Pulling up at the main gate, Roy smiled at the DWU guard who walked over and bent down slightly to look in the window. His colleague remained at his post, watching the car carefully without neglecting to keep an eye on the surroundings.
"Hello again, Mayor Christner," the man said politely, returning the smile. "Mr Hebert is expecting you. Please park in the usual space, I'll call ahead and have someone meet you and take you to him."
An enormous rumbling crunch sounded, making Roy jerk his head around and the guard, rather less suddenly, also look. From somewhere near the waterfront on the other side of the main building complex a vast cloud of dust was rising into the still-misty sky, billowing over the area and slowly settling out.
"That's the fourth one down," the guard said with satisfaction. "Those girls are really going for it. They're nearly two hours ahead of schedule."
"Girls? Plural?" Roy was a little puzzled. "I thought Raptaur was doing the demolition."
"She is. But Panacea and Glory Girl turned up a couple of hours ago to visit and somehow Collateral Damage Barbie ended up helping Raptaur. From what the guys are saying she's having a hell of a time." He chuckled. "Luckily for once she's smashing up buildings that actually need it."
Roy couldn't help grinning. The New Wave girl's tendency to be very hard on the surroundings was well known to inhabitants of Brockton Bay. "They don't call her that for nothing," he said, making the other man smirk. "Although not to her face."
"No, people aren't usually that stupid," the man laughed. "Go ahead, Mayor, someone will be waiting for you."
"Thanks, Mike," he replied, finally remembering the man's name from the last visit, which made the guy look pleased. He put the car in drive and slowly moved forward as the second guard opened the gate, waving to the man as he passed and receiving a wave back.
Parking in the usual spot he got out and locked the vehicle, just in time to see the DWU security head, Mark, come out of the building. The other man walked over and shook his hand. "It's good to see you again, Mayor," he said with a smile. Glancing at the car, he added, "No driver today?"
"No, I thought I'd just swing by unofficially," Roy replied. "I'm just poking around out of curiosity, not as an official visit."
"Fine by me," Mark grinned. "Come with me, Danny's around the back with the others."
Walking alongside the security man, Roy glanced at him and asked, "How is everything going?"
"Pretty well from what I hear," his companion replied. "You probably heard the fourth warehouse collapse just now?" Roy nodded. "They're knocking them down with no trouble at all now. All five have been searched, the last one is being prepared right now, we've chased out about a dozen junkies from them, and the final building should be down in about forty minutes. There are crews moving the rubble from the first two as well, which is coming along well. Everyone is very pleased with the results so far."
"How did Glory Girl get involved?" Roy asked with a raised eyebrow as they rounded the corner of the building complex and headed towards the bay. He could see a lot of people moving around wearing brightly colored high visibility jackets and hard hats, all looking like they were very busy, while a surprisingly large assortment of construction vehicles were slowly rumbling around. The skyline looked very different from what he could remember, much more of the misty water visible than before.
The sounds of orders being shouted, reversing beepers going off as vehicles backed up, radios crackling, masonry being loaded into trucks, and all the other noises that indicated an active construction site made him feel pleased. He hadn't seen this much activity anywhere in the city for many years. Hopefully it was a good omen for the future.
"Apparently Panacea is a friend of Raptaur's and Saurial's," Mark explained. He grinned. "A Family friend, you might say."
That made Roy chuckle.
"I've seen the videos, actually," he said, smiling. "Very impressive."
"They are, aren't they? Anyway, she and her sister dropped in this morning when it was pouring with rain and ended up staying. They were in the cafeteria for a while, talking with Raptaur and Danny, then when they came out Raptaur and Glory Girl went off together to demolish the rest of the warehouses. The girl seems to be enjoying herself. Raptaur looks amused by it as well, and everyone else is just pleased to see her knocking something down that actually needs to be knocked down for once."
Both of them shared a glance and laughed for a moment.
"I can see why that would be preferable to the normal state of affairs," Roy replied.
"It's speeding things up a lot which pleases everyone," Mark added. His smile became somewhat sly. "If this keeps up we'll have to make her a DWU member as well."
