"Stubborn girl." Colin frowned slightly, checking the log for the monitoring system linked to Shadow Stalker's tracking bracelet. It showed over three dozen attempts at tampering with the device in the last week alone. Sighing a little to himself he reached out and nudged up the control that set the shock level which the thing warned her with. She clearly needed a stiffer warning. Making a note in the file, he sent the results to Director Piggot as she had requested, then dismissed the problem from his mind as he went back to working on the anti-Endbringer Shotgun of Doom as Dragon insisted on calling it.

The last few simulations had narrowed down the design parameters to the point he was certain it would function correctly. Whether it would actually kill an Endbringer, he had no way of knowing, the things were insufficiently understood to model to any level of accuracy. That said, he was fairly sure that a shot from the weapon would at least slow Leviathan or the Simurgh down rather suddenly and based on previous fights probably provoke an immediate withdrawal.

Admittedly, the surrounding area was going to suffer a lot of collateral damage, both from the more or less indestructible projectiles traveling at totally insane speeds and the muzzle blast itself, which would be incredibly destructive, but that might well be a small price to pay if the situation could be managed correctly.

The big problem was still the recoil. Their simulations with all the currently known inertial management or cancellation systems had shown that while the better ones would reduce it significantly, none of them would eliminate enough of the kickback to make the device usable as it currently stood yet still sufficiently agile to be effective in battle.

The thermal pulse from the fusion explosion was the next largest issue, although he had some ideas on that front. Since it was so brief an ablative coating on the outside of the barrel would probably be an effective countermeasure. The EMP from the blast would be almost entirely contained by the SaurialSteel barrel which was not only a near-perfect electrical insulator but seemed to be an amazingly efficient block for magnetic fields. He was currently unsure of the reason why, although it was intriguing to both him and Dragon. That was a matter for future research, though.

A pensive expression on his face he leaned back in his chair and studied the graphs resulting from the latest simulation run. Making a couple of small alterations to the relevant parameters he reran it once more, then nodded. A 0.47% improvement in projectile grouping resulted from the minor change in barrel design, which was a worthwhile gain for the effort.

Pleased, he turned his head, then twitched when he saw Dragon's simulated face smiling at him from her monitor, having not realized she was online. "How long have you been watching me?" he asked, trying not to sound annoyed. He wasn't, not at all, but it had been something of a shock to see her looking at him. She'd gone back to Vancouver on Monday after helping him with some more of the design, and a few other things he'd wanted her opinion on. He found that he missed having her around in person. Even if she never took off her power armor, her company was peculiarly satisfying.

"Only a few minutes, Colin," she replied, sounding amused. "Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you while you were clearly thinking hard. The results of the latest simulation look very promising."

"They do," he agreed. "The thermal pulse looks manageable if somewhat impressive. The recoil energy is the main stumbling block now." He emitted a small sigh. "I'm on the verge of asking Leet if he has any ideas."

"Why not?" she asked. "He's shown he can be both responsible and very effective under the right circumstances. It would be a show of good faith and trust to run it past him, and he might well have some useful suggestions. You said it yourself, his work is sound, if apparently unrepeatable." She looked momentarily somewhat envious. "He can do things I can't, which is mildly irritating. I'd dearly like to study some of his work to see if I could reverse-engineer it."

"I'd have to agree that I would be very interested in a working copy of his Tricorder device," Colin slightly reluctantly replied after a moment. He thought for a few seconds, then shrugged very slightly, leaning forward again and bringing up a secure email client. "I suppose it's worth the risk. He can't duplicate this weapon without Saurial or Raptaur's aid, which I doubt he'd get, and the really dangerous part is his own fusion core. I can't see any harm in requesting his opinion."

"That's the spirit, Colin," she smiled. "Perhaps you can get him and Über to come over to the light side."

Giving her a puzzled look until he worked out the reference, he smiled slightly which seemed the appropriate reaction, then sent the carefully worded email along with some of the relevant data to the address the Tinker villain had sent him the initial contact request from. "All right, we'll have to wait and see what he says, if anything." He sighed again a little. "I'm almost on the verge of thinking that Clockblocker is the best hope, despite the significant risks. The design could be altered slightly to make it more effective for the use of his power. But the inability to aim the weapon is still a problem, as is the way it would put him in proximity to not only an Endbringer but a fairly sizable fusion explosion."

"He might not like that," Dragon agreed with a nod and a laugh. "He's not an idiot."

"Opinion is divided on that," Colin snorted. Dragon stared at him, then laughed again.

"Another joke. You're learning. Slowly, but steadily."

