Standing on the steps outside the school, Taylor watched Amy, who was in her normal position of waiting more or less behind Victoria, looking bored and a bit emo, reading a book. The other Dallon sister was back to her normal gregarious self, chatting with Dean and two of her girl friends at the same time, laughing and gesturing, while the boy himself listened with a smile. He turned to say something to Carlos who came up and tapped him on the shoulder, then nodded, going back to waiting for his girlfriend to stop talking so he could get a word in.
He noticed Taylor watching and flinched, so subtly that most people would have missed it, then deliberately looked away.
Taylor caught Amy's eye, the girl having apparently seen and decoded the very small exchange, and nodded slightly to her. Amy nodded back, a brief and small smile crossing her face, then returned to her book.
"That girl could be a problem, Brain," the Varga rumbled with concern in his voice. "Her abilities are extremely powerful, based on what we sensed and what she confessed to, and I am concerned about her mental state."
'So am I,' Taylor sighed in the privacy of her mind. 'If she really can modify any living thing that easily she could cause a plague that would be worse than anything ever. But what can we do? Tell someone at the PRT? Assuming they don't already know, it would be doing exactly what we were worried she was about to in the other direction. And I'm not happy about just up and killing her about something she might do.'
"I think all that can be done at present is to try to be a friend to her if she needs one," the demon said after a moment. "She is isolated and alone even in the middle of her sister's cohort. I don't think she's happy. You are more than familiar with that problem and could possibly help."
'Maybe. I'm not going to force myself on her. Maybe she just likes being alone? I like the friends I'm making here, but I like being on my own as much even so.' Taylor smiled a little. 'Not that I'm ever really alone any more. Which I'm grateful for.'
"As am I. I was very bored all those years, locked away with no one to talk to," the Varga laughed. "It has been a lot of fun these last few weeks." He fell silent, then slyly added, "Perhaps you could be more than a friend to young Miss Dallon. She did, after all, drag you into a closet. I believe that is part of the courtship display of the teenaged human?"
Taylor started giggling, making Mandy who was standing nearby talking to Eric and Lucy look at her with a puzzled smile. 'Sorry, not interested. She's not my type,' she snickered. The demon radiated amusement at her.
"Merely a suggestion."
'Not the most sensible one,' she replied. 'But I can be a friend if she wants one, I think. I'll let her make the first move. I'm feeling a little guilty now about coming on so strongly, but she really worried me for a few seconds there. I don't want to push and scare her any more.'
"What's so funny, Taylor?" Mandy asked, coming closer while looking curious.
"I was just thinking about a joke a friend made and it made me laugh," she replied, grinning. "It was sort of an inside joke, though." This almost made her laugh again, and did in fact cause the Varga to chuckle due to the backhanded honesty of the comment.
"OK, then," Mandy said slowly, looking her up and down. "Weird girl. Anyway, don't forget about tomorrow night, OK? I'll see you then, hopefully. Have a good weekend."
"I think I will," Taylor smiled. "See you."
With a wave to the other people she knew she turned and began jogging towards home, in an easy long-legged stride, soon falling into the routine of it.
When she was far enough away and there was no one watching, she veered into an alley, cloaked, changed into Saurial, came out again, and sped up massively, running down the middle of the road at nearly forty MPH, heading home. Smiling to herself at the sensations of running which she loved, especially at this sort of speed, she was soon close to her house.
When she arrived she went in through the back door, still cloaked, dropped her backpack off in the hallway, then went into the kitchen to find something to eat as she was a little hungry. Shortly she was half way through a carton of eggs, reverting to her base form except for her head, which made eating them easier, and lying on the sofa in the living room watching the mid-afternoon news.
"Boss, we have a problem," Mark said as he stuck his head into Danny's office. Danny sighed slightly but looked up from his paperwork to the DWU security man. "A fucking big one."
"What is it, Mark?"
"Fucking Hookwolf and at least two dozen of his E88 friends are heading this way. They'll be here in about five minutes, they look pissed, and they're loaded for bear."
Danny paled. "What?! Why?"
