“Dragon, can you transfer all my money into a numbered bank account and remove all access by everyone except for you and me? I don't want the government to have an easy excuse to confiscate or claim it because I'm becoming a criminal.” I said and took out my cell phone to put her on speaker.

“I did that while I was cursing at you for being so lovably stupid to give up your life to be with Vista.” Dragon said.

“Thank you.” I responded with as much appreciation in my voice as I could fit into it as Vista blushed. “Can I donate a million dollars to the Baumann Center's operations fund?”

Dragon cursed at me again. “Do you know what the normal operating budget is for a prison?”

I stopped to think for a minute. “Was my offer the equivalent of buying my friend a single pack of cigarettes when they usually buy several crates of them?”

Dragon chuckled. “That's a great analogy to use for a prison and pretty much exactly what I meant.”

“Then I rescind my insulting offer and I'll try to think of something that will actually be useful to you.”

“Are there any capes in the Birdcage that are more trouble than their worth?” Vista asked.

“Now that's a great idea. We are going in to take over anyways and we might as well start with the worst of the worst.” I agreed.

“Alex, I can't ask you to do that.” Dragon said, her voice unsure.

“You didn't ask. We offered.” I said and smiled. “You have to make up a special Dragon Enforcer patch or emblem for us to wear when we're eventually shipped off. Showing up in style will help us establish ourselves.”

Dragon was quiet for several seconds. “I can't believe I'm agreeing with this.”

“Look at it this way, Vista and I are going to become full Canadian citizens when we're sentenced, because we'll be registered as permanent residents in your country.” I said and Vista laughed.

“Well, that... I forgot about that. Any prisoner's original country signs over all of the individual's rights to the Canadian government and they become permanent residents automatically.” Dragon said. “I need to go and handle a few things, so don't be bothered if this instance of me is busy.”

“Go ahead, Dragon. It's not like we're going anywhere.” I said.

Dragon sighed. “You just had to jinx it, didn't you?”

“What do you mean?” Vista asked.

“Hang up the phone and put it in your pocket. Refuse to hand anything over when they ask you to.” Dragon said and I heard several sets of boots enter the hallway outside the cell.

“I don't have anything on me anyway.” Vista said.

“I have my wallet and phone, so I'll do as you say, Dragon. See you later.” I said and hung up. I put the phone in my back pocket just in time, because the cell door opened and four troopers with guns drawn stood there.

Frank stepped through them and smiled at me. “Hey, kid. It's been a while.”

“They didn't transfer you out?” I asked and stood up with Vista still in my arms.

“They put a halt on it when this latest thing came up.” Frank said and motioned to Vista. “You can put her down.”

“No, she's staying with me.” I said and hugged her tighter.

“You're not really in a position to refuse.” Frank said as his face went blank.

“I'm the only one that's in a position to refuse. I chose to be here to protect her and no one is going to stop me from staying by her side. No one.” I told him.

Frank sighed and stepped back through the four troopers. “I'm sorry about this, kid. Contain them.”

All four of them raised their rifles and shot their containment foam grenades at us and the grenades flipped around in mid-flight and went right back at them to smash open and covered all four of them instantly.

“Anything else?” I asked and Frank sighed.

“It's supposed to make it easier for us to transport you.”

“You could have just asked.” I said and took a step and used Vista's power to push the secured troopers down the hallway and out of my way, then I stepped out of the cell and shifted them back and shoved them inside.

Frank shook his head at me and walked away. I followed him and Vista stared at his back.

“How did you redirect the force the grenades had?” Vista asked me in a soft whisper.

“I didn't. I turned the space around them into a 'U' shape and their own momentum carried them right back.”

Vista smiled up at me. “That's really cool.”

“It's your power.” I said and smiled back, because she had just complimented herself.

We walked to the elevator and rode it up to street level and entered the garage. A large PRT armored transport and another group of troopers were waiting for us there. Frank motioned to the back and two of them opened the back doors. When one of them stepped forward with two sets of cuffs, I shifted his position to the other side of the garage and then crushed the cuffs in his hands.

“No.” I said and climbed into the back of the transport and sat down on the metal bench.

“So badass.” Vista whispered.

I rested her on my lap and gave her a quick wink. The other troopers climbed in with their guns drawn and they all stared at us. Well, I say stared, except there was no real way to tell with their black helmets and faceplates covering their expressions.

The transport drove out of the PRT building's garage and sped along the streets to take us to the courthouse. It didn't take long, since we were already in the main part of the city and it wasn't that far to our destination. We came to a stop and the back doors were opened from the outside. The troopers flowed out while keeping us under guard and the barrels of their guns pointed at us.

I climbed out and stood up straight and saw we had been let out at the front of the building at the public entrance and not at a side door or anything. “What idiot chose to put us on display like this?” I asked and no one answered me. I was going to ignore that, then I remembered my promise to ensure my ticket to the Birdcage. “Hey, Frank? We need a witness and someone to claim the arrests.”

