I heaved a sigh as I walked back into the living room. The moment Amber heard my hooves softly impacting the carpet she leapt out of her seat on the sofa. Aisha was awake now, and apparently trying to show Will how to handle a controller for the console we got. And Will apparently found my father's beer. Great.

"Well?" Amber asked hopefully. Lisa rose from her seat, shooting me a curious look as she silently asked me the same question. I quirked my mouth and hung my head.

"I'm not going to turn him into the PRT," I finally managed to sigh.

"Yay!" Amber said, throwing her arms up into the air. I raised an eyebrow at her, that mood of her's seemed to switch on a dime.

"But," I said, instantly causing her face to frown. "I'm letting him go free either. I'm not sure what to think about you and him, but I know you hurt people. Intentionally or not. So instead, I'm keeping Ergo in the basement and I'm keeping you close by. Do you understand?"

Amber bit her lip and sighed, but nodded.

"Good, you can go see him then," I gestured towards the basement door and she eagerly clapped her hands together. Her mood flipping instantly again. She darted past me a moment later, leaving Lisa behind to stare at me.

"Getting in a habit of collecting people in your basement?" Lisa asked with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged.

"I'm a functioning addict," I answered with a weak smile. Lisa rolled her eyes at the half attempted joke.

"You know the PRT wanted you to turn him into them. They aren't going to like it much when they learn you 'didn't capture him'."

I let out a sigh and looked away. "I'm getting really tired of the PRT trying to tell me and other people what to do. I getting to a point where I'm starting not to care what they like."

Lisa actually chuckled at that. After a minute she shook her head and reached into her pocket.

"Well, I'm glad you came to an agreement with Ergo, because we've been working on something together." She pulled out a little device covered in lights.

"What is it?" I asked curiously, moving in to get a closer look.

"A Geiger counter for your magic," she said with a smug look. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Armsmaster had said my magic didn't appear to emit energy," I stated. The memory seemed from so long ago I didn't even remember the details. I did remember being small enough to sit in a chair and having to look up at everyone. I liked being taller.

"It doesn't emit it in any way we've seen before," Lisa explained. "Its actually really complex, but we narrowed down a way." She pressed a button on the side of the device and it began making the familiar sounds of a Geiger counter. She pointed it away from me and then back at me, getting louder the closer it got to me.

"So you two have been able to figure out my magic?" I asked.

"We've been getting closer," Lisa admitted. "But nowhere near the full truth of it."

"Interesting."

"No, what's interesting is this." Lisa reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked like a small gem. She moved her little device towards it and it began to sounds began to tick upwards.

"This is just a small piece of quartz," Lisa explained. "But it's been absorbing you magic like a sponge. Ergo thought you might be able to use it as a battery. I've been thinking you could charge it with an effect like you do the flowers.

"Huh," I said reaching out to take it in my hoof. "I would have never-"

I was cut off by the sound of a muffled explosion coming from downstairs. Lisa's eyes widened considerably.

"That lying bastard," she swore under her breath.

Frankly, that phrase coming from Lisa scared me just a little.

I turned and ran for the basement, stretching my wings as much as I could in the cramped stairway and half gliding all the way down. Lisa was close behind me.

The scene we came onto was a massive hole in the side of the basement, dirt spilling in and the roof catching fire. Ergo and Biohazard were both gone, a single note and two Tinker electric bands left behind in their path. I levitated it out of the dirt and read;

'Explosive appendix :P -Biohazard'

"What?" I asked. "What did they do?"

"They split up and ran away," Lisa said with a scowl. "Ergo with his phase shifter and Biohazard with her flight."

"But he came to me," I started, slamming my hoof against the floor. "He turned himself in. Why would he do that?"

"To make sure you wouldn't chase them," Lisa said bitterly.

That made me pause for a moment. Then I got angry. I might, and that was a heavy 'might', have let them leave the city. I might have been okay with it, if the circumstances were right. And they almost were.

But they came to me for help, attempted to manipulate me, then blew a hole in the side of my house and expected me not to chase them. I felt my magic surge at the thought.

"I'm going after him," I started, flaring my wings widely.

"Taylor," Lisa said, "The house is on fire and the roof is getting ready to collapse. I'm pretty sure they did that on purpose."

I nearly growled as threw magic towards my wings and performed the same vacuum spell I had used on Archer previously. With me controlling the direction, the flames sputtered out without robbing me or Lisa air. I grabbed the house itself next, along with all the dirt and rubble around it. I closed my eyes and attempted to recall what that portion of the wall looked like previously. I felt my magic twitch in a certain direction. I followed it through. It was like telekinesis, as far as I could feel. But it needed something, something to help recombined material. I searched for a moment until I found the right emotion. An odd combination of nostalgia and happy memory itself. I felt the spell click into place and cast it.

When I opened my eyes the wall and building was fixed. I turned around to look at Lisa and saw my Dad fumbling down the steps too.

"What's going on," he asked wearily. I glanced at Lisa and told her,

"Explain it to him, I'm going after them." Before she could answer, I teleported outside and started flying.

