“The Protectorate has declined to comment on the ongoing chaos in Brockton Bay, where during an attack by the Slaughterhouse Nine—”

  “—the video released by Armsmaster upon his—”

  “—Nine still missing, assumed to have fled in the chaos.”

  Motoko smiled at that one, knowing that her family was safe. She hadn’t resisted when Assault and Battery tackled her and placed her into restraints after she painted the parking lot with Armsmaster’s brains. She even told her teams to stand down and take care of the wounded. Sophia hadn’t liked that, and Lisa forwarded a clip of Sophia ranting before she had been shoved inside a cell.

  Had the decision to kill him been rash? Most likely, but he didn’t deserve to live in the prison he had all but managed by proxy.

  She had killed a renowned hero who fought in every Endbringer battle for the past fifteen years. Dragon had died because she pushed too hard, too fast. Taylor was nothing but dust in the wind following that colossal fuck up.

  In light of that, sitting in a Protectorate holding cell wasn’t the worst outcome all things considered. It was technically shielded from outside signals, but the communication suite within her cyberbrain was having little issue with it, not that she could actually use it thanks to whatever was going on with her other half. That left her the screen that showed the news, and at least it was voice controlled which meant she could lay back in bed and casually scroll through the channels displayed.

  The news cycle was all in on covering the chaos that had swept through Brockton Bay over the past few days. Motoko wasn’t sure if she was right in submitting to custody, but she didn’t have it in her to argue. Taylor was barely a presence in the back of her mind, a ghost of a whisper clinging on out of sheer spite if nothing else.

  Motoko had no visitors aside from the faceless trooper that delivered her meals like clockwork. That wasn’t a surprise, but it was disheartening, not that any of her friends could actually visit, since those who knew who she was were all classified as villains.

  Another change of the channel and she had to pause. She had the interview memorized, how couldn’t she? Lisa snuck back into the media circus and found a reporter that was live and managed to convince them to ask her questions, and she didn’t disappoint. Even better, she brought Sophia with her as another witness. Even if it was just a gambit to prevent people from saying she was spouting something for the Empire, she appreciated the effort to get her girlfriend’s face somewhere she could see it.

  Lisa claimed to have overheard talk that Dragon was Armsmaster’s prisoner, and that Cyber had died trying to free her, with Sophia backing her up as a second witness. From there, Lisa no doubt abused Toybox’s systems to make things go viral. With PHO no longer under Dragon’s supervision, it would be far easier to manipulate the conversation in their favor.

  It ran completely counter to Armsmaster’s own message released upon his death. More people believed him given how much of a goddamn hero he was in the public eye, but it cast doubt, and Lisa was fanning those flames mercilessly.

  A chime rang, signaling it was time for another meal. Lunch unless her systems were catastrophically out of alignment. Motoko sat up and moved over to the wall, placing her hands and feet on the designated spaces. Once she had done so, rather than the expected chuckhole opening and a tray being deposited, the cell door opened instead.

  She didn’t dare turn around, just in case they used it as an excuse to foam her, or worse.

  “Um,” a young voice said. One that was rather familiar to Taylor, and by extension, Motoko. “Sorry to bother you.”

  Slowly, Motoko pulled away from the wall and turned to face Kid Win, or rather, Chris. He had indeed brought her tray with him, but he had already set it down on her cot and was standing there, fidgeting. He had to know that he was being recorded, as well as how suspicious being in a woman’s cell would appear.

  “What’s up, Kid?” she asked, adopting a casual pose as she leaned against the wall. “Normally the tall, dark, and faceless deliver my slop, not the kiddie brigade.”

  “Oh, sorry,” he said, rubbing his red helmet. “It’s just. I went to school with Cyber, and I was hoping you could explain how she survived that shooting. I saw the pictures some students took, but it wasn’t…” He took a deep breath, fist clenched as he looked up, his eyes filled with determination. “She couldn’t have survived that! Yet she did, so maybe she survived this too!”

  “She was shot before, and her cybernetics saved her. This time her body was vaporized,” Motoko said. “The only way she could have survived was if she wasn’t actually there.”

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

  She forced a smirk. “You’re a smart kid, I’m sure you can figure it out.”

  He blinked for a moment, then his eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but the door hissed open again, this time without any alert. Motoko tensed as a man in blue and white stepped in, followed by another in red and gold. She swallowed reflexively as she took in the appearance of Legend and Hero.

  “Kid,” Hero said, his voice modulated through his helmet, then the mouthpiece slid aside. “If you don’t mind, we would appreciate some privacy.”

