Immediately the barrage of fire resumed and Dragon spared a glance towards the Altered as the Balaur and centipede both absorbed a hail of weapons fire.

The Altered were safe, but Dragon saw that they were transfixed by the sight of one of her warsuits battling with the machine-monster sent from Jupiter.

A radar return had Dragon's attention and she smiled in relief as a flight of fighter-bombers and a single modified B2 arrived as her radio picked up a signal, "Dragon this is Bugzapper. Storm Cannon is charged and ready. Clear the area."

"Understood. The Balaur is under remote control, so fire at will!" Dragon responded, making sure to sound appropriately stressed as if she was really in the suit herself, "Dragon to all defenders, fall back! I repeat, fall back!"

She fired off more streams of exotic matter from Hydra as it limped backwards -how had she missed the damage to the front-right leg?— before jetting backwards with Roland just as the B2 flew overhead and a blast of energy that could only tangentially be called lightning smashed into Balaur and the centipede.

Dragon winced as she felt the destruction of the Balaur as the Storm Cannon reduced her suit and the centipede into a cloud of glowing gas. But that was not what Dragon was looking for as she scanned every possible wavelength and aspect of physics until—

There!

Her mind immediately latched onto an overhead missile defence satellite and aimed it's particle cannon at a point in space before firing.

Guided by her calculations, the beam lashed out and smashed into a smaller machine, and as she released the satellite and repositioned it Dragon saw the icon on the side of the machine.

In the silence of the aftermath Dragon landed the Roland on the other side of the processing gates; she still had a job to do and she had to make sure that families remained together and that the various criminals wouldn't cause trouble when someone's voice shakily asked, "W-what the fuck was that thing?"

She recognised the speaker, the unruly teen from before.

Her suit spoke quietly, "That was a Crawler-class Acquisition Device. A interplanetary kidnapping machine. If it had been successful, it would have grabbed the most valuable Altered here, and killed the rest. And we don't know what criteria it uses to select those it considers valuable."

She turned back to the crater left by the Storm Cannon, "It was sent from a space colony established on Jupiter, which we lost contact with after the Black Sun appeared. We got lucky today. No-one was taken. Not like Red Friday."

Turning back to the crowd, Dragon looked over them all, "All right. We need to reorganise things so that families remain together and civilians are separate from actual criminal exiles. In the interests of your continued safety, please cooperate."

It was a relief that they actually did so, cowed by the sight of two massive machines fighting for their lives, and that left Dragon time to brood.

Balaur had performed beyond it's specifications and Dragon made a note to retain the current design as her new standard before ordering another suit built back at her lair. Speaking of lairs, her 'roleplay' suit was now ready for deployment to Brockton Bay.

She smiled at the thought of another fun day of helping Colin with whatever crazy idea got into his head, and then leading that into something more...productive. She began reading through the reports from Neo-Mombasa and Brockton Bay as families were reunited and the loading proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Then a message ping from her lair caused her pause, and then stop to read the report more deeply, and then re-read it again.

Inside the dropship, Dragon's virtual avatar smiled a wide, predatory grin as she lounged back on a bed of jewels and coin in classic, mythical draconic style as the last occupants boarded the transports.

"Soon, very soon."

* * *

Chapter 7: New Contact, New Concern

Arcadia didn't have the same charm as Kenikawa Academy, but Noriko Ida was much happier to be in the American campus than on the Japanese one. Here, she didn't have to worry about the fact that her life would be chosen and decided for her based on her college prospects; they were still present but it wasn't so crippling since as the Ida heiress who was actively aiding in her family and their accumulation of wealth her future was secure.

The lack of a school uniform was also something she was glad for. Now she could wear comfortable, cute clothing instead of that boring long skirt and blazer. And those shoes...ugh.

Still, it did feel a bit like home. The absolute glut of Chinese, Korean and Japanese students reminded her of Kenikawa, just that most of those other students had visible mutations that marked them as Altered. Granted, Immaculata and Clarendon also received their fair share but to Noriko it felt as though the largest numbers were in Arcadia.

