July 12th, 2005

The early morning mist was still present over the lake as two men came out onto the rear deck and sat down, each one holding a bottle of beer. One of them opened his with a flick of a steel implement, then handed the opener to his companion, who did the same. Clinking the glass bottles together, then taking a sip, both relaxed with smiles.

Out in the mist a couple of small watercraft were moving gently across the shallow waves, one of them trailing a line from a fishing rod held by an old man who lifted his hand in salute as he spotted them, getting a wave back. In the distance faint sounds of children shouting and splashing could be heard, coming from around the bend in the shoreline to the right.

Other than that, it was quiet and still, only the background susurration of the light breeze through the leaves of the maple trees surrounding the cabin and birdsong disturbing the scene.

The pair sat there for a while, until Danny turned his head to glance at his compatriot. "Thanks for inviting us up here, Alan," he said, before sipping more beer. "It's a nice place. Haven't been to the lake for a couple of years."

"You needed the break, Danny, after everything that's happened in the last few months," his friend replied, his eyes shut as he basked in the sunlight with an expression of contentment on his face. "So did I, actually, work's been … tedious… recently. Lucrative, but tedious." He smiled for a moment. "Oddly enough, handling people's divorces seems to bring out a lot of the worst in them."

"Fancy that," Danny said with a dry tone, making his friend snicker. "I wonder why?"

"Got me. Just because two people who used to love each other are generally doing everything they can to make each other's lives hell..." Alan snorted with a shake of his head. "God, I make a lot of money doing this, but sometimes I really wonder if it's worth it. The things you see and hear… You wouldn't believe it."

"I think I probably would, actually." Danny sighed. "I've talked to people on both sides of that sort of thing, and it often goes very nasty."

"Damn right it does," Alan grumbled. "Anyway, I'm free of it for two and a half weeks, so I'm not even going to think about work until then."

"Good idea," his companion nodded.

They were silent again for a few minutes, slowly finishing their beers. Inside the cabin behind them sounds were starting to filter out suggesting that the rest of their respective families were now stirring.

The dull thumping sound of footsteps off to the left made both of them turn their heads, Alan opening his eyes. They watched as Taylor jogged past on the narrow beach next to the water, waving to them, and disappeared around the next bend on the right. There was a pause.

"How early did she get up?" Alan asked, looking back to Danny, who shrugged. His friend was still looking after his daughter with a slightly quizzical expression.

"Earlier than us, I guess," the other man replied. Returning his attention to the lake, he relaxed into the chair again. "She's been on an exercise kick for a while now. I suppose that's a good thing on the whole. The girl's definitely in pretty good condition. Better than I was at that age."

"She's always been very active," Alan noted.

"Yeah, Taylor has three modes. Sitting and thinking, reading with an intensity that's kind of disturbing, or running around like a lunatic. Usually with Emma panting after her." Danny grinned as Alan chuckled. "I'm not sure which is more dangerous."

"The Wilsons would say the sitting and thinking," Alan commented with a sly look. "Or as they might have said, 'Plotting and planning.'"

With a shake of his head and a wry smile, Danny finished his beer. "That dog got what was coming to it. It got better."

"They didn't seem to see the funny side."

"Everyone else did," the taller man said. He held up the bottle. "Another?"

"Might as well, we're on holiday after all," Alan replied, finishing his as well. Danny nodded, getting up and going back into the house. When he came back with two more bottles, Emma was with him, rubbing her eyes and yawning widely. "Hi, sweetie, sleep well?" Alan asked his daughter. The red-head nodded, yawning again, then slumped down on the deck next to his chair and leaned on his legs.

"Yeah, Dad. Sort of, I guess. I forgot how noisy dawn is out here." The girl shrugged, her eyes half closed. "All those birds screaming at each other all the time."

"Nature isn't particularly silent," Danny observed as he retook his seat, handing his friend one of the bottles, both of them being opened with a hiss. "You'll get used to it in a day or two, Emma."

"I hope so, Uncle Danny," she replied with a small smile. "I need my sleep."

"You sleep too much already," another female voice said with a laugh, making them all look around to see the other Barnes sibling, Anne, who was grinning at her sister while adjusting her robe. Emma stuck her tongue out at the other girl, who responded by crossing her eyes. "Mom says we're going to have breakfast at eight, dad."

"Thanks, Anne," Alan nodded.

All of them looked over at the sound of footsteps in the sand again to see Taylor now jogging back the other way, still apparently moving at the same speed. The brunette waved once more.

"Tay!" Emma shouted, jumping to her feet and waving. "Hey, Tay! Wait for me!" She dashed down the stairs at one side of the deck, tripped, rolled to her feet in one motion, and ran after her friend. The other girl had looked around at her shout and was now jogging backwards somehow while laughing.

The three left behind watched as the red-head caught up with her somewhat taller friend, both girls looking happy, then kept going in the direction Taylor had been jogging. As they disappeared past the edge of the shoreline Taylor was speeding up steadily causing the other girl to start shouting.

"Tay! Slow down, you long legged freak! Tay!"

Anne, after a few seconds, shook her head with a giggle. "They have way too much energy," she observed with the wisdom of someone four years older than the two ten-year-olds. "I'm going to get dressed." With that she turned and left Danny and Alan alone once more. The sounds of voices could be faintly heard from inside the cabin, but overall it was quiet once more.