"Not a clue, but one of the rail team guards just called it in. Hookwolf is in a shitty mood even for him. We need to evacuate, right now. We could probably take on the normals, but we don't stand a chance against a cape like him. He's fucking insane for a start, and damn near unkillable."
Thinking frantically, Danny got up and looked out the window of his second-floor office into the inner yard below, which had at least three dozen men working on various projects. "We can't get everyone out and away in that time," he muttered. "They'd catch up before we got half a mile even if we could, anyway."
"What do we do?" Mark looked very worried, but also willing to do whatever he was asked to.
"Call for backup," Danny finally said after a long moment. Rather reluctantly, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
"It's me. We have a very big problem headed our way and due to get here in only three or four minutes. We could use some help," he said.
"I'm on my way," his daughter immediately replied, not even asking what the problem was. The line went dead. Grateful and worried in equal measures, he put his phone back in his pocket, then turned to Mark.
"Lock the gates, park something big in front of them, then get everyone into cover, right now. Shut everything down. Anyone who is willing to hold them off, make sure they're armed, but no one is required to fight. We'll have help in less than ten minutes, we only need to keep them out for that long."
"Do we call the police or the PRT?" Mark asked.
"The police couldn't do anything more against him than we can. The PRT… Not yet."
"You sure, Boss?"
Danny sighed. "I think I am. Anyway, based on last time, it would take them at least twenty to thirty minutes to get around to turning up even if we called them now. It will probably be over by then one way or another."
"OK. You're the boss, Boss."
"Stop calling me that, Mark."
"You got it, Boss," the man grinned.
Sighing, Danny followed him out of the office. "I'll see if I can find out what Hookwolf wants. Maybe we can negotiate."
"Be careful, Danny," Mark warned him, suddenly serious again after the momentary levity. "He's a killer and not stable. Don't get too close."
"I'll stay away, trust me."
"Who did you call?" the other man asked as they walked. "Saurial?"
"Yes. She's a good kid, and I think Hookwolf is in for a bit of a surprise." Danny grinned maliciously. Mark snickered.
"I really hope so. I hate that bastard. He's hurt a lot of people I know one way or another. Fucking E88."
Danny nodded, then headed for the main entrance, Mark behind him carrying a baseball bat he'd accepted from Zephron, who joined them as they walked past the canteen. The huge man didn't say anything, but was bouncing his own bat in one palm with a calm expression of imminent violence.
Taylor, in the combat form, enlarged to about eight feet tall, ran as fast as she could through the darkening streets, leaving claw marks in the road surface behind her when she hurdled a truck that was blocking the way. It was nearly six and the streetlights were coming on as the sun set. She'd been out the back door and halfway down the street less than thirty seconds after her father's phone call, not even thinking about anything else. He'd sounded worried but not panicked, although there was a tone in his voice she knew damn well meant he was very nervous.
"Merchants, maybe?" she muttered as she ran, already nearly half-way there. "Why would they be attacking the DWU facility, though? Dad said they'd come to an arrangement. Painfully."
"There is no way to know except for either calling back and asking, or simply getting there and looking, Brain," the Varga calmly told her. "Don't worry too much, there are few threats likely that we cannot deal with. Permanently if necessary."
"I know," she mumbled, "I know. But I've never been in a real fight. It sounded like he was scared, and he wouldn't be scared about normal scum unless it was a hell of a lot of them. Which probably means capes."
"We will meet the threat with whatever level of violence is required," the Varga commented.
She couldn't help grinning to herself.
"Some people say you can't solve some problems with violence."
"That merely means you didn't use enough, Brain," the demon laughed. Snickering, she kept running.
Slowing as she neared the DWU facility, she listened, opening her senses widely. There was the stench of the docks as per normal, but on top of that were unfamiliar scents of a significant number of people she hadn't encountered before, scents of what she recognized as gun oil and burned propellant, which meant guns, and various other smells which all together suggested a lot of armed men had just passed through.
This was born out by the noise she could hear from up ahead, at least a couple of dozen people shouting and making nasty comments, many of them pretty horrific racist slurs. A calmer voice was talking back, urging them to calm down and tell him what the problem was.
