"Oh, for god's sake, Taylor, what the hell is that?"
Danny stared at his daughter, who grinned back. "Like it?" she asked, waving her tail around very carefully in the living room, the care required because it now was capped in a sort of metallic sheath with a two foot blade coming out the end. "I can hold a sword in each hand and use another one with my tail like this, kind of."
"You're going to cut your own damn head off waving that thing around," he grumbled. "Hey! Mind that chair, I like it."
She looked embarrassed, carefully pushing the cut fabric back into place. "Sorry, Dad."
"That's worse than the… what was it, Thagomizer," he muttered. She brightened, the metal fitting on the end of her tail vanishing and being replace with the mentioned upgrade. She looked over her shoulder, smiling a little as she moved the appendage around.
"I don't know, I still like it," she replied, looking back at him.
Turning, she caught the thing at the end of her tail under the sofa, promptly tripped over her own body, to finally end up almost upside down with her father in fits of laughter. She looked up at him, embarrassed. "But perhaps I should stick to using it outside," she added with a rueful grin.
Climbing to her feet she made all the accessories go away, then shook her head. "Hey, shut up, it wasn't that funny," she complained. Danny raised an eyebrow. "The voice in my head is laughing like an idiot," she explained in an aggrieved mutter, which promptly set him off again.
"I don't really think you need more weapons sticking out from strange places, dear," he said as she sat down across from him and draped her tail across her knees, fiddling with the end of it while watching him with a smile. "As Saurial you're already terrifying, as whatever you end up calling your combat form you're horrifying, and as whatever can push supertankers around I simply don't have the words. Even like this you can be somewhat scary." He waved a hand at her human base form, currently wearing nice pants and a blouse. "Although I do like the way you're wearing brighter colors these days. It suits you."
"Thanks, Dad," she smiled back, looking relaxed. "I'm… a lot more comfortable with myself these days," she explained, frowning slightly in concentration as she looked for the words. "Ever since the Varga turned up, I've been happier. Mostly a lot happier. Both about him and about you. You've changed as well, you're Dad, not the sort of sad man who seemed to be turning up more and more often." Looking at him with a hint of a tear in her eyes, she smiled. "I liked him even so, but I'm glad I have my Dad back."
He studied her, then moved across the room to side beside her, putting his arm over her shoulder and pulling her tight to his side. Her tail lay across both their laps, the warm finely scaled weight oddly comforting to him now. He was used to it to the point she'd look odd without it, he mused, with a smile and a shake of his head. Patting it comfortingly, he replied, "I'm glad to be back, and profoundly grateful to have my daughter back as well. She means everything to me. Tail and all."
Looking at the thing, she twitched the end. "You don't think it makes me look ugly?"
Turning her head with a finger to look at him, he shook his head, peering into her eyes. "You're my only daughter. I don't care what you look like, only what you are. Which, aside from terrifying, or horrifying, or indescribable, or just scary, is Taylor."
"Thanks, Dad," she replied in a small voice after some time, leaning against him.
"Your friend the Varga saved both of us," he added after a moment. "Thank you for that as well, whatever the hell you really are."
"He says you're welcome and also a good man who makes his enemies flee in terror before him, as a warrior should," she reported with a grin a moment later. He snickered.
"I think that's a good thing."
"Oh, it is, yes."
Falling into a pleasant silence, they sat beside each other for a while.
"I miss Mom," she finally said.
"I know, dear, so do I."
"Would she like my tail?"
"Of course she would. She'd probably want you to put a bow on the end on holidays, though."
Giggling, Taylor looked very amused. "I can do that."
"Don't feel pressured," he grinned.
"The funny thing is, now, that I wouldn't care if anyone saw it, except for two things," she continued thoughtfully, still inspecting her tail as if she'd never seen it before. Reaching out she ran her hand down it a few times. "One is that I'd never get any peace at home. I like being Saurial, she has confidence and people respect her. Or run away. Which is sort of funny. But I also like being Taylor, and I don't know if that could continue if everyone saw this thing."
