Taylor yawned, stirring her cereal, then started eating it. Her father looked at her with a smile.

"You were out late last night," he noted as he poured himself some orange juice. "Did you actually get any sleep at all?"

"About an hour and a half," she mumbled, putting more cereal into the left-over milk. "I'll be OK, normally it would be more than enough but after yesterday..." She trailed off, eating steadily, then picked the bowl up and drank the small amount of milk and sugary goodness left in the bottom.

"I'd worry about your diet if I didn't know full well you could eat the bowl as well and thrive on it," he chuckled. She grinned at him, putting it down, then yawned again. Shaking her head vigorously, she tried to wake up.

"More importantly, did you have any luck with your little expedition?" he asked.

"Sort of. I know where his base is, and I've identified forty-seven individuals who have gone in and out of it recently, including Coil. He's definitely inside it still, no one came in or left the whole time I was watching. Varga thinks he may have locked it down until he finds out what happened to the Undersiders or decides it's not a threat. He's obviously very paranoid and careful."

"It's not paranoia if someone really is after you," he smiled.

She grinned back with teeth showing. "Oh, I'm after him, all right. And I'll get him. Sooner or later. Do you think I should tell Armsmaster where his base is now, or wait until we positively identify him?"

Her father sat back in his chair and thought for a while. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "On balance it might be best to find out as much as you can first. You can look around without them spotting you much better than probably almost anyone, and if he figures out that someone is that close to him, he might do something stupid."

"His base is full of explosives and under the Wilson Financial Planning building, at least partially," she said soberly. "If he blew it I think the building would come down. He could kill a lot of people."

"Shit. That's bad."

Nodding, she explained everything she'd discovered. "I have no idea how you could build something that size right in the middle of the city without anyone noticing, but I don't remember there being any serious construction going on underground there."

"No, neither do I," he muttered, thinking. "Odd. It would certainly require a considerable amount of money, time, and effort. And specialist construction knowledge."

"Lisa got those documents from Lung's safe which she said were something to do with construction companies," Taylor pointed out. "Maybe there's a clue there?"

"Could be, yes. I'll talk to her when I go to work and have a look at the paperwork. I can make some discreet inquiries. If they used any people from any of the unions in the city I can probably find out about it."

"OK. Be careful, though, he might have some sort of way to find out about people poking into his affairs."

He smiled at her. "I know how to find things out without giving away why, Taylor."

"Good." She grinned at him, then reached for the toast. "Tonight I'll poke around some more. Varga suggested that he was unlikely to only have one base, he seems like the sort of guy with backup plans on top of backup plans. He's probably got more secret places he could hide. Although I'd be really surprised if they were as big as that one is, it must cover about a block or so. It's as big as one of the Endbringer shelters."

"Huh." He looked thoughtful. "That reminds me of something, but I can't quite remember it..." After a moment he shook his head. "No, it's right at the tip of my tongue but it won't come. I'll think about it. But yes, it sounds like you might be right."

"I also thought I'd take a few passes through the better residential areas as well, just run around for a bit looking for his scent. I think, and Varga agrees, that the guy probably lives in a nice house, not anything around here. It's worth a try anyway. I'll be able to smell somewhere he's been for a while from a mile away." She sighed a little. "If he actually walked there, or used public transportation, I'd already have him, but he's obviously using different vehicles and going by different routes each time. Real movie spy stuff."

"Sounds like a real character," her father commented.

"Not a nice one, though, from what Lisa said," Taylor scowled. After a moment, she shrugged, her mood improving. "Anyway, like I said, I'll get him. And if he's locked up in his base waiting to see what happens, hopefully that will minimize the damage he can directly do for the moment. I have other things to get on with." She rubbed her hands together with an evil grin. "I have cities to terrorize by moving a ship! Muah ha ha."

Her father stared for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Please don't do that when you're Kaiju, or we really will have the Triumvirate dropping in on us."

"Meh, I can take them," she giggled.

"Whether you could or not, I really don't want to find out," he grinned. "We don't need a massive Brute fight in the middle of an engineering project of this size. Try to keep the terror down to a faint background level."

"I'll do my best," she giggled. "Do you know how the Mayor is going to tell people about it?"

"Didn't you see the notice in the Sunday paper?" he asked. She shook her head, so he got up and disappeared into the living room for a moment, coming back with the paper in question. Leafing through it for a moment he found the right place then handed it to her. She read it with interest.

"OK, I guess that works."