Roy stared for a second then laughed loudly. "Oh, god, I can just see Carol Dallon's face if that happened. She wouldn't be particularly pleased about it."
"Probably not," Mark snickered. He pointed. "There's Danny, and Panacea, along with Kurt and Zephron. I need to get back inside, so I'll see you later." Nodding to the Mayor, he turned and headed back the way they'd come.
Walking the last hundred yards, Roy smiled as the four people looked up from the large map that the second from last named man was holding open, apparently explaining something on it. Danny smiled back.
"Hi, Roy," he said as the new arrivals joined the group. "Nice to see you. You know Kurt and Zephron, of course?"
"I do. It's good to see you again, gentlemen," he replied, nodding to both men. He'd met the latter the last time he visited and Kurt was someone he'd encountered many times in the past.
"And of course you must know Panacea," Danny added, turning to the brunette girl who listening with a faint smile, the helmet of her apparent new costume in her hand.
"We've met more than once, but everyone in the city knows Panacea," Roy smiled back. "And a very large number of them owe her thanks. Allow me to express that of the city and myself." Holding out his hand he shook hers, as the girl's expression turned to more visible pleasure.
"Thank you, Mayor Christner, it's nice to hear something like that," she replied quietly but sounding genuinely pleased.
"You're very welcome, young lady. You've done a lot for this city and its inhabitants. We're lucky to have you here. And I like the new costume, it looks good on you."
Her expression remained pleased, but there was an air of thoughtful assessment to it now as well. After a couple of seconds she nodded slightly, acknowledging the comment. He was being truthful, she was a massive asset to the city and he somewhat suspected from her reaction that not enough people had told her that in the past. It matched some of the stories he'd heard from his son.
In the process of turning back to Danny he caught sight of Raptaur coming towards them, Glory Girl floating alongside her, apparently talking about something interesting based on the gesticulating arms. He stared, then looked at Panacea, who was also watching with a grin.
"Um..." he said, raising a finger. He pointed. "What…? I mean… Oh, god, it's going to be one of those days, isn't it?" He sighed a little while Danny and Kurt laughed. Panacea glanced at him, then back to her sister and friend.
When one of the DWU people came up behind the pair and stopped them to ask something, both turned around, allowing Roy to read the writing on the back of the ridiculously large safety jacket the huge reptile was wearing on her torso. His lips twitched, then he shook his head a little.
The fact that Glory Girl was also wearing a new costume more or less the same as the one Panacea was, in her signature colors of white and gold, wasn't lost on him, the implications being… interesting.
Over it, she also had a brilliant, eye-piercingly bright reflective orange jacket, which had written across the back:
Glory Girl
Apprentice
Deconstruction Operative
Proud member of
New Wave
"The Open and Honest Capes"
Roy shook his head again, beginning to smile. "I can't wait to see what PHO makes of this," he said, joining in the laughter. Looking at Panacea, he asked, "What is your mother going to say?"
She shrugged, grinning, and not looking particularly worried. "No idea. Probably a lot of it, whatever it is. You've met Mom."
"I have," he admitted. The woman was… not the easiest person in the city.
"Aunt Sarah will probably spend about half an hour laughing, though," she suggested with a sardonic look at him. "She's got a good sense of the absurd."
"Around here you pretty much have to," Danny said, looking highly amused and rather proud.
"I can see that, yes," Roy chuckled. "Are you building a Cape team of your own, Danny? I was joking earlier but you have Saurial and Raptaur already, and now apparently have pressed Glory Girl into service as well. Mind you, it's better that she's breaking buildings that we don't actually need for once."
Panacea cracked up, shaking her head and giggling. "I said almost the same thing to her," she laughed.
"Glory Girl volunteered, Roy," Danny smiled. "Raptaur asked if she wanted some fun and she was more than happy to help out. We're very grateful for the aid, it's taken at least an hour and a half off the job time."
"I see," he replied thoughtfully. "Very civic minded of the young woman."
"She's a good kid at heart, just a little overenthusiastic sometimes." Danny glanced at Panacea who seemed to agree, nodding slightly, while still looking amused. "We can probably find other jobs around here for her talents if she ever gets bored with beating up Capes, though."