"Dad," she said in a low voice. Stopping one street over, she listened, then looked up, before scrambling up the side of the warehouse facing her and sneaking over the roof on her belly, to look down at the main yard. There were some twenty to twenty five men wearing E88 colors milling around a central figure that she recognized instantly, from his bare chest even in the currently quite cold conditions to the metal wolf mask he was wearing. "Hookwolf? What the hell does he want?"
The answer became clear as she listened. "I know the scaly bitch is in there, you kike bastard," the cape roared. "I want her. Send her out, or we're coming in."
"You're working from bad information, Hookwolf," her father called back, his voice amazingly calm under the circumstances. "Saurial isn't here. It's just a lot of dock workers who want to go home to their families. Why don't you let them, then we can talk about whatever your problem is." He paused, then added mildly, "And I'm not Jewish, thanks."
"Do I look like I fucking care?" the cape shouted. He turned to some of his men. "Go around the back and wait. Don't let anyone escape," he added in a quieter voice.
Turning back he yelled, "You've got five minutes to send her out before we come and get her."
Sighing, and very annoyed indeed at the thought that all of this was somehow down to her, Taylor looked around, deciding on the best approach. She could simply drop on their heads and deal with them, of course. The cannon fodder would last seconds if she got serious, but she didn't really want to hurt anyone too much if she could avoid it. If she attacked in an all out manner, they'd start shooting manically, which could kill either their own people or people in the DWU with stray bullets before she could stop them. Her preferred hit and run techniques wouldn't work so well in the open with them all packed together like that. Not to mention she still wasn't sure about the cape. From what she'd read about him when researching the E88, the other Changer was close to unstoppable. Although, that did mean she didn't need to hold back too much.
"He will tire long before we will, Brain," the Varga advised. "We can take him. Or simply kill him."
'I'd prefer not to unless he hurts anyone,' she replied softly. 'But if dad gets hurt none of those bastards are going home.'
Deciding on an approach, she slid back down the roof and dropped to the street, then loped around three sides of the compound to reach the rear gate, which had six E88 members, all armed with assault rifles, covering it.
None of them even knew she was there before they were unconscious. Restraining them with manacles set for twenty-four hours, because she wasn't in a generous mood, she quickly and efficiently looted the bodies, taking everything but their wallets, and putting the weapons, spare ammunition, and anything else useful such as a couple of grenades of some sort, into a large bag the Varga produced for her. She stopped and considered her prisoners, then smiled a fanged smile and cut their shoes off with careful strokes of a claw, tossing the remains into the compound over the fence.
Satisfied, she hopped over the fence and slipped in through an open second-floor window, reverting to her Saurial form in the process.
"Jesus!" a man who was in the room yelped, spinning around suddenly, white-faced.
"No, just me," she said in a low voice. "Sorry about scaring you. I'm here to see Danny Hebert. Those six E88 guys out back aren't a problem any more."
The man, who she recognized as someone she'd been introduced to when she'd stopped in to get the letter a few days ago, nodded, calming down. He peered out the window and smiled maliciously. "Good work, Saurial. Thanks. Come on, I'll take you to Danny."
She followed as he led her through the large complex building toward the front, where the shouting was getting louder.
"This idiot doesn't listen very well, does he?" Mark commented from beside Danny, who was looking out the main entrance to the admin building with a bullhorn in one hand.
"Not really, no. And he's convinced I'm Jewish for some reason," Danny sighed. "He doesn't seem to like Jews. Or Blacks. Or Hispanics. Or… well, anyone, really." He smiled as Mark chuckled.
"Danny, Saurial just came in the back way," Zephron said in a low voice, walking up to them. "She took out the E88 guys that were guarding the back and stole all their weapons as well. We could start getting people out the back if we're quick and quiet."
"Good." Danny felt relief. "Make sure anyone who wants to go gets out safely." He thought for a moment, then reluctantly added, "Distribute the weapons to anyone who knows how to use them properly. I don't want a firefight here, but if it comes to that, I want those bastards shot, not our guys."
"OK, Boss," the large man nodded, turning and leaving again.