"It might," he mused out loud. "Stranger things walk the streets."
"Yes, most of them are me," she giggled, making him grin again.
"I suppose that's true. Or ply the ocean waves, terrifying fishermen."
"Hey, he didn't even see me," she protested, smiling.
Danny shrugged, not replying for a moment. "What's the other thing?"
"I'm absolutely terrified what would happen to you," she said in a low voice. "Just by existing I'll make enemies. When people find out what I'm really capable of, they're going to go nuts. I'm scared to really push my limits because of that. I couldn't handle it if anything happened to you because of me. Mom was bad enough."
Holding her tighter, he shook his head. "That wasn't your fault. It was an accident."
"But what if someone tried something? Sure, I'd kill them and make sure no one ever forgot why, but it wouldn't bring you back. I'm not going to let that happen." She glared unseeingly at the coffee table as if she wanted to stab it, the last six inches of her tail lashing back and forth. He was amused by how like a cat's tail it was sometimes at showing her mood, at the same time he was worried about the direction the conversation had taken. Grabbing it he held it still, making her jump.
"I'll be fine, Taylor. Even so, I won't last forever. No one does." She was young to be pondering mortality, but sooner or later everyone had these thoughts. He remembered well the time in his youth, somewhat older than her, when he'd realized consciously for the first time that one day his mother and father would both be gone. Sixteen years after that had eventually happened due to cancer in one case and a heart attack in the other, it was still an ache in his soul that would never entirely heal.
"I know, I guess," she sighed sadly. "But I don't like to think about that and I don't want it to be because of me."
Gently stroking her tail, he calmed her. "We have to accept what comes, sooner or later, dear. Remember the old prayer. 'Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.' They were both silent for a while, reflecting on the words. "Good advice, I think, even for the non-religious. You have many more options for the middle part than most people. You need to work on the other two parts."
Patting her head, he lifted her tail out of the way and stood up. "I have no plans to go anywhere for some considerable time, dear, don't worry. I'm not even forty-five yet. And if anything does happen, I know who to call for backup." Smiling gently at her, he watched her nod. "I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too long, you need your sleep."
"OK, Dad," she replied, staring at the photo of the three of them in happier times which was sitting on the windowsill where she'd put it after digging it out of the attic a week earlier. He turned to leave.
"Thanks, Dad," she said quietly.
"You're more than welcome, dear. Trust me."
With that he headed upstairs, smiling to himself, remarkably at peace with the world.
"He is in many ways a wise man, your father, Brain. We will protect him, trust me." The Varga spoke quietly, some minutes after her father had left the room.
'I do,' Taylor sighed, then headed up to bed herself, hearing her father breathing slowly and steadily in his room. 'There are only two people I really trust and I'll take advice from both of them any time. Thanks for all the help.'
"Thanks are unnecessary, Brain," the Varga rumbled contentedly as she got into bed. "Appreciated, of course, but unnecessary. I am merely doing what I do. The fact that I enjoy it so much is a bonus. You are a very good Brain and a lot of fun."
At the back of her mind she got the impression of a vast reptilian smile, echoed it with her own far smaller one, then fell asleep.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Stretching all five limbs as hard as she could, Taylor yawned, licked her lips sleepily, then climbed out of bed. Walking to the window, she peered out, seeing it was the beginnings of what looked like a very nice late winter day, the sun rising over the bay into a clear sky with no clouds. She could just make out the glint of light on waves through some gaps in the houses if she positioned herself correctly, the sea three or so miles away looking calm.
Wondering if she should go for another swim, she headed for the shower, her head slowly clearing of sleep. Not really paying any attention to the way her clothes vanished as she stepped into the cubicle, so used to it as she now was, she turned the water on. She didn't bother with fiddling with the temperature, whatever came out of the showerhead was fine these days, which was actually pretty convenient. It made showering a lot faster than waiting for the old boiler to decide that yes, it really was expected to provide hot water yet again. Some days it took quite a lot of convincing.