"Director Piggot is going to go a funny color when she finds out about all this," Roy smirked. "The really funny thing is that she may, finally, be agreeing with Carol Dallon about something. I can see both of them glaring at us over the whole thing."
He shrugged, his grin widening. "It's probably very bad of me but I can live with that."
More laughter ensued, until the two 'Deconstruction Operatives' joined them. Raptaur was looking like she was suppressing a laugh of her own and he became sure she'd heard the entire conversation, catching her eyes with his own. One glowing eye flickered in an almost unnoticeable wink, making him hide a smile.
"It's good to meet you, Mayor Christner," she said politely, engulfing his hand in her own huge scaled one. "Danny has told me quite a lot about you. He holds you in high regard, which is good enough for me."
"Thank you, Raptaur. You're doing impressive work here," he replied, looking over at the four demolished warehouses approvingly. "This would have cost a fortune and taken weeks to arrange the traditional way."
She shrugged, the corners of her mouth curving up a little. "I have abilities that let me do this sort of thing pretty easily. I can't see any reason not to help out a friend. It's fun aside from anything else."
"Even so, thank you very much. And you as well, Glory Girl." Looking at the blonde who had taken off her own helmet, he smiled. "Is this new look permanent, or just something for today?"
"I haven't decided, Mayor," the girl replied politely, smiling in a dazzling manner. "But I'm very glad I'm wearing this right now, it was pouring with rain and absolutely freezing earlier." She looked around, then up at the heavily overcast sky with low hanging clouds drifting past. "Better now but it still looks pretty cold up there."
The fog over the water was stubbornly hanging around, if anything getting heavier, only allowing the first few feet of the bay to be seen before everything dissolved into white blankness. This wasn't particularly unusual weather at this time of year, on the coast, but it was certainly producing a damp and clammy feel to the day.
The construction sounds were muffled by the fog, the furthest vehicles sounding like they were miles away rather than only a few hundred yards, and echos were peculiarly flat. Every now and then a rumble sounded as the excavators that were digging out the crushed masonry dumped another load into the trucks. Roy watched for a moment, then looked to Danny.
"It certainly looks like it's coming along remarkably quickly. I didn't expect to see so much done already."
"I'm a little surprised myself," the other man replied. "But the guys are very keen to see this project succeed, both because they want the work, and because a lot of them hardly have enough to keep them occupied. This is more interesting than sitting around doing the odd small job here and there by a long way. Pretty much everyone jumped at the chance and they're all enjoying having something useful to do."
He shrugged, watching the workers himself for a few seconds before turning to face Roy more directly. "There are some good, hard-working people here who just want to earn an honest living. This is the first time in years that looks like it's going to happen."
"It'll happen, Danny, I have faith in the plan. I had to call in a lot of favors to make certain it got through yesterday but it was more than worth it." He clapped the man on the shoulder. "Your idea was brilliant, both in origin and in the amount of work you put into it working out how to do it. Not to mention the… special help… you found." He glanced at the others listening, not sure how many of them were in on the secret. Raptaur was a given, of course, and looking at the expression on Panacea's face, which was nearly calm but give enough hints to someone as practiced as he was in reading people, he thought she probably knew as well.
Kurt and Zephron both knew some of it but not all, judging by their quizzical looks, and Glory Girl seemed a little confused. "I think Tuesday is going to be… very interesting."
Danny chuckled, nodding. "I expect so. Have you prepared the public announcement yet?"
"I've got people working on it. We're publishing something in the Sunday paper, and making a similar announcement on the local news tomorrow. No real detail but it gets across the main points. We'll have the harbor police boats out to make sure everyone stays away, several streets leading into the docks will be closed, things like that."
"I can round up probably a hundred or so guys for crowd control if that will help," Danny offered. "I'll need the rest here to make sure everything comes off properly."
"That could be very useful, Danny. I'll check with the Chief and see what he says. The police are always overstretched, as you know. More people who can take care of themselves will probably make him a lot happier."
"Let me know and I'll ask for volunteers on Monday, then."
"I'll do that, thanks."