"Keep an eye on these guys, please, Mark," Danny said, handing his colleague the bullhorn. "I'm going to talk to Saurial."
"You got it." The other man pressed himself against the wall, peering out the door, a walky-talky in his hand. Danny had one in his pocket, the volume turned down, intermittent messages crackling over it from dock workers both inside and outside the facility. The rail crews had been warned to stay clear until the matter was resolved.
He found his daughter waiting for him in the canteen, surrounded by half a dozen assault rifles of various types, a significant amount of ammunition, and several pistols, not to mention a few knives. Zephron and John were checking the weapons over along with a few other people he knew had military backgrounds or other experience with firearms.
"Hello, Saurial," he said, smiling. She smiled back. "Thanks for coming so quickly."
"It's not a problem, Mr Hebert," she said politely, a look on her face he recognized under the scales as one of amusement. It shifted slightly, to a more deadly one. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest," he replied. "Hookwolf and his minions turned up just now, shouting about wanting you. I have no idea why they thought you were here, or what they want with you in the first place."
"They're probably after me because I've caught so many of their guys committing crimes over the last couple of weeks," she sighed. "I was almost expecting something like this sooner or later but I don't know why it's involved you all. I'm sorry about it."
"Don't worry, no one has been hurt yet," he told her. "But I don't think they're going to wait much longer. He gave us five minutes nearly five minutes ago and he looks furious."
"OK." She slid off the table she was half-sitting on. "Let's go and deal with the idiot."
"I think it might take something a little more excessive than your normal approach," he said slowly, looking at her. "The man is extremely tough and dangerous and will need convincing. A lot of it."
"Hmm." She studied him, then looked around at the half dozen people in the room aside from them, who were listening curiously but politely, staying silent. "Can your men keep a secret? For now, anyway?"
Danny glanced around at the his colleagues, who all nodded. "I believe so."
"In that case, I have something I've been keeping back for a special occasion," she grinned, showing her teeth.
She changed.
Despite himself, Danny took a step back at the sight of her combat form, eight feet tall and heavily armored, smirking at him. Zephron swore violently and nearly fell over while one of the other guys actually fainted. "Fuck me," John whispered in a low voice.
"Would you care to introduce me to your problem," the enlarged, vastly more dangerous reptilian form said in a totally different voice to Saurial's, one that sent shivers down the back of everyone in the room. Danny smiled to himself. She liked her theatrics.
Annette would have been proud.
Everyone whipped their heads around as a sudden burst of machine gun fire echoed around the building. "Fuck. I think he's lost his patience," Danny sighed.
Seconds later Mark charged into the room, skidding to a halt so suddenly he nearly fell over when he spotted Taylor grinning at him. "Holy shit on a cracker!" the man yipped, staring.
"She's with us, Mark. What's going on?"
"Hookwolf just changed and ripped the fence down, his men are shooting at anything that's moving," Mark reported after another nervous glance at the combat form, who listened quietly. "We've pulled everyone back to the main admin building. About half the men got out the back before the shooting started, they're meeting up with the rail crews."
"Take the weapons, find somewhere to take cover," Danny ordered, coming to a quick decision. "Shoot if you have to but try for disabling shots not kill shots."
"That's difficult at the best of times, Boss," Mark replied.
"Do your best. We're not murderers, we're protecting our property and our people." Danny shook his head in disgust. "Fuck this city, it's insane. Go, we can fight them inside better than outside, we know the place and they don't. Don't get killed."
The other men grabbed the weapons and distributed them, one of them kicking his friend who'd fainted until he finally got up and ran with them. Seconds later only Taylor and Danny were in the room. He turned to her, looking up at her reptilian head several feet above his. "I'm sorry that you had to get involved, dear," he said quietly.
"I think this is probably my fault, Dad, so the apology should go the other way." She shrugged, lowering her head to look into his eyes. "If anyone hurts you I'm going to kill them."
"Try not to if you can, dear. I understand, and I don't disagree with the sentiment, but you're too young to be killing people." After a moment, visibly slightly reluctantly, she nodded.
