"I just wanted to ask how everything was going, Danny," the Mayor's voice said as he answered the phone. Danny smiled a little, walking into his office and looking out the window at the remains of the first warehouse where a crew were already beginning to use an excavator to load the rubble into a couple of trucks for disposal. The metal girders and other structural reinforcements would be taken off to add to the first load of scrap, while everything else would either eventually be landfill at the Boat Graveyard, or crushed and sold as construction material.
"Pretty well, Roy," he replied, watching the work outside with satisfaction. "Raptaur has already taken down the first of the five old warehouses she's doing today and is just about to start on the next. Barring any problems we'll have them all down by mid-afternoon. We think that we'll have the site cleared by Thursday and be ready for resurfacing work. I've got every free person with any relevant experience on the job and almost everyone volunteered to work on Sunday as well. When the rest of the equipment turns up starting on Monday we can really push ahead."
"That's great," the other man said sounding very pleased. "And our large friend is OK with moving the tanker ahead of the original schedule?"
"She is. Looking forward to it, I think, actually," he chuckled. "She's going to clear out the base of the docks over the weekend to make sure the water is deep enough for it. We'll put a temporary structure around it to make sure that any leakage doesn't get into the bay. When we're ready to start work it will be right there."
"Wonderful. I'm very pleased indeed. Do you mind if I stop by later to have a look at progress?"
"Of course not. Any time you want. I'll either be in my office or out in the Yard but just ask and someone will find me."
"OK." The other man sounded in a very ebullient mood. "This is going so well I'm almost worried. Around here that usually ends in something horrible happening."
"Look on the bright side, Roy, if anyone tries something we have the ability to shut it down pretty fucking quick, if only by stepping on it," Danny snickered, making the Mayor start laughing.
"Oh, God, I'd almost pay to see that. Kaiser being squashed by a size one million foot." He sniggered while Danny grinned. "I hate that bastard. Any signs of gang involvement or anything like that?"
"No, they've all been very discreet since Hookwolf's little visit. We haven't seen or heard anything at all from the E88, the ABB were poking around very carefully a few days ago but when the guards politely asked them to go away they did, and the Merchants are staying well out of it. Skidmark is a fool but he's not an idiot. I'm pretty sure he knows that anyone who could take out Hookwolf that easily wouldn't have too much trouble with his crew in all likelihood, so he seems to be trying to pretend we don't exist." Danny emitted a small laugh. "I can live with that. No need to pick a fight where we don't have to. If they keep to themselves we will as well."
"You and your vast crew of minions are becoming something of a power in the city," Roy commented with amusement clear in his voice.
Danny sighed. "Oh, Christ, don't you start with that, Roy, please. One of the guys here has already got half the people calling me 'Boss'. He's threatening to come up with an official DWU salute next."
Roy howled with laughter. "Oh, I have to see that," he said, obviously extremely amused. "You have some interesting friends."
"Some of them with too much time on their hands," Danny grumbled, not really upset, shaking his head sadly. "Anyway, I need to get back outside and talk to some people. See you later, maybe."
"Quite likely," Roy replied. "Goodbye, Danny. Thanks for the update."
"It's no trouble, Roy. Bye."
Disconnecting the call he flipped the phone shut and put it back into his pocket, watching out the window as the first truckload of debris rumbled away and an empty vehicle took the place of the departing one. Nodding to himself he put his coat back on and headed towards the exit. So far things were working even better than he'd hoped.
"I'm just heading to the office, Sarah, I have work to do," Carol said as she opened the door when her sister rang the bell.
Sarah put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her into the house, stepping in and closing the door behind herself. "Even on a Saturday?"
Carol nodded. "It's a case that's being pushed very hard and is a pain in the ass so I have to work on it today."
"Call them and tell them you'll be late. We need to talk. Now." She wasn't entirely in a good mood after what Vicky and Amy had told her. There was little doubt that they were being truthful, they were both honest people by and large and clearly upset, while it fitted unpleasantly well with her sister's past behavior.
