It was a bright and non-stormy morning.
Roy looked out the window, smiling to himself. His wife, half-dressed, came over to him and put her arm around his waist, leaning on him. "I hope this all goes well, dear," she said softly.
He put his own arm around her shoulders, hugging her. "So do I," he replied in a similar tone. "So do I. But I have faith in our people, and the DWU, and especially Kaiju. I think this will work exactly as it is meant to."
"And if it doesn't?" she asked with worry in her voice.
"Well, I'll have a lot of explaining to do," he laughed. "But one way or the other everything will be different after today."
"I still can't believe you've hired mini-Godzilla to clear the bay," she giggled. "It's ridiculous."
"She's not all that mini, when it comes to it." He grinned at her. "I can hardly wait to see Director Piggot's face.
"Why are you going out of your way to annoy the poor woman, Roy?" Her voice was mildly disapproving.
"I'm not actually going out of my way to do it, it's merely an amusing side-effect." Roy chuckled as she gave him a hard look. "You know we've had our differences over the years. The PRT has never had the best interests of the city or the public in mind, despite all their public relations talk. They act mainly in their own best interests for the most part. I know it's not her fault, but even so she's not exactly helped. The number of complaints I've had from the police would fill half a filing cabinet. I'm pretty sure that the PRT could improve their relations a lot and make everything work much more smoothly if they actually wanted to, but for whatever reason they obviously don't. That's why we have Nazis and a rage dragon and foul-mouthed super-powered junkie all battling it out in the city, with the normal public being the ones who always end up paying the price."
He sighed heavily. "Honestly, sometimes I think this city is cursed. We have more Parahumans per square foot than anywhere else in the country, and at least two thirds of them are villains. Some are pretty harmless, like Über and Leet for example. If those boys would turn their talents to doing shows for the tourists they'd probably end up rich. I'd happily let them. But most of them vary from dangerous to downright vicious. And the PRT, and the Protectorate sitting there in their shiny Rig, basically just watch and deal with the occasional high profile incident, or grab the credit for some low-level thing that the cops have already done most of the work for."
"I didn't realize it was that bad," she remarked.
"It's been getting worse for some time. We keep getting more and more villains and not that many new heroes." Roy shrugged, releasing her and going to the closet to pick out a shirt for the day, riffling through the hanging ones in there. Bev reached past him and picked one, handing it to him. Nodding his thanks he held it up, then put it on the bed.
Turning to her, he resumed, "The public isn't generally aware of the number of crimes we really have that have a Parahuman link, because most of them are carried out by normal criminals. But at least ninety percent of those criminals are gang members from one of the three gangs. Without the E88, the ABB, and the Merchants, this city would be in a much better place, and it's their capes that let them get away with it. The PRT could easily have stopped this years ago if they came in force and did their job, but they don't. New Wave stopped Marquis years ago, and after that things should have improved. We had a window of opportunity that was missed. The E88 lost Allfather, but got Kaiser, who is actually worse in many ways. Lung turned up, Skidmark and his crew grew in power, Coil is out there somewhere causing god knows what sort of trouble..."
He sighed a little. "And the city administration and I are in the middle of it all, getting shit from everyone because we can't stop it, but we don't actually have any power to stop it. The ones that do, won't. BBPD does what they can, but there's so much corruption in the system that even the successes turn bad most of the time. Not even counting the way that any cape villain that does get taken in instantly escapes. Or is just let go on a technicality or something like that. Hookwolf has been in custody for longer than practically anyone for years and it's only been about ten days!"
He waved his arms a little to emphasize the point. "Even in that case, if he's still in custody in a week I'll eat that shirt. And that's someone who is a confirmed multiple murderer. The situation is insane."
"But now it's changing."
"Exactly. For the first time in god knows how long, I can see light at the end of the tunnel which isn't Lung on fire or something like that. I don't know what happened, or how, but I'm damn well going to grab the chance with both hands and run with it, PRT or no PRT. The DWU has somehow ended up associated with a group of the most dangerous capes I've ever heard of, but unlike almost all the other ones, these guys just want to help. Not fight, break things, seize territory, or any of the usual things. It's practically unprecedented. So I'm going to do everything I can to use that. It helps the city, it helps the DWU, it even helps us. If BBFO can pull us out of the crapper all power to them in my opinion. They're already earning their keep, Saurial and Raptaur are respected and liked by the cops, most of the public is actually on their side even if they find them scary as well, crime is down by about thirty percent in a month… The PRT might not like it, but I do."
