The elegantly dressed blonde woman looked around the suite, while the hotel manager waited politely. She made a few notes on a pad, her handwriting quick and flowing, then disappeared into one of the bedrooms. Coming out again, she nodded approvingly. "Excellent. Here is the list of faults. Please rectify them immediately. Except for these, it is superb."

"Thank you, Ma'am," he replied, bowing a little and accepting the carefully detached page, the paper crisp and immaculate. Quickly reading it, he nodded. "These will be dealt with now. My apologies for the inconvenience. Mayor Christner sent us the requirements and I am distressed to know we did not quite meet them. Everything on this list will be done within two hours."

"That is satisfactory. I will return to inspect the suite again then. Until later." She nodded to him and swept out of the room. When she was back in the limousine she'd arrived in, she indicated to the driver the next destination, then tapped the control that raised the dark glass between her and him. Flipping up a section of the leather seating she exposed a complicated communications console, entering an encryption key on a small keyboard, then a long series of digits. Seconds later there was a discreet ringing tone.

When it was answered, the one on the other end merely said, "Report."

"The suite is surprisingly well done, sir," she said. "Bearing in mind that you were not involved I doubt it could be improved on, aside from a number of small errors. I have instructed the staff to rectify them and have received assurance this will be complete in two hours. I fully expect that my second inspection will pass in all respects."

"Very good. Thank you, my dear. I will be leaving Boston in three hours, arriving with you two hours and seventeen minutes later. Please have a suitable meal waiting, I shall be hungry from the trip."

"Of course, sir. Will you be contacting Mayor Christner before or after eating?"

"After, I think. It will be enjoyable to see my oldest friend again in person after so long." He sounded slightly wistful. "Would that circumstances permitted it more often. Still, I believe that tomorrow will be entertaining."

"I have arranged the recording equipment as required, sir," she said.

"Excellent. Please confirm the suite as soon as possible."

The line went dead without ceremony. Closing the seat console, she opened another one and removed a sparkling crystal glass and a decanter of extremely expensive brandy, putting just a tiny amount in the glass. Sipping it, she watched the scenery go past, inspecting the city curiously.

Taylor listened to the heartbeats of both visitors, which were rapid and gave the impression of worry. Miss Militia's wasn't quite as fast as Director Piggot's, which had spiked the instant she'd set eyes on her, but it was still much faster than normal. They both smelled scared and worried as well, matching the sound. She glanced at Lisa, raising an eye ridge quizzically. The blonde girl made a tiny shrug with one shoulder, apparently indicating she wasn't sure but noticed it as well.

After her earlier fright, the other girl had rapidly calmed down and become merely amused and a little smug, which seemed to be something of a default state. She seemed to treat any situation which wasn't immediately dangerous as one to extract information from, something Taylor found interesting, somewhat admirable, and also somewhat incautious if one didn't have her own ridiculous toughness. She was going to have to keep an eye on that, since it seemed possible that Lisa might well end up in a situation that was potentially lethal.

Again.

Pushing that line of thought to the back of her mind, she turned back to the PRT Director. "You have questions. Hopefully, we have answers. Do you want to begin?"

The older woman, who had a severe expression disguising the fact that she was close to bolting, slowly nodded. "All right." She looked at Tattletale. "Why are you being so open with us?"

"Because it will help a friend of mine, my team, and me," the girl immediately said. "Additionally, Coil is a dangerous man who is a threat to everyone in Brockton Bay. Plus, he recruited me at gunpoint and forced me to do things I'd never have done willingly and I want to see the bastard burn for that." She looked at Taylor, then back to the director. "And I promised I'd help some new friends."

"I see." The woman was silent for a moment, then she pulled a small high-tech video camera from her pocket, the wide-angle lens glinting in the overhead light. Putting it on the table so it could see everyone, she tapped a button, the device beeping. Pulling her chair a little closer to the table she rested her elbows on it, her hands folded together. "In that case, I have a lot of questions."

"Before we start, would knowing the true identity of Coil make you more amenable to the deal we would like to come to?" Taylor asked.

Director Piggot looked at her, her heartbeat jumping a little at the sound of her voice. "I doubt it, but that suggests you have discovered it."

"Oh, I've discovered a lot about our friend Coil in the last day, Director," she smiled. "Where his base is, where he is, where his other bases are, where his house is, and who he really is. I think you'll find the information… concerning."

The woman looked briefly worried then her face smoothed out, going back to her previous expression that radiated mild disapproval.

