Biohazard crawled out of the ocean, absolutely drenched in water. Ergo was there waiting for her, holding a dry set of skin and hair for her.

"You think it worked," Biohazard asked, moving to start taking off her skin.

"Well enough," Ergo stated. "She did start chasing us, but at the very least she'll be a little more sympathetic if she does catch us again. And it gave you time to move all our stuff, correct?"

"Eyay!" Biohazard said, taking the dry skin out of her brother's outstretched hands and began slipping it on. "Where are we going to run to now?"

"Russia," Ergo stated. "They might actually not mind your… needs."

"Sounds good." She was about to add something else when suddenly, Quantumlock was standing behind them.

"Here's an idea," he said. "Don't do that." Suddenly, he waved his hand down and gravity suddenly increased, throwing them down against the ground and unable to move. Ergo's hand reached for one of his devices, but suddenly a heeled shoe came down and firmly pressed against his wrist.

"Oh, you don't want to do that darling," Showman's voice said above him. "Now look in the camera sweetie." Ergo twisted his head to see Showman pointing his palm outward at him, a little circle glowing brightly. Suddenly, the circle mechanically shift aside and a little nozzle poked out. A second later, his face was getting covered in foam.

Biohazard suddenly felt the gravity effect fall away from her and scrambled to her feet, only to have her wrists and ankles get seized by some green tentacles. She resisted the urge to cry out as she was lifted off the ground and the tendril pulled her wider. Showman turned and looked at her, his simulated face showing a wide smile.

"And you dear," he started, walking forward with exaggerated hip movements. "Your tech has peaked my interest. I've done my best, but sometimes its just better to get the tech from the source." Showman reached into his belt and pulled out a Tinker tool. His smile widened even more. "What little secrets do you have for me, darling? I get the feeling we're going to be good friends."

Showman took a step forward, the Tinkertool sparking as he did so. Biohazard cringed backward to get away from him when a hand appeared on his shoulder. Showman looked to his side and saw Vibrasonic standing next to him, shaking her head silently. Showman let out a sigh and lower the tool.

"You're right," he said, before immediately perking up again. "Take them to The Lair," he declared, raising a hand in the air, "we're having a party!"

---

"Hey Amy," Victoria said, knocking on the door frame as the door was wide open. Amy blinked and looked up from her project, an oak tree the size and style of a Bonsai tree, only with a little door grown into the side.

"Oh, hey Victoria," Amy said with a touch of trepidation creeping into her voice. Victoria made a face when she heard it, but decided not to mention it.

"You got a letter," she said, holding up the envelope for her to see.

"Oh thanks," Amy raised her hand from where she was sitting and a vine crawled out of her sleeve, stretching across the room and plucking the letter out of her hand. Victoria raised an eyebrow at her.

"Hey, if I'm not allowed to fly in the house, you can't make super vines."

"Oh, sorry," Amy said, flinching inwardly as she realized what she did. "It's gotten so second nature to me."

"Yeah, we've noticed," Victoria replied dryly. "And in a roundabout way, I sort of want to talk to you about that."

Amy frowned at her even as she started opening the letter. She was about to answer when she opened the note and her eyes goggled at what she saw. Her jaw fell open and she froze.

"What," Victoria asked, flying across the room to look over her sister's shoulder, completely oblivious to the irony from her previous statement. In Amy's hand was a check from one of the companies she and Nova had given the magic plants to. A check for twenty-five thousand dollars. Victoria whistled.

"That is more than just a little money," she stated, impressed.

"That's a bit of an understatement," Amy replied.

"I thought there was still a few months before they could come out with the potions?"

"This company can afford bioTinkers, they probably accelerated their growth to get a jump on the market."

"Well, if you're not cheating you're not trying, I guess."

Amy turned around a grinned at Victoria. "Think you could fly me to the bank?"

Victoria fixed her with a flat look.

"Can we talk first?"

Amy's look soured.