Still, Noriko found herself bored with her new school, mostly with some of the classes. Already highly intelligent before her Trigger, the major IQ boost that came with the kitchen-sink prize bag of powers meant that she breezed through a lot of classes.

It was still embarassing to keep forgetting to show her work in Advanced Maths and Algebra though. Still, Mrs. Clark was very understanding about that. In the meantime, Noriko had suddenly become very popular with the 'Late Homework' crowd and she had to admit that there was enough eye-candy to keep her amused until she could find Taylor.

Speaking of Taylor...Noriko's eyes swept the crowds of students for any sign of her tall, lithe friend. And she was definitely lithe; even without the residual physical boost from her newly-named TITAN serum, Taylor was built like a professional runner. All sleek lines that helped emphasise her natural curves.

Noriko wondered if Taylor was willing to experiment a little when they got home later. Her parents were on another business trip, although this one was merely to Dallas, and Taylor's mother was going on a road trip with her girlfriend.

Noriko wondered if Taylor would be calling that woman 'mommy' when Annette-san got back.

Finally, she caught a glimpse of Taylor's curly shock of black hair and waved to the girl, who quickly spotted her and waved while jogging over to Noriko. For her part, Noriko didn't miss the appreciative glances sent towards Taylor, more specifically her ass, by several guys and a few girls as well.

"Hey Noriko. What d'you think this..." Taylor fished out her weekly schedule, "World and Parahuman Affairs class is going to be like?"

"So long as it isn't like that pervert Gladly, I don't care." Noriko replied, "Still, I heard that this class has a teacher who won awards for her work, so it should be good." They entered the classroom together and quickly took their seats near the window overlooking one of the campus garden-parks, and as the other students drifted in, Noriko pulled out a textbook from her backpack, "I hear she's a real hardass about accurate work, so this might actually be a challenge."

"Yeah," Taylor snarked, "You might actually get a B or even a C for this class."

<"Laugh it up, funny girl."> Noriko replied in Japanese as Taylor giggled before joining her. Eventually the room was filled with chatting students who had divided into their various groups and cliques, even Noriko and Taylor.

Taylor had been surprised, her time in the clutches of Emma, Sophia and Madison had left her wary of getting involved in the affairs of highschool groupings, but the girls she found herself with were good people, and Noriko hoped that she could make new friends as she sat down with her new friends, "So, this is my first class here. Any tips for the new transfers?"

One of the girls smirked, "Be ready to talk about Winslow, it's the topic of this semester's assignment. Also, try not to get Apex involved in any way, Heather Lockeby is the leader of the local Apex cell and she's really big into the Iconic Manifesto."

Noriko nodded, "She's an Apex-Package?"

A shake of her head, "Nah, just a Shaker/Mover/Blaster, and an Open Cape as well. Of course, not many people want to mess with the girl who triggered near Kaiser, Squealer and Miss Militia."

Another girl piped up, "That was when the FMA wiped out the Merchants right? How'd you get her to tell you that? I asked and she clamped up."

A snort, "You asked her in the locker room and started off by pointing out her scar. Of course she was going to clam up." The girl turned back to Noriko, "Still, if you believe the posts on PHO's ApexWatch page, she might be getting a promotion to being an actual Apex."

Noriko looked thoughtful, "Lockeby, Lockeby...wait, you mean the girl who organised that big town meeting to talk about removing physical government oversight of the Altered District and let them self-govern?"

A nod, "And negotiated the compromise with the Mayor's Office. Hard to believe huh?"

Noriko nodded, "I'll say, but how do you end up an Iconic in an Apex cell anyway if you aren't a Brute or Apex-Package?"

Another shrug, "Hell if I know. I ain't a 'Pex so it goes over my head. Still, I'll take anyone going the Iconic Route than going the other way."

Nods all around, even from Noriko.

Suddenly the door opened and a woman breezed into the room, followed by some straggling students, "Okay ladies and gentlemen, and I use the term loosely, take your seats and gather your notebooks." She looked out at the class, "Now then, we have some new students in my class this semester, just transferred from that pit called Winslow. Miss Ida, Miss Hebert, could you stand up please?"

