Thursday, February 10, 2011

"You're fine, Emily," Doctor Torres said, putting his instruments away. "Good. Why didn't you come in yesterday to see me?"

"I had a massive pile of work to get through, Jon, because someone forced me to take two days off," she replied with a mild scowl. He smirked when he noticed her heart obviously wasn't in it.

"Which you actually enjoyed, don't bother denying it. You needed a break. You should have had time off long before this, it's a pity it took nearly dying to push you into it."

"I can't just leave whenever I like, you know," she sighed. "Way too many things to do. This city is a powder keg waiting for a match."

"Yet you were away for two days and no explosion," he smiled. "You have many very competent subordinates, the parahuman contingent around here are also pretty good, Miss Militia is more than capable of running the place for example, if you need someone to fill in for you. Armsmaster can keep a lid on the fighting pretty well, he's done a good job over the years. You're essential, true enough, but not to the point that we need you living in the building."

Sitting behind his desk he made some quick notes in her record then closed the file, turning back to her. "Take this as a warning that you were lucky to get. Pay more attention to your health, don't get so stressed, and you'll live a damn sight longer than otherwise. You've been given an entire new lease on life. Don't waste it."

She was silent for a while, then nodded once. "I'll think about it. I assume you're happy for me to get back to doing my own work, or do you want me to take more time off?" Her voice was somewhat sarcastic but there was no real heat to it.

He grinned. "Ideally, yes, I think you should take a week off and go somewhere for a real holiday. But I'm a pragmatist, I know you won't, so I've marked you as fully fit for duty. Try not to get yourself killed and ruin all the work Panacea and my team put in. It would be something of an irritation."

"How thoughtful of you," she muttered, standing up and turning to go. With her hand on the doorknob, she stopped, then without turning around, added, "Thank you, Jon. Thank Panacea when you next see her. Don't expect me to." She opened the door and left, leaving him smiling a little.

"I don't, Emily," he called after her. "I'll pass it on."

There was no reply but he didn't expect one. Somewhat amused he turned back to his computer and checked who was next on the list to be hunted down and given a particularly enthusiastic checkup. "Ah. Agent Simmons. You've missed two this year so far. We'll see about that," he chuckled, reaching for the phone.


Walking into the main workshop which echoed with metallic clangs and the sizzling crackle of welding equipment running, Danny looked around, then spotted the man he was after. "Hello, Kurt, how are you?" he asked as he approached the slightly shorter but much wider man, who turned and smiled at him. "How is Lacey's mother?"

His old friend and his wife had rushed off to Philadelphia only days after Taylor's initial encounter with the Varga at Winslow, due to the aforementioned relative having a mild stroke, and he hadn't seen or heard from them since. Kurt had come back the previous night, arriving for work that morning without his wife. Danny had heard he was back and come looking for him.

"She's not too bad, all things considered," Kurt replied, shaking his head sadly. "Poor woman is getting on, she's nearly sixty-eight now, and since her husband passed on two years ago she's gone downhill a little. But she seems to be recovering from the stroke better than the doctors expected. Lacey is staying with her for another week, then she's coming to stay with us for a while to recover when she's able to handle the trip. Sorry we haven't been in contact, it's been crazy dealing with all her affairs and the medical stuff."

"Don't worry, we assumed something like that. Pass on my best to Lacey, will you?" Danny requested, nodding sympathetically. He'd met the elder woman once some years back and remembered a lively and amusing old girl who deserved better.

"I will, don't worry." Kurt smiled again. Looking around, he waved at the activity in the huge room, which he'd been watching with a certain amount of confusion when Danny had walked up. "What on earth is going on? I haven't seen so many people working like this in over a decade."

Danny smiled mysteriously. "Things are changing around here, Kurt. All sorts of things. I think you're going to be pleased with the result." He checked his watch, then suggested, "Come with me, I could do with your advice on something. You're pretty good with railways, right?"

"I worked on the rail systems here for ten years before everything fell apart," Kurt confirmed, looking puzzled. "Why?"

"I need a second opinion on the survey of the rail link to the marshaling yard," Danny told him as they left the racket of the workshop behind them, heading back to his office. Both of them nodded to the various people walking around with a sense of purpose that had been missing from the DWU for far too long, all of those people looking busy and pleased about it.