"I can't just decide not to go in, Sarah," Carol stated, looking annoyed. "I have a job. One I'm very good at and that's important."
"You have another important job, which is being a good mother." Sarah watched as her sister's eyebrows rose, then her face darkened with anger. "That one is the one you need to deal with right now. The other one can wait." She picked up the hall phone from the small table under the mirror next to the coat rack, handing it to Carol. "Call them. You'll be in late."
They exchanged glares for several seconds, until very reluctantly the other woman took the phone from her and dialed. She had a brief conversation, making an excuse of family business that had suddenly come up, which was true. Jamming her thumb on the button at the end of the conversation she slammed the cordless phone back into its holder.
"Fine. I've done it. What do you want?"
"I want you to tell me why you're trying to drive a very decent young woman into depression and quite possibly just walking out on you." Sarah folded her arms and gave her younger sister a severe look. "You can be a harsh woman, Carol, but you're not a bad one. Explain this to me."
Her sister stared at her for several seconds, her mouth a little open, then snapped it shut and turned on her heel, going into the living room. Carol sighed and followed.
"They went running to you," Carol muttered as she paced back and forth in the middle of the room, then headed for the wine cupboard, pulling a bottle, a corkscrew, and two glasses out of it. "I should have guessed." Mark, who was watching TV and hadn't looked up when they came in, now peered at his wife and sister-in-law. With a very faint sigh he picked up the remote and pressed the off button, turning to his wife.
"Get another glass, will you?" he said. Both women looked at him, rather surprised at the atypical behavior. "If you're going to shout at each other I need a drink."
"You could always go somewhere else," Carol commented with a degree of annoyance. Sarah shook her head a little, but Mark didn't seem to take offense.
"I could, but I'm not going to."
"Fine." She got a third glass out and put it in front of him on the coffee table, then opened the bottle, filling all three glasses. Sitting down and putting the half-empty bottle on the table she picked up her glass and took a sip. "What do you want to talk about, Sarah?"
The Pelham woman studied her sister for a moment, then picked up her own glass, sitting in a chair that gave her a good view of both the Dallons. She tried the wine, which was pretty good, then organized her thoughts for a few seconds.
"I know you've always resented having Amy pushed on you like that, but even so you've mostly done right by her, Sis," she said slowly. "She says as much herself. But you've also treated her pretty badly sometimes, and we both know some of the things you said about it over the years. Unfortunately, she knows as well. So does Vicky. They're both very bright young women and can fill in the blanks as well as anyone."
Carol took another sip, listening silently, although her face was wearing a mildly irritated expression.
With a sigh, Sarah continued, "She knows Marquis was her father."
Carol jolted, nearly spilling her wine. "You told her?!" she shouted.
Shaking her head, Sarah waited for the other woman to calm down. "No. I offered to but I didn't need to. She worked it out for herself. As she told me when she did, all the information was there. She could probably have figured it out some time ago but she never felt like thinking about it. Despite everything, she thinks of herself as a Dallon and you as her mother. Even if, right now, she doesn't want to talk to you for a while." She raised her glass to her lips and drank, then lowered it. "I can understand why to be honest. They told me what you said and did."
Sarah sighed as Carol went a little pale, mainly with anger. "That was too far, Carol. She's right, she's old enough to make her own decisions, good or bad, and live with the consequences. Keep pushing and you'll push her right out the door." She studied her sister. "Is that what you really want?"
"Of course it fucking isn't," Carol said in a loud voice, glaring. Sarah met her gaze silently and her sister eventually deflated. "No, of course it isn't. She's my daughter."
"Why don't you ever tell her that, then?"
"What do you mean?"
The Pelham woman stared at her sister for a couple of seconds. "I can't believe you sometimes. You call Vicky your daughter all the time. 'My daughter Victoria, and Amy' I heard you say only last week. Not 'My daughters, Victoria and Amy.' Why is that?"
Carol looked slightly stunned.