"Can we do it on the way?"

Victoria quirked her mouth to the side. "Fine," she compromised. She walked over to the window, pushing Amy's pet tree to the side and opening it widely before floating out. She righted herself and turned around, holding her arms out for Amy. Amy went forward with practiced motions, crawling out the window and practically falling into her sister's grip. Immediately, Victoria began flying upwards.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Amy asked uncomfortably once they were high enough. Victoria was flying at a leisure pace, like walking but in the air.

"Nova," she stated. "And you."

"Oh."

Victoria let out a sigh and shook her head. "Look," she began, "I know we've fought a couple times recently, and I guess that a little bit my fault but I don't want to fight you, Amy." Victoria paused and looked at her. Amy stayed silent.

"I know you feel Mom has it out for you, and I'm not going to try to tell you otherwise, but you know that I don't, right?" Amy nodded her head stiffly. Victoria took it as a win and smiled. "Good, cuz I'm supposed to look out for you, and if you think Mom is really doing those things, I'll help you."

"... Promise?" Amy asked.

"Promise. Just quit running away and hiding from me and the others."

"Alright," Amy said with a nod. "I can do that."

"Great," Victoria said, a full smile growing on her face for the first time today. "Now I'm really excited to see you becoming an action fighting hero, but you gotta start letting me come with you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Amy stated with as much false nonchalance as she could. Victoria raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really? Alright then… Flower Knight."

Amy shot Victoria a look, making her grin.

"There is one more thing, though," Victoria said. "And it's Nova. I was thinking you could be New Wave's go-between? It's been really hard to stay on the same page as her, and she is all over the place. It's driving everyone nuts. You think you can help us with that?"

Amy shrugged her shoulders as best she could in the way she was being held. "I guess so, it would be nice to spend more time with Nova too."

"Sure."

They were silent for a long moment after that until Victoria finally said,

"Was that the entire conversation? That's all we needed to say these last few weeks?"

"I guess, yeah," Amy admitted.

"Wow, we are dysfunctional."

"Pretty much."

---

Vista watched carefully as Phlegm, the Merchant Tinker Team Vigil had caught, ran down the alley. Miss Militia seemed too busy fighting Needle and Black Tar to notice him escaping. That left two Merchant capes unaccounted for, Whirlygig and Choker.

Vista glanced at Arsenal beside her on the roof and silently asked if she was ready by jerking her head in Phlegm's direction. Arsenal brought out a taser gun and a cattle prod in the other and nodded with a grin. Vista grinned back and shrank the distance between them and the Tinker on the ground.

Together they took a step off the roof and suddenly they were in front of the villain.

Phlegm wore a thick pair of glasses and a dirty bandana over the lower half of his face. Normally he would have worn some Tinker armour but having just escaped from his cell, all he had was two tiny little guns Black Tar had given him.

Immediately he raised the guns and fired them. Vista bent space around her so that the beams wouldn't hit, but they didn't' seem aimed at them. The two beams hit the brick wall of the building to their left and the concrete beneath them, leaving behind holes large enough to stick an arm through.

Suddenly, armour began to grow around him. Seemingly liquid concrete and brick flowing over his body. Arsenal raised her taser gun and fired, but the prongs bounced uselessly off his new rocky exterior.

Vista stretched space again and grabbed on to Arsenal's shoulder, pulling her back as she put some distance between them and the Tinker.

"You got something for that?" Vista asked, as soon as they were a safe distance away. Arsenal quirked her mouth a moment and answered with,

"Nothing that would keep him alive very long. And I only have so much chlorine trifluoride, not exactly easy to get or store."

At that moment, the shadow of a nearby building bulge outward and a black serpent-like appendage shot forward and wrapped around Vista's neck before she realized what was happening. Arsenal responded immediately, pressing a button on her cattle prod that caused it begin to shift and change. In a second, it looked like a little grenade that Arsenal tossed at the shadow where Choker's snake arm was coming out of.