"Roy is going to hold a press conference later this morning, around eleven, I think," he said as he sat down again. "There will be the local TV and Radio stations there, along with some press journalists. He said he was going to be as vague as possible but make sure people know it's safe, because he's a little worried that if he tells the truth, either people won't believe him and think he's gone nuts, or believe him and know he's gone nuts." He grinned as she laughed. "More or less his exact words."

"Has he informed the PRT?" she asked when she recovered.

"He's going to call the Director later, after the press conference, and invite her along. I don't think he's saying exactly what to expect." He grinned darkly. "They have a history. He wants to see her face."

"I think I like him," she snickered.

"He's a good man, especially for a politician," he agreed. "I like him too. Even though we've had our own issues in the past. Anyway, there will be a VIP viewing area on the helipad on top of City Hall which should have a perfect view. I've been invited along to it for the start. After that I'll go back to the Yard to coordinate things. We've got nearly a hundred volunteers for crowd control duty, radios and things like that for everyone, contacts with the BBPD who were grateful for the help… Hopefully everything on our end will go relatively smoothly."

"I sure hope so," she sighed. "I'll be sort of busy if trouble starts."

"We could ask Vicky if she and her family would like to be on standby for problems," he suggested after a moment. "That girl seems like she enjoys excitement, she'd probably jump at the chance to do something useful again."

"Not a bad idea," Taylor mused. "Amy will be there so we should be able to deal with any medical issues, Vicky could add some strength to it… I'll ask Amy to ask her on behalf of Raptaur. She can ask her family as well."

"It's probably better to do that than bring the PRT in on it," he said, finishing his breakfast and getting up to wash the dishes. "That will inevitably bring red tape and problems. If anything does go bad, they'll jump in anyway, but I'd prefer them to stay out of it unless that happens. I know Roy would as well."

"It's turning into a major thing, isn't it," Taylor remarked with mild resignation. "People are building it up into some huge event, when all I was planning on doing was moving an old ship a few miles. I never expected it to get so... complicated." She sighed a little, resting her head on one arm and looking at him. "I'm half-sorry I had the idea. Hopefully after this things will calm down a little."

Coming around the table he put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "It was always going to end up being a major event, dear. One way or another. It's way too big a change to the city for it just to be swept under the carpet." Patting her shoulder he picked up her dishes and took then to the sink as well. "Don't worry, you started something good. It's given a lot of hope to a lot of people who are really looking forward to seeing how it changes their lives, which I firmly believe will be for the better."

"Thanks, Dad," she smiled. "That helps a lot. It's just that sometimes it all piles in on me and I suddenly realize how insane my life is now."

"Fun, though, I hope?"

"Oh, god, yes. I wouldn't change a thing," she grinned.

Laughing, he picked her glass out of the sink, then winced when there was a cracking sound as it abruptly broke into two pieces, a chipped rim finally giving up. "Ouch," he yelped, whipping his hand out of the hot soapy water. His palm was dripping blood, but within a couple of seconds this stopped. By the time he ran the tap over his wounded hand, it wasn't wounded any more.

"Christ, that's definitely going to take some getting use to," he muttered, staring at his unmarked palm for a few seconds, before carefully reaching into the water and fishing out the broken glass. He looked at it, then shook his head, turning to drop it into the garbage. "Amy does amazing work. Remind me that we need to buy a new set of glasses, that's the third one that's broken in the last month."

"OK," she smiled, having watched the events with pleased approval once she'd realized he was in no danger. "Her symbiotes are pretty incredible. Some of the other ideas are… really amazing."

"Hopefully you two will let me in on the secret at some point," he smiled, draining the sink, then locating the broken off bit of glass and disposing of it.

"When we get it working, sure," she agreed. Pushing herself erect with a flick of her tail, she went over and hugged him. "I'm going to have to go, or I'll be late."

"OK. I'll check on Lisa and her friends and tell her you'll be in later. Are you going to tell her about yourself?"

"She already knows," Taylor said. She shrugged as he looked at her in mild surprise. "She's not stupid and her power is pretty incredible. But she'll keep her mouth shut. I'll talk to her later. Amy's at the hospital tonight, so it'll just be me."

"All right, then, that sounds fine. I'll contact Arcadia and give them notice that you'll be out all day tomorrow for unspecified but important family reasons, they allow that a few times a year as long as you don't push it." Danny smiled at her snicker.

"More like Family reasons," she giggled. "I'll see you later."

"Have fun, and thank Amy again for this," he told her, holding up his hand, looking impressed. "Best gift ever."

"You haven't seen the coat yet," she called back as she left the house, still smiling to herself.