"You really do feel strongly about this, don't you?" his wife asked as he started sorting through his ties.
"I do. I like being Mayor, I like being respected, but I also like doing my job properly and it's been fucking difficult for a long time. I've done some things I'm not proud of and one day I'll probably have to answer for them, but as far as I know I've always tried to do things for the right reason. In this game, one way or another, everyone is a bit dirty. I'd like to think I'm not as bad as some are." He held up a blue tie, which she shook her head at. Resuming looking, he continued, "I have no doubt that Director Piggot is also doing her best, and has a number of restrictions I have no idea about. But it doesn't change the fact that the PRT has been more hindrance than help at times, so forgive me if I extract as much amusement from this whole crazy project as I can."
The next tie he held up got a nod, along with a smile.
"Just don't get carried away, dear," she advised. "You two will still have to work together in future."
"I know, and I'll keep my laughter down to a faint chuckle, but I fully expect to do quite a lot of it," he smiled back. "Let's have breakfast."
Putting her arm around her husband again, she squeezed him for a moment, then followed as he went downstairs in his pajamas and robe, smiling fondly at him.
The regulars at the Captain's Table, the oldest tavern in Brockton Bay and the second oldest on the eastern seaboard, watched as Erwin, old but still very strong after a lifetime of working on the water, came in, looked around in an evaluating manner, then headed to one of the smaller tables. Made from solid oak, over two hundred years ago, the tree itself having been chopped down much earlier than that when it was made into the ship that finally got recycled into furniture in the late eighteenth century, the table was no lightweight thing. Even so, he squatted down, wrapped his arms around it, and stood up again, grunting a little under the load.
Staggering back the way he'd come the ancient seafarer went out the door to the wide street that lay between the front of the building and the waterfront, a clatter of wood on stone coming back in seconds later. Shortly, he reappeared and looked around again, before selecting a matching chair of similar age and size, the blackened and scarred wood accompanying him out the door.
Mystified, Pat the barman and owner exchanged glances with some of the other patrons, many of whom were also of a similar age and background to the older man. When Erwin came back in again, he raised a finger. "Um, Erwin?"
The man stopped, looking at him enquiringly.
"Is there a reason you're moving my furniture outside, or are you just bored?" the barman asked carefully, his Irish accent putting a quizzical lilt to his words. "Only, I actually need all the chairs in here with the customers, you see."
"Getting ready," Erwin stated gruffly, leaning over the bar and grabbing a pint glass and an unopened bottle of Pat's best brandy. The man himself stared, then made a futile grab for the bottle, which was briskly whisked out of reach.
"Hey, you fecker, that stuff is a hundred dollars a bottle. And who the hell drinks it by the pint?"
"Me," Erwin scowled. "Want to make something of it?"
"Ah. Not really, no," Pat admitted. The man might have been twice his age but he was also twice his size and built like a brick shithouse. There were stories about what he was capable of if pushed hard enough and he didn't particularly want to find out how much of them were true.
"Good. Put it on my tab. And bring me some bacon and eggs, extra crispy on the bacon." Erwin stomped off towards the door, while everyone watched with various expressions mainly based on confusion.
Pat gaped after him. After a moment, he yelled, "Your tab? You old bastard, you haven't paid me in a month!"
"Three eggs, on toast," Erwin called back.
"You offering European-style outdoor meals now, Pat?" one of the other people propping up his bar commented with a smirk.
"No I'm bloody not," he growled. "Silly old bastard must have finally lost his mind. All those stories about monsters in the bay."
Even so, he found himself moving to the grill and cracking three eggs onto it, still muttering under his breath.
After a moment, as the eggs sizzled, he looked up, an odd expression on his face.
"Ready for what?" he shouted at the door.
"The big scaly lass," a faint yell came back. Pat mouthed the sentence to himself, then looked around. Everyone shrugged.
"No fucking idea. Man's lost it. A pint of brandy isn't going to help him much," he grumbled as he opened a new pack of bacon.
