flashbang and I will make one team," Brandish said. "Glory Girl and Desh can work together. Maybe she won't break as many buildings with him scouting ahead of her." She shot Glory Girl a pointed look. She rolled her eyes.

"Lady Photon and I can be another team," Manpower said. "Shielder and Laser Dream can be a team. Leaving you, Nova and Cheshire, as a team."

"Don't think for a second I'm not coming," Imp muttered pointedly for me to hear.

As for deciding which part of the city went to which, we ended up numbering each section of the city and drawing numbered pieces of paper. It wasn't the most sophisticated way to do it, but effective.

Cheshire and I ended up getting the south side of downtown, the location where team Vigil was apparently based in. As soon as it was all decided, Brandish and Lady Photon left. Manpower stayed behind to explain team Vigil and the people operating out of downtown. Glory Girl waited impatiently in the corner for Panacea, who had stayed behind with us.

Team Vigil had four capes by the names of Metaltin, Quantumlock, Vibrasonic, and one who apparently had a name no one wanted to acknowledge so she just got called Whiplash. Even stranger, Vibrasonic was the only powers they really understood. She gave kinetic force to sounds she generates with objects in her hand. There wasn't enough known about the others, besides that one of them had to be a Tinker. Of what, Manpower didn't know.

As soon as he had explained all he could, he left to join his wife outside. Leaving us with Glory Girl.

---

"Is this what we're going to do every time they get into an argument?" I asked Cheshire as she clicked through television channels. Imp was chilling on the couch next to her, drinking out of a soda can despite my father asking her to not drink on the couch. My father was relaxing in his chair, drinking out of a beer bottle. I, now being as large as I am, just stood.

In the kitchen, the back and forth between Glory Girl and Panacea could be heard. Panacea appeared to be going with the lie that she had gone to Boston with us just to heal us in case something happened.

"Probably," Cheshire said with a nod. "Unless you feel like getting caught in their family drama."

"You know," I said slowly, "There is another thing of family drama I still had some questions about."

Cheshire let out a sigh and tossed the remote over to Imp. "Alright," she said. "Let's head outside and talk." I nodded and stretched out a wing to her. She touched a feather and I teleported us to the backyard. The effort of doing so was practically nonexistent now, and the dizzying effect was almost completely gone.

"Ergo and Biohazard," I said seriously now that we had some degree of privacy.

"I already explained what I know to you," Cheshire said plainly.

"I know, I know. But Cheshire, that doesn't make it okay."

"Well," Cheshire held up her hands helplessly. "It works. So long as Ergo is there to reign her in she'll never go too far. And if he isn't there, he can use the commands to stop her and get her to fix her mistakes."

"I get that," I said frustratedly. "But can you tell that it absolutely necessary?"

"He believes it is," she answered quietly.

"I wasn't asking about him, I was asking if you did."

Cheshire took a deep breath and looked away for a moment. Eventually, she shrugged and said, "Maybe someone Biohazard trusts we there to watch over her, she would be okay without her brother there to control her as a just in case. But Nova," Cheshire looked me in the eyes seriously. "Please think really hard about what you're going to do about this. Without Ergo watching out for Biohazard the PRT is going to come down on her head. And there isn't much choice besides the Birdcage if she goes to court."

"It can't go on," I stated angrily. "Ergo can't just rewrite her memories and control her actions like this. I want to help Biohazard, but it wouldn't be acceptable to Master psychopaths to get them to behave."

If it wasn't for Ergo controlling her Biohazard would just be a villain. I knew if that were the case I wouldn't have any sympathy for her, Ergo is the only thing that has stopped it and he did it with mind control.

"Alright Nova," Cheshire said glumly. "I'll tell Panacea we'll probably need another cell till the PRT comes back into play"