Hannah listened with interest to the story that Grue, Regent, and Tattletale took turns telling, making notes to help her organize her memories later. An eidetic memory was extremely useful but remembering everything could result in a lot of clutter since most of it wasn't very relevant. Notes to let her instantly locate the appropriate memory helped considerably as she'd found out years ago. They'd have been unreadable to anyone but her as they were more or less her own version of shorthand, not actually full writing, more concepts than anything else.
She also kept a wary eye on Raptaur. The presence of the enormous reptile was unnerving, considering what she and the Director suspected. Even if it was what they thought was the much less likely scenario, a Changer of absolutely unparalleled ability, the creature was still very worrying, not least because she did an extremely good impression of not being human in certain key respects. If it was an act it was an amazingly convincing one. Even the body language was subtly wrong, although totally consistent with what she appeared to be.
All in all, the more she studied her, the more she felt that there was no likely way to explain the reptilian cape except as someone or something that had always been what she looked like. There didn't seem to be any other sensible explanation. She'd thought up half a dozen, increasingly unlikely, scenarios that would explain part to all of what was observed about both Saurial and Raptaur, but they generally made even less sense.
Some sort of biological power suit was one she'd come up with, as it wasn't unknown, and it would fit the odd dual emotional signature that Gallant had reported from Saurial, but it still had major issues. In her specific case she was slender enough that there was no obvious way a normal human, even a fairly small female one for example, could actually fit inside her and still leave room for the actual suit.
Raptaur was easily big enough for even a full grown man to fit inside a construction of her size, but she doubted it was actually that easy an explanation. It just didn't seem to fit on a number of points, many of which were subconscious and difficult to explain. On the whole, she tended to believe that both of them were what they appeared to be, whatever that actually was.
The horrendously enormous 'Sea Serpent' that Colin and Dragon had run into was large enough for an entire crew of people but it had been encountered at such a great depth and seemed so alive that again she doubted that was a good explanation.
No, Changer or Biotinker-engineered life form, those seemed the most reasonable of a series of very unreasonable options at the moment, and of the two she still favored the second as it just seemed to fit observed facts and behavior better. Which didn't make her any happier.
It was also very clear that both of them were very intelligent, somewhat worryingly so, and observant as well. Those glowing slit-pupiled eyes didn't miss anything. Raptaur spoke like a well educated person, knowledgeable in several subjects although not an expert in most of them. But she was also obviously listening and learning all the time, as one would expect from someone smart and driven. She was already physically formidable to a level Hannah found horrifying. Given time she had no doubt that the cape would become even more dangerous as she learned more about how the world worked and how to use her abilities to move it in directions she wanted.
Whatever those actually were.
The motives of this 'Family', the existence of which appeared to be accepted fact now even though no one had even seen more than one of them at once, were essentially unknown. Saurial definitely seemed to be of a Heroic bent, while Raptaur, although she had a much more direct approach, should probably also be considered to be of that type. For the moment, anyway. For all she knew, they were just doing this to get the public to trust them, then their true plan would unfold.
Catching herself, Hannah mentally sighed. She was getting as paranoid as the Director. If the older woman thought like that all the time it was a wonder she wasn't holed up in her apartment armed to the teeth.
The problem was that when you thought about these strange lizard-like capes, that's the way you tended to end up thinking despite yourself. Or possibly simply whimpering in fear and hiding under the bed.
With a light.
She was very curious as to how Raptaur had apparently driven Lung off, after what the evidence showed was a very considerable fight. The damage to the immediate area was significant, indicating that Lung had escalated to a level that very few capes could have survived encountering. They'd also found blood and other evidence that a more normal human had been present, presumably Tattletale. Who was currently watching her with a small smirk visible through the mouth of her metal mask.
The girl seemed to trust Raptaur, which was interesting and concerning in equal quantities. It implied, among other things, that they'd met before, probably quite extensively. There seemed to be a level of trust present which was a little peculiar.
That said, nothing like the level of trust between Raptaur and Panacea, who was leaning back in her chair with her feet on the table listening to the Undersider's story with an air of amused interest. Every now and them she looked around at the others, her gaze inevitably going back to meet Raptaur's, who was also looking amused in her own very alien way. It was more than a little strange, considering that the two had apparently known each other for only about a week based on all the information she'd been able to find out. The talk with Carol Dallon and Sarah Pelham had been very enlightening, although she strongly suspected that they would never have been so forthcoming to someone outside New Wave if they hadn't been suffering from what appeared to be absolutely epic hangovers and as a result rather more free with gossip that they probably would be happy about when they recovered fully.
She was expecting a call from one or other of them to ask that she be discreet with what she'd been told. Hannah intended to do exactly that, the Director had no need to learn all the dirty laundry of New Wave as long as it didn't present a threat, which the bulk of it clearly didn't. It was private information and she'd honor that concept. After all, if the situation was reversed she'd hope that both of them would give her the same courtesy and strongly suspected they would. While New Wave had their issues, on the whole they were good people.