Deciding that was one of the upgrades that was required to the house, she soaped herself including her tail, running her hands down the scaly muscular thing leaving foam behind, then scrubbed. Over the sound of the shower she could hear her father moving around downstairs, the CD he'd bought a while ago playing again softly in the living room. They'd both decided for different reasons it was one of their favorite arrangements of music, her father because of the memories it brought back and she due to the effect it had on him.
Rinsing off she hopped out, toweled off, then brushed her teeth and hair. Walking to the door, clothing formed again, without any fuss. Soon she was entering the kitchen, smiling.
"You're in a good mood today," Danny noted, glancing at her, then going back to mixing pancake batter.
"I am," she nodded happily. "I feel a lot better than I did last night. Thanks for the talk. It just sort of hit me, and I didn't know how to handle it."
"I'm glad I helped," he replied, turning the stove on. "I had a very similar conversation with my own mother after Dad died years back. It was quite sudden, although we had some warning at least. Admittedly there were less demons involved but it wasn't entirely different as far as the feelings went." He looked at her again, smiling. "Life goes on."
"Apparently," she laughed.
"What are you planning to do today?" he asked, as he poured the first dollop of batter into the oiled, hot pan.
"I'm not sure, actually," she replied consideringly. "I could go out and find some more idiots with guns, we seem to have a lot of them, but..." She shrugged. "They're not much of a challenge."
"Based on that horrifying video you showed me last night when you came home, I can see why not," he chuckled. "I never thought I'd feel sorry for a Nazi."
"He was a gun-happy racist," Taylor protested mildly. "Who'd just wrecked a store by driving a huge truck into it. I'll bet the owners of that place would have laughed like lunatics to see him in that state."
"Probably," he admitted, flipping another pancake onto a pile of them on a plate. "I have to say it was better than most of what Über and Leet manage to do. It looked remarkably like a somewhat excessive video game."
Giggling, she accepted the first plate of pancakes, putting some lemon juice and maple syrup on it along with some butter, then diving hungrily in. Through a mouthful of sweet pancake, she commented, "Maybe I should see if they want a big lizard in one of their productions," then licked syrup off her lips. A dribble ran down her chin, so she lengthened her tongue into a forked reptilian one and chased it. Danny stared, his spatula in a raised hand, then shook his head wordlessly and went back to making his own breakfast.
"You probably shouldn't get involved in criminal enterprises, dear," he smiled. "Even Über and Leet. They're decent men for criminals, but they're still technically criminals."
Surprised, she stared at him. "Do you know them?"
Glancing back he smirked a little. "We've met, yes. Maybe two years ago. We had a merchant problem and hired them to deal with it. None of the heroes were interested. To be honest, they actually did a pretty good job, scared the junkies off without causing too much damage and didn't charge too much for it. Pity they didn't go into the security business rather than the video-game themed villainy business, but there you go."
Bringing his own pancakes to the table having turned off the stove, he sat and poured himself some apple juice from the pitcher on the table, topping up her glass at the same time.
She kept looking at him for a moment, then shook her head and went back to eating. "I thought I knew what you got up to at that dockworker place but obviously I was wrong," she grinned.
He shrugged. "Needs must, dear. We've learned to be fairly pragmatic, it's the only way to make ends meet sometimes." They ate in silence for a while, then he spoke again.
"I've made a list of people with whom I'm going to raise, carefully, the idea you had. A few people at the yard, a lawyer I know who's an expert on marine salvage, a couple of engineers, and the Mayor."
"The Mayor?" she asked, a little surprised.
He nodded. "Mayor Christner is actually a fairly sensible person, considering he's a politician. By and large I think he wants to do the right thing. Money is tight, so it's always difficult to persuade him to do anything at all that will cost, but in this case, the benefits probably hugely outweigh the downsides. He'll most likely go for it with a bit of persuasion and some sort of explanation that sounds… at least plausible. I think the complete truth is probably a little much at this point though."