Looking at Raptaur who was listening curiously, he asked, "BBFO, LLC?"
"Danny's idea," Raptaur said. She explained, making him smile with respect, glancing at the Hebert man who looked pleased.
"Interesting. That would seem to avoid a lot of the pitfalls of Parahumans profiting from their abilities." Roy sighed a little. "Something I've always thought was a very bad idea, the rules on Parahuman businesses. The stated reasons don't add up and I'm certain it's driven far more Capes into crime than would have happened otherwise."
"Annette said the same thing," Danny agreed. "She thought it was probably the end result of the people who started the PRT trying to make sure that they got as many parahumans as possible working for them."
"Your wife had a cynical outlook on the matter as I recall," Roy smiled. "Not that I disagree. She was a very smart woman."
"She was," he replied softly. "Anyway, the DWU legal people did a lot of research and this method is completely legal, avoids the problems the Parahuman commerce laws create almost entirely, and allows some interesting possible work opportunities. Setting the company up was the easy part. The various waivers and permits were more difficult."
He grinned a twisted grin. "You wouldn't believe some of the difficulty we had getting straight answers from the relevant federal departments. It was almost like someone didn't want anyone to know you could actually do this. They were extremely reluctant to talk to us about the matter. Odd, really."
"Very odd," Roy agreed sagely. "Normally I find the federal and state governments so easy and transparent to deal with."
They shared a look of mutual amusement and resignation.
"In any case it's all done now and unless they change the law again, which I wouldn't put past the bastards but it would take quite a while to arrange, we're golden. They can't touch me, the DWU, or 'The Family'. We're doing it completely by their own playbook."
"Bet that annoys whoever came up with it," Roy smirked.
Danny grinned. "Hopefully."
"Would you like to see the head office of Brockton Bay Family Operations, LLC, Mayor Christner?" Raptaur offered. "It's only about a hundred and fifty yards away."
He considered the matter, then nodded. "Why not. Thank you."
Panacea had already started walking, making him certain that the girl was in deep with the reptilian cape, something he'd already worked out from seeing the various videos online. Raptaur joined her, the others following, until they went around the back of the main complex to a smaller yard, lined on both sides with buildings that had roller shutters on them like a medium sized industrial park. He looked around with interest, not having visited this area of the DWU facility for a very long time.
There was plenty of evidence that the place was being refurbished, shiny new locks on all the doors he could see being proof of that, as was the way several people were engaged in cleaning a lot of the area. An electrician was running cables along the front of one of the buildings while a plumber was half-inside a large water distribution point, tools and spare parts scattered around him.
Most of these people stopped for a moment to watch the small group, then went back to work moments later with the air of those who had seen it already. Raptaur led the way to one building in the middle of the water-side row, one of the largest, and produced a set of keys from somewhere which she used to unlock the door with, disappearing inside. The sound of beeping from an alarm abruptly stopped. She stuck her head out again. "Come on in. It's a bit bare at the moment but we're working on it."
Following Panacea, who entered without hesitation, he went through the door and looked around, seeing a large empty space that had a floor covered in a neutral gray material that was resilient underfoot, feeling like a high grade carpet although it obviously wasn't, and walls that were a pleasant light blue color. The ceiling was white and contained several dozen fluorescent light fittings that illuminated the room brightly.
To one side, out of the way of the roller shutters, was what looked like a huge metal box built against the wall, a door in the side of it and a flight of stairs up to the top which was surrounded by railings forming a platform ten or twelve feet up. "What's that?" Glory Girl asked as she looked around with interest as well, pointing.
Raptaur replied, "Secure storage space for special projects, when we get around to them." She glanced at Danny who was also inspecting the room-like structure. "Can we get the electrician in today to wire it up for lights and power?"
He nodded, pulling out a notebook and writing something down. "Sure, I think so. I'll ask someone to look into it."
"Great, thanks."
Behind the storage area there was a smaller but still fairly large cube of the same material, about eight feet on a side. Everyone looked at it but Raptaur didn't mention it. He assumed it was more storage space. Other than that, and several desk chairs surrounding a ten by six foot table on the other side of the room, the rest of the place was empty, just one huge space.