Both men sipped from their bottles. "Ah, to be young and full of energy again," Alan murmured, holding his bottle up and inspecting the label. "This is damn nice beer."

"Speak for yourself, you old man," Danny chuckled. "I still have plenty of energy." He glanced at the bottle, then nodded. "Local brewery down in the docks, near the pub on the waterfront. Pat, the barman there, recommended it. Friends of his set the place up about a year back. Some of our guys helped install the brewing equipment, and it's pretty popular at the Union."

"Huh. Didn't even know we had a brewery in the city at all," Alan noted, taking another swig. "I wouldn't have expected one to be there either. Not the safest area."

"It's far enough away from the commercial district that the E88 stay out, the other gangs are normally fairly polite around the Union these days, and the Merchants..." Danny smiled briefly in an evil manner. "Let's say that they were persuaded that trying their tricks around us wouldn't end well. We don't have any trouble from them now." He drank more beer, looking satisfied.

Alan studied him, then went back to watching the lake. The old fisherman was currently reeling in his line, looking pleased at the way it was twitching around. "Your guys are scary sometimes, Danny," he remarked idly. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Hey, I just work there," Danny protested with mild amusement. "Nothing to do with me."

"Sure it isn't," his friend snorted, smiling slightly. "Just like it wasn't anything to do with you back in college that time with the frat that hurt a girl you liked. How many was it they found lying around outside moaning with broken arms or legs? Three?"

"Four, I believe, but I have no idea what happened," Danny snickered. "I was on a date and had plenty of witnesses for that."

"Hmm. And when Annette wanted to get out of that little man-hater's group she was in? I vaguely recall hearing that there were some… harsh words… involved. Oh, and a threat involving a road flare and a can of gas. Although that might be a just a rumor."

Danny shrugged. "Again, I can't imagine where you got that from." His eyes were grinning but his expression was entirely blank. "I merely went and talked to that Lustrum woman and explained that Annette wanted to leave her group for various reasons. She was reasonable enough about it. But you know how these things get exaggerated in the retelling."

"Yeah..." Alan shook his head. "Exaggerated." He finished the bottle and put it next to the first one on the deck next to his chair. "When we go back I'll have to pick up a crate of this stuff."

"I'll mention it to Pat and get him to put a couple to one side," his friend told him. "He sells most of it in the pub. They're thinking of expanding at some point but right now they're making it as fast as they can and can barely keep up with demand."

"Guess there's enough space down that side of town for that sort of thing," Alan commented. "Considering all the empty buildings and so on."

"Yeah," Danny sighed. "Way more empty places than you'd like to see. I wish I could get the damn city authorities to push a little more money into the ferry project, if we could get that up and running we might be able to revitalize the area. There are lots of small business ideas I hear about all the time which would work if they had good access to cheap buildings and land. Which the docks are full of. Of course, getting that fucking ship out of the mouth of the bay would mean we could get the port itself working again, but..." He shrugged tiredly. "I wouldn't know where to begin on that one, and the city isn't even vaguely interested. They should be, but the current council seems content to just sit there and do nothing. Status quo is enough for the bastards. Maybe come election time we can get someone in who gives a damn."

"To be fair, Danny, the city economy isn't exactly buoyant right now," Alan pointed out. "Hasn't been for years, ever since the riots, and they were because things were going down hill in the first place. Now, though? With the fucking gangs running half the place, and the amount of corruption in the council, never mind all the conflict of interests at least half the politicians have… We'll be luck if we don't have even worse riots in a few years."

"You don't have to tell me that, Alan," Danny sighed. "I see enough examples of that every damn day. People I've worked with for ten years or more are losing everything while some rich bastard sells another condo or something then sits in his penthouse drinking his expensive brandy. Or the fucking Nazis burn down an apartment building again, or some poor son of a bitch gets grabbed off the street by the Merchants and filled with their shit."

Alan nodded slowly, watching the fisherman pull his catch on board. Silver scales glinted in the morning sunlight, then he saw an arm swing down with a vicious motion, a small club abruptly ending the movement of the fish.

He wondered if that was in some way symbolic of life these days.

"Things are bad, all right," he agreed. "Could be worse, though. We both have our health, our families, and decent jobs."

"A hell of a lot of people don't," Danny muttered.

"Yeah. But… That's life, right?"

"Unfortunately."

Both lapsed into silent companionship for a while. Anne came out again wearing a bathing costume and headed for the water, the two fathers watching as she tested the temperature with a toe, shivered, then charged in regardless. Danny laughed as a shriek sounded, Alan shaking with amusement but doing what he could not to be obvious about it.

"Still a little chilly, I guess," Danny commented.

"It's pretty deep a little further out and the current brings cold water up right there," Alan said, still smiling as he watched his older daughter swim towards a floating pontoon that was anchored about two hundred feet from shore. "She should have gone in on the other side of the jetty, it's a lot warmer there because of the sun this time of day."

"She swims well."

"Yes, she's very good at it," Alan nodded. "Spends a lot of time in the pool at school."