"You're always doing it. It's my daughter, or Vicky, or Victoria, or if she's done something particularly stupid, Victoria Dallon. But it's always Amy. Not even Amelia. And I've hardly ever heard you refer to her as your daughter, or even tell anyone you have two of them."
"I..." Carol fell silent again, appearing somewhat troubled.
"I know you, Sis. I know you're not a bad person. But you're an unforgiving one. And you see the world in a more black and white way than anyone I've ever met. I think you don't trust Amy and never have, simply because of who her father was."
Her sister didn't say anything but her mouth tightened.
"Marquis was not a good man, not by a long shot, but what we did wasn't exactly right either. By today's standards we completely violated the Rules, attacking him in his own home. I'm still conflicted about that, you know." Sarah sighed. "We probably didn't have a choice, under the circumstances, but you have to admit that the man himself would never have done the same to us. If he had been prepared to do that sort of thing there's a good possibility none of us would be here now."
"He was an evil man, Sarah!" Carol snapped. "He had to be stopped."
"I agree. But even you must acknowledge that the way we did it was… tactically sound but strategically unwise." Sarah shrugged. "We got away with it. We wouldn't now if the same thing came up. Even the PRT would come down on us like the hammer of god. The Rules are there for a reason, not necessarily one I agree with, but most capes take them pretty seriously. For political reasons, self-preservation, whatever, but they do."
She shook her head for a moment, sipping the wine again, then put the glass on the table. "Anyway, we're getting off the subject. We ended up making a promise, one I always intended to keep and one I thought you would as well, even if you hated the man you made it to. I know why you hated him so much and I sympathize, but please don't take it out on an innocent teenager. She doesn't deserve it."
"Marquis was scum," Carol muttered into her wineglass.
"He was better than a lot of the alternatives, Sis," Sarah pointed out. "Lung is worse in many ways. Kaiser is worse. Marquis at least always kept his word, no matter what, and he was very polite." She smiled a little wryly. "That's a rare trait in a villain. Or most people, actually."
"He murdered dozens of people!" Her sister looked outraged. Sarah nodded.
"Of course he did. I didn't say I liked him. But I can acknowledge the few good points the man had, after all this time. I don't regret doing what we did, don't get me wrong, but for better or worse we have to live with the consequences. And one of those consequences was sitting on my sofa an hour ago being comforted by her sister because you yelled at her for no good reason that I can work out. I'm not happy about that."
She looked hard at Carol who was now appearing a little upset and embarrassed, the wine clearly having an effect on her control. "Amy is a good natured, intelligent, and likable girl who has been withdrawing into herself for a long time now, at least partly because of her family life. The stresses caused by her powers can't have helped either. I was very pleased to learn that she'd finally listened to a friend and slowed down. She was on a path to somewhere very bad if she'd kept going the way she was."
"She was doing the responsible thing with her abilities," Carol argued.
"And I think she feels the same way. But your attitude, and to be honest that of the rest of us, was that we expected her to go out and heal anyone she could, whether she wanted to or not. Looking back on it I'm surprised she hasn't blown up at you some time ago." Sarah shrugged a little. "We were wrong. She was only just fifteen when she Triggered, which is way too young to have all the responsibilities that everyone immediately dumped on her. You more than anyone, I'm afraid to say. She's been to every Endbringer fight in the last two and a half years without even hesitating, not that we've really bothered to ask, and god knows how many people are still alive because of her. Are you surprised that she's taken the opportunity she seems to have found to make friends and find something she actually wants to do and run with it?"
She sighed faintly. "I can assure you that under the same circumstances I'd have done exactly the same thing. Probably a lot sooner, I don't have the patience that girl does."
"She's wearing a brand new costume that she didn't ask me about, or even mention to me, and running around with Saurial and Raptaur! You saw that lizard girl at the DWU same as I did. She's unbelievably dangerous. And Amy is riding her fucking sister around all over the city like a goddam horse or something. What the hell is that about?" Carol looked outraged. "We know nothing about them, or their 'Family' or whatever it is, except that they do whatever they want and get away with it. Are they even heroes? Proper ones? I don't want a member of New Wave being associated with people we can't trust. What's she even doing with them?"