Her gaze moving around the table, she stopped on Danny Hebert, who was listening carefully, even though he'd apparently heard this before. She got the impression he was comparing both stories to look for inaccuracies, extra information, or any inconsistencies. His expression was intent and focused. Watching him, she got the definite impression that he missed little and would be a considerable opponent on the other side of a negotiating table. It was also interesting that he seemed utterly unmoved by the presence of Raptaur and utterly unimpressed by the presence of herself and Colin.
The man next to him, the excessively large black guy who was also listening while his eyes constantly moved around as if he was looking for trouble and intended to deal with it very firmly should it arise, was an interesting person too. He didn't seem fussed about sitting next to a giant lizard that outweighed him at least six to one and could make a snack of him without trying, and wasn't particularly impressed with anyone else there either. She remembered him being present the first time she'd encountered Raptaur during that horrific episode, one couldn't call it a fight, that the reptile had had with Hookwolf. He'd seemed more amused than worried then too. Which implied previous contact, once again.
It was looking very much like the DWU knew a lot more about both Raptaur and Saurial than anyone else did, which she found… weird. Although if it was a Biotinker, it would almost certainly be a member of the DWU, possibly on this site, but much more likely in the surrounding abandoned warehouses, probably with access to the water. She made a mental note to do a little research to see if there was anything that anyone had noticed that might be suspicious, but thought it unlikely since whoever was behind all this was apparently far too careful. It certainly seemed likely that it was a fairly well organized and funded group based on all the evidence so far.
The whole thing was peculiar even in her terms, and worrying as well, since up until Saurial's appearance there had been no sign at all of any such group. Now, suddenly, strange events were popping up all over the place, even as far north as the coast of Quebec. There was still no good, or even vague, explanation for wildly over-powered weapons tests up there. She'd talked to Dragon about it and decided the Canadian cape was at least as confused about it as the rest of them, possibly more so. On the other hand, whoever it was had handed her Saint and his friends on a plate so she got the definite impression that at the moment Dragon mainly wanted to find those responsible to shake their hands and thank them.
Her hindbrain listening to the explanation from the Undersiders and making notes, she let her gaze rove across everyone present again, thinking. Could it be Panacea as the Biotinker? They didn't have a clear idea of her powers after all, although everything that they did have on record simply showed she was a Striker specializing in healing. Nothing had ever come up to suggest anything else, she'd checked thoroughly, and her own family said the same thing when she'd delicately broached the subject in as roundabout a manner as she'd been capable of. Not to mention, as she'd discussed with the Director, the time line simply didn't fit at all.
Danny Hebert was very unlikely for similar reasons. There was no indication of any parahuman powers, except possibly an inhuman level of patience and the ability to keep talking until the city council and mayor gave in, coupled with a serious resolve. But she knew quite a lot of smart driven individuals who would meet the same criteria. They tended to be very successful once they found their niche, which he clearly had done. If he'd triggered at the time of his wife's death, which reportedly had badly affected him, she was certain that something would have come up in her research, it was simply too much time for a Biotinker to have not let at least something slip.
Likewise, the timescale was much too short in the other direction, the events surrounding his daughter. It was only a little over five weeks and Saurial had appeared only about ten days or so after that point. She couldn't see any way someone could have made, programmed, and let loose something as polished and functional as the first lizard-girl in only a week and a half from a standing start. Nilbog had taken much longer and his first attempts were crude mockeries of life by comparison. Blasto wasn't even in the running.
Thinking about Taylor Hebert for a moment, she once more contemplated that the girl herself might be responsible in some way. As Colin had said at the point they'd first found out, it was as good a possible Trigger event as any she'd ever heard of. But yet again the timeline was wrong, completely. Not to mention the girl wasn't even sixteen yet and the second emotional signature that Gallant had reported was, in his own words, older and wiser. Plus of course, none of the wards thought that the girl was anything other than a friendly and intelligent young woman who had a knack for making friends easily. All the ones that had direct interaction with her, which was admittedly mainly Dennis, although both Chris and Dean mentioned that they'd talked to her, said she was basically a nice girl who smiled a lot.
A wild idea came to her and she paused her writing for a moment.
After a moment she shook her head a tiny amount and went back to writing. The idea that Taylor Hebert could be a Changer of that level was more than a little ridiculous. Mainly because of the whole knowing far too much about combat techniques part of it than anything, although there was also an enormous amount of doubt in her mind that there was any Changer that powerful out there. Saurial was possible. Raptaur wasn't impossible. But that fucking enormous swimming thing? It was hundreds of times larger than any Changer's form they'd ever seen before. It was several times larger than Leviathan, for god's sake!