"Something of a violation of the Rules, is it not? I thought that you and your relatives took them fairly seriously."

"We do, but not for the same reasons most capes do. However, in this case, I believe you need to know. What you do with the information is your business, of course. I think that once you have it you can probably work out a way to use it without directly using it." She smiled a little. "After all, he's currently holed up in his base, not his home, so technically going in after him is fine."

The blonde woman sighed slightly. "I'm probably going to regret this. OK, then, who is Coil in real life?"

"Thomas Calvert, Commander, PRT Special Forces." Taylor smiled a little like Lisa did, as both guests stiffened in total shock. "Retired."

Director Piggot gaped at her for several seconds, then her face flushed darker and darker, her mouth snapping shut. The heat from the blood flowing to her face glowed in Taylor's vision. "That… That… Fucking son of a fucking BITCH!" She hit the table with a fist hard enough to risk damage to herself. "I am going to pull his intestines out his nose and show them to him, then make him eat them. SHIT!" She screamed the last word at the ceiling, rubbing her fist. Miss Militia looked shocked still, but now worried for her superior as well.

Breathing heavily, the purple color ebbing from her face over a minute or so, Director Piggot stared at Taylor until she was calm enough to speak. Eventually, she asked in a voice still stiff with anger but much closer to her normal controlled demeanor, "You're certain?"

"Yes. I found his house by accident, actually, although it was in an area I was planning on searching. He hasn't been there for a couple of days at least, but I know where he is, and approximately how many people he has with him. I also know that his base is rigged to explode and if it does it could bring down at least one major building. It's underground right in the middle of the commercial district."

"We did some research and it turns out that he owns a controlling interest in several construction companies, via a number of shell corporations," Lisa added, making the woman look at her. "Danny remembered that there was an unfinished Endbringer shelter that was started years ago but abandoned when that company went under. Apparently it was finished under the radar, the materials were probably brought in and out through a parking garage. Which is why no one noticed the construction. It must have taken years, and from being inside it, it's still not done yet."

"I found two more, smaller, bases of his, both underground as well, one at the edge of the docks area and one in a residential area to the west of Downtown. As far as I can tell no one is in either of them although there's a lot of computer equipment and power feeds there." Taylor shrugged. "He may have more but that's all I've found so far."

The PRT woman was listening intently. When they stopped the brief summation, she was silent for a while. Eventually she nodded sharply. "You have your deal. Give me Calvert and I will do everything I can to get your friend's charges looked at, dismissed if possible, or tried fairly if not, with this cooperation used in mitigation."

Taylor looked at her father, who had been listening silently. He nodded slightly. Lisa, when she glanced at her, did the same. "OK. Bear in mind that we still don't know his power, but Tattletale has some ideas. I also have some thoughts on how we can catch him. It will have to wait until after tomorrow, I'll be very busy, but we're happy to help."

Director Piggot leaned forward, a truly evil smile on her face. "I think I would very much like you to meet my old comrade in arms, Raptaur," she said in a voice that promised pain for the man. "I find myself believing you, mainly because I know that bastard, and if anyone deserves what's going to happen, he does. Let's talk."

Most of her worry and fear had disappeared from her scent, replaced with a towering rage that she was doing well to control.

Taylor nodded, smiling a little. "Of course, Director."

She, her father, and Lisa began explaining what they'd found out, both the guests asking questions and taking notes. It went on for quite some time.

When Amy entered the house, Vicky behind her, she wasn't entirely surprised to see both the Pelham and Dallon families present in the living room, talking loudly to each other. Her sister had warned her about what was going on when she'd picked her up from the hospital. Everyone stopped and looked at her, Crystal smiling, while her mother looked irritated. Aunt Sarah appeared somewhat annoyed as well but not with her, she was staring at her own sister with a look of exasperation.

"Hello, everyone," the healer said mildly. "You look confused."

"How the hell have you managed to get mixed up in all this, Amy," Carol demanded. "You've got Vicky into it as well, and now the DWU wants to hire us? What the hell is going on?"

"Exactly what you just said, Mom. The DWU would like to hire New Wave to provide backup for tomorrow in case anything that the police can't handle starts. Hopefully it won't but they don't want to take any chances."

"Why New Wave, Amy?" Sarah asked in a reasonable tone, glaring her sister into silence when the other woman opened her mouth to say something else. "Why not the PRT?"