Sarah leaned back a little, surprised at the stream of questions and accusations, delivered in a loud angry voice. She glanced at Mark who appeared to sigh silently, but said nothing, merely slowly sipped his wine and listened.
"Wow. Sis, you're getting as bad as some of the lunatics on PHO. There's one guy there who's apparently convinced that Saurial is the first of a whole series of steadily larger demons that will rise out of the sea and take over." She chuckled, shaking her head, while waiting for her sister's color to get back to something a little safer. "He's nuts, of course."
Carol finished her wine and refilled her glass, not offering any to the others, a sullen expression on her face.
"All right, let's see if we can set some of your worries to rest, OK?" After a pause to try to remember the short impassioned rant, she went on, "I saw the costume, and to be honest I like it. It suits her, it's extremely high quality work that would cost a fortune to buy, and it's apparently bulletproof, fireproof, and waterproof. She's safer wearing it than she would be without, so that's a good thing! It was a present from a friend and she doesn't need our permission to either accept it or wear it. Any more than she would with any other clothes. She's nearly eighteen after all and is hardly bringing the name of New Wave into disrepute."
Her sister was still looking pissed off, making her shake her head. "Really? You're going to get that look? Just like when we were kids and Mom wouldn't give you another cookie."
Mark suddenly chuckled, which made Sarah glance at him with a small smile and Carol turn her glare in his direction. He held up a hand. "Sorry, dear," he said in a voice that was more in the here and now than usual. He was obviously having one of his better days.
"Keep out of this, Mark," Carol grumbled. He saluted her with his wine glass.
"Anything you say, dear. I'm not here."
"You never are," she muttered. Sarah winced, looking apologetically at her brother-in-law, who didn't seem all that worried about the comment, which she personally thought was a bit much.
"As far as either Saurial or Raptaur goes, I agree they're both hideously dangerous if provoked. I saw what the first one was doing, you're right. I wouldn't like to get on her bad side. But from what we saw, that's actually incredibly difficult. If she was willing to take some fuckwit sniping her in the head for over an hour and only think it was mildly amusing, I very much doubt she's going to suddenly snap and slaughter everyone around her. Vicky insulted her pretty badly without any excuse and she laughed it off and asked if the girl was feeling all right! That's not the actions of someone I'm particularly worried about. Thinking back on it, I'm pretty sure what she was doing was demonstrating to us, and anyone else watching, why it would be a bad idea to fight her, specifically so she wouldn't actually have to."
Sarah smiled a little. "It's a good plan and it certainly worked. I'm not going to pick a fight with the girl without a very good reason."
"You think that was all an act?" Carol sounded outraged.
"Not at all. I suspect that if you forced her into it she'd simply kill you to protect anyone she cared about. But I also think she'd need a fuck of a lot of provocation to ever do that. Mostly she seems to be trying to stop the situation coming up in the first place, which is pretty smart. You notice how she hasn't gone after any capes, only stopped the mooks. That's an unusual strategy but it's sure working. Crime is down a lot in areas she goes to." Sarah smiled, finishing her wine then holding her glass out. Reluctantly her sister topped it up.
"You actually like her," Carol accused.
"I think I do." Sarah nodded a little. "Her sister is much less restrained, from what we saw, but in a very targeted way. She's apparently just as helpful as well, I've heard stories about her just wandering around lending a hand with all sorts of things. PHO is full of videos of them both doing all sorts of weird jobs, which mostly seem to be because it amuses them. The public was shit-scared at first but reading the forums now most people in the city seem almost pleased about them being here, in a very respectful sort of way."
"Ever since those two turned up all people seem to do is talk about them or react to them," her sister noted sourly. "It's really annoying. Even the PRT seems to just be watching, not trying to do anything about them."
