"We have evidence he provided aid and housing to Taylor Hebert, aka Skitter," replies Director Tagg.

"In which of her identities, sir?"

"That's irrelevant. There's a war on and he's got to pick a side, same as anyone else."

"...wars have civilians."

"Who can commit treason as much as any combatant."

"Not by letting their kids live at home."

"We can figure this out when we have him here - hopefully he'll listen to reason and there won't be any charges at all."

"Sir, I'll go talk to him if you like. I'll let an implication hang in the air. I'm not going to detain him without probable cause."

"That's not for you to decide. You are to bring in him in for questioning."

"I am prepared to quit over this, sir, if you'd like to reconsider."

Tagg stares at him intently, considering his options.

"You've been a good soldier up till now, this is really what you want to put your career on the line for?"

"I'm not a soldier, sir. If you want to impose martial law I'm not the man for it."

Shortsighted.

He could threaten to arrest Transit... but then he'd lose Transit for the rest of this war, and he can't afford that. He can deal with this disciplinary issue afterwards.

"Okay, I'll assign you to other duties."

He summons one of Dragon's suits via his intercomm.

This particular drone is one of the more humanoid ones, with only two legs and a fully articulating face made of armored plates.

"Yes sir?"

"You are to detain Daniel Hebert and bring him in for questioning. This is a direct order." he says. He wants Transit here for this, to understand that refusing to follow orders won't change anything, and to see what it means to follow orders.

Yeah that's about what happens if he's inconvenient at the police station too. He might learn something from this but it's just something about Tagg, and Dragon.

"Yes sir."

The order is, technically, legal. The unwritten rules are unwritten - secret identities mean nothing to the law. And Dragon has to obey legal orders.

She can still give Transit a look of despair as she leaves the room, trying to convey as much helplessness and horror as her mechanical face will allow. No one's ordered her not to do that - yet. 

He will nod sympathetically. A lot of cops never do find their breaking point, but coming up to yours is a hard thing.

Taylor's dad is brought in for questioning, though it doesn't do the Protectorate much good.

The Dragonslayers arrive shortly afterwards, disabling many of Dragons drones and forcing her to retreat unusually fast, even by their standards.

The PRT retaliates by detonating several of Bakuda's bombs at the location of a suspected Undersider's lair, revealing a multilayer underground bunker housing a small mercenary army and several Undersiders. News crews attempting to cover the conflict capture the sound of a deafening roar, followed a minute later by the entire block being engulfed by a sphere of darkness, visible all the way from Lorica's house.

Wow, Grue can do that? That's new.

A camera operator enters the dome of darkness and doesn't emerge. The city is ... oddly silent, most of the conflict caught within the effect.

And then, the silence is broken, an earthquake-like shaking accompanying a dull eardrum-hurting crash. Out the window Lorica can see the skyline of Brockton Bay change as Beacon Tower - the tallest building in the Bay, collapses.

"Uh, Mom, I'm gonna go do some evac, 'kay?"

"...you do that. Please try to come back a little faster if you die again."

"Same day turnaround if I can swing it."

Off she not-motors.

The sphere disappears shortly after the collapse, though that does little to improve visibility as dust billows out from the impact. As Lorica gets closer the streets become crowded with people fleeing, a trench from a prior battle at a checkpoint hindering the escape of civilians.