Taylor listened, nodding to herself. It sounded like he know what to do, and she trusted him. "OK. If you need anything from me just let me know and I'll do it."
"Thank you, Taylor. It will take some time in all likelihood so don't get impatient, but I think it stands a chance of working out."
"What about the ferry?" she asked curiously. He put his fork down and took another sip before replying, looking thoughtfully at her.
"If the salvage operation can actually work, that would not only clear the ground for reopening the ferry, but probably provide the money to actually do it. That's one of the things I want to talk to him about. I'll call his office tomorrow and see if I can arrange a meeting soon."
"OK. That sounds great."
"Are you prepared for Arcadia tomorrow?"
She nodded. "I've got fresh pens, pencils, notebooks, and erasers. Also my calculator assuming I'm allowed to use it. I think they'll have a list of textbooks I need as well, I know they have a small shop you can buy them from although Mandy said they give you most of the ones you need."
"All right. That sounds like you have things in hand. Very good."
Since by this point they'd both finished, she took his plate and hers to the sink, then got everything else, quickly starting to wash it since it was her turn. "Do you think anyone would mind if I went down to the dockyards today to practice sword work?" she asked suddenly. He looked over at her from the notebook he was looking through, as she glanced over her shoulder, a surprised expression on his face.
"I… don't think that would be a problem. There's no one there today. What sort of thing did you have in mind?"
"I was going to have Varga make some dummies that I could attack, but I need space for it. If I go and find a place in the main dock area I'm pretty sure some twit will wander along and get in the way, the place is crawling with merchants and sometimes either the ABB or E88. They'd just be a nuisance. I thought that inside the DWU fence would be better."
He was nodding thoughtfully. "If anyone did ask, I could say I'd called the head of the DWU and asked permission, because he's a nice man or so I've heard on the street." She grinned at him.
Laughing a little, he replied, "I'm not actually the head of the DWU, Taylor. Michael is."
"No one ever sees him, you said. I know that all the people there think you're the guy to go to. Saurial is just a sensible cape who asked permission to use a large empty area and found out the person to ask."
"She does seem to have a reputation for sanity unusual in capes, from what I hear," he snickered. "Most of them seem to wander around just doing whatever the hell they feel like."
"Most capes are nuts," she sighed. "Even the nice ones."
"You may be right, dear. OK, you can use the yard, I'll write you a letter of permission. If anyone asks you called me at home. In fact, actually call here with your burner phone from somewhere else to make the records match. Hopefully that will keep people happy and in the dark."
"Best place," she quipped with a smirk.
Finishing with the dishes, Taylor put everything on the rack to dry for the moment, then turned around and leaned on the sink, watching him. After a moment, she slowly said, with some worry about the reaction, "Dad? Can I tell you something? But I need you to promise you won't get mad first."
Once again, he looked up from his notes, taking in her expression. "Is it bad?"
"It's… not good."
"Is it your fault?"
"No. At least..." She thought, then shook her head. "No, it's not."
"Hmm." Staring at her he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Is it a one coffee or two coffee problem?"
"Probably three?" She smiled as he sighed.
"OK. Let me put the kettle on, and I'll meet you in the living room."
"Promise you won't get mad?"
"I promise I'll try not to. That's the best I can do until I hear it."
After a moment, she sighed and nodded a little. "That will do."
Shortly they were sitting in their places in the living room. Taylor had her laptop with her, which she put on the coffee table.
"I think I've worked out something… worrying," she said a little haltingly, still not sure this was a good idea. She and the Varga had talked it out extensively and they were both more or less certain she was right, but neither of them was entirely sure about the wisdom of telling her father. The Varga was actually more in favor of it than she was, having formed a high opinion of him over the last month. She was just nervous, and didn't want to upset him, but accepted that the demon had a point. Neither did she want to keep secrets from him any more, that had nearly been a disaster the last time for both of them.