"Ah." He made a note. "Thank you."

"Oh, Colin," she grinned, shaking her head, which slightly puzzled him. Putting the matter to the side for future investigation, he thought for a moment, then turned to her.

"I think it's time to contact either Saurial or Raptaur," he said seriously. "Until and unless either one of them is willing to help, none of this is possible. But we have a solid design and set of requirements. Hopefully we can come to an arrangement."

"Which one are you going to contact?" Dragon asked curiously.

He pondered the question for a few seconds.

"I think Raptaur would probably be the best. She seems to have a more… direct… outlook on violence and may well be more approachable over a weapon design."

"OK, that makes sense," his friend agreed after thinking it over. "One question… Do you know how to reach her? Or were you going to drive around until you find her?"

"I don't know her contact details, no, but I know someone who probably does," Colin replied. "Danny Hebert at the DWU appeared to be on good terms with her. He's known to be in contact with Saurial as well. I have no idea why the Dock Worker's Union is associated with either of them but the information I have suggests they are. I think asking him to contact her on our behalf would probably be the best initial move."

She nodded slowly. "Sounds like an idea, yes. Are you going to call him or visit him?"

"I think visiting him would be a better idea," Colin replied. "Hopefully he'll be cooperative."

"Be careful what you say, don't come on to strongly," Dragon cautioned. "I've looked him up. From what I can find out he's not someone who can be intimidated easily, and in fact would probably push back very hard if you tried. Do you want me to help?"

"That would probably be for the best," he said with a grateful look. "You know I'm not good with people, especially ones I don't know. Our last meeting was… unusual."

"I'm happy to help, Colin, as always," she smiled.

"Thank you." He donned his power armor and left the lab, heading for the parking garage and the ferry to the city itself.

He wasn't entirely happy about being on the water, but he had little choice. The thought made him begin designing a flight mode for his bike.

Colin knew what lived down there now. He'd been a lot happier about it when he didn't...


"Hello, Roy," Danny said as he stood up and walked around his desk, holding out his hand to his guest, who was looking around the office with interest. The Mayor shook it, smiling.

"You know, Danny, after all the years we've known each other, I think this is the first time I've ever been in this place? I should have made time to visit a long time ago."

Releasing his hand, Danny smiled back. "Better late than never."

Roy handed him the same USB stick he'd given the man with his proposal on. "The modified document is on here, along with some notes I made as well. I've got a couple of other people I trust looking at it, mainly on the financial side, and the initial feedback is that they think it's a viable plan. I'll take it to the council tomorrow as planned."

"Have you told them anything about it yet?" he asked curiously as he carefully locked the stick in his desk drawer.

"No." Roy grinned. "It's a normal end of week meeting, I'm going to bring it up when we've gone over the rest of the agenda. It should be an interesting end to the week."

Both of them laughed at the idea. "I look forward to hearing about it," Danny said, pleased.

"I'll let you know as soon as the meeting is over, but I'd be extremely surprised if it didn't get voted in. Then we have to work out what, and how, to announce publicly. That will take some careful thought."

"I have a few ideas on the subject, and I'll keep thinking about it," Danny told him. "We should be able to come up with something between us."

"Probably." Roy looked around again. "So. Show me what's going on. I'm really curious to see what's happened so far."

"Sure. Have a look here," Danny replied, leading him over to the large table and the map that was still spread across it, beginning to explain the current state of play and the next few steps, Roy listening carefully and asking cogent questions every now and then.


Slowing his bike as he approached the DWU facility, Colin looked around carefully. He could feel people watching, he was certain, well honed battle reflexes poking his hindbrain, but even so he didn't feel threatened. Just watched.

"Interesting," he muttered, heading down the main access road.

"What is?" Dragon asked, a tiny version of her face off to one side of his visual field, her voice in his ear over his comms system.

"There is a considerable amount of surveillance around here that I'm certain wasn't present the last time," he said quietly as he neared the main gate, which was guarded by two very large men with clubs in hand who were calmly watching him draw closer, alertly but not aggressively. "I couldn't tell you exactly where from, but I'm definitely being watched from somewhere close other than these two gentlemen."

"I'm not surprised the DWU has stepped up security after Hookwolf's attack," Dragon replied reasonably. "I'd be more surprised if they hadn't, they're not stupid. But I'd suggest that it's very important to be polite. I think they look on Danny Hebert very highly and I'm not entirely certain they feel the same about the PRT for various reasons."

"No, I rather got that impression the last time," Colin commented a little sourly. Pulling up at the gate, he turned to the man who seemed to be the one in charge. "Hello. I would like to see Danny Hebert if it's not a bad time."