Lisa rolled over in bed and yawned, then sat up, scrubbing at her eyes. A moment later those eyes shot open and she remembered what had happened yesterday. Torn between cackling with glee for what she was going to do to Coil with the help of Taylor, her father, and even the PRT, and climbing back under the covers and shivering about what she'd learned about the girl, she instead shook her head then got up. Glancing at her watch she saw it was just after half past eight.
When she'd showered and dressed, she headed for the cafeteria. It was nearly full, a lot of hungry people eating like crazy, then making way for the next batch, while the entire area and yard outside was buzzing with activity. Everyone looked somewhat excited and looking forward to the day, which she could well understand. It seemed likely to be something people would remember for a while.
Grabbing some toast, some scrambled eggs, and a couple of hash browns along with a large cup of coffee she smiled at the cook who was refilling the coffee machine, then looked around, spotting Danny and Taylor as Saurial sitting with Amy Dallon who was wearing her new costume with the helmet on the table next to her, Brian, and Alec. She headed over, sipping her coffee while balancing the tray on her remaining hand.
"Hi, guys," she said as she sat. Taylor handed her a knife and fork with one scaled hand, smiling at her.
"Hello, Lisa." Everyone else greeted her as well.
"Is your family here, Amy?" she asked the healer, who was eating some soup.
"Not yet. Danny picked me up on the way in, the others are coming in about ten minutes."
"I'm going to explain the situation to them, then make them costumes," Taylor added. "We were just talking about whether the special material would work for Amy's mother. Her power might not be compatible with it."
"I might be able to help, if I watch her change a couple of times," Lisa said slowly, putting some pepper on her eggs. "My power is pretty good about working out other peoples powers with enough background information."
"Worth a shot." Amy explained how Brandish's power worked, adding some details that Lisa wasn't familiar with. "We were worried that the hyperdense material might cause issues. Saurial doesn't think it would do anything dangerous, but Mom might just sort of vanish and leave the costume behind. Which would be embarrassing."
"But very funny," Alec suggested, grinning.
"There is that, yes," she laughed.
"Oh, right, I can sort of see what you mean." Lisa smiled to herself. "That could cause some shouting and red faces."
"You have no idea," Amy sighed. Checking the time she finished her soup. "I'd better go and meet them. See you in a minute."
"OK. Oh, here, I forgot to give you these." Taylor handed Amy a set of keys. "Your set."
"Thanks," the girl smiled, putting them in her pocket after a brief look, then waving and hurrying away having picked up her helmet and putting it on. Lisa noticed that she had one of the DWU walky-talkies clipped to a belt on the costume that hadn't been there in the images she'd seen online.
"You need a better mask than that temporary thing that my sister made for you," Taylor smirked, making Lisa grin internally at the charade. "Any suggestions?"
"The domino mask worked, but it was a pain to put on because of all the other things I had to do to look different," Lisa replied, eating slowly. "The new one is good at covering my face but it's a bit over the top and very generic. Not to mention I need to take it off to eat or drink unless I use a straw."
"So something to cover the top half, then," Taylor suggested as the others listened. Lisa noticed that once again no one else in the area was paying any real attention to them, although a couple of people did come over to quickly ask Danny something. Based on the looks they got, she was sure at least half the people present knew full well who they were now and simply didn't give a shit. "How about this for the moment, it's simple and a little better." She held out a hand on which a variant of Amy's helmet appeared, black and violet with a mirrored visor, not a full faceplate. It was vaguely reminescent of Armsmaster's helmet which made Lisa smile. Taking it she pulled it on, finding it fitted well. She could see out perfectly, the view only a little darker.
"Can't see your eyes or the top half of your face at all," Brian reported after inspecting her closely. Reaching out he tapped the helmet. "That's pretty cool."
"It'll do for now and it's more comfortable," Lisa smiled, taking it off again. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," the lizard-girl smiled. Finishing her own breakfast, or probably a second one as Lisa suspected she and Danny had been up for some time, she got up. "We'll be in the workshop when you've finished. It's going to take me an hour and a half or so to get those guys sorted out and I'll leave Brandish to the last, so come over when you're done."
"OK." Lisa lifted a hand in a wave as her newest friend left, stopping on the way to talk to Zephron who had just come in.
