Kai and I are inside the lab, which is so much bigger than the last one. I would've died here if not for Kai and Tuesday. Not just them, Isaiah and Vivienne kept me safe so that I could even get here. They worked so hard for my sake, and I've been spiraling, acting unfit for a leader. That stops now.

"So what'd you want to talk to me about?" Kai asked, hesitating slightly.

Is he worried about this conversation? In hindsight, explicitly threatening him to finish quickly was counterintuitive. That should've been the first clue that something was off with me. I tap my ring to my helmet, catching it as it transforms into a mask. We're alone down here, and Kai will let me know if anyone is coming.

"Relax, Kai. You aren't in trouble and I'm not upset with you about anything," I said, smiling. "This place is grander than I could've imagined and better than I envisioned. It's truly impressive and confirms that I was right to insist upon your joining me."

The tenseness in his shoulders disappears as he relaxes. His purple lipstick is smudged from him nervously chewing on his lip. What little color there was left in his hair is now completely gone. It isn't due to any kind of depression or issues caused by my power, but because he's thinking ahead. Looking less eccentric is necessary for potential meetings with city officials or potential clients, and for when he's out doing Cowl-related activities. I don't know what he plans for his costume, but I know that it'll be a lot easier to hide his identity when he doesn't have bright pink and green hair. Even though the colors are gone, he's back to wearing makeup, motivated, and wearing his ridiculous outfits. Case in point, today's outfit: vermilion short shorts that stop eight inches above his knees, with two crisscrossing studded belts hanging on his waist, and high-top white sneakers. His chest is wrapped in a white and black checkered banding underneath a shawl a similar shade to the shorts, which trails off him.

"Thank you, thank you. I'm happy to be of service, Nobody. So, what can I do for you?"

"What makes you think I need something?" I asked.

"Because you don't do friendly chats. I'm not criticizing you, but you've got very clear lines that you won't cross in regards to fraternizing with us all. Well, except Vivienne, but she's clearly special. You go out of your way to obsessively distance your civilian identity from Nobody's," he said.

He isn't just book smart. He's quick to pick up on things and highly emotionally intelligent. Not enough to know that something's off about me, but to analyze me so well.

"Fair enough. I am here for two things: I have become aware recently that I've been influenced by the personality pieces from several powers, and it has made me illogical and sloppy. The second thing ties into the first; I need somewhere, or rather someone, to store these problematic pieces."

"You need me to rig up a new fleshdrive for ya. Yeah, I can do that, just have one of the others grab me someone and I can set up pretty fast," he responded coldly.

"Did you say fleshdrive?" I asked.

"Yeah. Like a flash drive but made out of a person. Ew, I think Tuesday is beginning to rub off on me," he gagged.

"I know that you have drones constructing the apartments, but have you made any progress on the enhancements we spoke about using Tuesday's genetic material?"

"I have made a decent amount of progress, but not enough for what either of us would like. Without having live subjects to experiment on, it's hard to really know whether the direction I'm going in is correct or not," Kai lamented.

"Then we will round up some volunteers. My recent run-in with the Heroes' Union and the Triad has shown me that I need more if we're going to be able to succeed. We need an edge, something that makes us better. I am confident we will discover a solution together, Kai."

"I've been itching to run more trials, and I have a few ideas for interesting things we could do with Tuesday's power. Depending on how you feel about swapping parts with other people, we might be able to give you powers," he said, grinning madly.

"I'm intrigued. I'll have her and Isaiah fetch us some people that no one will miss."

______________________________________________________________________

My helmet's back on, and I'm sitting at the head of the table in our new boardroom. One-way privacy glass means we can see out, but no one can see inside. Vivienne is to my right, and on my left are Rorschach and Miles. My Chief Financial Officer and Director of Marketing are dressed appropriately for the setting, only V and I stand out. Rorschach, Cassandra, is wearing a stylish black dress, but one unlike her typical. No cleavage, it goes well past her knees, and black tights into office dress code compliant heels. She is wearing a designer belt over the dress and has a cropped white suit jacket on top. Miles is in a baby blue polo with black slacks and russet brown wingtip Oxford shoes.