"They don't really trust them," Amy commented, coming more fully into the room, then leaning against the doorway. "For a number of reasons. From what I'm told the Mayor isn't all that happy with them either, at least as far as his pet project goes. He'd prefer some independents and we're the largest group in the city. It seems perfectly reasonable to me, and a good public relations exercise. You're always talking about public perception, Mom, this is as good an opportunity to be seen to be responsible and helpful as any I've heard of." She looked at her mother, then her aunt, before sweeping her gaze over the others. "Plus there's a reasonable amount of money available, even if no one gets needed, and new costumes. Much better ones than almost anything I've ever seen before, they'd be worth a fortune in themselves. Probably upwards of a hundred thousand each on the market."

She'd done some research after being given her own riding suit and had been appalled how much some of that sort of thing went for, especially considering it wasn't lined with Vargastuff.

"You already knew about this offer, didn't you?" Carol accused.

"Of course I did, Taylor asked me at lunch whether I thought any of you would go for it. I told her I couldn't speak for you, but I couldn't see a reason not to. I still can't."

"How can we even get paid for Parahuman services, Amy?" Sarah asked. "The laws around that sort of thing are practically designed to stop it happening."

"According to Danny, he's pretty sure they were designed exactly to stop it happening," she replied. "But there are loopholes and ways around it if you know what you're doing. The DWU does, and it's all legal. New Wave would be a subcontractor of BBFO, which has all the permits, licenses, insurance, you name it, for exactly this sort of security service. The city is paying for it via them."

Everyone turned to Carol. "You're the lawyer, is it possible?" Mark asked, appearing interested.

"The company documents are all online if you want to look," Amy offered.

"Where's my laptop?" Carol sighed, opening it when her sister handed it to her. She poked around until she found the relevant documents and read them swiftly while her family waited. Eventually she shook her head, a reluctantly impressed expression on her face. "I don't know how whoever it was came up with this but it all hangs together. It's a good bit of work. As far as I can see everything is in order."

"There you go. No problems. All you have to do is agree and you get some money, possibly some excitement, and some cool toys."

Amy spread her hands, grinning. "What's the problem?"

"That's what I've been asking for the last hour and a half, sis," Vicky sighed. "They won't stop arguing about it."

"Those two won't stop arguing about it," Eric pointed out, indicating his mother and theirs. "I think it sounds like a good idea."

"So do I," Crystal added. "And fun."

"I'm tempted myself, I have to admit," Sarah said slowly, her sister and her husband looking at her, the former rather sharply. "I don't know what the project the Mayor and the DWU are involved in actually is, but the new report showed it's being taken seriously by the administration. That amount of misdirection is usually reserved for something big. Having New Wave associated with that could be useful."

"Or very bad if it fails," Carol pointed out. "If something goes seriously wrong and we could be linked to it, the damage to our reputation could be..." Her sister sighed, cutting her off.

Vicky nudged Amy, leaning down to the shorter girl and whispering loudly, "See? I told you. Argue, argue, argue."

As Amy grinned, Carol fixed both her daughters with hard looks, and Sarah made a muffled snicker. "Thank you for your input, Victoria," the elder Dallon grumbled. Vicky smiled winning back, tossing her hair over her shoulder and striking a pose.

"You are most welcome, my dear mother. Anything to help."

Amy collapsed in giggles while most of the others laughed. Carol sighed a little. "You in a good mood is almost worse than you in a bad mood."

"I have a question," Eric said, raising a hand. "Who's Kaiju? You're apparently friends with… 'The Family'..." He made finger quotes, ginning at Amy. "Have you met her?"

"No, not yet," Amy smiled. "No one has. Except for Lung."

"Lung!" Everyone but Vicky yelped in shock.

"Yep. He didn't enjoy it. As a result he's banned from the Docks permanently."

They all stared, so she shrugged. "Kaiju is apparently quite convincing."

"Good god," Sarah muttered. "Now I'm a little worried. What the hell is going on tomorrow?"

"She won't say, I've already tried several times, Aunt Sarah," Vicky grumped, poking her sister, who smirked. "Taylor won't either. The only way we're going to find out is either to wait and watch, or agree and go along in the morning. Raptaur said we'd find out more then."

"Raptaur. I'm not sure about that one. Even Saurial is less worrying." Carol looked torn. "And now there's another one that can dictate terms to Lung?"

"They're good people, Mom," Amy said calmly. "Trust me, trust Vicky. Trust them, for that matter."

