The front door of Percy's home is opened, and the mentor takes Gren to the livingroom couch. "I'm fine, guys..." *sniff* "...really, I'm good." Dove rushes down from the spiral staircase with some towels and wipes the boy's face. "Oh, you poor boy. What happened to him?" Komo sits in the recliner, looking upset, while Percy removes his mask. "Both of them snuck out of the house..." The mentor raises his voice and turns towards Komo. "...After I told them not too!...But they're fine. Some other kids from the Scouting Program attacked them, but I scared them off."

Komo's frustrated look turns to anger, and she shouts at her mentor. "Why did you wait!? You saw everything happen, but you waited!" "I did that, so you would see the consequences of your actions! Because you disobeyed me, Gren got hurt!" The accusation stings. While Komo may not have directly caused Gren pain, he would've never been outside in the first place, if she hadn't snuck out.

A few seconds pass, with nothing but the harsh rain to fill the silence. Percy's tone switches from angry to somewhat sad. "Remember at dinner, when I told you that being a Symbiolic isn't fun and games? This is what I meant. Real fights aren't in Symulations." Both apprentices look at their mentor with full attention now. "Getting electrocuted hurts. Getting kicked around by three guys hurts, and you have to deal with it. That's why I trained you so hard today."

A sleepy Penelope looks down from the upper floor between the guard rails. "Daddy, you woke me up." Dove stands and starts up the stairs. "I'm sorry sweetie. Mommy's coming." Percy pushes back his wet hair, and pauses before saying, "Promise me, both of you, that you won't do that again." "I promise, sir," answers the exhausted Gren. The mentor looks over at Komo, who turns away and says, "Fine." "Good. Now get some sleep. Training resumes tomorrow morning." As Percy walks up the stairs, Komo stands from her seat and heads towards the spare bedroom. Just before closing the door, she takes one more look at the resting Gren. Her sad eyes look down, and she closes the door.

____________________________________________________________

Rain continued to pour down on the furious Victor. The dark streets had one light above the bus stop, which he ran towards for shelter. His phone was dead, fried by his own Symbol's electricity. "AH!! STUPID!!" The teen threw his device against the concrete, causing it shatter. Victor crossed his arms and rubbed them to get warmth, but it was useless. "Percy..." he whispered in a shaky breath, "...I swear I'll make you and those losers pay!"

"You look like a lost bird," a stranger said. The foreign voice startled Victor, who pointlessly aimed his empty gauntlet. A tall man stood with a feathered cloak over his shoulders and rested his left hand on a cane. His long, dark hair blew in the stormy wind, and he held his fedora to keep it from flying away. The stranger turned his face with a wicked grin and said in a raspy voice, "Allow me to introduce you to the Black Nest."