"This is not going to be as extensive as our usual board meetings, just a brief chat to get on the same page. First, let me say that you both look presentable; Vivienne, you'll need to get a couple of outfits for the office," I said.

"I know," she whined, elongating the w. "I've been putting it off until Hotpants is free so we can go shopping together."

"Oh, absolutely not. Listen, he's not a complete idiot in the fashion department, but he's going to have you looking like some office siren or worse: a sexy secretary straight out of a porn shoot. No, you and I will go together this week," Cassandra said to Vivienne. "I'll take good care of her, I promise."

"You could go to Kohl's like I did. I saved a ton with my Kohl's Cash; I didn't think I'd ever be able to use it after I triggered," Mile said happily.

"What the fuck is Kohl's Cash? Is it like food stamps?" Cassandra asked, mortified.

"It's part of their rewards program. Every fifty dollars spent earns you ten dollars of Kohl's Cash. Around the holidays, they even have promotions where you actually earn ten dollars for every twenty-five spent. It's a fantastic loyalty program for the customer base," Miles praised.

Am I trapped in a commercial? What the hell is going on?

"Miles, how do you think your debut went?" I asked, cutting through the chatter.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Miles goes crimson in embarrassment, and Cassandra has the awareness to stop. Vivienne is paying rapt attention, and I'm glad that she's taking this so seriously. You need to become as formidable in a business setting as you are fighting Capes and Cowls. I said that Kai was an incredible pickup, but Vivienne is far more valuable. I'll continue to mold her into the best possible version of herself. Miles quickly calms himself and looks at me with renewed intensity.

"I believe it went well," he said humbly. "The Triad was pitiful for being one of the Big Five. I understand it wasn't their full force, but twenty-five nonpowered members and two Cowls should've put up a better fight. They couldn't muster a proper response to me, despite me holding back a significant amount. They lacked cohesion, organization, or any form of creative thinking."

About what I thought of them based on Hank and Vixen. X-Train is supposedly a next-level strategic savant, so why the hell does he have fodder hanger-ons?

"Damn. What about the Capes?" Vivienne asked.

"I made a spectacle so impressive that the Union was forced to acknowledge me. They didn't send Titania, but they sent the entirety of Arbiter's squad just to make contact. I kept things respectful but not deferential to them. I spoke from a position of superiority and power because I am stronger and better than they are. They approached me peacefully, but I could tell they were prepared to fight me. It wouldn't do much, but it speaks to their leadership's foresight that they didn't just welcome me with open arms."

"Yeah, Arbiter's a dickhead, but he's fiercely protective of his team, and they trust him completely. They are a well-trained, cohesive unit, but they lack a finisher, so to speak. You would win easily," Vivienne replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Cassandra asked.

"They're great at working together, but the team isn't greater than the sum of its parts. Take us as an example. Pick any five of us and we would win nine times out of ten against any other group of five Neuvohumans you could muster in Quinston. Let's take Arbiter's team of himself, ShiftState, PileUp, Glow Guardian, and Sigilist. Even if we take me out of the scenario, Miles could beat all five of them without moving and while protecting the rest of you. So let's take him out of the equation as well. That leaves Nobody, Hotpants, Kai, Tuesday, and you, Rorschach. Hotpants reduces the area to zero visibility, allowing Nobody and Tuesday to pick them off one by one. You and Kai could harass them with your respective creations as well. Hotpants wouldn't even have to fight. I can think of like ten different ways that you five could beat them. They lack the firepower to overwhelm an opponent, and they lack the flexibility required to overcome the difference in strength."

"Okay, bitch. Love the war general vibes. Has everyone finished their costume designs? I have to send them to Alchemist soon," Cassandra said.

"I'll send you the files later," I said.

"Mine's done," Vivienne responded.

"I finished the night we met The Merchants. I've been done forever," Miles exclaimed.

"Alright, let's move on from Cowl plans and hear how your talks went with the mayor's office," I said.

"So Nicholas sent the letter we crafted to the Mayor's office weeks ago," Cassandra started.

"How is Nicholas doing? I trust he didn't give you two any trouble?" I asked.

