Chapter Text
Kayden Anders had never appreciated her powers more than in the days after giving birth. Despite having a healer on call, relying on her own limited regeneration and some sun lamps allowed her to recover from a difficult labor without depending on her husband's connections. It made the idea of divorce much more palatable, despite the challenges presented by her little baby girl. Throw in a few months of recovery and extended exhaustion and she might just stay with the slimy bastard, bruised ego or no.
Another reason to be thankful was the fact she currently was one of the biggest sticks in Cape circulation, which was vital when freaking the f*ck out. Dialing the sixth number in her efforts to find help, she was finally rewarded with a familiar voice. "Ugh, Kayden? What's wrong? I was on the late shift until three this morning for God's sake."
In other words, the Empire had a shipment of drugs or guns that needed a babysitter and someone had to draw the short straw. No matter, this was much more important than a little sleep deprivation! "Justin, this is important. Dorothy and Geoff have gone dark. I tried to call Max or one of the twins, but they're also not picking up. If something is going down today, then I need backup. I can't keep my daughter safe with only Theo's help!" The kid might like his half sister, but he was weak, overweight and Max's son. Such a combination did not fill her with confidence.
Thankfully, her friend recognized the problem and did not waste any time whining. "Okay, I hear you. Give me like ten minutes to get my gear and I'll park nearby. Anyone causes you trouble and I'll send some firepower to flank them. Unless…you want me to come on up." Which was its own can of worms.
Kayden was hardly blind to the other Cape's interest, but there were two major stumbling blocks. First, Kaiser's ego would never allow the appearance of any impropriety when it came to his publicly picture perfect family. Second, Aster was always going to be the most important person in her life and anything that distracted from that could not be allowed. She already KNEW the steel plated asshole was cheating on her. Turnabout would be fair play but only weaken her efforts to escape his clutches.
On the other hand, depending on who the enemy was, strength in numbers might be their only option. If Max had a problem with it, he could pick up his damn phone. "Fine, come on up when you get here. But be careful about any guns. I don't want my daughter caught by a stray shot if things heat up." With a mumbled agreement, the other Parahumans hung up.
That left Kayden to stew in her own anxiety and frustration. She could hardly hold her baby in such a state. Little Aster was so sensitive and would pick up on her fears in an instant. Theo was useless on a good day and would be absolute dead weight in the face of any real threat. The most he could aspire to right now was a distraction or potential meat shield. Meanwhile, she could easily wipe out most of the enemies in the Bay, especially with the defeat of Lung, but unleashing a beam of energy in defense of her family would destroy her life and the lives of her former associates in an instant. It was a line once crossed that could never be uncrossed.
So she might be forgiven for yanking the door open at the first knock ten minutes later. Despite the silence from trusted friends, allies and interested parties, the new mother could not imagine that anyone would be stupid enough to just try and face her head on. Especially not at home! The potential consequences were cataclysmic!
Yet even the worst of the worst case scenarios did not involve Legend, in full uniform, standing right there behind her front door!
Absent his normal smile, the head of the Protectorate just quirked an eyebrow. "May I come in? I believe we have some things to talk about." All Kayden could do was nod in frustrated agreement.
Closing the door behind him, she said with false cheer, even if part of her gagged to say it inside, "Legend! How wonderful to meet you, I'm Kay-"
"I know who you are, Mrs. Anders," Legend interrupted. "I am here for a very good reason, and I'm sure you can work that out."
She took a step back, slowly starting to glow, "You come into my home, and you threaten me and my family…."
"Do calm down, Mrs. Anders. I'm not threatening you. Threatening you would have had me ripping or blowing off the door, not coming in after knocking on it."
The sheer confusion she felt at his confidence at that had her power down, "Then whatare you doing?"
"Informing you, very politely, that you are under arrest, and fighting will only cause property damage and possibly hurt those you love." The man didn't even look at anyone but her, but clearly knew Aster was in the other room. f*ck.
She wanted to curse him out, but was too nervous of picking up bad habits that Aster might get. As such, she forced it down, and said, "I can avoid hurting my baby."
That got a raised eyebrow, "So you only care about your baby, then? Not anyone in the apartment building or your stepson? … Good to know. I'll make a note of that."
Part of her wanted to slap him. Hard. How dare he? He didn't know her! He didn't know her at all! He didn't-
She clenched her teeth, and growled, "Big talk for someone who broke the rules to come here, and arrest me."
"Ah, but theEmpire is the one who broke the rules far too many times and isn't one to talk."
"What? The Empire didn't do that!?"
He started listing heroes and rogues, "Fleur, Heavens Drive, Barbed Wire, Goat-"
"The Empire didn't do that!" she denied. "Fleur's attacker was punished, and the others were unrelated to the Empire."
"Fleur's attacker was welcomed back into the Empire with open arms after his prison sentence, Mrs. Anders," Legend informed her, voice ice cold. "Heavens Drive was lynched for being black. Barbed Wire was stabbed for being gay. Goat's head? She was killed for being trans. The list goes on. And the latest victim of your Empire's work was an attempted stabbing of Arachne in her civilian identity for dating another girl."
"... Arachne?"
"Arachne."