Emily sighed just a little as she read the email. Picking up the phone she dialed a number, then waited for a moment. When it was answered after two rings and a curt "Armsmaster" was spoken, she asked with patient irritation, "Colin, what the hell are you up to now?"

There was a short pause. "I'm sorry, Director, I'm not sure of your meaning."

"My meaning is that I have just read a report from you, with input from Hannah if I'm any judge, which is an absolute masterpiece of saying almost nothing in as many words as possible. I've read statements from career politicians that had more actual substance to them. It's extremely out of character for either of you, you in particular, as your reports are normally short and to the point. Almost excessively so."

"I'm still unsure what you need to know, Director," the Tinker said in what she could swear was an evasive manner. "Perhaps we should meet in person to discuss the situation."

"We have a normal meeting scheduled for later this morning."

"I would prefer you to come to my lab," he replied. "For security reasons."

Pulling the handset from her ear she looked at it for a second, then replaced it. "Security reasons?"

"Yes, Director."

Emily thought rapidly for a moment. "Are you implying that the PRT building is in some way insecure?"

"I'm afraid I cannot go into details on the phone, Director," he replied, almost sounding apologetic. "For security reasons."

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes. "We're going to go around in circles in this conversation, aren't we?" she asked rhetorically. He didn't reply.

"Damn. All right, you win." She quickly checked her schedule, then moved a couple of things around. "This better be good."

"I think it is, but I can't say anything else for..."

"For security reasons," she completed for him. "Yes, I get the point. I'll be there at eleven AM."

"We'll be waiting for you," he replied, then the line went dead with a faint click.

"That man gets more annoying the more I deal with him," she muttered under her breath, putting the handset down with slightly more force than actually required. Turning back to her computer she fiddled with the schedule some more until she had a clear two hours from quarter to eleven to quarter to one.

As she finished, the phone rang. Picking it up absently, she answered, "Piggot," hearing the voice of her personal assistant reply.

"Director, I have Mayor Christner on the line for you."

She sighed again. Now what? Based on that notice on the paper it could be almost anything. "Put him through."

"Yes, Director."

The line beeped, then she said, "Hello, Roy. What can I help you with?"

"Hello, Emily. How are you this fine day?" He sounded jovial and pleased with life. "I'm very glad the fog burned off. Hopefully tomorrow will be as nice." She glanced out the window towards the bay and had to agree it had become a nice day, especially after the weekend's fog and rain.

"I assume you didn't call me just to share your opinion of the weather?" she asked with a small amount of asperity, but trying to be polite.

He chuckled. "No, of course not. Just making small talk. It's what we politicians do. I was actually calling to advise you that there will be a major independent Parahuman operation in the bay tomorrow, and to invite you along to watch if you wished. Or you can send a representative or two if you're too busy. I know how the work piles up."

"What sort of 'Major Parahuman Operation' are we talking about, Roy?" she asked with extreme suspicion. "And for that matter, which Parahuman? I saw your little ad in the paper. BBFO, LLC? How did that come about?"

"Oh, it's fairly impressive, to be sure, but nothing too worrying, Emily," he said reassuringly. "Some much-needed civil improvements that are long overdue. The effects on the economy of the bay area will be profound, our experts are sure on that part. But it will certainly be a sight to see."

"What will?"

"I'm afraid I can't say just yet," he chuckled. "For security reasons."

Her hand tightened on the handset to the point she heard a faint creak.

"As far as the Parahuman in question goes, she's… well, she's fairly impressive in her own right. A Family member, not one who has been seen in public yet. Tomorrow will be her debut. Brockton Bay Family Operations are donating her services to the city, which is very much appreciated. I do admire the civic pride shown. The aid of the DWU is also something we're pleased about, this would be much more difficult to arrange without them." He sounded very amused. "In fact, to be fair without the DWU I doubt this entire plan would even have come up."

"Let me guess," she grated. "Somehow, I have no idea how, Danny fucking Hebert is involved."

"Oh, do you know him?" Roy sounded like he was suppressing a laugh. "I didn't know that. I've known the man for many years and while we've had our differences, he seems to know his stuff. Not to everyone's taste, of course, some of the Councilors really don't like him, but that shouldn't prevent us all working together for the good of the public. It is, after all, our entire reason for existing, the City Council and the PRT both. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose it is," she said through slightly gritted teeth. "And I suppose you're not going to tell me any more? Just talk in platitudes?"