Anne reached the pontoon and climbed up onto it, then lay down and sunned herself. Danny chuckled. "You're going to have to beat the boys off with a stick when she's a little older, Alan." He glanced at his old friend with an evil smirk. "Want to borrow mine?"

Alan snickered. "I have my own, don't worry. No boy's getting his hands on my daughters without me having a long, long talk with the kid." They looked to the left as voices were heard, seeing Taylor and Emma coming back, this time just wandering along and looking at the ground. Taylor stopped, bending over and picking something up, then waved it at her friend who shrieked and jumped back. Moments later she was pelting away with Taylor chasing her waving whatever it was.

"Tay! That's disgusting! Throw it away!"
"Ems, come back here, it just wants to be friends!"
"Tay! I hate you!"
"It wants to hug you!"

Both girls vanished behind the trees again. Danny shook his head slowly. "My dear daughter may have inherited just a little too much of her mother's sense of humor, I fear."

Alan was convulsed with laughter and could only weakly wave a hand after the girls. Eventually he recovered a little. "Better than TV, right?"

"It's pretty funny watching them," Danny agreed. He put his bottle, which he'd finished a while ago and had been rolling between his hands, down and leaned back in the seat, reclining it as far as it would go. "Yeah, this is definitely one of your better ideas."

"Better than that time we fixed up your dad's old mustang and went cruising in it?"

"Well, we're not sitting in the back of a cop car this time, so I'd have to go with yes on that one," Danny replied with a grin.

Alan laughed again. "God, how we ended up not having a record each I have no idea. Your dad called in a lot of favors, I guess."

"He took it out of us in kind, though. I remember some of the things we had to do afterward." Danny shuddered. "He was a hard taskmaster when he was riled."

"We probably deserved it."

"We definitely deserved it. I still didn't like it." They shared a look of amusement.

"Good times, I suppose."

"Yep."

Taylor and Emma came back into sight, this time carrying a log between them that was large enough neither father was entirely sure how they managed. With some effort they got it into the water, then cautiously tried sitting on it.

This ended fairly predictably with both of them getting very wet, amid a lot of laughing and screaming, but it didn't prevent them keeping at it.

"Emma's growing up a lot as well," Danny noted idly. "She's definitely taller than she was at the start of the year."

"They shoot up pretty quick at that age," Alan agreed, smiling as Taylor managed to stand on the floating log, only to have Emma push her off it and laugh. "Look at Taylor, she's already two inches taller than Emma, and if she's got your height, she'll be taller than I am when she's all growed up."

"I hope she inherits everything else from her mother," Danny chuckled. "She's sure the spitting image of her at that age."

"That she is. You'll need a good solid stick, I think."

"Already sorted out, my friend."

"And if you need help holding him down, just call."

They exchanged another wry look. "Thanks."

Voices coming closer from inside made both men sit up and look around, to see both their wives joining them on the deck. "Stop threatening boyfriends that won't exist for years, you two, and sit up," Zoe Barnes said. She was carrying a tray of mugs, steam rising from them, and put it on the picnic table to the side of the deck. Annette picked up a pair of the mugs and handed her husband one, keeping the other for herself, as Zoe did the same for Alan.

"Thanks, love," Danny said, trying the coffee.

"We thought you'd had enough beer for this time of morning," Zoe commented, moving one of the other chairs over and dropping into it. Annette leaned back against the wooden railing surrounding the deck area and held her coffee in both hands, watching the two girls chase each other around the log, splashing water all over the place. She was grinning at the sight.

"Probably a good idea," Danny said. "We can get properly drunk tonight."

Zoe raised an eyebrow at him, then looked at his wife, who shrugged. "Your man is implying a level of alcohol consumption I think is a bad example for the children, Annette," she remarked.

"I brought enough for everyone," Danny replied casually.

"Objection withdrawn," Zoe promptly said, then giggled. "We just need to make sure they're asleep first."

"That should be easy enough considering how much they're running around at the moment," Alan noted, nodding towards the two pre-teens. The girls were now apparently re-enacting some sort of sword battle with the aid of driftwood as blades, clacking sounds ringing out across the area accompanied by high-pitched battle cries. "You remember when they thought dolls were the best thing ever?"

The others exchanged a look. Annette peered at him. "That phase lasted about three months, Alan," she pointed out. "Then it was superheros. Then supervillains. Then both at the same time."

"Oh, god, I'm remembering the adventures of The Crimson Lady and her arch nemesis Doctor Curlyhair now," Alan replied after a moment, putting a hand over his face. "Why did you remind me about that?"

"We never did work out how they got onto the roof of your house, did we?" Danny mused out loud. "Or, for that matter, how they got that tennis pitching machine of yours up there with them."

"We know why they did, though," Zoe giggled. "Poor Mr Fung. He wasn't amused."

"Don't you mean "The Great and Powerful Tinker Villain known as The Fungmaster?" Annette said, putting on a deep voice for effect. "His evil was the only reason Crimson Lady and Doctor Curlyhair joined forces."

"His evil greenhouse?" Alan asked with a grin. "I seem to remember that was the target."

"I was impressed with their aim," Danny commented, snickering under his breath. "Working out the trajectories and everything. Pretty damn good for a couple of eight year olds."