"... Would the other girl be the civilian identity of Khyros?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Legend asked, tone still ice cold.
So, yes. sh*t. sh*t, sh*t,sh*t.
She licked her lips, "When I come in peacefully, will Aster be safe?"
He clearly gave her a disapproving look, "I will personally make certain they both are safe. No one will touch them, and they will get the best of care."
She winced internally, "That's good. Theo has an allergy to cilantro, so be careful of that."
"What kind of allergy?"
"He stops breathing if he eats it, but it passes pretty quickly? He doesn't have any trouble as long as it is in big chunks and he can pick it out, or it is just touching his food, but we make sure that we just don't buy it. It tastes like soap to us, anyway. Still, we don't go to places that have it in the food." It's not like they're monsters!
"I'll keep that in mind, as well."
He clearly had not forgotten how she kept forgetting Theo, and prioritizing Aster, ugh. Aster washer baby! Doesn't he understand? Of course he didn't, he's gay, so he could never get a mother's love.
Oh well, it was not like they would seriously be stupid enough to keep her apart from her daughter. Either someone would save her, as humiliating as it would be to owe the creeps in Germany or the rednecks in the Herren Clan a favor, or the Protectorate would probably offer her a plea deal. With the Endbringers in play, no one could afford to leave someone with her utility to rot. Soon enough, she would have Aster back in her arms and everything would be right in the world again.
Such feelings of self satisfaction were reinforced at the sight of the cuffs that Legend presented her. Small, light, and plain, they were clearly just for show. Even if she was doused in containment foam afterwards, breaking them and escaping would be easy as pie!
Then she actually put the things on, felt a pinch and lost every erg of strength in her body.
The Triumvirate member kept her from falling to the floor, guiding them to her couch instead. Then he spoke, voice just as cold as before. "Those might not look like much, but they certainly do the job. Right now, a mild neurotoxin is inhibiting your ability to absorb and regulate energy while what power is already present gets absorbed. Armsmaster had countless scans of your energy blasts that Dragon was more than willing to apply them to some of Hero's old projects. Until we get you to Max Security, they will be staying on."
Horrified by the implications, Kayden groaned. "But…Endbringers…"
"Did I offer you any sort of deal? Do you have any idea how many people you have killed? The only reason you're not headed to the Birdcage is the fact we want to keep your husband's business under wraps to minimize the collateral damage to Medhall. Too many people rely on that company to live so, once we quietly force out the bigots, we hope to preserve the peace. That doesn't mean anyone trusts you near the front line. I said I'd keep your family safe and that's a promise. But it also means that keeping them from you is a high priority. Now if you would excuse me…"
Thus, she was forced to watch helplessly as a squad of PRT troopers came in to secure the apartment and her child at the order of Legend.
Sometimes being second best was just not good enough…
-----
Grumbling at the third f*cking red light he had hit, Justin tried to reach his comrades with no luck. Responding to a bodyguard request for Kayden was perfectly reasonable, especially with how much that loser Theo had tanked as an heir. But he was not stupid enough to avoid asking mother may I from the big man himself. Especially if the lack of communication was just another power play Kaiser was using to put his wife down. Which sucked because this was the sort of woman who deserved more goddamn respect! Not that he would dare say anything to his leader's face…
He liked breathing more than he liked the idea of seducing the powerful Empire artillery any day of the f*cking week.
Unfortunately, this seemed like the real deal. Kaiser and his twins were AWOL, along with Krieg. He had gotten through to Victor, but he was out hunting down Rune and just said to follow Kayden's lead. He almost tried Brad, but decided against it at the last minute. The brawler was not a complicated man, but hated any sign of weakness. Their second most powerful member crying out for help would set the asshole off for weeks. Better to leave that sh*t to rumors and stuff.
So here he was, costume hidden under some sweats and truck purring like a kitten, trying to get to his friend. Yet every single light was against him! Sure she lived in one of the nicer parts of town while figuring things out with the boss, but the condos in question were not normally this bad! Like, this was where repair crews actually spent their time and sh*t, so why was he constantly hitting every single light and detour possible?
It was almost like he…was being herded…?
sh*t!
Justin reached for his phone, intent on warning Purity to get lost fast. Sadly, he was suddenly distracted by a wave of chittering bugs blocking his windshield! Cursing at the thought of any damage to his favorite ride, he quickly turned off the engine and kept out the side door.
What he saw made his blood boil with rage.
There, bold as brass, was Arachne. She was such a skinny thing, it was easy to overlook the fact she had single handedly trashed Lung and Oni Lee with barely any preparation. What was not easy to ignore was the fully costumed form of Brandish, dual energy blades already in her hands. Heroic assholes and him without his mask…
Then with a quiet whomp, his recently vacated truck was filled with containment foam, and Velocity had joined the fun. "Alright, let's get this out of the way. Crusader of the Empire Eighty Eight. Surrender, or face the consequences."
Snarling at the state of his truck, he snarled. "Like hell you assholes! You break the rules, you live with the consequences!"
The big bitch actually had the balls to just shift her head in response. "I believe that's our line. You started this. We're finishing it. End of discussion."
Then a wave of skittering black with lines of plasma orange rose to meet his horde of soldiers as the battle began.