No chance.
She'd studied the videos that they had of Saurial and Raptaur at work, and gone over the report Sarah Pelham had given her, many times. She was certain that the combat proficiency that she saw there with the eye of an expert was the result of many years experience. Either learned the hard way or programmed in, copied from someone who had learned the hard way. That eliminated practically all of the obvious other possibilities.
If it was a Changer, it was one that had been around for a considerable time, somehow staying out of sight while gathering serious combat experience. If it was a Biotinker, it was one that had also been around for a while, possibly having moved to Brockton Bay fairly recently for some reason, and probably being a member of a fairly large organization with a number of capes including one or more Tinkers and one or more Thinkers as well. Whichever it was, she wanted to figure it out, because it was worrying either way around. If only because they knew too much about the PRT internal operational techniques and at the same time seemed to be completely invisible. It was worse than Coil and he was a pain in the ass at best.
She could understand the Director's paranoia a lot better these days than she ever had before now.
Glancing back to Raptaur she was a little worried to see those eyes fixed on her with an expression that to her imagination looked evaluating and a little judging. She now very much regretted her instinctive near-pulling of a weapon, something she'd never have done normally, but being in close proximity to the reptilian cape made all her 'Oh, shit, this is bad' buttons get pressed at once no matter how much she tried to suppress the feelings and she'd ended up much more jumpy that she was happy about. It was made a lot worse because of all the poking around she was doing into her origins, something that made her worry about the reaction should either Saurial or Raptaur find out about it. While it was part of the entire PRT job, it was also in some ways skirting a little close to the edge of the Rules and she somehow got the impression that both lizard-people took them fairly seriously.
Probably due to the way it protected their own people, which Saurial had made very clear was something that was of over-riding importance to her. She couldn't see Raptaur being anything less than equally concerned about it. Which in turn mean that threatening someone they cared about would be a life-threatening, if not life-ending, proposition.
A fine sweat broke out on her brow when she started wondering if anyone in the room counted as a person of interest in that manner. She looked at Panacea and became convinced the answer was yes. So, in all probability, it had looked to Raptaur as if she was holding a weapon ready in close proximity to someone she would kill to protect.
'Fuck,' she thought with a slight jump to her heart. 'That could have gone very badly very quickly.' In retrospect the reactions Raptaur had shown were remarkably restrained if what she suspected was true.
Resolving to keep an iron grip on her reactions in future, just in case, and also fairly sure that Colin was going to bring this up when they were somewhere else, she sighed very faintly, putting more of her attention on listening as Grue started to wind up his story, and less on the direction her thoughts were leading her. It seemed safer.
She noticed that Raptaur was still watching her but now seemed to be emoting mild amusement and wondered with a certain degree of paranoia how much of her internal monologue the huge reptile had managed to derive somehow. The look suggested more than she was happy with.
The way that Raptaur winked at her, then deliberately looked away to study Tattletale, who was also somehow seeming too smug for her liking, just made it worse.
The story that the Undersiders related was one that Colin found answered most of his questions pretty effectively. It also showed that these young people were fairly competent in their chosen field, although they had made some mistakes in both execution and design of their plan, mistakes that had nearly cost them their lives. On the other hand, for people who had not much in the way of resources and military background, they'd actually done a remarkably good job all things considered.
Hannah was also listening with interest, making some notes occasionally, but probably mainly relying on her eidetic memory. He was recording everything, of course, and was sure Raptaur was aware of it. Both of them asked for clarification on various points during the course of the story, but it eventually stopped, Grue having given over to Regent and Tattletale on occasion to fill in from their points of view.
When they finished, Colin studied them for a while. "Thank you," he finally said. "It confirms one of my theories nicely and explains a number of things I was wondering about."
He turned to Raptaur, who had been listening quietly, as had the rest of the people present. "Can I ask how you dealt with Lung?"
"Of course." She smiled. "We fought for a while, which was an interesting exercise. He regenerates very fast indeed, much faster than I expected. Killing him would have been fairly easy but I wanted to avoid that if possible. I have no real quarrel with him, after all. In the end, we came to an arrangement. It was obvious to both of us that he couldn't actually win and I persuaded him to leave without further damage in exchange for his life. He seemed… unhappy with the deal but resigned to it. I suspect he will keep his end of it if I keep mine."
"How could you make a deal with someone like Lung?" Hannah asked, sounding surprised. "He's a multiple murderer."
"Yes, I know, but he's also not currently my problem. I stopped him killing Tattletale, which was the main thing I was concerned about, and prevented him escalating enough to threaten the DWU and the surrounding area, which was the other issue. After that, as long as he goes away and doesn't bother us again, I had no real reason to stop him. I could, I suppose, have subdued him and handed him over to you guys, but based on past performance I'm not particularly certain that would have kept him off the streets for long." She smiled with a few teeth visible. "If he comes back I can try that if you want. Or I can just kill him. He probably tastes like chicken."