"You weren't the one who had to pay for new glass," Alan sighed. His wife was laughing quite a lot now, making him poke her in the ribs. "Be quiet, woman," he ordered sternly. She just grinned at him and kept giggling. "I get no respect in this household at all," he muttered.

"I feel for you, man," Danny chuckled. "At least you didn't have a supervillain lair in your basement."

"No, I had a superhero lair in my attic," Alan retorted. "And I still don't know why the superhero who kept jumping around up there was always inviting her arch-nemesis over for dinner."

"Remember the time Doctor Curlyhair switched her mind with Crimson Lady's?" Zoe asked, her mouth twitching. "That was… weird."

"They did a pretty good job of it," Alan nodded, grinning. "I was surprised how long they managed to keep it up."

"Did we ever find out what their superpowers actually were?" Danny asked thoughtfully.

"I think it was based on whatever was the most fun at the time," his wife replied, turning to look at the two girls, who were now bent over the sand, Taylor drawing something with her former sword-stick and Emma looking dubiously at it.

"Girls," Danny said with a shake of his head. "Who knows what they think about."

Both wives exchanged a look then cracked up at his desolate tone, making him smile again.

When they'd all calmed down, Annette pulled a chair up next to her husband and draped herself over it, putting her arm around his neck. All four of them watched the girls play while they drank their coffee. Beyond them, Anne went for another swim, before climbing back onto the pontoon and resuming her sunbathing.

Eventually, Zoe asked in a musing tone, "Have you ever wondered what it would be like if either of them did get powers?"

Danny groaned. "Oh, god, I'm trying not to think about that," he said grimly. "And desperately hoping that it never happens. It doesn't usually improve people's lives in the long run."

He glanced at his wife, who shook her head slightly. "It's often difficult," she said quietly. "And how you get powers is… usually very bad. There's a reason that there are so many villains and it's not all because of the PRT and their stupid policies, although that doesn't help."

"Never much cared for them, have you?" Zoe asked.

The brunette woman shook her head. "Too many memories," she replied, her voice still low. "There are some good people who work for them, probably most of them in fact, but there are also some assholes in places where they can cause a lot of problems. And they're very good at it." She sighed faintly. "I could name names. That bastard Tagg is one of them. He's one of those people who should never be in a position of power."

"I know that name," Alan said thoughtfully.

"You should, it was him who pushed the PRT ENE director into his current job two years ago," she grumbled. "And that idiot should be shot for gross stupidity. He got a dozen completely innocent people killed with his gung ho counterattack on those Teeth fuckwits, Miss Militia is going to be recovering for at least another three months, and from what I heard Velocity probably won't ever work again as a hero. Not to mention six dead troopers and three cops. Sure, they had to do something, but he did everything wrong against the advice of practically everybody. The man's a total menace."

"I knew one of the cops," Danny sighed. "Good guy. And I met one of the troopers once, I think, I recognized the name from the news. He used to go to Pat's bar sometimes, I'm pretty sure."

"At least they got all the Teeth, so I guess there's that," Alan said.

"Yeah. Not sure the people who were shopping would agree, but yeah."

Alan turned to look at Taylor, who was gesticulating wildly, then pointing at what she'd drawn on the sand. Emma was standing with her arms folded and shaking her head. "Doesn't seem to have affected Taylor too much, thankfully. She was quieter than usual for a while, but she's back to normal now as far as I can tell." He looked at Danny. "And you came out the other side pretty well too."

"To be honest I've seen worse," Danny muttered, watching his daughter too. His wife put her hand on his and leaned on him. "But that's nothing that someone her age should go through."

"No, it wouldn't be," Alan agreed.

"She did seem to find an invisible friend as a result, though," Annette said after a momentary silence.

"Kenny, or something like that, right?" Zoe said.

"Yes, that's the one." Annette smiled. "We still don't know what he's supposed to be, but he seems to talk to her a lot. Or so she says. Apparently he's interested in everything, so she's reading even more now so she can fill him in on things."

"What things?" Alan inquired curiously.

"Absolutely everything," the woman sighed. "She's read practically every book in the house, including Danny's dad's old military manuals, all my language books, the entire collection of SF stuff, even the cookbooks. I caught her reading the dictionary the other day, for that matter." She giggled. "She ended up talking for five minutes about antidisestablishmentarianism, of all things. Most people can't even pronounce that word, never mind know what it means."

"A polysyllabic young lady," Alan smiled.

"She is certainly that. She's got a vocabulary that would shock my students when she tries. And when she's thinking you have no idea what she's thinking about," Annette replied. "She's like a sphinx, just sits there with her face blank and ponders ideas. Then before you know it you have an angry neighbor on your front porch yelling something about a dog..."

They all laughed again. "Your daughter is never boring," Zoe commented.

Danny sighed heavily. "No, that she is not. And this imaginary friend of hers is making the weird ideas even weirder. She wanted to go to a gun range, because Kenny told her it might be fun." He shrugged. "I can't see the harm, really, although it's kind of strange, so I've asked around and one of the guys at work suggested a good place that's run by someone responsible. We'll go around the end of the month."

"She may find that the guns are just too noisy," Zoe put in.