"There are five Endbringer sirens, here, here, here, here, and here," Mark said, pointing out the locations on the large map of Brockton Bay pinned to the wall of the meeting room. Eighteen people dressed in black paramilitary-style clothing with radios clipped to their vests were sitting listening, six women and the rest men, all fit and experienced looking. "Teams A through E are each assigned one. Plans of the control linkage are in front of you, along with the power connections, and the security measures. Remember, we need to disable them, not damage them. Additionally, the main control room here in the city administrative building has overall control of the siren system. That's the target for Team F, which is mine. Maintain radio silence unless the message is urgent. Do not harm anyone, rules of engagement are hostile civilian, no weapons. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," they all chorused.
"We expect potential activity to be present between 1400 hours and 1430 hours, after which things should have settled down. DO NOT let those sirens sound! We want to avoid a panic, which will ruin everything."
One man held up his hand.
"Chris?"
"What happens if an Endbringer attacks at exactly that moment, sir?" he asked with a wry smile.
"Use your own judgment in the case of world-ending threats." Mark grinned. "But be sure it really is. Danny will be very annoyed if this all goes south because we fucked up."
"And Raptaur will eat your legs," one of the other people called.
"That's not impossible. So be careful. Now go and get something to eat, then we have the main meeting at midday."
Everyone got up and left the room, laughing and joking. He cleared away his notes, grinning to himself.
This was going to be fun, just like in the old days. Only with less people shooting at them.
His grin slipped a little.
"Damn. This is Brockton Bay," he sighed, making a mental note to ask Raptaur or Saurial for some body armor.
Just in case.
Holding up a hand to deflect the dust from the rotor wash, Roy watched the helicopter land. It was in the park behind City Hall, which separated it from the shoreline of the Bay. In the summer it was a green and pleasant land, albeit on a small scale, with a number of trees around the edges and a couple of paths running through it. Workers in the city buildings often took their lunch breaks out here in nice weather.
The breakwater at the shoreline consisted of a pile of large hollow concrete blocks laid at a forty-five degree angle, running down below the water, with off to one side some distance away a boat launching ramp which joined a minor road coming out of the main car park. The BBPD harbor patrol boats were pulled out of the water there. Glancing towards the bay he could see four of the six the city had moving around slowly, making sure that none of the other boats that were puttering around encroached into the exclusion zone. As he watched one of them suddenly accelerated, a blast of siren coming from it, heading towards a small outboard-propelled fishing skiff, quickly intercepting it.
It looked like the occupants of both vessels were exchanging spirited words, but in the end the skiff turned around and the BBPD boat moved off more slowly.
Everything seemed to be going more or less to plan, so far at least.
He looked at the Rig for a moment. There were a number of aircraft moving around it, including what looked like one of Dragon's long-range transports, which was just in the process of landing on top of the Protectorate base. Squinting, he could see a couple of boats moving around out there as well.
As the rotors began to slow and the engines spooled down with a piercing whine, the side door of the large glittering aircraft slid open, someone hopping down and extending some steps. Moments later a man he recognized came down them, followed by several obvious flunkies and aides, looking around for a moment before heading towards him.
"Hello, Roy," the new arrival said loudly over the sound of the powering down aircraft. "It's been a while. How are you?" He held out his hand, which Roy shook.
"Governor. Nice to see you. I'm not bad, actually. In fact, you could say I'm in a good mood. And yourself?"
"Can't complain." The man smiled. "Or I could but no one will listen. I hope this plan of yours isn't going to cause me any more problems, the state is already a damn pain in the ass to run as it is."
"Hopefully, we can help reduce that a little at least," Roy chuckled as he waved towards the city buildings. "Welcome to what I hope is the first day of a new Brockton Bay. Come on in, we've got a nice brunch buffet laid out. I can tell you some more about what's happening today. I think you'll find it… memorable."
The politician gave him a penetrating look. Roy smiled more widely. "You're not going to tell me everything, though, are you?"
"No, sir, I am not. It will be better if some of it comes as a surprise."
"Hmm." The other man didn't seem entirely convinced. "This had better be good."
"I think you'll enjoy it, sir." His smile became a grin. "I'm not telling the PRT even this much. Just enough to stop them overreacting."
"Ah." His guest laughed a little. "You and Piggot. Please don't start a shooting war with the Federal government, Roy."
"I doubt it will come to that." His grin became somewhat evil. "If it did, though, I might stand a good chance of winning."
"Oh, god, I can feel the complaints coming from here," the Governor sighed. "Your city is… difficult."