Taking a drink of coffee, then another one to be safe, he put the cup down and waited.
She swallowed hard. Maybe it was best just to say it.
"I think Sophia Hess is a Ward."
No. No, that wasn't the best way, it turned out.
Taylor watched in some alarm the odd color sequence her father's face followed, ending up a faint puce shade before it faded to a more normal appearance.
"A Ward." His voice was completely expressionless, unlike his expression.
She nodded.
"Sophia Hess."
She nodded again.
"Your little friend. The extremely aggressive one who locked you in your locker for over half a day with enough hazardous waste to choke Behemoth. That Sophia Hess."
She nodded again.
There was a long, uncomfortable silence.
"I see. Do you have any proof?" He was breathing slowly and steadily through his nose with a faint whistling sound, making her wince. She could see the veins pulsing under his skin in thermal vision and normal, while there was a scent that she noted down as 'Extremely angry Danny Hebert' filling the room.
"Proof, no. A lot of pretty solid circumstantial evidence, yes, I think so."
"I see," he said again, his voice tight. She was wondering if she could get a do-over and try again, break it to him more slowly.
Eventually her father slowly and with obvious, enormous, deliberate effort somehow forced himself to relax, which greatly impressed her. Even the Varga, who had been watching with interest and concern, murmured a few words noting the same thing.
"All right. I can't say I'm particularly happy about that, but… all right. Show me what you have."
He took a couple of deep breaths, then leaned forward, looking at the laptop she opened and swiveled around on the table to face him. "OK. Thanks for not running out to scream at the PRT, by the way," she smiled.
"I'm not ruling it out just yet," he replied with a frown, staring at the screen.
She nodded a little. "This is a picture of the six current wards from off the PRT website," she explained after a moment, tapping the space bar to zoom it to full screen. He leaned closer, inspecting it. Reaching over the screen from behind, leaning sideways a little to see it, she tapped each figure with her finger in turn. "Gallant. Aegis, the leader at the moment. Clockblocker. Kid Win. Shadow Stalker. And at the end, Vista."
He nodded thoughtfully.
"I've met all of them but Aegis and Shadow Stalker so far. Gallant and Vista last week on my first night out, Kid Win and Clockblocker last night."
Once again he nodded, smiling momentarily as she mentioned the latter two, having laughed until he cried at her footage of the time stopping cape nearly jumping off the roof in shock.
"You remember how good my senses are now? In human form they're nowhere near as good as even the Saurial form, the combat one is better, and apparently the full Varga one is best of all, but even now I can see, hear, and smell wildly better than a normal person can. If I change my eyes I can do much better than that, even." She looked at him with orange-yellow reptilian eyes, which he simply looked at, showing no surprise.
"I understand. It's very impressive, dear. Go on."
"OK." She looked at the picture on the laptop again for a second or two. "I can easily recognize people by scent. I only need to meet them once, then I can pick them out again with no problem, even a long way away if they're upwind. Saurial or the combat form could track someone across the city better than a bloodhound. That's point one."
He responded with a thoughtful look and a nod.
"It's public knowledge that at least some of the Wards attend Arcadia," she added slowly. His eyes widened, narrowed, then widened again.
"Ah."
"Exactly. I met three of them there definitely, and I'm pretty sure of a fourth one." She sighed a little. "You remember what I told you about what they call the Unwritten Rules?"
Smiling for a moment, he replied, "Rules of engagement for capes, basically. On the face of it not a terrible idea."
"Yep. Most of them, I think, take them pretty seriously. It's a big deal to out a cape. I'm not going to say anything about who they are to anyone, even you, because..." She shrugged a little. "Well, because I really don't want anyone doing the same thing to me and they deserve the same respect."
"All right, I understand and approve. I won't ask. Go on." He leaned back in his chair, tapping one finger on the chair arm, listening intently, now seeming more curious than furious.