"Taylor?" Danny looked at her with both eyebrows up. "You have met our daughter, correct? The one who, last fourth of July, decided that firecrackers were boring and 'souped them up' with a balloon full of gas?"

Zoe nearly collapsed at his tone and expression. Annette had both hands over her mouth. "That girl is more of a pyromaniac than I was at her age," Danny added. "And I burned down the garden shed twice."

"I remember that!" Alan exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "We nearly made that rocket work."

"It worked perfectly," his friend grumbled. "We just shouldn't have lit the fuse inside the shed..."

"Your dad was kind of pissed," Alan snickered. "Again."

"I was paying for that fucking shed for two years," Danny muttered, scowling. "I had to get a second paper route. The man was not pleased."

"Ah, good times," Alan grinned. "Taylor takes after you in more ways than height. She's quite the tomboy. And it's catching, Emma can be the girliest girl who ever girled, but put them together, and they're taking the swing set apart to make a catapult before you know it."

"It took me three hours to put that back together," Danny agreed with a slight smile. "And I had to get her a toolkit of her own after that, to stop her losing my best sockets. Mind you, she can sure fix a bicycle pretty well for a kid that age."

The two girls seemed to have reached an agreement, now turning around and marching off to the small boat shed that sat near the water, next to the jetty. Everyone watched them disappear inside. When nothing immediately exploded, conversation resumed.

"I wonder what powers they'd get if it did happen?" Zoe asked, still apparently thinking about the subject.

"God only knows," Alan replied, shaking his head. "Powers are total bullshit at the best of times. And since around the time Scion vanished, they're sometimes even more bullshit than that. More dangerous sometimes too. There was that poor bastard up in Canada who basically melted and took six people with him..."

Danny grimaced. "Stop trying to cheer me up, guys," he said. "I don't like thinking about my daughter having a really bad day and ending up able to blow up tall buildings with a single laser, or turning into a giant lizard, or something even weirder. Or ending up as Doctor Curlyhair for real and running around the place making loud statements of how she was going to make everyone pay!"

Annette giggled quite a lot. "I very much doubt anyone's going to turn into a giant lizard, Danny," she laughed. "Doctor Curlyhair sounds like fun, though."

"You would think that, you minion." He prodded her shoulder with a finger. "You just want to get back to working for the bad guys."

"She wasn't actually bad, you know," his wife replied, smiling a little sadly. "She got carried away, and some of the others… They weren't nice people. But I think she meant well in her own way."

"Quite a lot of villains do to start with," he sighed. "Doesn't normally end like that, I'm afraid."

"Taylor would never really be a villain," Zoe commented. "She's much too cheerful for that." They all looked around as the door to the boathouse opened again, the girl in question stalking out, disappearing around the side of the house, then coming back moments later lugging the toolbox out of the Hebert's truck. She and it disappeared back into the boathouse, the door slamming shut.

There was a pause, then some unnerving high pitched laughter.

Everyone looked at the small building, then each other, before Alan said slowly, "Are you sure about that, Zoe?"

"They seem happy," Annette put in brightly. "I do like listening to the innocent laughter of children."

"That's more cackling than actual laughter, love," Danny pointed out.

The sound was added to by a second voice. "So is that."

"Should we go check what they're up to?"

Alan glanced around at his wife and friends.

"What's in there?"

"Old boat parts, my jet-ski which hasn't worked for three years, a couple of canoes, lots of other random crap. Nothing too dangerous."

"No harpoon gun or anything like that?" Danny looked slightly worried.

"No, of course not," Alan replied, his eyebrows up. "This is a lake, not the Florida keys. What the hell would I have a harpoon gun for?"

The Hebert man relaxed again. "OK. Just checking. Knowing those two… no, forget it."

"So we're just going to let them play in there?" Annette stared at her husband.

"It's keeping them quiet and amused," Danny smiled. A loud metallic bang sounded, followed by tinkling sounds.

"Oops!"
"Tay!"
"I'll fix it! Hold this, and give me that hammer."

"Mostly quiet," Danny muttered as random sounds of tools being vigorously wielded came to them.

"Oh, god," Alan groaned. "This is going to be Mr Fung all over again, I can feel it already."

"Don't let go!"
"Ow!"
"I said don't let go!"
"I didn't! You missed!"
"You moved your head! Don't do that either!"
"This will never work."
"Kenny says it will. He's always right."
"He's in your head, Tay!"
"So?"
"OW!"
"I said, don't move your head!"

The four adults all laughed, before Zoe stood up. "You'd better go and see what they're doing, Alan, before they assault the summer camp with a submarine or something while shouting about taking no prisoners. I'm going to get breakfast ready. Annette, can you give me a hand?" The other woman stood too, bending to give her husband a quick kiss, then both went back into the cabin. "Fifteen minutes, Alan," Zoe's voice called. "Get them cleaned up first!"

"OK, Zoe," he called back.

Both fathers headed for the boat shed, Alan cautiously pushing the door open with Danny peering over his shoulder. Taylor was bent over the… creation… the two girls had made, with Emma holding part of it in place while her friend whacked it with a hammer. "Ow! Tay!"

"Stop twitching every time I hit it!"

"I'm twitching every time you hit me!"