She tipped her head to the side thoughtfully. "With a sort of barbecue seasoning. Damn. Now I'm hungry again." She licked her lips while Hannah shuddered.
"Stop trying to scare everyone," Panacea sighed, although she was also smiling.
"Trying to scare everyone?" Grue quipped. "She's not trying."
Raptaur chuckled, glancing at him.
"No, I'm not going to go around completely destroying the current status quo by taking out every villainous cape in the city. I can't see how that can result in anything but chaos. I'll stop crimes that I see happening, just like Saurial does, but I'm not hunting down big name capes in general just because I can, with one or two exceptions. If I start that, it'll never end. We have much better things to do than get involved in politics to that level."
"Odd behavior for a Hero," Colin noted dispassionately.
"Who said I was a Hero?" she replied with a smirk. "I'm not a Villain. That's all the commitment you're going to get from me at the moment."
"I see." Weirdly, he did. "That still leaves the issue of the Undersiders. We have no particular interest in Tattletale or Regent, aside from wanting to classify their powers. I suspect that there could even be a case for suggesting that they might be interested in joining the Wards, if they were of the right age, or the Protectorate if not, presuming they actually wish to give up the Villain lifestyle before they go deeply enough into it to make such a thing awkward."
"An interesting offer," Raptaur said slowly.
"Not without precedent," he replied. "We would prefer capes on the side of good one way or the other. Grue..." He looked at the young man who was obviously the leader of the Undersiders, which fitted his background information. "Grue is slightly more complicated. He has a number of charges on file, although in the main they are relatively minor. I expect a deal could be struck fairly easily if he does intend to stop committing crimes. I would strongly suggest that he considers this path. He and his team got extremely lucky this time. They might not do so another time. The lifespan of small teams, or individual capes, tends to be short."
He glanced at Raptaur, who was watching and listening carefully. "There are exceptions, of course."
"Of course," she smiled.
"Hellhound..."
"Bitch," the girl interrupted. He looked at her.
"Excuse me?"
"My name is Bitch. Not Hellhound."
"My apologies. Bitch, then. Bitch is more of a problem. There is a first degree murder by means of Parahuman powers charge on record for her. That is very difficult to avoid or get around. The Director could probably be persuaded to allow her teammates to remain in the custody of The Family, or the DWU for that matter, if you effectively guarantee their good behavior and enforce it. Which I have little doubt you can do. But I very much doubt that she would be amenable to ignoring such a charge, and even if she was, I guarantee that there are those above her in the PRT who definitely would not be."
He looked around at them all. "For whatever reason she has, Director Piggot seems unwilling to intervene in your operation. I myself find it interesting, somewhat concerning, but in the end apparently more on the side of Heroic than otherwise even if very unconventional. That may change in the future, it may not. But there are limits."
"There are also extenuating circumstances, Armsmaster," Tattletale said, sitting up more fully and looking at him intently. "Bitch is… well, admittedly probably not actually completely innocent, but the charge that's on file is wrong. She didn't murder anyone."
"Explain, please," he requested, opening a new recording file with a twitch of an eyelid.
She glanced at her colleague, who was scowling again, an expression that seemed to be fairly common to her. He was building the opinion that the girl knew even less about human interaction than he did. Bitch swore under her breath, then shrugged. "Tell him," she snapped, leaning back and crossing her arms defensively.
Tattletale nodded, then began explaining the circumstances of Bitch's trigger, as always a traumatic event. Colin well understood the girl's reluctance to have it discussed. No cape ever enjoyed talking about the worst day of their lives. As the blonde girl talked, he came to realize that she was right, it wasn't as simple as the charges against Rachel Lindt made it out to be.
"Hell," Hannah finally muttered when Tattletale stopped talking. "That's a mess."
"She's basically innocent of the charge as stated, I think, presuming that the story is true," Colin noted.
"It is. You can probably check it easily enough, it's just that no one ever cared enough to even try," Tattletale replied. She shrugged. "She has a scary power, people over-react. She's also very bad with normal human interactions and is kind of aggressive." Bitch stared at her companion, who looked back apologetically. "Sorry, but it's true."
"Don't fucking like hearing it," the girl grumbled.
"Like in so many capes, what else could she do but end up on the wrong side of the law?" the blonde asked. She waved a hand around at her team. "We all have similar stories. I suspect almost all villains do. The entire system is stacked against us. Only a few people who trigger end up on the Heroic side, from what I've found out it's probably only about a quarter or so. Not all of that is because they're bad people."
