"Seven dead, twenty-two injured, and of those five of them are needing Panacea to heal them. Rune took a serious injury to her chest that narrowly missed her heart and lungs, also needing Panacea. Not to mention the overly brutal act of blinding Hookwolf."

Director Piggot sat across from me at the table, setting down photos and documentation of each account as she did so. The one that caught my eye was Rune's. They had taken a portion of her black and red robes off to clean and dress the wound. From what I saw the rock had shot cleanly through in bullet like fashion, but was extremely more destructive. There was a second one where she was wrapped in bandages and they were completely soaked through. She probably needed a blood transfusion or two.

"Do you plan on joining the Wards," Piggot asked flatly. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Aren't you supposed to make a sales pitch first?" In response Director Piggot leaned back in her seat and gave a dismissive wave.

"You kids tend to already know what you want. No point in me wasting my time if you've already made your decision."

"No, I don't plan on joining the Wards," I answered just as curtly as she had been treating me.

"Then you need to start to, because this-" She pointed with a finger down at the photos. "-isn't going to fly."

I glanced down at the photos and then back up at her. "There are laws in place to protect actions like this during cape battles."

"There are," Piggot conceded. "And if you give us a reason, we can press this issue. But we won't, not this time at least. However, if this happens again you'll have to make a choice between juvenile detention or joining our Wards."

"Are… you threatening me?" That was a shock to me. When I imagined how this interview would go I expected it to go much differently. I was anticipating getting an offer for the Wards, but this was completely different. Was being pressured into joining, like this was some gang and the Director was the mob boss. This was just short of blackmail.

"I'm merely stating the facts," Piggot stated. I gave her a look.

"In my experience, which isn't much, when people throw that line, they are usually threatening you."

Piggot leaned forward over the table and laced her fingers together in front of her while giving me a steely glare.

"Do you know why the PRT exists?" She asked.

"To acted as a governing body to the Protectorate."

"No," she said so fast she practically cut me off. "That is what they do, not the reason they do it. No, the reason the PRT exists is because people are afraid. Afraid that parahumans like you are going to take the power they have and assume it gives them the authority to deal vigilante justice. Because once someone with the powers to ignore reality starts killing criminals uncontrollably what can normal humans do to stop them? Nothing. We have to rely on other parahumans to take care of them. People get hurt, property is destroyed, and in the end, normal people are forgotten. The PRT stands in the way of that.

"So when I see a new independent hero on the scene, who's first night out led to a fight with one of the top capes in the city, and her first reaction is to shove rocks into his eye, I see a parahuman that thinks that any amount of force is going to be necessary when it comes to taking down the bad guys. And that is going to be a problem."

I grit my teeth and glared at her. I had to resist every urge not to cuss her out or spit in her face because of how infuriating this was. It was Hookwolf, those two pebbles should have killed him and not only did he live but he also came far too close to killing me.

"Are we done here?" I growled. Piggot rose from her chair and collected the files and photos she brought with her.

"I am, you still have to answer some questions for Armsmaster. I was only here to give you a warning and deliver the PRT's official apology for Assault's behaviour. We're sorry by the way."

"I don't want to answer any more questions."

"Too bad," Piggot said. "You stay and answer some questions or you can leave and we can prosecute. I'll leave you with Armsmaster to decide." She turned and stalked out of the room without another word. I bit back a curse I probably wouldn't be able to make.

Armsmaster came in right behind and sat where she had been previously. He looked at me silently for a few moments before saying,

"You're irritated."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "How did you know."

"You'll have to excuse her, she has been dealing with another vigilante that has a pension for pinning people to walls with crossbows bolts. Combined that with the fact it is late at night and she had just got done scolding Assault for his behaviour tonight."

I wanted to complain, say something about her behaviour. I knew at the very least the PHO would have a field day if they found out the Director basically used gang tactics and blackmail to make me join the Wards, if not mainstream media. But I was pretty sure that they wrote their own press releases, they could probably bury it if they wanted to.

Besides, it wasn't like that would accomplish anything besides annoying them. And while that would be satisfying, it wasn't going to help me get home any sooner.

I took a deep breath and said, "About that, I think it is time I picked a name. I really don't want to be known as Muffin, the Destroyer."