---

Friendshipbond not broken? seems indifferent to fact. Possible Friendship lesson. Possible name 'Frenemy'.

---

They were gone. Somehow they disappeared into the night without a trace. When I first left I had caught a little hint of Biohazard smoke trail, but she apparently dived into the bay and was gone. I caught some reports of Ergo's phase shifting around the city, but I had spent too much time chasing Biohazard and he was gone.

If I ever see them again I'm going to… I don't know, drown them in cotton candy or something!

I tried to shake my head clear of the frustration thoughts as I entered my kitchen early the next morning. Hoping to catch some breakfast before heading off to bed to make up some of the sleep I missed.

I paused when I saw Will leaning against the countertop, sandwich halfway raised towards his mouth. He had frozen when he saw me.

We watched each other for a moment. Then he slowly brought the sandwich up and took a bite out of it, not breaking eye contact as he chewed.

"Will?" I asked. "Why aren't you in your cage?"

"You let me out, remember?" Will said with a raised eyebrow. "And then no one thought to put me back, so I've just been hanging around here

"And you made yourself a sandwich?" I said dryly. He shrugged.

"Eh, a guy's gotta eat."

I shook my head at him. He shrugged and took another bite.

"Hey," he said after taking a moment to finish chewing. "I heard you're finally flipping the PRT the bird."

"I wouldn't quite say that," I said slowly.

"I would," Will stated. "They don't do things halfway, if you don't commit to this they'll turn it against you."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. Will shook his head.

"Alright, take it from a guy whose job it was to fight the PRT's authority. You are either with them or against them, and they don't let you be anything else. If I was going to guess, they probably tried to manipulate you into joining the Wards, and then tried to control you when you didn't."

I opened my mouth to contradict him, but then I remembered what both Piggot and Tagg had done and closed it again. Will nodded with a smug 'that's what I thought' look.

"You fare better than most independents though," Will continued. "You've got power and a fanbase, and that's protected you so far. But the more time you give the PRT to turn PR against you, the sooner you're going to have to make a choice join them or become a villain."

"Other independents exist," I pointed out.

"Other independents aren't the great and powerful Nova," Will countered. "Look, the PRT is a government entity and they really like their control over people. I have no idea what they've done so far, but just knowing them I can tell you that they'll be trying to close their bureaucratic jaws on you the first moment they can. And then you'll either be a villain or a Ward."

"I think there is at least a little bit of wiggle room," I stressed. Will gave a noncommittal shrug.

"Maybe, but not nearly enough room for the great and powerful Nova." Will thought a moment and sighed. "Look, Nova," he began, "I've told Panacea and a few others my story before, but are you aware that I like to think of myself as a hero."

"I've heard of it, but I have my doubts," I responded dryly. Will ignored that bit.

"I think that because I was always loyal to being the best person I could be, no matter what. And because of that, I put my life on the line time and time again to get the information I would eventually give you to take The Sentient down. Regardless of what others think, I was just as much responsible for taking down The Sentient as you."

"What's your point?" I asked.

"My point," Will said, suddenly moving to sit on the countertops as he raised his hands to help illustrate his point. "Is that you want to do good no matter what and you recognize that the PRT is standing in your way some of that time. While you might be able to ignore the PRT, they won't do the same. So you got to make a choice.

"Either you let the PRT control the situation, give them time to paint the all-powerful PR against you, let the noose close around your neck. Or, you take the massive support you have right now, the anti-PRT sentiments you've stoked, and declare the PRT as fake heroes.* Make it clear that you can't trust the PRT. That way, even if the PRT is so bold as to call you a villain after that, it holds no power because everyone will assume they only did it out of spite. People that like you will turn against them, and people that don't like you still won't see you as a villain. You'll be at odds to the PRT, but it'll be in your favour."

He fell silent with his arms held up in a pose. He suddenly realized he was monologuing again and made a face before burying his mouth into his sandwich. I quirked my mouth and thought about it for a good long minute.

He wasn't wrong. Even while locked up in our basement he knew exactly what the PRT had been doing, right down to the threats to my PR Tagg had made last night. And I was extremely annoyed by the PRT, he hit almost every single point. The only thing he missed was the fact that even after purging their ranks of Sentient and rebuilding themselves the PRT was still all about PR. Even trying to get me to do their dirty work for the sake of it. I hated everything they've done recently.

But to declare them as my enemy? That was essentially what Will was saying. I wasn't so sure about doing that, but I could see what he meant. It just had a lot of negative things attached to it I couldn't even begin to fully comprehend. It was rapidly approaching politics. And that was more Will's domain than mine.

"I don't know," I answered noncommittally. "I'm going to talk to Cheshire about it first."

"Alright," Will said with a shrug. "Have fun with that."

I shook my head at him and started walking out of the kitchen. When I got to the door of my room I paused. I thought back to the piece of quartz Lisa had shown me last night.

Maybe I should take some time to really experiment with my power before I go out again.

---

A/N:

PRT: Shadow Stalker is a hero now.

Nova: You are fake news.