"I'll check, Armsmaster," the man replied respectfully in a very deep voice, pulling a basic cellphone out of his pocket and pressing a button on it. The other man stayed carefully out of reach, alternating his attention between the Tinker on the motorcycle and the surroundings in a way that suggested he wasn't entirely certain everything was as it appeared. Colin rather approved of the efficient and careful paranoia.

"I think they're both probably ex-military," Dragon remarked in his ear. "They clearly know what they're doing and the one on the right is half-convinced this is a trap."

"Yes, I noticed," he muttered very quietly, the throat mic picking up his words easily. "Probably best not to make any sudden moves. I have a suspicion that there are a number of other people just inside waiting for trouble. I don't want to give Director Piggot any reason to complain by triggering a war with the DWU. I'd never live it down."

"It wouldn't go well on your resume, no," she snickered. "Especially as I'm not totally sure whether you'd actually win or not. They've got some very heavy equipment in there and a lot of decent engineers, I bet they could improvise some fairly impressive weapons given a reason and some time."

Not completely reassured by her comment, Colin didn't reply, merely waiting patiently until the guard put the phone away again. "If you'll go over to the main admin building, the second on the left there, someone will meet you and take you to Mr Hebert. He's expecting you."

"Thank you," Colin replied, nodding to the man, who nodded back, then starting his bike again. Driving it over to the building indicated he looked around with interest, seeing that there seemed to be a substantially larger amount of activity going on than normal. In the distance beyond the perimeter fence, along the waterfront, he could see a number of cutting torches in action, apparently removing part of the structure of one of the more dilapidated warehouses that backed onto the water. Several more gangs of men were moving around the other buildings, making marks on the walls with yellow paint from what he could see.

Closer in, there were a number of construction vehicles in various states of repair parked in the main yard, all of them being worked on. He could hear tools clinking and as he stopped and parked, saw one big excavator rumble into life as the team of mechanics working on it apparently tested it, all three men looking pleased. It huffed black smoke for a few seconds, vibrating madly, then settled down to a contented chugging as one of them adjusted something on the engine.

"Very interesting indeed," he mused quietly to his friend. "I wonder what all this is for? I haven't seen anything on this scale for a long time. They seem to be gearing up to clearing those buildings away for some reason."

"It seems that way," Dragon commented, sounding intrigued. "I thought the DWU could barely arrange enough pay for its members to keep them in work at all, but some of this equipment looks new, or at least recently acquired."

"I would have to agree," he said as he got off the bike, settling his halberd across his back. Curious, he watched the activity for a moment more, then turned towards the admin building, stopping again when a shiny black car that was parked on the other side of the entrance caught his eye. "I think that's the Mayor's car," he added slowly. "I wonder what he's doing here?"

The tiny replica of Dragon's face looked puzzled. "I have no idea."

"Odd." Heading towards the entrance he went inside, finding a slender blond man waiting for him. The man held out his hand, which he shook with his armored gauntlet.

"It's nice to meet you, Armsmaster, I'm a big fan," the man said with a smile. "I'm Mark, head of the DWU security division. Come with me and I'll take you to Mr Hebert."

"Thank you, Mark," Colin replied with a polite nod, falling in beside the man as he headed deeper into the complex building. "I can't help noticing that there is a surprisingly large amount of activity outside," he said tentatively after they'd gone a short distance. "May I ask why?"

"We're refurbishing some of the dock facilities which includes demolishing a few derelict warehouses before they fall down and kill someone," Mark replied easily, glancing at him for a moment. "We keep having to chase junkies away and sooner or later someone will end up dead of something other than an overdose. Mr Hebert somehow persuaded the Mayor to fund some minor work around the place which is desperately overdue. They're discussing more work at the moment, actually."

Colin checked his lie detector. The man wasn't lying, as far as he could tell, but he was somehow sure that this wasn't the whole truth. Deciding it could wait, he followed as his companion led him through a large open-plan office, the various people in it looking up, then staring for a moment, as his blue and silver power armor crossed the floor. Reaching a door on the other side, Mark tapped on it, then opened it. "Danny? Armsmaster is here, he'd like to talk to you."

"That's fine, thanks, Mark," a familiar voice came from inside the room. "Please send him in."

Stepping aside, the man opened the door fully with a push of his hand. "It was nice to meet you, Armsmaster."