"Alright," Armsmaster said evenly. "Any ideas? Naming you in our report about the capture of Hookwolf and Rune would be a good way for you to debut."

"I was thinking of a few things," I admitted. "Like Silver Mane or White Star, but that was before I got this tattoo thing." I gestured towards my flank. Armsmaster didn't seem to move his head to look at it all.

"You mean that wasn't there before?"

I shook my head. "No, it appeared after I got done fighting Hookwolf and Rune." Armsmaster seemed to consider that for a moment. Eventually, he decided to move on back to the topic of my name.

"Perhaps something that keeps with a star theme?" He suggested. "The fire could be solar flares of some sort. Maybe exploding stars."

"Solar Flare?" I mentioned lamely. I didn't really fit the colour scheme for that.

"Supernova." Armsmaster suggested. "A star that has reached the end of its life and its outward nuclear fusion force can no longer combat the inward gravitational force. The whole star collapses into one of three effects. One of which produces a supernova."

"And the other two effects?" I asked, hoping to find some other inspiration. Exploding star really didn't seem like me.

"It either condenses into a neutron star or becomes a black hole. Neither would be all that fitting. If you don't like Supernova, Nova itself should be open."

"That one sounds okay."

"Are you sure? Once it goes out it'll be impossible to get rid of." I nodded. It was fitting enough I suppose. And to be perfectly honest, my body was going to be far more interesting to the press than any name was. Unless I named myself after Lucifer, an idea I'm not ashamed to admit went through my mind once or twice.

"Alright, I'll note it down then. Now, on to your powers. Battery reported you have telekinesis. Is that true?"

"Yes," I answered.

"And what about an apparent force field they saw you use?" They saw that? Odd.

"An extension of that, I focused on the air around me and it forms a shield." A partial truth, I had focused on the air to make the shield. But that wasn't necessarily the reason the shield had gotten made.

Armsmaster paused. "Fair enough," he stated. "And your wings?"

"I think I can fly, if I figured it out. For now they just help me move fast."

"And your horn?"

"It lets me do my levitation, I concentrate a sort of energy through it that lets me pick things up."

"Energy? May I see?"

I hesitated a moment, remembering the throbbing over exerting myself had caused, but as soon as I remembered it I realized the throbbing was all but gone. I was absolutely exhausted, but only in that strange metaphysical way that came with using my energy. Weird.

I could see my horn throw the lighting of the room off as I reached out and took hold of the chair I was sitting on. I lift it, and by extension myself, off the ground briefly before I found the throbbing returning with a vengeance. I quickly lowered myself before it could get too great.

"Interesting," Armsmaster stated. "Doesn't appear to emit any sort of radiation. Would you mind lifting this for me?" He pulled out a roundish Tinker device about the size of an apple and set it on the table. I frowned, but reach out with my energy and lifted it up anyway.

Armsmaster frowned as I lifted it. He stared at it for a few moments before motioning for me to bring it down.

"It doesn't appear to be any sort of energy we've ever seen." He stated factually.

"Meaning what?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know. It is some sort of energy, just nothing that we have ever seen before. Meaning this would be the first time that we've ever seen it concentrated enough to notice."

"Which means we can name it, right," a voice over the intercom asked. Suddenly, the wall on the right side of the room slid down revealing a pane of glass with Clockblocker and Assault standing behind it. Assault was grinning wildly and I could only assume Clockblocker was doing the same.

"Because there is only one thing to call it," Clockblocker stated.

"Magic." Assault finished.

"It isn't magic," Armsmaster and I corrected simultaneously.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Assault stated.

"Because if this is indeed a new source of energy never before seen then it must be named. And those names include, but are not limited to,-"

"Magic," Assault said. I felt my eye twitch.

"If it's my energy, I'll name it," I said sternly. Assault's grin widened.

"Well, that is going to make all my fans on this live stream rather disappointed." Assault held up a hand and showed a screen that was re-enacting the scene from a few seconds earlier, a video feed delay. I grit my teeth and looked at him.

"If there wasn't a sheet of glass between us I would come in there and-" I was cut off as the sheet of glass started sliding down and Assault paled. I looked behind me and saw Armsmaster holding down a button that was presumably lowering the glass.

"Go nuts," Armsmaster said irritably. "With my full permission."

I looked back and smiled at Assault. He held up his hands defensively and started backing away. Clockblocker was inching towards the door.