"Survey? What on earth are you up to, Danny? We haven't used that rail link for, hmm, at least twelve years or so. It's not in good condition now."

"Actually according to the people who just finished inspecting the rails and points, it's not too bad at all," Danny corrected him, entering his office and going over to the large table on the opposite side from his desk, motioning at the piles of paper scattered over the surface. "I've got all the information here somewhere." He rummaged around for a moment then unrolled a large printout, Kurt clearing a few things out of the way, before holding one end down. Putting a couple of books on each corner, Danny pointed at the large-scale map of the entire docks and rail yard area, the railway itself marked with dozens of notes down its length. Kurt bent over it and inspected it curiously.

"I've had teams of people checking every inch of it for days now. As far as anyone can make out, at least ninety percent of the rails and sleepers are in fair to good condition, the rest being either poor or missing entirely. It's not too bad, we have the rail itself and a hell of a lot of sleepers in storage from the last time the line was refurbished. It looks like we need to replace about half a mile of track which is either missing or ruined, then a few segments here and there. Some ballast needs to be replaced as well, but that won't be difficult to do."

"You're reactivating the rail line?" Kurt asked in astonishment, straightening up and turning to his friend. Danny nodded.

"We are. We've got funding for an initial set of work, which included taking down all these warehouses in this section here," he indicated the marked area on the map, cross-hatched in red, "filling in this cellar, then resurfacing the entire area. A new fence is going around it all, the water side gets rebuilt as well, and the spur line to the rail yard gets repaired and put back into working condition." Pointing out the window, he went on, "I've got people surveying the docks right now to work out the exact amounts of materials required, we're about half way through the job. The rail line survey is finished, though. If you could check the figures, I'd be grateful, you know more about that part of it than practically anyone left here."

"Sure, no problem," Kurt replied, looking dazed. "What the hell, Danny? How did you swing all this?"

"I can't tell you exactly, yet, I'm afraid," Danny replied in a regretful tone, before smirking mischievously. "But you're going to love it. The Mayor is on our side, he's just checking the proposal I wrote up right now with various experts and is going to put it before the city council tomorrow night. He's pretty sure it will get voted in. At that point, he's going to make an initial announcement."

He chuckled as Kurt stared. "People are going to be… surprised. But, hopefully, pleased. This means a lot of work for a lot of people over the next few years, almost guaranteed."

There was silence for a moment, then Kurt slowly shook his head in wonder. "You go away for three weeks and the entire world goes nuts," he half-complained, half-joked. Danny shrugged, grinning.

"You have no idea, old friend," he laughed. "None at all. But you're going to find out soon enough."

Nodding in a slightly bemused manner, the other man accepted the folder Danny handed him and looked at it for a moment, before looking up at his friend. "OK," he sighed. "I'll check it over. Promise me you'll let me know what the hell is going on so I can make some sense of all this, please?"

"As soon as I can, you'll be the first to hear," Danny assured him.

Moving back to his desk, he sat down, Kurt sitting on one of his guest chairs. "How's Taylor?" he asked after a few seconds, seeming to deliberately push his questions to one side with an effort of will. "Did you get all that crap with the school sorted out yet?"

"Oh, yes, that's in the past now, thanks. She transferred to Arcadia a while ago and is doing very well there. You wouldn't believe the difference. She's back to the happy girl I remember from when Annette was still alive. Very cheerful, enjoying life to the hilt, that sort of thing. She's made quite a few new friends as well, which I'm very pleased about. We had one of them over for dinner last night. Nice girl."

"Glad to hear it," Kurt smiled, pleased. "I was getting worried about the poor girl. She didn't look happy the last time I saw her." Looking narrowly at Danny, he added, "You look a fuck of a lot happier as well. We were getting worried about you too."

Danny sighed slightly with a regretful smile. "I know you were. I was in a bad place. If I'd been more on the ball possibly all this trouble with Taylor could have been avoided, possibly not. Luckily it all worked out OK in the end. No thanks to me." He shrugged unhappily. "I'm sorry I became such a bad friend, Kurt. I should have tried harder."

