Protectorate Sod walked along to Still Well’s office, being wanted by the big man for some odd reason. No, there was no reason she could think of that could warrant Still Will looking for her so early in the day.

She walked by Dark Sun, who was busy trying to introduce himself to White Blanche, but to no avail. Protectorate Sod had seen the footage of her drug bust last night. She had to give credit where it was due, Dark Sun did a good job at taking down the criminals. It helped a little with raising public awareness of how superheroes could help if they fought alongside the military. After all, it was roughly the same thing, just overseas.

When she arrived outside the manager’s door, she rapped her knuckles on the smooth mahogany wood of the door and waited.

“Come in,” she heard Still Will say from inside.

With a grin, the superheroine pushed the door open and approached the desk. “Yes sir, what can Ah do for ya?”

“It’s about the Mayor of Baltimare’s plane crash.” Still Well tossed three photos across her desk for Protectorate Sod to see. “What do you know about it?”

“Can’t say I know much.” She made a clueless expression. “Storm, am I right? Sometimes unpredictable.”

Still Well put his hands together. “Evidence says otherwise. I had The Shallow remove the evidence before her drug bust, if you recall I sent her out. There were laser marks across the plane’s cabin. I don’t have to tell you what would happen if the public found out this was your doing.”

“Hey, Ah was only doin’ what was necessary.” Protectorate Sod raised her hands. “That mayor was tryin’ to blackmail ya with all that Hold X cow manure, so I took care of it for ya.”

“I appreciate the concern, but we could’ve handled that differently. But either way, now that he’s out of the way, our next course of action is to continue to get the Congress’ approval of sending our supes to fight alongside the military. The vote has to be unanimous.”

“Well, how hard is it for them to agree it’ll be great help to them once they see us savin’ people on the streets?” Protectorate Sod tipped her hat lower. “And besides, Ah’d imagine we could deal with any o’ them who say no easy.”

Still Well sighed and poured himself a cup of coffee from his coffee machine. “You are absolutely right about that, Protectorate Sod. And this time, leave it to me. I already have a plan for it.”

“Of course. You’re the boss, boss!” She mock saluted, then left the office.

Once she was out, her smile quickly turned upside down and she went looking for The Shallow. She eventually found her fellow Septet member in the Hall of the Septet, scrolling through articles at the table.

“Shallow!” She greeted the other heroine with a slap on the back. “How’s it goin’?”

“Oh, pretty good, all things considered.” The pink haired woman nodded.

“Hey ya know, I wanted to talk to ya about a lil’ somethin’.” Protectorate Sod left her hand on The Shallow’s shoulder. “It’s about what you told Still Well about what ya found on the plane wreckage.”

“O-Oh. What about it?”

“There’s somethin’ Ah didn’t quite like about what ya did. Ya know what that is?” The Shallow shook her head. “It’s that ya went to Still Well first before comin’ to me. Ah would rather my actions be kept under wraps next time.”

“O-Oh… I see, Protectorate Sod… I’m-I’m sorry.” Shallow shrunk away in her seat from the other heroine.

“Ah know, ya won’t, Shallow.” The blonde haired heroine clapped her on the shoulder and then gave her a firm squeeze, which The Shallow slightly jumped from. “Cause ya know Ah don’t want to have this conversation again. I trust you know that.” She smirked at the other heroine.

She nodded again meekly.

“Great that we understand each other, Shallow.” Protectorate Sod strolled off, her hands behind her back and a wide smile on her face.

The Shallow watched her go, before taking a breath and stopping the shiver in her shoulders.

The girl in bed looked on nonchalantly as Z-Truck entered the hospital room, the sound of a truck horn signalling her arrival. She pointed at everyone in the room before swaggering up to the kid, leaning down beside her bed.

“Hey, kid. It’s the Z-Truck!” She pumped her muscles. “Isn’t that awesome? I brought you a little something.”

She handed a brown paper bag to the kid, who looked inside it excitedly. But her face was quick to return to its unenthusiastic expression when she pulled out a Z-Truck action figure from inside.

“I… I wanted one of Refraction.” She sighed dejectedly. “And I wanted Refraction to visit me. That was my wish. My only wish.”

“I mean, well…” Z-Truck pressed a button under the action figure’s arm and her rainbow hair lit up. “The hair does that. It’s awesome.”

“But all I wanted now was to meet Refraction…” She put the toy down and tilted her head down.

Z-Truck looked between her and the doctor and raised an index finger. “Okay, you know what. Refraction’s on a top secret mission away from Canterlot right now. Maybe I could get her to swing by next week…” The doctor shook his head. “Ah. Uh, well, you know what, I’m pretty awesome myself. I’m sure if you get yourself better, and with a little training, I’ll have you running as fast as me in no time!”

