I sat there on the couch and didn't move or talk, even when Mark came down the stairs and went into the kitchen after waving to me. Funnily enough, he didn't ask about the large mechanical drone sitting on the couch with me. Mark made breakfast for himself and ate it, then he entered the living room and sat on my other side at a respectable distance about a foot away.

Mark turned on the television and started watching it. I was pretty sure it was just a habit, because like me, he wasn't really watching it. I suspected he only had it on so that it wasn't so quiet in the house, which was understandable. With Carol working long hours at the law firm and Vicky and Amy out for most of the day at school until late afternoon, he was home by himself nearly all the time.

We sat there in relative silence as the television played whatever was on. My cell phone rang and I checked it, only to see it was quarter after 10 and nearly the entire morning had already passed me by.

Where did the time go? I asked myself and clicked answer. “Hello?”

“Hi, Alex. It's Carol.” Carol said. “I have some news for you.”

I knew something was up when she didn't say if it was good news or bad news. “I'm going to be upset about this, aren't I?”

“It depends on how much you wanted Miss Militia to actually be your liaison for complaining about your treatment in the Wards.”

“Piggot didn't file any paperwork?” I asked, surprised.

“She did and it was rejected on the grounds that Miss Militia is a cape and wouldn't be objective about your needs and rights under her care, because she is so closely associated with the PRT.” Carol said and I sighed. “I can't get a straight answer as to why they didn't send the rejection notice to Piggot, Miss Militia, or you.”

“By the sounds of it, someone suggested it be lost, so I would be stuck without official representation. If any incidents happened, then they could easily cover them up, because no one is responsible for me.”

Carol was quiet for a moment. “That makes more sense than what I guessed.”

“What did you guess?” I asked.

“They were all incompetent.” Carol said. “I'm not sure why they were insulted when I told them that.”

I had to laugh at that. “I assume they are finally sending the paperwork now?”

“No, because you are no longer a Ward and their decision isn't applicable anymore.” Carol said. “However, I recorded it all and wrote out a hard copy of the conversation as a record to show the Department of Child Services.”

“How did that conversation go?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Instead of being incompetent, they were only ignorant. It was refreshing, honestly.”

I shook my head. “What did they say about me not having anywhere to live?”

“They were more concerned that they were never contacted by your representative, whom was never assigned, probably for the very reason you suggested.” Carol said. “As for everything else, they said to find somewhere temporary to stay until they can review your case and see what they can do for you.”

“Well, that's really helpful.” I said, sarcastically.

“That's what I told them in almost the exact same tone. They completely ignored the clear sarcasm, thanked me for appreciating their efforts, and hung up.”

“Ha.” I said and took a deep breath. “As my lawyer, do you have any official suggestions for the next step I need to take or should I have you put your official capacity aside and ask you as a concerned mother what I should do next?”

Carol was quiet for several seconds. “Alex, as your lawyer, I recommend suing everyone involved and it might just give them the motivation to not screw over such a potentially invaluable asset in the future.”

I was a bit stunned by her ruthlessness and also appreciated it. “What would a mother tell me to do?”

“She would tell you to stay there and wait for her to come home for supper, then she'll hug you and tell you that everything is going to be okay and to leave it to her. She'll take care of everything.”

“I...” I paused and thought about that. “I really want the second recommendation to happen and I'll also tell you to do the first because you're taking care of everything.”

“I am very pleased to hear that, Alex.” Carol said and I could hear the smile in her voice. “I'll get started on it and I'll see you this evening.”

“Thank you.” I said, sincerely.

“My break is over, so I need to go. Be safe and stay there. Promise me.” Carol said.

“I'll stay here and won't go out.” I promised.

“Good. See you soon.” Carol said and hung up.

I hung up as well and Mark stared at me. “I'm paying Carol a ridiculous amount of money.”

Mark chuckled and nodded as he looked back at the television. We both sat there without saying anything for about half an hour.

“Would you like some fast food? I feel like ordering a pizza.” I said out of the blue.

“Pizza?” Mark asked without looking at me. “No anchovies or olives.”