"You don't have to tell me that, sir," Roy sighed, shaking his head. They began walking, the flock of aides behind them, and his own security people looking around carefully. "Believe me, I'm all too well aware of it. However, times change..."
Smiling, Vicky inspected her cousin. She was wearing a similar costume to the one the blonde had on, in her signature colors, and had a grin on her face. "That looks great, Crystal," she enthused. "How does it feel?"
"Very comfortable, like I'm hardly wearing it," the other girl smiled. She stretched and posed, then nodded. "It fits perfectly. Warm as well." Pulling her helmet on she adjusted it. "I wish I had a mirror."
"There's one behind you," Saurial, who had been watching with a smile on her reptilian muzzle, pointed out. Both girls looked. There was, but it hadn't been there thirty seconds before.
"Neat trick," Crystal laughed, admiring herself. "This is so cool."
"Do your blasts work OK through it?" Vicky asked.
"Seem to," her cousin replied, firing a low powered hard light beam into the wall of the BBFO room, which produced a dull gong-like sound and no other effect at all. Producing a force field, she shrugged. "Everything works fine."
"Good. Shielder reported the same thing." Saurial looked satisfied. All three of them looked over to where Eric was talking to Amy, his helmet off next to him on the table. "Let's get your parents set up. We'll start with Lady Photon." Heading towards Sarah, who was staring at the poster on the wall which had a nice view of a sunset over the sea somewhere with a mystified expression on her face, the lizard-girl had a short conversation with her about colors, then began doing whatever it was that she did.
Half an hour later all of them barring Carol Dallon were wearing Family-produced costumes, all in their normal colors and all with their names across the shoulders. Vicky thought it made them look much more like a team that they ever had done before, which amused her quite a lot.
As Saurial was finishing off with the towering figure of her uncle, a blonde girl wearing a black and violet helmet with a mirrored visor, who Vicky recognized as Tattletale, came in the open door. She looked around and smiled. "Wow. That looks amazing."
"Thanks," Vicky replied as the former villain moved to stand next to her. "I like the helmet. Very… you."
They exchanged a grin. Amy, who had been talking to Sarah, looked over at them then headed their way. "Hi," she greeted the new arrival. "Any insights?"
Tattletale watched Carol for a moment. "I need to see her power work."
"OK." Turning, Amy called, "Mom? Can you come over here?"
Carol looked around from her examination of her husband's new costume, then walked over. "Yes?" she asked.
"Can you do your transformation thing?"
"Why?" The older woman looked at the new arrival suspiciously.
"I need to watch it so I can try to work out if there is any potential for a dangerous interaction between the electron-degenerate matter that Saurial uses to make the armor in these costumes, Brandish," Tattletale said calmly. "If you could switch back and forth a couple of times that would be a big help."
"And you are?"
The girl held out her hand. "Tattletale, ex-villain, Undersiders, and friend of the Family," she smiled. Carol stared in shock.
"Villain?"
"Ex-villain, please," Tattletale corrected, still smiling. "You can ask Director Piggot if you don't believe me. We've talked extensively about many, many things."
Vicky was suppressing a grin. The girl, who she thought was someone she'd probably get on with, was clearly enjoying the look on her mother's face. The older Dallon didn't seem to quite know what to do. Eventually, and with visible reluctance, she shook the extended hand. "How can you tell if there is a problem?" she asked slowly.
"I'm a Thinker," Tattletale explained. "My power lets me take tiny clues and deduce more information than you'd believe from them. The more I have to start with, the more accurate the results. I'm pretty good at analyzing powersets and odd interactions between them."
"I see." There was a pause, then Vicky's mother sighed. "All right."
She was abruptly replaced by a small ball of brilliant light, which dropped to the floor and bounced. Tattletale watched with interest. The ball switched back to the form of her mother. "Again, please."
The feat was repeated twice more, until the blonde girl nodded. "Great, thanks. OK, there's a minor problem, I think." She looked over to Saurial and called for her. The lizard-girl trotted over with Amy, who'd been discussing something with her, following. "It won't work. Not properly, anyway. Her power will leave the EDM unaffected. You were right."
"Damn, that's a pain," Saurial said, rubbing her scaly chin with a hand, making a faint rasping sound. She looked Carol up and down for a moment. "OK, I can see two possibilities. One is we give you a costume like these anyway, and you live with the problem that if you change into your hard light form the costume stays behind. Not ideal, but it still provides maximum protection. The other solution is that I use something less strong, which is still much better than what you have at the moment, but not as good as it could be. Any preferences?"