"It's not your fault, Danny," Kurt smiled. "We both realize how badly losing Annette affected you. Everyone was sorry about it, we all loved that woman. Crazy as she was sometimes." He laughed for a moment. "She could certainly liven things up if she got bored." They shared a grin as they remembered a few times when the Hebert woman had decided to do something odd to make life more interesting.

"Taylor takes very strongly after her in that respect," Danny snickered. "Some of the practical jokes she comes up with are… a little weird. Funny, but weird. Annette would have loved them."

"We'll have to get together for dinner some time, maybe go out," Kurt suggested, rising from his seat. "When Lacey gets back with Brenda."

"I think that would be a good idea too," Danny agreed.

"OK. I'll look this over and get back to you in a while," his friend replied, holding up the folder, then leaving the office with a wave. Looking after him Danny smiled to himself before he got back to work.


Looking at the caller ID on his phone, Roy smiled, then picked up the handset. The code displayed was familiar as well as being entirely bogus. "Hello, Phil. Nice to hear from you so soon," he said.

"Hello, Roy," the voice of his old college roommate replied, sounding calm yet intense. "This Danny Hebert of yours is an interesting man. We must arrange an introduction at some point. I feel that such attention to detail merits closer study."

"I'm pleased you feel that way. I'll look into it for you. What do you think of his plan?"

"It is remarkably detailed and surprisingly well-researched," the other man said with a tone of faint approval in his voice. From him, that was as close to raw enthusiasm as it normally got. "The clarity of thought shown is refreshing. I have a number of alterations that I feel would improve the efficiency of the proposal which I will send you via secure delivery. His plan is… simple but elegant. My alterations to it are fairly minor but should improve the overall effectiveness in the long term."

"You think it will work?"

"Even as is, almost certainly. With my suggestions correctly implemented, definitely yes. I will follow your progress with great interest."

"Thank you, Phil. That's a weight off my mind. As I told you, I was ninety percent certain. Now I'm completely sure."

"My pleasure, Roy. I enjoy such work as you know." There was a small chuckle from the other end. "It's a pity I have so little success getting support for the more complex ideas. In time, perhaps."

"People are resistant to change, especially the amount of change you've proposed, even with the long term benefits," Roy commented.

There was a very faint sigh in his ear. "I am all too aware of that, Roy. Some people require considerable persuasion to alter their behavior as they are annoyingly resistant to logic. A pity." He was silent for a moment, then asked, sounding curious, "You have met this parahuman that Mr Hebert suggests can perform the required operations?"

"I have," Roy smiled. "The experience was… memorable."

"Based on the proposal's requirements, I can imagine it was. I would be interested in making their acquaintance myself at some point, I think. But not right now. I have a number of other problems to solve first."

"I suspect you'll find her impressive," Roy replied with amusement. "I can guarantee the PRT will."

"By which you mean they have no idea what is likely to happen in the near future," his friend noted wryly.

"No. It's going to be pretty funny seeing their reaction. We're going to have to take some precautions to stop an over-reaction, but..." Roy laughed again. "It will be a day to remember."

"I think I will accept your offer to attend, Roy," the other man replied after a short pause, sounding like he was rather amused. "You have persuaded me that it would be worth my time."

"I'll let you know a time and date as soon as it's settled, Phil," Roy promised.

"Excellent. In that case, I must resume my other work. I have a minor staffing problem that requires my attention, I'm afraid. Until next time, Roy."

"Thanks again, Phil. It was nice talking to you."

"I feel the same. Good bye."

The line went dead, Roy replacing the handset, then turning to his computer just in time to see a new email arrive. He followed the instructions to download the new document from a secure encrypted server and was soon reading the considerably more detailed document, noting with interest the changes from Danny Hebert's original plan, and the comments made by his friend throughout. Clearly the man had put considerable effort in on it, and based on his memories of the guy, had probably enjoyed it immensely in his own unique way.


Looking around the cafeteria, Taylor smiled as Amy waved to her, then turned to Mandy who was standing behind her in the queue for food. "Do you mind if I invite Amy Dallon to sit with us?"

