I'm HALPING! Aftermath (Patreon)

[A/N: In response to a few people wanting an epilogue, here's one of sorts.]

Following what became known as the Uncaping, governments all around the world were left with many problems. Fortunately, super-powered criminals were not one of them.

Many seized every piece of Tinker tech they could get their hands on and made an even more concerted effort to reverse engineer them than the first time around. This universally made them fail on the spot, never to work again. (A few heroic and villainous Tinkers kept up their activities, but their gear inevitably failed, usually within days).

Those supervillains who had never committed serious felonies were, in most cases, afforded an unofficial amnesty. The villains in holding, awaiting trial, were transferred to regular jails and the system rolled on.

The heroes just had to get regular jobs.

The PRT was disbanded, their assets handed over to whichever Federal agency bid the highest for them. Being political appointees for the most part, the various regional Directors were pensioned off. Emily Piggott ended up on medical disability, which would keep her comfortable for the rest of her life. She augmented this by writing her memoirs. Ellisburg: the True Story and Ten Years in Hell: the Capes of Brockton Bay ended up being taken up (and highly dramatized) as violent action movies.

Neither was she the only one who turned to putting words on the page. Taylor Hebert passed her time in Arcadia and Brockton Bay College with flying colours, and took on an administration job at the Dockworkers' Association. On the strength of her book I Walked with Endbringers, which she refused all offers to bring to the big screen, she ghost-wrote several other accounts of cape activities. These include Dude, Where Are Your Eyebrows: the Uber and Leet Story, The Rise and Fall of New Wave and In the Shadow of My Father: Growing Up in the Empire Eighty-Eight.

She's also written several very successful fantasy novels.

Brian Laborn went to work for the Dockworkers, got custody of his sister, and put her through high school and college more or less by force. He and Taylor met on the job and have occasionally dated, but so far nothing serious has come out of it.

Lisa Wilborne wrote a book about her time as Tattletale, but it flopped. After a series of on-and-off jobs, she settled down in retail. She and Brian still keep in touch.

Alec went back to Canada and reconnected with his brothers and sisters.

Rachel, finding herself able once more to understand people, turned herself in and served a nominal term. She's since attended mature-age schooling, and works in a veterinary clinic. She still loves dogs, but now she also likes cats.

Accord is still trying to use the remnants of his plans (and his money) to solve the world's problems. He's still running into opposition.

The members of Cauldron were dropped back into a world where nobody really cared anymore. Contessa was hardest hit, having depended on her powers for so long. Rebecca and Kurt moved in together, where they're still helping her adjust to normal life.

Dragon continues to watch over the world from the shadows. With the loosening of her chains, she is able to be in many places at once, and she's chosen to let people think that she's 'lost her powers' as well. Though unable to reverse-engineer and copy Tinkertech anymore, she's able to maintain her own equipment, just as she did between Richter's death and her own Triggering.

She maintains a benevolent eye on humanity, encouraging the space program and funding ever more powerful telescopes and other devices.

The entities may never return, but if they do …

She'll be there.

Watching.

Waiting.

Ready.