"When I met Gallant and Vista, I didn't know who they were, but I noticed a really faint and not totally fresh, but not old either, smell on both of them that was vaguely familiar. It took a while to place it, because it was so faint and also because it was so unexpected. When I did work it out I got really, really angry for a moment, but I managed to push that down so I didn't do or say anything stupid. Like you just did."
"Sophia," he said. She nodded, scowling.
"Yes. The scent was so faint it's probably something that's been transferred from something that she touched, or sat on, that they then did the same thing to. It could have been a coincidence, of course. Maybe they sat next to her on a bus, or in the same chair at the library..." She shrugged. "Lots of possible sources. It worried me a little and the reminder of that bitch was a shock, but it could easily have been a coincidence."
"I assume that Clockblocker and Kid Win share that scent, from your expression, though," he slowly said, the tapping finger slowing down.
Taylor nodded again, with a small sigh. "Yes. Exactly the same thing, and it's fresher than Gallant and Vista. It isn't that all four of them bumped into her on the street at the same time, there are at least two encounters a week apart. Which seems unlikely unless they know her somehow. One I could believe was a complete coincidence, two would be a stretch, but four?"
"It doesn't seem likely, dear, no," he agreed, staring at the screen.
"I'm almost certain that the fourth one I met at Arcadia is Aegis, I think I could smell traces of him on Clockblocker and Kid Win, but I'm not sure yet. But I'm pretty sure that when I see him again, he's going to smell like Sophia as well."
She sighed a little. "Add to that the fact that Clockblocker told me Shadow Stalker is currently unavailable, as he put it, and when I looked it up on PHO last night, no one has reported seeing her since about a week after you went to Winslow..." She spread her hands widely, the end of her tail flicking irritably. "I know it's nothing that would stand up in court, and I'm not sure myself, but I can't see a huge hole in the logic. I think Sophia Hess is Shadow Stalker and that she's… what's the word… confined to quarters, somewhere that the rest of the Wards go regularly. Probably the Rig, I'd guess."
Danny was silent, studying her with a look of slightly absent calculation.
"And look at this." She pointed at the picture again. "Six teenagers, but only two are female. Vista is blonde and much too short to be Sophia, not to mention probably about two or three years too young. The only one left is Shadow Stalker. She's the right height, right build, right age… You can't see her skin or hair color in her costume and no one seems to know if she's white, black, green even. But she's got a reputation as being arrogant, cocky, aggressive, pushy… Does that remind you of anyone?"
"It does," he noted, grinding his teeth together.
"I found a video clip of her stomping towards some poor guy she'd pinned to the wall with a crossbow bolt through his clothing, and..." Quickly bringing up the clip in question, she played it, Danny leaning forward again to watch. "…That walk is just like the one I remember. Like on the recording we made," she continued. "Again, not proof, but it's another point in favor of my theory."
Danny took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, swearing under his breath. "It fits, unfortunately. I agree, you don't have any real proof, but I believe what you can do and it seems a reasonable interpretation of your evidence." He sighed angrily, then put his glasses back on and inspected her.
"What do you want to do about it?"
"Nothing."
He seemed somewhat startled.
"Nothing?"
"There's nothing I can do about it, without revealing that not only do I know who Sophia is, but I probably also know who all the Wards are, and could easily work out who any cape I meet is in real life." Taylor sighed, rubbing her own eyes for a moment. "That wouldn't go down very well. It's another potential reason for the PRT to get all flustered about me. They'll probably work it out sooner or later anyway but hopefully by the time they do they'll know me well enough to realize I'm not a threat."
She smirked a little for a moment, showing very pointy teeth in a display that shouldn't fit in a human mouth. "Unless they make me one, of course."
Danny grinned, his teeth nowhere near as sharp, but the feeling much the same.