When the flash bang went off it completely disintegrated the snake arm, leaving a man standing alone in the alley as he held on to his damaged eyes. Vista closed the distance between them, literally, and threw her weight into a stomp kick right into his chest, sending the man reeling.

Turning back towards Phlegm she saw Arsenal attempting to slow him down with containment foam grenades. But his Tinker beams ate through it just as much as it had the brick of the buildings.

Vista paused for a moment and considered her options. After a second, she reached forward and plucked a taser off Arsenal's belt. She probably wouldn't miss it.

Vista jumped upward, stretching space so she landed on top of the nearest building. She ran forward and jumped off the side, landing on the ground behind Phlegm. It put her between him and Needle, but so long as Miss Militia kept her occupied she probably wouldn't bother Vista in the alley.

She took a moment to measure her strike, and when she says an opening she launched forward. Burying the prongs of the taser in an uncovered area behind him where he didn't seem to think to cover. Phlegm seized up immediately and fell forward, collapsing on the ground.

"Sweet," Arsenal said, clapping her hands together cheerfully.

"Give me handcuffs," Vista said, "And then go take care of Choker, make sure he can't sneak up on us."

"The taser is also handcuffs," Arsenal said, half running half skipping the other direction. "Just press the button!"

Vista looked down at the taser. It was Tinkertech, not very high quality, but Tinker tech none the less. After a moment, she found the button and the device began shifting in her hands. She wasn't quite sure where she was supposed to hold on to it as it changed, so she just kept her palm open and let it take its course.

Eventually, it finished on a fancy looking pair of handcuffs. Vista considered them a moment, making sure they still worked like normal handcuffs, before slapping them on Phlegm's wrists. She reached into a little pouch on her costume and brought out the little capsules the PRT had given to her beforehand. Carefully as she could, she took out two little pills and broke the seals, dropping them on Phlegm where his arms were near his body. For a moment, nothing happened, Then the pills released containment foam that began rapidly expanding around his limbs, pinning his arms to his side.

At that moment, Arsenal skipped back up to her and shrugged.

"Choker left, I have seen him since I flashed him."

"Damn," Vista swore. It would have been nice to get two villains at once, but one would have to do.

"Hey, sweet takedown on him," Arsenal said. "Do you do that a lot?"

"No, not really," Vista admitted. "The PRT doesn't like me getting that hands on most of the time. Normally I would just keep him from escaping, hinder his movements and whatnot, among a few other tricks."

"Well, that's dumb."

"Yeah," Vista sighed. "It's going to suck when I have to go back to the Wards."

"Why go back?" Arsenal asked curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"If the PRT doesn't let you do things, why go back at all? Nova says all the PRT cares about is their image."

"Well, she isn't completely wrong," Vista admitted. "But I'm already part of the Wards, I can't just stop now. And Nova's New Wave, so she can do things we can."

"Oh…" Arsenal said, racking her brain with thought. After a minute, something clicked for her.

"Hey, I'm independent!" She pretty much cheered. "You think Nova and I could be a team?"

"I'm pretty sure Nova already have a team," Vista pointed out.

"Yeah, but I bet they can't make handcuff tasers."

Vista smile and rolled her eyes. "What is it you like about Nova anyway?"

Behind her mask, Arsenal's eyes widened immensely.

"What isn't to like about her? She big, and powerful, and fluffy, and has magic, is powerful, a unicorn, part of New Wave, and powerful, and can fly, and teleport, and is really, really powerful. What's not to like?" Arsenal's smile widened into a full grin.

"Who wouldn't give their right arm to get the chance to help her? It would be the greatest thing in the world, in the universe!"

"That's… great, I guess." Vista said skeptically. Arsenal tilted her head at her curiously.

"I bet if you dropped out of the Wards and joined Nova they'd let you do it because she's so awesome."

Vista glanced down at the Merchant cape a moment and then back up at Arsenal.

"I doubt it," she replied.