Noriko stood up and watched Taylor nervously do the same, the taller girl looking very nervous at the attention being directed towards the two of them as the teacher continued, "Right then. My name, you two, is Miss Alicia Rutherford and you're forgiven if you don't know my credentials as I work in a fairly limited but important field. In any case, welcome to my class on Parahuman and World Affairs and I expect you to be up-to-date on the latest news both for parahumans and normal human news."

Taylor nodded while Noriko replied with a bored, "Hai."

"Good, you two can sit down now." Noriko noted with some amusement how relieved Taylor was to sit down and she did a fairly good job at being small after that as Ms. Rutherford continued, "In other news, I'm pleased to welcome back Heather Lockeby from her trip to the Global Parahuman Political Influence seminar and forum in San Diego. Stand up Heather."

A fit-looking, heavily endowed girl with dark-red hair stood up as Ms. Rutherford continued, "You may not know this, but Heather has received significant notice and attention from several notables at the forum for her incredible discourse on how Apex cells following the Iconic Doctrine can have a provable, visible, beneficial influence on human/parahuman relations and by extension how the Iconic Doctrine can be applied to all parahumans, masked or open."

Ms. Rutherford smiled, "Well done Heather, it can't have been an easy thing for you to go up there and speak to that large number of distinguished individuals. Class, please give Heather some well-deserved applause. Regardless of your views on Apex as a movement, this is an amazing accomplishment."

There was polite claps and Noriko noted the girl blushing as she bowed her head and sat down before the teacher continued, "Now then, I'll need someone to get Heather, Taylor and Noriko up to speed on our current work on gang influence on publicly-funded highschools and how Winslow High School could end up becoming the norm in schools when parahuman-led gang influence spreads to educational institutes."

As Noriko was brought up to speed and began taking notes, she noted that she was right.

This class would provide a challenge, and she couldn't wait to see what kind of lessons would be taught.

She learned plenty as the class wore on and by the time the lunch bell rang, Noriko felt like her eyes were swirling like an anime character, and Taylor didn't look any better. Her friends had been right, Ms. Rutherford had called on them to talk about Winslow and she didn't hold back on the questions.

Taylor got the worst of it though. She had been at Winslow longer than Noriko so she had to go into all manner of details. Especially when it came to bullying. It was a close thing, and Noriko was proud at how her friend managed to get through that without breaking down. Maybe the therapist visits were helping?

In any case, as Noriko was waiting, she was surprised to see Heather Lockeby approaching her, "Hi, can we talk?"

Noriko shrugged, "Yeah, I got time. What do you want to talk about?"

Heather smiled, "I was wondering if you and Taylor would like to work with me on the semester project? I mean, if that's okay with you. I know a lot of people don't exactly trust anyone who wears our mark." She shifted to reveal her necklace, and pride of place on the jewellery was the symbol of Apex; a caped humanoid figure with arms upraised in defiance.

Noriko shrugged, "Meh, I got no problems with you. So long as you aren't abusing innocent men or giving them a Lustrum, I don't mind working with you."

She didn't need her Thinker powers to see the way the girl sagged slightly in obvious relief, "Really? That's great! Would you like to come over to my house and work on the project? I've...kinda been doing it solo for now."

Noriko tilted her head, "Everyone scared off by hardline Apex talk?"

Heather shifted nervously, "Actually, I prefer to keep Apex business seperate from my life unless it's necessary, like my trip to San Diego. It's more that they're scared of the other cell members, even though they're really good people."

Noriko nodded, "It's a little understandable though, they probably think you're a pretty face for some bad people. To be fair, Apex doesn't have the best reputation."

Heather grimaced, "Tell me about it. Why the hell did it take until there was an Apex in Washington before the Iconic Doctrine got spread around? Now everyone thinks we're terrorists thanks to Apex New York, anarchists thanks to San Francisco, and of course the founder of the movement is an abusive mother drunk on power."

Noriko noticed Taylor managing to get extricated from her friends, who had practically latched onto her since she started getting tearful about Winslow, "Here comes Taylor. If she agrees, we'll probably come over tonight."

"If I agree to what?" Taylor asked as she approached, "Ugh, I'm glad that's over. I swear, I'll be glad if I never get another sympathetic look or condolence about Winslow ever again."