The ride over to the PRT headquarters was uneventful. Once Hookwolf and Rune were both foamed and stored inside the PRT vans, separate from each other, Assault climb into the one with Hookwolf while Battery and I took the other one. She opened the door for me and I hopped up much like a dog would, except I opened my wings a little to get a little extra height. While I still hadn't figured out flight yet the wings had been useful in other means of moving. Hooves weren't very good for traction on polished floors like wood or marble, so I had gotten into the practice of using my wings a little to help me take corners. They also assisted me in running, which was nice.

One in the van I plodded across the seat and tried to curl up on the passenger side and leave another room for Battery as she climbed into the driver's seat. The PRT agents that originally drove the van had to move to the back.

Even with me curling up as tightly as I could my hind legs were a little on comfortably close to her and I had to hold my tail close to me or it would be on her. But once that was sorted out, I laid down and did my best to ignore the gently throbbing in my horn. At the very least, it was slowly going away.

It was kind of odd seeing a superhero, Battery, doing something as mundane as driving. Particularly when she could charge herself up and run really fast. But I guess she had a civilian life too.

"So is it strange being a unicorn pegasus?" She asked out of nowhere about ten minutes into the ride.

"It depends on what you consider strange," I answered vaguely. "I would say going from being a normal human to a fluffy cartoon horse with a magic horn and wings is something that couldn't not be considered strange. Unless you're asking 'does it feel weird'. In which case, not really. I just need some time to figure out how it all moved."

Battery chuckled to herself a little and she threw on a blinker before making a sharp right turn.

"I wouldn't let anyone hear you say magic. Knowing Assault he probably has a lot of people asking about your powers. You don't want him telling them you do magic, he might tell them you fart rainbows or something."

"Too late!" We heard Assault say cheerfully. Both of us did a sharp neck snap towards Assault, who was bounding across the ground at high speeds next to the van outside Battery's window. He appeared to also be typing on a phone.

"Assault? What are you doing?"

"Eavesdropping," He answered honestly. "And thank for the farting rainbow bit, that's going to be a kicker. Now, do you by chance-" He was cut off when Battery suddenly opened her door really fast and hit him with it.

"Ow! Fuck! Damn it! Oof! Son of-! Ack! Eeii!" were the words and sounds we heard Assault making as he hit the ground with a comical thump and started rolling out of sight behind us. The sounds of him hitting the ground disappeared behind us in a few seconds. Battery calmly watched in the driver's side mirror for a few moments before saying,

"Huh. I think the other van hit him."

"Is… he going to be okay?" I asked oddly. Battery waved it off.

"Oh, he's fine… probably… Nothing Panacea can't fix anyway since she's going to be at the PRT to heal some of the gang members and fix that hole going through Rune's chest."

I nodded silently at that. At her mention, I remembered Panacea from the night she came over to my house and the expression on her face. That was the expression my father wore, the kind when someone was running themselves into the ground. For my dad, it was back just after mom died, when he forgot to feed me and was struggling to do the most basic of things. It was better now, but the look was there. The odd night he'd come home late because there was some problem. When an order came down from up the chain saying there were fewer jobs. That time once a month to a year when he would come home drained and I know it was because he just spent hours trying to convince bureaucrats that just talk in circles around him to avoid actually facing problems.

But that was once every week or two for my dad because he worked at The Docks. Panacea worked in a hospital and people didn't stop getting hurt, particularly not in this city. And how much extra work did I cause her tonight?

Probably a lot less than had Hookwolf and Rune gone through their plan, if there was anyone left to heal.

I shook the conflicting thoughts out of my mind. I had others things to worry about now. I was heading into a lion's den of bureaucracy. I needed to focus on the course ahead of me.

We entered the building through some special garage door meant specifically for taking vans housing villains in them. There were platoons of PRT officers standing around the area waiting to foam anyone and anything should something go wrong. Armsmaster was standing in directly in front of where the vans pulled in at with his arms crossed as he waited for us.