"Very sparse and neat," Kurt joked. "Sort of Swedish, like something from IKEA."
"It's not done yet," the reptile-woman smiled. "We're still thinking what to do in here, but we sure have room for expansion."
"What are the walls made of?" Glory Girl asked, prodding one of them fairly hard, with no result at all.
"Same thing the cutting tools are," Raptaur replied, watching her tap it harder. "You sure won't break it."
The blonde took this as a challenge, obviously, pulling her fist back and launching it into the wall as hard as she could. There was a flat thump like someone punching a lump of bread dough and her face froze. Raptaur and Panacea exchanged a glance, both looking amused yet resigned.
"Ow."
The girl's voice was pained.
"That hurt."
"Of course it did, you idiot, it's the nearest thing to an immovable object you're ever likely to run into," her sister said in an exasperated tone. Shaking her hand vigorously, then massaging it with the other one, Glory Girl looked over her shoulder, an embarrassed expression on her face.
"Whoops."
Panacea shook her head, raising it to the heavens. "Sisters," she mumbled. Roy grinned, as she turned around to look at them. "She doesn't think things through sometimes," the girl explained sadly.
"Hey! I think things through."
"Then do them anyway? Even if they're stupid?"
"Well..."
"That's what I thought."
The others smiled as Panacea looked triumphant. Still rubbing her fist, her sister rejoined them.
"Is the entire place lined with that stuff?" she asked curiously.
"Walls, floor, ceiling, and doors," Raptaur confirmed, nodding. "I don't think anyone is going to be breaking in."
"Neither do I," the girl said ruefully.
A crackly message on the radio made both Raptaur and Danny look at their respective ones, the DWU man moving closer to the open door and requesting a repeat transmission. "The last warehouse is ready, I said," the person on the other end transmitted.
"OK, thanks." He looked over at Raptaur and Glory Girl, both of whom nodded. "They're on the way back, be there in five minutes."
"Thanks, Danny," the message came.
"Back to work, then," the lizard-woman said as she followed them all out, resetting the alarm on the way, then locking the door once more. "Are you going to watch, Mayor?"
"If you don't mind, I'd like to, thanks."
"Fine by me," she replied.
The small group headed back the way they'd come, soon arriving at the point that they had a good view, with Raptaur and Glory Girl peeling off on the way and going towards the last standing warehouse, which was the one in the middle of the row of five. "That's the one with the basement," Danny mentioned. "It was a little more complicated to set up. They're going to try to drop most of it into the underground area, which means taking out a lot of the floor as well to weaken it. This will probably take a little while. Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"Thanks, that would be nice," Roy replied.
"Come on inside then, they'll call when they're ready for the pull-down."
Soon he, Panacea, and Danny were sitting in the DWU cafeteria drinking coffee, Kurt having gone off with his map and Zephron on another errand. "It looks really good, Danny," Roy said with satisfaction. "Much faster than I expected. Do you think you can keep up the momentum?"
"Probably," the other man replied. "Like I said everyone involved is really excited about it and they want it to happen at least as much as you do. Probably more, it's the difference between work and unemployment for a fair number of them."
"I can understand that," Roy said with a nod. He looked around carefully, seeing that no one was close enough to hear. "I assume you know about a particularly large family member?" he asked Panacea in a low voice.
The girl glanced at Danny, then nodded back. "I do," she confirmed. "They let me in on it although I haven't met her yet."
"OK, just wanted to check. Welcome to the conspiracy." He grinned, as did she.
"Nice place to be so far," she giggled.
"It's got some good points," he agreed. "Not least of which is the sheer amusement of thinking about the reactions of certain people."
"I hope we can keep them to blank stares and some shouting," Danny sighed.
"I'm sure we can, Danny," Roy told him. "You've picked some people to do what you came up with for the Endbringer sirens, right?"
"I have, they're looking forward to it, I think," the other man smiled. "Mark especially. He said it was like being back in the military again."
"Tell him we want it discreet and careful, please," Roy requested with an internal wince. He knew the man and his background, and anything that made him happy for the old days could potentially get… newsworthy.