Her first friend at Arcadia looked at her, a certain degree of startlement on her face, then over at the brunette who was nearing the end of the line next to her sister and the Stansfield boy. "I didn't know you knew her, Taylor," she said. "Sure. Why not? She needs more friends, all she does normally is sit there reading a book and making snarky comments. Funny ones, true, but that's no way to live." The gregarious girl smiled.

Amused, Taylor smiled back, then nodded to Amy, indicating their usual table with her head. The healer glanced at her sister then nodded as well.

The little wordless communication session done, Taylor went back to selecting her own food, adding a plate of lemon meringue pie to the spaghetti and meatballs already on the tray, next to the salad. Moving down the line she got some bottled water, handed her school ID to the woman at the end who ran it through the scanner and handed it back, then waited for Mandy to finish. Both of them walked over to the table, which Amy was standing next to looking a little uncertain. "Sit down, then, Amy," she said merrily. "Mandy won't bite."

Looking relieved at the way the third girl laughed, then sat, Amy followed suit. Moments later they were joined by Lucy and Eric, both of whom looked a little surprised to see the new face at the table. "Guys, this is Amy Dallon, as you probably know." Taylor made the introductions, everyone greeting the healer with smiles and Eric holding out his hand, which she shook.

"Nice to meet you, Amy," the boy said, looking pleased. "I've been a fan of your work ever since you healed my uncle last year. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome," Amy replied quietly, "Although I can't place the name, I'm afraid. I heal a lot of people."

"Because you work too hard," Taylor put in with a small grin, which Amy returned, sighing a little and shaking her head.

"I know. We've been over that."

"Do something about it, then," Taylor suggested, opening her water bottle.

"I'm going to talk to the hospital this afternoon when I go in," Amy told her after a moment's hesitation, looking around at the others who were listening with interest as they ate. "I'm planning on telling them I'm cutting back my time there by a third, except for emergencies. Hopefully they'll be OK with it."

"They'll probably be very pleased, and anyone who isn't is an ungrateful moron," Taylor smirked, making the other girl laugh. "You don't even get paid, for god's sake! They can't expect you to live your life there doing work that you don't enjoy for free, forever."

"You don't get paid for working at the hospital?" Eric asked with some surprise in his voice.

Looking at him, Amy shook her head. "I volunteer. I don't mind, I can help people that wouldn't stand a chance otherwise."

"But it's stressing you out, so you should definitely find something else to do and slow down," Lucy said perceptively, causing the Dallon girl to appear a little surprised. The Chinese girl smiled. "I know what stress looks like, Amy, my mother suffered from it for years until she changed jobs. Everyone can see you're working too hard, a lot of people were worried for you."

Amy seemed taken aback, looking around at the others with an odd expression. Taylor met her eyes and projected as much comforting encouragement as she could, making her friend sigh after a moment and smile in a way rather unlike her normal sardonic grin. "Thank you for the concern," the brunette said after a moment, visibly relaxing in the presence of the new people. "It's appreciated. But I think things are going to be different now." She rubbed her right wrist absently with her left hand, making Taylor hid a small smile. "Quite different."

"Good. Everyone should be as happy as they can manage," Mandy said firmly, smiling widely. "So. How did you two meet?"

Amy and Taylor exchanged a glance. "I had a little accident due to some idiot leaving something where they shouldn't have and me tripping over it," Amy snickered, making Taylor grin. "Taylor picked me up and took me to the nurse. I nearly broke my damn nose, which really hurt. We got to talking and found we have a surprising amount in common in some ways, one thing led to another, and she ended up inviting me over to her house for dinner and some calculus lessons."

The others nodded understanding. Mandy looked at Taylor with wide eyes. "You're giving calculus lessons? I need that!"

Taylor grinned, having half expected this outcome. "I think we can probably arrange something," she laughed. "Let me check my busy schedule and get back to you."

Her friend smiled, pleased. "Thanks, Taylor. All joking aside I'd be grateful for any help, you're much better at that sort of thing than I am."

Lucy, who had been listening with a smile of her own, leaned forward somewhat eagerly. "Amy, I saw the videos on PHO and read everything I could find about it. Did you really go to dinner with Saurial? Then have her sister let you ride her home?"

Amy nodded with an amused grin.

"Wow. What are they like? Did you meet any other members of the Family? Can you introduce me to them?"