The older woman fell silent for a moment. Sarah looked at her husband, then turned to the two teenagers in the doorway. "Could we see your new costumes? I haven't seen yours, Amy, except in recordings, and I was… unwell… when Vicky came home in hers."

She looked embarrassed when Amy raised an eyebrow. "Unwell, hmm?"

"Yes."

"I see."

The brunette exchanged a mirthful glance with her sister. "OK, we'll go and get changed."

Shortly they were back in the living room wearing the new costumes. Eric and Crystal got up with wide eyes and circled them, inspecting them closely. "Wow. Just… Wow," Crystal breathed, running her hand over Amy's arm. "This is really nice. How long did it take to make it? It looks like months of work."

"About ten minutes or so, then another five adjusting the fit," Amy grinned. Her cousin coughed in surprise, staring.

"Ten minutes!?"

"Yes. You know that power they have of making weapons from nothing?" The other girl nodded. "It's a lot more flexible than that." Amy waved her hand over herself.

"Holy crap."

"It's bulletproof, stab proof, waterproof, fireproof, more or less everything proof. Practically indestructible. The weakest point is the faceplate, which is a single crystal of synthetic sapphire with a mesh of that special material the weapons are made of on each side. Even Armsmaster was impressed with it."

"Really." Eric nodded respectfully as he also looked them over. "That's a good reason to think it's well made."

Her uncle got up and walked around her, then lifted her hand, which she obligingly held out for him. Feeling the glove, then the sleeve, he nodded slowly. "This is exceptional quality even leaving the exotic materials out of it. You're right, commercially this would be extremely pricey. It's better than anything we have and probably better than at least half the costumes that the Protectorate use." He tapped her helmet curiously.

"You're confident it's bulletproof?"

"Well, I haven't actually been shot yet, but she did stab me with a steel knife hard enough to bend it and I could barely feel it. There wasn't a mark on the costume."

"She stabbed you." Carol's voice was inflectionless.

Amy shrugged. "Had to test it, and she was sure it would work. That was for my benefit. I trust it."

"It's very tough, Mom, really. I tried damaging the helmet as hard as I could and I can't even scratch it. Look." Vicky whipped her helmet off, then lifted her sister's one, which luckily hadn't been strapped on.

"Hey! Watch it, you nearly pulled my ears off, you idiot," Amy yelped.

"Sorry. I need this for a moment." Vicky put both helmets over her fists then slammed them together with her full strength, the impact creating a definite shockwave which nearly deafened everyone in the room. One of the front windows cracked. They all slapped their hands over their ears which were ringing from the clanging sound, far too late.

"Fucking hell, Vicky, what are you doing?" Crystal screeched, shaking her head. "That was loud!"

"Sorry," Vicky said somewhat too loudly, looking embarrassed. "I might not have thought it through very well. But look! Not a mark!" She held both helmets out, then tossed hers to her mother, who was wiggling a finger in her ear and glaring at her. Carol caught the thing then inspected it, before handing it to her sister who ran her fingers over the smooth surface.

"If you ever do anything like that again, Victoria Dallon, we'll be having words," their mother grated angrily. Vicky flushed red.

"Sorry," she said in a small voice.

"And you're paying for that window too."

"Out of my two and a half thousand dollar retaining fee?" the blonde said, perking up and smiling hopefully.

Carol looked at her husband, then her sister and brother-in-law, who was now in possession of Vicky's helmet, inspecting it carefully. All three of the either nodded or shrugged. "Oh, hell. All right, we'll do it. If this goes bad, I blame all of you equally." Carol sighed and leaned back in her chair, looking somewhat glum.

Handing his niece her helmet, her uncle grinned. "It'll be fun, Carol."

"It better be," she muttered, looking at the cracked window with irritation.

Amy and Vicky exchanged a glance, smirking. "I'll call Danny and let him know," the healer said mildly. Her mother only nodded, sulking slightly. Her aunt looked at her sister, sighed a little, then smiled at Amy, motioning with her head for her and Vicky to leave, which they did. Eric and Crystal came with them, wanting to inspect the costumes again.

Lisa watched as Danny Hebert led Miss Militia and Director Piggot out of the building, closing the door behind him. When they were gone she took off her mask and scratched her nose vigorously with a sigh of relief. "Thank god, that was driving me nuts," she complained, watching as Taylor changed back to what she called her 'base form.' "That went a lot more effectively than I though it might."