"Emily, you wound me. Truly." There was a definite laugh to his voice now. "No, as I said I can't go into details. I just wanted to personally give you a heads-up to prevent any misunderstandings, we wouldn't want your people getting the wrong idea and intervening, would we? Especially considering the chaos and embarrassment that would ensue. But you're more than welcome to come and watch from the VIP viewing area. There's even a buffet and we have some exceptional Californian wines. I heard you were medically much better these days and you might like a glass or two."

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you, Roy?" she snapped.

"Immensely, Emily," he snickered. "I'll make sure your PA gets the details. We start at half past one tomorrow afternoon. See you then. Have a nice day." He hung up.

Slamming the phone down she breathed heavily through her nose for a few seconds. That man had always irritated her for some reason. He was a good Mayor, popular and apparently fairly effective, as much as he could be bearing in mind the cesspit the city was, but he'd always tended to push back whenever the PRT got involved. It was annoying.

And now he was obviously going to milk the reversal of the situation for everything he could.

Which was much more annoying.

When she'd calmed down a little, she picked up the phone again and prodded a button. "Get me Triumph," she said briskly. "Have him in my office as soon as possible, please." Putting the phone down she turned around to stare at the bay. "Major Parahuman Operation, hmm?" she mumbled, trying to work out what the hell that actually meant when applied to the scene in front of her.

Blinking at the ceiling, Brian tried to work out where he was. It looked unfamiliar in the sunlight coming through the window across the room. Raising his head from the pillow, he looked around at the other five beds and the various things present then sighed as memory came back. He's been so tired when he got here he'd fallen asleep almost instantly.

Lifting his arm he looked at his watch. It was just after ten, so he'd been asleep for more than twelve hours. Aside from being ravenously hungry and desperate for the sweet relief of the nearest toilet, he felt fine and rested, which considering how yesterday had gone, was something of a miracle.

Flipping the covers aside he sat up, scrubbing his face with his hands in an attempt to fully wake, then stood up, scratching his head. Shortly he was in the shared men's facilities, having a very long go on the urinal. Moments later he was relaxing under a hot shower.

When he finished and dressed, he headed down to the cafeteria, nodding politely to the few other people he saw. Noises from outside suggested a lot of people working hard, more of them than had been present the day before. He had vague memories of waking once in the night and hearing sounds like a construction site in the distance, which was considerably louder now that the fog had gone and was no longer muffling everything.

He stopped and looked out a second story window half-way down the stairs from the dormitory area to see what was going on. Dozens of men and women in bright high-visibility jackets were working on the remains of the demolished warehouses, the second of which was now completely cleared. The metal framed skeleton he'd noticed being worked on when they'd walked from the BBFO unit to here was almost gone, only one small section left, and even as he watched the flame of a thermal lance cut the last part near the ground.

The entire U shaped section of steel gracefully collapsed across the ground, people standing at a safe distance moving in on it with cutting torches as soon as the dust cleared. 'They're sure working fast,' he thought as he resumed descending the stairs. 'I wonder what all the rush is?'

Entering the large cafeteria he looked around, seeing about two dozen people eating, most of them looking tired and dirty. Presumably the previous shift who had just finished. His three team-mates were also present, Alec shoveling bacon and scrambled eggs into himself as quickly as possible, while across from him Rachel was giving Angelica a piece of bacon, while looking oddly relaxed. He inspected her for a moment, wondering why.

Lisa was heading back from the food preparation area carrying a tray, and waved to him with a broad smile when she spotted him. "Hey, Brian!" she called. "Finally! We were wondering if you'd died in your sleep."

"We were going to wait until the stink got too bad before we looked, though," Alec snickered, then dived back into his food. "This is really good, by the way," he added, coming up for air briefly and indicating his half-empty plate.

"And there's lots of it, so you don't have to eat so fast, you annoying little man," Lisa pointed out as she sat next to him. He shrugged, not slowing down.

She sighed a little, looking up at Brian as he arrived next to her. "He's impossible."

"Merely improbable. And extremely hungry," Alec muttered through a mouthful of food.

"I have to admit I'm starving too," Brian chuckled. "Back in a minute." He headed over to join the line for the hot food. When he had a tray full of various items he went back and sat down next to Rachel, who looked at him for a moment then when back to her own food. Both her surviving dogs were sitting next to her, looking around alertly and seeming calm and accepting.

"So," he said after trying his own breakfast and finding it more than acceptable. "This is another fine mess you got us into, Lisa."

She stared at him, then laughed, as did Alec. Rachel looked puzzled but said nothing.

"In the long run it's the best thing that could have happened to us, I think, but I'll admit I didn't think that yesterday afternoon," she replied with a small wry grin. "Sorry about that, guys. It was my fault."