He should know better, but if he needs another lesson, I'll send Tuesday to remind him what fear is.

"He's doing okay; he does seem to be doing a LOT of drugs. Both times I visited, he was high out of his mind and mumbling to himself," Miles remarked worriedly.

"That said, he's doing his job, Nobody. He does what we ask of him and he doesn't complain. He's good and doesn't need a reminder of the situation," Cassandra added hastily.

Miles shoots her a questioning look, and she shakes her eyes instead of her head. She really must have some sort of upper-crust upbringing. She's too practiced at these quiet condemnations and speaking in movements rather than words. There's still so much more for me to learn and practice. But does she think I would punish him because of an offhand comment made by Miles? Is that because of my recent behavior, or does she still view me as some murderous madman? I am a violent man, but I do not consider myself a man of violence. The difference may be subtle, but there is a difference. I should have a conversation with her sooner rather than later. Fear breeds panic, and panic leads to betrayal.

"Maybe the good lawyer needs to have a limit put on his gluttonous consumption of cocaine. V, let the girls know to start limiting his purchasing ability. Don't cut him off or anything, but help rein it in. Nicholas' snorting himself to an early grave is not in the cards. Either he slows down or he goes to rehab; he can pick."

"I'll pass it on to Goblin and Casper after this," Vivienne replied.

"Sorry, you were saying, Cassandra?"

"Can you at least not use my voice to say my name? It's fucking creepy as shit," Cassandra said irritatedly. "It took a while, but we were able to get a meeting with the City clerk's office. We presented to the city council, the city manager, and the public works department. And even though our presentation was incredible and showed we were five times faster than any other construction company in the state, we did not get the contract. We didn't even get told no, we got told that they'd consider our proposal if something came up."

"The mayor wasn't at the meeting?" I asked.

"No. So I did a little bit of investigating, and we got fucking snubbed. The mayor is college buddies with the owner of Heritage Construction. And Heritage always seems to get the city's most lucrative contracts. Including the ones for repairing the city from Neuvohuman damage," Cassandra answered.

"Then we should do something about it. Hurt them. Let them know not to fuck with us," Vivienne said.

"Before we go breaking kneecaps and leaving barn animal heads in beds, why don't we try to resolve this peacefully first?" Miles suggested.

"It won't work. Rival construction groups have brought up the mayor's favoritism before, and it hasn't gone well for them. Nothing quite so dramatic as dead animals and assault, but they suddenly find it harder to get permits, and then, when a job finally gets approved, the inspectors come down on them hard. We can't hurt Heritage where it hurts if we keep things above board," Cassandra said.

"Then isn't it awesome that we're Cowls?" Vivienne laughed.

"Then I think it's time for our Head of Market Research to earn her paycheck. Rorschach, when you have time, think over how you'd like your debut to go," I said.

"My debut? I don't fight, Nobody."

"Then your debut will be nonviolent, but you still need one. This is non-negotiable," I said, standing up first. "You've all done well lately, but this is only the beginning, so stay sharp."

(Later that night)

Cracking open another can of beer, I pour it down the drain. One last one to go before all of it is gone. I'm done with drinking until I get the power out of me. Every single time I've gotten wasted, something bad has happened. I have enough problems without creating my own. The temptation to have one last beer is genuinely difficult to resist. Just a sip wouldn't hurt, right?

"You quitting cold turkey, kid? Something happen?" A man asked from behind me.

I grab a knife out of the drawer and spin around to face my invader. Sitting on my bed, holding my mask is Special Agent Andrew Waters in his signature ugly pinstripe suit—Technologica's lap dog. He has to be here for her, not for official BNA business, or I'd be in handcuffs already.

"I like the new mask; it feels more grown-up. Less angsty cyberpunk, much more Cowl coded. Drop the knife, change into something a bit heavier, and put the helmet on; we've got work to do. And by we, I mean you," he said.

I bite back the retort forming on my tongue and place the knife back into the drawer. I can't do anything to him right now. He can just escape and then come back and kick the shit out of me in my sleep. Whatever he's here for, I'm going to have to play along.

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