"It's about twenty-eight percent, but I admit you have a good point," Colin sighed. "I have had similar thoughts myself in the past." He turned to look at Hannah who was deep in thought. "What do you think? I would want to check out that story and confirm the details, but if it does check out, Bitch has been charged with a crime she didn't commit. If we take her in officially, I don't know if we would be able to prevent a miscarriage of justice. As soon as she's in the system we'd have a lot of trouble changing the course of it. Even the Director would struggle to over-ride anything assuming she wanted to."
"We don't have the authority to just let her go," Hannah replied. "Even if her story is completely true. The charges need to be properly answered, and this brought up as mitigation. But I agree it would be wrong to just throw her on the mercy of the courts, as they don't have much where it comes to Parahuman crimes that end up with people dead."
"Why don't you leave her here, under the protection of Raptaur and her family, while you discuss it with Director Piggot and check the veracity of Tattletale's explanation," Danny suggested after a moment. "We have living facilities on site that we have already offered the use of. They undertake to stay on site, essentially under house arrest, until you decide how you want to proceed. Raptaur and Saurial can easily make sure they stick to their word, they can't escape either of them, never mind both of them." He looked at the teenagers with a small smile of his own. "Which they all know. Not to mention they also know that if they leave, Lung may take an interest in them."
Looking back, he continued, "That way they're not committing any crimes, you know exactly where they are, and if you need to talk to them you can come and do it. But they're not officially in PRT custody and not in the system, so you have flexibility."
Colin considered the suggestion, then glanced at Hannah, who was obviously doing the same. She looked back. "It's possible, I suppose," she somewhat reluctantly said after several seconds. "Releasing them into the custody of an independent Hero team. It's not entirely without precedent. I'm not sure the Director will be pleased, though."
"What if we offered some extra benefits," Raptaur said slowly, glancing at Tattletale, who looked back, then nodded a very small amount. "Information that you might find valuable."
"What information?" Hannah asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Coil's identity, location, and resources." Tattletale stared at them.
"WHAT?" Hannah yelped in shock. "How the hell could you possibly know that?"
"Because he's the one who's been paying us to pull these crimes and is the one who actually put the team together," the blonde girl said smugly.
"WHAT?" This time it was her other three teammates who yelped, apparently not having known this little piece of information. Seconds later a furious argument started.
After thirty seconds of shouting, Raptaur clapped her hands, hard enough that everyone felt the shockwave. It sounded like a gunshot. "Quiet!. You can argue about that later. Right now we need to talk about something else."
Settling down although not without a number of aggrieved looks at Tattletale, the other three Undersiders fell silent. She nodded with satisfaction, before turning to the blonde. "Tell them about Coil. Everything you currently know."
"OK." Tattletale did exactly that. It was a significant amount of information, little of which they'd had on file. Colin contemplated it as she spoke. Eventually, after a good half hour, or more precisely thirty-one minutes, four and a half seconds, she stopped. "We don't yet know where Coil is," she added after a moment. "However, we do have a method to track him and Raptaur is confident that she and Saurial can find him fairly easily, and his base."
"We were planning on dealing with him ourselves," Raptaur put in. "But it may be more sensible to join forces. We don't know for sure what his power is but it seems to involve either some sort of precognition or possibly probability manipulation, according to Tattletale. Perhaps you'll be able to work it out and devise a counter for it." She smiled slowly. "I was just going to smash his front door down and grab him by the throat. You might have a different solution. Although if you want me to, I'm happy to stick with the original plan."
"You have to be very careful who you give the information to, though," Tattletale warned. "I know for a fact that he has a minimum of three people working directly in the PRT in some capacity, and also has some sort of history there. What, when, and why I'm not yet sure about. Assume all your internal security is compromised. If you talk about any of this, or knowing where I am, you can be sure he'll find out almost instantly and may well change whatever plans he has."
"That would actually match with some of the data we already have," Hannah mused out loud, looking very interested. "I'm going to have to talk to the Director about this. She will probably want to talk to you herself."
"Do it here, then," Raptaur offered. "I know this place is secure. We don't know that about anywhere else."
"I assume the entire building is lined with EDM now?" Colin asked, looking around, then up. "It would make an extremely effective faraday cage. No electromagnetic signal will get in or out."
"We've noticed, the cell phones all stop working completely as soon as the door is closed," she commented. "It's a bit of a nuisance but at least we can't be easily bugged."
"I can suggest some solutions for that if you would like," he told her. "I'll produce a list of required commercially available equipment that would allow you to use phones and the radios the DWU use inside the building, but can be turned off when you require security."
"Thanks, that would be a big help," she smiled.
Nodding to her, he looked at his companion. "What do you think? Personally, I feel we should accept the current state of affairs and report it to the Director. I am inclined to recommend we proceed as Mr Hebert suggests."
She glanced at him, then studied the others around the table. Eventually she sighed a little. "Under the circumstances I'm forced to provisionally agree. The chance to capture Coil and root out his agents is too much to pass up. But if any of you cause any problems..." She fixed each Undersider in turn with a glare. "I will not be in a good mood."