"He'll be good, Roy," Danny smiled.
Panacea was looking back and forth between them, but clearly decided not to ask.
They talked for another half hour or so, until Danny's radio produced a message he stopped and listened to, then replied to. "They're ready to go, Roy. Let's go and watch."
Soon they were standing outside. Roy watched as Raptaur grabbed the end of a long cable that trailed off into the depths of the warehouse and ran for it, her speed remarkable, the cable snapping tight a second later in a chorus of crunching sounds from the building. She stopped and turned around, Glory Girl hanging in the air next to her, as everyone watched the warehouse collapse very neatly into almost exactly its own footprint releasing a huge mushroom cloud of dust which drifted out over the bay and vanished into the fog.
When it cleared they could see the site where the building had been was nearly level with the ground, only a few parts sticking up where particularly solid bits of masonry had been. Raptaur went back and poked around in the rubble for a few minutes, before lifting her radio to her mouth.
"Looks good, the basement seems to be completely full of debris and I can't see any voids or holes. It should be safe enough."
"Great. Good job, ladies. Thanks again for all the help." The same voice he'd heard a few times apparently coordinating the work came over the radio, followed by various other ones congratulating them as well. Both Capes looked pleased, exchanging a glance and a high-five, before heading back.
Roy smiled.
"You've clearly got things under control here, Danny. That was pretty impressive."
"They seem to have worked out a good system," the other man agreed. "It's going very well, we should have the first warehouse mostly cleared away by the end of today, and the others will take about a day each."
"Fantastic." Roy checked the time. "Half past one. I'd better be getting home, but thank you for letting me watch."
"Any time, Roy."
With a wave to the two capes, who waved back, he nodded to Panacea, then headed back to where he'd parked, thinking over the things he'd seen and feeling very pleased so far.
Hopefully things would keep going smoothly.
"I'd better get back, Sis," Vicky said, having checked her phone for the time. "Mom is probably going to be in a bad mood as it is, since we left without telling her. I'm surprised that she hasn't called."
"Hopefully Aunt Sarah has talked some sense into her," Amy sighed. She looked over at Taylor, who was speaking to her father, discussing something about the job the electrician was doing to the inside of the 'storage space' in her building, which was where they all were at the moment. Her friend had told the two men from the electrical facility who turned up carrying tool bags and several boxes full of light fittings, wire, and other necessities, where they required the things, then made the holes that the men indicated were needed. The pair had immediately got to work, rapidly and competently running wires and installing fittings and switches, along with a number of power outlets and a new small distribution board for the entire thing, which was now being connected to the main industrial supply to one side of the room.
Taylor had followed along making channels in the walls and floor when they needed them, gaining several comments about how useful the ability was, then covering them up again. By the time they were ready to turn the power on you couldn't tell where the wires were.
A clunk sounded as the main board was switched back on, the lights coming on overhead, and the electricians turned off the head-mounted flashlights they'd been using to do the final connection job. "There you go," the senior one said with satisfaction as he turned on the master power on the sub-board then flipped on all the breakers one after another. "That should do it. You've got spare capacity here as well if you need more outlets. Just call us."
"Thanks, Victor," Danny said, looking pleased. Amy opened the door to her workshop and flicked the switch just inside it, smiling when the lights came on immediately.
"This works," she called over.
"Good," the electrician called back with a wave. "See you guys later, we've got another job to do."
"Bye," Taylor replied with a wave of her own. "Thank you both."
The men left and Vicky and Amy went over to join the others as the door closed behind them.
"It's been a lot of fun, Raptaur," Vicky said with a smile. "But I need to get back."
"Thanks for all the help. It was very… helpful," Taylor replied, grinning. Vicky didn't even twitch at the teeth now, which Amy found amusing.
"You coming, Sis?" the blonde asked.
Amy looked at Taylor, then shook her head. "I'll stay for a while longer. I'm sure I can make it home easily enough."
"OK. What do you want me to tell Mom?"
"That I'm still annoyed and I'm thinking things over," Amy sighed. "Which is true."