The two men watched, inspecting the thing the pair were making. It seemed to consist of the two elderly kayak-style fiberglass canoes that had been hanging on the wall of the shed for years, parts from a number of broken lawn chairs, lots of rope, and a selection of lumber, all coming together into a sort of catamaran.

They exchanged a look, before Danny cleared his throat. Both girls looked up, smiling. Taylor wiped a smudge of grease from her forehead, which only spread it around. "Hi, Dad," she chirped. "Is breakfast ready yet?"

"In about ten minutes." Danny looked at the fruit of their labors again. "What are you two doing?"

"Making a fast attack boat," Emma replied, turning to look a little dubiously at the thing. "Or that's what Tay calls it. I think it's more of a slow sinky boat, but..."

"It'll work, Ems," Taylor assured her friend with confidence. "OK, go bring that tent pole over and hold it here, while I tie it down."

"Instead of that, why don't you two go and wash up," Alan put in, interrupting his daughter's move towards a pile of random scrap on the side of the boathouse which had built up over the years. "You can finish this… thing… later."

"There's no hurry, girls, we're here for a couple of weeks you know," Danny added with a grin. He studied the construction with interest. "I don't see the 'attack' part of the boat, and I have to admit the 'fast' part is a little lacking too..."

"It's not done yet," Taylor replied, putting her tools down.

"Who were you planning on attacking?" Alan asked curiously as the girls followed them out of the shed. Both exchanged a glance, then shrugged.

"Anyone who threatened the camp, I guess," Taylor said thoughtfully. "You know, a preemptive strike. You can't be too careful."

"The camp."

"Yep."

"This cabin?"

"That's it," the brunette nodded, smiling. "We're camping, it's a camp. We should protect it from the enemy."

"Who are, based on last time, the summer camp kids over yonder?"

"They started it!" Emma said firmly. "We finished it."

"I remember, dear." He shook his head. "I had quite a long talk with the camp owner. He wasn't totally happy about what happened."

Emma kicked the ground with one toe, looking slightly sullen. Taylor hugged her for a moment. "It's probably best if you don't mount a marine assault on them, girls," he went on, trying not to laugh. "People would talk. Anyway, we've got lots of other things to do." They resumed walking to the cabin, having paused for Emma. "Some friends of mine from work are going to visit later today and they're bringing their children."

The girls dashed up the stairs to the desk, then turned and looked at the two fathers. "Who, Uncle Alan?" Taylor asked with interest.

"You remember Carol Dallon? I think you met when she came over to my house about six or seven months ago while you were there."

Taylor nodded. "I remember. She was… kind of snappy."

"She's a little angry sometimes, Taylor," he smiled. "And she was working much too hard." Both men joined their daughters on the deck. "Her sister finally persuaded her to have a holiday, and I suggested coming to the lake. They've rented a cabin about a quarter of a mile away over that way," he pointed to the left, "and they're going to be here for a week or so."

"New Wave are going to be next door on holiday?!" Emma exclaimed with excited joy. Taylor was visibly interested, but also thoughtful still.

"Some of them, dear. Carol and her sister Sarah, Carol's two daughters Amy and Victoria, and Sarah's son Eric. He's about your age and the girls are a little more than a year older."

"Do they have powers too, dad?" Emma asked as the quartet went into the cabin.

"Not that I know of," he replied. Stopping, he lowered himself to their level, and looked seriously at each girl. "Please don't ask too many questions about New Wave, you two. They're on holiday, remember. Both from work, and from caping. Let them have some peace."

"And don't ask how they got powers," Annette put in from the kitchen, having stuck her head out to listen.

"Why not, Aunt Annette?" Emma asked, looking confused.

Annette glanced at the two men, then returned her attention to the girls. "I'll tell you more when you're older, but let's say it's not polite for now, OK?"

"OK, mom," Taylor nodded, nudging her friend who did the same. Emma still looked a little confused but went along with it.

"Now go and wash up, both of you," Annette instructed. "Taylor, you've got grease all over your face."

Taylor reached up and rubbed her forehead with a finger, looked at the result, then poked Emma's cheek with it, causing the red-head to scream and chase her upstairs. The adults watched with amusement until a door slamming made the shouting stop.

"What were they making?" Annette asked curiously.

"They seem to be trying to make one boat out of lots of other boats," Danny grinned. "I'm not entirely sure it will even float."

"Well, if they actually finish it, make sure you get them to put the life jackets on before they try it out," his wife smiled. She turned to Alan. "When are the Dallons and Pelhams going to arrive?"

He shrugged a little. "Probably some time around four, I guess. Carol told me they were driving up this morning, but they'll want to settle in and relax. It's only about seventy miles, but she's going to need time to unwind. That woman is… tense."

"I remember from that party at your company at Christmas," Annette laughed. "She looked like she was about to snap any moment until her sister got enough rum into her. Then she almost passed out."

"Her brother in law had to carry her home," Alan chuckled. "And apparently she was snoring in bed for nearly two days. Probably did her good. I can't imagine juggling her lawyer schedule with her team's work is all that easy."

Annette stepped sideways to allow Zoe to come out carrying a plate full of bacon, the other woman heading for the table. "Isn't there something wrong with her husband?" she asked. "I seem to recall you mentioned that. He looked a little off."