I nodded and dialed the pizza place the Wards always used for their parties. I asked for four pizzas. Mine was with cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and with sliced green peppers sprinkled on top of the cheese. Mark gave me wide eyes at my instructions.

“It keeps the cheese from sucking up the sauce.” I whispered to him.

“I want to try that.” Mark said and went back to staring at the television.

I ordered a pizza with Vicky's favorite toppings and another with Amy's, then I was kind of stuck. “Mark, what does Carol like to eat?”

“Not crow. She chokes every time.” Mark said with a smile.

I laughed at him making a joke. “Informative and not helpful. Thanks, though.”

Mark nodded without looking at me.

I ordered a basic cheese and pepperoni and Carol would have several kinds of pizza to choose from. It was enough pizza that it would last as lunches or snacks for a day or two. Cold pizza for breakfast sounded good, so I added a fifth pizza with my topping choices.

Three quarters of an hour later, a happy pizza delivery driver was tipped a twenty dollar bill and I had five steaming hot pizzas. Four of them were left in the boxes and the fifth one had Mark and I dig into it with enthusiasm. It became Mark's favorite kind of pizza and the two of us ate most of it and left only two pieces. I put them into the oven with the pizzas and we would finish them off for supper.

I was very tempted to bring Vicky and Amy slices of their favorite, then remembered Carol making me promise to remain inside the house. I chuckled and took out my cell phone to send Vicky a text and asked if she was on lunch break yet, because I had pizza there for her and Amy if they wanted to come home to eat.

Ten minutes later, a very excited and hungry Vicky and a resigned Amy came down the stairs. I handed over their pizzas and both thanked me and sat at the table to eat. I asked them about school and listened for a bit before I told them that I would have brought them the pizzas myself, except they would have been cold after me moving so fast or if I flew them. It was also why I didn't tell Vicky to pick them up and carry them back.

“Cold pizza is still good pizza.” Amy said and started chewing on her second piece.

“Yeah, that's why I bought a pizza for each of us.” I said.

“Four of them?” Vicky asked.

“Nope, five.” I said and pointed behind her.

Vicky turned to look and caught her breath, because Mark waved to her from the couch and smiled. “Dad! You're up before noon!” She almost shouted and flew across the kitchen and living room to carefully land on the couch and hugged him. She had apparently not seen him when she passed by the couch earlier.

“Healer Man helped me.” Mark said and hugged her back.

“Alex? But... he... wait.” Vicky half-turned to look at me without letting her father go. “Alex?”

“Carol told me about his problems, so I checked in on him this morning and he let me absorb his damage.” I told her.

“You really healed him?” Amy asked in a voice so soft, even my enhanced hearing had a hard time picking it up.

I smiled and put a hand on hers. “He won't need his medication anymore, either.”

Vicky let out an inarticulate shout as tears came to her eyes. She ducked her head to her father's chest and kept hugging him.

Amy's hand flipped over to grip mine and she nodded, then she stood and went to the living room to sit on Mark's other side and hugged him, too. I knew she was also checking him with her powers and I smiled at her confirming what I did. They stayed like that for quite some time.

Amy's phone eventually went off with an alarm she had set, and she whispered to Vicky. All three of them were reluctant to let go and Vicky and Amy stood with their hands still touching Mark's shoulders. I had already put the pizzas back in the oven and handed them their partially eaten pieces they had forgotten about. I also handed them paper towels.

“Thank you, Alex.” Amy said and she gave me a pointed look before she pulled me down to give my cheek a kiss. “Don't let that go to your head.”

I chuckled and turned to Vicky, whom grinned at me before she jumped on me and kissed me hard.

“Oh, for fuck's sake.” Amy groused after a few seconds. “Stop playing with his tonsils and let's go.”

Both Vicky and I were laughing when we broke the kiss.

“A kiss is supposed to go to their head. That's the whole point.” Vicky said and picked Amy up in a princess carry. “We'll be back in a couple hours.”

Mark and I waved as they flew up the stairs and disappeared from sight.

“Carol is going to be angry when she sees me up and around.” Mark said.