Glancing at Taylor, who was snickering as she ate, Amy asked, "You're a fan, aren't you?"

Lucy blushed while Mandy and Eric also started laughing. "You wouldn't believe how much of a fan she is," the former giggled. "She's always liked reptiles anyway and Saurial instantly became her favorite cape. Raptaur is just icing on the cake."

Grinning, Amy shrugged. "I can ask the next time I run into either of them." She didn't look at Taylor who was still smirking a little into her spaghetti. "They're both pretty cool, it might be possible. You might even be able to persuade Raptaur to give you a ride as well."

Lucy's eyes widened enormously while Mandy nearly fell out of her chair with laughter. "Oh my god! I'd love that so much!"

"She should offer rides around the city if she gets bored," Eric suggested with a devious grin. "She'd make a lot of money doing that. Assuming that anyone would actually go for it."

"I would!" Lucy exclaimed, raising a hand eagerly. He patted her indulgently on the head, making her sigh.

"We know, Lucy, we know."

"Idiot," she muttered, smoothing her hair down, which caused him to look amused, then pat her head again. "Stop that."

"Make me."

"I will."

"You haven't yet." He did it again.

They kept arguing, while the other three exchanged a glance. "He likes her," Mandy whispered loudly, leaning forward in a conspiratorial manner, matched by Taylor and Amy, who grinned.

Lucy went red while Eric suddenly kept his hands to himself, seeming embarrassed, which made the three girls laugh. "I see," Amy nodded wisely. "Interesting."

Taylor ate her lunch, listening to the others talking and exchanging stories, Amy joining in occasionally but seeming contented even when she didn't. The other brunette looked happy, more so than Taylor could recall seeing her since she'd come to Arcadia, except last night. Glancing over at the table full of wards she saw Vicky looking their way with a small smile on her face. The blonde girl spotted Taylor's gaze and nodded slightly to her, the smile widening. Taylor nodded back, feeling pleased. Even Amy's sister seemed happy about the current state of affairs, although she did wonder what she'd think if she knew who it was that Amy had been visiting the previous night.

When lunch finished, everyone got up and took their trays back. As they headed off to class, Amy caught Taylor's eye, smiled a little, and mouthed "Thank you" to her friend.

Watching for a moment as the other girl rejoined her sister and the Wards, all six of them walking off in the other direction, Taylor felt satisfied.

Things were coming along well so far.


"They seemed nice," Vicky said with a grin. Amy glanced at her, then over her shoulder where she could see the end of Taylor's tail vanishing around the corner of the corridor, an internal smile at the thought that she was the only one in the school who could see it making her amused. The Varga had modified the cloak spell to exclude her from it the night before, in the same way Taylor's father wasn't affected by it.

"They are," she replied after a moment. "Taylor has good taste in friends."

"Of course she does, you're a friend of hers," Vicky sniffed superciliously. "No sister of mine would become friends with a mere peasant."

Amy giggled, making Vicky grin. "You're an idiot, sis."

"But you're looking happier than I've seen for a while, so that's fine," the blonde replied. "I think Taylor is good for you if only one visit to her house has made you so much more cheerful."

"Yeah, Amy, where has my dark goddess of snark gone?" Dennis, who had been listening from his position in front of them, said over his shoulder with a grin. "You're actually smiling. And not in that 'I know something you don't and it amuses me' way, more in a sort of 'I'm having fun' way. It's freaking me out a little."

"That's because you're not capable of appreciating the subtleties of my friendship with Taylor, who is much smarter than you," Amy replied with a smirk. "You are a mere prankster. Her sense of humor is much more refined, as is mine."

"Ah, there you are," he chuckled. "I was getting worried." After a moment, while Amy grinned a little, he added, "I'm pleased you seem happier. Keep it up."

"I intend to, Dennis," she replied honestly. "Believe me. I think I'm going to enjoy this."

"Hopefully not at the expense of everyone else," he commented.

"We'll see," she told him, smiling darkly, and making him shiver theatrically.

"Oh, god, I got a sudden cold chill right down my back," he muttered. Amy shook her head with amusement but didn't say anything. Unconsciously, she rubbed her wrist again, feeling the little symbiote contentedly sitting there, merged with her flesh.