"I'll try. But Hookwolf is going to regret bothering us."
"That I'm fine with," Danny smirked. They looked around at yet another burst of shots, which were now going off all around them. "Come on, I have an idea. We need maximum impact, I think, or they'll never learn." He lead the towering form of his only daughter through the building, heading away from the shooting, as around them dockworkers fell back slowly. Every now and then there was a scream or a yell as a shot hit home. He hoped desperately that none of his people got seriously hurt or killed.
Reaching his destination, he pushed the door open and gestured. "This should do."
Taylor looked in, then grinned, before following him inside.
Hookwolf, or Brad to his friends, of which he had very few, roared defiance at whoever was shooting at him from the DWU building with considerable accuracy. The bullets bounced off his metallic form, pinging around the area. "Get those fuckers!" he screamed in fury, his men shouting and shooting in equal quantities.
The return fire from the building in front of him was much less in volume and a damn sight more accurate. One, then another, of the E88 members went down with a hole in his leg, rolling around in agony and clutching the wound. Infuriated, not liking being shown up by a bunch of people who would employ the sort of subhuman scum that made Brockton Bay the hellhole it was, he roared again and charged, smashing through the front door of the facility and hearing his remaining men follow.
A few more shots rang out from the defenders, then it went eerily quiet. He looked around quickly, deciding that the main hallway leading back to the rear of this building into what he thought was the inner work area was the best approach. Motioning to his men, he sent small groups of them off in different directions to cover the other approaches, then headed down the corridor.
Thirty seconds later the lights went out.
One of the E88 member behind him whimpered. "Oh, god. She's here." Without looking Brad slammed him into the wall with a kick.
"Shut the fuck up. Flashlights." Several beams of white light speared through the dark, letting him and the half dozen people with him see where they were going.
A scream in the distance made them all freeze, exchange glances, then resume walking. Another minute of slow advancement, two more screams, and half a dozen bursts of shooting later and his men were beginning to look like they wanted to be somewhere else. Not deterred, Hookwolf clattered through the corridors of the DWU buildings, not caring who heard and determined to find that scaly lizard girl who had caused so much trouble to the E88 recently.
Hell, she probably wasn't even white under those scales. She was just a big animal that walked around on its hind legs and needed to be put down.
Reaching a large door which seemed to lead into a workshop of some sort, he kicked it open and went in, his men fanning out behind him. Standing in the middle of it under the only light on in the windowless room, a dim emergency lamp, was a tall skinny man with glasses who seemed to be waiting for them.
"Hookwolf," the man said politely. "What do you want?"
He recognized the voice of the man who had been trying to talk him into going away. The Hebert kike. "Saurial. I want Saurial. She's cost me a lot of money and people. I think I want a nice pair of lizard-skin shoes."
"I've told you, Saurial isn't here," Hebert replied mildly.
"I don't believe you. I know she is."
"Who told you that?"
Hookwolf stepped closer, his blades making a metal on metal skittery sound. "None of your business. Where is she?"
Hebert sighed. "I'm sorry, but Saurial isn't here." After a moment, he smiled thinly. "But she sent a friend. Would you like to meet her?"
About to reply, Brad stared as a shadow behind the man, which he'd put down as some sort of industrial machinery, stirred and unfolded. Something moved, coming closer, over Hebert's left shoulder. It opened glowing orange-yellow eyes with pupils like a cat's and looked at him, then the mouth formed into a smile that made him twitch.
It was a smile full of gleaming white teeth, several inches long, and with an air of imminent mayhem about it.
Behind him, several of his men swore faintly, one of them starting to pray. He glanced back and noticed that there seemed to be less of his people there than there had been seconds ago.
Looking back to the massive blue-black scaled reptilian head which was hanging in the darkness a foot over Hebert's shoulder he tried to think what to do. This wasn't Saurial, it looked nothing like the cape he'd seen video of, except for the reptilian aspect.
It looked very dangerous, very annoyed, and very hungry. This last aspect was enhanced when it sniffed loudly a couple of times, licked its lips with a long forked tongue, and said in a deep female voice, "I smell meat inside all that metal. Yummy."