"We all helped, and went into it willingly, so I guess I can't really blame you," he sighed, picking at his food, a little morosely. "Much as I'd like to."

She put her hand on his, then smiled. "It'll work out. These people all accept us, Raptaur and her family are looking out for us, and you at least are going to get an above-board job. I know that's what you always wanted. You never intended to end up doing what we did." She looked around at the rest of her team. "None of us did. But shit happens."

"Sure happened yesterday," Alec said as he finished his meal, then turned around in his seat to speculatively eye the food again. Lisa poked him.

"Wait for a while, no need to get greedy. It's not going away."

With a mock sigh he relaxed, picking up the coffee he'd half finished and sipping it.

She turned back to Brian. "I'm also sorry I didn't tell you about the Boss." They were talking in low voices, but still didn't want to say anything incriminating. Glancing around Brian noticed that everyone was basically ignoring them after the initial glances. He got the distinct impression that at least some of them knew full well who they were but didn't actually care, which matched what Zephron had told him last night when he'd dropped off some supplies.

"I wish you had but I understand why you didn't," he replied after a few seconds. "All in the past, I guess. Now we just have to get on with life. And keep Rachel out of jail." The girl looked up at the sound of her name, scowling a little.

"Not going to jail," she muttered.

"No, you're not," Lisa assured her. "Not if we have anything to say about it. Trust me, we'll figure out a way around the problem."

Not looking entirely satisfied but accepting it for the moment, Rachel resumed slowly eating. Brian studied her then turned back to the blonde. "You think that they'll be satisfied with the information?" he asked quietly, not mentioning who 'they' were. They all knew.

"I think it'll go a very long way to make it easier, yes," Lisa said after some reflective thought. "The local people will really want to find 'The Boss'. Their higher-ups might not put so much weight on it, but it will at least give us breathing room. If Danny can find some legal help and we can start a preemptive defense, I think we've got a good chance." She looked around at them all. "Alec and I are probably in the clear anyway. You're a little more of a problem but I really doubt it will go any further, especially if you get a job here and stick to it. Rachel is the issue but I'm hopeful."

"Doesn't it open up the DWU to some sort of payback, though?" Alec asked curiously. "I mean, I could see for myself that our visitors last night, or one of them at least, are very worried about Raptaur, Saurial, and the whole BBFO thing. Which is pretty fucking weird, you have to admit. So is the way that tall, dark, and beardy seems to trust that enormous lizard."

"It's a little odd, yes," Lisa nodded, looking thoughtful. "I'm still not sure what's going on there. He does seem to put a lot of weight on her word. I was more interested in the way his friend nearly lost it there when she came in. That's really out of character, but she was hovering between worried and terrified the whole time. When we started talking about the boss, she concentrated on that, but even so she was jumpy as hell under it all. Raptaur worries her."

"Raptaur worries anyone who thinks about her or her relatives," Brian commented.

She grinned. "I don't know, I'm kind of getting used to her. But I can see why you might think that."

"I'm still having nightmares about her chasing us, you know," Alec grumbled, making her snicker. "I won't forget that in a hurry. It scared the shit out of me. She's terrifying in the dark."

"Probably as bad in the light," Brian agreed with a grin. "But on the other hand she got our asses out of some serious trouble, got Panacea to heal us, and intervened with the authorities, so I guess we owe her a lot."

"What's the whole thing with Panacea being tight with Raptaur about anyway?" Alec looked confused now. "I thought she was all grumpy and moody at the best of times and spent all her free time in the hospital healing people and scowling at them. That's what it says on PHO anyway. But last night she was obviously enjoying herself making snarky comments and definitely knows a lot more about all this than most people. It's weird."

"I'm not sure yet, but I can tell you that she trusts Raptaur and Danny Hebert completely, and from what I saw, it's the same the other way around," Lisa replied, wearing a small frown. "I agree it's strange. Hopefully I can find out more later today." She checked the time. "I need to go and talk to Danny soon anyway. Zephron said he came in around half past eight but said he was busy until around eleven or so, and to leave it until then."

"Make sure our money is safe," Alec remarked. Rachel looked up and nodded vigorously. "We put in a fuck of a lot of work and blood for that."

"I'm sure no one is going to steal our money," she grinned. "What do you think they are, thieves? No one like that around here."

All four of them laughed, even Rachel.

Feeling that life might actually be looking up for once, Brian got up for seconds. At the very minimum, the food here was better than you probably got in jail.