“What?” Frank asked me just before I lifted us up into the air on jutting pieces of ground that perfectly matched the shape of the bottom of our feet.

“Take a step, please.” I said and Frank did as I asked and took one step with me. We were instantly two blocks away from the courthouse and in front of Medhall. “Since I'm still technically a hero until my conviction...” I paused and nodded at the medical building that everyone knew was a front for the Empire 88. “Vista, give me a hand.”

Vista placed a hand on my cheek and she gasped as our powers linked up and they sang together. We could feel that they were happy to finally be free and it was almost a religious experience. We both turned our heads to look at the six storey tall pharmaceutical building and Vista flicked her hand at it.

The entire front of the building tore off and pulled up from the foundations to reveal two basement floors, one of which was an illegal drug lab. Vista made a fist and she crushed the front of the building into a basketball shape with her power and dropped it on the sidewalk.

“Holy shit.” Frank said and whistled at the sight.

A gunshot rang out and I caught it with a spacial distortion in front of Frank's chest.

“And we have our first customer.” I said and let the bullet drop to the ground and flicked my hand at Victor as I briefly flexed my version of Vista's power.

“AHHH!” Victor shouted as he was yanked out of the top floor of the building and he fell six stories to land on the sidewalk. He didn't go crunch like he should have.

“He's been buffed with invulnerability.” Vista said as the villain stood up.

“Nice.” I said and gave her a pointed look. “Spacial vortex to the head?”

“I'll spin him, you launch him.” Vista said, happily.

Victor screamed when his body suddenly started rotating around his forehead like a top and spun faster and faster. His screams didn't stop when the space above his head for several miles compressed into an inch thick and then it touched him and uncompressed.

“AHHHhhhhh...” Victor's screams faded away as he was dragged up through the air and launched out of sight.

“He'll be back in a few minutes.” I said and used a touch of Nilbog's power to find certain people in the building.

“If you put me down, you could move better.” Vista said and didn't try to make me put her down.

“What for? I don't need to move much to handle Nazi scum.” I said.

“You are going to pay for that!” A woman's voice shouted from the top floor.

We looked up and saw the costumed Othala standing next to the head of Medhall, Max Anders.

“Do not worry, Othala. Victor will be fine.” Max said.

“Oh, look! That's two costumed supervillains of the Empire 88 hiding in plain sight. What is the world coming to when a legitimate business is run by Nazis?” I asked and then laughed. “I'm sorry, I couldn't lie so blatantly like that without cracking up.”

“Fenja, Menja. Deal with the pest and prepare to catch Victor.” Max ordered.

Two armored women, identical twins of each other, ran and leapt out from the top floor. They didn't fall to their deaths, though. Both women activated their powers and they grew to enormous sizes, nearly three stories tall, and easily landed.

“Twins were originally one egg in the womb.” I said and smiled at the two giant women as they posed to strike at me. “I'm going to try to return you to that state.”

Both women swung their weapons at me, one a giant spear and the other a giant sword, then suddenly the two women were smashed together and screamed. I didn't want their power to grow in height in proportion to the damage amount they could negate, so I moved them well away from my range to absorb powers and continued to crush them against each other.

“What are you doing?” Frank asked me.

“I'm using their powers against them.” I said and he gave me a flat look. “I'm only pushing them together and not attacking them, so their damage reduction shouldn't really count.”

The sounds of giant bones snapping made a lot of people wince, as did the loud screams.

“You're a real monster when you want to be, kid.” Frank said.

“I few pointless deaths should ensure the paperwork can't be filed to stop my incarceration with Vista.” I said and looked up at the top floor of the building. Max was no longer in sight and Othala had a pistol in her hands and pointed it at me. I concentrated on the gun and put a small spacial distortion inside the barrel to squeeze it right in front of the bullet.

Othala pulled the trigger and the gun exploded in her hands. “AHHH!” She screamed and dropped to her knees.

I flicked my fingers at her and she plummeted six stories to crunch onto the pavement.

“Fuck.” Frank said and turned away, only to see the last of Fenja and Menja be squished together and crushed. “Fuuuck, you gotta stop, kid. I'm calling this in.”

I looked down at the illegal drug lab and Vista felt what I wanted to do. She helped me crush the various apparatus and devices used to make drugs. The whole operation only took seconds to ruin.

A car sped around the next street corner and skidded to a stop. The doors opened and both the head of the Empire named Kaiser and his lieutenant Kreig stepped out. Because I was using Nilbog's power, I knew Kaiser was really Max Anders.

“Myriad.” Vista said as metal things like swords and knives started growing out of the pavement around us.

“It's all right. I have a plan.” I said and ran at full speed with her still in my arms. I didn't need both of my hands to handle them as I appeared behind the two Nazis. I kicked the back of Kaiser's head in, killing him instantly. Before his dead body could fall, I let Vista's legs go for a split second and gripped Kreig's neck. He could absorb and redirect kinetic energy, almost like Assault could, so I ended him by simply crushing his neck.