"Now hold on," Assault said. "Let's not be too h-OW- Fuck! MMMMMMmmmmmm….. Still worth it."

Just then the intercom system came back on and the familiar voice of Director Piggot came through.

"Assault. My office. Now."

"Goddamn it."

I was a little less annoyed with Piggot now.

After that whole charade, I was being led to an infirmary area. They wanted to get me checked out after my battle with Hookwolf. I was brought there by Miss Militia which I like was glad off because Armsmaster was a little hard to hold a conversation with.

"So what is up with Assault?" I asked for lack of anything else to really ask Miss Militia. "And why does he seem dead set on manipulating my debut?"

"He and the Director have been going at it lately." She answered me.

"But how does that relate to me?"

"Because Assault wants to resist authority any way he can," Miss Militia sighed. "Which in turn causes the Director to punish him, but she doesn't get that Assault is stubborn enough to take monitor duty and clean the bathrooms for a year so long as he gets the last word. Director Piggot won't let him have it, giving him more duties, more pay cuts, and anything else she can give him. Causing Assault to escalate again, like he did with you tonight."

"That sounds like a feedback loop." I pointed out. From what I had seen of Piggot, she seemed exactly like the type of person to do what Miss Militia was describing. Though, it while it was odd to think of Assault as stubborn, it wasn't hard either.

"Something like that," Miss Militia agreed. "What eventually happens is that she either can't punish him anymore or gives up on that tactic and starts punishing the Brockton Bay Protectorate team as a whole, causing all of us to come down on his head. But it is only when Piggot starts making Battery's life harder that Assault actually lets up. But it doesn't do anything to stop this from starting all over again a month or two later."

"So, basically I'm going to be unofficially known as Muffin, the Destroyer and I'm going to thought to do magic because Assault and Director Piggot are measuring dictatorial powers?"

"... That is one way to put it."

We arrived at the infirmary at that moment. Miss Militia held the door open me as I plodded in. My hoofs made an annoying clicking sound on all the hard tiles on the way over and it was kind of getting on my nerves.

On the inside Panacea was laying her hands on Rune's face where her mask didn't cover. There were half a dozen PRT officers in the room with them, along with what looked like a massive pair of leather oven mitts secured to Rune's hands. I noted that the other infirmary beds were taken up by passed out gang members.

"It is sort of a halfway place," Miss Militia stated when she saw me looking. "We give anyone injured seriously in a cape fight treatment here before sending them to separated hospital care. The PRT headquarters does have its own hospital on site for such a thing."

When Miss Militia spoke Panacea raised her head from her work and looked at us. She was in an even worse state than the last time. She was pale, her eyes were sunken, her hair was frazzled and her eyes were boarding on blood shot. I couldn't think of one reasonable justification that anyone would let her be working this state.

"There you are," Panacea said, rising up from where she had been leaning over Rune. "I guess I have you to thank for all of this?"

"Sorry," I said weakly. It was bad enough to see her like she was about to collapse or have a heart attack, let alone dealing with the idea it might be my fault. "They were going to hurt people," I attempted to justify. Panacea waved me off.

"They always are," she answered in annoyance. "Get up on the bed, I'll take a quick look so we can all get home sometime tonight."

Recognizing talking about it wasn't going to help at all, I walked over to the bed and eyed the side of it before leaping up and flapping my wings once to get all four legs on the bed. I sat down as soon as I was up.

"May I heal you?" She asked. I nodded seriously, allowing her to reach out and touch my neck. She paused for a few seconds before she said anything.

"Your back is bruised and the circuits near your horn appear to be swelling. Your wings and mane have gotten a little longer since yesterday." Well, that was interesting I guess. The wings and mane were anyway. Was I growing bigger passively or was it something I did? Maybe a side effect of shifting from horse to human and back again?

"Hey, Panacea," I asked as she did some work on my back. I could feel some stiffness fading from that area. "When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

Panacea drew her hand away and practically hissed at me. "What does it matter to you."

"Cause you look like you're fucking dead!" Rune suddenly interjected, causing the PRT officers in the room to tense. Panacea and I turned to look at her. "I'm serious," she clarified. "You look like you could have actually died while healing me and no one would have noticed. Seriously, get some goddamn sleep."