"I'd have to agree," the other girl replied, lounging in a chair and looking pretty happy with the way things had worked out. "It was the fact that it was her old acquaintance that made it go our way so well, I think. She really, really doesn't like him."

"She absolutely loathes him, to be more accurate," Lisa smiled. "They have a shared history which isn't good. She knows he's done some things that she doesn't approve of, and suspects he did a lot worse while he was with the PRT. The chance to prove any or all of it would have been enough to make her agree to a lot of things. The fact that he's Coil makes it that much better. By the end she was nearly smiling. Still shit-scared of you, of course, but willing to trust you about as far as she trusts anyone, at least for the moment."

"Do you think she'll stick to her end of the bargain?"

"Yes, if we do the same. She's… confused… about you. There's some respect there, a lot of worry, both about you directly in all your alternates, and about how she's going to tell her superiors. Which she hasn't done yet for some reason. I think because she wanted to give them answers and not questions."

Taylor nodded slowly. "I suppose that makes sense. She doesn't strike me as someone who likes surprises, or not knowing things."

"Not really." Lisa grinned. "She's a control freak and you're about the exact opposite of controlled."

The brunette girl laughed. "I certainly try not to be boring."

"If that's the right word."

They exchanged amused looks. "Well, I'm going to need something to eat pretty soon. Before that, can you finish the story? About you?" Lisa sat up fully. "I've sort of gotten used to it now and I promise I'll stay conscious this time. And I guarantee I won't ever tell anyone anything about you, Amy, or Danny without your permission."

Taylor listened with a small smile as she spoke. When she finished, the other girl added, "And it's killing you not knowing, isn't it?"

"Oh, so much!", she moaned theatrically. "I have to know. What the hell are you, Taylor Hebert?"

The girl studied her without speaking for a few seconds, something in her eyes suddenly far older than seemed possible. Lisa, now somewhat worried, waited, and wondered if she actually did want to know after all.

Eventually, she seemed to come to a decision. Her mouth opened.

The voice that came out was Taylor's, but at the same time it was definitely... not. She froze as a chill rippled over her.

"It is nice to talk to you, Lisa Wilbourn, which we both know is not your real name. You may call me Varga, and we have much to talk about."

There was a pause, then a sigh.

"You may be right, Brain, that chair needs a seat belt."

Danny turned to see his daughter in her Saurial body come to stand beside him, as he stood watching the third warehouse be cleared away. "Going well," she noted, sounding satisfied.

"Very well."

"What do you think?"

He knew it wasn't the work they were looking at that she was talking about. "I think they'll stick to it. I also think that they desperately wanted to ask about tomorrow but didn't dare."

She chuckled. "That's the impression I got too. Lisa said the same."

"How is she? She seemed a little shocked when we turned up. Were you scaring her?"

"Only a little." Saurial smiled. "She'll get over it, I think. We had a long talk."

"What did you tell her?"

"Everything, same as Amy."

"Ah." They stood in silence for a while. "Is that safe?"

"Should be. She seemed both impressed and honest. Well, honest for her. But she won't talk."

"Fair enough. I like the girl, I have to admit. And her friends. I think with some help they can be good people, despite the rocky start. Hopefully we can give them that help."

"I hope so. Did you hear from Vicky?"

"Amy called, actually. They're going along with it. They'll be here at half past eight tomorrow, that should be enough time to get everything sorted out."

The lizard-girl smiled. "Sounds good. I'm glad, I like Vicky, even after the… odd… first encounter. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow."

"I think a lot of people are, to be honest. We've raised expectations, we have some serious work to do." He smiled back. "But I think we can manage."

"So do I." She glanced about the place. "I'm going to run one last pass to see if I can find out anything more about our buried friend, then I'm going home."

"Good luck. I'll see you later, then, 'Saurial.'" He grinned as she sighed, before turning away and breaking into a jog, waving at him. Watching as her long-tailed figure passed through the workers in the yard under the lights, most of them waving as she went by, he smiled to himself then headed off to finish up after a long day. He was looking forward to a meal with his daughter.

She seemed so mature and busy these days.

It made him very proud.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Taylor rolled over in bed, then stretched widely, all five limbs quivering, before flipping the covers back, padding over to the window, and peering out into a beautiful sunrise.

"Today is going to be epic," she smiled.

"I expect so, Brain," the Varga said contentedly. "I expect so. I'm very much looking forward to it."

Nodding, she went off to have a shower, whistling a happy tune.