Oh, yes, life was looking up suddenly…

She had so many ideas.


"It looks good, Danny," Kurt announced as he came back into the other man's office and plopped into a chair, waving the folder, then sliding it across his friend's desk. Danny opened it and looked at the contents. "I've made some notes on a few things I think need to be checked, and corrected a couple of the figures which were not quite right, but overall it's basically fine."

"Thanks, Kurt," Danny smiled, closing the folder again and putting it on top of a stack of others to one side of his desk. As he was about to say something else, the phone rang, causing him to hold up a finger. "One moment, I need to take this," he said, Kurt nodding and leaning back to wait. Answering the phone, he said, "Danny Hebert."

"Hello, Danny," the voice of the Mayor came to him. He smiled.

"Hello, Roy," he replied, "it's nice to hear from you. How can I help you?"

"Nothing serious, I just wanted to let you know that one of my most trusted experts has looked over your report and says he thinks it will work. He's suggested a few modifications to it which seem sensible, he knows his stuff, believe me, but they won't change the initial stages. It's more along the lines of strategic alterations for the medium to long term. I'll stop by later to drop off a copy if that's all right, I don't trust email with it."

"That's fine, Roy, we'd be glad to see you. I can show you around and you can see what's going on so far. Acquisition of the relevant equipment is coming along well, we've ordered most of it so far and I've got some people chasing up the last few things we'll need. Deliveries should start turning up tomorrow, with a little luck." Danny smiled to himself. "We've saved a hell of a lot of money by buying used and bankrupt stock. I think in total we've probably got over a million and a half dollars worth of equipment and supplies for just under two hundred thousand in total. If nothing else the DWU will be able to replace almost every piece of major equipment in the place and repair everything that's left. People are working their asses off, they seem to be having fun."

Roy laughed, sounding pleased. "Very good indeed. That's great news. I can release more funds when you need it but by the sounds of things you've outdone yourselves."

"We have some very talented acquisition experts," Danny chuckled. "One guy was a stores sergeant in the Army, he seems to have learned some interesting skills in bartering things he has for things he wants. Several of the more expensive items are a result of clearing out some old crap we have no use for but he found people who did have a use. It's all worked out pretty well. I'm not asking too many questions, just told him to make sure it's at least technically legal."

The mayor snickered. "Don't tell me the details, I don't want to know. Plausible deniability and all that. But well done. Thank everyone on behalf of the Mayor's office, will you?"

"I will. See you later."

"Probably around half past four, I think, Danny," the other man replied. "Bye." He hung up, Danny doing the same, then turning to Kurt who was looking intrigued.

"Roy?" he asked. "That wouldn't happen to be Mayor Roy Christner, would it?"

"It would," Danny smiled. "I told you he was on our side. We may have been on opposite sides of the negotiating table more times than I care to remember, but the man is smart, always keeps his word when you manage to get it out of him, and seems to be backing us a hundred percent."

"Interesting," his friend noted. "Very interesting. And good news for us, I guess."

"Oh, definitely," Danny agreed. "Without him I doubt it would have gone this far. We're lucky to have a Mayor who thinks ahead and is willing to take a chance."

Kurt nodded thoughtfully. After a moment, he smiled curiously. "Now what's all this I hear about the DWU having a cape? Or more than one, people seem a little confused on the subject. I've been hearing some very strange stories from various people. We got attacked by fucking Hookwolf?! What's been going on while I've been away."

"Ah. You obviously don't keep up with the news on PHO," Danny laughed. "Or the actual news. We don't actually have a cape, precisely, although that may well change, but there are a couple of interesting people who seem happy to help out. I expect you'll meet them soon enough."

Kurt looked puzzled again. "Go and look up Saurial and Raptaur on your computer," Danny suggested with a small evil grin. "That should get you started."

"You're being weird, Danny," Kurt complained good-naturedly as he stood.

"If I just tell you, you'll never believe me," Danny chuckled. "Go on, go and look it up, and watch the videos. I think you'll find them… interesting."

Shaking his head, Kurt wandered off, muttering something about people trying to be all mysterious. Amused, Danny listened until his friend went out of audible range, then picked up the folder he'd delivered and began reading it carefully, making some notes on the relevant changes required to the plan as he went.