"He's got some sort of depression, I think," Alan nodded. "She said they were trying a new treatment which is working better than the others did, but it's a slow process. Poor guy, he's a decent man but half the time you get the impression he's hardly in the room. Can't be easy on them."

"Stop blocking the way and talking and go get your other daughter, Alan," his wife told him as she headed back into the kitchen from the table. "Breakfast is ready."

"ANNE!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs, not moving from his spot.

"WHAT, DAD?" came the faint response, as Zoe put her hands over her ears and glared at him. Annette and Danny were grinning.

"BREAKFAST!"

"OK, THANKS!"

"Not what I meant, you idiot," Zoe sighed, then walked off shaking her head. "Men."

"It worked, didn't it?" he asked, following her and snickering.

Annette met her husband's eyes, then they started laughing, before going to help.

The knock on the cabin door made Danny look up from his cards, then put them down and head over to open it. He called back, "Stop cheating, love," as he reached it, making Annette pull her hand back, then look slightly guilty as Zoe giggled.

"He knows you well," she whispered to her friend, who grinned.

"Too well," she whispered back.

Opening the door, he smiled at the woman standing on the front porch. "Hello, Carol," he said. "Did you have a good drive? Come in, Alan's just gone out to get some charcoal for the barbecue." He stepped to the side as the blonde entered with a small smile and a nod to him.

"The traffic's a little dense, Danny, but it wasn't too bad. Hot, though. Lots of people seem to be coming up to the lake this week."

"Well, considering how much damage there was to the coast after Newfoundland got half-wrecked, it's going to take years to fix some of the beaches, so this is the next best thing I suppose," he replied. Looking out the door he watched Carol's sister evict two girls and a boy from the people-carrier parked next to his truck. The blonde girl was looking around with a broad smile, giving off an air of exuberant excitement, the dark-haired one who was a little reminiscent of his own daughter was rolling her eyes at something her sister said, and the younger boy bringing up the rear was laughing at the same comment.

Sarah said something quiet to all three children, indicating the cabin, then waved to him. He waved back.

"Kids look happy," he commented. Carol looked, then nodded with a sigh.

"Vicky is always happy. To excess. And Amy balances her by being as snarky as possible, which sometimes gets a little irritating," she said quietly. "She's much too good at the acid quip."

"I suspect I know where she gets that from," he snickered, making her sigh again, but reluctantly smile.

"Possibly. Anyway, how are you? And Annette?"

"We're fine, thanks. Relaxing and having fun, which is a nice change from work and everything else. Taylor is in a good mood too, thankfully, considering that Mall screwup."

"Alan said you got caught up in that," she replied, looking concerned for a moment. "No injuries, I hope?"

"No, we were fine, but Taylor saw things that upset her," he said, shaking his head. She appeared sympathetic.

"I can imagine. I wish that idiot director hadn't told us to stay out of it. Publicity-seeking fool..."

"He's getting replaced next year from what I hear," her sister said as she came in, catching the tail end of the conversation. "Some woman called Piggot, I think. PRT special forces, or she was."

"Piggot?" Carol looked at her sister. "As in the woman who was involved with that whole Ellisburg mess?"

"I think so." Sarah smiled at Danny. "Hello, Danny. Nice to see you again."

"You too, Sarah," he replied, holding out his hand.

She shook it, then called over her shoulder, "Come on, kids, stop arguing and come inside!"

The boy, pushed his blonde cousin, then quickly shot into the house, followed by the girl who was complaining loudly. The other sister sighed, then followed more slowly. "Danny, this is my son Eric," Sarah said, grabbing the boy as he went past. "Eric, this is a friend of your aunt's friend Alan. Danny Hebert. That's his wife over there apparently cheating at cards, and Alan's wife Zoe, who you've met."

Danny looked over his shoulder to see Annette hastily putting his cards down. He snickered, turning back to see Sarah giggling. "And this is Carol's daughters Victoria and Amy." She released Eric, who said hello absently on his way into the living room, looking around curiously, then waved the other two inside. "Vicky, Amy, say hello to Mr Hebert."

Both girls exchanged a look, then chorused "Hello to Mr Hebert."

With a laugh, Danny replied "Hello to you as well. It's nice to meet you." Amy held out her hand and he shook it gravely. Vicky was almost hopping up and down, apparently unable to hold still for long, making her dark-haired sister poke her hard in the side.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr Hebert," Amy said politely. "Vicky, stop bouncing around!" she hissed under her breath, seeming a little embarrassed.

"Come in and meet the others," he told them all. "Like I just told Carol, Alan should be back in about twenty minutes with charcoal, then we can fire up the barbecue. We've got a lot of food to cook so I hope you're all hungry." Closing the door, he waved them all through into the open-plan living room.

The sound of hammering made both girls and the boy look around. "What's that?" Eric asked.

"My daughter and her friend are building some sort of boat in the shed around the back," Danny replied. "You can go and introduce yourselves if you like. Maybe they could do with some help."

"Tay! Look out!"
"Oops!"

There was a very loud crash, followed by a sound like a bowling ball bouncing down a flight of stairs made of steel poles. Everyone winced as it terminated in an enormous crunch.

"I meant to do that!"
"Yeah, sure you did, Tay."
"I did! Look, the seat fits perfectly now!"