I ran back to my previous spot beside Frank and he hadn't noticed I was gone. “Okay, I think this is enough.”

We stood among the devastation of the upper echelons of the Empire 88 and none of them could touch us. Just as I started to use my copy of Vista's power to take us away, Victor's asphyxiated body fell from the sky and landed right in the exact same spot Othala had died. It was fitting that they lived together, fought together, and now they died together.

“I'm really tempted to go take out Skidmark and Squealer.” I commented as we arrived back at the courthouse. The guards were freaking out and calling everyone in, including the national guard, to search for the dangerous escaped capes. “Or maybe I'll stick around and not cause more trouble.”

Frank laughed and led me and Vista up the courthouse steps and into the lobby. I refused to hand over my wallet and cell phone before stepping through the metal detector and the security guards looked like they were going to shoot me for defying them.

I looked down at what was clearly a very expensive machine and computer that they used to check things on a tray, smiled, and warped space around Vista and myself as I walked right through it. Vista recognized the same twisting pattern that she had inadvertently unleashed at her school and she smiled at me for perfecting it. Her hand was still on my cheek and our powers were still happily connected, so she learned how to do it, too.

We left the security guards behind us and they cursed and ranted at me ruining their equipment. I ignored them and asked Frank what room we were going to. He led us to the elevator and hit the button. The doors opened immediately and I exchanged looks with Vista.

“Stairs.” We said together.

I ignored the obvious trap and walked over to the stairway door and walked through it without stopping. Frank sighed from behind us and followed.

*

Carol Dallon was angrier than she had ever been. She swore that when she used the bathroom earlier that she had pissed pure vinegar instead of urine. The urgent call from Dragon had shocked her, as did the explanation. That wasn't what made her angry, though.

Myriad had broken his promise and ensured that he would be joining Vista in infamy.

As an experienced lawyer, she could have easily argued extenuating circumstances. Trigger events were horrible things and there was a lot of leeway when they occurred. The problem was, Vista was not masked up and her actions were not covered under the unwritten rules.

At most, the judge could be argued down to only several years in serving time, if Vista was convicted as a civilian. As a cape? It was an automatic sentence of the Birdcage and it was always life in prison. Once you went in, you never came out.

Carol felt less than useless as the courtroom doors swirled into a spiral and then split apart to leave a spot just wide enough for Myriad to walk in and he carried Vista in his arms. She glanced at the judge's face and he looked as angry as she did, so she knew she didn't have a chance in hell of mitigating anything when the trial started.

Ten minutes later, it was over.

The judge declared them the worst villains he had ever met and he sentenced the both of them to rot for the rest of their lives in prison, with no chance of parole. They would be the youngest in history to be sent to prison and both Myriad and Vista looked pleased. Everyone would know their names and would remember them for a long time.

“You... you stupid lovesick fools.” Carol whispered to her clients as the defense table was surrounded by PRT troopers with their guns drawn.

“Those won't be needed.” Myriad said and all the guns were instantly crushed into marbles and all their back-up tasers were made into thin wafers. “We could have escaped whenever we wanted, and we don't want to.”

Carol watched as the handsome young man stood with Vista still in his arms, and he casually walked towards where the bailiffs pointed. No one tried to rush him and he thanked the judge for remaining impartial and judging them fairly after examining all of the evidence.

Myriad's comment made the judge spit and sputter in rage at the boy calling him out like that and it would soon become a popular sarcastic quote on PHO and social media. Everyone knew Vista and he were forced through the system to sentence them as quickly as possible, and they were all pissed about it, too.

*

Rebecca Costa-Brown sat in her office with her head in her hands. Myriad had destroyed the entire Brockton Bay experiment, just because he wanted to remove the last major gang influence in the city before he was incarcerated. It was both admirable and foolish, because the only gang left was the drug-addled Merchants.

A quick message to the PRT ENE division's second in command, Deputy Director Renick, solved that problem. The last remaining gang would be removed with extreme prejudice by the end of the day. Her thoughts about Myriad were scattered and unfocused, because she couldn't reason out why he would voluntarily choose prison over being free.

A beep on her cell phone had Rebecca check it. She read the text from Dragon and groaned at the judge levying penalties against Myriad and ordered that all of the young man's money was to be confiscated by the state to be put to better use than what a criminal could do with it. Villains were not allowed to benefit from their crimes, apparently.

It was just too bad that Myriad had already cleaned out everything he owned, including the massive bounties for the Slaughterhouse Nine and Heartbreaker. All of that money was now hidden and no one could touch it. It would sit and gather interest for a long time and would double or triple in size within a few years.

Rebecca felt respect for the young man for thinking ahead like that and she issued a counter-order to cancel both the fines and the judge's order. They wouldn't benefit from a villain's crimes, either.

She sat back and watched the social media videos about what Myriad did to the Empire 88 and her hand went between her legs as the young man easily tore them apart. He just kept getting more and more enticing with each accomplishment and she once again regretted that she hadn't used a Door to go and visit him when she had the chance.