"Likewise, Mark," he replied politely, before going inside and closing the door behind him. He found Danny Hebert sitting behind his desk, Mayor Christner standing next to a large table on the other side of the room apparently having been studying a large sheet of paper which as far as he could make out had some sort of map on it. Curious, he looked at it for a moment then turned to the man at the desk, the Mayor half sitting on the table behind him and listening. Somewhat unsure, he wondered if he could somehow request that the politician leave, but couldn't think of a way to ask without insulting one or both of them.

With a small silent sigh he walked over to the desk. Danny rose and held out his hand, which he shook. "Please, have a seat," the man said, waving to a chair. "I think that's strong enough to take the weight of your armor. If not, it's cheap enough." He smiled a little. Colin looked a little dubiously at the chair, but agreed it seemed fairly solidly built and gingerly lowered his weight into it. The thing creaked faintly but held up.

Sitting down again, Danny studied his guest. "This is somewhat unexpected, Armsmaster. What does the DWU owe the honor of a visit from the local Protectorate leader to?"

"I have a request that I was hoping that you would pass on to Raptaur," he began, using the approach Dragon had suggested on the way over. The man looked even more interested. "Dragon and I have obtained a sample of the apparently essentially indestructible material she makes her weapons out of from Leet, who acquired it after meeting her. At his suggestion we have been working on a design for a weapon we feel may well be unusually effective against one or more of the Endbringers, using the parameters we derived from the sample. Simulations show it should work, but the only two people who could actually construct it are either Saurial or Raptaur. We felt that the latter might be more receptive to hopefully agreeing to meet us and discuss providing her aid."

Danny was silent for a moment, although his eyebrows had gone higher and higher as Colin spoke. Now, he looked past the Tinker, presumably at the Mayor, before leaning back in his chair and folding his hands on the desk.

"And you would like me to ask her about it for you?"

"Yes. It would be extremely helpful as we have no other way to contact her at present except by randomly searching for her, which would obviously be an inefficient use of..."

Colin trailed off as he suddenly consciously noticed the small twisted piece of dully shining metal neatly mounted on a clearly recycled but lovingly polished piece of teak that was next to the clock on Danny Hebert's desk. Staring, he leaned forward and twisted his head a little so he could see it better, noticing as he did so the engraved brass plaque on the wood. He slightly rose in his chair to read what it said, while in his ear Dragon made a weird sound.

'It Comes From The Deep' the first line read, apparently as a title. He blinked. 'Never taunt a sea monster' was written underneath in smaller letters. 'Bear in mind that all things are edible although some of them need Tabasco Sauce' was under that.

After a long moment, during which Dragon's expression went through some interesting changes, he asked slowly, "What is that?"

Danny looked at the thing, then picked it up, smiling. "Oh, do you like it? It was a present from a friend. Oddest thing, someone kept annoying her for some reason. This was all that was left in the end." He shrugged. "She's good natured but everyone has their limits, of course."

"Of course," Colin managed to choke out as he sat back again with a thump.

"Nice little bit of titanium," Danny mused, flicking the scrap of metal with his finger, before putting the small trophy down again. "One of those really high grade ultra tough aerospace alloys, the boys in the metal shop tell me. Just think of the amount of force needed to do this to it! Truly remarkable."

Colin was indeed thinking of the amount of force required to shred a three inch thick titanium superalloy hull into tiny bite-sized pieces, paling a little under his armor.

Which was nowhere near that thick.

"Anyway, enough of my little executive toy," Danny went on, while behind him Colin could swear he'd heard a muffled chuckle from the general direction of the Mayor. "I'm happy to ask Raptaur on your behalf. Anything to help deal with the Endbringers. I know she's busy a lot of the time but I expect she'd be pleased to help you as much as she can. She's very helpful in general. Where would you like to meet? Here? We can do that if you want, or at the PRT building. Or even the Rig." He smiled in a way that made Colin a little uncomfortable for some reason. "She can make her own way there easily enough."

"If you could give her my card, I can discuss it with her and hopefully work out the most effective solution," Colin finally replied, tearing his eyes away from the mounted piece of Dragon's probe with some difficulty. Danny was still smiling at him. He handed his card over. "I can be reached on that number twenty-four hours a day."

"Great. I'll make sure she gets it. It'll probably be later tonight, I think, she did say she'd stop in for a chat, but I don't know when."

"Thank you for your time, Mr Hebert," he said after a moment, watching as the man took out his wallet and carefully put the card in it before returning the wallet to his inside pocket.

"It was no trouble, Armsmaster. Always glad to help out the local Heroes. We see you so seldom it makes a nice change from routine business." The smile didn't change but Dragon winced a little. Colin knew he'd missed something, only nodding as he stood.