"Why should they 'do anything about them', Sis?" Sarah asked. "Piggot's not an idiot. She can see they're being polite and helpful the same as anyone else can. So far there's no threat and the woman is more than smart enough not to push them into being one. I'm sure that the PRT are doing threat assessment after threat assessment but right now they obviously have a live and let live policy. Which is unusual, I agree, but like I said Piggot's no fool."
"Don't like her," Carol mumbled.
"She doesn't like us either," Sarah laughed. "We annoy her, as do all independents."
She watched as her sister put the last of the wine into her glass and drank it, then went and fetched another bottle. Exchanging a glance with Mark, she caught the small shake of his head and said nothing.
"I don't think that there's anything wrong with Amy making friends with them, Carol," she said when her sister sat down again and busied herself with pulling the cork out. "They'll keep her safe, that much I'm sure of, she needs more cape friends who aren't associated with our families or the Wards, and she needs to work out her own place in the world. Not live in the one we've shoehorned her into. That clearly wasn't working out. She's still volunteering at the hospital every second day after all and I can't help but think that cheering her up will make that part go much more smoothly. Let her live her life, for her sake and yours. And Vicky's, she was nearly as upset as Amy was about the way you handled it."
"She was keeping things from me," her sister replied as she picked up her newly filled glass, then drank half of it.
"Are you surprised if this is how you reacted?" Sarah asked tiredly, watching as her sister seemed intent on suddenly becoming somewhat drunk. She clearly wasn't going into the office today. The Pelham woman made a mental note to find her car keys and hide them, just in case. "You searched her room, confronted her in an aggressive manner, accused her of god knows what, and more or less proved that you don't and never have trusted her. If she'd come right out and told you as soon as she came home the other night, would it have been any different?"
Carol sighed heavily, seeming conflicted again. "I do consider her my daughter, Sarah," she finally said.
"Tell her that, not me, then!" Sarah raised her voice in exasperation. "Stop complaining about being forced to take her, which by the way isn't completely accurate anyway, and show the poor girl some love and affection. And trust! If you don't I'm pretty sure she'll leave and probably never come back. She's not happy about the situation. Neither is Vicky and neither am I. You're better than this."
Both of them stared at each other. Sarah could see in her sister's face the direction of her thoughts as a result of very long practice. Carol was stubbornly trying to maintain her outrage and suspicion but at the same time her sister's words were sinking in. She didn't like hearing them but she clearly couldn't come up with any good argument to the contrary. Not that this would stop her, Sarah thought with a sigh.
"She shouldn't be running around like a lunatic and riding Raptaur about the place like that," the woman finally said. "What sort of impression of her does that give?"
"A good one?" Sarah asked sarcastically. "One that says that Panacea, the girl everyone knows as a sullen and withdrawn young woman, actually has fun and a sense of humor? Not to mention how it makes Raptaur look a lot more tourist-friendly and safer. You must have seen that thing outside Fugly's with Assault and Battery." She smirked at the memory, having laughed rather a lot when she'd first seen some of the videos of the encounter. "Both of them were clearly playing the whole situation up as much as they could because they thought it was funny. Which it was. Nearly as good at that prank on poor Clockblocker, which was epic! Your daughter is having fun, Carol. Let her. You should be encouraging her to make friends, even if some of them have tails. God knows she needs to smile more."
"Did you know about the Hebert girl? The DWU head's daughter?"
Sarah nodded. "She mentioned her, yes. Based on what she said I suspect that Taylor was probably the start of all this somehow. Vicky told me that she has lunch at the same table as Taylor and some of her other friends now, which I think is nice. She's opened up so much in the last week from what I hear that I'm both amazed and pleased. Don't ruin it, Carol. Please." She got up, then sat next to her sister, putting an arm over her shoulder.
"She's not a villain, despite her father. You raised her better than that. I very much doubt she's going to get into trouble with her new friends or do anything too weird, but if she's enjoying herself, what harm is there in it? She's happier, which makes Vicky happier, which should make you happier. It's not like she's going to leave New Wave and start her own gang or something like that." Sarah giggled, thinking for a moment that she might have drunk just a little too much as well.