  Motoko’s eyes narrowed, because she knew that voice, yet, when she attempted to analyze it, something kept throwing off her systems, some kind of reverb being projected to mask it.

  “I’m not in trouble?” Kid Win asked.

  Legend chuckled. “Not at all. Nobody will fault you for checking in on a friend.”

  “Taylor says hi,” Motoko added, giving him a curt nod. She could almost feel the faint smile coming from the chaotic mess that was her other half.

  Kid Win startled, his cheeks red where she could see his skin as he gave one last lingering look at Hero then left the cell, leaving Motoko alone with two of the strongest capes on the planet.

  “Not sure which one of you I should call boss at the moment,” she said, glancing between them. “Or is this a notice of termination?”

  Hero snorted. “Goodness no, Motoko. Nothing of the sort. Oh, and don’t worry about the monitoring systems in here, they’re quite disabled at the moment.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief at that as Legend continued.

  “Technically we’re both your boss, given both Sections six and nine fall under our purview. Jacob asked me to check on you, make sure you’re alright given everything that happened.”

  “Well, I know what it feels like to be reduced to ash,” she said. “Taylor was quite intertwined with me in that final moment and had accelerated her mind to superhuman levels besides. She hasn’t really recovered. I’m worried she’s gone and that scares the hell out of me.”

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  Legend had the decency to wince, but Hero watched her with an unflinching gaze. “Melissa’s all but demanded she be allowed to break you out.”

  “That’s sweet of her,” she said, smiling softly. “She must have forgotten that I have a Toybox transponder built into my shell. I can leave whenever I wish. Though such an attack and my cooperation would cement my allegiance with the Nine. I only have this life left to me, so I’m hesitant to throw it away.”

  “Not quite true,” Hero said, bringing up an image on the display.

  She frowned as she looked at the nearly completed shell that resembled Taylor. She had stopped most of the work on it once Coil put his plan into motion, but the message was clear. She could finish the work and give Taylor a chance to recover. For the briefest of moments, she could have sworn she saw Taylor out of the corner of her eye, but nothing was there.

  Hero then switched to a secondary render. “There’s nothing stopping you from finishing that, then starting on a new shell for yourself, maybe something a bit closer in appearance to your actual age.”

  It wasn’t a bad idea, and would allow The Major to be seen as a villain while she established a proper life for herself. Her only worry was how it might lead to another split. It was probably her best option going forward, but she liked how she currently looked and didn’t want to change it.

  “That brings us to the other point,” Legend said. “The mess with Armsmaster has a lot of politicians in a panic. To contain that disaster, a presidential order was handed down. Your case was expedited and they held a trial for you in absentia. The cape known as the Major is to be remanded to the Birdcage at the earliest convenience.”

  What!? They couldn’t do that to her!

  “Obviously that shit isn’t happening,” Hero said before the panic could fully set in. Motoko relaxed slightly, switching her Toybox transponder back to standby as she did. “We just need the public to believe it happened.” He shared a look with Legend. “Or for the Nine to bust you out of the transport before you arrive.”

  “You realize how bullshit that is,” Motoko said, then sighed. “Of course you do, that’s why you have so many plans to keep it from happening. So much for hiring that fancy lawyer.”

  “Actually,” Legend said with a knowing smirk. “He managed to get all charges against Taylor Hebert, a.k.a. Cyber, dropped. Lisa’s little stunt helped seal the deal there along with some prodding from up top.”

  “Lot of good that does if she’s legally dead,” Motoko countered. “And does nothing for me besides.”

  “Taylor was legally dead after Coil’s stunt,” Hero said. “Doesn’t mean Kurt didn’t secure all of her assets or keep her identity active behind the scenes. All it would take is her walking the completed shell into the Brockton PRT building and claiming she used a personal teleporter or some other bit of tech. The rest will be handled for her.”

  Motoko stood stock still, her mind racing with possibilities. Taylor still had a chance at life, to go back to school and just be a normal girl who takes her girlfriend to movies and overpriced restaurants. This time, when she caught sight of Taylor, she was still there. A digital figment, but there was no mistaking it was her avatar.

  Taylor nodded, stiffly, almost robotic, but there was something still left of her.

  It would do nothing for her, but after everything, she owed it to Taylor to be the one to fall upon the sword for once.

  “I want to trust you,” Motoko said slowly, carefully. “I want to more than anything, but you’ll understand if I’m not jumping for joy at the idea of putting my life in the hands of someone so deep in the Protectorate.”