“Probably.” I said. “Do you want to sit on this end of the couch so she sees you first?”

Mark chuckled and did exactly that. I sat down on the other end of the couch and Dragon's drone came out from hiding behind the couch and landed beside me.

“I've already intercepted several attempts by Director Armstrong, Weld, and Armsmaster trying to contact you about joining back up.” Dragon said in my ear. “There's nothing from Chief Director Costa-Brown yet.”

I nodded and patted the drone. I guessed that she was going to wait until the business day was over before she either tried to call me or would come here personally. I suspected the latter was going to happen, honestly. I wasn't an idiot and knew she was interested in me after I beat her so easily when we first met and then we took down Leviathan together.

I wasn't going to rush into a confrontation with her, though. I sat on the couch with Mark and Dragon's drone and pretended the television was the most interesting thing in the world as I waited.

*

Rebecca Costa-Brown really enjoyed tearing a verbal strip off of Armstrong for his heavy-handed tactics and screwing up such an easy task. He was supposed to have Myriad quietly sign back up without any theatrics and then he could have imposed any policy enforcement that he wanted. The idiot had let him overhear his plans and Myriad was out of there right after.

She had watched the footage, all of it, and she had to commend Myriad for being both sneaky and diligent. He had a mind that was continuously changing and getting better, like hers, and she sighed at him emulating her even more than he already was. The problem was that she had absolutely no idea what to say to him to convince him to join back up. He had no reasons to. None.

Offering herself up as a bed warmer wasn't going to work, either. She was both a Protectorate member and a member of the PRT, albeit with two different identities, and neither persona was allowed to fraternize with a Ward. Whether it was official policy or not, Myriad couldn't be granted an exception, because exceptions would also have to be issued to Vista, Hive Queen, and possibly Miss Militia.

Rebecca sighed and regretted not making the attempt when she could, unofficially of course. She had extensively reviewed the footage of all of his antics, especially inside Heartbreaker's compound as he systematically disabled all of the traps and saved all of those people by absorbing all of their damage. It had her hot and bothered nearly constantly at how efficient and ruthless he had been.

What am I going to do? Rebecca asked herself as she sat behind her desk and stared at the clock that was slowly ticking down to the end of the business day. She knew she had to do something and she had to do it today, or she would miss her chance to salvage the situation.

*

Vista was done with everything that had to do with the Wards, because the director had ruined her future. This had been her first day without Myriad by her side as her boyfriend and Taylor as her girlfriend, and she hated every second of it. She was going to quit, new contract or not, and she would refuse to go out at all if they rejected her resignation and tried to stop her.

School was an utter chore and her mood only worsened as the day kept going and going. It seemed to never end as she sat in class and she didn't listen to any of the teachers. As far as she was concerned, they didn't matter. Without Myriad in her life, today was the worst, and no one else mattered...

...and then her world shattered.

Vista screamed as she suffered a second trigger and her power broke free from her control. The space around her turned and twisted in ways she hadn't thought was possible and she stared at the impossible becoming possible. It was in that moment that she remembered one of the late night discussions she had with Myriad about her powers and what he said she could do if her Manton Limit was removed.

She stopped screaming at that thought and everything froze around her. Her eyes took in what was left of her desk that was inverted and half-twisted into a spiral. The metal and wood had bent impossibly while still holding together and they hadn't broken. She pulled her power back inside of herself and her eyes saw the ruined desks and other things around her.

All of the other students and even the teacher had been caught in the maelstrom of her unrestrained and changed power. They had been turned almost inside out and then swirled into the metal and wood of the desks and chairs around them. The weird thing was that they were still alive. For now, anyway. How long could you live after being turned inside out and combined with metal and wood?

Vista shrugged and turned to look out the side of the building that had been at the edge of her brief power slip. A large hole was in the middle of the swirling mess, so she walked over to it and waved her hand to expand it and change it into a proper doorway. She stepped out and the ground shot up instantly to catch each step she took.

With an almost evil smile on her face, Vista decided that she had a few people she needed to visit and express her displeasure to.