“Yeah well, will I ever be faster than cancer?”

Z-Truck opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead, she pointed at the camera and imitated finger guns.

Still Well put a hand to his head and turned off the television. “Autumn, what did I tell you about sending in Z-Truck without a script? She needs a script!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just… It was really last minute. We only found out when Refraction didn’t turn up to the hospital fifteen minutes before the meeting.” The assistant tapped at her clipboard anxiously. “We ha-haven’t been able to get ahold of her…”

“Is she still in the building?”

Autumn shook her head. “None of the motion sensors have gone off. Unless she’s staying very still, I don’t think she’s actually here. There’s no sign of her tracker implant as well.”

Still Well rubbed his chin. “Where’d that bloody pervert go? Just have them keep an eye out for that tracker. She has to be somewhere.”

“And here we have it, the perfect plan!” Prenchie held up a little ball. Sunset thought it looked like a wad of plasticine. “I know just what we can do to that witch.”

“What’s the plan, Prench?” Mulcher returned with a packet of Maltsneezers. “We gonna make her eat it?”

“No no, I’ve a much better plan.” She smiled wickedly. Sunset didn’t have a good feeling about it.

She followed the two older women back into Refraction’s room and watched as Prenchie dug a thin wire into the cage.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Refraction’s voice came from inside, but before she could even utter another sentence, the wire touched her and the entire room lit up in sparks as a current passed through it into the heroine and along the rest of the cage.

Sunset screamed and covered her face to shield herself, remembering the previous night’s electrocution. She still couldn’t believe she’d actually taken down a member of The Septet. Prenchie eventually retrieved the wire from the cage and the burst of power stopped. They waited a few more minutes before throwing the cage door open. Nothing happened and the pink haired woman retrieved the wad of plasticine from her pocket and to Sunset’s astonishment, she began stuffing it somewhere low to the ground, which disappeared into nothing. One would think it was a magical trick if they didn’t know Refraction was actually there.

“Farmin’ diabolical.” Mulcher smirked. “Right up the twat. Just like when Sunset ‘ere stuffed the cable up there too.”

“Umm, it was accidental.”

“Well, accident or no, it was a good idea with the electricity.” Prenchie took out a second ball and stuffed it into Refraction. “I never would’ve guessed electricity would work so well. Anyway, a second plastique up a second hole. Just in case. You can never be too sure with these supes.”

“Wait, plastique?” Sunset blinked. “As in like, explosives?”

“Oui, what else did you think it was? Dough?”

“How’d you know if this will work?” Mulcher ran a hand through her dark hair. “What if it blows all of us up instead?”

“Ah, I was thinking about it.” Prenchie wagged a finger. “Her outside is as tough as diamond. Unbreakable, non? But her insides, it cannot be unchanged. It’s only the carbon skin that makes her unbreakable. But her insides, they’re soft like us. Jelly.”

“Great. Well, gimme that detonator and we’ll blow her sky high.”

“Wait, wait.” Sunset waved her arms between them. “Shouldn’t we like, question her first? Like where Z-Truck was off to in such a hurry that day? When my boyfriend was killed?”

“Oh sheep, that was you?” Prenchie gave her a pat. “I am so sorry for you. But the girl is right, Milly. We could see what Refraction can tell us. If not, boom goes the plastique.”

“What could that farmin’ cock give us that could be useful before we blow ‘er up?”

“Z-Truck. Remember?” Sunset spoke. “She was going so fast that she killed Pine without a second thought. “Maybe it could be something important.”

“Well… I suppose it doesn’t hurt to ask the invisible cock what she knows. Alright, we’ll have at it, Prenchie.”

“Oui, let’s see when she’ll come to. She had quite the shock. It might take some time.”

Mulcher lifted the corner of her mouth and leaned against the wall with her arms folded. “And now we wait. It ain’t like we have anywhere to go, anyway.”

Protectorate Sod had rarely visited what she called the ‘Spy hub’, but when she did, everyone always seemed so on edge, as though they could break in two any moment. She had found it amusing at first, and she still did. She walked over to the closest table, where the analyst, Paprika, was seated. She tensed up when Protectorate Sod got closer.

“Paprika! My favourite computer girl!” The superheroine leaned on the desk and tipped her hat in greeting. “Not too busy to help me out?”

“U-Uh, no, Protectorate Sod. Never too busy.” She grinned awkwardly and a bead of sweat began to roll down the side of her face.

“Good, good.” She sniffed and nodded. “So listen, Ah need to know if you’ve found Refraction. Cause Ah wanna go on out there and find her.”