Squeezing her sister for a moment, she grinned, waving the now-empty glass around. "Come on, Sis, let the girl enjoy herself. Think of some of the things we got up to when we were her age! Mom let us get away with much worse than Amy has ever done. Or is likely to do. She's a responsible, thoughtful, and smart girl."
"Oh, fuck it all," Carol sighed, tossing the rest of her glass of wine down her throat, then filling it to the brim. Sarah held hers out as well and she did the same to it. "I guess I own her an apology."
"You do, yes," Sarah said. "And Vicky as well. Promise me you'll do it? And try not to react like that again?"
"I promise and I'll try, Sarah," the elder Dallon woman mumbled.
There was a silence for a while only broken by two women sipping wine. Eventually Carol smiled a little wryly. "Mom really did let us get away with all kinds of stuff, didn't she?"
"She did. I miss her."
"Me too. You remember that time when I brought that dog home because I thought it looked lonely? When I was about nine?"
Sarah started giggling. "Oh, god, yes. And it was actually someone's pride and joy that they'd tied up outside the library while they returned a book. The police came, and everyone was shouting..." She shook her head as Carol laughed. "Mom told them all to shut up and be polite. It was amazing."
The two sisters finished the second bottle of wine between them recounting stories of their childhood to each other, never noticing when Mark got up and confiscated both their sets of car keys before going back to watching the TV with the sound down, a small smile on his face.
"Try not to cut your arm off with this, please," Taylor said, handing Glory Girl a modified sword, more of a saber in fact, with one sharp edge and a tip designed to piece stone. "I'd never hear the end of it from Amy." The blonde took it and hefted it experimentally, then looked at her. "We need to remove all the columns marked with yellow paint, but none of the others. Don't make a mistake or I'll have to dig you out, which will make me then be very sarcastic and mock you for days."
The Dallon girl grinned, bowing a little with a flourish of her tool. "I'll try, oh great teacher."
"See that you do." She grinned back. "OK, watch what I do." Holding her own cutting implement, which was about twice the size of the one the other girl had, she walked over to one of the brick columns that was supporting the next floor, which had a large bright yellow X sprayed on it. The survey team had worked out all the main supports and marked the ones that could be removed without immediately destabilizing the building. "Cut it up here somewhere like this," she explained, whipping the impossibly sharp blade sideways through the two foot square column with almost no effort needed near the ceiling. "Then down near the floor." Again she swept the blade through the stonework, leaving a fine cut. "Best if you do it at an angle like this so it comes out easily."
"Then push?" her companion inquired.
"Then push," she confirmed, putting a hand in the middle of the eight foot section that was now only being held in place by gravity and friction, shoving gently. The entire piece slid out and tipped over with a huge crash, breaking into smaller pieces and leaving a cloud of dust. Taylor smiled. "It's simple enough. You start at that end, I'll keep going here, and we meet in the middle. Remember, only the marked ones."
"Got it." Glory Girl nodded, smiling, then lifted off and rapidly floated down the ranks of columns to the other end of the large warehouse. Shortly there was another huge boom of falling masonry. "This is fun," the girl shouted.
"I know," Taylor called back with a smirk, before heading for the next column. The pair of them spent the next fifteen minutes mowing down supports, the building creaking and shifting around them, small clouds of dust raining down from the floor above as it slowly stressed and settled. Once or twice they had to stop and warily wait for the cracking sounds to die away, ready to run, but in the end they'd done everything without the entire place falling in on them.
"Great, that went pretty well," Taylor noted as they met in the middle of the vast building. She looked up and then around, seeing how there were hot spots in the structure where it was slowly bending under the now unsupported load. Given time it would fall down by itself even without extra help, but that wasn't what was wanted. "Right then, now we just need to carefully do the same thing to the walls there, there, over there, and there." She turned, pointing out the marked places. "Cut a big hole about eight or ten feet across where the marks are and give it a kick, then get out of the way. Once those are done, we cable it up, and get out."
"Sounds good," her helper commented, heading off to the inland side of the building with her cutting blade held ready. "Thanks for inviting me to help, it's fun and I needed the distraction."