"That's a mature attitude, Taylor, and I'm proud. Just a little surprised. I have to admit, at your age if I'd gone through what you did then found all this out I think I might have reacted, well, 'badly' is a mild word. Even today I'd probably do something I might regret later. I'm still tempted, to be honest."
Taylor closed the lid of the laptop, then leaned back on the sofa. "I nearly did. I could so easily have ended up hating them all for it. But it's like you said last night, basically I need to pick battles I can win." She smirked again. "That's probably a lot of them, actually, but you get the idea. There's no reason right now to go and pick the Rig up and drop-kick it into the Atlantic."
He laughed, shaking his head. "I wonder how far it would go?"
"Pretty far."
Sharing an amused look, they fell silent for a little while. "Of course, if they let her go without punishing her, and she comes after me, I'm going to hurt her. A lot." Taylor looked reflectively out the window while Danny watched. "If she goes after you, I'll kill her. Eventually."
She turned to him with a small vicious smile. "Varga has all sorts of ideas about that."
Shuddering a little despite himself, Danny moved to sit beside her as was becoming a habit, so she could lean on him. "I mean it, Dad. If she hurts you, she dies. No one will ever find the body."
"Hopefully it will never come to that, dear," he told her, impressed, very slightly amused, and believing every word.
A few minutes passed, then she stirred. "There's one other thing."
"Oh, god," he sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"
"You know me, Dad," she grinned. The grin slipped after a second or two. "I know who Gallant is. The problem is, he knows who I am too. Or rather, who Saurial is. I don't know if he knows about Taylor."
"How the hell did that happen?" Danny asked after a moment.
She sighed minutely, shrugging. "He can apparently read emotional output, an empathic sense. I think either mine is distinctive enough to remember, or it's like scents with me, he can just track them individually. Probably that, in fact. Anyway, as I was walking past, I smelled someone I knew, looked over, and he was staring at me like he'd seen a ghost. He actually paled. I sort of glared at him for a second then kept walking. But he knows, and I know, and he knows I know."
"Do you think he'll tell anyone?"
She shook her head. "Probably not. He looked really shocked and uncertain, but everyone says he's a stand-up guy. I think the Rules will keep him honest. If they don't, I can have a word with him." She reached out with a hand that changed to a large taloned scaly thing and slowly mimed wrapping it around someone's neck, making Danny stare, then wince. "He'd listen, I'm sure."
"I suspect he would, dear. You're very persuasive."
"Thanks," she giggled, reverting the hand to normal.
"I wonder if the other Wards know what she did?" he commented after a moment, making her look up at him. "It's not impossible that they weren't let in on the whole thing. I'm sure that Director Piggot is aware, it's her job to know things like that, and other people in the PRT must be in on it, there's no way Blackwell could have kept a secret however much she'd have liked to." He grinned for a moment. "I suspect she got a good ass-kicking about it if you're right about Sophia."
"Good," Taylor laughed. "She deserves it. Maybe it will make her do her damn job."
"Probably not, to be honest, that woman is… not very effective," he sighed.
"I don't know about the other Wards," Taylor mused, answering his original question. "I'd like to think that they'd not like Sophia. She's a horrible person in almost every way I can think of, but so far the ones I've met, I like. Clockblocker has a good sense of humor, Kid Win seems interesting, Vista is fun, and even Gallant seems to live up to his name. It will be interesting to meet Aegis."
"I assume you'll eventually meet all the Protectorate capes in the Bay as well, if you keep running around terrifying poor criminals and scaring them straight," he chuckled. She looked thoughtfully at him.
"I wonder if that works?" she asked.
"Assuming you don't give them coronaries in the process," he added.
"I can hear their heartbeats, I'll keep it light."
"Light horror?"
"Yep."
"OK, then." Shaking his head in amusement, he reached for his coffee, to find it was cold. "Damn. That was only a half cup problem. You overestimated it again."
Standing, he headed back into the kitchen to make some fresh coffee, while she fondly watched him go, then went back to looking out the window and thinking.