Battery pulled the van to a stop and climbed out where she was joined by Assault a moment later.

"Battery," Armsmaster greeted with a serious nod. I noted he didn't greet Assault. "I heard you picked up an independent hero tonight. Where is she?" Battery gestured to the van door she had left open for me and I carefully rose from my seat and jumped into the open.

Armsmaster's reaction was maintained as a solid mask where he just frowned seriously. All the other PRT officers in the room though nearly dropped their foam sprayers.

"Battery," Armsmaster began, "Stay here and make sure prisoner lock up goes smoothly. Assault, the Director's office. Now." It was nice to see Assault pale a little. Armsmaster then turned to me.

As a two foot tall horse I was getting used to the fact I generally had to look up at people, but the way Armsmaster stared down at me with his heavy Tinker tech armour and serious expression I got the distinct impression he was trying to intimidate me.

I raised my wings a bit and made sure my hair was doing the wavy thing it does. No sense in showing weakness of any sort.

"How old are you?" Armsmaster asked me.

"Fourteen," I answered. I was still a few months away from being fifteen, though I'm unsure how that would translate into my horse form.

Armsmaster nodded. "Then I will take you to see the Ward's room while we wait for the Director to be done. This late at night there is usually only two Wards present, and one will be out on patrol for the next twenty minutes."

The way he said it made me wonder if there was some sort of clock in his helmet or if he had the patrol schedule in there. I didn't voice it out loud though, just gave a nod and followed him out of the garage.

He took me through the building and into some sort of Tinker elevator. I noticed a lot of people gaping at me on the way, including one woman whole actually squealed at the sight of me. I suddenly got the urge to burn this place to the ground.

The elevator was incredibly smooth for an elevator, probably the result of some application of Tinker tech, When the doors opened Armsmaster lead me down a short walkway which ended in a sealed door with two buttons next to it. He pressed the lower one and we waited a few seconds silently before the door opened.

A little odd that there would be such a delay in a door opening when they already went through the trouble of making a Tinker elevator.

"The attending Ward would have been on the monitors and should working their way back into this common room to meet you. When we're ready for a debrief Miss Militia will come by. I trust everything is okay?"

"Yeah," I answer curtly. I got the feeling he was dumping me off just so he wouldn't have to deal with me so I didn't feel like giving him anything but similar treatment. Armsmaster nodded and turned away, heading back for the elevator. I turned around and examined the room.

It was a large domed area with walls that seemed like they were made to be rearranged at a moment's notice. Around the edges of the dome were individual doors that lead to the Ward's room. Each door had a little engraved plaque on the front of it. Vista, Clockblocker, Aegis, Gallant, and Kid Win. Five of them in total.

There were some couches in this centre area, gather in a circle around a round coffee table. If I had to guess it was likely for informal team meetings or when they have time to relax but had to stay in costume. I jumped up on the loveseat near me and sat down as I continued to look around.

"Holy shit, that's a cartoon horse!"

I turned my head to see a guy in a white bodysuit and a clock on his face mask. Clockblocker.

"Hi," I greeted politely, rising from the loveseat to look at him.

"I- goddamn I owe Assault twenty bucks!" He paused and placed a hand on his face mask, shaking his head back forth as he did so.

"Well, at least you didn't pick me up," I said bitterly.

"I can change that if you want."

"No!" I snapped. Clockblocker chuckled and moved to sit on the couch across from me, swinging his arms wide over the back side and putting both feet on the coffee table.

"So," he began. "How does one become a cartoon horse? For research purposes."

"Become a burn victim," I answered. Clockblocker flinched reflexively and I immediately felt bad. Not for the lie itself, but for giving him the impression I was in some horribly disfiguring accident. The truth was… not important right now.

"Alright, I've got to ask," Clockblocker said after a few moments of awkward silence. "Can I pet you?"