“We’ve been searching, but un-unfortunately…” She gulped. “We haven’t been able to… Oh. Her-her tracker just appeared.” She wiped her forehead with the back of a hand.

“Oh? Do tell?” Protectorate Sod leaned closer.

“B-But, Protectorate Sod, acc-according to protocol, you, umm… you first n-need D-Director Still Well’s approval. Before we can… let you… get out there.”

On hearing that, Protectorate Sod bent back with laughter, turning all heads in the room to her. Even Paprika looked a little confused at this.

When the heroine was done, she wiped the corner of her mouth and grinned. Then she slammed a hand down on the desk and everyone in the room jumped.

“Refraction has been gone for almost twenty-four hours now. Do ya know how this looks on the company? Now, you’re going to tell me where she is. And Ah’m gonna go find her.”

“B-But, Protec-”

“I’m Protectorate Sod.” She got closer to the analyst and nodded with her eyes opened wide and a thin smile across her lips. “And Ah can do whatever the farm Ah want. Now. Give me her location. Ya don’t want to hear me askin’ again, Paprika.”

Sunset had counted and it had taken approximately twenty two minutes before Refraction started talking from inside the cage. With her being invisible, that was the only indication they had to her conscious state.

“Hey, what did you do to me?” she asked. “I demand to know this instant! When I get out of here I’m killing all of you!”

“I think ya better do well to give us some respect ‘ere, supe cock.” Mulcher said and exhaled with a smile on her face. She sure did smile a lot. She produced a rectangular device in one hand. “See this? One push of a button and you’re gone.”

“W-What did you do to me?”

“Ah, well, see here, mon amie.” Prenchie rubbed her hands together. “We stuck a little plastique in you.”

Mulcher chuckled. “Yeah, right up your twat, ya farmin’ cock.”

“Your outsides might be tough like diamond, but your insides…” Prenchie clucked her tongue. “Is soft like tissue, especially with a little ball of explosives inside you.”

Suddenly, Refraction appeared, her legs curled up to her chest, completely naked and she placed her hands together. “No, no, please, I’ll tell you anything. Anything. Just don’t blow me up.”

“Anythin’, huh?” Mulcher flicked off dirt under one fingernail. “Go ahead, Sunny. Ask her.”

Sunset swallowed and stepped forward, closer towards the cowering heroine. It was weird seeing her like that. That wasn’t at all what she was like on the news and stuff. It really told Sunset how people reverted to their true natures when faced with death.

“You’re good friends with Z-Truck. A few days ago, she was in a hurry to get somewhere. She had a bag with her. What do you know about that?”

“Pl-please…” Refraction sniffled, her makeup running down her eyes with her tears. Sunset almost felt bad for what they were doing to her, but then she remembered she tried to kill her last night. “I don’t know. I don’t know what she was carrying.”

“That’s a load of cow.” Mulcher looked unimpressed. “I guess ya don’t value your mosquito wife as much as I thought.”

“H-Her what?”

“Her life, Sunny. Keep up with the rhymin’, yeah?”

“I-I’m being terribly honest! Please, just don’t kill me!” Refraction babbled. “I-I know where she was coming from. I do. I can tell you th-that, darlings. You’d like that, wo-won’t you?”

“Where?” Sunset asked, still crouched beside the cage. “Where was she before that?”

Refraction was shivering, whether because she was cold or frightened, or maybe both, seeing as she was stark naked. “Soarmaster. She came from Soarmaster’s. Honest!”

“Soarmaster? The flying supe?”

“Yes, Soarmaster is Z-Truck’s boyfriend. That’s all I know.”

“The bloke was comin’ from her boyfriend’s, eh?” Mulcher walked about the room and rubbed her chin. “Wonder what she got in that bag from him, besides gettin’ some.”

Suddenly, there was a short rumble and the ground shook under their feet and the lights flickered for a second. Everyone looked around and at each other. Sunset thought it had been an earthquake at first, but it had passed very quickly. Her next thought was that it could be something crashing into the ground. But what could possibly do that?

Her eyes widened. Protectorate Sod.

“Prench, what we got on the cameras? You have cameras around your place, yes?”

“Patience, Milly. I need to have a… look.” She had pulled up her phone, but if colour could drain from her white face, it did. She held it up for both of them to see. “We have trouble.”

And Sunset had been right. Outside the block on the streets, Protectorate Sod was walking around, her arms behind her back as she turned her head from right to left, clearly looking for something.

“She’s going to find us! She has x-ray vision!” Sunset began to panic.