  Hero smiled. “I figured as much, which is why,” he reached up, tapping something on the side of his helmet and the machinery pulled away from his face. “I thought a friendly face might help.”

  Motoko stared at Hero, at the face of the man she had met months ago when she joined Toybox. “Harry… How?”

  He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it in a familiar gesture. “I’m not originally from Bet, and back on my earth, I was a big fan of a comic called Iron Man, it helped inspire my look. Anyway, some tech from that called a life model decoy inspired me to create a way for me to be in multiple places at once, much like what you pulled off originally.”

  “You have no idea how many times he uses them for pranks,” Legend grumbled. “Hell, last week he walked into a meeting twice, and challenged us to pick which one was real.”

  “Lexi hates when I do that, because each time I’ve refined them further,” Harry said with a wide grin. “She actually guessed wrong on that one!”

  “He hasn’t stopped gloating,” Legend grumbled, pinching his nose. “Anyway, your choice on how we handle this, but regardless, we’ll ensure you’re back at Toybox no later than tomorrow afternoon.”

  She had her options, and none were perfect. The one with the most appeal, funnily enough, was to have her Birdcage transport attacked. It would be dramatic, cementing that she chose the Nine over a lifetime in hell and might even serve as a platform to go after the Cage itself. Motoko thought of Annette and how she would have ended up down there if not for her pregnancy. Eowen took the fall instead, and was still down there.

  There was also the matter of who controlled the Birdcage with Dragon’s death. She knew Taylor had done something with Dragon’s fragments, but she wasn’t sure what. Would that be enough to co-opt the Cage? It felt wrong, like robbing the dead, but could she really trust such an obviously corrupt government to have all that power?

  They would have to work carefully behind the scenes, not draw too much attention to what they were doing. Make it appear business as usual, that those in power still held their precious control over the system. They wouldn’t repeat Lustrum’s mistakes, because they had the woman herself as a mentor.

  They could revive the movement, subtly, covertly. Lisa would thrive with such a task, flipping off old pricks while stoking a movement behind the scenes. Add in the group they had built… They could start something new, root out the corruption slowly.

  “Oh, I know that look,” Harry said.

  “What look?” Legend asked.

  “That’s the same look she had right after Coil’s scheme played out,” Harry said. “Whoever she’s thinking of going after may as well be written off at this point.”

  She very carefully didn’t voice that their co-conspirators in Section One were among those.

  “Tell Jacob to be ready to break me out of the transport,” Motoko said, rolling her shoulders. “Make it flashy.”

  “Oh, he’s going to be positively giddy,” Harry said. “I’ll let him know at once.”

  Motoko nodded, then paused. “One more thing, tell Sophia to plan a day trip somewhere tropical that same day, then have Lisa book a reservation somewhere fancy. I want her to be able to treat Taylor to something nice as soon as she’s back on her feet.”

  Taylor’s avatar perked up, a ghost of a smile crossing her lips. Motoko nodded back, though it wasn’t like anyone else would be able to see who she was looking at.

  “Is that wise?” Legend asked, glancing at the empty space. “Your faces will be all over the news again once the transport is attacked.”

  She smiled, recalling what still needed to be done for Taylor’s replacement body. She gutted the remote control systems to make Victor’s conversion go quicker. Those systems were expensive and took time to build. She didn’t need it if all she was going to do was hot swap bodies. Motoko knew she could hold on for a bit without her own body, Taylor had been forced to do so twice already after all.

  Most of the work from there was cosmetic, and she could salvage many of the needed parts from her current shell as well. She needed to do some serious upgrades on herself regardless, and it would feel good to just let Taylor be Taylor for a while. The girl had been through too much as it was.

  “We’ll be discreet,” she said with a smile.

  Both heroes shared a look before shaking their heads.

  “Take care,” Harry said, his helmet resealing. “You did good. I’m proud to have you as part of Toybox.”

  “Thanks, Harry,” she said. “That means a lot, coming from you.”

  The heroes nodded, departing her cell and leaving her alone. She had so many things to plan, and she felt energized and ready to put them into motion. She sat down and dug into the tray of bland prison food, dozens of project files open within her cyberware as Taylor looked over her shoulder.

  “A storm is coming,” she whispered to her other half. “I can feel it within my soul… Within my ghost. I hope you’re ready, Taylor, this isn’t going to be easy.”

  “Nothing worth doing ever is,” Taylor whispered back.

  Whatever came, be it man or monster, she was determined to be at the heart of it.