Carol thought, looking slightly disappointed. "I suppose the more practical option is the second one," she finally said. "The hard-light form change is so reflexive I'd probably do it without even thinking twice."
"OK. Let me think about this for a moment, let's see what we can come up with." Saurial walked around the woman a couple of times, then nodded. "All right. I'm going to line it with a sort of metal-ceramic composite, which should be about the same protection as about four inches of a really high grade armor steel, but much thinner and lighter. Not as good as these ones, but handgun and rifle bullets won't go through it. Not unless they're using some really big guns." As she had done before with the others, she waved Carol over to the table, then created the entire suit on top of it, glancing back and forth between the woman and the costume.
"There, that should do it, I think," she finally announced. "Try it on."
Carol gathered up the costume without a word and went over to the changing booth the cape had made earlier. Shortly she was back, wearing the new costume. "A little tight in the leg," she reported. A few quick changes later and it fitted well. "It's very impressive. Thank you." She admired herself in the mirror.
"It looks really good, Mom," Vicky complimented her.
"Pity about the EDM, but it was inevitable that we'd run into an incompatible power sooner or later," Saurial noted. "Even so, it'll take a pretty serious weapon to do major damage compared to that thing." She pointed at Carol's old costume which was now folded on that table. "Great. Everyone is all set. There's a meeting at twelve noon in workshop six, over by the dry dock. You'll get a full explanation then and can ask any questions you have. Until then, feel free to go to the cafeteria for a snack."
Vicky's extended family all headed for the door, talking to each other and looking pleased. Even her mother. Each of them was carrying their original costume in a bag which the lizard girl had made for them.
She turned to Saurial, who was watching New Wave exit, Amy and Tattletale on either side of her. Vicky had a brief moment of amusement thinking that they made a good team, just the three of them. "Thanks for this, Saurial. Especially after how we met."
"Forget it," the girl smiled. "I told you then, and I'm telling you now, it's fine. My sister told you the same thing, right?"
"She did," Vicky confirmed. "Is she around?"
"Not right now, but she'll be back later," Saurial replied. "I've got some more work to do so I need to head off, but I'll see you at the meeting." She and Tattletale left. Amy looked at her sister, grinning.
"This is fun," she said.
"You certainly seem to have made some interesting friends, Ames," Vicky noted with a laugh. They also headed for the door, Amy turning out the lights and pulling it shut, then locking it with a set of keys she produced.
"Something I'm very happy about," her sister commented. "Come on, let's find the others." Both sisters headed back to the main building.
Danny looked around the huge room, one of the old ship repair workshops, which was currently empty, at least of ships and machinery, most of which had been scrapped as it was so old and decayed. The room now had over three hundred people in it, all of them looking at him. He was standing on a raised podium at one end of the building, Taylor in her Saurial form, along with the Undersiders and Amy to one side. Glory Girl in the new costume that his daughter had made for her was at the back of the room hovering in the air a few feet off the ground, almost no one paying any attention to her despite her aura, which she was obviously trying to suppress as much as possible. Her family was standing below her, all listening intently.
Raising his voice to carry to the back, something he found easy after having had many years practice, he began talking again. He'd spent over half an hour telling them, finally, what all the work they'd been doing recently had been building up to and it had only just got to the point that everyone who wasn't already in on it had recovered. The response was universally positive, all the workers looking happy and excited.
"All right, people, today is an important day for the City and the DWU both. You all know what's at stake. This is the first stage of a project that will carry us forward for several years, but we need to do it right. There are going to be a lot of people watching to see how we perform, we can't let either them or ourselves down by fucking it up. So don't."
There was a certain amount of laughter from the assembled multitude.
"We're going to be meeting a new member of the Family today. She's a lot bigger than her sisters, and she'll probably take you by surprise. Even so, don't worry. Kaiju is one of us. The only people who have anything to be upset about are anyone who wants to cause trouble. Hopefully that won't happen, but keep an eye open for it. We have New Wave on standby since Raptaur and Saurial will also be busy." He noticed Zephron, at the front, along with a few others who knew or suspected the truth, smiling a little.