"Please pass on my regards to both Raptaur and Saurial when you next talk to them," he said after a moment's thought. "I am very impressed by how effective they both are at dealing with crime in the city. Between them they've had a significant effect in only a few weeks."

"I'll certainly pass that on as well," Danny smiled, seeming pleased. "It was nice to meet you again."

"Likewise," he replied, turning after one last glance at the small piece of metal on the desk. "Mr Mayor," he added, nodding to the man who was listening silently, appearing mildly amused.

"Armsmaster. Please pass on my regards to Director Piggot, if you would."

"Certainly." He headed for the door. "Goodbye, gentlemen."

Both the other two said goodbye as he closed the door, finding Mark waiting for him, talking quietly to one of the office workers. The security man straightened up. "All done?"

"Yes, thank you."

"I hope it went well. If you'll come with me I'll show you out." He followed the man to the exit, his mind slightly blank as he tried to work out what had just happened.

He was half-way back to the Rig when Dragon said, "I seriously think that it would be a good idea to be polite to the DWU. They have some… worrying… friends."

"I had come to much the same conclusion myself," he muttered. "Do you know what it would take to do that to your probe?"

"I do. One very, very large set of teeth in an impossible creature." Dragon shook her head. "The more interesting thing is how Danny Hebert ended up with it on his desk. He clearly knows where it came from and why. That's… strange."

"One way to put it," Colin sighed. "I'm not going to think about it. Every time I do I get a headache. I just hope Raptaur agrees to help us."

"So do I," his friend said, before she fell silent again.

He kept driving, deliberately not trying to wonder how the hell a two hundred foot long sea serpent had managed to give Danny Hebert that little bit of metal without anyone in the city seeing her.

It was a puzzle, one he didn't want to think about.


Roy waited until he was certain that Armsmaster was well out of earshot before he started laughing, Danny grinning at him. "That was hysterical," he snickered, sitting down in the recently vacated chair. "Let me guess, they ran across Kaiju or one of her sisters?"

"Basically," Danny smiled. "They pushed a little too hard. She bit back." Waving at the mounted scrap of titanium alloy, he added, "That was given to me along with the story. I had the boys in the workshop mount it for me and make the plaque. It seemed appropriate somehow although I never expected Armsmaster to see it. He obviously recognized it somehow."

"He's very smart, just a bit difficult to talk to," Roy replied, still grinning. "He doesn't really understand people from what I know. But he's not a bad person."

"Of course he isn't, I have a lot of respect for the man. I just wish the PRT would take more interest in protecting the parts of the city that aren't full of either tourists or big business." Danny shook his head a little. "They seem to be pretty slow otherwise. Even the cops say the same thing and they're not entirely happy about it either." He sighed for a moment. "Oh well. Doesn't matter at the moment."

"True," his guest replied. "Tell me more about this warehouse demolition. You're seriously going to let Raptaur do it?"

"She seems interested in seeing how fast she can wreck a building," Danny smiled. "Normally she's very careful about not damaging anything, so I think she's looking forward to it. It's safer this way, she's more or less indestructible and once the buildings are down, the guys can move in and clear the rubble away. It'll speed things up a lot and keep anyone from getting hurt. We just need to make sure we sweep the warehouses first and kick out any junkies that might be in there, so they don't end up crushed."

"Fair enough. Good luck with it." Standing, Roy looked around, then nodded with satisfaction. "Thank you for showing me all of this and explaining it. I'll keep you up to date with the expert opinions and the council vote." He held out his hand. "I'll be in touch."

"OK, Roy. It was nice to see you again. Give my best to Deb."

"I'll do that," he promised, then headed for the door, shaking his head a little at the memory of the odd look on the visible parts of Armsmaster's face.


"Hi, Dad," Taylor said as he came in, his daughter descending the stairs from her room. She was carrying her laptop and a textbook, apparently about to do some homework. "How was your day?"

"Very good, actually," he replied as he took his coat off. "Kurt's back, although Lacey is still with her mother in Philadelphia, she'll be coming back in about a week. He seemed a little surprised by everything going on at the yard. Roy visited, we had a long talk about the plan. He's heard back from one expert who says it's a good plan although he's suggested some changes to it. They look very sensible so I'm rewriting the documentation around them." He took his shoes off, then put his slippers on, turning back to her. "Oh, yes. Armsmaster dropped by, he would like to talk to you."

He handed her the card the Hero had given him, enjoying the gaping expression she was now wearing. "He needs your help."

While the gape grew, he patted her on the head, then went in search of a cup of coffee, grinning to himself.