"All right." Her sister hugged her for a second, waved politely to the other two, then grabbed her bag of slightly damp normal costume and her helmet and left.
They all watched her go, Amy smiling slightly. "I wonder if she'll change into the normal costume first," she commented.
"I'm not sure she's even noticing now," Taylor smiled. "There's half an hour until Armsmaster and Dragon are due, Amy. Tell me what happened. You really looked and smelled upset when you turned up this morning."
She sighed, then headed for the table her friend had made the night before, slumping into a chair with a thankful grunt. Danny sat in another one, while Taylor lowered herself to the floor and rested her arms on the table, watching her. "Mom found this costume this morning and sort of flew off the handle…" She began the story as both Heberts listened.
"Interesting," Dragon's voice said in his helmet as Colin approached the gate to the DWU complex.
He glanced up at where her combat suit was flying overhead, then asked, "What's interesting?"
"There are five warehouses completely demolished on the other side of the complex from here, recently by the looks of it, and very neatly. A large number of workers are clearing the rubble away. There's also one half-disassembled steel framed one in the same group next to the main yard. It looks like they're clearing the space for something big, something that needs a lot of room."
"Interesting," he echoed, slowing down when he came in sight of the guards.
"I just said that."
"I know."
She laughed a little, which slightly confused him, but he dismissed it as he stopped when the nearest guard, the same one he'd met the previous time, stepped forward. "Hello, Armsmaster. Welcome back. You're here to see Raptaur?"
"Yes," he replied.
"She left word. You're expected. Go around the main building to the right for about four hundred yards, towards the bay, then take the right turning into the work yard. She's in one of the buildings there."
"Which one?" he asked, wishing that people would be more specific in their directions.
The man smiled. "Don't worry, you'll know it when you see it." He stepped back and motioned to his colleague who opened the gate and waved Colin and his bike through. Moving slowly into the compound he followed the directions, Dragon shadowing him from above, to find the turning which he entered. It proved to be a fairly large offshoot of the main yard, lined with buildings and workshops.
Stopping the bike he stared, as Dragon's suit landed beside him with a faint thump and a descending whine as the turbines spooled down.
"He was right," she said wryly.
Both of them inspected the large sign above one of the roller doors. It was dark blue-black, the exact color of Raptaur's scales and armor, with silver metallic writing on it.
The writing proclaimed the message:
Brockton Bay Family Operations, LLC
Established 2011
Associated with the BB Dock Workers Union
"cchtenff nnnshugg h'uh'e"
Trespassers will be mercilessly mocked and/or eaten
There was a phone number and email address under this, with the same logo that Saurial had on her armor, that of a roaring dinosaur's head or something of that nature seen in profile, with great detail.
Colin stared at the sign for some time, then turned to Dragon, who was somehow emoting both amusement and confusion simultaneously. The metallic dragon's head turned to look down at him. "What?" they both said at once, then stopped.
She motioned for him to speak first.
"What language is that slogan in?" he asked, puzzled. He didn't recognize it.
"A fictional language called Cthuvian, or R'ylehian, invented initially by the author H P Lovecraft in the early twentieth century," she replied with a slight sigh in her voice. "Our lizard people have a weird sense of humor, all things considered."
"What does it say?" he asked curiously.
"Loosely translated, something along the lines of 'we/our society watch/protect the realm of earth (and) its people'. The language is limited but I think it actually means something like, 'The Family protects its land and its people'. Warning and statement of intent in one."
The large roller door suddenly hummed into action, slowly rising to reveal Raptaur standing there against a brightly lit background. The reptilian cape grinned widely, showing a lot of teeth and making him twitch reflexively, his hand briefly moving towards his Halberd which was slung on his back. She obviously noticed but said nothing about it.
"Exactly right, Dragon. A pleasure to meet you," the female creature said happily. "I like the name for some reason." Standing aside she waved towards the interior of the building. "Enter freely and of your own will."
Her deep voice sounded very amused. Colin sighed very slightly, glanced at Dragon who shrugged, then dismounted, following his friend inside the premises.
"This should be interesting indeed," Dragon muttered loudly enough for him to hear as they went inside, the door rumbling shut behind them.