"Understood, Ma'am," Grue replied politely.
"In that case, we should get back and start preparing our reports," Colin announced, standing up. "The death of Oni Lee isn't something you will need to worry about in my opinion, based on your testimony. It was either accidental, or deliberate suicide, depending on your viewpoint, and I'm fairly confident that it will be listed as such. I will note that in my report."
"Thank you." Raptaur rose, then headed to the door. "I'm pleased you were willing to listen. I'm sorry about grabbing your hand, Miss Militia, but as I said, in here, no fighting."
Hannah didn't respond, but she nodded stiffly.
"I'm going to be looking for Coil and his base. I'll let you know when I find it and him."
"Thank you." Colin shook her hand. "It was interesting seeing you once more. I will be in touch soon on a number of matters."
"Of course." She opened the door and stood aside. Both of them exited, hearing the door close behind them with a click.
Colin looked at Hannah, who seemed to be thinking hard. "Please don't threaten people under the protection of a non-hostile cape who could kill us both without trying very hard right in front of her again, if you can avoid it."
His friend and colleague nodded absently, then followed him to the bikes. Shortly they were heading back to base and what he suspected was a long series of arguments with Director Piggot. With a tiny sigh he started composing his report in his head, wishing he could go back to working on something useful instead. His halberd hadn't been upgraded for nearly a week.
Amused at the short conversation on the other side of the door, Taylor turned around and looked at the other people in her building, then shrugged. "That went a hell of a lot better than I thought it would," she said as she walked back to the table.
"Armsmaster is a strange guy, but he's very rational," Amy replied. "You presented him with a series of well argued positions and he mostly agreed with you. He clearly respects you as well, which helped a lot."
"Miss Militia has a major problem with you, though," Lisa commented as she removed her temporary mask, tossing to the table. Brian and Alec did the same. "I don't know exactly what but she's scared of you, and worried as well. Or, actually more about what you represent for some reason." She frowned a little. "I'm not sure what it means but that's what my power is saying."
"Weird." Taylor thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, it didn't stop her listening, so I guess we don't need to worry about it for now."
"We were working for Coil?" Brian suddenly exploded. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"He told me not to, and he's not someone you ignore," Lisa explained with a sigh. "Not if you don't want a mercenary pointing a gun at your head and making it very clear that he'll pull the trigger without thinking twice if he's ordered too. The man is very dangerous and doesn't care about the Rules at all."
"What did he have us doing all those odd operations for?" Alec asked. "What was the point?"
"No idea right now," she replied. "When we get the bastard you can ask him."
Neither boy seemed particularly happy but both of them went quiet. Lisa looked at Rachel, who seemed to be annoyed as well, one hand on each of her dogs which were sitting on either side of her chair. "You should have told us," was all the girl said, then she just sat back and frowned a little.
"Well, I think that we've probably covered about everything we need to, so far," her father stated, looking around. "You four are as I said welcome to stay, subject to the conditions we discussed. Don't let me down."
"We won't, Sir," Brian said, looking at his team-mates, who all nodded one after the other, Rachel after apparently thinking for a moment. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we're grateful for the opportunity we've been given. Although there are some other issues I personally have that I now need to work out."
"Something we can help with?"
Brian sighed. "I don't know. I have a sister, one I love but sometimes wish would go away." He shrugged, smiling a little. "She's an absolute pain in the ass, it's a gift. But I also have parents who are problems for different reasons. I've been trying to get custody of my sister. It's complicated, she's with my Dad right now, but that's not working out for either of them. If it goes to court right now she'll end up back with Mom, and there's no way I'm going to allow that. Not after what happened. Our 'Boss' was helping with Child Services, got me a legitimate job to make them happy, things like that. All of that is out the window."
"I see." Her father looked thoughtfully at Brian. "Would a job help? We have a number of positions that will be opening up soon here, and will be looking for people with experience in a number of fields. What were you doing?"
"I was working for a construction company doing framing, dry-walling, that sort of thing. I'm good with my hands and have a couple of years experience with similar work from previous part-time jobs."
"He's also pretty good at fighting, he knows a fair bit about several forms of hand to hand combat," Lisa put in.
"Interesting. So, carpentry, or possibly security." Her father looked at Zephron. "What do you think?"
"He's a big kid, looks after himself." Zephron studied Brian for a moment, then stood up. "Get up, will you, and come over here."
He walked to the middle of the room. Brian, after a glance at his friends, followed. He was a tall and well muscled young man, but Zephron could have made two of him easily.
"OK. Defend yourself." The huge man threw a punch, fairly fast but not as quickly as Taylor suspected he could. Brian ducked, evaded it neatly, then responded with a return strike. They exchanged blows for a minute or so, using a couple of styles, something that looked like classical boxing to her, and another one that was vaguely similar to her own combat style but much slower. Brian staggered from a blow to the chest, then kicked out, catching Zephron in the hip and making him fall back. The large man winced a little and held up a hand. "That's enough." He looked at her father.