“Non, non, petite Sunny.” Prenchie waved a hand and pointed to the walls. “How do you think I’ve been hiding so well from the supes? I had the walls lined with zinc. She cannot see us.”

“Well, what do we do now?” Mulcher scratched at her hair and looked at the detonator in her hand. “We can’t blow that supe cock up now. Protectorate Sod’s bound to hear it.”

“You girls are going to be done!” Refraction began laughing and she became invisible again. “Protectorate Sod will save me and you will all be dead. I would say it was a pleasure, darlings, but it hasn’t been.”

“We’ll need to get Protectorate Sod away from here before we can blow Refraction up,” Prenchie said as they walked away from Refraction’s cell. “I have a plan, but it will take some time.”

“Not like we got anythin’ else to go on. Do it, Prenchie.” Mulcher nodded.

The Prench woman dialed in a number from her contacts, then she put the phone to her ear. “Allo, Fancy? I need you to activate Protocol S. Oui, ready it and wait for my signal.” Then she ended the call. “Fancy will get one of my safehouses ready. In the meantime, we must wait.”

“We ain’t got much time with that sorry sod upstairs.” Mulcher pointed to the ceiling. “Fancy needs to work fast. In the meantime, we've got to prepare for a fight should it happen.”

Sunset looked between them. “I’m sorry, but what’s going on? What do we do now?”

Mulcher held Sunset’s hand up and placed the detonator on it. “You watch this cock. Prenchie and I will prepare some safety measures. Once Fancy is ready, we’ll give you the signal.”

“Wait, who even is this Fancy?”

“Just a special acquaintance I've known for a very very long time, petite Sunny. Just wait here, okay? We need to get to work.”

“Still got that fifty, Prenchie?” Mulcher and the Prench woman ran up the stairs to the main room, while Sunset sat outside Refraction’s room, watching the doorway.

She sighed and propped herself on a nearby crate. She didn’t know what was inside it, but surely it wouldn’t just blow up with her sitting on it. Right?

She looked at the detonator in her hand. She had shocked Refraction once before, but to blow her up from the inside? Sunset didn’t know if she could pull the button. She didn’t know if she could intentionally take a life.

The next thing that scared her was what was going on outside. What would happen should Protectorate Sod find them? Sunset had always marveled at how powerful she was, but this time, she would be on the receiving end and she didn’t know what she would do if she came face to face with Protectorate Sod now.

She didn’t want to find out.

Still Well stood at a small balcony at the top of a short flight of steps in Vogel Tower’s glorious function room as he watched people of all shapes and colours moving about below, interacting and just having a good time.

He grinned and sipped from his glass of whiskey. White Blanche was in one corner, playing on the violin, providing an ambient tune for everyone. She was really quite the character and Still Well liked having her around.

Sonicboom and Z-Truck were in one corner, discussing something, and from the looks of it, Z-Truck didn’t look too happy. Still Well guessed they might be talking about the upcoming race. There had been word recently that Z-Truck was no longer what she used to be and Sonicboom was a rising favourite amongst the people, so a race had been organized by the people upstairs to prove that Z-Truck was still in the game. He had made it clear to The Septet member that should she lose, she would no longer be useful in The Septet and she would be replaced.

“Enjoying the party, Director Still Well?” a calm and collected voice said beside him.

He turned to see his boss standing there, a thin glass of champagne in one hand. He had tan-brown skin and greying hair, but in his older age, he didn’t look any bit frail. In fact, he still looked as imposing as ever.

“Director El Dentista,” Still Well greeted. “Yes, I am enjoying myself quite so. The senators all seem on board with the plan to send superheroes abroad with the military. I have spoken to a handful and they are all quite keen.”

“Ah, then you have not spoken to the right ones yet.” El Dentista pointed down to where a fairly plump man with green hair was standing. “Senator Bray Road has explained to me his concern about collateral damage, should superheroes engage the enemy in the presence of our troops. He does not want this passed.”

“The senator’s concerns are misplaced. With supes on the ground, we could potentially lower collateral damage tenfold.”

“I am aware.” El Dentista nodded. “But he isn’t. Perhaps you could… change his mind.”

“Oh, yes, I already had a plan for that, director. You can leave that one senator to me.”

“And that is why I can count on you for all things, Still Well.” El Dentista made for the stairs. “You always have a plan.”

And that he did. With superheroes as their national defense, at home and away, what else would there be to fear?

Author's Note

Sorry for all the various page breaks. I was wondering how to cover all these little bits at once, and I do hope they don't break the flow of the story for you, and I hope you still like what I have for you.

Also, please, if there is any way I can make this story more enjoyable, do let me know as well!

Cheers!