You knew things were bad when even the white supremacist in the room was concerned for your health. A fact that Panacea seemed to take more of an annoyance than a sign that she might be in the wrong here.

"Maybe I would get more if the E88 didn't hurt so many people on a daily basis," Panacea snapped back at her. Suddenly her head whirled back to me. "And when it isn't E88 it's independents that end up hurting them worse than they hurt others. I'm beginning to think Armsmaster and Miss Militia are the only one capable of bringing people in without nearly killing them."

"Hey, fuck you!" Rune growled at her. "You think I wanted to be part of the E88? I just wanted to get away from my family." Panacea was about to say something but I cut her off, my own curiosity over ruling the venting I was decently sure she needed just as much as sleep.

"If you were wanting to get away, why not join the Wards or something?" I asked Rune. The part of her face that I could see looked taken aback a few steps at the question.

"I, uh, didn't trigger until after I got the criminal record. I didn't really have that option." That bit intrigued me a bit more. Rune had been part of Brockton Bay's E88 for a while now and I couldn't really think of a time when she wasn't, but that didn't mean she was necessarily sold on their ideas. Or at least, if she was, that didn't mean she wanted to be in a violent gang about it. When I looked at her now with pale skin and blond hair more on display now that parts of her costume had been removed, I could imagine her getting pressured into joining for years while she still was in school, assuming she wasn't. When it came to Brockton Bay if you weren't white or Asian you were pretty much screwed as far as gangs went. I had been lucky enough to be too scrawny and not nearly attractive enough to ever seriously hounded by the E88, but Rune? They probably had eyes on her for a long time. And if she wanted to get away from her family…

It all added up to one big string of events where the only outcome was her joining. And whether or not she could be legally redeemed and become a Ward, she didn't believe she could. And with Director Piggot, I was thinking she might not have been to far off.

As soon as Rune had said it, Miss Militia stepped forward and inserted herself into the conversation.

"Then why not try to get a deal with the Protectorate? You wouldn't have been the first villain that wanted to change sides." I could almost feel Rune rolling her eyes behind her visor.

"I'm a Nazi," Rune said. "Your PR department wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot poll, believe me, I tried."

Miss Militia frowned. "I don't recall any serious talks about you possibly coming over."

"I asked Armsmaster the last time he had me cornered."

"Ah." Miss Militia said disappointedly as if that explained everything. Made me wonder if I had misread Armsmaster earlier. He seemed nice enough, a little serious and a little monotone sometimes, but nothing that suggested he would be particularly mean to a villain wanting to be a hero like this. Or did he really just dislike Nazis?

"Alright," I stated before Panacea or anyone else had a chance to interrupt. "Then maybe all three of us need to change." I suggested it light heartedly, but Panacea scowled and Rune frowned.

"Like some sort of AA meeting?" Rune asked disapprovingly. "A Nazi, workaholic, and a cartoon horse all get stuck in a hospital room together and help with each other's problems?"

"It sounds cheesy, I know." I answered her. "But I think we need it." Or rather, Panacea did. Putting myself there with her made it seem more like doing something together rather than doing something for her. Including Rune made it seem less like I was targeting her specifically. Besides, Rune didn't seem like a bad person. At least not on the surface, the way she described it didn't necessarily mean she wasn't a racist, but it did show she didn't like the E88 any more than I did. Making this about the three of us increased the chance it worked for at least one of those two.

And besides that, everyone tended to want help. They secretly wanted someone to assist them but didn't want to admit it. Doing things this way allowed Panacea get help under the guise of rehabilitating Rune.

"We each have something to help another with," I clarified. "Rune, you want to get away from E88, right?" As soon as I said that I realized that wasn't what Rune had actually said. She stated she hadn't wanted to join, she was just trying to get away from her family. But she has been a member for a long time, she might not actually want to leave.

It almost seem like she was going to confirm that when she hesitated to answer. She quirked a lips in thought for a moment. After a second she said,

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then what better way while in prison. If Miss Militia could get the ball rolling on re-branding you and setting you up, maybe you could become a Ward after some time." I turned and looked at Miss Militia, who hesitated to answer.

"I can start the process," she said slowly. "But you are going to have to start serving your sentence for your crimes before I can get you an answer. With luck, you'll get taken out on probation and made a partial member."

Rune took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, okay. If I'm going to prison anyway might as well."