"The girl's not wrong, this kid has some skill. He's quick and strong as well. Mark could probably use him if Jason can't."
"Good. All right, Grue, if you want a paying job, I can find something. It won't be a huge salary to start with because we don't have a lot of spare cash yet, but it will be official. Not that you need the money, of course."
Her father smiled. "You probably have more cash than the DWU does right now."
"Thank you, Mr Hebert," Brian said, looking both surprised and grateful. "That should help a lot."
"Call me Danny. We'll need to get your paperwork sorted out, and talk to Child Services to tell them you've changed jobs, but that shouldn't be too hard. But..."
"But you need my civilian ID," Brian said as he came back and sat down.
"Pretty much. I understand if you don't want to let us know, I know what capes think about that sort of thing, and I'll see what I can do if you decide not to tell us, but it will be more difficult to help." Taylor's father shrugged a little apologetically. "You understand."
Brian sighed. "I do." He pulled his domino mask off, then held out his hand. "Brian Laborn. It's nice to meet you, Danny."
Taylor watched with mild astonishment at how quickly all that had happened. She looked at Amy, who shrugged, and Lisa, who stared back for a moment, sighed heavily, and removed her own mask. "What the hell. We're all friends here and she already knows anyway," she said, nodding to Taylor. "Not to mention that she could work it out without any real trouble if she wanted to." Lisa indicated Amy, who smiled a little.
"Lisa Wilbourn." She held out her hand, which Danny shook.
"Nice to meet you, Lisa. And I know that Bitch is Rachel Lindt, of course." He smiled at her expression. "I've done my homework on Brockton Bay capes."
"Are we really doing this?" Alec complained. His friends all looked hard at him. "I don't want to," he said petulantly, folding his arms.
"You don't have to, if you don't want to." Her father grinned at him. "I won't insist, of course. That would be rude."
"But Raptaur already knows about you as well," Lisa pointed out with a certain amount of glee, making him look at her, then Taylor. She nodded.
"How?" he asked curiously.
"I have very good hearing, and a sense of smell you wouldn't believe," she replied with a smile. "It wasn't difficult."
He studied her for a few seconds, then his eyes widened. "Holy shit. You mean you can identify any cape you meet?"
She raised a finger and put it across the front of her muzzle. "It's a secret," she grinned.
"I'm not surprised," he muttered, then shook his head, before ripping his mask off and throwing it on the table. "There. Fine. You win, Lisa."
"And this is Alec. No last name he'll admit to." Lisa smiled winningly at her colleague, who gave her an upraised middle finger but smiled a little himself. "He's no trouble to look after. Give him a big TV, a stack of the latest video games, and somewhere comfortable to sleep, and the only thing you need to worry about is the snarky comments every time you walk past. He even feeds himself."
Everyone but Alec laughed. He merely looked proud. Which made them laugh more.
"I'm sure we can reach a suitable arrangement, Alec," Taylor's father said. He looked around at them all. "No one in this room will tell anyone out there who you are. My word on that. But, our people aren't stupid. We all know that the Undersiders are local to us, most people here have an idea of where your base is, and I suspect that most of them will work it out. The one thing I can say is that they won't talk about it, at all outside, and not unless you bring it up inside. That's up to you. It will be considered Union business and more to the point Family business. Unless you do something stupid and attract attention, people will leave you alone. All they ask is that you do the same back, pull your weight if you're working, and stay out of the way if you're not. Quite a few of the guys have sketchy pasts in various ways and no one holds it against them as long as it stays in the past. You understand what I'm saying?"
Four heads nodded, slightly surprisingly including Rachel, who seemed oddly happy now.
"Good. Hopefully this will all work out for everyone. I need to get back to work now, but Zephron will show you where you'll be staying and where to get food, and introduce you to people you'll need to know." He looked at Taylor for a moment. "I'd suggest that you leave most of your ill-gotten gains in here for now, it's definitely the most secure place in the facility, but that's up to you. Unless you want to give it back to Lung and see if it makes him any happier."
"We worked hard for that money," Alec remarked immediately. "We stole it fair and square."
"He has a point," Brian added. "And I doubt very much that by now Lung would see the funny side anyway."
"Probably not. It was merely a suggestion." Her father looked them up and down. "You need some new clothes as well, those are ruined and stand out anyway."
"I'll arrange something, Danny," Zephron said.
"OK. In that case, welcome to the DWU, try not to get us all arrested, and I'll see you later." All four Undersiders got up and followed Zephron to the door. Lisa looked back at Taylor, who nodded, knowing that they were going to have to talk again. Soon, only she, Amy, and her father were left.