What? "What?"

"I- uh, was wondering if I could pet you? I mean, your fur looks really soft and…" I stared at him. "I just thought, maybe you would…" I continued to stare at him. "You know what? Never mind."

"Yeah," I said with a nod.

"Moving on," Clockblocker said, forcing the conversation forward from there. "What kind of sweet powers does a horned pegasus get?"

"Telekinesis," I answered. I didn't feel like mentioning the thing with the plants. Not until I understood it better and even then I probably won't share it. I'd like to have some thing only I know, like the other powers I wasn't mentioning.

Now that I thought about it, I was rather shocked how many powers I have already manifested through my energy. I have a fifty-foot radius where I can sense pretty much anything, the force field, imbuing the plants with certain effects, all on top of telekinesis and my ability to turn back into a human. I was becoming quite the grab bag.

"And the wings?" Clockblocker asked.

"I haven't figured them out yet," I mumbled back.

"Huh, I was expecting more from Muffin, the Destroyer."

"That is not my name," I said scathingly. "And I took down Hookwolf, Rune, and Assault's crotch tonight."

"About that, how did you take him down? Hookwolf, I mean. I have an idea about Assault."

I shrugged and slumped down in the love seat. "I might have gouged out his eyes with pebbles."

"Holy shit," Clockblocker said for the second time tonight. "Vista is going to love you."

At that moment a girl's voice came from behind me. "I'm going to love who?" I figured out that the back of the chair was blocking me from sight about the same time Clockblocker did.

"Why, a magical cartoon horse of course," Clockblocker said with a wave of his hand.

"Seriously?" Vista asked. I could hear her shoes tapping against the tile floor as she spoke. "You expect me to believe that post Assault made a little bit ago?"

Clockblocker gestured to the love seat I was sitting in. "See for yourself."

"You can't be ser- OH MY GOD SHE'S ADORABLE!"

Before I was completely sure what was happening I was being wrapped up into a hug so tight that I was having trouble breathing.

"Vista," I croaked. "Need. Air."

"Oh, sorry!" She released me and I took a massive breath before falling into heavy breaths.

"Jesus Vista," Clockblocker said. I could hear the grin in his voice. "You just met her and you nearly choked her out. That's awesome." Vista shot him a look from under her visor and reach out with a hand. Clockblocker jerked forward as Vista Gibbs Slapped* him from six feet away.

"Yeah, like I said, sorry." Vista sighed, slowly taking her eyes away from Clockblocker.

"It's fine, I guess," I mumbled. I seriously didn't know what it was with people and freaking out when they saw me. I mean, sure I was pretty strange, but surely I couldn't be that weird.

"But you are absolutely adorable," Vista stated. I rolled my eyes.

"Believe me, I know."

"What exactly are you anyway? A uniasus? A pegacorn?"

"Alicorn, actually." Another voice said. Vista and I turned to see Miss Militia standing in the doorway. "Originally an Italian synonym for unicorn, meaning a pegasus with a horn or a unicorn with wings. Same difference."

"Miss Militia," Vista said respectfully, straightening up and holding her hands behind her back.

"Vista," she nodded to her before turning her gaze back to me. "The Director's ready for you now. We need to talk about what you did tonight."

A/N So, I would have made this longer and included some more of her interactions with Piggot and the others, but this was already going on five pages so I decided to cut it off there and just get all of it next chapter. Some of you might have noticed that Shadow Stalker isn't a Ward yet, the idea being since this came a few months to a year from the locker event, depending on when you think it happened, and that the bullying only just started would mean Shadow Stalker is still going out being a vigilante and hasn't joined yet. I was going to have Triumph still be in the Wards, since Grue and Tattletale had implied he only recently left, but decided against it.

Also, I was having issues up until recently with my main computer. My smaller laptop couldn't access FanFiction but could post on Spacebattles, so I'm about to spam a bunch of chapters that have gone up since I last posted here.