Well, that small success made me a little happier at least.

"And you Panacea," I said, pointing a hoof at her. "You need to get some sleep. Take a break, relax a bit. Anything to stop you from looking like this zombie you've become.

"I have people that need to get healed," Panacea said bitterly. "They aren't going to get better with me sleeping."

"No one wants a Panacea that looks like she might pass out working on her," I said, pointing at her with a hoof. "What if you passed out on a patient." Panacea opened her mouth a little as if to answer but then stopped herself and a slight blush creeps into her cheeks. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"That's happened before, hasn't it?" I asked. Panacea's blush intensified.

"I'm going to side with the horse," Rune stated. "You look absolutely horrible. And I'm not just saying that because I want to be on the horse's good side. Though, it would also be nice if I was."

I gave her an odd look out of the corner of my eye before saying, "It's Nova. The name is Nova." Rune nodded but didn't say anything. I sighed and shook my head. "Can you promise to do that? To get sleep?"

Panacea crossed her arms and scowled. "I don't see why I should be making deals and promises with you. Let alone one that causes more people to suffer in the long run."

"Because you're going to self destruct." I told her flatly. I seen my dad do it once. I wasn't going to watch it happen again. If I do as my dad asks, I'm going to be seeing much more of New Wave. And I simply wasn't going to let it happen. "You get sleep, Rune becomes a Ward, I stop shooting rocks through people's legs. Three way deal. Are you in?"

Panacea's scowl deepened for a moment, but she saw there was no way to talk herself out of this without completely blowing me off. When that sank in, she said,

"Fine, if it gets you to stop seriously hurting people."

I smiled at her. "Good. Then Panacea," I said, turning back to face her again, "let's meet in two weeks so we can both prove that we're holding up our ends of the bargin." Not to say I didn't trust her, but I totally didn't trust her. Someone willing to push themselves past the brink of sleep deprivation this much was far too dedicated to an idea than they should be.

"Salova's on the Boardwalk." I told her. I can't say why I picked the location. It was a burger joint that wasn't nearly as hole-in-the-wall as Fugly Bob's. It was the kind of place that had outdoor seating with tall umbrellas covering each table to you could comfortably look at the ocean while you ate. It struck a nice balance between casually grabbing a bite to eat while still being able to sit down and chat.

It was also where Emma and I used to go sometimes.

Panacea let out an exasperated sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll do it." She grumbled something else under her breath but I didn't catch it. I nodded seriously and stood up on the bed, stretching my wings out wide. Some of the feathers were crooked, I noted. I'll probably have to straighten them later.

"Then I'll see you in two weeks."

"Hey, what about me?" I turned and looked at Rune as she asked the question.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"I mean I'm part of this deal too. You could swing by my prison cell."

"I just might." I started with a smile before hopping off the bed. I could see what she was doing. She wanted to be included, btu she also didn't left alone in a prison cell. I imagened it could get awful boring.

Miss Militia nodded respectfully to me as I turned towards her and the door. If she had something to say on what just happened she didn't say it, choosing to lead me out of the infirmary and then out of the building silently accept for a light hearted goodbye. I waved a hoof at her in return and walked off in the vague direction of home. I had to duck away from some people that had shown up because of Assault's live stream.

Celestia help me, was that person holding a sign with Muffin, the Destroyer written on it? And was that drawing supposed to be me?

I shook the thoughts of bucking that person repeatedly out of my head and attempted to make my way home without drawing attention. I had enough to think about just trying to explain this to my dad.

A/N: So this is a little long because I wanted to finish up the PRT scenes in this chapter.

Also, I find it odd people would think Equestrian aspects would conflict with Scion's conflict shards. The entire premise of MLP is that antagonist rise up and threaten harmony and the mane 6 have to beat them back. (Looking at you Stalin Glimmer)

Edit: Just for the people asking about the legal parts of this, officially Piggot was only talking to Taylor about what she did in the since of the PRT giving consul to upcoming heros of the ins and outs they might not be aware of. Of course, that wasn't what she used it for. And she wasn't needling for her to join the Wards, she was just asking her if she planned to. This was an interrogation in everything but name, but she is leveraging her own knowledge of legal proceedings against Taylor.

And Assault's live stream only started when Armsmaster asked her to lift the strange device with her power.