"You're welcome. It's speeding things up as well which is helpful." Taylor began cutting her own holes, the bricks crumbling out of the way to expose the water of the bay rippling thirty feet away and down, black and cold in the mist. The rain was easing off and would probably stop by the time they finished.
Soon that part was done as well. "Here, take this end and loop it around all the columns then back here," Taylor instructed, handing her companion one end of a flexible Vargastuff cable half an inch in diameter with a loop handle on it so the blonde could actually hold the slippery stuff. "Just fly it around them in a big loop."
"OK," Glory Girl replied, handing her the blade which she dismissed, then grabbing the handle and taking off. Taylor made sure the cable was generated at the right rate, the girl swooping through the interior of the warehouse, light from outside coming through the holes glinting off her new costume. Reaching the other end she turned in a large semicircle and came back down the other side, soon reaching Taylor again. She handed the cable back and watched as she held it to the piece she had in her hand, the two sections melting together. "That's so cool," she grinned.
"It's pretty good, right?" Smirking, the Hebert girl handed her another one. "This one goes in and out of all the holes in the walls, like stitches." That was also quickly done. Joining both cables together and to another length which she trailed behind her, she headed back out of the building with the other girl floating beside her. When they were clear, she pulled out her radio. "Raptaur here. Second warehouse ready."
"OK, stand by," Andy's voice came back seconds later. Once again the air horn sequence shrieked out over the docks. When the final echoes of the last blast died away, he said, "All clear. Go ahead."
"Got it." She tucked the radio back into its pouch, then generated about fifty feet of cable with a t-handle on the end, which she handed to Glory Girl. "Here. You try it."
The girl grinned broadly. "Thanks," she laughed, taking it.
"You'll have to go pretty fast to produce enough force, and it will stop very suddenly when it goes tight, so be ready for that," Taylor warned.
"OK, I get it. Here we go." The girl took the cable and held it tightly, then backed up in the air another twenty feet, before rocketing off. Taylor watched with great amusement as she stopped dead in mid air as the cable twanged tight, swearing violently. A small crunch came from inside the warehouse and a slight grinding noise followed, but nothing else.
She could hear Amy laughing her head off from over by the admin building where she was watching with several others, looking over and waving. Glory Girl muttered obscenities for a moment, then came back with a determined expression visible through her helmet faceplate.
"I'm going to try that again."
Stepping to the side, Taylor waved her on without a word, but with a smile on her face. Looking grimly stubborn the blonde flew back nearly to the warehouse, making sure the cable formed a long loop behind her, then turned around. With a grunt of exertion she took off as fast as she could move, which was a fairly impressive acceleration, shooting past the other girl at over eighty miles an hour and still speeding up. When she finally hit the end of the cable the twang was a lot more obvious and she slowed drastically with a much louder grunt, but this time the cable came with her.
The sound of all the remaining columns and walls collapsing was extremely noisy, but gratifying to both of them. Dropping the cable the girl turned around and watched with a smile as the second warehouse folded in on itself.
"Fantastic," she whooped, raising her hands in the air. "It worked."
"Eventually," Taylor quipped, making her companion shoot her a look of mild irritation.
"We're not all as huge as you are, Raptaur. You probably outweigh me by about five or six times."
"At least," she agreed mildly, pleased with both the result and the way the girl seemed to have simultaneously cheered up and grown accustomed to her in the last hour or so. She'd been rather worried by Amy's expression when the two had arrived, getting the impression that both of them were upset about something. She was definitely going to find out what when they were alone.
The dust finished settling and the second clear up crew began to move towards them, nodding to her as they passed. Lifting a hand she acknowledged the recognition, very pleased with how things were going.
"Let's do the next one," Glory Girl said enthusiastically.
Laughing, she looked over to the blonde who was coming towards her with a wide smile on her face. "You just want to wreck things and not have people shout at you."
"Of course I do. Same as you, I suspect."
They shared a grin then headed to the next building.