He sighed heavily. "You do know how to bring excitement to my life, dear," he said as she reverted to her base form for the first time in hours, going over and hugging him.
"Sorry, Dad. I didn't mean it to get this out of hand, but once I started I couldn't really stop," she said apologetically.
"I don't blame you," he smiled. "You did what you thought was right, saved four lives, possibly five if you count Lung, and seem to have impressed Armsmaster. Not to mention helped stop a huge gang fight and somehow terrified Miss Militia."
"I'm not really sure how I did that last one," Taylor admitted, puzzled. "She smelled really weird the whole time she was here. Much more worried than Armsmaster was, or than I'd have thought she should be. I wasn't really trying to scare her."
"You scare people just by being in the same room, Taylor," Amy grinned. "Especially as Raptaur, although Saurial can do it as well. It's a hell of a lot worse in the dark."
She smirked at her friend. "Oh, that part I know. But this was strange. Oh well, not much I can do about it right now."
"I hope that those guys are going to be OK," Amy said thoughtfully, looking at the door, then turning back to them. "I was really surprised they all agreed to tell you their real names."
"Brian knew he more or less had to, Rachel didn't care, Lisa was probably going to anyway sooner or later, and Alec just went with the flow." Taylor shrugged. "But even so I'm surprised it went that easily. We need to make sure it doesn't cause any problems for them." She looked at her father. "Are you sure no one will pass it on?"
He nodded. "Almost certain. You have to realize how close a group of people this is, Taylor. Most of them have worked here for ten, twenty years, sometimes more. They see it as all of us united against the world which doesn't really care about them. In many ways they're right. Without the work the DWU has drummed up for them all since the strikes and the economic collapse, at least half of the people here would have nothing. They're not going to put that at risk over four low level villains who are trying to go straight. Like I told them, there are people working here who have done worse in the past, but they've straightened their lives out and are productive members of society. They won't stop someone else doing the same thing."
He smiled slightly. "If anything, everyone will be pleased that there are more capes here. They like having you in all your various versions around, you're building quite a fan base here. If those guys pull their weight and don't rock the boat, it will work out for them. Although it could be a problem with Rachel. We'll have to see what happens. I'll talk to the legal department tomorrow and see what they say. It's not the first time we've had to deal with a DWU member who has run into the law, although it's not the specialty of the department. They're more contract law and that sort of thing. But they know the right people to go to."
"And it's not like Rachel can't afford a good lawyer now," Amy laughed, as she retrieved the three bags of cash and stacked them behind the workroom. "A quarter-share in seven hundred and fifty grand will buy her a lot of representation."
"Very true." After a moment, her father smiled a little. "The funny thing is that I have a feeling that the way the laws on parahuman crimes are worded, they might even have a legitimate claim to the money. I seem to recall that a Hero who takes down a Villain is entitled to confiscate certain assets of the Villain, including cash. If they're going straight, technically they're not Villains, so you might be able to argue that it counts. It's notable that neither Armsmaster or Miss Militia mentioned the cash even though Brian told them about it."
Amy and Taylor exchanged a glance. "They didn't say a thing, did they?" Taylor looked at the bags. "Weird."
"I think there's also a large reward on the capture of Oni Lee," Amy pointed out with a smile. "Maybe they could claim that too."
"That might be pushing their luck," her father grinned. "Personally, I'm more than a little surprised that it actually went as smoothly as it did all things considered. We'll have to see what the Director says. But Miss Militia seemed very interested indeed about the possibility of catching Coil."
"I think he's annoying them a lot," Taylor noted. "They may have some second thoughts because me tracking him down is probably a violation of the Rules to a certain extent, but if we make sure to get him in his base and not his civilian home, that would most likely satisfy everyone. I'll find him, then tell them where he is, and see what happens."
"Did Lisa give you the scent sample?" Amy asked curiously.
Taylor held up a transparent plastic bag with a crumpled tissue in it. "She slipped it to me before she got up," she said with satisfaction. "Tonight, I'm going on a Coil hunt. She gave me a few likely places to start the first time we talked."
"Good luck," he said, getting up. "I really do need to get to work, I have a number of things to write up and even more to read. When you've finished doing whatever it is you're doing in here come and find me."
He checked his watch. "Half past four. I'll probably be done myself in about two hours."
Glancing at Amy, Taylor nodded. "We'll be ready then."
"OK. Have fun." Smiling at them both, he left.
They looked at each other. "This has been a very weird weekend," Amy giggled.
"Tell me about it." Taylor shook her head, smiling wryly. "And it was supposed to be so simple. What the hell is Tuesday going to be like?"
"No idea," her friend said as she unlocked the door to the workroom and disappeared inside. "But I'm looking forward to finding out," her voice came through the open door. Grinning, Taylor joined her as they continued creating interesting things.