"Crowd control teams, you all have your assigned positions. Keep things moving, don't get distracted, be on the lookout for anyone trying to take advantage of the situation. Don't get involved if you can avoid it, call it in to BBPD, but back them up and if you do have to take action, do it carefully but don't miss."
There was a somewhat louder amount of laughter.
"If it gets out of hand, call for New Wave. Lady Photon is the main point of contact, but in a pinch any of them will respond. Please try not to call them in unless you have to, we'd like to keep it below the level of a cape fight, but don't hesitate if it's serious. I don't want anyone hurt if it's avoidable."
A lot of people nodded, turning to look back at the super-hero team, who seemed fairly happy.
"Mark, you and your… anti-panic team, did you call it?" The security man nodded, smiling. He and a group of about twenty men and women were dressed much like Lisa and her friends had been when they arrived, in black military-style clothing with the DWU logo on the chest. "You guys do what we talked about. Don't get carried away, this isn't a war."
"Just a small preventative police action, Danny," the man called, making everyone chuckle.
Danny shook his head, sighing loudly. "Just don't overdo it."
"Would I do something like that?"
"Yes, you would," Danny replied with a grin, which was reciprocated. Several people shouted encouragement of both of them, making him sigh a little and glance at Taylor, who was smirking quite a lot.
"The rest of you, get things ready for the arrival of the ship. It will take several hours to get here, we have time, but we also want to have things go smoothly. Make sure no one who shouldn't be here is here, lock the facility down and keep it like that. The construction teams will keep working in shifts, we don't want to lose the time, but you'll all get a chance to watch from the roof. I'll be at the Mayor's event until about three but then I'll come back here to help."
"Bring some beer back with you, Danny," someone shouted from the crowd.
"I'll see what I can do," he called back. This received a roar of approval. "OK, that's it. Get to work, we have a lot to do today."
Everyone shouted at once, then the crowd broke up into teams of people who headed off in different directions.
Vicky floated over, smiling, joining him as he headed towards his daughter and the others. "Nice speech, Mr Hebert," she laughed. "Short and to the point."
"Thanks, Vicky. And call me Danny, I already told you that."
"OK, Mr Hebert," she replied, grinning when he gave her a look. "Danny, I mean."
Arriving at the small group, he looked around at them. "Well, this should be interesting. Brian, you and your friends know where to go for a good view. Make sure you stay on site, OK? We don't want to risk everything right after getting it."
"We'll be good, Mr Hebert," the boy said respectfully. Danny thought about telling him to call him by his first name again, but caught Lisa's small head shake and realized it was unlikely to happen yet.
"Great. Saurial, Amy, if you two can come with me we can get started." He looked at his watch. "An hour until the tide is right. That should allow enough time."
He looked up at Vicky. "If you want to make sure your family have the radios, that would help a lot."
She hefted a small bag which Taylor had just handed her, containing a number of walky-talkies configured to the DWU security frequency. "OK. I'll see you all later. Hopefully without things going weird."
Amy began laughing, making her sister give her a wry look. "I mean, weirder."
She flew off, going out the end door. Lisa led her friends out a side exit, all four of them talking among themselves in a low voice. Pausing at the exit she looked back and grinned, before leaving.
In the end he was left with Amy, his currently reptilian daughter, and a large empty building. The three of them looked at each other. "Christ, I hope this works properly," he said with a deep breath.
"It will," Taylor said, putting a taloned hand on his shoulder. "And it'll be fun."
"For you, I have no doubt. Others may have different opinions." She grinned, making him chuckle. Turning to the healer, he said, "Amy, Zephron is at your disposal with a jeep in case you're needed, since your normal ride will be otherwise occupied."
Taylor snickered again.
"Thanks, Danny," the girl said. "With any luck that won't be necessary but if it is, that will help."
"OK, you two, I need to get to the office and coordinate things to start off, then go over to City Hall. You've both got radios, right?" They nodded. "Remember the signal. Have fun, make it look good, and try not to wreck the bay if you can avoid it. You know what to do."
"We do," Taylor laughed. "Go on, we'll be fine."
"That look worried me," he grinned, then left them behind, going out into the brightly lit and crisp morning. Behind him there was a certain amount of laughter, then some whispering that diminished with distance.
"Oh, God, Poor Brockton Bay," he sighed, smiling a little. "You're going to have a shock. Sorry about that."