"Fuck this!" a voice from behind him screamed, followed by the sound of running feet. He glanced back again to see he was now without backup.
"You seem to have run out of followers, Hookwolf," the Hebert man said calmly. "If you walk away now and don't come back, we can forget about it. We don't have any particular ax to grind with the E88 as long as you people stay away. The Merchants seem to have learned that, so I suppose you can."
"Merchants," he snarled. "They're all useless fucking street scum led by a druggie fool. We're the E88. We rule this town."
"Lung might have different ideas," Hebert remarked. "Or the PRT."
"Fuck them all, we can take them. We're just waiting for the best moment, then this city will be under the control of the right people. Not undesirables like you."
The thing behind Hebert growled in a low resonant tone, making the room shiver a little. "That's very rude," it said quietly but with menace in its voice.
"Fuck you too you ugly bitch," he growled back, without the undertones that made her utterance so impressive. Growing larger as he took on his full bladed wolf-like form rather than the half-way version he'd been using, he lowered his head and glared at her. "Come on, then, if you think you can take me."
"Mr Hebert?" the huge reptile asked, tipping its head to fix the Union leader with one eye.
The man made a motion, stepping to the side out of her way. "Go ahead. If you could avoid causing too much damage in here it would be appreciated."
"Of course," she replied, moving into the light from the emergency lamp above them. For the first time Hookwolf could see just how massive the thing was. She was nearly the size of a horse, with forelegs that looked half-way between paws and hands, in addition to the heavy muscular hind legs, and the more slender but still extremely powerful looking arms above. Dropping to all fours, the reptilian creature grinned slowly at him. "Well?" she invited, making a gesture with one hand. "Go for it."
He did. With a scream of mixed joy at combat and rage at the thing, he charged. She met him head-on, rearing up and grabbing him with all four hands, then pivoting sharply on her long tail and heaving him across the entire length of the workshop to impact the large vehicle doors at the far end, which he smashed through without even slowing down. Rolling across the cracked concrete outside with his blades raising sparks, he managed to dig some in and stop, raising his head in time to see the creature step through the remains of the doors. Its eyes glowed in the twilight as it narrowed them at him.
"That was pathetic," she commented with a toothful smile. Raising the absolutely immense war hammer that appeared in her hands, the shaft nearly as long as she was tall, she began walking towards him. "Let me show you how it's done."
He barely had time to brace himself before one of the most powerful blows he'd ever experienced sent him flying over the perimeter fence, screaming and howling obscenities.
Danny stood in the remains of the rear door to the vehicle workshop, watching as his daughter gave a good impression of someone playing croquet with Hookwolf as the ball. The other cape managed to get in a few hits that made her stagger once or twice, but was clearly on the defensive. Smirking a little he watched as they moved off through the warehouses towards the ones that were completely derelict, Taylor being careful to minimize damage as usual. "Have fun, dear," he murmured. "Make sure he learns not to come back."
Hearing a sound behind him he looked over his shoulders to see Mark and Zephron walking towards him, both holding guns. The pair stopped beside him and peered into the dark, just in time to see Hookwolf go flying once more, blades falling like leaves. "That was pretty impressive, Boss," Zephron rumbled. "You should give her a job. We could use security like that."
"I think we'll see her around quite a lot in the future," Danny smiled.
"Good. I like her."
Looking around as the lights came back on, Danny grinned. "That was a good idea, turning out the lights."
"Saurial seems to have all sorts of ideas to terrify people," Mark snickered. "She got a few then we used the same method to get more. We've got twelve E88 guys tied up in storeroom 23, there are six more outside the back gate that she got on the way in, and the rest ran. Half a dozen of the prisoners have holes in which we're seeing to at the moment. None of our guys were seriously hurt, we have one broken leg, a broken jaw, and three bullet grazes, nothing big. The others are on the way back with the rail crews and I've called the cops."
"Good work, to everyone," Danny replied, satisfied. "Let's go and see what the damage is." The three men headed back inside, feeling fairly pleased under the circumstances.
In the distance there was another metallic crash that echoed faintly across the Docks.