Danny sighed. Annette and Zoe were laughing like idiots. Carol and Sarah exchanged looks, then the latter asked, rather bemusedly, "Are you sure they're safe out there unsupervised?"

"Trust me, this is nothing," Danny said with a hand over his eyes as another loud thud echoed around the cabin. "There's a limit to how much damage they can do out there, compared to some of their adventures."

The three children all looked at each other, then quickly disappeared outside. Danny sat down heavily. "Are your kids the sort of kids that get into trouble?" he asked.

"Not particularly, although Vicky can be a bit headstrong," Carol said as she took a seat too. "Amy usually reins her in a little."

"Eric is… prone to being a little overenthusiastic at times," Sarah admitted. "But I told him to behave while he was here."

"I'm not sure that will help," Zoe put in with a smile. "Taylor does seem to be able to drag Emma into things without too much trouble, assuming it's not the other way around. It's possible that it's catching."

"They both need more friends, though, so we should let them play if they want," Annette added. "Taylor really does need to meet more kids her age. Almost the only person she spends time around is Emma, and they're like sisters more than friends."

The sounds from outside stopped, being replaced by the murmur of voices. All the adults listened, Danny with a little relief.

His daughter sometimes didn't know the meaning of 'overkill' with her little projects, and Emma was perfectly happy to go along with it. The way those girls could throw themselves into the most bizarre adventures was a little worrying at times. Perhaps some new faces would distract them for a while…

"We should probably let them talk," Zoe said, standing up. "Do either of you want a drink? Danny brought some remarkably good local beer, and we've got quite a few other choices. I've got some snacks ready too, for before the barbecue is lit."

Shortly they were sitting down, drinks in hand, talking about current events, including the work being done about the reconstruction in the wake of the most recent Endbringer attack. When Alan came in, Carol was just in the process of explaining what she knew about the woman her sister thought was likely to replace the current PRT Director in the city fairly soon, which everyone there agreed was something that desperately needed to be done.

"Hey, Danny, give me a hand will you?" he called, pushing the door open with his foot while lugging two large bags of charcoal. "Two more in the trunk, and those bags on the back seat."

"OK," Danny said, getting up. Alan greeted the visitors as he went past, dumping his load outside on the deck, then returning. Soon the car was empty and the deck was full.

Ten minutes after that the large barbecue was smoking merrily, as the coals started to glow. "This will take a while," Alan said, closing the dual lids. "Kids all in the shed, I guess?"

"Yeah, they went inside and it went ominously quiet," Danny chuckled. "I'm not sure if I should be worried about that or not."

"They can't do too much damage," Alan grinned. "Nothing in the shed is worth anything anyway, and we're right here. And I have a very good first aid kit."

He turned as all four women joined them outside, taking the glass his wife handed him. Danny took the other one.

"What are they making in there?" Sarah asked, watching as her son and his cousins came out and went around to the waterside of the shed, pulling the front doors open with a rattle, then disappeared inside again. All three looked like they were enjoying themselves. There was no sign of the other two girls.

"Taylor called it a fast attack boat," Danny snickered. "I call it a pile of random crap with a lot of rope holding it together. It'll sink inside five minutes, probably, but that won't stop them trying."

Carol raised an eyebrow. "Your daughter sounds… interesting," she remarked.

"The girl is very smart, very curious, good with her hands, and reads a lot," he told her. "And she gets… ideas."

"Sometimes very weird ones," Annette added with a giggle. "Very weird indeed."

"Ignition!"
"Ignition on!"
"Vicky, grab that rope and pull!"
"You got it, Captain!"

All the adults looked at each other, then slowly turned to regard the shed.

"Amy, untie that one there, and hold on tight."
"OK, Taylor."
"Eric, get out of the way!"
"Tay, the tank's only half full."
"That's enough for a proof of concept. Where was I? Oh, right, fire it up!"
"You got it, Tay!"

"Fire what up?" Zoe asked with a puzzled expression.

"Um..." Alan was looking worried now.

There was a mechanical whine, followed by a series of loud pops, a massive bang that made everyone jump, and finally a roar.

"It works! Mua ha ha, Doctor Curlyhair does it again!"
"AAAIIIEEE! Tay, you're crazy!"

All six adults stared as the bastard child of a catamaran crossed with a set of chairs by way of a powerboat zoomed out of the shed, a spray of water following it. Five hysterically laughing children were piled on board, Taylor at the front wearing a helmet apparently improvised from a colander and a pair of swim goggles, bent over handlebars made from something that probably started life as a lawnmower handle. She was sitting in a folding deck chair in the middle of the contraption with the others hanging on to various parts.

They watched as the thing, moving fairly slowly despite the noise and shower of water out the back, headed out towards the pontoon where Anne was watching with her mouth agape. All of them seemed to be having far more fun than was reasonable.

"She fixed my jet-ski," Alan sighed. "Oh, god."

"Does this happen a lot?" Sarah finally asked, watching open-mouthed as the 'boat' rounded the pontoon and headed back.

Danny simply put his hand over his eyes and sighed.

Sometimes he started to wonder whether if Taylor got powers she'd be less likely to do this sort of thing, or more likely...